American Hero-Myths

Daniel G. Brinton

Literature | Completed

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This little volume is a contribution to the comparative study of religions. It is an endeavor to present in a critically correct light some of the fundamental conceptions which are found in the native beliefs of the tribes of America.

Chapter 7 THE EXTENSION AND INFLUENCE OF THE TYPICAL HERO-MYTH.

01-08 10:45

Chapter 1 THE HERO-GOD OP THE AZTEC TRIBES.

§1. The Two Antagonists.

The Contest of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca--Quetzalcoatl the Light-God--Derivation of His Name--Titles of Tezcatlipoca--Identified with Darkness, Night and Gloom.

§2. Quetzalcoatl the God.

Myth of the Four Brothers--The Four Suns and the Elemental Conflict--Names of the Four Brothers.

§3. Quetzalcoatl the Hero of Tula.

Tula, the City of the Sun--Who were the Toltecs?--Tlapallan and Xalac--The Birth of the Hero God--His Virgin Mother Chimalmatl--His Miraculous Conception--Aztlan, the Land of Seven Caves, and Colhuacan, the Bended Mount--The Maid Xochitl and the Rose Garden of the Gods--Quetzalcoatl as the White and Bearded Stranger.

The Glory of the Lord of Tula--The Subtlety of the Sorcerer Tezcatlipoca--The Magic Mirror and the Mystic Draught--The Myth Explained--The Promise of Rejuvenation--The Toveyo and the Maiden--The Juggleries of Tezcatlipoca--Departure of Quetzalcoatl from Tula--Quetzalcoatl at Cholula--His Death or Departure--The Celestial Game of Ball and Tiger Skin--Quetzalcoatl as the Planet Venus.

§4. Quetzalcoatl as Lord of the Winds.

The Lord of the Four Winds--His Symbols, the Wheel of the Winds, the Pentagon and the Cross--Close Relation to the Gods of Rain and Waters--Inventor of the Calendar--God of Fertility and Conception--Recommends Sexual Austerity--Phallic Symbols--God of Merchants--The Patron of Thieves--His Pictographic Representations.

§5. The Return of Quetzalcoatl.

His Expected Re-appearance--The Anxiety of Montezuma--His Address to Cortes--The General Expectation--Explanation of his Predicted Return.