“‘I am not going anywhere,’ he replied; ‘I am only here shaking the mountains, and I shall always be shaking them.’
“Then said Cabracan to Hunahpu and Xbalanque, ‘What do you come here for? I don’t recognize you, nor do I know what you are here for. What are your names?’
“‘We have no name,’ replied they; ‘we are only hunters with the blow-gun, and we catch birds with bird-lime. We are poor and have nothing, and we are tramping over the mountains great and small. Here in the East we see a great mountain, and its sweet odor is very pleasant. And it is so lofty that it overtops all the other mountains. So we have not been able, it is so high, to catch a single bird. So if it be true that you overturn mountains,’ said Hunahpu and Xbalanque, ‘then you will aid us.’
“‘It certainly is true,’ said Cabracan. ‘Have you seen this mountain of which you speak? Where is it? I will look at it, and I will topple it down. Where did you see it?’
“‘There,’ said they, ‘it is, where the sun rises.’
“‘Very well,’ said Cabracan, ‘let us go; and it will be strange if we don’t get some birds between us. One will go on the right hand, the other on the left. We will take our blow-guns, and if there is a bird we’ll shoot him.’
“So they went on happily, shooting birds (and it should be said that when they shot, it was not with balls of clay, but only with a puff of breath did they knock down the birds), and Cabracan went on astonished. Then the youths made a fire and set about cooking the birds in the fire; and one bird they anointed with tizate, white earth they put on it. ‘This we will give him,’ said they, ‘when desire is strong upon him, smelling its savor. This our bird shall conquer him, for in conquering him he must fall to the ground; and in the ground must he be buried (wise is the Creator!) before human beings are brought to light.’ So spoke the two youths, and to themselves they said it. Great desire had Cabracan in his heart to eat of it. Then they turned the bird on the fire and seasoned it. Now it was brown, and the fat of the birds ran out, and the savor was delectable; so Cabracan was most eager to eat them, and his mouth watered, and the saliva dropped from it, because of the delicious smell the birds gave out. And then he asked them,—
“‘What is this your food? Truly it is an appetizing odor I smell; give me a bit.’
“He spoke, and then was given a bird to Cabracan for his destruction; and he quickly finished the bird. And then they went on, and came to the birthplace of the sun, where was that great mountain. But Cabracan was now sickened, and he had no strength in his hands and feet, because of that earth which they had put on the bird he ate; and now he could no longer do anything to the mountains, nor could he overturn them. So the youths tied his hands behind him, and likewise tied his feet together, and threw him on the ground and buried him. So was Cabracan conquered by Hunahpu and Xbalanque alone. It is not possible to tell the feats these youths did here on earth.”