{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56550/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56550","id":"gutenberg_56550","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56550","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Guatemala -- Antiquities","Manuscripts, Maya","Popol vuh","Quich\u00e9 Indians -- Religion","Quich\u00e9 mythology"],"text":"Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project\nGutenberg (This book was produced from scanned images of\npublic domain material from the Google Books project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                             THE POPOL VUH\n\n                     The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of\n                     the Kich\u00e9s of Central America\n\n\n                                   By\n\n                              LEWIS SPENCE\n\n\n\n                    Published by David Nutt, at the\n                 Sign of the Phoenix, Long Acre, London\n                                  1908\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe \"Popol Vuh\" is the New World's richest mythological mine. No\ntranslation of it has as yet appeared in English, and no adequate\ntranslation in any European language. It has been neglected to a\ncertain extent because of the unthinking strictures passed upon\nits authenticity. That other manuscripts exist in Guatemala than\nthe one discovered by Ximenes and transcribed by Scherzer and\nBrasseur de Bourbourg is probable. So thought Brinton, and the\npresent writer shares his belief. And ere it is too late it would\nbe well that these--the only records of the faith of the builders of\nthe mystic ruined and deserted cities of Central America--should be\nrecovered. This is not a matter that should be left to the enterprise\nof individuals, but one which should engage the consideration of\ninterested governments; for what is myth to-day is often history\nto-morrow.\n\n\nLEWIS SPENCE.\n\nJuly 1908.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE POPOL VUH\n\n[The numbers in the text refer to notes at the end of the study]\n\n\nThere is no document of greater importance to the study of the\npre-Columbian mythology of America than the \"Popol Vuh.\" It is the\nchief source of our knowledge of the mythology of the Kich\u00e9 people of\nCentral America, and it is further of considerable comparative value\nwhen studied in conjunction with the mythology of the Nahuatlac\u00e2, or\nMexican peoples. This interesting text, the recovery of which forms one\nof the most romantic episodes in the history of American bibliography,\nwas written by a Christianised native of Guatemala some time in the\nseventeenth century, and was copied in the Kich\u00e9 language, in which\nit was originally written, by a monk of the Order of Predicadores, one\nFrancisco Ximenes, who also added a Spanish translation and scholia.\n\nThe Abb\u00e9 Brasseur de Bourbourg, a profound student of American\narch\u00e6ology and languages (whose euhemeristic interpretations of\nthe Mexican myths are as worthless as the priceless materials he\nunearthed are valuable) deplored, in a letter to the Duc de Valmy,\n[1] the supposed loss of the \"Popol Vuh,\" which he was aware had been\nmade use of early in the nineteenth century by a certain Don Felix\nCabrera. Dr. C. Scherzer, an Austrian scholar, thus made aware of\nits value, paid a visit to the Republic of Guatemala in 1854 or 1855,\nand was successful in tracing the missing manuscript in the library\nof the University of San Carlos in the city of Guatemala. It was\nafterwards ascertained that its scholiast, Ximenes, had deposited it\nin the library of his convent at Chichicastenango, whence it passed\nto the San Carlos library in 1830.\n\nScherzer at once made a copy of the Spanish translation of the\nmanuscript, which he published at Vienna in 1856 under the title\nof \"Las Historias del origen de los Indios de Guatemala, par el\nR. P. F. Francisco Ximenes.\" The Abb\u00e9 Brasseur also took a copy of\nthe original, which he published at Paris in 1861, with the title\n\"Vuh Popol: Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 de Quich\u00e9s, et les Mythes de l'Antiquit\u00e9\nAm\u00e9ricaine.\" In this work the Kich\u00e9 original and the Abbe's French\ntranslation are set forth side by side. Unfortunately both the Spanish\nand the French translations leave much to be desired so far as their\naccuracy is concerned, and they are rendered of little use by reason\nof the misleading notes which accompany them.\n\nThe name \"Popol Vuh\" signifies \"Record of the Community,\" and\nits literal translation is \"Book of the Mat,\" from the Kich\u00e9 word\n\"pop\" or \"popol,\" a mat or rug of woven rushes or bark on which the\nentire family sat, and \"vuh\" or \"uuh,\" paper or book, from \"uoch\"\nto write. The \"Popol Vuh\" is an example of a world-wide genre--a\ntype of annals of which the first portion is pure mythology, which\ngradually shades off into pure history, evolving from the hero-myths\nof saga to the recital of the deeds of authentic personages. It may,\nin fact, be classed with the Heimskringla of Snorre, the Danish\nHistory of Saxo-Grammaticus, the Chinese History in the Five Books,\nthe Japanese \"Nihongi,\" and, so far as its fourth book is concerned,\nit somewhat resembles the Pictish Chronicle.\n\nThe language in which the \"Popol Vuh\" was written, was, as has been\nsaid, the Kich\u00e9, a dialect of the great Maya-Kich\u00e9 tongue spoken at the\ntime of the Conquest from the borders of Mexico on the north to those\nof the present State of Nicaragua on the south; but whereas the Mayan\nwas spoken in Yucatan proper, and the State of Chiapas, the Kich\u00e9 was\nthe tongue of the peoples of that part of Central America now occupied\nby the States of Guatemala, Honduras and San Salvador, where it is\nstill used by the natives. It is totally different to the Nahuatl,\nthe language of the people of Anahuac or Mexico, both as regards\nits origin and structure, and its affinities with other American\ntongues are even less distinct than the those between the Slavonic\nand Teutonic groups. Of this tongue the \"Popol Vuh\" is practically\nthe only monument; at all events the only work by a native of the\ndistrict in which it was used. A cognate dialect, the Cakchiquel,\nproduced the \"Annals\" of that people, otherwise known as \"The Book of\nChilan Balam,\" a work purely of genealogical interest, which may be\nconsulted in the admirable translation of the late Daniel G. Brinton.\n\nThe Kich\u00e9 people at the time of their discovery, which was immediately\nsubsequent to the fall of Mexico, had in part lost that culture which\nwas characteristic of the Mayan race, the remnants of which have\nexcited universal wonder in the ruins of the vast desert cities of\nCentral America1. At a period not far distant from the Conquest the\nonce centralised Government of the Mayan peoples had been broken up\ninto petty States and Confederacies, which in their character recall\nthe city-states of medi\u00e6val Italy. In all probability the civilisation\npossessed by these peoples had been brought them by a race from\nMexico called the Toltecs2, who taught them the arts of building\nin stone and writing in hieroglyphics, and who probably influenced\ntheir mythology most profoundly. The Toltecs were not, however, in\nany way cognate with the Mayans, and were in all likelihood rapidly\nabsorbed by them. The Mayans were notably an agricultural people,\nand it is not impossible that in their country the maize-plant was\nfirst cultivated with the object of obtaining a regular cereal supply3.\n\nSuch, then, were the people whose mythology produced the body of\ntradition and mythi-history known as the \"Popol Vuh\"; and ere we pass\nto a consideration of their beliefs, their gods, and their religious\naffinities, it will be well to summarise the three books of it which\ntreat of these things, as fully as space will permit, using for that\npurpose both the French translation of Brasseur and the Spanish one\nof Ximenes.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST BOOK\n\nOver a universe wrapped in the gloom of a dense and primeval night\npassed the god Hurakan, the mighty wind. He called out \"earth,\"\nand the solid land appeared. The chief gods took counsel; they were\nHurakan, Gucumatz, the serpent covered with green feathers, and\nXpiyacoc and Xmucane, the mother and father gods. As the result of\ntheir deliberations animals were created. But as yet man was not. To\nsupply the deficiency the divine beings resolved to create mannikins\ncarved out of wood. But these soon incurred the displeasure of the\ngods, who, irritated by their lack of reverence, resolved to destroy\nthem. Then by the will of Hurakan, the Heart of Heaven, the waters\nwere swollen, and a great flood came upon the mannikins of wood. They\nwere drowned and a thick resin fell from heaven. The bird Xecotcovach\ntore out their eyes; the bird Camulatz cut off their heads; the bird\nCotzbalam devoured their flesh; the bird Tecumbalam broke their bones\nand sinews and ground them into powder. Because they had not thought\non Hurakan, therefore the face of the earth grew dark, and a pouring\nrain commenced, raining by day and by night. Then all sorts of beings,\ngreat and small, gathered together to abuse the men to their faces. The\nvery household utensils and animals jeered at them, their mill-stones,\ntheir plates, their cups, their dogs, their hens. Said the dogs and\nhens, \"Very badly have you treated us, and you have bitten us. Now we\nbite you in turn.\" Said the mill-stones (metates [2]), \"Very much were\nwe tormented by you, and daily, daily, night and day, it was squeak,\nscreech, screech, [3] for your sake. Now you shall feel our strength,\nand we will grind your flesh and make meal of your bodies.