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diff --git a/56550-0.txt b/56550-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93a3cf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/56550-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1472 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56550 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE POPOL VUH + + The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of + the Kichés of Central America + + + By + + LEWIS SPENCE + + + + Published by David Nutt, at the + Sign of the Phoenix, Long Acre, London + 1908 + + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The "Popol Vuh" is the New World's richest mythological mine. No +translation of it has as yet appeared in English, and no adequate +translation in any European language. It has been neglected to a +certain extent because of the unthinking strictures passed upon +its authenticity. That other manuscripts exist in Guatemala than +the one discovered by Ximenes and transcribed by Scherzer and +Brasseur de Bourbourg is probable. So thought Brinton, and the +present writer shares his belief. And ere it is too late it would +be well that these--the only records of the faith of the builders of +the mystic ruined and deserted cities of Central America--should be +recovered. This is not a matter that should be left to the enterprise +of individuals, but one which should engage the consideration of +interested governments; for what is myth to-day is often history +to-morrow. + + +LEWIS SPENCE. + +July 1908. + + + + + + + + +THE POPOL VUH + +[The numbers in the text refer to notes at the end of the study] + + +There is no document of greater importance to the study of the +pre-Columbian mythology of America than the "Popol Vuh." It is the +chief source of our knowledge of the mythology of the Kiché people of +Central America, and it is further of considerable comparative value +when studied in conjunction with the mythology of the Nahuatlacâ, or +Mexican peoples. This interesting text, the recovery of which forms one +of the most romantic episodes in the history of American bibliography, +was written by a Christianised native of Guatemala some time in the +seventeenth century, and was copied in the Kiché language, in which +it was originally written, by a monk of the Order of Predicadores, one +Francisco Ximenes, who also added a Spanish translation and scholia. + +The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, a profound student of American +archæology and languages (whose euhemeristic interpretations of +the Mexican myths are as worthless as the priceless materials he +unearthed are valuable) deplored, in a letter to the Duc de Valmy, +[1] the supposed loss of the "Popol Vuh," which he was aware had been +made use of early in the nineteenth century by a certain Don Felix +Cabrera. Dr. C. Scherzer, an Austrian scholar, thus made aware of +its value, paid a visit to the Republic of Guatemala in 1854 or 1855, +and was successful in tracing the missing manuscript in the library +of the University of San Carlos in the city of Guatemala. It was +afterwards ascertained that its scholiast, Ximenes, had deposited it +in the library of his convent at Chichicastenango, whence it passed +to the San Carlos library in 1830. + +Scherzer at once made a copy of the Spanish translation of the +manuscript, which he published at Vienna in 1856 under the title +of "Las Historias del origen de los Indios de Guatemala, par el +R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes." The Abbé Brasseur also took a copy of +the original, which he published at Paris in 1861, with the title +"Vuh Popol: Le Livre Sacré de Quichés, et les Mythes de l'Antiquité +Américaine." In this work the Kiché original and the Abbe's French +translation are set forth side by side. Unfortunately both the Spanish +and the French translations leave much to be desired so far as their +accuracy is concerned, and they are rendered of little use by reason +of the misleading notes which accompany them. + +The name "Popol Vuh" signifies "Record of the Community," and +its literal translation is "Book of the Mat," from the Kiché word +"pop" or "popol," a mat or rug of woven rushes or bark on which the +entire family sat, and "vuh" or "uuh," paper or book, from "uoch" +to write. The "Popol Vuh" is an example of a world-wide genre--a +type of annals of which the first portion is pure mythology, which +gradually shades off into pure history, evolving from the hero-myths +of saga to the recital of the deeds of authentic personages. It may, +in fact, be classed with the Heimskringla of Snorre, the Danish +History of Saxo-Grammaticus, the Chinese History in the Five Books, +the Japanese "Nihongi," and, so far as its fourth book is concerned, +it somewhat resembles the Pictish Chronicle. + +The language in which the "Popol Vuh" was written, was, as has been +said, the Kiché, a dialect of the great Maya-Kiché tongue spoken at the +time of the Conquest from the borders of Mexico on the north to those +of the present State of Nicaragua on the south; but whereas the Mayan +was spoken in Yucatan proper, and the State of Chiapas, the Kiché was +the tongue of the peoples of that part of Central America now occupied +by the States of Guatemala, Honduras and San Salvador, where it is +still used by the natives. It is totally different to the Nahuatl, +the language of the people of Anahuac or Mexico, both as regards +its origin and structure, and its affinities with other American +tongues are even less distinct than the those between the Slavonic +and Teutonic groups. Of this tongue the "Popol Vuh" is practically +the only monument; at all events the only work by a native of the +district in which it was used. A cognate dialect, the Cakchiquel, +produced the "Annals" of that people, otherwise known as "The Book of +Chilan Balam," a work purely of genealogical interest, which may be +consulted in the admirable translation of the late Daniel G. Brinton. + +The Kiché people at the time of their discovery, which was immediately +subsequent to the fall of Mexico, had in part lost that culture which +was characteristic of the Mayan race, the remnants of which have +excited universal wonder in the ruins of the vast desert cities of +Central America1. At a period not far distant from the Conquest the +once centralised Government of the Mayan peoples had been broken up +into petty States and Confederacies, which in their character recall +the city-states of mediæval Italy. In all probability the civilisation +possessed by these peoples had been brought them by a race from +Mexico called the Toltecs2, who taught them the arts of building +in stone and writing in hieroglyphics, and who probably influenced +their mythology most profoundly. The Toltecs were not, however, in +any way cognate with the Mayans, and were in all likelihood rapidly +absorbed by them. The Mayans were notably an agricultural people, +and it is not impossible that in their country the maize-plant was +first cultivated with the object of obtaining a regular cereal supply3. + +Such, then, were the people whose mythology produced the body of +tradition and mythi-history known as the "Popol Vuh"; and ere we pass +to a consideration of their beliefs, their gods, and their religious +affinities, it will be well to summarise the three books of it which +treat of these things, as fully as space will permit, using for that +purpose both the French translation of Brasseur and the Spanish one +of Ximenes. + + + + +THE FIRST BOOK + +Over a universe wrapped in the gloom of a dense and primeval night +passed the god Hurakan, the mighty wind. He called out "earth," +and the solid land appeared. The chief gods took counsel; they were +Hurakan, Gucumatz, the serpent covered with green feathers, and +Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the mother and father gods. As the result of +their deliberations animals were created. But as yet man was not. To +supply the deficiency the divine beings resolved to create mannikins +carved out of wood. But these soon incurred the displeasure of the +gods, who, irritated by their lack of reverence, resolved to destroy +them. Then by the will of Hurakan, the Heart of Heaven, the waters +were swollen, and a great flood came upon the mannikins of wood. They +were drowned and a thick resin fell from heaven. The bird Xecotcovach +tore out their eyes; the bird Camulatz cut off their heads; the bird +Cotzbalam devoured their flesh; the bird Tecumbalam broke their bones +and sinews and ground them into powder. Because they had not thought +on Hurakan, therefore the face of the earth grew dark, and a pouring +rain commenced, raining by day and by night. Then all sorts of beings, +great and small, gathered together to abuse the men to their faces. The +very household utensils and animals jeered at them, their mill-stones, +their plates, their cups, their dogs, their hens. Said the dogs and +hens, "Very badly have you treated us, and you have bitten us. Now we +bite you in turn." Said the mill-stones (metates [2]), "Very much were +we tormented by you, and daily, daily, night and day, it was squeak, +screech, screech, [3] for your sake. Now you shall feel our strength, +and we will grind your flesh and make meal of your bodies." And the +dogs upbraided the mannikins because they had not been fed, and tore +the unhappy images with their teeth. And the cups and dishes said, +"Pain and misery you gave us, smoking our tops and sides, cooking us +over the fire, burning and hurting us as if we had no feeling. Now it +is your turn, and you shall