Maize Signal

“Speak!” the louse was told.

Thus he spoke his word:

“The Grandmother says to you boys, ‘Go and summon them. Messengers have
arrived from Xibalba, the messengers of One Death and Seven Death. ‘In seven days
they will come here to play ball with us. They must bring their gaming things—the
rubber ball, yokes, arm protectors, and leathers. They will liven up this place, say the
lords.’ ‘This is their word that has come,’ says your grandmother. ‘Thus you must come,’
the Grandmother truly says. Your grandmother weeps. She calls out that you must come.”

“Is it not true?” they asked in their hearts when they heard this. And immediately
they returned to advise their grandmother.

“SURELY we must go, our grandmother. But first we will advise you. This is the
sign of our word that we will leave behind. Each of us shall first plant an ear of unripe
maize in the center of the house. If they dry up, this is a sign of our death. ‘They
have died,’ you will say when they dry up. If then they sprout again, ‘They are alive,’ you
will say, our grandmother and our mother. This is the sign of our word that is left with
you,” they said.

Thus Hunahpu planted one, and Xbalanque planted another in the house. They did
not plant them in the mountains or in fertile ground. It was merely in dry ground, in the
middle of the interior of their home, that they planted them.

Then they left, each with his blowgun, and descended to Xibalba. They quickly
went down the steps, passing through various river canyons. They passed through the
midst of many birds. “Flocks” was the name of the birds.


- Popol Vuh