Song LII — Upon the Mesquite
Song LII is the second Quauhacayotl — the second Eagle Song in the war-song cycle. Where Song LI was a compressed six-section invocation, Song LII unfolds across eleven sections into a full ceremonial war-song. It opens with Chichimec warriors gathering at the Shield-House, crossing the Nine Plains in a single breath. Then the singer offers flower-cacao to Moctezuma and scatters the quetzal-magnolia and cacao-flower through Huexotzinco. His heart weeps among the mountains. At the house of the Only God, flower-intoxication reigns and the lord Tlailotlac sings upon the flowers.
The song's climax is one of the great transformation sequences in the Cantares: Moctezuma descends in flowers and Nezahualcoyotl descends in war — both upon the mesquite tree. The ancient warrior-god Mixcoatl becomes eagle-bird and jaguar. Then the song reaches backward through time to the founding ancestors — Acamapichtli and Huitzilihuitl, the first Mexica tlatoque — and forward to Nezahualcoyotl guarding the Mixcohua-house and the Oztomeca-house.
Song LII occupies folios 36v through the beginning of 37r, sections 690 through 700. The drum preamble "Coto coto co tico ticoti" marks the song's opening. Nahuatl source text accessed from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx). Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Coto coto co tico ticoti ticoti ticoti.
[section 690]
Only a moment at the water's edge —
only a moment, then from there they gathered —
the Chichimecs.
At the Shield-House they came moving —
one comes, pursuing them
across the Nine Plains.
[section 691]
I offer, I offer
the flower-cacao —
may I go to his home,
my prince Moctezuma.
[section 692]
The good, the very precious,
the quetzal-crown —
may I come to know it.
I go to his home.
[section 693]
No heart knows —
the quetzal-magnolia, the cacao-flower —
I scatter them here,
rushing through Huexotzinco,
among the waters.
[section 694]
How many suns?
I have arrived among the mountains.
My heart weeps and sorrows.
May my heart be a flower
painted with precious feathers —
there in the house of God,
the Only God.
Upon the flowers sings
the lord Tlailotlac.
[section 695]
Let there be flower-intoxication!
Let the feast be celebrated,
O princes!
At the house of quetzal-dancing,
our Father, the Only God.
Upon the flowers sings
the lord Tlailotlac.
[section 696]
At the turquoise wall you stood —
there is agitation
among the quetzal mountains,
in Anahuac —
the oztomeca warrior goes.
[section 697]
There I overtook
the Coixtlahuacans —
I carry their turquoise shield
upon my back.
I give shade
to the sustenance-flower.
[section 698]
They descend, they descend —
upon the mesquite,
cutting flowers.
Moctezuma descends.
In war descends Nezahualcoyotl —
they pursue Anahuac,
they interweave.
[section 699]
Eagle-bird he became —
Jaguar Mixcoatl —
upon the mesquite,
in the net-cage.
The lord Mixcoatl,
the prince Nezahualcoyotl.
[section 700]
Your ancestors earned it —
Acamapichtli, Huitzilihuitl —
of the great land, Acolhuacan.
He made you guard
the Mixcohua-house,
the Oztomeca-house —
Nezahualcoyotl.
Colophon
Song LII of the Cantares Mexicanos, folios 36v–37r, sections 690–700 (eleven sections). The second Quauhacayotl — Eagle Song — following the genre's opening invocation in Song LI.
This is a ceremonial war-song that spans Mexica history from the Chichimec migrations to the courts of Moctezuma and Nezahualcoyotl. The opening sections (§§690–693) trace movement from the Shield-House across the Nine Plains to Huexotzinco, the great Nahua city-state in Puebla-Tlaxcala. The middle sections (§§694–695) pivot to devotional song, with the lord Tlailotlac singing upon the flowers at the house of the Only God (Ycelteotl, the syncretic colonial-era title for the supreme deity). The climactic sections (§§698–699) stage the eagle-jaguar transformation — Moctezuma descends and Nezahualcoyotl descends in war, both upon the mesquite tree, the battlefield tree. The ancient hunter-god Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent) becomes eagle and jaguar. The closing (§700) anchors all of this in dynastic memory: the great ancestors Acamapichtli and Huitzilihuitl, the first and second Mexica tlatoque (rulers), earned the great land of Acolhuacan.
