Song XL — Teponazcuicatl (He Goes to That Far Tlapallan)
Song XL carries the manuscript rubric Nican ompehua Teponazcuicatl — "Here begins a drum song" — and opens folio 26v with the percussive notation Tico tico toco toto, marking it as a teponaztli-accompanied composition. It spans folios 26v through 27v (§§483–511, twenty-nine sections) and is the most structurally varied song yet encountered in this translation project: four movements of distinct voice, subject, and register, held together by the teponaztli drum.
The first movement (§§483–486) belongs to Cuacuauhtzin of Tepechpan, the named poet of Song XXXIX, whose voice continues here in an extended cycle. He is in want — ninentlamati, the word for purposeless grief, destitution without cause — and calls to his companions: will you not rejoice? I will take the good flower, the good song. The refrain ahuayyao punctuates each appeal.
The second movement (§§487–496) is the legendary departure of Nacxitl Topiltzin from Tollan — the same narrative engine as the Anales de Cuauhtitlan and the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, but here rendered as sung lament. Nacxitl Topiltzin, the Toltec priest-king known elsewhere as Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, abandons his serpent-column palace and makes the long journey eastward: Cholula, Acallan, the coastal trading centers, and finally the legendary Tlapallan, where he is "going to be lost." The refrain "ye yauh in polihuitiuh nechcan Tlapallan" — he goes, going to be lost in that far Tlapallan — is among the most haunting in the Cantares. §§495–496 pivot from grief to permanence: the stone and wood of Tollan still bear his inscription. Your name will never perish, the singer addresses the departed lord.
The third movement (§§497–502, folio 27r) was present in the UNAM TEMOA digital view but could not be fully rendered in this session. The tracker identifies it as containing colonial-syncretic register (Santa María, obispo, Ycelteotl). It is noted here as a gap; see Colophon.
The fourth movement (§§503–511, folio 27v) shifts to the devotional flower-song register familiar from Songs XVIII, XXX, and XXXIII. The singer carves the song into stone and wood. The cacao flower scatters its fragrance. The laughing quetzal-butterfly-flower scatters the painted writing for Moteucçoma's joy. The Giver of Life receives the singer's deep desire. The quetzal flower sprouts at the drum. The song closes on the war-mountain, facing skyward, standing in flower-radiance before God.
Key vocabulary: teponazcuicatl (drum song — a song performed to the teponaztli, the two-toned horizontal slit drum central to Nahua ceremony; the teponaztli was carved from a single log and resonated the voice of ancestors and deities), Nacxitl Topiltzin (a name-aspect of Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl; nacxitl means "four-foot" in Nahuatl, a name associated with the Gulf Coast tradition; he is the culture-hero priest-king whose departure from Tollan is the founding myth of Toltec diaspora memory), polihui (to perish, be lost, dissolve — the same root as tlapallan, "place where things go to be lost/end"), coatlaquetzalli (the standing feathered-serpent columns of Tula's great hall — coatl = serpent, quetzalli = precious/green feather; the iconic archaeological columns of Tula Hidalgo still standing today), cuicanelhuayotl (the root of song — cuicatl = song + nelhuayotl = root/foundation; the deepest source from which song arises), tlachinoltepec (the war-mountain — tlachinolli = the ceremonial war-fire, the burning of conquest + tepetl = mountain; here a spiritual peak where human war meets divine radiance).
Song XL spans folios 26v through 27v, sections 483–511. Nahuatl source text accessed from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), Cantares Mexicanos manuscript. The Cantares Mexicanos is held at the Biblioteca Nacional de México. Digital facsimile and transcription by UNAM's Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas. Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Tico tico toco toto —
and so the song sounds on.
Tiquiti titito titi.
[§§483–486 — Movement I: Cuacuauhtzin's Flower-Grief]
A flower —
let it come to my hand.
I am in want.
Where shall we go —
we who will never die?
May I be only jade, only gold —
I will still be played among the people,
I will still be sounded.
My soul alone.
I am only Cuacuauhtzin — I am in want.
It is only vain labor.
Come, rejoice!
Come, rejoice, my friends —
will you not rejoice?
Will you not be glad?
I will take the good flower,
I will take the good song.
Who makes it spring here?
I am in want.
I am only Cuacuauhtzin —
will you not rejoice?
Will you not be glad, my friends?
I will take the good flower,
I will take the good song.
[§§487–492 — Movement II: The Departure from Tollan]
In Tollan, the wooden palace stood —
the standing serpent-columns still.
Nacxitl Topiltzin has gone,
has caused it to be abandoned —
he departs; our children weep.
He goes, going to be lost
in that far Tlapallan.
From Cholollan they departed —
in Poyauhtecatitlan they crossed;
to Acallan he went out.
Our children weep.
He goes, going to be lost
in that far Tlapallan.
From Nonohualco I have come —
I come as the quechol bird,
I carry the weight of lordship.
I grieve —
my lord has gone, at Ihuitimali
he has left me behind,
at Matlacxochitl.
The mountains crumble.
Truly I weep,
scattering tears like sand.
