_Historia_, etc., Lib.

x, cap.

xxix, Sec.8.] [Footnote 2: _Huemac_ is a compound of _uey_, great, and _maitl_, hand.
Tezozomoc, Duran, and various other writers assign this name to Quetzalcoatl.] "Whence come you ?" "My lord," replied the Toveyo, "I am a stranger, and I have come to sell green peppers." "Why," asked the king "do you not wear a _maxtli_ (breech-cloth), and cover your nakedness with a garment ?" "My lord," answered the stranger, "I follow the custom of my country." Then the king added:-- "You have inspired in my daughter a longing; she is sick with desire; you must cure her." "Nay, my lord," said the stranger, "this may not be.

Rather slay me here; I wish to die; for I am not worthy to hear such words, poor as I am, and seeking only to gain my bread by selling green peppers." But the king insisted, and said:-- "Have no fear; you alone can restore my daughter; you must do so." Thereupon the attendants cut the sham Toveyo's hair; they led him to the bath, and colored his body black; they placed a _maxtli_ and a robe upon him, and the king said:-- "Go in unto my daughter." Tezcatlipoca went in unto her, and she was healed from that hour.
Thus did the naked stranger become the son-in-law of the great king of Tula.

But the Toltecs were deeply angered that the maiden had given his black body the preference over their bright forms, and they plotted to have him slain.