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188 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
now. The trouble is, who knows where it went. If it
went far away." They were told that . . . They saw
it. They dreamt. They saw it at night. They saw it go
[burning] like a pine torch. Ohh, up in the sky it
went! It sai—led off. Haven't you seen a balloon go
up? That's the way it bo—bbed [up] and away, it
went like this, like this, it seems, towards the road to
Comitan. It went o—ff. It disappeared in the mountains.
Yes, it left.
"We won't find anything now. There's nothing
there, here in our mountains. We were right, the land
has become poor. We were right, there's nothing
left," said the people long ago.
The shamans [said], "God, will the holy mountain
stay just like this? Will the holy pit stay hollow this
way?"
"Yes, indeed! There's nothing left. It went towards
the road to Comitan. It lives now on the road to
Comitan," said the mountain, it seems. The shamans
were told in their dreams.
They offered candles. They prayed where the
earth was, where [the bell] came out. Have you seen
where it came out? God, there's nothing left there,
nothing now. That's why it hasn't changed. The
ground just remained hollowed out. If there were
anything there then maybe it would still be there, but
it left. "It moved to another place because your
priest was bad. He had his mistress with him," said
the Earth Lord. The Earth Lord said that.
As for the people, all the efforts of the sixty men
who dug up the ground ended like that. That's how
the money was lost. That's how all their labors
ended. [The bell] was lost there. [The work] was
abandoned. Ever since it's been abandoned. They
don't dig there anymore, since there is nothing. They
saw it go. That's why it was left abandoned like that.
When Tonik describes the bell sailing into the air like a globo
her image is not of a rubber balloon, but rather of a popular
Mexican fiesta device, consisting of a spherical frame covered
with paper and enclosing a candle. When the candle is lit, the
sphere rises rapidly into the chill night air, shining like a planet
as it sails out of the valley and over the mountaintops.
The distinction between the Tutelary Gods and the Earth
Lords who live in the mountains is apparently not as clear-cut as
I had thought originally, because it seemed perfectly appropriate
to Tonik that it would be the Earth Lord who was offended by
the priest's mistress, while for Xun Vaskis it was the Tutelary
God, Maria Muxul.
Once there were a great many Spooks. Because of
the Spooks, it wasn't possible to walk around. You
couldn't go outside until nine o'clock. You couldn't
go out alone. We walked with escorts. Then the
The Spook and the Comadre
T71
7albil ti yu7un la yilik 7un svaychinik la ta
7ak'ubaltike, 7iyilik la 7un j-ch'ob la ta toj 7ibat 7un,
7iij, ta vinajel la bat 7un, xvole—t la ech'el, muk' bu
xavil buy 7a li globo xmuye, ja7 la yech xvolole—t
ech'el 7un, xi la bat xi yilel ta belel Komitan 7une,
ba—t la, ch'ay ta vitzetik ech'el 7un, ji7, bat.
Va7i 7un, "Mu xa k'u jtatik 7un che7e, mu xa ka
k'u 7oy te ta Ii7 ta jvitztike solel ka me7on 7ikom ti
balamil 7une, che7e, mu xa ka k'u 7oy," xi la ti vo7ne
krixchano.
Va7i 7un, 7a la ti j7iloletik 7une - "Dyos mi yu7un
7ikom ta yech li ch'ul-vitze, li ch'ul-ch'ene, mi yech
pujul 7ikom 7un?"
"Yech a7a mu xa k'u 7oy, bat me ta belel Komitan
bi 7a, belel Komitan xa me nakal," xi la ti vitz ya7el
7une. X7utat la ta xch'ulel ti j7iloletik 7une.
Va7i 7un, 7iyak' la skantelaik, 7isk'oponik la yo7 li
balamil yo7 li lok'em 7un, mi 7aviloj i yo7 li lok'em
7une, 7a li yos, mu xa k'u 7oy la, 7a ch'abal xa,
yech'o me ti staoj yav yech pujul 7ikom li balamile,
7a ti 7oyuk k'u 7oye, 7ikta nan te to, yan Ie7e k'u ti
bat 7une. "Sk'exta yav yu7un la chopol lavajpaleike,
yantz la li xchi7uke," xi la ti yajval balamile. Yajval
balamil la yal taj x7elan.
Va7i 7un, 7a ti krixchanoetik 7une, yech 7ilaj ti
svokol ti 7ox-vinik ta sjok' ti balamile, yech 7ilaj ti
tak'ine, yech 7ilaj ti k'utikuk yabtelik 7un, te ch'ay
7un, kechel 7ikom, k'al tana kechel, 7oy yech 7un,
mu xa bu sjok'ik, k'u ti ch'abal xa, yilojik 7ibat,
yech'o kechel 7ikom yech 7un.
According to Tonik this event occurred around thirty-seven
years earlier, i.e., in 1923. The priest Mariano Lievano became
the source of still further controversy. Tonik described how he
ordered the sacristans either to take the image of St. Lawrence
to the Church of St. Sebastian or burn it. They carried St.
Lawrence to the other church, and for five days and five nights
the rain fell without cease. The townspeople became so frightened
that the sacristans returned St. Lawrence to his rightful
home. The priest fell ill. He kept asking those attending him to
pull off his shirt, because his back was on fire. He was taken to
San Cristobal, where he died shortly thereafter. See also T91,
TI 14, TI57, and their notes.
7A ti vo7ne toj toyol to 7ox la j7ik'al, 7a ti j7ik'ale
mu la stak' xaxanav ja7 to la ti me sta baluneb 7ora
xu7 xalok' ta pana mu la xu7 xalok' 7atuk
chi7inbilotik la xixanavotik 7a li ja7 to la ti sp'ijubtas