The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel

«Balam means jaguar, but it is also a common family name in Yucatan, so the title of the present work could well be translated as the Book of the Prophet Balam.» — Roys traduce el nombre del profeta: *balam* es jaguar y a la vez apellido corriente en Yucatán, de modo que el título podría leerse como Libro del Profeta Balam.

«During a large part of the colonial period, and even down into the Nineteenth Century, many of the towns and villages of northern Yucatan possessed Books of Chilam Balam, and this designation was supplemented by the name of the town to which the book belonged.» — Roys describe la difusión: durante buena parte de la colonia y aun en el siglo XIX muchos pueblos del norte de Yucatán tuvieron su Libro de Chilam Balam, y cada uno llevaba el nombre de su pueblo.

«Thus the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel is named for a village in the District of Tekax, a short distance northwest of the well-known town of Teabo.» — Roys sitúa Chumayel en el distrito de Tekax, al noroeste de Teabo.

«This Prophet Balam lived during the last decades of the Fifteenth Century and probably the first of the Sixteenth Century * and foretold the coming of strangers from the east’ who would establish a new religion.» — Roys data al profeta Balam en las últimas décadas del siglo XV y probablemente las primeras del XVI, y le adjudica el anuncio de unos extranjeros del oriente que impondrían una religión nueva.

«The prompt fulfilment of this prediction so enhanced his reputation as a seer that in later times he was considered the authority for many other prophecies which had been uttered long before his time.» — Roys explica cómo el cumplimiento del anuncio volvió a Balam autoridad de profecías muy anteriores a él: la atribución viene después del hecho.

«Inasmuch as prophecies were the most prominent feature of many of the older books of this sort, it was natural to name them after the famous soothsayer.» — Roys deriva de ahí el nombre del género: como las profecías eran el rasgo más saliente de estos libros, se los nombró por el adivino famoso.

«The Books of Chilam Balam were written in the Maya language but in the European script which the early missionaries adapted to express such sounds as were not found in Spanish.» — Roys señala que los libros se escribieron en maya pero con la escritura europea que los misioneros adaptaron a los sonidos que el español no tenía.

«Many such passages were no doubt originally transcribed from older hieroglyphic manuscripts, some of which were still in existence in northern Yucatan as late as the close of the Seventeenth Century.» — Roys sostiene que muchos pasajes se transcribieron de manuscritos jeroglíficos más viejos, algunos de los cuales seguían existiendo en el norte de Yucatán a fines del siglo XVII.

«Although at first they rather admired the Maya for having a graphic system of their own, they were determined to destroy the old manuscripts and eradicate all knowledge of the glyphs from the minds of their converts.» — Roys consigna la doble actitud de los misioneros: admiración por el sistema gráfico maya y decisión de destruir los manuscritos y borrar el conocimiento de los glifos.

«The Indians had a great reverence for their hieroglyphic writing which was permeated with the symbols of their old religion, and the friars felt that if they could wipe out this knowledge and substitute for it the European system of writing, it would be an effective means for the complete Christianization of the native population.» — Roys explica el cálculo de los frailes: la escritura jeroglífica estaba impregnada de los símbolos de la religión antigua, y sustituirla por la europea sería el medio eficaz de cristianizar del todo.

«Diego de Landa, afterward bishop of Yucatan, burned twenty-seven hieroglyphic manuscripts at the famous auto de fe in Mani in 1562, and although many of the Spaniards severely criticized him for this, there is little doubt that other missionaries followed his example whenever they had the opportunity.» — Roys fecha en 1562 el auto de fe de Maní y los veintisiete manuscritos jeroglíficos quemados por Landa, y sostiene que otros misioneros hicieron lo mismo cuando pudieron.

«From a purely educational point of view the schools were a success, for after a time every village had its town clerk who could read and write, as well as many members of the more important native families; but the Spanish settlers complained in the latter part of the Sixteenth Century that many native schoolmasters and choir-masters were still practising idolatry in secret and that idols had even been found in the school-houses.» — Roys registra la queja de los colonos: las escuelas funcionaron, y maestros y maestros de coro seguían practicando la idolatría en secreto, con ídolos hallados en las propias escuelas.

