The Recreation of the Origin Myth in the Brazilian Tale “Por um pé de feijão”

Abstract

This article analyzes the Brazilian tale “Por um pé de feijão”, written by Antônio Torres, and its relationship with the cosmogonic myth and the origin myth. For this, approximations are made between literature and mythology to demonstrate how the text alludes to the origin myth based on the narrated events. For the article, a bibliographic research was carried out on the topic and, then, an analysis focused on the symbolic aspects of the tale that are related to this mythical bias. The theoretical approach is based on the studies by Bulfinch, Campbell, Chevalier and Gheerbrant, Durand, Eliade, and other authors. The analysis demonstrates that the tale contains elements that make reference to a circular time, so the events, like the new year, the destruction and the new beginning, update the cosmogonic myth.