The Popol Vuh

The Sacred Book of The Mayas

The Book of The Community

English Version by

Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley

( 1950 by the University of Oklahoma Press)

Translation by Adri Recinos

PART II

Chapter 1

Now we shall also tell the name of the father of Hunahpand Xbalanqu\ We shall not tell his origin and we shall not tell the history of the birth of Hunahp and Xbalanqu We shall tell only half of it, only a part of the history of his father.

Here is the story. Here are the names of Hun-Hunahp[and Vucub-Hunahp, as they are called. Their parents were Xpiyacoc and Xmucan During the night Hun-Hunahp and Vucub-Hunahpwere born of Xpiyacoc and Xmucan

Well now, Hun-Hunahphad begotten two sons; the first was called Hunbatz and the second Hunchou.

The mother of the two sons was called Xbaquiyalo. Thus was the wife of Hun-Hunahp called. As for the other son, Vucub-Hunahp he had no wife; he was single.

By nature these two sons were very wise, and great was their wisdom; on earth they were soothsayers of good disposition and good habits. All the arts were taught to Hunbatz and Hunchou, the sons of Hun-Hunahp They were flautists, singers, shooters with blowguns, painters, sculptors, jewelers, silversmiths; these were Hunbatz and Hunchou.

Well, Hun-Hunahpand Vucub-Hunahpdid nothing but play dice and ball all day long; and when the four got together to play ball, one pair played against the other pair.

And Voc, the messenger of Hurac, of Chipi-Caculh of Raxa-Caculhcame there to watch them, but Voc did not stay far from the earth nor far from Xibalba, and in an instant he went up to heaven to the side of Hurac.

They were still here on earth when the mother of Hunbatz and Hunchou died.

And having gone to play ball on the road to Xibalba, they were overheard by Hun-Camand Vucub-Cam the lords of Xibalba.

"What are they doing on earth? Who are they who are making the earth shake, and making so much noise? Go and call them! Let them come here to play ball. Here we will overpower them! We are no longer respected by them. They no longer have consideration, or fear of our rank, and they even fight above our heads," said all the lords of Xibalba.

All of them held a council. Those called Hun-Camand

All of them held a council. Those called Hun-Camand

Vucub-Camwere the supreme judges. All the lords had been assigned their duties. Each one was given his own authority by Hun-Camand Vucub-Cam

They were, then, Xiquiripat and Cuchumaquic lords of these names. They were the two who caused the shedding of blood of the men.

Others were called Ahalpuh and Ahalgan also lords. And their work was to make men swell and make pus gush forth from their legs and stain their faces yellow, what is called Chuganal. Such was the work of Ahalpuh and Ahalgan

Others were Lord Chamiabac and Lord Chamiaholom, constables of Xibalba, whose staffs were of bone. Their work was to make men waste away until they were nothing but skin and bone and they died, and they carried them with their stomach and bones stretched out. This was the work of Chamiabac and Chamiaholom, as they were called.

Others were called Lord Ahalmez and Lord Ahaltocob; their work was to bring disaster upon men, as they were going home, or in front of it, and they would be found wounded, stretched out, face up, on the ground, dead. This was the work of Ahalmez and Ahaltocob, as they were called.

Immediately after them were other lords named Xic and Pat whose work it was to cause men to die on the road, which is called sudden death, making blood to rush to their mouths until they died vomiting blood. The work of each one of these lords was to seize upon them, squeeze their throats and chests, so that the men died on the road, making the blood rush to their throats when they were walking. This was the work of Xic and Pat.

And having gathered in council, they discussed how to torment and wound Hun-Hunahp and Vucub-Hunahp What the Lords of Xibalba coveted were the playing implements of Hun-Hunahpand Vucub-Hunahp-their leather pads and rings and gloves and crown and masks which were the playing gear of Hun-Hunahpand Vucub-Hunahp

Now we shall tell of their journey to Xibalba and how they left behind them the sons of Hun-Hunahp Hunbatz, and [Hun] Chou, whose mother had died.

