Notes for Song XIII
The inhabitants of Huexotzinco were in frequent strife with those of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, and on various occasions the latter captured many prisoners. The present poem is represented to be a composition of one of these prisoners when he and his companions were confined in Tlatilolco, one of the suburbs of Tenochtitlan. It breathes hatred against his captors and an ardent thirst for vengeance. The latest date at which I find captives from Huexotzinco detained in Mexico is 1511, and it is to this year, therefore, that I assign the composition of the poem.
5. Atloyantepetl; this name possibly means “the mountain of the place of the water-falcons” (atl, water; tlatli, falcon; yan, place-ending; tepetl, mountain). I have not found it in other writers. (See Index.)
8. tlaylotlaqui; Siméon, on the authority of Aubin, explains this term as the name of a tribe living near Tezcuco. In derivation it appears to be a term of contempt, “workers in filth or refuse,” scum, offscourings. It also appears in Song XV.
10. The construction of this verse is so obscure, or the text so imperfect, that the translation is doubtful.