Sun and Moon

Now their fathers, One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu, had died long ago. They
now went, therefore, to see the face of their father there at Xibalba. Their father spoke to
them when Xibalba was defeated.

HERE now is the adornment of their father by them, along with the adornment of
Seven Hunahpu. For they went to adorn them at Crushing Ballcourt.

They merely wanted his face to be restored. Thus they asked him to name
everything—his mouth, his nose, and his eyes. He was able to recover the first name, but
then little more was said. He did not say the corresponding names for that which is above
the mouth. Still, this had been said, and thus they honored him.

Thus the heart of their father was left behind at Crushing Ballcourt. His sons then
said to him:

“Here you will be called upon. It shall be so.”

Thus his heart was comforted.

“The child who is born in the light, and the son who is begotten in the light shall
go out to you first. They shall worship you first. Your name shall not be forgotten.
Thus be it so,” they said to their father when they comforted his heart.

“We are merely the avengers of your death and your loss, for the affliction and
misfortune that were done to you.” Thus was their counsel when they had defeated all
Xibalba.

Then they arose as the central lights. They arose straight into the sky. One of them
arose as the sun, and the other as the moon. Thus the womb of the sky was illuminated
over the face of the earth, for they came to dwell in the sky.

The four hundred boys who had died at the hands of Zipacna also rose up to
become their companions. They became a constellation of the sky.

THIS, then, is the beginning of the conception of humanity, when that which
would become the flesh of mankind was sought. Then spoke they who are called She
Who Has Borne Children and He Who Has Begotten Sons, the Framer and the Shaper,
Sovereign and Quetzal Serpent:

“The dawn approaches, and our work is not successfully completed. A provider
and a sustainer have yet to appear—a child of light, a son of light. Humanity has yet to
appear to populate the face of the earth,” they said.

Thus they gathered together and joined their thoughts in the darkness, in the night.
They searched and they sifted. Here they thought and they pondered. Their thoughts
came forth bright and clear. They discovered and established that which would become
the flesh of humanity. This took place just a little before the appearance of the sun, moon,
and stars above the heads of the Framer and the Shaper.


- Popol Vuh