Hervey Allen

“ Where marriage torches flare,
And warriors drain the pulque to the bride?"
Then with a voice grown weak with many tears,
She spoke, as in a dream, and said,
"Yours was the hand that slew him on the stone—
You know that he is dead."
The far feasters shouted and he heard her moan. ”

“ Here ends the second scroll with the sign of
a skull set with turquoise stones,
which is the symbol of
Coatlicue, the Goddess
of Death.
III Here begins the third scroll with the sign of a man in a black canoe, which is the symbol of a soul crossing the Lake of Death.
And no one dared awake the king—
He slept—to him it seemed
White vapor covered everything,
And through its rifts there gleamed
A figure striding through the mist;
Dimly he saw the head,
The white skull set with turquoise stones,
The goddess of the dead. ”

“ Here ends the first scroll with the picture of
a man sitting upon the ground,
which is the sign of an
earthquake, or troubles
to come.
[1] Huitxilopochtli, the Mexican Mars.
[2] Cacique, Chief or lord of a district.
[3] Popocatepetl, which means the Smoking Hill.
[4] A certain Aztec princess who enjoyed a new youth each night. After strangling him, she had his silver death mask made. Her chamber walls shone with their pale lustre.
[5] In ancient Mexico the money was cast in the shape of a 'T'.
[6] Tlascala, the Sparta of Mexico. ”