There came at last a time in which the fortunes of Quetzalcoatl and of his people, the Toltecs, began to fail; for there came against them three sorcerers, gods in disguise, to wit Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, and Tlacavepan, who wrought many deceits in Tulla. Tezcatlipoca especially prepared a cunning trick; he turned himself into a hoary-headed old man, and went to the house of Quetzalcoatl, saying to the servants there, I wish to see and speak to your master. Then the servants said, Go away, old man, thou canst not see our king, for he is sick, thou wilt annoy him and cause him heaviness. But Tezcatlipoca insisted, I must see him. Then the servants bid the sorcerer to wait, and they went in and told Quetzalcoatl how an old man without affirmed that he would see the king and would not be denied. And Quetzalcoatl answered, Let him come in, behold for many days I have waited for his coming. So Tezcatlipoca entered, and he said to the sick god-king, How art thou? adding further that he had a medicine for him to drink. Then Quetzalcoatl answered, Thou art welcome, old man, behold for many days I have waited for thee. And the old sorcerer spake again, How is thy body, and how art thou in health? I am exceedingly sick, said Quetzalcoatl, all my body is in pain, I cannot move my hands nor my feet. Then, answered Tezcatlipoca, behold this medicine that I have, it is good and wholesome and intoxicating; if thou will drink it, thou shalt be intoxicated and healed and eased at the heart, and thou shalt have in mind the toils and fatigues of death and of thy departure.[VII-6] Where, cried Quetzalcoatl, have I to go? To Tullantlapallan, replied Tezcatlipoca, where there is another old man waiting for thee; he and thou shall talk together, and on thy return thence thou shalt be as a youth, yea, as a boy. And Quetzalcoatl hearing these words his heart was moved, while the old sorcerer, insisting more and more, said, Sir, drink this medicine. But the king did not wish to drink it. The sorcerer, however, insisted, Drink, my lord, or thou wilt be sorry for it hereafter; at least rub a little on thy brow and taste a sip. So Quetzalcoatl tried and tasted it, and drank, saying, What is this? it seems to be a thing very good and savory; already I feel myself healed and quit of mine infirmity; already I am well. Then the old sorcerer said again, Drink once more, my lord, since it is good; so thou shall be the more perfectly healed. And Quetzalcoatl drank again, he made himself drunk, he began to weep sadly, his heart was eased and moved to depart, he could not rid himself of the thought that he must go; for this was the snare and deceit of Tezcatlipoca. And the medicine that Quetzalcoatl drank was the white wine of the country, made from the magueys that are called teumetl.
TEZCATLIPOCA AS A PEDDLER.
So Quetzalcoatl, whose fortunes we shall hereafter follow more particularly, set out upon his journey; and Tezcatlipoca proceeded further guilefully to kill many Toltecs, and to ally himself by marriage with Vemac, who was the temporal lord of the Toltecs, even as Quetzalcoatl was the spiritual ruler of that people. To accomplish these things Tezcatlipoca took the appearance of a poor foreigner, and presented himself naked, as was the custom of such people, in the market-place of Tulla, selling green chilly pepper. Now the palace of Vemac, the great king, overlooked the market-place, and he had an only daughter, and the girl, looking by chance among the buyers and sellers, saw the disguised god. She was smitten through with love of him, and she began to sicken. Vemac heard of her sickness and he inquired of the women that guarded her as to what ailed his daughter. They told him as best they could, how for the love of a peddler of pepper, named Toveyo, the princess had lain down to die. The king immediately sent a crier upon the mountain Tzatzitepec to make this proclamation: O Toltecs, seek me out Toveyo that goes about selling green pepper, let him be brought before me. So the people sought everywhere for the handsome pepper vender; but he was nowhere to be found. Then, after they could not find him, he appeared of his own accord one day, at his old place and trade in the market. He was brought before the king, who said to him, Where dost thou belong to? and Toveyo answered, I am a foreigner come here to sell my green pepper. Why dost thou delay to cover thyself with breeches and with a blanket? said Vemac. Toveyo answered that in his country such things were not in fashion. Vemac continued, My daughter longs after thee, not willing to be comforted by any Toltec; she is sick of love and thou must heal her. But Toveyo replied, This thing can in no wise be, kill me first; I desire to die, not being worthy to hear these words, who get my living by selling green pepper. I tell thee, said the king, that thou must heal my daughter of this her sickness; fear not. Then they took the cunning god, and washed him, and cut his hair, and dyed all his body, and put breeches on him and a blanket; and the king Vemac said, Get thee in and see my daughter, there where they guard her. Then the young man went in and he remained with the princess and she became sound and well; thus Toveyo became the son-in-law of the king of Tulla.