burn." Then ran the mannikins hither and +thither in despair. They climbed to the roofs of the houses, but the +houses crumbled under their feet; they tried to mount to the tops of +the trees, but the trees hurled them from them; they sought refuge in +the caverns, but the caverns closed before them. Thus was accomplished +the ruin of this race, destined to be overthrown. And it is said that +their posterity are the little monkeys who live in the woods. + + + + +THE MYTH OF VUKUB-CAKIX + +After this catastrophe, ere yet the earth was quite recovered from +the wrath of the gods, there existed a man "full of pride," whose name +was Vukub-Cakix. The name signifies "Seven-times-the-colour-of-fire," +or "Very brilliant," and was justified by the fact that its owner's +eyes were of silver, his teeth of emerald, and other parts of his +anatomy of precious metals. In his own opinion Vukub-Cakix's existence +rendered unnecessary that of the sun and the moon, and this egoism +so disgusted the gods that they resolved upon his overthrow. His two +sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan (earth-heaper [4] (?) and earthquake), +were daily employed, the one in heaping up mountains, and the +other in demolishing them, and these also incurred the wrath of +the immortals. Shortly after the decision of the deities the twin +hero-gods Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque came to earth with the intention of +chastising the arrogance of Vukub-Cakix and his progeny. + +Now Vukub-Cakix had a great tree of the variety known in Central +America as "nanze" or "tapal," bearing a fruit round, yellow, and +aromatic, and upon this fruit he depended for his daily sustenance. One +day on going to partake of it for his morning meal he mounted to +its summit in order to espy the choicest fruits, when to his great +indignation he discovered that Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque had been before +him, and had almost denuded the tree of its produce. The hero-gods, +who lay concealed within the foliage, now added injury to theft by +hurling at Vukub-Cakix a dart from a blow-pipe, which had the effect +of precipitating him from the summit of the tree to the earth. He +arose in great wrath, bleeding profusely from a severe wound in the +jaw. Hun-Ahpu then threw himself upon Vukub-Cakix, who in terrible +anger seized the god by the arm and wrenched it from the body. He then +proceeded to his dwelling, where he was met and anxiously interrogated +by his spouse Chimalmat. Tortured by the pain in his teeth and jaw he, +in an excess of spite, hung Hun-Ahpu's arm over a blazing fire, and +then threw himself down to bemoan his injuries, consoling himself, +however, with the idea that he had adequately avenged himself upon +the interlopers who had dared to disturb his peace. + +But Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque were in no mind that he should escape +so easily, and the recovery of Hun-Ahpu's arm must be made at all +hazards. With this end in view they consulted two venerable beings +in whom we readily recognise the father-mother divinities, Xpiyacoc +and Xmucane4, disguised for the nonce as sorcerers. These personages +accompanied Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque to the abode of Vukub-Cakix, whom +they found in a state of intense agony. The ancients persuaded him +to be operated upon in order to relieve his sufferings, and for his +glittering teeth they substituted grains of maize. Next they removed +his eyes of emerald, upon which his death speedily followed, as did +that of his wife Chimalmat. Hun-Ahpu's arm was recovered, re-affixed +to his shoulder, and all ended satisfactorily for the hero-gods. + +But their mission was not yet complete. The sons of Vukub-Cakix, +Zipacna and Cabrakan, remained to be accounted for. Zipacna consented, +at the entreaty of four hundred youths, incited by the hero-gods, +to assist them in transporting a huge tree which was destined for the +roof-tree of a house they were building. Whilst assisting them he was +beguiled by them into entering a great ditch which they had dug for the +purpose of destroying him, and when once he descended was overwhelmed +by tree-trunks by his treacherous acquaintances, who imagined him +to be slain. But he took refuge in a side-tunnel of the excavation, +cut off his hair and nails for the ants to carry up to his enemies as +a sign of his death, waited until the youths had become intoxicated +with pulque because of joy at his supposed demise, and then, emerging +from the pit, shook the house that the youths had built over his body +about their heads, so that all were destroyed in its ruins. + +But Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque were grieved that the four hundred +had perished, and laid a more efficacious trap for Zipacna. The +mountain-bearer, carrying the mountains by night, sought his +sustenance by day by the shore of the river, where he lived upon +fish and crabs. The hero-gods constructed an artificial crab which +they placed in a cavern at the bottom of a deep ravine. The hungry +titan descended to the cave, which he entered on all-fours. But a +neighbouring mountain had been undermined by the divine brothers, +and its bulk was cast upon him. Thus at the foot of Mount Meavan +perished the proud "Mountain Maker," whose corpse was turned into +stone by the catastrophe. + +Of the family of boasters only Cabrakan remained. Discovered by the +hero-gods at his favourite pastime of overturning the hills, they +enticed him in an easterly direction, challenging him to overthrow a +particularly high mountain. On the way they shot a bird with their +blow-pipes, and poisoned it with earth. This they gave to Cabrakan +to eat. After partaking of the poisoned fare his strength deserted +him, and failing to move the mountain he was bound and buried by the +victorious hero-gods. + + + + +THE SECOND BOOK + +Mystery veils the commencement of the Second Book of the "Popol +Vuh." The theme is the birth and family of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, +and the scribe intimates that only half is to be told concerning the +history of their father. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the father and mother +deities, had two sons, Hunhun-Ahpu and Vukub-Hunahpu, the first being, +so far as can be gathered, a bi-sexual personage. He had by a wife, +Xbakiyalo, two sons, Hunbatz and Hunchouen, men full of wisdom and +artistic genius. All of them were addicted to the recreation of +dicing and playing at ball, and a spectator of their pastimes was +Voc, the messenger of Hurakan. Xbakiyalo having died, Hunhun-Ahpu +and Vukub-Hunahpu, leaving the former's sons behind, played a game of +ball which in its progress took them into the vicinity of the realm +of Xibalba (the underworld). This reached the ears of the monarchs +of that place, Hun-Came and Vukub-Came, who, after consulting their +counsellors, challenged the strangers to a game of ball, with the +object of defeating and disgracing them. + +For this purpose they dispatched four messengers in the shape of +owls. The brothers accepted the challenge, after a touching farewell +with their mother Xmucane, and their sons and nephews, and followed +the feathered heralds down the steep incline to Xibalba from the +playground at Ninxor Carchah. [5] After an ominous crossing over a +river of blood they came to the residence of the kings of Xibalba, +where they underwent the mortification of mistaking two wooden +figures for the monarchs. Invited to sit on the seat of honour, +they discovered it to be a red-hot stone, and the contortions which +resulted from their successful trick caused unbounded merriment +among the Xibalbans. Then they were thrust into the House of Gloom, +where they were sacrificed and buried. The head of Hunhun-Ahpu was, +however, suspended from a tree, which speedily became covered with +gourds, from which it was almost impossible to distinguish the bloody +trophy. All in Xibalba were forbidden the fruit of that tree. + +But one person in Xibalba had resolved to disobey the mandate. This +was the virgin princess Xquiq (Blood), the daughter of Cuchumaquiq, +who went unattended to the spot. Standing under the branches gazing +at the fruit, the maiden stretched out her hand, and the head of +Hunhun-Ahpu spat into the palm. The spittle caused her to conceive, +and she returned home, being assured by the head of the hero-god that +no harm should result to her. This thing was done by order of Hurakan, +the Heart of Heaven. In six months' time her father became aware of +her condition, and despite her protestations the royal messengers +of Xibalba, the owls, received orders to kill her and return with +her heart in a vase. She, however, escaped by bribing the owls with +splendid promises for the future to spare her and substitute for her +heart the coagulated sap of the blood-wart. + +In her extremity Xquiq went for protection to the home of Xmucane, +who now looked after the young Hunbatz and Hunchouen. Xmucane would +not at first believe her tale. But Xquiq appealed to the gods, and +performed a miracle by gathering a basket of maize where no maize grew, +and thus gained her confidence. + +Shortly afterwards Xquiq became the mother of twin boys, the heroes +of the First Book, Hun-Ahpu, and Xbalanque. These did not find +favour in the eyes of Xmucane, their grandmother. Their infantile +cries aroused the wrath of this venerable person, and she vented +it upon them by turning them out of doors. They speedily took to +an outdoor life, however, and became mighty hunters, and expert in +the use of their blow-pipes, with which they shot birds and other +small game. The ill-treatment which they received from Hunbatz and +Hunchouen caused them at last to retaliate, and those who had made +their lives miserable were punished by being transformed by the divine +children into apes. The venerable Xmucane, filled with grief at the +metamorphosis and flight of her ill-starred grandsons, who had made +her home joyous with their singing and flute-playing, was told that +she would be permitted to behold their faces once more if she could +do so without losing her gravity, but their antics and grimaces caused +her such merriment that on three separate occasions she was unable to +restrain her laughter and the men-monkeys appeared no more. Hun-Ahpu +and Xbalanque now became expert musicians, and one of their favourite +airs was that of "Hun-Ahpu qoy," the "monkey of Hun-Ahpu." + +The divine twins were now old enough to undertake labour in +the field, and their first task was the clearing of a milpa or +maize-plantation. They were possessed of magic tools, which had the +merit of working themselves in the absence of the young hunters at +the chase, and those they found a capital substitute for their own +directing presence upon the first day. Returning at night from hunting, +they smeared their faces and hands with dirt so that Xmucane might +be deceived into imagining that they had been hard at work in the +maize-field. But during the night the wild beasts met and replaced +all the roots and shrubs which the brothers--or rather their magic +tools--had removed. The twins resolved to watch for them on the +ensuing night, but despite all their efforts the animals succeeded +in making good their escape, save one, the rat, which was caught +in a handkerchief. The rabbit and deer lost their tails in getting +away. The rat, in gratitude that they had spared its life, told them of +the glorious deeds of their great fathers and uncles, their games at +ball, and of the existence of a set of implements necessary to play +the game which they had left in the house. They discovered these, +and went to play in the ball-ground of their fathers. + +It was not long, however, until Hun-Came and Vukub-Came, the princes of +Xibalba, heard them at play, and decided to lure them to the Underworld +as they had lured their fathers. Messengers were despatched to the +house of Xmucane, who, filled with alarm, despatched a louse to carry +the message to her grandsons. The louse, wishing to ensure greater +speed to reach the brothers, consented to be swallowed by a toad, the +toad by a serpent, and the serpent by the great bird Voc. The other +animals duly liberated one another; but despite his utmost efforts, +the toad could not get rid of the louse, who had played him a trick by +lodging in his gums, and had not been swallowed at all. The message, +however, was duly delivered, and the players returned home to take +leave of their grandmother and mother. Before their departure they +each planted a cane in the middle of the house, which was to acquaint +those they left behind with their welfare, since it would wither if +any fatal circumstance befel them. + +Pursuing the route their fathers had followed, they passed the river +of blood and the river Papuhya. But they sent an animal called +Xan as avant courier with orders to prick all the Xibalbans with +a hair from Hun-Ahpu's leg, thus discovering those of the dwellers +in the Underworld who were made of wood--those whom their fathers +had unwittingly bowed to as men--and also learning the names of the +others by their inquiries and explanations when pricked. Thus they +did not salute the mannikins on their arrival at the Xibalban court, +nor did they sit upon the red-hot stone. They even passed scatheless +through the first ordeal of the House of Gloom. The Xibalbans were +furious, and their wrath was by no means allayed when they found +themselves beaten at the game of ball to which they had challenged +the brothers. Then Hun-Came and Vukub-Came ordered the twins to bring +them four bouquets of flowers, asking the guards of the royal gardens +to watch most carefully, and committed Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque to the +"House of Lances"--the second ordeal--where the lancers were directed +to kill them. The brothers, however, had at their beck and call a +swarm of ants, which entered the royal gardens on the first errand, and +they succeeded in bribing the lancers. The Xibalbans, white with fury, +ordered that the owls, the guardians of the gardens, should have their +lips split, and otherwise showed their anger at their third defeat. + +Then came the third ordeal in the "House of Cold." Here the heroes +escaped death by freezing by being warmed with burning pine-cones. In +the fourth and fifth ordeals they were equally lucky, for they passed +a night each in the "House of Tigers" and the "House of Fire" without +injury. But at the sixth ordeal misfortune overtook them in the "House +of Bats." Hun-Ahpu's head being cut off by Camazotz, "Ruler of Bats," +who suddenly appeared from above. + +The beheading of Hun-Ahpu does not, however, appear to have terminated +fatally, but owing to the unintelligible nature of the text at this +juncture, it is impossible to ascertain in what manner he was cured +of such a lethal wound. This episode is followed by an assemblage +of all the animals, and another contest at ball-playing, after which +the brothers emerged uninjured from all the ordeals of the Xibalbans. + +But in order to further astound their "hosts," Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque +confided to two sorcerers named Xulu and Pacaw that the Xibalbans +had failed because the animals were not on their side, and directing +them what to do with their bones, they stretched themselves upon a +funeral pile and died together. Their bones were beaten to powder and +thrown into the river, where they sank, and were transformed into young +men. On the fifth day they reappeared like men-fishes, and on the sixth +in the form of ragged old men, dancing, burning and restoring houses, +killing and restoring each other to life, with other wonders. The +princes of Xibalba, hearing of their skill, requested them to exhibit +their magical powers, which they did by burning the royal palace and +restoring it, killing and resuscitating the king's dog, and cutting a +man in pieces, and bringing him to life again. The monarchs of Xibalba, +anxious to experience the novel sensation of a temporary death, +requested to be slain and resuscitated. They were speedily killed, +but the brothers refrained from resuscitating their arch-enemies. + +Announcing their real names, the brothers proceeded to punish the +princes of Xibalba. The game of ball was forbidden them, they were +to perform menial tasks, and only the beasts of the forest were they +to hold in vassalage. They appear after this to achieve a species of +doubtful distinction as plutonic deities or demons. They are described +as warlike, ugly as owls, inspiring evil and discord. Their faces +were painted black and white to show their faithless nature. + +Xmucane, waiting at home for the brothers, was alternately filled +with joy and grief as the canes grew green and withered, according to +the varying fortunes of her grandsons. These young men were busied at +Xibalba with paying fitting funeral honours to their father and uncle, +who now mounted to heaven and became the sun and moon, whilst the four +hundred youths slain by Zipacna became the stars. Thus concludes the +second book. + + + + +THE THIRD BOOK + +The beginning of the third book finds the gods once more in council. In +the darkness they commune concerning the creation of man. The Creator +and Former made four perfect men. These beings were wholly created +from yellow and white maize. Their names were Balam-Quitzé (Tiger +with the Sweet Smile), Balam-Agab (Tiger of the Night), Mahucutah +(The Distinguished Name), and Iqi-Balam (Tiger of the Moon). They +had neither father nor mother, neither were they made by the ordinary +agents in the work of creation. Their creation was a miracle of the +Former. [6] + +But Hurakan was not altogether satisfied with his handiwork. These men +were too perfect. They knew overmuch. Therefore the gods took counsel +as to how to proceed with man. They must not become as gods (note here +the Christian influence). Let us now contract their sight so that +they may only be able to see a portion of the earth and be content, +said the gods. Then Hurakan breathed a cloud over their eyes, which +became partially veiled. Then the four men slept, and four women were +made, Caha-Paluma (Falling Water), Choimha (Beautiful Water), Tzununiha +(House of the Water), and Cakixa (Water of Aras or Parrots), who became +the wives of the men in their respective order as mentioned above. + +These were the ancestors of the Kichés only. Then were created the +ancestors of other peoples. They were ignorant of the methods of +worship, and lifting their eyes to heaven prayed to the Creator, +the Former, for peaceable lives and the return of the sun. But no +sun came, and they grew uneasy. So they set out for Tulan-Zuiva, +or the Seven Caves, and there gods were given unto them, each man, +as head of a group of the race, a god. Balam-Quitzé received the +god Tohil. Balam-Agab received the god Avilix, and Mahucutah the god +Hacavitz. Iqi-Balam received a god, but as he had no family his god +is not taken into account in the native mythology. + +The Kichés now began to feel the want of fire, and the god Tohil, the +creator of fire, supplied