placed the bone in a vessel, and each of the earth-gods, drawing blood from his own body, dropped it into the receptacle. For three days nothing occurred to justify their hopes; but on the fourth the gory mass stirred, and from its depths there emerged a human boy. Satisfied with the experiment, the gods repeated it, and at the end of another four days a girl arose from the vessel. Xolotl was appointed guardian to the children so miraculously created,14 and nourished them upon the milk-like juice of the maguey plant. They throve apace, and in course of time became man and woman, the progenitors of the entire human race, who differ in bulk and stature as the pieces of the rescued bone varied in size and shape. Thus were born Iztac Mixcoatl the first man and Ilanceuitl or Ilamatecutli, his wife.
