Note 10 — Chapter II · COSMOGONY

But we have more stable authority for the sequence of these “suns” or epochs. It is probable that this cataclysmic theory was in vogue among the Nahua for generations before it received a more or less definite form, and, indeed, Veytia10 and Ixtlilxochitl11 state that the number of suns was agreed upon at a meeting of native astronomers within traditional memory. We are probably following the official version of the myth if we accept that to which the so-called calendar-stone of Mexico gives sculptured form and which may be interpreted as follows: While the world was still wrapped in primeval gloom, the god Tezcatlipocâ transformed himself into the sun. This epoch, which was known as Naui Ocelotl or “Four Jaguar,” ended in the destruction of humanity and the race of giants who then inhabited the earth by fierce jaguars. Quetzalcoatl became the second sun, and the age of Naui Eecatl or “Four Wind” ended in violent hurricanes, during which men were transformed into monkeys. Tlaloc then took upon himself the task of providing the world with light, and his epoch of Naui Quiauitl or “Four Rain” came to an end by means of a deluge of fire. The goddess Chalchihuitlicue represented the sun of the age Naui Atl, “Four Water,” at the end of which there descended a deluge in which men were changed into fishes. Later there appeared the present sun, Naui Olin, which, it was believed, would end in earthquakes.