Maya and Aztec

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations

Ancient Nahuatl Poetry ||| SONG XXVI.

Category: Ancient Nahuatl Poetry


XXVI.

XXVI.

Toto tiquiti tiquiti ic ontlantiuh tocotico tocoti toto titiqui toto

titiquiti.

Toto tiquiti tiquiti, then it ends tocotico, tocoti toto titiqui

toto titiquiti.

1. Oya moquetz huel oon ma on netotilo teteuctin aya ma

onnetlanehuihuilo chalchihuitl on quetzali patlahuac, ayac ichan

tlalticpac, ayio zan nomac onmania ooo y xochiuh aya ipalnemoa ma

onnetlanehuilo chalchihuitl.

1. Come forth to the dance, ye lords, let there be abundance of

turquoise and feathers; our dwelling on earth is not for long; only

let the gods give me flowers to my hand, give me abundance of

turquoises.

2. Oyohual in colinia o on in icelteotl ipalnemaa Anahuac o onnemia

noyol ayio.

2. Come let us move in the dance in honor of the one only god, the

Giver of Life, while my soul lives by the waters (or, in Anahuac).

3. In yancuica oncan quixima ipalnemoani ca ye Nonoalco ahuilizapan i

in teuctli yehua Nezahualpilli y yece ye oncan aya in tlacoch

tenanpan Atlixco ayio.

3. The Giver of Life made known a new song after the lord

Nezahualpilli entered the strongholds of Nonoalco and sped his arrows

within the walls of Atlixco.

4. Zan momac otitemic motlahuan zomal a ica ticahuiltia icelteotl in

teuctli yehua.

4. Thou hast filled thy plate and thy cup in thy hands and hast

rejoiced in the one only God, the Lord.

5. Y yeho aye icnotlamati noyollo, zan niNonoalcatl, zan can

nicolintototl o nocamapan aya Mexicatl in ca yio.

5. Alas, how I am afflicted in my soul, I, a resident of Nonoalco; I

am like a wild bird, my face is that of a Mexican.

6. On quetzal pipixauhtoc motlachinolxochiuh in ipalnemoa zan ca

nicolintototl, etc.

6. The beauteous flowers of thy battles lie abundantly snowed down, O

Giver of Life; I am like a wild bird, etc.

NOTES FOR SONG XXVI.

This seems to be a song of victory to celebrate an attack upon

Atlixco by the ruler of Tezcuco, the famous Nezahualpilli. This

monarch died in 1516, and therefore the song must antedate this

period, if it is genuine. It has every intrinsic evidence of

antiquity, and I think may justly be classed among those preserved

from a time anterior to the Conquest. According to the chronologies

preserved, the attack of Nezahualpilli upon Atlixco was in the year

XI tochtli, which corresponds to 1490, two years before the

discovery by Columbus (see Orozco y Berra, Hist. Antigua de Mexico,

Tom. III, p. 399).


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