The Legend of Umbu

play by Ruth Salles

Gaucho Legend, Easter
Playful with some movement

Umbu – drawing by Marcella Cappi Torres, made for the book 'Do Mulungu ao Manacá', by Ruth Salles.

CHARACTERS:
Chorus 1 (from the narrators).
Chorus 2 (voice of God the Father)
Coronilla – thorny tree, also called Espinho-de-Cristo, with wood of great density and resistance.
Sauce – tree also called whistler.
Figueira do Campo – tropical tree with trunk and strong roots.
Umbu – the indigenous name means “that gives you drink”; it is a typical tree of the pampas, with foliage so thick that the sun barely penetrates it; has loose and spongy woody tissue.

CHORUS 1:
— Four trees one day,
each in its own corner,
saw what happened to them
strange magic or charm
which caused them great astonishment.

CORONILLA:
– Our branches move more!
What happens across the land?

SAUCE:
- It will be the joy of God the Father
for winning that war
against devils and evil men?

FIGUEIRA-DO-CAMPO:
– I hear God the Father approaching…

UMBU:
– The voice is sweet and the cry is loud,
something asking.

CHORUS 2 (voice of God the Father):
– Dear trees! O daughters!
Victory has been achieved!
commemorating what happened
I came to ask the coronilla
if you want to make me a request.

CORONILLA:
– I want to be tough, Father God!
Like the strength of the ax
get one day to cut me!

CHORUS 2 (voice of God the Father):
– And you, sauce?

SAUCE:
- Beloved Father,
To show my joy,
I want to know how to whistle.

CHORUS 2 (voice of God the Father):
– And the fig tree?

FIGUEIRA-DO-CAMPO:
– Most High,
I want to be tall, strong and beautiful.

CHORUS 1:
– And so God the Father, most generous,
heard this one, heard that one
and satisfied them all.
So the umbu, in its own way,
said what he always wanted.

UMBU:
– I want my wood
always be spongy and soft.

CHORUS 1:
– The whole forest was astonished!

UMBU:
– I want to give a vast shade,
from where the heat always departs.
So shelter the walkers
in your rest for a while.

CHORUS 1:
– God the Father yielded to his will,
But before that he asked:

CHORUS 2 (VOICE OF GOD THE FATHER):
– Why so much fragility?
was it what you wished for?

UMBU:
- I wanted so much, so much
never serve for cross
for the sacrifice of a saint.

CHORUS 1:
– And God the Father left him alone,
made its spongy and slack trunk,
and its leaves, thenceforth,
give great refreshing shade.

***