Rabinal
An Achi Maya town in the highlands of Guatemala, home of the dance-drama Rabinal Achi, which Bartolo Ziz wrote down there in 1850.
Today: Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala
The Man of Rabinal
The Rabinal Achi, an Achi Maya dance-drama from Rabinal, Guatemala, written down by Bartolo Ziz in 1850 and printed by Brasseur de Bourbourg in 1862: the opening of the first scene · set before the Spanish conquest; written down in 1850, printed 1862
C'at el uloc, vorom ahau, cakom ahau! Cuxere chi nabe vae mavi ca nu qizo u chayic u vixal, u cutamil ahau Chacachib, Zamanib, Cauk Rabinal!.... Ca cha curi nu tzih chuvach cah, chuvach uleu. Quehe mavi quïa tzih qu'in chau uq La. Cah, uleu chi qohe uq La, o Galel-Achi Rabinal-Achi!
Come out, you foul lord, you hateful lord! Will you be the first whose root and trunk I cannot cut down, lord of Chacachib and Zamanib, Cauk of Rabinal? So says my word before the sky, before the earth. I will not make long speeches with you. May sky and earth be with you, O Galel-Achi, Rabinal-Achi!
Yeha! oyeu achi, Cavek-Queche-Vinak! La ca cha ri a tzih chuvach cah, chuvach uleu? «C'at el uloc, vorom ahau, cakom ahau! Cuxere chi nabe vae mavi ca nu qizo u chayic u vixal u cutamil ahau Chacachib, Zamanib, Cauk Rabinal?»... La ca cha ri a tzih?.... Qui-ta-vi-ba cah, qui-ta-vi-ba uleu! mi-x-c'at yauic chupam r'al nu chab, chupam r'al nu pocob, ruq nu yaquim vit, nu yaquim v'icah, ruq nu chincu, nu galgab, nu zahcab, nu zalmet, ruq nu couil, v'achihilal. Quehe ta-chi-na, ma-ta-chi-na, ta mi-x-cat in tzakamah chirech nu zaki caam, nu zaki colo. Ca cha curi nu tzih chuvach chi cah, chuvach uleu. Cah, uleu ta chi qohe avuq, oyeu achi, canab, teleche vinak!
Ha! Brave warrior, man of the Cavek Queche! Is this what your word says before the sky, before the earth? “Come out, you foul lord, you hateful lord! Will you be the first whose root and trunk I cannot cut down, lord of Chacachib and Zamanib, Cauk of Rabinal?” Is that what your word says? As surely as there is a sky, as surely as there is an earth, you have given yourself up to the point of my arrow and my shield, to my Yaqui club and my Yaqui ax, to my bracelets of bone and metal, to my white paint and my zalmet, to my strength and my courage. Be that as it may, I have caught you with my white rope, my white cord. So says my word before the sky, before the earth. May sky and earth be with you, brave warrior, my captive, my prisoner!