Redhead beard he is an enchanted man who lives in the Parnaguá lagoon, in Piauí.
He is able to transform into a boy, young and old throughout the day.
Abandoned by his mother at birth, the subject approaches the girls in the hope that one of them breaks the spell.
It is said that a widowed lady lived with her three daughters. One day, one of them began to feel sick, feeling sick and tired. Everyone thought she was sick, but in fact, the girl was pregnant with her missing boyfriend.
So she decides to have her son alone in the woods. When the boy is born, she places him on a copper tray and throws him into the river.
Upon seeing the mother's gesture, the Iara, guardian of the waters, she is indignant. From his wrath begins a great flood that covers the entire forest and houses in the place, giving rise to the Parnaguá lagoon.
After some time, the inhabitants begin to hear a baby's cry coming from the bottom of the pond.
Later, the laundresses who worked at the edge of the pond saw a boy in the morning. When they returned in the afternoon, they found a grown man, with a red beard, who was trying to kiss and hug them. Finally, at dusk, they saw an old man with a white beard.
It was the "Redhead beard", the boy who had been abandoned, but taken in by Iara. He desperately tries to approach a girl who is brave to free him from her spell, pouring holy water over her head.
Origin of the Redbeard Legend
The story of Barba Ruiva is a mixture of indigenous traditions with stories brought by the Portuguese, as there was, in fact, an admiral named Barba Ruiva.
His real name was Khizr Reis, born in Greece in 1470 and died in the Turkish Empire in 1456. Redbeard conquered and dominated the Mediterranean Sea for the Turkish-Ottoman Empire during the 16th century.
We can also see the influence of Christian customs when it is said that the spell would only be broken with holy water.
If you want to know more about Brazilian folklore, read:
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