THE GREAT GODDESS RAT

The Great Goddess Rat

By Roger Vilar

They told me: “You will be sacrificed to the Great Goddess Rat”. I did not reply anything to them. The servants of this deity caught me last night. I was leaving a bar of ill repute and I was just a little drunk. They chained me, they opened the cover of a culvert, and then they forced me into that nasty drainage. The executioners dragged me in front of the sewage-infested swamp. They explained to me: “The rat eats your eyes and you cannot see your own flesh and blood falling into the abyss”. "That's fine” I answered to my executioners.

They were amazed and asked my name. “Mictlantecuhtli" I told them peacefully. His faces were expressing surprise and ignorance and I thought they never heard about me. Nevertheless, they called down their goddess. The Great Goddess Rat emerged from that pool of filth. I smiled; yes, she was a giant monster. The executioners looked at me astonished. “Who are you?” they asked again. I did not answer them, because the rat had already begun to devour my legs. I watched the monster with curiosity.

The eyes of the rodent flared and seemed beautiful to me. I wanted to see those beautiful eyes a few more moments. I could not do this. The screams of horror of the executioners distracted me. I suppose they saw that the Great Rat Goddess was disintegrating. The pestilent animal was blowing in pieces as long as she devoured me. Yes, she did eat my eyes and at that moment, she ceased to exist. I reappeared from nowhere, without a single scratch. I looked at the terrified servants of the dead goddess and I told them: “What is what you were asking me?”

“We assumed that your blood would fall into the abyss”, they said, trembling with fear”. "And that's precisely what happened." "We do not understand what you're saying". I realized that they were a little stupid and I wanted to help them understand. "What was the first question you asked of me?" They were amazed and it took a time to answer me. I had patience with those so miserable and simple-minded beings. Finally, they repeated the question. "Who are you?” "I am Mictlantecutli", I answered for the third time, and even so, those creatures worthy of compassion did not understand me.

"And that's precisely what happened, my own flesh and blood falling into the abyss." "Nevertheless… we assumed that your blood would fall into the abyss" they said again, as if in their little brains there was no room for other words. "And so it was!" I shouted angrily at such stupidity. My scream awoke their clumsy thoughts maybe and then they made the only clever question of their lives. "What does the word Mictlantecutli mean?" I wanted to be a kind god and I answered the truth.

"It means abyss, I am the Abyss." I think that they said something else, but I did not listen well, because I was already hurrying back to the bar. I needed to drink a full bottle of whiskey to forget those poor creatures. “Did they present themselves as executioners?” I asked myself when I was already very drunk, but I could never remember this well.