The origin of the earthly Quetzalcoatl is variously given; one cycle of legends narrates his birth in Tollan in some extraordinary manner; a second cycle claims that he was not born in any country known to the Aztecs, but came to them as a stranger. Of the former cycle probably one of the oldest versions is that he was a son or descendant of Tezcatlipoca himself, under his name Camaxtli. This was the account given to the chancellor Ramirez,[1] and it is said by Torquemada to have been the canonical doctrine taught in the holy city of Cholollan, the centre of the worship of Quetzalcoatl.[2] It is a transparent metaphor, and could be paralleled by a hundred similar expressions in the myths of other nations. The Night brings forth the Day, the darkness leads on to the light, and though thus standing in the relation of father and son, the struggle between them is forever continued. [Footnote 1: Ramirez de Fuen-leal, _Hist. de los Mexicanos_, cap. viii.] [Footnote 2: _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. vi, cap. xxiv. _Camaxtli_ is also found in the form _Yoamaxtli_; this shows that it is a compound of _maxtli_, covering, clothing, and _ca_, the substantive verb, or in the latter instance, _yoalli_, night; hence it is, "the Mantle," or, "the garb of night" ("la faja nocturna," _Anales del Museo Nacional_, Tom. ii, p. 363).] Another myth represents him as the immediate son of the All-Father Tonaca tecutli, under his title Citlallatonac, the Morning, by an earth-born maiden in Tollan. In that city dwelt three sisters, one of whom, an unspotted virgin, was named Chimalman. One day, as they were together, the god appeared to them. Chimalman's two sisters were struck to death by fright at his awful presence, but upon her he breathed the breath of life, and straightway she conceived. The son she bore cost her life, but it was the divine Quetzalcoatl, surnamed _Topiltcin_, Our Son, and, from the year of his birth, _Ce Acatl_, One Reed. As soon as he was born he was possessed of speech and reason and wisdom. As for his mother, having perished on earth, she was transferred to the heavens, where she was given the honored name Chalchihuitzli, the Precious Stone of Sacrifice.[1] [Footnote 1: _Codex Vaticanus_, Tab. x; _Codex Telleriano-Remensis_, Pt. ii, Lam. ii. The name is from _chalchihuitl_, jade, and _vitztli_, the thorn used to pierce the tongue, ears and penis, in sacrifice. _Chimalman_, more correctly, _Chimalmatl_, is from _chimalli_, shield, and probably, _matlalin_, green.] This, also, is evidently an ancient and simple figure of speech to express that the breath of Morning announces the dawn which brings forth the sun and disappears in the act.