them with this element. But soon afterwards +a mighty rain extinguished all the fires in the land. Tohil, however, +always renewed the supply. And fire in those days was the chief +necessity, for as yet there was no sun. + +Tulan was a place of misfortune to man, for not only did he suffer from +cold and famine, but here his speech was so confounded that the first +four men were no longer able to comprehend each other. They determined +to leave Tulan, and under the leadership of the god Tohil set out +to search for a new abode. On they wandered through innumerable +hardships. Many mountains had they to climb, and a long passage +to make through the sea which was miraculously divided for their +journey from shore to shore. At length they came to a mountain which +they called Hacavitz, after one of their gods, and here they rested, +for here they had been instructed that they should see the sun. And +the sun appeared. Animals and men were transported with delight. All +the celestial bodies were now established. But the sun was not as it +is to-day. He was not strong, but as reflected in a mirror. + +As he arose the three tribal gods were turned into stone, as were the +gods--probably totems--connected with the wild animals. Then arose +the first Kiché city. + +As time progressed the first men grew old, and, impelled by visions, +they began to offer human sacrifices. For this purpose they raided +the villages of the neighbouring peoples, who retaliated. But by the +miraculous aid of a horde of wasps and hornets the Kichés utterly +routed their enemies. And the aliens became tributory to them. + +Now it came nigh the death-time of the first men, and they called +their descendants together to hearken unto their last counsels. In the +anguish of their hearts they sang the Kamucu, the song "We see," that +they had sung when it first became light. Then they took leave of their +wives and sons, one by one. And suddenly they were not. But in their +place was a huge bundle, which was never unfolded. And it was called +the "Majesty Enveloped." And so died the first men of the Kichés. + + + + +THE FOURTH BOOK + +The Fourth Book brings us down to what is presumably history. We say +"presumably," because we have only the bare testimony of the "Popol +Vuh" to go upon. We can note therein the evolution of the Kiché +people from a comparatively simple and pastoral state of society to +a political condition of considerable complexity. This account of the +later periods is extremely confused, and as the names of many of the +Kiché monarchs are the same as those of the gods, it is often difficult +to discriminate between saga and history. Interminable conflicts are +the subject of most of this book, and by the time the transcriber +reached the twelfth chapter he seems to have tired of his labours +and to have made up his mind to conclude with a genealogical list of +the Kiché kings. He here traces the genealogies of the three royal +houses of Cavek, Nihaib, and Ahau-Kiché. The state of transition and +turmoil in which the country was for many years after the conquest +must have tended to the disappearance of native records of any kind, +and our author does not appear to have been as well versed in the +history of his country which immediately preceded his own time as he +was in her mythology and legends. According to a tradition recited by +Don Domingo Juarros in his "History of the Kingdom of Guatemala," the +Toltecs emigrated from the neighbourhood of Tula in Mexico by direction +of an oracle, in consequence of the great increase of population in +the reign of Nimaquiché, fifth King of the Toltecs. "In performing +this journey they expended many years and suffered extraordinary +hardships." Nimaquiché was succeeded by his son Aexopil, from whom +was descended Kicab Tanub, the contemporary of Montezuma II. This +does not at all agree with the "Popol Vuh" account. + + + + + + + + +COSMOGONY OF THE "POPOL VUH" + + +The cosmogony of the "Popol Vuh" exhibits many signs of Christian +influence, but it would be quite erroneous to infer that such influence +was of a direct nature; that is, that the native compiler deliberately +infused into the original narrative those outstanding features of the +Christian cosmogony, which were undoubtedly quite familiar to him. The +resemblance which is apparent between the first few chapters of the +"Popol Vuh" and the creation-myth in Genesis is no more the result of +design than was the metamorphosis of King Arthur's Brythonic warriors +into Norman knights by the jongleurs. The inclusion of obviously +Christian elements was undoubtedly unconscious. A native Guatemalan, +nurtured in the Christian faith, could, in fact, quite be expected +to produce an incongruous blending of Christian and pagan cosmogony +such as is here dealt with. + +But another and more important question arises in connection with +the initial chapters of the "Popol Vuh"--those which give an account +of the Kiché creation-myth. Under the veneer of Biblical cosmogony +the original myth would appear to be the sum of more than one native +creation-story. We have here a number of beings, each of whom appear +in some manner to exercise the function of a creator, and it might be +gathered from this that the account now before us was produced by the +fusion and reconciliation of more than one legend connected with the +creation--a reconciliation of early rival faiths. We have to guide +us in this the proved facts of a composite Peruvian cosmogony. The +ruling Inca caste skilfully welded together no less than four early +creation-myths, reserving for their own divine ancestors the headship +of the heavens. And it is not unreasonable to believe that the diverse +ethnological elements of which the Maya-Kiché people were undoubtedly +composed possessed divergent cosmogonies, which were reconciled to +one another in the later traditional versions of the "Popol Vuh." + +This would lead to the further supposition that the "Popol Vuh" is +a monument of very considerable antiquity. The fusion of religious +beliefs is, even with savages, a work of many generations. It would +be rash to attempt to discover any approximate date for the original +conception of the "Popol Vuh." The only version which we possess is +that now under review, and as the lack of an earlier version makes +comparison impossible, we are thus without the guidance with which +the criteria of philology would undoubtedly furnish us. That the Mayan +civilisation was of very considerable antiquity is possible, although +no adequate proof exists for the assumption. This much is certain: that +at the period of the Conquest written language was still in a state +of transition from the pictographic to the phonetic-ideographic stage, +and that therefore no version of the "Popol Vuh" which had been fixed +by its receiving literary form could have long existed. It is much more +probable that it existed for many generations by being handed down from +mouth to mouth--a manner of literary preservation exceedingly common +with the American peoples. The memories of the natives of America were +and still are matter for astonishment for all who come into contact +with them. The Conquistadores were astounded at the ease with which +the Mexicans could recite poems and orations of stupendous length, +and numerous instances of Indian feats of mnemonics are on record. + +It is worthy of notice that the Kiché myth embodies the general +aboriginal idea of creation which prevailed in the New World. In many +of them the central idea of creation is supplied by the brooding +of a great bird over the dark primeval waste of waters. Thus the +Athapascans thought that a mighty raven, with eyes of fire and wings +whose clapping was as the thunder, descended to the ocean and raised +the earth to its surface. [7] The Muscokis believed that a couple +of pigeons, skimming the surface of the deep, espied a blade of +grass upon its surface, which slowly evolved into the dry land. [8] +The Zuñis imagined that Awonawilona, the All-father, so impregnated +the waters that a scum appeared upon their surface which became the +earth and sky. [9] The Iroquois said that their female ancestor, +expelled from heaven by her angry spouse, landed upon the sea, from +which mud at once arose. The Mixtecs imagined that two winds--those +of the Nine Serpents and the Nine Caverns--under the guise of a bird +and a winged serpent respectively, caused the waters to subside and the +land to appear. The Costa Rican Guaymis related, according to Melendez, +that Noncomala waded into the water and met the water-nymph Rutbe, who +bore him twins, the sun and moon. In all these accounts, from widely +divergent nations, it is surprising to note such unanimity of belief; +and when the tenacity of legend is borne in mind, it is perhaps not +too rash to state a belief in an original American creation-myth, +which seems none the less possible when the fact of the ethnological +unity among the American tribes is remembered. + +It is by no means difficult to satisfactorily prove the genuine +American character of the "Popol Vuh." In its case reading is +believing. Macpherson, in his preface to the first edition of the poems +of Ossian, says of an "ingenious gentleman" that ere he had read the +poems he thought and remarked that a man diffident of his abilities +might well ascribe these compositions to a person living in a remote +antiquity; but when he had perused them his sentiments were changed. He +found they abounded too much with those ideas that only belong to an +early state of society to be the work of a modern poet. However