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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section fifteen, Chapter four, Part three of American hero Myths.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Linda Sonrisa Jones. American
(00:24):
Hero Myths, A Study in the Native religions of the
Western Continent by Daniel Garrison Brinton, Chapter four, Part three,
The culture hero Kukulcan. The second important hero myth of
the Mayas was that about Kukulkan. This is in no
(00:44):
way connected with that of Itzamna, and is probably later
in date and less national in character. The first reference
to it we also owe to Father Francisco Hernandez, whom
I have already quoted, and who reported to Bishop Blascasas
in fifteen forty five. His words clearly indicate that we
(01:05):
have here to do with a myth relating to the
formation of the calendar, an opinion which can likewise be
supported from other sources. The natives affirmed, says Las Casas,
that in ancient times there came to that land twenty men,
the chief of whom was called ku kul Khan, and
him they spoke of as the god of fevers or agus,
(01:28):
two of the others as gods of fishing, another two
as the gods of farms and fields. Another was the
thunder god, et cetera. They wore flowing robes and sandals
on their feet, They had long beards, and their heads
were bare. They ordered that the people should confess and fast,
and some of the natives fasted on Fridays, because on
(01:49):
that day the god Bacab died, and the name of
that day in their language is Hymicks, which they especially
honor and hold in reverence as the day of the
death of Bacab. In the manuscript of Ernandez, which las
Casas had before him when he was writing his apologetical history,
the names of all the twenty were given, but unfortunately
(02:12):
for antiquarian research, the good Bishop excuses himself from quoting
them on account of their barbarous appearance. I have little doubt, however,
that had he done so, we should find them to
be the names of the twenty days of the native
calendar month. These are the visitors who come one every
morning with flowing robes, full beard and hair, and bring
(02:35):
with them our good or bad luck, whatever the day brings. Forth.
Ernandez made the same mistake, as did Father Francisco de
Bobadilla when he inquired of the Nicaraguans the names of
their gods, and they gave him those of the twenty
days of the month. Each day was indeed personified by
these nations, and supposed to be at once a deity
(02:57):
and a date favorable or unfavorable to fishing or hunting, planting,
or fighting, as the case might be. Kuku Kan seems
therefore to have stood in the same relation to Yucatan,
to the other divinities of the days, as did Votan
in Chiappa and Quetzo Kuwato se Acati in Sho Lula.
(03:20):
His name has usually been supposed to be a compound
meaning a serpent adorned with feathers, but there are no
words in the Maya language to justify such a rendering.
There is some variation in its orthography, and its original
pronunciation may possibly be lost. But if we adopt us
correct the spelling which I have given above, of which however,
(03:43):
I have some doubts, then it means the god of
the mighty speech footnote Elihio and Kona. After giving the
rendering Serpiente ador nada de plumas adds asila repathillo, portal
no yumero de etemolohistas, ketendremos, nessidad de a septarla al kenos,
(04:06):
parecio poco violento historia the Yucatan Volume I, page forty four,
the Abbe Brassur, in his Vocabulary Maya, boldly states that
kukul means mplumato or ador nado komplumas. This rendering is
absolutely without authority, either modern or ancient. The word for
(04:29):
feathers in Maya is kukum. Kul in composition means very
or much as kulvinik mui ombre, ombre de respeto, o echo, dixionario,
demotu ms Ku is God divinity. Four Khan see chapter
four number one. Khan was and still is a common
(04:53):
surname in Yucatan barrent nombris, propios and Lingua Maaya m s.
I should prefer to spell the name Ku kul Khan
and have it referred to the first day of the
Maya week Khan end footnote. The reference probably was to
the fame of this divinity as an oracle as connected
(05:14):
with the calendar, but it is true that the name
could with equal correctness be translated the god the mighty serpent,
for Khan is a homonym with these and other meanings.
And we are without positive proof, which was intended to
bring Kukul Khan into closer relations with other American hero gods.
We must turn to the locality where he was especially worshiped,
(05:38):
to the traditions of the ancient and opulent city of Chicheniza,
whose ruins still rank among the most imposing on the peninsula.
The fragments of its chronicles, as preserved to us in
the books of Chilan Balam and by Bishoplanda, tell us
that its site was first settled by four bands who
came from the four cardinal points, and were ruled over
(06:00):
by four brothers. These brothers chose no wives, but lived
chastely and ruled righteously, until at a certain time one
died or departed, and two began to act unjustly and
were put to death. The one remaining was Kuku Khan.
