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Overview
The pale, sad figure met by Blau Nunes outside the Cerro do Jarau identifies himself as a former sacristan of São Tomé. His capture of Teiniaguá becomes a love affair and brings imprisonment and a death sentence. After her intervention he crosses the Uruguay River with her. For two centuries he inhabits the enchanted mountain without sleep, hunger, thirst, pain or laughter. Surrounded by precious stones and metals, he cannot enjoy the ordinary social life that wealth once seemed to promise.
He guides strong-hearted visitors into the salamanca and can disappear into shadow. Unlike earlier treasure seekers, Blau greets him as a fellow Christian. The guide explains that three such acknowledgments will end his enchantment and Teiniaguá’s. Blau survives the cavern trials but refuses its offered powers, unable to voice his desire for the princess herself. The sacristan then gives him a perforated gold coin capable of supplying money one coin at a time.
The gift is not simple prosperity: income subsequently paid to Blau vanishes, his trading partners lose equivalent sums, and neighbours abandon him. When Blau returns the coin and prefers his former poverty, his greeting and farewell complete the promised three invocations. The mountain burns away its enchantment. The sad figure becomes the sacristan once more, then a vigorous regional horseman, and leaves hand in hand with the freed princess. The narrator calls him a santão, but the story does not make him a canonized saint.
Origins & earliest records
Lendas do sul, published by Echenique & C. in Pelotas in1913. Lopes Neto acknowledges literary reshaping in his preface. The story’s Charrua grandmother is a figure in Blau Nunes’s framed narration, not an independently identified field informant. Its two-century enchantment and the notes’ suggested seventeenth-century origin remain narrative and editorial chronology.
Records & interpretation
A Salamanca do Jarau, complete framed narrative through release and all eleven Elucidação notes. Preface explicitly describes a literary presentation of transmitted legends.
In the literature
“Eu era o sacristão.”
A Salamanca do Jarau, III, identification in his first-person history
The pale, sorrowful keeper at Jarau tells Blau that he once tended the altars and assisted masses at São Tomé. He catches the luminous-headed Teiniaguá and becomes her lover; after he brings her sacramental wine the priests discover them and torture him for a confession he refuses to give. Condemned to garrotting, he survives when her upheaval and a countervailing religious manifestation scatter the procession. He crosses the Uruguay to join her and moves their treasure to Jarau. For two hundred years he remains sleepless, without hunger, thirst, pain or laughter, and guides visitors through the cave’s trials. He explains that three Christian greetings will end his penitent enchantment and hers. Blau passes seven trials but declines the old woman’s gifts; the keeper instead gives him a replenishing gold coin. Wealth earned with it isolates Blau and harms recipients, so he returns the coin. A greeting and a parting invocation complete the required three utterances across the two encounters. The cave and treasure burn, and the keeper changes first into the sacristan and then into a vigorous gaucho. He leaves hand in hand with the released woman.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Lendas do sul — A Salamanca do Jarau
A Salamanca do Jarau, complete framed narrative through release and all eleven Elucidação notes. Preface explicitly describes a literary presentation of transmitted legends.
- 02
Lendas do sul — A Salamanca do Jarau and Elucidação1–11
Lendas do sul, Pelotas: Echenique & C.,1913, identified in digital title and Gutenberg original-publication catalogue. Complete A Salamanca do Jarau, opening through final release and all eleven Elucidação notes read. Historical Portuguese spelling retained; digital text repeats VII before coin episode, which is not silently emended. No original facsimile pagination claim or complete whole-volume review.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Lendas do sul — A Salamanca do Jarau
Lendas do sul, Pelotas: Echenique & C.,1913, identified in digital title and Gutenberg original-publication catalogue. Complete A Salamanca do Jarau, opening through final release and all eleven Elucidação notes read. Historical Portuguese spelling retained; digital text repeats VII before coin episode, which is not silently emended. No original facsimile pagination claim or complete whole-volume review.
- The pale, sorrowful keeper at Jarau tells Blau that he once tended the altars and assisted masses at São Tomé. He catches the luminous-headed Teiniaguá and becomes her lover; after he brings her sacramental wine the priests discover them and torture him for a confession he refuses to give. Condemned to garrotting, he survives when her upheaval and a countervailing religious manifestation scatter the procession. He crosses the Uruguay to join her and moves their treasure to Jarau. For two hundred years he remains sleepless, without hunger, thirst, pain or laughter, and guides visitors through the cave’s trials. He explains that three Christian greetings will end his penitent enchantment and hers. Blau passes seven trials but declines the old woman’s gifts; the keeper instead gives him a replenishing gold coin. Wealth earned with it isolates Blau and harms recipients, so he returns the coin. A greeting and a parting invocation complete the required three utterances across the two encounters. The cave and treasure burn, and the keeper changes first into the sacristan and then into a vigorous gaucho. He leaves hand in hand with the released woman.
Complete A Salamanca do Jarau, I–X as digitally labelled (VII repeated), plus Elucidação1–11
No personal sacristan name is supplied; he is distinct from Blau Nunes. Three greetings do not imply three visits. The initial endless wealth is an imagined prospect while holding Teiniaguá; the later coin is a separate gift that generates one coin at a time. No narrated children or completed new lineage follows the lovers’ release. The digital text repeats headingVII before the coin episode; retained section names avoid silently asserting a corrected printedVIII.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textSimões Lopes Neto1913: complete Salamanca do JarauResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.