MYTHS OF MEXICO AND PERU
hypothesis of its antiquity, on the ground that it was for generations recited before being reduced to writing. Passages here and there exhibit a decided metrical tendency, and one undoubtedly applies to a descriptive dance symbolical of sunrise. It is as follows:
"'Ama x-u ch'ux ri Vuch?'
'Ve,' x-cha ri mama.
Ta chi xaquinic.
Quate ta chi gecumarchic.
Cahmul xaquin ri mama.
'Ca xaquin-Vuch,' ca cha vinak vacamic."
This may be rendered freely:
"'Is the dawn about to be?'
'Yes,' answered the old man.
Then he spread apart his legs.
Again the darkness appeared.
Four times the old man spread his legs.
'Now the opossum spreads his legs,'
Say the people."
It is obvious that many of these lines possess the well-known quality of savage dance-poetry, which displays itself in a rhythm of one long foot followed by two short ones. We know that the Kiche were very fond of ceremonial dances, and of repeating long chants which they called nugum izih, or "garlands of words," and the Popol Vuh, along with other matter, probably contained many of these.
Pseudo-History of the Kiche
The fourth book of the Popol Vuh contains the pseudo-history of the Kiche kings. It is obviously greatly confused, and it would be difficult to say how much of it originally belonged to the Popol Vuh and how much had been added or invented by its latest compiler. One cannot discriminate between saga and
