Many years ago, in the Valley of Mexico, the Aztecs had their capital in the great city of Tenochtitlan. The Aztec emperor had a daughter named Iztaccíhuatl, a princess famous for her beauty and her noble heart. The princess was in love with Popocatépetl, a brave young warrior, and he loved her too.

One day, the empire went to war with its enemies from the south. Popocatépetl went to the emperor and asked for his daughter’s hand. The emperor accepted, but he set one condition: Popocatépetl had to go to war and return victorious. If he won, he could marry Iztaccíhuatl.

Popocatépetl said goodbye to the princess and left with the army. The war was long and hard, but the young warrior fought bravely and won every battle.

Among the warriors there was a rival of Popocatépetl. This man also wanted to marry the princess, and he was very jealous. Before the war ended, the rival returned in secret to Tenochtitlan and told the emperor and the princess a great lie: he said that Popocatépetl had died in battle.

When Iztaccíhuatl heard the news, she felt an enormous sadness. She stopped eating and sleeping, and a short time later she died of love and grief.

Days later, Popocatépetl returned victorious to Tenochtitlan, his heart full of hope. But instead of a wedding, he found the funeral of his beloved.

Popocatépetl took the princess’s body in his arms and carried it to the mountains. There he built a great tomb and laid Iztaccíhuatl upon it, asleep forever. Then he knelt at her side, lit a torch, and swore to watch over her for all eternity.

The gods, moved by so much love, covered them with a blanket of snow and turned them into two enormous volcanoes. Iztaccíhuatl became the volcano we now call “the sleeping woman,” because its outline looks like a woman lying down. Popocatépetl became the volcano that still smokes: they say that when he remembers his beloved, his heart burns and sends smoke into the sky.

That is why, to this day, the two volcanoes stand together near Mexico City: the sleeping princess and the warrior who watches over her with his burning torch.