He appeased the strife which his brother's acts had aroused,
directed the minds of the people to the arts of peace,
(06:23):
and caused to be built various important structures. After he
had completed his work in Chichenitza, he founded and named
the great city of Mayapan, destined to be the capital
of the Confederacy of the Mayas. In it was built
a temple in his honor and named for him, as
there was one in Chichenitza. These were, unlike others in Yucatan,
(06:45):
having circular walls and four doors directed presumably toward the
four cardinal points. In gratifying confirmation of the legend, travelers
do actually find in Mayopan and Chichenitza, and nowhere else
in Yucatan, the ruins of two circular temples with doors
opening toward the cardinal points. Under the beneficent rule of
(07:09):
Cukul Khan, the nation enjoyed his halcyon days of peace
and prosperity. The harvests were abundant, and the people turned
cheerfully to their daily duties to their families and their lords.
They forgot the use of arms even for the chase,
and contented themselves with snares and traps. At length, the
(07:29):
time drew near for cuku Kan to depart, he gathered
the chiefs together and expounded to them his laws. From
among them he chose as his successor, a member of
the ancient and wealthy family of the Concombes. His arrangements completed,
he is said by some to have journeyed westward to
Mexico or to some other spot toward the sun setting.
(07:52):
But by the people at large he was confidently believed
to have ascended into the heavens, and there from his
lofty house he was supposed to watch over the interests
of his faithful adherents. Such was the tradition of their
mythical hero, told by the ISAs no wonder that the
early missionaries, many of whom like Londa, had lived in
(08:15):
Mexico and had become familiar with the story of quetzal
Quadal and his alleged departure toward the east, identified him
with ku Ko Khan, and that, following the notion of
this assumed identity, numerous later writers have framed theories to
account for the civilization of ancient Yucatan through colonies of
(08:35):
Toltec immigrants. It can indeed be shown beyond doubt that
there were various points of contact between the Aztec and
Maya civilizations. The complex and artificial method of reckoning time
was one of these. Certain architectural devices were others. A
small number of words, probably a hundred all told, have
(08:57):
been borrowed by the one tongue from the other. Mexican
merchants traded with Yucatan, and bands of Aztec warriors with
their families from Tabasco dwelt in Maya pan by invitation
of its rulers, and after its destruction, settled in the
province of Kanul on the western coast, where they lived
strictly separate from the Maya speaking population at the time
(09:20):
the Spaniards conquered the country. But all this is very
far from showing that at any time a race speaking
the Aztec tongue ruled the peninsula. There are very strong
grounds to deny this. The traditions which point to a
migration from the west or southwest may well have referred
to the depopulation of Polenki, a city which undoubtedly was
(09:43):
a product of Maya architects. The language of Yucatan is
too absolutely dissimilar from the Nawatl for it ever to
have been molded by leaders of that race. The details
of Maya civilization are markedly its own, and show an
evolution peculiar to the the people and their surroundings. How
(10:03):
far they borrowed from the fertile mythology of their Nauatl visitors.
Is not easily answered that the circular temple in Maya
pan with four doors, specified by Landa as different from
any other in Yucatan, was erected to Ketzilkuwato or by
because of the Aztec colony. There may plausibly be supposed
(10:24):
when we recall how peculiarly this form was devoted to
his worship again. One of the Maya chronicles that translated
by Pio Perees and published by Stephens in his Travels
in Yucatan, opens with a distinct reference to Tula and
no'anal names inseparable from the Ketzilkouato myth. A statue of
(10:45):
a sleeping god holding a vase was disinterred by doctor
Leis Plonjon at Chicheniza, and it is too entirely similar
to others found at Tlascala and near the city of
Mexico for us to doubt but that they represented the
Seine divinity, and that the god of rains, fertility, and
the harvests. Footnote I refer to the statue which doctor
(11:09):
les Planchon was pleased to name chac Mul. See the
Estudio a Cerque della estatua yamada chac mule or rey
Tigre by signor Jesus Sanchez in the Annalis del Museo
National de Mexico tom I, page two seventy. There was
(11:31):
a divinity worshiped in Yucatan called Kumahu, Lord of the Vase,
whom the Dictionario de Moutoul manuscript terms Lucifer Principal de
los Demonius. The name is also given by Popares in
his manuscript Dictionary in my possession, but is omitted in
the printed copy as Lucifer. The morning star was identified
(11:54):
with Ketzulcuato in Mexican mythology, and as the word cum
vase aztek Komiti is the same in both tongues, there
is good ground to suppose that this Lord of the Vase,
the prince of devils, was the god of fertility common
to both cults. End footnote. The version of the tradition
(12:15):
which made kukul Khan arrive from the west and at
his disappearance returned to the west, a version quoted by Landa,
and which evidently originally referred to the westward course of
the sun, easily led to an identification of him with
the Aztec Ketzl Kuwato by those acquainted with both myths.
