San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-02-20
TIE STORY OF ATZLAN.

Every day now. old lKlapel sought out
Gilbert and spent an hour or two in
eager questioning. He drank in Eric $
words with more than childish avidity
and belief. To his mind, sharpened by
the self communing of more than CEN
fury, the wonders of which Gilbert
spoke We're as the things he had vaguely
seen in dreams, wonderful, but cOnceiv-
able. He accepted everything with a
sanguine expectation of .beholding it
himself now that Gilbert had come
among the people. Kulcan often sat
with them as Gilbert told, though it
taxed his meager store of Atzlan words,
of steamboats,, railroads, balloons, can
non, telephones and a thousand other
things which we call necessities, but
which seemed miracles to the priests.
He told them-and sometimes Leila with
little Eliza sat by his side the while-of
the history Of the nations; how while
Atzlan had slept so peacefully in the
canyon whole races of men had flour
ished gloriously and passed away and
been forgotten.
Sometimes he would wander off with
the old priest into the woods, for he
found Iklapel to be a philosopher and
full Of quaint ideas. His comments upon
the facts Gilbert narrated were often
witty, and always showed a mind of
great breadth and power. OF the greed
for money he had but little conception,
and therefore found the utmost difficulty
in understanding much of Gilbert's dis
course, nor could the latter easily ex-
plain it to him. When they discussed
religion Gilbert found him an advanced
thinker, a believer in one gOd-the Gre
ator-but elevated above all forms and
Ceremonials of worship. He had ques-
toned Gilbert one warm day, as they
sat together in the shade, until the lat
ter had grown tired of talking and was
lying upon his back, with his hands I'M
der his head, gazing up into the green
network above him.
lklapel unused with faraway look in
his eyes for long time and then turned
to the younger man and said:
You have told me of your people, of
the great cities and their wondrous do
ings. Now will tell you of mine, for
they are the fathers of all the world.
Older than all the people are they, yet
they still live, nation saved from flood
and fire, from wars and famines, to see
what their children have done. |, who
have kept the record of Atzlan as it has
been handed down from father to son
for thousands upon thousands of years,
lnvlolate, unchanged, will tell you truly,
for with my knowledge and what you
have told me l can see how true are all
our old traditions. AS you have said
truly, all the nations of the world tell
much the same tale of their origin, but
It's so clouded in fanciful imagery that
1t seems but childs story. will tell
you the true tale as my father told me
and as it was told to him by his father,
word for word, and so on back to the
very first father of all.
ages ago, so far in the past that the
records have been lost from sheer decay,
our people dwelt ON the shores of a great
sea. Cities greater and richer than
Atzlan were there, and the people were
more numerous than the sands of the
desert. Across the sea there led mar
row strip of land to the city of the
gods, which was called AT, a wondrous
city on mountain, rich in gold and
silver, surrounded by water, and in
which resided the great ruler of the
whole world-a wise, wonder working
king. To him our cities paid yearly
tribute, and in his city our priests were
taught and sent out to proclaim the
truth. There was then no winter, no
cold; it was the summer age.
'The jewellers in At were wiser than
all other people. They commanded the
thunder and the lightning and brought
down fire from heaven, as youdo. They