1550
POPOL VUH:
THE MAYAN BOOK OF THE DAWN OF
LIFE
translated by Dennis Tedlock with commentary
based on the ancient knowledge of the modern Quiche Maya
[note: copy downloaded from http://zuppa.co.uk/religion/ free
religious texts, for educational purposes only]
(C) Copyright 1985,
Dennis Tedlock
Used with permission of Dennis Tedlock
INTRODUCTION
-
(See illustration: Map
of the Mayan region.)
-
THE FIRST FOUR HUMANS,
the first four earthly beings who were
truly articulate when they moved their feet and hands, their
faces and
mouths, and who could speak the very language of the gods,
could
also see everything under the sky and on the earth. All they had
to do
was look around from the spot where they were, all the way to
the
limits of space and the limits of time. But then the gods, who
had not
intended to make and model beings with the potential of becoming
their
own equals, limited human sight to what was obvious and
nearby.
Nevertheless, the lords who once ruled a kingdom from a place
called
Quiche, in the highlands of
the means for overcoming this nearsightedness, an ilbal, a
"seeing
instrument" or a "place to see"; with this they
could know distant
or future events. The instrument was not a telescope, not a
crystal
for gazing, but a book.
The lords of Quiche
consulted their book when they sat in council,
and their name for it was Popol Vuh or "Council Book."
Because this
book contained an account of how the forefathers of their own
lordly
lineages had exiled themselves from a faraway city called
Tulan,
they sometimes described it as "the writings about
Tulan." Because a
later generation of lords had obtained the book by going on
a
pilgrimage that took them across water on a causeway, they
titled it
"The Light That Came from Across the Sea." And because
the book told
of events that happened before the first sunrise and of a time
when
the forefathers hid themselves and the stones that contained the
spirit familiars of their gods in forests, they also titled it
"Our
Place in the Shadows." And finally, because it told of the
first
rising of the morning star and the sun and moon, and of the rise
and
radiant splendor of the Quiche lords, they titled it "The
Dawn of
Life."
Those who wrote the
version of the Popol Vuh that comes down to us
do not give us their personal names but rather call themselves
"we" in
its opening pages and "we who are the Quiche people"
later on. In
contemporary usage "the Quiche people" are an ethnic
group in
language that itself has come to be called Quiche; they
presently
number over half a million and occupy most of the former
territory
of the kingdom whose development is described in the Popol Vuh.
To the
west and northwest of them are other Mayan peoples, speaking
other
Mayan languages, who extend across the Mexican border into
the
highlands of
across the borders of
of
with a total population of about four million today, whose ancestors
developed what has become known to the outside world as
Maya
civilization.
The roots of Maya
civilization may lie in the prior civilization
of the Olmecs, which reached its peak on the Gulf coastal
plain
about three thousand years ago. Maya hieroglyphic writing
and
calendrical reckoning probably have antecedents that go back
at
least that far, but they did not find expression in the lasting
form
of inscriptions on stone monuments until the first century B.C.,
in
a deep river valley that cuts through the highlands of
there, the erection of inscribed monuments spread south to the
Pacific
and eastward along the Guatemalan coastal plain, then reached
back
into the highlands at the site of Kaminaljuyu, on the western
edge
of what is now
beginning about A.D. 300, the center of literate civilization in
the
Mayan region shifted northward into the lowland rain forest
that
separates the mountain pine
low and thorny scrub forest of northern
and trees were cleared to make way for intensive
cultivation.
Hieroglyphic texts in great quantity were sculpted in stone
and
stucco, painted on pottery and plaster, and inked on long strips
of
paper that were folded like screens to make books. This is
the
period that accounts for the glories of such sites as
and
in the fields of art and architecture. The Mayan languages
spoken at
most of these sites probably corresponded to the ones now known
as
Cholan, which are still spoken by the Mayan peoples who live at
the
extreme eastern and western ends of the old classical
heartland.
Near the end of the
classic period, the communities that had
carved out a place for themselves in the rain forest were caught
in
a deepening vortex of overpopulation, environmental degradation,
and
malnutrition. The organizational and technological capacities
of
Maya society were strained past the breaking point, and by A.D.
900
much of the region had been abandoned. That left Maya
civilization
divided between two areas that had been peripheral during
classic
times, one in northern
highlands. The subsequent history of both these areas was shaped
by
invaders from the western end of the old classical heartland,
from
militaristic states among the peoples they conquered. The
culture they
carried with them has come to be called Toltec; it is thought
to
have originated among speakers of Nahua languages, who are
presently
concentrated in central
of the Aztecs) and who once extended eastward to
area, Toltec culture was notable for giving mythic prominence to
the
god-king named Plumed Serpent, technical prominence to the use
of
spear-throwers in warfare, and sacrificial prominence to the
human
heart. Those who carried this culture to highland
many Nahua words with them, but they themselves were
probably
Gulf-coast Maya of Cholan descent. Among them were the founders
of the
kingdom whose people have come to be known as the Quiche
Maya.*
Mayan monuments and
buildings no longer featured inscriptions
after the end of the classic period, but scribes went right
on
making books for another six centuries, sometimes combining
Mayan
texts with Toltecan pictures. Then, in the sixteenth
century,
Europeans arrived in
on all major forms of visible expression, whether in drama,
architecture, sculpture, painting, or writing. Hundreds of
hieroglyphic books were tossed into bonfires by ardent
missionaries;
between this disaster and the slower perils of decay, only
four
books made it through to the present day. Three of them, all
thought
to come from the lowlands, found their way to
times and eventually turned up in libraries in
from looters who had found it in a dry cave in
survival of Mayan literature was not dependent on the survival
of
its outward forms. Just as Mayan peoples learned to use the
symbolism of Christian saints as a mask for ancient gods, so
they
learned to use the Roman alphabet as a mask for ancient
texts.*(2)
-
(See illustration:
Drawing by Carlos A. Villacorta.
