A Boi Fugido, a history of mouth in letter

Abstract

The poetry of oral tradition in Brazil presents a cycle of narrative poems that have the ox as central character. The narrative develops around an ox that does not allow itself to be arrested and attempts to capture it by different cowboys. This cycle of poems is linked to Brazilian history itself, in which livestock activity plays an important role. Among the varied narratives that make up this cycle of poems, the “Rabicho da Geralda”. The first publication of this poem known in Brazil was made by José de Alencar, at the end of the 19th century. Four more versions will be covered here in a comparative analysis, three published by Sílvio Romero, José Rodrigues de Carvalho and Antônio Americano do Brasil, respectively, in 1883, 1903 and 1925. Still a fourth version is taken from a manuscript by Pedro Braga, a storyteller from Minas Gerais. At different versions of the poem reveal the movement present in the poetic expressions of oral tradition that are inscribed next to printed or handwritten text.