Grandpa Lolo lives on a ranch in northern New Mexico. When he buys a black-and-white horse named Zorrillo (skunk) from Manuelito Yazzie, a Navajo who lives in a hogan in Torreon, Manuelito throws a tilma, a beautiful Navajo saddle blanket, into the deal. And so begins a beautiful friendship. This authentic slice of life in the multicultural West will warm the hearts of readers of all ages.

A noted folklorist presents this bilingual compilation of the dichos (sayings), adivinanzas (riddles), stories, love quatrains, letters, ballads, and songs from Spanish New Mexico.

It takes all kinds to populate Northern New Mexico, and this book has every one: from gypsies and gamblers to ranchers and criminals. Noted author Nasario Garcia introduces us to some of these people and the challenges they face. The title character, Adelfa, flirts with the glamour of casinos and finds herself addicted to gambling. Sam ""Spam"" Austin, an inmate serving a long sentence for murder, is paroled, attends medical school, and becomes a doctor. The affable grandfather in ""Yo Quiero Hacer un Lie 'Way,"" a hard-working and honorable rancher, stuns the proprietor of a mortuary with his request to put a coffin on layaway.

These stories come from a variety of Southwestern states - as well as Latin America - and demonstrate how the magical world of witchcraft and the supernatural connects Spain to Latin America, and Latin America to North America. This rich tradition of supernatural tales illuminates an unexplored aspect of the American Southwest's Hispanic heritage. The collection also includes biographical information on the narrators and a glossary highlighting the regional Spanish dialect of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, USA.

"When I moved to northern New Mexico thirty-three years ago," writes John Nichols, "I immediately fell in with my neighbours and commenced laughing". As folklorist Nasario Garcia explains in his introduction to this collection, falling in with the voices of laughter and comic relief is a timeless, vital aspect of Hispanic culture. !Chistes! brings together for the first time in English and regional Spanish a medley of orally gathered humorous anecdotes from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The chistes range in form from practical jokes, pranks, slips-of-the-tongue, hyperbole, solecisms, slapstick, and double entendres. True for most of the villages and towns represented in this collection, Hispanic humour is a function of folks who understand how to deal with difficult times with verve and at time self-deprecation, places with a strong communal identification, where everyone knows everybody's business and tells it with good-natured fun; where nothing is off limits, not even the church; where local politics takes it on the chin and farm animals provide the punch. The original Spanish versions of these tales are particularly flavourful for their colourful vernacular found uniquely in the region covered.

This title is the winners of 2005 Southwest Book Award. 'The stories are charmingly frank, unexpectedly humorous, sometimes sad, all reminiscent of a simpler, though not always uncomplicated time...The book brims with anecdotes, folklore, and oral history that help define one of New Mexicos most fascinating pockets of enchantment' - ""Albuquerque Journal"". 'Garcia presents stories on life in the countryside, education, folk healing, witchcraft, superstitions, religion, politics, folk sayings, and riddles...All Hispanic Americans with an interest in their cultural heritage should identify with many of the stories told by the viejitosthe old folks...Recommended' - ""Choice"". 'A veritable buffet of reminiscences...An outstanding contribution to the folklore and history of Hispanic New Mexico' - ""New Mexico Historical Review"". 'There is a rich and engaging text in two languages, humor and intelligence mixed in just the right proportion; what else could be desired? Photos! Ancianos, penitentes, cowboys: Welcome faces smile out of almost every page at the beginning of the book...In this book many, many stories will live to be enjoyed and appreciated by generations of new readers' - ""Southwest BookViews"". Nasario Garca, a native New Mexican and leading folklorist in his state, has produced many works on New Mexican literature and folklore, including ""Plticas: Conversations with Hispano Writers of New Mexico"" (Texas Tech 2000).

"When I moved to northern New Mexico thirty-three years ago," writes John Nichols, "I immediately fell in with my neighbours and commenced laughing." As folklorist Nasario Garcia explains in his introduction to this collection, falling in with the voices of laughter and comic relief is a timeless, vital aspect of Hispanic culture. !Chistes! brings together for the first time in English and regional Spanish a medley of orally gathered humorous anecdotes from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The chistes range in form from practical jokes, pranks, slips-of-the-tongue, hyperbole, solecisms, slapstick, and double entendres. True for most of the villages and towns represented in this collection, Hispanic humour is a function of folks who understand how to deal with difficult times with verve and at time self-deprecation, places with a strong communal identification, where everyone knows everybody's business and tells it with good-natured fun; where nothing is off limits, not even the church; where local politics takes it on the chin and farm animals provide the punch. The original Spanish versions of these tales are particularly flavourful for their colourful vernacular found uniquely in the region covered.

