A lazy man neglects offerings to the forest lords, leading to poor harvests and a weakening fever. Warned by a sorcerer-priest, he repents and recovers but later lapses again. Enraged, the forest lords abduct his son, raising him in the wild. As an adult, the son defies their command by marrying. On his wedding night, the lords reclaim him, and he vanishes forever.
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
► Themes of the story
Divine Punishment: The man’s neglect of offerings leads to his illness and the abduction of his son by the forest lords, reflecting retribution from higher powers for transgressions.
Family Dynamics: The abduction of the man’s son and his eventual return, coupled with the condition imposed by the forest lords, highlight complex familial relationships and obligations.
Conflict with Authority: The son’s decision to marry, defying the forest lords’ command, illustrates a challenge to oppressive powers and the repercussions of such defiance.
► From the same Region or People
Once upon a time there was a man who was too lazy and ignorant to make his offering to the lords of the forest that he might have a good harvest of corn.
As a result his crops were always poor, and eventually the lords of the forest visited on him a wind (weakening fever).
Greatly alarmed, he called in the local Hmen (sorcerer- priest), who told him that his visitation was a result of his neglect of the lords of the forest, and he would only recover if he promised to amend, and make his offerings in future.
► Continue reading…
The man promised, and accordingly rapidly recovered. However, a few years later he again began to neglect his annual offerings in the milpa. Then the lords of the forest were indeed filled with wrath, and awaiting an opportunity they stole his young son, and, taking him to their home in the depth of the forest, they brought him up among themselves.
When the boy had become a young man, they sent him back to the human world, on condition that he should never have relations with a human woman. But after a while the young man married a girl.
On their marriage night he had just shut the door of the hut when he heard a series of long low whistles. Now every one knows that that is the way the lords of the forest let human beings know of their presence, but the boy, as he had been away from human beings most of his life, did not know this.
Accordingly he stepped out of the hut to see what was the matter. The lords of the forest immediately seized him and carried him away with them.
Since then he has never been seen by human eyes.
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Dreamtime Whispers 