I grieve —
my lord has gone, at Ihuitimali
he has left me behind,
at Matlacxochitl.
In Tlapallan he was awaited,
he was commanded —
at Cochiztla, at Cazanco.
[and so forth]
We are only alive —
our lord remains at Ihuitimali;
we were commanded
at Xicalanco, at Çacanco.
[and so forth]
[§§493–496 — The Lament for Tollan]
How will your home stand —
how will your palace stand?
How will your lord's house stand —
you who abandoned here
Tollan, Nonohualco?
Now you will weep, O lord,
in Timalon —
how will your home stand,
how will your palace stand?
How will your lord's house stand —
you who abandoned here
Tollan, Nonohualco?
The stone, the wood —
upon them you inscribed your mark
and departed from Tollan,
where Nacxitl Topiltzin ruled.
Your name will never perish —
your people will weep for it.
The turquoise house, the serpent house —
you left it standing in Tollan,
where Nacxitl Topiltzin ruled.
Your name will never perish —
your people will weep for it.
[§§497–502 — Movement III: not accessible — see Colophon]
[§§503–511 — Movement IV: The Singer Carves the Song]
On a great stone I carve,
on a thick wood I inscribe —
a song.
There too it will be told
how it will be.
I weep.
I see, I speak.
I call to my heart —
let me see the root of song,
let me enter deep into it.
Only the noble flower
spreads its fragrance —
our flowers, united together,
sprout and bud there.
Yet the cacao flower
comes spreading fragrant —
the fragrant cloud scatters and showers.
There I wander.
The painted writing scatters everywhere —
your joy, O Moteucçoma!
I am bringing it,
I am shaking it —
the laughing quetzal-butterfly-flower.
I deeply desire your flowers,
O Giver of Life —
O God —
there in the sky.
The quetzal flower sprouts —
in my heart's joy.
The flower sprouts
at my teponaztli drum.
Come, be joyful!
Come, rejoice —
we will not always be here.
We will go to the home
of our great lord Moteucçoma.
On the war-mountain,
facing skyward —
you have come to stand
in flower-radiance,
O God.
Jaguar-grass.
Colophon
Song XL of the Cantares Mexicanos, manuscript heading Teponazcuicatl (drum song), folios 26v through 27v, sections 483–511 (twenty-nine sections). The Cantares Mexicanos is a colonial-era manuscript of 91 Nahuatl songs compiled in the mid-sixteenth century by indigenous and colonial scribes in central Mexico, preserved at the Biblioteca Nacional de México.
This translation was made directly from Classical Nahuatl. Alonso de Molina's Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana (1571) and Frances Karttunen's An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl were consulted for lexical verification after the English draft was complete. No existing English translation was consulted during translation. The Blood Rule is maintained.
Song XL is the first Teponazcuicatl — a formally designated drum song — in this translation sequence. Its four movements span a wider range than most previous songs: the personal lyric of Cuacuauhtzin continues from Song XXXIX, a complete narrative departure myth (Nacxitl Topiltzin) occupies the center, and the song closes in the devotional flower register. The drum notation Tico tico toco toto reproduced in the manuscript's opening line is an onomatopoetic representation of the teponaztli's two tones and is preserved here untranslated.
The Nacxitl Topiltzin narrative (§§487–496) is among the most historically significant passages in the Cantares. The departure from Tollan — with its weeping people, its serpent-column palace left standing, and the eastward journey toward the sea — is the foundational myth of Toltec diaspora memory and appears across multiple colonial-era sources. In §§495–496, the tone shifts: the stone and wood of Tollan still bear Topiltzin's inscription, and the song makes an explicit claim: ayc polihuiz ye motoca — your name will never perish. This is the Cantares at its most explicitly memorial: song as preservation against time.
§§491 and §492 carry scribal etcetera (etcetera) markers in the manuscript — abbreviations indicating the full text was considered a known or repeated pattern. These sections are rendered accordingly.
Gap: §§497–502 (folio 27r) — these six sections were confirmed present in the UNAM TEMOA digital facsimile but were not fully rendered in the text accessibility view during this session. The tracker identifies them as containing colonial-syncretic register (Santa María, obispo, Ycelteotl) consistent with the pattern found throughout the Cantares. Per the Blood Rule, no content has been fabricated for these sections. Kshatriya to flag for source retrieval in a future session.
Boundary note: §512 begins on folio 28r and marks the start of a new song (Song XLI). §511 is therefore Song XL's final section. Kshatriya to verify whether the Cuacuauhtzin sections (§§483–486) on 26v are properly assigned to Song XL or represent a bridge section — the drum-song rubric Nican ompehua Teponazcuicatl appears immediately before §483, so the assignment to Song XL appears correct.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Cantares Mexicanos — In Cuicatl
Classical Nahuatl source text from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, folios 26v through 27v, sections 483–511. The Cantares Mexicanos is held at the Biblioteca Nacional de México (MS 1628 bis). Transcription by UNAM's Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. §§491–492 carry scribal etcetera markers. §§497–502 not reproduced (source text not accessible this session — see Colophon).
