of our flesh; thou hast made thyself, and who dare affront thee?

4. Truly he who affronts me does not find himself well with me; my
fathers took by the head the tigers and the serpents.

5. In Tlalocan, in the verdant house, they play at ball, they cast the
reeds.

6. Go forth, go forth to where the clouds are spread abundantly, where
the thick mist makes the cloudy house of Tlaloc.

7. There with strong voice I rise up and cry aloud.

8. Go ye forth to seek me, seek for the words which I have said, as I
rise, a terrible one, and cry aloud.

9. After four years they shall go forth, not to be known, not to be
numbered, they shall descend to the beautiful house, to unite together
and know the doctrine.

10. Go forth, go forth to where the clouds are spread abundantly,
where the thick mist makes the cloudy house of Tlaloc.

_Notes._

The god Tlaloc shared with Huitzilopochtli the highest place in the
Mexican Pantheon. He was the deity who presided over the waters, the
rains, the thunder and the lightning. The annual festival in his honor
took place about the time of corn-planting, and was intended to secure
his favor for this all-important crop. Its details are described at
great length by Diego Duran, _Historia de Nueva Espana_, cap. 86, and
Sahagun, _Historia_, Lib. II., cap. 25, and elsewhere. His name is
derived from _tlalli_, earth. _Tlalocan_, referred to in v. 5, "the
place of Tlaloc," was the name of a mountain east of Tenochtitlan, where
the festival of the god was celebrated; but it had also a mythical
meaning, equivalent to "the earthly Paradise," the abode of happy souls.

It will be observed that v. 10 is a repetition of v. 6. The word
_ayauicalo_ refers to the _ayauhcalli_, "house of mist," the home of the
rain god, which Sahagun informs us was represented at the annual
festival by four small buildings near the water's edge, carefully
disposed to face the four cardinal points of the compass (Sahagun, _ubi
supra_).

In v. 8 the expression _tetzauhpilli_ (_tetzauhqui_, to frighten) may
be explained by the figure of Tlaloc, whose statue, says Duran, was that
of _un espantable monstruo, la cara muy fea_ (_ibid._).

The compound in v. 10, _nauhxiuhtica_, "after four years," appears to
refer to the souls of the departed brave ones, who, according to Aztec
mythology, passed to the heaven for four years and after that returned
to the terrestrial Paradise,--the palace of Tlaloc. (See my