SCRIBES WENT RIGHT ON
MAKING BOOKS: This is a page from the Maya
hieroglyphic book known as the Dresden Codex, which dates to
the
thirteenth century. The left-hand column describes the movements
of
Venus during one of five different types of cycles reckoned for
that
planet. The right-hand column describes the auguries for the
cycle and
gives both pictures and names for the attendant deities. The top
picture, in which the figure at right is seated on two glyphs
that
name constellations, may have to do with the position of
Venus
relative to the fixed stars during the cycle. In the middle
picture is
the god who currently accounts for Venus itself, holding a
dart-thrower in his left hand and darts in his right; in the
bottom
picture is his victim, with a dart piercing his shield. The
Venus gods
of the Popol Vuh are more conservatively Mayan than those of
the
Dresden Codex; they are armed with old-fashioned blowguns
rather
than Toltecan dart-throwers.)
-
There was no little
justice in the fact that it was the missionaries
themselves, the burners of the ancient books, who worked out
the
problems of adapting the alphabet to the sounds of Mayan
languages,
and while they were at it they charted grammars and
compiled
dictionaries. Their official purpose in doing this linguistic
work was
to facilitate the writing and publishing of Christian
prayers,
sermons, and catechisms in the native languages. But very
little
time passed before some of their native pupils found political
and
religious applications for alphabetic writing that were
quite
independent of those of
literary legacy that is both more extensive than the
surviving
hieroglyphic corpus and more open to understanding. Their most
notable
works, created as alphabetic substitutes for hieroglyphic books,
are
the Chilam Balam or "Jaguar Priest" books of
of
The authors of the
alphabetic Popol Vuh were members of the three
lordly lineages that had once ruled the Quiche kingdom: the
Cauecs,
the Greathouses, and the Lord Quiches. They worked in the middle
of
the sixteenth century, shortly before the end of one of the
fifty-two-year cycles measured out by their own calendar. The
scene of
their writing was the town of
their day, with buildings in files on a grid of streets and the
bell
towers of a church at the center. The west side, already in
ruins, was
on fortified promontories above deep canyons, with pyramids
and
palaces clustered around multiple plazas and courtyards. The
buildings
of the east side displayed broad expanses of blank stone
and
plaster, but the ruined walls of the west side bore tantalizing
traces
of multicolored murals. What concerned the authors of the
new
version of the Popol Vuh was to preserve the story that lay
behind the
ruins.
*
* * *
At the beginning of
their book, the authors delicately describe
the difficult circumstances under which they work. When they
tell us
that they are writing "amid the preaching of God, in
Christendom now,"
we can catch a plaintive tone only by noticing that they make
this
statement immediately after asserting that their own gods
"accounted
for everything- and did it, too- as enlightened beings, in
enlightened
words." What the authors propose to write down is what
Quiches call
the Oher Tzih, the "Ancient Word"*(8) or "Prior
Word," which has
precedence over "the preaching of God." They have
chosen to do so
because "there is no longer" a Popol Vuh, which makes
it sound as
though they intend to re-create the original book solely on
the
basis of their memory of what they have seen in its pages or
heard
in the "long performance." But when we remember their
complaint
about being "in Christendom," there remains the
possibility that
they still have the original book but are protecting it
from
possible destruction by missionaries. Indeed, their next words
make us
wonder whether the book might still exist, but they no sooner
raise
our hopes on this front than they remove the book's reader from
our
grasp: "There is the original book and ancient writing, but
he who
reads and ponders it hides his face." Here we must remember
that the
authors of the alphabetic Popol Vuh have chosen to remain
anonymous;
in other words, they are hiding their own faces. If they
are
protecting anyone with their enigmatic statements about an
inaccessible book or a hidden reader, it could well be
themselves.*(9)
The authors begin their
narrative in a world that has nothing but an
empty sky above and a calm sea below. The action gets under way
when
the gods who reside in the primordial sea, named Maker,
Modeler,
Bearer, Begetter, Heart of the
Plumed Serpent, are joined by gods who come down from the
primordial
sky, named Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, Newborn Thunderbolt,
Raw
Thunderbolt, and Hurricane. These two parties engage in a dialogue,
and in the course of it they conceive the emergence of the
earth
from the sea and the growth of plants and people on its
surface.
They wish to set in motion a process they call the
"sowing" and
"dawning," by which they mean several different things
at once.
