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ariel-seagull-wings · 4 months

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THE MAGIC MONKEY

@adarkrainbow @princesssarisa @tamisdava2 @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @professorlehnsherr-almashy @softlytowardthesun @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales @amalthea9 @thealmightyemprex @makingboneboy @faintingheroine @gravedangerahead @angelixgutz @sabugabr

(Brazilian Folktale)

There was a man who was very poor, but who was very good. He worked, like Our Lord's father, in wood. And he lived in a room that only faced the chair where he worked.

Everyone knew the carpenter Botelho. Never did a poor person knock on his door without receiving alms. Master Botelho was a saint.

One night, it rained a lot. The wind was blowing with incredible force through the hose trees, wanting to break everything. It was very cold, the rain was rumbling, it was so heavy.

Then Botelho heard someone knocking on the door.

“Oh, from home!”

They shouted outside.

“Oh, from outside!”

Replied the carpenter. And he went to open the door.

“You can come in, my friend.”

Said the owner of the house. It was the monkey Felisberto, well known in the surrounding area for his antics.

“Good evening, Master Botelho!”

Said the monkey.

“I come from far, far away, under this rain that never stops. What a horrible time, Mr. Botelho! I knocked on a lot of people's houses and no one wanted to give me shelter. Then I remembered you.”

“Now, monkey Felisberto, It's your house. I only have this room, but you can stay here until the weather gets better.”

And they talked until late at night. The monkey told his life story. He was very persecuted by the King of animals, the Lion, who wanted him to come and kiss his feet every day and say grace.

“Ah, Master Botelho, what a sad life I have! The Lion only finds fun in what I do. I even asked the elephant to dance in front of the king, but the king didn't even open his teeth. Elephants can't do that. I tried all the animals I knew. But he lion only wants the monkey Felisberto. And when he's angry, yelling, wanting to fight with everyone, his anger only gets better when I arrive. And don't you think he'll give me anything. Everything is free. He never gave me a bad rap. And I have to go around doing the devils to support my family! The other day, I was taking mine from the priest's banana trees. He was eating my bananas and when I saw it, it was Father Luís, with the shotgun behind me. I jumped onto a cajá tree, jumped from branch to branch, and the priest missed his shot. The lion could get me a job. But all he wants from me is a funny face. This is too much.”

The carpenter also talked about his life:

“I work all day, friend monkey, harvesting wood for the king. Every difficult work the king sends to me. And what he gives me isn't even enough for me to eat well. This is nothing, Felisberto. I'm busy all day and when night comes I only have the courage to sleep. There are people out there who do nothing and live in abundance. I don't regret it, no. Everything is as God wants. I respect God's will. That's what life is, Felisberto. You can stay here as long as you want. It's company for me.”

Then they went to sleep. The monkey was very happy, because it had been a long time since he had found such a good place to sleep. In the morning, he could hear the birds singing from his bed. And he stretched his body with laziness. And there on the bed, he remembered that he was a magician.

Felisberto the monkey was a magician. And he had a harmonica that was the same as a magic wand. And so he thought. That carpenter deserved to have him do everything for him.

He was a man who could not be compared with either the King of Animals or the King of Men. He would give his friend everything he could do with his strength. And thinking so, he went out into the woods, leaving Master Botelho at work.

And when Felisberto arrived in the middle of the forest, he took his flute out of his pocket and started playing.

And young deer began to arrive to hear the monkey's ringing. And when he was already a hundred, Felisberto gathered everyone together and went out playing the flute.

The animals followed Felisberto, eager, with their ears open to the song.

Felisberto walked to the Palace of the King of Men.

And when the King saw that, he was amazed to see a hundred little deer of the same size, the same color, as tame as trained sheep.

“Know Your Majesty, said the monkey, that this is the gift sent to you by my lord, the well-known Dr. Botelho.”

The king had no words to thank.

He called for his treasurer and said to the old man, who had many keys in his hand:

“Fill the monkey Felisberto's saddlebags and give him ten bars of gold, so he can offer his master.”

The monkey jumped up and down for joy. And when he arrived home with the gold bars, the carpenter didn't know what to say, he was so amazed. It was the king who had sent it to him, the monkey Felisberto told him.

The King was so pleased with his work that he sent that gold.

Botelho thanked God for being remembered by the King and immediately wanted to give his companion a bar.

“Why does a monkey want gold? Having bananas to eat is what I want.”

Felisberto told him.

The next day Felisberto left for the woods at the same time. And when he got there he took his flute out of his pocket and began to play. And everything that was a bird soon arrived to listen to the monkey. No bird had ever sung there in those forests.

Not even the thrush-gongá, in the afternoon, sang like that; Not even the canary that escaped from the king's cage sang like that; nor did the concriz, those who sang what they wanted, sang like the harmonica of the monkey Felisberto.

