A collection of one hundred Latin American folk tales taken from the Hispanic and Indian traditions.

Preface -- xi -- Introduction -- Prologue: Early Colonial Legends -- Montezuma / Nahua (Mexico) -- The Talking Stone -- Montezuma's Wound -- Eight Omens -- The Return of Quetzalcoatl -- Is It You? -- Legends of the Inca Kings / Quechua (Peru) -- Mayta Capac -- The Storm -- The Vanishing Bride -- A Messenger in Black -- The Oracle at Huamachuco -- Bringing Out the Holy Word / Mexico (Nahua) -- Folktales: A Twentieth-Century Wake -- PART ONE -- In the City of Benjamin / Ecuador -- Antuco's Luck / Chile -- Don Dinero and Dona Fortuna / Dominican Republic -- Mistress Lucia / Mexico -- St. Peter's Wishes / Cuba -- The Coyote Teodora / Honduras -- Buried Alive / California -- The Three Gowns / Puerto Rico -- The Horse of Seven Colors / Venezuela -- The Cow / New Mexico -- PART TWO -- Death and the Doctor / Dominican Republic -- What the Owls Said / Mexico (Mazatec) -- Aunt Misery / Puerto Rico -- Palm-tree Story / Colombia -- Pedro de Urdemalas -- The Letter Carrier from the Other World / Chile -- The King's Pigs / Guatemala -- The Sack / Chile -- Pedro Goes to Heaven / Argentina -- A Voyage to Eternity / Bolivia -- Mother and Daughter / Colombia -- The Bird Sweet Magic / Costa Rica -- Death Comes as a Rooster / Cuba -- The Twelve Truths of the World / New Mexico -- Folk Prayers -- PART THREE -- The Mouse and the Dung Beetle / Colorado -- The Canon and the King's False Friend / New Mexico -- The Story That Became a Dream / Chile -- St. Theresa and the Lord / Mexico -- Rice from Ashes / Argentina -- Juan Maria and Juana Maria / Guatemala -- The Witch Wife / Colombia -- O Wicked World / Argentina -- The Three Sisters / Colombia -- The Count and the Queen / Colorado -- PART FOUR -- Crystal the Wise / Chile -- Love Like Salt / Mexico -- The Pongo's Dream / Peru (Quechua) -- The Fox and the Monkey / Bolivia (Aymara) -- The Miser's Jar / Guatemala (Kekchi Maya) -- Tup and the Ants / Mexico (Yucatec Maya) -- A Master and His Pupil / Guatemala -- The Louse-Drum / Panama -- The Three Dreams / Guatemala -- The Clump of Basil / Puerto Rico -- Riddles -- PART FIVE -- The Charcoal Peddler's Chicken / Puerto Rico -- The Three Counsels / New Mexico -- Seven Blind Queens / Chile -- The Mad King / Florida -- A Mother's Curse / Puerto Rico -- The Hermit and the Drunkard / Ecuador -- The Noblewoman's Daughter and the Charcoal Woman's Son / Cuba -- The Enchanted Cow / Chile -- Judas's Ear / New Mexico -- Good Is Repaid with Evil / Venezuela -- The Fisherman's Daughter / Colombia -- PART SIX -- In the Beginning / Mexico (Mazatec) -- How the First People Were Made / Mexico (Zapotec) -- Adam's Rib / Mexico (Popoluca) -- Adam and Eve and Their Children / New Mexico (Isleta) -- God's Letter to Noeh / Mexico (Zapotec) -- God Chooses Noah / Mexico (Mixe) -- The Flood / Mixe (Mexico) -- A Prophetic Dream / Mexico (Mazatec) -- The White Lily / Ecuador (Quichua) -- The Night in the Stable / Guatemala (Quiche Maya) -- When Morning Came -- Why Did It Dawn? / Mexico (Nahua) -- That Was the Principal Day / Mexico (Tzotzil Maya) -- Three Kings / New Mexico (Isleta) -- The Christ Child as Trickster / Ecuador (Quichua) -- Christ Saved by the Firefly / Cakchiquel Maya (Guatemala) -- Christ Betrayed by Snails / Belize (Kekchi Maya) -- Christ Betrayed by the Magpie-jay / Mexico (Tzotzil Maya) -- The Blind Man at the Cross / Mexico (Mazatec) -- The Cricket, the Mole, and the Mouse / Mexico (Mazatec) -- As If with Wings / Mexico (Mazatec) -- PART SEVEN -- Slowpoke Slaughtered Four / Puerto Rico -- The Price of Heaven and the Rain of Caramels / Mexico -- Pine Cone the Astrologer / Panama -- The Dragon Slayer / Mexico -- Johnny-boy / Nicaragua -- The Rarest Thing / Guatemala -- Prince Simpleheart / Costa Rica -- The Flower of Lily-Lo / Mexico -- My Garden Is Better Than Ever / Mexico (Popoluca) -- Juan Bobo and the Pig / Puerto Rico -- The Parrot Prince / Chile -- Chain Riddles -- PART EIGHT -- A Dead Man Speaks / Texas -- The Bear's Son / Honduras (Lenca) -- Charity / Argentina -- Riches Without Working / Mexico (Nahua) -- Let Somebody Buy You Who Doesn't Know You / Guatemala -- The Mouse King / Bolivia -- Mariquita Grim and Mariquita Fair / Cuba -- The Compadre's Dinner / Dominican Republic -- The Hog / Colorado -- Two Sisters / Puerto Rico -- The Ghosts' Reales / Dominican Republic -- PART NINE -- The Bad Compadre / Guatemala (Cakchiquel Maya) -- Black Chickens / Mexico (Tepecano) -- Doublehead / El Salvador (Pipil) -- Littlebit / Chile -- Rosalie / Mexico (Yucatec Maya) -- A Day Laborer Goes to Work / Mexico (Otomi) -- The Moth / Peru (Quechua) -- The Earth Ate Them / Argentina -- Epilogue: Twentieth-Century Myths -- Why Tobacco Grows Close to Houses / Kogi (Colombia) -- The Buzzard Husband / Tzotzil Maya (Mexico) -- The Dead Wife / Miskito (Nicaragua) -- Romi Kumu Makes the World / Barasana (Colombia) -- She Was Thought and Memory / Kogi (Colombia) -- Was It Not an Illusion? / Witoto (Colombia) -- The Beginning Life of the Hummingbird / Mbya Guarani (Paraguay) -- Ibis Story / Yamana (Chile) -- The Condor Seeks a Wife / Quechua (Bolivia) -- The Priest's Son Becomes an Eagle / Zuni (New Mexico) -- The Revolt of the Utensils / Tacana (Bolivia) -- The Origin of Permanent Death / Shuar (Ecuador) -- Notes -- Register of Tale Types and Selected Motifs -- Glossary of Native Cultures -- Bibliography -- Permissions Acknowledgments.