The Infinite River (»O Rio Infinito«) is inspired by a traditional African story. One winter, the sun stopped rising and the world became dark and cold. Unable to hunt, unable to plant, the family believed that the end of the world had come. Kianda thought: ‘We need to tell our children stories.’ She left the house to look for them, but all the animals she met on the way were in a hurry and afraid. It was a giant tortoise – “God made me with one foot in the sand and one in the water” – who explained that no one but the spirits of the ocean have stories to tell, and took her to the bottom of the sea.
In exchange for a sculpture by her husband, in which the queen and king of the deep sea discovered the charms of a kingdom they didn‘t know existed and with each new glance revealed new beauties, Kianda received a huge conch that told new stories every time she touched it to her ear. ‘Then the sun returned to the savannah. And gone forever were the days of hunger, darkness and cold.’

The Water and the Eagle (“A água e a águia”) is about a period of drought and how it is finally stopped by an old eagle. This old eagle starts eating the ”i“ in the name of her species, so ”Águia“ (Eagle) is transformed into ”Água“ (Water), and this way the water comes back. But only for a time: after the eagles have discovered how great it is to eat ”i”s, they cannot stop, and the “rio” (river) stays without the ”i” and dries out. Finally the oldest eagle decides to take a risk and despite everybody’s warnings, flies to a cliff and vomits all the ”i“s she has yet eaten – and the water and the river come back!

This is a poetic and beautifully illustrated book about how ingenuity and courage can change the world.

Suddenly, in an African village, the rain does not fall, it is suspended, “amazed”, says a little boy from the village. The river is also drying up. Is it the fault of a factory nearby? What role do the old myths and legends play here? In The Amazed Rain (“A Chuva Pasmada”) Mia Couto leads us to a magical universe.

The magic power of words is the theme of Little Word Kisses (“Beijos de Palavrinha”). When Maria Poeirinha fell ill, Uncle Jaime Litorânio said that only the sea, which she had never seen, could cure her. The girl was too weak for the journey, but her brother Zeca Zonzo found a way to take her to see the sea.

Pintalgato, a kitten, is always being warned by his mother not to step beyond the borders of the day. But he, crazy to discover what hides under the shadow of the night, decides to venture out. In engaging prose and full of little poetic surprises, in The Kitten and the Dark (“O gato e o escuro”) Mia Couto elaborates a beautiful fable about the afflictions and enchantments of the unknown.