← Back to Browse

Popol Vuh

Part IV, Chapter 6
Mesoamerican trans. Delia Goetz and Sylvanus Griswold Morley • c. c. 1550 CE (recording of pre-Columbian tradition)
1
Then they decided to go to the east, thinking thus to fulfill the command of their fathers which they had not forgotten. It had been a long time since their fathers had died, when the tribes gave them their wives, and thus they acquired many relatives-in-law, when the three took wives.
2
And starting on their journey, they said: "We are going to the East, there whence came our fathers." So they said when the three sons set out. One was called Qocaib, and he was the son of Balam-Quitzé, of the Cavec. The one called Qoacutec was son of Balam-Acab, of the Nihaib; and the other called Qoahau, was son of Mahucutah, of the Ahau-Quiché.
3
These, then, are the names of those who went there to the other side of the sea; the three went then, and were endowed with intelligence and experience, but they were not common men. They took leave of all their brothers and relatives and left joyfully. "We shall not die; we shall return," said the three when they left.
4
Certainly they crossed the sea when they came there to the East, when they went to receive the investiture of the kingdom. And this was the name of the Lord, King of the East, where they went. When they arrived before Lord Nacxit, which was the name of the great lord, the only supreme judge of all the kingdoms, he gave them the insignia of the kingdom and all its distinctive symbols. Then came the insignia of Ahpop and Ahpop-Camhá, and then the insignia of the grandeur and the sovereignty of the Ahpop and the Ahpop-Camhá. And Nacxit ended by giving them the insignia of royalty, which are: the canopy, the throne, the flutes of bone, the cham-cham, yellow beads, puma claws, jaguar claws, the heads and feet of the deer, dais, snail shells, tobacco, little gourds, parrot feathers, standards of royal aigrette feathers, tatam, and caxcon. All the foregoing they carried, those who came after going to the other side of the sea to receive the paintings of Tulán, the paintings, as these were called, in which they wrote their histories.
5
Then, having arrived at their town called Hacavitz, all the people of Tamub and of Ilocab assembled there; all the tribes were assembled and were filled with joy when Qocaib, Qoacutec, and Qoahau arrived, and there they again assumed the rule of the tribes. The people of Rabinal, the Cakchiquel, and the people of Tziquinahá rejoiced. Before them they showed the insignia of the grandeur of the kingdom. Great, too, were the tribes, although they had not finished showing their might. And they were there in Hacavitz, all were there with those who came from the East. There they spent much time; there on the summit of the mountain they were in great numbers. There, too, the wives of Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, and Mahucutah died.
6
Later they left, abandoning their country, and searching for other places in which to settle. innumerable were the places in which they settled, where they were, and which they named. There our first mothers and our first fathers were reunited and increased. So said the old people when they told how they left their first capital, called Hacavitz, and went to found another capital, called Chi-Quix.
7
They were a long time in this other town, where they had daughters and sons. There were many of them there, and there were four other places, to each of which they gave the name of their town. Their daughters and sons married; they simply gave them away [in marriage] and the presents and favors they received they considered as the price for their daughters, and, in this way, they lived happily.
8
Afterward they went through each one of the wards of the town, the different names of which are: Chi-Quix, Chichac, Humetahá, Culbá, and Cavinal. These were the names of the places where they settled. And they surveyed the hills and their towns and sought the uninhabited places, for, all together, they were now very many.
9
Those who had gone to the East to receive the sovereignty were now dead. They were already old when they arrived at each of the towns. They did not become accustomed to the different places through which they passed; they suffered many hardships and troubles and only after a long time did the grandfathers and fathers arrive at their town. Here is the name of the city to which they came. Finally Qocaib returned and gave an account of his mission. "He brought the titles of Ahpop, Ahtzalam, Tzanchinamital, and many others; he showed the insignia which must accompany these titles, and they were the claws of the jaguars and eagles, skins of other animals, and also stones, sticks, etc." Seeing his wife with a newly born child in her arms, he asked whence it had come. "'It is of thy blood,' answered the woman, 'of thy flesh and thy same bones.'" Qocaib accepted the explanation, and taking the child's cradle said: "'From today on, and forever this child shall be called Balam Conaché.' And the latter began the House of Conaché and Iztayul." With respect to the second journey of the Quiché princes, the Título says that they returned satisfied to Hacavitz Chipal, and displayed the signs and symbols which they brought.