Texts

Ne seyuk noche. Plaj! ne tukujkul! Ajan!

The next night, "plah"; it's their 'bogeyman', "ah".

Ne seyuk noche. Plaj! ne tukujkul! Ajan!

The next night, "plah"; it's their 'bogeyman', "ah".

They skinned him, washed him, and took him to their grandmother's.

That was not a deer; it was the meat of their 'bogeyman', of their grandmother's fellow.

No, that was not deer, but rather their grandmother's fellow. It was him that they killed, and they took the meat so that their grandmother would eat it.

The food was ready.

The iron-toothed-old-woman began to eat the meat. Afterwards they said, "how did you find the meat, grandmother?".

Ini ne inakayu tukujkul! Kilwijket.

"That was our bogeyman's flesh", they said.

Ja! Nikmati ka mitzinmakatuk ne konsejoj. Ne chimpe mitzinmakatuk ne konsejoj.

"Ha, I know that the youngest child has advised you, he has advised you."

Ja! Nikmati ka mitzinmakatuk ne konsejoj. Ne chimpe mitzinmakatuk ne konsejoj.

"Ha, I know that the youngest child has advised you, he has advised you."

Bueno, esta bueno! Ma kia. Pero niu nikmiktia ne chimpitoj.

"Well, that's all right, so be it, but I'm going to kill that youngest child."

Yajki kitantia ne itan. Nepa ten kebrada kitantia ne itan pal kikwa ne piltzitzin.

She went to sharpen her teeth, there by the edge of the canyon she sharpened her teeth so she could eat the little boy.

Yajki kitantia ne itan. Nepa ten kebrada kitantia ne itan pal kikwa ne piltzitzin.

She went to sharpen her teeth, there by the edge of the canyon she sharpened her teeth so she could eat the little boy.

Kilwia ne kutalajtzin ne seyuk, tik kastiaj kilwia: Mira tenguerechol, kilwia. Anda, ve que hace mi nanita, kilwia tik kastiaj.

The other said to the lizard, "look lizard", in Spanish he said, "go see what my gramma is doing", he said in Spanish.

Voy a ir. Es el tenguereche. Yajki ne tengerechej.

"I'll go", it was the lizard; the lizard went.

He went by and saw that she was sharpening her teeth, she was sharpening her teeth.

The lizard returned.

Nikan nakak ne tejitaj. Kiajsi se pedasoj tejaj. Kitzuntapan.

"The piece of tile stuck here (pointing to the back of the neck); she found a piece of tile and she busted my head."

Later in the evening she was coming with her wash.

Kilwijket: Shikida lama, tiut tiyawit se apwesta. Ka panu ne iashish tzumpan kal, tesu tikmiktisnekit.

They said, "look grandmother, we're going to make a bet; whoever passes his/her piss on top of the house we don't want to kill".

"Whoever does not get his/her piss there we are going to kill."

Pejket kene ne tajtakamet: Chirrrr. Baj, yawi seyuk: Irrrr.

Then the men began, "chirr"; another went, "irr".

Ashan shikitzkikan tulama. Ma kipanulti ne iashish!

"Now grab our grandmother; let her pass her piss."

They tied the rings (of the door) and set fire to the house.

There the iron-toothed-old-woman met her end.

When they say there is going to be a big storm, so they say, in the wind that comes by there come men and women in the wind such that they come to carry off ears of corn for them to eat. Thus the milpas were left broken, quite flattened, with many ears of corn disfigured with a look like pustules. Those were the ears of corn that the Chilteopaners took, according to my grandfather and my grandmother.

So he made a trap. In the trap he was able to catch a girl of about eighteen. But at the moment she fell to the ground, immediately the girl changed into a turkey.

Then the man who caught and grabbed the turkey took it to his house. Immediately he ordered his wife to kill the turkey so they could eat it. So his wife killed the turkey, plucked it, and made the food, and they ate it.

But what they noticed was that the dog did not eat the turkey's bones and feathers. Then the whole family was left puzzled because the dog wouldn't eat the bones nor the feathers.

On the third day after the storm had passed and they had eaten the turkey, there came two men and a woman to look for it. They arrived at the house of the man who had caught it because they more or less already knew who had caught it.

But the did not tell the truth, but rather arrived asking if by chance he had seen a girl pass near his house the day of the big storm.

