For all the boys and girls who respect the differences.
Cleo had a secret.
A secret that nobody knows about. Neither her parents nor her friends at school. A secret that belongs only to her. Cleo had an alligator tail.
It appeared from nowhere. On a certain day, she woke up and saw that a very rough tail had grown on her back.
Without knowing what to do with it, Cleo decided to hide it. Everyday before going to school she would tie it down with a thread and would wear a long skirt, so nobody could see it.
Cleo was very ashamed of her alligator’s tail.
Cleo became a lonely girl.
Her favorite spot now was a park not far from her home. She felt at ease in that place. She used to spend the afternoons there, studying and resting under a tree, far from peoples’ eyes.
But one day, however, Cleo found out that she wasn’t so lonely as she was supposed to.
It happened in one of these summer afternoons. Cleo was reading a book while eating a snack when she felt the tree shaking. Bread crumbs fell on the ground and she saw that someone had stolen her sandwich. Looking up at the treetop, she protested:
— Hey, you grabbed my snack!
A thin voice answered from up there, whining as if it came from a little boy:
— Will you forgive me? I was hungry…
Cleo approached slowly, trying to see better. And what she saw was a huge, hairy creature among the leaves. It reminded a giant sloth. And its appearance was frightening.
— My name is Pingo, he said. Are you a ‘cuca’?
WHO ARE THE ENCHANTED CREATURES?
The ‘mapinguari’, the ‘cuca’, the ‘curupira’ and the ‘saci’ are mythological creatures from Brazilian folklore, as well as ‘boitatá’, the ‘headless-mule’, the ‘werewolf’ and many others. In the countryside of Brazil they are “enchanted”: neither human, nor animal, but creatures that exist through an enchanting art or magic. They are the result of our people’s imagination. It was a way that the Brazilians found in the past to explain the mysterious noises that sometimes we hear in the woods and we don’t know what it is. As nobody has ever seen an enchanted
creature, or has proven that had seen it, many people say that they don’t exist.
In Brazil, however, many people believe in enchanted creatures. If someone gets lost in the forest or gets hurt, they say it’s their fault. But stay calm: the legend says that the enchanted creatures only harm to those who disrespect nature. For many people, they protect the woods against the hunters and those who cut down our trees. That’s why the enchanted creatures are so frightening: it’s to scare those who don’t respect nature!
AND NOW, WHAT ABOUT GETTING TO KNOW THE ENCHANTED CREATURES THAT INSPIRED THE CHARACTERS OF THIS BOOK?
THE MAPINGUARI
This is the most famous monster of the Amazon. The rainforest natives who live in the north of the country describe the ‘mapinguari’ as a very hairy giant, with a bulletproof body. As some versions of the tale say, its mouth is in its belly, and that’s how it eats the hunters.
THE CUCA
There are many kinds of ‘cucas’ in Brazil: it can be an alligator, an old woman or a bogey man. The shape changes, but they are all the same thing: a spirit that comes to fetch children who disobey their parents. If a baby doesn’t want to sleep, the ‘cuca’ comes to fetch it and put it in a bag and takes it to the forest.
THE CURUPIRA
The legend tells us that the ‘curupira’ is a red hair dwarf who walks with its feet backwards. It does that to mislead the hunters who try to follow in its footsteps. On the other hand, hunters don’t have a chance with the ‘curupira’: expert in many tricks, this enchanted character loves to make men feel lost in the woods.
THE SACI
This mischievous character loves to make tricks. If the food burns, the fire goes off or things disappear, they say it’s saci’s fault. In mythology, he is a boy with one leg who wears a red cap and smokes a pipe. He is also the guardian of the healing herbs of the forest.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The ‘cuca’, the ‘mapinguari’ and the ‘curupira’ are now nearer to the children. Cleo’s adventures bring themes that have everything to do with today’s boys and girls. School, friendship, loneliness, prejudice and body changing are some of the subjects in this book. All these subjects are interposed by the fantastic beings of Brazilian folklore. More than simple monsters or haunted spirits, they are now part of our everyday life and face challenges similar to ours. This way, culture and environment are now nearer to the young people.
For more than fifty years our fantastic creatures have been explored in literary and informative works addressed to children and youth. The adventures of Cleo and her friends represent a small but important contribution to disseminate the Brazilian culture.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATIONS
Colorful but soft, strong but delicate. So are the illustrations of this book, showing the young reader that there are many possibilities to represent the enchanted creatures of the Brazilian folklore.
Three colors predominate in the illustrations: green, orange and brown. This composition helps to emphasize details at the same time subtle and important to characterize the environment and the characters of the story. In Cleo’s clothes, in the vegetation and even in the sky there is a green hue, as delicate as the girl. In Tom’s fire hair and the dusk, a strong orange, almost red tone. Pingo, the big and affectionate ‘mapinguari’ child, has brown hair like the trees which he loves so much.
Besides that, the illustrations were made to express the characters’ emotions and the story’s tension. The forest is dark and dense when the kids go in there for the first time. Further, when Pingo sees his father, it shines in orange and yellow hues…
The illustrations of Cleo’s adventures were made to move, to touch and to broaden our references and our imagination, for they create a universe where the fantastic element of the narrative is made possible.
HINTS FOR READING AND TO EXPLORE THIS WORK
Discuss with readers what they already know about the ‘cuca’, the ‘mapinguari’ and the ‘curupira’.
Comment about other creatures of Brazilian folklore that they also know.
Compare the characteristics of the creatures explored in this book with the characteristics shown in other works and even on TV programs and movies.
Make a research in books and on the internet about these creatures and their importance in the national folklore.
Organize at home or in school, a gallery of mythological creatures, similar to that presented at the end of this book.
Put on a drama about the story with your classmates in school.
Most important: reflect about differences and the importance of friendship.
A secret that no one knew. Not her parents, not even her friends from school. A secret that was all hers.
Cleo had an alligator tail.
It appeared out of nowhere. One day, she woke up and noticed that a rough tail had somehow grown on her backside. Not knowing what to do, Cleo decided to hide her tail.
Everyday, before she left for school, she would tie it with a string and wear a long skirt, so that no one could see it. Cleo felt very ashamed of her alligator tail.
