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256 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
impossible to walk on the ground. Look, my leg got
hurt right at the start," said the man. He went back
[up].
"Forget it, forget it! Didn't I tell you? Don't go yet!
Didn't I say that?" she said.
He returned. "I'll wait now one or two days,
otherwise I'd just be going off to kill myself," he
said.
"That's better, what's there to lose? Then we'll go
and see how it is," she said. He came [down] when
the stated time was up. The man came [down]. He
opened the first house. It was filled with water. It
was flooded with water. He was soaked.
But the smell, it stu—nk terribly where people had
died. He broke in with a club or a rock or something.
That's how he opened the houses. Don't you see, the
doors had swollen from the water.
"I shouldn't have come [down]. It wasn't worth it.
The earth stinks horribly!" he said. He saw how the
water ca—me out when he opened ... I don't know
if it was three or four houses that he opened. "Never
mind, I'll wait for the rain[y season] to end. The trees
here are [still] heavily foliaged," he said. He was si—
tting there. He lit his little fire. He warmed up his
tortillas. He ate, and after he finished eating, and
finished his tortillas, he slept there. He didn't return,
because the trail was very slippery. He couldn't go
back to where he had been, it seems, since the
mountain he had to climb was steep.
He slept there. [The next day he went back up the
mountain.] "What did you go for? You shouldn't
have gone, you should have waited until the earth
had finished drying out properly, you hear! I was
right, the houses are filled with water. What good
did you do by going?" [his wife said the next day].
"Yes, you're certainly right. It's absolutely impossible
to rest, because of the smell inside the awful
house. It stinks ho—rribly," said the man. He told
[his] wife.
"Never mind, then, wait until the earth has
finished drying out properly. [Wait until] you see
that it's good and dry. It's useless for our livestock to
leave—whatever animals are [still left]," she said.
"The raven is still coming to take us," she said.
The raven went when the earth seemed dry
enough, when it was dry, when you could walk
easily. Don't you see, it looked to see if it no longer
left footprints where it was good and dry now. The
bird went to tell them. "It's fine now. It's dry now.
You had told me to come take you. I've come to take
you. Go see for yourself. The [mud] is well-cracked
in the houses that were closed up," it said. "As for
the others, just the tips of their roofs show. They're
just buried in mud," it said.
"Ah," he said. "How many of the houses are still
good?" he asked.
koke," xi la ti vinik 7une. Sut ech'el 7un.
"Yiyilyiyil! mi mu lakalbe che7e? Mu to chabatl Mi
mu xakut che7e?" xi la 7un.
Va7i 7un, 7a li 7isut 7un. "Ta jmala xa junuk
chibuk k'ak'al naka me teyuk bat chamikon," xi la
un. "Ja7 lek mi7n 7u k'u laj 7o, ja7 to xba jk'eltik ti
k'alal mi yu7un k'u x7elane," xi la un. Tal la ti k'alal
7itz'aki ti jayib k'ak'al yaloj 7une, 7ital li vinik 7une,
sjam la ti primero j-p'ej nae, noj la ta vo7, noj ta vo7
7it'uxi to li stuke.
Va7i 7un, pero ti jun yik'e batz'i tuuu la ta j-mek
7un, bu ti te ti krixchano 7un to, svok' la ta te7 ta ton
k'utik xi jam 7o ti na 7une, k'u ti mu xavil 7a li sit'em
ta vo7 ti mak naetik 7une.
Va7i 7un, "7A ma to ma talikone, yiluk ma yile,
batz'i 7animal yan yik' ta j-mek li balamile!" xi la
7un. 7Iyil ja7 7o la ta—1 vo7 ta x7elan 7isjam mu jna7
mi 7ox-p'ej mi chan-p'ej k'u cha7al taj na 7isjam
7une. "Yiyil ta jmala ch7ech' li vo7 Ii7 toe, ja7 pirn
yanal li te7 Ii7e," xi la 7un. Te la tzunu—1 te yo7
7une, stzoy li yunen k'ok', sk'ixna la ti yot 7une,
7ive7 la 7un, laj la ve7uk 7i laj ti yot 7une, te la vay
7un, muk' xa la sut 7un, yu7un la ja7 ti batz'i bilil ti
bee, mu xa stak' sut ech'el yo7 ti buy ya7el 7une, ja7
ti pajal ti vitz bu chmuy ech'el.
Va7i 7un, 7i te la vay 7un. "K'u 7onox ba sa7 ma
to batane, 7amalauk to 7a li takij lajuk lek balamile,
va7i, noj ta j-mek ka7uk ta vo7 li naetike k'u 7onox
7atu7un labat?" xi la un.
"Ji7 7ava7uk a7a, batz'i 7animal mu stak'
xikuxiotik ya7el yik' ti mu yut na 7animal ya—n
yik'," xi la ti vinik 7une. Xut la ti yajnile.
"Yiyil che7e, malao, takij lajuk lek li balamile, mi
yu7un lek xa takin chavile, yiyil batuk 7i k'utik
jtz'unubtik, k'utik chanul 7oy a7a," xi la un. "Ta
7onox tal yik'otik i 7a li joje," xi la un.
Va7i 7un, ja7 la bat ti joj ti k'alal lek xa k'epel
ya7el ti balamil 7une, takin xa 7une, lek xaxanavuk
7une, mu xavil ja7 la tzk'el ti mu xa xkom li yav yok
yo7 ti lek xa 7o takin li mut 7une, ba la yal un. "Lek
xa me 7un, takin xa me 7un, 7a lavalbon komel ti xtal
kik'ot 7un, tal kik'ot 7un, ba k'el avil 7un, 7a li
naetike lek xa xi kachajtik i yo7 buy makajtike," xi la
7un. "7A li yan 7une, k'ajom xa no 7ox i yunen jol
xvinaje, mu xa buy naka matz'ajtik ta 7ach'el," xi la
7un.
"7A!" xi la. "Jay-p'ej to li na 7oy lekik 7une?" xi la
7un.