Songs of Flowers and Parting
Draft: this translation has not yet been checked against the original by a separate review.
- Written
- sung before and after the Spanish conquest; written down in the sixteenth century; printed 1887
- Place
- Mexico-Tenochtitlan
- Language
- Classical Nahuatl
- Kind of source
- poetry
- Reading time
- 3 minutes
- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Intensity
- Low
MesoamericaPoetryIndigenous American beliefsDeath and burial
“We only borrowed Nezahualcoyotzin for a little while,” a singer says of the poet-king of Texcoco. “No one lives twice on earth.” In the songs around it, the singers gather flowers, beat the drum for the dance, and weep because they must leave their songs behind.
These three songs come from a Nahuatl manuscript called Cantares de los Mexicanos, “Songs of the Mexicans”, written down in Latin letters after the Spanish conquest by several hands. The songs were sung with drums at festivals, and each one here opens with syllables that seem to give the drum's part. Song XXIII is the only one in the collection named for Nezahualcoyotl, ruler of Texcoco from about 1427 until his death in 1472, who was famous as a poet.
We cannot know who made these songs or when. Some may be older than the conquest; others were reworked later. Song XXIII is a dialogue in which one voice speaks as the king, but its last verse remembers him as someone gone, so it was sung, at least in this form, after his death.
Our text is that printed in 1887 by Daniel G. Brinton, an American physician and scholar of Native languages. He worked from a copy of the manuscript made by the French scholar Brasseur de Bourbourg, could not have it checked against the original, and said he had no help from Nahuatl scholars. His text has copying errors and doubtful word divisions, and his English often guesses. Our translation is new, but many lines remain uncertain, and the doubts are marked.
Watch for flowers and song, the singers' pairing for all that is fine and does not last, and for the land of the dead, which the songs call Mictlan and “the place where somehow we live on”.
The edited translation, in simplified modern English. Bracketed words were added for clarity; [...] marks a cut. Tap a note number to read the note.
Song XXII
Tico tico ticoti, tico tico ticoti, and the song ends with totoco totoco.1
In the place of weeping2 I, the singer, look at my flowers. They lie in my hand. They make my heart drunk. My song goes about everywhere, but my heart is only sad.
In a place green as turquoise, as precious jade,3 I think on my song. Let my flowers be fine! They lie in my hand, and so on.
In the place of precious jade I know it: my song is fine, my flowers are fine. My friends, you princes, be glad! No one will live [for long] on the earth.
I will take them with me when I go: my fine song, my fine flowers, my friends, you princes.
Huayanco,4 I wept; huayanco, as I leave I scatter flowers.
Will you really go with me to the place where somehow we live on?5 I will not take the flowers there; I am only a singer. Be glad while we are alive, and listen to my song.
Ah, I wept, I the singer. The song of the place of delight went down to Mictlan.6 Fine flowers are there, twisting and turning.
No fine wrappings, no riches, you princes: [only] the song of the place of delight.7
Song XXIII: The Song of Nezahualcoyotzin
The song of Nezahualcoyotzin. Totoco totoco tico, totoco totoco, and it ends with tico titico ti tico tico.
I set up our drum. I make the eagle and jaguar warriors8 dance where you stand, among the flowers of song. I seek songs to adorn us.
You, my prince, you, Nezahualcoyotl, you have gone to Mictlan, to the place where somehow we live on.
I wept, I, Nezahualcoyotl, thinking how I too will go, how I will perish in the place of the dead. Now I leave you, my god, Giver of Life.9 You command me, and now I will go; I will perish.
How will the land of Acolihuacan10 endure? Will you someday scatter your people? Now I leave you, my god, and so on.
Song alone adorns us, and even what we have painted will be lost, you princes.11 No one has a home on earth. We will leave the fragrant flowers behind for good.
No one will use up your riches, Giver of Life. My heart knows it: we only borrowed Nezahualcoyotzin for a little while. No one comes back a second time to his home here on earth. No one lives twice on earth. I, only a singer, wept as I remembered Nezahualcoyotl.
Come here now, god, Giver of Life. I wept as I remembered Nezahualcoyotl.
Song XXIV
Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti tocoto tocoti, and so it goes back to the start.
Let us sing of flowers. The flowers that make us drunk have come. Now the poyomatl12 is here, spreading as it comes.
