// – material in English that would have been awkward in Spanish

[] – substitution of a Spanish phrase for an English one

/A/ long time ago, in the great city of Teotiuhuacan, there was a Toltec king who had a very beautiful daughter. The hair of the princess was as black and soft as a summer night, her eyes were large and dark as the waters of a secret lake/,/ and her smile was so pretty that [it was] said that the sun looked through the mountains [every] morning in order to be the first [to] see her.

Many rich and famous princes came from all parts of the Toltec land in order to win the love of the princess, but she did not fall in love [with anyone]. The king, who wanted for his daughter a rich spouse of [high] position in the Toltec society, was [by that point] impatient. Sometimes he asked the princess what she wanted.

“I don’t know,” answered the [princess]. “I only know that my spouse will be someone that I will love from the start and forever.”

One day/,/ a Chichimecan prince arrived to the city. The Chichimecs did not have a civilization as splendid as that of the Toltecs. They lived [by hunting] and [fishing] in the mountains. The Toltecs thought that the Chichimecs lived as dogs, and they laughed [at] them.

The Chichimecan prince came [to] visit the great market of Teotihuacan, where they sold very beautiful objects of gold, clothing of brilliant colors, exotic animals/,/ and many other things /besides/.

That same day, the Toltec princess was in the market, buying baskets, fabrics, and rugs for [the] palace. It happened that, suddenly, amongst all the people and the noise of the market, the prince and the princess noticed each other. Without a word, from the start and forever, the prince and the princess fell in love.

The two knew very well that their love was forbidden. Each one should /have/ married with someone of their land and their class – the Toltec princess with a Toltec prince, and the Chichimecan prince with a Chichimecan princess.

The [attendants] that accompanied the princess [found out about] what happened, and quickly brought the princess to the palace. The prince also returned to his in the mountains. He tried to forget the beautiful princess, but he could not.

After [some] time, the prince decided to return to Teotihuacan, to ask for the hand of the princess /in marriage/. One day/,/ he dressed himself [in] his finest clothing and went to the palace of the Toltec king. There he commanded his messengers to talk with the king in order to ask for her daughter as /his/ wife.

When he heard the words of the messengers of the prince, the king trembled with fury and yelled: "My daughter will only marry a Toltec prince, never with a Chichimecan that lives in the mountains like an animal!”

When the princess heard all this, she felt very sad. She had much respect for her father, but she knew that she could not live without the love of the Chichimecan prince. She left the

palace and met up with the prince in order to tell him that she wanted to marry him [very much]. They went to the mountains, and that night they married.

The following day, the princess returned to Teotihuacan and told her father that she was now the wife of the Chichimecan prince. She asked for forgiveness and hoped for the understanding of her father.

But the king was furious. “How could you do this to me?” asked he to his daughter. “Leave here and never come back! And do not ask for food or shelter from any Toltec/;/ nothing will be given to you! I prohibit it!”

The same /thing/ happened to the prince when he returned to his palace. His father yelled at him: “You married a Toltec? You are no longer my child, nor a Chichimecan! Never seek the help of any Chichimecan /again/!”

With sad heart, the prince and the princess reunited and began to look for [a place] to live in the mountains. Nobody wanted to help them or give them a place to rest and shelter from the cold winds. Bit by bit, [the couple was] dying.

/On/ a long and cold night, the prince suddenly realized that the two were going to die soon. They were in a small valley from where they could see the grand city of Teotihuacan. The princess was thinking [of] her house, and the prince looked at her with sadness and love, knowing what she was thinking.

“My beautiful princess,” he said to her, “we are [by this point] going to die. We are going to separate now from this world in order to be together forever in the other. Sleep for /the/ last time in my arms this night. In the morning, you are going to the lowest mountain that looks over your city, and I am going to the highest mountain that also looks over your city. There we will rest, there I will take care of you forever and our spirits will [come together as one].

The following day the two separated, and each one started to climb their /respective/ mountains. The princess climbed the mountain /called/ Iztaccíhuatl and the prince climbed the mountain /called/ Popocatépetl. When the princess arrived at the summit of her mountain, she slept and the snow covered her. The prince knelt, looking towards the princess, and the snow also covered him.

Today, in this manner, we can see the prince and the princess, on the summit of Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatéptl. Sometimes there are loud noises from [deep] within Popocatéptl. It is the prince crying for his princess.