Selections from Popol Vuh

Preamble
The Primordial World
The Creation of the Earth
The Creation of the Animals
The Fall of the Animals
The Creation of the Mud Person
The Creation of the Effigies of Carved Wood
The Fall of the Effigies of Carved Wood
The Creation of Humanity (180)
The Discovery of Maize
The First Four Men
The Miraculous Vision of the First Men
The Displeasure of the Gods
The Creation of the Mothers of the Quiche Nation
The Nations are Humiliated (233)
The Nations are Defeated
The Deaths of the Four Progenitors

In the Preamble, we learn that the Quiche is a place and a people, one that means “many trees” or “forest” and that the dawn of humanity is known as the “sowing” and was done by the Framer and the Shaper.

The Primordial World was silent and placid, only the sky existed at first and then the sea. Then in the Creation of the Earth, we learn that the word created the Earth by emptying out some of the sea and then leveling it, then the mountains were formed by the water, then covered with trees.

The Creation of the Animals were seen as guardians of the forest and populated the mountains. The Framer and the Shaper wanted them to speak and call out to worship them, but the animals could only moan and growl, so they were seen as insufficient and from that point on only useful as food.

The Framer and the Shaper tried again with the Mud Person, but it fell apart and dissolved. It spoke, but without knowledge. It dissolved in water and so it was unmade.

They tried again in Carved Wood. These effigies looked like people and spoke like people, and they populated the earth, but they did not have hearts or minds. They did not remember their Framer or Shaper and walked without purpose. They had no blood or oil or sweat, and they were stiff and rigid. They were killed by a flood, crushed, and ruined.

Then humanity is created, after they thought and pondered for a good long time in the night, thinking and shifting. Maize is then discovered and this becomes the flesh of the people. Water becomes their blood.
The first men were given frame and shape, but had no mother and no father. They were brought about by the spirit essence of the Framer and the Shaper. They were able to speak and converse, listen, look, and they had breath and became people with vision.

They were asked by the Framer and the Shaper what the nature of their existence was, and whether or not they could see, which they could. They could see everything, but the Gods were unhappy with this and so removed their vision because it was a mistake to let them see everything and be so close to Gods.

The Gods then created their companions, and their hearts rejoiced.

The Nations are then humiliated in their attempts to take over the Gods and in their hubris of wealth and beauty find themselves stripped of their gold and precious metals. Then they are defeated by “the warriors and the killers”. Rather than being completely killed they are made to be servents