He provides himself with talismans to bind
hostile deities. He fees[TN-17] the conjurer to exorcise the demon of
disease. He loves none of them, he respects none of them; he only fears
their wayward tempers. They are to him mysterious, invisible, capricious
goblins. But, in his highest divinity, he recognized a Father and a
Preserver, a benign Intelligence, who provided for him the comforts of
life--man, like himself, yet a god--God of All. "Go and do good," was
the parting injunction of his father to Michabo in Algonkin
legend;[294-1] and in their ancient and uncorrupted stories such is ever
his object. "The worship of Tamu," the culture hero of the Guaranis,
says the traveller D'Orbigny, "is one of reverence, not of fear."[294-2]
They were ideals, summing up in themselves the best traits, the most
approved virtues of whole nations, and were adored in a very different
spirit from other divinities.
None of them has more humane and elevated traits than Quetzalcoatl. He
was represented of majestic stature and dignified demeanor.
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