Quiché

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The wooden people, an early version of humanity, were imperfect because there was nothing in their hearts and minds, and they did not remember Heart of Sky. So Heart of Sky destroyed them with a flood. He sent down a black rain of resin; animals came into their houses and attacked them; and even pots and stones crushed them. The dogs and turkeys told them, "You caused us pain, you ate us. Now we eat you." Their other animals and implements likewise turned on them. They tried to escape onto their houses, into trees, and into caves, but the houses collapsed, the trees threw them off, and the caves slammed shut. Today's monkeys are a sign of these people, mere manikins. This was before the sun dawned on the earth.

Tedlock, Dennis (transl.), Popol Vuh (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985), 83-86.

Some men tried to save themselves from the deluge by making boxes and going underground in them. God didn't approve of this and turned them into bees.

Horcasitas, 1953, 199.

This tale comes from Chichicastenango. Tulan is the legendary starting point of Mayan migrations. Contemporary Quiches view the sacredness of the number seven as arising from the seven colors of a rainbow.

Ixmucane, Goddess Earth, helped the gods make the four progenitors, Balam-Kitze, Balam-Akap, Majucutaj, and Iki-Balam. These four prayed for companions and woke up one morning to find beautiful wives beside them. Still, they were not joyful because Day had not yet arrived. They prayed, and soon Morning Star arrived, and Father Sun came soon thereafter.

They went to sacred Tulan, their dwelling place, to give thanks. While they were there, a great deluge devastated their land, destroying all life. Only the four progenitors and their families survived.

When they returned, the god Tojil felt compassion for them and led them to even more fertile regions, where each of the four men founded a tribe: Balam-Kitze became lord of the Rabinales; Balam-Akap of the Cakchikeles; Majucutaj of the Tzutujiles; and Iki-Balam of the Quiches.

Raul Perez Maldonado, Tales from Chichicastenango, transl. Joam Debarcli (Guatemala, Union Tip., 1973), 39-40.