Note 33 — Chapter VI · THE GODS OF RAIN AND MOISTURE

This picture of Tlaloc and Chalchihuitlicue is reminiscent of the Japanese myth of Susa-no-o and his sister Ama-terasu, the Sun-goddess, who, desirous of progeny, stood one on either side of a “river” (the Milky Way), dipped jewels into the “river,” crushed them into dust and “blew them away”; gods were born from the dust so breathed upon. See Kojiki, translated by Basil Hill Chamberlain, in supplement to vol. x of Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 1882, pp. 47–49. The Mexican picture has probably a similar generative significance. ↑