Case file · High strangeness
Seventh omen: the crane with a mirror
In the seventh omen fishermen caught an ash-coloured crane with a mirror in its head. Looking into it, Moctezuma saw the night sky and then armed men riding on deer, and the bird vanished. The year is approximate.
1513 CE · 19.43, -99.13 · status: legend
The account
The 'deer' are read as horses, unknown in the Americas until 1519. The episode shows how the chroniclers wove the Spanish arrival back into earlier signs.