It was because of the gardens—the gardens overflowing from ordinary people’s flat rooftops, as well as the gardens of the tlatoani. There, Mexico’s most gorgeous flowers—many with names never perfectly translated into European tongues—blossomed amid trees whose fascinating shapes could make them appear enchanted. In large, finely wrought wooden cages, the brightest birds from the jungles in the east and south fluttered and sang—quetzal birds and parrots, flamingos and tufted ducks, parakeets and pheasants—too many kinds to count. As the birds flew quickly in and out of the foliage, the colors
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