(12:36):
The probability seems to be that Kukul Khan was an
original Maya divinity, one of their hero gods, whose myth
had in it so many similarities to that of Ketzl
Kuwato that the priests of the two nations came to
regard the one as the same as the other. After
the destruction of Maya Pon about the middle of the
(12:57):
fifteenth century, when the Aztec Mersnaes were banished to Kannul
and the reigning family the Jiu who supported them became
reduced in power, the worship of Kukul Khan fell to
some extent into disfavor. Of this, we are informed by
Landa in an interesting passage. He tells us that many
(13:17):
of the natives believe that Kukul Khan, after his earthly labors,
had ascended into heaven and become one of their gods.
Previous to the destruction of Mayapan, temples were built to him,
and he was worshiped throughout the land. But after that
event he was paid such honor only in the province
of Mani, governed by the ju nevertheless, in gratitude for
(13:38):
what all recognized, they owed to him. The kings of
the neighboring provinces sent yearly to Mani on the occasion
of his annual festival, which took place on the sixteenth
of the month Jul November eighth, either four or five
magnificent feather banners. These were placed in his temple with
appropriate ceremonies such as fasting, the burning of incense, dancing,
(14:03):
and with simple offerings of food cooked without salt or pepper,
and drink from beans and gourd seeds. This lasted five
nights and five days, and adds Bishop Landa. They said
and held it for certain that on the last day
of the festival, Ku Kul Khan himself descended from heaven
and personally received the sacrifices and offerings which were made
(14:25):
in his honor. The celebration itself was called the Festival
of the Founder, with reference I suppose to the alleged
founding of the cities of Mayapan and Chicheniza by this
hero god footnote yamab and Ayesafiesta chik Kawan Landa Relacion,
page three O two. I take it this should read
(14:48):
chic Ukawa, chik fundar O, poblar Algunakosa, casap Pueblo, et
cetera Dixionario de Muttur manuscript and footnote. The five Days
and five Sacred banners again bring to mind the close
relation of this with the Ketzelcowattal symbolism. As Itzamna had
(15:09):
disappeared without undergoing the pains of death, as kul kul
Khan had risen into the heavens and thence returned annually,
though but for a moment on the last day of
the festival in his honor. So it was devoutly believed
by the Mayas that the time would come when the
worship of other gods should be done away with, and
these mighty deities alone demand the adoration of their race.
(15:33):
None of the American nations seems to have been more
given than they to prognostics and prophecies, and of none
other have we so large an amount of this kind
of literature remaining. Some of it has been preserved by
the Spanish missionaries, who used it with good effect for
their own purposes of proselytizing, but that it was not
(15:53):
manufactured by them for this purpose, as some late writers
have thought is proved by the existence of copy of
these prophecies made by native writers themselves at the time
of the conquest and at dates shortly subsequent. These prophecies
were as obscure and ambiguous as all successful prophets are
accustomed to make their predictions. But the one point that
(16:16):
is clear in them is that they distinctly referred to
the arrival of white and bearded strangers from the east,
who should control the land and alter the prevailing religion.
Even that portion of the Asas who had separated from
the rest of their nation at the time of the
destruction of Maya Pan about fourteen forty to fifty and
(16:37):
wandered off to the far south to establish a powerful
nation around Lake Petin, carried with them afore warning that
at the eighth age they should be subjected to a
white race and have to embrace their religion. And sure enough,
when that time came, and not till then, that is,
at the close of the seventeenth century of our reckoning,
(16:59):
they were driven from their island homes by Governor Ursua,
and their numerous temples filled with idols, leveled to the soil.
The ground of all such prophecies was i have no
doubt the expected return of the hero gods whose myths
I have been recording, both of them represented in their
original forms the light of day, which disappears at nightfall
(17:21):
but returns at dawn with unfailing certainty. When the natural
phenomenon had become lost in its personification, this expectation of
a return remained and led the priests, whom, more than others,
retained the recollection of the ancient forms of the myth,
to embrace this expectation in the prognostics, which it was
(17:43):
their custom and duty to pronounce with reference to the future.
