A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
In Nina Rodrigues’s O Kibungo e o homem, the creature is partly human and partly animal, with an enormous head and a back opening controlled by lowering or raising its head. It arrives at a household, sings questions about its occupants and swallows three children through that opening. Their father returns carrying a gun; the frightened intruder cannot find another exit, and the father kills it and retrieves the children. In O Kibungo e a cachorra, a mother dog hides her puppies beneath herself and wears a skirt and necklace. A rabbit betrays her disguise, provoking a chase into town.
Arthur Ramos’s later compilation preserves further Bahian episodes credited to João da Silva Campos. A feather-collecting boy protects his fishing family with song, then gives them wings; they fly home and prepare the pit that catches their pursuer. Another story follows a girl seized during a nighttime excursion: her grandmother throws boiling water over the ogre and finishes it with a heated skewer. These episodes emphasize vulnerable children and resourceful rescuers rather than an invincible antagonist.
Origins & earliest records
Rodrigues’s narratives were collected before his death in 1906; the inspected Os africanos no Brasil scan explicitly bears 1935, while catalogue records date the first book edition to 1932. Ramos’s preface dates his work to 1935, and the inspected reprint’s colophon gives 1954. Neither publication establishes the oral tales’ beginning.
Records & interpretation
The complete Rodrigues episodes occur on pp. 300–303; Ramos’s feather and grandmother rescues appear on pp. 191–193. Rodrigues admits uncertainty about the sung language. Josiley Francisco de Souza’s later study treats Portuguese–Bantu linguistic exchange and oral creativity; the collectors’ racial hierarchies and speculative universal origin theories are not adopted.
In the literature
“um grande buraco no meio das costas”
ChapterVI, sectionVI, O kibungo e o homem (pessoal), printed p.300
The opening in the back is stated in the original description; complete child-swallowing and rescue episode inspected.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Os africanos no Brasil
Directly inspected 1935 title-page OCR and complete Kibungo narratives, pp. 300–303; first-edition date separately catalogued.
- 02
O folclore negro do Brasil: demopsicologia e psicanálise
Preface dated 31 July 1935; second-edition colophon gives 1954. Complete Silva Campos episodes inspected on pp. 191–193.
- 03
Pelas tramas do Quibungo
Em Tese 22(2), pp. 64–83; current journal record publishes 7 April 2017. Linguistic and educational context.
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.
Os africanos no Brasil
Raymundo Nina Rodrigues, Os africanos no Brasil, São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional,2ndedition1935, revisão e prefácio de Homero Pires. Actual title page visually checked; catalogue1932 is not this selected edition date.
- The monster is part human and part animal, with a large opening in its back controlled by head movement. It swallows three children while their mother answers its requests; the armed father interrupts the attempted capture of his wife, shoots the trapped creature and retrieves the children through the opening.
ChapterVI, sectionVI, O kibungo e o homem (pessoal), printed pp.300–302
- A mother dog hides her surviving offspring under herself and wears a skirt and necklace, confusing the predator. Turtle and fox decline to identify her, but rabbit exposes the disguise. During the resulting chase, people kill the monster and the dog kills the betraying rabbit.
ChapterVI, sectionVI, O kibungo e a cachorra (pessoal), printed pp.302–303
- Rodrigues proposes Bantu derivation but admits he could not establish the chant’s language from his contributors and wrote it as he understood it. He also records varied Bahian uses of the name, spanning sorcerer, devil, dishevelled person, wild animal and werewolf-like being.
ChapterVI, sectionVI, comparative discussion immediately following the two tales, printed p.303
Complete first selected episode and original printed pages300–302 read. Its actual killings and rescued children are retained; no song copied. Complete second selected episode read; mother-dog defence and retaliatory rabbit death are distinct. Unidentified chant not copied. Collector’s racial/linguistic framework is historical interpretation, not contemporary community consensus. No named narrator or verified single African language invented.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- ResearchRodrigues: complete Kibungo episodes, 1935 edition pp. 300–303Research access: 2026-10-05
- ResearchRamos: collected Quibungo narratives, 1954 edition pp. 191–193Research access: 2026-10-05
- ResearchSouza: Pelas tramas do QuibungoResearch access: 2026-10-05
- ReferenceMinistry of Justice catalogue: Os africanos no Brasil, 1932Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.