The Market Place

Chapter sample from New Book.

KOSKATLAN – The Pipil Saga.

Coming soon… 

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Kozkatlán was smaller than expected. Yeisun had been to Tula when he was a child, and found that place to be very big for human city standards. And the way the people had built their pyramids, was impressive. Kozkatlán in the other hand was too small. The pyramids were not even as big as he had expected they would be. Some were not even finished. Tlaloc had said that it was a new city and that it was starting to grow, but the young god expected that at least it would be half the size of Tikal, but this was too small. He could hardly call this a city. It was more like a glorified village.

There were a lot of people here though; apparently they had come from all over the kingdom. At least that was good. It showed that the people cared for his father’s festive day. That was good. With time the city might grow to be as big as Tikal or at least Copán.

The young god resembled a fisherman. He even smelled of fish, which he didn’t complain about since he loved the sea creatures. He passed by some merchants who quickly approached him and asked him about his fish. “How much do you want for your fish, boy?” One of the merchants asked.

“Oh, they’re not for trading,” Yeisun answered.

“Where did you catch such magnificent fish?” He insisted. The fish were bigger than normal. They were fat and about twenty inches long. Tlaloc always brought magnificent sea creatures for trading. It was usually big fish that would catch the merchant’s attention though, but sometimes like in the city of Tula, he would bring octopus. People in the north loved to eat Octopus.

“From the lake,” The boy responded.

“What lake? Not this lake. This lake doesn’t have any fish like that,” the man told him.

“We caught them at Ilopango,” Tlaloc said, interrupting the conversation and saving his son from talking too much.

“Oh, now that’s a fine lake,” the merchant responded.

“Tell you what. I’m willing to trade the fish for some fine garments. I have some good garbs made of pure wolf skins. Here, come and take a look,” the man grabbed Tlaloc by the arm and pulled him closer to his merchandise. Tlaloc was used to this kind of hustles. Merchant traders were like this everywhere. They always hustle for goods. “I’ll give you one good garment like this one for half a dozen of your fish,” the man offered.

“No, thank you we don’t need clothing. We need those fish for our dinner,” politely said Tlaloc.

“You will still have plenty fish left for your dinner. Besides, your lovely wife could use some new cloth,” the man said, looking at a not so attractive woman standing next to Yeisun. Chalchiuhtlicue looked like a regular fisherman’s wife. She was dirty and her hair was a mess. Her close looked old and torn. Her face was stained, just like every other fisherwoman who spent too much time in the sand and salted water.

“We are okay, really,” Tlaloc insisted.

“Come on I insist,” the merchant said. I’ll give you one garment for your wife and one for your son. It will keep them warm at night.”

“You will give us two garments for six of our fish?” Yeisun asked.

“Yes of course. I have some made of cotton as well but those are more expensive,” the merchant said and turned back to Tlaloc since he was the man making the decision.

“Why would he do that?” The boy asked his mother in a low voice.

“The fish are from a far land. People love things that are from foreign places. Places that they don’t have access to, or are too far to travel. Especially food,” Chalchiuhtlicue explained. “He will probably trade the fish for something else later. That’s how merchants work.”

“What do you say?” The merchant pressed on.

“It sounds like an even trade,” Tlaloc finally said and turned to his wife. “Chal, why don’t you choose the garments?”

“Really?” Chalchiuhtlicue pretended to be excited about her new garments. It was an act she was used to performing every time she visited the human cities. She hated the feeling of animal pelts in her delicate skin, but they had to sell the act. Trading with the locals was a good way to blend in.

“Chal? What a beautiful name my lady. Please come this way,” the merchant guided her into his small lot and showed her some of the nicest garments that his wife and daughters had made from raccoon skin. Chalchiuhtlicue did not want to know how many raccoons had taken to make garments like these.

“So that’s why you wanted the fish,” Yeisun said to Tlaloc once the merchant was out of earshot.

“It is always good to bring something to trade. You can’t pass as an outsider if you don’t have anything to trade. If you show up empty handed, you’ll attract suspicion and that’s not good.”

“Suspicion? For what?”

“Spies. They are always spies in cities like this one. They come from all over, some as far as Palenque.”

“How does this look?” Chalchiuhtlicue interrupted.

“They look good ma. I like them,” the boy answered.

“Here this one is yours,” she said handing him out a garment made of cotton fiber.  Tlaloc unhooked six fish from his knot and gave them to the merchant. The merchant gladly accepted them and placed them on a basket.

“Thank you my good man. It was good trading with you. Don’t forget to stop by before you leave town. I should have some other goodies by then,” the merchant said and moved on to look for another client.

The small family of gods kept walking down the market place; Chalchiuhtlicue was always fond of the jewelry the women made of special stones. The most expensive ones were always the jade necklaces. The Jade stone was one of the most rare and most venerated jewels of the region. It was said that it was one of the god’s most precious gifts to man.

The market was full of people. There were merchants with food, cloth, jewelry, weapons, pottery, stones and livestock. Yeisun was amazed to see all the people walking around, trading and looking at the merchandise. Yeisun was entertained by the sight of it all, but at the end of the row he saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He hadn’t seen such beauty even in Tlalocan. He stared at her for what it seemed an eternity.

