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"Oh, fine, then," he was told. In place of his corn
field there were just rocks the next morning. No
more corn field. Just cliffs. Just rock fields, just
woods. No more corn fields, because he didn't
answer properly. [Our Lord] went to another person.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I am planting Our Lord's sunbeams," said the
man.
"Ah, good. That's all. If you are planting corn and
if someone comes, someone comes looking [for me],
if you are asked, Didn 't a man pass by? if he says that,
you tell him, He passed by, but it was a very long time
ago. I was planting the corn field, but look here, now
there are ears of corn" said [Our Lord].
"Ah!" he said. Since [Our Lord] had just passsed
by. Since he answered properly, the corn field suddenly
had ears of corn. In just one day it happened.
When morning came the next day the corn field had
ears of corn, because he answered properly. When
[the pursuer] passed by [he was told], "Oh, who
knows, maybe it was around three months ago when
he passed, because I was in the midst of planting.
Since now the corn field is in ear," he said. He told
the devil. "Oh well, no one has passed by now, no
one has passed by yet. He came by, but it was when I
was planting the corn field, but my corn field already
has ears. Maybe it was at least three months ago that
he came by," said the man.
You see, it turned out well, since his corn grew
well. Whoever didn't answer properly, not a single
corn plant grew. None. It turned out badly. Their
work was no good.
In this and the following tale, although the pukuj, "devil" or
"enemy," is not identified by Manvel, it is assumed that we know
that the tormenters of Christ were the Jews. It is they who in
Zinacantec Catholicism are identified quite simply as the murderers
of "Our Lord, Christ."
At first glance it would seem that the account of Christ and
the farmer was a New World invention. If frequency of recording
is any indication of a tales' popularity, this tale is clearly the
favorite throughout southern Mexico and Guatemala. Whether
the objects of pursuit are Joseph and Mary or Christ himself, the
dialogue is nearly identical from one version to the next. The
particular crops being planted do vary—chicken eggs hatch
pullets in Chichicastenango (Tax, 1949:126)—but the dramatic
development is consistent. The tale is distributed among the
Tepecanos (Mason, 1914:7), Huastecs (Laughlin, 1969b:307),
Totonacs (Ichon, 1969:82; Reid, Bishop, Button, and Longacre,
1968:148-156 and 167-169), Popolucas (Elson, 1947:193-214),
Mazatecs (Laughlin, 1957), Zapotecs (Parsons, 1932a, T6),
MANVEL K'OBYOX 335
"7A, lek che7e," x7utat la 7un. Naka la to—n
7isakub yav chobtik 7une, ch'abal xa yav chobtik,
naka la ch'en, naka la tontik, te7etik xa, ch'abal xa
yav chobtik porke yu7un muk' bu lek tak'av, 7ibat la
jun xa noxtok 7un. "K'u chapas?" xi la 7un.
"7A Ii7 ta jtz'un xxojobal kajvaltike," xi la, 7a li
jun vinik 7une.
"7A bweno, mu k'usi che7e, ti mi7n chatz'un
chobtike, 7a ti mi7n 7o tal 7o buch'u tal sa7vanuke,
7a mi lajak'bat Mi muk' 7i7ech' junuk, jun vinik? mi
xie 7I7ech'pero batz'i vo7ne xa, xavalbe 7un. Ja7 to
7ox yolel ta jtz'un li chobtike pero k'e H7e lek xa 7ajan
7un," xi la 7un.
Bweno, 7a li, "7Aa," xi, komo naka to 7ox 7ech'
7un, k6mo lek 7itak'ave, j-likel 7ipas ta 7ajan ti
chobtik 7une, pas ta jun 7o no 7ox k'ak'al k'alal
7isakub 7osile, 7ajan xa sakub li chobtike, porke yu7n
lek 7itak'av 7un. 7A li k'alal 7i7ech'e, "7Ijj, jna7tik
xa 7oy xa nan yoxibaluk 7u ti 7ech'e, porke yolel to
7ox ta jtz'un porke 7ajan xa li chobtike," xi la.
7Iyalbe li pukuj 7une. "7A bweno, muk' bu x7ech'
lavi ja7 to muk' bu x7ech', 7i7ech' pero ti ja7 to 7ox
yolel ta jtz'un li chobtik to 7oxe, pero pas xa ta 7ajan
li jchob 7une, 7oy xa nan yoxibaluk 7u ti 7ech'e," xi
la li vinik 7une.
Va7i 7un, lek 7ibat 7un, komo lek 7ich'i li xchob
7une, 7a li buch'u muk' lek xtak'ave, muk' bu ch'i
j-petzuk xchob 7un, ch'abal, chopol 7ibat, chopol
yabtel.
Chenalho Tzotzil (Guiteras-Holmes, 1961:262), Kekchi of Belize
(J. E. Thompson, 1930:161), Kanjobal (La Farge, 1947:57-58,
Siegel, 1943:120-126), Quiche (Tax, 1949:126), and Tzutujil
(Rosales, 1945:872).
The Popoluca version lends strength to the conclusion that
this is a native American legend, for the protagonist is not
Christ, but Homshuk, the corn god, who is fleeing from his most
unChristian mother. Comparable tale elements have not been
reported from the large collections of Spanish tales from North
America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, or Spain itself. If it were not for the
exhaustive studies of the nineteenth-century German folklorist
Oskar Dahnhardt, we could conclude quite comfortably that this
is an American invention. Dahnhardt, alas, uncovered a thirteenth-century
Latin manuscript of Christ and the farmer. After
tracing further versions through the Balkan countries, he determined
to his satisfaction that the legend had been brought from
the Near East to Europe by the crusaders (Dahnhardt, 1912,
2:95-107). See also T53, T177, and their notes.