Then we shall tell how Hunbatz and Hunchou were overcome by Hunahpand Xbalanqu

The Popol Vuh

The Sacred Book of The Mayas

The Book of The Community

English Version by

Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley

( 1950 by the University of Oklahoma Press)

Translation by Adri Recinos

PART I

Chapter 9

The third of the arrogant ones was the second son of Vucub-Caquix who was called Cabrac.

"I demolish the mountains," he said.

But Hunahpand Xbalanqualso defeated Cabrac. Hurac Chipi-Caculh and Raxa-Caculhtalked and said to Hunahpand Xbalanqu

"Let the second son of Vucub-Caquix also be defeated. This is our will, for it is not well what they do on earth, exalting their glory, their grandeur, and their power, and it must not be so. Lure him to where the sun rises," said Hurac to the two youths.

"Very well, honored sir," they answered, "because what we see is not right. Do you not exist, you who are the peace, you, Heart of Heaven?" said the boys as they listened to the command of Hurac.

Meanwhile, Cabrac was busy shaking the mountains. At the gentlest tap of his feet on the earth, the large and small mountains opened. Thus the boys found him and asked Cabrac:

"Where are you going, young man? "

"Nowhere," he answered, "here I am moving the mountains, and I am leveling them to the ground forever,'' he answered.

Then Cabrac asked Hunahpand Xbalanqu "What did you come to do here? I do not recognize you. What are your names?" said Cabrac.

"We have no names," they answered, "we are nothing more than shooters of blowguns and hunters with bird-traps on the mountains. We are poor and we have nothing, young man. We only walk over the large and small mountains, young man, and we have just seen a large mountain, over there where you see the pink sky. It really rises up very high and overlooks the tops of all the hills. So it is that we have not been able to catch even one or two of the birds on it, boy. But, is it true that you can level all the mountains?" Hunahpand Xbalanquasked Cabrac.

"Have you really seen the mountain of which you speak? Where is it? If I see it, I shall demolish it. Where did you see it?"

"Over there it is, where the sun rises," said Hunahpand Xbalanqu

"Very well, show me the road," he said to the two boys.

"Oh no!" they answered. "We must take you between us. One shall go at your left and the other at your right, because we have our blowguns, and if there should be birds we can shoot them." And so they set out happily, trying out their blowguns. But when they shot with them, they did not use the clay pellets in the tube of the blowgun; instead they felled the birds only with the puff of air when they shot them, which surprised Cabrac very much.

Then the boys built a fire and put the birds on it to roast, but they rubbed one of the birds with chalk, covering it with a white earth soil.

"We shall give him this," they said, "to whet his appetite with the odor which it gives off. This bird of ours shall be his ruin, as we cover this bird with earth so we shall bring him down to the earth and bury him in the earth.

"Great shall be the wisdom of a created being, of a being fashioned, when it dawns, when there is light," said the boys.

"As it is natural for man to wish to eat, so Cabrac desires food," said Hunahp and Xbalanquto each other.

Meanwhile the birds were roasting, they were beginning to turn golden brown, and the fat and juice which dripped from them made an appetizing odor. Cabrac wanted very much to eat them; they made his mouth water, he yawned, and the saliva and spittle drooled because of the smell which the birds gave off.

Then he asked them: "What is that you eat? The smell is really savoury. Give me a little piece," he said to them.

Then they gave a bird to Cabrac, the one which would be his ruin; and when he had finished eating it, they set out toward the east where the great mountain was. But already Cabrac's legs and hands were weakening and he had no strength because of the earth with which the bird he had eaten was rubbed, and he could do nothing to the mountains. Neither was it possible to level them.

Then the boys tied him, they tied his hands behind him and also tied his neck and his feet together. Then they threw him to the ground and there they buried him.

In this way Cabrac was overcome by Hunahpand Xbalanqu It would be impossible to tell of all the things they did here on earth.

