C is for Camazotz, the Destroyer of Life: A to Z Challenge

At the bottom of the Amazon, deep in the belly of an Arapaima, I found this Central American story of the second people, and of the giant bird Camazotz who has a bottomless appetite for the heads of people.

The Mayan gods Tepeu and Gucamatz sought out the help of magic adepts, and through incantation found that man should be made of wood, and woman of the pith of bulrush. They set to work and soon found success, and while able to speak and beget children these wooden people had neither fat nor blood nor intelligence. The gods sent four huge birds to destroy their creation. Xecotcovuch tore out their eyes, Camulotz cut off their heads, Cotzbalam ate their flesh, and Tecumbalam crushed their bones.

These second people tried to flee. They climbed to the roofs of their homes to escape the flood but the walls crumbed. They ran to the trees, seeking safety in the high branches, but the trees fled. They sought to hide in the caves of the mountains but found heavy stone doors closed tightly against them.

Vengeful gods are well known in the collective pages of Fantasy, but birds are most often portrayed as helpers (when portrayed at all). In this tale we have four enormous birds with a particular taste for human flesh and annihilation.

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Want to see the other beasties from the April A to Z challenge?

Abiku

Baku