full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Kay Read: A day in the life of an Aztec midwife
Unscramble the Blue Letters
She hurries back to the house. All the old women from the extended family have already gteherad for the birth— their experience is very valuable if anything goes wrong.
She readies herself with a prayer praising her most important tolos, her fingers. Then she doses the patient with cihuapatli to help expel the baby, massages her in the sweathouse, and rubs her stomach with tobacco. Offering totenanien a sroht prayer, she urges her patient to act like a wrroair. A strong baby girl slips into her waiting hands and the old wemon shout triumphant ceirs.
Xoquauhtli takes a few drops of water from a jade bowl, bhearts on them, and places them on the baby’s tiny tongue. She calls her a pouriecs greenstone, a little warrior, and tells her how the Lord and Lady of the Ninth Sky breathed life into her, sending her to this place of burden and torment. She then turns to the new mother, psnariig her, telling her she acted like an eagle warrior, a jaaugr warrior.
Open Cloze
She hurries back to the house. All the old women from the extended family have already ________ for the birth— their experience is very valuable if anything goes wrong.
She readies herself with a prayer praising her most important _____, her fingers. Then she doses the patient with cihuapatli to help expel the baby, massages her in the sweathouse, and rubs her stomach with tobacco. Offering __________ a _____ prayer, she urges her patient to act like a _______. A strong baby girl slips into her waiting hands and the old _____ shout triumphant _____.
Xoquauhtli takes a few drops of water from a jade bowl, _______ on them, and places them on the baby’s tiny tongue. She calls her a ________ greenstone, a little warrior, and tells her how the Lord and Lady of the Ninth Sky breathed life into her, sending her to this place of burden and torment. She then turns to the new mother, ________ her, telling her she acted like an eagle warrior, a ______ warrior.
Solution
- tools
- praising
- warrior
- precious
- gathered
- short
- jaguar
- cries
- teteoinnan
- breaths
- women
Original Text
She hurries back to the house. All the old women from the extended family have already gathered for the birth— their experience is very valuable if anything goes wrong.
She readies herself with a prayer praising her most important tools, her fingers. Then she doses the patient with cihuapatli to help expel the baby, massages her in the sweathouse, and rubs her stomach with tobacco. Offering Teteoinnan a short prayer, she urges her patient to act like a warrior. A strong baby girl slips into her waiting hands and the old women shout triumphant cries.
Xoquauhtli takes a few drops of water from a jade bowl, breaths on them, and places them on the baby’s tiny tongue. She calls her a precious greenstone, a little warrior, and tells her how the Lord and Lady of the Ninth Sky breathed life into her, sending her to this place of burden and torment. She then turns to the new mother, praising her, telling her she acted like an eagle warrior, a jaguar warrior.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| rituals honor |
2 |
Important Words
- act
- acted
- baby
- bowl
- breathed
- breaths
- burden
- calls
- cihuapatli
- cries
- doses
- drops
- eagle
- expel
- experience
- extended
- family
- fingers
- gathered
- girl
- greenstone
- hands
- house
- hurries
- important
- jade
- jaguar
- lady
- life
- lord
- massages
- mother
- ninth
- offering
- patient
- place
- places
- praising
- prayer
- precious
- readies
- rubs
- sending
- short
- shout
- sky
- slips
- stomach
- strong
- sweathouse
- takes
- telling
- tells
- teteoinnan
- tiny
- tobacco
- tongue
- tools
- torment
- triumphant
- turns
- urges
- valuable
- waiting
- warrior
- water
- women
- wrong
- xoquauhtli