There is the sowing of seeds in the earth, whose sprouting will
be
their dawning, and there is the sowing of the sun, moon, and
stars,
whose difficult passage beneath the earth will be followed by
their
own dawning. Then there is the matter of human beings, whose
sowing in
the womb will be followed by their emergence into the light
at
birth, and whose sowing in the earth at death will be followed
by
dawning when their souls become sparks of light in the
darkness.
For the gods, the idea
of human beings is as old as that of the
earth itself, but they fail in their first three attempts (all
in Part
One) to transform this idea into a living reality. What they
want is
beings who will walk, work, and talk in an articulate and
measured
way, visiting shrines, giving offerings, and calling upon their
makers
by name, all according to the rhythms of a calendar. What they
get
instead, on the first try, is beings who have no arms to work
with and
can only squawk, chatter, and howl, and whose descendants are
the
animals of today. On the second try they make a being of mud,
but this
one is unable to walk or turn its head or even keep its shape;
being
solitary, it cannot reproduce itself, and in the end it
dissolves into
nothing.
Before making a third
try the gods decide, in the course of a
further dialogue, to seek the counsel of an elderly husband and
wife
named Xpiyacoc and Xmucane. Xpiyacoc is a divine matchmaker
and
therefore prior to all marriage, and Xmucane is a divine midwife
and
therefore prior to all birth. Like contemporary Quiche
matchmakers and
midwives, both of them are ah3ih or "daykeepers,"
diviners who know
how to interpret the auguries given by thirteen day numbers and
twenty
day names that combine to form a calendrical cycle lasting
260
days.*(10) They are older than all the other gods, who address
them as
grandparents, and the cycle they divine by is older than the
longer
cycles that govern Venus and the sun, which have not yet
been
established at this point in the story. The question the
younger
gods put to them here is whether human beings should be made out
of
wood. Following divinatory methods that are still in use
among
Quiche daykeepers, they give their approval. The wooden beings
turn
out to look and talk and multiply themselves something like
humans,
but they fail to time their actions in an orderly way and forget
to
call upon the gods in prayer. Hurricane brings a catastrophe
down on
their heads, not only flooding them with a gigantic rainstorm
but
sending monstrous animals to attack them. Even their own
dogs,
turkeys, and household utensils rise against them, taking
vengeance
for past mistreatment. Their only descendants are the monkeys
who
inhabit the forests today.
* * * *
TEXT
THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE ANCIENT WORD, here in this place
called Quiche.*(49) Here we shall inscribe, we shall implant
the
Ancient Word, the potential and source for everything done in
the
citadel of Quiche, in the nation of Quiche people.
And here*(50) we shall
take up the demonstration, revelation, and
account of how things were put in shadow and brought to
light*(51)
-
by the Maker,
Modeler, named Bearer, Begetter,
Hunahpu Possum,
Hunahpu Coyote,
Great White
Peccary, Tapir,
Sovereign Plumed
Serpent,
Heart of the
Lake, Heart of the Sea,
Maker of the
Blue-Green Plate,
Maker of the
Blue-Green Bowl,
-
as they are called, also named, also described as
-
the midwife,
matchmaker*(52)
named
Xpiyacoc, Xmucane,
defender,
protector,*(53)
twice a
midwife, twice a matchmaker,
-
as is said in the words of Quiche. They accounted for
everything-
and did it, too- as enlightened beings, in enlightened
words.*(54)
We shall write about this now amid the preaching of God, in
Christendom now.*(55) We shall bring it out because there is no
longer
a place to see it,*(56) a Council Book,
-
a place to see
"The Light That Came from
Across the
Sea,"
the account of
"Our Place in the Shadows,"
a place to see
"The Dawn of Life,"
-
as it is called. There is the original book and ancient writing,
but
he who reads and ponders it hides his face.*(57) It takes a
long
performance*(58) and account to complete the emergence of all
the
sky-earth:
-
the fourfold
siding, fourfold cornering,
measuring,
fourfold staking,
halving the
cord, stretching the cord
in the sky,
on the earth,
the four
sides, the four corners,*(59)
-
as it is said,
-
by the Maker,
Modeler,
mother-father of
life, of humankind,
giver of breath,
giver of heart,
bearer,
upbringer*(60) in the light that lasts*(61)
of those born in
the light, begotten in the light;
worrier, knower
of everything, whatever there is:
sky-earth,
lake-sea.
-
THIS IS THE ACCOUNT,
here it is:
Now it still ripples,
now it still murmurs, ripples, it still sighs,
still hums, and it is empty*(62) under the sky.
Here follow the first words,
the first eloquence:*(63)
There is not yet one
person, one animal, bird, fish, crab, tree,
rock, hollow, canyon, meadow, forest. Only the sky alone is
there; the
face of the earth is not clear. Only the sea alone is pooled
under all
the sky; there is nothing whatever gathered together. It is at
rest;
not a single thing stirs.*(64) It is held back,*(65) kept at
rest
under the sky.
Whatever there is that
might be is simply not there: only the pooled
water, only the calm sea, only it alone is pooled.
Whatever might be is
simply not there: only murmurs, ripples, in the
dark, in the night. Only the Maker, Modeler alone, Sovereign
Plumed
Serpent, the Bearers, Begetters are in the water, a
glittering
light.*(66) They are there, they are enclosed in quetzal
feathers,
in blue-green.
