by Tom Rich
Hardly the words of a child, thought Aly. She lifted her gaze, found the girl’s eyes on her own. Aly looked to the guardian. The woman’s eyes were not on Aly, nor on the flame or even on her ward. They were nowhere, making her not present at the fire, not present in the moment.
Tencho’s eyes were closed: his posture too rigid to be asleep.
The old storyteller, still standing, hovered like an ash above the fire waiting for an updraft to shoot him skyward.
“Before the sun shone on the face of the earth,” said the girl, “there was only the faint illumination through the feathers of Quetzal Serpent.”
Aly narrowed her eyes. “The serpent clad in fine green feathers, right? Re-generator of life?”
The girl searched Aly’s face. “I will tell you of Ukit Took.”
“Ukit Took,” repeated Aly. She looked at Tencho. “That’s the name on the missing stela.”
Tencho nodded, almost imperceptibly.
There was another branch on the fire. Several points of the knobby stick rested directly on the embers. The points flared simultaneously. Blue flame spread like liquid to engulf the entire branch. A shadow reappeared on the trees behind the girl. She told the following story:
~ ~ ~
The names of those who created the world are Framer, Shaper, She Who Has Borne Children, He Who Has Begotten Sons, Sovereign and Quetzal Serpent.
Soon after Creators finished the work of Creation, they desired people who could worship them by speaking their names. So Creators fashioned deer and birds, puma and jaguars, serpents, coyotes, possum and peccary. But when the animals were told to speak the names of Creators, they only made grunts of mating, whines of hunger and roars of warning. Creators brought these failed creatures low so that their only reason to live was to provide flesh to be eaten. So birds and deer were captured and roasted until golden with their juices running down. Some few birds and deer escaped. They wandered for a long, long time. So long that when they reached Copan River Valley, there were people living there. People they feared would eat them. But the people of Copan Valley saw something other than flesh to be eaten. They honored the birds for their song, and the deer for their grace. In this way these people, who were created from maize, discovered music and dance, and so perfected the work of those who had created them.
Soon after their first failure, Creators fashioned people from mud. These people spoke, but babbled without knowledge, and had not the ability to turn their necks. Their faces pointed in one direction only. Creators sought to undo this second mistake by rendering the mud people back into the earth with a great rain. Some few escaped and wandered far and long, and when they entered Copan Valley, they found people whom they feared would also render them back into the earth. But the Winaq—which means the People—saw something other than senseless babblers. They honored the faces pointing only one way as captured essences. In this way the Winaq learned the art of sculpture, thus making more perfect the work of Creators.
Following their first two failures, Creators then called effigies of wood to stand forth from the trees. These effigies looked like people, and spoke like people, but they fell to the ground and could only crawl. They possessed neither hearts nor minds. Creators called down a great flood to destroy this third mistake. But some few escaped to Copan Valley. The people they found there did not destroy them, but honored them for their flaws, and gave them as playthings to their children. And so the children learned to always keep a part of childhood with them, even when grown to the age of responsibility and facing the harshness of life. In this way, the Winaq—those created from maize in Fourth Creation—completed the work of Creators.
Many centuries later, at the beginning of the Ninth Katun, Yax K’uk Mo’ arrived to Copan to found the dynasty that lasted 400 years. In this time Copan reached its pinnacle of greatness. A city already centuries in the making now saw pyramids erected to connect earth to sky.
Priests stood atop the tallest of these pyramids calling for the life force—k’ulel—to rain from sky gods into kings. Kings spilled blood of sacrificial victims and directed the k’ulel down the steps of pyramids and into gods of Underworld. Who in turn passed k’ulel into roots of maize plants, origin and sustenance of the people of Fourth Creation. In this way, for 400 years, Copan knew great prosperity.
Then comes Yax Pac, sixteenth king in House Yax K’uk Mo. The title he grants himself: First Dawned Sky Lightening God.
In this reign of Yax Pac comes the anger of gods.
Gods of Underworld heave and shake and split the earth apart. Through the cracks they raise mountains spewing torrents of fire. Bitterness spreads to the sky gods, who hold back rain for many seasons, only to return it with sky fire and raging winds. The gods’ rage so corrupts k’ulel that maize refuses to grow. Hunger steadily gives way to disease. The work of Copan’s unparalleled sculptors becomes so inferior that other cities refuse to trade food.
