1.
old
Coatlicue snake woman
's sweeping
up
a
feather falleth on her
more
like a ball of feathers 'twas
'twas fluff
that
moment she did pick it up
deposited
it betwixt her legs
then ended
sweeping
would want to take it out
from
legs but nothing's
there that instant
she's
grown pregnant
pregnant
the 400 Brothers saw
their
mother
a
great anger
fills them
"who
hath made thee pregnant
“made
thee into mother
"shame
"it
lays on us
“it shames us
(says their sister Coyolxauhqui)
"brothers
"who
has laid it
"on us has made
"what
grows betwixt her legs
Old
Mother knows it now's
so scared a great weight
lies
on her the child
between
her legs brings
comfort (sez)
"I
know now what I have to do"
Snake
Woman hears her boy's
word
was
a great comfort
calmed
her heart
was blowing full of
little
blisses
2.
thus
joined
400 Brothers would agree
in
turn
those
southerners did then
determine
how
they would take their mother ' s
life
for shaming them
so
fierce 400 Brothers were
were
full of
wrath as if
their hearts were
leaving
them for anger
sweet
sister Coyolxauhqui
's working up & cooling
anger
of her brothers
will
go & kill
old mother
they
prepare for
war
are dressed for it
400
Brothers
strut
like generals
spinning &
tangling
of
hair
entanglement
of headhairs
was among them one
brother
Cuahuitlicac
but
couldn't keep his
word
what
400 Brothers said
he
told to Huitzilopochtli
(answers)
“careful
"little
uncle
"thou should be always standing
guard
“I
got
"some planning of
my own
3.
so
had made up their minds to
kill her
be
finished with old mother
so
fancy
had started marching
'twas
little sister guided them
so
like a bunch of dudes
dressed up for war
had
passed out
(sez)
paper costumes
for
adornment
"thrust
forward
"strut in files
"be
like a perfect squadron
"little
sister
"guide thy way
4.
but
Cuahuitlicac has made it
to peak of mountain
there
he would speak with
Huitzilopochtli
(sez)
"they're coming"
(Huitzlipochtli
sez) "fix
"your
sights on them
"which way they
"coming"
(sez)
"now
'mongst the linnets"
(sez} "now which way"
(sez)
"Snake Sands"
(sez)
"now which"
(sez) "Hanging Terraces"
(sez)
"now"
(sez)
"Mountain Slope"
(then sez) "& now"
(sez)
"at the peak now
"now
400 Brothers
“come
sweet sister
“guiding
5.
was
born that moment
Huitzilopochtli
lined
up his gear
his
shield of eagle feathers
arrowheads blue
spearheads
("turquoisedarts"
so-called)
& paints
his face with
colors
like the "painted child"
puts
on his head a bonnet
of rare feathers
fits
in earplugs (but also had
one
skinny foot wore
feathered sandal on the left painted
his
thighs & arms
in
blue) then one
called Tochancalqui set fire to
the
turquoise spears
went
to give Huitzilopochtli
orders with his dart
the
newborn wounds their sister
Coyolxauhqui
cuts
her throat the head
's
abandoned on Snake Mountain while
body
goes rolling down the slope
smashes to smithereens
here
& there
go
hands
go feet
goes
torso
6.
now
was Huitzilopochtli
swollen now was going in pursuit of
brothers
now
was stalking them
would make them shimmy down would make
400
Southerners
climb
the summit of
Snake Mountain (& when
he
sees them all before him
when
he spots them
on the slope that instant
he
pursues them
stalks
them like rabbits
around the mountain
four
times Huitzilopochtli made them
go
around it four times
pace off the circuit of Snake Mountain
would
vainly try to freak him
with
din of timbrels
vainly would tumble towards him
to
sound of bells on ankles
& banged their shields)
they could make nothing
happen
nothing
worked
out now
now nothing for defense
they
had were stalked by
Huitzilopochtli
drove them off
demolished
them
destroyed
them
wiped them out
did
nothing so much as chase them
hard
did stalk them
harder
&
they would plead with him
they'd
say
"enough's enough
"already
7.
but
Huitzilopochtli couldn't stop
with greater fire
would
burn his anger at them
& pursued
them
only a few escaped his presence
squirmed
from his hands they headed
south
(would afterwards be called
the Southerners
400
brothers gone
that
one direction)
those who had fled his hand like those
he
killed on whom
he
gorged his anger
Huitzilopochtli
did
strip their clothes from
decorations
weapons
he
took possession of & joined
unto
his office
made them the marks of what
he
would become
COMMENTARY
source. English
working by Jerome Rothenberg after Spanish prose version in Angel María
Garibay’s Epica Nahuatl, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1945.
(1) Going back to
Nahuatl sources delivered soon after the Conquest. Huitzilopochtli himself was
not only the Aztec war-god, but god of the Fifth Sun – of the era, that is,
into which this world was moving, itself represented by the (hieroglyphic) sign
“movement”; more specifically, according to Laurette Séjourné (Burning Water,
1956), by a movement towards liberation from contradiction & duality:
"Huitzilopochtli, image of this sun, disguised as a (humming)bird & with
fire as his sign, represented the soul of a combatant in the holy war." He is also in this mode the counterpart to
his sister Coyolxauhqui (above) as goddess/image of the moon.
(2) From another manuscript of Bernardino de Sahagún, the
following hymn to Huitzilopochtli gathers praise names & powers, as noted/translated
circa 1890 by Daniel G. Brinton (Rig Veda
Americanus):
Vitzilopuchtli
Can maceualli Can tlacatl catca. Naualli Tetzauitl Atlacacemelle Teixcuepani Quiyocoyani in yaoyotl Yautecani Yautlatoani; Ca itechpa mitoaya Tepan quitlaza In xiuhcoatl Immamalhuaztli Quitoznequi yaoyotl Teoatl tlachinolli. Auh iniquac ilhuiq'xtililoya Malmicouaya Tlaaltilmicoaya Tealtilaya impochteca. Auh inic mochichiuaya: Xiuhtotonacoche catca Xiuhcoanauale Xiuhtlalpile Matacaxe Tzitzile Oyuvale. |
Huitzilopochtli,
Only a subject, Only a mortal, A magician, A terror, A stirrer of strife, A deceiver, A maker of war, An arranger of battles, A lord of battles; And of him it was said That he hurled His flaming serpent, His fire stick; Which means war, Blood and burning; And when his festival was celebrated, Captives were slain, Washed slaves were slain, The merchants washed them. And thus he was arrayed: With head-dress of green feathers, Holding his serpent torch, Girded with a belt, Bracelets upon his arms, Wearing turquoises, As a master of messengers. |
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