. The myths of Mexico and Peru. fter which were created the forerunners of theother peoples. At this time there was no sun, and com-parative darkness lay over the face of the earth. Menknew not the art of worship, but blindly lifted theireyes to heaven and prayed the Creator to send them quietlives and the light of day. But no sun came, and dis-peace entered their hearts. So they journeyed to aplace called Tulan-Zuiva (The Seven Caves)—practi-cally the same as Chicomoztoc in the Aztec myth—and there gods were vouchsafed to them. Thenames of these were Tohil, whom Balam-Quitze re-ceived ; Avili
. The myths of Mexico and Peru. fter which were created the forerunners of theother peoples. At this time there was no sun, and com-parative darkness lay over the face of the earth. Menknew not the art of worship, but blindly lifted theireyes to heaven and prayed the Creator to send them quietlives and the light of day. But no sun came, and dis-peace entered their hearts. So they journeyed to aplace called Tulan-Zuiva (The Seven Caves)—practi-cally the same as Chicomoztoc in the Aztec myth—and there gods were vouchsafed to them. Thenames of these were Tohil, whom Balam-Quitze re-ceived ; Avilix, whom Balam - Agab received; andHacavitz, granted to Mahacutah. Iqi-Balam receiveda god, but as he had no family his worship andknowledge died out. The Gfanting of Fire Grievously did the Kiche feel the want of fire in thesunless world they inhabited, but this the god Tohil(The Rumbler, the Fire-god) quickly provided themwith. However, a mighty rain descended and extin-guished all the fires in the land. These, however,230. How the Sun appeared like the Moon Gilbert James 230 THE LAST DAYS OF THE FIRST MEN were always supplied again by Tohil, who had only tostrike his feet together to produce fire. In this figurethere is no difficulty in seeing a fully developedthunder-god. The Kiche Babel Tulan-Zuiva was a place or great misfortune to theKiche, for here the race suffered alienation in itsdifferent branches by reason of a confounding of theirspeech, which recalls the story of Babel. Owing tothis the first four men were no longer able to compre-hend each other, and determined to leave the place oftheir mischance and to seek the leadership of the godTohil into another and more fortunate sphere. In thisj ourney they met with innumerable hardships. They hadto cross many lofty mountains, and on one occasion hadto make a long detour across the bed of the ocean, thewaters of which were miraculously divided to permitof their passage. At last they arrived at a mountainwhich they ca
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