University of New Mexico | Latin American & Iberian Institute

K’iche’ Maya Oral History Project No. 075 | 00:09:17 minutes aPo’x A long time ago there was a young man named aPo’x. He was mentally retarded. However, the people said he was able to speak to God and to the clouds. He could travel in the sky over the ocean and send the rain to his community. APo’x never married due to his mental state. Two traveling merchants in the town were going away for two months to sell. They told their wives to hire aPo’x to sleep in their house while they were absent, so they would feel safe. For the first week aPo’x would not sleep in the house. He would sleep in the doorway. Finally the two women tricked aPo’x into sleeping with them. They both became pregnant in their husbands’ absence. APo’x lost his powers to summon the rains when he committed adultery with the two women. When the women’s husbands returned from their journey they saw that their wives were pregnant. The men asked the women what had happened. The women told their husbands that aPo’x did a miracle for them. Just like he was able to bring the rain, he was able to miraculously make them pregnant without the help of their husbands. aPo’x Hace mucho tiempo había un joven de nombre aPo’x. El tenía retraso mental. Sin embargo la gente decía que él podía hablar con Dios y con las nubes. El podía viajar por el cielo sobre el mar, y enviar la lluvia a su pueblo. Debido a su condición mental, aPo’x nunca se casó. Dos vendedores ambulantes, vecinos de aPo’x, iban a salir en un viaje de dos meses. Antes de ir, les dijeron a sus esposas que lo emplearan a aPo’x para que las cuidara de noche. Durante la primera semana aPo’x no quiso dormir en la casa, y pasó las noches en la entada de la casa. Por fin las dos mujeres lo engañaron a aPo’x para que se acostara con ellas. Las dos resultaron embarazadas. Cuando aPo’x cometió adulterio con las dos mujeres perdió sus poderes para llamar la lluvia. Cuando los maridos de las mujeres regresaron de su viaje se dieron cuenta de que ellas estaban embarazadas. Ellos les preguntaron a sus mujeres como era posible que se embarazaran en su ausencia. Ellas respondieron que aPo’x les hizo un milagro. Como el pudo traer la lluvia al pueblo, en la misma manera milagrosamente causó que las dos mujeres se embarazaran sin la ayuda de sus maridos.

UNM

LATIN AMERICAN & IBERIAN INSTITUTE

Project Background The stories and rituals included in this collection were collected between 1968 and 1973. All of them are narrated in the K’iche’ Maya language of Guatemala with almost all of the narrators speaking the Nahualá-Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán dialect of that language. Collected and recorded by Dr. James Mondloch Transcribed by Miguel Guarchaj Ch’o’x and Diego Guarchaj Funding and support provided by The UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute and the US Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center grant. Title page image provided courtesy of Dennis G. Jarvis Usage rights Copyright © 2011 The University of New Mexico, Latin American and Iberian Institute. All Rights Reserved. You may print, reproduce and use the information in, and retrieve files containing publications or images from, The University of New Mexico’s WWW documents for non-commercial, personal, or educational purposes only, provided that you (i) do not modify such information, and (ii) include any copyright notice originally included with such information and this notice in all such copies. Alternative formats In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the information contained herein is available in alternative formats upon request. Additional information about this project is available online http://laii.unm.edu/kiche Correspondence should be directed to The University of New Mexico Latin American & Iberian Institute 801 Yale Boulevard NE / MSC02 1690 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001 Phone: (505) 277-2961 Fax: (505) 277-5989 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://laii.unm.edu