Prayers to Creators are unanswered.
Framer has turned his back.
Shaper refuses to emerge from hiding.
Sovereign, She Who Has Borne Children, and He Who Has Begotten Sons have withdrawn from Copan.
Even Quetzal Serpent, regenerator of life, withholds acknowledgement.
Yax Pac calls an assemblage before Hieroglyphic Stairway. By pain of death, not one of 50,000 citizens is permitted absence.
All arrive at the chosen hour before Hieroglyphic Stairway. Two thousand glyphs carved on this pyramid’s seventy steps display the history of House Yax K’uk Mo’.
Sunlight mixes with cinnabar in the stone to cast the steps in red, earthen smoke. The smoke appears to lift the Stairway from the ground. The sky—blue bowl home of Huracan, Heart of Sky; four-sided womb of earth; hushed, empty womb before all was created—shines brightly.
The sky darkens. Copan grows quiet. All eyes turn upward. All fear the sun—grace of Creators—has been bitten.
A black cloud billows forth from atop the Stairway. This blighted city, long suffering, fears final destruction. The cloud spits flaming darts that soar into the crowd below. Ropes of fire twist out flying end over end. Glowing-red stones spew from the blackness and bound sparking down the steps.
A white bird escapes the black cloud.
People on the ground point: a sign of hope as the bird soars high above the black pestilence.
A flaming arrow launches from the cloud. It overtakes and ignites the bird. The ball of fire continues its upward arc, then plunges to the crowd amid fearful wailing.
A thundering of drums silences the citizenry.
The black smoke parts.
Yax Pac steps forward as if out of the throat of pestilence.
Lancets for blood letting stand half drawn from the king’s belt. Jade plaques signifying battle victories hang at his sides. When he turns to regard his people, the head of a vanquished lord, its hair braided into Yax Pac’s, swings across his back.
All see that Yax Pac speaks no idle boasts.
All see the king’s headdress: an evil demon with a rapacious beak, its neck twisted, bared rodent teeth and inward-turning eyes of one who never speaks truth. Green feathers hang from this demon’s mouth. The message is clear even to those furthest away: Quetzal Serpent, regenerator of life, has been devoured!
Yax Pac raises his arms. When not at war the king’s hands would be empty. Yet Yax Pac brandishes his war axe.
The crowd stirs. War with other cities in its weakened state could finish Copan. Perhaps Yax Pac threatens war with the gods. Word spreads that the king’s ambitions have grown too great. “Seven Macaw aspired to be the sun,” quote the people from their lore, “thus brought about his ruin.” One citizen dares to raise his voice to warn the king. Other voices arise. “Do not make the mistake of Seven Macaw!”
Yax Pac hurls his axe from atop the pyramid.
He speaks:
“I, First Dawned Sky Lightening God, bring the light each day. I bring it not softly but with sky-bolts of fire.
&nb
sp; “The morning thunder is my voice.
“Hear, now, what I say.
“Copan’s k’ulel has grown weak. Such is the cause of the gods’ wrath. More blood must be offered. Blood must spill down these steps!”
The king holds his hands to encompass the seventy steps below his feet.
Several priests drag forward a blue-painted victim. Because there is no altar atop this pyramid for such practices, the victim is forced to lie prone at Yax Pacs’ feet. A priest hands the king a decapitator axe. Yax Pac drops to one knee and drives the blade through the victim’s neck. He stands, holds high the severed head.
Not one citizen cheers. Quiet shock grips the crowd as blood rushes over the top steps of Hieroglyphic Stairway. Yax Pac angrily flings the head and motions for another victim. He dispenses with all ceremony. There is only murder as he chops one head after another, spilling blood over Copan’s written history.
In the following weeks citizens attempt to clean blood from the Stairway. Sentries cut down all.
Life in Copan grows yet more sorrowful.
Yax Pac sends raiding parties to neighboring cities for victims for further indulgences. When the excesses of his raiding parties further destabilize Copan by bringing threats of war, Yax Pac announces the sacrifices must continue, even if victims come from his own citizens. Fear spreads throughout Copan. Citizens publicly accuse Yax Pac of failing to perform vital duties. The accusation infuriates Yax Pac. He decrees that failure on his part is not possible. Furthermore, to believe in the fallibility of the king is to announce that one is not truly of the People of the Maize, that one is a being of absolute corruption.
