The First Genesis

by Mark Macpherson

  Chapter 2

  ‘Hun-Hunahpu!’ A young man’s voice cried out behind Hun-Hunahpu. ‘Stop it. You’re disturbing the city.’

  Hun-Hunahpu quickly turned and ran towards the voice. He laughed with joy.

  ‘Nuto! You’re here,’ Hun-Hunahpu cried.

  His first friend had arrived, the first child he had befriended the day his mother brought him out of the jungle.

  ‘Have you seen who has arrived?’ Nuto said, he was as excited as his friend, to be included in the succession ceremony brought great honour to him and his family. ‘Anyone would think that you are important.’ Nuto laughed.

  Hun-Hunahpu gripped his friend strongly by the upper arms. ‘I am,’ he laughed. ‘And so are you. Today is for both of us.’

  ‘Both of us? Am I to be ruler as well? I hadn’t been informed. Have you told your mother?’ Nuto shrugged off Hun-Hunahpu’s embrace by raising his arms and then grabbed his friend. For a forgetful moment they began wrestling as they had often done until five years previously. However, they were too old for that enjoyment and, regretfully, the show of strength nervously dissipated and never eventuated.

  ‘So, who have you seen?’ Hun-Hunahpu asked.

  ‘Three kings yesterday. All of them with women for you to choose. Ah!,’ Nuto said and struck a pensive pose. ‘If I was made joint ruler I could also have my choice. Do you think your mother would mind?’

  ‘I would mind what?, Nuto.’ K’ul Kelem had entered Hun-Hunahpu’s chamber to check on her son.

  Nuto spun around at the sound of her voice. He smiled at the mother of his best friend. He was as comfortable in the presence of K’ul Kelem as any man, but he always shuddered a little, with a residual fear, at each renewed acquaintance. She was divine and no-one could ever get comfortable with that.

  ‘Nothing, K’ul Kelem. We were joking about the distinguished guests who arrived yesterday,’ Nuto said.

  ‘Mmm,’ she replied as if they were two errant boys. ‘I came to see what assistance you required. I see you have all you need.’ She stared at the two young men lined up before her as if ready to receive punishment.

  ‘The elders will come for you in an hour. You will be ready?’ she said to her son.

  ‘Yes. Of course,’ Hun-Hunahpu said. He placed a hand on Nuto’s shoulder. ‘Nuto will help me.’

  K’ul Kelem left and as soon as she was no longer visible the two young men burst into laughter. K’ul Kelem returned to her own chamber with a smile on her face. The shared laughter behind her back, even at her own expense, was the reason she had left the jungle to live again among people and assume the unwanted mantle of leadership.

  She was happy for her son.

  Chapter 3

  ‘Have you decided which one yet?’ Nuto asked.

  ‘Which one what?’

  ‘Which woman, of course.’

  ‘No,’ Hun-Hunahpu said.

  ‘I don’t think I could make that choice either,’ Nuto said excitedly. ‘I have seen at least three that I could not choose between.’ He laughed. ‘You could, of course, have all of them.’

  Hun-Hunahpu smiled at his friend. ‘Not as first wife. There can only be one of those.’

  ‘What does your mother say?’

  ‘She tells me nothing. She wants me to be happy, that’s all. But she’s not the problem. It’s the council of elders that insist I take a wife of significance.’

  ‘A wife of significance?’ Nuto laughed for a long time. ‘Any wife is significant, once the sun has set.’

  Hun-Hunahpu laughed. ‘The elders mean significant with their clothes on, my friend.’

  ‘I know, I know,’ Nuto said. ‘Do you have any ideas? Any at all?’

  ‘No, not among those I’m supposed to choose between.’

  ‘Ah!’ Nuto exclaimed. ‘You still dream of Xquiq?’

  ‘Not as you would dream,’ Hun-Hunahpu said and slapped his friend on the shoulder.

  ‘She’s your friend,’ Nuto said. ‘Our friend,’ he corrected. ‘She’s not royal enough to be your first wife. You could take her as your second or third wife.’

  Nuto fell into a reverie, thinking of nights of passion with multiple wives. He was not old enough, nor important enough to have been assigned a wife yet. He assumed that would change after his participation in the accession ceremony.