\" And the\ndogs upbraided the mannikins because they had not been fed, and tore\nthe unhappy images with their teeth. And the cups and dishes said,\n\"Pain and misery you gave us, smoking our tops and sides, cooking us\nover the fire, burning and hurting us as if we had no feeling. Now it\nis your turn, and you shall burn.\" Then ran the mannikins hither and\nthither in despair. They climbed to the roofs of the houses, but the\nhouses crumbled under their feet; they tried to mount to the tops of\nthe trees, but the trees hurled them from them; they sought refuge in\nthe caverns, but the caverns closed before them. Thus was accomplished\nthe ruin of this race, destined to be overthrown. And it is said that\ntheir posterity are the little monkeys who live in the woods.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MYTH OF VUKUB-CAKIX\n\nAfter this catastrophe, ere yet the earth was quite recovered from\nthe wrath of the gods, there existed a man \"full of pride,\" whose name\nwas Vukub-Cakix. The name signifies \"Seven-times-the-colour-of-fire,\"\nor \"Very brilliant,\" and was justified by the fact that its owner's\neyes were of silver, his teeth of emerald, and other parts of his\nanatomy of precious metals. In his own opinion Vukub-Cakix's existence\nrendered unnecessary that of the sun and the moon, and this egoism\nso disgusted the gods that they resolved upon his overthrow. His two\nsons, Zipacna and Cabrakan (earth-heaper [4] (?) and earthquake),\nwere daily employed, the one in heaping up mountains, and the\nother in demolishing them, and these also incurred the wrath of\nthe immortals. Shortly after the decision of the deities the twin\nhero-gods Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque came to earth with the intention of\nchastising the arrogance of Vukub-Cakix and his progeny.\n\nNow Vukub-Cakix had a great tree of the variety known in Central\nAmerica as \"nanze\" or \"tapal,\" bearing a fruit round, yellow, and\naromatic, and upon this fruit he depended for his daily sustenance. One\nday on going to partake of it for his morning meal he mounted to\nits summit in order to espy the choicest fruits, when to his great\nindignation he discovered that Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque had been before\nhim, and had almost denuded the tree of its produce. The hero-gods,\nwho lay concealed within the foliage, now added injury to theft by\nhurling at Vukub-Cakix a dart from a blow-pipe, which had the effect\nof precipitating him from the summit of the tree to the earth. He\narose in great wrath, bleeding profusely from a severe wound in the\njaw. Hun-Ahpu then threw himself upon Vukub-Cakix, who in terrible\nanger seized the god by the arm and wrenched it from the body. He then\nproceeded to his dwelling, where he was met and anxiously interrogated\nby his spouse Chimalmat. Tortured by the pain in his teeth and jaw he,\nin an excess of spite, hung Hun-Ahpu's arm over a blazing fire, and\nthen threw himself down to bemoan his injuries, consoling himself,\nhowever, with the idea that he had adequately avenged himself upon\nthe interlopers who had dared to disturb his peace.\n\nBut Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque were in no mind that he should escape\nso easily, and the recovery of Hun-Ahpu's arm must be made at all\nhazards. With this end in view they consulted two venerable beings\nin whom we readily recognise the father-mother divinities, Xpiyacoc\nand Xmucane4, disguised for the nonce as sorcerers. These personages\naccompanied Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque to the abode of Vukub-Cakix, whom\nthey found in a state of intense agony. The ancients persuaded him\nto be operated upon in order to relieve his sufferings, and for his\nglittering teeth they substituted grains of maize. Next they removed\nhis eyes of emerald, upon which his death speedily followed, as did\nthat of his wife Chimalmat. Hun-Ahpu's arm was recovered, re-affixed\nto his shoulder, and all ended satisfactorily for the hero-gods.\n\nBut their mission was not yet complete. The sons of Vukub-Cakix,\nZipacna and Cabrakan, remained to be accounted for. Zipacna consented,\nat the entreaty of four hundred youths, incited by the hero-gods,\nto assist them in transporting a huge tree which was destined for the\nroof-tree of a house they were building. Whilst assisting them he was\nbeguiled by them into entering a great ditch which they had dug for the\npurpose of destroying him, and when once he descended was overwhelmed\nby tree-trunks by his treacherous acquaintances, who imagined him\nto be slain. But he took refuge in a side-tunnel of the excavation,\ncut off his hair and nails for the ants to carry up to his enemies as\na sign of his death, waited until the youths had become intoxicated\nwith pulque because of joy at his supposed demise, and then, emerging\nfrom the pit, shook the house that the youths had built over his body\nabout their heads, so that all were destroyed in its ruins.\n\nBut Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque were grieved that the four hundred\nhad perished, and laid a more efficacious trap for Zipacna. The\nmountain-bearer, carrying the mountains by night, sought his\nsustenance by day by the shore of the river, where he lived upon\nfish and crabs. The hero-gods constructed an artificial crab which\nthey placed in a cavern at the bottom of a deep ravine. The hungry\ntitan descended to the cave, which he entered on all-fours. But a\nneighbouring mountain had been undermined by the divine brothers,\nand its bulk was cast upon him. Thus at the foot of Mount Meavan\nperished the proud \"Mountain Maker,\" whose corpse was turned into\nstone by the catastrophe.\n\nOf the family of boasters only Cabrakan remained. Discovered by the\nhero-gods at his favourite pastime of overturning the hills, they\nenticed him in an easterly direction, challenging him to overthrow a\nparticularly high mountain. On the way they shot a bird with their\nblow-pipes, and poisoned it with earth. This they gave to Cabrakan\nto eat. After partaking of the poisoned fare his strength deserted\nhim, and failing to move the mountain he was bound and buried by the\nvictorious hero-gods.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND BOOK\n\nMystery veils the commencement of the Second Book of the \"Popol\nVuh.\" The theme is the birth and family of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque,\nand the scribe intimates that only half is to be told concerning the\nhistory of their father. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the father and mother\ndeities, had two sons, Hunhun-Ahpu and Vukub-Hunahpu, the first being,\nso far as can be gathered, a bi-sexual personage. He had by a wife,\nXbakiyalo, two sons, Hunbatz and Hunchouen, men full of wisdom and\nartistic genius. All of them were addicted to the recreation of\ndicing and playing at ball, and a spectator of their pastimes was\nVoc, the messenger of Hurakan. Xbakiyalo having died, Hunhun-Ahpu\nand Vukub-Hunahpu, leaving the former's sons behind, played a game of\nball which in its progress took them into the vicinity of the realm\nof Xibalba (the underworld). This reached the ears of the monarchs\nof that place, Hun-Came and Vukub-Came, who, after consulting their\ncounsellors, challenged the strangers to a game of ball, with the\nobject of defeating and disgracing them.\n\nFor this purpose they dispatched four messengers in the shape of\nowls. The brothers accepted the challenge, after a touching farewell\nwith their mother Xmucane, and their sons and nephews, and followed\nthe feathered heralds down the steep incline to Xibalba from the\nplayground at Ninxor Carchah. [5] After an ominous crossing over a\nriver of blood they came to the residence of the kings of Xibalba,\nwhere they underwent the mortification of mistaking two wooden\nfigures for the monarchs. Invited to sit on the seat of honour,\nthey discovered it to be a red-hot stone, and the contortions which\nresulted from their successful trick caused unbounded merriment\namong the Xibalbans. Then they were thrust into the House of Gloom,\nwhere they were sacrificed and buried. The head of Hunhun-Ahpu was,\nhowever, suspended from a tree, which speedily became covered with\ngourds, from which it was almost impossible to distinguish the bloody\ntrophy. All in Xibalba were forbidden the fruit of that tree.\n\nBut one person in Xibalba had resolved to disobey the mandate. This\nwas the virgin princess Xquiq (Blood), the daughter of Cuchumaquiq,\nwho went unattended to the spot. Standing under the branches gazing\nat the fruit, the maiden stretched out her hand, and the head of\nHunhun-Ahpu spat into the palm. The spittle caused her to conceive,\nand she returned home, being assured by the head of the hero-god that\nno harm should result to her. This thing was done by order of Hurakan,\nthe Heart of Heaven. In six months' time her father became aware of\nher condition, and despite her protestations the royal messengers\nof Xibalba, the owls, received orders to kill her and return with\nher heart in a vase. She, however, escaped by bribing the owls with\nsplendid promises for the future to spare her and substitute for her\nheart the coagulated sap of the blood-wart.\n\nIn her extremity Xquiq went for protection to the home of Xmucane,\nwho now looked after the young Hunbatz and Hunchouen. Xmucane would\nnot at first believe her tale. But Xquiq appealed to the gods, and\nperformed a miracle by gathering a basket of maize where no maize grew,\nand thus gained her confidence.