Chapter 26
I’tura, God of evil, dweller in hell, looked over the broad earth; saw the land of Guatama, the mighty races of I’huans. And his mouth watered, like a lion’s when a lamb stands before him. I’tura called his legions, tens of thousands of drujas, devils from the regions of hell: Come, he said, I have found a rich feeding place. Behold, I will make my kingdoms wider; spread out the walls of hell and gather in this great harvest of innocent souls.
Then came I’tura’s hosts of evil, ten times tens of thousands, for such is the nature of spirits and men; call for ten thousand to do a righteous work, and only a hundred come; call for ten thousand to do an unholy work, and behold, ten times ten thousand come. They said to I’tura:
How shall we proceed? Where shall we strike? And I’tura, wise in wickedness, said: Go to the temples, the places of shining copper and silver, and obsess every one of their oracles. And when the kings and the learned men come to consult Gitchee, my deadly enemy, you shall assume to be Him, and answer them with lies and all types of unprofitable speculation; turn them upside down; make them curse Gitchee; make them ask for I’tura. And when madness comes upon them, follow them to their sleeping couches and whisper in their souls that their neighbors are their deadly enemies. Incite them to war and to all manner of deeds of death; and when they overturn each other’s kingdoms and houses, and their dead lie like ashes over all the land, gather in their distracted spirits to fill my mighty kingdom with Gitchee’s harvest!
Then answered the hosts of I’tura (who was known in heaven as Ahura): Most mighty God, what are your prizes, for the souls of men, for souls to extend your heavenly kingdom?
I’tura answered, saying: According to the number of subjects any angel brings me, so will I exalt him to be a captain, or a general, or a Lord, or a God, and he shall have a sub-kingdom in my heavenly regions, with thousands of servants to do his bidding.
With that the evil God and his evil spirits fell to work, night and day; and lo and behold, the fair land of Guatama was overspread with human blood. Fell war spread throughout all the mighty kingdoms; kingdom against kingdom; city against city; man against man.
And the holy temples were pulled down or burnt; the canals broken and wasted; the cities set ablaze; and the fields laid desolate. With no grain growing, the grinding mills of the women lay silent, like the dead stretched over all the fields!
Into the far-off forest fled the women with the children, hungry, weeping, starving. And the cities went down; the nations went down; the tribes of men were broken up; only remnants here and there remained. And where once had been great and mighty peoples, lay only heaps of ruins, past the power of man to rebuild.
Then the Creator, the Great Spirit, looked down from the highest heaven; saw the work of desolation; saw I’tura at his bloody work.
And the Great Spirit cried out with a loud voice, so that earth and heaven shook with the power of His voice, sifting all things, as a woman sifts meal. And He found one grain of corn not ground by the God of evil, found Honga! The tribes so firmly sworn to the Great Spirit that the words of the evil Gods and evil spirits rolled off and took no hold on them.
The Great Spirit saw the tribes of Honga, they who stuck most to the I’hins, the sacred little people, white and yellow, often marrying with them, thus preserving the stock to the Hand and Voice. And He called loud and long: Honga! Honga! Honga!
The Creator would not be put off with silence; called again: Honga! Honga! Honga! But He heard only His Own Voice resounding far; knew only His mighty Power! Again He called: Honga! Honga! Honga!
In the first call, I’tura and his evil hosts ran away. In His second call, it was like springtime, after heavy winter. And in the third call, it was like budding summer. And from the seed of Honga a sprout came up, an I’huan; taller than any other man with a bright shining face of copper; shining as if all the destroyed temples glistened in his broad head.
And he spoke, saying: Here, O Great Spirit, here I am! And the Great Spirit said: Who are you, My Son? And he answered: I am Son of the Creator. Then asked the Great Spirit: Of what tribe? And he answered: My flesh is nothing; my genealogy is of the spirit. Of the I’hin my mother; of the I’huan my father.
Then said the Creator: For which reason, I name you Eawahtah, spirit and flesh evenly balanced, best of men. Come with Me; walk along with Me; you shall reinstate the tribes of men; deliver them out of darkness; make them worshipful.
Eawahtah said: I am Your servant, O Great Spirit. What shall I call You, so that the tribes of men shall no longer be distrustful? Then answered the Creator: Call Me after the wind, O Eawahtah!
Eawahtah said: How after the wind? The Great Spirit said: Come with Me, My Son. Then Eawahtah walked along and came to a place where the wind blew in the leaves.
The Creator said: Tell Me, My Son, what does the wind in the leaves say? And Eawahtah answered: E! Then the Creator took Eawahtah to the big sea water, and asked: What does the wind in the water say, My Son?
And Eawahtah answered: Go! Then the Creator took Eawahtah to the high crags, the rocks above the clouds, piercing, where the wind whistled; and He said: What does the wind say, My Son? And Eawahtah answered: Quim!
And the Great Spirit said: Call Me Egoquim, O My Son. I am three in One; the earth and all that is in and on the earth, and all the stars, moon and sun; they are one of My members. And the air above the earth, the Atontea, is another member of My Person. And higher yet; in the high place above the air, is the ether; the great penetrator; and that is the third member of My Person. I am everywhere, far and near; all things your eye sees, all things your ear hears, are of Me and in Me.
Whatever is one with Me has no hard labor. Behold the flowers of the field; I color them. Behold the ant and the honeybee; I lead them; the bird I teach how to build.
Man alone is stubborn, setting up ways of his own. O if he could learn to be one with Me! To move and labor with Me! Then spoke Eawahtah, saying: Holy Egoquim! I will go and teach man, give him Your words; make him understand.
Egoquim said: For that labor I called you forth, made you tall and handsome, with strong limbs, and broad shoulders. Come, then, My Son, I will go with you; into all the lands; among all the scattered tribes; your voice shall be My Voice. Do not fear, for I will stand so close to you, that when you open your mouth to speak, I will give you words; you shall not err.
Eawahtah inquired: What shall I say; how should I teach the sons and daughters of men; give me a synopsis?
Egoquim answered Eawahtah, saying: