After this catastrophe, ere yet the earth was quite recovered from
the wrath of the gods, there existed a man "full of pride," whose name
was Vukub-Cakix. The name signifies "Seven-times-the-colour-of-fire,"
or "Very brilliant," and was justified by the fact that its owner's
eyes were of silver, his teeth of emerald, and other parts of his
anatomy of precious metals. In his own opinion Vukub-Cakix's existence
rendered unnecessary that of the sun and the moon, and this egoism
so disgusted the gods that they resolved upon his overthrow. His two
sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan (earth-heaper [4] (?) and earthquake),
were daily employed, the one in heaping up mountains, and the
other in demolishing them, and these also incurred the wrath of
the immortals. Shortly after the decision of the deities the twin
hero-gods Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque came to earth with the intention of
chastising the arrogance of Vukub-Cakix and his progeny.
Now Vukub-Cakix had a great tree of the variety known in Central
America as "nanze" or "tapal," bearing a fruit round, yellow, and
aromatic, and upon this fruit he depended for his daily sustenance. One
day on going to partake of it for his morning meal he mounted to
its summit in order to espy the choicest fruits, when to his great
indignation he discovered that Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque had been before
him, and had almost denuded the tree of its produce. The hero-gods,
who lay concealed within the foliage, now added injury to theft by
hurling at Vukub-Cakix a dart from a blow-pipe, which had the effect
of precipitating him from the summit of the tree to the earth. He
arose in great wrath, bleeding profusely from a severe wound in the
jaw. Hun-Ahpu then threw himself upon Vukub-Cakix, who in terrible
anger seized the god by the arm and wrenched it from the body. He then
proceeded to his dwelling, where he was met and anxiously interrogated
by his spouse Chimalmat. Tortured by the pain in his teeth and jaw he,
in an excess of spite, hung Hun-Ahpu's arm over a blazing fire, and
then threw himself down to bemoan his injuries, consoling himself,
however, with the idea that he had adequately avenged himself upon
the interlopers who had dared to disturb his peace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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