Anthology of Portuguese Legends

by Alexandre Parafita

The ‘Anthology of Portuguese Legends’ includes 70 stories collected by Alexandre Parafita from all regions of the country, where the real and the imagined intertwine to preserve the Portuguese oral tradition.

235 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2025

About the author

Alexandre Parafita (natural de Sabrosa, 1956) é um escritor português, com raízes transmontanas, com extensa obra publicada sobre o património e tradição oral portuguesa, bem como no domínio da literatura infanto-juvenil. Professor universitário, é doutor em Cultura Portuguesa e mestre em Ciências da Comunicação (especialidade de Antropologia da Comunicação)

Reviews

[Bryan Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you were to spend an extended period of time traveling in Portugal, this book might serve you well as a guide to the lore of various points of interest. Failing that, though, it’s fairly a academic and pedestrian text. Lots of legends that seem so similar to one another that they are almost indistinguishable.

[Caitlin Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of women get beheaded in this! Also a lot of odd cruelty that doesn’t follow traditional folklore patterns, which was interesting but not my cup of tea. Most of this is also just about Catholicism and there were almost no fun magical creatures. But my copy of this is very pretty!

[Laurie Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I have seen criticism that some of the legends in this book are quite similar. While this is true, I think these instances are relatively few and far between. The author gives great context into why different versions of legends are included.

Overall a very pleasant read.

[Marc Ferreira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beaucoup de légendes très brèves et un grand nombre liées au catholicisme. Les plus intéressantes sont souvent les plus longues.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series of short legends and stories across many Portuguese villages. Most hail from the times of the Reconquista or early Medieval years.