In other words, this prohibition, which in one of the versions collected among the Bantu is explicitly justified by the need for environmental preservation (the fish king complains that the aquatic population is being decimated by the woman's voracious appetite), is also connected to a custom of religious, mystic origin. This argument, as expressed in comments by Virgílio Coelho (1991, p. 4), also extends to some Brazilian versions of the João Jiló series. It seems to  
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[^0]:    3 UFMG. FALE. 'Quem Conta um Conto Aumenta um Ponto' project. 'Narrativas orais no Vale do Jequitinhonha' [Oral narratives in the Jequitinhona valley]: cassette and video tape collection catalogue; transcription collection. Belo Horizonte: Faculty of Arts, UFMG, 2004. Rogério Machado Caetano's transcription of the oral narrative told by Maria Terezinha Orsini Almeida, in Turmalina, 1995, recorded by Rômulo Monte Alto.  
me, however, that what comes through most forcefully in these narratives (perhaps by virtue of its very frequency) is the fact that the couple do not deal well with desire, being unable to stop satisfying it. This is evidently a universal theme that has been the subject of study and work in areas such as psychoanalysis, and it is present in folk tales belonging to the European oral tradition, such as 'Rapunzel', in which the protagonist is shut in a tower by a witch whose property had been invaded by a man in search of turnips to satisfy the cravings of his pregnant wife.