this +may apply to the reputed compositions of the Goidelic bard, there can +be no doubt that it can be used with justice as regards the "Popol +Vuh." To any one who has given it a careful examination it must be +abundantly evident that it is a composition that has passed through +several stages of development; that it is unquestionably of aboriginal +origin; and that it has only been influenced by European thought in a +secondary and unessential manner. The very fact that it was composed +in the Kiché tongue is almost sufficient proof of its genuine American +character. The scholarship of the nineteenth century was unequal to +the adequate translation of the "Popol Vuh"; the twentieth century +has as yet shown no signs of being able to accomplish the task. It +is, therefore, not difficult to credit that if modern scholarship is +unable to properly translate the work, that of the eighteenth century +was unable to create it; no European of that epoch was sufficiently +versed in Kiché theology and history to compose in faultless Kiché +such a work as the "Popol Vuh," breathing as it does in every line +an intimate and natural acquaintance with the antiquities of Guatemala. + +The "Popol Vuh" is not the only mythi-historical work composed by an +aboriginal American. In Mexico Ixtlilxochitl, and in Peru Garcilasso +de la Vega, wrote exhaustive treatises upon the history and customs of +their native countrymen shortly after the conquests of Mexico and Peru, +and hieroglyphic records, such as the "Wallam Olum," are not unknown +among the North American Indians. In fact, the intelligence which +fails to regard the "Popol Vuh" as a genuine aboriginal production +must be more sceptical than critical. + + + + +KICHÉ AND MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY + +The connection of Kiché and Mayan mythology with that of Mexico is +obvious, but not altogether proven. It is possible that the main lines +of the three systems were similar; that certain great deities like +Gucumatz were common to all, but that the inclusion of local gods +lent a very different complexion to the three mythologies. It also +seems not unreasonable to suppose that the Kiché people must have +been more liable to influence from the south, that is, from the north +of South America. The inclusion of an Antillean deity (Hurakan) in +their pantheon practically proves that they were, and their relative +proximity to the Caribs--the great maritime race of America--leads +to the assumption that they may have been influenced by those roving +merchants and sailors more or less profoundly. This, however, can +only be matter for surmise, and, however strong the probabilities +seem in favour of such a theory, proof is wanting to strengthen it. + + + + + + + + +THE PANTHEON OF THE "POPOL VUH" + + +It must be remembered that we are dealing with Kiché and not with +Mayan mythology. Although the two had much in common, it would be most +unsafe in the present state of knowledge to attempt to identify Kiché +with Mayan deities; such an attempt would, indeed, assume the bulk of +a formidable treatise. Scholarship at the present time hesitates to +designate the representations of Mayan gods on the walls of "buried" +cities otherwise than by a letter of the alphabet, and it is therefore +wise to thoroughly ignore the question of Mayan affinities in dealing +with myths purely Kiché. This does not apply to the Kiché-Mexican +affinities. Mexican and Kiché deities are mostly known quantities, +but this cannot be said of their Mayan congenors. The reason for +this is that until Mayan myth is reconciled with the evidence of +the Mayan monuments no certitude can be arrived at. This cannot +well be achieved until the Mayan hieroglyphs give up their secret, +a contingency of which there is no immediate likelihood. Bearing +this in mind, we may proceed to a brief consideration of the Kiché +pantheon and its probable Mexican affinities. + +Almost at the beginning we encounter a pair of masculine-feminine +beings of a type nearly hermaphroditic, named Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, +who are credited with a considerable share of the creation of organic +life in the Kiché cosmogony. These, we will remember, appeared in +the myth of Vukub-Cakix and elsewhere. The first appears to apply +to the paternal function, whilst the name Xmucane is derived from +words signifying "feminine vigour." The Mexican equivalents of these +gods were probably Cipactonatl and Oxomoco, the "father and mother +gods." [10] + +Deities who early arrest our attention are Tepeu, Gucumatz and +Hurakan. The name of the first signifies "king." According to Brinton +this in Kiché applies to rulership chiefly, inasmuch as the conjugal +prowess often ascribed to monarchs by savage people is concerned. A +creative faculty is obviously indicated in the name, but Brinton +assumes that this Kiché generic name for king can also be rendered +"syphilitic," especially as the name of the Mexican sun-god Nanahuatl +has a similar significance. + +That Tepeu was a generative force, a creative deity, there can be no +doubt, but strangely enough in certain passages of the "Popol Vuh" +we find him praying to and rendering homage to Hurakan, the "Heart +of Heaven." We also find the latter along with Xpiyacoc, Xmucane +and Tepeu jointly and severally responsible for the creation of the +mannikins, if not for the whole cosmological scheme. This, of course, +bears out the assumption of a composite origin of the creation-myth in +the "Popol Vuh," but it is nevertheless strange to find Hurakan, whom +we must reckon an alien deity, at the head of these Olympic councils. + +Cucumatz is one and the same with the Nahuatlacan--or, more properly +speaking, Toltecan Quetzalcohuatl. The name is compounded from two +Kiché words signifying "Feathered Serpent," and its meaning in the +Nahuatl is precisely the same. Concerning the nature of this deity, +there is probably more difference of opinion than in the case of any +other known to comparative mythology. Strangely enough, although +unquestionably an alien in the mythology of the Aztecan branch of +the Nahuatlacâ, he bulks more largely in the myths of that people +than in the legends of the Kichés. To the Aztecâ he seems to have +appeared as a half-friendly Baal, to worship or revile according to +the opportunism of national fortune. If he were here to be dealt with +as his importance demands the limits of this monograph would speedily +be surpassed. Although unquestionably the same god to both Mexicans +and Kichés, he had acquired a significance in Aztecan eyes quite out +of all proportion to his Kiché or Mayan importance. To the Aztecan +mind he was a culture-hero, unalterably associated with the sun, +and with the origins of their civilisation. To the Toltecs he was the +"Man of the Sun," the traveller, who, with staff in hand, symbolised +the daily journey of the Sun-god. In all likelihood Quetzalcohuatl +was evolved upon Mexican soil by the Toltecs, perhaps adopted from +some older cultus by them. He was at least worshipped sedulously +by aboriginal or pre-Aztecan tribes in Anahuac. Mr. Payne writes: +[11] "The fact that the worship of Quetzalcohuatl under the name of +Cuculcan or Gucumatz was extensively prevalent in Yucatan and Central +America, while no trace is found of the worship of Tezcatlipoca, +strongly suggests that the founders of the Central American +pueblos (the Toltecs) were, in fact, devotees of Quetzalcohuatl, +who preferred exile and adventure in strange lands to accepting a +religious innovation which was intolerable to them." + +That Quetzalcohuatl was not an aboriginal Maya-Kiché deity is proved +by the relative importance granted him by a people--the Aztecâ--to +whom he was alien; and that they regarded him as the aboriginal god +of Anahuac par excellence is indisputable. + +Hurakan, the winged creative power, is the wind of the tempest. [12] +In the "Popol Vuh" he is designated "The Heart of Heaven." He is +parallel with if not identical to the Aztecan deity Tezcatlipoca, who +in his variant of Yoalli-ehecatl (the Wind of Night) was supplicated +by the Aztecâ as the life-breath. [13] Elsewhere we have hinted that +Tezcatlipoca may have been an ice-god. [14] Mr. Payne sees in him an +elaboration of the vision of death in a polished "scrying"-stone, +which seems possible but scarcely probable. Hurakan was in all +likelihood derived from an original deity of the Antilles. [15] +The term "hurricane" is said to have originated from the name of +this god, and although the direct evidence for this is scanty, other +circumstances place the connection beyond reasonable doubt. Hurakan is +also alluded to in the "Popol Vuh," as "The Strong Serpent," and "He +who hurls below," referring to his presence in the lightning. Brinton +is of opinion that the name Hurakan signifies "giant," but the +sequence of proof is not altogether convincing. Hurakan had the +assistance of three demiurges, named respectively Cakulha-Hurakan +(lightning), Chipi-Cakulha (lightning-flash), and Raxa-Cakulha +(track-of-the-lightning). + +Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, who appear in the first myth proper--that +of the destruction of Vukub-Cakix, are certainly "of the gods," but +seem to be only demi-gods. They are constantly alluded to as "young +men." Brasseur de Bourbourg, who saw in the Vukub-Cakix myth the +struggle between the Toltecs and the invading Nahuatlacâ, believed +these hero-gods to be equivalents of Tezcatlipoca and Nanahuatl, +but the resemblance appears to exist merely in the martial character +of the deities, and is hardly noticeable in other details. Hun-Ahpu +would appear to signify "The Master," but Brinton translates the name +as "Magician." It may have a reconciliatory translation as "Adept." A +variant is the name of his father Hun-Hun-Ahpu, "Each-one-a-Magician," +and some confusion is apparent in the Vukub-Cakix myth between the +two names; but as the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg so justly observes, +"these names are so symbolic in character that their absolute +elucidation is impossible." Xbalanque signifies "Little Tiger." + +"The gods of the Kichés were legion," but the foregoing list embraces +practically all the deities proper with whom we have to deal in the +"Popol Vuh." + + + + +THE VUKUB-CAKIX MYTH + +The outstanding point of interest in the myth of Vukub-Cakix and his +two sons is its terrestrial significance. That they were of the earth +as truly as were the Jotuns of Scandinavian mythology there can be no +doubt. Like the Jotuns or the Titans, Vukub-Cakix and his progeny are +made from the earth, and the parent giant is a living representation of +its surface. