The Legend of Maize

His parents, Tonacatecuhtli - lord of our flesh, the sun - and Tonacacihuatl - lady of our flesh, the land - were much fond of him, since he was beautiful and very wise, completely distinct to his other brothers; Tezcatlipoca - the invisible, omnipotent god, to Camxtle - the god of hunting, and his younger brother named Huitzilopochtli - the left-handed hummingbird.

One day Quetzalcoatl - the precious serpent - asked for permission from his parents to go down to Earth and live in Tollantzince - the place of fertility and abundance, where he built in the year Tochtli - a rabbit - a wretched house from herbs and pieces of wood, in which revered the divine creator Tloque-Nahuaque, the one embraced by all.

But in the year 5 calli - five houses - the Toltec king named Ihuitimaitl - the hand with feathers - dies and the inhabitants of Tollan, having observed the pattern life of Quetzalcoatl, go to him at his house of penitence naming him Chief and High Priest.

Yet upon his new fatherland, Quetzalcoatl noticed that the very poor, unrefined life lead his beloved sons, by what impelled them a great desire for improvement. Every night he went away to the hill of Atecpanamochco - place of burnished, royal waters, and sat in a very spiny rosebush, praying fervently to the gods of the sky so that they imagine him with new skills to exalt the level of life of his subjects.

The disturbed gods through so much kindness and penance, initiated it upon the mystery of the true Nacuiltonolli - wealth.

They taught him to till and obtain the Chalchihuitl - the emerald, the Teoxihuitl - the turquoise, the Tepachtli - the coral, the Cozteocuitlatl - the gold, the Iztateocuitlatl - the silver and precious plumes or Qurtzalli, such as the brilliant blue-green colors of the Xiutotli - a brilliant green blue bird, the red color of the Tlauquechtl - the red bird, the yellow color of the Zacuan - the gilded bird, and the very brilliant black colors of the Tzintzcan in addition to teaching him how to manufacture and till very beautiful fabrics.

With knowledge from so much riches, Quetzalcoatl constructed four beautiful horses having the intrinsic quality of them the Chslchiupetlatl all covered over the Chalchiuhuitl, the Quetzalpetlatl - made from corals and white seashells, the Peocuitlapetlatl, all from gold, beautifully worked, without lacking the house of fasting made from wood painted black and called the Inezahualcal.

Formerly a very poor city, thanks to their incomparable god, it possessed a large amount of wealth at that time; but to this powerful god they do not succeed him to satisfy as many treasures. So, he longed for these so beloved men a more useful and precious thing. Such an idea obsessed him with wealth that he did not cease from praying to the gods.

Tloque-Nahuaque, the one embraced by all and through which we are, heard his prayer and one night, one beautiful night, when the moon cleansed the city, Quetzacoatl went to the hill of his orations where without pity, he punctured his legs and arms with barbs of maguey, the ones that bloody fell to the side of the fountain of purification amidst waters.

All night he went because of martyrdom and prayer and when the moon's silver circle seemed to liquify its clarity before so much fervor, they gushed from the forest liturgical rumors; from the waters of the lake and rivers, surged melodious murmur and the birds and reptiles produced almost imperceptible jingle bells.

Quetzalcoatl, with his parts of his body broken in penance, sat on top of a spiny rosebush and a lunar beam did stand out to show clearly its Ocelopilli - crown or tis diadem of tigerskin, its Quetzalihuitoncatl - the fan necklace of seashells to way of coat of arms, and its maxtli of round points.

Midnight already have passed when Quetzalcoatl remain asleep upon the rosebush. In his dream, he saw a beautiful hill covered with flowers and with an enchanting brook. Soon, he discovered an anthill of which black ants entered and left lined up well, transmitting mysterious orders.

Finally, there in the back of the trail excelled a group of humble female workers that attained carefully hidden "something" that they made that the enthusiastic anthill escort it toward it introducing it at the depth of the underground passage, where it was carefully deposited at the feet of the queen Azcatl, which hid it in a secret place.

Quetzalcoatl woke up. His body was fiery, so he soaked his face painted red and yellow in the fresh waters of the fountain. Later, as impulsed by an unknown force, he was interned to go though strange paths until arriving at Tonacatepetl - the hill of our sustenance, where he distinguished the obvious anthill in dreams.

There he set himself to pray with much devotion, and at his plea, the gods permitted that he would convert to a red ant, so that he could enter furtively to the anthill of Azcatl. He penetrated toward the most profound of its granary and extracted the ants' treasure, consisting in four ivory-colored small grains that appear to be seeds of pips.

From returning to his empire full of joy, he handed in a prayer before hiding their treasure on land.

And which he would not be in shock when one morning, leaving his house, the Inezahuacal, he discovered before her, there, were he had hidden the small grains which were robbed by the ants. There were some plants with flexible stems and with big. prolonged leaves that displayed golden spikes, and sleeping in the bed of leaves, there was a beautiful fruit with a golden down quilt, which had a head of hair like the Sun.

Quetzalcoatl understood that the gods had heard him at permitting him discover to mankind the divine mystery. A mystery that since then he converted our beloved land in an emerald sea, whose waves intone a sacred song of life's ritual in holocaust to the divine cereal, our immortal corn.