Native American Legends
Earth Goddess
An Aztec Legend
Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca represent the bright and dark aspects
of the Creator. The earth herself is the nourisher of life; but
she is also the burial ground of the dead. One purpose of this myth
is to validate the Aztec custom of sacrificing live human hearts.
The gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca brought the earth goddess
Tlalteuctli down from on high. All of the joints of her body were
filled with eyes and mouths biting like wild beasts. Before they
got down, there was water already below, upon which the goddess
then moved back and forth. They did not know who created it.
They said to each other, "We must make the earth." So
saying, they changed themselves into two great serpents, one of
whom seized the goddess from the right hand down to the left foot,
the other from the left hand down to the right foot. As they tightened
their grip, she broke in the middle. The half with the shoulders
became the earth. The remaining half they brought to the sky--which
greatly displeased the other gods.
Afterward, to compensate the earth goddess for the damage those
two had inflicted upon her, all the gods came down to console her,
ordaining that all the produce required for human life would issue
from her. From her hair they made trees, flowers and grasses; from
her skin, very fine grasses and tiny flowers; from her eyes, wells
and fountains, and small caves; from her mouth, rivers and large
caves; from her nose, valleys and mountains; from her shoulders,
mountains.
Sometimes at night this goddess wails, thirsting for human hearts.
She will not be silent until she receives them. Nor will she bear
fruit unless she is watered with human blood.
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