Uxmal (6)


Source: WTL© digitized from original analog positive photograph.
Comments: Now we and other tourists are approaching the main stairway of the Great Pyramid. Now you can see how it stands next to other buildings or pyramids surrounding the central pyramid. Contrast this with how isolated the great pyramid at Chichén Itzá (=> Chichén Itzá #2) is.
Legend: According to Mayan legend, it is told that an old woman shaman made a child hatch from an egg, a child that was both old and a dwarf at birth. She sent this unusual child to challenge the king of Uxmal, who lost the challenge to the child. The king was upset, so he ordered the dwarf to construct a great palace in one night while threatening to kill the child if he failed. With the help of his shamanic mother, the dwarf succeeded in building the palace in one night. The king was infuriated, so he demanded another test to the effect that hard cocoyoles nuts (i.e., coconuts from the Cocoyoles region of Yucatán) be broken on their heads, beginning with the dwarf's own head. Due to a hard magic plate the woman placed on the dwarf's head, he survived the test, but, when it came the king's turn for the test, his head was split open by the nuts. The dwarf was proclaimed a magician and he was proclaimed the ruler. Some time later the shame/witch disappeared. It is said that she still lives in the cenote (well) of Maní by selling water in exchange for children she uses to feed the snakes that live with her.