Part 7 (1/2)
[Footnote 2: Colhuacan, is a locative form. It is usually derived from _coloa_, to curve, to round. Father Duran says it is another name for Aztlan: ”Estas cuevas son en Teoculacan, _que por otro nombre_ se llama Aztlan.” _Historia de los Indios de Nueva Espana_, Lib. i, cap. i.]
_Teo_ is from _teotl_, G.o.d, deity. The description in the text of the relations of land and water in this mythical land, is also from Duran's work.
The lord of this land and the father of the seven sons is variously and indistinctly named. One legend calls him the White Serpent of the Clouds, or the White Cloud Twin, _Iztac Mixcoatl_.[1] Whoever he was we can hardly mistake the mountain in which or upon which he dwelt. _Colhuacan_ means the bent or curved mountain. It is none other than the Hill of Heaven, curving down on all sides to the horizon; upon it in all times have dwelt the G.o.ds, and from it they have come to aid the men they favor. Absolutely the same name was applied by the Choctaws to the mythical hill from which they say their ancestors first emerged into the light of day. They call it _Nane Waiyah_, the Bent or Curved Hill[2]. Such ident.i.ty of metaphorical expression leaves little room for discussion.
[Footnote 1: Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, Lib. ii, cap.
x.x.xiii.]
[Footnote 2: See my work, _The Myths of the New World_, p. 242.]
If it did, the other myths which surround the mystic mountain would seem to clear up doubt. Colhuacan, we are informed, continued to be the residence of the great Mother of the G.o.ds. On it she dwelt, awaiting their return from earth. No one can entirely climb the mountain, for from its middle distance to the summit it is of fine and slippery sand; but it has this magical virtue, that whoever ascends it, however old he is, grows young again, in proportion as he mounts, and is thus restored to pristine vigor. The happy dwellers around it have, however, no need of its youth restoring power; for in that land no one grows old, nor knows the outrage of years.[1]
[Footnote 1: ”En esta tierra nunca envejecen los hombres. * * * Este cerro tiene esta virtud, que el que ya viejo se quiere remozar, sube hasta donde le parece, y vuelve de la edad que quiere.” Duran, in Kingsborough, Vol.
viii, p. 201.]
When Quetzalcoatl, therefore, was alleged to be the son of the Lord of the Seven Caves, it was nothing more than a variation of the legend that gave him out as the son of the Lord of the High Heavens. They both mean the same thing. Chimalman, who appears in both myths as his mother, binds the two together, and stamps them as identical, while Mixcoatl is only another name for Tezcatlipoca.
Such an interpretation, if correct, would lead to the dismissal from history of the whole story of the Seven Cities or Caves, and the pretended migration from them. In fact, the repeated endeavors of the chroniclers to a.s.sign a location to these fabulous residences, have led to no result other than most admired disorder and confusion. It is as vain to seek their whereabouts, as it is that of the garden of Eden or the Isle of Avalon. They have not, and never had a place on this sublunary sphere, but belong in that ethereal world which the fancy creates and the imagination paints.
A more prosaic account than any of the above, is given by the historian, Alva Ixtlilxochitl, so prosaic that it is possible that it has some grains of actual fact in it.[1] He tells us that a King of Tollan, Tecpancaltzin, fell in love with the daughter of one of his subjects, a maiden by name Xochitl, the Rose. Her father was the first to collect honey from the maguey plant, and on pretence of buying this delicacy the king often sent for Xochitl. He accomplished her seduction, and hid her in a rose garden on a mountain, where she gave birth to an infant son, to the great anger of the father. Casting the horoscope of the infant, the court astrologer found all the signs that he should be the last King of Tollan, and should witness the destruction of the Toltec monarchy. He was named _Meconetzin_, the Son of the Maguey, and in due time became king, and the prediction was accomplished.[2]
[Footnote 1: Ixtlilxochitl, _Relaciones Historicas_, p. 330, in Kingsborough, Vol. ix.]
[Footnote 2: In the work of Ramirez de Fuen-leal (cap. viii), Tezcatlipoca is said to have been the discoverer of pulque, the intoxicating wine of the Maguey. In Mezt.i.tlan he was a.s.sociated with the G.o.ds of this beverage and of drunkenness. Hence it is probable that the name _Meconetzin_ applied to Quetzalcoatl in this myth meant to convey that he was the son of Tezcatlipoca.]
