In this function he was addressed as _Quetzalcoatl Tlilpotonqui_, the Dark or Black Plumed, and the child, on admittance, was painted this color, and blood drawn from his ears and offered to the god.[1] Probably for the same reason, in many picture writings, both his face and body were blackened.
[Footnote 1: Sahagun, Lib.

iii, Append, cap.vii.and cf.Lib.

i, cap v.
The surname is from _tlilli_, black, and _potonia_, "emplumar a otro."] It is at first sight singular to find his character and symbols thus in a sense reversed, but it would not be difficult to quote similar instances from Aryan and Egyptian mythology.

The sun at night was often considered to be the ruler of the realm of the dead, and became associated with its gloomy symbolism.
Wherever he was, Quetzalcoatl was expected to return and resume the sceptre of sovereignty, which he had laid down at the instigation of Tezcatlipoca.

In what cycle he would appear the sages knew not, but the year of the cycle was predicted by himself of old.
Here appears an extraordinary coincidence.