Iára

There is an Iára in this River!

At first, the old Man he had seen the Iára. Ah!

He told she was ugly, very ugly,

Black, old, and that she looks like a Peixe-boi (a kind of Amazon fish)

Fortunately the old man died a long time ago! Ah!

In a certain nebulous night

There was a man, who suffered of infatuation

For a young Indian girl

Who didn't desire him.

He rose and disappeared in the river water.

Then, one began to say that Iára was singing,

She was a girl, hair of moss, turned green by the river. Ah!

Yesterday, the piá (little Indian) was playing-playing

Boarded the Igára (Indian boat) of his father at the port.

He put his little hand in the deep water,

And then, the Piranha (ferocious Amazon fish)

Devoured the little piá's hand, ah!

There is an Iára in this River!