Note 54 — Chapter III · THE GREAT GODS

Sahagun states54 that after Tezcatlipocâ had succeeded in driving Quetzalcoatl from the country, “he proceeded further guilefully to kill many Toltecs and to ally himself by marriage with Vemac or Uemac, who was the temporal lord of the Toltecs, even as Quetzalcoatl was the spiritual ruler of that people. To accomplish these things Tezcatlipocâ took the appearance of a poor foreigner and presented himself naked, as was the custom of such people, in the market-place of Tulla, selling green chilli pepper. Now the palace of Vemac, the great king, overlooked the market-place, and he had an only daughter, and the girl, looking by chance among the buyers and sellers, saw the disguised god. She was smitten through with love of him, and she began to sicken. Vemac heard of her sickness, and he inquired of the women who guarded her as to what ailed his daughter. They told him as best they could, how for the love of a peddler of pepper, named Toveyo, the princess had lain down to die. The king immediately sent a crier upon the mountain Tzatzitepec to make this proclamation: ‘O Toltecs, seek me out Toveyo that goes about selling green pepper, let him be brought before me.’ So the people sought everywhere for the pepper vendor, but he was nowhere to be found. Then after they could not find him, he appeared of his own accord one day, at his old place and trade in the market. He was brought before the king, who said to him: ‘Where dost thou belong to?’ and Toveyo answered, ‘I am a foreigner, come here to sell my green pepper.’ ‘Why dost thou delay to cover thyself with breeches and a blanket?’ said Vemac. Toveyo answered that in his country such things were not in the fashion. Vemac continued: ‘My daughter longs after thee, not willing to be comforted by any Toltec. She is sick of love and thou must heal her.’ But Toveyo replied: ‘This thing can in no wise be; kill me first; I desire to die, not being worthy to hear these words, who get my living by selling green pepper.’ ‘I tell thee,’ said the king, ‘that thou must heal my daughter of this her sickness; fear not.’ Then they took the cunning god and washed him, and cut his hair, and dyed all his body and put breeches on him and a blanket; and the king Vemac said, ‘Get thee in and see my daughter, there, where they guard her.’ Then the young man went in and he remained with the princess and she became sound and well; thus Toveyo became the son-in-law of the king of Tulla.