Mancunima: the Hero with no Character

Macunaíma was very upset. He hadn't managed to recover the muiraquitã and this made him furious. Best thing to do was go kill Piaimã. So he left the city and went out to the So-and-So Forest to test his strength. He searched for a league and a half and finally spotted a peroba tree that went on and on. He stuck his arm into the massive tangle of roots and heaved with all his might to see if he could yank out the tree but only the wind rustled the leaves at the tippy top. "Nope, ain't strong enough yet," Macunaíma reckoned. Seizing a tooth from a little rat called crô, he made a big gash in his leg, as prescribed for weaklings, and headed back to the boarding house bleeding. He was feeling downhearted cause he wasn't strong yet and went along so awful distracted that he stubbed his toe. It hurt so bad that the hero saw the stars up above and in their midst he saw the crescent Capei cloaked in fog. "When the Moon's a-waning, you're best off refraining," he sighed. And it cheered him on his way.

Next day it was freezing cold and the hero decided to get revenge on Venceslau Pietro Pietra by giving him a good walloping to heat things up. But seeing as he wasn't strong he was scared as heck of the giant. So he decided to hop a train to Rio de Janeiro to get some help from Exu the devil in whose honor they were holding a Macumba ceremony the next day.