Parallel Worlds: Genre, Discourse, and Poetics in Contemporary, Colonial, and Classic Maya Literature

1. The Narrative Structure of Chol Folktales: One Thousand Years of Literary Tradition

21 The Narrative Structure of Chol Folktales One Thousand Years of Literary Tradition Nicholas A. Hopkins and J. Kathryn Josserand 1 After listening to Chol storytellers for nearly thirty years, we came to understand that there is a narrative style, a canon that is followed by the best narrators and only marginally controlled by those who are not. Over and over again we noted the same features in stories told by different narrators. For that matter, we noted many of the same features in stories told by speakers of other Mayan languages (England 2009; Josserand and Hopkins 2000), as well as in Classic period Maya hieroglyphic texts (Hopkins and Josserand 1990: 307–310, 1991). That is, there is an established tradition of storytelling that not only appears in the royal texts of the Classic Maya more than 1,000 years ago but which survives today in the telling of sacred and traditional lore. A good storyteller creates a dramatic narrative by anticipating the reactions of the audience, introducing new information in the right way at the right time, and suppressing some details as background and emphasizing others as focused events. If the 1 22 Nicholas A. Hopkins and J. Kathryn Josserand story is not being told in a satisfactory way, the audience may break in and begin to tell it right. In several of the stories we have recorded over the years, the principal narrator loses the floor momentarily while someone else takes a turn as narrator. There is a common sense of how stories should be told and an appreciation for narrators who can tell them well. The Opening: An Evidentiality Statement The telling of a Chol story typically begins with an evidentiality statement, a statement of where and from whom the narrator first heard the story. There is, of course, a lot of variation in how this statement is made, since not all stories are from the same genre of text (Altman 1996). A personal narrative might have no such statement because the storyteller is a witness to the events. But even such stories may begin with an orienting statement about where and when the events took place and how the narrator was involved in them. The text “A Visit to Don Juan,” which relates the personal experiences of the teller (Hopkins and Josserand 1994; CTI 001 R005),1 begins with the recorder (Ausencio Cruz Guzmán) saying: “This story we’re going to tell, now, it took place about fifteen years ago. Mariano was a young boy still.” Mariano, the storyteller, continues, “A long time ago, when I was still . . . when I was still where my brothers are, in Paso Naranjo.” A secondhand story may begin with a statement of how the teller knows it. The text of “The Messengers” (Hopkins and Josserand 1994: 98–131) begins with Cruz saying: “This story I’m going to tell you all, a man told it to me when we went to carve out a canoe there at Arroyo Palenque.” Since these statements are made prior to the actual telling of the tale, they are often edited out in published versions. A reader of much of the published literature would have no idea such things were common, even required, in a proper telling (see Alejos García 1988; Whittaker and Warkentin 1965). Before coming to appreciate these statements as part of the narrative tradition, we occasionally committed the same offense ourselves. The evidentiality statement may be brief and without detail. The text “The Celestial Bird” (Hopkins and Josserand 1994: 92–93) begins with the simple statement “Like this, they told me that it’s like this. When the roosters crow.” We don’t know who told the narrator the story or where and when it was learned. But it is clearly stated not to be something that comes from the narrator’s personal knowledge. A more formal tale that comes out of the ancient tradition of mythological and sacred stories should have a much more elaborate evidentiality statement , one that attributes the story to the ancestors, near or remote. “Our Holy Mother,” one of the most sacred of stories (CTI 001 R002), begins: 23 The Narrative Structure of Chol Folktales Wajali ‘ab’i, A long time ago, it is said, mi yälob’ laj tyatyña’älob’— our ancestors used to say— mi yälob’, mi kub’iñ— they speak, I listen— jtyaty, jña’, tzi sub’e...