From time to time I will post some Brazilian legends here most of them taken from Câmara Cascudo's books. The first one is very curious because the description of the enchanted people inevitably resembles the traditional sidhe. This story was heard in Natal capital of Rio Grande do Norte in the Northeast part of the country.

The Hunchback Pals

  There were two hunchbacks pals, one rich and the other poor. The local people was always mocking the poor one and never cared about the rich one. The poor hunchback had been very sad the last months because the weather had been cruel with him for he was a hunter.

Once, while he was waiting some deers in the forest. When twilight came he felt asleep. and only woke up late at night. He didn't want to go back home. So when he started preparing a place to sleep, he heard a song from far, as there were a lot of people singing at the same time.

 "It must be some people making flour nearby. I will help." - he thought.

He jumped from the tree he was and went on his way to find that people. He walked, walked, walked looking for the song that never stopped. He walked, walked, until he arrived in a clearance where there was some big, clean and white paving stones.  On the stones he saw a circle of strange people dressed with diamonds dancing under the moonlight. Elders, youngsters and children, all singed and danced hand-in-hand. Their song was:

Segunda, terça-feira, (Monday, Tuesday,)

Vai, vem!                   (Goes, comes!)

Segunda, terça-feira,

Vai, vem!

The hunter was shaking in fear. His legs didn't let him walk. He hided in a bush and watched that singing that went on for hours and hours always with the same verse.

In time, he relaxed, started getting excited with all that song and - thinking he was a good improviser e guitar player - he sang in the same rythm of the spinning strange people:

Segunda, terça-feira,

Vai, vem!

E quarta e quinta-feira   (And Wednesday and Thursday,)

Meu bem!  (My dear!)

Mouth why thou spoke! Everything got silent immediately and all those people started looking for the person who sang that. They found the hunchback and took him to the center of the paving stones the same way an ant takes a dead cockroach. They dropped him and an old one, who shone like an angel, asked with a sweet voice:

"Was it you who sang the new verse in the song?"

The hunter had guts and answered:

"Yes, it was me, sir!"

The old one said:

"Do you want to sell the verse?"

"Yes, sir, I do. I don't sell, but I give the verse as a gift because I liked your happy ball."

The old one thought that was very funny and the rest of that strange people laughed with him.

"Very well" - said the elder - "a hand washes the other. To retribute your verse I will cure your back and my people will give you a new bag."

The elder touched the hunter's back and he became beautiful as any boy with no hunchback. They brought him a new bag and advised him to open it only when the sun rose.

The hunter ran back to the road and walked, walked, walked. As soon as the sun rose he opened the bag and found it full of precious stones and golden coins. He almost died of happiness.

The other day he bought a house, with eerything inside, he wore a beautiful suit and went to Mass because it was a Sunday. In the church he met his rich pal, also a hunchback. This one almost fell from the bench whe he saw the change in his friend. He asked a lot of things and was astonished to know he had house and fat horses and that he considered himself to be rich.

The poor one told everything. And as the limit of having never comes, the rich decided to make money and to get rid of that hunchback he had.

He waited some days, thinking about what he would do. So he went to the forest. He tried so hard and wanted it so badly he eventually listened to the song and walked in its direction. He found the strange people dancing and singing:

Segunda, terça-feira,

Vai, vem!

E quarta e quinta-feira

Meu bem!

The rich couldn't help. He opened his mouth and shouted:

Sexta, sábadoe domingo! (Friday, Saturday and Sunday!)

Também! (Too!)

Again, everything as silent. The strange people ran exactly to the place he was and felt on him and took him to the paving stones where the old one was. He shouted furiously:

"Who told you to mind other one's business, you stupid hunchback? Don't you know that enchanted people don't like Friday - the day the Son of  Heaven died, or Saturday - the day the Son of Sin died and Sunday - the day he who never dies ressurected? Didn't you know? So know it! And to your better remembering take this hunchback the other one left here and disappear from my sight before I rip your skin!

And while while the elder spoke, the other were pulling and pushing and slapping and kicking  the rich. The old one touched his breast and left there the other hunchback the other pal had left.

Then, they throw him to the road. And he lived this way for the rest of his life but with two hunches, a hunchback and a hunchbreast to learn not to be ambitious.