The Bird Who Cleans the World and Other Mayan Fables

Victor Montejo. Curbstone Press, 1991.

"Mayan Fables" might be a little bit misleading, but that's what's interesting about this book - it's not just a standard "watered-down" fables that are generic to the Mayans, but rather, the author's retelling of the rememberances of his mother's telling him of stories in her own particular dialect, the Jakaltak-Maya language.

That adds a more personal dimension to the tales included in this book; they seem like you're hearing them while sitting around the dinner table with the family. You can, of course, see the relation to other Mayan fables, and for US audiences, you'll get the feel as to how these tales relate to certain North American Indian tales that you've probably heard. These are morality tales, definitely, and also historical iconograms, but they're also rich in tongue-in-cheek "watch out, child?" lessons. In fact, (and I don't know if I was simply reading too much into the introduction, but . . .!) you can almost see how mom tailored these tales as a warning to her own child (the author, that is!)

Memorable passages: The Bird Who Cleans the World is the Buzzard, who was sent out after the great flood to find life - got greedy and ate the carcasses of the dead animals, finally came back (late) and the other animals were so disgusted by the smell that they condemned him to be the world's garbage collector.

Also, the Rabbit used to have horns until he was tricked out of them by the deer. The Creator thus gave him long ears, as a memory of what he gave away so willingly out of vanity, and to teach him to wise and cautious.

Also, another of the Rabbit (in which he becomes the "Trickster" archetype) is the one in which everyone comes to collect the debts that he owes, and he has each one hide under the bed, and sends the predator of the one under the bed when he sees the predator of the next coming, thereby getting rid of all his debts.

Also, the First Monkeys: actually children who climbed trees and started playing around and wouldn't come when their grandmother called. So she turned them into monkeys. (Again, we've got the "obey your parents" lesson here, but what's really interesting is how even in Mayan mythts there are similarities drawn between Man and Apes)
So - if you'd like to read it with an eye as to how it fits in with the larger canon of New World mythology, be my guest, but I think you'd miss the enjoyment of simply reading it with an eye as to how you might be able to retell it to your own children.