Then behold all the Toltecs being filled with jealousy and offended, spake injurious and insulting words against king Vemac, saying among themselves, Of all the Toltecs can there not to be found a man, that this Vemac marries his daughter to a peddler? Now when the king heard all the injurious and insulting words that the people spake against him, he was moved, and he spoke to the people saying, Come hither, behold I have heard all these things that ye say against me in the matter of my son-in-law Toveyo; dissimulate then; take him deceitfully with you to the war of Cacatepec and Coatepec, let the enemy kill him there. Having heard these words the Toltecs armed themselves, and collected a multitude, and went to the war, bringing Toveyo along. Arrived where the fighting was to take place, they hid him with the lame and the dwarfs, charging them, as the custom was in such cases, to watch for the enemy, while the soldiers went on to the attack. The battle began; the Toltecs at once gave way; treacherously and guilefully deserting Toveyo and the cripples, leaving them to be slaughtered at their post, they returned to Tulla and told the king how they had left Toveyo and his companions alone in the hands of the enemy. When the king heard the treason he was glad, thinking Toveyo dead, for he was ashamed of having him for a son-in-law. Affairs had gone otherwise, however, with Toveyo from what the plotters supposed. On the approach of the hostile army he consoled his deformed companions, saying, Fear nothing; the enemy come against us. but I know that I shall kill them all. Then he rose up and went forward against them, against the men of Coatepec and Cacatepec; he put them to flight and slew of them without number. When this came to the ears of Vemac, it weighed upon and terrified him exceedingly. He said to his Toltecs, Let us now go and receive my son-in-law. So they all went out with king Vemac to receive Toveyo, bearing the arms or devises called quetzalapanecayutl, and the shields called xiuchimali. They gave these things to Toveyo, and he and his comrades received them with dancing and the music of flutes, with triumph and rejoicing. Furthermore, on reaching the palace of the king, plumes were put upon the heads of the conquerors, and all the body of each of them was stained yellow, and all the face red; this was the customary reward of those that came back victorious from war. And king Vemac said to his son-in-law, I am now satisfied with what thou hast done and the Toltecs are satisfied; thou hast dealt very well with our enemies, rest and take thine ease. But Toveyo held his peace.
TRIUMPH OF TEZCATLIPOCA.
And after this, Toveyo adorned all his body with the rich feathers called tocivitl, and commanded the Toltecs to gather together for a festival, and sent a crier up to the top of the mountain, Tzatzitepec, to call in the strangers and the people afar off to dance and to feast. A numberless multitude gathered to Tulla. When they were all gathered Toveyo led them out, young men and girls, to a place called Texcalapa, where he himself began and led the dancing, playing on a drum. He sang too, singing each verse to the dancers, who sang it after him, though they knew not the song before hand. Then was to be seen there a marvelous and terrible thing. From sunset till midnight the beat of the countless feet grew faster and faster; the tap, tap, tap of the drum closed up and poured into a continual roll; the monotonous song rose higher, wilder, till it burst into a roar. The multitude became a mob, the revel a riot; the people began to press upon and hustle each other; the riot became a panic. There was a fearful gorge or ravine there, with a river rushing through it called the Texcaltlauhco; a stone bridge led over the river. Toveyo broke down this bridge as the people fled; grim corypheus of this fearful revel, he saw them tread and crush each other down, under-foot, and over into the abyss. They that fell were turned into rocks and stones; as for them that escaped, they did not see nor think that it was Toveyo and his sorceries had wrought this great destruction; they were blinded by the witchcraft of the god, and out of their senses like drunken men.
Far from being satisfied with the slaughter at Texcalapa, Tezcatlipoca proceeded to hatch further evil against the Toltecs. He took the appearance of a certain valiant man called Teguioa, and commanded a crier to summon all the inhabitants of Tulla and its neighborhood to come and help at a certain piece of work in a certain flower-garden (said to have been a garden belonging to Quetzalcoatl.). All the people gathered to the work, whereupon the disguised god fell upon them, knocking them on the head with a coa.[VII-7] Those that escaped the coa were trodden down and killed by their fellows in attempting to escape; a countless number was slain; every man that had come to the work was left lying dead among the trodden flowers.
TEZCATLIPOCA DEAD.
And after this Tezcatlipoca wrought another witchcraft against the Toltecs. He called himself Tlacavepan, or Acexcoch, and came and sat down in the midst of the market-place of Tulla, having a little manikin (said to have been Huitzilopochtli) dancing upon his hand. There was an instant uproar of all the buyers and sellers and a rush to see the miracle. The people crushed and trod each other down, so that many were killed there; and all this happened many times. At last the god-sorcerer cried out, on one such occasion, What is this? do you not see that you are befooled by us? stone and kill us. So the people took up stones and killed the said sorcerer and his little dancing manikin. But when the body of the sorcerer had lain in the market-place for some time it began to stink and to taint the air, and the wind of it poisoned many. Then the dead sorcerer spake again, saying, Cast this body outside the town, for many Toltecs die because of it. So they prepared to cast out the body, and fastened ropes thereto and pulled. But the talkative and ill-smelling corpse was so heavy that they could not move it. Then a crier made a proclamation, saying, Come all ye Toltecs, and bring ropes with you, that we may drag out and get rid of this pestilential carcass. All came accordingly, bringing ropes, and the ropes were fastened to the body, and all pulled. It was utterly in vain. Rope after rope broke with a sudden snap, and those that dragged on a rope fell and were killed when it broke. Then the dead wizard looked up and said, O Toltecs, a verse of a song is needed; and he himself gave them a verse. They repeated the verse after him, and, singing it, pulled all together, so that with shouts they hauled the body out of the city; though still not without many ropes breaking and many persons being killed as before. All this being over, those Toltecs that remained unhurt returned every man to his place, not remembering anything of what had happened, for they were all as drunken.
Other signs and wonders were wrought by Tezcatlipoca in his rôle of sorcerer. A white bird called Yztaccuixtli, was clearly seen flying over Tulla, transfixed with a dart. At night also, the sierra called Zacatepec burned, and the flames were seen from far. All the people were stirred up and affrighted, saying one to another, O Toltecs, it is all over with us now; the time of the end of Tulla is come; alas for us, whither shall we go?