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252 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23 Old Little Bird as he was called. Old Little Bird, as he was called, didn't die easily, long ago. It was hard to kill him. He couldn't be killed. Don't you see, the old guy was very tricky. [He was a Chamulan?] Chamu—Ian. Chamulan. Very tricky. I don't know, I don't know if he was the second [Little Bird]. I don't know if you knew Juan Perez Jolote, as they called him. Yes, he was the second or third probably. I don't know what. But he was a friend of his. Yes! As for Old Little Bird, as he was called, he was the one who always went with spears, with . . . what's it called? . . . [metal-tipped walking sticks?] metal-tipped walking sticks, with shotguns, with knives—wherever he went from house to house to steal. [How many years ago could it have been?] Ooh, God, if it wasn't sev . . . sixty or seventy-five years. If it was only that, because I don't know positively how long ago. Because, me, you see, I just figure it out from hearsay. Because when I was married, I was married at sixteen years. Now I lived with my husband for twenty-eight years, it seems. After twenty-eight years we got divorced, since he was so jealous. I couldn't chat with anyone. I couldn't go anywhere. Since everybody, everybody was my lover, my man [said]. That's why I couldn't say anything anymore, I couldn't do anything anymore. I couldn't earn money. Because it always [caused] fights. We didn't eat. We couldn't live with him, that's why. "Ach, forget it, My Lord, I won't take pains to live with that man!" I said. It was surely seventy-four years ago! If that's all! Because it was long ago. I tell you I was little. I was little. I just saw what that old guy took, it seems. Because there was an old man next to my house, He was as far away as this house here. He lived that far away. So we saw what came—what went in [when Little Bird returned home]. He was scared, too, because my mother nearly killed him. Yes, because he stole our land. I had some land—have you seen where Maryan Jolote's house is? Eh, all of it that reaches to the edge of the ranch used to be my own land. Stolen for nothing. He didn't pay a single cent. That was the tricky Little Bird [Palas]. That used to be his land. The thing is, the old man died in the epidemic, because I was already big at the time of the epidemic. I was probably the same size as your little girl [eleven years]. I ground the corn, I patted the tortillas by myself. I came to San Cristobal by myself. In 1960 Tonik stated firmly that she was forty-six years old. By that reckoning she would have been fifty-seven years of age The old man died. His old woman died. He had offspring, as we say. His offspring weren't his own children. They were the children of his younger sister's husband. Her daughter was Marta. That boy—Maryan was that boy's name. They baptised him. Supposedly he was Mariano Rodriguez, but he wasn't Mariano Rodriguez! We called him Maryan Seto. [When Little Bird and his wife were still alive] someone arrived, a person arrived to borrow money. He went to borrow [Little Bird's] money. He went to set down for [Little Bird] two bottles of cane liquor. They longed to enjoy the cane liquor. They drank it. [Little Bird] sent for that boy of his. They drank. They got drunk. The poor old woman did an ugly thing. She started to pull up her skirt. "Would you be happy with this compadre?" or whatever it was she said to the person who went to borrow money. She pulled up her skirt. She slapped her legs. So that son of hers lost his temper. He probably lost no time. And quickly he cut off her head with an axe. God, cu—rled up tight like this, the poor old woman died. Like this, like this, her hands were like this. She was thoroughly cu—t here [on the neck]. Only the skin was attached here. As for her hair, Holy Mary! Since, like me, she hadn't much hair, it was simply stiff with blood. It was on—I don't know if it was four days later that she was buried. The house was closed, closed, closed, but how would we know she was dead? I had gone by the day after her death. I went to gather firewood. The house was shut up. I went the next day. The house was shut up. She had a comadre, wife of the late . . . he's