Esto mismo se sentía si alguno en su casa hallaba o vía alguna rana o sapo en las paredes o en el tlapanco o entre los maderos de la casa. Y también tenían entendido que las tales ranas las echaban dentro de casa los malívolos enemigos y invidiosos, por malquerencia.
\nEl mismo mal agüero se tomaba cuando alguno vía en su casa unos ratoncillos que tienen unos chillidos distinctos de los otros ratones, y desasosiegan la casa. Llaman a éstos tetzauhquimichtin.
\nEn todos estos agüeros iban a consoltar a los agureros que lo declaraban y daban remedio contra ellos.
\nThe same thing was felt when someone would find or see a frog or a toad inside his house, on the walls or in the attic or between the wood planks of the house. And they also believed that evil and jealous enemies had put these frogs inside the house out of ill will.
\nThey took it as the same bad omen when someone would see, inside his house, some little mice whose squeaking sounds are different from other mice; and these ones bring anxiety into the household. They call these [mice] tetzauhquimichin.
\nFor all these omens, they would go and consult the soothsayers who interpreted them and provided remedies against them.
\n“Ghosts”: estantiguas. Sahagún uses the archaic noun estantiguas (from hueste antigua “ancient enemy”) to translate the Nahuatl tlacauiaque, quinameti (towering men, [ancient] giants). See DLE, s.v. estantigua.↩
[tlatlaca]teculo: in moteneoa, tepoloanj iehoã qujntoca, qujntlalia in azcame.
\nIn jquac aca ichan molonj, ic qujtetzauja, ic qujtlanja in jmjqujz: in aqujn tlacocoa, connectia, connequjlia, connequjltia: in macuele mjquj, in macuel ompopoliuj: injc tlaqualanja, injc tlaiolqujxtia, injc tlaamana, injc teiollo ixco icac, injc tlatequjpachoa, injc atetloc monequj.\nÇa ie no iuhquj, muchiuhquj: qujcenujca, qujcemjtoa in mjqujztetzaujtl. In iehoatl calcujatl, aço cana tepancamac: calquac in qujntlalia tecocolianj: cotaloa, cotalotica injc tlatoa.
\nNo iuhquj in tetzauhqujmjchin, anoço tetlaquechililli. Pl’ chililti: muchi iehoan qujntlaliaia, qujntetoqujliaia, in atlaca, in tecocolianj: injc caco, injc mocaquj: vel pipitzca, pipipitzca, pipitzcaticate, injc tlatoa.
\ndemons, the so-called destroyers of people. These buried and placed the ants.
\nWhen they swarmed in someone’s house, thus they boded and required1 his death. He who was envious, hoped, wished, and desired that one might die, that one might perish. So he caused anger; he tormented, troubled, affronted, and afflicted2 and he rendered no aid.
\nIn the same manner all such [men] bore and determined an ominous death. The persecutor perchance placed house frogs3 somewhere in an opening of the wall or in the roof of the house. When they spoke, they croaked, and continued croaking.
\nSo also the ominous mice, perhaps [as reported in] tales,4 all these, the inhuman people, the persecutors, placed and buried. When they spoke, so were they heard; so did they sound. Much and everywhere did they squeak; they squeaked continuously.
\nJena, op. cit., p. 23, translates this passage thus: ”Entsprechend wie die Übelwollenden einen (nur ein Stück Wegs) verfolgen, so ziehen auch, sie, die Ameisen, sich wieder zurück. Wenn nun das, um dessentwillen jene ihn verfolgt haben, verjährt, so beenden mit diesen (der wieder verschwindenden Ameisen) auch die Übelwollenden für immer ihr Treiben.”↩
“Memoriales en 3 columnas,” p. 397, has quitlama for qujtlanja.↩
Tetlaquechililli. Pl’ chililti: probably an accidentally inserted grammatical note.↩
The corresponding Spanish text adds at the end of the chapter: ”En todos estos agueros, yuan a consoltar a los agureros: que lo declarauan, y dauan remedio contra ellos.”↩
See Pl. 5. The corresponding Spanish text translates the terms as estantiguas. Santamaría, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 551, has the following notation: ”QUINAMETZIN. m. pl. Los quinames; primitivos pobladores del Anáhuac, anteriores a los aztecas, a los cuales la leyenda asigna talla de gigantes y que ocuparon las riberas del Atoyac, en Puebla, principalmente.”↩