The storyteller, Lopim, recounts a tale of a man who lived in the 1950s and worked on a train line. He had a field of corn and, after a day of hard work, prepared a meal of hominy (green corn) with Italian honey. After eating five portions, he and his wife drank two liters of the honey-infused drink before bed. The next morning, they found him dead, his belly swollen from the honey and hominy.
Lopim then shares another story, this time about a man named João Bastião from São Francisco. One winter, he bought 22 liters of milk and asked his wife to make umbuzada, a Brazilian drink made from sugarcane juice and milk. When they found no sugar, he went into the bush and killed a bee, or "brel", to collect the honey. He returned with 32 liters of honey, which they used to sweeten the umbuzada. There was enough left for them to drink for the rest of the week.
However, the conversation takes a turn when another man, Tiringa, claims to have seen a bee give 74 liters of honey from a sugarcane pole. The group debates the veracity of these stories, with some questioning whether such amounts of honey could be produced. Despite the skepticism, Lopim insists that the stories are true and that honey production has significantly decreased due to changes in the environment. The story ends with the group sending hugs to everyone from Curral Queimado.
1. The story is told by a man named Lopim, who is associated with Collie, a train line.
2. Lopim met a man in 1955 who worked in the railway line industry.
3. The man had a field of corn and ate hominy made from green corn.
4. Inside the hominy was a lot of honey from the mountain range, as sugar was too expensive.
5. The man ate five dishes of hominy and his wife drank two liters of the honey-based drink before going to sleep.
6. In the morning, the man's belly had grown significantly due to the hominy and honey.
7. The man died from consuming the hominy and honey.
8. Another story is told about a man named João Bastião in Serra, São Francisco.
9. In the winter, he bought 22 liters of milk and used it to make umbuzada.
10. His wife cooked the umbu (a type of beer) and boiled the milk.
11. He then went into the bush to extract honey from a bee, known as a brel, and used it to sweeten the umbuzada.
12. He collected 32 liters of honey from the brel.
13. The honey was used to sweeten the umbuzada and was also available for consumption throughout the week.
14. There is debate about the authenticity of these stories, with some people questioning the amount of honey collected from the bees.
15. The stories are told in Mirandiba and the audience is addressed as being from Curral Queimado.