Note 1207 — Chapter XXXIV · THE CONQUEST ACHIEVED. July-August, 1521.

This or a third relic bore the name of Mamalhuaztli. Sahagun also refers to a divine bow and arrow. Hist. Conq., 53-4. But his editions vary in text; see that of 1840, 210-12. The serpent was invoked even after the conquest, says the pious friar, and he heard Father Tembleque relate that he one day opened his window during a storm and had his left eye injured by a ray of lightning, which damaged the house and adjoining church. This ray, the Mexicans assured him, was the Xiuhcoatl, conjured up by the sorcerers, for they had seen it issue in the form of a big snake through the door. The editor Bustamante tells an equally impressive story in connection with an attempt to account for the snake and lightning.