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80 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 23
marched through Zinacantan in the War of the Castes. In 1910 a
White automobile, the first motorcar in Chiapas, was landed at
Arriaga and bumped up the coach road through Zinacantan on
its way to Zapaluta. In the Mexican Revolution battles were
waged in the town in 1920 and 1924. (For historical sources see
Castanon Gamboa, 1931; Bravo Izquierdo, 1948; Lopez
Sanchez, 1960; Montesinos, 1935; Moscoso Pastrana, 1960; V.
Pineda, 1888; and Trens, 1942.)
Once there was a man who had a daughter. The
girl looked for a husband, but her mother cried and
cried, because the old man beat his daughter out [of
the house]. That's why the girl fled. She found a
husband. She left. The woman sent her husband off
to go look for their daughter. The girl was going
along with her husband. She had a comb. She left it
on the trail. The comb turned into many brambles so
that her father couldn't pass by. He continued. The
old man passed through the brambles. The girl
tossed her mirror down. It turned into a large lake.
The old man passed by. He went on again. The girl
turned herself into a mare. Her husband turned
himself into a male mule. The old man arrived and
spoke to the mare. It didn't answer. The old man
came back. He returned to tell his wife that he
couldn't find their daughter. The woman cried
[even] more. "Take your rope! That mare is my
daughter. Her husband is the male mule," said the
woman. The man went another time. Now there
were no horses. He went further. He came to a
church. A priest was standing there inside the
church, with a nun. The man spoke to the priest.
"Haven't you seen my daughter? She fled with her
husband," said the man. The priest didn't answer
properly.
He just said, "Come, come in, hear Ma—ss!"
"Haven't you seen my daughter?" the man kept
asking.
[The priest] just said over and over, "Come, come
in, hear Ma—ss!"
"Go to hell then, you aren't a priest! I'm taking
the nun away. She's probably my daughter," said the
man. The man seized the nun. The priest came along
right behind. [The nun] was [the man's] daughter.
That priest was her husband. They returned home.
Her mother stopped crying. They were happy then.
That's how the matter ended.
This magic flight closely resembles Spanish escapades in
which the devil, advised by his cannier wife, pursues the lovers,
who toss behind combs and mirrors. The girl becomes a church,
as her lover, in priest's guise, announces mass (A.M. Espinosa,
Elopement
T18
It is believed that occasionally you can hear the soldiers'
trumpets and drums sounding from the cave of "Pricked Up
Ears," though in one tale it is said that these instruments were
left there by Saint Sebastian before his martyrdom (Wasserstrom,
1970:212-213). The Tutelary Gods are ancestor deities
who live in the mountains surrounding Zinacantan Center
guarding their descendants from conquest and the forces of evil.
See T25, T56, and notes.
7O la jun vinik ti vo7nee, 7o la stzeb, 7a ti tzebe,
7issa7 smalal, 7ijatav, 7ibat xchi7uk ti smalale, pero ti
sme7e ta x7ok' ta j-mek, porke yu7un 7ismaj lok'el
stzeb ti mole, yech'o 7ijatav ti tzebe, 7ista smalal,
7ibat 7istak ech'el smalal, ti 7antze, ti 7ak'o ba ssa7
tal ti stzebe, 7ibatik xchi7uk smalal ti tzebe, 7oy la
sjach'ub, 7iyak' komel ta be, 7a ti jach'ubile 7ipas ta
7epal ch'ixtik, ti yo7 mu xjelav 7o ti stote, 7ibat
7ijelav ech'el ta ch'ixtik ti mole, 7isten komel jun
snen ti tzebe 7ipas ta 7epal nab, 7ijelav ti mole, 7ibat
noxtok, 7a ti tzebe 7ispas sba ta yevax, 7a ti smalale,
7ispas sba ta machu, 7ik'ot sk'opon yevax ti mole, mu
xtak'av, 7isut tal ti mole, 7iyul 7iyalbe ya7i ti yajnile,
ti ch'abal 7ista ti stzebe, 7i7ok' mas ti 7antze. "7Ich'o
ech'el lalaso, ja7 me jtzeb taj yevaxe, ja7 me smalal li
machue," xi la ti 7antze. 7Ibat 7otro jun bwelta, li
vinike, ch'abal xa ka7etik, 7ibat mas, 7ista j-p'ej
7eklixa, te va7al jun pale, ta yut 7eklixa, xchi7uk jun
magre, 7isk'opon pale ti vinike.
"Mi muk' bu xavilbon jtzeb, yu7un 7ijatav,
xchi7uk smalal," xi la ti vinike. Mu xtak'av lek ti
palee.
K'ajom ta xal - "La7 7ochan 7a7yo mixaaaaaaa!"
xi la ti palee.
"Mi muk' bu xavilbon jtzeb?" xi la ta j-mek ti
vinike.
K'ajom ta xal ta j-mek ti "La7 7ochan 7a7yo
mixaaaaa!" xi.
"Batan ta myerta che7e, ma7uk paleot, ta xkik'
ech'el 7a li magree, ja7 nan jtzeb Ii7e," xi la ti vinike.
7Istzak la tal magre ti vinike, tijil 7ital ti palee, ja7 la
stzeb 7un, ja7 la smalal taj pale 7une, 7iyul la ta na
7ipaj yok'el ti sme7e, lek 7ikomik 7o 7un, ja7 yech
7ilaj 7o ti k'ope.
1967, T122-T125). In the New World the girl may fashion
thickets with a needle, vines with a comb, a lake with salt, a
mountain of lime, a slippery hill of soap (J. E. Thompson, 1930:
167-172), or a hill of yarn (Radin and Espinosa, 1917, Till). A