(1) This was the first test of Xibalba. The Lords of Xibalba thought that [the boys'] entrance there would be the beginning of their downfall. After a while [the boys] entered the House of Gloom; immediately lighted sticks of fat pine were given them and the messengers of HunCamé also took a cigar to each one. "'These are their pine sticks,' said the lord; 'they must return them at dawn, tomorrow, together with the cigars, and you must bring them back whole,' said the lord." So said the messengers when they arrived.

(8) Hun-Hunahpú and Vucub-Hunahpú entered the House of Gloom. There they were given their fat-pine sticks, a single lighted stick which Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé sent them, together with a lighted cigar for each of them which the lords had sent. They went to give them to Hun-Hunahpú and Vucub-Hunahpú. They found them crouching in the darkness when the porters arrived with the fat-pine sticks and the cigars. As they entered, the pine sticks lighted the place brightly.

(2) "Very well," [the boys] replied. But they really did not [light] the sticks of pine, instead they put a red-colored thing in place of them, or some feathers from the tail of the macaw, which to the night watches looked like lighted pine sticks. And as for the cigars, they attached fireflies to their end. All night [everybody] thought they were defeated. "They are lost," said the night watchmen. But the pine sticks had not been burned and looked the same, and the cigars had not been lighted and looked the same as before. They went to tell the lords. "How is this? Whence have they come? Who conceived them? Who gave birth to them? This really troubles us, because it is not well what they do. Their faces are strange, and strange is their conduct." they said to each other. Soon all the lords summoned [the boys]. "Eh! Let us play ball, boys!" they said. At the same time they were questioned by Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé: "Where did you come from? Tell us, boys!" said the Lords of Xibalba. "Who knows whence we came! We do not know," they said, and nothing more. "Very well. Let us play ball, boys," said the Lords of Xibalba. "Good," they replied.

(7) "Come and sit down on our bench," they said. But the bench which they offered them was of hot stone, and when they sat down they were burned. They began to squirm around on the bench, and if they had not stood up they would have burned their seats. The Lords of Xibalba burst out laughing again; they were dying of laughter; they writhed from pain in their stomach, in their blood, and in their bones, caused by their laughter, all the Lords of Xibalba laughed. "Go now to that house," they said. "There you will get your sticks of fat pine and your cigar and there you shall sleep." Immediately they arrived at the House of Gloom. There was only darkness within the house. Meanwhile the Lords of Xibalba discussed what they should do. "Let us sacrifice them tomorrow, let them die quickly, quickly, so that we can have their playing gear to use in play," said the Lords of Xibalba to each other. Well, their fat-pine sticks were round and were called zaquitoc, which is the pine of Xibalba. Their fat-pine sticks were pointed and filed and were as bright as bone; the pine of Xibalba was very hard.

(4) They made then, a great bonfire, a kind of oven; the men of Xibalba made it and filled it with thick branches. Shortly afterward the messengers arrived who had to accompany [the boys], the messengers of Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé. "'Tell them to come. Go and get the boys; go there so that they may know we are going to burn them.' This the lords said, oh, boys!" the messengers exclaimed. "It is well," they answered. And setting out quickly, they arrived near the bonfire. There [the Lords of Xibalba] wanted to force the boys to play a mocking game with them. "Let us drink our chicha and fly four times, each one [over the bonfire] boys!" was said to them by Hun-Camé.

