Read Online Mexican Ghost Tales of the Southwest by Alfred Ávila - Free Book Online

isn’t for you! The abyss is waiting for you. There is nothing here! Leave, evil thing. Go without me!” Then the boy returned to his deep sleep.
    The bat looked down at the boy. “Bad boy! You’re going to die!”
    The
curandera
stared at the bat. The batbecame uneasy and said, “The morning is coming! I have to be leaving you, but the boy will die soon and become my guide into the spirit world. Then I will find eternal rest! You have lost the battle. You have lost!”
    â€œDon’t go, little mouse!” said María Luisa with a smile on her face. “You still have time.”
    The bat sensed something was wrong. Its instincts told it to beware. It flapped its wings nervously, but its feet would not move. The glue had hardened, and the animal could not break free and move its small clawed feet. They were stuck to the altar mantle.
    â€œYou cursed woman!” the beast shrieked, “You tricked me! You tricked me!”
    â€œYes,” said María Luisa, “I tricked you, and you are trapped! The dawn is arriving, and you shall perish in the rays of the sunlight. You shall cause no more harm in this town.”
    The bat screeched and screeched, flapping furiously to free itself. But it was only succeeding in tiring itself out. It stopped and glared at the
curandera
. “My master will be very mad. You’d better release me!”
    The folk healer sat on the floor relaxed, watching the struggling bat. Dawn was breaking and the darkness was slowly beginning to fade. The evil bat was nervous and struggling hard to free itself. But the glue held it fast.
    The beast shrieked at the healer, “What do you want from me?!”
    â€œI don’t want anything from you, bat! I want to see your master, Mictlantecuhtli, King of the Abyss!” she said.
    With those words, the earthen floor crackedopen and smoke poured out of the earth. Mictlantecuhtli, the Lord of the Dead, appeared in the hole, but only up to his waist.
    â€œWhy do you bother my messenger of evil? What do you want, you dried-up old chili-pepper hag?” he said with a sneer.
    María Luisa grabbed her walking stick and struck him on the head.
    â€œDon’t hit me!” he screamed.
    â€œWell, behave yourself,” she said, “or I’ll hit you again! You must promise me that you’ll never harm this boy again or anyone else in this town!”
    â€œAll right, all right,” said the evil one, “I promise to leave this rotten town alone.”
    The
curandera
looked sternly at him and said, “You have made a bargain with me. Woe to you if you break it!” The sun was beginning to shine over the surrounding hills and valleys. “Go now and take your little evil bat with you!”
    Mictlantecuhtli looked at the woman with her walking stick in her hand pointed toward him. He didn’t dare risk another blow, so he quickly grabbed the bat off the altar mantle. It let out a loud painful screech as it was pulled off. With one swift movement, they both sank into the hole in the earth. Then the hole closed back up.
    María Luisa became famous in the valley for her craftiness in overcoming Mictlantecuhtli and the bat. The boy got well, and some say that he grew up to become the famous revolutionary leader, Francisco Villa, better known to all as Pancho Villa.

THE JAPANESE WOMAN

THE JAPANESE WOMAN
    T here is a story dating back to the days when the Spanish sailed the vast expanses of the Pacific. It is the story of a funerary urn taken by a Manila trade galleon from Japan to the Philippine Islands, and from there to the west coast of New Spain, as Mexico was known at the time.
    The urn was beautiful. It was decorated with white and gold cherry blossoms, and it still held the ashes of an unknown Japanese person.
    There is no record of the urn’s history before it was brought to Mexico. It might have been offered to a Spanish sailor by some uncaring beggar, or maybe it was