End of Chapter four, Part three. End of Chapter four
Section fifteen, Chapter four, Part three of American hero Myths.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Linda Sonrisa Jones. American
(00:24):
Hero Myths, A Study in the Native religions of the
Western Continent by Daniel Garrison Brinton, Chapter four, Part three,
The culture hero Kukulcan. The second important hero myth of
the Mayas was that about Kukulkan. This is in no
(00:44):
way connected with that of Itzamna, and is probably later
in date and less national in character. The first reference
to it we also owe to Father Francisco Hernandez, whom
I have already quoted, and who reported to Bishop Blascasas
in fifteen forty five. His words clearly indicate that we
(01:05):
have here to do with a myth relating to the
formation of the calendar, an opinion which can likewise be
supported from other sources. The natives affirmed, says Las Casas,
that in ancient times there came to that land twenty men,
the chief of whom was called ku kul Khan, and
him they spoke of as the god of fevers or agus,
(01:28):
two of the others as gods of fishing, another two
as the gods of farms and fields. Another was the
thunder god, et cetera. They wore flowing robes and sandals
on their feet, They had long beards, and their heads
were bare. They ordered that the people should confess and fast,
and some of the natives fasted on Fridays, because on
(01:49):
that day the god Bacab died, and the name of
that day in their language is Hymicks, which they especially
honor and hold in reverence as the day of the
death of Bacab. In the manuscript of Ernandez, which las
Casas had before him when he was writing his apologetical history,
the names of all the twenty were given, but unfortunately
(02:12):
for antiquarian research, the good Bishop excuses himself from quoting
them on account of their barbarous appearance. I have little doubt, however,
that had he done so, we should find them to
be the names of the twenty days of the native
calendar month. These are the visitors who come one every
morning with flowing robes, full beard and hair, and bring
(02:35):
with them our good or bad luck, whatever the day brings. Forth.
Ernandez made the same mistake, as did Father Francisco de
Bobadilla when he inquired of the Nicaraguans the names of
their gods, and they gave him those of the twenty
days of the month. Each day was indeed personified by
these nations, and supposed to be at once a deity
(02:57):
and a date favorable or unfavorable to fishing or hunting, planting,
or fighting, as the case might be. Kuku Kan seems
therefore to have stood in the same relation to Yucatan,
to the other divinities of the days, as did Votan
in Chiappa and Quetzo Kuwato se Acati in Sho Lula.
(03:20):
His name has usually been supposed to be a compound
meaning a serpent adorned with feathers, but there are no
words in the Maya language to justify such a rendering.
There is some variation in its orthography, and its original
pronunciation may possibly be lost. But if we adopt us
correct the spelling which I have given above, of which however,
(03:43):
I have some doubts, then it means the god of
the mighty speech footnote Elihio and Kona. After giving the
rendering Serpiente ador nada de plumas adds asila repathillo, portal
no yumero de etemolohistas, ketendremos, nessidad de a septarla al kenos,
(04:06):
parecio poco violento historia the Yucatan Volume I, page forty four,
the Abbe Brassur, in his Vocabulary Maya, boldly states that
kukul means mplumato or ador nado komplumas. This rendering is
absolutely without authority, either modern or ancient. The word for
(04:29):
feathers in Maya is kukum. Kul in composition means very
or much as kulvinik mui ombre, ombre de respeto, o echo, dixionario,
demotu ms Ku is God divinity. Four Khan see chapter
four number one. Khan was and still is a common
(04:53):
surname in Yucatan barrent nombris, propios and Lingua Maaya m s.
I should prefer to spell the name Ku kul Khan
and have it referred to the first day of the
Maya week Khan end footnote. The reference probably was to
the fame of this divinity as an oracle as connected
(05:14):
with the calendar, but it is true that the name
could with equal correctness be translated the god the mighty serpent,
for Khan is a homonym with these and other meanings.
And we are without positive proof, which was intended to
bring Kukul Khan into closer relations with other American hero gods.
We must turn to the locality where he was especially worshiped,
(05:38):
to the traditions of the ancient and opulent city of Chicheniza,
whose ruins still rank among the most imposing on the peninsula.
The fragments of its chronicles, as preserved to us in
the books of Chilan Balam and by Bishoplanda, tell us
that its site was first settled by four bands who
came from the four cardinal points, and were ruled over
(06:00):
by four brothers. These brothers chose no wives, but lived
chastely and ruled righteously, until at a certain time one
died or departed, and two began to act unjustly and
were put to death. The one remaining was Kuku Khan.
