Teaching Latin America's Past



Maya Culture -- The Art of Storytelling


The Monkey's Haircut and Other Stories Told by the Maya edited by John Beirhos, published by William Morrow and Company, 1986. Awaiting Permission.



Most Maya storytellers make a distinction between myths and other kinds of stories. Myths take place in an ancient time before the world was as it is today. They explain such things as how the moon came to be and how the woodpecker got its red crest. As defined by a Cakchiquel storyteller, a tale of this kind is called an ejemplo, a tale that explains things. The term is also used in Yucatan, but with a broader meaning. The Yucatec ejemplo may be an origin myth, a story about Christ, or any tale with a moral. An ordinary folktale or fairy tale, on the other hand, is called a cuento.

Story categories are not rigid, and it is often impossible to say whether a tale is an ejemplo or cuento. In fact, the definition may vary from storyteller to storyteller.

Probably the most usual occasions for telling stories are men's gatherings, especially work breaks when men are away from home. But Margaret Redfield, wife of anthropologist Robert Redfield, was able to obtain many Yucatec stories from women and found that tales had been handed down from mother to daughter. One woman recalled that when she was a girl, she and her mother would get into their hammocks at night. Then, after reciting a prayer, the mother would tell cuentos.

In all, roughly a thousand Maya tales have been recorded since 1900. Of the stories most widely reported, How Christ Was Chased ranks first in popularity, followed closely by the linked incidents in Rabbit and Coyote and Rabbit and Puma. The Corn in the Rock comes next, followed by Lord Sun's Bride, and finally, Blue Sun.



How Christ was Chased


When Jesus Christ was a prisoner, they thought he was smoking in jail. They thought they saw the end of his lighted cigar. But it was not he, it was the firefly, and Jesus Christ had already fled.

He came to a river and crossed over. But as he was crossing the river, he stepped on fresh water snails. When the ones who were chasing him reached the river's edge and could not see which way they had gone, they questioned the snails. The snails replied, "Don't you see that he has trampled on us and turned us over?"

The pursuers went on and passed some birds. They were white-fronted doves. The birds cried, "No way through here, no way through here," and because they had tried to help him, Jesus decreed that, from then on, the white-fronted doves would be able to enter grottoes and water holes and drink whenever they were thirsty.

But the pursuers went ahead and opened a path with their machetes. Then the white-winged dove cried, "There he is among the trees, there he is among the trees." Jesus Christ had already gone, but because the white-winged dove had tried to betray him, he decreed that, from then on, it would not be able to enter grottoes and water holes.

Jesus hid under some banana trees. "That's him, he's near now," said the ones who were chasing him. The magpie-jay was there. He was a human once. "Is it Our Lord you're looking for? He's here," said the magpie-jay. "Seize him! He's here now." Then they captured Our Lord. They made him carry a cross.



Rabbit and Coyote


There was a man. There was a watermelon patch that this man had. And when the watermelons were getting ripe, the man went to take a look at them, and when he saw that the insides had been scraped out, he said, "Who's been eating my watermelons?"

Then he thought of a trick to catch the thief. He made a little man out of wax and put it on top of one of the watermelons.

When the thief came along -- and it was Rabbit -- he saw the little man sitting on the watermelon and he said, "Get off of there! If you don't get off, I'll slap you off with my hand!" But when he slapped at it, his hand stuck fast in the wax.

"Let go of my hand," he said, "or I'll kick you in with my foot." But when he kicked, his foot got stuck, and he rolled off onto the ground, still trying to get loose.

When the man came back, there was Rabbit. And there was the little wax man that had tricked him. The owner of the watermelon patch picked up Rabbit and threw him into a cage and said, "Rabbit, I'm going to shame your face. Wait till I get back here with something nice and hot."

The man went home and said to his boys, "Here! Take this poker and put it in the fire. We're going to get Rabbit in the rear end."

While Rabbit was waiting, Coyote came by. "So! What's happening to you?" he says.

"Oh, shut up!" says Rabbit. "I'm just waiting for a cup of hot chocolate this man's making for me. But why don't you take my place? My stomach's so small and he's making so much, I'd never finish it. You with your big stomach could drink the whole thing."

Just then the man called out, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Rabbit. It isn't hot enough yet, but don't worry, it will be just right in a few minutes."

"You see?" said Rabbit. "He wants it to be perfect. So why don't you just open this door and take my place?" Coyote unbarred the door and got inside the cage.

While Rabbit was running away, the man sent his boys to the watermelon patch with the hot poker. Ya! This rabbit's a big one!" they said when they got to the cage. Then they gave it to him in the rear end, and Coyote felt the fire.

"Now I've had it!" said Coyote, and he ran off looking for Rabbit. Pretty soon he found him, settled down at the edge of a sapodilla grove.

"Ya! What are you doing just sitting there?" says Coyote. "I'm ready to finish you off right now!"

"Oh, shut up," says Rabbit. "Come on, let's eat these sapodillas. Look, here's a ripe one all for you, just about to fall right into your mouth. Open up wide."

