The Loved Child
Nahuatl Legend
Xohcipilli - the flowery bud - loved the goddess Xochiquetzalli - the precious flower; but the gods unsuited by this love, decided to cruelly molest them with maleficent vigilance, and in addition to harassing them cruelly, the ones smitten decided to leave the heavens and to come down to Earth where they took refuge in a hidden cave out of that.
With time, that great love bore a beautiful child, whose parents gave him the pretty name, Cinteotl - the god of the ear of corn from maize. But this followed when the gods were angry because Xochipilli and Xochiquetzalli had ridiculed them. One notably dark night, while the lovers were calmly asleep, the skies' inhabitants robbed the baby that was recently born and after taking away his life, they buried him under the ground.
When the anguished Xochipilli and Xochiquetzalli discovered the disappearance of their loved son, terribly distressed, they asked everyone what they found in their path along their son's whereabouts, but nobody gave them any news about the child out of that, they decided to leave the Earth and to return to the heavens, understanding that they would never return to it and find as their punishment their disobedience to the gods.
The parents' anguish did not have any limits and they arranged to abandon the hidden cave at once, when they listened to a departing voice not knowing where it was, who made them know the exact place where their child was reposed, and by uselessly using so much time, they went in search for it.
Xochipilli and Xochiquetzalli secretly directed themselves to the indicated place, surprised. Oh miracle from the gods: Their son had passed into immortality; since he was the product of their love, the inhabitants from the heavens had made his hair flow like cotton, from his ear, the good seed that was made of his "hairy head," and from his other ear flew the so-called "fish egg;" from his nose, a plant called "chía" had been born, excellent for tempering the summers.
And as if it was little for so much kindness, the gods had made a plant flow from their fingers that rested below the Earth, called a camote (sweet potato), and its loofs, the abundant corn that would be a basis of human sustenance, and the rest of his body surged many various fruits that mankind would sow and harvest.
The flower god and the love god, looked surprised. How can the gods show gratitude to them for such a miracle?
A loved son, by the gods will, was permitted by them to be a giver of marvelous gifts; mankind given gratitude out of that have named it through time; The Loved Child.
