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[^0]:    1 The first grammar of the Kimbundu language was actually written by the Jesuit Father Pedro Dias in Brazil, at the Colégio da Bahia, and first published in Lisbon in 1672 (more than 200 years before Chatelain's grammar).  
of História da literatura brasileira, included manifestations of popular oral poetry in the very first edition of his book, in 1888. Even before that date, in 1882, the researcher had already published a volume of Cantos populares do Brasil (folk songs of Brazil), followed by a volume of folk tales in 1883. ${ }^{2}$ In this collection, entitled Contos populares do Brasil, initially published in Lisbon with new editions being released in Brazil up to the present day, the researcher includes a section presenting sixteen 'folk tales of African and mestizo origin'. In the opening of the chapter on popular traditions from his História da literatura brasileira, the historian and literary critic notes:  
The Europeans and their descendants only improvised in the Portuguese language, seeing it as their own. In contrast, the blacks and Indians, who had been reduced to slavery, were bilingual, speaking their native language and Portuguese. [...] (Romero, 1943, p. 106).  
The bilingual blacks and Indians naturally knew the original songs of their race and could communicate them to their descendants in the adoptive language. This explains the phenomena of the juxtaposition of two languages in a single folk song, and the existence of certain scattered folk songs in our language with a clear Tupi or African character (Romero, 1943, p. 107).