"Pasó luego la madre y Delgadina hízole los mismos ruegos que a su hermano, ruegos que se extendieron a su abuela y aun criado, recibiendo siempre la misma respuesta: yo no te la puedo dar juro que me ha de matar." "Ya estaba Delgadina agonizando cuando el padre acertó a pasar por ahí aunque ya tarde, dejando oir, Delgadina, las mismas súplicas: Papaïto, papaïto dame una poquita de agua que cuando salga de aquí yo seré tu enamorada. que cuando salga de aquí Corran, corran mis vasallos en el cuarto más obscuro que está al pié de la cocina. "En esto le dán agua a Delgadina, la sacan en una camilla, la ponen en una habitación y dice, ya en brazos de la muerte: "En la cama de mi madre ángeles y serafines, y en la cama de mi padre Hay en el transcurso de la narración notables divergencias como son el padre de Delgadina que aparece al principio como un hombre vulgar y despues aparece con vasallos, etc. La narración en conjunto es poética, bien que la repetición de los algún tanto desatinados versos intercalados en élla la hacen algo monótona. El día en que Cuba tenga una sociedad folk-lórica como lo indicara el Dr. José María Chacón con corresponsales en toda la República, aparecerán las innúmeras trovas y variantes de romances castellanos de rancísimo sabor, que andan diseminados. Por otra parte es del todo necesario una recopilación de las adivinanzas y cuentos populares si que tambien de los refranes, exponentes de fresco colorido de la filosofía popular. SANTIAGO DE CUBA, AGOSTO 9, DE 1919. SPANISH TALES FROM LAGUNA AND ZUÑI, N. MEX. BY ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS AND FRANZ BOAS. 1. COYOTE AND LITTLE-DOG.1 ONE time they had a little dog. It was very old and could not do anything. It was lying by a fence. Coyote came along, and said, "Why are you lying here? Your owner is rich." Little-Dog said, "My owner told me to go away." Coyote said, "I will show you how you can get back. To-morrow morning go back to the house of the man and lie by the door. I shall be going and coming by the house. When the man comes out and sees me, do you run after me, but don't harm me. Afterwards, when the man goes back and you run after me and go back, the man will feed you for running after me. You bring me some of the food." Coyote came back to the fence where Little-Dog was lying. "Are you here now?" "Yes." "Have you the things left over?"—"Yes." And Coyote started to eat. After he finished eating, he got thirsty. He said to Little-Dog, "Let us go where there is water. I know where the well is." LittleDog took Coyote from the west to the house; and Little-Dog said, "Now drink all you want." There were barrels of whiskey. Coyote said, "What is this for?" Little-Dog said, "When you drink this, you will shout." Coyote drank a lot of whiskey. Little-Dog said, "Do not shout." Coyote drank and got drunk. When he got drunk, he hollered and went out. And there were a lot of dogs outside, and they killed Coyote. 2. FORGETTING THE SONG.2 Northeast of Laguna, K'onak'o Hill was high. There was the home of a coyote. There were in the cave four little ones. After they lived there, the eldest one said, "I am thirsty;" and all the others said, "We are thirsty." Their mother said, "I will go to K'onak'o for water for you." She went and got some water; and as she was com 1 Tales 1-5 were told by Wesuje of Pohuati, a colony of Laguna, and recorded by E. C. Parsons. Wesuje was over eighty, and blind. He had spent his life sheep-herding. These stories, and no doubt others, he used to tell to the children of Pohuati. He stopped narrating to me because a neighbor in from Laguna told him that in Laguna I was paying twelve dollars a story, whereas I paid him only a dollar or two for several stories. After I had stated that my rate was the same in Pohuati as in Laguna, and that his stories, besides, were "only Mexican stories," the women in his family urged him to continue; but he was obdurate. A school-girl translated.-E.C.P. 2 For bibliography see E. C. Parsons, "Pueblo Indian Folk-Tales, probably of Spanish Provenience" (JAFL 31: 222-227). ing home, she heard under a cedar-tree a quail (shch'ana-bird) singing,— "Tsurshki tsurshki tsimu shtiro shtiro shtiro." Coyote said, "Ah, ha, ha! somebody is singing nicely about me." She dropped all the water from her mouth. Then she went back to the water. She said, "My little ones are thirsty. I am not going to lose the water again." When she got back to the same place, the bird sang again, "Tsurshki tsurshki tsimu shtiro shtiro shtiro." Coyote said, "Ah, ha, ha! somebody is singing nicely about me." She dropped all the water from her mouth. Then she went back to the water. She said, "My little ones are thirsty. I am not going to lose the water again." The third time she said "I am not going to lose the water again," she got some thick mud and put it around her mouth. When she got back to the place, the bird started to sing. Coyote did not laugh any more. When she got home, the little ones were dead. She thought they were asleep. She began to shake them, and she said she had brought them some water. When she found out that they were dead, she was angry with Quail, and said, "I will go back to the cedar-tree." Quail took some of its feathers and put stones inside, and flew to another tree. When Coyote came back to the cedar-tree, she said, "Are you sitting here yet?" Nobody answered. Coyote said, "If I ask you four times, and you don't answer, I am going to kill you. Sing it to me." The second time Coyote said, "If I ask you four times, and you don't answer, I am going to kill you." The fourth time when Quail did not answer, Coyote jumped up and bit the feathers, and all her teeth broke and fell out. When Coyote went away, she went down to the river to wash out her mouth. She saw the image of herself. Coyote said, "Somebody is looking out." She saw the blood running out of her mouth. She ran away, and there was a trap an old woman had set out. And there Coyote was caught. 