alive, Rejino who lives in Sek'emtik. You know him! That's who it is! She saw her. The door was opened, the door was opened, then that comadre came to look. "Comadre, comadrita!" she said to her comadre, since the old woman was Spanish. Her name was Loxa—Loxa Seto. Rosa Buluch was her name. But [her comadre] was completely dead. Her legs were simply cu—rled up like this. Dead, murdered. You see how they died. That's what happened to the Little Bird's wife, indeed! That was the second Little Bird. [There were two Little Birds?] Eh, three, four. The first Little Bird was the one with real Chamulan flesh. The second was that Juan Perez Jolote. The third was probably that Old Palas. The fourth was the other one [Maryan Seto]. Until they all died. But now they're gone. Go—ne! Died. Yes! when she recounted her memories of The Little Bird. But she claims here that she witnessed these events, that occurred
"seventy-four years ago,' when she was "little." As we know that Little Bird was looting the countryside not in 1897, but in 1911, Tonik's age must fall between her two estimates, that is, around sixty-six years. Tonik, like Xun Vaskis, describes The Little Bird as being "tall." Perhaps by Indian standards he was taller than average. Tonik's reminiscences invest several characters with the title Little Bird, who are not mentioned by others when speaking of the Chamulan general. They are (1) Juan Perez Jolote, a Chamulan, living in those times, whose autobiography was recorded by Pozas (Pozas Arciniega, 1948); (2) Tonik's neighbor, Francisco (or Palas) Rodriguez, a Zinacantec follower of Little Bird; and (3) his adopted son Mariano Rodriguez (or Maryan Seto). Tonik's neighbor perhaps was the only Zinacantec to have joined Little Bird. At least no Zinacantecs figure in the hisorical sources, and most Zinacantecs speak with genuine fear and horror of the followers of Little Bird. Consistently Zinacantecs Once the great star appeared, as we say. The sky grew bri—ght from end to end. "I am the sweeper of the path. I sweep his path. I sweep Our Lord's path for him, so that when Our Lord passes by he finds [the path] already swept." [The star] travels. Then the sun appears. The sun sweeps forth as we say. But you know, first it's the morning star. Venus is a Chamulan girl. She is from Chamula. TONIK NIBAK The Sweeper of the Path T79 They didn't believe the Chamulan girl when she talked about it. "We'll see what the ugly Chamulan girl is like! She says she is a star! Could she be a star? She's an awful, ugly, black Chamulan. Isn't the star beautiful? It has rays of light. The star is a beautiful bright re—d," said the women. They ridiculed that girl for saying she was a star. They didn't think she was. "Do you think I don't know what you're saying? You are ridiculing me. It's me. I am the one who fixes the path. I sweep off the path. When Our Lord disappears, the ocean dries up. The fish come out when Our Lord passes by there. That's when Our Lord disappears. That's why there is the monkey's sun as we call it [a red sunset]. That's when Our Lord passes over the ocean. That's when night falls. That's when the rays of light can be seen in the distance. I am the sweeper of the house. I swee—p off the path. I walk just when it grows light, at dawn again. I sweep here beneath the world. The next day when dawn comes, I appear and sweep again, because that is my work. That's what I do. I haven't any other work. That is what my work is. That's why I am a star. Ve—nus appears early in the dawn, say the people, but it's me. I sweep the house. [I sweep] his path, Our Lord's path. It isn't just anyone's path," she said. 253 remained aloof from the native rebellions that occurred in Chamulan and Tzeltal towns. Although I have never heard Maryan Seto called "Little Bird," his name is famous in Zinacantan Center. The gruesome scene described by Tonik was only his introduction to a life of violence. His legendary exploits were chronicled by Romin Teratol, who reported that Maryan Seto, known as "Split-face Man," was the husband of many wives and the perpetrator of sixty-four murders. Three times he was killed and twice he revived. His final demise was assured only after he had been chopped to pieces and his flesh covered with garlic, salt, and tobacco (Bricker, T42). Nor did the violence end with his death, for his two adopted sons were notorious mother-beaters and murderers in 1960; one with five murders to his name, including a poor deaf and dumb Chamulan. See also T22, T28, T66, T116, T154, and their notes. 