Neucpahtli (NEWK-paht-lee)
by hughpierre
Summary
There is a minor trickster god observed on the high mountain flats who loves to gossip like an old woman. At the end of the year, he takes whatever he has heard up to the clouds to tell mightier deities how poorly the mortal have been. To silence or appease him, believers must feed him a thick, honey-like syrup as a offering of sugar water that would satisfy him enough to say only good things or gum up his mouth shut.
Cultural Reception
This tale is the inspiration for a seasonal cake wrapped in dog leather. The treat is baked with fermented maize, thickened honey, pulped figs and resinous tree sap that forms a chewy, cloying mass so rich it can stick a man's tongue to the roof of their mouth.
However, none of the ingredients can be found where the greys live so they tend to settle for anything sweet. Entrepreneurial adventurers from the valley take the salt climb every year to satisfy this need in exchange for woolly dogs and the alchemical component of the sun burst that only grows in the thick salt.
Quite a few confections have been experimented this way that little no resemblance to the sticky cake. Questionable alternative ingredients have included things like tar from the pitch lake or crushed sand roaches from the painted beaches.
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