University of New Mexico | Latin American & Iberian Institute K’iche’ Maya Oral History Project No. 087 | 00:10:27 minutes Adulterers Kill a Man Because of His Wife There was a woman whose husband was absent a lot from their home. He was a traveling merchant. In his absence his wife began have affairs with several men. Finally the men decided to kill the woman’s husband so they would have complete access to her. The men got the woman’s husband drunk and killed him. They cut him into pieces and threw the body parts into the river. People began finding the body parts and reported their findings to the authorities. The authorities began investigating if there were any missing men in the village. Finally they discovered that the husband of the adulterous woman was missing. They interrogated her, and she confessed that a group of men got her and her husband drunk, but she did not know that they had killed him. The killers were apprehended and confessed to their crime. Finally they were killed in a public execution in the village for the crime they had committed. Adúlteros matan a un hombre por causa de su mujer Había una mujer cuyo marido se ausentaba mucho de su casa. El era comerciante ambulante. En su ausencia su esposa empezó a tener relaciones sexuales con otros hombres. Por fin los amantes de la mujer decidieron matar al marido de ella. Esos hombres lo emborracharon al marido de la mujer. Después lo mataron. Partieron su cadáver en pedazos y tiraron las partes en el río. La gente del pueblo empezó a encontrar los pedazos del cadáver en el río, y dieron parte con las autoridades. Ellos empezaron a investigar si había un hombre desaparecido en el pueblo. Por fin descubrieron que el marido de la adúltera estaba ausente. La interrogaron a ella, y ella confesó que un grupo de hombres les habían emborrachado a ella y a su marido. Pero ella dijo que no sabía si lo habían matado. Aprehendieron a los asesinos, y ellos confesaron su crimen. Por fin los fusilaron en una ejecución pública en su pueblo. 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: laii@unm.edu Web: http://laii.unm.edu