The Mythology of All Races, Vol. 11: Latin-American

by Hartley Burr Alexander

The second act of the drama is the creation of denizens, or rather histrions, for the stage that is set; and the Quiché narrator, with remarkable ease, casts them in puppet mould, a background of grandiosity serving still further to belittle the dolls which are the Creator's experiments. First, the animals are formed and assigned their dwellings and their habits: "Thou, Deer, shalt sleep on the borders of brooks and in the ravines; there shalt thou rest in the brushwood, amid forage; and there multiply; thou shalt go upon four feet, and upon four feet shalt thou live." This is the style in which the creatures of land and air and water are severally addressed. Nevertheless—and here is the philosophic touch—the animals could not speak, as man does; they had no language; they could only chatter and cluck and croak, each according to its kind. This is very far from the most primitive stratum of thought, where all animals are gifted with language.

"When the Creator and the Maker understood that they could not speak, they said one to another: 'They are unable to utter our name, although we are their makers and formers. This is not well.' And they spake to the animals: 'Our glory is not perfect in that ye do not invoke us; but there shall yet be those who can salute us and who will be capable of obedience. As for you, your flesh shall be broken under the tooth.'"

Seed-time was approaching, and dawn; and the divine beings said, "Let us make those who shall be our supporters and nourishers." Then they formed men out of moist earth, but these proved to be without cohesion or consistence or power of movement; they could not turn their heads; their sight was veiled; although they had speech, they had no intelligence; the waters destroyed them helplessly; and their makers saw that their handiwork was a failure. Now they consulted with Xpiyacoc and Xmucané (Mayan equivalents of Cipactonal and Oxomoco, like whom they were addressed as "Twice Grandmother," "Twice Grandsire"); while Hurakan of the Winds and He of the Sun were also called into the council. There they divined with kernels of maize and with red berries of the tzité; and when noon came they said: "O Maize, O Tzité, O Sun, O Creature, unite and join one another! And thou, O Heart of the Sky, redden that the countenance of Tepeu, of Gucumatz, be not made to lower!" Then they carved manikins of wood and caused them to live and to multiply and to engender sons and daughters who were also manikins, carved and wooden. But these had neither heart nor intelligence nor memory of their creators; they led a useless and animal existence; they were only experimental men; they had no blood, no substance, no flesh; and their faces and their limbs were dry and desiccated. They thought not of their Makers, nor did they lift their heads to them.

The gods, again disappointed, resolved upon the destruction of the manikin race and caused a heavy, resinous rain to descend day and night, darkening the face of the earth. Moreover, four great birds were sent to assail these creatures of wood: Xecotcovach snatched their eyes from their orbits; Camalotz attacked their heads, and Cotzbalam their flesh, while Tecumbalam broke their bones, and animals great and small turned against them. "Ye have done ill to us," cried their dogs and their fowls; "now we shall bite you; in your turn ye shall be tormented." Even the pots and cooking utensils arose in rebellion. The metates said: "We were tortured by you; daily, daily, night and day, always it was holi, holi, huqui, huqui, grinding our surfaces because of you. This we have suffered from you; now that ye have ceased to be men, ye shall feel our power; we shall grind you and reduce your flesh to powder;" and the bowls and pots followed with similar threats and imprecations. The victims ran everywhere in desperate efforts to escape: they ascended to the roofs of their houses, but the houses collapsed; they wished to climb the trees, but the trees drew away from them; they sought to enter the caverns, but these closed against them. All were destroyed, and there remained of their descendants only the little monkeys that live in the trees, which is token that "of wood alone their flesh was formed by the Creator and Maker."

After the destruction of the manikins is narrated, the Popul Vuh digresses to recount the deeds of the Hero Brothers, Hunahpu and Xbalanqué; and it is only in the third part of the work that the tale of creation is resumed, the beginnings of the present "Sun" of the world being its theme.

Once more the demiurgic gods meditated the creation of man, and once more they gathered for counsel in the cosmic dusk, for though the dawn was near, the world was not yet illuminated. It was then that they heard of the white and the yellow maize in the Place of the Division of the Waters; and it was decided that from these should be made the blood and the flesh of man. "Then they began to grind the white maize and the yellow, while Xumucané concocted nine broths; and this nourishment entering in, generated strength and power, giving flesh and muscles to man.... Only yellow maize and white entered into their flesh, and these were the sole substance of the legs and arms of man; thus were formed our first fathers, the four brothers, who were formed of it," whose names were Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam. "Men they were; they spake and they reasoned; they saw and they understood; they moved and they had feeling; men perfect and fair, whose features were human features."

