The battle is over, the once glorious Chichen Itza has fallen and all
because of the love of a woman. Hunac-eel, the king of Mayapan, the
conqueror, is being borne into the ruined city. There are no shouts
of welcome, no crowds gathered on the tops of such buildings as have
escaped destruction. Many of the former citizens have been killed,
others are held prisoners, later to be enslaved, and still others have
fled far to the southwards to find a resting place in Peten Itza.
Chac-xib-chac, the king of Chichen Itza, had fallen on the field of
battle, fighting for his bride. She was also of noble lineage and it
was she whom Hunac-eel had dared to desire, although she was the bride
of his friend and ally in the famous League of Mayapan which now was to
be disrupted after an existence of two hundred years.
The wedding of Chac-xib-chac and Tibil had been marked by the pomp and
luxury customary in royal marriages of the Mayas. There had been games
and dancing, feasting and song. The kings of Mayapan, Uxmal, Izamal
and the other kingdoms of Yucatan, had been present. Chichen was in
gala dress. The festivities were at their height when, without warning,
Hunac-eel and his followers from Mayapan rushed up the broad but
steep stairway of the royal residence and burst into the very chamber
of Chac-xib-chac and his bride. His retainers, worn out by too much
feasting, had made but a feeble resistance. Hunac-eel fled with the
reluctant bride to his home at Mayapan.
There followed a long and devastating war. Chac-xib-chac had been able
to induce all the surrounding kingdoms except that of the Xius to join
his forces. The Xius alone remained neutral. Hunac-eel, on seeing the
hosts against him, had called to his aid a body of Mexican warriors who
happened to be in Tabasco. The war raged for many years. Izamal was
conquered, and one after another of the famous cities fell into the
power of Hunac-eel and his foreign allies. Finally he attacked Chichen
itself, killed Chac-xib-chac, and, aided by the novel machines of war
of the Mexicans, sacked the city.
And now, the conqueror was making his triumphal entry. His son, also
the son of Tibil, accompanied him, a youth just arriving at manhood.
There was also in the train of Hunac-eel a young Mexican named
Pantemitl. Pantemitl had been trained as a warrior, but his activities
had taken a more peaceful turn. He had had a minor part in the erection
of the great Temple of the Sun, at Teotihuacan in his homeland.
Hunac-eel had recognized the young man’s abilities as an artist and
architect; he was just such a man as Hunac-eel needed in order to carry
out his plan of building a greater and more glorious Chichen.
Hunac-eel soon returned to Mayapan, leaving behind him Taxcal, his son,
and installing a Governor to rule the city.
Taxcal and Pantemitl, the young architect, soon became the greatest
of friends. Pantemitl was engaged in building a wonderful temple,
erected on a high pyramid, with stairways on the four sides. He had
brought with him the ideas of his country which were new to Yucatan.
He had carvings of the feathered serpent made for the entrance to the
temple and for one of the great stone stairways. The people of Chichen
marveled at the art of the foreign country which was blossoming in
their city.
Among the inhabitants, of whom many were serving as slaves to the
usurpers, was a worker in jade. The beauty of his carvings had brought
him renown. His craftsmanship was unequalled in all the country. It was
he who was called upon to furnish all the head and breast ornaments
and beads, for the regalia of those who impersonated the gods of the
Mayas in the festivals which came every twenty days. With his daughter
the old jade worker lived in a thatched hut on the outskirts of the
city. The girl was beautiful. Her frame was small, and she had bright
brown eyes with features sharp and finely chiselled. There was a subtle
refinement about her which is common even to-day to all Maya women,
especially when they are young. Nicte, the Flower, was a dutiful
daughter and when she was not grinding maize she liked to spend her
time sharpening the stone tools, and collecting the reeds needed by her
father in his jade work. Like the other women, she took little part in
the great religious spectacles performed so frequently in the temples.
And now more than ever her father kept her at home, for he feared lest
by chance she be selected as an offering to the new gods, introduced
by the Toltecs who had come to the city in the armies of Hunac-eel.
However her beauty attracted the attention of Pantemitl when he came
to visit her father, who was making the jade and obsidian eyes for the
many figures of the feathered serpent set up by the young artist.
