Blade House / Order Ants

“You will give to us the flowers as our prize early in the morning,” the boys
Hunahpu and Xbalanque were told by the Xibalbans.

“Very well. We will play ball again early in the morning,” they said. Then they
made their plans together.

Thus the boys entered into Blade House, the second trial of Xibalba. Here it was
desired that they would be sliced apart by the blades. They were to have died quickly in
their hearts. But they did not die. They spoke to the blades, instructing them in this way:

“Yours shall be the flesh of animals,” they said to the blades.

Thus they stopped moving. As one they all lowered the points of their blades.

And while they were passing the night in Blade House, they called out to all the
ants:

“Cutting ants, conquering ants, come! Go and get flower blossoms as prizes for
the lords.”

“Very well,” they said.

Then the ants went to get flowers from the garden of One Death and Seven Death.
Now the Xibalbans had previously instructed the guardians of their flowers:

“Look after our flowers with all vigilance. Do not allow them to be stolen. For by
these we have defeated the boys. What if they were able to obtain these as our prize?
Thus do not sleep all night.”

“Very well,” they said then.

But the guardians of the garden did not notice anything. They would just cry out
aimlessly in the branches of the trees. They just toddled along through the garden
repeating their song:

“Shpurpuwek, shpurpuwek,” said the one when he called.

“Puhuyu, puhuyu,” said the other, the whippoorwill by name, when he called.

These two were the guardians of the garden of One Death and Seven Death. They
didn’t notice the ants stealing that which they were guarding. They swarmed and
thronged, carrying away the flowers. They went to cut down flowers from the tops of
trees, gathering them together with those from below the trees. All this they did while the
guardians were crying out, not noticing that their tails and wings were being gnawed on
as well.

The flowers were thus loosened until they fell down to be gathered up. The four
bowls were thus quickly filled with their flowers. By dawn they had all been collected.

Then the messengers arrived to summon them:

“‘Come!’ says the lord. ‘May they straightaway bring hither our prize,’” the boys
were told.

“Very well,” they answered.

For they had collected the flowers into the four bowls. Thus they went, arriving
before the lords. Now the lords received the flowers with woeful faces. Thus the
Xibalbans were defeated. The boys had just sent ants, and in one night they had collected
the flowers in the bowls. Thus the Xibalbans all turned pale. Their faces were pallid
because of the flowers.

And so they summoned the flower guardians:

“For what reason have you allowed our flowers to be stolen? These flowers that
you see are ours,” the guardians were told.

“We noticed nothing, O lords. But our tails have surely suffered for it,” they
replied.

Then their mouths were split open as punishment for allowing that which they
were guarding to be stolen. Thus One Death and Seven Death were defeated by Hunahpu
and Xbalanque. And this is the reason why the mouths of whippoorwills gape wide open
to this day.

Then the ball was dropped into play again, but the game was even.


- Popol Vuh