Broken spears original

[Frye, David]

The first quote is from Sahagun's codex (the second probably is too). I don't have it with me, but James Lockhart's "We people here: Nahuatl accounts of the conquest of Mexico" contains the same passage and argues persuasively (well, persuasive to those of us who don't know Nahuatl!) that Leon Portilla mistranslated the first two words -- Lockhart says it should be "broken bones," not "broken spears."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
David Frye
Latin American & Caribbean Studies - LACS
International Institute, University of Michigan
2607 School of Social Work Bldg 
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106
tel (734) 647 0844 - fax (734) 615-8880
http://www.ii.umich.edu/lacs/


-----Original Message-----
From: nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org] On Behalf Of John F. Schwaller
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 2:44 PM

I cannot find my copy of Leon Portilla's Broken Spears and am trying to 
figure out the original source for the famous phrases:

Broken spears lie in the roads
We have torn our hair in our grief
The houses are roofless now, and their walls
Are red with blood.


and also

The Fall of Tenochtitlán
Our cries of grief rise up
And our tears rain down
for Tlatelolco is lost.


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