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196 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
other one got a wife. The wife of the older brother
paid [the bride-price]. Then the older brother's wife
acted as her mother-in-law. [His bride] came and
joined his older brother's wife. They lived together.
She took the place of the mother.
They arrived. They fed the poor old man there.
They gave him his meals. They looked after their
father, it seems.
When the women had babies, the grandfather was
kind to his little grandchildren. The poor old man
stayed with the babies. The others went to get
firewood, they went to San Cristobal or Chamula or
wherever they went, since the woman [the old man's
wife] had gotten sick and died, it seems. The poor
things were all alo—ne.
Just that the Spook wasn't around much anymore,
after that time months ago. Because it used to be,
long ago, that at six o'clock at dawn, it was just the
Spooks' time. You couldn't go anywhere, you
couldn't travel anywhere. Little by little things got
better. Three months after, after that woman came
back, probably he was scared or something, or who
knows what, that he had stolen the woman. [But the
Spooks] didn't stop coming.
Ah, it was a serious business, too. There is another
part, too. They say there was a Spook who was a
Hairy Hand. He couldn't be killed. It was different,
it was different, indeed! But as for [the first story]
that's all there is to it. The poor lady died. The
babies were left all by themselves.
[Were the babies the children of the awful Spook?]
No, they weren't. The children of that Spook, they
turned out very badly. The children of that woman,
our countrywoman, turned out badly. They turned
out to be different. They couldn't be killed.
That's all there was. And those babies were left all
alone, the chi—ldren of the first man.
This account of the Spooks, with incidents similar to some in
the previous tale and some in "The Spook and the Saints"
(T130), was told after a lapse of eleven years.
The phrase jnae . . . jk'ulebe, "my house . . . my home," is a
traditional way to refer to one's house in ritual speech. The
woman's use of ritual speech gives an indication of the intensity
of her emotions arriving back home.
The term proveetik, translated here as "poor guys,'' connotes
"kind-hearted" or "compassionate guys."
Tonik, who always delights in providing a numerical qualifier
for the most insignificant details, provided the hunters with the
tricky mathematical problem of dividing fifteen pesos equally
among the twelve of them. But they clearly are undaunted as
they exclaim "We'll get several pesos apiece since there are
Long ago when Salinas was formed, the Virgin
arrived there. A man saw her. As for the man,
Our Lady of the Salt
T83
tal ti yajnile, ja7 xa la tojvan lok'el tal ti yajnil
bankilal 7une, ja7 xa 7alibaj ti yajnil bankilal 7une tal
xchi7in i yajnil ni sbankil 7une, ja7 xa te xchi7in sbaik
7un ja7 xa sk'exol me7il 7un.
Va7i 7un, yulik 7un, 7a ti prove mole ja7 te
tzmak'lanik te chak'beik sve7el tzk'elik ti stotik ya7el
7une.
Ti k'alal 7i7ayan yol ti 7antzetik 7une ja7 xa te
chk'uxubin ti yunin mamobtak ti muk'ta totil 7une,
ja7 xa chkom xchi7in 7unetik ti prove mol 7une, ja7
chbatik ta si7bej chbatik ta Jobel mi Chamu7 mi bu
xbatik ti ti yantik 7une ja7 7ipaj ti 7antz 7icham ya7el
chava7i 7une, stuki—k xa ti proveetik 7une.
Va7i 7un, ja7 nox ti mu xa bu ya7el mas ti j7ik'al
xa 7ox 7un, taj x7elan ta jayib 7u 7une, yu7n ja7 taj
vo7ne to 7ox ya7ele che7e mi ja7uk ta vakib 7ora
7ik'-lumane yu7n batz'i styempo j7ik'al, mu stak' bu
xabat mu stak' bu xaxanav, k'unk'un k'unk'un
7imeltzaj 7un 7ista ti, 7ista ti 7oxib 7u ssutel tal taj
7antz 7une, te nan mi yich' xi7el mi k'utik xi mi k'utik
x7elan ti yelk'an ech'el 7antz 7une mu xa bu xlaj
taluk.
7An yu7un 7oy tzotz sk'oplal noxtok, 7oy j-koj
j-tos 7o noxtok, 7oy la, 7oy la jtzotz k'ob i j7ik'ale,
7oy la mu la xcham ta milel, ja7 j-tos ja7 j-tos 7o xa
7un taj a7a, j-tos 7o xa 7un taj a7a, yan taje yech
yepal 7ikom chak taj 7une, cham ti prove jmeme7tik
7une stuk xa kom i 7unetik 7une.
7I7i, ma7uk, taj xch'amal taj j7ik'ale ja7 taj chopol
xa lok' 7une, ja7 taj chopol xa lok' taj yol taj 7antz
jchi7iltikotik ya7el 7une, ja7 la j-tos 7o lok' 7un ja7
taj mu xcham ta milel 7une.
Va7i 7un, 7a li laj 7un taje yech yepal 7ikom 7i
stuk xa kom taj 7unetik 7une, ja7 xch'a—mal ti ba
vinik 7une.
twelve of us!"
The pus ton or "steam cure" that was used to try to cure the
poor woman would have consisted of the following: a round
hole dug in the floor, in which are placed thirteen red-hot brown
river pebbles, on top of which are placed a variety of plants, and
over which is poured a large gourd of urine (half from one of the
male assistants and half from one of the female assistants).
It is characteristic of Tonik not to end the tale where others
would—at the woman's death, but rather to continue with a
catalogue of the sufferings of her survivors: her husband, her
children, and her children's children, who we are made to
believe were entirely dependent on her! See also T67, T71, T130,
T146, and their notes.
7A ti vo7ne k'alal 7imeltzaj i 7a li Vo7-bitze yu7un
la k'ot 7a li jch'ul-me7tik teye, jun la vinik 7iyil. 7A