«After Landa’s famous bonfire at Mani, it is needless to say that the surviving hieroglyphic manuscripts were kept concealed, although now and then one of them came to the notice of the Franciscans.» — Roys señala el efecto de la hoguera: los manuscritos jeroglíficos que quedaron se ocultaron, aunque de vez en cuando alguno llegaba a manos franciscanas.

«Seventy years after the Conquest, Aguilar wrote that “in these they painted in colors the count of their years, the wars, epidemics, hurricanes inundations, famines and other events.”» — Roys cita a Sánchez de Aguilar sobre lo que los mayas pintaban en aquellos libros: la cuenta de los años, las guerras, las epidemias, los huracanes, las inundaciones y las hambrunas.

«A comparison of these descriptions with the existing Books of Chilam Balam shows plainly that many portions of the latter are simply transcriptions of the old hieroglyphic manuscripts into European script.» — Roys sostiene que buena parte de los Libros de Chilam Balam son transcripción directa de los viejos manuscritos jeroglíficos a la escritura europea.

«Fewer people were now able to read the glyphs, and much as the clergy condemned the Books of Chilam Balam, they were not considered such prima facie evidence of the crime of idolatry as was anything written in hieroglyphics.» — Roys explica por qué la transcripción desplazó al jeroglífico: cada vez menos gente leía los glifos, y los libros en letra europea no eran prueba de idolatría como sí lo era lo escrito en jeroglíficos.

«Cogolludo later wrote of such meetings that ‘God knows what goes on there, and at the very least many of them end up in drunkenness.’» — Roys cita el juicio de Cogolludo sobre aquellas asambleas donde se leían las fábulas e historias de los libros.

«many passages of the latter were copied verbatim from Sixteenth and early Seventeenth Century originals.» — Roys fecha el material: la comparación con documentos legales mayas desde 1557 muestra que muchos pasajes se copiaron a la letra de originales del siglo XVI y de principios del XVII.

«Of these books the Chumayel, Tizimin and Mani manuscripts have the greatest value for the study of Maya civilization, although the others are not lacking in interest.» — Roys jerarquiza los libros conservados: Chumayel, Tizimín y Maní son los de mayor valor para el estudio de la civilización maya, sin que los otros carezcan de interés.

«Although it dates only from the year 1782, the language suggests the Seventeenth Century much more than it does the Eighteenth.» — Roys objeta que la fecha del manuscrito no da la fecha de su lengua: aunque está fechado en 1782, su lengua sugiere el siglo XVII.

«The book contains comparatively little of the intrusive European material which predominates in other Books of Chilam Balam written at so late a date.» — Roys señala como rasgo del Chumayel la escasez de material europeo intrusivo, comparado con otros libros de la misma época tardía.

«The drawings which illustrate the volume are quite European in character, although many of the ideas which they represent are purely Maya.» — Roys separa forma y contenido en los dibujos: la factura es europea y las ideas representadas son puramente mayas.

«As Professor Tozzer has noted, many words are separated arbitrarily into syllables, the same word sometimes being divided in several different ways on the same page.» — Roys recoge de Tozzer el rasgo que más estorba la lectura: las palabras se separan en sílabas de modo arbitrario, y la misma palabra se divide de varias maneras en una misma página.

«It has already been noted that the Chumayel is a compilation made from various earlier works, many of which were probably copied from still older books.» — Roys sostiene que el Chumayel es compilación de obras anteriores, muchas de ellas a su vez copiadas de libros más viejos, y de ahí deriva la corrupción ocasional del texto.

«The greatest difficulty of all is found in the numerous obsolete words and phrases which occur.» — Roys fija dónde está la mayor dificultad de la traducción: las palabras y frases obsoletas.

«For an explanation of the many proper names found in the Chumayel, especially those of deities, we are obliged to rely largely on the Spanish source material such as Landa, the Relaciones de Yucatan, Cogolludo, Aguilar and Lizana.» — Roys declara la dependencia de las fuentes españolas —Landa, las Relaciones de Yucatán, Cogolludo, Aguilar y Lizana— para explicar los nombres propios, sobre todo los de las deidades.

