X̱itá káꞌnu - The big tortilla - 故事改编

Jul 17, 2026

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A bilingual-style tale centers on a woman who makes tortillas every morning, until one day a single tortilla emerges extremely big. The big tortilla refuses to be eaten and repeatedly escapes across griddle, road, town, and hillside. Along the journey it encounters different would-be eaters, yet it only laughs, runs away, and hides. The narrative emphasizes clever survival, quick escape, and playful suspense through repeated dialogue.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time22 min

Story

The woman and the unusually big tortilla

Encounters on the road and in town

Hiding on the hillside field

X̱itá káꞌ nu The big tortilla Mixtec , Western Juxtlahuaca, English Fiction X̱itá káꞌnu The big tortilla Ñá tia kuénto yó 'o: Fabiola Santos Pérez R skuiso tchí-r: Paulino Zurita Sánchez R ntka 'yu nǎ 'na: JN Martin Based on a book published by Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C. México , D. F. 2014 Mixtec , Western Juxtlahuaca, English Coicoyan de las Flores , Oaxaca, Mexico Copyright © 2026, JN Martin [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) You may not use this work for commercial purposes. You may adapt and add to this work , but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors , illustrators , etc. This book is an adaptation of the original , The big tortilla, Copyright © 2014, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano , A.C.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Images based on the “Arte para la Alfabetización en México”project , © 2012 by Instituto Lingüístico de Verano , A.C. , used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) . Iin ichí íyo iin ñá síꞌi ntíko-ñá ntiꞌi naꞌa. Iin ḵií svꞌa kuꞌá-ñá x̱itá, ra iin x̱itá ikán kna káꞌnu vꞌa-ñ . Once upon a time there was a woman who made tortillas every morning. One day she made lots of tortillas , and one of them came out very , very big. X̱itá káꞌnu ikán könítaxi-ñ kuxi ñá síꞌi ikán-ñ . Ra ñ ikán ntva-ñ n ú x̱iyó , ra kna-ñ xínu-ñ . The big tortilla didn 't want the woman to eat him , so helept from the griddle and ran away. Ra ñá síꞌi ikán ntíkn-ñá-ñ ntáꞌy-ñá, "X̱itá káꞌnu , kuntatu naꞌa-ún , chi kúṉi- ̠i kuxi- ̠i yóꞌ! " Ta x̱itá ikán ṉixk -ñ , ra x̱inu-ñ kuꞌn-ñ . The woman ran after it , shouting, "Big tortilla, stop right there! I'm going to eat you! " But the tortilla just laughed and ran away. N ú ichí ikán ntṉiꞌí-ñ iin tia kuíka, ra tiäa ka kuxir . Ra káchi-r saá xíꞌin-ñ , "X̱itá káꞌnu , kuntatu naꞌaún , chi kúṉi- ̠i kuxi- ̠i yóꞌ! " Ta x̱itá ikán ṉixk -ñ , ra x̱inu-ñ kuꞌn-ñ . On the road , the tortilla met a rich man. He had not eaten yet , and he said , "Big tortilla, stop right there! I'm going to eat you! " But the tortilla just laughed and ran away. Ra ṉix-ñ iin ñ uu ikán , ra ṉiyꞌa-ñ n ú iin ñá síꞌi íxǐko xꞌntiá . Ra ṉikꞌn-ñá xíꞌin-ñ , "X̱itá káꞌnu , kuntatu naꞌa-ún , chi kúṉi- ̠i kuxi- ̠i yóꞌ! " Ta x̱itá ikán ṉixk -ñ , ra x̱inu-ñ kuꞌn-ñ . In town, the tortilla passed a lady selling food. She said ,"Big tortilla, stop right there! I'm going to eat you! " But the tortilla just laughed and ran away. Ra ṉix-ñ n ú íyo iin ntx̱in. Ikán ntṉiꞌí-ñ iinnṯiváꞌyu , ra kúkún-rí kuxi-rí. Ta tá x̱ini-rí x̱itá, raṉintꞌy -rí, "X̱itá káꞌnu , kuntatu naꞌa-ún , chi kúṉi- ̠i kuxi- ̠i yóꞌ! "Ra x̱itá ikán ṉixk -ñ , ra ṉixꞌn-ñ , ntsěꞌe-ñ . On a hillside field , the tortilla found himself with a hungry coyote. Upon seeing the tortilla, it howled ,"Big tortilla, stop right there! I'm going to eat you! " But the tortilla just laughed and ran to hide.

FAQs

Why does the big tortilla run away?

The big tortilla does not want the woman or others to eat it, so it escapes and runs away.

Who does the tortilla meet during its escape?

It meets a woman, then a rich man, a lady selling food, and finally a hungry coyote on a hillside field.

How does the tortilla respond to people trying to eat it?

It laughs at the threats and keeps running to hide rather than stopping.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Aurelia