Episode One In spite of the missionary zeal of the first Franciscan monks who arrived in Mexico at the beginning of the 16th century of the Christian era, few were those who converted to Christianity. The bloodthirsty Aztec gods, dominated by the legendary “feathered serpent,” Quetzalcoatl, were unwilling to lose their influence over the peoples who offered them approximately twenty thousand (20,000!) victims annually. After Captain Hernando Cortés was forced to leave the province, Bishop Juan de Zumárraga sadly witnessed the deterioration of the situation in the new territories.