You know my grandson, When I was a young scribe in training just as you are now, back in the old days of Calakmul, back in those days where maize was rare in the ovens of the land, a curious incident occurred which taught me a truth I've carried to this day and saw fit to put in writing:

  " If one hath the spots of a jaguar, the world will hear only roars, speaketh though thou may as a poet writes"

  I don't believe I knew how to write well enough to put this in writing when this anecdote happened, so I must have written that years after the fact. Have you eaten yet? Story? What story? Oh yes. I must have been a mere 7 or 8 tuns of age, and I had begun my day like any other, with a breakfast of maize gruel and a dip in the wooden basin my father had built outside our house for our washing with his own two hands. I am very grateful to my father, who laboured day and night with commissions to pay the temple fees for my education so that I wouldn't have to reckon with the splinters of his trade. Yes he was a great man, a- 

   That reminds me Yax, I had nearly forgotten to ask if you had eaten yet, I fully believe that the cooks will be finished with lunch by now. Story? I was not telling a story my boy, I was only asking if you had eate- Ah right, my father the carpenter, who slaved away to afford the temple fees. A great man, a man of character an example I've tried to follow and an example you must follow. Anyway, I had scarcely finished my bath when my mother ordered me to rush to  the temple at once. 

   Naturally, I did not actually listen to her, the reason being that there were a million butterflies to chase and neighbourhood friends to play with but eventually, arrive at the house of learning I did. I took my place in the chamber that served as our classroom, I wonder if you have sat in that same chamber, Yax. In that same spot. I don't recall what I did while we waited for our teacher but he did eventually arrive, though considerably later than usual, and carrying a thick, rolled up strip of bark. 

  Before I continue Yax, I'd better tell you what I remember of my teacher. He was a rather portly fellow by the name of Ka'wilil Aheb, a distant cousin of our then Ajaw, the great Yuknoom Ch'een. And so, his head was as nobly sloped as your own is, Yax. Though his girth made him seem like an overripe squash. Anyway, on that day he bore a frayed,  rolled up strip of bark and unfurled it before us. 

" Look close my students, here I have brought the oldest codice in Calakmul!"

   I was among the first to lean in towards the frayed and browned sheet. In places and patches along its length, it seemed like writing had never existed there, though in others I could just barely work out what the text was trying to say-scream really, for it was written in an unsteady hand. It was extolling the virtues of an Ajaw who'd lived katuns ago. Most of my classmates did not seem as enthralled with the worn out strip as I was but that was hardly surprising. Most of them were the sons of scribes who were there purely because their fathers had wanted them to be. Some were the sons of even greater nobles, and a handful, perhaps myself and 2 other lads were commoners given a chance to climb another rung on the social ladder. I think our family will stay on the rung we presently occupy for a generation or two more at least, Yax. But who knows? Perhaps one day you will have a daughter so beautiful that an Ajaw will take one look at her crossed eyes and sloped head and decide then and there that she must be his wife, letting her and your grandchildren live in luxury for the rest of their days. Or maybe she will live a lavish life with her brood for a few grand tuns before her husband's domain is attacked by another Ajaw. Maybe the city falls and she doesn't survive. Who knows eh? 

 But I suppose I'm starting to go off course. Yet I will have to yet again to impress upon you the natures of two boys who played a role in this story besides myself. Coh and Kaax. Kaax was the son of a farmer who, by hook or crook had arranged for his son to study wordcraft in the great city of Calakmul. He was a small nervous boy, bullied relentessly by Coh, our class ruffian. Have you eaten yet, Yax? I do believe the cooks are finished with lunch, we had better- What story? Yax I know full well that I was not telling a story. Hm? Oh yes, Coh. Now where was I? Oh yes. Coh was the son of a farmer as well, yet unlike Kaax, he seemed to have no desire to move beyond the ways of the country. He was the size and shape of a block of stone, and his head was about as permeable to our teacher's lessons. Truth be told Yax, when you took twice as long to speak as other children, I worried you would be a Coh yourself. But seeing you rise to the top of your class has put me mostly at ease. 

