WILL AN ANCIENT LEGEND WEAVE A YOUNG GIRL’S DESTINY?
In a remote mountain village lives Grandmother Atl, a very talented weaver, and her granddaughter, Nemimati. Nemimati wants nothing more than to help her grandmother live a better life, so she convinces her to enter a contest where the winner will receive the title of royal weaver—and get to live in the comfort of the royal palace.
Grandmother Atl sends Nemimati and her young friend, Mishtla, to gather the scarce magical beans from which a luminous golden dye can be made. Eventually, the children stop to rest near the ruins of the mysterious palace garden where Goddess Tonantzin’s Ghost Tree of legend fortuitously appears and graciously fills their baskets. However, not until the day of the long awaited contest does Nemimati hear the miraculous tree’s appearance explained.
This mythic tale is set in the pre-Columbian era of legendary Toltec emperor Quetzalcoatl. His legend proclaims him a beneficent sovereign who promoted heartfelt personal sacrifice for one another rather than the religious rite of sacrificed hearts practiced by other rulers. It is also stated that he presented his subjects with wealth and all knowledge.
¿TEJERÁ UNA LEYENDA ANTIGUA EL DESTINO DE UNA JOVEN?
En un pueblo de montaña vivían la abuela Atl, una tejedora muy talentosa, y su nieta, Nemimati. Nemimati solamente quiere ayudar a su abuela a vivir una vida mejor, por lo que la convence de participar en un concurso en el que el ganador recibirá el título de Hiladora Real y podrá vivir en la comodidad del Palacio Real.
La abuela Atl envía a Nemimati y a su joven amigo, Mishtla, a recoger los escasos y semillas mágicas de colorantes rojo con centros amarillos a partir de los cuales se puede hacer un tinte dorado luminoso. Finalmente, los niños se detienen a descansar cerca de las ruinas de un misterioso jardín del palacio donde el Árbol Fantasma de la leyenda aparece fortuitamente y llena gentilmente sus cestas. Sin embargo, no es hasta el día del tan esperado concurso que Nemimati y su abuela Atl escuchan la explicación de la apariencia del árbol milagroso.
Este relato mítico está ambientado en la era precolombina de un emperador tolteca que tomó su nombre del dios Quetzalcoatl. Su leyenda lo proclama como un soberano benévolo que promovió el sacrificio sincero unos por otros en lugar del rito religioso de corazones sacrificados practicado por otros gobernantes. También se dice que presentó a sus sujetos con riqueza y conocimiento.
WITHIN A DESERT LANDSCAPE LIES A MYSTERY OF A CURSED PAST, A YOUNG MAN’S DESTINY AND A BEAUTIFUL GHOST HORSE
On the Punta Prieta oastline, along the blue waters of the Sea of Cortez, there is a centuries-old legend of a Spanish nobleman whose ship ran aground. In a mutiny by the impoverished crew, he and his prized possession, a beautiful, fiery Azulejo horse, are brutally murdered. Yet before the nobleman draws his last breath, a curse sounds forth from his dying lips that will echo throughout the generations… As young man, Donato Perry comes to live with his great-great-grandfather, Don Tomas, on his desert ranch in Baja, Mexico. It is there that he learns to become a seasoned vaquero and seeks to capture a wid azulejo horse, the only horse, it is said, of its kind. But when Donato becomes heir to a precious treasure, he finds himself caught in the curse that must finally be played out and a love that must be won.
When author Victoria Auberon was four, her father, a British explorer, took her to live in Baja, California. Many of the characters in My Grandfather’s Horses are based upon real animals she knew in her childhood. From age thirteen to fifteen, Daphne spent three years handling horses on the uninhabited island of Cerralvo, in the Sea of Cortez. As an adult, Daphne has managed horse farms in several states as well as having owned, bred, and trained her own Arabian Horses in the USA.
THE GHOST TREE
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