The 100 Best Brazilian Folklore Legends

Brazilian folklore is known for its richness and diversity. Drawing on indigenous, African and European sources, it brings together stories transmitted orally for centuries, retold in their own way by each narrator. ASFranchini tells his version of some of the most exciting stories from native folklore, in which the fantastic and the popular come together to recreate ancient stories about the formation of people and the Brazilian territory. Some of the most famous indigenous legends, as well as picturesque folk tales and Monstrous creatures that populate our imagination also bring to life the 100 best legends of Brazilian folklore. In the first two parts, there are stories from time immemorial, such as 'The emergence of the night' and 'The baptism of the stars', about the creation of the world, there are also well-known tales, such as the fable of the rabbit and the turtle and 'The little black man of herding'.The last part is dedicated to profiles of often frightening beings, such as the Headless Mule, the Cuva, and the Chupacabra, classics such as the Saci Pererê and the Lobisomem and others less widespread such as the Gorjala, the Carbuncle and Anhangá, among other mysterious creatures. ASFranchini, when telling these legends, takes a journey through the world of the fabulous and the dreamlike, recovering stories that are part of the great cultural repertoire that are oral and folklore narratives. See an excerpt from How Oiapoque came about'It all started in a very ancient time, when hunger and disease were afflicting the Oiampis village. Tarumã, a beautiful Indian woman, was pregnant and decided to look for a place free from disease and poverty to raise her child. With a heavy belly, the little Indian woman began to wander alone through the forest, but after a few days she felt that she no longer had the strength to go anywhere. - Oh, Tupã, I can't take another step and I will die with my son in my womb! - she exclaimed, alone, hungry in the middle of the forest. Then Tupã, in pity, transformed her into a huge snake. Tarumã, converted into this snake, found the strength to carry on, always carrying her son in her womb, until, one day, she found a pleasant place, where there was water and good land to plant. - Here we will have plenty to live in! - she said, thinking about returning in a hurry to warn the people in her village. Before returning, however, she gave birth to a girl.