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Don't you see, the coffin was left empty. He went
there bodily where he had been provided for.
He died. The children stayed there, but he took
everything with him. The children couldn't ask [the
walking stick]. They just had their belongings. His
money was left, it seems. They wouldn't go hungry.
They bought four horses with it, a pair of oxen. His
children could support themselves.
The children weren't stupid, either. When they
saw they had their horses, they worked. They prepared
their corn field. Their oxen plowed their land.
They weeded their corn. The corn flourished. They
bought more. They were left with plenty. The man
went to pay in the place where his food came from
and where he rested. He went there to the foot of the
madrone tree where the old man came out. He went
in bodily. Yes!
"Don't bury me when I die. When I'm dead, stick
me into the coffin, you see, but don't bury me! I'm
going to the place where the person who provided
for me came out, the place where he came from, the
person who supported me for so many days. I was
lucky. I didn't do anything. Just because Our Lord
took pity on me, he supported me. Now I'm suffering
so much from carrying wood, from selling wood. I'm
suffering from hunger! [I told him]. I'm going there.
Don't worry! Go see me there! I'll come out there
every Tuesday," he said. It was every Tuesday since
he was allowed to come out on Tuesdays.
"I guess I'll go this Tuesday, I guess I'll see if I can
talk to my father, because I'd like to talk to him,
because I miss my father," said [his] son.
"But don't take your tumpline! Don't carry wood
or else he won't come out!" said his mother.
"No, I won't carry firewood. I'm going. I'm going
to sit down," [he told his mother as he left]. "God,
My Lord, father, I miss you. I'd like to talk to you,"
said the small boy when he arrived beneath the
madrone tree.
He had been sitting there quite a while. "Son, have
you come? Did you come to talk to me? I'm not
dead. I'm alive, for I've come to pay for all that I ate,
for what I ate on the surface of the holy earth. That's
why I came here," he said. But he didn't die. It
seemed as if he died, but he didn't die. He was
certainly alive. "Don't worry! If you want money, if
you ask for whatever you want, I haven't any
problems. I have money. I have plenty of my own.
Whenever you want to, come join me, if you need
money, come!" he said.
That scared him. He didn't arrive to talk anymore.
Ever since he avoided it. The boy was scared. He
didn't want to talk to his father anymore, because
[his father] entered between two roots, since the
TONIK NIBAK 221
Bu xavil, i kajon 7une, xokol 7ikom, sjunul 7ibat ta
yo7 buy 7imak'lanon 7une.
Vai 7un, 7a li 7icham 7un, 7a ti 7unetike, te to
kom, pero ja7 yich'oj 7ibat skotol 7un, mu stak' sk'an
ti 7unetike, ja7 no 7ox ti 7oy ti k'usuk yu7une, 7oy ti
stak'in 7ikom ya7el 7une, mu7nuk chvi7naj 7un,
sman 7o no la chan-kot ska7, 7a li jun la par svakax, i
chve7 7o ti xch'amaltak 7une.
Va7i 7un, muk' o no la sonso ti 7unetik noxtok
7une, ti yil ti 7oy ti ska7 7une, 7abtej la 7un, smeltzan
la xchob 7un, 7a ti svakax 7une, ja7 la tzvok 7o yosil,
chak'inta 7o ti yixim 7une, 7ayan 7ixim, sman yan,
7oy k'u 7oy yu7un 7ikom 7un, 7a ti vinik 7une, ba la
stoj ti yo7 ti buy lok'em tal ti sve7el, 7i skux 7o 7une,
te la ba ba ta yok ti yok ti 7on te7 yo7 ti buy 7ilok' tal
ti mole, te la 7och ech'el sjunul. Ji7 la.
"Muk7 bu muk' bu chamukikon, 7a lavi chichame,
chamikon tik'ikon ta kajon avilik, pero muk'
chamukikon, ta xibat yo7 ti lok'em tal li buch'u
chismak'lane, yo7 li bu talem i buch'u chismak'lane,
jayib no me k'ak'al lavi lek 7ikil, muk' xi7abtej mu
k'u jpase, yu7un no me k'uxon ta yo7on ti kajvaltik
nismak'lane. Ja7 lavi ti 7aboljba taj-mek li ta
kuch-sile, ta chon-si7e, laboljba ta vilnale. Te chibat
7un, mu k'u xal 7avo7onik, ja7 te xba k'elikon, te
chilok' ta ju-jun ju-jun martex," xi la. Ju-jun la
martex 7un, k'u ti martex 7i7ak'bat tal 7un taje.
Va7i 7un, "Chibat kik lavi martexe, jk'el kik mi jta
ta k'oponel ti jtote, yu7un chak jk'opon ka7i yu7un
ta jna7 ti jtote," xi la ti krem 7une. Bat.
"Pero mu xavich' 7apek', mu xakuch si7, naka me
ma lok'uk tal!" xi la ti sme7.
"7I7i a7a muk' ta jkuch si7, chibat, chibat
chotlikon." "Dyos kajval, tot, chajna7 7un, chak
jk'oponot," xi la k'otel ti k'ox krem ta yolon ti 7on
te7 7une.
Va7i 7un, naxnax 7ox la xchotlej 7un. "Kere, mi
natal, mi tal 7ak'oponon, mu me bu chamemon,
kuxulon me, yu7un me ja7 tal jtoj ti k'u yepal k'u
jlajesoj, k'usi ti jlajes ti tzba ch'ul-balamile, yech'o
me ti H7 nitale," xi la 7un. Pero muk' la xcham 7un,
spas la ti chame, pero muk' la cham 7un, kuxul la.
"Mu k'u xal 7avo7on, mi chak'an tak'in, mi chak'an
k'u chak'ane, Ii7 toe mu k'u jna7, 7oy jtak'in, 7oy k'u
7oy ku7un, k'u 7ora sk'an 7avo7on xtal jchi7in jbatik
mi chak'an tak'ine xatal!" xi la 7un.
Ja7 la xi7 7o 7un, mu xa la bu xk'ot sk'opon 7un,
k'al tana yech kechel 7ikom 7o chak taj 7une, xi7 7o
ti krem 7une, mu xa la sk'an sk'opon ti stot 7une, k'u
la yu7un cha7-p'ej yisim te7 k'u ti ja7 no 7ox 7ijam la