the work of the maiden. It was called the "red tree of cochineal,"[134] but [since then] it has taken the name of Blood Tree because its sap is called Blood.[135]
"There on earth you shall be beloved and you shall have all that belongs to you," said the maiden to the owls.
"Very well, girl. We shall go there, we go up to serve you; you, continue on your way, while we go to present the sap, instead of your heart, to the lords," said the messengers.
When they arrived in the presence of the lords, all were waiting.
"You have finished?" asked Hun-Camé.
"All is finished, my lords. Here in the bottom of the gourd is the heart."
"Very well. Let us see," exclaimed Hun-Camé. And grasping it with his fingers he raised it, the shell broke and the blood flowed bright red in color.
"Stir up the fire and put it on the coals," said Hun-Camé.
As soon as they threw it on the fire, the men of Xibalba began to sniff and drawing near to it, they found the fragrance of the heart very sweet.
And as they sat deep in thought, the owls, the maiden's servants, left, and flew like a flock of birds from the abyss toward earth and the four became her servants
In this manner the Lords of Xibalba were defeated. All were tricked by the maiden.
[134] Chuh Cakché. The tree which the Mexicans called ezquahuitl, "tree of blood," and which the Europeans also know by the name "blood," Sangre de Dragón, Croton sanguifluus, a tropical plant, the sap of which has the color and density of blood. Vasquez de Espinosa describes it as follows: "There is another tree in this province of Chiapa and of Guatemala which is called dragon. They are tall like almonds, the leaf is white and the stem is of the same color, and if a knife is stuck into the tree anywhere it weeps blood which looks as natural as though it were human." Compendio y Descripcíon de las Indias Occidentales, Part I, Book V. In the Relación of his expedition to the Petén, Father Agustín Cano, cited by Ximénez (Historia de la Provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala, III, 17), says that to the north of Cahabón in Verapaz, "there are certain large trees which, when they are pierced, bleed like the dragon, and in the language of Cahabón they are called Pilix, and in chol Cancanté."
[135] Rumal quic holomax ch'u chaxic. Here the words which we have examined in a previous note are repeated, but in a slightly different sense. Quic is blood, the sap and resin of a tree, especially of the India rubber, or elastic rubber, which the ancient Maya and Quiché sometimes used as incense for their gods. The ball with which they played was also called quic. The name of the heroine of this episode was likewise Xquic, that of the feminine blood, or that of elastic rubber. Brasseur de Bourbourg (1869) calls it "la vierge Xquic, celle de la gomme élastique."
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