(2) They took turns at watching the Great Star called Icoquih, which rises first before the sun, when the sun rises, the brilliant Icoquih, which was always before them in the East, when they were there in the place called Tulán-Zuivá, whence came their god. It was not here, then, where they received their power and sovereignty, but there they subdued and subjected the large and small tribes when they sacrificed them before Tohil, and offered him the blood, the substance, breasts, and sides of all the men. In Tulán power came instantly to them; great was their wisdom in the darkness and in the night. Then they came, they pulled up stakes there and left the East. "This is not our home; let us go and see where we should settle," Tohil said then. In truth, he was accustomed to talk to Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and IquiBalam: "Give thanks before setting out; do what is necessary to bleed your ears, prick your elbows, and make your sacrifices, this shall be your thanks to God." "Very well, "they said, and took blood from their ears. And they wept in their chants because of their departure from Tulán; their hearts mourned when they left Tulán.

(3) This we shall write now under the Law of God and Christianity; we shall bring it to light because now the Popol Vuh, as it is called, cannot be seen any more, in which was dearly seen the coming from the other side of the sea and the narration of our obscurity, and our life was clearly seen. The original book, written long ago, existed, but its sight is hidden to the searcher and to the thinker. Great were the descriptions and the account of how all the sky and earth were formed, how it was formed and divided into four parts; how it was partitioned, and how the sky was divided; and the measuring-cord was brought, and it was stretched in the sky and over the earth, on the four angles, on the four corners, as was told by the Creator and the Maker, the Mother and the Father of Life, of all created things, he who gives breath and thought, she who gives birth to the children, he who watches over the happiness of the people, the happiness of the human race, the wise man, he who meditates on the goodness of all that exists in the sky, on the earth, in the lakes and in the sea.

(6) But it was here where they multiplied, on the mountain, and this was their town; here they were, too, when the sun, the moon, and the stars appeared, when it dawned and the face of the earth and the whole world was lighted. Here, too, began their song, which they call camucú; they sang it, but only the pain in their hearts and their innermost selves they expressed in their song. "Oh pity us! In Tulán we were lost, we were separated, and there our older and younger brothers stayed. Ah, we have seen the sun! but where are they now, that it has dawned?" so said the priests and the sacrificers of the Yaqui. Because, in truth, the so-called Tohil is the same god of the Yaqui, the one called YolcuatQuitzalcuat. "We became separated there in Tulán, in Zuyva, from there we went out together, and there our race was created when we came," they said to each other. Then they remembered their older brothers and their younger brothers, the Yaqui, to whom dawn came there in the land which today is called Mexico. Part of the people remained there in the East, those called Tepeu Olimán, who stayed there, they say.

(2) "I shall now be great above all the beings created and formed. I am the sun, the light, the moon," he exclaimed. "Great is my splendor. Because of me men shall walk and conquer. For my eyes are of silver, bright, resplendent as precious stones, as emeralds; my teeth shine like perfect stones, like the face of the sky. My nose shines afar like the moon, my throne is of silver, and the face of the earth is lighted when I pass before my throne. "So, then, I am the sun, I am the moon, for all mankind. So shall it be, because I can see very far." So Vucub-Caquix spoke. But he was not really the sun; he was only vainglorious of his feathers and his riches. And he could see only as far as the horizon, and he could not see over all the world. The face of the sun had not yet appeared, nor that of the moon, nor the stars, and it had not dawned. Therefore, Vucub-Caquix became as vain as though he were the sun and the moon, because the light of the sun and the moon had not yet shown itself His only ambition was to exalt himself and to dominate. And all this happened when the flood came because of the wooden-people. Now we shall tell how Vucub-Caquix was overthrown and died, and how man was made by the Creator and the Maker.

