American Hero-Myths: A Study in the Native Religions of the Western Continent

[Footnote 85 (#x3_x_3_i119): Anales del Museo Nacional, Tom. ii, p. 367.]

[Footnote 86 (#x3_x_3_i120): "Segun los Anales de Cuauhtitlan el ocelotl es el cielo manchado de estrellas, como piel de tigre." Anales del Mus. Nac., ii, p. 254.]

[Footnote 87 (#x3_x_3_i121): Codex Telleriano-Remensis, plate xiv.]

[Footnote 88 (#x3_x_3_i124): Sahagun, Historia, Lib. i, cap. v. Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv.]

[Footnote 89 (#x3_x_3_i125): "Queçalcoatl y por otro nombre yagualiecatl." Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Historia, cap. i. Yahualli is from the root yaual or youal, circular, rounding, and was applied to various objects of a circular form. The sign of Quetzalcoatl is called by Sahagun, using the native word, "el Yoel de los Vientos" (Historia, ubi supra).]

[Footnote 90 (#x3_x_3_i126): "Se llaman (á Quetzalcoatl) Señor de el Viento * * * A este le hacian las yglesias redondas, sin esquina ninguna." Codex Telleriano-Remensis. Parte ii, Lam. ii. Describing the sacred edifices of Mexico, Motolinia says: "Habio en todos los mas de estos grandes patios un otro templo que despues de levantada aquella capa quadrada, hecho su altar, cubrianlo con una pared redonda, alta y cubierta con su chapital. Este era del dios del aire, cual dijimos tener su principal sella en Cholollan, y en toda esta provincia habia mucho de estos. A este dios del aire llamaban en su lengua Quetzalcoatl," Historia de los Indios, Epistola Proemial. Compare also Herrera, Historia de las Indias Occidentals, Dec. ii, Lib. vii, cap. xvii, who describes the temple of Quetzalcoatl, in the city of Mexico, and adds that it was circular, "porque asi como el Aire anda al rededor del Cielo, asi le hacian el Templo redondo."]

[Footnote 91 (#x3_x_3_i128): The Aztec words are Quiahuitl teotl, quiahuitl, rain, teotl, god; Tonacaquahuitl, from to, our, naca, flesh or life, quahuitl, tree; Chicahualizteotl, from chicahualiztli, strength or courage, and teotl, god. These names are given by Ixtlilxochitl, Historia chichimeca, cap. i.]

[Footnote 92 (#x3_x_3_i130): Ramirez de Fuen-leal, Historia de los Mexicanos, cap. ii.]

[Footnote 93 (#x3_x_3_i131): Tlalli, earth, oc from octli, the native wine made from the maguey, enormous quantities of which are consumed by the lower classes in Mexico at this day, and which was well known to the ancients. Another derivation of the name is from tlalli, and onoc, being, to be, hence, "resident on the earth." This does not seem appropriate.]

[Footnote 94 (#x3_x_3_i132): From chalchihuitl, jade, and cueitl, skirt or petticoat, with the possessive prefix, i, her.]

[Footnote 95 (#x3_x_3_i132): See E.G. Squier, Observations on a Collection of Chalchihuitls from Central America, New York, 1869, and Heinrich Fischer, Nephrit und Jadeit nach ihrer Urgeschichtlichen und Ethnographischen Bedeutung, Stuttgart, 1880, for a full discussion of the subject.]

[Footnote 96 (#x3_x_3_i132): Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Pt. ii, Lam. ii.]

[Footnote 97 (#x3_x_3_i132): See above, chapter iii, §3 (#x2_x_2_i130)]

[Footnote 98 (#x3_x_3_i132): Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv.]

[Footnote 99 (#x3_x_3_i133): Sahagun, Hisioria, Lib. ii, cap. i. A worthy but visionary Mexican antiquary, Don J.M. Melgar, has recognized in Aztec mythology the frequency of the symbolism which expresses the fertilizing action of the sky (the sun and rains) upon the earth. He thinks that in some of the manuscripts, as the Codex Borgia, it is represented by the rabbit fecundating the frog. See his Examen Comparativo entre los Signos Simbolicos de las Teogonias y Cosmogonias antiguas y los que existen en los Manuscritos Mexicanos, p. 21 (Vera Cruz, 1872).]