The flowers have come here. In the place of flowers they spread out and fall like rain, flowers of every kind. The drum is sounding: let the dancing begin!
The precious poyomatl, which no one could paint; my heart; I, the singer: the flowers rain down. Be glad! Inside my heart alone the flowers of song burst open, and I scatter them in the place of flowers.
When I go, I will wrap myself in songs.13 Someday my heart will go mingled with flowers, among the princes and the lords.
That is why I sometimes weep. I say: I will leave behind my fame of flowers, my name in song. Someday [my heart] will go mingled with flowers, and so on.
Notes
- Probably the beats and two notes of the teponaztli, a wooden drum that, Brinton says, gave two notes. Many songs in the manuscript open this way. back
- The first word is uncertain. Brinton read it as “place of tears”, and that reading is kept here. back
- Xiuhtlamatelolla, from xihuitl, “turquoise” or “grass”, and a word Brinton read as “ointment”. Turquoise and jade, green and precious, stand for what is fine. back
- Huayanco is not understood. Brinton took it for a cry. back
- Quenonamican, “the place where somehow one lives”, a name for the land of the dead. back
- Mictlan, “the place of the dead”, the land below where most of the dead went. back
- The words for this place are uncertain. Brinton thought the ohuicaloyan, “place of danger”, at the end of the song was a copying error for ahuicaloyan, “place of delight”, in the verse before, and both are read so here. back
- Quauhtlocelo, “eagle-jaguar”, the two highest orders of Nahua warriors. Brinton read the word as “power and grandeur”. back
- Ipalnemohua, “he by whom one lives”, a title of the highest god. back
- Acolhuacan, the land of the Acolhua on the east side of the lake of Mexico, with Texcoco as its capital. Nezahualcoyotl was its ruler. back
- The opening of this verse is uncertain. Totlacuilol, “our painting” or “our writing”, may mean the painted books in which songs and histories were kept. The words maya o huitihua nican are not understood and are left out. back
- A fragrant flower; Brinton says it was like the rose. back
- The verb is the one used for wrapping the dead in cloth for burial. back
Tico tico ticoti tico tico ticoti auh ic ontlantiuh in cuicatl totoco totoco.
Tico tico ticoti tico tico ticoti, and with this the song goes ending: totoco totoco.
Tico tico ticoti, tico tico ticoti, and the song ends with totoco totoco.
Tico, tico, ticoti, tico, tico, ticoti, and then the song ends with totoco, totoco.
- Probably the beats and two notes of the teponaztli, a wooden drum that, Brinton says, gave two notes. Many songs in the manuscript open this way.
Xichocayan nicuicanitl nicitta noxochiuh zan nomac ommania zan quihuintia ye noyollo ni cuicatl aya nohuian nemia, zan ca ye noyollo notlayocola in cayo.
[In the] place of weeping [? Xichocayan] I the singer, I see my flowers; only in my hand they lie; they only intoxicate my heart; I [?] the song [ni cuicatl: perhaps “my song”], everywhere it went about [nohuian nemia]; only my heart [is] sad [notlayocol].
In the place of weeping I, the singer, look at my flowers. They lie in my hand. They make my heart drunk. My song goes about everywhere, but my heart is only sad.
In the place of tears I the singer watch my flowers; they are in my hand; they intoxicate my soul and my song, as I walk alone with them, with my sad soul among them.
- The first word is uncertain. Brinton read it as “place of tears”, and that reading is kept here.
Xiuhtlamatelolla quetzalchalchiuhtla ipan ye nicmatia nocuic aya ma yectlaxochitl y, zan nomac ton mania, etc.
Upon the turquoise-ointment place [? xiuhtlamatelolla], the precious-jade place, I come to know my song; let [them be] good flowers; only in my hand they lie, etc.
In a place green as turquoise, as precious jade, I think on my song. Let my flowers be fine! They lie in my hand, and so on.
In this spot, where the herbage is like sweet ointment and green as the turquoise and emerald, I think upon my song, holding the beauteous flowers in my hand, etc. (as in v. 1).
- Xiuhtlamatelolla, from xihuitl, “turquoise” or “grass”, and a word Brinton read as “ointment”. Turquoise and jade, green and precious, stand for what is fine.
In quetzalin chalchiuhtla ipan ye nicmatia yectli ye nocuic yectli noxochiuh annicuihuan tepilhuan aya xonahuiacan a ayac onnemiz o in tlalticpac ayo.