Yaja (ne) tay kichiwki contestar, kaj siwapil? Tesu kitztuk, lo ke si ya kiajsik en campo libre se chumpipi.

What he answered was that he had not seen a girl. What he had found on open ground was a turkey.

Kunij inaket los tres pwes yek (ne) tay tikchiwtuk pero bien naja nikneki shikchiwa nuwan ne jwabor (juabor), shinechilwiti siquiera kan nemi ne plumas? Kan nakak ne ujumiu? Pal niyaw nikita kan nemi.

Then the three said, "well, what you have done is all right, but I want you to do me a favor". "Show me, at least, where the feathers are, where the bones were left, so I can go see where they are".

Kunij inaket los tres pwes yek (ne) tay tikchiwtuk pero bien naja nikneki shikchiwa nuwan ne jwabor (juabor), shinechilwiti siquiera kan nemi ne plumas? Kan nakak ne ujumiu? Pal niyaw nikita kan nemi.

Then the three said, "well, what you have done is all right, but I want you to do me a favor". "Show me, at least, where the feathers are, where the bones were left, so I can go see where they are".

Then the man went to show them.

The three came to where the feathers and bones were that the dog had not eaten.

Then they picked up the bones, made a pile, and asked for a trough and a lot of water and a spool of thread, and they throw it into the air.

Actually, they took the girl because at the moment the man saw that they tried this, he saw perfectly (well) that a beautiful girl came out of the bones and feathers.

Today I'm going to tell him that there is an old man here who himself has told me that his mother and his father are there in the arch. (There is a natural rock-arch very near Santo Domingo de Guzmán.)

Then he grabbed his machete and his net-bag, and went there to the arch.

He came there to the door, stood in the middle of the door, and said, "mother, father, come out, I'm hungry, I want to eat".

In a little while the woman came out.

Then his mother went inside. While his mother was going in to bring more bread, he began to eat the sandwich his mother had given him.

Then he said, "oh son-of-a-bitch". "So this was not a tortilla I have eaten, nor bread, rather it was cowshit that I ate.

But when I go back there, I'm going to chew out my mother for what she has given me.

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.

The old man himself has told me this. His name was Lorenzo López. He had two sons.

This is what he told them.

He shined with his mirror, but that was not to be his fate; he never killed him.

When he was going down the street the Siguanaba (a siren-like supernatural being in the form of a woman) came out in front of him.

He saw clearly that the woman was coming but at that time he recognized her, (thinking that) he saw a woman named Leonarda.

Then the man was not so afraid.

He took of his belt on the sly. When the Siguanaba noticed, he had wrapped it around her twice and tied her.

Kwikak ne siwat ichan neyuk siwat itukay Lionaj. Wan Lionaj kichiwtuk sentir sujsul sesek, yajika muketztuk peyna bien tayua; kitatia tit pal panu isesek.

He took the woman to the house of the other woman named Leonarda and (this) Leonarda had been very cold. So she had gotten up late at night to light the fire to get over being cold.

Kunij, keman ajsik ne takat ke kwika ne siwat ilpijtuk wan isinidor. Kilwia: "Nana Lionaj!"

Then, when the man arrived who brought the woman tied with his belt, he said, "Doña Leonarda".

"I ran into her there in the street, up there."

Then the woman began to lurch.

In their struggle, it's not clear what she did to make the man loosened her. When it was loosened, she was able to get untied; she took off running.

But before she got untied, when she began to struggle to go, the man noticed that the woman's feet were not like people's feet, rather they were really chicken feet.

When the woman got away and took off running, he regretted it.

Kan mukuminki tik ne posaj, ne kishpuluj; teya kitak. Ne puliwik ne siwat.

When she threw herself into the pool there he lost (sight of) her and couldn't see her any longer; there the woman disappeared.

Kan mukuminki tik ne posaj, ne kishpuluj; teya kitak. Ne puliwik ne siwat.

When she threw herself into the pool there he lost (sight of) her and couldn't see her any longer; there the woman disappeared.

The sipitillo, I know him too; he comes out at night too, at midnight.

The sipitillo is very small but his hat is gigantic. He is not big, not tall; he's very little, but pure human.

Whoever it pays, can come out ahead, also. He even gives a fever to those he frightens. That one is called "the Sipitillo".

Once my son was terrified when he was going to frighten off grackels there in the cornfield. So he was frightened; he says he saw the sipitillo.

That's how he came to know the sipitillo also.