Pantemitl was about to complete a wonderful Ball Court at Chichen, for
the game of tlachtli which formed a part of the religious life of the
Mexicans. The people of Chichen looked with favor at the introduction
of this game into their city, as they were fond of spectacles. The
court consisted of two massive and parallel walls of masonry. Near the
top and at the center of each wall there projected a stone ring which
was carved with the feathered serpent design. But the court itself was
a very small part of the whole undertaking. There were two beautiful
temples at either end, and the most wonderful of all buildings on the
top and at the end of one of the walls. The outside was decorated with
friezes of tigers alternating with shields. The portico of the building
was borne by two serpent columns with a stone altar between, consisting
of fifteen carved and painted human figures, supporting in their
upturned hands a flat stone as a table. The stone jambs of the doorway
were carved with warriors and the carved wooden lintel had the Sun God
upon it. Inside the temple itself Pantemitl painted the scenes of the
battles of Hunac-eel and his enemies. He introduced into this fresco
also many scenes of domestic life; he had even dared to paint in women
and the very house of Nicte. This was sacrilegious according to the
ideas of Taxcal who believed that women should not be represented in a
temple of the gods, as they had no part to play in the religion of his
fathers.
Now Taxcal, too, had seen Nicte and had begun to covet her. His
friendship for Pantemitl had given place to rivalry and bitter enmity.
The quarrel had reached the ears of the Governor of Chichen who
was forced to take cognizance of it as it was interfering with the
completion of the architectural work. The Governor’s position was
difficult. He feared the wrath of the king and yet he hesitated to
take the side of Taxcal as the people had made Pantemitl, the Toltec,
a hero on account of the part he was playing in rebuilding their city.
Besides, the Governor had learned that Hunac-eel was being surrounded
in his city by the Cocomes, descendants of the Itzas themselves. As
these people were conquering everything before them, perhaps Hunac-eel
was no longer to be feared.
The decision of the Governor was to let the gods solve the outcome
of the quarrel. He ordered the two rivals to play the first game of
tlachtli in the inauguration of the new court. The gods of the Ball
Court would determine the victory; their solution would be a just one.
It was decided, therefore, that the winner of the game could claim the
jade worker’s daughter as his prize. The other should be given to the
gods, his heart cut out and offered to their images. This practice,
so common in Mexico, was comparatively unknown in Yucatan. Here was a
chance, thought the Governor, of providing a worthy sacrifice to the
new gods.
Each youth eagerly accepted the wager of gaming for their gods and
Nicte. As for Nicte, she was virtually a slave, her choice in the
matter played no part. And yet she was inclined strongly toward the
prince, a man of her own race, as against Pantemitl, the foreigner.
The day dawned for the inauguration of the Ball Court. News had gone
out of the unusual circumstances connected with the first game.
People were coming from all the surrounding towns, even from Itzamal,
many leagues distant. The usual stakes were mantles, gold, and jade
ornaments, but sometimes men played themselves into slavery. To-day the
loser is to give his very life. The crowd line the top of the massive
walls, the Governor and his suite sit in the portico of the Temple of
the Tigers, other dignitaries fill the two small temples at either
end. Sacrifices are made to the gods of the Ball Court in these three
temples. There are songs and dances in the court itself, by gayly
dressed youths. Priests in the superb regalia of their offices are
entering the enclosure in solemn procession. Prayers are offered and
the ball is thrown about the court four times in the direction of the
four points of the compass.
The two young men, each with five friends as fellow players, enter
the court. A hush falls on the multitude, followed by a murmur of
admiration when they see the stalwart youths, their bodies glistening
with paint, and their breechclouts covered with gold and jade
ornaments. Pantemitl is the favorite in the betting, as he it is who
has caused Chichen to rise again as a city second to none in the whole
peninsula. Taxcal and his players have the rubber ball, bouncing it
steadily down the court towards the ring of their adversaries.
The ball hovers a moment at the hole but falls back again. It lands
squarely on the hip of Pantemitl, who leaps high into the air to
receive it. He and his fellow players have had long practice with
the game in Mexico and this fact now begins to show itself. Pantemitl
bounces the ball to a companion, and from one to the other it quickly
passes until he finally receives it again, directly in front of the
ring of his opponents. With great dexterity he throws it squarely
through the hole and the game is ended.
According to the rules, the mantles of the spectators belonged to
the victor but on this occasion none rushed from the court. All were
preoccupied with the tragic ending of the game. For Taxcal had fallen
exhausted at the feet of Pantemitl who raised him and carried him to
the Tiger Temple. Here the Governor received them. Taxcal’s father was
no longer to be feared, as word had come that he had been driven out
of his city by the Cocomes. By sacrificing the son of Hunac-eel the
Governor realizes that he will curry favor with the new conquerors of
Mayapan.