(5) But the Creator and the Maker did not hear this with pleasure. "It is not well what our creatures, our works say; they know all, the large and the small," they said. And so the Forefathers held counsel again. "What shall we do with them now? Let their sight reach only to that which is near; let them see only a little of the face of the earth! It is not well what they say. Perchance, are they not by nature simple creatures of our making? Must they also be gods? And if they do not reproduce and multiply when it will dawn, when the sun rises? And what if they do not multiply?" So they spoke. "Let us check a little their desires, because it is not well what we see. Must they perchance be the equals of ourselves, their Makers, who can, see afar, who know all and see all?" Thus spoke the Heart of Heaven, Huracán, Chipi-Caculhá, Raxa-Caculhá, Tepeu, Gucumatz, the Forefathers, Xpiyacoc, Xmucané, the Creator and the Maker. Thus they spoke, and immediately they changed the nature of their works, of their creatures.

(3) Every day, too, they came before Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz and said in their hearts: "Here are Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz. We can offer them only the blood of the deer and the birds; we take only blood from our ears and our arms. Let us ask Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz for strength and vigor. What will [the tribes] say about the deaths of the people, which, one by one, we are killing?" they said to one another as they went into the presence of Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz. Then they punctured their ears and their arms before the divinities; they caught their blood and put it in a vase near the stones. They were not really stones, but each one appeared in the likeness of a youth. They were happy with the blood of the priests and sacrificers when they arrived with this example of their work. "Follow their tracks [those of the animals which they sacrificed], there is your salvation! "From there, from Tulán, whence you brought us," they were told, "came the skin, called Pazilizib, which was given to you, smeared with blood: spill your blood and let this be the offering of Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz."

(6) "Oh thou, Tzacol, Bitol! Look at us, hear us! Do not leave us, do not forsake us, oh, God, who art in heaven and on earth, Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth! Give us our descendants, our succession, as long as the sun shall move and there shall be light. Let it dawn; let the day come! Give us many good roads, flat roads! May the people have peace, much peace, and may they be happy; and give us good life and useful existence! Oh, thou Huracán, ChipiCaculhá, Raxá-Caculhá, Chipi-Nanauac, Raxá-Nanauac, Voc, Hunahpú, Tepeu, Gucumatz, Alom, Qaholom, Xpiyacoc, Xmucané, grandmother of the sun, grandmother of the light, let there be dawn, and let the light come!"

(1) There was nevertheless a tribe who stole the fire in the smoke; and they were from the house of Zotzil. The god of the Cakchiquel was called Chamalcán and he had the form of a bat. When they passed through the smoke, they went softly and then they seized the fire. The Cakchiquel did not ask for the fire, because they did not want to give themselves up to be overcome, the way that the other tribes had been overcome when they offered their breasts and their armpits so that they would be opened. And this was the opening [of the breasts] about which Tohil had spoken; that they should sacrifice all the tribes before him, that they should tear out their hearts from their breasts. And this had not yet begun when the taking of power and sovereignty by Balam-Quitzé, Balam.-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam was prophesied by Tohil. There in Tulán-Zuivá, whence they had come, they were accustomed to fast, they observed a perpetual fast while they awaited the coming of dawn and watched for the rising sun.

(12) Beginning the divination, they said: "Get together, grasp each other! Speak, that we may hear." They said, "Say if it is well that the wood be got together and that it be carved by the Creator and the Maker, and if this [man of wood] is he who must nourish and sustain us when there is light when it is day! "Thou, corn; thou, tzité; thou, fate; thou, creature; get together, take each other," they said to the corn, to the tzité, to fate, to the creature. "Come to sacrifice here, Heart of Heaven; do not punish Tepeu and Gucumatz!" Then they talked and spoke the truth: "Your figures of wood shall come out well; they shall speak and talk on earth." "So may it be," they answered when they spoke. And instantly the figures were made of wood. They looked like men, talked like men, and populated the surface of the earth. They existed and multiplied; they had daughters, they had sons, these wooden figures; but they did not have souls, nor minds, they did not remember their Creator, their Maker; they walked on all fours, aimlessly.

