Saci · The Wind with One Leg

Saci is the best-known figure in Brazilian folklore: a dark-skinned boy with one leg, a red cap on his head, a pipe in his mouth, hiding inside a bamboo shoot. When a whirlwind comes, that is Saci passing.

He braids horses’ manes, turns milk sour, pours salt into the sugar bowl and hides small things around the house. To catch him you throw a sieve into the whirlwind, or cork a bottle with a bamboo shoot inside.

Children in the countryside all learn how to deal with him. This is not a horror story; it is the story adults use to explain where things went.

Folklore / São Paulo State · Brazil / Time immemorial