The ducks looked at each other, embarrassed to open their beaks in those woods. And Felisberto started looking at all the birds.

The King had everyone, the King had beautiful birds in their cages.

That was when a heron appeared, which was a beauty, with feathers whiter than a cotton ball. It was what the king didn't have. And he would give anything to possess such beauty. And Felisberto played the harmonica.

And herons of the same size began to arrive, with gray legs and white feathers. And when he already had a thousand, he formed them all, two by two, and went from the forest, leading the procession with his harmonica. It felt like a royal wedding accompaniment. And the thousand herons arrived at the King's door after lunch. His Majesty was in a hammock, lying down, taking in the coolness, on the porch of the palace.

A hundred slaves fanned the king, and a hundred dwarves jumped in front of him. A princess sang him to sleep. When Felisberto approached, everything stopped. The harmonica playing sounded like angel music.

The King immediately said:

“That is the monkey Felisberto who is arriving with another gift from Dr. Botelho.” And it was. A thousand herons, two by two, guided by the monkey, were arriving. The head was in the palace yard and the rest were almost a league away.

The King was drooling with joy. What was that thing he had never seen!

The herons walked on one foot, and they all had long necks, hanging to one side. Then Felisberto stopped playing. And he spoke to the King:

“Know Your Majesty that my lord, Dr. Botelho, sent for Your Royal Majesty's pleasure these thousand herons from his backyard.”

“What rich man is this Dr. Botelho, to raise so many herons in his backyard?”

Said the King.

“These are only one-month-old offspring, Your Royal Majesty!”

Replied the monkey.

Then the King sent for his treasurer and said:

“Open my treasures and take out twenty bars of gold to give to the monkey Felisberto.”

The monkey jumped three times with joy, filled his saddlebags and returned to his friend's house. And when he got there, he immediately said to him:

“Friend Botelho, our lord the King sent this little gift for your services. He liked the straw chair you made for him so much that he wanted to pay you like a true king should pay his officers.”

The carpenter didn't even know where to put so much money.

“Monkey friend, I'm starting to get upset with so much gold. Tomorrow I'm going to give a lot of alms at the fair.”

And that's what he did the other day. And the poor made a feast with the alms. Many went shouting down the street, happy, saying throughout the houses that their Botelho was better than the king, that his Botelho was a saint, a friend of God.

The other week Felisberto went for a walk in the woods. And when he got there, he took his flute out of his pocket and began to play.

Every being that was meant to hear came. Armadillos stuck their heads out of their holes. The sloths stretched out their arms.

What they did in a week, Felisberto's harmonica made them do it in a minute. The snakes were talking in the air, curling up with joy. The poison fell from the snakes' mouths with Felisberto's song.

The thorns of the caititus became soft like a bird's feather, with Felisberto's song. Then the monkey saw a little bunny.

It was really a bunny he wanted to take to the king. And he played a song that the bunny was supposed to hear.

And bunnies arrived from all corners of the forest. And when there was no more room for any, Felisberto chose ten thousand, all the same, all the same size.

The bunnies began to hear Felisberto the monkey's music, a little dizzy.

Finally, Felisberto said:

“Rabbit friends, we're all going to a party at the King's Palace!”

“We won't! The king wants to eat us!”

Replied the wisest bunny of all. And he started to run into the forest. Then the monkey Felisberto had no doubts, he pulled out the harmonica again and played. And he played such beautiful music that the bunnies began to return again, each one to their own place.

The monkey fixed them one by one.

And two by two they went off the road with Felisberto in front, playing.

The King just had lunch with the entire royal household. And he was very happy, picking his teeth with a golden toothpick, when he heard the harmonica coming from afar. And he said to the Queen:

“That is Felisberto’ s work! Felisberto is coming with something.”

Indeed he was. A little bunny was arriving and it never ended. Felisberto was already on the porch and a little rabbit was still coming from more than a league away:

“King my lord, I bring to Your Royal Majesty this little gift that my lord sends you.”

Said Felisberto.

The king stood on one foot and the other with the gift.

“This lord of yours is the richest of my vassals.”

Said the king. And he called the treasurer and ordered him to fill all the saddlebags that Felisberto had brought.

The monkey could barely walk with the load of gold. When the carpenter saw his friend arriving, he was even more amazed.

But Felisberto told him that everything was a gift from the king, that every day that passed the king became happier with the carpenter Botelho.

That day, it was market day in the city. And the good Botelho went there with his bag of gold to give to the people. There never was such a fuss at the fair.

The poor gave thanks to God for the kindness of the good Botelho.

The crippled and the blind no longer asked for alms. The good Botelho had given them all a fortune. But Felisberto was not satisfied. He still had to do many more things for his friend.

This was what he thought about when he stretched out in bed in the morning. The king had a daughter who was worth more than all his treasures.

The princess was beautiful, with her blond hair that reached her waist.

