The Controversial Mayan Queen: Sak K'uk of Palenque (The Mists of Palenque) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Leonide Martin
lurched to his feet, limping slowly to his scribe platform. Stretching and sighing, he sat cross-legged and reached to receive the dusty codex from his assistant. Spreading it and gently turning the flaps, he scanned through pages of Noh Ek (Venus) almanacs with neat rows of day and month signs, dot-and-bar numbers, and pictures of deities. Columns of glyphs along page edges or across the top added further information.
“Ah!” he exclaimed, bony finger tracing a glyph column that accompanied numbers and images. The three assistants crowded around, straining to see. They could not decipher the antiquated glyphic forms, though the numbers and deity images were familiar.
“What does it say, Master?” asked one assistant.
“Bring writing materials, copy this down as I read,” ordered Ah Kuy.
As soon as the assistant scribe was set up with new bark paper, quill pen and dye, the old priest read slowly:
“Dawn counts the drumbeats,
Counts the Katuns, the bundles of stones,
Dawn counts the guardian spirit of the sun-eyed torch
At the center of the sun, the Sun Eyed Lord of the Shield.
The sun-eyed torch at 12 th Sky Place, B’aak (skeleton).
When T’zek (scorpion) falls in the Waters of the Night.
Baktuns make 1, Katuns make 10, Tuns make 9 at Toktan,
Place of Clouds and Many Waters.
The Celestial Twins sit upon the Earth-Sky Band
Noh Ek the “Great Star” shines, the False Sun,
Begins the Count of Days of the Sun Passer, Noh Ek.
Lady Moon-Ix Uc ascends in Uo (frog), 8 th Sky Place.
She dangles below her K’awiil Ek and Chak Ek
Above the Waters of the Night.
And the Katun Lord, he of the mirror scepter, K’awiil Ek
Turns around at the heart of 8 th Sky Place.
It happens, it is done.
The Sun Eyed Lord of the Shield
He touches the earth, the 8 Ahau Lord,
And the white paper headband is handed over to him.
And great things come to the Place of Clouds and Many Waters.
So is it written upon the sky, so is it written upon the earth.”
As soon as the dyes dried upon the new codex, Ah Kuy had his assistants bundle it together with the ancient codex in soft white blankets. To their disappointment, the old priest gathered up the bundle himself and carried it to the chambers of the High Priest. Although he had translated the archaic glyphs into current language, and this they had carefully written in modern glyphs, they did not understand the arcane imagery. Nor were they likely to be told the meanings, for this appeared to be meant for the High Priest alone. Only so much were acolytes given to understand.
Pasah Chan sat alert and eager as the old priest displayed the two screen-fold codices, one still smelling of new dyes and the other musty and discolored with age. First Ah Kuy read the translation, then the High Priest re-read the glyphs himself. He looked over the ancient codex, understanding most of the glyphs, checking the translation. All appeared accurate, as best he could ascertain.
“Much here relates to the stars and zodiac,” he said. “When was the original codex written?”
“In Baktun 8 Katun 18 (397 CE), in the time of Holy Ancestor K’uk Bahlam. Our revered lineage founder was born in that Katun, and acceded when he had attained 20 solar years in the next Katun. He must have been a child when it was written,” Ah Kuy remarked.
“Let us examine these verses together. They begin with dawn and a count of Katuns that relate to the sun and some being ‘at the center of the sun’ called Sun Eyed Lord of the Shield. K’in Ahau, Sun Lord, is not called this way,” observed Pasah Chan.
“See the use of ‘Lord of the Shield’ that calls to mind young Pakal’s name, which is shield. But ‘sun-faced’? What make you of that?”
The High Priest pondered for a few moments, then his eyes lit as he exclaimed,
“Know you that the household of Pakal often calls him ‘k’inich’ or sun-faced? This I learned only recently. It appears his nursemaid gave him that appellation because
“Ah!” he exclaimed, bony finger tracing a glyph column that accompanied numbers and images. The three assistants crowded around, straining to see. They could not decipher the antiquated glyphic forms, though the numbers and deity images were familiar.
“What does it say, Master?” asked one assistant.
“Bring writing materials, copy this down as I read,” ordered Ah Kuy.
As soon as the assistant scribe was set up with new bark paper, quill pen and dye, the old priest read slowly:
“Dawn counts the drumbeats,
Counts the Katuns, the bundles of stones,
Dawn counts the guardian spirit of the sun-eyed torch
At the center of the sun, the Sun Eyed Lord of the Shield.
The sun-eyed torch at 12 th Sky Place, B’aak (skeleton).
When T’zek (scorpion) falls in the Waters of the Night.
Baktuns make 1, Katuns make 10, Tuns make 9 at Toktan,
Place of Clouds and Many Waters.
The Celestial Twins sit upon the Earth-Sky Band
Noh Ek the “Great Star” shines, the False Sun,
Begins the Count of Days of the Sun Passer, Noh Ek.
Lady Moon-Ix Uc ascends in Uo (frog), 8 th Sky Place.
She dangles below her K’awiil Ek and Chak Ek
Above the Waters of the Night.
And the Katun Lord, he of the mirror scepter, K’awiil Ek
Turns around at the heart of 8 th Sky Place.
It happens, it is done.
The Sun Eyed Lord of the Shield
He touches the earth, the 8 Ahau Lord,
And the white paper headband is handed over to him.
And great things come to the Place of Clouds and Many Waters.
So is it written upon the sky, so is it written upon the earth.”
As soon as the dyes dried upon the new codex, Ah Kuy had his assistants bundle it together with the ancient codex in soft white blankets. To their disappointment, the old priest gathered up the bundle himself and carried it to the chambers of the High Priest. Although he had translated the archaic glyphs into current language, and this they had carefully written in modern glyphs, they did not understand the arcane imagery. Nor were they likely to be told the meanings, for this appeared to be meant for the High Priest alone. Only so much were acolytes given to understand.
Pasah Chan sat alert and eager as the old priest displayed the two screen-fold codices, one still smelling of new dyes and the other musty and discolored with age. First Ah Kuy read the translation, then the High Priest re-read the glyphs himself. He looked over the ancient codex, understanding most of the glyphs, checking the translation. All appeared accurate, as best he could ascertain.
“Much here relates to the stars and zodiac,” he said. “When was the original codex written?”
“In Baktun 8 Katun 18 (397 CE), in the time of Holy Ancestor K’uk Bahlam. Our revered lineage founder was born in that Katun, and acceded when he had attained 20 solar years in the next Katun. He must have been a child when it was written,” Ah Kuy remarked.
“Let us examine these verses together. They begin with dawn and a count of Katuns that relate to the sun and some being ‘at the center of the sun’ called Sun Eyed Lord of the Shield. K’in Ahau, Sun Lord, is not called this way,” observed Pasah Chan.
“See the use of ‘Lord of the Shield’ that calls to mind young Pakal’s name, which is shield. But ‘sun-faced’? What make you of that?”
The High Priest pondered for a few moments, then his eyes lit as he exclaimed,
“Know you that the household of Pakal often calls him ‘k’inich’ or sun-faced? This I learned only recently. It appears his nursemaid gave him that appellation because
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