Now we shall tell of the birth of Hunahpand Xbalanqu having first told of the destruction of Vucub-Caquix and that of Zipacnand of Cabrac, here on earth.

The Popol Vuh

The Sacred Book of The Mayas

The Book of The Community

English Version by

Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley

( 1950 by the University of Oklahoma Press)

Translation by Adri Recinos

PART I

Chapter 8

Now we shall tell how Zipacnwas defeated by the two boys, Hunahpand Xbalanqu

Now follows the defeat and death of Zipacn when he was overcome by the two boys, Hunahpand Xbalanqu

The boys' hearts were full of rancor because the four hundred young men had been killed by Zipacn And he only hunted fish and crabs at the bank of the river, which were his daily food. During the day he went about looking for food, and at night he carried mountains on his back.

With a leaf of the ec plant which is found in the forest, Hunahpand Xbalanqu quickly made a figure to look like a very large crab.

With this they made the stomach of the crab; the claws, they made of pahac, and for the shell, which covers the back, they used a stone. Then they put the crab at the bottom of a cave at the foot of a large mountain called Meagu, where he was overcome.

Then the boys went to find Zipacnon the river bank.

"Where are you going, young man?" they asked him.

"I am not going anywhere," Zipacnanswered, "only looking for food, boys."

"And what is your food?"

"Fish and crabs, but there are none here and I have not found any; I have not eaten since day before yesterday, and I am dying of hunger," said Zipacnto Hunahp and Xbalanqu

"Over there in the bottom of the ravine there is a crab, a really large crab, and it would be well if you would eat it! Only it bit us when we tried to catch it and so we were afraid. We wouldn't try to catch it for anything," said Hunahp and Xbalanqu

"Have pity on me! Come and show it to me, boys," begged Zipacn

"We do not want to. You go alone, you will not get lost. Follow the bank of the river and you will come out at the foot of a large hill; there it is making a noise at the bottom of the ravine. You have only to go there," said Hunahp and Xbalanqu

"Oh, unfortunate me! Won't you accompany me, boys? Come and show it to me. There are many birds which you can shoot with your blowguns and I know where to find them," said Zipacn

His meekness convinced the boys. And they asked him: "But, can you really catch him? Because it is only for you that we are returning; we are not going to try to get it again because it bit us when we were crawling into the cave. After that we were afraid to crawl in, but we almost caught it. So, then, it is best that you crawl in," they said.

"Very well," said Zipacn and then they went with him. They arrived at the bottom of the ravine and there, stretched on his back, was the crab, showing his red shell. And there also in the bottom of the ravine was the boys' hoax.

"Good! Good!" said Zipacnhappily. "I should like to have it in my mouth already!" And he was really dying of hunger. He wanted to try to crawl in, he wanted to enter, but the crab was climbing. He came out at once and the boys asked, "Did you not get it?"

"No," he answered, "because he was going up and I almost caught him. But perhaps it would be good if I go in from above," he added. And then he entered again from above, but as he was almost inside, with only the soles of his feet showing, the great hill slid and fell slowly down on his chest.

Zipacnnever returned and he was changed into stone.

In this way Zipacnwas defeated by the two boys, Hunahpand Xbalanqu he was the elder son of Vucub-Caquix, and he, according to the ancient legend, was the one who made the mountains.

At the foot of the hill called Meagu he was vanquished. Only by a miracle was he vanquished, the second of the arrogant ones. One was left, whose history we shall tell now.

The Popol Vuh

The Sacred Book of The Mayas

The Book of The Community

English Version by

Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley

( 1950 by the University of Oklahoma Press)

Translation by Adri Recinos

PART I

Chapter 7

Here now are the deeds of Zipacn the elder, son of Vucub-Caquix.

"I am the creator of the mountains," said Zipacn

Zipacnwas bathing at the edge of a river when four hundred youths passed dragging a log to support their house. The four hundred were walking, after having cut down a large tree to make the ridge-pole of their house.

Then Zipacncame up, and going toward the four hundred youths, said to them: "What are you doing, boys?"

