Short story – from the book “Armazém do Folclore” – Atica Publishing house - 2012

Two Quarrelsome Blind Men By Ricardo Azevedo* *Ricardo Azevedo, author and illustrator born in 1949, has written over one hundred books for children and youngsters

They were both blind. One was called Chico and the other was called João. The first one was a singer and also played the guitar. The other accompannied on drums, on the tambourine and on rattles. Every single day, the two of them went the square near the church, sat on the sidewalk and played music to get alms from people. And every day they picked a fight. – Chico, come on, sing decently, man! You’re always out of tune! A version of a popular tale By Ricardo Azevedo* – What about you, who can’t even follow the rhythm?! – Will you tune up this guitar, you twit?! – You can’t even play the drums!

– Shut up, you fool! – I’ll show you who’s a fool, you pesky blind! One day, a fellow walked by the square and decided to pull the two quarrelsome blind men’s leg. He leaned near one of them and said: – I liked the music very much. I will give you 20 reais, but it’s to be shared between the two of you. He said it, but didn’t leave any money at all. The two blind men went on playing, now happy as a lark. When they finished, the singer said: – João, gimme my half of those 20 reais the guy gave us. The other one was surprised: – What do you mean, Chico? The guy gave the money to you! Now the singer got upset: – Shame on you, João, give me the money right away. But the one named Chico was really fed up this time. – Shame on me? What are you taking me for? You trying to pull a trick on me? And the other one: – You’re lying so that you can keep all of the money! And the quarrel turned into a fight. João got hold of the tambourine and tried to throw it to hit Chico. Chico grabbed the guitar and tried to hit João. At this moment the fellow, who was still close by, shouted: – No! Stop! Be careful! Mind the knife! When he heard this, Chico thought that João had pulled a knife. João thought the same. The two blind men jumped up high, each one in a different direction and started to run, stumbling and tripping and shouting for help. People say they haven’t stopped running yet.