Iqi-Balam
The fourth of the four men made of maize in the Popol Vuh.
The People Made of Maize
The Popol Vuh of the K’iche’ Maya, from the copy made by Francisco Ximénez, as printed by Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg (Paris, 1861) · a creation story; written down in Latin letters probably in the 1500s; the surviving copy made about 1700–1715
Vae qui bi nabe vinak x-e tzakic, x-e bitic; are nabe vinak ri Balam-Quitze: u cab Balam-Agab; r’ox chicut Mahucutah, u cah cut Iqi-Balam, are cu qui bi ri ka nabe chuch, cahau. Xa tzak, xa bit que u chaxic; ma habi qui chuch, mahabi qui cahau; xa utuquel achih chi ka byih. Mana ixok x-e alanic, ma-naipu x-e qaholanic rumal ri Ahtzak, Ahbit, ri Alom, Qaholom.
These are the names of the first people who were made and modeled. The first man was Balam-Quitze, the second Balam-Agab, the third Mahucutah, and the fourth Iqi-Balam. These are the names of our first mothers and fathers. They were simply called the Made and the Modeled. They had no mother and no father; we call them simply men. No woman gave birth to them, and the Builder and Modeler, the Bearer and Begetter, did not beget them as children.