The mizquitl (mesquite) that recurs in §§698–699 is the battlefield tree — the place where warriors descend for combat. The matlahuacalco (net-cage) in §699 evokes both the trap of war and the net of fate.
Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl via the UNAM TEMOA transcription of the Cantares Mexicanos (MS 1628 bis, Biblioteca Nacional de México). Lexical verification via Molina's Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana (1571) and Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (1983). No existing English translation was consulted or followed. The León-Portilla Spanish translation was used solely as a cross-reference after independent Nahuatl parsing. This is the first free literary English translation of this song.
Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Scribed by Xochitl.
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Source Text
Cantares Mexicanos, folios 36v–37r, sections 690–700. Classical Nahuatl text from the UNAM TEMOA digital transcription. Footnote markers from the León-Portilla critical edition removed.
Coto coto co tico ticoti ticoti ticoti. Coto cotoco tico ticoti ticoti ticoti. Coto coto coti ticoti ticoti.
§690 Yn oquic niman atempan i çan oquic nima ye onca ya hualoloque ye chichimeca aya chimalcalco hualolinque ce huitze quihualtoca Chiucnauhixtlahuatl ayiyo
§691 Nicmana ya nicmana ya xochincacahuatl ma ya onihuaya ye ichan nopiltzin Moteucçomatzin o ancayome
§692 Yn yectli ya huelaçotli ya quetzalayahualolli ma ya nic yximati ye ichan niauh etcetera
§693 O ayac yiol quimati in quetzalpoyomaxochitl cacahuaxochitl nicmomoyahua nican a ihpotoca ya ye Huexotzinco atlia itzalan ayo
§694 Yn quezqui tonatiuh ayo niyecoc tepetitlan i in chooca noyolio icnotlamati yiya ma xochitl noyollo quetzalihcuiliuhtoc yyaa yehua ichan i yehuan Dios Ycelteotl aye ohuaya ye xochiticpac cuican tlailotlac teuctli ayyaoco ayyahue
§695 Ma xochiyhuintihua ya ma ilhuitlamacho ya antepilhuan man quetzalitotiloichan totatzin Ycelteotl ye etcetera Ye xochiticpac cuican tlailotlac teuctli ayyaoco ayyahue
§696 Y xiuhtenampan aya tonycacaya o onca milintoc in quetzaltepetitlan anqui Anahuac yya oo oztomecatl huihue yyao aiai
§697 A ompa nicahcito ya coaixtlahua yxiuhchimal nicmeme nic e'cahui oo tonacaxochitl ayye ayiai
§698 Temohuaci temohuaci yohuaya mizquitl icpac neteco oya xochitl temo ya Moteucçomatzi tlachinoltemo ya Neçahualcoyotzin Anahuatl quitoca milinia ya
§699 Quauhtlin tototl ye mochiuh oceloMixcoatl mizquitl icpac matlahuacalco oya tlacatl Mixcoatl pilli Neçahualcoyotzi yyoohui can ihuaya oya yoohui canihua yooya
§700 Ye quimaceuhque mocolihua Acamapich Huitzilihuitl huey tlalli aColihuacan i mitzpielti mixcohuacalli oztomecacalli Nezahualcoyotzin yoohui çan ihuaya oya yoohui çan ihuaya yo oya etcetera
Source Colophon
Source text from the Cantares Mexicanos (MS 1628 bis), Biblioteca Nacional de México, sixteenth century. Transcription accessed via the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx). The manuscript transcription is made available by the Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas, UNAM, under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Reproduced for non-commercial archival use under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
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