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 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
“The Maiden Lady Blood and the Tree of One Hunahpu” Summary
One day, the maiden daughter of the lord named Gathered Blood in Xibalba hears of the tale of One Hunahpu’s head bearing fruit in a tree. Intrigued, she sets off to find the tree at Crushing Ballcourt and immediately desires fruit from it. As One Hunahpu’s head has become indistinguishable from the fruit, Lady Blood’s desire extends to her desire for his head. In the tree, One Hunahpu hears her desire for him. He insists, “You do not desire it” (116), pointing out that a head in a tree is not something one ordinarily covets. Nevertheless, the maiden insists that she does indeed desire to know such fruit.
With Heart of Sky’s coaxing, One Hunahpu’s head relents and tells the maiden to stretch out her hand. She extends her right hand to the head and receives One Hunahpu’s saliva. One Hunahpu’s head explains that the head of a lord is not useful without the rest of his body. Therefore, he offers his spit to her so that it will impregnate her. She will bear his children as a way of continuing his legacy. Her children will one day be Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Lastly, he tells her to go up to the earth from the underworld and promises her that she will be safe.
At the end of the tale, the maiden returns home to her father, Gathered Blood.
“The Ascent of Lady Blood from Xibalba” Summary
When the maiden returns home to Gathered Blood, he finds out that she is pregnant. Gathered Blood seeks the advice of the lords of Xibalba, who instruct him to question his daughter about the pregnancy. If she does not confess to fornicating, she will be sacrificed. He takes their advice and questions his daughter who responds, “I have not known the face of any man” (119). The statement is true as she is impregnated by One Hunahpu’s skull and she does not know his true face. However, Gathered Blood takes it as an admission of having fornicated.
With instructions from the lords of Xibalba, four owls arrive to kill the maiden and place her heart in a bowl for the lords as proof of her death. The maiden pleads with the four owls to let her go as she is not a true fornicator. Rather, she is carrying the children of One Hunahpu’s skull. The owls show mercy and ask what they can do as they still must procure her heart for the lords of Xibalba. The maiden cleverly collects red sap from a tree to disguise as her blood and heart. She tells the owls that after they give her fake heart to the lords of Xibalba, they can live the rest of their lives on earth and no longer do the bidding of the lords of the underworld.
At Xibalba, the owls present the maiden’s false heart to the lords who set it before the fire to take in its fragrance. While they are smelling the blood, the owls ascend from the underworld to the earth.
“Lady Blood and the Miracle of the Maize” Summary
The maiden arrives at her mother-in-law, Xmucane’s home, explaining that she is her daughter-in-law and carrying One Hunahpu’s children. Xmucane dismisses her as One Hunahpu has died in Xibalba and cannot possibly father children from death. The maiden says that One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu are not dead as their death in the underworld is just “a manifestation of their light” (123) and that their legacy lives on through the faces of her children with One Hunahpu. Again, Xmucane does not believe her. Once more, the maiden insists.
As a test, Xmucane sends the maiden to the maizefield to collect a net’s worth of maize. If she is successful, then she is her true daughter-in-law. When the maiden arrives at the maizefield, she sees only one ripe ear of maize. The maiden is disheartened at first, but then calls upon the guardians of food for help. When she places her net under the single ear of maize and pulls at its corn silk, the maize begins to multiply in her net until, the maize overflows. When Xmucane sees this bounty, she believes it to be stolen at first since it is so plentiful. However, when she inspects the maize plant in her field and sees where the maiden had placed the net upon it, she knows that the maiden is telling the truth. She accepts the maiden as her daughter-in-law.
Section 4 Analysis
In “The Maiden Lady Blood and the Tree of One Hunahpu,” Lady Blood’s desire for fruit from the tree where One Hunahpu’s head hangs is a metonymic expression for her desire for One Hunahpu. On the tree, One Hunahpu’s skull hangs beside fruit that has flowered since his appearance on the tree, rendering his head indistinguishable from the fruit. While others in Xibalba are instructed not to eat the fruit for fear of accidentally consuming One Hunahpu’s head, the maiden is not deterred but rather intrigued. Although she explicitly states her desire for fruit, One Hunahpu’s head understands the underlying meaning as a desire for him. He asks, “What is it that you desire of this? It is merely a skull, a round thing placed in the branches of trees” (116), referring to himself in his dismembered state. His statement reveals the underlying meaning, and Lady Blood’s persistence with that knowledge in mind shows that she is cognizant of what desire for fruit implies.
Lady Blood demonstrates boldness and intelligence in her navigation of difficulties following her impregnation by One Hunahpu’s saliva. Her determination to see One Hunahpu’s head is part of a major transgression (fornication) against the Xibalban lords. She willfully pursues One Hunahpu, despite warnings to not approach the tree. Her insistence on meeting One Hunahpu, and the lack of regret following her impregnation, show that she is aware of the consequences of her actions under Xibalban rules. When asked if she has fornicated, she cleverly replies, “I have not known the face of any man” (119), which is a truthful statement given that One Hunahpu technically is a skull without a face. Her impregnation through One Hunahpu’s saliva does not qualify as true fornication or sinful action, as her body is still chaste. However, the lords of Xibalba read her words as insolence and punish her anyway. Their punishment of an innocent maiden then is the truly sinful action. As this is the case, she merits protection by the four messenger owls who take pity on her and permit her escape. She eventually wins the support of Heart of Sky as well.
Lady Blood further demonstrates her determination and intelligence in her encounter with Xmucane, who is initially wary of the maiden. When given an impossible task by Xmucane to turn a single ripe ear of corn into many, she enlists the help of animals and enchantment to assist her in her task. It is implied that she has access to animal guardians and enchantment due to her faithfulness to One Hunahpu in Xibalba. As animals and maize are part of the creator deities’ making, it is suggested that Heart of Sky is presiding over these events as he does over One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu’s descent into Xibalba.
Related Titles
By Anonymous