When Nasario Garcia was a boy in Ojo del Padre, a village in the Rio Puerco Valley northwest of Albuquerque, he grew up the way rural New Mexicans had for generations. His parents built their own adobe house, raised their own food, hauled their water from the river, and brought up their children to respect the old ways. In this account of his boyhood Garcia writes unforgettably about his family's village life, telling story after story, all of them true, and fascinating everyone interested in New Mexico history and culture.

"Children and adults alike will enjoy Nasario's brilliant telling of the events that were part of his growing up. As I read the stories I heard Nasario's voice and I could see clearly the people and places he describes. I was reminded that the stories our grandparents told not only entertained us, they taught us valuable lessons.

"The magic of storytelling is still with us. At home or in the classroom, stories such as these will spark the imagination and encourage reading."--Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, UltimaThe popular cuentos that parents and grandparents in rural New Mexico once upon a time told their children are a rich source of the folklore of the region and offer satisfying entertainment. In this collection of bilingual stories about the Rio Puerco Valley, where Nasario Garcia grew up, he shares the traditions, myths, and stories of his homeland. He recounts stories of the evil eye and rooster racing, the Wailing Woman and the punishing of the santos. Preceding each tale is Garcia's brief explanation of the history and culture behind the story.

Author, poet, linguist, and oral historian Nasario GarcAAA1/2a turns to his childhood home, the RAAA1/2o Puerco Valley southeast of Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico, for the setting of this collection of fictional short stories. These tales are based on GarcAAA1/2a's personal experiences or stories he heard about people or events while growing up in his valley. They illustrate the vibrant culture of rural northern New Mexico and its inhabitants with a cast of common characters, above all women, whose compassion, willfulness, humor, observation, and spirit reflect the rich heritage of the environment that inspired their creation.
Some of GarcAA-a's characters proclaim their own goodness and live on to enjoy that righteousness; others fall victim to the shortcomings of human nature. Regardless, laughter, empathy, and introspection are the common threads that connect these wonderful stories to one another.
GarcAAA1/2a originally wrote these tales in his native tongue, Spanish, and later translated them into English. Both versions appear here with a bilingual glossary that places regional terms and local idioms side-by-side for those unfamiliar with northern New Mexico Spanish.

He got as close as he could to observe the spectacle; his eyes could hardly believe what he saw. Circled around the huge bonfire were many witches dancing and making all kinds of gestures amidst laughs, screams, and bursts of laughter as they sang all together. Recounted in Spanish and in English translation, these tales of sorcerers, fiendish witches, La Llorona, the vanishing hitchhiker, ghostly apparitions, and balls of fire will fascinate and spook readers of all ages and backgrounds. The sixty-four narrators in Brujeras range in age from seventeen to ninety-eight years old. Their stories come from a variety of Southwestern states as well as Latin America and demonstrate how the magical world of witchcraft and the supernatural connects Spain to Latin America and Latin America to North America. This rich tradition of supernatural tales illuminates an unexplored aspect of the American Southwests Hispanic heritage. Included are biographical information about the narrators and a glossary highlighting the regional Spanish dialect of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Nasario Garca, a native New Mexican and leading folklorist in his state, has produced many works on New Mexican literature and folklore, including ""Old Las Vegas: Hispanic Memories from the New Mexico Meadowlands"" (TTUP 2004).

New Mexico is an enchanted land--and from this beautiful place with its rich cultural diversity and complex history, a strong Hispanic literary tradition has grown spanning several centuries.Platicas: Conversations with Hispano Writers of New Mexico is a series of interviews with six remarkable contemporary Hispano writers from that New Mexico tradition. The conversations found here represent a sketch of New Mexican Hispanic intellectual and artistic history that has not been assembled elsewhere. Nasario Garcia's interviews elicit candid commentary and spontaneous responses that reveal much about life experiences, the creative process, and the unique role that culture, tradition, and geography play in the literature that these writers have produced.From the reading of Platicas, students of Hispanic literature already familiar with these authors will discover fresh insights and new information, and new readers will be enticed to discover and explore this wealth of creative literary talent unique to New Mexico.