These beings, however, were too highly endowed; they lifted up their eyes, and their gaze embraced all; they knew all things; nothing in heaven or earth was concealed from them. The Maker asked: "Is not your being good? Do ye not see? Do ye not understand? Your speech and your movement, are they not admirable? Look up, are there not mountains and plains under the sky?" Then the created ones rendered thanks to their Creator, saying: "Truly, thou gavest us every motion and accomplishment! We have received existence, we have received a mouth, a face; we speak, we understand, we think, we walk; we perceive and we know equally well what is far and what is near; we see all things, great and small, in heaven and upon the earth. Thanks be to you who have created us, O Maker, O Former!" But the Makers were not pleased to hear this. "This is not well! Their nature will not be that of simple creatures; they will be as gods.... Would they perchance rival us who have made them, whose wisdom extendeth far and knoweth all things?" Thus spoke Hurakan, and Tepeu, and Gucumatz, and the divine pair Xpiyacoc and Xmucané. Then the Heart of the Sky breathed a cloud upon the eyes of the four men, veiling itself so that it appeared like a mirror covered with vapour; and their vision was obscured, so that they could clearly see only what was near them. Thus their knowledge and their wisdom were reduced to mortal proportions; and being caused to slumber, during their sleep four beautiful women were brought to be their wives, so that when they awoke, they were filled with joy of their espousals.

The generations of humanity increased, men living together in joy and peace. They had but a single language and they prayed neither to wood nor to stone, but only to the Maker and Former, Heart of the Sky and Heart of the Earth, their prayer being for children and for light, for the sun had not yet risen. As time passed and no sun appeared, men became disquieted, so that the four brothers set forth for Tulan-Zuiva, the Place of Seven Caves and Seven Ravines, where they received their gods, a deity for each clan, Tohil being the divinity of Balam-Quitzé, Avilix of Balam-Agab, Hacavitz of Mahucutah, and Nicahtagah of Iqi-Balam. Tohil's first gift was fire, and when rains extinguished the first flame, he kindled it anew by striking upon his foot-gear, whereupon men of other tribes, their teeth chattering with cold, came to the brothers praying for a little of their fire. "They were not well received, and their hearts were filled with sadness," is the rather brutal comment; but the motive turns out to be yet more brutal, for as a price of fire Tohil demanded that these strangers "embrace me, Tohil, under the armpit and under the girdle," a euphemism which can refer only to the customary form of human sacrifice.

Even yet the sun had not appeared, and the race of man was saddened by the delay. They fasted and performed expiations, keeping continual watch for the Morning Star, which should herald the first sunrise. Finally in despair they resumed their migration: "Alas!" they said, "here we shall never behold the dawn at the moment when the sun is born to lighten the face of the earth!" The journey led through many lands until finally they came to the mountain of Hacavitz, where the brothers burned incense which they had brought from "the place of sunrise" and where they watched the Morning Star ascend with waxing splendour on the dawn of the rising sun. As the orb appeared, the animals, great and small, were filled with joy, while all the nations prostrated themselves in adoration. The new sun did not burn with the heat of the sun of today, but was like a pale reflection of ours; nevertheless it dried the dank earth and made it habitable. Moreover, the great beast-gods of the first days—lion, tiger, and noxious viper—together with the gods Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, were changed into stone as the sun appeared—"their arms cramped like the branches of trees ... and in all parts they became stone. Perhaps we should not be in life at this moment because of the voracity of the lions, the tigers, the vipers, the qantis, and the White Fire-Maker of the Night; perchance our glory would not now exist had not the first animals been petrified by the sun."

Nevertheless sorrow mingled with joy, for though the ancestors of the Quiché had found their mountain home, illumined by the sun, the moon, and the stars, they remembered their kindred left behind; and even when they sang the song Ka-mucu ("We behold"), the anguish in their hearts came also to expression. "Alas! we were ruined in Tollan; we were parted from our brethren, who still remain behind! True, indeed, we have beheld the Sun, but they, where now are they, when at last the day hath come?" Years afterward, when the Quiché had become great under the leadership of the four heroes, the brothers foresaw the day of their death drawing near; and again, with dolour of soul, they sang the song Ka-mucu, bidding farewell to their wives and their sons, and saying: "We return to our people; even now the King of the Deer riseth into the sky. Lo, we make our return; our task is performed; our days are complete." Thereupon they disappeared, vanishing without trace, excepting that in their place was left a sacred bundle which was never to be opened and which was called "Majesty Enveloped."