Quetzalcoatl, the priest, gathered the children around the fire. He told them a story of the old, old days of his ancestors, Quetzalcoatl, the god. He told them first that Quezalcoatl often took the form of a feathered serpent or bird-snake and that he once fought with Tlaloc to determine who was the mightiest of all gods.

This is the story that he told…

Dicen que (they say that) long ago there were a great quarrel between Tlaloc, the

rain god, and Quetzalcoatl, the

feathered serpent.

“I am the strongest of the gods,” thundered

Tlaloc.

“No,” said Quetzalcoatl in a most reasonable manner, “I

am the mightiest of them all.”

“I will prove to you how strong I

am,” Tlalocboomed back in

his loudest voice. “I will

bring thunder and lightning

and rain in the most dreadful

storm the people of the

earth have ever seen.”

“It is not right to harm the

people of the earth,” said

Quetzalcoatl in a quiet

voice. “Surely we can think of another

way to prove who is the mightiest.”

“All right then,” Tlalocanswered. “Instead of sending a storm, you and I will go to war.”

No, Tlaloc!” Quetzalcoatl said

firmly. “Let us challenge each other

to a show of strength.”

“What do you mean?” challenged Tlaloc. “My

army will show my strength. We will have a great battle. You will

be conquered, Quetzalcoatl.”

“We can settle this without fighting, Tlaloc,”

Quetzalcoatl offered. “We

will play a game. A

game with a rubber ball.”

So Quetzalcoatl

and Tlalocagreed that the winner of the ball

game would be declared

the mightiest of the gods.

The people of the earth went about

building a huge ball court made of stone.

They polished the floor, decorated the walls, and painted a

line across the center of the court. They

built many seats for the spectators.

In the middle of each wall, they fixed two large stones facing one another across

the open court. And in the center of each stone was a hole

barely large enough for a small ball to pass

through.

Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc agreed on the rules.

They would play the game from sunrise to sunset.

The god who had the most points when the sun went down would be the winner.

A god would score a point if the ball crossed the centerline and touched the other god’s court.

A god could not use his hands to touch the ball.

If a god were skillful enough to get a ball through the stone hoop, he would immediately be declared the winner.

At long last, it was the day of the game. It was early

morning and already many

lords and nobles were seated in the

stands.

Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc each dressed in their protective playing gear. They

put on heavy deerskin belts. They wore leather gloves

to protect their hands and leather

pads to protect their knees.

The gods each formed a team on

opposite sides of the court to stop the hard rubber ball

from going out of bounds.

Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl faced each other in the center of the court. When the ball was tossed in the

air, Quetzalcoatl

rushed forward and hit it with

his hip.

Tlaloc raced to the ball and returned it with his knee. The ball hit the

ground on Quetzalcoatl’s side

of the court. Tlaloc had scored a point. The two

gods ran back and forth and up and

down.

The ball struck Tlaloc and almost knocked him over.

Two of his team members rushed

to his side.

Quetzalcoatl

was hit and knocked

against the wall.

The game went on

and on all day long. People

cheered and

people groaned.

The sun was about to travel to the underworld of

darkness. Tlalochad scored fifty-

two points. Quetzalcoatl had

fifty.

Tlaloc sent one final, powerful ball

lying straight at Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl

quickly stepped aside and slammed

the ball with his strong, right knee.

The ball rose magnificently

into the air and sailed

directly through the stone hoop. The crowd

gasped, then roared.

Quetzalcoatl had won the

game.

Tlaloc and his team bowed to Quetzalcoatl. “You are the

mightiest of the gods,

Quetzalcoatl,” they said. “We will now give

you the greatest prize of all. You may have our

gift of maíz (corn).

Quetzalcoatl thought about this

for a moment, then said, “As the mightiest of the

gods, I don’t want to take corn away from your people and make them hungry. I’ll take

instead green jade from the

mountains and quetzal feathers

from the rare bird in the jungle cloud

forests.”

Tlaloc was surprised, but very happy to

grant what he considered to be

Quetzalcoatl’s foolish wish. Tlaloc kept the maíz, gloating all the

while. “The green leaves of corn are

much more precious than jade or the green feathers of the quetzal

bird. And the ripe kernels of corn will satisfy many hungry

people. I will grind the maíz for my tamales

and wrap them in the corn leaves. I have

kept the real prize!”

The people of the earth are

still wondering who really won the best prize

that day. If they start to quarrel, will they settle

their differences with a ball

game?

Preguntas de comprensión:Prepárate conversar de estas preguntas

1. ¿Por qué jugaron el partido?

2. Describe la cancha (court) del partido.

3. ¿Cuáles fueron las reglas?

4. ¿Quién ganó? ¿Cuántos puntos tuvo antes de ganar?

5. ¿Qué recibió por premio? ¿Qué aceptócomo premio?

Additional Aztec aspects to investigate in more depth….

• gods

– Tlaloc

– Quetzalcoatl

– others

• tlatchli

– Ball court

– Rules/objective

– Who played

– hoop

• Jade

• Obsidion

• Corn

• Feathers