Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/364

 

here refers to Quetzalcoatl who figures, under different names in different times and places, as a mortal man, as a deified legislator, and as a primitive divinity, so that it is difficult to separate the mythical in his history from the real. He was known in Yucatan under the name of Kukulcan, the meaning of which is identical with Questzalli and Cohuatl—a plumed serpent.

Quetzalcoatl was a Toltec deity, and was venerated as the god of the air, especially identified with the east wind, which brought the fertilising rains. As the teachings and prophecies attributed to him potently influenced the attitude of the Mexicans towards the Spaniards, on their arrival in the country, it is necessary to consider both his mythical and historical character. In the native mythology, Quetzalcoatl personified the principle of good in contradistinction to the principle of evil, under the figure of Tezcatlipoca. The story of his residence among the peoples of Anáhuac relates that he arrived at Tollan (Tula) the capital of the Toltecs, as chief of a band of strangers, from unknown parts, and that he was well received by the natives to whom he taught the arts of agriculture, metal working, architecture, and mechanics. He introduced also the new religious virtues of chastity, trust in one God, the love of peace, and the practice of charity and penance. He also brought the Toltec calendar to the state of perfection in which it was found amongst the Aztecs. He wore a white tunic on which were black or red crosses, which sounds something like a pallium. He was large of person, white faced, and wore his black hair and beard long. Exercising the high priesthood, he initiated the golden age of the Toltecs, during which the cotton grew in various colours, red, blue, orange, and purple, maize crops were over-abundant, the canes grew as large round as tree trunks, and pumpkins so big that a man's arms could not encircle one; nobody was ever hungry, animals were all tame, and the birds sang wonderfully. Sahagun catalogues him as the eighth king of the Toltecs. This halcyon period was brought to an end by the machinations of the evil spirit Tezcatlipoca who descended to earth on a spider's web, and, taking the form of a venerable sage, tempted, Quetzalcoatl beyond his strength, and made him drunk on pulque, during which orgies the god violated his vows of chastity. This fall shook the faith of his people and the