# Myths and Legends Beyond Our Borders/The Popul Vuh

Layout 2
THE POPUL VUH
THE Popul Vuh, the book of the Quiches, of Guatemala, was translated into Spanish in 1721 by Francisco Ximinez, a Dominican priest in a small Indian town in that state. Most of his manuscripts were destroyed, on account of the rev-elations he had made of the sly and brutal measures to which the Spaniards resorted in their hope of gain and conquest, and this work was hidden in a convent for over a century. The book says that the heaven was made by him who was creator, father, mother, and cherisher, the wise and excellent one. Nothing was, but the sky and sea: utterly still. And the lesser gods brooded. All through immensity nothing moved nor made a sound. When the silence was broken the creator spoke to the sea, crying, "Earth!" and instantly it arose through the waters, the mountains leaping like fish, with torrents streaming down their sides, and trees ​appeared. The lesser gods were filled with won-der and delight, crying, "Blessed, O Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, Thunderbolt!" In the sign Tochtli was the earth created; in Acatl, the lights; in Tecpatl, the beasts. On the seventh day man was built out of dust and made alive. But first the animals were told to hail the gods, worship them, and speak their names adoringly. The creatures tried, but could only grunt and chirp and croak, and the gods said, "As you cannot praise us, you shall be broken with teeth, and eaten." The first man, of clay, could speak, but could not turn his head, and had no mind, so he was thrown into the sea, a failure. Next a man and a woman were made of soft wood, and they peopled the world with little wooden men, but they had no blood, they dried in the sun, and they did not know how to pacify their makers' greed for praise, so the heavens rained gum on them, their houses fell, the trees shook them out of their branches, the caves shut themselves against them, and, being unsheltered, they went mad. Beasts and birds were sent to tear their flesh, pull out their eyes, and crush their bones, and the few that escaped became apes, the parents of the monkey tribe.
Again the gods made men, this time of maize, and this time perfect. Large, bold, strong, four fathers of the race to be, they stood under the single light of the morning star and with one voice began to repeat thanks to the gods. After their ​hunger for worship had waned, the gods once more fell into doubt. The men were too perfect, too nearly like themselves; they saw too far; their attention must be taken in some other way than by the gods. So four women were made while the men slept, and when they awoke they were delighted, and looked, not on the gods, but on their wives. They travelled to the west, and soon the earth was peopled, men living peacefully in the twilight, still wondering at times why they had been made, but resuming again their praise for being placed on earth, and hoping for a sun. Certain gods came down to Tulanzuiva, or the Seven Caves, and lived among them, that they might be applauded more constantly, and also to supply them with fire, for it was raw and dark, and there was much rain. The rain put out the flames, but Tohil, the fire-god, roused them again by stamping with his sandal. In this land of Tulan the speech of the four fathers was changed, so that they could no longer understand one another, and under Tohil they set off to look for another home. They suffered much, and at one time had nothing nearer to food than the smell of raw wood. Mountains they crossed, and seas, though the waters parted to make a dry road for them.
Finally they reached Mount Hakavitz, named thus for one of their gods, and at last the sun arose that they had so long awaited. The men fell upon their faces and sent up cries of thankfulness, while ​the beasts gambolled in delight. The old gods were turned to stone, yet still the men knelt and praised them, and cut themselves and held the blood to them in cups, and offered freshly slain animals. A city was founded, and the people of it spent a part of their time every day in telling the gods how great they were. Incessant praise being not enough, their gods now demanded human victims, and these the priests began to steal from outlying villages, purposely covering and confusing the trails by which they regained the mountain, and trying to spread the belief that wild animals had destroyed the miss-ing men. Finally the villagers arose against the Quiches, but none can defeat the gods, and in the end the rebels submitted and became a tributary people. Then came the summons to the four fathers to quit the earth, for their work was done. Calling their wives and children to them, they said farewell, cautioning them to praise their memories, and instantly they vanished. In the place where they had been was a great bundle without a seam. This was called The Enveloped Majesty, and the people long burned incense before it.