varying social roles. In the Popol Vuh, for example, grandfather 'Great White Peccary' and grandmother 'Great White Coati' act as healers, whereas the owl messengers of the lords of the underworld wear military titles. Turning to the 'ceramic codex', one finds that animal persons are often dressing and acting like persons at court, especially that of the upper god, Itzamna. The howler monkey, for example, is commonly depicted in the social role of a writer and sculptor, and functions as a divine patron of these arts. Other mammals function as musicians in a kind of 'orchestra'. In the Dresden Codex, certain animals (dog, jaguar, vulture, owl, parrot, frog), most of them clothed as human beings, are seated in between deities, and seem thus to be treated on a par with the latter, while other animals, again acting as human beings, fulfill important ritual roles. In the New Year rites, for example, an opossum traveler introduces the patron of the incoming year. Similarly, in the Paris Codex, a turkey person alternates with deities in offering the head of the lightning deity (god K) to the new king. Animal persons are repeatedly shown interacting with Goddess I. Spooks, demons, and bush spirits The power exercised by a deity is legitimate, and this legitimacy justifies offerings and sacrifice. Unlike the gods of disease and death, spooks (apparitions) and demons have no such legitimacy. Whereas spooks – like the specters of the dead – only frighten (and in that way, can also cause disease), demons are devourers; in practice, however, the borderline can be thin. One of the best-known spooks is an attractive woman maddening the men who give in to her lures (known in Yucatec as the xtabay 'Female Ensnarer'). Spooks of the Tzotziles include such figures as the 'charcoal-cruncher', the 'one who drops his own flesh', and 'white-bundle'. The boundary between spooks like these and the wayob of the Classic period is not always entirely clear. The principal demon of the Tzotzil area is the 'Black-man' (h?ik'al), a kidnapper and rapist. An ancient Mesoamerican bird demon, which the Popol Vuh calls Vucub Caquix, severed the limbs of his victims, and was already known in Preclassic Izapa. In order to terrorize their enemies, kings would at times assume the shapes of spooks and demons. Bush spirits (such as the 'Wild Man' or Salvaje) belong to the frightening denizens of uninhabited areas, without, however,