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane remove his emerald teeth, and replace +them with maize grains--surely a mythical interpretation or allegory of +the removal of the green virgin turf of the earth, and its replacement +by the maize seed. It is further worthy of notice that the maize is +placed in Vukub-Cakix's mouth by divine beings. In the third book of +the "Popol Vuh" it is stated that the gods gave maize to man. It was, +indeed, brought to earth from heaven by the sacred animals. + + + + +BOOK II. COMMENTED UPON + +The Second Book of the "Popol Vuh" is the most interesting of the four +from a mythological point of view. That it treats of the dealings of +the Kichés with the aboriginal people of the district they afterwards +inhabited is not unlikely. Although the opinion of Brasseur that +Xibalba was a prehistoric state which had Palenque for its capital is +an exaggeration of whatsoever kernel of fact may be contained in the +myth, yet it is not unlikely that the Abbé, who so often astonishes +without illuminating, has in this instance come near the truth. The +cliff-dwellings of Mexico and Colorado have of late years aroused +speculation as to the aboriginal or directly prehistoric peoples of +these regions. The "Popol Vuh" definitely describes Xibalba as the +metropolis of an "Underworld"; and with such examples as that of the +Cliff Palace Cañon in Colorado before us, it is difficult to think that +allusion is not made to some such semi-underground abode. There the +living rock has been excavated to a considerable distance, advantage +being taken of a huge natural recess to secure greater depth than +could possibly have been attained by human agency, and in this immense +alcove the ruins of a veritable city may still be seen, almost as well +preserved as in the days of its evacuation, its towers, battlements +and houses being as well marked and as plainly discernible as are the +ruins of Philæ. It is then not unreasonable to suppose that in a more +northerly home the Kichés may have warred with a race which dwelt in +some such subterranean locality. A people's idea of an "otherworld" +is often coloured by the configuration of their own country. + +One thing is certain: a hell, an abode of bad spirits as distinguished +from beneficent gods, Xibalba was not. The American Indian was +innocent of the idea of maleficent deities pitted in everlasting +warfare against good and life-giving gods until contact with the +whites coloured his mythology with their idea of the dual nature of +supernatural beings. [16] The transcriber of the "Popol Vuh" makes +this clear so far as Kiché belief went. Dimly conscious that the +"Popol Vuh" was coloured by his agency with the opinions of a lately +adopted Christianity, he says of the Lords of Xibalba, Hun-Came and +Vukub-Came: "In the old times they did not have much power. They +were but annoyers and opposers of men, and, in truth, they were not +regarded as gods." If not regarded as gods, then, what were they? + +"The devil," says Cogolludo of the Mayas, "is called by them Xibilba, +which means he who disappears or vanishes." The derivation of Xibalba +is from a root meaning "to fear" from which comes the name for a +ghost or phantom. Xibalba was, then, the Place of Phantoms. But it +was not the Place of Torment, the abode of a devil who presided over +punishment. The idea of sin is weak in the savage mind; and the idea +of punishment for sin in a future state is unknown in pre-Christian +American mythology. + +"Under the influence of Christian catechising," says Brinton, "the +Quiché legends portray this really as a place of torment, and its +rulers as malignant and powerful; but as I have before pointed out they +do so protesting that such was not the ancient belief, and they let +fall no word that shows that it was regarded as the destination of the +morally bad. The original meaning of the name given by Cogolludo points +unmistakably to the simple fact of disappearance from among men, and +corresponds in harmlessness to the true sense of those words of fear, +Scheol, Hades, Hell, all signifying hidden from sight, and only endowed +with more grim associations by the imaginations of later generations." + +The idea of consigning elder peoples, who have been displaced in the +land to an underworld, is not uncommon in mythology. The Xibalbans, +or aborigines, were perhaps cave- or earth-dwellers like the +Picts of Scottish folk-lore, gnomeish, and full of elvish tricks, +as such folk usually are. Vanished people are, too, often classed +with the dead, or as lords of the dead. It is well known, also, +that legend speedily crystallises around the name of a dispossessed +race, to whom is attributed every description of magic art. This +is sometimes accounted for by the fact that the displaced people +possessed a higher culture than their invaders, and sometimes, +probably, by the dread which all barbarian peoples have of a religion +in any way differing from their own. Thus the Norwegians credited the +Finns--their predecessors in Norway--with tremendous magical powers, +and similar instances of respectful timidity shown by invading races +towards the original inhabitants of the country they had conquered +could readily be multiplied. To be tricked the barbarian regards +as a mortal indignity, as witness the wrath of Thor in Jotunheim, +comparable with the sensitiveness of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque lest they +should be outwitted by the Xibalbans. + + + + +THE HARRYING OF XIBALBA + +The doings of Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, in Xibalba, may be regarded +either as the Kiché account of the adventures of two veritable heroes +in a new land, or as the visitation of divine beings to Hades for +the express purpose of conquering death. But by the period of the +formation of the myth it is probable that Xibalba had become confounded +with the Place of the Dead, and was regarded as a fit theatre for the +prodigies of craft and valour of the young hero-gods. The Kiché Hades +had, in fact, evolved from the old northern home, exactly as had the +Mexican Mictlan, which, although a subterranean locality, was also, +and separately, a northern country. A complete Place of the Dead +had been established, and the gods, to show their contempt of death, +must descend thereto and emerge triumphant. The idea of metempsychosis +was known to the American aboriginal mind. "We Indians shall not for +ever die; even the grains of corn we put under the earth grow up and +become living things," is the noble and touching reply of a chief +to the interrogation of a Moravian Brother, regarding the native +belief in immortality. [17] Man must have the example of the gods, +if he wishes to live in peace and quiet assurance of immortality. And +just as we believe that our God descended into Hell and vanquished Sin +and Death, so did these simple people gain strength to face Eternity +from the thought that they had been preceded in the dark journey by +the Immortals. + +It is evident that the divine brothers feared ridicule, and profiting +from the disasters of their father and uncle made sure of knowing +the names of the chief Xibalbans ere they set out. In like manner +they avoided making an obeisance to the dummy figures to which their +predecessors had bowed so profoundly. The American savage, grave +and reserved, cannot abide ridicule. He shrinks from it in a manner +which a less self-regarding or a more self-assured people cannot +comprehend. The other tests--the "House of Tigers," and the "House +of Cold," and the various torments mentioned in the Second Book are +much what might be expected from a barbarian idea of death--no more +horrible, perhaps, than the European idea of Hell in the Middle Ages, +certainly not more fear-compelling than the picture of Dante. + +The American peoples are at one in their belief in a Paradise, a Place +of Joy, if not of Reward. Their Hades appears to have been reserved +almost entirely for the unillustrious. Paradise in some American +mythologies, notably in that of Mexico, and perhaps in that of Peru, +is nothing more than a preserve of the great; the poor might not +enter therein, no more than might the coward pass the gates of the +Norse Valhalla. It was to Mictlan or Supay, then, that the popular +mind turned. How did the American peoples regard this drear abode? To +enter it one must cross a deep and swift river by means of a bridge +formed of a slender tree, said the Hurons and