The Hero Twins - Maya

Hello! My name is Hunahpu, and this is my twin brother, Xbalanque. We live in a world painted with the greens of the jungle and the bright blue of the sky, where the sounds of monkeys and parrots fill the air. More than anything, we love to play our favorite game, Pok-a-Tok, but our noisy fun is about to lead us on the biggest adventure of all. This is the story of the Hero Twins.

One day, the sounds of our game—thump, thump, THUMP—traveled down, down, down into the earth, all the way to the gloomy underworld of Xibalba. The grumpy Lords of Xibalba did not like being disturbed. They sent a message inviting us to their kingdom for a game, but we knew it was a trick. Still, we were brave. We said goodbye to our grandmother and began the long journey, crossing rivers of spikes and passing through dark caves until we arrived at the palace of the underworld lords.

The lords tried to trick us right away, but my brother and I are very clever. We knew their games and didn't fall for them. They sent us to spend the night in scary places. First was the House of Cold, but we huddled together to stay warm. Then came the House of Jaguars, but we fed the big cats so they would leave us alone. The trickiest was the House of Bats, filled with giant, screeching creatures. One swooped down and snatched my head. But my clever brother, Xbalanque, quickly found a big squash, carved it to look just like my head, and put it on my neck. The next day, he challenged the lords to a game of Pok-a-Tok using my real head as the ball. During the game, he swapped the head for the squash, and I got my real head back. We had outsmarted them again.

After passing all their tests, the Lords of Xibalba knew they couldn't beat us. We challenged them to one last trick. We showed them how we could come back to life after being defeated. They were so amazed they wanted to try it too. But when it was their turn, we didn't bring them back. We had finally defeated the lords of the underworld not with fighting, but with cleverness. Our mission was complete. We rose from Xibalba, up through the earth, and into the sky. We climbed higher and higher until we found our final home.

I became the Sun, and my brother Xbalanque became the Moon. Ever since that day, we take turns lighting up the world. I bring the warmth and light of day, and he brings the cool, silver glow of the night. Our story, which comes from the Maya people in a special book called the Popol Vuh, is a reminder to be brave, to be clever, and to always work together with those you love. So whenever you see the sun rise in the morning or the moon shine at night, remember me and my brother. We are still up here, watching over the world and reminding everyone that even after the darkest night, the light will always return.