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74 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
up. She felt her husband's chest to see whether he
was asleep or awake. When she felt that her husband
didn't move, she went out at midnight. The man got
up, too. He took his gun and his machete. He
followed his wife wherever she went. "Could she
have a lover?" said the man. "But I'll kill both of
them now!" he said. [His wife] went, she went very
far. She arrived at the graveyard. She arrived to dig
[there]. She tried out a corpse. She left it. She went
to another and dug it up. Then she found good meat.
She ate it. The man was watching from a distance.
"Well, never mind. I've seen now what she's doing,"
said the man. "Well, never mind, I'll go back," he
said.
He arrived home. He arrived and went to bed. He
waited for his wife to return. He looked as if he were
asleep. He didn't move. His wife arrived and opened
the door. She came to sleep.
"Well, where did you go?" he asked his wife.
"I went outside. I went to pee," said the woman.
"Hell, that's a fine thing you're doing!" he told his
wife. Quickly he picked up his machete and hit his
wife with the flat of the machete. "How can it be?
Are you a dog? Are you a buzzard? Why do you eat
corpses?" his wife was asked. Then the woman cried
and cried. Suddenly, the next day, her husband
turned into a black dog. The poor dog wasn't given
its tortillas. It just ate shit. But it couldn't stand that.
It wasn't used to that. [As a] man he had been
familiar with another town. He [used to] go there on
his trips. He had a good friend there. "Well, I'm
going. I can't stand it. I'm starving," said the dog. He
arrived at the store. He sat down on a chair. There
were many newspapers scattered about. The dog
looked at them.
"But this isn't a dog. It knows how to read," said
the storekeeper. The dog was spoken to. "Have you
always been a dog?"
"No!" it said.
"Are you a human being?"
"Yes!" it said. The dog made signs with its head.
The lunch hour arrived. They ate. It was given a lot
of meat, tortillas, and bread by the storekeeper. The
dog was given everything. An old woman arrived.
She came to buy bread.
"If you want, we'll go away right now."
"Let's go!" said the dog. It went with the old
woman.
"Have you always been a dog or are you a human
being?" she asked.
"Yes, [I'm a man]," it answered with its head.
When they arrived at the old woman's house—
"Do you want to turn into a human being again?"
asked the woman.
"I do!" said the dog. Suddenly it became a human
being.
7antze, 7ispikbe yo7on ti smalale mi vayem, 7o mi
julem, ya7i ti mu xbak' ti smalale, 7ilok' ech'el ta 7ol
7ak'ubal, 7ilik ti vinik 7uke, 7istam stuk', 7istam
smachita, nap'al 7ibat, ti bu chbat ti yajnile. "Mi
yu7un van 7oy yajmul?" xi la ti vinike. "Pero ta jmil
xcha7-va7al tana!" xi la 7un. 7Ibat, 7ibat ta j-mek,
7ik'ot la, k'al mukenal, 7ik'ot sjok', 7ispas preva ti
7animae, 7iyikta komel, 7ibat ta 7otro jun 7isjok' ja7
to te 7ista lek sbek'tal 7isti7 un, nom sk'eloj ti vinik
7une. "Bweno, yiyil, 7ikil xa k'usi ti tzpase," xi la ti
vinik 7une. "Bweno, yiyil chisut ech'el," xi la 7un.
Bweno, 7ik'ot ta sna, k'ot vayuk, 7ismala k'u 7ora
7ik'ot ti yajnile, vayem yilel mu xbak', k'ot sjam na,
ti yajnile, k'ot vayuk.
Bweno, "Bu Ia7ay?" xut la ti yajnile.
"Li7ay ta pana, Ii7ay ta k'abnel," xi la ti 7antze.
"Kavron leklek sba li k'u chapase!" xut la ti
yajnile. J-likel 7istam xmachita 7iyak'be pat machita
ti yajnile. "K'u cha7al mi tz'i7ot, mi xulemot, k'u
yu7un ti chati7 7a li 7animae?" x7utat la ti yajnile. Te
la 7i7ok' ta j-mek, ti 7antze, ta yok'omal j-likel 7ispas
ta 7ik'al tz'i7, ti smalal 7une, povre tz'i7 mu la xa
7ak'bat yot naka tzo7 tzlo7, pero mu stak' yech, mu
nopemuk xa7i komo ti vinike xojtikin 7otro jun 7o
jtek-lum, ta xk'ot ta sbyaje, 7o la lek yamiko, te yo7e.
"Bweno, chibat, yiyil, chak' vi7nal," xi la ti tz'i7e.
7Ik'ot la ta jun tyenta, 7ichoti la ta j-kot xila, te la
lamal 7ep periodikoetik ta la sk'el ti tz'i7 7une.
"Pero Ii7e ma7uk tz'i7, sna7 vun," xi la ti yajval
tyentae. 7Ik'oponat la ti tz'i7e. "Mi tz'i7ot 7onox?"
"7I7i!" xi la.
"Mi krixchanoot?"
"Ji!" xi la. Ta sjol la ta spas senya 7un, ti tz'i7e,
7ista la yora ve7ebal 7ive7ik la ti yajval tyentae,
7i7ak'bat la, 7ep bek'et, vaj, kaxlan vaj, skotol,
7i7ak'bat ti tz'i7 7une, 7ik'ot la jun me7el, 7ik'ot la
sman pan.
"Mi xak'an xibattik ta 7ora."
"Battik!" xi la ti tz'i7e, 7ibat la, xchi7uk la ech'el ti
me7el 7une.
"Mi tz'i7ot 7onox?" xut la. "7O mi krixchanoot?"
xut la.
"Ji7," xi la ta sjol 7un.
K'alal 7ik'otik ta sna ti me7el 7une - "Mi xak'an
chak'atajes, ta krixchano, 7otro jun bwelta?" xi la ti
me7ele.
"Ta jk'an," xi la ti tz'i7e, j-likel la pas ta krixchano.