Maya Khankhoje is on the editorial board of Serai and has had her works published all over the world, winning many awards.

[This story is strictly based on historical events, although most minor personal anecdotes are fictional. The poems in quotes attributed to Emperor Nezahualcoyotl are English versions of Spanish translations of Nahuatl language texts. The dialogues between Nezahualcoyotl and his wife as well as those between President Fox and his wife Marta are, of course, fictional. This story is consistent with Mexican pre-Columbian belief in the circularity of time and the repeatability of events. - ED]

"When we die, we do not truly die, for we live on. We are resuscitated, we retain life within us, we awaken. This gives us joy."

Acolmiztli Nezahualcoyotl, 1402-1472, king, poet, philosopher and forger of the Triple Alliance that merged the Kingdoms of Tlacopan, Tenochtitlan and Texcoco into the vast and powerful Aztec Empire which the Spaniards were to defeat half a century after his death.

In the year of Ce tochtli, One Rabbit, in the moon of Ce Mazatl, One Deer, Matlalcihuatzin gave birth to a baby boy, to the great joy and pride of his sire Ixtlilxochitl Ome Tochtli whose succession to the throne of Texcoco would be thus assured. The astrologers of the royal household also rejoiced, but with some trepidation, for infants born in the moon of One Deer were wont to be noble and generous but somewhat skittish and shy. His birth year, however, compensated for the ambiguity of his birth month, because infants born in the year of One Rabbit generally turned out to be prosperous and tenacious, two qualities required of a future king.

As soon as he shed his umbilical cord, the women of the household wrapped it carefully in cotton wool and gave it to couriers who buried it deep in enemy lands, thus making rival kingdoms aware of this child’s imperial designs. This lucky-unlucky child was named Acolmiztli, Mountain Lion’s Strength, so that he could strike fiercely. He was also given the surname of Nezahualcoyotl, Fasting Fox, so that he could withstand hunger and hardship. On his naming ceremony the nobles of Texcoco presented him with a bow and arrow as symbols of his destiny as a warrior.

Nezahualcoyotl’s life was not an easy one. At the age of seven he was sent off to a calmecac with other boys of his station. There he was taught how to live on frugal meals of cornbread in order to survive during war and how to bathe in ice water during the winter solstice in order to brave the elements and how to pierce his penis with cactus thorns in order to withstand the pain of bone arrows and obsidian knives.

But not all was pain and suffering in the life of the young prince.
Huitzilihuitzin, the sage whose fame rose higher than the pyramid of the sun and burned brighter than the lava of the Popocatepetl, was appointed to be his tutor and became his friend and confidante.

From him he learned that time runs in circles, that the use of zeroes makes counting the stars easier, that lives repeat themselves, that people must die so that the sun’s fire lives on, and that spilled blood is what makes crops grow and flowers bloom.

On Nezahualcoyotl’s twelfth year the priests, acting on Ixtlilxochitl’s orders, anointed him future heir to his father’s throne. It is as if the king had tried to look into his own future and saw nothing but smoke and darkness. On his sixteenth year, tragedy struck. The people from neighbouring Azcapotzalco besieged Texcoco for fifty days and fifty nights forcing the king and his heir to seek refuge in the neighbouring forest. There they spent the night in a ravine and at dawn a soldier woke them up to tell them that they were surrounded by the enemy. Ixtlilxochitl knew that his time was up.

“My beloved son, today marks the end of my sorrows. Run to that grove, hide in that thickset tree and survive to avenge the death of your father and to protect the land of your forefathers. Be patient. Remember, the fox who follows an ant will always find corn behind the jagged rocks.”

Acolmiztli Nezahualcoyotl became a man, a king and a poet at the very moment that he saw his father get killed by traitors.

“Wither shall we go

Where death does not exist?

Shall we therefore live in constant tears?

Let your heart become strong:

Here nobody will live forever

Even princes have come to die

Funeral shrouds are to be burnt

Let your heart become strong:

Here nobody will live forever.”

Nezahualcoyotl waited for his enemies to disappear before he dared clamber down from the tree. After that he sought refuge in the house of relatives, and using the wiles of his totemic animal, was able to survive and claim his father’s throne. He not only managed to protect his forefathers' land, but actually expanded his kingdom. Then came the time to settle down.

A girl-child of noble lineage with eyes as black as obsidian and hair as smooth as corn silk and skin redolent of cinnamon was raised by his aunts to become his official bride and the mother of future kings. His main house was well ordered and the kitchens were stocked with the best flesh and fowl and flowers. Copal always burned in his minor houses to arouse his senses so that he could please his concubines who provided solace and delight after many bloody battles. But with the passage of time, Nezahualcoyotl became weary of it all.

On the seventieth year of his birth, Acolmiztli Nezahualcoyotl convened the members of his household as well as the priests, the noblemen and the warriors and held a great feast. On this occasion he wore his ceremonial headdress adorned with quetzal feathers and over his body his attendants had draped a white cotton mantle embroidered with the finest blue thread. His feet were shod with deer skin huaraches and from his earlobes and neck hung jade and obsidian ornaments.

“Hear me, my subjects”, he said. “Tonatiuh, the Lord Sun has chased Metzli, the Lady Moon, over endless cycles of time. I am an old man now. I have done much for you, my people. I have provided you with pure drinking water, I have built dams to protect your crops from drought, I have gathered different animals and created a pine forest for them to thrive in and reproduce and I have paid homage to the gods and bemoaned our puny selves. Most importantly, I have forged the Triple Alliance with our neighbours to ensure peace for all of you for generations to come. It is time for a well deserved rest.”

Having said this, Acolmiztli Nezahualcoyotl sent his bearers away, bid farewell to his main wife, his minor wives and his numerous concubines, revisited the names of his 110 children, repeating many, forgetting a few, and then went to the bush for a fast that was to last several days.

At the end of his fast, Nezahualcoyotl had cleansed his gut, sweated out poisons from his body, purified his heart and sharpened his mind. He now felt clean and pure, worthy of the task before him. He then walked to the top of the cliff and laid down on the bare rock and fell into a deep sleep.

In his sleep he saw his life unfolding before him. He remembered his transit from the warmth and comfort of his mother's womb into the cold and dry air of finite life. He remembered the fragrance of juicy fruits, became inebriated with the sap that Goddess Mayaguel had bestowed upon people, delighted in the warble of the royal nightingales, and tasted once again the bitter-sweet juices of his first love. As his old body came to life again he plunged into the depths and warmth of the woman beside him, bit into her ripe lips, passed his fingers through the corn-silk threads between her thighs and was about to explode when he suddenly woke up.

He looked around and did not recognize his surroundings. The woman beside him stirred and coaxed him to go on. "Don't stop, my love!"

"Stop?"

The woman laughed softly and snuggled close to him. You were making love to me in your sleep, don't you remember? And uttering strange sounds. I didn't know you spoke Nahuatl!

“Nahuatl? Martita, now I remember. I dreamt I was Nezahualcoyotl and my whole life was reeling before me like an old movie. And by the time I turned seventy, I had grown tired of ruling the country and only wanted to die."

"Vicente, do you mean tired of ruling the country or tired of trying to rule your unruly concubines? Señor Presidente, may I remind you that if you don't get up now and pronto, you will be late for your tripartite meeting."

"My plane can wait. First, I want to seal a very important bilateral agreement between my vixen and her old hungry fox."

****

“We have come together as leaders of Canada, Mexico & the United States, North American neighbours who share common values and interests”.

Joint Statement by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, President Vicente Fox and President George Bush, during a tripartite meeting at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec, April 22, 2001.