«It has been suggested that a modern Maya Indian should be of great assistance in translating these old books, but none of the few efforts which have been made along this line of inquiry have had much success.» — Roys objeta la idea de que un maya de hoy baste para traducir estos libros: los pocos intentos no han dado resultado.

«Dr. Redfield’s elucidation of the puzzling name of Ah Muzencab, the bee-god, from the explanation of one of these native sorcerers is an example of the results which may be looked for from this line of inquiry.» — Roys da como ejemplo de lo que sí rinde esa vía la elucidación por Redfield del nombre de Ah Muzencab, el dios abeja, obtenida de un hechicero nativo.

«Needless to say, it is difficult to persuade these native priests to explain their rituals.» — Roys consigna el muro: cuesta persuadir a los sacerdotes nativos, los h-menob, de que expliquen sus rituales.

«It seems likely that at least some of the obsolete words in the Books of Chilam Balam will be more fully explained by similar terms which have survived in the other languages.» — Roys deja abierta la vía del futuro: las palabras obsoletas se aclararán por términos emparentados que sobrevivan en las otras lenguas del tronco maya.

«The white guaje,® the ixculun <and> the gumbo-limbo! are his little hut,’ . . . The logwood tree is the hut pic of Yaxum,,’ the first of the men of the Cauich family.» — Arranca la traducción del capítulo I, el ritual de los cuatro rumbos del mundo, repartiendo árboles y chozas entre los primeros hombres de cada familia; la nota al pie de Roys advierte que falta un folio al principio del libro y por eso el texto abre a media frase.

«One folio is missing from the beginning of the book.» — Nota de Roys que sitúa la primera pérdida del manuscrito: falta el folio inicial.

«Martinez H. translates this sentence: “the first figure or idol is that of Ah Canul” (Martinez. H. 1921).» — Roys consigna la traducción divergente de Martínez Hernández para la misma frase, sin arbitrar entre las dos.

«The red flint stone is the stone of the red Mucencab.* The red ceiba tree of abundance ° is his arbor ° which is set in the east. The red bullet-tree ‘ is their tree. The red zapote ... The red-vine* . . . Reddish are their yellow turkeys. Red toasted <corn> is their corn.» — El ritual de los cuatro rumbos reparte por color: al este, pedernal rojo, ceiba roja de la abundancia como enramada, árbol de bala rojo, guajolotes y maíz rojos. Los corchetes en diamante marcan lo que Roys suple.

«The white flint stone is their stone in the north. The white ceiba tree of abundance is the arbor of the white Mucencab. White-breasted are their turkeys. White Lima-beans are their Lima-beans. White corn is their corn.» — La serie sigue al norte con el pedernal blanco, la ceiba blanca de la abundancia y el maíz, los frijoles y los guajolotes blancos.

«The black flint stone is their stone in the west. The black ceiba tree of abundance is their arbor. Black speckled corn is their corn. Black tipped camotes are their camotes. Black wild pigeons are their turkeys. Black akabchan ® is their green corn. Black beans are their beans. Black Lima-beans are their Lima-beans.» — Al oeste, pedernal negro, ceiba negra, maíz pinto negro, camotes de punta negra, palomas silvestres por guajolotes y frijoles negros. El impreso parte *akab-chan* —nombre maya de una variedad oscura de maíz, según la nota de Roys— en el corte de renglón, y la extracción por programa lo devuelve pegado: la forma con guion es la lectura propuesta, declarada aquí y no restituida dentro de las comillas.

«The yellow flint stone is the stone of the south. The ceiba tree of abundance, the yellow ceiba tree of abundance, is their arbor. The yellow bullet-tree is their tree. <Colored like> the yellow bullet-tree are their camotes. <Colored like> the yellow bullet-tree are the wild pigeons which are their turkeys. Yellow green corn is their green corn. Yellow-backed are their beans.» — Al sur cierra la serie con el pedernal amarillo, la ceiba amarilla de la abundancia y todo lo amarillo: árbol de bala, camotes, palomas, maíz tierno y frijoles.

