Note 116 — PART I. ETHNOLOGIC AND ARCHÆOLOGIC. (continued 2)

This myth is recorded by Sahagun, Historia de Nueva España, Lib. iii, cap. 1, “On the Origin of the Gods.” It is preserved with some curious variations in the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, cap. 11. When the gods created the sun they also formed four hundred men and five women for him to eat. At the death of the women their robes were preserved, and when the people carried these to the Coatepec, the five women came again into being. One of these was Coatlicue, an untouched virgin, who after four years of fasting placed a bunch of white feathers in her bosom, and forthwith became pregnant. She brought forth Huitzilopochtli completely armed, who at once destroyed the Huitznahua. Father Duran translates all of this into plain history. His account is that when the Aztecs had occupied Tollan for some time, and had fortified the hill and cultivated the plain, a dissension arose. One party, followers of Huitzilopochtli, desired to move on; the other, headed by a chieftain, Huitznahua, insisted on remaining. The former attacked the latter at night, massacred them, destroyed the water-dams and buildings, and marched away (Historia de las Indias de Nueva España, Tom. i, pp. 25, 26). According to several accounts, Huitznahua was the brother of Huitzilopochtli. See my American Hero Myths, p. 81.