On the precious-jade place I come to know: good [is] my song, good my flowers; you my friends [? annicuihuan], you princes [tepilhuan]: rejoice; no one will live on earth [for long].
In the place of precious jade I know it: my song is fine, my flowers are fine. My friends, you princes, be glad! No one will live [for long] on the earth.
In this spot of turquoise and emerald, I think upon beauteous songs, beauteous flowers; let us rejoice now, dear friends and children, for life is not long upon earth.
O an niquitquiz ye niaz yectli nocuic yectli noxochiuhui annicuihuan tepilhuan aya.
I will carry [them], now I will go: good my song, good my flowers, you my friends [?], you princes.
I will take them with me when I go: my fine song, my fine flowers, my friends, you princes.
I shall hasten forth, I shall go to the sweet songs, the sweet flowers, dear friends and children.
O huayanco o nichocaya a huayanco o cahua y yahue nictzetzelo xochitl ay yo.
[huayanco: not understood] I was weeping, [huayanco], [cahua: leave?] ... I scatter flowers.
Huayanco, I wept; huayanco, as I leave I scatter flowers.
O he! I cried aloud; O he! I rained down flowers as I left.
- Huayanco is not understood. Brinton took it for a cry.
Mach nohuan tonyaz quennonamica o ah nicitquiz xochitl zan nicuicanitl huiya ma yo a xonahuiyacan to ya nemia ticaqui ye nocuic ahuaya.
Is it [so, mach] that you will go with me to Quenonamican [the place where somehow one lives]? I will not carry the flowers [ah = not]; I [am] only a singer; rejoice [while] you live [? to ya nemia]; you hear my song.
Will you really go with me to the place where somehow we live on? I will not take the flowers there; I am only a singer. Be glad while we are alive, and listen to my song.
Let us go forth anywhere; I the singer shall find and bring forth the flowers; let us be glad while we live; listen to my song.
- Quenonamican, “the place where somehow one lives”, a name for the land of the dead.
Ay ca nichocaya nicuicanitl ya icha ahuicaloyan cuicatl ha Mictlan temohuiloya yectliya xochitl onca ya oncaa y yao ohuayan ca ya ilaca tziuhan ca na y yo.
Ah, I was weeping, I the singer; [its home? ya icha] the song of the place of delight [ahuicaloyan]; to Mictlan one was going down [temohuiloya]; good flowers there ... [ilacatziuhan: twisting? not understood].
Ah, I wept, I the singer. The song of the place of delight went down to Mictlan. Fine flowers are there, twisting and turning.
I the poet cry out a song for a place of joy, a glorious song which descends to Mictlan, and there turns about and comes forth again.
- Mictlan, “the place of the dead”, the land below where most of the dead went.
Amo nequimilool amo neccuiltonol antepilhuan aychaa ohuicaloyan cuicatl.
Not [a] wrapping [nequimilolli: wrap, cloak, shroud], not riches, you princes; [its home? aychaa] the song of the place of danger [ohuicaloyan; perhaps for ahuicaloyan, place of delight].
No fine wrappings, no riches, you princes: [only] the song of the place of delight.
I seek neither vestment nor riches, O children, but a song for a place of joy.
- The words for this place are uncertain. Brinton thought the ohuicaloyan, “place of danger”, at the end of the song was a copying error for ahuicaloyan, “place of delight”, in the verse before, and both are read so here.
Ycuic Nezahualcoyotzin. Totoco totoco tico, totoco totoco ic ontlantiuh tico titico ti tico tico.
His song [of] Nezahualcoyotzin. Totoco totoco tico, totoco totoco, with this it goes ending: tico titico ti tico tico.
The song of Nezahualcoyotzin. Totoco totoco tico, totoco totoco, and it ends with tico titico ti tico tico.
Songs of the Prince Nezahualcoyotl. Totoco, totoco, tico, totoco totoco, then it ends with tico titico, titico, tico.
Nicaya quetza con tohuehueuh aoniquimitotia quauhtlocelo yn ca tiyayhcac in cuicaxochitl, nictemoan cuicatl ye tonequimilol ayyo.
I set up our drum [tohuehueuh]; I make them dance, the eagles [and] jaguars [quauhtlocelo], where you stand [? yn ca tiyayhcac], the song-flowers; I seek songs, our wrapping [tonequimilol: our adornment].
