Texts

Since they couldn’t read and write, I only spoke Nawat.

Yajika kwak naja nichikitik maya niksajsajsaka kumal pal niknamaka. Iwan ipatiw chupi naka pal nikua tay nimuneki, wan chupi pal nimukwepa nikua senpa kumal.

So when I was a boy I just carried kumals to sell (in the market). What I earned was hardly enough to pay for what I needed and to buy more kumals.

Nechilwij ne tunal keman yawi muchiwa ne congreso pal naja niajsi. Wan kiunij kichiwket pal nechishmatit ne ishmatijket. Kitaket ka naja niweli nitaketza Nawat wan nusan nitawawasua. Anka yajika ka ne nawi congreso nechilwijket ka yawit nechmakat nutekiw.

She told me the date of the conference so that I would come. And that is how the specialists met me. They saw that I could speak Nawat and write it too. Maybe that is why they told me I would have work in four conferences.

So after four years of meetings Iwas offered a job at the House of Culture.

Ne techanchanejket tesu welituyat taketzat tik Español, nan welit katka tawawasuat nan amataketzat. Yajika, kwak ajsiket ne takamet istak, yejemet tesu kimatit tay inat ne takamet wan ne siwatket.

The inhabitants couldn’t speak Spanish, and they didn’t know how to read and write. So when the white men came, they didn’t understand what the men and women were saying.

Taika chuka uni kunet? Anka kukuya o mayana. Tay kipia? Naja nina ka sekmiki. Yajika te kuchi.

¿Por qué llora ese niño? Acaso está enfermo o tiene hambre. ¿Qué tiene? Yo creo que tiene frío. Por eso no duerme.

Nikmati! Yajika te niweli nitajkwilua!

¡Lo sé, por eso no puedo escribir!

— Yo sé, y por eso yo quisiera aprender bien la lengua náhuat y trabajar con ustedes para que apoyemos la hermosa lengua de su pueblo, para que nunca se olvide.

Nemanha nimukwepki nisa ika nimayana. Nimuketzki nitakwa pero te nimumatki yek, yajika nimutekak senpa wan ninakak tik ne tapech. Te niwelik nikisa ika nisutawa, nikukuya wan nechkukua nutzuntekun.

Luego me volví a despertar porque tenía hambre. Me levanté a comer pero no me sentí bien, por eso me acosté otra vez y me quedé en la cama. No pude salir porque estaba cansado, estaba enfermo y me dolía la cabeza.

— Porque fui a Sonsonate, por eso no vine.

"So, he doesn't get better."

So, the "hurricaners" in reality come from Chilteopan; they come to take ears of corn to eat. But they were screwed up, because they killed the girl and ate her.

So when he was hungry, he said to himself, "finally I know where my father is, where my mother is".

Nimayana, nunan. Yajika niwitz.

"I'm hungry, mother; that's why I've come."

They are the ones who have money. That's why they went there to end up in the arch. And they didn't leave me money, just poverty.