Thus the name,
"Plumed Serpent." They are great knowers, great
thinkers in their very being.*(67)
And of course there is
the sky, and there is also the Heart of
Sky. This is the name of the god,*(68) as it is spoken.
And then came his word,
he came here to the Sovereign Plumed
Serpent, here in the blackness, in the early dawn.*(69) He
spoke
with the Sovereign Plumed Serpent, and they talked, then they
thought,
then they worried. They agreed with each other, they joined
their
words, their thoughts.*(70) Then it was clear, then they
reached
accord in the light, and then humanity was clear, when they
conceived the growth, the generation*(71) of trees, of bushes,
and the
growth of life, of humankind, in the blackness, in the early
dawn, all
because of the Heart of Sky, named Hurricane. Thunderbolt
Hurricane
comes first, the second is Newborn Thunderbolt, and the third is
Raw
Thunderbolt.*(72)
So there were three of
them, as Heart of Sky, who came to the
Sovereign Plumed Serpent, when the dawn of life was
conceived:
"How should it be
sown, how should it dawn?*(73) Who is to be the
provider, nurturer?"*(74)
"Let it be this
way, think about it: this water should be removed,
emptied out for the formation of the earth's own plate and
platform,
then comes the sowing, the dawning of the sky-earth. But there
will be
no high days and no bright praise*(75) for our work, our design,
until
the rise of the human work, the human design," they
said.
And then the earth
arose because of them, it was simply their word
that brought it forth. For the forming of the earth they said
"Earth."
It arose suddenly, just like a cloud, like a mist, now
forming,
unfolding. Then the mountains were separated from the
water,*(76)
all at once the great mountains came forth. By their genius
alone,
by their cutting edge alone*(77) they carried out the conception
of
the mountain-plain, whose face grew instant groves of cypress
and
pine.
And the Plumed Serpent
was pleased with this:
"It was good that
you came, Heart of Sky, Hurricane, and Newborn
Thunderbolt, Raw Thunderbolt. Our work, our design will turn
out
well," they said.
And the earth was
formed first, the mountain-plain. The channels
of water were separated; their branches wound their ways among
the
mountains. The waters were divided when the great mountains
appeared.
Such was the formation
of the earth when it was brought forth by the
Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, as they are called, since they
were
the first to think of it.*(78) The sky was set apart, and the
earth
was set apart in the midst of the waters.
Such was their plan
when they thought, when they worried about the
completion of their work.
-
NOW THEY PLANNED THE
ANIMALS OF THE MOUNTAINS, all the guardians
of the forests,*(79) creatures of the mountains: the deer,
birds,
pumas, jaguars, serpents, rattlesnakes, yellowbites,*(80)
guardians of
the bushes.
A Bearer, Begetter
speaks:
"Why this
pointless humming?*(81) Why should there merely be
rustling beneath the trees and bushes?"
"Indeed- they had
better have guardians," the others replied. As
soon as they thought it and said it, deer and birds came
forth.
And then they gave out
homes to the deer and birds:
"You, the deer:
sleep along the rivers, in the canyons. Be here in
the meadows, in the thickets, in the forests, multiply
yourselves. You
will stand and walk on all fours," they were told.
So then they established
the nests of the birds, small and great:
"You, precious
birds:*(82) your nests, your houses are in the trees,
in the bushes. Multiply there, scatter there, in the branches
of
trees, the branches of bushes," the deer and birds were
told.
When this deed had been
done, all of them had received a place to
sleep*(83) and a place to stay. So it is that the nests of the
animals
are on the earth, given by the Bearer, Begetter. Now the arrangement
of the deer and birds was complete.
-
AND THEN THE DEER AND
BIRDS WERE TOLD by the Maker, Modeler, Bearer,
Begetter:
"Talk, speak out.
Don't moan, don't cry out.*(84) Please talk,
each to each, within each kind, within each group," they
were told-
the deer, birds, puma, jaguar, serpent.
"Name now our
names, praise us. We are your mother, we are your
father. Speak now:
-
'Hurricane,
Newborn
Thunderbolt, Raw Thunderbolt,
Heart of Sky,
Heart of Earth,
Maker, Modeler,
Bearer,
Begetter,'
-
speak, pray to us, keep our days," they were told. But it
didn't
turn out that they spoke like people: they just squawked, they
just
chattered, they just howled.*(85) It wasn't apparent what
language
they spoke;*(86) each one gave a different cry. When the
Maker,
Modeler heard this:
"It hasn't turned
out well, they haven't spoken," they said among
themselves. "It hasn't turned out that our names have been
named.
Since we are their mason and sculptor, this will not do,"
the
Bearers and Begetters said among themselves. So they told
them:
"You will simply
have to be transformed. Since it hasn't turned
out well and you haven't spoken, we have changed our word:
"What you feed on,
what you eat, the places where you sleep, the
places where you stay, whatever is yours will remain in the
canyons,
the forests. Although it turned out that our days were not kept,
nor
did you pray to us, there may yet be strength in the keeper of
days,
the giver of praise whom we have yet to make. Just accept
your
service, just let your flesh be eaten.