I set up our drum. I make the eagle and jaguar warriors dance where you stand, among the flowers of song. I seek songs to adorn us.
I bring forth our drum that I may show the power and the grandeur in which thou standest, decked with flowers of song: I seek a song wherewith to drape thee, ah! oh!
- Quauhtlocelo, “eagle-jaguar”, the two highest orders of Nahua warriors. Brinton read the word as “power and grandeur”.
Ti Nopiltzi o ti Nezahualcoyotl o tiya Mictl a quenonamica y yece miyoncan ay yo.
You, my prince [nopiltzin], you Nezahualcoyotl, you went [or: are going] to Mictlan, to Quenonamican; [yece miyoncan: not understood].
You, my prince, you, Nezahualcoyotl, you have gone to Mictlan, to the place where somehow we live on.
Thou, my Lord, O thou Nezahualcoyotl, thou goest to Mictlan in some manner and at a fixed time, ere long.
Quiyon quiyon caya nichocaya ya ni Nezahualcoyotl huiya queni yeno yaz o ya nipolihuiz oya miquitla ye nimitzcahua noteouh ypalnemo o tinechnahuatia ye niaz nipolihuiz aya, yo.
[Quiyon quiyon: not understood] I was weeping, I Nezahualcoyotl, how I too will go, I will perish, [to the place of the dead? miquitla]; now I leave you, my god, Giver of Life [ypalnemo]; you command me: now I will go, I will perish.
I wept, I, Nezahualcoyotl, thinking how I too will go, how I will perish in the place of the dead. Now I leave you, my god, Giver of Life. You command me, and now I will go; I will perish.
For this, for this, I weep, I Nezahualcoyotl, inasmuch as I am to go, I am to be lost in death, I must leave thee; my God, the Giver of Life, thou commandest me, that I go forth, that I be lost, alas.
- Ipalnemohua, “he by whom one lives”, a title of the highest god.
Quenon maniz tlallin Acolihuacan huiya cuixoca quen mano o ticmomoyahuaz in momacehuali ye nimitzcahua noteouh, etc.
How will the land [of] Acolihuacan endure? Perhaps [cuix] some time [? quen mano] you will scatter your vassals [momacehual]? Now I leave you, my god, etc.
How will the land of Acolihuacan endure? Will you someday scatter your people? Now I leave you, my god, and so on.
How shall the land of Acolhuacan remain, alas? How shall we, thy servants, spread abroad its fame? I must leave thee; my God, etc.
- Acolhuacan, the land of the Acolhua on the east side of the lake of Mexico, with Texcoco as its capital. Nezahualcoyotl was its ruler.
Can yio cuicatli tonequimilol quipoloaya a in totlacuiloli tepilhuan oo maya o huitihua nican aya ayac ichan tlalticpac oo ticyacencahuazque huelic ye xochitl ayio.
Only song [is] our wrapping [tonequimilol]; it destroys [? quipoloaya] our painting [totlacuilol], you princes; [maya o huitihua nican: not understood]; no one [has] his home on earth; we will leave entirely the fragrant flowers.
Song alone adorns us, and even what we have painted will be lost, you princes. No one has a home on earth. We will leave the fragrant flowers behind for good.
Even this song for thy draping may perish, which we have written for our children, it will no longer have a home here on earth when we shall wholly leave these fragrant flowers.
- The opening of this verse is uncertain. Totlacuilol, “our painting” or “our writing”, may mean the painted books in which songs and histories were kept. The words maya o huitihua nican are not understood and are left out.
O ayac quitlamitaz monecuiltonol ypalnemoa a noyolquimati cuelachic otictlanehuico Nezahualcoyotzin ay oppatihua nican anaya y chan tlpc. Oon yn ay oppatihua in tlalticpacqui, zan nicuicanitl ayaho onnichocaya niquelnamiqui Nezahualcoyotl aya ho.
Oh, no one [ayac] will use up your riches, Giver of Life; my heart knows [it]: only for a little while we came to borrow Nezahualcoyotzin; not a second time [does he come] here to his home on earth [tlpc = tlalticpac]. Not a second time does one go [live] on earth; only I the singer was weeping, I remember Nezahualcoyotl.
No one will use up your riches, Giver of Life. My heart knows it: we only borrowed Nezahualcoyotzin for a little while. No one comes back a second time to his home here on earth. No one lives twice on earth. I, only a singer, wept as I remembered Nezahualcoyotl.
