“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.

Table of 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