Maya Legends: The Princess and the Beetle

This is the legend of a beautiful princess whose hair resembled the wings of a swallow. She was called Cuzán, the Maya word for this bird. She was also the favorite daughter of Ahnú Dtundtunxcaán, the Great Lord who was submerged in the skies.

As soon as Cuzán was old enough for marriage, her father arranged a union with the son of Halach Uinic of the great city of Nan Chan.  Her fiancé was the prince Ek Chapat, future lord of the kingdom. But one day, when the princess went to thank her father for the treasures he had plundered in a recent war which he had given to her, she found her father accompanied by a handsome youth named Chalpol, which means red head, so named because of his flaming red hair.

From that moment on, their souls were trapped in a bond of fire. They swore to never forget each other, and they passionately pledged their love under the sacred ceiba tree, where the gods heard their mortal pleas. When the king found out that Chalpol was his daughter’s lover, the king ordered him to be put to death. Cuzán begged her father not to kill him, promising she would never see him again and that she would obediently accept her role as wife of the prince of Nan Chan.

In the solitude of her bedroom, the princess walked the path of mystery. During the silence of the night, she was called to present herself to Halach. Then a wizard appeared, offering her a beetle, saying: “Cuzán, here is your beloved Chalpol. Your father granted him his life, but asked me to change him into an insect for having the audacity to love you.” The princess took him into her hands, and said these words to him: “I will never leave you and I will keep my promise.”

The best jeweler of the kingdom covered him with precious stones and attached a fine gold chain to his tiny foot. As soon as it was ready, she attached it to her chest and said: “Maquech, you are a man, hear my heartbeat, you will live here always. I have sworn to the gods to never forget you.” And she added: “Maquech, the gods have never known a love as intense and alive as this which consumes my soul.”

That is how the princess Cuzán and her beloved Chalpol, who became maquech, loved each other through the passage of all time.