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78 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
This tale has a decidedly European quality. The scene of the
wife and the mouse differs from three other versions, T31, T64,
and T165, in which the mouse aids the king by sticking its tail up
a thiePs nose to make him sneeze and eject the ring—an element
that occurs also in a Puerto Rican story of Juan Bobo (Mason
and Espinosa, 1922:14-15). But curiously I know of no tales from
outside Zinacantan that follow the same general plot or whose
protagonist is a poor boy turned king. The popularity of this
legend in Zinacantan may derive from a cultural memory of the
prominence of the town at the time of the Spanish conquest. The
relative importance of Zinacantan can be measured by the
lowering of tributes in 1546. The tribute owed by Chiapa was
reduced by 1500 gold castellanos, that of Zinacantan and Copanaguastla
by 1000 castellanos, and the tribute of other towns was
reduced by 500 castellanos (Remesal, 1932, 2:113). Even today
the Zinacantecs are considered by Chiapas Ladinos and Indians
alike, to be the "most civilized" or haughtiest of the Indian
people.
There was a woman once in Paste7 who was just
the same [as the one I told you about].
Now she was just the same. She didn't want to be
spoken to either. She didn't want to respond to men.
Her husband saw that she had some beeswax
inside her basket, inside the container for her thread.
Then she left to watch the sheep. She went to
watch the sheep. She came back in the evening. He
knew [the hour] when she [usually] stuck the beeswax
up herself. But it was rubbed now with chili,
early, in the daytime. That beeswax was smeared
with chili. That beeswax [dildo] was good and thick.
She didn't know that her beeswax had chili.
You see, she [meant to] calm her desire with it.
Then during the night she went and stuck it in and
Lest this tale brand Zinacantec men as uniquely sadistic, I can
point to an account from Panajachel, Guatemala, wherein a
young woman, who discovered her mother-in-law using a wax
dildo, successfully employed the same remedy as the Zinacantec
did (Tax, 1950, T146).
Once a war broke out. [The soldiers] came up.
They left from Chiapa. They came to wage war.
They were stopped on the way, because there were
many bowls dancing. They all broke. Above Chiapa.
That's why [the place] is called "Bowl Spring."
They paid no attention. They came on up. They
arrived at Ixtapa. They came up above Tzoj Lum
[Red Earth]. There was a pine tree. It danced, but
they didn't look. That's why [the place] is called
Chili Cure
T134
When the Soldiers Were Coining
T17
The custom of tossing money at the feet of visiting governors
and bishops ceased in Chiapas in 1857 (E. Pineda, 1845:55). A
tale from Chamula relates how the Ladinos strew rose petals at
God's feet, while the Chamulans tossed coins. This is why the
Chamulans exchange their labor for rich Ladinos' coins (Gossen,
T183).
This same theme is repeated by the Mazatecs of San Martin
Soyaltepec who say that "when Christ was born the leaders of
every nation went to offer him gifts. The gringos and the others
brought him flowers, while we brought him money—that is why
you are rich and we are poor" (Laughlin, 1957).
That Zinacantecs do not see kings in the same light as we do
was driven home to me when showing pictures of contemporary
European kings and queens to Romin. He asked if they were
immortal. Not satisfied with my negative reply, he persisted,
"But they come from caves, don't they?" See also T31, T34,
T64, T113, andT165.
when she felt it, she started screaming. She couldn't
bear the pain of that chili. As soon as she stuck it up
herself she was smeared with chili. She was heard
screaming now. She was crying. She got up. "What
did you do, you bitch?" asked the man who was
there, who slept there. Then she got up. She went to
get some water. She washed herself. Then her evil
ways were discovered. "See, I was right, then.
That's why she doesn't want to respond to me," said
the man. That's how he took revenge, too. He went
and smeared that beeswax with chili. He was
amused. He thought it was funny when she was
screaming in the night and it was because of the pain
of that chili. That's the way it was.
In early times they say there were so few men in Chamula that
a lustful woman resorted to a mustard root until her evil doings
were discovered. The poor woman died from the painful cure
and mustard roots have stunk ever since (Gossen, T34). See also
T133, T135, and their notes.
7Ital 7ak'-k'ok' ti vo7nee 7imuy tal, 7i7ech' la tal ta
Soktom, yu7un xtal yak'ik k'ok', 7imake la ta be,
yu7un 7epal pulatu la ta x7ak'otaj, chlaj vok'uk, ta
yak'ol Soktom, yech'o Pulatual Vo7 sbi, muk' 7iyich'
ta muk', 7imuy tal, xtal ta Nibak 7iyul ta yak'ol Tzoj
Lum, 7o j-petz toj, ta x7ak'otaj, pero muk' bu 7isk'el,
yech'o ti Petz Toj sbi, muk' bu 7iyich' ta muk',
7ijelav tal yul ta Tz'akav 7Uk'um ti 7uk'ume chlaj
tuch'uk batel yok ti 7uk'ume, muk' bu 7iyich' ta