The Xtabai

Source
Ethnology of the Mayas of
Southern and Central British Honduras
by John Eric Thompson
Field Museum of Natural History
Anthropological Series, Pub.274, Vol.17.2
Chicago, 1930

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► Themes of the story

Cunning and Deception: The Xtabai deceives the young man by taking the form of his beloved.

Love and Betrayal: The young man’s love leads him into a perilous situation, resulting in the loss of his true love.

Tragic Love: The story concludes with the untimely death of the young man’s beloved, adding a layer of sorrow to the narrative.

► From the same Region or People

• Central America
  • Maya Lore

Learn more about Maya people

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A young man had arranged to meet his sweetheart in the forest on the edge of the village. When he arrived at the tryst, he saw what he thought was his sweetheart, but it was a xtabai in her form. He advanced to meet her, but the xtabai walked backwards so as not to show her hollow back, which was like the rough bark of a tree. The youth at last overtook her, and embraced her. He felt her back to be hollow and rough and realized it was not the girl, but a xtabai. He began to pray, and the xtabai turned into a heap of rotten wood. The man made a fire and burned the rotten wood, and so destroyed the xtabai. The girl whom he had gone to visit and whom the xtabai had impersonated took sick at that same moment, and three days later died.