"So be it, this
must be your service," they were told when they were
instructed- the animals, small and great, on the face of the
earth.
And then they wanted to
test their timing again, they wanted to
experiment again, and they wanted to prepare for the keeping of
days
again. They had not heard their speech among the animals; it did
not
come to fruition and it was not complete.
And so their flesh was
brought low: they served, they were eaten,
they were killed- the animals on the face of the earth.
-
AGAIN THERE COMES AN
EXPERIMENT WITH THE HUMAN WORK, the human
design, by the Maker, Modeler, Bearer, Begetter:
"It must simply be
tried again. The time for the planting and
dawning is nearing. For this we must make a provider and
nurturer. How
else can we be invoked and remembered on the face of the earth?
We
have already made our first try at our work and design, but
it
turned out that they didn't keep our days, nor did they glorify
us.
"So now let's try
to make a giver of praise, giver of respect,
provider, nurturer," they said.
So then comes the
building and working with earth and mud. They made
a body, but it didn't look good to them. It was just
separating,
just crumbling, just loosening, just softening, just
disintegrating,
and just dissolving. Its head wouldn't turn, either. Its face
was just
lopsided, its face was just twisted. It couldn't look around.
It
talked at first, but senselessly.*(87) It was quickly dissolving
in
the water.
"It won't
last," the mason and sculptor said then. "It seems to be
dwindling away, so let it just dwindle. It can't walk and it
can't
multiply, so let it be merely a thought," they said.
So then they
dismantled, again they brought down their work and
design. Again they talked:
"What is there for
us to make that would turn out well, that would
succeed in keeping our days and praying to us?" they said.
Then they
planned again:
"We'll just tell
Xpiyacoc, Xmucane, Hunahpu Possum, Hunahpu
Coyo te, to try a counting of days, a counting of
lots,"*(88) the mason
and sculptor said to themselves. Then they invoked Xpiyacoc,
Xmucane.
-
THEN COMES THE NAMING
OF THOSE WHO ARE THE MIDMOST SEERS: the
"Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light," as the
Maker, Modeler
called them. These are names of Xpiyacoc and Xmucane.
When Hurricane had
spoken with the Sovereign Plumed Serpent, they
invoked the daykeepers, diviners, the midmost seers:
"There is yet to
find, yet to discover how we are to model a person,
construct a person again, a provider, nurturer, so that we
are
called upon and we are recognized: our recompense is in
words.
-
Midwife,
matchmaker,
our grandmother,
our grandfather,
Xpiyacoc,
Xmucane,
let there be
planting, let there be the dawning
of our
invocation, our sustenance, our recognition
by the human
work, the human design,
the human figure,
the human mass.*(89)
-
So be it, fulfill your names:
-
Hunahpu
Possum, Hunahpu Coyote,
Bearer twice
over, Begetter twice over,
Great Peccary,
Great Tapir,
lapidary,
jeweler,
sawyer,
carpenter,
Maker of the
Blue-Green Plate,
Maker of the
Blue-Green Bowl,
incense maker,
master craftsman,*(90)
Grandmother of
Day, Grandmother of Light.
-
You have been called upon because of our work, our design. Run
your
hands over the kernels of corn, over the seeds of the coral
tree,*(91)
just get it done, just let it come out whether we should carve
and
gouge a mouth, a face in wood," they told the
daykeepers.
And then comes the
borrowing,*(92) the counting of days; the hand is
moved over the corn kernels, over the coral seeds, the days,
the
lots.*(93)
Then they spoke to
them, one of them a grandmother, the other a
grandfather.
This is the
grandfather, this is the master of the coral seeds:
Xpiyacoc is his name.
And this is the
grandmother, the daykeeper, diviner who stands
behind others:*(94) Xmucane is her name.
And they said, as they
set out the days:
-
"Just let it
be found, just let it be discovered,
say it, our ear is
listening,
may you talk, may
you speak,
just find the wood
for the carving and sculpting
by the builder,
sculptor.
Is this to be the
provider, the nurturer
when it comes to
the planting, the dawning?
You corn kernels,
you coral seeds,
you days, you
lots:
may you succeed,
may you be accurate,"*(95)
-
they said to the corn kernels, coral seeds, days, lots. "Have
shame,
you up there, Heart of Sky: attempt no deception*(96) before the
mouth
and face of Sovereign Plumed Serpent," they said. Then they
spoke
straight to the point:
"It is well that
there be your manikins, woodcarvings,*(97) talking,
speaking, there on the face of the earth."
"So be it,"
they replied. The moment they spoke it was done: the
manikins, woodcarvings, human in looks and human in speech.
This was the peopling
of the face of the earth:
They came into being,
they multiplied, they had daughters, they
had sons, these manikins, woodcarvings. But there was nothing in
their
hearts and nothing in their minds, no memory of their mason
and
builder. They just went and walked wherever they wanted.*(98)
Now they
did not remember the Heart of Sky.
And so they fell, just
an experiment and just a cutout for
humankind. They were talking at first but their faces were dry.
