A new shelf opens: Brazil, in a fresh translation made for this library from "Contos Populares do Brasil," gathered by Sylvio Romero and first published in 1885. Romero took the tales down from the lips of the people, and his book stands in three parts — tales of European origin, tales of Indigenous origin, and tales of African and mixed origin. The three tales in this part all come from his first section, told in the book's order. This English is new: Romero's Portuguese, freshly translated, with only the printer's accidents of the old scan mended.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
The Little Man — Dom João, a prince lost in a land of giants, is taken in as a servant, and the giant's daughter Guimara falls in love with him. Twice her father lays impossible tasks on the little man — a palace raised in one night, a garden made of the island of wild beasts — and twice Guimara's enchantment does the work. What follows is a flight of transformations: a stream and a bathing old man, a church and its priest, a handful of ashes. It ends in a homecoming, a promised kiss — and a forgetting.
Chico Ramela — the youngest of three brothers wins an eating wager against a princess who feeds her guests into captivity, frees every prisoner in her house, and is robbed for his kindness by his own brothers. In a king's gardens at night he meets the "fierce beasts" that have been wrecking them: three enchanted horses, who ask only for a leaf of cabbage each, and leave him the words that will carry him up the seven staircases of the palace.
The Toad Wife — a beautiful voice sings from a lagoon, and the youngest brother marries its owner, whoever she may be: a she-toad. Her wedding present of lace, made in the lagoon, outshines every lady's work in the family — and when she rides to her father-in-law's house in an ox-cart, with a train of frogs behind her, the dinner table has a surprise still to come.
Of the book's first section, twenty-one tales were read in full at this shelf's gate. Three are told here. Fifteen were excluded by name under the house rule, each because its plot turns on depicted killing, cruelty or an adultery intrigue — among them "O Bicho Manjaléo," "Os três coroados," and "Maria Borralheira." One, "Dona Labismina," is held for a separate ruling, neither built nor excluded; two more stand benched; and the rest of the book stands unscreened for later parts. No more than that is claimed.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:55 The Little Man
10:06 Chico Ramela
17:27 The Toad Wife
Sylvio Romero, Contos Populares do Brasil (first published 1885; fourth edition, Livraria Francisco Alves, Rio de Janeiro, 1907) — public domain. Fresh in-house English translation.
Narrated by Madame de Pamplemousse. Music: opening and closing theme, "The Spring Remembers" — heard at the introduction and the close only; the tales themselves are read dry.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
Brazilian folk tales · Brazil fairy tales · Sylvio Romero · Contos Populares do Brasil · South American folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