(4) They [the boys] were in there, then, but they slept inside their blowguns. And they were not bitten by those who were in the house. Nevertheless, one of them had to give up because of another Camazotz that came from the sky, and made him come into sight. The bats were assembled in council all night, and flew about: "Quilitz, quilitz," they said: So they were saying all night. They stopped for a little while, however, and they did not move and were pressed against the end of one of the blowguns. Then Xbalanqué said to Hunahpú: "Look you, has it begun already to get light?" "Maybe so. I am going to see," [Hunahpú] answered. And as he wished very much to look out of the mouth of the blowgun, and wished to see if it had dawned, instantly Camazotz cut off his head and the body of Hunahpú was decapitated. Xbalanqué asked again: "Has it not yet dawned?" But Hunahpú did not move. "Where have you gone, Hunahpú? What have you done?" But he did not move, and remained silent. Then Xbalanqué felt concerned and exclaimed: "Unfortunate are we. We are completely undone." They went immediately to hang the head [of Hunahpú] in the ball-court by special order of Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé, and all the people of Xibalba rejoiced for what had happened to the head of Hunahpú.

(9) "Each of you light your pine sticks and your cigars; come and bring them back at dawn, you must not burn them up, but you must return them whole; this is what the lords told us to say." So they said. And so they were defeated. They burned up the pine sticks, and they also finished the cigars which had been given to them. There were many punishments in Xibalba; the punishments were of many kinds. The first was the House of Gloom, Quequma-ha, in which there was only darkness. The second was Xuxulim-ha, the house where everybody shivered, in which it was very cold. A cold, unbearable wind blew within. The third was the House of Jaguars, Balami-ha, it was called, in which there were nothing but jaguars which stalked about, jumped around, roared, and made fun. The jaguars were shut up in the house. Zotzi-há, the House of Bats, the fourth place of punishment was called. Within this house there were nothing but bats which squeaked and cried and flew around and around. The bats were shut in and could not get out. The fifth was called Chayim-há, the House of Knives, in which there were only sharp, pointed knives, silent or grating against each other in the house.

(11) "Now you see, grandmother! They have gone to the forest. What have you done, grandmother of ours? We may make this trial but four times and only three are left. Let us call them [back again] with flute and with song, but you, try to control your laughter. Let the trial begin!" said Hunahpú and Xbalanqué.

(515) made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent. You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners. Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave? True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads? And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows? Yes, he said. And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them 1 ? Very true. And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow? No question, he replied. To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. That is certain. And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of

(105) But it is not my purpose to make any trial at all of it, because I know not how to manage the fire; neither do I know the colours or tinctures of the qualifying or fountain spirits in their outermost birth or geniture, which are two great defects; but I know them according to (another or) the regenerate man, which stands not in the palpability.

(5) "Do not try to deceive us,"[the boys] answered. "Perchance, we do not know about our death, oh lords! And that this is what awaits us here? "And embracing each other, face to face, they both stretched out their arms, bent toward the ground and jumped into the bonfire, and thus the two died together. All those of Xibalba were filled with joy, shouting and whistling they exclaimed: "Now we have overcome them. At last they have given themselves up."

(2) That is why they did not die; they were still alive when it dawned. Surely what the Lords of Xibalba wanted was that they would die; but it was not thus, and when it dawned, they were still full of health, and they went out again, when the messengers came to get them. "How is this? They are not dead yet?" said the Lords of Xibalba. They were amazed to see the deeds of Hunahpú and Xbalanqué. Presently the boys [entered] the House of Jaguars. The house was full of jaguars. "Do not bite us! Here is what belongs to you," [the boys] said to the jaguars. And quickly they threw some bones to the animals, which pounced upon the bones. "Now surely they are finished. Now already they have eaten their own entrails. At last they have given themselves up. Now their bones have been broken, "so said the guards, all happy because of this. But they [the boys] did not die. As usual, well and healthy, they came out of the House of Jaguars. "What kind of people are they? Where did they come from?" said all the Lords of Xibalba.

(3) Presently they [the boys] entered into the midst of fire in the House of Fire, inside which there was only fire; but they were not burned. Only the coals and the wood burned. And, as usual, they were well when it dawned. But what they [the Lords of Xibalba] wished was that [the boys] would die rapidly, where they had been. Nevertheless, it did not happen thus, which disheartened the Lords of Xibalba. Then they put them into the House of Bats. There was nothing but bats inside this house, the house of Camazotz, a large animal, whose weapons for killing were like a dry point, and instantly those who came into their presence perished.