The girl was poorly dressed but she carried herself as if she was royalty. Her face structure was round, with high chick bones. Her figure was perfect as his mother’s. She was surrounded by three other girls, poorly dressed as her but not as beautiful. While his parents were entertained looking at some pots, he decided to walk over to the girl and talk to her.

“Niltze,” the young god said as he approached the girls.

“Niltze,” they all replied.

“I’m Yeisun,” he said in a very polite manner. The girls giggled and stared at him.

“Are you a fisherman?” One of the girls asked. Yeisun had forgotten that he was carrying the fish and his new clothes.

“Yes I am,” he responded. “I come from a small village in Ilopango. We have great fish there,” the young god responded using his father’s excuse.

“That’s nice. Excuse me,” the beautiful girl said and moved on to the next jewelry post.

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?” Yeisun asked.

“Why?”  Another girl said.“Should we?”

“Well, I gave you mine. It is only proper for you to respond back with yours.”

“I’m sorry but we are not allowed to speak to strangers,” the younger girl replied.

“Don’t listen to them. My name is Sihuehuet and we are from Güija,” the beautiful girl introduced herself. “It was nice to meet you Yeisun the fisherman. But we have to go,” she said and placed the jade necklace back on the floor cloth.

“Do you like that necklace?” Yeisun asked quickly before the girl could leave.

“Yes I do but I don’t have anything to trade for it,” Sihuehuet answered.

“I do,” Yeisun offered. “I have fish. I can get it for you.”

“Thank you, but no. I’m sorry, I can’t accept it. Besides you worked hard to get those fish, I’m sure,” Sihuehuet replied.

“But it’s a gift, from me to you,” Yeisun insisted.

“Listen, Yeisun. I’m sure you mean well, but I don’t know you and it’s not proper for a maiden to accept gifts from strange men. Thank you though, you are very nice,”the group of girls turned and left. Yeisun just stood there staring after the girls.

“Who was that?” Chalchiuhtlicue asked.

“Her name is Sihuehuet from Güija.”

“She is pretty. Come on we have to go,” his mother ordered.

 

“Did you see the look on his face? He looked like he was about to cry when you refused his gift,” Mikal teased and everyone else giggled.

“Leave him alone. He meant well,” Sihuehuet said.

“He was going to trade his fish for the necklace. You should have let him.”

“Yes, and what was I going to say to my dad? That I found it?”

“No, just tell him the truth─ that someone gave it to you,” Mikal suggested.

“Are you crazy? That kind of thing only happens for wedding proposals.”

“But he is foreign. They do things differently where he comes from. Maybe that’s how people from Ilopango are,” Oxaly suggested.

“No, it’s not proper and you know it,” Sihuehuet turned to look back and noticed that the boy was still standing there staring at them. She smiled.

“HEY!” the crowd was cheering.

“What’s going on?” Oxaly asked a merchant woman.

“Must be the royal family. Everyone that’s not from here always gets so excited to see them,” the woman said, but the girls did not wait for her to finish. They were already running and trying to make their way through to take a peek.

“I can’t see them,” Mikal complained.

“Me neither,” the rest of the girls answered. By the time they made it to the front, the royal family had already passed. There were only guards marching behind them and they were all blocking the view.

“We missed them,” said one sad Oxaly.

“Don’t worry you will see them again tomorrow at the inauguration of the Atlcahualo,” a familiar voice said from behind.

The group of girls turned around and to their surprise it was Acatl, the rude brute, but handsome young warrior from last night. “Niltze,” he saluted.

“Niltze,” the girls answered back, except for Sihuehuet who didn’t really like the young man anymore. Sure he was handsome and brave. But just like Balak, he was a bully. A bigger bully than Balak ever was. This was the kind of men that her father always told her to stay away from. The kind that like to play with all the girls but never commit to anything. “Hummingbirds”everyone called his type. Sihuehuet was sure that that’s exactly what this man was─ a hummingbirdgoing from flower to flower tasting their honey.

“What are you girls doing here?”

“We were just leaving,” Sihuehuet answered and started to move away.

“No, wait. Don’t go,” the young man begged. “Let me at least apologize for what happened yesterday.”

Sihuehuet turned around and waited. So did the rest of the girls.

“Well…” the man started. “Would you please forgive me? Yesterday was our first day here and we had been drinking Chicha. I was a little drunk, and wasn’t thinking right.”

“That’s not an excuse,” Sihuehuet spat back and started to move away.

“No… please. I really am not a bad person. I just want to get to know you,” Acatl grabbed Sihuehuet by the arm. The beautiful girl span a pushed him away in disgust.

“Look, you are a bully and a brute. I don’t want to get to know you. You are just like all the other warriors. You guys think you own the world,” Acatl just stood there staring at her. He had never seen an angry woman like that. This had never happened to him. All the girls usually threw themselves at him, but not this one. This one was different; she had some kind of inner fire. “Good bye,” Sihuehuet said and left him in the middle of the street staring after the four girls.

