EMPIRES children: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



277 



a corpse. To open a locked door, the finger is 

 placed against the lock, which causes the body 

 of the deceased to appear on the floor. The 

 evil-doer jumps over it three times to the right, 

 three times to the left, and three times forward, 

 after which it disappears and the door swings 

 open. To seduce a sleeping girl a man merely 

 touches her with the finger, and she must answer 

 his will. But possession of the dried finger also 

 has its drawbacks. Each night, just at dusk, it 

 speaks to the owner, "Let's go. Now's the time!" 

 And it keeps it up all night unless the owner 

 goes out and does evil, which quiets the finger 

 for the rest of the night. 



The buttons of a rattlesnake may serve simi- 

 lar purposes, or so it is rumored, continues our 

 fountain of knowledge, and also have other vir- 

 tues, if such you can call them. If a man wants 

 to fight successfully he puts the buttons on the 

 floor, urinates — "con el perdon de ustedes, if 

 you will pardon me for saying so"— on them, 

 and thus causes them to jump. Walking around 

 them twice quiets them so they will remain in 

 one's pocket without revealing their presence, 

 and thus equipped, the battler cannot lose. 



VII. 



Jesus and Wenceslao Peiia are exceptions to 

 the general rule that witchcraft is of small mo- 

 ment The former was bewitched, just a few 

 years ago, and the latter, on his trips to the 

 tierra calienle, has seen clear evidences of 

 witches at work. 



"Jesus," I ask one day, "why did you retire 

 from the presidency of Tzintzuntzan before 

 your term was over?" The story, though short, 

 requires a preliminary act. We enter Jesus' 

 cantina, and he pours us each a capita of aguar- 

 diente. "No more, Jesus, but thanks just the 

 same. My stomach has been a bit upset today, 

 and I don't think it would be good for me". 

 (Some of our gayer friends in Tzintzuntzan 

 came to believe that we suffered from continual 

 stomach trouble.) 



Jesus' account is told. During his term he 

 encountered a great deal of opposition from 

 certain segments of the village, against which, 

 however, he successfully defended himself. 

 Finally, however, he became so ill that he was 

 not able to attend to his duties in the presiden- 

 cia. Reluctantly, he agreed to surrender his po- 



sition, and on the appointed morning dragged 

 himself to the presidencia on crutches to deliver 

 the office to his successor. As soon as the act 

 was completed he noted, to his astonishment, 

 that he no longer ached. Gingerly, he took one 

 step without his crutches, then another, and then 

 another. No doubt about it, he could walk just 

 as well as ever. In short, he was completely 

 recovered. "And how do you know it was witch- 

 craft, Jesiis?" He doesn't know how he was be- 

 witched, but, sehor, is it not obviously the only 

 explanation? "How do you account for it, if 

 it were not witchcraft?" he asks, and I can give 

 him no answer. 



Wenceslao has been listening without saying 

 a word. Like his younger brother Faustino, he 

 neither smokes nor drinks. "He can tell you 

 about seeing witches." Jesus' statement evokes 

 Wences' experience. It is the same story, al- 

 most without variation, that one hears in all 

 parts of Mexico. He and some of his friends 

 were sleeping under the covered portales sur- 

 rounding the plaza of a town in the tierra ca- 

 liente. During the night he awoke to see three 

 balls of fire flying through the trees of the pla- 

 za, obviously witches mischief bent. But their 

 work was much farther away, and they did no 

 harm to Wences and his companions. 



The Tarascans are much greater believers in 

 witchcraft than the Mestizos, and they practice 

 it much more successfully, believes Wences. 

 Once he saw its eff^ects in the hot country. He 

 fell in with muleteers from Nahuatzen, and one 

 of them, a boy, became very ill. One night 

 while they were sleeping a dog began to sniff 

 around the boy, and refused to be driven away. 

 Finally, in anger, one of the men cut ofi^ its 

 head with a single stroke of his machete. Al- 

 most immediately the boy recovered. Wences 

 did not learn the sequel until several months 

 later when, by chance, he ran into some of the 

 men on this trip. The boy, it seems, had desert- 

 ed his sweetheart, and unbeknown to him she 

 had hired a witch to avenge herself. The story 

 had been unraveled only after their return home 

 when they learned that, the morning after the 

 experience with the dog, an old man had been 

 found in his home, mysteriously decapited. " 



* This story is a perfect parallel to accounts of early trav- 

 elers about guardian spirit type naguals (as contrasted to the 

 animal transformer nagual). For additional data, see Foster, 

 1944. 



