72 pages • 2 hours read
AnonymousPopol Vuh
Nonfiction | Scripture | Adult | Published in 1554A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Section 10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
“Offerings Are Made to the Gods” Summary
Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam make humble offerings to Tohil, Auilix, and Hacavitz. In their poverty, they can only make offerings of what they find in the forest, which consists of pine resin, pitch, and flowers that they burn before the gods. Still, the gods are pleased and declare the first four men and their kin as chosen people. The gods foretell that the first four men and their kin will conquer the other nations. They instruct them thus, “Conquer many lands. This is your authority. It came from Tulan when you brought us here” (223). To set this into motion, the gods instruct the men to create a bundle with deer skin to pose as the gods. When the nations eventually come to ask the men where the gods are, the gods instruct the four men to direct them to the deerskin bundle. Meanwhile, the gods will pose as young boys to elude the nations.
With the nations heading towards them, Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam go into hiding, in order to watch them in secret. They make terrifying animal sounds to scare the nations during the journey. When the four men return to the gods to inquire about how they should defeat the other nations, the gods tell them that their hearts must be extracted and sacrificed.
“The Sacrificial Killings Begin” Summary
One by one, Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam would abduct the people of the nations from the road and kill them in the name of sacrifice. After they are killed, their skulls and blood are left on the roadside, leading the surviving members of the nation to assume that a wild animal has killed them. Eventually, the nations realize that the gods are behind this. The nations scheme to follow the footprints of Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam back to their homes to seek revenge. However, the footprints on the road are not clear as they appear more like animal prints. Then cloud, rain, and mud would also appear, obscuring their path. These obstacles make it difficult to locate Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam.
Finally, the nations discover a river where the gods would bathe. The gods are disguised as young boys until they bathe in the enchanted river that reveals their true identities. When the nations learn of this, they begin to plot how they can kill Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam.
“The Nations Plot to Seduce the Gods” Summary
The nations deduce that Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam are behind their abduction, as ordered by the gods. Thus, they scheme to seduce the gods so that they no longer favor the four men and their kin. The nations call upon the two fairest maidens in their group, Lady Lust and Lady Weeping to wash clothes in the river where the gods, disguised as young boys, have been spotted bathing. They instruct Lady Lust and Lady Weeping (known also as Lady Wailing) to seduce the gods. If the gods desire them, they are to offer themselves to Tohil, Auilix, and Hacavitz. If they do not do this, the nations will kill them upon their return. To prove that the maidens have given themselves to the gods, they must ask Tohil, Auilix, and Hacavitz to gift them a token to prove that they the maidens have coupled with the gods.
“The Seduction of Lady Lust and Lady Wailing” Summary
Lady Lust and Lady Weeping wash their clothes in the river where Tohil, Auilix, and Hacavitz are bathing. They offer themselves to the gods, but the gods are uninterested. When the gods inquire about the maidens’ origins, they confess that the nations have sent them there on a mission. They must return to their people with a sign that they have seen the faces of the gods. Tohil, Auilix, and Hacavitz realize that the nations intend for the maidens to seduce and disgrace them by tempting them into sinful fornication. The gods then inform Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam that they should paint three robes, “writing upon them your essence” (229). These robes will be given to the maidens and delivered to the nations.
“The Nations Are Defeated by the Painted Robes” Summary
According to the gods Tohil, Auilix, and Hacavitz, the four men must paint enchanted robes to gift to the nations as punishment for trying to seduce the gods. Balam Quitze paints the image of a jaguar on one robe. Balam Acab paints an eagle on another. Mahucutah paints hornets on the last robe. Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam deliver these painted robes to Lady Lust and Lady Weeping, who then bring the enchanted gifts back to the nations. When the maidens return, the people of the nations ask if they have seen the faces of the gods. The maidens confirm that they have indeed seen the faces of the gods and come bearing gifts from them. The lords of the nations are pleased with the gift and immediately put on the robes. Once all three robes are worn, the animals painted on the robes come to life and attack the nations. Furious at having been outsmarted by Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam, the nations plot to kill the four men and their kin.
“The Nations Are Humiliated” Summary
The nations arm themselves and make their way to the mountain, Hacavitz named after the god. This is where Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam, and their kin reside. The four men and their kin hear of this, and the gods learn of this as well.
At night, the nations sleep on the roadside, unprotected. Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam sneak up to the people of the nations while they sleep, stealing precious gems from their bodies, weapons, and armor. When the people of the nations awake, they find that their jewels are missing and curse the four men for having deceived them.
Meanwhile, Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam return to their citadel atop Hacavitz. They create a palisade around their citadel and fashion effigies of themselves, dressed in the nations’ stolen precious gems. When the nations arrive, they confuse the sight of the effigies for real people, giving the four men and their kin a slight advantage. However, the four men and their kin are still afraid and beg for advice from Tohil. Tohil reassures them that they should not be afraid, and gifts them hornets and wasps as weapons against the nations. The four men place the hornets and wasps inside four gourds that they attach to each corner of the citadel. With these weapons, the four men and their kin prepare to fight the nations as they arrive.
“The Nations Are Defeated” Summary
When the nations arrive at the citadel where Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam reside, they open the four gourds, releasing the hornets and wasps hiding inside them. The hornets and wasps attack the people of the nations, rendering them unable to fight. As they fall to the ground, Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam, along with their wives, attack the nations, killing them instantly, as they are unable to fight back. When the people of the nations attempt to escape, the hornets and wasps follow them until they are bitten to death. Finally, the few surviving people of the nations beg for mercy. Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam declare that they will be servants as punishment for their complicity in the violence. With the nations defeated, Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam can finally live in peace. On top of Hacavitz, they bear many children, proliferating the first of many Quiché people.
Section 10 Analysis
These sections establish Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam as the chosen people of the Quiché. The gods favor them over the nations, foretelling their successes over time. The gods also instruct the men to go forth and pursue their destiny to “Conquer many lands” (223). Thus, a series of traps are set for the nations’ defeat. As the four men consist of only a few people against the many people of the nations, they must gradually weaken the nations’ defenses by stripping them of access to the gods, their dignity, and entry into the four men’s citadel.
In “The Nations Are Defeated by the Painted Robes” and “The Nations Are Humiliated,” the nations’ attempt to best Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam is foiled by the gods. The nations endeavor to seduce the gods and render them vulnerable. According to Christenson’s interpretation of the maidens’ seduction, he states that the nations hope to “defeat the gods by enticing them into an act that would destroy their power in some way (228-9). Given the strict moral sensibilities surrounding Quiché attitudes towards sex, especially when it comes to premarital sexual relations, the gods’ participation in sexual activity with the maidens would be a violation of societal codes of decency. It would also lessen their authority in this way.
However, the gods are unmoved by these mortal attempts at defeating them. They task Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam to enchant three painted robes, each featuring a terrifying animal that will come to life when worn. Lacking caution, the nations immediately put on the three robes and are attacked by the animals painted upon the clothing. As in the Xibalban trials of One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu, and later, Hunahpu and Xbalanque as well, success over one’s enemy requires scrutiny and wariness at all times. One Hunahpu, Seven Hunahpu, Hunahpu, and Xbalanque are successful at times because they do not immediately accept the Xibalban lords’ offers and invitations at face value.
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