historias y leyendas

The following stories are told in the words of my students. I have chosen to preserve the authenticity of their learning by leaving their original errors in the text. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

"The Sad of the Maya"

One day the animal approached a Maya and said to him:
"We don´t want to see you sad, ask us what you want and you will have it." The Maya said that he would want to be happy. The owl answered, "The one who does know what is the happiness? Ask us for more human things." And the man added that he would want good sight. The zopilote [see bird below] said to him, "I will give you the mine."

Next the man said, "I want to be strong" and the jaguar said to him: "You will be strong as me." The man said, "I want to walk without getting tired." The deer said to him, "I will give you my legs." The man said, "I want to guess the arrival of the rains." And the nightingale said to him, I will warn you with my singing." The man said again, "I want to be crafty." And the fox said to him, "I will teach you to be." The man said, "I want to climb the trees." And the squirrel said to him,"I will give you my nails." The man said, "I want to know the medicinal plants." The serpent said to him, "Ah, this is my thing, because I know all the plants! I will mark them for you in the field." And on having heard the above mentioned, the Maya moved away. Then the owl said to the animals, "The man now knows more things and can do more things, but always he will be sad." And the chachalaca [a bird native to Yucatán, see image below] began to sing...


"Los Aluxes"

When I was a child my grandfather used to tell me stories about the aluxes. I loved when my grandfather told me this story. My grandfather told me that the aluxes are little people similar to all the people. The aluxes are smaller than the normal people.
[insert precious pencil drawing here, depicting a man labeled "normal people" that is 1.60 meters tall, and a smaller, spiky-haired being that is .80 meters tall, labeled "aluxes"]
My grandfather told me that when he was a child saw an aluxes in the jungle. In these moment my grandfather was scary because he didn´t understand who was this little man, but now he loved to the aluxes because are part of the Mayan culture. My grandfather told me that the alux that he could see at the middle night live in cave in his ranch. The aluxes are good little people. Many people said that the aluxes are bad but this is a mistake because the aluxes care the crop.
[insert other precious pencil drawing here, of slightly sloping land with several levels and trees above. On the lower side of the hill, there is an underground cave drawn with tiny stalagtites and stalagmites inside. An arrow labeled "Alux´s cave" is pointing to it. On the middle, flat section of the land, there are plants drawn with an arrow pointing to them, saying "grandfather´s crop"]