  Now, Ka'wilil Aheb bade us listen to his long dissertation on the ancient codice and we complied, though only about as long as little boys can be expected to sit still. I believe I was one of first to shift and fidget, with the rest of the class aping me not long after. But still we bore the lesson for as long as we were able. To the credit of Ka'wilil Aheb, he did notice our restlessness ( though a lot later than he should have) and allowed us to break for lunch. We shot upright the very moment that the words left his mouth, seizing our packs in the corner and tucking into our home-brought fare. I recall that it was Kaax who had the most mouth-watering meal amongst us. How rude am I to forget to ask whether or not you've eaten yet, Yax! 

  Oh right, that event. Well, I did not actually see what happened. I only experienced its aftermath. I had decided to enjoy my meal outside the chamber and plopped myself upon the sun-drenched steps outside. This afforded me an opportunity to daydream- something I still enjoy doing  whenever I eat. Anyway, I was staring off into the distant jungle, not really thinking of much in particular when I heard it. A gasping scream from the chamber, low and throaty as the bellow of a bullfrog. That strange sense of destructive curiosity seized my legs and I darted up the steps. To my immediate disappointment ( and I suppose mild relief), no one lay dead on the floor ( not that I'd have missed Coh). Instead, Ka'wilil Aheb stood slack jawed, his hands on the sides of his flabby face, over the precious codice... Which now lay on the stone floor in two parts, seperated by an ugly rip in what had been it's middle. By now more and more of us were pouring into the room, though Ka'wilil Aheb yet remained silent, instead making strange choking noises. He did not speak until nearly the whole class stood assembled there. 

" uhk, uhk ...Who ...who dared?"

  It was not me who tore the codice, though the culprit obviously had no intention of raising their hand. Ka'wilil Aheb did not remain dumbstruck for long. On that day he had a mind for justice though he was most certainly not blind. He selected his suspects and did not choose them from among the sons of lords or scribes, plucking Coh, Kaax and myself out of the throng of boys. I gulped. Kaax, tiny, timid, relentlessly picked on Kaax gulped. Coh must have gulped too, but I was too busy soiling myself to check. Ka'wilil Aheb paced back and forth, before letting out what could only be described as a tirade, fat bouncing all the way. 

" You! You COMMONERS! You boy! Explain yourself!" 

  His girth blurred as my eyes focused on the finger he had thrust in front of me . My legs had turned about as sturdy as a young shoot of maize as a response fizzled out and died in my mouth. Tears formed trails of wet cold down my face. Now I would be thrown out and my father would thrash me and then force me to become a carpenter and I would never sleep on soft sheets or eat fine foods save for once a year. Either that or I would lose all faith in life and become a drunkard until I either died as a parasite to my family or I flung myself into a river. My catastrophizing was interrupted by Kaax.

" It could not have been him Lord Teacher!" 

" AND WHY NOT?" 

"He sat outside the whole break"

" AND YOU, BOY!?"

" I was in the corner, eating my lunch!"

  Ka'wilil Aheb sighed, his eyes darted downwards. Evidently he could only purge his classroom of one of us. So he asked Kaax.

" Speak with truth boy, did you see who ripped the codice?"

" It was Coh, Lord Teacher"

  At that, Coh's eyes burst with shock. He quivered, and made a great many desperate motions of protest with his arms, though he was scarcely able to open his mouth before Ka'wilil Aheb was upon him.

" OUT WITH YOU BOY! OUT OF MY CLASSROOM! OUT DAMNED BOY! OUT!" 

" Lord Teacher, I did not do it!"

" YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE YOU, COH!? COH, WHO DAWDLES WITH HIS WORK! COH, WHO PELTS KAAX WITH STONES! COH, WHO HAS AS MUCH SENSE WITH WORDS AS A MONKEY DOES WITH SWIMMING! OUT! OUT!" 

  On the way home from the temple, Kaax caught up with me. 

" Thank you for saving me Kaax, but how did you know that I did not rip the codice?" 

" Because you fool, it was I who ripped it for Coh had to go".

   Now then Yax, have you eaten your lunch yet?