Quetzalcoatl · Chapter 3 of 7
The Mountain of Sustenance
An ant · A hill of grain · A god who followed it in
The gods were hungry, and the ants already knew where the food was.
The same 1558 source tells where maize came from. The gods can find nothing for the new people to eat until an ant is seen carrying a kernel out of a mountain called Tonacatepetl, the hill of sustenance. Quetzalcoatl becomes a black ant, follows it inside, and brings a grain back; when the gods cannot open the mountain themselves it is split by others, and the rain deities take the seed. The tale gives the staple of Mesoamerican life an origin in observation — somebody watched ants carry grain out of a hill — and a set of gods who had to be shown where to look.
- A grain of maize
- An ant watched
- Older than the text
Unlocks in-game at Mastery 4.