«As shown in Appendix A, the bees are closely connected with the Bacabs and the four world-quarters, and Dr. Redfield finds the Muzencabs invoked in the uw hanli cab ceremony which is propitiatory of the gods of the bees.» — Nota de Roys que enlaza a las abejas con los Bacabs y los cuatro rumbos, y remite a la ceremonia *u hanli cab*, propiciatoria de los dioses de las abejas, según Redfield.

«One native priest explained that “the Mulzencab-ob were a class of supernatural bees dwelling at Coba. They report to Nohyumcab (Great-lord-of-the-hive) , their superior, everything that happens in the apiary.”» — Roys cita por carta de Redfield a un sacerdote nativo: los Muzencabob son abejas sobrenaturales que moran en Cobá y reportan al Nohyumcab cuanto ocurre en el colmenar.

«Another native priest, or h-men, stated that the Nohyumcab and the Ah Muzencab were two gods in the form of large bees who governed all the bees» — Roys recoge la versión de otro h-men: Nohyumcab y Ah Muzencab son dos dioses en forma de abejas grandes que gobiernan a todas las abejas; las dos explicaciones se consignan sin armonizar.

«I have cited Thomas Hearne’s prayer because for me it is the epitome of scholarship: zeal for research and humility in the face of success.» — J. Eric S. Thompson abre la semblanza de Roys con la oración de un subbibliotecario de la Bodleiana y declara en ella su idea del oficio: celo por la investigación y humildad ante el éxito.

«Zeal and humility in research are the links between Hearne with his fullbottomed wig at his Bodleian table and Ralph Roys in his study on the shores of what was called the South Seas in Hearne’s time.» — Thompson enlaza por esos dos rasgos a Thomas Hearne con Roys en su estudio frente al Pacífico. El impreso parte *full-bottomed* en el corte de renglón y la extracción por programa lo devuelve pegado; la forma con guion es la lectura propuesta y no se restituye dentro de las comillas.

«Roys was born in Greenville, Michigan, descended on both sides from families who had left Old England for New England long before Thomas Hearne’s time.» — Thompson sitúa el origen familiar de Roys en Greenville, Michigan.

«He arranged with the Polish Catholic priest for lessons in Polish grammar.» — Thompson cuenta que Roys no se conformó con el polaco oído en el aserradero y buscó gramática con el sacerdote católico polaco.

«Yucatec Maya is still widely spoken in Yucatan, but the subject matter, the vocabulary, and to some extent the sentence structure of those colonial documents were as different from the spoken Maya of today as Chaucer is from The New Yorker.» — Thompson mide la distancia entre el maya colonial de los documentos y el maya hablado hoy con un símil de Chaucer y The New Yorker.

«he had the good fortune to meet William Gates, then a disciple of Madam Katherine Tingley and a member of the Aryan Theosophical Society’s colony at Point Loma, Cali» — Thompson nombra la filiación teosófica del coleccionista que puso las fuentes mayas en manos de Roys; el tramo se corta en el guion de fin de renglón de *California*.

«It was Gates who discovered and acquired Ritual of the Bacabs, which, fifty years later, was to be translated and published by Roys in the Civilization of the American Indian Series of the University of Oklahoma Press.» — Thompson traza la cadena que va del hallazgo de Gates a la traducción de Roys cincuenta años después.

«Roys early realized that translation of obscure or corrupt passages in one book was often greatly aided by examination of the parallel passages in other sources.» — Thompson enuncia el método que sostiene toda la traducción: el pasaje oscuro se aclara por comparación con los pasajes paralelos de los otros libros.

«When it came to writing Maya manuscripts, the Maya scribes of the colonial period played poker with deuces wild.» — Thompson describe con un símil de póquer la libertad con que los escribas mayas puntuaban y dividían las palabras.

«All the way through the reader may note in the footnotes the cautious approach which was always combined with sound judgment.» — Thompson lee las notas al pie del volumen como muestra de cautela y buen juicio.

«It is, however, necessary to emphasize that these are far more than translations;» — Thompson advierte que estos volúmenes son mucho más que traducciones; la frase sigue tras el punto y coma.

«The arrival of the Spaniards radically changed the Maya way of life.» — Thompson resume el efecto de la llegada española sobre la vida maya.