He appeased the strife which his brother's acts had aroused,
directed the minds of the people to the arts of peace,
(06:23):
and caused to be built various important structures. After he
had completed his work in Chichenitza, he founded and named
the great city of Mayapan, destined to be the capital
of the Confederacy of the Mayas. In it was built
a temple in his honor and named for him, as
there was one in Chichenitza. These were, unlike others in Yucatan,
(06:45):
having circular walls and four doors directed presumably toward the
four cardinal points. In gratifying confirmation of the legend, travelers
do actually find in Mayopan and Chichenitza, and nowhere else
in Yucatan, the ruins of two circular temples with doors
opening toward the cardinal points. Under the beneficent rule of
(07:09):
Cukul Khan, the nation enjoyed his halcyon days of peace
and prosperity. The harvests were abundant, and the people turned
cheerfully to their daily duties to their families and their lords.
They forgot the use of arms even for the chase,
and contented themselves with snares and traps. At length, the
(07:29):
time drew near for cuku Kan to depart, he gathered
the chiefs together and expounded to them his laws. From
among them he chose as his successor, a member of
the ancient and wealthy family of the Concombes. His arrangements completed,
he is said by some to have journeyed westward to
Mexico or to some other spot toward the sun setting.
(07:52):
But by the people at large he was confidently believed
to have ascended into the heavens, and there from his
lofty house he was supposed to watch over the interests
of his faithful adherents. Such was the tradition of their
mythical hero, told by the ISAs no wonder that the
early missionaries, many of whom like Londa, had lived in
(08:15):
Mexico and had become familiar with the story of quetzal
Quadal and his alleged departure toward the east, identified him
with ku Ko Khan, and that, following the notion of
this assumed identity, numerous later writers have framed theories to
account for the civilization of ancient Yucatan through colonies of
(08:35):
Toltec immigrants. It can indeed be shown beyond doubt that
there were various points of contact between the Aztec and
Maya civilizations. The complex and artificial method of reckoning time
was one of these. Certain architectural devices were others. A
small number of words, probably a hundred all told, have
(08:57):
been borrowed by the one tongue from the other. Mexican
merchants traded with Yucatan, and bands of Aztec warriors with
their families from Tabasco dwelt in Maya pan by invitation
of its rulers, and after its destruction, settled in the
province of Kanul on the western coast, where they lived
strictly separate from the Maya speaking population at the time
(09:20):
the Spaniards conquered the country. But all this is very
far from showing that at any time a race speaking
the Aztec tongue ruled the peninsula. There are very strong
grounds to deny this. The traditions which point to a
migration from the west or southwest may well have referred
to the depopulation of Polenki, a city which undoubtedly was
(09:43):
a product of Maya architects. The language of Yucatan is
too absolutely dissimilar from the Nawatl for it ever to
have been molded by leaders of that race. The details
of Maya civilization are markedly its own, and show an
evolution peculiar to the the people and their surroundings. How
(10:03):
far they borrowed from the fertile mythology of their Nauatl visitors.
Is not easily answered that the circular temple in Maya
pan with four doors, specified by Landa as different from
any other in Yucatan, was erected to Ketzilkuwato or by
because of the Aztec colony. There may plausibly be supposed
(10:24):
when we recall how peculiarly this form was devoted to
his worship again. One of the Maya chronicles that translated
by Pio Perees and published by Stephens in his Travels
in Yucatan, opens with a distinct reference to Tula and
no'anal names inseparable from the Ketzilkouato myth. A statue of
(10:45):
a sleeping god holding a vase was disinterred by doctor
Leis Plonjon at Chicheniza, and it is too entirely similar
to others found at Tlascala and near the city of
Mexico for us to doubt but that they represented the
Seine divinity, and that the god of rains, fertility, and
the harvests. Footnote I refer to the statue which doctor
(11:09):
les Planchon was pleased to name chac Mul. See the
Estudio a Cerque della estatua yamada chac mule or rey
Tigre by signor Jesus Sanchez in the Annalis del Museo
National de Mexico tom I, page two seventy. There was
(11:31):
a divinity worshiped in Yucatan called Kumahu, Lord of the Vase,
whom the Dictionario de Moutoul manuscript terms Lucifer Principal de
los Demonius. The name is also given by Popares in
his manuscript Dictionary in my possession, but is omitted in
the printed copy as Lucifer. The morning star was identified
(11:54):
with Ketzulcuato in Mexican mythology, and as the word cum
vase aztek Komiti is the same in both tongues, there
is good ground to suppose that this Lord of the Vase,
the prince of devils, was the god of fertility common
to both cults. End footnote. The version of the tradition
(12:15):
which made kukul Khan arrive from the west and at
his disappearance returned to the west, a version quoted by Landa,
and which evidently originally referred to the westward course of
the sun, easily led to an identification of him with
the Aztec Ketzl Kuwato by those acquainted with both myths.
