By Kirby Vickery from the May 2018 Edition
There are many variations to this particular story as you can imagine. I mixed three of them for you.
One fine and very windy day, the sky god, Tezcatlipoca called out to his sometimes friend and sometimes not a friend Ehecatl -Quetzalcoatl, the god of the wind, to meet with him to discuss a aproblem facing both of them although Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl hadn’t noticed. Those were difficult days between the two as they liked to fight each other now and then.
Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl was just a little put out because he was really busy coordinating and running the hurricane season and was really into it causing all the effects you would expect in a major Hollywood disaster film. You can imagine his attitude being called from his work of love. “What is it you want, oh god of the sky? Can’t you see that I am very busy and not in the mood to fight with you today? By the way, how do you like my sixty mile per hour breezes? Really nice and steady aren’t they?” Asked the ego laden Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl.
“Your breezes are fine,” replied Tezcatlipoca. “But, even when your winds turn into light gusts for the people of the world to enjoy, haven’t you noticed that there is something missing from this world where we have all these people living and having life?”
“Well let’s see. They have the night and day from the sun god. The moon circles every 28 days thanks to Coyolxauhqui. They have water when I bring the rain. They have their crops of maize thanks to my wife, ‘the hairy one,’ who causes them to grow. You remember Cinteteo, don’t you? The one you keep making passes at during the Centzon Totochtin [also Centzontotochtin] party,” replied Tezcatlipoca, while ticking items off his fingers. “What else would you think they need?”
“They need music, you clod. Haven’t you ever noticed that there isn’t any music on the world. Not even the birds sing,” Tezcatlipoca went on. “There is no singing, playing or feeling that beat. There can’t be any real celebration anywhere without music. Can’t you see that, Wind?”
“Yeah, I see it,” replied Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl. “But, what does that have to do with me. Not my job, is it? Although, it would be nice if we had music here, just where is it?”
“Huitzilopochtli, the sun god, has it all. They sing, dance and play for him all day long in his palace up there and he isn’t sharing.” Tezcatlipoca pointed. “We need you to go get those musicians and bring them to this world. I’d do it but you’re the only one with wings that can get there.”
Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl didn’t think that was right either so he unfolded his giant wings and flew off searching for the one place where he knew he would be able to get to the palace of the sun god.
He landed on a special beach and called out to the sun god’s three servants: Water Woman, Water Monster and Conch and he told them to form a bridge.
They each grabbed one another and began to grow very tall and very thin. Then they started to twirl together to make a strong corded bridge that went all the way up into the sky.
He climbed that bridge and watched the world get smaller and smaller the higher we went.
Finally, he was able to see the sun god’s palace off in the distance on the other side of a large village with high walls and winding roads. He became very tired and wanted to turn around and go home. But, off in the distance, he heard the most wonderful sound he had never heard before. It was music from the palace and Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl let it lead him out of the village into the palace itself and he was able to see the musicians in the courtyard playing for the sun god.
When Huitzilopochtli saw him, he ordered the musicians to stop singing and playing. “It’s that infernal Wind god, Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl” he told them. “Don’t look at him or speak to him.
As a matter of fact, ignore him or he will take you back to his music-less world.”
Not to be outdone, Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl went into his wind and storm thing. As he flapped his wings, creating a great wind, he called out, “Musicians! Come to me!” But none of them moved. “I am the Lord of the Sky, and I command you to come to me.” And, again none of them moved other than to cower behind one another.
This angered Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and he stood full up and flapped his wings creating a tornado like wind with lightning, hail, snow and thunder, all blowing and booming from one end of the square to the other. His might was so great that the clouds he produced blotted out the sun. As the sun shrank to something the size of a candle, all the musicians ran to Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and huddled for protection against the wrath of his creation as the sound he made leveled everything around the square.
They all forced themselves onto his lap for protection and he wrapped them up and carried them from the palace of the sun god. Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl grew happier and happier as he negotiated the streets of the town and descended the bridge of three servants, back toward the beach, with his heart singing in joy.
When Huitzilopochtli saw him, he ordered the musicians to stop singing and playing. “It’s that infernal Wind god, Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl” he told them. “Don’t look at him or speak to him.
As a matter of fact, ignore him or he will take you back to his music-less world.” Not to be outdone, Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl went into his wind and storm thing. As he flapped his wings, creating a great wind, he called out, “Musicians! Come to me!” But none of them moved. “I am the Lord of the Sky, and I command you to come to me.” And, again none of them moved other than to cower behind one another.
Apparently, the world could feel the coming of something good and wonderful because, the closer they got to that shore, all sorts of good things started to happen. The fruit got riper, the grain longer and larger, all the flowers started to bloom in buds of more color and larger in shape.
When Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl finally set them down, they looked about and immediately saw what the problem was and they started to play and sing and dance, filling the air with music which spread to the animals and the birds. The wind god was pleased, and the musicians have continued to fill the world with their song and dance ever since as they, too, had found a home.
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Kirby was born in a little burg just south of El Paso, Texas called Fabens. As he understand it, they we were passing through. His history reads like a road atlas. By the time he started school, he had lived in five places in two states. By the time he started high school, that list went to five states, four countries on three continents. Then he joined the Air Force after high school and one year of college and spent 23 years stationed in eleven or twelve places and traveled all over the place doing administrative, security, and electronic things. His final stay was being in charge of Air Force Recruiting in San Diego, Imperial, and Yuma counties. Upon retirement he went back to New England as a Quality Assurance Manager in electronics manufacturing before he was moved to Production Manager for the company’s Mexico operations. He moved to the Phoenix area and finally got his education and ended up teaching. He parted with the university and moved to Whidbey Island, Washington where he was introduced to Manzanillo, Mexico. It was there that he started to publish his monthly article for the Manzanillo Sun. He currently reside in Coupeville, WA, Edmonton, AB, and Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, depending on whose having what medical problems and the time of year. His time is spent dieting, writing his second book, various articles and short stories, and sightseeing Canada, although that seems to be limited in the winter up there.
