sea murmured; there was nothing but immobility and silence in the darkness—in the night.[331] The Creator, the Former, the Dominator—the feathered serpent—those that engender, those that give being, moved upon the water as a glowing light. Their name is Gucumatz, heart of heaven—God. “Earth,” they said, and in an instant it was formed and rose like a vapor cloud; immediately the plains and mountains arose and the cypress and pine appeared. Then Gucumatz was filled with joy, and cried out, “Blessed be thy coming, O Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, thunderbolt!”[332] Animals were next formed, but because they could not praise their Maker they were doomed to become objects of prey. Four creations of men then followed. The first man was made of clay, but he had no intelligence and he was consumed in the water. Upon a second trial a man and a woman were made of a sort of pith, but they too were unsatisfactory experiments; though they had life and peopled the earth, they were very inferior, living like beasts and forgetting the Heart of Heaven. The Creator then destroyed them with a flood of resin, allowing only a few to escape, that now exist as little apes in the woods. The persons of the Godhead, enveloped in the darkness which enshrouded a desolated world, counseled concerning the creation of a more perfect order, and as a result they formed four perfect men named: Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam. These men were miraculously formed of white and yellow maize, and the Creator was content with his labors. “Verily, at last, were there found men worthy of their origin and their destiny; verily, at last, did the gods look upon beings who could see with their eyes and handle with their hands and understand with their hearts, grand of countenance and broad of limb, the four sires of our race stood up under the white rays of the morning star—sole light as yet of the primeval world—stood up and looked. Their great clear eyes swept rapidly over all; they saw the woods and rocks, the lakes and the sea, the mountains and the valleys, and the heavens that were above all; and they comprehended all and admired exceedingly. Then they returned thanks to those who had made the world and all therein was: we offer up our thanks, twice—yea, verily, thrice; we have received life, we speak, we walk, we taste, we hear and understand, we know both that which is near and that which is far off, we see all things, great and small, in all the heaven and earth. Thanks, then, Maker and Former, Father and Mother of our life, we have been created—we are.”[333] These four creatures were considered too perfect by the gods, and in order that their omniscience might be destroyed, they breathed a cloud of mist over their vision. To each of these men wives were made while they slept. A fourth creation seems to have taken place by which the ancestors of other races were formed.