angle and alignment, and its boundaries fixed toward
the four winds by the Creator and Former, and Mother and
Father of life and existence--he by whom all move and
breathe, the Father and Cherisher of the peace of nations
and of the civilization of his people--he whose wisdom has
projected the excellence of all that is on the earth or in
the lakes or in the sea."

"Behold the first word and the first discourse. There was
yet no man nor any animal, * * * nothing was but the
firmament. The face of the earth had not yet appeared over
the peaceful sea, and all the space of heaven * * * nothing
but immobility and silence in the night."

"Alone also the Creator, the Former, the Dominator, the
Feathered Serpent--those that engender, those that give
being--they are upon the water like a growing light. They
are enveloped in green and blue, and therefore their name is
Gucumatz."[6]

"Lo now how the heavens exist, how exists also the Heart of
Heaven; such is the name of God. It is thus that he is
called. And they spake, they consulted together and
meditated; they mingled their words and their opinions."

"And the creation [of the earth] was verily after this wise.
Earth, they said, and on the instant it was formed; like a
cloud or a fog was its beginning. Then the mountains rose
over the water like great fishes; in an instant the
mountains and the plains were visible, and the cypress and
the pine appeared. Then was the Gucumatz filled with joy,
crying out: Blessed be thy coming, O Heart of Heaven,
Hurakan, Thunderbolt. Our work and our labor has
accomplished its end."

This corresponds to the work of the first four creative days; and next
details are given as to the introduction of animals, with which,
however, the Creator is represented as dissatisfied, because they
could not know or invoke the Creator. They are therefore condemned to
be subject to be devoured one of another. Again there is a council in
heaven, and the gods determine to make man. But he also is imperfect,
for he has speech without intelligence: so he is condemned to be
destroyed by water. A new council is held, and a second race of men
produced; but this fails in the capacity for religious worship--"they
forgot the Heart of Heaven." These were partly destroyed by fire and
partly converted into apes. Lastly anoth