Popol Vuh translated by Dennis Tedlock

This book offers a translation of the Quiché alphabetic text of the Popol Vuh. I thought the introduction did a very intriguing job of explaining that the original book was actually more like a tool to be used by trained specialists, and what was written out in an alphabetic form was what one of those specialists might have said. The stories themselves were intriguing. I was particularly wondering how much indigenous contact with Catholics influenced the way the tales were told (especially with an immaculate conception story and a resurrection story) and how much these things are common to human imagination. There's also a large emphasis on twinning. I was intrigued by the way that humans took four tries to be created properly.