  ‘A wife can also be a friend, Nuto.’

  ‘I am your friend. Xquiq is your friend. You have lots of friends. You have no wives. Why reduce from one group to add to another?’

  ‘You make no sense. As usual.’

  Nuto laughed. ‘Now, what do you need to get ready?’

  ‘Nothing. Just you to distract me from my nervousness.’

  ‘That I can do.’

  The friends laughed.

  Chapter 4

  Outside Hun-Hunahpu’s accommodation, a group of ostentatiously dressed elders waited. Hun-Hunahpu, and Nuto as his attendant, moved slowly and methodically down the steps of the pyramid until at the bottom they were greeted then surrounded by the waiting elders.

  A line formed, Hun-Hunahpu moved to the centre and the procession began as the significant city members wove circuitously through the city towards the ball court, the city’s heart.

  At ceremonial places the procession paused and Hun-Hunahpu, assisted by Nuto, made votive offerings. They halted for a final time at the beginning of an avenue flanked with pillar-like limestone carvings, stela as thick as a man’s body but three times as high. Each stone carving depicted important moments for the city and its rulers, most from the time before K’ul Kelem came among them. Four new stela had been erected for Hun-Hunahpu’s accession day. They told of his coming of age and listed the names and deeds of the important visitors come to honour the day he was confirmed as heir to the throne. The recently carved limestone gleamed in the hot morning sun. Hun-Hunahpu was nervous as he waited. He grimaced at Nuto, a failed smile intending to show his confidence, as he noticed his image depicted as a warrior king. The craftsmen had done a magnificence job, although his sleep the previous night had been disturbed not only by his nervousness but also the light and sounds of the craftsmen hurrying to finish.

  Hun-Hunahpu, with Nuto behind, moved to the front of the procession and the line moved slowly through the avenue of stela and into the ball court. The arena was flanked on two sides by a stone-stepped stadium packed with the inhabitants of the city able to be spared from their labours. Hundreds of people talked in low voices then hushed when the procession entered.

  The centre of the stadium was cleared except for a raised platform where K’ul Kelem, representatives of noble families and the royal visitors waited. Hun-Hunahpu’s mother stood as the line of nobles moved into the arena.

  Hun-Hunahpu was extremely nervous as all eyes focussed on him. He tried to distract himself so he did not stumble, or fall, worried that he may momentarily forget how to walk. He remembered ball games he had played in the same place, when audience eyes were focussed on two teams and not on an individual. He loved the Mayan game that was a contest of strength and skill. Men and women could prove themselves in a way that did not cause death. Although Hun-Hunahpu remembered a number of times when less skilled and physically unprepared players had been maimed by the contest. He shuddered as he remembered witnessing those injuries and, momentarily, his nervousness deserted him.

  He found himself at the base of the platform, with his mother towering over him, not remembering his walk through the ball court. Hun-Hunahpu craned his head up to smile at her and was shocked to see tears in her eyes. He worried for a moment, his mother never cried, but then understood that she cried for joy.

  He ascended to stand by her side, she quickly squeezed his hand and then released it.

  ‘I’m so proud,’ she whispered. ‘I wish your father could see this.’

  Hun-Hunahpu rarely thought of his absent father. He did not believe his father’s divinity, he did not believe his mother’s stories that he was a descendant of a race that h
ad the power to create and destroy worlds. That his father, in fact, had created the world he and his friends lived in. As a young child, he had played games pretending to be the creator and destroyer of the world, but then usually Nuto or another larger playmate would easily best the pretend creator and his illusion would be shattered. Since reaching an age when he could question his mother he had not taken seriously any of her stories of the times before they had come to live in the city.

  Hun-Hunahpu sat down in the seat his mother had vacated and a restrained cheer, more like a collective sigh of relief, came from the crowd watching his every move. He smiled at one of the crowd covered, stone-stepped stadiums and then, at the other side, he waved, although that was not part of the ceremony and he knew the elders would be upset at his frivolity. He no longer cared as he sat in the seat his mother would resume shortly.