The Governor decides, therefore, to have the sacrifice at once. Priests
are dispatched to prepare for the ceremony in the portico of the
famous Pyramid Temple, hardly a stone’s throw from the Ball Court. The
sacrificial stone is ready to receive its offering, and Taxcal is a
youth without a blemish, as demanded by the gods. Resistless, he allows
himself to be arrayed in the magnificent robes of sacrifice. He is
regaled with incense from vases of burning copal, and is almost buried
in flowers. Pages follow him in the procession of priests as they wind
their way up the hundred steps of the pyramid. According to Mexican
custom, believed to be the impersonation of a god, he is treated with
all possible honor and respect.
At the top of the staircase, relinquishing his flowers and his mantles,
he is received by six priests with locks matted with the blood of
previous victims, their ears hanging in long strips where they have
been cut as acts of penance. Led to the sacrificial stone, he is thrown
on his back upon it. Five priests hold his arms and legs while the
sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, dexterously opens his breast with the
famous sacrificial knife, its wooden handle carved with the intertwined
bodies of two serpents. Inserting his hand into the wound, he tears
out the palpitating heart. Holding it first toward the setting sun,
he casts it at the feet of the image of the god to whom the temple is
dedicated.
When Pantemitl next made his way to the jade maker’s hut he heard from
a distance singing and wailing, and was surprised to see crowds of
people gathered. Presently he learned with horror that his beloved
Nicte had offered herself for sacrifice. She had announced that she too
would die, a sacrifice to the gods, in the sacred well of the Itzas.
Priests were already preparing the ceremonies. The sixty days of
fasting had begun. Gifts and incense were brought and Nicte, lying
on her couch, was being dressed in white robes and garlanded with
flowers. In despair and contrition, Pantemitl spent the time in his
Tiger Temple, painting over the door of the frescoed chamber the scene
of the sacrifice of his rival. In the chamber behind the temple he
carved scenes of warriors and civilians paying homage to the God of the
Feathered Serpent. These he hoped would find favor with the gods and
free him from his unhappy feelings.
The Cenote of Sacrifice, a huge natural well, was situated only a
short distance from the temple which had been the scene of the death
of Taxcal. Into the cenote the most precious possessions of the
people were thrown as offerings to the gods. Virgins were considered
especially welcome to the gods and the dark waters, three score feet
from the surface, held many victims.
At the break of the sixtieth day, the procession starts from the house
of the jade cutter. Numberless bowls of copal incense, incrusted with
amulets, are burned, carved wooden staffs, with heads made of stone
mosaics or covered with gold masks, are being carried by the priests,
all to be thrown into the dark waters. The maiden herself is dressed in
finely woven textiles, heavily ornamented with golden bells and jade
beads. She wears on her breast a gold plaque on which the sacrifice of
her lover is depicted. Nicte is to die for the love of Taxcal, but to
all the others it is an act of supreme devotion to the gods.
The procession winds its way to the Great Pyramid and from there a
broad avenue, lined with images, leads to the Cenote of Sacrifice. As
the band of worshipers are encircling the holy well, the priests with
the maiden take their places in the small temple directly at the brink.
More incense is burned and the precious offerings are thrown into the
water, with prayers and songs in praise of the gods of the cenote. In
the silence which follows, the main actors reach the roof of the temple
whence, in a few moments, the maiden is cast into the depths beneath.
As the ripples widen out to the edges of the great pool, prayers are
chanted supplicating the gods to receive graciously the offering....
Worn out with work and with sorrow, Pantemitl could stand the strain no
longer, and he sickened and died. Just before his death he completed a
small replica of the Pyramid Temple planned to receive the ashes of the
poor queen, the mother of Taxcal, Tibil, who had requested that she be
buried in the city of her fathers.
The death of Pantemitl cast the city into mourning. His great
achievements had made of him a hero. His masterpiece, the Pyramid Tomb,
was completed, and the people demanded that this beautiful temple
with its crypt be made the tomb of its architect. Offerings from all
covered the pyre on which his body was burned. His last wish was that
the ashes of Taxcal should be mingled with his.... The final rite is
about to begin. A beautiful alabaster jar, one of the most precious
possessions of the city, a gift from a visiting monarch from a distant
country, is carried in the procession of priests to the top of the
Pyramid Tomb. It holds the ashes of Pantemitl and of Taxcal. Reverently
the vase, surrounded by offerings of jade, is lowered from the floor of
the temple through the stone-lined shaft until it rests in the natural
chamber below the mound.