I will explain in this blog post my reaction to several folk tales from Latin America: four legends from The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends, by Miguel Angel Asturias; and the tale “The Pongo’s Dream” by José María Arguedas.

As we have seen in the previous readings, folk tales can be considered part of what we call popular culture, because of their traditional origins and of their broad audience still today. Those five tales also allow to have an idea of what a folk story can aim to do: criticizing the social order, among other things, or ensuring the survival of the knowledge of certain traditions or civilization.

As we are told by the text, “The Pongo’s Dream” is actually a tale that José María Arguedas adapted, introducing a twist at the end to reverse the initial message of rigidity of the social order. Arguedas seems to predict an eventual but inevitable change that will bring justice to the peasants and put an end to the unquestioned authority of the landowners. I believe this is an example of a politically engaged folk tale.

As for the tales written by Miguel Angel Asturias, we merely know from the title of the book that they are “Based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends” so we don’t know to what extent they were adapted. Given their content, we know they were necessarily written after the conquest of Latin America.

The aim of Legend of the Singing Tablets is very different from the one of The Pongo’s Dream, I believe. The plot is quite confusing, especially the ending, but I think the tale is supposed to transport the reader to a very ancient and mystical time, with unfamiliar Mayan myths like the tradition of the Moon-Chewers poets.

Legend of the Crystal Mask, surprisingly, doesn’t address that much the Spanish invasion (even if its story is situated after it), rather focusing on a Mayan religious stone-carver in exile, and his struggle to respect his vows despite his desire to use more precious material. The end is again unclear and I don’t know if the carver is murdered by his stone sculptures because he broke his religious vows by crafting the Crystal mask or because, like the “Priests of the Eclipse” seem to say, they would always have rebelled against him anyway (making the Crystal mask irrelevant to the plot).

I liked in the Legend of the Silent Bell, even if it is only my own interpretation, that one can find similarities between the Christian cult as it described in the tale and the Mayan sacrifices that preceded them in the country: the theme of sacrifice and execution as spectacle is present during all the text.

Finally, I suppose the Legend of the Dancing Butchers is one of the tales that the author modified most. It seems like a transposition of indigenous mystical elements (the witch that is said to grow back arms, the trickster entity, the metamorphosis) in a more contemporary setting (the cigarettes, the town).