(12:36):
The probability seems to be that Kukul Khan was an
original Maya divinity, one of their hero gods, whose myth
had in it so many similarities to that of Ketzl
Kuwato that the priests of the two nations came to
regard the one as the same as the other. After
the destruction of Maya Pon about the middle of the
(12:57):
fifteenth century, when the Aztec Mersnaes were banished to Kannul
and the reigning family the Jiu who supported them became
reduced in power, the worship of Kukul Khan fell to
some extent into disfavor. Of this, we are informed by
Landa in an interesting passage. He tells us that many
(13:17):
of the natives believe that Kukul Khan, after his earthly labors,
had ascended into heaven and become one of their gods.
Previous to the destruction of Mayapan, temples were built to him,
and he was worshiped throughout the land. But after that
event he was paid such honor only in the province
of Mani, governed by the ju nevertheless, in gratitude for
(13:38):
what all recognized, they owed to him. The kings of
the neighboring provinces sent yearly to Mani on the occasion
of his annual festival, which took place on the sixteenth
of the month Jul November eighth, either four or five
magnificent feather banners. These were placed in his temple with
appropriate ceremonies such as fasting, the burning of incense, dancing,
(14:03):
and with simple offerings of food cooked without salt or pepper,
and drink from beans and gourd seeds. This lasted five
nights and five days, and adds Bishop Landa. They said
and held it for certain that on the last day
of the festival, Ku Kul Khan himself descended from heaven
and personally received the sacrifices and offerings which were made
(14:25):
in his honor. The celebration itself was called the Festival
of the Founder, with reference I suppose to the alleged
founding of the cities of Mayapan and Chicheniza by this
hero god footnote yamab and Ayesafiesta chik Kawan Landa Relacion,
page three O two. I take it this should read
(14:48):
chic Ukawa, chik fundar O, poblar Algunakosa, casap Pueblo, et
cetera Dixionario de Muttur manuscript and footnote. The five Days
and five Sacred banners again bring to mind the close
relation of this with the Ketzelcowattal symbolism. As Itzamna had
(15:09):
disappeared without undergoing the pains of death, as kul kul
Khan had risen into the heavens and thence returned annually,
though but for a moment on the last day of
the festival in his honor. So it was devoutly believed
by the Mayas that the time would come when the
worship of other gods should be done away with, and
these mighty deities alone demand the adoration of their race.
(15:33):
None of the American nations seems to have been more
given than they to prognostics and prophecies, and of none
other have we so large an amount of this kind
of literature remaining. Some of it has been preserved by
the Spanish missionaries, who used it with good effect for
their own purposes of proselytizing, but that it was not
(15:53):
manufactured by them for this purpose, as some late writers
have thought is proved by the existence of copy of
these prophecies made by native writers themselves at the time
of the conquest and at dates shortly subsequent. These prophecies
were as obscure and ambiguous as all successful prophets are
accustomed to make their predictions. But the one point that
(16:16):
is clear in them is that they distinctly referred to
the arrival of white and bearded strangers from the east,
who should control the land and alter the prevailing religion.
Even that portion of the Asas who had separated from
the rest of their nation at the time of the
destruction of Maya Pan about fourteen forty to fifty and
(16:37):
wandered off to the far south to establish a powerful
nation around Lake Petin, carried with them afore warning that
at the eighth age they should be subjected to a
white race and have to embrace their religion. And sure enough,
when that time came, and not till then, that is,
at the close of the seventeenth century of our reckoning,
(16:59):
they were driven from their island homes by Governor Ursua,
and their numerous temples filled with idols, leveled to the soil.
The ground of all such prophecies was i have no
doubt the expected return of the hero gods whose myths
I have been recording, both of them represented in their
original forms the light of day, which disappears at nightfall
(17:21):
but returns at dawn with unfailing certainty. When the natural
phenomenon had become lost in its personification, this expectation of
a return remained and led the priests, whom, more than others,
retained the recollection of the ancient forms of the myth,
to embrace this expectation in the prognostics, which it was
(17:43):
their custom and duty to pronounce with reference to the future.
End of Chapter four, Part three. End of Chapter four
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