\n\nShortly afterwards Xquiq became the mother of twin boys, the heroes\nof the First Book, Hun-Ahpu, and Xbalanque. These did not find\nfavour in the eyes of Xmucane, their grandmother. Their infantile\ncries aroused the wrath of this venerable person, and she vented\nit upon them by turning them out of doors. They speedily took to\nan outdoor life, however, and became mighty hunters, and expert in\nthe use of their blow-pipes, with which they shot birds and other\nsmall game. The ill-treatment which they received from Hunbatz and\nHunchouen caused them at last to retaliate, and those who had made\ntheir lives miserable were punished by being transformed by the divine\nchildren into apes. The venerable Xmucane, filled with grief at the\nmetamorphosis and flight of her ill-starred grandsons, who had made\nher home joyous with their singing and flute-playing, was told that\nshe would be permitted to behold their faces once more if she could\ndo so without losing her gravity, but their antics and grimaces caused\nher such merriment that on three separate occasions she was unable to\nrestrain her laughter and the men-monkeys appeared no more. Hun-Ahpu\nand Xbalanque now became expert musicians, and one of their favourite\nairs was that of \"Hun-Ahpu qoy,\" the \"monkey of Hun-Ahpu.\"\n\nThe divine twins were now old enough to undertake labour in\nthe field, and their first task was the clearing of a milpa or\nmaize-plantation. They were possessed of magic tools, which had the\nmerit of working themselves in the absence of the young hunters at\nthe chase, and those they found a capital substitute for their own\ndirecting presence upon the first day. Returning at night from hunting,\nthey smeared their faces and hands with dirt so that Xmucane might\nbe deceived into imagining that they had been hard at work in the\nmaize-field. But during the night the wild beasts met and replaced\nall the roots and shrubs which the brothers--or rather their magic\ntools--had removed. The twins resolved to watch for them on the\nensuing night, but despite all their efforts the animals succeeded\nin making good their escape, save one, the rat, which was caught\nin a handkerchief. The rabbit and deer lost their tails in getting\naway. The rat, in gratitude that they had spared its life, told them of\nthe glorious deeds of their great fathers and uncles, their games at\nball, and of the existence of a set of implements necessary to play\nthe game which they had left in the house. They discovered these,\nand went to play in the ball-ground of their fathers.\n\nIt was not long, however, until Hun-Came and Vukub-Came, the princes of\nXibalba, heard them at play, and decided to lure them to the Underworld\nas they had lured their fathers. Messengers were despatched to the\nhouse of Xmucane, who, filled with alarm, despatched a louse to carry\nthe message to her grandsons. The louse, wishing to ensure greater\nspeed to reach the brothers, consented to be swallowed by a toad, the\ntoad by a serpent, and the serpent by the great bird Voc. The other\nanimals duly liberated one another; but despite his utmost efforts,\nthe toad could not get rid of the louse, who had played him a trick by\nlodging in his gums, and had not been swallowed at all. The message,\nhowever, was duly delivered, and the players returned home to take\nleave of their grandmother and mother. Before their departure they\neach planted a cane in the middle of the house, which was to acquaint\nthose they left behind with their welfare, since it would wither if\nany fatal circumstance befel them.\n\nPursuing the route their fathers had followed, they passed the river\nof blood and the river Papuhya. But they sent an animal called\nXan as avant courier with orders to prick all the Xibalbans with\na hair from Hun-Ahpu's leg, thus discovering those of the dwellers\nin the Underworld who were made of wood--those whom their fathers\nhad unwittingly bowed to as men--and also learning the names of the\nothers by their inquiries and explanations when pricked. Thus they\ndid not salute the mannikins on their arrival at the Xibalban court,\nnor did they sit upon the red-hot stone. They even passed scatheless\nthrough the first ordeal of the House of Gloom. The Xibalbans were\nfurious, and their wrath was by no means allayed when they found\nthemselves beaten at the game of ball to which they had challenged\nthe brothers. Then Hun-Came and Vukub-Came ordered the twins to bring\nthem four bouquets of flowers, asking the guards of the royal gardens\nto watch most carefully, and committed Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque to the\n\"House of Lances\"--the second ordeal--where the lancers were directed\nto kill them. The brothers, however, had at their beck and call a\nswarm of ants, which entered the royal gardens on the first errand, and\nthey succeeded in bribing the lancers. The Xibalbans, white with fury,\nordered that the owls, the guardians of the gardens, should have their\nlips split, and otherwise showed their anger at their third defeat.\n\nThen came the third ordeal in the \"House of Cold.\" Here the heroes\nescaped death by freezing by being warmed with burning pine-cones. In\nthe fourth and fifth ordeals they were equally lucky, for they passed\na night each in the \"House of Tigers\" and the \"House of Fire\" without\ninjury. But at the sixth ordeal misfortune overtook them in the \"House\nof Bats.\" Hun-Ahpu's head being cut off by Camazotz, \"Ruler of Bats,\"\nwho suddenly appeared from above.\n\nThe beheading of Hun-Ahpu does not, however, appear to have terminated\nfatally, but owing to the unintelligible nature of the text at this\njuncture, it is impossible to ascertain in what manner he was cured\nof such a lethal wound. This episode is followed by an assemblage\nof all the animals, and another contest at ball-playing, after which\nthe brothers emerged uninjured from all the ordeals of the Xibalbans.\n\nBut in order to further astound their \"hosts,\" Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque\nconfided to two sorcerers named Xulu and Pacaw that the Xibalbans\nhad failed because the animals were not on their side, and directing\nthem what to do with their bones, they stretched themselves upon a\nfuneral pile and died together. Their bones were beaten to powder and\nthrown into the river, where they sank, and were transformed into young\nmen. On the fifth day they reappeared like men-fishes, and on the sixth\nin the form of ragged old men, dancing, burning and restoring houses,\nkilling and restoring each other to life, with other wonders. The\nprinces of Xibalba, hearing of their skill, requested them to exhibit\ntheir magical powers, which they did by burning the royal palace and\nrestoring it, killing and resuscitating the king's dog, and cutting a\nman in pieces, and bringing him to life again. The monarchs of Xibalba,\nanxious to experience the novel sensation of a temporary death,\nrequested to be slain and resuscitated. They were speedily killed,\nbut the brothers refrained from resuscitating their arch-enemies.\n\nAnnouncing their real names, the brothers proceeded to punish the\nprinces of Xibalba. The game of ball was forbidden them, they were\nto perform menial tasks, and only the beasts of the forest were they\nto hold in vassalage. They appear after this to achieve a species of\ndoubtful distinction as plutonic deities or demons. They are described\nas warlike, ugly as owls, inspiring evil and discord. Their faces\nwere painted black and white to show their faithless nature.\n\nXmucane, waiting at home for the brothers, was alternately filled\nwith joy and grief as the canes grew green and withered, according to\nthe varying fortunes of her grandsons. These young men were busied at\nXibalba with paying fitting funeral honours to their father and uncle,\nwho now mounted to heaven and became the sun and moon, whilst the four\nhundred youths slain by Zipacna became the stars. Thus concludes the\nsecond book.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIRD BOOK\n\nThe beginning of the third book finds the gods once more in council. In\nthe darkness they commune concerning the creation of man. The Creator\nand Former made four perfect men. These beings were wholly created\nfrom yellow and white maize. Their names were Balam-Quitz\u00e9 (Tiger\nwith the Sweet Smile), Balam-Agab (Tiger of the Night), Mahucutah\n(The Distinguished Name), and Iqi-Balam (Tiger of the Moon). They\nhad neither father nor mother, neither were they made by the ordinary\nagents in the work of creation. Their creation was a miracle of the\nFormer. [6]\n\nBut Hurakan was not altogether satisfied with his handiwork. These men\nwere too perfect. They knew overmuch. Therefore the gods took counsel\nas to how to proceed with man. They must not become as gods (note here\nthe Christian influence). Let us now contract their sight so that\nthey may only be able to see a portion of the earth and be content,\nsaid the gods. Then Hurakan breathed a cloud over their eyes, which\nbecame partially veiled. Then the four men slept, and four women were\nmade, Caha-Paluma (Falling Water), Choimha (Beautiful Water), Tzununiha\n(House of the Water), and Cakixa (Water of Aras or Parrots), who became\nthe wives of the men in their respective order as mentioned above.\n\nThese were the ancestors of the Kich\u00e9s only. Then were created the\nancestors of other peoples. They were ignorant of the methods of\nworship, and lifting their eyes to heaven prayed to the Creator,\nthe Former, for peaceable lives and the return of the sun. But no\nsun came, and they grew uneasy. So they set out for Tulan-Zuiva,\nor the Seven Caves, and there gods were given unto them, each man,\nas head of a group of the race, a god. Balam-Quitz\u00e9 received the\ngod Tohil. Balam-Agab received the god Avilix, and Mahucutah the god\nHacavitz. Iqi-Balam received a god, but as he had no family his god\nis not taken into account in the native mythology.