They
were not yet developed in the legs and arms. They had no blood,
no
lymph. They had no sweat, no fat. Their complexions were dry,
their
faces were crusty. They flailed their legs and arms, their
bodies were
deformed.
And so they accomplished
nothing before the Maker, Modeler who
gave them birth, gave them heart. They became the first
numerous
people here on the face of the earth.
-
AGAIN THERE COMES A
HUMILIATION, destruction, and demolition. The
manikins, woodcarvings were killed when the Heart of Sky devised
a
flood for them. A great flood was made; it came down on the
heads of
the manikins, woodcarvings.
The man's body was
carved from the wood of the coral tree*(99) by
the Maker, Modeler. And as for the woman, the Maker, Modeler
needed
the pith of reeds*(100) for the woman's body. They were not
competent,
nor did they speak before the builder and sculptor who made them
and
brought them forth, and so they were killed, done in by a
flood:
There came a rain of
resin*(101) from the sky.
There came the one
named Gouger of Faces: he gouged out their
eyeballs.
There came Sudden
Bloodletter: he snapped off their heads.
There came Crunching
Jaguar: he ate their flesh.
There came Tearing
Jaguar: he tore them open.
They were pounded down
to the bones and tendons, smashed and
pulverized even to the bones. Their faces were smashed because
they
were incompetent before their mother and their father, the Heart
of
Sky, named Hurricane. The earth was blackened because of this;
the
black rainstorm*(102) began, rain all day and rain all night.
Into
their houses came*(103) the animals, small and great. Their
faces were
crushed by things of wood and stone. Everything spoke: their
water
jars, their tortilla griddles, their plates, their cooking pots,
their
dogs, their grinding stones, each and every thing crushed their
faces.
Their dogs and turkeys*(104) told them:
"You caused us
pain, you ate us, but now it is you whom we shall
eat." And this is the grinding stone:
"We were undone
because of you.
-
Every day,
every day,
in the
dark, in the dawn, forever,
r-r-rip,
r-r-rip,
r-r-rub,
r-r-rub,*(105)
right in
our faces, because of you.
-
This was the service we gave you at first, when you were still
people,
but today you will learn of our power. We shall pound and we
shall
grind your flesh," their grinding stones told them.
And this is what their
dogs said, when they spoke in their turn:
"Why is it you
can't seem to give us our food? We just watch and you
just keep us down, and you throw us around. You keep a stick
ready
when you eat, just so you can hit us. We don't talk, so we've
received
nothing from you. How could you not have known? You did know
that we
were wasting away there, behind you.
"So, this very day
you will taste the teeth in our mouths. We
shall eat you," their dogs told them, and their faces were
crushed.
And then their tortilla
griddles and cooking pots spoke to them in
turn:
"Pain! That's all
you've done for us. Our mouths are sooty, our
faces are sooty. By setting us on the fire all the time, you
burn
us. Since we felt no pain, you try it. We shall burn you,"
all their
cooking pots said, crushing their faces.
The stones, their hearthstones
were shooting out,*(106) coming right
out of the fire, going for their heads, causing them pain. Now
they
run for it, helter-skelter.
They want to climb up
on the houses, but they fall as the houses
collapse.
They want to climb the
trees; they're thrown off by the trees.
They want to get inside
caves, but the caves slam shut in their
faces.
Such was the scattering
of the human work, the human design. The
people were ground down, overthrown. The mouths and faces of all
of
them were destroyed and crushed. And it used to be said that
the
monkeys in the forests today are a sign of this. They were left
as a
sign because wood alone was used for their flesh*(107) by
the
builder and sculptor.
So this is why monkeys
look like people: they are a sign of a
previous human work, human design- mere manikins, mere
woodcarvings.
-
THIS WAS WHEN THERE WAS
JUST A TRACE OF EARLY DAWN on the face of
the earth, there was no sun. But there was one who
magnified
himself; Seven Macaw is his name. The sky-earth was already
there, but
the face of the sun-moon was clouded over. Even so, it is said
that
his light provided a sign for the people who were flooded. He
was like
a person of genius in his being.
"I am great. My
place is now higher than that of the human work, the
human design. I am their sun and I am their light, and I am also
their
months.*(108)
"So be it: my
light is great. I am the walkway and I am the foothold
of the people,*(109) because my eyes are of metal. My teeth
just
glitter with jewels, and turquoise as well; they stand
out*(110)
blue with stones like the face of the sky.
"And this nose of
mine shines white into the distance like the moon.
Since my nest is metal, it lights up the face of the earth. When
I
come forth before my nest, I am like the sun and moon for those
who
are born in the light, begotten in the light. It must be so,
because
my face reaches into the distance," says Seven Macaw.
It is not true that he
is the sun, this Seven Macaw, yet he
magnifies himself, his wings, his metal. But the scope of his
face
lies right around his own perch;*(111) his face does not
reach
everywhere beneath the sky. The faces of the sun, moon, and
stars
are not yet visible, it has not yet dawned.
And so Seven Macaw puffs himself up as the
days and the months,
though the light of the sun and moon has not yet clarified. He
only
wished for surpassing greatness. This was when the flood was
worked
upon the manikins, woodcarvings.
And now we shall
explain how Seven Macaw died, when the people
were vanquished, done in by the mason and sculptor.