Alas! thy riches shall end; the Giver of Life teaches me that but for a little while do we enjoy the prince Nezahualcoyotl, nor a second time will he come to his house on earth; no second time will he rejoice on earth; but I the singer grieve, recalling to memory Nezahualcoyotl.
Xo acico ye nican in teotl aya ypalnemoa, ayaho on nichocaya a niquelnamiqui Nezalhuacoyotl ayio.
[Xo acico: come, arrive? not certain] now here, the god, Giver of Life; I was weeping, I remember Nezahualcoyotl.
Come here now, god, Giver of Life. I wept as I remembered Nezahualcoyotl.
Let us seek while here the god, the Giver of Life; I grieve, recalling to memory Nezahualcoyotl.
Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti tocoto tocoti zan ic mocueptiuh.
Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti tocoto tocoti, and with this it goes turning back.
Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti tocoto tocoti, and so it goes back to the start.
Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti, tocoto, tocoti, then it is to turn back again.
Ma xochicuicoya ma ichtoa nichuana ayyahue teyhuinti xochitl ao ya noyehcoc ye nica poyoma xahuallan timaliuhtihuitz ay yo.
Let [there be] flower-singing [? ma xochicuicoya]; [ma ichtoa nichuana: not understood]; the intoxicating flowers have come; now here [nica = nican] the poyomatl [poyoma], [xahuallan?], you come spreading [timaliuhtihuitz].
Let us sing of flowers. The flowers that make us drunk have come. Now the poyomatl is here, spreading as it comes.
Let me pluck flowers, let me see them, let me gather the really intoxicating flowers; the flowers are ready, many colored, varied in hue, for our enjoyment.
- A fragrant flower; Brinton says it was like the rose.
Ma xochitl oyecoc ye nican ayyahue çan tlaahuixochitla moyahuaya motzetzeloa ancazo yehuatl in nepapaxochitl ayyo. Zan commoni huehuetl ma ya netotilo.
[Ma] the flowers have come here; only in the place of [fragrant?] flowers [tlaahuixochitla] they were spreading, they rain down; perhaps [? ancazo] it is the various flowers. Only the drum [huehuetl] sounds [? commoni]: let there be dancing.
The flowers have come here. In the place of flowers they spread out and fall like rain, flowers of every kind. The drum is sounding: let the dancing begin!
The flowers are ready here in this retired spot, this spot of fragrant flowers, many sorts of flowers are poured down and scattered about; let the drum be ready for the dance.
Yn quetzal poyomatl ayc ihcuilihuic noyol nicuicanitl in xochitl ayan tzetzelihui ya ancuel ni cuiya ma xonahuacan ayio zan noyolitic ontlapanion cuicaxochitl nicyamoyahuaya yxoochitla.
The precious poyomatl, never painted [? ayc ihcuilihuic], my heart, I the singer; the flowers [ayan?] rain down; [ancuel ni cuiya: not understood; perhaps “come, take them”]; rejoice; only inside my heart the song-flowers burst open [ontlapanion; Brinton: are dyed]; I scatter them [in] the flower place.
The precious poyomatl, which no one could paint; my heart; I, the singer: the flowers rain down. Be glad! Inside my heart alone the flowers of song burst open, and I scatter them in the place of flowers.
I the singer take and pour down before you from my soul the beautiful poyomatl, not to be painted, and other flowers; let us rejoice, while I alone within my soul disclose the songs of flowers, and scatter them abroad in the place of flowers.
Cuicatl ya ninoquinilotehuaz in quemmanian xochineneliuhtiaz noyollo yehuan tepilhuan oonteteuctin in ca yio.
Song, I will go wrapping myself [in it] [ninoquimilotehuaz]; sometime my heart will go mingled with flowers, with the princes, with the lords.
When I go, I will wrap myself in songs. Someday my heart will go mingled with flowers, among the princes and the lords.
I shall leave my songs in order that sometime I may mingle the flowers of my heart with the children and the nobles.
- The verb is the one used for wrapping the dead in cloth for burial.
Zan ye ic nichoca in quemanian zan nicaya ihtoa noxochiteyo nocuicatoca nictlalitehuaz in quemanian xochineneliuhtiaz, etc.