(3) One night, the moths met together tormented by a desire to be united to the candle. They said: 'We must send someone who will bring us information about the obj ect of our amorous quest.' So one of them set off and came to a castle, and inside he saw the light of a candle. He returned, and according to his understanding, reported what he had seen. But the wise moth who presided over the gathering expressed the opinion that he understood nothing about the candle. So another moth went there. He touched the flame with the tip of his wings, but the heat drove him oflF. His report being no more satisfying than that of the first, a third went out. This one, intoxicated with love, threw himself on the flame; with his forelegs he took hold of the flame and united himself joyously with her. He embraced her completely and his body became as red as fire. The wise moth, who was watching from far off", saw that the flame and the moth appeared to be one, and he said: 'He has learnt what he wished to know; but only he understands, and one can say no more.'

(11) Instantly the Lords of Xibalba paled and their faces became livid because of the flowers. They sent at once for the guardians of the flowers. "Why did you permit them to steal our flowers? These which we see here are our flowers," they said to the guardians. "We noticed nothing, my lord. Our tails also suffered," they answered. And then the [lords] tore at their mouths as a punishment for having let that which was under their care be stolen. Thus were Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé defeated by Hunahpú and Xbalanqué. And this was the beginning of their deeds. From that time the mouth of the owl is divided, cleft as it is today. Immediately they went down to play ball, and also they played several tie-matches. Then they finished playing and agreed to play again the following day at dawn. So said the Lords of Xibalba. "It is well," said the boys upon finishing.

(90) And the judgement was held first over the stars, and they were judged and found guilty, and went to the place of condemnation, and they were cast into an abyss, full of fire and flaming, and full of pillars of fire.

(13) Afterwards, in another thirty days and nights they came to a sheep, fat and white-jawed, and they slaughtered it; and fire was extracted by them out of the wood of the lote-plum and box-tree, through the guidance of the heavenly angels, since both woods were most productive of fire for them; and the fire was stimulated by their mouths; and the first fuel kindled by them was dry grass, kendâr, lotos, date palm leaves, and myrtle; and they made a roast of the sheep.

(5) And offended by their defeat, the men of Xibalba immediately said: "What shall we do in order to overcome them?" And turning to the boys they said to them: "Go gather and bring us, early tomorrow morning, four gourds of flowers." So said the men of Xibalba to the boys. "Very well. And what kind of flowers?" they asked the men of Xibalba. "A branch of red chiptlín, a branch of white chiptlín, a branch of yellow chiptlín, and a branch of carinimac," said the men of Xibalba. "Very well," replied the boys. Thus the talk ended; equally strong and vigorous were the words of the boys. And their hearts were calm when they gave themselves up to be overcome. The Lords of Xibalba were happy, thinking that they had already defeated them. "This has turned out well for us. First they must cut them [the flowers]," said the Lords of Xibalba. "Where shall they go to get the flowers?" they said to themselves. "Surely you will give us our flowers tomorrow early; go, then, to cut them," the Lords of Xibalba said to Hunahpú and Xbalanqué. "Very well," they replied. "At dawn we shall play ball again," they said upon leaving.

(14) And he awoke from his sleep, and he arose, and the sun had set ; and there was a flame, and behold a furnace was smoking, and a flame of fire passed between the pieces.

(8) Previously [the lords] had warned the guards of the flowers of Xibalba: "Take care of our flowers, do not let them be taken by the boys who shall come to cut them. But how could [the boys] see and cut the flowers? Not at all. Watch, then, all night!" "Very well," they answered. But the guards of the garden heard nothing. Needlessly they shouted up into the branches of the trees in the garden. There they were all night, repeating their same shouts and songs. "Ixpurpuvec! Ixpurpuvec!" one shouted. "Puhuyú! Puhuyú!" the other answered.