She sang her father to sleep, with a mermaid voice. Felisberto wanted to marry the king's daughter to the carpenter. And with this idea in his head, he arrived at the royal palace.

The King was crazy with joy seeing Felisberto arrive.

“King my lord, I wanted to go for a horse ride with Your Majesty.”

“Is my pleasure, Felisberto.”

And the king ordered the two most beautiful horses in his stable to be saddled and they both went out for a walk.

“Let's take a ride, Felisberto, around the surroundings.”

That's exactly what the monkey wanted. And they both left very satisfied.

When the palace animals saw Felisberto mounted, they thought it was absurd. How could the king of men give trust to a monkey like that? A jaguar that was in a stinking pigsty didn't even want to look at it. The horse on which Felisberto was riding began to act luxuriously, giving some jumps.

Felisberto had spurs on his feet and the horse ended up walking smoothly, giving his best stride to his rider.

And they rode lands and lands.

The King and Felisberto talking.

“Whose sugar cane mill is that over there?”

Asked the king.

“The one with the big manhole, my lord King? Ah, it 's Dr. Botelho 's mill!”

And they walked. Further ahead, the King saw a field with more than a thousand black people working. There was a never end of people…

“Who owns this big field, Felisberto?”

“Know Your Royal Majesty that it belongs to Dr. Botelho Today there aren't even all the people, no. I just wanted Your Majesty to see this here on a working day.”

And they rode. The King, very envious of Dr. Botelho 's wealth.

Further on, they saw a cattle farm. No one even saw the green of the hills and floodplains, it was just cattle grazing, a beauty. The King was stunned, looking: “Whose farm is this, Felisberto?”

“Ah, this little farm, my lord King? This is the smallest of all from my lord Dr. Botelho.”

And the King became even more envious, saying to Felisberto:

“This lord of yours has more riches than my Kingdom!”

Then Felisberto spoke, very politely:

“Ah, my lord, all of this could be your Majesty's, because it could be for your Majesty's very beautiful princess daughter.”

The King looked at Felisberto and said:

“Go to your lord and tell him that I want him to marry my daughter.”

And they both returned home. Felisberto, jumping along the road, and the king with the ambition of bringing more land and more gold to his kingdom. When he arrived at the carpenter's house, the monkey was singing with satisfaction:

“Friend Botelho, he said, your Lord the King ordered you to take his daughter’s hand in marriage.”

The carpenter fell from the clouds in amazement.

“What did I do to my friend Felisberto to deserve this mockery?”

“What am I making fun of, friend Botelho!? The king wants you to marry his daughter.”

“Who am I, poor carpenter, to marry the king's daughter?”

“This is very good, who is better in the world than friend Botelho? Who has more heart than friend Botelho? Ask the blind and crippled people at the fair. Ask the poor, friend Botelho, and stop nonsense. Early tomorrow, put on your best clothes, saddle your horse and get ready to marry the King's daughter.”

The carpenter didn't even sleep that night.

He thought about the gallows.

When he arrived at the king's door with Felisberto, to marry the sovereign's daughter, he would pay for his audacity by hanging. He got up at dawn.

And he heard the birds singing in the cajá tree behind the house.

It was the last time he heard his beloved birds. His friend Felisberto was going to the gallows with him.

It was better to be a carpenter, sleep at home with his wood chips, carve his boards, than to be the husband of a princess.

Never again would he hear the birds of the cajá tree. He was having these thoughts when the monkey arrived, saying to him:

“What are you thinking about, friend Botelho ? What sad face is that? It's not like someone who's going to marry the most beautiful princess on Earth. Go get dressed and saddle your horse.”

Early in the morning, the two of them left for the royal castle. Poor Botelho, trembling with fear, only said to the monkey:

“Now hold me, friend monkey, hold me or I'll fall!”

“Do not tremble, man of God, what is all this fear?! Hold on tight and stop shaking, friend Botelho.”

Felisberto said. And when they arrived at the King's door, the carpenter saw that all the pages lowered their heads to the ground as he passed.

The King's trumpets sounded, the king's music boomed from his instruments.

It felt like the world was falling apart.

‘Is this all for me?’ The carpenter asked himself.

It was then that he saw that he was not the same. The fingers on his hands were full of the most beautiful rings on earth, the velvet on his clothes was the finest, his shoes shone like a mirror in the sun.

A more handsome, or better dressed, man had never entered there. The King soon arrived, with many pleasantries. He gave her his daughter to marry.

The Princess smiled over time, satisfied. The Queen, in and out, preparing the wedding feast. They had killed two thousand sheep and one hundred oxen.

And how many turkeys? Nobody knew that! The king's slaves danced in the yard, without shackles. The bunnies jumped from one side to the other, the herons didn't move, looking at everything.

