Tales of the Jungle

Fairy tales and a story by Uruguay’s outstanding writer about the animal and plant world of the selva (the tropical rainforest of South America). They combine a deeply poetic plot with vivid realism in the descriptions, affirming the laws of humaneness and goodness.

“Fairy Tales of the Selva”—such a name could be given to all of the writer’s extraordinary stories, both short and long, set in that fantastic, mysterious land where he created them over many years of his life. “I love my forest stories more than anything else,” he admitted himself… And yet, only one small book was titled “Fairy Tales of the Selva”—the one he wrote for his children, perhaps not realizing that he was writing it for children all over the world…

In the house he built with his own hands, working day after day like an ordinary farmhand—in a house where work tools were hung along the walls and which stood at the edge of a broad plateau, overlooking the wild, treacherous river Parana, as restless as the sea—among giant trees, mysterious night birds with prophetic voices, and wise and cunning snakes that lie in wait at every step, his unique chronicle of the selva was created. Quiroga kept this chronicle not only in his fairy tales, but also in his larger stories—more precisely, the little novellas, the brightest and most unusual of which is, to his readers’ liking, “Anaconda.”

Contents:
Quiroga — Anaconda
Quiroga — The Bald Parrot
Quiroga — The Lazy Bee
Quiroga — Flamingo Stockings
Quiroga — The War of Crocodiles
Quiroga — The Blind Doe
Quiroga — The Giant Tortoise
Quiroga — The Snow Woman