THE PROPHECY AT CO-LULA from "He Walked the Americas"

THE PROPHECY AT CO-LULA from "He Walked the Americas"


When the Prophet climbed His Temple in the beautiful morning of One Reed, the Toltecs were weeping for now they knew that He was leaving, and perhaps never again through the ages would He walk the Toltec Empire.

Once more He took them through the cycles of the Dawn Star, sometimes called the Star of the Prophet, Tlau-lacal-Pan-Tecutli, and into the vistas of the Future.
He repeated the warning given at Tula against the deeds of the Sacrificers, and foretold the invasion of White Man. He repeated again the description: the suits of shining metal, the rods which make much noise and kill at a distance.

Then He bowed His head in silence. When again He began. it seemed to the people that His voice was husky with teardrops.

"Once I had great hope for these people, for I saw them kneel and kiss the sweet earth, and I saw the shadow of the Great Cross which they carried with them. Yea, I had great faith in these people. Now I must warn you against them."

"Carry your great books into the jungles. Place your histories deeply in caverns where none of these men can find them. Nor do you bring them hack to the sunlight until the War- cycle is over. For children of war are these bearded strangers. They follow only the Law of the Jungle. They seek naught hut the golden metal as if that would buy them passage into the Isles of the Blessed."

"They have hut one love and that is for weapons. Ever more horrible are these weapons, until they reach for the one which is ultimate. Should they use that, there will he no forgiveness in that vale where there is no turning. Using such a weapon to make man over, is reaching into space for the God-Head. These things are not for man's decision, nor should man presume to think for all things, and thus hurl mockery at the Almighty. Woe to those who do not listen! There are lamps beyond that which you are burning; roads beyond this which you are treading; worlds beyond the one you are seeing. Be humble before the might of the Great Hand which guides the stars within their places. There are many lodges in my Father's Kingdom for it is more vast than time, and more eternal."

"Keep hidden your books, oh my children, all during the Cycle of Warring Strangers. The day will come when they will be precious."

"For the full Cycles of the Dawn Star, the rule of the warring strangers will go on to greater and greater orgies of destruction. Hark well to all I have taught you. Return not to the sacrificers. Their path will lead to the Last Destruction. Know that the end will come in five full cycles, for five, the difference between the Earth's number and that of the Gleaming Dawn Star, is the number of these children of warfare."

"As a sign to you that the end is nearing, My Father's Temple will be uncovered. Remember this in the days which are coming." For a moment the Prophet stood quietly. When He began again His voice was softer, and once more it held unshed teardrops.

"Once there was a Man who dreamed of a New World, of one without war and sickness. He wished to see the people happy, and so He fought sacrifice and slavery. To this dream He gave of his life-blood. He knew that this was the desire of the Great Spirit, but suddenly there came upon him mocking visions."

" A horrible gift had come upon Him. He could look down the cycles of the Dawn Star and see into the distant future. It would have been well if what He was seeing was the redemption of suffering mankind, but this was not what He was seeing."
"Tula was bereft with a savage earthquake. Then came the sacrificers. Blood dripped from the altars of idols. The same He saw in other cities."

"The visions were even worse in Colula. The streets ran red with the blood of fighting. First, even upon our Temple, He saw the blood of Sacrificing. Then came even a more hideous carnage. There was fighting up the tiers of the Temple!"
The people drew in their breaths as one being, whispering in shocked tones to one another: "What manner of men would commit such heresy'?"

After a pause, the Prophet continued:
"Soul-sick from these hideous visions, the Man sought the comfort of a mountain, to be alone and near the God-head. He must renew His will for teaching, or pray for death that the visions be ended; for they told Him that His work was mockery in this future, if indeed there was a future."

"There in the silence and cold of the mountain a great sorrow was laid upon him, and the man sank down in the softness of the snowdrifts and prayed for either death or guidance."

"Then the heavens spoke in a crash of thunder, and the lightning flashed above the valley. The Man turned to look again on Tula, His most beloved city. Behold! It was naught but a mass of rubble."

"He wept there with great sorrow. He clung to the rocks, staring back toward Tula.
"Then the heavens growled with reverberations which shook the mountain like a rabbit. A flash of white light crashed beside Him and cracked across the night's darkness. Behold! The old heaven and earth were swept away, as if the cycle He had been seeing was smashed, and He looked into another."

"The heavens parted and a rising gold sun shone down on another Tula. Plainly He could see the valley, but the city was one He knew not. Magnificent was this Golden Tula!"

"The Man was lifted beyond the cold earth. No longer He saw the Age of destruction. Gone was the horrible Age of Warfare. He was looking beyond the Age of Carnage!"
The Prophet stopped and stared about Him. He looked on the eyes turned up to Him. He looked on the young and on the aged, on the masses who followed each word in silence.  Then, softly, He continued:

"Walk with me through this Age of the Future. Tula shines in all of its glory, but the metals are of types we know not. Loving hands have rebuilt the parkways, have paved the streets, have rebuilt the temples. There is a great building where books are kept for the scholars, and many are those who come to read them. Tula is a great Center of Culture."
"Come with me to the New Colula. Shining again is My Father's Temple! Once more the city is filled with fountains and the parkways are wire-netted for the birds of rare plumage, and those who sing to enchant the listener. Cross through the Parkway to My Father's Temple. You will see again, the same inscriptions which today your eyes are seeing, but now all people can read them."

"Come to the metropolis of the future. Here are buildings unlike those we fashion, yet they have a breathless beauty. Here people dress in materials we know not, travel in manners beyond our knowledge, but more important than all this difference are the faces of the people. Gone is the shadow of fear and suffering, for man no longer sacrifices, and he has outgrown the wars of his childhood. Now he walks full-statured toward his destiny - into the Golden Age of Learning. "

"Carry this vision on through the ages, and remember Kate-Zahl, the Prophet."*
(*Sources: Song of Quetzal-Coati. Sedillio and Bancroft, and Mayan legends.)