drove her crazy. When she realized that she couldn’t get him
out, she came back to me, screaming out of her mind, and told
me to get the damn thing out of her blouse. I undressed her
but that was to no avail. There was no chicken at all, and yet
she still felt its feet on her skin going around and around.
The Nagual came over then and told her that only when
she let go of her old self would the chicken stop running. Lidia
was crazy for three days and three nights. The Nagual told me
to tie her up. I fed her and cleaned her and gave her water. On
the fourth day she became very peaceful and calm. I untied
her and she put on her clothes and when she was dressed again,
as she had been the day she ran away, the little chicken came
out. She took him in her hand and petted and thanked him and
returned him to the place where she had found him. I walked
with her part of the way.
From that time on Lidia never bothered anyone. She ac-
cepted her fate. The Nagual is her fate; without him she would
have been dead. So what was the point of trying to refuse or
mold things which can only be accepted?
Josefina went off next. She was already afraid of what hap-
pened to Lidia but she soon forgot about it. One Sunday after-
noon, when she was coming back to the house, a dry leaf got
stuck in the threads of her shawl. Her shawl was loosely
woven. She tried to pick out the small leaf, but she was afraid
of ruining her shawl. So when she came into the house she
immediately tried to loosen it, but there was no way, it was
stuck. Josefina, in a fit of anger, clutched the shawl and the
leaf and crumbled it inside her hand. She figured that small
pieces would be easier to pick out. I heard a maddening scream
and Josefina fell to the ground. I ran to her and found that she
couldn’t open her hand. The leaf had cut her hand to shreds as
if it were pieces of a razor blade. Lidia and I helped her and
nursed her for seven days. Josefina was more stubborn than
anyone else. She nearly died. At the end she managed to open
her hand, but only after she had in her own mind resolved to
drop her old ways. She still gets pains in her body from time
to time, especially in her hand, due to the ugly disposition that
still returns to her. The Nagual told both of them that they
shouldn’t count on their victory because it’s a lifetime struggle
that each of us wages against our old selves.
Lidia and Josefina never fought again. I don’t think they
like each other, but they certainly get along. I love those two
the most. They have been with me all these years. I know that
they love me too.
What about the other two girls? Where do they fit?
A year later Elena came; she is la Gorda. She was by far in
the worst condition you could imagine. She weighed two hun-
dred and twenty pounds. She was a desperate woman. Pablito
had given her shelter in his shop. She did laundry and ironing
to support herself. The Nagual came one night to get Pablito
and found the fat girl working while a circle of moths flew
over her head. He said that the moths had made a perfect circle
for him to watch. He saw that the woman was near the end of
her life, yet the moths must have had all the confidence in the
world, in order for them to give him such an omen. The Na-
gual acted fast and took her with him.
She did fine for a while, but the bad habits that she had
learned were too deep and she couldn’t give them up. So one
day the Nagual sent for the wind to help her. It was a matter
of helping her or finishing her off. The wind began to blow on
her until it drove her out of the house; she was alone that day
and no one saw what was happening. The wind pushed her
over hills and into ravines until she fell into a ditch, a hole in
the ground like a grave. The wind kept her there for days.
When the Nagual finally found her she had managed to stop
the wind, but she was too weak to walk.
How did the girls manage to stop whatever was acting
upon them?
Well, in the first place what was acting upon them was the
gourd that the Nagual carried tied to his belt.
And what is in the gourd?
The allies that the Nagual carries with him. He said that
the ally is funneled through his gourd. Don’t ask me any more
because I know nothing more about the ally. All I can tell you
is that the Nagual commands two allies and makes them help
him. In the case of my girls the ally backed down when they
were ready to change. For them, of course, it was a case of
either change or death. But that’s the case with all of us, one
way or another. And la Gorda changed more than anyone else.
She was empty, in fact more empty than I, but she worked her
spirit until she became power itself. I don’t like her. I’m afraid
of her. She knows me. She gets inside me and my feelings and
that bothers me. But no one can do anything to her because
she never lets her guard down. She doesn’t hate me, but she
thinks I am an evil woman. She may be right. I think that
she knows me too well, and I’m not as impeccable as I want
to be; but the Nagual told me not to worry about my feelings
toward her. She is like Eligio; the world no longer touches
her.
What did the Nagual do to her that was so special?
He taught her things he never taught anyone else. He
never pampered her or anything like that. He trusted her. She
knows everything about everybody. The Nagual also told me
everything except things about her. Maybe that’s why I don’t
like her. The Nagual told her to be my jailer. Wherever I go I
find her. She knows whatever I do. Right now, for instance,
I wouldn’t be surprised if she shows up.
Do you think she would?
I doubt it. Tonight, the wind is with me.
What is she supposed to do? Does she have a special task?
I’ve told you enough about her. I’m afraid that if I keep on
talking about her she will notice me from wherever she is, and
I don’t want that to happen.
Tell me, then, about the others.
Some years after he found la Gorda, the Nagual found
Eligio. He told me that he had gone with you to his homeland.
Eligio came to see you because he was curious about you. The
Nagual didn’t notice him. He had known him since he was a
kid. But one morning, as the Nagual walked to the house
where you were waiting for him, he bumped into Eligio on
the road. They walked together for a short distance and then
a dried piece of cholla got stuck on the tip of Eligio’s left shoe.
He tried to kick it loose but its thorns were like nails; they had
gone deep into the sole of the shoe. The Nagual said that Eligio
pointed up to the sky with his finger and shook his foot and
the cholla came off like a bullet and went up into the air. Eligio
thought it was a big joke and laughed, but the Nagual knew
that he had power, although Eligio himself didn’t even suspect
it. That is why, with no trouble at all, he became the perfect,
impeccable warrior.
It was my good fortune that I got to know him. The Na-
gual thought that both of us were alike in one thing. Once we
hook onto something we don’t let go of it. The good fortune
of knowing Eligio was a fortune that I shared with no one else,
not even with la Gorda. She met Eligio but didn’t really get to
know him, just like yourself. The Nagual knew from the be-
ginning that Eligio was exceptional and he isolated him. He
knew that you and the girls were on one side of the coin and
Eligio was by himself on the other side. The Nagual and
Genaro were indeed very fortunate to have found him.
I first met him when the Nagual brought him over to my
house. Eligio didn’t get along with my girls. They hated him
and feared him too. But he was thoroughly indifferent. The