IN THE OLDEN TIME. 
263 
the ambassadors wanted, whether conquest or an alli¬ 
ance against the coming invaders, they met with poor 
success. At Utatlan the Quiche king refused to listen 
to them, on the excuse that he could not understand 
what they said. They went thence to Tecpan, where 
they found a better reception; but we do not hear that 
they made any treaty. When they came to the chiefs of 
Atitlan they were driven away by arrow-shots ; and they 
retreated to Utatlan, when the king warned them to 
leave his capital that very day, and the country within 
twenty suns. This is the only record we have of any 
communication between Mexico and Guatemala before 
the famous march of Cortez. 
In Utatlan Yahxaki-Caam and Quicab were kings when 
a Cakchiquel wizard, who some say was the king’s son, 
came by night to the palaces of Utatlan and yelled and 
shouted so that the poor kings could not sleep ; and as 
bootjacks were not yet invented, they had to listen to 
this ancient tomcat, who, when they put their heads out 
of the window, called them mama-caixon and other dread¬ 
fully opprobrious epithets. Next day the king called 
together all his wizards and offered large rewards for the 
capture of the nocturnal enemy. A Quiche wizard under¬ 
took the task, and chased the foreigner a long time, both 
jumping from mountain to mountain. At last he cap¬ 
tured the Cakchiquel and brought him before the royalty 
he had insulted. When asked if he had made the horrid 
noises at night, he replied that he had. “ Then,” said the 
king, “ you shall see what a festival we will make with 
you.” Then the nobles began a war-dance to celebrate 
the capture of that wizard, and transforming themselves 
into eagles, lions, and tigers, they danced around and 
