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336 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
[Our Lord] passed by another town. [The devil]
was about to come now. It was just a minute before
the devil would arrive on the trail. "Oh, what can I
do now?" said Our Lord.
"But who knows if maybe I make some soap.
Then the trail will be very slippery. Let's see if he's
delayed a bit," said Our Lord.
He tossed a cake of black soap [on the trail].
Maybe that's what made [the trail] muddy. But the
trail was terribly slippery. But [the devil] was delayed
a bit by it. [Our Lord] wasn't overtaken. Our
Lord wasn't reached on the trail.
A little later, [Our Lord] continued. He went some
distance. He was just about to be overtaken again.
"Well, what can we do? It would be better if we left
some thread [on the trail]," he said. He tossed a ball
of thread. It turned into fog. It grew dark. It closed
in, the way clouds do. It grew dark. The [devil] was
distracted a bit. The next day, our Lord continued
for a long way. He had gone far. He wasn't overtaken.
He wasn't caught.
The ruses in Christ's magic flight are similar to those employed
in two other Zinacantec tales of undoubtedly European
origin (T18, T163). A Tepehua version of St. Joseph's flight has
Mary toss a cake of soap onto the path, with the same muddy
[Rabbit] went to a cave. He had his little guitar.
"What's new, Uncle Tiger?" he said to the tiger.
"What's new, what's new, friend?" the rabbit was
asked.
"Now today," said [Rabbit], "The king is having a
party," he said. "But if you want, let's dance now,"
he said. "Because the party is on now, the king's
party," he said.
"Well, is that so?" said Tiger.
"Yes. Well, I'll play my little guitar and you
dance," he said.
"All right. Play then and I'll dance," said [Tiger].
When [Rabbit] played his guitar, in a minute,
[Tiger] did turn after turn. He spun around. It was
Tiger who danced. He was hit from behind, and he
died from it. He died from it. [Rabbit] skinned him
and went to give [the skin] to the king. He went to
sell the skin. It was a lie he told, that he was to be
given a girl. He just lied when he said that the king
was having a fiesta.
When Our Lord Was Chased Again
T53
Rabbit Seeks a Brideprice
T50
Yan xa i jtek-lum 7i7ech', 7a li, yu7un la po7ot xa
xtal xa, batz'i j-likel xa ta sk'an xtal ta be 7a ti pukuje.
"7A k'u ta jnop H7e?" xi li kajvaltik.
Bweno, "Pero jna7tik mi ta jmeltzan kik junuk
xavon, ja7 bilil ta j-mek i bee, 7aver mi xpaj 7o
jutuke," xi 7a li kajvaltike.
Bweno, 7isten la jun bola 7ik'al xavon 7une, ja7
nan 7ipas ta 7ach'el pero batz'i bilil ta j-mek li bee,
pero 7ipaj 7o la jutuk 7un, muk' xtae 7o 7un, muk'
xtae ta be li kajvaltik 7une.
Bweno, k'alal 7otro jun j-likel 7o noxtok 7une,
7ibat, bat xa k'u snatil 7une, yu7un xa po7ot xa la
xtae noxtok 7une. "Bweno, k'u ta jnoptik mas lek 7a
li ta xkak'tik 7a li junuk 7ilera," xi. 7Isten la jun volo
7ilerae, ja7 la pas ta lumal tok 7une, 7ik'ub li 7osile,
7ibut' k'u cha7al x7ik'ub li tok 7une, 7ik'ub 7un, ja7
to te ch'ay 7o yo7on j-tz'uj 7un, 7ibat nat ti kajvaltik
k'alal 7isakube, bat xa 7ox nat 7un, mu7yuk xtae 7un,
muk' xtae 7un.
effect. Then she tosses her comb to creat a heavy forest, and a
grain of salt to form a mountain (Williams Garcia, 1972:70-74).
See also T52 and notes.
Bweno, 7a li, bat la ta jun ch'en, 7oy yunen gitara,
"7Iday, Tio Tigre?" xut la ti tigre.
"7Iday, 7iday, amigo?" x7utat la ti konejo.
"7Ora, lavie," xi, 7a li, "Xlok' sk'in rey," xi. "Pero
mi xak'ane chi7ak'otajotik lavie," xi. "Yu7un yolel
k'in Ii7e, sk'in rey," xi.
"Bweno, yech?" xi, 7a li tigre.
"Yech, bweno ta jtij 7a li kunen kitara vo7one,
vo7ot cha7ak'otaj," xi la.
"Bweno tijo che7e, chi7ak'otaj," xi la. K'alal 7istij
li skitara 7une, j-likel 7iyak' la sbwelta, bwelta xa,
chak' bwelta, ja7 ch7ak'otaj li tigre 7une, ja7 li
majbat li sne 7une, yu7un 7icham 7o 7un, 7icham 7o
7un, 7ixcho7be snukulale ba yak'be li rey 7une, ba
xchon li nukul 7une, 7altik chal ti ch7ak'bat tzeb
7une, yech nox tznop porke 7iyale, che7e, ti chlok'
sk'in rey.