1. 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 standeth before him. I'tura called his legions, tens of thousands of drujas, devils p. 366 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.
2. 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:
3. How shall we do? Where strike in? And I'tura, wise in wickedness, said: Go to the temples, the places of shining copper and silver, to the oracles, and obsess them, every one. And when the kings and the learned men come to consult Gitchee, my deadly enemy, assume ye to be Him, and answer them with lies and all manner of unprofitable speculation; turn them upside down; make them curse Gitchee; make them ask for I'tura. And when madness cometh on them, follow ye 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 ye in their distracted spirits to fill my mighty kingdom with Gitchee's harvest!
4. Then answered the hosts of I'tura (who was known in heaven as Most mighty God, what are thy prizes, for the souls of men, for souls to extend thy heavenly kingdom?
5. I'tura answered, saying: According to the number of subjects any angel bringeth 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.
6. 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 along throughout all the mighty kingdoms; kingdom against kingdom; city against city; man against man.
7. And the holy temples were pulled down or burnt; and the canals broken and wasted; the cities on fire, and the fields laid desolate. Neither grew there any grain; the grinding mills of the women were silent, like the dead stretched over all the fields!
8. Into the forest, afar off, 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 had been great and mighty peoples, lay only heaps of ruins, past the power of man to rebuild.
9. Then looked down from the highest heaven, the Creator, the Great Spirit; saw the work of desolation; saw I'tura at his bloody work.
10. And the Great Spirit cried out with a loud voice, so that the earth and heaven shook with the power of His voice; sifted all things, as a woman sifteth meal. And He found one grain of corn not ground by the God of evil, found Honga! The tribes so fast sworn to the Great Spirit that the evil Gods' and evil spirits' words rolled off and took no hold on them.
11. The Great Spirit saw the tribes of Honga, they that stuck most to the I'hins, the sacred little people, white and yellow, oft marrying with them, thus preserving the stock to the Hand and Voice. And He called loud and long:
12. Honga! Honga! Honga! The Creator would not be put off with silence; called again: Honga! Honga! But He heard only His Own Voice resounding far; knew His mighty Power! Again He called: Honga! Honga! Honga!
13. In the first call, I'tura and his evil hosts ran away. In His second call, it was like spring-time, after heavy winter. And in the third call, it was like budding summer. And there came up a sprout of the seed of Honga, 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.
14. And he spake, saying: Here, O Great Spirit, here am I! And the Great Spirit said: Who art thou, 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.
15. Then said the Creator: For which reason, I name thee Eawahtah, spirit and flesh even balanced, best of men. Come thou with Me; walk along with Me; thou shalt re-instate the tribes of men; deliver them out of darkness; make them worshipful.
16. Eawahtah said: I am Thy servant, O Great Spirit. What shall I p. 367 call Thee, that the tribes of men be no longer distrustful? Then answered the Creator: Call Me after the wind, O Eawahtah!
17. 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.
18. The Creator said: Tell Me, My Son, what saith the wind in the leaves? And answered Eawahtah: E! Then the Creator took Eawahtah to the big sea water, and asked: What saith the wind in the water, My Son?
19. And Eawahtah answered: Go! Then took the Creator Eawahtah to the high crags, the rocks above the clouds, piercing, where the wind whistled; and He said: What saith the wind, My Son? And Eawahtah answered: Quim!
20. And the Great Spirit said: Call Me Egoquim, O My Son. I am three in One; the earth, and all that is in the earth and on the earth, and all the stars and 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 thine eye seeth; all things thine ear heareth are of Me and in Me.
21. Whatsoever is one with Me hath 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.
22. Man alone is stubborn, setting up ways of his own. O that he could learn to be one with Me! To move and labor with Me! Then spake Eawahtah, saying: Holy Egoquim! I will go and teach man, give him Thy words; make him understand.
23. Egoquim said: For that labor called I thee forth, made thee tall and handsome, with strong limbs, and broad shoulders. Come, then, My Son, I will go with thee; into all the lands; amongst all the scattered tribes; thy voice shall be My Voice. So near thee will I stand, when thou openest thy mouth to speak, fear not, I will give thee words; thou shalt not err.
24. Eawahtah inquired: What shall I say; how teach the sons and daughters of men; give me a synopsis?
25. Egoquim answered Eawahtah, saying: