Tezcatlipoca entered, and seeing the sick deity, asked about his health, and announced that he had brought him a medicine which would ease his body, compose his mind, and prepare him for the journey which Fate had decreed that he must undertake.[429] Quetzalcoatl received the sorcerer kindly, inquiring anxiously as to the journey and the land of his destiny. His deceiver told him that the name of the land was Tullan Tlapalan, where his youth would be renewed, and that he must visit it without delay. The sick king was moved greatly by the words of the sorcerer, and was prevailed upon to taste the intoxicating medicine which he pressed to his lips. At once he felt his malady healed, and the desire to depart fixed itself in his mind.
“Drink again!” exclaimed the old sorcerer; and again the god-king pressed the cup to his lips, and drank till the thought of departure became indelible, chained his reason, and speedily drove him a wanderer from his palace and kingdom.
Upon leaving Tulla, driven from his kingdom by the vicious enmity of Tezcatlipoca, he ordered his palaces of gold, and silver, and turquoise, and precious stones, to be set on fire. The myriads of rich-plumed songsters that made the air of the capital melodious with song accompanied him on his journey, pipers playing on pipes preceded him, and the flowers by the way are said to have given forth unusual volumes of perfume at his approach.
After journeying one hundred leagues southward, he rested, near a city of Anahuac, under a great tree, and as a memorial of the event, he cast stones at the tree, lodging them in its trunk.[430]
He then proceeded still farther southward in the same valley, until he came to a mountain, two leagues distant from the city of Mexico. Here he pressed his hands upon a rock on which he rested, and left their prints imbedded in it, where they remained visible down to a very recent date. He then turned eastward to Cholula, where he was received with greatest reverence.[431] The great pyramid was erected to his honor. With his advent the spirit of peace settled down upon the city. War was not known during his sojourn within it. The reign of Saturn repeated itself. The enemies of the Cholulans came with perfect safety to his temple, and many wealthy princes of other countries erected temples to his honor in the city of his choice.[432]
Here the silversmith, the sculptor, the artist, and the architect, we are led to believe, from the testimony of both tradition and remains, flourished under the patronage of the grand god-king.
However, after twenty years had elapsed, that subtile, feverish draught received from the hand of Tezcatlipoca away back in Tulla, like an old poison in the veins, renewed its power. Again his people, his palaces, and his pyramidal temple were forsaken, that he might start on his long and final journey.[433] He told his priests that the mysterious Tlapalla was his destination, and turning toward the East, proceeded on his way until he reached the sea at a point a few miles south of Vera Cruz. Here he bestowed his blessing upon four young men, who accompanied him from Cholula, and commanded them to go back to their homes, bearing the promise to his people that he would return to them, and again set up his kingdom among them. Then, embarking in a canoe made of serpent-skins, he sailed away into the East.[434]
The Cholulans, out of respect to Quetzalcoatl, placed the government in the hands of the recipients of his blessing. His statue was placed in a sanctuary on the pyramid, but in a reclining position, representing a state of repose, with the understanding that it shall be placed upon its feet when the god returns. When Cortés landed, they believed their hopes realized, sacrificed a man to him, and sprinkled the blood of the unhappy victim upon the conqueror and his companions.[435]
Father Sahagun, when on his journey to Mexico, was everywhere asked if he had not come from Tlapalla.[436] No wonder when the fleet of Cortés hove in sight on the horizon, almost in the same place where Quetzalcoatl’s bark had disappeared, that the Mexican, who had been waiting centuries for the prince of peace to return, believed his waiting to be at an end. No wonder that he inquired of the distant and mysterious Tlapalla. In this state of expectancy we find a most natural and fruitful soil for the operations of the Spanish conquerors.
Such is the form into which the mass of legends concerning Quetzalcoatl have been woven. There is scarcely a doubt, however, that it is a matter of growth—is the accumulation of several centuries. The name Quetzalcoatl (Nahua), Gucumatz (Quiché) and Cukulcan (Maya), translated “feathered” or “plumed” or “winged” serpent, may originally have been applied to an intelligent princely foreigner who was cast upon the shores of the Central American region, and who introduced the art of casting metals, and especially taught agriculture. His doctrines of peace and virtue may have been sufficiently wide-spread to have brought about the prosperity which is ascribed to his age. From this standpoint we would consider him at first to have cast his lot among the descendants of Votan, otherwise known as the “Serpents,” from which occurrence he may have received his name of “Feathered Serpent.” On [pages 241–42] we referred to the statements of the Codex Chimalpopoca, that Quetzalcoatl, becoming obnoxious to his companions, who seem to be Quichés, forsook them. The account also states that he afterwards brought maize to Tamoanchan (the city of the Nahuas). Our next account of him describes him as figuring among the Olmecs at Cholula. This realistic view of the tradition applies to the first Quetzalcoatl, who may have been an actual man. While entertaining this view, we must not forget that centuries prior to this period (which we may as well assign to the first or second century as to any other date), the Quichés possessed the ideal of such a personage whom they considered a deity, who figures so actively in their cosmogony under the name of Gucumatz. This deity was the vivifying force in nature, the bringer of the gentle south winds, the god of the harvest and of the air. He was best symbolized to the mind of the savage by the vernal shower and the return of spring.