3. TWO COYOTES. Two coyotes met together. The first said, "You are a coyote." The other answered, "You are, too." Coyote said, "Let us go up the hill. Below the hill some Mexicans are working in a ditch." Coyote said, "We'll get eight chickens." The other answered, "I am not a coyote." The first went up, the other followed. The Mexicans saw them. The first said, "The Mexicans have seen us. They will shoot. Let us go back." The other said, "I am not a coyote." The first said, "Go down the hill and get eight chickens for me." The second coyote went down and brought back eight He gave chickens. The first said, "Give them to me one by one." them one by one until he had only three left. He said, "Are you not going to give me any chickens? I went after them for you.” — “No, I am not going to give you any." ." Then he gave him all the chickens. And they left each other. 4. HOLDING UP THE CAVE:1 CHEESE-MOON. There was a cave. Under it was a coyote. There was a stone roof, and Coyote was holding it up with his legs. Fox (mashdya) came by, and said to Coyote, "What are you doing here?" "I am holding up the roof; I think it is going to fall on me." Fox said, "I will help you." After a while Coyote said, "Now you hold up the roof." "No, you hold it up. I think we might get a stick to hold it up." "I will get a stick," said Fox. So Fox went for the stick. Coyote got tired. Fox did not come back. "I think I will jump out before the stones fall on me." So Coyote jumped out. The stones fell on him, and broke his leg. Coyote ran after Fox because he said he would come back and he did "I am going to kill Fox." He ran, and found Fox standing by a lake. “I am going to kill you because you lied."—"No, don't kill me! I have a cheese here, and I left half of it for you in the water. Just jump in and get it." Coyote saw the moon in the water, and he jumped in and was drowned. NOTE. The following tale of the Vandau of Portuguese East Africa, obtained from C. K. Simango and recorded by F. Boas, shows that the incident of the moon in the pond, as the other incidents of the Uncle Remus cycle, has its counterpart in Africa. The Hyena and the Moon. One night Hyena arrived at a lake, and saw something shining in the water. The hyena thought that the shining thing in the water was a bone with meat. Hyena looked carefully where the bone was. Then he went back, so as to be able to jump well into the water to take out the bone. He jumped in, but he could not take out the bone. He came out of the water, and stood on the shore of the lake. He looked into the water, and saw the moon shining in the lake. He jumped in again, but he could not take out the bone. The hyena jumped into the lake until the water became muddy. When it was clear again, the hyena saw the moon in the water. The day dawned upon him at the lake while he was still trying to take out the moon which he saw in the water, and which he thought was a bone; but that night the hyena did not find anything to eat, because he played with his time in his effort to take out the moon, which he thought was a big bone of meat. 1 For bibliography see JAFL 31: 227 (note 2); and Dähnhardt, 4: 230-231. 5. THE DRAGON'S TONGUES.1 Yus (Dios) and Pero (Pedro) were travelling south from a village. It was raining very hard. When they came to a village, Yus sent Pero to get food. He could not get any food. So they left the village and went into a second village. Yus said to Pero, "Go and get some food." - "Go yourself. You are always sending me, and they won't give me food."-"Well, let's go together," said Yus. They went into the house of a woman who was going to have a baby. She was glad to see them. They asked if they could stay over night. She said, "Yes." Her husband was away working. He came back and brought some weeds (shipe). They paid him for his work with weeds. She began to cook the weeds. Yus said, "Is there no old meat or old lard in one of the old houses?" The woman said, "No, I have looked in all the old houses, and there is nothing." Then Yus gave a key to the woman's husband, and told him to open the door of a house where nobody was living. When the man opened the door, he saw piled up on the floor sacks of flour and coffee and sugar, and cans of lard and meat. He got a sack of flour and a can of lard, and carried them to his wife to make bread. He went back to get some meat; and he took it to his wife, and she made some tortillas. She called Yus and Pero to come and eat. After they finished eating, the woman and her husband ate. Then she said, "We have only one mattress and one blanket. Yus and Pero must take them. We can put down my skirt and his (her husband's) trousers and sleep on them." Yus said, "Perhaps there are some old mattresses and blankets in one of the old houses." The woman said, "I have looked into all the old houses, and there are none." Yus gave the key again to the man. The man took the key and went back to the same house, and went in and found blankets folded on top of the mattresses. He took two mattresses and two blankets for Yus and Pero. The woman put them on the floor. The man told her he was going back for all the other mattresses and blankets. He brought them in, and he went to bed with his wife. She woke up early in the morning crying. The baby was going to be born, and she was calling upon Yus. Pero said to Yus, "Go and help the woman." Yus said to Pero, "No, go out and see what you can on the mountain." Pero saw an old man 1 Compare Spain (S. H. De Soto, Cuentos populares de Extremadura, XXI (Biblioteca de las Tradiciones Populares Españoles, X]); Portugal (T. Braga, Contos Tradicionaes do Povo Portuguez [Porto, 1883], III); Kaffir (D. Macdonald, Africana, 2: 3, 4 et seq. [London, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, 1882]); Jamaica (M. P. Milne-Home, Mama's Black Nurse Stories, 68-69 [Edinburgh and London, 1890]; W. Jekyll, Jamaican Song and Story, XVII [Pub. FLS 55]); Yukaghir (W. Bogoras, Tales of Yukaghir, Lamut, and Russianized Natives of Eastern Siberia [PaAM 20: pt I, 12-14, 1918)). Comparative: F. Boas, Notes on Mexican Folk-Lore (JAFL 25: 258, note 4); Bolte u. Polívka, 1: 547-550; for the introduction, Ibid., 2: 210. |