Omens were reported in the sky, on earth and in the waters.
The sages and diviners were consulted, but their answers were darker than
the ignorance they were asked to dispel. Yes, they agreed, a change is to
come, the present order of things will be swept away, perhaps by
Quetzalcoatl, perhaps by hideous beings with faces of serpents, who walk
with one foot, whose heads are in their breasts, whose huge hands serve as
sun shades, and who can fold themselves in their immense ears.[1]
[Footnote 1: The names of these mysterious beings are given by Tezozomoc
as _Tezocuilyoxique, Zenteicxique_ and _Coayxaques. Cronica Mexicana_,
caps, cviii and civ.]
Little satisfied with these grotesque prophecies the monarch summoned his
dwarfs and hunchbacks--a class of dependents he maintained in imitation of
Quetzalcoatl--and ordered them to proceed to the sacred Cave of Cincalco.
"Enter its darknes," he said, "without fear. There you will find him who
ages ago lived in Tula, who calls himself Huemac, the Great Hand.[1] If
one enters, he dies indeed, but only to be born to an eternal life in a
land where food and wine are in perennial plenty. It is shady with trees,
filled with fruit, gay with flowers, and those who dwell there know nought
but joy. Huemac is king of that land, and he who lives with him is ever
happy.
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