Tepeu and Gucumatz
Creator gods of the Popol Vuh; Gucumatz means “Feathered Serpent.”
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 cut u tiqeric ta x-naohix vinak, ta x-tzukux puch ri ch’oc u tiohil vinak. X-e cha cut ri Alom, Qaholom, e Tzakol, Bitol, Tepeu, Gucumatz, qui bi: Mi-x-yopihic u zakiric; mi-x-tzak utzinic, mi pu x-galeic tzukul, cool, zakil al, zakil qahol; mi-x-gale vinak, u vinakil u vach uleu, x-e cha. X-molomanic, x-ulic; x-be qui naoh chi gekumal, chi agabal: ta x-qui tzukuh, x-qui pukuh puch x-e naohinic x-e bizon puch varal. Quehecut x-el vi aponoc qui naoh zakil calal: x-qui riqo, x-qui canaizah puch ri x-oc u tiohil vinak. Xa zcaquin chic mavi ca vachin gih, iq, chumil pa qui vi e Tzakol, Bitol.
This is the beginning of the time when humans were planned, and when the gods searched for what would become human flesh. The Bearer and Begetter, the Maker and Modeler, Tepeu and Gucumatz, as they are called, said: “The dawn is near. Our work must be finished. Let there be someone to provide for us and sustain us, a child of light, a son of light. Let humans appear, people on the face of the earth.” So they gathered and came together. They thought in the darkness, in the night. They searched and sifted, they thought and worried. Then their thoughts came out clear and bright. They found and discovered what would become human flesh. It was only a little while before the sun, the moon, and the stars appeared above the Makers and Modelers.
X-e uchaxic rumal u Qux Cah, Hurakan, Chipi-Cakulha, Raxa-Cakulha, Tepeu, Gucumatz, Alom, Qaholom, Xpiyacoc, Xmucane, Tzakol, Bitol, que u chaxic ta x-qui ban cut u qoheic chic qui tzak qui bit. Xa cu x-u abax u bak qui vach rumal ri u Qux cah, x-moyic queheri x-uxlabix u vach lemo: x-moyomobic u bak qui vach; xa nakah chic x-e mucun vi, xere chi calah ri e qo-vi.
So spoke Heart of Sky, Hurakan, Chipi-Cakulha, Raxa-Cakulha, Tepeu and Gucumatz, the Bearer and Begetter, Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the Maker and Modeler, as they are called, when they remade the nature of the people they had made. Then Heart of Sky blew mist into their eyes. Their eyes clouded over, like the face of a mirror when someone breathes on it. Their eyes grew dim. Now they could see only what was near. Only what was close around them was clear.