Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky
Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky is a stunning collection of Aztec folklore and myths passed from generation to generation and, now, writer to reader.

The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great city Tenochtitlan. In this book's beautiful language, we learn the history of the Creator Twins—Feathered Serpent and Dark Heart of Sky—and how they built the world on a leviathan's back; of the shape-shifting nahualli; and the aluxes, elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Moctezuma and destroy the very stories we are reading.

David Bowles stitches together the fragmented folklore and mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana and Robert Fagles's Iliad. Legends and myths captured David's imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with epics like the Odyssey. Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that forgotten past.

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Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky
Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky is a stunning collection of Aztec folklore and myths passed from generation to generation and, now, writer to reader.

The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great city Tenochtitlan. In this book's beautiful language, we learn the history of the Creator Twins—Feathered Serpent and Dark Heart of Sky—and how they built the world on a leviathan's back; of the shape-shifting nahualli; and the aluxes, elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Moctezuma and destroy the very stories we are reading.

David Bowles stitches together the fragmented folklore and mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana and Robert Fagles's Iliad. Legends and myths captured David's imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with epics like the Odyssey. Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that forgotten past.

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Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky

Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky

by David Bowles
Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky

Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky

by David Bowles

Paperback(New Edition)

$19.95 
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Overview

Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky is a stunning collection of Aztec folklore and myths passed from generation to generation and, now, writer to reader.

The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great city Tenochtitlan. In this book's beautiful language, we learn the history of the Creator Twins—Feathered Serpent and Dark Heart of Sky—and how they built the world on a leviathan's back; of the shape-shifting nahualli; and the aluxes, elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Moctezuma and destroy the very stories we are reading.

David Bowles stitches together the fragmented folklore and mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana and Robert Fagles's Iliad. Legends and myths captured David's imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with epics like the Odyssey. Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that forgotten past.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781941026724
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Publication date: 05/22/2018
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range: 14 - 18 Years

About the Author

David Bowles is a Mexican American author and translator from South Texas, where he teaches literature and Nahuatl at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. Among his forty published books are the multiple-award-winning They Call Me Güero, Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico, and The Prince & the Coyote, as well as the series Garza Twins, 13th Street, and Clockwork Curandera. He is the current president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

The First Three Ages of the World 15

Convocation 17

Origins 18

The Heavens and the Underworld 24

The First Three Ages of the World 29

The Fourth Age and the Hero Twins 37

Convocation 39

The Hero Twins 41

The Fourth Sun and the Flood 68

The Fifth Age and the Reign of Demigods 73

Convocation 75

The Creation of Human Beings 76

The Fifth Sun and the Harbingers of Darkness 83

Lord Opossum Brings Fire to Humanity 89

Itzpapalotl and the Cloud Serpents 93

The Birth of Huitzilopochtli 98

Archer of the Sun 101

The Toltecs and the Rise of Civilization 107

Convocation 109

Tollan and the Toltec Queens 111

The Brothers Incarnated 118

Tales of the Maya 141

Convocation 143

The Dwarf King of Uxmal 145

The Rise of Hunak Keel 152

Sak Nikte and the Fall of Chichen Itza 158

The Tale of Xtabay 171

Aztecs Ascendant 177

Convocation 178

The Mexica Exodus 179

Hapunda and the Lake 194

The Volcanoes 201

Tenochtitlan 208

Tlacaelel and the Rise of the Mexica 216

Conquest and Courage 239

Convocation 241

Malinalli and the Coming of Cortés 243

The Torture of Cuauhtemoc 250

The Anguish of Citlali 256

Erendira 262

Donaji 275

Guide to Pronunciation 285

Glossary 287

Notes on Sources 295

Bibliography 299

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