Popol VuhMesoamerican MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeK'iche'SharePopol Vuh 14Spence - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableSpenceLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Popol Vuh 1Popol Vuh 2Popol Vuh 3Popol Vuh 4Popol Vuh 5Popol Vuh 6Popol Vuh 7Popol Vuh 8Popol Vuh 9Popol Vuh 10Popol Vuh 11Popol Vuh 12Popol Vuh 13Popol Vuh 14Popol Vuh 15Popol Vuh 16Popol Vuh 17›Evidence Of Metrical CompositionPopol Vuh 14ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1There is not wanting evidence to show that, like most barbarous compositions which depended for their popularity upon the ease with which they could be memorised, the "Popol Vuh" was originally composed in metre. Passages here and there show a decided metrical tendency, as: 2"Ama x-u ch'ux ri Vuch Ve, x-cha ri mama. Ta chi xaquinic Quate ta chi gekumarchic Cahmul xaquin ri mama Ca xaquin-Vuch" ca cha vinak vacamic. 3"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. [21] 4The first line almost scans in iambics (English style), and the fifth is perfect, except for the truncation in the fourth foot. The others appear to us to consist of that alternation of sustained feet--musically represented by a semibreve--with pyrrhics, which is characteristic of nearly all savage dance-poetry. Father Coto, a missionary, observes that the natives were fond of telling long stories and of repeating chants, keeping time to them in those dances of which all the American aboriginal peoples appear to have been so fond--and still are, as Baron Nordenskjöld has recently discovered in the Aymara country. These chants were called nugum tzih, or "garlands of words," and although the native compiler of the "Popol Vuh" appears to have been unable to recollect the precise rhythm of the whole, many passages attest its original odic character. 5Note.--The pronunciation of x in Kiché equals sh. Ch is pronounced hard, as in the Scottish "loch," and c hard, like k. ‹Previous chapterPopol Vuh 13Next chapterPopol Vuh 15›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg