The Dog

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In the village of Santa Ana de la Palma, in the municipality of San Felipe del Progreso, a man who was not so very old used to wander the village streets. No one knew his name but everyone called him "the dog", because despite not having a job he never went without food and, much less, good drinks to keep himself continually drunk much to the inhabitants surprise, who wondered where he could get so much money to have luxuries which were only given to hard-working people, who perhaps were just as alcoholic - and why not - but hard-working when all is said and done.

In the village the rumor spread that the dog had made a pact with the devil. Old people, children, midwives told how the devil had appeared one day to the strange character, in the cave at the outskirts of the village, warning him that death would take him away if he didn't fill the cave with souls that could nourish the devil's existence. If he didn't do this he would never see the light of day again -which only served to warm his head while he slept off his hangover from the day before.

Despite such a warning the devil had displayed generosity with the dog, offering him in exchange, not only protection for his life, but also a lot of money so that he could use it as it best suited him. Some time later people suddenly and mysteriously started to disappear in the village. They vanished without trace and without leaving any message for their parents, lovers, friends or enemies, whether it be to make them sad or happy with the news. Anyone you care to mention disappeared just like that.

It could be the baker - who for ages had told the whole village that he was going to abduct Justina Sánchez, the middle daughter of the foreman of the Tlalpujahua mine-, or Evarista, the barber's wife - that woman who smiled at everyone: she used to sit in the chair where her husband cut the hair of the unaware who wanted to improve their looks so as to win over some girl on the days when they would parade around the village square in circles.

This was despite the fact that the customers never found another smile in the village other than Evarista's, which is why they always went back to the barber, as they would also get to take a look at his beautiful wife. When men and women disappeared, the dog spent quantities of money from his seemingly bottomless purse. One day the dog drank so much pulque* with Don Francisco Flores on a boat called La Lupita that, totally drunk and wanting to continue the drinking spree, he and Don Francisco took the path to La Palma bridge.

It was on that walk when the great secret popped out from the dog's mouth itself. Panchito listened to how the friend had before him told him how he abducted people to hand them over to the devil in the Santa Ana cave and that in exchange the devil gave him money, which would be used to buy him his next drinks. On hearing such a statement, and due to his drunken state, instead of feeling fear, Francisco only thought of avenging the probable death of young Carlos, his godson, who like so many inhabitants had suddenly disappeared without any trace, being wrenched from his godparents' arms on the day he was taken before the landowner to receive the sacred blessing from her, as the good Christian customs dictated in that village.

So, according to what by then had turned into a legend, Don Francisco wanted to take advantage of the dog's drunken state - which was more advanced than his own - to "finish him off" and in this way put to good use, for the first time, the pistol that he showed off so proudly on his belt. Francisco Flores took the revolver and decisively pulled the trigger and fell backwards in surprise when the recently acquired pistol didn't work, the fact was that the devil had protected the dog in the face of death. Nevertheless, Don Francisco punched that murderer, and although at first his blows had no effect in comparison to those dealt by the devils' protege, just a moment of giddiness sufficed - which only excessive amounts of pulque provokes - and a diabolic oversight, for Don Panchito, according to learned gossips, to drop an enormous stone on the vagabond's empty head, caving it in for eternity and putting an end to his pact. Now only a cross lies on La Palma bridge, placed on a similar date to the dozens which lie in the municipal graveyard, in memory of those people who were never seen again in the village.

*Pulque, a pre-Columbian fermented drink made from the maguey cactus.

A Mazahua oral tradition told by Sergio Méndez from Santa Ana de la Palma, San Felipe del Progreso, State of Mexico.