[Footnote 100 (#x3_x_3_i134): Codex Vaticanus, Pl. xv.]

[Footnote 101 (#x3_x_3_i134): Codex Telleriano Remensis, Pl. xxxiii.]

[Footnote 102 (#x3_x_3_i135): Mendieta, Hist. Eclesiastia Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. xiv. "Una tonta ficcion," comments the worthy chronicler upon the narrative, "como son las demas que creian cerca de sus dioses." This has been the universal opinion. My ambition in writing this book is, that it will be universal no longer.]

[Footnote 103 (#x3_x_3_i136): Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii, cap. iii.]

[Footnote 104 (#x3_x_3_i137): Veitia, cap. xvii, in Kingsborough.]

[Footnote 105 (#x3_x_3_i138): Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi, cap. xxv. The bisexual nature of the Mexican gods, referred to in this passage, is well marked in many features of their mythology. Quetzalcoatl is often addressed in the prayers as "father and mother," just as, in the Egyptian ritual, Chnum was appealed to as "father of fathers and mother of mothers" (Tiele, Hist. of the Egyptian Religion, p. 134). I have endeavored to explain this widespread belief in hermaphroditic deities in my work entitled, The Religious Sentiment, Its Source and Aim, pp. 65-68, (New York, 1876).]

[Footnote 106 (#x3_x_3_i139): Duran, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 267. The word is from quaitl, head or top, and tecziztli, a snail shell.]

[Footnote 107 (#x3_x_3_i139): "Mettevanli in testa una lumaca marina per dimostrare que siccome il piscato esce dalle pieghe di quell'osso, o conca. cosi vá ed esce l'uomo ab utero matris suae." Codice Vaticana, Tavola XXVI.]

[Footnote 108 (#x3_x_3_i141): Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi, cap. xxxiv.]

[Footnote 109 (#x3_x_3_i142): Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. xi, cap. xxiv.]

[Footnote 110 (#x3_x_3_i143): Duran, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 267. I believe Alva Ixtlilxochitl is the only author who specifically assigns a family to Quetzalcoatl. This author does not mention a wife, but names two sons, one, Xilotzin, who was killed in war, the other, Pochotl, who was educated by his nurse, Toxcueye, and who, after the destruction of Tollan, collected the scattered Toltecs and settled with them around the Lake of Tezcuco (Relaciones Historicas, p. 394, in Kingsborough, vol. ix). All this is in contradiction to the reports of earlier and better authorities. For instance, Motolinia says pointedly, "no fué casado, ni se le conoció mujer" (Historia de los Indios, Epistola Proemial).]

[Footnote 111 (#x3_x_3_i144): Codex Vaticanus, Tab. xxii.]

[Footnote 112 (#x3_x_3_i144): Veitia, Historia, cap. XVII.]

[Footnote 113 (#x3_x_3_i146): Compare the Codex Vaticanus, No. 3738, plates 44 and 75, Kingsborough, Mexican Antiquities, vol. ii.]

[Footnote 114 (#x3_x_3_i147): Compare Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxviii and Sahagun, Historia de Nueva España, Lib. ix, passim.

Yacatecutli, is from tecutli, lord, and either yaqui, traveler, or else yacana, to conduct.

Yacacoliuhqui, is translated by Torquemada, "el que tiene la nariz aquileña." It is from yaque, a point or end, and hence, also, the nose, and coliuhqui, bent or curved. The translation in the text is quite as allowable as that of Torquemada, and more appropriate. I have already mentioned that this divinity was suspected, by Dr. Schultz-Sellack, to be merely another form of Quetzalcoatl. See above, chapter iii, §2 (#x2_x_2_i107)]

[Footnote 115 (#x3_x_3_i148): Sahagun. Historia, Lib. iv, cap. viii.]

