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that it won't climb up? Why has it died? What's
happened to my flesh?" she said.
She touched her hand now. It was just bone. She
touched the other one, just bone. [Her flesh]
wouldn't climb up either side of her hand. Just her
face was human. If her face was just bone we'd be
scared by it, it seems. The priest arrived. He put holy
water on her. She was alive for three days. When the
three days were up, she died. She said nothing. She 1
did nothing, except cry, cry, and cry. She was
heartbroken because the children couldn't nurse.
"Oh, never mind, let her die! She deserves it,
going to eat corpses. There's no need for me to have
a corpse-eater to sleep with," said the man. "Never
mind, what business is it of ours?" he told his mother.
He had gone to spend the night at his mother's
house, it seems, so that he could spy on his wife.
He slept in the daytime so that he could spy on:
her, so that he wouldn't fall asleep. He would return
to his mother's house. He had told his mother, "I'm
going to spy on [my] wife. I'm going to watch [my]
wife [to see] why she acts the way she does. She
won't eat. She won't eat at all. I'm sick and tired of
it. They'll just be saying that [my] wife is getting thin
on account of me, because I haven't food for her, but
I do have food for her," he said.
"Never mind, son, why do you have to [scold
her]?" said the poor old woman, because she thought
well of her daughter-in-law. [Her] daughter-in-law
[seemed] to have no evil. She [seemed] to be a very
good [person].
"Mother, won't you eat? Come in!" she'd say
when her mother-in-law came to visit. [Her motherin-law]
would go in. They'd eat.
"That's all, stay here daughter, I guess I'll go. I'll
chat with you sometime," [her mother-in-law] would
say, because her mother-in-law lived far from her.
[The man] returned. That was the end of it. She
died. The man bought a coffin. He buried her.
Happily he buried her. That was the end of it. She
died.
For a Zinacantec there is something suspect about a person
who has a small appetite. This would be particularly so of
women, who always seem to be nibbling leftovers. Because it is
the duty of the man of the house to see to it that his wife is
provided for, a married woman who grows skinny is living proof
of her husband's incompetence, his unmanliness.
After the husband's confession, Tonik adds, "He grabbed the
woman." This literal translation does not seem to follow logically,
but I have been unable to devise a plausible alternative.
The poor woman's death is scarcely mourned, but it is not
characteristic of Zinacantec sentiment to squander sympathy on
demons. Even so, Tonik, more than other storytellers, introduces
evidence favorable to the culprits—Fallen Flesh seemed
"to be a very good" person by day, when not indulging her
ghoulish taste. The psychological complexity of Tonik's devils
TONIK NIBAK 277
xmuy 7une, k'u yu7un ti cham 7une, k'usi spas ti
jbek'tal 7une?" xi la.
Va7i 7un, 7a li spik xa la ti sk'obe, naka bak, tzpik
la li j-jote, naka bak, mu la bu xmuy j-jotuk ti sk'ob
7une, k'ajom la ti ssat krixchano 7un, 7a ti nakauk la
bak ti ssate, ta la xixi7otik 7o yilel, k'ot la ti pale
7une, 7iyak'be la tz'uiltasbil vo7 7un, 7a li 7oxib la
k'ak'al kuxul 7un, tz'aki ti 7oxib k'ak'ale, 7icham la
7un, mu la k'usi 7iyal, mu la k'usi 7ispas, ja7 no la ti
ch7ok' ch7ok' ta j-mek 7une, ja7 la k'ux ta yo7on ti
7unetik mu stak' xchu7un 7une.
Va7i 7un, "7Aj yiyil chamuk stu 7o 7ak'anuk ta
xba sti7 7anima, mu k'u stu ku7un jti7-7anima ta
jchi7in ta vayel," xi la ti vinik. "Yiyil k'u
jkwentatik?" xut la ti sme7 7une. 7 A la vayuk ti tzna
ti sme7 ya7el yo7 ti 7ispa7-muk'ta 7o ti yajnil 7une.
Va7i 7un, ja7 la vayem ta k'ak'altik yo7 ti
spa7-muk'tae, yo7 ti mu xtal 7o svayel 7une, sut tal i
tzna sme7 7une. 7Iyalbe komel ti sme7 7une, "Ta me
jpa7-muk'ta li 7antz 7une, ta me jk'el li 7antz 7une,
k'u yu7un ti x7elan tzpas ti naka, mu xve7, ta j-meke,
xtavan xa xka7i vo7on a7a, x7ale no 7ox ti chbakub
ta jk'ob i 7antze, yu7un mu7yuk sve7el ku7une, pero
ti 7oy sve7el ku7un 7une," xi la 7un.
"Yiyil krem, k'u 7atu7un?" xi la ti prove me7eletik
7une. Yu7un la lek xil ti yalib 7une, mu la sna7 pukuj
ti 7alibal 7une, lek la ta j-mek.
"Me7, mi chave7, 7ochan me tal!" xi la mi k'ot
vula7ajuk ti yalib me7el 7une. Ch7och la 7un,
chve7ik la 7un.
"Mu k'usi, tean no 7ox 7un, tzeb, chibat kik, te
xajk'opontik k'u 7ora," xi la 7un. Yu7un la nom xil ti
yalib me7el 7une.
Va7i 7un, 7a li, sut la tal 7un, ch'abal k'op, cham
7un, 7isman la kajon ti vinike, 7ismuk la 7un, jun
yo7on muk, ch'abal k'op, laj 7o.
endows them with a three-dimensional quality often lacking in
the other storytellers' accounts.
Although witches who leave their skin behind and fly off are
common figures in folk demonology, the particular attributes of
Fallen Flesh seem to be peculiar to the Chiapas highlands, where
it has been reported also in Chamula, Chenalho, Huistan,
Huitiupan, Larrainzar, Pantelho, and Simojovel (Laughlin,
1969a: 177, Paredes, 1970, T9). Also known as kitz'il bak, Squeaking
Bones, it usually leaves its flesh at the foot of the cross, as in
Tale 176. Fallen Flesh is the transformation of an evil person
who wishes to cause illness by flying about with rattling,
squeaking bones, dripping blood. Death is the sure result of
contact with its blood.
My belief that Fallen Flesh does not venture out of the
Chiapas mountains has just been shaken by the discovery of a