  The visiting royalty stood, in a strict order organised and negotiated well beforehand, and filed before the newly crowned son of the ruler. He smiled grimly, trying to keep a serious demeanour that was difficult to maintain when he glanced at Nuto, who stood by his side, wide-eyed at being so close to royalty.

  The daughters of the kings followed their fathers and also offered their respects to Hun-Hunahpu. He felt sorry for them, compassion was overwhelming him at that stressful time. It was as if they were being paraded like animals in the market he could decide to purchase or not.

  He came up with a naive idea, that struck him with its brilliance. His idea was based on the disappointment of rejection. He knew the importance of forming strategic alliances through marriage. But what if he took none of them as first wife? He knew everyone would be upset but the overall level of disappointment would be less, he believed. He could take many of the daughters as second level wives. He would appease everyone. He could take a lesser, non-threatening first wife. He wanted Xquiq. In his euphoria of epiphany he couldn’t see a problem. The women parading before him would not be slighted, the kings would see themselves as equal with all others. His mother would be happy, she would be happy if he was happy, he knew. The elders would be initially disappointed but once he had explained his logic he was confident they would acquiesce. He would have many sexual partners and his first wife would be a women, a friend, he loved.

  His mother noticed his happiness as his face flushed and his smile broadened. She should have been enjoying his emotion, he did have a small residual of his father’s power to inflict his emotions on others. But she did not feel happiness. His smile and bubbling euphoria worried her.

  Chapter 5

  ‘I don’t care,’ Hun-Hunahpu said angrily, he was determined although a little irrational. ‘I’ve decided. I choose Xquiq.’ He had made a statement and almost expected the elder sent to argue with him to acquiesce.

  ‘K’ul Kelem?’ The elder appealed to her to make her son see reason.

  She glanced at the man, just for the short moment she took her eyes from her son. She was trying to understand Hun-Hunahpu’s resistance. She would not deny him Xquiq, if he really did love her.

  ‘We’re not suggesting you abandon Xquiq,’ K’ul Kelem said. ‘You can have many wives.’

  ‘A ruler,’ the elder quickly and emphatically added. ‘Needs to make strategic partnerships.’

  ‘My mother doesn’t,’ Hun-Hunahpu answered bitterly. Then he turned to her. ‘Why don’t you take some of the nobles from those other cities as husbands? That would mean more than me taking the king’s daughters as wives.’

  ‘Hun-Hunahpu! Please,’ K’ul Kelem said with shock. She ignored his insult and tried to calm the elder who was overcome after her son’s startling suggestion. He had, he believed, in some way, been the cause of the insult.

  The elder recovered and could not leave Hun-Hunahpu’s taunt unanswered.

  ‘Your mother is divine. She cannot accept a mortal companion.’

  She turned on the elder. ‘You forget,’ she said, in a way that ensured the man knew he was not her equal. ‘That Hun-Hunahpu is divine. More so than I. He is the son of a god. I have merely been blessed by Hachakyum.’

  The elder, in abject misery and embarrassment, took his leave without saying anything further.

  After they had been alone for sometime and had been staring at each other, K’ul Kelem broke the silence.

  ‘Do you love her that much?’ she asked gently.

  ‘How much is that much?’ Hun-Hunahpu said. He had not finished arguing.

  ‘You know what I mean. There are limitations to everything we do, to everything we can do. Choosing Xquiq will have consequences.’

  ‘I can’t see the problem.’

  ‘And that, in itself, is another problem,’ she said.

  Chapter 6

  A matrimonial union, between the ruler’s son and a high status daughter from a rival state, would forge an alliance that would force further alliances with other states, even those unsuccessful in offering their daughters. A web of marriages of convenience restrained the constantly bubbling tension between city-states. No marriage would mean no first-tier alliance. The city could be at the mercy of alliances formed by other states. Diplomacy required constant effort and any one mistake could dangerously reduce the city’s position.

  The elders considered Hun-Hunahpu’s choice a mistake of the first magnitude.

  After Hun-Hunahpu’s accession ceremony, the kings and nobles of other city-states returned home. One king, that had often been antagonistic with K’ul Kelem’s state, had believed a marriage of alliance was a near certainty. He had visions of a combined, powerful kingdom. He took Hun-Hunahpu’s choice as an insult. A daughter of a local, lower tiered noble was considered higher status than a member of his own family. His anger was intense.