\n\nThe Kich\u00e9s now began to feel the want of fire, and the god Tohil, the\ncreator of fire, supplied them with this element. But soon afterwards\na mighty rain extinguished all the fires in the land. Tohil, however,\nalways renewed the supply. And fire in those days was the chief\nnecessity, for as yet there was no sun.\n\nTulan was a place of misfortune to man, for not only did he suffer from\ncold and famine, but here his speech was so confounded that the first\nfour men were no longer able to comprehend each other. They determined\nto leave Tulan, and under the leadership of the god Tohil set out\nto search for a new abode. On they wandered through innumerable\nhardships. Many mountains had they to climb, and a long passage\nto make through the sea which was miraculously divided for their\njourney from shore to shore. At length they came to a mountain which\nthey called Hacavitz, after one of their gods, and here they rested,\nfor here they had been instructed that they should see the sun. And\nthe sun appeared. Animals and men were transported with delight. All\nthe celestial bodies were now established. But the sun was not as it\nis to-day. He was not strong, but as reflected in a mirror.\n\nAs he arose the three tribal gods were turned into stone, as were the\ngods--probably totems--connected with the wild animals. Then arose\nthe first Kich\u00e9 city.\n\nAs time progressed the first men grew old, and, impelled by visions,\nthey began to offer human sacrifices. For this purpose they raided\nthe villages of the neighbouring peoples, who retaliated. But by the\nmiraculous aid of a horde of wasps and hornets the Kich\u00e9s utterly\nrouted their enemies. And the aliens became tributory to them.\n\nNow it came nigh the death-time of the first men, and they called\ntheir descendants together to hearken unto their last counsels. In the\nanguish of their hearts they sang the Kamucu, the song \"We see,\" that\nthey had sung when it first became light. Then they took leave of their\nwives and sons, one by one. And suddenly they were not. But in their\nplace was a huge bundle, which was never unfolded. And it was called\nthe \"Majesty Enveloped.\" And so died the first men of the Kich\u00e9s.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOURTH BOOK\n\nThe Fourth Book brings us down to what is presumably history. We say\n\"presumably,\" because we have only the bare testimony of the \"Popol\nVuh\" to go upon. We can note therein the evolution of the Kich\u00e9\npeople from a comparatively simple and pastoral state of society to\na political condition of considerable complexity. This account of the\nlater periods is extremely confused, and as the names of many of the\nKich\u00e9 monarchs are the same as those of the gods, it is often difficult\nto discriminate between saga and history. Interminable conflicts are\nthe subject of most of this book, and by the time the transcriber\nreached the twelfth chapter he seems to have tired of his labours\nand to have made up his mind to conclude with a genealogical list of\nthe Kich\u00e9 kings. He here traces the genealogies of the three royal\nhouses of Cavek, Nihaib, and Ahau-Kich\u00e9. The state of transition and\nturmoil in which the country was for many years after the conquest\nmust have tended to the disappearance of native records of any kind,\nand our author does not appear to have been as well versed in the\nhistory of his country which immediately preceded his own time as he\nwas in her mythology and legends. According to a tradition recited by\nDon Domingo Juarros in his \"History of the Kingdom of Guatemala,\" the\nToltecs emigrated from the neighbourhood of Tula in Mexico by direction\nof an oracle, in consequence of the great increase of population in\nthe reign of Nimaquich\u00e9, fifth King of the Toltecs. \"In performing\nthis journey they expended many years and suffered extraordinary\nhardships.\" Nimaquich\u00e9 was succeeded by his son Aexopil, from whom\nwas descended Kicab Tanub, the contemporary of Montezuma II. This\ndoes not at all agree with the \"Popol Vuh\" account.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCOSMOGONY OF THE \"POPOL VUH\"\n\n\nThe cosmogony of the \"Popol Vuh\" exhibits many signs of Christian\ninfluence, but it would be quite erroneous to infer that such influence\nwas of a direct nature; that is, that the native compiler deliberately\ninfused into the original narrative those outstanding features of the\nChristian cosmogony, which were undoubtedly quite familiar to him. The\nresemblance which is apparent between the first few chapters of the\n\"Popol Vuh\" and the creation-myth in Genesis is no more the result of\ndesign than was the metamorphosis of King Arthur's Brythonic warriors\ninto Norman knights by the jongleurs. The inclusion of obviously\nChristian elements was undoubtedly unconscious. A native Guatemalan,\nnurtured in the Christian faith, could, in fact, quite be expected\nto produce an incongruous blending of Christian and pagan cosmogony\nsuch as is here dealt with.\n\nBut another and more important question arises in connection with\nthe initial chapters of the \"Popol Vuh\"--those which give an account\nof the Kich\u00e9 creation-myth. Under the veneer of Biblical cosmogony\nthe original myth would appear to be the sum of more than one native\ncreation-story. We have here a number of beings, each of whom appear\nin some manner to exercise the function of a creator, and it might be\ngathered from this that the account now before us was produced by the\nfusion and reconciliation of more than one legend connected with the\ncreation--a reconciliation of early rival faiths. We have to guide\nus in this the proved facts of a composite Peruvian cosmogony. The\nruling Inca caste skilfully welded together no less than four early\ncreation-myths, reserving for their own divine ancestors the headship\nof the heavens. And it is not unreasonable to believe that the diverse\nethnological elements of which the Maya-Kich\u00e9 people were undoubtedly\ncomposed possessed divergent cosmogonies, which were reconciled to\none another in the later traditional versions of the \"Popol Vuh.\"\n\nThis would lead to the further supposition that the \"Popol Vuh\" is\na monument of very considerable antiquity. The fusion of religious\nbeliefs is, even with savages, a work of many generations. It would\nbe rash to attempt to discover any approximate date for the original\nconception of the \"Popol Vuh.\" The only version which we possess is\nthat now under review, and as the lack of an earlier version makes\ncomparison impossible, we are thus without the guidance with which\nthe criteria of philology would undoubtedly furnish us. That the Mayan\ncivilisation was of very considerable antiquity is possible, although\nno adequate proof exists for the assumption. This much is certain: that\nat the period of the Conquest written language was still in a state\nof transition from the pictographic to the phonetic-ideographic stage,\nand that therefore no version of the \"Popol Vuh\" which had been fixed\nby its receiving literary form could have long existed. It is much more\nprobable that it existed for many generations by being handed down from\nmouth to mouth--a manner of literary preservation exceedingly common\nwith the American peoples. The memories of the natives of America were\nand still are matter for astonishment for all who come into contact\nwith them. The Conquistadores were astounded at the ease with which\nthe Mexicans could recite poems and orations of stupendous length,\nand numerous instances of Indian feats of mnemonics are on record.\n\nIt is worthy of notice that the Kich\u00e9 myth embodies the general\naboriginal idea of creation which prevailed in the New World. In many\nof them the central idea of creation is supplied by the brooding\nof a great bird over the dark primeval waste of waters. Thus the\nAthapascans thought that a mighty raven, with eyes of fire and wings\nwhose clapping was as the thunder, descended to the ocean and raised\nthe earth to its surface. [7] The Muscokis believed that a couple\nof pigeons, skimming the surface of the deep, espied a blade of\ngrass upon its surface, which slowly evolved into the dry land. [8]\nThe Zu\u00f1is imagined that Awonawilona, the All-father, so impregnated\nthe waters that a scum appeared upon their surface which became the\nearth and sky. [9] The Iroquois said that their female ancestor,\nexpelled from heaven by her angry spouse, landed upon the sea, from\nwhich mud at once arose. The Mixtecs imagined that two winds--those\nof the Nine Serpents and the Nine Caverns--under the guise of a bird\nand a winged serpent respectively, caused the waters to subside and the\nland to appear. The Costa Rican Guaymis related, according to Melendez,\nthat Noncomala waded into the water and met the water-nymph Rutbe, who\nbore him twins, the sun and moon. In all these accounts, from widely\ndivergent nations, it is surprising to note such unanimity of belief;\nand when the tenacity of legend is borne in mind, it is perhaps not\ntoo rash to state a belief in an original American creation-myth,\nwhich seems none the less possible when the fact of the ethnological\nunity among the American tribes is remembered.\n\nIt is by no means difficult to satisfactorily prove the genuine\nAmerican character of the \"Popol Vuh.\" In its case reading is\nbelieving. Macpherson, in his preface to the first edition of the poems\nof Ossian, says of an \"ingenious gentleman\" that ere he had read the\npoems he thought and remarked that a man diffident of his abilities\nmight well ascribe these compositions to a person living in a remote\nantiquity; but when he had perused them his sentiments were changed. He\nfound they abounded too much with those ideas that only belong to an\nearly state of society to be the work of a modern poet. However this\nmay apply to the reputed compositions of the Goidelic bard, there can\nbe no doubt that it can be used with justice as regards the \"Popol\nVuh.\" To any one who has given it a careful examination it must be\nabundantly evident that it is a composition that has passed through\nseveral stages of development; that it is unquestionably of aboriginal\norigin; and that it has only been influenced by European thought in a\nsecondary and unessential manner. The very fact that it was composed\nin the Kich\u00e9 tongue is almost sufficient proof of its genuine American\ncharacter. The scholarship of the nineteenth century was unequal to\nthe adequate translation of the \"Popol Vuh\"; the twentieth century\nhas as yet shown no signs of being able to accomplish the task. It\nis, therefore, not difficult to credit that if modern scholarship is\nunable to properly translate the work, that of the eighteenth century\nwas unable to create it; no European of that epoch was sufficiently\nversed in Kich\u00e9 theology and history to compose in faultless Kich\u00e9\nsuch a work as the \"Popol Vuh,\" breathing as it does in every line\nan intimate and natural acquaintance with the antiquities of Guatemala.\n\nThe \"Popol Vuh\" is not the only mythi-historical work composed by an\naboriginal American. In Mexico Ixtlilxochitl, and in Peru Garcilasso\nde la Vega, wrote exhaustive treatises upon the history and customs of\ntheir native countrymen shortly after the conquests of Mexico and Peru,\nand hieroglyphic records, such as the \"Wallam Olum,\" are not unknown\namong the North American Indians. In fact, the intelligence which\nfails to regard the \"Popol Vuh\" as a genuine aboriginal production\nmust be more sceptical than critical.\n\n\n\n\nKICH\u00c9 AND MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY\n\nThe connection of Kich\u00e9 and Mayan mythology with that of Mexico is\nobvious, but not altogether proven. It is possible that the main lines\nof the three systems were similar; that certain great deities like\nGucumatz were common to all, but that the inclusion of local gods\nlent a very different complexion to the three mythologies. It also\nseems not unreasonable to suppose that the Kich\u00e9 people must have\nbeen more liable to influence from the south, that is, from the north\nof South America. The inclusion of an Antillean deity (Hurakan) in\ntheir pantheon practically proves that they were, and their relative\nproximity to the Caribs--the great maritime race of America--leads\nto the assumption that they may have been influenced by those roving\nmerchants and sailors more or less profoundly. This, however, can\nonly be matter for surmise, and, however strong the probabilities\nseem in favour of such a theory, proof is wanting to strengthen it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PANTHEON OF THE \"POPOL VUH\"\n\n\nIt must be remembered that we are dealing with Kich\u00e9 and not with\nMayan mythology. Although the two had much in common, it would be most\nunsafe in the present state of knowledge to attempt to identify Kich\u00e9\nwith Mayan deities; such an attempt would, indeed, assume the bulk of\na formidable treatise. Scholarship at the present time hesitates to\ndesignate the representations of Mayan gods on the walls of \"buried\"\ncities otherwise than by a letter of the alphabet, and it is therefore\nwise to thoroughly ignore the question of Mayan affinities in dealing\nwith myths purely Kich\u00e9. This does not apply to the Kich\u00e9-Mexican\naffinities. Mexican and Kich\u00e9 deities are mostly known quantities,\nbut this cannot be said of their Mayan congenors. The reason for\nthis is that until Mayan myth is reconciled with the evidence of\nthe Mayan monuments no certitude can be arrived at. This cannot\nwell be achieved until the Mayan hieroglyphs give up their secret,\na contingency of which there is no immediate likelihood. Bearing\nthis in mind, we may proceed to a brief consideration of the Kich\u00e9\npantheon and its probable Mexican affinities.\n\nAlmost at the beginning we encounter a pair of masculine-feminine\nbeings of a type nearly hermaphroditic, named Xpiyacoc and Xmucane,\nwho are credited with a considerable share of the creation of organic\nlife in the Kich\u00e9 cosmogony. These, we will remember, appeared in\nthe myth of Vukub-Cakix and elsewhere. The first appears to apply\nto the paternal function, whilst the name Xmucane is derived from\nwords signifying \"feminine vigour.\" The Mexican equivalents of these\ngods were probably Cipactonatl and Oxomoco, the \"father and mother\ngods.\" [10]\n\nDeities who early arrest our attention are Tepeu, Gucumatz and\nHurakan. The name of the first signifies \"king.\" According to Brinton\nthis in Kich\u00e9 applies to rulership chiefly, inasmuch as the conjugal\nprowess often ascribed to monarchs by savage people is concerned. A\ncreative faculty is obviously indicated in the name, but Brinton\nassumes that this Kich\u00e9 generic name for king can also be rendered\n\"syphilitic,\" especially as the name of the Mexican sun-god Nanahuatl\nhas a similar significance.\n\nThat Tepeu was a generative force, a creative deity, there can be no\ndoubt, but strangely enough in certain passages of the \"Popol Vuh\"\nwe find him praying to and rendering homage to Hurakan, the \"Heart\nof Heaven.\" We also find the latter along with Xpiyacoc, Xmucane\nand Tepeu jointly and severally responsible for the creation of the\nmannikins, if not for the whole cosmological scheme. This, of course,\nbears out the assumption of a composite origin of the creation-myth in\nthe \"Popol Vuh,\" but it is nevertheless strange to find Hurakan, whom\nwe must reckon an alien deity, at the head of these Olympic councils.\n\nCucumatz is one and the same with the Nahuatlacan--or, more properly\nspeaking, Toltecan Quetzalcohuatl. The name is compounded from two\nKich\u00e9 words signifying \"Feathered Serpent,\" and its meaning in the\nNahuatl is precisely the same. Concerning the nature of this deity,\nthere is probably more difference of opinion than in the case of any\nother known to comparative mythology. Strangely enough, although\nunquestionably an alien in the mythology of the Aztecan branch of\nthe Nahuatlac\u00e2, he bulks more largely in the myths of that people\nthan in the legends of the Kich\u00e9s. To the Aztec\u00e2 he seems to have\nappeared as a half-friendly Baal, to worship or revile according to\nthe opportunism of national fortune. If he were here to be dealt with\nas his importance demands the limits of this monograph would speedily\nbe surpassed. Although unquestionably the same god to both Mexicans\nand Kich\u00e9s, he had acquired a significance in Aztecan eyes quite out\nof all proportion to his Kich\u00e9 or Mayan importance. To the Aztecan\nmind he was a culture-hero, unalterably associated with the sun,\nand with the origins of their civilisation. To the Toltecs he was the\n\"Man of the Sun,\" the traveller, who, with staff in hand, symbolised\nthe daily journey of the Sun-god. In all likelihood Quetzalcohuatl\nwas evolved upon Mexican soil by the Toltecs, perhaps adopted from\nsome older cultus by them. He was at least worshipped sedulously\nby aboriginal or pre-Aztecan tribes in Anahuac. Mr. Payne writes:\n[11] \"The fact that the worship of Quetzalcohuatl under the name of\nCuculcan or Gucumatz was extensively prevalent in Yucatan and Central\nAmerica, while no trace is found of the worship of Tezcatlipoca,\nstrongly suggests that the founders of the Central American\npueblos (the Toltecs) were, in fact, devotees of Quetzalcohuatl,\nwho preferred exile and adventure in strange lands to accepting a\nreligious innovation which was intolerable to them.\"\n\nThat Quetzalcohuatl was not an aboriginal Maya-Kich\u00e9 deity is proved\nby the relative importance granted him by a people--the Aztec\u00e2--to\nwhom he was alien; and that they regarded him as the aboriginal god\nof Anahuac par excellence is indisputable.\n\nHurakan, the winged creative power, is the wind of the tempest. [12]\nIn the \"Popol Vuh\" he is designated \"The Heart of Heaven.\" He is\nparallel with if not identical to the Aztecan deity Tezcatlipoca, who\nin his variant of Yoalli-ehecatl (the Wind of Night) was supplicated\nby the Aztec\u00e2 as the life-breath. [13] Elsewhere we have hinted that\nTezcatlipoca may have been an ice-god. [14] Mr. Payne sees in him an\nelaboration of the vision of death in a polished \"scrying\"-stone,\nwhich seems possible but scarcely probable. Hurakan was in all\nlikelihood derived from an original deity of the Antilles. [15]\nThe term \"hurricane\" is said to have originated from the name of\nthis god, and although the direct evidence for this is scanty, other\ncircumstances place the connection beyond reasonable doubt. Hurakan is\nalso alluded to in the \"Popol Vuh,\" as \"The Strong Serpent,\" and \"He\nwho hurls below,\" referring to his presence in the lightning. Brinton\nis of opinion that the name Hurakan signifies \"giant,\" but the\nsequence of proof is not altogether convincing. Hurakan had the\nassistance of three demiurges, named respectively Cakulha-Hurakan\n(lightning), Chipi-Cakulha (lightning-flash), and Raxa-Cakulha\n(track-of-the-lightning).\n\nHun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, who appear in the first myth proper--that\nof the destruction of Vukub-Cakix, are certainly \"of the gods,\" but\nseem to be only demi-gods. They are constantly alluded to as \"young\nmen.\" Brasseur de Bourbourg, who saw in the Vukub-Cakix myth the\nstruggle between the Toltecs and the invading Nahuatlac\u00e2, believed\nthese hero-gods to be equivalents of Tezcatlipoca and Nanahuatl,\nbut the resemblance appears to exist merely in the martial character\nof the deities, and is hardly noticeable in other details. Hun-Ahpu\nwould appear to signify \"The Master,\" but Brinton translates the name\nas \"Magician.