CHAPTER II

But we have more stable authority for the sequence of these “suns” or epochs. It is probable that this cataclysmic theory was in vogue among the Nahua for generations before it received a more or less definite form, and, indeed, Veytia¹⁰ and Ixtlilxochitl¹¹ state that the number of suns was agreed upon at a meeting of native astronomers within traditional memory. We are probably following the official version of the myth if we accept that to which the so-called calendar-stone of Mexico gives sculptured form and which may be interpreted as follows: While the world was still wrapped in primeval gloom, the god Tezcatlipocâ transformed himself into the sun. This epoch, which was known as Naui Ocelotl or “Four Jaguar,” ended in the destruction of humanity and the race of giants who then inhabited the earth by fierce jaguars. Quetzalcoatl became the second sun, and the age of Naui Eecatl or “Four Wind” ended in violent hurricanes, during which men were transformed into monkeys. Tlaloc then took upon himself the task