The legend of the Feathered Serpent

Quetzalcoatl, the serpent god, lord of creation, of knowledge and of the wind, was king of the city of the gods. He was utterly pure, innocent and good. No task was too humble for him. He even swept the paths of the rain gods, so that they could come and bring water to the earth.

Quetzalcoatl's cunning brother Tezcatlipoca, god of warriors, of the night sky and of lightning, was infuriated by his absolute goodness. So he decided, with a few friends, to play a nasty trick on him, turning him into a pleasure-seeking rogue. "We'll give him a human face and body!" he sneered. They showed Quetzalcoatl his new human appearance in a smoking mirror. As soon as Quetzalcoatl saw his new face, he felt possessed by all the material desires that afflict humankind. Then Quetzalcoatl cried out in horror: "I am no longer fit to be a king! I cannot appear before my people like this!" The god summoned Xolotl, the coyote, who was bound to Quetzalcoatl as if he were his own shadow. Xolotl made him a cloak of green, red and white feathers taken from the quetzal bird. He also made him a turquoise mask, and a wig and beard of blue and red feathers. Then he painted his lips red, coloured his forehead yellow and made his teeth look like a serpent's.

So Quetzalcoatl took on the appearance of the legendary feathered serpent. But Tezcatlipoca had thought up a trick to play on his brother. He gave him wine, saying it was a potion to cure his sickness. Quetzalcoatl, who had never drunk alcohol, became drunk. While he was befuddled, Tezcatlipoca persuaded him to lie with his sister, Quetzalpetlatl. When he came to his senses, Quetzalcoatl was bitterly ashamed of what he had done. "This is an evil day!" he said, and decided to die. Quetzalcoatl ordered his servants to make a stone chest, then lay down in it and stayed there for four days. Finally he got up and told his servants to fill the chest with all his most precious treasures and seal it. Having said this, the god went down to the seashore, where he put on the cloak of quetzal feathers and the turquoise mask. Then he set himself on fire, and nothing remained of him but ashes on the beach. From these ashes rose fabulous birds that flew up into the sky: the quetzals.

When Quetzalcoatl died, the sun did not rise for four days, because the god had gone down into the land of the dead with Xolotl to see his father, Mictlantecuhtli. Quetzalcoatl told his father that he had come to take the precious bones he guarded in order to people the Earth, and the lord of the dead agreed. Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl took the precious bones and returned to the land of the living. Quetzalcoatl sprinkled his blood on the bones and gave them life. The bones became the first people, the Toltecs. The god taught humankind many important things. He found maize, which was guarded by ants, and taught people to grow it. He taught them how to polish jade, how to weave cloth and how to make mosaics. But above all he taught them how to measure time and understand the stars, and he set the course of the year and the seasons. At last the day came when the feathered serpent had to let humans fend for themselves. When that day dawned, the star Quetzalcoatl, the planet Venus, appeared in the sky. This is why the god is called Lord of the Dawn. Some say that Quetzalcoatl went east on a raft of serpents, but that one day he will return...