QUICHÉ PRAYER.
Here is a translation I have made from the Spanish version given by Milla of a Quiché prayer; and as the petitioner is a supposed Christian, it will serve to illustrate the theological status of the Indio converts, and no less of their descendants of the present day. Compare it with the heathen prayer (p. 249):—
“O Jesus Christ my God, thou God the Son with the Father and the Holy Spirit art but one God! To-day on this day, at this hour, on this day of Tijax, I invoke the holy spirits who attend the dawn and the last glimmerings of day! With the holy spirits I pray to thee, O chief of the Genii who dwell in this mountain of Sija-Raxquin! Come, blessed spirits of Juan Vachiac, of D. Domingo Vachiac, of Juan Ixquiaptop; blessed spirits of Francisco Ecoquij, of Diego Soom, of Juan Tay, of Alonso Tzep; holy spirits, I repeat, of Diego Tziquin and Don Pedro Noj; you, O priests, to whom all things are open, and thou Chief of the Genii; ye Gods of the mountain, Gods of the plain, Don Puruperto Martin,—come, accept this incense, accept now this candle! Come also mother mine, holy Mary, and thou my Lord of Esquipulas, the Lord of Capetagua, ... Captain Santiago, Saint Christopher, ... thou Lord and King Pascual, be present here! And thou frost, thou God of the plain, thou God Quiacbasulup, thou Lord of Retal-euleu [here follows a long list of names of towns and mountains]! I make myself compadre and comadre, I who pray; I am the witness and the brother of this man who makes himself your son, of this man who prays. O blessed spirits, suffer no evil to come to him, nor let him be in any way unhappy! I the one who speak, I the priest, I who burn this incense, I who pray for him, I who take him under my protection, I beseech you that he may easily find his food. Do thou then, God, send him his money; do not allow him to get sick with fever, let him not become paralytic, let him not be choked with a cough, let him not be bitten by a serpent, let him not be swollen with wind nor asthmatic, let him not become mad nor be bitten by a dog, let him not perish by a thunderbolt, suffer him not to perish by rum, nor die by sword or stave, neither let an eagle snatch him away; assist him, O clouds! assist him, O lightnings! assist him, O thunderclap! Aid him, Saint Peter, aid him, Saint Paul, aid him, thou Eternal Father! I then who have spoken for him thus far, I pray that sickness may come upon his opponents; grant that when his enemy goes forth from his house he may encounter sickness; grant likewise that wherever he may please to go, there he may meet with difficulties. Do your duty against enemies wherever they may be; do it as I pray you, blessed spirits! God be with you! God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost! So be it! Amen, Jesus!”