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went home. He arrived and told his mother, "Mother,
give me six tortillas. I'm taking them, because I'm
hungry," said Xut. He was given the tortillas. He
went and grabbed his older brothers. Quickly he
stuck noses and ears on his older brothers. He made
their noses and ears out of the tortillas. He turned
them into pigs. One, he turned into a peccary. The
other, a domestic pig, he shut up in his house. The
peccary ran off. It went to the woods. He was only
able to catch its tail. Its tail came off. It went. It fled
into the woods. He drove the domestic pig to his
house. "Mother, I've brought a pig. Give me food
for it. The pig is hungry," said Xut.
"All right," said his mother. "Where are your
older brothers?" asked his mother.
"I don't know. They must be having a good time
someplace," Xut said.
"Ah!" she said. The first day she believed it.
[Then] his mother cried and cried. Her tears flowed.
That's why the moon's light is faint at night.
Although rodent allies are frequent actors in North American
tales, the combination of elements in this story is peculiar to the
Mayan area. In the Popol Vuh the twin heroes Hunahpu and
Xbalanque are mistreated by their stingy elder half-brothers. But
after being persuaded to climb a tree to recover the birds that
they have shot, these half-brothers are converted into monkeys;
the heroes become sun and moon (Edmonson, 1971:87-89).
The theme of brothers being converted into monkeys after
they are sent to climb a tree occurs among the Cakchiquel (R.
Redfield, 1946:252), Chuj (Shaw, 1972:101-102), Kanjobal (Siegel,
1943:123-124), Mopan (J. E. Thompson, 1930:122-123), and
Kekchi (Dieseldorff, 1926:5-6). In a Palencano Choi version and
a Tzeltal version cited by Thompson (1970:361-363) the elder
brothers fall from the honey tree and become tame animals.
The porcine fate of the elder brothers has been recorded many
times in the Chiapas highlands, often with only minor variations:
in the Tzeltal towns of Amatenango (Nash, 1970:198-200), and
Oxchuc (INI, 3:23-31), in the Tzotzil towns of Chamula (Gossen,
T17, T42) and Chenalho (Guiteras-Holmes, 1961:184-185).
Two variants from Zinacantan identify the hero as Christ. In
the first he is pitted not against his older brothers but against his
older cousin, his mother's brother's son (Ritvo, 1972:63-64).
Once there was a Chamulan [girl]. A girl and a
boy got married. The [young] woman couldn't give
birth. She had no children.
Even with the passing of time she couldn't give
birth. No baby ever came.
"How can that be? Why can't she give birth?" said
her mother-in-law. "Well, but what can I do about
her? What can I do for her?" said the old lady.
ROMIN TERATOL 41
Why the Woman Had No Children
T105
sna, 7ik'ot sk'opon ti sme7e. "Jme7, 7ak'bon vakibuk
jmemela, ta xkich' ech'el yu7un chivi7naj," xi la ti
Xute. 7I7ak'bat ech'el smemela, 7ik'ot stzak ti
sbankiltake, j-likel 7isnap'anbe sni7, xchikin, ti
sbankiltake, ja7 yak'be ta sni7, ta xchikin ti memelae,
7ispas ta chitom, jun 7ispas ta te7tikil chitom, jun, 7a
ti batz'i chitome, 7ismak ech'el ta sna, 7a ti te7tikil
chitome, 7ijatav, 7ibat ta te7tik, k'ajom xa 7istabe ta
tzakel sne, 7ibul ti snee, 7ibat, 7ijatav ech'el ta te7tik,
smakoj k'otel ta sna li batz'i chitome. "Me7, 7ijta tal
jchitom, 7ak'bon sve7el, ta xvi7naj li chitome," xi la
ti Xute.
"Stak'uk," xi la ti sme7e. "Buy ti 7abankiltake?" xi
la ti sme7e.
"Mu jna7 te nan bu ta xpaxyajik," xi la ti Xute.
"7A!" xi la. 7Isch'un to 7ox me ta primero k'ak'al,
7i7ok' la ta j-mek, ti sme7e 7ilok' ya71el ssat, yech'o
ti jutuk xk'ot ssat li jch'ul-me7tik ta 7ak'ubaltike.
In the second and very elaborate version Christ's mother hides
knowledge of his birth from his older brothers, but they find one
of his toys and lie in wait until they surprise him. They take
Christ to work, promising their mother that they will be good to
him, but no sooner do they arrive in the cornfield than they try
in vain to burn him up. The next day they fail in their efforts to
drown him in a river. And the third day they are no more
successful in their attempt to bury him in a swamp. Then follows
the honey tree episode, Christ's revenge, and his final triumph
over the forces of nature (Ritvo, 1972; T2). Ritvo argues
conclusively that the entire sequence represents a developmental
model for the Zinacantec child (Ritvo, 1972). The tortillas that
Xut stuck on his brothers' faces to turn them into pigs are a small
oval variety with a hole in the center. In everyday life they are
given to little children to induce them to learn to talk, on the
theory that the hole in the center inspires them to open their
mouths. This variety is also given to young girls who are
learning to make their first tortillas.
Romin did not know why the younger brother's name was
Xut. Today that word is otherwise used only as a name for a
wild bean {Phaseolus leiosepalus). See also T155, T162.
"A ti vo7ne 7oy la jun 7antz 7ulo7, tzeb krem
7iyik' sbaik, 7a ti 7antz mu sna7 x7alaj, ch'abal yol.
Bweno, mi ja7uk te bat 7o k'ak'al, mi ja7uk 7o bu
x7alaj, muk' bu xtal ti 7unene.
Bweno, "K'u yu7un van Ie7e, k'u yu7un ti mu sna7
x7alaje?" xi la ti yalib me7el 7une. "Bweno, pero
k'usi ta jnopbe Ie7e, k'usi ta jpasbe Ie7e?" xi la ti
me7ele.