Those deemed corrupt are sought out and slaughtered. Blood no longer runs in ritual sacrifice, but spills in market places and homes. Entire families are put to the blade. Yax Pac’s soldiers herd many others onto Copan’s ballcourt; the sacred ground where players reenact Hero Twins’ defeat of Lord of Death. Wave after wave of arrows bring down screaming people.
The slaughter increases Yax Pac’s blood lust. Many citizens flee into the forest.
Of those who remain, one faction vows to save Copan from Yax Pac. The original kin group of Copan Valley, the Winaq—those alone to learn from Creators’ mistakes—has secretly kept their line pure throughout the centuries. They step forward, announcing the purity of their line as a claim to authority. They reveal that Ukit Took, one of Copan’s many court astronomers, is one of their own. Ukit Took pleads to Yax Pac to look to calendars for guidance. There the king would see that Fourth Creation has entered a time of darkness.
Desperate to gain support in his power struggle with the Council of Nobles, Yax Pac declares Ukit Took correct. He sends the astronomer to remind all citizens that Creation was a unified effort by many gods. That unity of purpose among People of the Maize has made Copan great. That only unity between king and citizens can hold Copan together during this terrible time.
Peace reigns briefly in Copan. But the Winaq insist Yax Pac should have seen the time of darkness coming.
Ukit Took manages to keep the Winaq from open revolt. But Yax Pac sees how the people’s belief in Ukit Took gives him power. Power Yax Pac feels undermining his own.
The day comes when Yax Pac sends for Ukit Took. The king’s guard raids the astronomer’s quarters in the palace complex, only to find it abandoned.
The Winaq have abducted Ukit Took. Moving him quickly between locations, they encourage citizens to join in overthrowing Yax Pac.
The king’s guard is not far behind. They sweep into residential areas smashing humble dwellings of mud and thatch. Soldiers torture citizens to learn of Ukit Took’s whereabouts. They put families to flame in their own hearths—hearths where they once cooked abundant offerings from Copan’s soil.
Fearing traitors in all ranks, Yax Pac orders his lieutenants to ransack the compounds of lords and nobles. Even the sanctity of Council House is violated. When all structures but the inner sanctum of the king’s Acropolis have been ripped apart, the lieutenants report Copan to be free of Ukit Took and his followers. This causes Yax Pac no satisfaction.
On a day the stench of burning human flesh fills the many courts and plazas and terraces of the city, Ukit Took desperately pleads to the Winaq that they lack the gods’ approval to usurp Yax Pac. He warns that making war against their king will provoke Thirteen Deity into blindfolding the sun in shame over their impudence. Such would bring greater disaster than People of Fourth Creation have yet known. The Winaq answer Ukit Took by taking him from Copan and fleeing into the forest.
Yax Pac smashes his own quarters with his war axe to demonstrate his anger to his lieutenants. The lieutenants lower their eyes awaiting the judgment of their king. Only Shadow Jaguar, hunter of jaguars, cloaked in the skin of his prey, keeps his eyes forward. The king raises his axe to make an example of Shadow Jaguar’s impudence. But Yax Pac sees cunning in Shadow Jaguar’s eyes. He lowers his axe.
Shadow Jaguar bows, raises to meet his king’s eyes. “I know the ways of the traitors. They travel at night thinking no one sees them. I will hunt them in darkness. The last thing they see will be my glowing-red eyes. Then I will bring you Ukit Took’s head.”
Yax Pac’s eyes hold Shadow Jaguar’s.
The other lieutenants stir. One by one they boast of knowing how to find Ukit Took and his followers.
Yax Pac swings his axe into the nearest chattering lieutenant’s head. He ends council by nodding to Shadow Jaguar.
