Golden Sounds
“Music . . . when soft voices die . . . vibrates in the memory.” —Percy Bysshe Shelley
From “How Music Came to the World:
An Ancient Mexican Myth
Retold by Hal Ober; Illustrated by Carol Ober
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994
Tezcatlipoca (tez-caht-lee-PO-cah), the god of the four quarters of heaven, came to visit the newly created Earth. It pleased him to see the world so beautiful. Earth was filled with light and color, delicious fruit, and beautiful flowers. Almost everything that was good was here; but one thing was still missing. There was no music; and because of this, the beautiful Earth was a place of sadness. The silence made Tezcatlipoca’s eyes fill with tears.
He called in a loud voice to his brother, Quetzalcoatl (ket-zahl-CO-ah-tel), the god of the wind. Wind heard the call and hurried to the place where his brother waited. Beneath Wind as he soared, water whipped into waves and the leaves of trees rustled and scattered.
Then Texcatlipoca spoke: “Wind, the Earth is sick with silence. Though we possess light, color, and fruit, yet we have no music. We must bestow music on all creation. To the awakening dawn, the dreaming man, to the waiting mother, to the passing water and the flying bird, life should be all music. Go then through the boundless sadness between the blue smoke and spaces to the High House of the Sun. There the Father Sun is surrounded by makers of music who blow their flutes sweetly and, with their choir, scatter light abroad. Go bring back to Earth a cluster—the most flowering of the musicians and singers.”
Wind traversed the Earth that was plunged in silence and trod with his strength of breath and pursued, until he reached the heavenly roof of the world where all melodies lived in a nest of light.
“Come,” he gently coaxed, “Come to Earth where it is peaceful.” The musicians followed Quetzalcoatl and sailed down to Earth on the edge of the winds.
Suddenly, the sad silence lifted. Earth’s people rejoiced as they listened to the joyous sounds of music. They laughed and, again, the world was filled with hope. Quetzalcoatl gathered the four winds, and music soared to all the corners of the world.
Listening to the musicians, all of Earth’s creations learned to sing and create music—from the babbling brooks to the twittering birds to children playing. From then to now, all of Earth celebrates with the sound of music.
