Mesoamerican Mythology: A Captivating Guide to Maya Mythology, Aztec Mythology, Inca Mythology, and Central American Myths by Matt Clayton

Author:Matt Clayton [Clayton, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-15T05:00:00+00:00

Huemac and the Sorcerer

Among the contents of the Florentine Codex, Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s sixteenth-century ethnography of the Aztecs, are stories about Huemac, the mythical last king of the Toltecs and of Quetzalcoatl’s exile from Tula. These are tales de Sahagún learned from his Aztec informants.

One series of stories in the Florentine Codex tells of the misfortunes of Huemac and of his people at the hands of the Aztec god, Tezcatlipoca. Although the primary characters in these stories are Toltecs, the stories themselves are Aztec creations intended to legitimize Aztec supremacy by providing mythical explanations for the fall of Toltec culture. In these legends, Tezcatlipoca comes in disguise to Tula, the capital city of the Toltecs, where he insinuates himself into Toltec society and then wreaks havoc, first by ensorcelling the people into destroying themselves and then finally by slaying them himself.

Once there was a king of the Toltecs named Huemac. He had a daughter who was the most beautiful woman in all the land. Many men desired to marry her, but her father always forbade the match.

The great enemy of Huemac and of the Toltecs was the god of the Smoking Mirror, Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca was always looking for ways to cause trouble for the Toltecs, so he went to Tula disguised as the sorcerer Titlacauan. He changed himself into the form of a young man selling green chilis. He went about in this form without a breechcloth, so that his manhood was visible for all to see. Naked as he was, he went into the marketplace near the palace to sell his chilis.

While Titlacauan was selling chilis in the market, the daughter of Huemac happened to see him there. She saw him in his nakedness, along with the virility of his manhood, and was inflamed with a passion to have Titlacauan as her lover. So much in desire was she that she began to act as though she were ill, refusing food, sighing and groaning, and looking sad and unwell.

Huemac saw that his daughter was unwell, so he went to her maidservants to ask what was the matter. The maidservants told the king, “Your daughter saw that seller of green chilis in the marketplace. He goes about without a breechcloth, and she is now burning with desire for him.”

Huemac therefore ordered that the seller of green chilis be brought before him to account for his behavior. Messengers went all through the city of Tula announcing that the man was wanted by the king. They looked high and low for him, but nowhere was the man to be found, until one day he reappeared in the marketplace in the very same spot where the king’s daughter had first seen him. Word was sent to the king that the seller of chilis had returned, and the king commanded that the man be brought before him immediately. Not long afterward, the messengers returned with the man.

“Who are you, and where are you from?” asked Huemac.

“Oh, I’m just a stranger here. I sell green chilis in the marketplace,” said Titlacauan.

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