ABSTRACT
In 1479, a Chalcan slave concubine sang of the joys and sorrows of her life at the
Aztec court. Montezuma I had defeated her people, the Chalcans, so as a sign of
submission, they presented her and other women to the victors. In her song, the
Chalcan concubine seduces her master, singing, “My dear lover; you, little
Axayac`atl. Let me play with the honorable corncob! Rounded! Only I can make
your stick rise up. I can blow it like a horn. Hooo yee!” But she soon expresses
sadness as a noble woman conquered by the Aztecs: “In my desperation, I say it.
Oh, child! I wish I would die!” Yet by making love with the enemy, she hopes to
bring peace. Evoking the lush landscape, she sings, “The precious popcorn
flowers, now the roseate spoonbill, the red jasmine. Just there on your flowery
blanketed mat, we are lying within. Y yyoyyo! No longer do we go to war. Aylili!”
