CHAPTER 7

OF THE FOUNDING OF MEXICO

Now the time had come for the father of lies to fulfill his promise to his people, who could no longer endure so many wanderings and travails and dangers. It happened that some old men who were sorcerers or priests entered a dense thicket and came upon a spring of very clear, beautiful water that seemed to be made of silver; and as they looked around they observed that the trees were all white, and the ground white, and the fish white, and everything that they saw was white. Astonished by this, they recalled a prophecy made by their god, who had described this to them as a sign of the place where they were to rest and become lords over the other peoples; weeping for joy, they returned to the people with the good news. On the following night Huitzilopochtli appeared in a dream to an old priest and told him that they must search in that lake for a cactus growing out of a stone; according to what the god said, it was the place where, by his orders, they had thrown the heart of their enemy Copil, son of the sorceress. And on that cactus they would see a most beautiful eagle feeding on some very colorful birds, and when they saw this they would know that it was the place where their city was to be founded, a city that would prevail over all others and be famous in the world. In the morning the old man, gathering together all the people from the eldest to the youngest, made them a long speech about how much they owed their god and about the revelation he had had that night, though unworthy of receiving it; he concluded that all must go in search of that happy place that was promised to them, and this aroused so, much devotion and joy in everyone that they undertook the task without delay. And, dividing into groups among all that expanse of reeds and canebrakes and sedge in the lake, they began to search for signs of the revelation of this greatly desired place. That day they discovered the spring of the day before, but it was very different, for it did not run white but red as blood and divided into two streams, one of which was a very dark blue, something which astonished them and denoted a great mystery, as they believed.

At last, after much searching here and there, the cactus growing out of a rock appeared, and on it was a royal eagle with wings opened and spread wide, turned toward the sun and receiving its warmth; all around him was a great variety of rich bird feathers, white, red, yellow, blue, and green, of the fine quality they use to make pictures. The eagle had a very beautiful bird in its claws. As soon as they saw it and recognized the place of the oracle, all knelt and offered great veneration to the eagle, and it also bowed its head to them, looking all around. There were great cries and demonstrations of devotion and offerings of thanks to the creator and to their great god Huitzilopochtli, who was their father in everything and had always told them the truth. For this reason they gave the name of Tenochtitlán to the city that they founded there, which means "a cactus on a stone"; and to this very day on their arms and insignia there is an eagle on a cactus with a bird in one claw and the other on the cactus.

On the following day, by common accord, they built a hermitage next to the cactus where the eagle had been so that the ark of their god might rest there until they had the means of making him a splendid temple; and so they made it out of grass and mud and covered it with straw. Then, after some consultation, they decided to buy stones and wood and lime from their neighbors in exchange for fish and frogs and shrimp; and also ducks and widgeons and cormorants and other kinds of water birds, all of which they fished for and hunted with extraordinary diligence in that lake, which has an abundance of all these things. They went with them to the markets of the Tepaneca cities and towns and those of Texcoco, which were near each other, and by dint of much concealment and deception they gradually amassed what they needed to build their city; and, having made a better chapel for their idol out of stone and lime, they began to close off a large part of the lake with slabs of stone and masonry. After they had done this, one night the idol spoke to one of their priests as follows: "Tell all the Mexicans that the principal lords must divide into four large districts, with their relatives and friends and dependents, taking as a central point the house you have made for my repose, and the members of each group shall build whatever they like in their district?' This was put into practice, and these are the four principal districts of Mexico, which today are called San Juan, Santa María la Redonda, San Pablo, and San Sebastián. When the Mexicans had been distributed among these four districts, their god commanded them to divide among themselves the gods that he would indicate and that each of the four chief districts must name and designate other special areas where those gods would be worshiped; and thus many small districts were subordinated to each of these, according to the number of idols that their god ordered them to worship; and they called these calpultetco, which means "god of the districts." This is the way in which the city of Mexico, Tenochtitlán, was founded and how from small beginnings it grew to be very great.