*
* * *
AND HERE IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CONCEPTION
OF HUMANS, and of the
search for the ingredients of the human body. So they spoke,
the
Bearer, Begetter, the Makers, Modelers named Sovereign Plumed
Serpent:
"The dawn has
approached, preparations have been made, and morning
has come for the provider, nurturer, born in the light, begotten
in
the light. Morning has come for humankind, for the people of
the
face of the earth," they said. It all came together as they
went on
thinking in the darkness, in the night, as they searched and
they
sifted, they thought and they wondered.
And here their thoughts
came out in clear light. They sought and
discovered*(343) what was needed for human flesh. It was only
a
short while before the sun, moon, and stars were to appear above
the
Makers and Modelers. Broken Place, Bitter Water Place is the
name: the
yellow corn, white corn came from there.
And these are the names
of the animals who brought the food:*(344)
fox, coyote, parrot, crow. There were four animals who brought
the
news of the ears of yellow corn and white corn. They were
coming
from over there at Broken Place, they showed the way to the
break.
And this was when they
found the staple foods.
And these were the
ingredients for the flesh of the human work,
the human design, and the water was for the blood. It became
human
blood, and corn was also used by the Bearer, Begetter.
And so they were happy
over the provisions of the good mountain,
filled with sweet things, thick with yellow corn, white corn,
and
thick with pataxte and cacao, countless zapotes, anonas,
jocotes,
nances, matasanos, sweets- the rich foods filling up the citadel
named
Broken Place, Bitter Water Place. All the edible fruits were
there:
small staples, great staples, small plants, great plants. The
way
was shown by the animals.
And then the yellow
corn and white corn were ground, and Xmucane did
the grinding nine times.*(345) Corn was used, along with the
water she
rinsed her hands with,*(346) for the creation of grease; it
became
human fat when it was worked by the Bearer, Begetter, Sovereign
Plumed
Serpent, as they are called.
After that, they put it
into words:
-
the making, the
modeling of our first mother-father,
with yellow corn,
white corn alone for the flesh,*(347)
food alone for the
human legs and arms,
for our first
fathers, the four human works.
-
It was staples alone
that made up their flesh.
-
THESE ARE THE NAMES OF
THE FIRST PEOPLE WHO WERE MADE AND MODELED.
This is the first
person: Jaguar Quitze.
And now the second:
Jaguar Night.
And now the third:
Mahucutah.
And the fourth: True
Jaguar.
And these are the names
of our first mother-fathers. They were
simply made and modeled, it is said; they had no mother and no
father.
We have named the men by themselves. No woman gave birth to
them,
nor were they begotten by the builder, sculptor, Bearer,
Begetter.
By sacrifice alone, by genius alone they were made, they
were
modeled by the Maker, Modeler, Bearer, Begetter, Sovereign
Plumed
Serpent. And when they came to fruition, they came out
human:
They talked and they
made words.
They looked and they
listened.
They walked, they
worked.*(348)
They were good people,
handsome, with looks of the male kind.
Thoughts came into existence and they gazed; their vision came
all
at once. Perfectly they saw, perfectly they knew everything
under
the sky, whenever they looked. The moment they turned around
and
looked around in the sky, on the earth, everything was seen
without
any obstruction. They didn't have to walk around before they
could see
what was under the sky; they just stayed where they were.
As they looked, their knowledge
became intense. Their sight passed
through trees, through rocks, through lakes, through seas,
through
mountains, through plains. Jaguar Quitze, Jaguar Night,
Mahucutah, and
True Jaguar were truly gifted people.
And then they were
asked by the builder and mason:
"What do you know
about your being? Don't you look, don't you
listen? Isn't your speech good, and your walk? So you must look,
to
see out under the sky. Don't you see the mountain-plain clearly?
So
try it," they were told.
And then they saw
everything under the sky perfectly. After that,
they thanked the Maker, Modeler:
-
"Truly
now,
double thanks,
triple thanks
that we've
been formed, we've been given
our mouths,
our faces,
we speak, we
listen,
we wonder, we
move,
our knowledge
is good, we've understood
what is far
and near,
and we've seen
what is great and small
under the sky,
on the earth.
Thanks to you
we've been formed,
we've come to
be made and modeled,
our
grandmother, our grandfather,"
-
they said when they gave thanks for having been made and
modeled. They
understood everything perfectly, they sighted the four sides,
the four
corners in the sky, on the earth, and this didn't sound good to
the
builder and sculptor:
"What our works and
designs have said is no good:
'We have understood
everything, great and small,' they say." And
so the Bearer, Begetter took back their knowledge:
"What should we do
with them now? Their vision should at least reach
nearby, they should see at least a small part of the face of
the
earth, but what they're saying isn't good. Aren't they
merely
'works' and 'designs' in their very names? Yet they'll become as
great
as gods, unless they procreate, proliferate at the sowing,
the
dawning, unless they increase."
"Let it be this
way: now we'll take them apart just a little, that's
what we need. What we've found out isn't good. Their deeds
would
become equal to ours, just because their knowledge reaches so
far.
