Page:A Menina do Narizinho Arrebitado (1920).pdf/8

 black woman adored by everyone, and the Excellent Mrs. Emilia, a rag doll, made by the black woman and very ugly, the poor thing, with her eyes of black retrós sewing lines and her eyebrows so high that you can see a witch's face. But despite this, Narizinho loves Mrs. Emilia very much. She talks to her all the time and never goes to bed without first tucking her into a hammock set up between two chair legs. Apart from this witch in a pannier, Narizinho's other interest is a stream that runs through the back of the orchard, with water so clear that you can see the rocks at the bottom and all the small fish.

Not a day goes by without Lucia sitting by the water's edge, at the root of an old ingázeiro tree, staying there for hours, listening to the sound of the current and feeding the fish. And they know her! As soon as the girl arrives, they all come running from afar, their heads held high, hungry beyond belief. First come the piquiras, the pot-bellied dusky millions fish with their eyes popping out; then come the risky red-tailed wrasses; and finally one or two suspicious parapitinga. And the little girl stays in this amusement until Aunt Anastacia appears at the gate of the orchard and shouts in her soothing voice: — Narizinho! Grandma's calling!

And so those three creatures lived, deep in the hollow of the ground, very content with life, with no worries or annoyances.

Once, when the little girl was by the river with her doll, she felt heavy-eyed and felt a great ache in her body. She stretched out on the grass and soon fell asleep, lulled by the murmur of the stream. She was already dreaming