Many colourful legends surround the story of Cortés’ horse, and different versions are still to be heard in communities around the shores of the lake today. In the village of San José, where live the very last surviving speakers of Itzá Mayan, they say that another statue toppled off a canoe and still lurks somewhere beneath the waters. There is no doubt that Cortés did leave his horse here. He says so himself. The most popular, if not the most authoritative Spanish story, which tends to inflate the simple credibility of the Itzá, relates that the people of Tayasal dutifully tried to care for it. They fed it turkey and bunches of flowers and, not surprisingly, it soon died. The statue was then fashioned in its honour and placed in the temple, where it came to be venerated as a manifestation of the rain god Chak, known as ‘Tzimin Chak’ or ‘Horse of Thunder and Lightening’.