"All right," said Coyote. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, and Rabbit threw in a green sapodilla and broke all his teeth.

Rabbit ran off fast. When Coyote found him again, he was drinking at a well. "Now I've got you," he says.

"Oh, shut up, Uncle Coyote! Burnt Bottom! Gums!" says Rabbit. "Look, there's a cheese down in this well. But it's so deep, I can't drink up enough water to get to it. My stomach's too small. But you with your big stomach could hold it all. "All right," said Coyote, and he started to drink. He drank, but the well never went dry. He drank until his stomach exploded. And where was the cheese? What was it but the moon's reflection shining in the water? Well, that was the end of the poor Coyote.



Maya Fables



The Bird Who Cleans the World and Other Mayan Fables by Victor Montejo
Used with permission. Cornerstone Press, Willimantic, CT 1991



How the Serpent Was Born


The care and devotion of a mother for her growing children is enormous. She denies herself and she pours forth the treasure of love from her heart in caring for her child. A mother is an angel. A mother is a treasure. A mother is a special being whom we ought to love every moment of our lives. But many of us do not have hearts big enough to repay her for all that we make her suffer.

There are some who insult and reject their mothers and make them suffer even when they are very old, even though the children ought to bless these women with love and care for all the great pleasures they have given.

So it was that once a certain mother wanted to visit her son's house and rest on the shade of his roof. Since he was her son, he might even give her some tortillas to quiet the raging hunger in her stomach. But it was not to be so. When the son saw his mother approaching the house, he cursed her and ordered his wife to hide the bubbling pot full of chicken soup that she had cooked for dinner that day. The old lady sat on the doorstep and the son said, "Old woman, why do you come to my house?"

His mother answered, "Son, I only come to rest in the shade of your roof."

"Well, I don't believe I have anything to give you, and besides these visits bore me."

The son and his wife had to work hard to fight the appetites that made them want to devour the succulent chicken soup right in front of the old woman who would then want a share. The old woman grew tired of sitting on the doorstep with not a kind word from her son. She turned back toward her little house, saddened by the ingratitude and indifference of that self-centered and ungrateful son.

"Now the old woman has gone away," the son said to his mate. "Let's eat chicken soup." The wife brought out the pot that had been hidden from the old woman's eyes. She put it on the table and lifted off the lid. "Huuuuuuyyy, oh Jesus! " she exclaimed.

"What? What's happening?" her husband asked.

The moment she had lifted the lid, instead of the chicken soup she saw a poisonous serpent, ready to strike. They wanted to kill it, but the snake, shaking its rattles, slithered out to hide.

It is said that the serpent was born this way, the beginning of bad things that lie waiting for us. It was born out of the heart of a son who did not want to know the courage of a mother's saintly love.



The First Monkeys


The first grandmother was walking with her granddaughter and grandson through the forest when they saw a beehive in the hollow of a tree. The grandmother was in a hurry to go home, but the two grandchildren, without asking, climbed the tree and happily began to eat the bees' honey. The grandmother sat at the foot of the tree to wait for her mischievous grandchildren while they played above, forgetting all about her. The grandmother waited for a long time and when the children did not come down, she shouted to them, "Behave yourselves. Come down from that tree right now. I am in a hurry."

"We are eating, grandmother, and our stomachs are still hungry," they answered.

The grandmother continued to wait while the children ate honey and played in the tree. Once again she insisted that the children come down. "Come down, or I will leave you in the tree forever!"

"We are eating, grandmother, and our stomachs are still hungry," they said again.

The children made faces and laughed at their grandmother. By this time they were afraid to come down out of the tree because they had been so disobedient.

The grandmother grew angry and spoke a curse upon them, "My grandchildren, if you do not want to come down from the tree, I will leave you here in the woods forever. Let the honey and the fruits of the trees be your food from now on. Let your faces be changed so that I will not know you."

Saying this, the grandmother took her cane and beat it against the trunk of the tree. She hit the tree trunk four times on each side and in that instant the tree grew so tall and thick that the children, now transformed into monkeys, could not climb down. So they remained there playing among the branches.

Later they hung upside down, watched their grandmother below and laughed, "Hee, hee, heeuuuy!" The grandmother continued on her way, leaving the monkeys in the tree.

From that time on it is said the curses of a grandmother or a mother can come true at times when children are disobedient.



Lesson Plan



Student Objectives


Development

Have students think of a popular story they remember from their childhood. More than likely, students will remember similar stories e.g., Little Red Riding Hood. Compare/contrast the versions of the stories. To what extent do stories change over time?



Complete this chart:
Stories/Fables Character Themes

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


In what ways are the stories similar/different? Decide which themes seem to be repeated throughout these stories. In your opinion, why are these themes significant? What conclusions can we make about Mayan culture based on the revival of these stories?



Writing Activity

Imagine you are a Mayan teenager. Based on our discussion of themes in Mayan stories, invent a modern-day story using one of the stories we have read as a model.



On to the next activity.

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