The brothers Juanjpu and Xbalamke lived many wonderful stories. But today we will tell you about the adventure that their father, Jun Junajpu, had with his own brother Wuqub Junajpu. They were children of Xpiyakok and Ixmukane, the couple of sages who had advised the Creators to make wooden men... But that story, we already told you!
Jun Junajpu, the father, already had two children: Jun Batz' and Jun Chowen, whom he loved very much and had taught the arts and wisdom.
The story that we are going to tell you happened before the birth of Junajpu and Xbalamke.
Jun Junajpu and Wuqub Juajpu were great ball players and they liked to play every day. So they spent whole afternoons with their big rubber ball.
But the game court was near the entrance to Xibalba, the underworld, where the Lords of Death and Disease lived.
Annoyed by the noise they made playing, the Twelve Lords of Xibalba gathered together and decided to summon Jun Junajpu and Wuqub Junajpu to play against them.
They sent the four owls, their faithful messengers, to the surface of the Earth: Arrow Owl (the fastest!), One-legged Owl, Macaw Owl and Head Owl. When Jun Junajpu and Wuqub Junajpu heard the message of the Lords of Xibalba, they said goodbye to their mother Ixmukane and asked Jun Batz' and Jun Chowen to distract their grandmother with their songs and arts so that her heart would rejoice. So with courage, they left for Xibalba.
In Xibalba, each Lord had a job such as: sickening the blood of people, swelling the sick, making people die suddenly and making them emaciate to death.
In Xibalba there was also the Dark House, the Ice House, the Jaguar House, the Bat House and the Shards House... each house was a test, a punishment, a danger. But Jun Junajpu and Wuqub Junajpu were brave.
The journey to the world of the dead was very long. They passed through gullies and turbulent waters. They passed a river of blood without touching the blood. They crossed a dirty river without touching the sewage. At last they came to a crossing of four roads: one was red, another was black, another was a white and the other was yellow.
"Which one should we follow?" They asked. At this moment, the black road spoke to them: "I will take you to Xibalba", so they took the black road.
When they arrived in front of the house of the Lords of Xibalba, they saw two seated people and greeted them respectfully: "Good morning, Jun Kame, good morning, Wuqub Kame". At that moment they heard loud laughs of mockery because the silhouettes were not the Lords, but simple wooden dolls, they had let themselves be deceived!
"Welcome, travelers," said the Lords of Xibalba when they managed to contain their laughter. "Get out, take a seat on this bench," but the bench was made of hot stone and Jun Junajpu and Wuqub Junajpu were burned by sitting on it! The Lords of Xibalba laughed louder. They had been cheated again!
"Tomorrow we will play ball", they were told when they calmed down their laughter. "You're going to sleep in the Dark House tonight. Take these ocote torches to light up and those cigars to smoke. But at dawn, you should give us the ocote and the cigars intact, otherwise, we will sacrifice you!". But the ocote and the cigars were already burning and, as much as Jun Junajpu and Wuqub Junajpu wanted to prevent it, they were completely consumed during the night.
The next morning, Jun Kame and Wuqub Kame returned to collect the cigars and ocote. Seeing that they had been consumed, they knew that they had defeated their guests.
This is how the brothers were defeated by the Lords of Xibalba. They were sacrificed and their bodies were buried. Jun Junajpu's head was cut and placed in a tree that soon filled with fruit.
"Let no one touch the fruits of this tree," the Lords of Xibalba ordered. The head of Jun Junajpu was like the fruit that grew on that tree, which are now called jícaras. It stayed for a long time. It was a very famous story in the region and shortly after, everyone knew about the tree of jícaras that it was forbidden to touch.
Until a young woman named Ixkik arrived... but this story will be told next time!
*The Popol Vuh is the National Book of Guatemala.
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