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- Many years later, Returning Beauty came upon her
magic mirror again. Her clothing was still resplendent, but she was many years older.
Again she asked the mirror, "Who is the most beautiful in the
kingdom?" Again, without saying a word, the mirror showed the Queen, the image of
Ixtaccihuatl.
The Queen became very angry.
As an old woman, she was able to offer
Ixtaccihuatl a rosy, red apple. But this apple was a very bad apple. (In Aztec lore, the
apple was a ball of feathers [fire] that fell from the sky) Ixtaccihuatl went to sleep and
the country was not happy any more.
- As the princess slept, because surely she had not
died, a great prince was born. His name was Popocatepetl. Nearby was his white horse, the
mountain Nevada de Toluca. Popo fell in love with the beautiful sleeping princess. He
wished that he had arrived sooner. Many years he sat by her side, until one day, he
decided to smoke and rumble. He saw that it woke up the princess. She coughed up the apple
that had clogged her rivers, and when the people looked at the rivers, they found there
was gold glittering on the bottom. It was a gift from the princess.
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