 

Yeisun and Chalchiuhtlicue had decided to go food tasting. They loved the food. Yeisun had tried the Chichimec and the Toltec foods up in the north. The northerners had made good use of the corn. Their tamales were always good. But the Pipil tamales were better. They were juicier. “These tamales are different,” he told his mother.

“Yes. The Pipils use banana leaves instead of corn leaves to wrap their tamales. It preserves the corn oils and adds a very distinguish flavor.”

“Very exquisite,” Yeisun added.

“Yes. They sure are.” Chalchiuhtlicue agreed.

“What about this drink,” The young god asked. He was having a bowl of some kind of dark beverage. It was thick and it had black beans and some other kind of green sauce on it.

“That is what they call ‘Chuco’.”

“Chuco? What is it made of?”

“They make it out of fermented black corn. That’s how it gets its bitter taste. The beans are just regular black beans, but the sauce is made out of pumpkin seeds. It’s one of my favorite drinks.”

“Wow. These Pipils are good cooks,” Yeisun took another sip of his Chuco.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” the goddess of water said. Yeisun smiled and continued to enjoy the food. “Calm down, don’t eat so fast. Make sure you leave some room for some dessert. You need to taste their pastries. They are really good. I’m going order our cooks to learn to make them.”

“I will,” the boy muffled with a full mouth.

“How do you like it here?” Chalchiuhtlicue finally asked.

“It’s Okay. Kind of small. I like the food though.”

“Yeah, that’s true it’s not as big as Chichen Itza or Tula, but the people are really humble and friendly.”

“Kind of small aren’t they?”

“Yeah, that’s how they got the name Pipil. Cause they kind of resemble big children. Plus the way they talk sounds kind of childish.”

“I thoughtPipil meant ‘Nobles’?”

“Yeah, ‘Noble children’ or ‘Childish Nobles’ it doesn’t matter,” the goddess responded.

“Their cooks are good, but how about their warriors?”

“I don’t know much about them. But I’m pretty sure they are fierce, or else they wouldn’t be building such a nice city in this area. Tezcatlipoca would know more about that. He is venerated as much as Tlaloc in this region.”

“Did someone call my name?” A beggar asked. The poor man looked ill. His skin was dark and his face looked like it had been burned by the sun. He was taller than most Indians here though. Yeisun stared at him for a while; he wasn’t sure what to say.

“What do YOU want?” Chalchiuhtlicue sounded annoyed by the beggar. The beggar stared at the boy and then sat down next to her.

“So this is your youngest son. What’s his name?” the man asked. Yeisun seemed confused. Why was this beggar asking questions about him? And how did he know he was the youngest?

“Don’t be alarmed boy,” the beggar said. “You are not the only gods here today,” the old beggar smiled.

“What?” Yeisun seemed agape.

“This is Yeisun. My youngest son,” the goddess answered. What are you doing here Tezcatlipoca?”

“Visiting the Pipils. It seems like they have a nice city going on here,” Tezcatlipoca answered. Yeisun finally saw the sparkle in the god of discord’s eyes. He tapped into his power and then saw the beggar’s full face, and he noticed Tezcatlipoca’s black stripe across his face and the leopard skin in his shoulders.

“You are planning something,” Chalchiuhtlicue accused. Tezcatlipoca was always up to something. And it was never good. He loved to create chaos among the Indians. It was his favorite pastime. He loved wars and that’s why the Toltec and Chichimec people were his favorites. The Pipils were too peaceful, like most Mayans. He usually got bored with them. That’s why Chalchiuhtlicue was so surprised to see him here.

“Of course not. Can gods just come down and enjoy some good Chicha?” The sarcastic leopard god asked and drank from an old cup.

“How did you know we were here?” Yeisun asked.

“I saw you at the market. I recognized your father, and then I saw your mother. No one can hide such beauty,” the overconfident god exclaimed. Yeisun did not like the way in which Tezcatlipoca said it. Not one bit. And the way Tezcatlipoca was looking at her didn’t help either.

“Where are your wives?” Chalchiuhtlicue asked.

“Xochiquetzal is busy and didn’t want to come. Chicomecóatl had some other business to attend,” Xochiquetzal had been Tlaloc’s wife long time ago, but Tezcatlipoca had stolen her. Chalchiuhtlicue didn’t care for her at all, she always thought of her as too self-centered. But thanks to Tezcatlipoca, Chalchiuhtlicue was now the queen of Tlalocan and not Xochiquetzal. Chicomecóatl was different though. She was more like Tezcatlipoca, always causing chaos. It wouldn’t surprise her if Chicomecóatl was here now trying some kind of prank on the locals. Or at Tula, which was always a good place to start chaos.

“So you came alone?” Chalchiuhtlicue asked.

“No, not alone. My son is here too. He is trying to enjoy the riches of this place. Especially their women,” the god of discord winked at Yeisun.

“Which son?” Chalchiuhtlicue asked curiously. None of Tezcatlipoca’s sons were good news. They were as mischievous as the god of war himself.

“Itzalku.”