Iroquois to the first +missionaries. On this frail passage the soul must defend itself from +the attacks of a savage dog. [18] The Chepewayan Athapascans told +of a great water which the soul must cross in a stone canoe; the +Chilians, of a western sea, where toll must be given to an evil hag, +who plucked out an eye if payment were not forthcoming; the Algonquins, +of a stream bridged by an enormous snake. The Aztecs called this river +Chicunoapa, the Nine Rivers, where the departed must pay toll to a +dog and a dragon. It will be recollected that the brothers in the +"Popol Vuh," cross a river of blood. This almost certainly alludes +to the ocean under the red beams of the setting sun, towards which +all these voyages are made. + +The hero-gods in the myth voluntarily succumb to the power of the +Lords of Death, and after being burned their bones are ground in a +mill and thrown into the waters. The belief was almost universal in +America that the soul resided in the bones. The bones were the basis +of the man. Flesh would readily perish, but would return to clothe +this more lasting foundation. So in many tribes the bones of the dead +were carefully preserved. In all Central American countries the bones +of distinguished persons were preserved in temples or council-houses +in the small chests made of cane mentioned by the chroniclers of +De Soto's expedition. This, too, may possibly have been the origin +of mummification in Peru. In Egypt all the members and intestines +must be preserved, in Peru only the bones. The state of comparative +desiccation in which most Peruvian mummies are discovered proves +that the preservation of the flesh or organs was not regarded as +a necessity. + +The game of ball figures very largely throughout the Third Book. The +father and uncle of the young hero-gods were worsted in their +favourite sport by the Xibalbans, but Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque in their +turn vanquish the Lords of the Underworld. This may have resembled +the Mexican game of tlachtli, which was played in an enclosed court +with a rubber ball between two opposite sides, each of two or three +players. It was, in fact, not unlike hockey. This game of ball +between the Powers of Light and the Powers of Darkness is somewhat +reminiscent of that between Ormuzd and Ahriman in Persian myth. The +game of tlachtli had a symbolic reference to stellar motions. [19] + + + + +BOOK III. COMMENTED UPON + +We are here engaged with the problem which the origin of man +presented to the Kiché mind, and we shall find that its solution +bears a remarkable likeness to that of similar American myths. We +seldom hear of one first-created being. In the creation-myths of the +New World four brothers are usually the progenitors of the human +race. Man in these myths is nearly always earth-born. He and his +fellows emerge from some cavern or subterranean place, fully grown +and fully armed. Thus the Blackfoot Indians emerged from Nina-stahu, +a peak in the Rockies. In the centre of Nunne Chaha, the High Hill, +was a cavern, the house of the Master of Breath, whence came the +Choctaws. The Peruvians come from Pacari Tambu, the House of the Dawn, +near Cuzco, and an ancient legend of the Aztecâ states that they came +from Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caverns, to the north of Mexico. + +We find the first Mayan men speedily engaged in migration. Such must +always be the life of the unsettled and unagricultural savage. He +multiplies. Gods are given to each tribe. These he bears to a new +country. In fact we have a complete migration myth in the Third +Book of the "Popol Vuh," and there are not wanting signs to show +that this migration took place from the cold north to the warm +south. The principal item of proof in favour of such a theory is, +of course, the statement that the sun was "not at first born," and +that at a later stage of the journey, when his beams appeared upon +the horizon, it was as a weaker and dimmer luminary that he seemed to +the wanderers than in after years. The allusion to "shining sand," +by the aid of which they crossed rivers, may mean that they forded +them when covered with ice. The whole myth is so strikingly akin to +the Aztecân migration-myth given in the Mexican MS. in the Boturini +Collection (No. 14, sec. viii.) that we cannot refrain from appending +a short passage from the latter: + +"This is the beginning of the record of the coming of the Mexicans +from the place called Aztlan. It is by means of the water that +they came this way, being four tribes, and in coming they rowed in +boats. They built their huts on piles at the place called the Grotto +of Quinevayan. It is there from which the eight tribes issued. The +first tribe is that of the Huexotzincos, the second tribe the Chalcas, +the third the Xochimilcas, the fourth the Cuitlavacas, the fifth the +Mallinalcas, the sixth the Chicimecas, the seventh the Tepanecas, +the eighth the Matlatzincas. It is there where they were founded in +Colhuacan. They were the colonists of it since they landed there, +coming from Aztlan.... It is there that they soon afterwards went +away from, carrying before them the god [20] Vitzillopochtli, which +they had adopted for their god.... They came out of four places, +when they went forward travelling this way.... There the eight tribes +opened up our road by water." + +We find a similar myth in the Wallam Olum, or painted records of the +Lenape Indians. "After the flood," says this record, "the Lenape with +the manly turtle beings dwelt close together at the cave house and +dwelling of Talli.... They saw that the snake land was bright and +wealthy. Having all agreed, they went over the water of the frozen +sea to possess the land. It was wonderful when they all went over +the smooth deep water of the frozen sea at the gap of snake sea in +the great ocean"5. + +We thus see that the Third Book of the "Popol Vuh" is a migration +saga of a type not uncommon in America. Asiatic tribes may have come +down from the Chi-Pixab of the "Popol Vuh" to British Columbia, and +thence by easy stages to Central America. And the Third Book of the +"Popol Vuh" may be the distant echo of a mighty wave of colonisation, +whose sound swept the entire surface of the New World. + + + + +EARLY SPANISH AUTHORS AND THE "POPOL VUH" + +It cannot be said that the early Spanish authors upon the affairs of +Yucatan either corroborate or discredit the contents of the "Popol +Vuh" in any way. To begin with, Landa, Cogolludo, and Las Casas +confine themselves more to Yucatan proper than to Guatemala, and +their remarks upon native belief, in so far as they illustrate the +"Popol Vuh" at all, are really references to Mayan myths. Palacios +is meagre in his references to any native beliefs, and the works of +all four are so coloured by the phantasies of mediæval theology that, +although interesting, they possess little real value. So far, in fact, +as they throw light upon the "Popol Vuh" they might be safely ignored, +and they are only given as works of reference in the bibliography +for the sake of completeness. They are, however, most valuable for +the study of Mayan mythology proper, and for complete understanding +of the "Popol Vuh" and of Kiché mythology in general, knowledge of +Mayan myth is necessary. + + + + +EVIDENCE OF METRICAL COMPOSITION + +There is not wanting evidence to show that, like most barbarous +compositions which depended for their popularity upon the ease with +which they could be memorised, the "Popol Vuh" was originally composed +in metre. Passages here and there show a decided metrical tendency, as: + + + "Ama x-u ch'ux ri Vuch + Ve, x-cha ri mama. + Ta chi xaquinic + Quate ta chi gekumarchic + Cahmul xaquin ri mama + Ca xaquin-Vuch" ca cha vinak vacamic. + + +which is translated: + + + "Is the dawn about to be? + Yes, answered the old man. + Then he spread apart his legs. + Again the darkness appeared. + Four times the old man spread his legs. + Now the opossum spreads his legs"-- + Say the people. [21] + + +The first line almost scans in iambics (English style), and the +fifth is perfect, except for the truncation in the fourth foot. The +others appear to us to consist of that alternation of sustained +feet--musically represented by a semibreve--with pyrrhics, which +is characteristic of nearly all savage dance-poetry. Father Coto, +a missionary, observes that the natives were fond of telling long +stories and of repeating chants, keeping time to them in those dances +of which all the American aboriginal peoples appear to have been so +fond--and still are, as Baron Nordenskjöld has recently discovered in +the Aymara country. These chants were called nugum tzih, or "garlands +of words," and although the native compiler of the "Popol Vuh" appears +to have been unable to recollect the precise rhythm of the whole, +many passages attest its original odic character. + + + +Note.