Versions from the Popol Vuh: An Excerpt

And here in this root-place we call K’iche’

we’re going to write down the words,

we’re going to write down the ancient words,

which are the source of everything done

here in this root-place called K’iche’.

And we’re going to teach, tell, show how

the world was made, how light was brought

by the Maker, the Shaper,

the Sustainer, the Origin who is named

Hunahpu Possum, Hunahpu Coyote,

Great White Peccary, Wide-Eyed Coati,

Lofty Feathered Snake, Heart of the Lake,

Heart of the Sea, Great Potter

of Plate and Bowl, and also called Midwife,

Matchmaker, Gatherer, named Xpiyacoc,

Xmucane, Guardian, Sponsor,

two times a midwife, two times a matchmaker—

all told as the story is told in K’iche’.

They made everything, thought of everything,

and they did it with the clarity of their being,

with the clarity of their words.

And we’re going to write about this now

even as Christianity spreads around us,

even as they talk about the one God.

We’re going to write these words down now

because there’s no longer

anywhere to find them, no Popol Vuh,

no place to see the light beyond the sea,

the story of our lives in the place of shadows,

the story of the beginning of things here.

And we’re going to write this down

from the original book, because those who

would teach it have hidden themselves.

It will take a long time, a long writing

to adequately relate how the sky was lit

and earth covered. To relate the fourfold

cornering, measuring, staking, halving the cord,

stretching the cord across the sky,

across the earth, from corner to corner,

says the ancient book, by the Maker,

the Shaper, the parent of existence,

laborer, provider of breath, of blood,

sustainer, nurturer in the light, bringer

of the light, worrier, knowing custodian

anywhere there are skies, anywhere

there are earthly lakes and seas.