rse jesters, make
up and represent the society of the Delight Makers, whose office it is
to open the ayash tyucotz. The association whose name has been selected
as the title of our story is now before us fully represented, arrayed in
its appropriate dress and engaged in the discharge of some of its
official duties. The clowns, too, the most agile and sprightly, in a
word the most amusing of the company, are only an exaggeration of the
rest, whose joint task it is to diffuse mirth, joy, buoyancy, delight,
throughout the whole tribe. The jesters are also the heralds and
marshals of the celebration. They gather together in the centre of the
court and carry on a boisterous conversation accompanied with
extravagant gestures. No one interrupts their noisy garrulity, but the
entire assemblage listens eagerly, hailing their clumsy attempts at a
joke and their coarse sallies of wit with shrieks of laughter. Their
jests are necessarily of the coarsest; nevertheless excellent local hits
are made and satiric personalities of considerable pungency are not
infrequently indulged in. One of the clowns has tumbled down; he lies on
his back, feet in the air; another takes hold of his legs and drags him
around in the dust. The peals of laughter that greet this effort give
testimony to the estimation in which it is held by the lookers-on. If
one of the spectators has the misfortune to display immoderate
enthusiasm, forthwith he is made the target of merciless jeering. One of
the merrymakers goes up to him and mimics his manner and actions in the
crudest possible way. The people on the terraced roofs exhibit their joy
by showering down corn-cakes from their perches, which the performers
greedily devour. These things are delightful according to Indian
notions, and are well fitted to show how much of a child he still is,--a
child however, it must be remembered, endowed with the physical
strength, passions, and appetites of adult mankind.

The jesters scatter. One of their number runs up to Say Koitza, who
shrinks at his approach. Nevertheless he plants himself squarely in
front of her, bends his knees sidewise so as to describe a lozenge with
his legs, and thrusts out his tongue to its fullest possible extent.
Upon this the woman laughs, for in the grimacing abomination she has
discovered her own husband, Zashue, who thus pleasantly makes himself
known. The hit is simply magnificent in the judgment of his audience.
Meanwhile one of his collea