7A la ti vo7ne 7a li muk'ta k'anal chlok' tal xkaltike, sak-jama—n xa tal li vinajele. "Vo7one, jmes-beon, vo7one, jmes sbe, ta jmesbe ech'el sbe li kajvaltike." Yu7un ja7 te k'alal x7ech' i kajvaltike, mesbil xa ta sta, ja7 ti chanav ja7 to ta xlok' tal k'ak'al tzmesuj tal li k'ak'ale, xichiotik. Pero buy, ja7 la ba7yi li muk'ta k'anale, tzeb 7ulo7 la ti muk'ta k'anal 7une, te la likem ta Chamu7tik 7un. Va7i 7un, 7a ti, mu la xch'un ti tzlo7ilta ti tzeb kulo7tik 7une. Va7i 7un, "Xkil to k'u x7elan li yijil tzeb jchamu7, ja7 k'anal chal, mi yu7un yech k'anal sna7oj mu yil 7ik'al 7ulo7 mi mu leklekuk sba li k'anale, 7oy xxojobal, batz'i tzo—j slekil li k'anale," xi la ti 7antzetik. Tzlabanik ti chal ti ja7 k'anal taj tzeb 7une. Buy 7un, xak'ikuk la ma7uk 7un. "Mi xa 7ava7uk mu chka7i li k'u chaval chalabanikone, vo7on me, vo7on me ta jmeltzan tal li bee, ta jmes ech'el li bee, 7a li k'al chch'ay li kajvaltik te yo7e, yu7un me ja7 ta x7ul i nabe, ja7 7o me chlaj lok'uk li choye, k'al ch7ech' i kajvaltik te yo7e, yu7un me ja7 7o chch'ay li kajvaltike, yech'o me li 7o sk'ak'al max xichiotike, yu7un me ja7 li buy ta x7ech' ta nab li kajvaltike, ja7 7o chmak 7une, ja7 7o xa nom xvinaj li xxojobale, li vo7one jmes-naon, ta jme—s ech'el i bee, vo7on ba7yi chixanav k'al tzsakub tal i 7osil ta jun 7ik'-luman noxtok 7une, yu7un vo7on ta jmes i H7 ta yolon balamil sakub tal 7osil ta yok'omal noxtok 7une, vo7on ta jmes talel noxtok 7un, yu7un ja7 kabtel, yu7un ja7 ta jpas, mu k'usi yan kabtel, yu7un ja7 kabtel vo7on chak taje, yech'o li vo7on 7a li k'analon yu7un sob 7ik'-lumane, chlok' xa tal muk'ta k'ana—1 xi ti krixchano pero vo7on vo7on ta jmes i nae, ja7 li be yu7un, sbe kajvaltik, mu7nuk 7o buch'u sbe," xi la.
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Of Cabbages and Kings TALES FROM ZI
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FRONTISPIECE: Disguised Aztec merch
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ABSTRACT Laughlin, Robert M. Of Cab
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iv SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANT
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VI SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANT
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Acknowledgments It seemed a logical
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Epigraph "I see nobody on the road,
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GENESIS A second expectation create
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he himself made no connection betwe
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nineteen townships in the state of
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8 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTH
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10 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANT
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Linguistic Notes In order to make t
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Romin Tan-chak comes of a well-to-d
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Xun Vaskis FIGURE 2.—Xun Vaskis,
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FIGURE 7.—Tonik Nibak, 1961 (phot
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172 boy told me, my companion, my n
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I'm sorry to say it was pretty well
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356 So he tossed his hair upwards.
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Postscript "Talk of many things, ..
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Acala 7Ach' Jtek-lum 7Ak'ol Mukenal
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Number Page 1. Romin Teratol 17 2.
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Aarne, Antti Amatus 1928. The Types
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Maps Nearly all the local place nam
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