And the Lords of Xibalba, hearing them, said: "Who are they who play again over our heads and disturb us with the noise they make? Perchance Hun-Hunahpú and Vucub-Hunahpú did not die, those who wished to exalt themselves before us? Go at once and call them!"
So said Hun-Camé, Vucub-Camé, and all the lords. And sending the messengers to call them, they said to them: "Go and tell them when you get there: 'Let them come,' the lords have said; we wish to play ball with them here, within seven days we wish to play; tell them so when you arrive," thus said the lords. This was the command which they gave to the messengers. And they came then by the wide road which the boys had made that led directly to their house; by it the messengers arrived directly before [the boys'] grandmother. They were eating when the messengers from Xibalba arrived.
"Tell them to come, without fail, the lords commanded," said the messengers of Xibalba. And the messengers of Xibalba indicated the day: "Within seven days they will await them," they said to Xmucané.
"It is well, messengers; they will go," the old woman answered. And the messengers set out on their return.
Then the old woman's heart was filled with anxiety. "Who shall I send to call my grandchildren?[166] Was it not in this same way that the messengers of Xibalba came before, when they came to take the [boys'] parents?" said the grandmother, entering her house, alone and grieving.
And immediately a louse fell into her lap. She seized it and put it in the palm of her hand, and the louse wriggled and began to walk.
"My child, would you like that I sent you away to call my grandchildren from the ball-court?" she said to the louse. "'Messengers have come to your grandmother,' tell them; 'come within seven days, tell them to come, said the messengers of Xibalba; thus your grandmother told me to say,'" thus she told the louse.
At once the louse swaggered off. Sitting on the road was a boy called Tamazul,[167] or the toad.
"Where are you going?" the toad said to the louse.
"I am carrying a message in my stomach. I go to find the boys," said the louse to Tamazul.
"Very well, but I see that you do not go quickly," said the toad to the louse. "Do you not want me to swallow you? You shall see how I run, and so we shall arrive quickly."
"Very well," the louse said to the toad. Immediately the toad swallowed him. And the toad walked a long time, but without hurrying. Soon he met a large snake, called Zaquicaz.[168]
"Where are you going, young Tamazul?" said Zaquicaz to the toad.
"I go as a messenger; I carry a message in my stomach," said the toad to the snake.
"See that you do not walk quickly. Would I not arrive sooner?" the snake said to the toad. "Come here," he said. At once Zaquicaz swallowed the toad. And from then on this was the food of snakes, who still today swallow toads.
[166] Naqui x-chi v'u chah qui taquic ri viy? in the original.
[167] Tamazul u bi, ri xpek. The author here uses the Náhuatl word Tamazul to designate this particular toad, thus showing the old Toltec influence still remaining in the minds of the Indians of Guatemala.
[168] Literally, white armadillo. A very large snake which makes a great deal of noise when it crawls away. Santa Mania, Diccionario Cakchiquel.
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