Then came the killing of the tribes. They seized a man as he walked alone, or two when they were walking together, and it was not known when they were seized, and then they went to sacrifice them before Tohil. and Avilix. Afterward they sprinkled the blood on the road and placed the heads separately on the road. And the tribes said, "The jaguar ate them." And they spoke thus because like footprints of the jaguar were the tracks which they had left, although they did not show themselves.
Already, many were the men who had been carried off, but the tribes did not notice it until later. "Could it be Tohil. and Avilix who have been here among us? It must be they who are nourished by the priests and the sacrificers. Where are their homes? Let us follow their footprints!" said all the people.
Then they held a council among themselves. Then they began to follow the footprints of the priests and the sacrificers, but they were not clear. There were only tracks of wild animals, tracks of jaguars that they saw, but the tracks were not distinct. The first ones were not clear because they were reversed, as though made so that the people went astray, and their way was not clear. A mist formed, a black rain fell and made much mud; and it began to drizzle. This was what the people saw before them. And their hearts became weary of searching and following them on the roads, because the beings of Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz were so great that the latter withdrew to the summit of the mountains, in the vicinity of the people, whom they killed.
Thus began the abduction of the people when the sorcerers caught the tribes in the roads and sacrificed them before Tohil. Avilix, and Hacavitz; but their [own] sons they saved there on the mountain.
Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz had the appearance of three youths and walked by virtue of the magic stone. There was a river in which they bathed, at the edge of the water and only there did they appear. For this reason it was called "in the Bathing Place of Tohil," and this was the name of the river.[326] Often the tribes saw them, but they disappeared immediately, when they were seen by the people.
Then they had tidings of where Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah. and Iqui-Balam were, and at once the tribes held council as to the way in which they could be killed.
In the first place the tribes wanted to discuss the way to overcome Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz. And all the priests and sacrificers [of the tribes] said to the people: "Arise, all of you, call everyone, let there be not one group, nor two groups, among us who remain behind the others."
All assembled, they assembled in great numbers and deliberated among themselves. And they said, asking each other: "What shall we do to overcome the Quiché of Cavec[327] by whose hands our sons and vassals are being killed? it is not known how our people are being destroyed. If we must perish, because of these abductions, so let it be; and if the power of Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz is so great then let our god be this Tohil, and God grant that you take him captive. It is not possible that they shall overcome us. Are there not, perchance, enough men among us? And the Cavec are not many," they said, when all were assembled.
[326] Chi r'atinibal Tohil. Brasseur de Bourbourg locates the river of this name thirteen to fifteen miles to the southeast of Cubulco, on the road to Joyabaj, on the summit of the mountain which separates both towns.
[327] The family of Cavec was the most important and numerous in the Quiché kingdom.
Please email us if you are interested
in a PDF of any of the posted books.