Texts

Kiunij panuk miak shiwit, wan kwak nikpiatuya 47 shiwit nitekitik tik ne Kalpuli. Né ninemik ume shiwit, wan ka tesu nechtashtawat yek, nikiski wan ninakak nitekiti tik ne kojtan.

Many years passed, and when I was 47 years old I worked for the Town Council. I was there for two years, but as it didn’t pay well, I left and went to work in the fields.

—Ka naja niknekiskia ma shiwi timusenpua nikan iwan tumajmanujwan wan shikinmachti taketzat Nawat. Tiawit timetztashtawat pal metzti ume tzunti tumin. Ken tina? Nemi yek?

“Because I’d like you to come and join our brethren here and teach them to speak Nawat. We’ll pay you 200 colones a month. Well, what do you say?”

Mother Rain, we thank you for making the fruit grow, for you irrigate the land so that the grass will germinate and the trees will grow green and blossom.

You, Mother Rain, do not see who is good, and who is evil; you flood all the earth so that the fields and the trees will flourish.

Yajika, mupanpa ne tuweyka mumati yek ka ne tuelishku nemi tentuk wan tiwelit tikchiwat tay tejemet tiknekit. Yajika timetzilwiat padiush, Teku Sinti.

Therefore, thanks to you our body is content because our stomach is full and we can do what we wish. Therefore we say: thank you, Father Corn.

Kwak se siwat kiwetzi yek kinutza. Wan su te kineki, kunij yawi ka tayua, wan ne kan kuchi ajsi kinapalua wan kichiwa ma isiwaw.

When he fancied a woman he called to her. If she wasn’t interested, then he would come at night to where she was sleeping to hold her and make her his wife.