Victor Alberto Bueno Marichal: The Sign of the Jaguar

The Sign of the Jaguar

Faced with choosing the method of his death, Emeruc, son of Aruc, son of Ruc, son of Ca, begged to be jaguar food, preferably in a contest of blades and skill, between his favorite knife and the claws and fangs of several of them, captives, hungry and irritable.
But that honor was denied him by his conqueror, and his throat was cut by his executioner; his flesh became fuel on a bonfire, which was almost an altar to the Visigoth God of war.
His death was very similar to his sacrifices, to the many he offered. I understand that his god was apathetic that time, as almost always.
I know the sign of Emeruc, which is that of his clan, which is that of the jaguar. I have seen it on many of them, on several palm trees, some stones, and on the skins of the hunters of his people.
I don't know why they selected that particular spot. I reproduce it here.
Some see the jaguar sign as a skull or a face. Others say it's also the sign of 100, of excess, of beauty, and of wonder.
Some experts translate it as Yemeruc, which means the people of the jaguar.
Perhaps they are all right.
The tiger has several signs; my favorite is a Burmese one made up of several stripes that complement the shapes of the tallest grasses, of a parched prairie.
Some say that a Burmese sign of the tiger and another of the parched prairie form a wheel when superimposed. A solid red- with black spots wheel, like the sign of the sun in some modern mythologies.
In several societies, the tiger, the leopard, and the jaguar share the sign of the spotted claw.
The bloody claw is the insignia venerated by some violent people.
The padded claw, the one that floats on dry leaves, is preferred by some stealthy people. It hides behind the sign of a domestic cat's little hand.
I think you've noticed by now that it's clear I like glyphs more than letters.
I have nothing against predators; in fact, I find them more beautiful, tragic, and deserving of care than most prey.
I believe all creatures have their place on the food scale. I find the ladder, where humans are always placed above all other creatures, who are ultimately their prey, very amusing.
I actually imagine it not as a ladder but as a cascade of tables. Like tables that have tables set, that have tables set... Etc.
I've heard and seen on several television documentaries that predators improve prey populations by eliminating the weakest, least alert, most trusting, and slowest creatures. And I've agreed.
I think even scavengers have their place in my stack of stacked tables.
In my personal zoology (I'll state my ignorance in advance) predators are a small, specialized, and privileged group that depends on prey animals for their food.
In my personal sociology (I'll state my ignorance in advance) royalty is a small, specialized, and privileged group that depends on the commoners for their food.
Emeruc was king of a tribe. A hunter and privileged. Almost like a jaguar, in my very personal political science. Who depended on prey animals and the commoners for his food.
His conqueror was a looser who remained so for the rest of his short life, upon his return to the kingdom where he was an anonymous commoner.
The name of his executioner was never fully written.
I would like to write a short story in which the confrontation between two kingdoms and two sacrificers is just one phase of a game also played with scallop shells. Some of them marked with a glyph that signifies something too beautiful to be true, that is multiplied on palm trees, jaguars, and the skins of some warriors.
I would like to write a fat book about sublime beings who suddenly discover their vulgarity in a definitive and luminous moment.
About birds of prey instantly turned into prey.
About the surprises that the evolutionary ladder offers, or my tables upon tables, upon tables... Etc.
About privileged people stripped of their privileges, whether or not they were acquired through their own merits, in a very brief moment.
But I don't think I'll ever have the talent or the time :-)

Li Tao Po
VABM May/3/2025

http://victor-bueno.blogspot.com/2008/06/el-signo-del-jaguar.html
Downloadd in PDF format

https://riistas.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/wp-1746188236771.pdf

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:ac1f70d3-187a-4f2f-90c4-b281cde65b38

Victor Alberto Bueno Marichal

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viernes, 2 de mayo de 2025

The Sign of the Jaguar

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