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Netzahualcóyotl’s hidden poem

Netzahualcóyotl’s hidden poem

Netzahualcoyotl portrait from the Codex Ixtlilxochitl

A good friend of ours, Tecpaocelotl, pointed out to us the presence on Mexico’s current $100-peso note of a gem of a poem by the poet-prince-warrior Netzahualcóyotl (Coyote Who Fasts) (1402-1472), leader of the Acolhua people and ruler of the city-state of Texcoco. One of the key leaders of the Aztec ‘Triple Alliance’ between Texcoco, Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan, Netzahualcoyotl has been called ‘the wisest ruler that had ever ruled over the Anahuac Valley’ (Central Mexico). (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

This is the brief poem, with its simple humanist message:-
Amo el canto del zentzontle
Pájaro de cuatrocientas voces
Amo el color del jade
Y el enervante perfume de las flores
Pero amo más a mi hermano el hombre.
I love the song of the zentzontle,
Bird of myriad voices.
I love the colour of jade
And the seductive perfume of flowers;
But most of all I love my fellow human beings.

The zentzontle, sometimes written cenzontle is the Northern Mockingbird, found from Canada down to Mexico and Cuba. So-called because of its ability to reproduce the call of dozens of birds and other creatures (males are said to have a repertoire of up to 200 calls), its original Náhuatl name comes from the two key words centzontli meaning four hundred (or ‘myriad’) and tlahtolli meaning ‘word’ or song.

Picture sources:-
• Note scans by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Portrait of Netzahualcóyotl scanned from our copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition of the Codex Ixtlilxóchitl (Graz, 1976), folio 106r.

‘And then there was one...’‘Mockingbird intelligence’Northern Mockingbird (Wikipedia)

Comments (2)

T

Tecpaocelotl

10th Oct 2013

According to this article, it’s not one of his poems...
http://www.cronica.com.mx/notas/2013/788130.html

M

Mexicolore

Thanks for this, Tecpa. We have huge respect for the scholar interviewed in the article you refer to (Patrick Johansson) who is on our Panel of Experts. Fascinating...

T

Tecpaocelotl

17th Jan 2010

I think the whole reason why it’s hard to magnify is bc they’re trying to avoid people counterfeiting the bill.

Netzahualcóyotl’s hidden poem

Netzahualcoyotl portrait from the Codex Ixtlilxochitl

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