Mayan Tales from Chiapas, Mexico

Tales (English)

1 TALES (english) 1. the story of a spook no. 1* A man came, but they didn’t know if he was a Spook. When they looked at him: “Do you want posol?” They gave him some posol. Well, “We’ll test him out, we’ll test him out now.” They saw he was something else, who knows what he was. Well, he drank some posol. “But that guy is a devil!” they said. “Look!” they said. Well, he arrived to drink some posol, but he was strange, he acted strange. Well, he drank some posol, he drank some posol. “But he’s surely a devil!” they said. As for their drinking gourds, who knows the size of their drinking gourds long ago. Well, he drank it. They waited to see when he would bow over. Then they whacked him with a stick. “Indians, you’ve come to hit me!” He climbed up a tree. * Spooks are the Tzotzil bogeymen whom mothers refer to, speaking to their children, warning them to get ready for bed lest the Spook carry them off. TALES (ENGLISH) 2 “Take your clothes off!” They kept beating him. They made him fall down. They beat him so he could do nothing. “No, we’ll help him, he has some money!” The old women cut off his feet, cut off his hands, and took his money. But I don’t know if he had any blood or not. I don’t know. Now they gave it to him. Well, they killed him. Who knows where they put him, if they buried him, or where he went, but they didn’t see where he went.* 2. The Story of a Spook No. 2 Another one—a woman sent off her nephews. They left. When they saw it, the children were scared. “Come back, look what’s coming! He’s there now! The devil is there, hurry up!” “You wait, because you’re gonna die, too!” “Sonofabitch, what are you doing?” said the old woman. When the old woman went there, he died. She was going to whip him. When she stuck out her arm, he fell to the ground. When he fell to the ground, he stayed there. Who knows what happened. The old women came, bringing their children to see. He was sitting on a branch. He was content, but they wanted to kill him. The children tried to grab him, but they couldn’t. He left. There he was in the tree. The woman was there. She fell to the ground. Who knows if the woman recovered, but she had fallen to the ground. 3. The Lazy Man The loafer, she called him: “I’m going, hurry up, wife, I’m going!” he said. Well, he got up and left. But the man was to clear the field. He didn’t clear the field. He was hanging from the branches. With his tumpline,† he was hanging from the branches, hanging and sitting on them. When his wife arrived he was sitting in the shade. * See Zinacantec tales T71 and T146 (Laughlin 1977, 188, 264). † A tumpline is the rope around a person’s forehead, used to carry a burden. TALES (ENGLISH) 3 Well [gazing skyward]. “What’s the problem, buzzard? Happily, you eat. What’s the problem, buzzard? You just look for shit to eat. As for me, I’m in a bad way!” What was his problem? He was lying face up, sleeping. His wife arrived. “Where’s your work?” she asked. “But you know what, a robin pecked it all up, so I’m resting here.” “Eat [your lunch]!” she said. “Well, I’m going!” she said. “Go on!” His wife carried off some firewood, she went back. As for him, he stayed there. When his wife left he took his tumpline, it just hung from the branches. He arrived [home] in the evening. He asked for his tortillas, he asked for his meal. The poor woman didn’t know where to get the food. He arrived to eat. The next day he was just the same. The buzzard came, gliding. But he wasn’t the vulture, he was the turkey buzzard with a red head. “How is it, buzzard, are you happy looking for shit to eat? How is it, buzzard , are you happy looking for horses to eat? I’d like to do the same. Your belly’s full.” The...