\" It may have a reconciliatory translation as \"Adept.\" A\nvariant is the name of his father Hun-Hun-Ahpu, \"Each-one-a-Magician,\"\nand some confusion is apparent in the Vukub-Cakix myth between the\ntwo names; but as the Abb\u00e9 Brasseur de Bourbourg so justly observes,\n\"these names are so symbolic in character that their absolute\nelucidation is impossible.\" Xbalanque signifies \"Little Tiger.\"\n\n\"The gods of the Kich\u00e9s were legion,\" but the foregoing list embraces\npractically all the deities proper with whom we have to deal in the\n\"Popol Vuh.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE VUKUB-CAKIX MYTH\n\nThe outstanding point of interest in the myth of Vukub-Cakix and his\ntwo sons is its terrestrial significance. That they were of the earth\nas truly as were the Jotuns of Scandinavian mythology there can be no\ndoubt. Like the Jotuns or the Titans, Vukub-Cakix and his progeny are\nmade from the earth, and the parent giant is a living representation of\nits surface. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane remove his emerald teeth, and replace\nthem with maize grains--surely a mythical interpretation or allegory of\nthe removal of the green virgin turf of the earth, and its replacement\nby the maize seed. It is further worthy of notice that the maize is\nplaced in Vukub-Cakix's mouth by divine beings. In the third book of\nthe \"Popol Vuh\" it is stated that the gods gave maize to man. It was,\nindeed, brought to earth from heaven by the sacred animals.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK II. COMMENTED UPON\n\nThe Second Book of the \"Popol Vuh\" is the most interesting of the four\nfrom a mythological point of view. That it treats of the dealings of\nthe Kich\u00e9s with the aboriginal people of the district they afterwards\ninhabited is not unlikely. Although the opinion of Brasseur that\nXibalba was a prehistoric state which had Palenque for its capital is\nan exaggeration of whatsoever kernel of fact may be contained in the\nmyth, yet it is not unlikely that the Abb\u00e9, who so often astonishes\nwithout illuminating, has in this instance come near the truth. The\ncliff-dwellings of Mexico and Colorado have of late years aroused\nspeculation as to the aboriginal or directly prehistoric peoples of\nthese regions. The \"Popol Vuh\" definitely describes Xibalba as the\nmetropolis of an \"Underworld\"; and with such examples as that of the\nCliff Palace Ca\u00f1on in Colorado before us, it is difficult to think that\nallusion is not made to some such semi-underground abode. There the\nliving rock has been excavated to a considerable distance, advantage\nbeing taken of a huge natural recess to secure greater depth than\ncould possibly have been attained by human agency, and in this immense\nalcove the ruins of a veritable city may still be seen, almost as well\npreserved as in the days of its evacuation, its towers, battlements\nand houses being as well marked and as plainly discernible as are the\nruins of Phil\u00e6. It is then not unreasonable to suppose that in a more\nnortherly home the Kich\u00e9s may have warred with a race which dwelt in\nsome such subterranean locality. A people's idea of an \"otherworld\"\nis often coloured by the configuration of their own country.\n\nOne thing is certain: a hell, an abode of bad spirits as distinguished\nfrom beneficent gods, Xibalba was not. The American Indian was\ninnocent of the idea of maleficent deities pitted in everlasting\nwarfare against good and life-giving gods until contact with the\nwhites coloured his mythology with their idea of the dual nature of\nsupernatural beings. [16] The transcriber of the \"Popol Vuh\" makes\nthis clear so far as Kich\u00e9 belief went. Dimly conscious that the\n\"Popol Vuh\" was coloured by his agency with the opinions of a lately\nadopted Christianity, he says of the Lords of Xibalba, Hun-Came and\nVukub-Came: \"In the old times they did not have much power. They\nwere but annoyers and opposers of men, and, in truth, they were not\nregarded as gods.\" If not regarded as gods, then, what were they?\n\n\"The devil,\" says Cogolludo of the Mayas, \"is called by them Xibilba,\nwhich means he who disappears or vanishes.\" The derivation of Xibalba\nis from a root meaning \"to fear\" from which comes the name for a\nghost or phantom. Xibalba was, then, the Place of Phantoms. But it\nwas not the Place of Torment, the abode of a devil who presided over\npunishment. The idea of sin is weak in the savage mind; and the idea\nof punishment for sin in a future state is unknown in pre-Christian\nAmerican mythology.\n\n\"Under the influence of Christian catechising,\" says Brinton, \"the\nQuich\u00e9 legends portray this really as a place of torment, and its\nrulers as malignant and powerful; but as I have before pointed out they\ndo so protesting that such was not the ancient belief, and they let\nfall no word that shows that it was regarded as the destination of the\nmorally bad. The original meaning of the name given by Cogolludo points\nunmistakably to the simple fact of disappearance from among men, and\ncorresponds in harmlessness to the true sense of those words of fear,\nScheol, Hades, Hell, all signifying hidden from sight, and only endowed\nwith more grim associations by the imaginations of later generations.\"\n\nThe idea of consigning elder peoples, who have been displaced in the\nland to an underworld, is not uncommon in mythology. The Xibalbans,\nor aborigines, were perhaps cave- or earth-dwellers like the\nPicts of Scottish folk-lore, gnomeish, and full of elvish tricks,\nas such folk usually are. Vanished people are, too, often classed\nwith the dead, or as lords of the dead. It is well known, also,\nthat legend speedily crystallises around the name of a dispossessed\nrace, to whom is attributed every description of magic art. This\nis sometimes accounted for by the fact that the displaced people\npossessed a higher culture than their invaders, and sometimes,\nprobably, by the dread which all barbarian peoples have of a religion\nin any way differing from their own. Thus the Norwegians credited the\nFinns--their predecessors in Norway--with tremendous magical powers,\nand similar instances of respectful timidity shown by invading races\ntowards the original inhabitants of the country they had conquered\ncould readily be multiplied. To be tricked the barbarian regards\nas a mortal indignity, as witness the wrath of Thor in Jotunheim,\ncomparable with the sensitiveness of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque lest they\nshould be outwitted by the Xibalbans.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HARRYING OF XIBALBA\n\nThe doings of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, in Xibalba, may be regarded\neither as the Kich\u00e9 account of the adventures of two veritable heroes\nin a new land, or as the visitation of divine beings to Hades for\nthe express purpose of conquering death. But by the period of the\nformation of the myth it is probable that Xibalba had become confounded\nwith the Place of the Dead, and was regarded as a fit theatre for the\nprodigies of craft and valour of the young hero-gods. The Kich\u00e9 Hades\nhad, in fact, evolved from the old northern home, exactly as had the\nMexican Mictlan, which, although a subterranean locality, was also,\nand separately, a northern country. A complete Place of the Dead\nhad been established, and the gods, to show their contempt of death,\nmust descend thereto and emerge triumphant. The idea of metempsychosis\nwas known to the American aboriginal mind. \"We Indians shall not for\never die; even the grains of corn we put under the earth grow up and\nbecome living things,\" is the noble and touching reply of a chief\nto the interrogation of a Moravian Brother, regarding the native\nbelief in immortality. [17] Man must have the example of the gods,\nif he wishes to live in peace and quiet assurance of immortality. And\njust as we believe that our God descended into Hell and vanquished Sin\nand Death, so did these simple people gain strength to face Eternity\nfrom the thought that they had been preceded in the dark journey by\nthe Immortals.\n\nIt is evident that the divine brothers feared ridicule, and profiting\nfrom the disasters of their father and uncle made sure of knowing\nthe names of the chief Xibalbans ere they set out. In like manner\nthey avoided making an obeisance to the dummy figures to which their\npredecessors had bowed so profoundly. The American savage, grave\nand reserved, cannot abide ridicule. He shrinks from it in a manner\nwhich a less self-regarding or a more self-assured people cannot\ncomprehend. The other tests--the \"House of Tigers,\" and the \"House\nof Cold,\" and the various torments mentioned in the Second Book are\nmuch what might be expected from a barbarian idea of death--no more\nhorrible, perhaps, than the European idea of Hell in the Middle Ages,\ncertainly not more fear-compelling than the picture of Dante.\n\nThe American peoples are at one in their belief in a Paradise, a Place\nof Joy, if not of Reward. Their Hades appears to have been reserved\nalmost entirely for the unillustrious. Paradise in some American\nmythologies, notably in that of Mexico, and perhaps in that of Peru,\nis nothing more than a preserve of the great; the poor might not\nenter therein, no more than might the coward pass the gates of the\nNorse Valhalla. It was to Mictlan or Supay, then, that the popular\nmind turned. How did the American peoples regard this drear abode? To\nenter it one must cross a deep and swift river by means of a bridge\nformed of a slender tree, said the Hurons and Iroquois to the first\nmissionaries. On this frail passage the soul must defend itself from\nthe attacks of a savage dog. [18] The Chepewayan Athapascans told\nof a great water which the soul must cross in a stone canoe; the\nChilians, of a western sea, where toll must be given to an evil hag,\nwho plucked out an eye if payment were not forthcoming; the Algonquins,\nof a stream bridged by an enormous snake. The Aztecs called this river\nChicunoapa, the Nine Rivers, where the departed must pay toll to a\ndog and a dragon. It will be recollected that the brothers in the\n\"Popol Vuh,\" cross a river of blood. This almost certainly alludes\nto the ocean under the red beams of the setting sun, towards which\nall these voyages are made.