As the former, he was born of a virgin in the land of Tula or Tlapallan, in the distant Orient, and was high priest of that happy realm. The morning star was his symbol, and the temple of Cholula was dedicated to him expressly as the author of light. As by days we measure time, he was the alleged inventor of the calendar. Like all the dawn heroes, he too was represented as of white complexion, clothed in long white robes, and, as most of the Aztec gods, with a full and flowing beard. When his earthly work was done he too returned to the east, assigning as a reason that the sun, the ruler of Tlapallan, demanded his presence. But the real motive was that he had been overcome by Tezcatlipoca, otherwise called Yoalliehecatl, the wind or spirit of night, who had descended from heaven by a spider's web and presented his rival with a draught pretended to confer immortality, but, in fact, producing uncontrollable longing for home. For the wind and the light both depart when the gloaming draws near, or when the clouds spread their dark and shadowy webs along the mountains, and pour the vivifying rain upon the fields.
In his other character, he was begot of the breath of Tonacateotl, god of our flesh or subsistence, or (according to Gomara) was the son of Iztac Mixcoatl, the white cloud serpent, the spirit of the tornado. Messenger of Tlaloc, god of rain, he was figuratively said to sweep the road for him, since in that country violent winds are the precursors of the wet seasons. Wherever he went all manner of singing birds bore him company, emblems of the whistling breezes. When he finally disappeared in the far east, he sent back four trusty youths who had ever shared his fortunes, 'incomparably swift and light of foot,' with directions to divide the earth between them and rule it till he should return and resume his power. When he would promulgate his decrees, his herald proclaimed them from Tzatzitepec, the hill of shouting, with such a mighty voice that it could be heard a hundred leagues around. The arrows which he shot transfixed great trees, the stones he threw leveled forests, and when he laid his hands on the rocks the mark was indelible. Yet as thus emblematic of the thunderstorm, he possessed in full measure its better attributes. By shaking his sandals he gave fire to men; and peace, plenty, and riches blessed his subjects. Tradition says he built many temples to Mictlantecutli, the Aztec Pluto, and at the creation of the sun that he slew all the other gods, for the advancing dawn disperses the spectral shapes of night, and yet all its vivifying power does but result in increasing the number doomed to fall before the remorseless stroke of death.
His symbols were the bird, the serpent, the cross and the flint, representing the clouds, the lightning, the four winds, and the thunderbolt. Perhaps, as Huemac, the Strong Hand, he was god of the earthquakes. The Zapotecs worshiped such a deity under the image of this number carved from a precious stone, calling to mind the 'Kab ul,' the Working Hand, adored by the Mayas, and said to be one of the images of Zamná their hero god. The human hand, 'that divine tool,' as it has been called, might well be regarded by the reflective mind as the teacher of the arts and the amulet whose magic power has won for man what vantage he has gained in his long combat with nature and his fellows."[VII-32]
ANALOGUES OF QUETZALCOATL.
Mr Helps sees in Quetzalcoatl the closest analogies with certain other great civilizers and teachers that made their appearance in various parts of the American continent:—"One peculiar circumstance, as Humboldt remarks, is very much to be noted in the ancient records and traditions of the Indian nations. In no less than three remarkable instances has superior civilization been attributed to the sudden presence among them of persons differing from themselves in appearance and descent.
Bohica, a white man with a beard, appeared to the Mozca Indians in the plains of Bogota, taught them how to build and to sow, formed them into communities, gave an outlet to the waters of the great lake, and, having settled the government civil and ecclesiastical, retired into a monastic state of penitence for two thousand years.
In like manner Manco Capac, accompanied by his sister, Mama Oello, descended amongst the Peruvians, gave them a code of admirable laws, reduced them into communities, and then ascended to his father, the Sun.
Amongst the Mexicans there suddenly appeared Quetzalcoatl (green-feathered snake), a white and bearded man, of broad brow, dressed in a strange dress; a legislator, who recommended severe penances, lacerating his own body with the prickles of the agave and the thorns of the cactus, but who dissuaded his followers from human sacrifice. While he remained in Anáhuac, it was a Saturnian reign; but this great legislator, after moving on to the plains of Cholula, and governing the Cholulans with wisdom, passed away to a distant country, and was never heard of more. It is said briefly of him that 'he ordained sacrifices of flowers and fruits, and stopped his ears when he was spoken to of war.'"[VII-33]
The Abbé Domenech considers the tradition of the lives of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca to be a bit of simple and slightly veiled history, and also that there were several Quetzalcoatls. Let it be remembered in reading the abbé's version of this matter that the names of places, peoples, and the dates he gives are in great part mythical and conjectural:—"After the enfranchisement of the Olmecs, a man named Quetzalcoatl arrived in the country, whom Garcia, Torquemada, Sahagun, and other Spanish writers took to be Saint Thomas. It was also at that time that the third age ended, and that the fourth began, called Sun of the fire, because it was supposed that it was in this last stage that the world would be destroyed by fire.
It is in this fourth period that the Mexican historian places the Toltecs' arrival in New Spain, that is to say, about the third century before the Christian era. According to the Quichés' traditions, the primitive portion of the Nahoas, or ancestors of the Toltecs, were in a distant East, beyond immense seas and lands. Amongst the families and tribes that bore with least patience this long repose and immobility, those of Canub, and of Tlocab may be cited, for they were the first who determined to leave their country. The Nahoas sailed in seven barks or ships, which Sahagun calls Chicomoztoc, or the seven grottos. It is a fact worthy of note, that in all ages the number seven was a sacred number among the American people, from one pole to the other. It was at Pánuco, near Tampico, that those strangers disembarked; they established themselves at Paxil, with the Votanites' consent, and their state took the name of Huehue-Tlopallan. It is not stated from whence they came, but merely that they came out of the regions where the sun rises. The supreme command was in the hand of a chieftain, whom history calls Quetzalcohuatl, that is to say, Lord par excellence. To his care was confided the holy envelope, which concealed the divinity from the human gaze, and he alone received from it the necessary instructions to guide his people's march. These kinds of divinities, thus enveloped, passed for being sure talismans, and were looked upon with the greatest respect and veneration. They consisted generally of a bit of wood, in which was inserted a little idol of green stone; this was covered with the skin of a serpent or of a tiger, after which it was rolled in numerous little bands of stuff, wherein it would remain wrapped for centuries together. Such is, perhaps, the origin of the medicine bags made use of, even in the present day, by the Indians of the Great Desert, and of which we shall speak in the second volume of this work."