Only for this I weep sometimes; only [nicaya ihtoa: I say?]: my flower-fame [noxochiteyo], my song-name [nocuicatoca], I will leave set down; sometime [it] will go mingled with flowers, etc.
That is why I sometimes weep. I say: I will leave behind my fame of flowers, my name in song. Someday [my heart] will go mingled with flowers, and so on.
I weep sometimes as I see that I must leave the earth and my flowers and songs, that sometime these flowers will be vain and useless.
Who and what this source names, in the original. Each name links to every source in the library that mentions it. Not yet checked.
Ideas
- Drums and dance The upright skin drum (huehuetl) and the slit log drum (teponaztli) that sounded for Nahua songs and dances at festivals. Sections XXIII.1, XXIV.2.
- Eagle and jaguar warriors The two highest orders of Nahua warriors, named for the eagle and the jaguar; in Nahuatl songs the pair stands for warriors and war. Sections XXIII.1.
- Flower and song In Nahuatl poetry, flowers and songs stand together for poetry itself and for all that is fine and does not last. Sections XXII.1, XXIII.1, XXIV.3.
- Mictlan, the land of the dead In Nahua belief, “the place of the dead”, below the earth, where most of the dead went. The songs also call it Quenonamican, “the place where somehow one lives”. Sections XXII.6, XXII.7, XXIII.2.
People
- Ipalnemohua (Giver of Life) “He by whom one lives”, a Nahuatl title of the highest god, used often in the songs of the Cantares mexicanos. Sections XXIII.3, XXIII.6, XXIII.7.
- Nezahualcoyotl Ruler of Texcoco, the chief city of the Acolhua, from about 1431 until his death in 1472. With the Mexica he overthrew the Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco; he was remembered as a lawgiver, builder and poet. Sections XXIII.0, XXIII.2, XXIII.3, XXIII.6, XXIII.7.
Places
- Acolhuacan The land of the Acolhua on the east side of the lake of Mexico, whose capital was Texcoco. Nezahualcoyotl ruled it in the fifteenth century. Sections XXIII.4.
Page images of the original object or of the printed edition, from the libraries and archives that hold them. The pages shown are copied here where the holder marks them public domain; titles link to the holder's own viewer. Click a page to see it full size.
Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, Philadelphia 1887 (University of California copy)
Internet Archive. pp. 116–121. Public domain (published 1887); the Internet Archive record says not in copyright.
The edition our text follows: the Nahuatl on the left-hand pages, Brinton's English facing it.
Other translations of this passage. Links go to copies that are free to read online.
Daniel G. Brinton, 1887. English. Public domain.
All three songs, verse by verse; shown in the Read tab.
New translation from the Nahuatl text printed by Daniel G. Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry (Philadelphia, 1887), pages 116, 118 and 120: three complete songs.
Nahuatl song is hard to translate, and Brinton's text has copying errors. Where we could not understand a word, the literal says so in brackets and a footnote names it; a few interjections and filler syllables (aya, ayyo, huiya, ohuaya) are left out of the English. In several places we read the Nahuatl differently from Brinton: for example, ayac and ah are negatives (“no one”, “not”) in XXII.6 and XXIII.6, and quauhtlocelo means eagle and jaguar warriors (XXIII.1).
Brinton's English is shown beside ours, verse by verse, on the Read tab.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: Daniel G. Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature 7 (Philadelphia: D. G. Brinton, 1887), songs XXII–XXIV, pp. 116–121. Digital text: Project Gutenberg ebook 12219, read against the page images of Internet Archive item ancientnahuatlpo00brinrich (University of California copy). Brinton's Nahuatl text only; his notes and vocabulary are not copied.
- Transliterated
- Not needed: the original is in the Latin alphabet
- Close English
- Close translation, kept as a working draft
- Simplified English
- Made by Hearth from the original. Not yet checked by a separate review.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: public domain. Our translations and notes: CC BY-SA 4.0; credit “Hearth Library, hearthinteractive.com” with a link.
Sources for the notes
- Brinton, Daniel G. Ancient Nahuatl Poetry. Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature 7. Philadelphia: D. G. Brinton, 1887. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/ancientnahuatlpo00brinrich. Also Project Gutenberg ebook 12219. Preface; introduction §§ 5, 8 and 9; songs XXII–XXIV, pp. 116–121; notes to songs XXII–XXIV; vocabulary and index of names.