“Tonacatecutli and his consort Tonacaciuatl, who had existed from the beginning, resolved to undertake the work of creation. They had four sons, the eldest of whom was Tlactlauque-Tezcatlipocâ, or Camaxtli. He was born of a red colour. The second son, Yayanque-Tezcatlipocâ, was greater and more powerful than the rest. He was born black. The third was Quetzalcoatl or Yacatecutli, and the fourth Omitecilt, and for another name Magueycoatl, and the Mexicans called him Ochilobi (Uitzilopochtli), for he was left-handed and was chief god to those of Mexico, and their war-god. Of these four, Tezcatlipocâ was the wisest, was in all places, and knew the hearts and thoughts of everyone. And for this he was called Moyocoya, “he who is all-powerful, and who has all those things without which nothing can be.” Uitzilopochtli was born without flesh, but with bones,25 and in this state he remained for six hundred years, during which time the gods made nothing.
“After six hundred years these four god-like brothers were born, and all came together to order what was to be and the law that they should hold. They made a half-sun in the midst, the other luminaries great and small, and a man and woman named Oxomuco and Cipactonal, commanding him to till the earth and her to spin and weave. From these were born the maceguales or labourers. And to Cipactonal the gods gave certain grains of maize that she might keep them and use them for charms and riddles, and since that day women have used them for that purpose.
“The gods then gave this pair the days of the calendar and divided them into months, twenty days to each month, and three hundred and sixty days in the year. Then they made Mictlantecutli and Mictecaciuatl, man and wife, to be the gods of the infernal regions. Later they made the heavens and space and the water, and then a great fish like the cayman, which is called cipactli, from which they shaped the earth. In order to create the gods of water, all four gods joined together and made Tlaloc and his wife Chalchihuitlicue.