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260 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
When it flooded, then, for the land flooded terribly,
they say not a single person was left. Not a
single person was left. The world was deserted. The
houses flooded. Whatever there was, was flooded.
They went to the mountaintops to see, but no one
was left—dese—rted. Only water. I don't know if it
took months or what for the water to dry up. It
receded. It receded. All the houses were sti—nking.
All the people had died, had drowned. The chickens,
the sheep, the horses—all died.
Then, I don't know if it was [one of] our Tutelary
Gods. I don't know who it was. He issued a command.
They went to see how it was, whether the
flood had dried up. He sent off, ah, the grackle.
Grackle grew fond of cracking corn.
He sent off a buzzard. Just the same. Buzzard
stayed behind looking for food there, eating horses,
since there were lots of dead things.
It stayed there to eat. It never came back now.
They went, too, they went, the little sparrow and the
townee, and so on. Just the same. They grew fond of
eating worms, eating whatever little tidbits there
were there.
As many days passed as it took for everything to
dry out well. The hawk came. It never returned. It
grew fond of eating its meals, too. The caracara, as
we call it, came. The king vulture. Just the same. It
grew u—sed to it there, too.
It went, what's it called? What is this animal
called? My Lord!
[Was it a bird?] A bird, ah, it was the sharpshinned
hawk. It arrived. Ah, that one went. It went
to report. "Ah, there isn't a single person. They all
died. They're all dead. E—very house is stinking. It's
terrible. You can't go in anywhere. Even if you go to
see for yourself, go look for yourself, go satisfy your
curiosity! Go take a trip and see, but you can't find a
place [to put] your foot. The mud—it reaches your
knees," it said, indeed.
[How many were there on the mountaintop?] On
the mountaintop? They say there were two. A woman,
a man, with their little girl, their little boy. So
there were four. As for the little girl and the little
boy, I don't kno—w what happened to them—if
they died of fear or what happened to the little girl
and the little boy. They never grew up. As for the
old woman and the old man—she wasn't very old.
[In fact] both of them were around twenty-five years
old, it seems. When they were both twenty-five, they
had a child. Then they went to repopulate the world.
They went to resettle it. Their children were born.
Their children settled. They fixed up the world.
The Flood and the First Settlers
T142
7A ti k'alal 7inoje che7e yu7n la noj ti balamil ta
j-meke mu la junuk krixchano kom, mu la junuk
krixchano kom xch'ij-yan la ta j-mek ti balamile, noj
ti naetike noj ti k'u noje, bat la ta jol vitzetik ti
sk'elele pero mu la buch'u xa 7oy 7ikom,
xch'ij-ya—n solel k'ajom ti vo7e, mu jna7 mi ta 7u
k'u to xi 7ul ya7el li vo7 7une, 7ul ech'el 7ul ech'el,
naka xa xtue—t ti naetike, ti krixchanoe laj chamuk
laj jik'avuk, ti kaxlane ti chije ti ka7e laj chamuk.
Va7i 7un, ja7 to ti, ja7 mu jna7 mi ja7 ti jme7tik
jtottike ja7 mu jna7 buch'u junukal 7un, 7istak ech'el
la mantal 7un, ba la sk'e—1 k'u x7elan ti 7a li k'u
x7elan takij ti nojel 7une, te la stak ech'el, 7aj, bak
mut, bak mute nop ta k'ux-7ixim.
Va7i 7un, stak ech'el xulem ja7 nox yech noxtok,
xulem kom ta sa7el sve7el tey, ti7-ka7 ja7 li 7oy
k'utikuk chameme.
Va7i 7un, ja7 xa te kom ve7uk 7un, mu xa bu sut,
bat noxtok, bat la mi 7unin chinchon mi k'ovix
k'utikuk ta j-mek 7une ja7 nox yech te nop ta
ti7-lukum ta ti7-k'utikuk j-set' juteb 7oy tey ta j-mek
7une.
Va7i 7un, 7ech' ti jayib k'ak'al ya7el ti takij lek
k'utikuk 7une tal 7a li xik muk' bu sut xa nop ta
ti7-ve7elil noxtok, tal 7a li vakos xkuttikotik 7a li rey
xuleme, ja7 nox yech te no—p noxtok.
Va7i 7un, bat 7a li k'u sbi li, k'usi sbi li chon H7i,
kajval?
Mut, 7a ja7 li jimich' xike, k'ot 7un, 7a 7eso si bat
7un ba yal. "7A mu junuk ti krixchanoe laj skotol
naka chamemik, so—lei xtuet ju-jun na muk' smelol
ta j-mek mu stak' bu xi7ochotik 7ak' 7o mi xabat avil
ba k'el avil ba lok'es 7avo7on avil mi chba paxyajan
avile pero mu jta yav koktik, 7a ti 7ach'ele yu7un
ch7och k'alal sjoloval kakantik," xi la ech'el 7un bi
7a.
Ta jol vitze cha7-vo7 la, jun 7antz jun vinik
xchi7uk la jun yunin tzeb jun yunin krem, va7i
chan-vo7ik 7un, 7a ti 7unin tzeb 7unin krem 7une, ja7
mu jna—7 k'usi bat 7o mi cham ta xi7el mi k'u la xi ti
7unin tzeb 7unin krem 7une, mu la bu ch'i 7un, ti
me7el mol 7une, muk' bu batz'i mas me7el, naka to la
lek yilel ta ta 7a li benti-sinko jabil ju-jun 7une, 7alaj
to 7un, ja7 to ba xcha7-p'oles ti balamil 7une ba
cha7-naklikuk, 7ayan xch'amalik, naki ti xch'amalik
7une, smeltzanik ti balamil 7une chotiik 7un sk'elik
7un pero ta yoxibal to 7u ti takij ti nojel ya7el 7une,
ja7 to ta k'unk'un ta k'unk'un 7och'7och' ech'el 7un
ba sk'el ti balamil ti k'u x7elan 7une mi stak' xa xnaki,