The Poet King of Tezcoco: A Great Leader of Ancient Mexico (review)

Despite the ruthless destruction of indigenous codices during the sixteenth-century Spanish conquests, later descendants and historians were able to gather information on one of the last of the great Aztec rulers, Nezahualcoyotl, and collect many of his poems. This retelling, translated and adapted from Serrano's Spanish, presents the life of the warrior king from his boyhood, in which he saw his father murdered by enemies, through his perilous rise to kingship, and on to his establishment of a flourishing city-state governed by law and graced by monumental architecture, ambitious civic planning, and cultivation of the arts. Nezahualcoyotl's story is as likely to appeal to devotees of legend and mythology as to fans of history, and his larger-than-life adventures have quite probably expanded through generations of storytellers' art. Indeed, some readers may recognize in Nezahualcoyotl's preoccupation with death some emotional kinship with Gilgamesh, and the tale of the king's devious courtship of his future wife bears striking resemblance to David's cabal against Uriah the Hittite. There are enough particulars of Nezahualcoyotl's achievements, however, to tilt this account to the side of history, and the inclusion of many of the king's poems—delicate musings on the nature of death; the fleeting beauty of life; and the mysterious "One who invents himself," the power behind the lesser gods—provide humanizing insight into the complex ruler whose laws now seem so rigid, but whose heart seems so vulnerable. Pre-conquest art inspires Pablo Serrano's rounded figures, formal compositions, abstract and representational motifs, and ritualized portrayals of violence, and both text and illustration are set against what appears to be a roughly plastered background. A map, chronology, glossary, and reading list complete the presentation. With the bulk of children's literature on pre-conquest Mexico focused on archaeology and human sacrifice, this gripping tale of troubled hero will be an essential addition to the library collection.