--The pronunciation of x in Kiché equals sh. Ch is pronounced +hard, as in the Scottish "loch," and c hard, like k. + + + + + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX + + +The various works which contain notices of the "Popol Vuh" and the +kindred questions of Mayan and Kiché mythology are so difficult of +access to the majority of readers that it has been thought best to +divide them into two classes: (1) those which can be more or less +readily purchased, and which are, naturally, of more recent origin; +and (2) those which are not easy to come by, and which, generally +speaking, are the work of Spanish priests and colonists of the +sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. + + + + +I + +The work on the subject which is most easily obtained, and indeed the +only work which gives the original Kiché text, is that of the Abbé +Brasseur de Bourbourg, "Vuh Popol: Le livre sacré de Quichés et les +mythes de l'antiquité Américaine." The Kiché text was translated by +the assistance of natives into French, and the translation is more +or less inaccurate. The notes and introduction must be read by the +student with the greatest caution. It was published at Paris in 1861. + +Ximenes' translation into Spanish of the "Popol Vuh" and that of +Gavarrete are about of equal value, rather inaccurate, and accompanied +by scanty notes. The title of the first is "Las Historias del Origin +de los Indios de Guatemala, par el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes (Vienna, +1856), and of the second, "El Popol Vuh," (San Salvador 1905). This +exhausts the list of works written exclusively concerning the "Popol +Vuh." The other works of Brasseur and those of Brinton contain more or +less numerous allusions to it, but references to it in standard works +of mythology are exceedingly rare. The only other works which have a +bearing upon the subject are those upon Mayan and Kiché mythology, +or which, among other matter, historical or political, refer to it +in any way. The most important of these are: + + +Dr. Otto Stoll--"Ethnographie der Republik Guatemala." + +---- "Ethnologie der Indianerstämme von Guatemala." + +Scherzer--"Die Indianer von Santa Catalina Istlavacan." + +Müller--"Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligion" (1855). + +E. Förstemann--"Commentary on the Maya Manuscript," in the Royal Public +Library of Dresden. Translation from the German by S. Wesselhoeft +and A. M. Parker (Harvard University, 1906). + +E. Seler--"Über den Ursprung der mittelamerikanischen Kulturen" (1902). + +---- "Ein Wintersemester in Mexico und Yucatan" (1903). + +---- "Codex Fejerváry-Mayer" (Berlin, 1901). + +P. Schellhas--"Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts," +translated by S. Wesselhoeft and A. M. Parker (Cambridge, Mass., 1904). + +Cyrus Thomas--"The Maya Year," Washington, 1894. + +---- "Notes on Maya and Mexican Manuscripts." + +W. Fewkes--"The God 'D' in the Codex Cortesianus," (Washington, 1895). + + +All these works relate more or less entirely to Mayan mythology, +and are chiefly valuable as illustrating the connection between the +Kiché and Mayan mythologies. It must be understood that this is not a +list of works relating to Mayan antiquities, but only a list of such +works as refer at the tame time to Mayan and Kiché mythology. + +The brief essay of the late Professor Max Müller upon the "Popol +Vuh" is of little or no value except as a statement in favour of its +authenticity. It gives little or no information concerning the work, +and is, indeed, chiefly concerned with the authenticity and nature +of North American picture-drawings. + + + + +II + +The principal works of the older Spanish authors, which in any way +relate to the myths of Maya-Kiché peoples, are: + +Las Casas--"Historia de los Indias" (1552). + +Cogolludo--"Historia de Yucathan" (1688). + +Diego de Landa--"Relacion de los Cosas de Yucatan" (translated into +French, and edited by Brasseur). + +Ximenes--"Escolias à los Historias del origèn de los Indios" (Circa, +1725). + +Palacios--"Description de la Provincia de Guatemala" (in the collection +of Ternaux-Compans). + +Juarros--"Historia de Guatimala." + + + + + + + + +NOTES + + +NOTE 1. (PAGE 8) + +Much that is absurd has been written concerning the antiquity of +the ruined cities of Central America, and some authors have not +hesitated to place their foundation in an antiquity beside which +the pre-dynastic buildings of Egypt would appear quite recent. But +that they were abandoned not long before the Columbian era is now +generally admitted. See Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of +America," chap, iii., and the works of Charnay, Maler, Maudslay, +and Gordon, for modern opinion upon the subject; also the various +monographs contained in the more recent volumes of the U.S. Bureau of +Ethnology's annual report. That a very respectable antiquity belongs +to several sites is, however, certain; and competent authorities have +not hesitated to ascribe to some of the ruins an age of not less than +two thousand years. + + + + +NOTE 2. (PAGE 8) + +Payne has made it abundantly clear to our mind that the original +seat of the Nahuatlacâ (which included both Toltecs and Aztecs) was +in British Columbia (see his "History of America," vol. ii. p. 373 +et seq.). He thinks they there occupied a position southerly to that +of the Athapascan stock, and were probably the first northern people +to come into contact with tribes possessed of the maize plant. The +knowledge of this staple, he infers, spread rapidly among the northern +peoples, and induced them to hasten their southern colonisation, but +it does not appear to us probable that this would be an inducement to a +savage flesh-eating people averse to a life of agricultural labour. The +whole question of pre-historic American migration, and of the gradual +civilisation by maize of the peoples who came within its zone, is most +admirably discussed in vol. xix. of "The History of North America," by +W. J. Magee and Cyrus Thomas (Philadelphia, George Barrie and Sons), +published March 1908. The knowledge contained in this work is the +outcome of a lifetime's labour in the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology, and +its learned authors have undoubtedly produced a monumental treatise +which it will take many a generation of research to supersede, if, +indeed, that is possible. + + + + +NOTE 3. (PAGE 9) + +The authorities for the settlement of the Toltecs in Yucatan are the +Tezcucan chronicler Ixtlilxochitl, and Torquemada, who both allege +that the immigrants went to Campeachy and the south. + + + + +NOTE 4. (PAGE 13) + +There appear to be grounds for believing that the parent deities +Xpiyacoc and Xmucane are but derivations from Gucumatz, and represent +the male and female attributes of that god. In the "Popol Vuh" +they are spoken of as being "covered with green feathers," the usual +description of Gucumatz; but it is, of course, possible that they may +have received some of his attributes in the general jumble of myths +which, we have attempted to show, exists in the first book. Gucumatz, +it will be remembered, is Quetzalcohuatl in another form, and the +latter is often represented in the papyri as having a woman sitting +opposite to him. She does not, however, appear to be at all analogous +to Messrs. Förstemann and Schellhas's "Goddess I," whom I take to +represent the Mayan equivalent of Xmucane, and who wears on her head +the knotted serpent, a reptile characteristic of Quetzalcohuatl. + + + + +NOTE 5. (PAGE 53) + +The Wallam-Olum (painted records) of the Leni Lenape Indians have +often been called into question as regards their authenticity, but +the evidence of Lederer, Humboldt, Heckewelder, Tanner, Loskiel, +Beatty, and Rafinesque, all of whom professed to have seen them, +rather discounts such unbelief in their existence. They consisted +of picture-writings, or hieroglyphs, each of which applied to a +whole verse, or many words. The ideas were, in fact, amalgamated in a +compound system, and bear exactly the same relation to written language +as the American tongues did to spoken language; that is, they were +of an agglutinative type, a linguistic form where several words are +welded into one. There are several series, one of which records the +doings of the tribes immediately subsequent to the Creation. Another +series relates to their doings in America, and consists of seven +songs, four of sixteen verses of four words each, and three of twenty +verses of three words each "It begins at the arrival in America," says +Rafinesque ("The American Nations"), "and is continued without hardly +any interruption till the arrival of the European colonists towards +1600." But this second series is a mere meagre catalogue of kings. + + + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] Mexico, Oct. 15, 1850. + +[2] Large hollowed stones used by the women for bruising maize. + +[3] The Kiché words are onomatopoetic--"holi, holi, huqi, huqi." + +[4] Zipac signifies "Cockspur," and I take the name to signify also +"Thrower-up of earth." The connection is obvious. + +[5] Near Vera Paz. + +[6] Hurakan. + +[7] "History of the Fur Trade," Mackenzie, p. 83. + +[8] Schoolcraft, "Indian Tribes," i. p. 266. + +[9] Cushing, "Zuñi Creation Myths." + +[10] See note at end. + +[11] "History of the New World." + +[12] Oviedo, "Historia del l'Indie," lib. vi. cap. iii. + +[13] Sahagun, lib. ii. ch. ii. + +[14] "Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru" ("Religions Ancient +and Modern" series). + +[15] Oviedo, Brasseur de Bourbourg. + +[16] See Brinton, "Myths of the New World," chap. ii. + +[17] Loskiel, "Ges. der Miss. der evang. Brüder." + +[18] "Rel. de la Nouv. France," 1636. + +[19] J. W. Fewkes in Jour. Amer. Folk-lore, 1892, p. 33; F. H. Cushing +in "Amer. Anthropologist," 1892, p. 303 et seq. + +[20] In the Mexican text the Spanish word "diablo" has been +interpolated by the Mexican scribes, as no Mexican word for "devil" +exists. The scribe was, of course, under priestly influence; hence the +"diablo." + +[21] This passage obviously applies to a descriptive dance emblematic +of sunrise. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Popol Vuh, by Lewis Spence + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56550 *** |