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Haven't you any balls?" [the other one] said to his
friend. One of them was brave, one was. "What are
we scared of? Hell, do you think something is going
to come?" that one said.
"Ah!" said the other. He didn't answer.
When night fell, the moon was bright. A terrific
wi—nd came. It was ve—ry strong.
Now they saw him. It was quite late at night.
Gli—ding along, he arrived. Carried by the wind, he
arrived. He landed at the foot of a big tree.
Now as for our friends [our fellow Zinacantecs],
they were sleeping happily.
After he arrived he was squatting at their fireside.
"In the name of God what can I do about it now?"
said one [after they had waked up]. [The Spook]
came [closer]. Both of them had certainly seen him.
The other one [who had spoken bravely] just slept [it
seemed]. He was helpless. He was paralyzed. He just
lost his strength. He was helpless.
Now when [the Spook] arrived the one [who had
been scared] quickly shot at him.
[The Spook] left. He flew off. He landed in a
gully.
Now [the man] said to his friend, "Hurry up, [you]
bastard! What are you doing? Whoever heard of
such a thing? So it's just your mouth talking to
yourself. You didn't tell the truth—that you are
brave," he to—Id that friend of his, the fellow was
told, the one who had said back in Zinacantan
Center, "Are you brave?"
Well, then, that's the way it was. He just killed
[the Spook]. He just shook [his friend], but his friend
was helpless. So he killed [the Spook] by himself in
the gully.
Now when he returned he had already killed the
Spook. He came to the fireside. He came to shake his
friend. They went. His friend woke up. They went
to look at what had landed at the foot of the tree.
They went to look. There was a straw mat. Something
was rolled up inside the straw mat. "Hell, what
could it be? Come on, let's untie the straw mat!" the
two men said to each other.
They untied it.
You know what? They found a San Andres girl
there. They took the San Andres girl with them.
They went and lit their fire for her. They let her
warm up. They gave her tortillas. They fed her.
They slept with her.
Now they came. They came up [to Zinacantan].
"God, where are you from?" they asked the girl.
"Ah, I'm from San Andres. I was caught. I was
caught by a Spook, because I went out to pour out
my nixtamal water," she said. "When I went outside
the Spook caught me. It was he who carried me
ROMIN TERATOL
ch'abal sbek' 7avat?" xut la ti xchi7il 7une. Ti jun
7une tzotz la yo7on ti jun 7une. "K'usi taj xi7tik
kavron mi 7u k'usi xu7 chtal 7ana7oj?" xi la ti jun
7une.
"7Aa!" xi la ti jun 7une, mu la xtak'av 7un.
Bweno, k'alal 7i7och ti 7ak'ubal 7une, lek la
jch'ul-me7tik 7un, 7este ta—1 la benos 7ik', 7ita—1 la
ta j-mek tzotz.
7Ora, 7iyilik la 7un, lek xa naxnax 7ak'ubal 7une,
xjaya—y xa la k'otel 7un, majbil la k'otel ta 7ik' 7un,
7ik'ot la ta yok j-tek' muk'ta te7.
7Ora, 7i 7a li 7a taj jchi7iltaktik 7une te, jun yo7on
7ivayik.
Bweno, k'alal 7iyul 7une, xxok'et la ech'el ta sti7
sk'ok'ik. "Nombre de dyos pero k'usi ta jnop tana
Ie7e?" xi la ti jun 7une. 71 tal la, 7iyilik la ta cha7-vo7
to 7ox 7un bi, 7a ti jun 7une solel la 7ivay 7un, mu xa
xu7 yu7un solel 7i7altzaj, solel 7ich'ay spwersa, mu
xa xu7.
7Ora, k'alal 7ik'ot 7une, 7i likel 7isjisbe bala ti
June.
Bweno, 7ibat la 7un, vil ech'el, 7i te no 7ox 7ik'ot
ta yut be-o7 7un.
7Ora, 7iyalbe la ti xchi7il 7une, "Soban 7un,
kavron, k'u chapas 7un, mi 7oy xavil 7ave no 7ox ti
batz'i xa7i7on 7achi7uke mu7nuk yech 7aval ti
tzotzote," xu—t la taj jun xchi7il 7une. X7utat ti
buch'u, buch'u "Mi tzotzot me 7un?" xi komel ta
Jtek-lum.
Bweno, 7entonse, 7a taj x7elan 7une, 7i te la smil
no 7ox 7un solel svatulan mu la bu xu7 yu7un ti jun
xchi7il 7une, 7i solel 7ismil stuk taj jun 7une ta k'al
be-o7 xa 7un.
7Ora, k'alal 7isut tal 7une mil xa yu7un ti j7ik'al
7une, tal ta ta sti7 sk'ok'ik 7un, yul svatulan taj
xchi7il 7un, 7ibatik 7un, 7iyul xch'ulel taj jun xchi7il
7une, ba sk'elik taj k'usi k'ot ta yo7 bu ta yok te7
7une, ba la sk'elik 7un, 7a li j-lik la pop te la volbil, ti
k'usi ta yut pop 7une. "K'usi van, kavron, Ia7 jtitintik
i pope!" xi. Xiik la taj cha7-vo7 vinik 7une.
Bweno, 7istitinik la 7un.
Bu xavil 7un, tzeb san-antrex la te staik 7un, 7a ti
tzeb san-antrex 7une, 7iyik'ik la ech'el 7un, bat la,
7istzoybeik sk'ok', yak'ik k'atinuk, 7iyak'beik yot
7ismak'lanik 7ixchi7inik ta vayel.
7Ora, tal 7un, muyik tal 7un. "7A li dyos bu bu
likemot tal?" xutik la taj tzeb 7une.
"7Aa, San-antrex lilik tal yu7un litzake, litzake ta
j7ik'al yu7un lok' jmal jtanil vo7," xi la. "K'al lilok'
ta pana 7une, ja7 7o listzak j7ik'al 7un, ja7 yik'ojon
tal 7un Ii7e," xi la. "Yech 7un mi mu xa7abolaj xba
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