Skull Spit

THIS, therefore, is the account of a maiden, the daughter of the lord named
Gathered Blood.

A MAIDEN, the daughter of a lord, had heard of it. Gathered Blood was the name
of her father, while the name of the maiden was Lady Blood.

When she heard the account of the fruit of the tree as told by her father, she was
amazed by the tale:

“Can I not come to know it by seeing the tree that has been spoken of? I hear that
its fruit is truly delicious,” she said.

Thus she went alone beneath the tree that was planted at Crushing Ballcourt:

“Ah! What is the fruit of this tree? Is not the fruit borne by this tree delicious? I
would not die. I would not be lost. Would it be heard if I were to pick one?” asked the
maiden.

Then spoke the skull there in the midst of the tree:

“What is it that you desire of this? It is merely a skull, a round thing placed in the
branches of trees,” said the head of Hunahpu when it spoke to the maiden. “You do not
desire it,” she was told.

“But I do desire it,” said the maiden.

“Very well then, stretch out hither your right hand so that I may see it,” said the
skull.

“Very well,” said the maiden.

And so she stretched upward her right hand before the face of the skull. Then the
skull squeezed out some of its saliva, directed toward the hand of the maiden. When she
saw this, she immediately examined her hand. But the saliva from the skull was not in her
hand.

“My saliva, my spittle, is merely a sign that I have given to you. This head of
mine no longer functions, for it is merely a skull that cannot work. The head of a truly
great lord has good flesh upon his face. But when he dies, the people become frightened
because of his bones. In like manner, his son is like his saliva, his spittle. He is his
essence. If his son becomes a lord, or a sage, or a master of speech, then nothing will
have been lost. He will go on, and once more become complete. The face of the lord will
not be extinguished nor will it be ruined. The warrior, the sage, the master of speech will
remain in the form of his daughters and his sons.

“Thus may it be so, as I have done to you. Climb, therefore, up there to the face of
the earth. You will not die, for you have entered into a promise. Thus be it so,” said the
skull of One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu.

Now in this they merely carried out the thoughts and words of Huracan, Youngest
Thunderbolt, and Sudden Thunderbolt.

Thus the maiden returned again to her home, having been given many
instructions. Straightaway her children were created in her womb by the mere saliva.
Thus was the creation of Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

Now when the maiden had arrived at her home and six moons were completed,
she was noticed by her father, Gathered Blood by name.

[...]

Then arrived the woman, Lady Blood by name, who came to the mother of One
Batz and One Chouen. Her children were still in her womb, however, it wasn’t long
before the birth of Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

So then the woman came to the Grandmother. She said to the Grandmother:

“I have come, thou lady,” she said when she arrived there with the
Grandmother. “I am thy daughter-in-law and thy child, thou lady.”

“From where have you come? Do my children yet exist? Did they not die in
Xibalba? Only these two are left as their sign and their word. One Batz and One
Chouen are their names. If you see that you have come, go back the same way,” the
maiden was told by the Grandmother.

“But it is true that I am thy daughter-in-law. These are surely his. These that I am
carrying belong to One Hunahpu. One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu are alive. They are
not dead. That which they have done is merely a manifestation of their light, thou
mother-in-law. Thus you shall see it. You shall see his face in these that I am carrying,”
she told the Grandmother.


- Popol Vuh