But carpenter Botelho was shaking with fear. And when he had to take his bride home, what would it be like? Would he put his bride in that room of chips?

And taking advantage of a moment, he said to Felisberto:

“Friend Felisberto, how will this be?”

“There’s nothing. Outside, a carriage awaits you.”

Replied the monkey. And indeed. After the wedding festivities, the carpenter Botelho left in a carriage along the road.

The monkey Felisberto climbed right next to the coachman.

And, crossing paths, Dr. Botelho trembled next to his bride. What wouldn't happen to him when the princess saw his room full of chips?

And the carriage went along the road that went to the house poorer than that of the King's slaves. It was late afternoon. The sun was setting.

The carpenter Botelho closed his eyes so as not to feel his misfortune. And when he opened it, he saw from afar an illumination like that of a church on a saint's feast day. It was light everywhere, a light that rose to the sky.

And the carriage continued there, until the coachman stopped and the pages got out.

“This is your castle!”

Said Felisberto.

“For the good you did to the poor, the blind and the lame, God in heaven sent me to help you.”

And, saying this, the monkey Felisberto made three jumps, three whistles and disappeared in a whirlwind, to the end of the world.

#brazil #being a child in latin america #foklore #folktales #fantasy #fairy tales #literature #puss in boots

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hoochieblues · 1 year

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I love Eurovision season because I always learn things. This year, it's Moldovan-Romanian folklore.

Moldova's entry, Soarele și Luna, is heavily influenced by Miorița, a poem/ballad/pillar of Romanian-old Moldavian folklore that goes back to the 1700s in its written form but probably goes back earlier.

Balada Miorița tells the story of three shepherds: a Moldovan, and a Wallachian and a Transylvanian who, jealous of the Moldovan, conspire to kill him.

The Moldovan's prized sheep Miorița (lit. little ewe), warns him - but the shepherd doesn't plan to fight back or escape. (Presumably bc shepherding in the Carpathians traditionally involved transhumance and living outdoors for months so... where's he gonna go?)

Instead, the shepherd asks Miorița to hide his death from the other sheep - and from his family - and to tell them instead that he went into the forest to marry a princess, with the sun, moon, and mountains standing as witnesses:

Soarele şi luna / Mi-au ţinut cununa. [...] Preoţi, munţii mari. The Sun and Moon came down / to hold my wedding crown [...] The priests were the mountains high

(note: I'm working from some really sketchy translations; very open to better resources pls.)

Anyway, the description of the wedding is not only beautiful, but a fantastic allegory for the shepherd accepting death, laying down with his fate and embracing it instead of showing fear. Reclaiming agency to protect the people he loves (and redefine his own memory) in the face of an existential threat.

Wildly out of my depth at the point I'm reading about the role the story - and particularly the symbolism/iconography of the lone shepherd - played in Romanian independence, but I'm pretty sure it was a thing. Likewise, the choice of this material as a starting point for Moldova's ESC entry is very interesting to me.

Moldova's 2022 offering, Trenuleţul, used a train as an allegory for a pro-unification message (for.. obvious geopolitical reasons, in addition to the strong pan-Balkan cultural ones detailed in the song):

Pleacă trenul! Unde eşti? Chişinău – București. The train's route is East to West Chisinau to Bucharest!

Idk if I'm now overthinking it too much (I got excited and I thought it was neat, okay?) but I just feel like the cultural overlap, the defiance and the energy of Pasha Parfeni's performance carries more symbolism than the entry is getting credit for. Unsurprising, given this is also the year of Croatian art rock political commentary via drag generalissimos and tractor-based analogies, but still.

Either way, I learned something new and found a new thing to read, and I thought it was beautiful. And that made me want to share. So... enjoy?

Iar tu de omor Să nu le spui lor. Să le spui curat Că m-am însurat Cu-o mândră crăiasă, A lumii mireasă; Că la nunta mea A căzut o stea; Soarele şi luna Mi-au ţinut cununa. Brazi şi paltinaşi I-am avut nuntaşi, Preoţi, munţii mari,

Of how I met my death, Tell them not a breath; Say I could not tarry, I have gone to marry A princess – my bride Is the whole world’s pride. At my wedding, tell How a bright star fell, Sun and moon came down To hold my bridal crown, Firs and maple trees Were my guests; my priests Were the mountains high;

(x) (x)

#esc 2023 #soarele si luna #pasha parfeni #foklore #help i overthought and i can't get up #video #music #ngl i got into it bc pasha looks like every guy i've ever been to a green fair with or bought artisanal incense from #and it all got out of control from there #now i'm writing eurovision meta and having feelings about pastoral poetry #there's a bit where he asks his bone flute be placed in his grave to play when the wind blows across it #so the sheep will gather above where he rests #i think that's a classical allusion? but i have to go do productive things for a change so i won't have time to look into it #soarele si luna does have a killer flute break though #just saying

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