Full Description
"Mr. Allan Burns, I am here to tell you an example, the example of the Hunchbacks." So said Paulino YamÁ, traditionalist and storyteller, to Allan Burns, anthropologist and linguist, as he began one story that found its way into this book.
Paulino YamÁ was just one of several master storytellers from the YucatÁn Peninsula of Mexico from whom Burns learned not only the Mayan language but also the style and performance of myths, stories, riddles, prayers, and other forms of speech of their people. The result is An Epoch of Miracles, a wonderfully readable yet thoroughly scholarly set of translations from the oral literature of the Yucatec Maya, an important New World tradition never before systematically described.
An Epoch of Miracles brings us over thirty-five long narratives of things large, small, strange, and "regular" and as many delightful short pieces, such as bird lore, riddles, and definitions of anteaters, rainbows, and other commonplaces of the Mayan world. Here are profound narratives of the Feathered Serpent, the mighty Rain God Chac and his helpers, and the mysterious cult of the Speaking Cross. But because these are modern, "Petroleum Age" Maya, here too are a discussion with Cuba's Fidel Castro and a greeting to former president Richard Nixon.
All pieces are translated ethnopoetically; examples of several genres are presented bilingually. An especially valuable feature is the indication of performance style, such as pauses and voice quality, given with each piece.
Contents
Foreword, by Dennis Tedlock
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
The Mayan Tradition
The Yucatec Maya
Speaking Mayan
Yucatec Mayan Ethnopoetics
Dialogue
Oral Features of Performance in Translation
Yucatec Mayan Oral Literature
2. Ancient Conversations
Origin Stories in the Form of Lessons
Conversations in Mayan
Conversations among People
Big Things
How Just One Poor Man Lives
Things That Happen to You
The Old Lady of Mani
Stories about the Ancient Times
Where the Sacred Corn Seed Was Taken, I
Where the Sacred Corn Seed Was Taken, II
The Epoch of Miracles
The Story of the Hunchbacks (with Mayan transcription)
Santo Muerte
Jesus Christ
3. Counsels
Narratives about Mayan Political History
The History of Don Francisco Xiu
The First Thing I Said to Dr. Morley
The Patron, I
The Story of Venancio Puc
The Patron, II
Divination and Signs
Signs, I
Signs, II
4. Secrets
Two Deer Stories
The Man Who Was Such a Hunter
The Deer Secret
A Secret about Rainfall
The Owners of Rain (with Mayan transcription)
An Orpheus Story
A Person of the Milpa and an Evil Thing and a Priest and a Small Friend
Frightening Things and Wizards
Just Things That Frighten One
Wizards
5. Stories
A Story about Mistaken Identity
San Antonio
A Story about a Trickster and a Priest
Ahau
A Story about a Vulture's Clothes
A Vulture, a Dove, and a Squirrel
A Story about an Unusual Marriage
A Person and a Vulture
A Story about an Attempt to Ward off Death
Saint Death
A Story about Heroic Adventures
The Seven Towers of Marble
6. The Milpa Story
The Story of the Milpa
A Milpero
7. Wordplay
Riddles
A Song
The Armadillo
Jokes
The Joke about the Anniversary
The Joke about the Woman and Her Children
The Joke about an Old Man Who Went to MÉrida for a Year
Bird Lore
The Sacred Mockingbirds
Tasapatan
A Dove
The Woodpecker
The Thrush
The Cardinal
Definitions
Ho, Cul, Uxmal
Tabi
Odor
Path
Things
Hail
Rainbow
Anteater
Shade
Perhaps
8. The Feathered Serpent
The Last Story of the Feathered Serpent
Colas (with Mayan transcription)
9. Discussion
Works Cited