They see everything," so said
-
the Heart of
Sky, Hurricane,
Newborn
Thunderbolt, Raw Thunderbolt,
Sovereign
Plumed Serpent,
Bearer,
Begetter,
Xpiyacoc,
Xmucane,
Maker,
Modeler,
-
as they are called. And when they changed the nature of their
works,
their designs, it was enough that the eyes be marred by the
Heart of
Sky. They were blinded as the face of a mirror is breathed upon.
Their
eyes were weakened. Now it was only when they looked nearby
that
things were clear.
And such was the loss
of the means of understanding, along with
the means of knowing everything, by the four humans. The root
was
implanted.
And such was the
making, modeling of our first grandfather, our
father, by the Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth.
-
AND THEN THEIR WIVES
AND WOMEN CAME INTO BEING. Again, the same gods
thought of it. It was as if they were asleep*(349) when
they
received them, truly beautiful women were there with Jaguar
Quitze,
Jaguar Night, Mahucutah, and True Jaguar. With their women
there
they became wider awake. Right away they were happy at heart again,
because of their wives.
Celebrated Seahouse is
the name of the wife of Jaguar Quitze.
Prawn House is the name
of the wife of Jaguar Night.
Hummingbird House is
the name of the wife of Mahucutah.
Macaw House is the name
of the wife of True Jaguar.
So these are the names
of their wives, who became ladies of
rank,*(350) giving birth to the people of the tribes, small and
great.
-
AND THIS IS OUR ROOT,
WE WHO ARE THE QUICHE PEOPLE. And there came
to be a crowd of penitents and sacrificers.*(351) It wasn't only
four who came into being then, but there were four mothers for
us, the
Quiche people. There were different names for each of the
peoples when
they multiplied, there in the east. Their names became
numerous:
Sovereign Oloman, Cohah, Quenech Ahau, as the names of the
people
who were there in the east are spoken. They multiplied, and it
is
known that the Tams and Ilocs began then. They came from the
same
place, there in the east.
Jaguar Quitze was the
grandfather and father of the nine great
houses of the Cauecs.
Jaguar Night was the grandfather
and father of the nine great houses
of the Greathouses.
Mahucutah was the
grandfather and father of the four great houses of
the Lord Quiches.
There were three
separate lineages. The names of the grandfathers
and fathers are not forgotten. These multiplied and flowered
there
in the east, but the Tams and Ilocs also came forth, along
with
thirteen allied tribes, thirteen principalities,*(352)
including:
The Rabinals,
Cakchiquels, those of the Bird House.
And the White
Cornmeals.
And also the Lamacs,
Serpents, Sweatbath House, Talk House, those of
the Star House.
And those of the Quiba
House, those of the Yokes House, Acul people,
Jaguar House, Guardians of the Spoils, Jaguar Ropes.
It is sufficient that
we speak only of the largest tribes from among
the allied tribes; we have only noted the largest. Many more
came
out afterward, each one a division of that citadel.*(353) We
haven't
written their names, but they multiplied there, from out of
the
east. There came to be many peoples in the blackness; they began
to
abound even before the birth of the sun and the light. When they
began
to abound they were all there together; they stood and walked
in
crowds, there in the east.
There was nothing they
could offer for sustenance, but even so
they lifted their faces to the sky. They didn't know where they
were
going. They did this for a long time, when they were there in
the
grasslands: black people, white people, people of many faces,
people
of many languages, uncertain, there at the edge of the sky.
And there were mountain
people.*(354) They didn't show their
faces, they had no homes. They just traveled the mountains,
small
and great. "It's as if they were crazy," they used to
say. They
derided the mountain people, it was said. There they watched for
the
sunrise, and for all the mountain people there was just one
language.*(355) They did not yet pray to wood and
stone.*(356)
These are the words with
which they remembered the Maker, Modeler,
Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth. It was said that these were enough
to
keep them mindful of what was in shadow and what was dawning.
All they
did was ask; they had reverent words. They were reverent, they
were
givers of praise, givers of respect, lifting their faces to
the
sky*(357) when they made requests for their daughters and
sons:
-
"Wait!
thou Maker, thou
Modeler,
look at us, listen
to us,
don't let us fall,
don't leave us aside,
thou god in the
sky, on the earth,
Heart of Sky,
Heart of Earth,
give us our sign,
our word,
as long as there
is day, as long as there is light.*(358)
When it comes to
the sowing, the dawning,
will it be*(359) a
greening road, a greening path?
Give us a steady
light, a level place,
a good light, a
good place,
a good life and
beginning.*(360)
Give us all of
this, thou Hurricane,
Newborn
Thunderbolt, Raw Thunderbolt,
Newborn Nanahuac,
Raw Nanahuac,
Falcon,
Hunahpu,
Sovereign Plumed
Serpent,
Bearer,
Begetter,
Xpiyacoc,
Xmucane,
Grandmother of
Day, Grandmother of Light,
when it comes to
the sowing, the dawning,"
-
they said when they made their fasts*(361) and prayers,
just
watching intently*(362) for the dawn. There, too, they looked
toward
the east, watching closely for the daybringer, the great star at
the
birth of the sun, of the heat for what is under the sky, on the
earth,
the guide for the human work, the human design.