Trouble came to the Anahuac Valley when their beloved, caring ruler died, and his son, the extremely warlike Meltemoc, took power. He decided to go into war.
When one of the neighboring leaders refused to just marry his beautiful daughter to him, Meltemok instantly gathered an army, led it, attacked the neighbors at night and killed everyone.
So the until then peaceful inhabitants of Anahuac became warlike. The name Meltemoc caused fear everywhere. He constantly fought: he robbed his neighbors and took away their harvests.
One day he gathered his warriors and moved to the mountains, where a very rich tribe lived. The leader of this tribe had a beautiful daughter. Meltemok wanted to take her as his wife. We had to go north through the gorges. At night we made a halt.
The moon was shining brightly. The formidable Meltemok, who came out to look at her, suddenly felt that someone was nearby.
Right in front of him he saw the goddess of the night, the Moon, who took the form of a lovely girl. She reproached him for violence against peoples, and first of all, her own. Meltemok was stunned by surprise and speechless. And Luna continued to reproach him. She talked about the fertile fields he devastated, about the girls he took by force as wives. Finally, she threatened him with the most terrible punishment: no one will love him...
In horror, Meltemok fell to the ground.
The moon disappeared, and Meltemok the next morning gathered his warriors and announced the end of the campaign. The soldiers were surprised, but no one objected to the ruler. They had long dreamed of returning to their hearths.
The leader of the tribe that Meltemok was about to attack refused to give him his daughter as a wife, who was terribly afraid of the conqueror Meltemok, considering him ferocious and bloodthirsty.
Meltemok then realized that he would never win her love by force, and returned home. Before leaving, he promised that he would return again, but as a different person, and then, perhaps, the girl would love him.
Meltemok returned to his native village and plunged into peaceful concerns.
Now everyone saw how much he had changed. Meltemok supported peace and justice, thinking only about how to do a good deed. And now the time came when he was going to return to that girl who once refused to marry him. Meltemok decided to find out which day was the best for this. Meltemok went into the forest to talk to the Moon.
She said that now he will do good forever. But for this he will have to go underground.
The moon left him, and he immediately felt his feet sink into the soft earth and become stronger in it. Meltemok quickly lost his human appearance and turned into a branchy tree.
This is how the maguey tree was born. It was always kind and generous: it gave the Indians bread, drinks, sugar, honey, yarn, sharp nails and needles.
It was Meltemok who atoned for the evil he had committed during his lifetime.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru