And the following day, two poor men presented themselves with very old-looking faces and of miserable appearance, [and] ragged clothes, whose countenances did not commend them. So they were seen by all those of Xibalba.
And what they did was very little. They only performed the dance of the puhuy [owl or chum-owl], the dance of the cux [weasel], and the dance of the iboy [armadillo], and they also danced the xtzul [centipede] and the chitic [that walks on stilts].[215]
Furthermore, they worked many miracles. They burned houses as though they really were burning and instantly they were as they had been before.[216] Many of those of Xibalba watched them in wonder.
Presently they cut themselves into bits; they killed each other; the first one whom they had killed stretched out as though he were dead, and instantly the other brought him back to life. Those of Xibalba looked on in amazement at all they did, and they performed it, as the beginning of their triumph over those of Xibalba.
Presently word of their dances came to the ears of the lords Hun-Camé and Vucub-Camé. Upon hearing it they exclaimed: "Who are these two orphans? Do they really give you so much pleasure?"
"Surely their dances are very beautiful, and all that they do," answered he who had brought the news to the lords.
Happy to hear this, the [lords] then sent their messengers to call [the boys] with flattery. "'Tell them to come here, tell them to come so that we may see what they do; that we may admire them and regard them with wonder,' this the lords said. 'So you shall say unto them,'" this was told to the messengers.
They arrived at once before the dancers and gave them the message of the lords.
"We do not wish to, the [boys] answered," because, frankly, we are ashamed. How could we not but be ashamed to appear in the house of the lords with our ugly countenances, our eyes which are so big, and our poor appearance? Do you not see that we are nothing more than some [poor] dancers? What shall we tell our companions in poverty who have come with us and wish to see our dances and be entertained by them? How could we do our dances before the lords?[217] For that reason, then, we do not want to go, oh, messengers," said Hunahpú and Xbalanqué.
Finally, with downcast faces and with reluctance and sorrow they went; but for a while they did not wish to walk, and the messengers had to beat them in the face many times, when they led them to the house of the lords.
[214] Vinac-car, literally "fish man." The author no doubt plays with these words to give the idea that the heroes of the story were sons of the water. Vinac car is really the common name of a variety of fish," a very large fish," says Barela, which is caught with barbasco [a poisonous plant]." However, the Vocabulario de las lenguas Quiché y Cakchiquel, closely following the literal meaning of the words, interprets them as "a large fish or mermaid."
[215] In the dance of Xtzul, the dancers wear small masks, and tails of the macaw on the napes of their necks, according to Barela. Landa says that when the New Year fell on the day Muluc, the Maya of Yucatán danced a dance on very tall stilts during the corresponding fiestas.
[216] Vinaquir chic, literally, "they were created again."
[217] The exact sentence in the original is as follows: Ma quehe la cu x-chi ca ban chique ri ahauab?
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