In several points, however, this seemingly historic narrative has a suspicious resemblance to a genuine myth preserved to us in a certain Aztec ma.n.u.script known as the _Codex Telleriano-Remensis_. This doc.u.ment tells how Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca and their brethren were at first G.o.ds, and dwelt as stars in the heavens. They pa.s.sed their time in Paradise, in a Rose Garden, _Xochitlycacan_ (”where the roses are lifted up”); but on a time they began plucking the roses from the great Rose tree in the centre of the garden, and Tonaca-tecutli, in his anger at their action, hurled them to the earth, where they lived as mortals.
The significance of this myth, as applied to the daily descent of sun and stars from the zenith to the horizon, is too obvious to need special comment; and the coincidences of the rose garden on the mountain (in the one instance the Hill of Heaven, in the other a supposed terrestrial elevation) from which Quetzalcoatl issues, and the anger of the parent, seem to indicate that the supposed historical relation of Ixtlilxochitl is but a myth dressed in historic garb.
The second cycle of legends disclaimed any miraculous parentage for the hero of Tollan. Las Casas narrates his arrival from the East, from some part of Yucatan, he thinks, with a few followers,[1] a tradition which is also repeated with definitiveness by the native historian, Alva Ixtlilxochitl, but leaving the locality uncertain.[2] The historian, Veytia, on the other hand, describes him as arriving from the North, a full grown man, tall of stature, white of skin, and full-bearded, barefooted and bareheaded, clothed in a long white robe strewn with red crosses, and carrying a staff in his hand.[3]
[Footnote 1: Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. This was apparently the canonical doctrine in Cholula. Mendieta says: ”El dios o idolo de Cholula, llamado Quetzalcoatl, fue el mas celebrado y tenido por mejor y mas digno sobre los otro dioses, segun la reputacion de todos.
Este, segun sus historias (aunque algunos digan que de Tula) vino de las partes de Yucatan a la ciudad de Cholula.” _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, Lib. ii, cap. x.]
[Footnote 2: _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. i.]
[Footnote 3: _Historia_, cap. xv.]
Whatever the origin of Quetzalcoatl, whether the child of a miraculous conception, or whether as an adult stranger he came from some far-off land, all accounts agree as to the greatness and purity of his character, and the magnificence of Tollan under his reign. His temple was divided into four apartments, one toward the East, yellow with gold; one toward the West, blue with turquoise and jade; one toward the South, white with pearls and sh.e.l.ls, and one toward the North, red with bloodstones; thus symbolizing the four cardinal points and four quarters of the world over which the light holds sway.[1]
[Footnote 1: Sahagun, Lib. ix, cap. xxix.]
Through the midst of Tollan flowed a great river, and upon or over this river was the house of Quetzalcoatl. Every night at midnight he descended into this river to bathe, and the place of his bath was called, In the Painted Vase, or, In the Precious Waters.[1] For the Orb of Light dips nightly into the waters of the World Stream, and the painted clouds of the sun-setting surround the spot of his ablutions.
[Footnote 1: The name of the bath of Quetzalcoatl is variously given as _Xicapoyan_, from _xicalli_, vases made from gourds, and _poyan_, to paint (Sahagun, Lib. iii, cap. iii); _Chalchiuhapan_, from _atl_, water _pan_, in, and _chalchiuitl_, precious, brilliant, the jade stone (_id._, Lib. x, cap. xxix); and _Atecpanamochco_, from _atl_, water, _tecpan_, royal, _amochtli_, any s.h.i.+ning white metal, as tin, and the locative _co_, hence, In the s.h.i.+ning Royal Water (_a.n.a.les de Cuauht.i.tlan_, p. 21). These names are interesting as ill.u.s.trating the halo of symbolism which surrounded the history of the Light-G.o.d.]
I have said that the history of Quetzalcoatl in Tollan is but a continuation of the conflict of the two primal brother G.o.ds. It is still the implacable Tezcatlipoca who pursues and finally conquers him. But there is this significant difference, that whereas in the elemental warfare portrayed in the older myth mutual violence and alternate destruction prevail, in all these later myths Quetzalcoatl makes no effort at defence, scarcely remonstrates, but accepts his defeat as a decree of Fate which it is vain to resist. He sees his people fall about him, and the beautiful city sink into destruction, but he knows it is the hand of Destiny, and prepares himself to meet the inevitable with what stoicism and dignity he may.
The one is the quenching of the light by the darkness of the tempest and the night, represented as a struggle; in the other it is the gradual and calm but certain and unavoidable extinction of the sun as it noiselessly sinks to the western horizon.