"It is only this log," they answered, "which we cannot lift and carry on our shoulders."

"I will carry it. Where does it have to go? What do you want it for?"

"For a ridge-pole for our house."

"All right," he answered, and lifting it up, he put it on his shoulders and carried it to the entrance of the house of the four hundred boys.

"Now stay with us, boy," they said. "Have you a mother or father?"

"I have neither," he answered.

"Then we shall hire you tomorrow to prepare another log to support our house."

"Good," he answered.

The four hundred boys talked together then, and said:

"How shall we kill this boy? Because it is not good what he has done lifting the log alone. Let us make a big hole and push him so that he will fall into it. 'Go down and take out the earth and carry it from the pit,' we shall tell him, and when he stoops down, to go down into the pit, we shall let the large log fall on him and he will die there in the pit."

So said the four hundred boys, and then they dug a large, very deep pit. Then they called Zipacn

"We like you very much. Go, go and dig dirt, for we cannot reach [the bottom of the pit]," they said.

"All right," he answered. He went at once into the pit. And calling to him as he was digging the dirt, they said: "Have you gone down very deep yet?"

"Yes," he answered, beginning to dig the pit. But the pit which he was making was to save him from danger. He knew that they wanted to kill him; so when he dug the pit, he made a second hole at one side in order to free himself.

"How far [have you gone]?" the four hundred boys called down.

"I am still digging; I will call up to you when I have finished the digging," said Zipacnfrom the bottom of the pit. But he was not digging his grave; instead he was opening another pit in order to save himself.

At last Zipacncalled to them. But when he called, he was already safe in the second pit.

"Come and take out and carry away the dirt which I have dug and which is in the bottom of the pit," he said, "because in truth I have made it very deep. Do you not hear my call? Nevertheless, your calls, your words repeat themselves like an echo once, twice, and so I hear well where you are." So Zipacncalled from the pit where he was hidden, shouting from the depths.

Then the boys hurled the great log violently, and it fell quickly with a thud to the bottom of the pit.

"Let no one speak! Let us wait until we hear his dying screams," they said to each other, whispering, and each one covered his face as the log fell noisily. He [Zipacn spoke then, crying out, but he called only once when the log fell to the bottom.

"How well we have succeeded in this! Now he is dead," said the boys. "If, unfortunately, he had continued what he had begun to do, we would have been lost, because he already had interfered with us, the four hundred boys."

And filled with joy they said: "Now we must make our chicha within the next three days. When the three days are passed, we shall drink to the construction of our new house, we, the four hundred boys." Then they said: "Tomorrow we shall look, and day after tomorrow, we shall also look to see if the ants do not come out of the earth when the body smells and begins to rot. Presently we shall become calm and drink our chicha," they said.

But from his pit Zipacnlistened to everything the boys said. And later, on the second day, multitudes of ants came, going and coming and gathering under the log. Some carried Zipacn#39;s hair in their mouths, and others carried his fingernails.

When the boys saw this, they said, "That devil has now perished. Look how the ants have gathered, how they have come by hordes, some bringing his hair and others his fingernails. Look what we have done!" So they spoke to each other.

Nevertheless, Zipacnwas very much alive. He had cut his hair and gnawed off his fingernails to give them to the ants.

And so the four hundred boys believed that he was dead, and on the third day they began the orgy and all of the boys got drunk. And the four hundred being drunk knew nothing any more. And then Zipacnlet the house fall on their heads and killed all of them.

Not even one or two among the four hundred were saved; they were killed by Zipacn son of Vucub-Caquix.

In this way the four hundred boys died, and it is said that they became the group of stars which because of them are called Motz,*but it may not be true.

*A mass, the Seven Little Sisters, the Pleiades. Brasseur de Bourbourg notes that Omuch qaholah, the four hundred young men who perished in an orgy, are the same as those who were worshipped in Mexico under the name Centzon-Totochtin, the four hundred rabbits who were implored as gods to protect the pulque and the drunkards.