Unlike other People of the Maize who fear to do so, the Winaq are skilled in traveling the night. They know Copan Valley’s many secrets, but are weak from long months of hunger. Pumas and jaguars drag off once fierce hunters. River crossings bring death from swift waters and the jaws of alligators. Fewer and fewer survivors keep Ukit Took from the king’s reach. Ukit Took pleads to be allowed to give himself up to spare his captors. He points to their continuing misfortunes as proof of the gods’ disfavor. The Winaq refuse. Of all the many priests and astronomers and day keepers with their myriad calendars and mathematics, they insist, only Ukit Took perceived Fourth Creation’s time of darkness. Only Ukit Took was chosen. Only Ukit Took can return life in Copan to the gods’ favor.
Shadow Jaguar and his small company of soldiers possess strength from Yax Pac’s hoard of maize. The jaguar-cloaked hunter’s eyes bore into the night. He soon finds evidence of his prey’s travels. He set traps in fruit groves and next to water sources. At each encounter, the Winaq manage to escape into the night. But Shadow Jaguar remains patient. He respects the secrets of the forest. He takes time to give thanks for all it offers. Thus each failed encounter reveals something about his prey’s relationship with its ever-narrowing world.
The Winaq feel the end of days coming. They conduct rituals in caves asking favors of Creators. But Framer and Shaper, She Who Has Borne Children and He Who Has Begotten Sons, Sovereign and Quetzal Serpent hear them not.
They make offerings to Tohil, god of debt and tribute, and to Auilix, god who watches over, but are rebuffed.
They ask Lady Blood—mother of Hero Twins, she who persuaded the guardians of food to turn one ear of maize into many—for sustenance. The Winaq remain hungry.
Even Hero Twins, Xbalanque and Hunaphu, vanquishers of Death, cannot be bothered.
Creators. Gods. Ancestors. All have forgotten the Winaq.
But others remember.
On a day when all seems lost, Shadow Jaguar moves in for the kill. Suddenly birds and deer cause the hunter pause by beguiling him with song and grace.
And so the Winaq escape to live another day.
Shadow Jaguar brandishes his cloak to chase away birds and deer.
He soon finds incriminating tracks on the ground. He moves in to finish the Winaq. It is then that the mud people show themselves from within the earth, causing the hunter to pause and reflect as his soul fills with wonder from experiencing the essence of forms.
And so Ukit Took escapes to live another day.
Shadow Jaguar
vows to not be further distracted. He chases his prey into a dry part of the forest. As he is about to end this hunt once and for all, effigies of wood stand forth from the trees. The innocence of childhood so overwhelms Shadow Jaguar that his hunt becomes a harmless game.
News of the failed hunter precedes his return to Copan. Citizens crowd behind Shadow Jaguar as he passes into the city. He hides neither shame nor empty hands. Yax Pac waits in the Great Plaza. Never before has this king stood among his people. Citizens hush as the hunter without prey lowers his eyes and drops to his knees.
All expect Yax Pac to decapitate Shadow Jaguar where he kneels.
But Yax Pac circles Shadow Jaguar. He draws his axe head lightly up and down the spotted pelt cloaked over the hunter’s back. Yax Pac places his axe head beneath Shadow Jaguar’s chin. He lifts gently. Their eyes met. Yax Pac smiles.
Five of the king’s guards make a ring around Shadow Jaguar. They remove the jaguar cloak and hand it to their king. Yax Pac regards it, admirably, then holds it for his men to admire. Each nods approval. Yax Pac clutches the black-spotted fur to his cheek. Four of the guard spread Shadow Jaguar on the ground. The fifth produces an obsidian blade and drops to his knees.
Shadow Jaguar struggles not to scream. But the flaying and peeling of his skin causes unbearable pain.
Yax Pac draws the spike of a sea nettle from his belt. He holds it up for his people to see. He hands the nettle to one of his men. Amid further screaming, the cloak is sewn onto Shadow Jaguar’s skinless back. Glowing-red coals are forced into his eyes.
Yax Pac leads his prey on a leash through the Great Plaza. A guard following behind thrusts flame between Shadow Jaguar’s legs to keep him crawling. The procession weaves between the many monuments in Plaza of the Stelae, then circles through the ballcourt. When Shadow Jaguar’s screams stop at the base of Hieroglyphic Stairway, Yax Pac retires to his Acropolis. Members of his guard drag the corpse throughout the city long after sunset. Citizens are forced to observe the nocturnal travels of this boaster of the night hunt; his eye sockets glowing with live coals.