«Roys by careful patient questioning in remote corners was often able to relocate them, for he well knew that folk memory, particularly in a conservative land, may often come to the rescue when formal history is in disarray.» — Thompson declara el valor de la memoria oral de los pueblos cuando la historia escrita falta.

«The encomienda system, forcing the Mayas to work for their new masters and pay them tribute, also gravely affected the old ways.» — Thompson suma la encomienda a las causas del cambio: trabajo forzado y tributo para los nuevos amos.

«Moreover, newly introduced diseases, notably smallpox, wiped out entire settlements.» — Thompson cierra la serie con las enfermedades nuevas y la viruela, que borraron poblados enteros.

«This was work which called for perseverance in a hard, tedious job — jogging along those shadeless thorny trails at the height of the dry season is no picnic—and the hard-earned specialized know]- edge of where to ask what.» — Thompson describe el trabajo de campo de Roys para la geografía política de Yucatán: perseverancia, veredas sin sombra en plena seca y el saber de a quién preguntar qué.

«Roys was a generous colleague; he would go to great effort to help other students in the field — a great scholar and gentleman, kindhearted and modest.» — Thompson cierra la semblanza con el retrato personal de Roys.

«Among the various avenues of approach to the investigation of Maya civilization, the study of the native literature of Yucatan is, next to the actual archeological exploration of the remains, one of the most promising, for it contains much of what the Indians remembered of their old culture after the Spanish Conquest.» — Roys abre el Preface situando el estudio de la literatura nativa de Yucatán, después de la exploración arqueológica, como una de las vías más prometedoras hacia la civilización maya.

«Not only do they contain a wealth of historical and ethnological information invaluable to the student of the pre-Columbian career of the Maya, but they also furnish a record of the reactions of the native mind to the European culture and of the manner in which the latter was adapted to suit its new environment.» — Roys señala la doble utilidad de estos textos: información histórica y etnológica del pasado precolombino, y registro de cómo la mente nativa reaccionó a la cultura europea y la adaptó.

«The translation of the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel depends primarily upon the reading given to the badly punctuated and often misspelled Maya text, and such a reading is based upon an extensive comparison with other similar texts.» — Roys declara de qué depende su traducción: de la lectura que se dé a un texto maya mal puntuado y a menudo mal escrito, lectura que a su vez se apoya en la comparación extensa con otros textos.

«The difficulties of translation are not to be underestimated, but they can be greatly lessened by such a comparison.» — Roys no minimiza la dificultad, y pone el límite de su propio método: la comparación la aminora, no la suprime.

«That I have been able to avail myself of the assistance afforded by the manuscripts of the Berendt Linguistic Collection, so often referred to in these pages, is due to the collaboration of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and to the kindness of Dr. Horace H. F. Jayne, Director, who has supplied me with the necessary photostats.» — Roys declara de dónde salen los fotostatos de la Berendt Linguistic Collection que usa en todo el volumen.

«Professor Alfred M. Tozzer, whose previous extensive survey of Maya literature was the indispensable preliminary to the present work, has given cordial assistance; both he and the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology have cooperated generously with the loan of material necessary to the work.» — Roys reconoce el estudio previo de Tozzer sobre la literatura maya como preliminar indispensable de este trabajo.

«Mr. Juan Martinez Hernandez has again, as in the past, come to my aid in the elucidation of obscure phrases and badly written» — Roys agradece a Juan Martínez Hernández la elucidación de frases oscuras; el tramo se corta antes del folio de la plana.

«The manner of editing the Maya text is that suggested by Professor Otis J. Todd, who has assisted me in adapting the methods of classical scholars to this newer field of endeavor.» — Roys atribuye a Otis J. Todd el método de edición: adaptar a este campo los procedimientos de los filólogos clásicos.

«For a number of the text-figures, Alice P. Roys has made copies from photographs and other reproductions.» — Roys acredita a Alice P. Roys las copias de varias figuras del texto.

«The Franciscan missionaries concentrated the Mayas in towns, where they could be more easily catechized and watched, for, left to themselves in remote» — Thompson explica la concentración franciscana en pueblos por el control y la catequesis; la frase cruza el corte de chunk y sigue *clearings in the woods, they reverted rapidly to old pagan ways, including human sacrifice*.

