the amputation of one of his feet. Tezcatlipocâ, one of whose names was Yaotzin, “the enemy,” is frequently represented as having but one foot, and the phrase “the man from the cold land,” i.e. the North, applies almost certainly to him. The rest of the song relates to the peoples with whom the Mexicans were frequently at war.
SONG OF THE SHIELD
I
In his shield of the young wife the great warrior chieftain was born.
In his shield of the young wife (or maid) the great warrior chieftain was born.
II
He who gained his heroic title on the serpent mountain
In his (warrior) face-painting, (and with the shield) teueuelli.
No one in truth rises.
The earth quakes
As he put on his (warrior) face-painting (and his shield) teueuelli.
The first couplet is obscure to me, and seems to refer to a lost myth, which perhaps stated that the god was born of a virgin.