and
The Tale of Juan de La Burra
brief biography of world renowned weaver, Eppie Archuleta. The biography section includes black and
white pictures of Eppie, and special moments and characters that were part of her life. The biography is
followed by ten color pages of Eppie's beautiful weavings. The rest of the book is dedicated to a
delightful fairy tale story that takes place centuries ago in a land governed by a harsh king. A young
wealthy landowner marries his childhood friend and they give birth to Juan who, out of necessity, is
raised on burro's milk. He develops Herculean strength and experiences thrilling adventures in a
mysterious world with two brawny, morally weak cohorts. Juan rescues three princesses and is betrayed
in the process. While disguised as a black man, Juan marries one of the princesses and fights bigotry
with the help of a magical mare.
This Hispanic fairy tale was told to Eppie and her siblings many times by her father when she was a small
child growing up in New Mexico. Eppie is known the world over as an exceptional weaver. She is a
recipient of the Naional Endowment for the Arts Award and was featured in the January, 1991 issue of
National Geographic Magazine. Eppie's prized weavings are on permanent display at the Smithsonian
institute, in art galleries, and private collections. Eppie felt that she had colorful stories that she wanted
to pass on to future generations and selected her favorite tale, Juan de La Burra, which she narrated for
author, Ruben E. Archuleta.
Ruben transcribed the eight and a half tapes which were recorded by Eppie in Spanish. He then
translated this Spanish version which is known as "Spanglish" (a mixture of Spanish and English) into
English. The author spent many weeks pouring over the tapes and relying on both the standard
Spanish/English dictionary and Ruben Cobos' Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish
while translating the tapes. The book is printed with the pages on the left in Spanish and the right hand
pages in the English translation.
Maclovio C. Martinez, an author and historian from San Luis, Colorado, wrote the foreword for this book
and edited it since he is multi-lingual and grew up speaking "Spanglish".
Each of the eight chapter pages are punctuated with an exciting illustration by John P. Ercul from Pueblo,
Colorado. John is a Deputy Chief with the Pueblo, Colorado Police Department. He also provided the
illustrations for Ruben Archuleta's second book, Land of the Penitentes Land of Tradition. Book retail price
is $24.95 and is available at Colorado and New Mexico bookstores and through Barnes & Noble.com You
may also order this book by clicking book order form or credit card through PayPal and get a 10% discount
by logging on to www.nmbookcoop.com then click on Market Place
by Pueblo West, Colorado artist, T Branson
Branson Hands
Original Artwork
bransonhands@aol.com
A Collection of Eppie's Family weavings
Medanales, New Mexico
weavings contact Eppie's daughter, Norma Medina
nhmedina87548@yahoo.com