CHAPTER 6

OF THE WAR THEY WAGED WITH THOSE OF CULHUACÁN

Following the idol's counsel, they sent their messengers to the lord of Culhuacán asking him for a place to dwell in; and after he had consulted with his people he assigned them to Tizaapán, which means "white waters;' expecting that they would be lost and would perish; for there were a large number of vipers and serpents and other poisonous creatures in that place, which bred on a nearby hill. But, persuaded and instructed by their devil, they willingly accepted what they were offered and by diabolical arts gathered up all those animals and even used them for sustenance, for they ate them willingly and without harm to themselves. When the lord of Culhuacán saw this, and observed that they had made fields and were tilling the land, he thought it well to admit them to his city and deal with them on terms of friendship; but the god that the Mexicans worshiped (as is usual with the Evil One) never did anything good unless to do more evil. And so he said to his priests that it was not the place where he wanted them to stay, and that they would have to leave there by fomenting a war, and to do this they must seek out a woman who would be called the goddess of discord; and the scheme was to send and ask the king of Culhuacán for his daughter to be queen of the Mexicans and wife of their god. Their embassy pleased him, and he gave her to them with much finery and many attendants. On the very night that she arrived, by order of the murderer whom they worshiped, they cruelly killed the girl and, flaying her skin (which they do with great skill), dressed a boy in it and placed her clothing on it and set her beside the idol thus arrayed, dedicating her as a goddess and the wife of their god; and from that time onward they always worshiped her, later making an idol that they named Toci, which is to say "our grandmother." Not content with this act of cruelty, they deceitfully invited the king of Culhuacán to come and worship his daughter, who was now consecrated as a goddess. And when he came with rich gifts and a great retinue they took him to the chapel where their idol was, which was very dark, so that he could offer sacrifice to his daughter, who was within. But it happened that the incense that they offered in a brazier, according to their custom, flamed up, and by the flame he recognized his daughter's skin. And when he realized the cruelty and deceit that had been practiced on him he came out, shouting loudly, and all his people attacked the Mexicans angrily and furiously until they forced them to retire to the lake, to the point that they nearly drowned in it. The Mexicans, while defending themselves and throwing certain spears that they used, with which they severely wounded their enemies, at last regained dry land; and, abandoning that place, they scattered around the lake, badly shattered and dripping wet, with the women and children weeping and howling against them and against the god who had placed them in such a plight. They had to cross a river in a place where there was no ford, and devised rough rafts out of their shields and spears and reeds, and so crossed over. At last, circling around Culhuacán, they came to Iztapalapa and from there to Acatzintitlan, and then to Itzacalco, and finally, in a spot occupied today by the hermitage of San Anton, to the gates of Mexico and the district that today is called San Pablo; and their idol consoled them in their travails and encouraged them with promises of great things to come.