So slight are the glimpses we have of that past, that the picture must be a shadowy outline at best; but it is worth while to trace even the outline, for the portrait will apply to the other inhabitants of Guatemala as well as to the Quichés. The wisdom of the kings was magic even to the Spanish annalists, and these tell of the “Rey portentoso” Gucumatz that, like the prophet Mohammed, he ascended into heaven, where he abode seven days; and that he descended into hell, where he tarried other seven days. He transformed himself into a serpent, a tigre, an eagle, and a mass of clotted blood, each change lasting seven days,—that mystic number of the Cabala and of European black art. “And surely,” says the Spaniard, “great was the respect he gained by these miracles before all the lords and all those of his kingdom.” Nothing puzzles the student more than the duplication and interchange of names; but let it be remembered that the Quiché names that have come to us are rather titles, and this is especially the case with Gucumatz, a word equivalent to the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, which is applied to any distinguished reformer or leader of his people. Cadmus and George Washington might both claim the title. I will translate from the “Popul Vuh,” using generally the Spanish version of Ximenes, as less influenced by the theories of the translator than the later one of Brasseur de Bourbourg. I begin with the creation of the world and of man. “Then the word came to Tepeu Gucumatz[37] in the shades of night; it spoke to Gucumatz and said to him: It is time to consult, to consider, to meet and hold counsel together, to join speech and wisdom to light the way and for mutual guidance. And the name of this is Huracan, the Voice which sounds: the Voice of Thunder is the first; the second is the Flash of Light; the Lightning is the third. These three are the Heart of Heaven, and they descended to Gucumatz at the moment when he was considering the work of creation. Know that this water will retire and give place to land, which shall appear everywhere; there shall be light in the heaven and on earth: but we have yet made no being who shall respect and honor us. They spoke, and the land appeared because of them.”