PDF (Lo-Res) - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

192 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
goes outside at nighttime to rinse her corn. She is carried off by a
winged devil. A month later she is found outside her house, but
her body stinks horribly, and she is unable to talk. After she
regains her speech, she tells how she was carried to the devils'
cave. The devils had debated, "Shall we eat her or fuck her?"
They dumped the poor woman on the bed and went to work,
feeding her rotten jerked meat between their assaults. In three
Long ago, they say there used to be so many
Spooks. Long ago you couldn't go anywhere. At
eight o'clock there were still Spooks. By nine
o'clock we could go about. We'd go for firewood.
We'd go wherever we were going. Around four
o'clock in the afternoon, you couldn't go out anywhere.
In the mo—rning just at noo—n. Early in the
morning you couldn't go anywhere. Just around
noon you could go about. But early in the morning
your couldn't go anywhere.
Once, then, the firewood gatherers went, were
taken by the Spooks. When the wood gatherers
came back, they didn't all come back. Just two or
three would come back. Even more so if they hadn't
any men with them, then they simply all disappeared.
Little by little the people long ago learned what to
do about so many Spooks. They never saw when
[their friends] disappeared. Then when they went,
they stayed close together getting their wood. Their
men would go and fell the trees. The women would
get their firewood. They would crowd together
around the branches. The men would cut them with
axes. Then they would come back fine. But when the
women went by themselves, if they separated from
each other a little distance, they were caught by the
Spooks. They were carried off by the Spooks.
They would be taken off. There was a woman,
there where the boarding school is now. She was
taken by the Spook, because she went out to draw
her water, just after the sun had appeared.
She went out to draw her water. She was carrying
a pot of water. Her pot was standing there, she was
gone. The woman went off—carried off to the cave,
to his cave. Who kno—ws, when they went to take
her out, that came out with the help of three ropes.
But she had already seen the Spook's six children.
Every week another Spook's child [was born].
"A week after I had come to this house I had a
child. I had one. The next week, another one."
I don't know if the Spook had six or four children
or what. Some hunters passed by where she was. As
for the poor woman. "Halloo, who are you, don't
The Spooks
T145
weeks she delivered a baby boy who could fly at birth. Her son
grew up immediately, pushed a rock away from the cave
entrance, and took his mother home. When her devilish husband
returned to find her gone, he ate their son. The poor woman
never recovered. She died (Gossen, T39). see also T67, T122,
T123, T145, T146, and their notes.
7A ti vo7nee 7oy 7oy la toj toyol j7ik'al, ti vo7nee
mu la stak' bu xibattik, ta vaxakib 7ora k'ak'ale yu7n
7o to j7ik'al, ta baluneb 7orae ja7 stak' xa bu xibattik,
xibattik tzi7bej xibattik bu xibattik, 7a ti k'alal lek nan
chanib 7ora k'ak'ale mu xa stak' bu xalok', so—b ja7
nox ta 7ol k'ak'a—1, ta sobe muk' bu stak' bu xabat,
lek 7ol k'ak'altike ja7 nox bu xu7 xabat, yan i sobe
mu stak' bu xabat.
7A ti vo7nee che7e 7oy la xbat jsi7biletik tey la
chbat ta j7ik'al, tzut talel ti jsi7biletike ch'abal xa
tz'akalik tal, 7o xa nox cha7-vo7 7o xa 7ox-vo7 sut
talel, mas ti mi mu7yuk svinikale yu7n solel te bat 7o
skotol.
Va7i 7un, k'unk'un la 7ixchanbeik smelol ti
krixchano vo7ne k'u x7elan toj tol j7ik'al 7une,
mu7yuk buy xich' 7ilel ya7el ti x7elan ta xbat 7une
ja7 to chbatik 7un nopol xa la tza7ik ssi7ik, chbat la
svinikalik ta slomesik te7 ta ssa7ik ti ssi7ik li 7antzetik
stzoboj sbaik te ta k'ob te7 7une, ja7 ti vinik 7une te
tztuch' ta 7ek'el 7un, ja7 lek tzutik tal bi 7a, yan i
k'alal chbatik stuk 7antzetike ja7 ti buy snatil sk'ej
sbaik ju-jun tale te tzake 7o ta j7ik'al bat ta j7ik'al.
Va7i 7un, ta x7ik'e ech'el, 7oy jun 7antz te ta 7a li
yo7 li 7internado xa tanae, 7ibat ta j7ik'al yu7n la lok'
spul ya7al li lek naka xlok' tal k'ak'al.
Va7i 7un, 7ilok' spul ya7al 7un, jun p'in slikoj ti
ya7al 7une, te vuchul ti sp'ine ch'abal li stuke, bat ti
7antze, 7ik'e ech'el ta ch'en, 7a ti xch'ene, 7a li
na7ti—k, 7a li 7ox-p'ej la riata 7ilok' 7o taj 7antz ti
k'al 7a slok'es tale pero 7isk'el xa 7ox komel ta ssat
vak-vo7 xch'amal ti j7ik'ale.
Ta vaxakibvaxakib la k'ak'al ju-jun xch'amal ti
j7ik'ale.
"Vaxakib k'ak'al ya7el 117 jtalel Ii7 ta nae 7o xa jun
kol, jun, 7otro jun vaxakib k'ak'al 7otro jun."
Va7i 7un, mu jna7 mi vak-vo7 mi chan-vo7 mi k'u
la xi xch'amal ti j7ik'al 7une, 7ech' la ti jpaxyaletik ti
yo7 buy 7une. 7A ti prove 7antz 7une, "Ju—je,