[Footnote 116 (#x3_x_3_i149): Ibid. Lib. IV, cap. XXXI.]

[Footnote 117 (#x3_x_3_i151): "La cara que tenia era muy fea y la cabeza larga y barbuda." Historia, Lib. III, cap. III. On the other hand Ixtlilxochitl speaks of him as "de bella figura." Historia Chichimeca, cap. viii. He was occasionally represented with his face painted black, probably expressing the sun in its absence.]

[Footnote 118 (#x3_x_3_i151): He is so portrayed in the Codex Vaticanus. and Ixtlilxochitl says, "tubiese el cabello levantado desde la frente hasta la nuca como á manera de penacho." Historia Chichimeca, cap. viii.]

[Footnote 119 (#x3_x_3_i152): Diego Duran, Historia, in Kingsborough, viii, p. 267.]

[Footnote 120 (#x3_x_3_i158): Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. So in Egyptian mythology Tum was called "the concealed or imprisoned god, in a physical sense the Sun-god in the darkness of night, not revealing himself, but alive, nevertheless." Tiele, History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 77.]

[Footnote 121 (#x3_x_3_i159): Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii. cap. ult.]

[Footnote 122 (#x3_x_3_i159): Mendieta, Hist. Eclesiast. Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. v. The name is from tlilli, something dark, obscure.]

[Footnote 123 (#x3_x_3_i159): Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ix; Duran, Historia, cap. lxviii; Tezozomoc, Cron. Mexicana, cap. ciii. Sahagun and Tezozomoc give the name Cincalco, To the House of Maize, i.e., Fertility, Abundance, the Paradise. Duran gives Cicalco, and translates it "casa de la liebre," citli, hare, calli, house, co locative. But this is, no doubt, an error, mistaking citli for cintli, maize.]

[Footnote 124 (#x3_x_3_i160): Tizapan from tizatl, white earth or other substance, and pan, in. Mendicta, Lib. ii, cap. iv.]

[Footnote 125 (#x3_x_3_i161): "Huitlapalan, que es la que al presente llaman de Cortes, que por parecer vermeja le pusieron el nombre referido." Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca, Cap. ii.]

[Footnote 126 (#x3_x_3_i162): Sahagun, Lib. iii, Append, cap. vii. and cf. Lib. i, cap v. The surname is from tlilli, black, and potonia, "emplumar á otro."]

[Footnote 127 (#x3_x_3_i166): The names of these mysterious beings are given by Tezozomoc as Tezocuilyoxique, Zenteicxique and Coayxaques. Cronica Mexicana, caps, cviii and civ.]

[Footnote 128 (#x3_x_3_i168): Huemac, as I have already said, is stated by Sahagun to have been the war chief of Tula, as Quetzalcoatl was the sacerdotal head (Lib. iii, cap. v). But Duran and most writers state that it was simply another name of Quetzalcoatl.]

[Footnote 129 (#x3_x_3_i169): Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, caps. cviii, cix; Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ix. The four roads which met one on the journey to the Under World are also described in the Popol Vuh, p. 83. Each is of a different color, and only one is safe to follow.]

[Footnote 130 (#x3_x_3_i172): Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, cap. cviii.]

[Footnote 131 (#x3_x_3_i175): Cortes, Carta Segunda, October 30th, 1520. According to Bernal Diaz Montezuma referred to the prediction several times. Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España, cap. lxxxix, xc. The words of Montezuma are also given by Father Sahagun, Historia de Nueva España, Lib. xii, cap. xvi. The statement of Montezuma that Quetzalcoatl had already returned, but had not been well received by the people, and had, therefore, left them again, is very interesting. It is a part of the Quetzalcoatl myth which I have not found in any other Aztec source. But it distinctly appears in the Kiche which I shall quote on a later page, and is also in close parallelism with the hero-myths of Yucatan, Peru and elsewhere. It is, to my mind, a strong evidence of the accuracy of Marina's translation of Montezuma's words, and the fidelity of Cortes' memory.]

[Footnote 132 (#x3_x_3_i176): Sahagun, Historia, Lib. xii, cap. ii.]