«Plate 1. a and b, Puma and squirrel from the frieze of the Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itza. c, The four trees and birds set at the cardinal points to commemorate the previous destruction of the world. Sculptured panel of the Temple of the Wall Panels at Chichen Itza. (After Ruppert.)» — La lista de ilustraciones describe la lámina 1: el puma y la ardilla del friso del Templo de los Guerreros, y el panel esculpido con los cuatro árboles y aves de los puntos cardinales que conmemoran la destrucción anterior del mundo.

«24. Lahun Chaan, associated with the planet Venus. (Dresden Codex, p. 47)» — La lista de figuras identifica a Lahun Chaan con el planeta Venus y remite al Códice de Dresde; el mismo pie se reimprime al pie de la figura en la plana 120, y aquí se ancla en su primera aparición.

«Human sacrifice scene. Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itza. (Restored by Ann Axtell Morris.» — La lista de figuras registra la escena de sacrificio humano del Templo de los Guerreros restaurada por Ann Axtell Morris; el impreso parte *Restored* en el corte de renglón.

«At the present time we have photographic reproductions of the Books of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, Tizimin, Kaua, Ixil,.Tekax and Nah as well as copious extracts copied from the Mani and Oxkutzcab manuscripts. The latter were made by Dr. Hermann Berendt and are now in the Berendt Linguistic Collection of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.» — Roys enumera las reproducciones fotográficas y los extractos de Berendt sobre los que trabaja.

«Consequently a complete transcription and translation of the texts can only be made with the aid of these copies.» — Roys declara la dependencia de su trabajo respecto de las copias de Berendt, hechas cuando los manuscritos estaban en mejor estado.

«Brinton was the first to make a translation of any considerable portion of the Chumayel.» — Roys sitúa a Brinton como primer traductor de una porción considerable del Chumayel, sobre la copia de Berendt.

«It is possible that the priest was Don Diego Hoil, the son of the writer.» — Roys conjetura, sin afirmarlo, que el sacerdote que vendió el libro en 1838 fue Don Diego Hoil, hijo del compilador.

«When Bishop Carrillo died in 1897, the book passed into the hands of Don Ricardo Figueroa, and through the efforts of Sr. Molina it was loaned in 1910 to George B. Gordon, Director of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, who photographed it the same year.» — Roys traza la cadena de manos del manuscrito hasta la fotografía de Gordon en 1910.

«After Figueroa’s death the manuscript was removed in 1915 to the Cepeda Library in Merida, but when Dr. Morley visited the Library in 1918 it had disappeared and its whereabouts is still unknown.» — Roys consigna la desaparición: el manuscrito se trasladó a la Biblioteca Cepeda de Mérida en 1915 y en 1918 Morley ya no lo encontró.

«As Dr. Morley has already noted, “In view of its doubtful fate, it is nothing short of providential that two photographic copies of it exist, the one made by Maler in 1887, a copy of which is in the Gates collection, and the other made by Gordon in 1910.’”» — Roys cita el juicio de Morley sobre la suerte del manuscrito: dadas las dudas sobre su destino, la existencia de las dos copias fotográficas es providencial.

«He could hardly be the Don Juan Josef Hoil who signed the manuscript in 1782, however.» — Roys descarta al abuelo Juan José Hoil de la familia viva de Chumayel como el firmante de 1782; la identificación queda abierta.

«It seems likely that the Don Juan Josef Hoil who wrote the Chilam Balam of Chumayel was the father of Don Diego, the curate, and of Dofia Guadelupe.» — Roys propone como probable que el Don Juan Josef Hoil del manuscrito fuera padre del cura Don Diego y de Doña Guadelupe, y deja dicho que la comprobación está en los archivos parroquiales; el escaneo imprime *Dofia* por *Doña*.

«Like the other Books of Chilam Balam, the Chumayel manuscript is written in the European script which the Sixteenth Century Spanish missionaries adapted to the Maya language of Yucatan. It differs only in a few particulars from ordinary Spanish script.» — Roys abre la nota prefatoria al texto maya: el Chumayel está escrito en la letra europea que los misioneros del siglo XVI adaptaron al maya y difiere poco de la española corriente.