  He suffered a minor accident on his homeward journey. He cut his hand deeply on his flint axe as he wielded it one evening in anger as he recalled Hun-Hunahpu’s insult. It quickly became septic and he died. The ascension of his son, only twenty-five years old, was blocked. He was not considered ready to assume the kingship. The son had to first prove himself as a leader of men in battle. He would have to capture, torture and sacrifice a noble from a rival city, and that would prove his worth in leadership.

  The son believed the father’s injury had, in some way, been caused by K’ul Kelem. He could revenge his father’s death and cement his own position in one brutal action against her city-state.

  The Mayan people fought for temporary ascendancy only. No victor pressed on and damaged the city of the vanquished, the ancestor spirits of each city-state were too powerful for such an action to be considered. Catastrophic failure, if a conquest was undertaken, was certain. However, prowess could be proved by taking high-ranking captives, who were stripped, bound and carried from the battlefield. They were then tortured and killed after their display in the victor’s city. Rarely was this action immediate. Often captives were kept alive for months, even years, so that their final sacrifice would coincide with a political requirement or a propitious celestial events.

  K’ul Kelem had not interfered in this way of life. The loss of the lives of a few warrior nobles was an acceptable price. People who produced food, artisans and all innocents were not harmed. She understood pay-back. She knew of people’s anger and fear. She accepted the barbaric reasonableness of capture, torture and sacrifice. She took no part but, also, did nothing to stop it.

  This time it was different.

  Chapter 7

  A band of well-armed and resplendently displayed men marched on K’ul Kelem’s city. They massed outside making a great noise, yelling insults, striking drums, blowing whistles and sounding conch-shell trumpets, all intended to entice K’ul Kelem’s men to fight. The rival group then camped a short way from the city. Quickly, a group of warriors were chosen to go out and meet them. Hun-Hunahpu volunteered. His mother resisted.

  ‘I don’t want you fighting,’ she said, angry and tense. They were in his chambers, after the meeting of elders when Hun-Hunahpu had announced he too would be fi
ghting the rivals. Nuto had already been chosen.

  ‘Why not?’ he asked, incredulous. ‘All the nobles fight, at one time or another.’

  ‘But not you,’ she said.

  ‘I’m not a child, K’ul Kelem.’ His use of her name shocked her. He had not done so before. ‘Weren’t you proud at my accession?’ he asked but went on immediately. ‘This is the consequence of that.’

  He waited for her to speak, but she remained silent.

  ‘I can’t be the son of the ruler and not prove myself.’

  ‘You can prove yourself in other ways,’ she said. ‘I don’t fight.’

  ‘That’s different,’ he said. ‘You have nothing to prove. You’re life is proof enough.’

  ‘As is yours,’ she replied quickly.

  ‘No it’s not,’ he said angrily. ‘I’m just like everyone else. I’m not divine like you, mother.’

  She was glad that he had again called her ‘mother’.

  ‘Your father said that you were.’

  ‘Well, he’s not here,’ he said with annoyance. He hated her memory of his father. He thought she became weak and dependant when she talked of him, as if she was of a lesser quality. ‘And my life, so far, demonstrates that I’m normal. Just like Nuto. And he’s going to fight, and he’s looking forward to it. As I am.’ He was defiant.

  He thought of another argument and announced it as if in triumph of a great victory.

  ‘And,’ he said. ‘If I truly am divine, then no harm will come to me.’

  He stared at his mother, waiting for her to reply, but she could not bring herself to agree with him.

  Chapter 8

  The nobles who would leave the city and fight paraded before the crowd gathered in the ball court stadium. Each man was arrayed in impressive battle-dress. Their long hair drawn up to the tops of their heads and covered in a decorated helmet, shields were rolled up and hung at their backs, like a flowing cape. Their faces patterned to terrify. A battle jacket was worn to blunt attack, battle knives of precisely fashioned stone were tucked into a decorated belt around each waist while their hands held long lances for stabbing and slashing their enemies. Each man was recognisable as a continuation of the tradition of their ancestors. There could be no doubt which family, which dynasty, each warrior proudly represented.