Catirina is at the end of her pregnancy and her baby is due soon.
She had rough times during pregnancy, when she craved ox tongue.
Francisco killed their master’s prized bull to satisfy her cravings, enraging master, who went after them.
But Francisco and Catirina managed to resuscitate the bull with the help of shaman wizardry, making it all well again.
Baby comes on a rainy day.
Catirina is sitting by the window feeding her little one when they hear a knock at the door.
Through the glass windows, she sees an odd shape, but can’t really tell who it is due to the fog and water drops at the glass.
Francisco opens the door, to find the bull, who came to claim his tongue back by taking the one of the baby…
This story was written in response to the Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers, with photo prompt by Priceless Joy added below, together with a more revealing version of it.
For those of you who have never heard of Boi Bumba, this is popular legend from Brazilian folklore, which is celebrated every year with a festival that includes the representation of the story, with lots of music and dance. More details about it can be found here. Note only that my story was inspired on it, but adds more to the end. The traditional folkloric version has a happier ending (that we know of…) 😉
To see other stories, click the blue frog below:
Creative Busyness 
Great story Tnnkr! Although I feel really really sorry for the baby having to lose its tongue! That is really cool that this is similar to popular legends in your area. That makes it very interesting! I have a question. Do you want corrections on English grammar? There are several I would point out but only if you are okay with it. Thank you so much for participating in the Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers Challenge!
Sure. I did keep some articles out on purpose, though. But if it seems too odd, it’s always good to know. Feel free to send feedback. Thanks.
I only have 2 – in the first paragraph, it should say, “her baby is due soon.”
In the third paragraph third sentence should read, “but can’t really tell who it is due to the fog and water drops on the glass.” Other than these two minor corrections, it was written very well and was very interesting!
A very chilling story. Reminds me sort of of Rumplestilskin, but maybe not quite so bad if that`s possible. It really is awful that the bull has come back for the babies tongue, I can`t get over that . . . I think the Mom should give up hers. It`s only fair and the motherly thing to do.
Scary ending and interesting with the magic parts too. I can see the bull looking through the window 🙂
Nicely done, Etol. 🙂 I love folklore so reading one that I know nothing about is great! The ending you give actually reads more like the older versions of most of the ones I do know, which are generally quite dark! The happier endings are usually the more recent additions.
I really enjoyed the folklore connection too! And yes, those tales are often more dark than we might think. I also liked that you included an outline of the bull in the photo: very helpful for me to see what you were seeing!
great work in using a mythical creature in this story, I really enjoyed this 🙂
Hahaha, this made me laugh out loud when I got to the ending although it’s a bot inappropriate considering the bull took the baby’s tongue 😀
This is such a creative story. Love it