\n\nThe hero-gods in the myth voluntarily succumb to the power of the\nLords of Death, and after being burned their bones are ground in a\nmill and thrown into the waters. The belief was almost universal in\nAmerica that the soul resided in the bones. The bones were the basis\nof the man. Flesh would readily perish, but would return to clothe\nthis more lasting foundation. So in many tribes the bones of the dead\nwere carefully preserved. In all Central American countries the bones\nof distinguished persons were preserved in temples or council-houses\nin the small chests made of cane mentioned by the chroniclers of\nDe Soto's expedition. This, too, may possibly have been the origin\nof mummification in Peru. In Egypt all the members and intestines\nmust be preserved, in Peru only the bones. The state of comparative\ndesiccation in which most Peruvian mummies are discovered proves\nthat the preservation of the flesh or organs was not regarded as\na necessity.\n\nThe game of ball figures very largely throughout the Third Book. The\nfather and uncle of the young hero-gods were worsted in their\nfavourite sport by the Xibalbans, but Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque in their\nturn vanquish the Lords of the Underworld. This may have resembled\nthe Mexican game of tlachtli, which was played in an enclosed court\nwith a rubber ball between two opposite sides, each of two or three\nplayers. It was, in fact, not unlike hockey. This game of ball\nbetween the Powers of Light and the Powers of Darkness is somewhat\nreminiscent of that between Ormuzd and Ahriman in Persian myth. The\ngame of tlachtli had a symbolic reference to stellar motions. [19]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III. COMMENTED UPON\n\nWe are here engaged with the problem which the origin of man\npresented to the Kich\u00e9 mind, and we shall find that its solution\nbears a remarkable likeness to that of similar American myths. We\nseldom hear of one first-created being. In the creation-myths of the\nNew World four brothers are usually the progenitors of the human\nrace. Man in these myths is nearly always earth-born. He and his\nfellows emerge from some cavern or subterranean place, fully grown\nand fully armed. Thus the Blackfoot Indians emerged from Nina-stahu,\na peak in the Rockies. In the centre of Nunne Chaha, the High Hill,\nwas a cavern, the house of the Master of Breath, whence came the\nChoctaws. The Peruvians come from Pacari Tambu, the House of the Dawn,\nnear Cuzco, and an ancient legend of the Aztec\u00e2 states that they came\nfrom Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caverns, to the north of Mexico.\n\nWe find the first Mayan men speedily engaged in migration. Such must\nalways be the life of the unsettled and unagricultural savage. He\nmultiplies. Gods are given to each tribe. These he bears to a new\ncountry. In fact we have a complete migration myth in the Third\nBook of the \"Popol Vuh,\" and there are not wanting signs to show\nthat this migration took place from the cold north to the warm\nsouth. The principal item of proof in favour of such a theory is,\nof course, the statement that the sun was \"not at first born,\" and\nthat at a later stage of the journey, when his beams appeared upon\nthe horizon, it was as a weaker and dimmer luminary that he seemed to\nthe wanderers than in after years. The allusion to \"shining sand,\"\nby the aid of which they crossed rivers, may mean that they forded\nthem when covered with ice. The whole myth is so strikingly akin to\nthe Aztec\u00e2n migration-myth given in the Mexican MS. in the Boturini\nCollection (No. 14, sec. viii.) that we cannot refrain from appending\na short passage from the latter:\n\n\"This is the beginning of the record of the coming of the Mexicans\nfrom the place called Aztlan. It is by means of the water that\nthey came this way, being four tribes, and in coming they rowed in\nboats. They built their huts on piles at the place called the Grotto\nof Quinevayan. It is there from which the eight tribes issued. The\nfirst tribe is that of the Huexotzincos, the second tribe the Chalcas,\nthe third the Xochimilcas, the fourth the Cuitlavacas, the fifth the\nMallinalcas, the sixth the Chicimecas, the seventh the Tepanecas,\nthe eighth the Matlatzincas. It is there where they were founded in\nColhuacan. They were the colonists of it since they landed there,\ncoming from Aztlan.... It is there that they soon afterwards went\naway from, carrying before them the god [20] Vitzillopochtli, which\nthey had adopted for their god.... They came out of four places,\nwhen they went forward travelling this way.... There the eight tribes\nopened up our road by water.\"\n\nWe find a similar myth in the Wallam Olum, or painted records of the\nLenape Indians. \"After the flood,\" says this record, \"the Lenape with\nthe manly turtle beings dwelt close together at the cave house and\ndwelling of Talli.... They saw that the snake land was bright and\nwealthy. Having all agreed, they went over the water of the frozen\nsea to possess the land. It was wonderful when they all went over\nthe smooth deep water of the frozen sea at the gap of snake sea in\nthe great ocean\"5.\n\nWe thus see that the Third Book of the \"Popol Vuh\" is a migration\nsaga of a type not uncommon in America. Asiatic tribes may have come\ndown from the Chi-Pixab of the \"Popol Vuh\" to British Columbia, and\nthence by easy stages to Central America. And the Third Book of the\n\"Popol Vuh\" may be the distant echo of a mighty wave of colonisation,\nwhose sound swept the entire surface of the New World.\n\n\n\n\nEARLY SPANISH AUTHORS AND THE \"POPOL VUH\"\n\nIt cannot be said that the early Spanish authors upon the affairs of\nYucatan either corroborate or discredit the contents of the \"Popol\nVuh\" in any way. To begin with, Landa, Cogolludo, and Las Casas\nconfine themselves more to Yucatan proper than to Guatemala, and\ntheir remarks upon native belief, in so far as they illustrate the\n\"Popol Vuh\" at all, are really references to Mayan myths. Palacios\nis meagre in his references to any native beliefs, and the works of\nall four are so coloured by the phantasies of medi\u00e6val theology that,\nalthough interesting, they possess little real value. So far, in fact,\nas they throw light upon the \"Popol Vuh\" they might be safely ignored,\nand they are only given as works of reference in the bibliography\nfor the sake of completeness. They are, however, most valuable for\nthe study of Mayan mythology proper, and for complete understanding\nof the \"Popol Vuh\" and of Kich\u00e9 mythology in general, knowledge of\nMayan myth is necessary.\n\n\n\n\nEVIDENCE OF METRICAL COMPOSITION\n\nThere is not wanting evidence to show that, like most barbarous\ncompositions which depended for their popularity upon the ease with\nwhich they could be memorised, the \"Popol Vuh\" was originally composed\nin metre. Passages here and there show a decided metrical tendency, as:\n\n\n   \"Ama x-u ch'ux ri Vuch\n    Ve, x-cha ri mama.\n    Ta chi xaquinic\n    Quate ta chi gekumarchic\n    Cahmul xaquin ri mama\n    Ca xaquin-Vuch\" ca cha vinak vacamic.\n\n\nwhich is translated:\n\n\n   \"Is the dawn about to be?\n    Yes, answered the old man.\n    Then he spread apart his legs.\n    Again the darkness appeared.\n    Four times the old man spread his legs.\n    Now the opossum spreads his legs\"--\n    Say the people. [21]\n\n\nThe first line almost scans in iambics (English style), and the\nfifth is perfect, except for the truncation in the fourth foot. The\nothers appear to us to consist of that alternation of sustained\nfeet--musically represented by a semibreve--with pyrrhics, which\nis characteristic of nearly all savage dance-poetry. Father Coto,\na missionary, observes that the natives were fond of telling long\nstories and of repeating chants, keeping time to them in those dances\nof which all the American aboriginal peoples appear to have been so\nfond--and still are, as Baron Nordenskj\u00f6ld has recently discovered in\nthe Aymara country. These chants were called nugum tzih, or \"garlands\nof words,\" and although the native compiler of the \"Popol Vuh\" appears\nto have been unable to recollect the precise rhythm of the whole,\nmany passages attest its original odic character.\n\n\n\nNote.--The pronunciation of x in Kich\u00e9 equals sh. Ch is pronounced\nhard, as in the Scottish \"loch,\" and c hard, like k.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX\n\n\nThe various works which contain notices of the \"Popol Vuh\" and the\nkindred questions of Mayan and Kich\u00e9 mythology are so difficult of\naccess to the majority of readers that it has been thought best to\ndivide them into two classes: (1) those which can be more or less\nreadily purchased, and which are, naturally, of more recent origin;\nand (2) those which are not easy to come by, and which, generally\nspeaking, are the work of Spanish priests and colonists of the\nsixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nThe work on the subject which is most easily obtained, and indeed the\nonly work which gives the original Kich\u00e9 text, is that of the Abb\u00e9\nBrasseur de Bourbourg, \"Vuh Popol: Le livre sacr\u00e9 de Quich\u00e9s et les\nmythes de l'antiquit\u00e9 Am\u00e9ricaine.