(6) Then a man came before Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam and [this man], who was a messenger of Xibalba, spoke thus: "This is, in truth, your God; this is your support; this is, furthermore, the representation, the memory of your Creator and Maker. Do not give your fire to the tribes until they present offerings to Tohil. It is not necessary that they give anything to you. Ask Tohil what they should give when they come to receive fire," said the man from Xibalba. He had wings like the wings of a bat. "I am sent by your Creator, your Maker," said the man of Xibalba. They were filled with joy then, and Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz were also gladdened when the man from Xibalba spoke, who disappeared instantly from their presence. But the tribes did not perish when they came, although they were dying of cold. There was much hail, black rain and mist, and indescribable cold. All the tribes were trembling and shivering with cold when they came where Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam were. Their hearts were greatly troubled and their mouths and eyes were sad.

(2) There was only immobility and silence in the darkness, in the night. Only the creator, the Maker, Tepeu, Gucumatz, the Forefathers, were in the water surrounded with light. They were hidden under green and blue feathers, and were therefore called Gucumatz. By nature they were great sages and great thinkers. In this manner the sky existed and also the Heart of Heaven, which is the name of God and thus He is called. Then came the word. Tepeu and Gucumatz came together in the darkness, in the night, and Tepeu and Gucumatz talked together. They talked then, discussing and deliberating; they agreed, they united their words and their thoughts.

(5) "The secret teaching explains the reason for this reference by the symbolism of the prehistoric races. The 'First Cause' had no name in the beginnings. Later, it was pictured in the fancy of the thinkers as an ever invisible Bird that dropped an Egg into Chaos, which Egg became the Universe. Hence, Brahm was called 'Kalahansa,' the Swan of Eternity which laid at the beginning of each Mahamanvantara a 'Golden Egg.' It typifies the great Circle, or O, itself a symbol for the universe and its spherical bodies. * * * The first manifestation of the Kosmos in the form of an egg was the most widely diffused belief of antiquity. It was a symbol adopted among the Greeks, the Syrians, Persians, and Egyptians. In the Egyptian Ritual, Seb, the god of Time and of the Earth, is spoken of as having laid an egg, or the Universe. Ra is shown like Brahma gestating in the Egg of the Universe. With the Greeks the Orphic Egg was a part of the Dionysiac and other mysteries, during which the Mundane Egg was consecrated and its significance explained. The Christians—especially the Greek and Latin Churches—have fully adopted this symbol, and see in it a commemoration of life eternal, or salvation and resurrection. This is found in and corroborated by the custom of 'Easter Eggs.' From the 'Egg' of the pagan Druids, to the red Easter Egg of the Slav, a cycle has passed. And, yet, whether in civilized Europe, or among the abject savages of Central America, we find the same archaic, primitive thought; if we only search for it and do not disfigure—in the haughtiness of our fancied mental and physical superiority—the original idea of the symbol." The concept of the World Soul, in some form of interpretation and under some one of many names, may be said to be practically universal. Among many of the ancient schools of philosophy it was taught that there was an Anima Mundi, or World Soul, of which all the individual souls were but apparently separated (though not actually separated) units. The conviction that Life was One is expressed through nearly all of the best of ancient philosophies; and, in fact, in subtly disguised forms, may be said to rest at the base of the best of modern philosophies.

(4) And the creation of all the four-footed animals and the birds being finished, they were told by the Creator and the Maker and the Forefathers: "Speak, cry, warble, call, speak each one according to your variety, each, according to your kind." So was it said to the deer, the birds, pumas, jaguars, and serpents. "Speak, then, our names, praise us, your mother, your father. Invoke then, Huracán, ChipiCaculhá, Raxa-Caculhá, the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of Earth, the Creator, the Maker, the Forefathers; speak, invoke us, adore us," they were told. But they could not make them speak like men; they only hissed and screamed and cackled; they were unable to make words, and each screamed in a different way.