"Ah, we have no fire yet! We shall die of cold," they said. Then Tohil said to them: "Do not worry! Yours shall be the lost fire which is talked of. Yours shall be what is spoken of as lost fire," Tohil said to them.
"Really? Oh, God, our support, our maintenance, thou, our God!" they said, returning thanks.
And Tohil answered: "Very well, certainly I am your God; so shall it be! I am your Lord; so let it be!" Thus it was told to the priests and sacrificers by Tohil. And in this manner the tribes received fire and they were joyful because of it.
Instantly a great shower began to fall when the fire of the tribes was burning. Much hail fell on all the tribes and the fire was put out because of it, and again the fire was extinguished.
Then Balam-Quitzé and Balam-Acab again asked Tohil for fire. "Oh, Tohil, we are truly dying of cold!" they said to Tohil.
"Very well, do not worry," Tohil answered, and instantly he made fire, turning about in his shoe.[273]
Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam were at once happy and immediately they became warm.
Now, the fire of the peoples [of Vucamag] had also gone out and they were dying of cold. immediately they came to ask Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam for fire. They could no longer bear the cold nor the ice; they were shivering and their teeth were chattering; they were numb; their legs and hands shook and they could not hold anything in them, when they came.
"We are not ashamed to come before you, to beg for a little of your fire," they said. But they were not well received.[274] And then the tribes were very sad.
"The speech of Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam is different! Oh! We have given up our speech! What have we done? We are lost. How were we deceived? We had only one speech when we arrived there at Tulán; we were created and educated in the same way. It is not good what we have done," said all the tribes under the trees, under the vines.
Then a man came before Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam and [this man], who was a messenger of Xibalba, spoke thus: "This is, in truth, your God; this is your support; this is, furthermore, the representation, the memory of your Creator and Maker. Do not give your fire to the tribes until they present offerings to Tohil. It is not necessary that they give anything to you.[275] Ask Tohil what they should give when they come to receive fire," said the man
[273] X-u bac uloc chupan u xahab. I give the Ximénez version. The expression undoubtedly refers to the primitive way of making fire by means of a stick which the Indians twirled rapidly in a hole in another stick. According to the Título de los Señores de Totonicapán, Balam-Quitzé and his companions were "beginning to rub wood and stones, those who first made fire." The tribes of Vucamag only succeeded in having the Quiché give them "a little" of their fire by offering them their daughters.
[274] Ma cu habi x-e culaxic.
[275] M'yv ahauah chi qui ya ch'yve. The verb ahauax, according to Ximénez, means "to be convenient," "to be necessary."
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