Rubric and drum notation (folio 26v): Nican ompehu Teponazcuicatl. Tico tico toco toto auh ic ontlantiuh cuicatl tiquiti titito titi
§483: xochitl ma nomac ommaniqui ninentlamati a yo haye yho ohua yhya ohuaiya
§484: Cannelpa tonyazque yn aic timiquizque huiya maçan nichalchihuitl in teocuitlatl o ça ye no nipitzaloz nimamalihuaz in tlatillan o ça noyoliyo ça ye niQuaquauhtzin ninotolinia yho etcetera
§485: Çan nentequitl y xonahuiaca xona'ahuiacanantocnihua at amonahuiezque at ahuelamatizque tocnihua nohuaye can nicuiz in yectli xochitl y yectli yan cuicatl y ahuayyao ahua yia yia a ohuaya ohuaya
§486: Ayquin o xopan in quichihua ye nica y ninotolinia ça ye niQuaquauhtzin huiya at amonahuiezque at ahuellamatizque tocnihuan o ohuaye can nicuiz in yectli xochitl y yectli yan cuicatl y ahuayyao ahua yia yia ohuaya ohuaya
§487: Tollan aya huapalcalli manca noçan in mahmani coatlaquetzalli ya quiyacauhtehuac Nacxitl topiltzin on quiquiztica ye choquililo in topilhuan ahuay ye yauh in polihuitiuh nechcan Tlapallan ho ay
§488: Nechcayan Cholollan oncan tonquiçaya Poyauhtecatitlan in quiyapanahuiya y Acallan onquiquiztica ye choquililon in topilhuan ahuay ye yauh in polihuitiuh nechcan Tlapallan ho ay
§489: Nonohualco ye nihuitz ye Nihuiquecholi nimamali teuctla nicnotlamatia oyahquin noteuc ye Ihuitimali nechyaicnocauhyan i Ma'tlacxochitl ayao ayao o ay ya y yao ay
§490: In tepetl huitomi ca niyaychoc ya axalihqueuhca nicnotlamat ya yehuaya oyaquin noteuc ye Ihuitimali nechyaicnocauhyan i Ma'tlacxochitl ayao ayao o ayya ayyao ay
§491: Yn Tlapallan aya mochieloca monahuatiloca ye Cochiztla o anca Caçanio ayao ayao etcetera
§492: Çan tiyaolin ca ye noteuc yc Ihuitimali tinahuatiloya ye Xicalanco o anca Çacanco etcetera
§493: Ayyanco ayyanco ayamo aye ayhuiya ayanco ayyanco ayamo aye ahuiya que ye mamaniz mocha moquiapana o quen ye mahmaniz moteuccalla ticyaycnocauhqui nican Tollan Nonohualco ya yya y yao ay
§494: Y ye quin tichoca ya teuctlon Timalon que ye ma'maniz mochan moquiapana o quen ye mahmaniz moteuccalla ticyaycnocauhqui nican Tollan Nonohualco ya yya yyao ay
§495: Yn tetl in quahuitl oon timicuilotehuac nachcan Tollan y yn oncan in otontlatoco Naxitl topiltzin y ayc polihuiz ye motoca ye ic ye chocaz in momacehual ay yo
§496: Çan can xiuhcalli ya cohuacalla ya yn oticmantehuac nachcan Tollan y in oncan yn otontlatoco Naxitl topiltzin y ayc polihuiz ye motoca ye ic ye chocaz in momacehual ay yo
[§§497–502: source text not accessible — see Colophon]
§503: Hueyn tetl nictequin tomahuac quauhuitl nic ycuiloa yan cuicatl ytech aya oncan no mitoz in quenmanon
§504: Nichoca ya niquittoa ya nicnotza noyollo ma niquitta cuicanelhuayotl aya ma nicyatlalaqui ya
§505: Çan ca teucxochitl ahuiacay potocaticac mocepanoa yan toxochiuh ayye ayaoo hui yoncan quiya itzmolini
§506: Tel cacahuaxochitl ahuiac xeliuhtihuitz a ihpotoca ya in ahuiyac poyomatlin pixahuia oncan ninenenemi
§507: Tlacuiloltzetzeliuhticac moyoliol tiMoteucçomatzi nichuicatihuitz nictzetzelotihuitz y o huetzcani xochinquetzalpapalotl
§508: Ohuaya ye on nic eelehuia moxochiuh aya Ypalnemoani yehua yan Dios aya ilihuancan ahuiche
§509: Tozmilini xochitl in noyolyol ayyahue tozmilini xochitl noteponaz ayanco ayancayome oncana
§510: Xompaqui xonahuia a nochipa nican tiyazque ye ichan o nohueyotzin teuctli Moteucçomatzi
§511: Tlachinoltepec yn ahuicacopa tixochitonameyotimoquetzaco y yehuan Dios a oceloçacatl
Source Colophon
Nahuatl source text from the UNAM TEMOA digital facsimile (temoa.iib.unam.mx), Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, folios 26v–27v. The manuscript is held at the Biblioteca Nacional de México (MS 1628 bis). Transcription by UNAM's Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Reproduced for non-commercial archival use.
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