From the primordial waters, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl lure Cipactli, seize her, and tear her apart after she bites off Tezcatlipoca’s foot. They shape her remains into the earth and other parts of the world, although accounts differ about her form and what her body produced.
The Making of the Earth from Cipactli
Cipactli devoured everything around her in the primordial waters. Each time the Four Tezcatlipocas tried to make the world, the enormous creature ate or destroyed what they had made. Quetzalcoatl, the White Tezcatlipoca, and his brother Tezcatlipoca, the Black Tezcatlipoca, watched her from above. They became frustrated and decided that Cipactli had to die. Her body would provide a foundation for the world.
Tezcatlipoca dangled one of his feet in the water as bait. Cipactli seized it and began chewing it off. While she was occupied, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl grabbed her. The two gods wrestled with the creature and ripped her apart. Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in the struggle.
They stretched and shaped Cipactli's remains into the earth and the rest of the world. One account also says that they made Tlaloc, the rain god, and the first people from her corpse. Another says that Tezcatlipoca tore off the monster's jaw and used it to make the earth. Some accounts describe Cipactli as a huge goddess who floated in the waters. Others call her a gigantic crocodile.
One account continues the story after her death. Because Tezcatlipoca had lost his foot in the fight, he became the first sun. Quetzalcoatl resented this and knocked him from the sky with a stone club. Other accounts say that Tezcatlipoca lost his foot when it became trapped in the door of the underworld. The accounts differ in Cipactli's form and in what her body produced, but connect her dismemberment with the formation of the earth.
Tezcatlipoca Becomes the First Sun
Tezcatlipoca took the place of the sun and began to rule the first cosmic age. The gods had quarrelled over which of them would become the sun god. They knew that the world needed sunlight to help crops grow and to keep living things from freezing. Ometeotl's four offspring joined the dispute, and the struggle for supremacy continued through a series of long ages called Suns. In each age, one god prevailed and directed the world's course.
Tezcatlipoca ruled the first Sun. He was associated with the north and with darkness, and the jaguar was his animal. Human beings lived during this age, but Tezcatlipoca later turned against them. In one account, he sought revenge after four wise beings, Oxomoco, Cipactonal, Tlaltetecui, and Xochicauaca, had been given a place in the world. He made his jaguars attack the people and eat them.
The destruction of the people ended the first age. Tezcatlipoca's Sun also came to an end, and another god took his place. Quetzalcoatl became the second Sun and created new people. Tezcatlipoca remained angry and turned these people into monkeys. Quetzalcoatl then left his position as the sun and blew the monkey people away with a hurricane. Tlaloc became the third Sun after him. The accounts differ in the details of the first age, but they place Tezcatlipoca at its beginning.
Tezcatlipoca Overthrows Quetzalcoatl
As the gods tried to make the world, the giant crocodile Cipactli ate or destroyed their work. The gods resolved to kill her. The Black Tezcatlipoca dangled his foot in the water, and Cipactli seized it. While she chewed it off, the brothers grabbed her and tore her apart. From her body they formed the world. They also made Tlaloc, the rain god, and the first people. The four resourceful offspring of Ometeotl then quarrelled over which god would become the sun and rule the world.
Tezcatlipoca became the first sun. In one account, this sun was destroyed by tigers. Another account says that Quetzalcoatl, the White Tezcatlipoca, resented Tezcatlipoca's rule and knocked him from the sky with a stone club. Quetzalcoatl then became the second sun. The people of that age lived on nuts. After several centuries, the still angry Tezcatlipoca caused trouble by turning them into monkeys. Quetzalcoatl answered with powerful hurricanes, which blew the monkeys away and ended that age.
For the third age, Quetzalcoatl persuaded Tlaloc to become the sun. Tlaloc ruled people who ate a different food. His age ended in a rain of fire, and the people became birds. Quetzalcoatl then began the fourth age by giving the office of sun goddess to Chalchiuhtlicue, Tlaloc's second spouse. Her reign was unhappy. Tezcatlipoca denounced her and eventually knocked her out of the sky. Another account says that her age ended in a great flood, from which one man and one woman survived.
The present age is the fifth sun, ruled by Xiuhtecuhtli, the fire god. It is expected to end in earthquakes. The supplied accounts describe rival gods taking the sun and destroying each age. They do not state that Tezcatlipoca overthrew Quetzalcoatl from the second sun.