\" The Kich\u00e9 text was translated by\nthe assistance of natives into French, and the translation is more\nor less inaccurate. The notes and introduction must be read by the\nstudent with the greatest caution. It was published at Paris in 1861.\n\nXimenes' translation into Spanish of the \"Popol Vuh\" and that of\nGavarrete are about of equal value, rather inaccurate, and accompanied\nby scanty notes. The title of the first is \"Las Historias del Origin\nde los Indios de Guatemala, par el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes (Vienna,\n1856), and of the second, \"El Popol Vuh,\" (San Salvador 1905). This\nexhausts the list of works written exclusively concerning the \"Popol\nVuh.\" The other works of Brasseur and those of Brinton contain more or\nless numerous allusions to it, but references to it in standard works\nof mythology are exceedingly rare. The only other works which have a\nbearing upon the subject are those upon Mayan and Kich\u00e9 mythology,\nor which, among other matter, historical or political, refer to it\nin any way. The most important of these are:\n\n\nDr. Otto Stoll--\"Ethnographie der Republik Guatemala.\"\n\n---- \"Ethnologie der Indianerst\u00e4mme von Guatemala.\"\n\nScherzer--\"Die Indianer von Santa Catalina Istlavacan.\"\n\nM\u00fcller--\"Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligion\" (1855).\n\nE. F\u00f6rstemann--\"Commentary on the Maya Manuscript,\" in the Royal Public\nLibrary of Dresden. Translation from the German by S. Wesselhoeft\nand A. M. Parker (Harvard University, 1906).\n\nE. Seler--\"\u00dcber den Ursprung der mittelamerikanischen Kulturen\" (1902).\n\n---- \"Ein Wintersemester in Mexico und Yucatan\" (1903).\n\n---- \"Codex Fejerv\u00e1ry-Mayer\" (Berlin, 1901).\n\nP. Schellhas--\"Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts,\"\ntranslated by S. Wesselhoeft and A. M. Parker (Cambridge, Mass., 1904).\n\nCyrus Thomas--\"The Maya Year,\" Washington, 1894.\n\n---- \"Notes on Maya and Mexican Manuscripts.\"\n\nW. Fewkes--\"The God 'D' in the Codex Cortesianus,\" (Washington, 1895).\n\n\nAll these works relate more or less entirely to Mayan mythology,\nand are chiefly valuable as illustrating the connection between the\nKich\u00e9 and Mayan mythologies. It must be understood that this is not a\nlist of works relating to Mayan antiquities, but only a list of such\nworks as refer at the tame time to Mayan and Kich\u00e9 mythology.\n\nThe brief essay of the late Professor Max M\u00fcller upon the \"Popol\nVuh\" is of little or no value except as a statement in favour of its\nauthenticity. It gives little or no information concerning the work,\nand is, indeed, chiefly concerned with the authenticity and nature\nof North American picture-drawings.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nThe principal works of the older Spanish authors, which in any way\nrelate to the myths of Maya-Kich\u00e9 peoples, are:\n\nLas Casas--\"Historia de los Indias\" (1552).\n\nCogolludo--\"Historia de Yucathan\" (1688).\n\nDiego de Landa--\"Relacion de los Cosas de Yucatan\" (translated into\nFrench, and edited by Brasseur).\n\nXimenes--\"Escolias \u00e0 los Historias del orig\u00e8n de los Indios\" (Circa,\n1725).\n\nPalacios--\"Description de la Provincia de Guatemala\" (in the collection\nof Ternaux-Compans).\n\nJuarros--\"Historia de Guatimala.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\nNOTE 1. (PAGE 8)\n\nMuch that is absurd has been written concerning the antiquity of\nthe ruined cities of Central America, and some authors have not\nhesitated to place their foundation in an antiquity beside which\nthe pre-dynastic buildings of Egypt would appear quite recent. But\nthat they were abandoned not long before the Columbian era is now\ngenerally admitted. See Winsor's \"Narrative and Critical History of\nAmerica,\" chap, iii., and the works of Charnay, Maler, Maudslay,\nand Gordon, for modern opinion upon the subject; also the various\nmonographs contained in the more recent volumes of the U.S. Bureau of\nEthnology's annual report. That a very respectable antiquity belongs\nto several sites is, however, certain; and competent authorities have\nnot hesitated to ascribe to some of the ruins an age of not less than\ntwo thousand years.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE 2. (PAGE 8)\n\nPayne has made it abundantly clear to our mind that the original\nseat of the Nahuatlac\u00e2 (which included both Toltecs and Aztecs) was\nin British Columbia (see his \"History of America,\" vol. ii. p. 373\net seq.). He thinks they there occupied a position southerly to that\nof the Athapascan stock, and were probably the first northern people\nto come into contact with tribes possessed of the maize plant. The\nknowledge of this staple, he infers, spread rapidly among the northern\npeoples, and induced them to hasten their southern colonisation, but\nit does not appear to us probable that this would be an inducement to a\nsavage flesh-eating people averse to a life of agricultural labour. The\nwhole question of pre-historic American migration, and of the gradual\ncivilisation by maize of the peoples who came within its zone, is most\nadmirably discussed in vol. xix. of \"The History of North America,\" by\nW. J. Magee and Cyrus Thomas (Philadelphia, George Barrie and Sons),\npublished March 1908. The knowledge contained in this work is the\noutcome of a lifetime's labour in the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology, and\nits learned authors have undoubtedly produced a monumental treatise\nwhich it will take many a generation of research to supersede, if,\nindeed, that is possible.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE 3. (PAGE 9)\n\nThe authorities for the settlement of the Toltecs in Yucatan are the\nTezcucan chronicler Ixtlilxochitl, and Torquemada, who both allege\nthat the immigrants went to Campeachy and the south.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE 4. (PAGE 13)\n\nThere appear to be grounds for believing that the parent deities\nXpiyacoc and Xmucane are but derivations from Gucumatz, and represent\nthe male and female attributes of that god. In the \"Popol Vuh\"\nthey are spoken of as being \"covered with green feathers,\" the usual\ndescription of Gucumatz; but it is, of course, possible that they may\nhave received some of his attributes in the general jumble of myths\nwhich, we have attempted to show, exists in the first book. Gucumatz,\nit will be remembered, is Quetzalcohuatl in another form, and the\nlatter is often represented in the papyri as having a woman sitting\nopposite to him. She does not, however, appear to be at all analogous\nto Messrs. F\u00f6rstemann and Schellhas's \"Goddess I,\" whom I take to\nrepresent the Mayan equivalent of Xmucane, and who wears on her head\nthe knotted serpent, a reptile characteristic of Quetzalcohuatl.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE 5. (PAGE 53)\n\nThe Wallam-Olum (painted records) of the Leni Lenape Indians have\noften been called into question as regards their authenticity, but\nthe evidence of Lederer, Humboldt, Heckewelder, Tanner, Loskiel,\nBeatty, and Rafinesque, all of whom professed to have seen them,\nrather discounts such unbelief in their existence. They consisted\nof picture-writings, or hieroglyphs, each of which applied to a\nwhole verse, or many words. The ideas were, in fact, amalgamated in a\ncompound system, and bear exactly the same relation to written language\nas the American tongues did to spoken language; that is, they were\nof an agglutinative type, a linguistic form where several words are\nwelded into one. There are several series, one of which records the\ndoings of the tribes immediately subsequent to the Creation. Another\nseries relates to their doings in America, and consists of seven\nsongs, four of sixteen verses of four words each, and three of twenty\nverses of three words each \"It begins at the arrival in America,\" says\nRafinesque (\"The American Nations\"), \"and is continued without hardly\nany interruption till the arrival of the European colonists towards\n1600.\" But this second series is a mere meagre catalogue of kings.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] Mexico, Oct. 15, 1850.\n\n[2] Large hollowed stones used by the women for bruising maize.\n\n[3] The Kich\u00e9 words are onomatopoetic--\"holi, holi, huqi, huqi.\"\n\n[4] Zipac signifies \"Cockspur,\" and I take the name to signify also\n\"Thrower-up of earth.\" The connection is obvious.\n\n[5] Near Vera Paz.\n\n[6] Hurakan.\n\n[7] \"History of the Fur Trade,\" Mackenzie, p. 83.\n\n[8] Schoolcraft, \"Indian Tribes,\" i. p. 266.\n\n[9] Cushing, \"Zu\u00f1i Creation Myths.\"\n\n[10] See note at end.\n\n[11] \"History of the New World.\"\n\n[12] Oviedo, \"Historia del l'Indie,\" lib. vi. cap. iii.\n\n[13] Sahagun, lib. ii. ch. ii.\n\n[14] \"Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru\" (\"Religions Ancient\nand Modern\" series).\n\n[15] Oviedo, Brasseur de Bourbourg.\n\n[16] See Brinton, \"Myths of the New World,\" chap. ii.\n\n[17] Loskiel, \"Ges. der Miss. der evang. Br\u00fcder.\"\n\n[18] \"Rel. de la Nouv. France,\" 1636.\n\n[19] J. W. Fewkes in Jour. Amer. Folk-lore, 1892, p. 33; F. H. Cushing\nin \"Amer. Anthropologist,\" 1892, p. 303 et seq.\n\n[20] In the Mexican text the Spanish word \"diablo\" has been\ninterpolated by the Mexican scribes, as no Mexican word for \"devil\"\nexists. The scribe was, of course, under priestly influence; hence the\n\"diablo.\"\n\n[21] This passage obviously applies to a descriptive dance emblematic\nof sunrise.","title":"The Popol Vuh: The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of the Kich\u00e9s of Central America","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":12616}