For Don Ysidro

"Don Ysidro" is set in southern Mexico, in an area of high desert with mountains around. If you want to make appropriate dialect choices, you might want to think of how mountain people speak in your language. In the English version of the story, though, the speech is pretty neutral for dialect.

The place names in the story are real, but these are all very small villages. Certainly it is fine to give a free translation of the place names. El Puentecito is "The Little Bridge." Malpasa is "Bad Pass." I have a hard time making sense of "Palpan de Baranda" even with my knowledge of Spanish and a dictionary.

The "Mejica" was another name referring to the Aztecs, the people whose empire gave Mexico its modern name. Mejica=Mexica=Mexico. For clarity, you could just use your word for the Aztec people.

A segueta is a little thin saw blade. Fret saw. Usually I think such a blade is part of a frame or handle, as for a hacksaw, but when used as a pottery tool, the blade is handled without a frame.

Since the village does not have its own church, I assume that the villagers a buried in the churchyard of El Puentecito.