Where islands dream, and stories cross oceans.

The Legend of Rabo de Peixe comes from the oral tradition of São Miguel, in the Azores. It tells how the village received its unusual name.

The Fable

In the early days of the islands’ settlement, a small community was founded along the northern coast, on a flat stretch of land beside the sea. The settlers were mostly farmers who lived by working the soil and by fishing the still-little-known waters offshore.

One evening, after a long day’s labor, the men of the settlement sat by the water, talking over what they should call their new home. The discussion had gone on for quite some time, lively and unresolved, when they noticed a struggle in the sea not far from shore—a great fish locked in combat with a much smaller one.

For a long while the smaller fish darted and twisted, slipping between rocks, fleeing where it could. But in the end, the larger fish caught it and swallowed it whole. All that remained of the struggle was the tail of the smaller fish, floating on the surface of the water.

Before long, that tail was carried by the currents to shore, where it washed up and lodged itself among the black basalt stones along the coast.

The men fell silent as they watched. They took what they had seen as a sign, a message offered by the sea itself. And so they agreed that their settlement would be called Rabo de Peixe—Fish Tail.

At first, people found the name strange. But before long, they grew used to it. After all, it suited a place shaped by fishing and by the lives of those who depended on the sea.

And so, with its uncommon name, the place became what it remains today: a town on the island of São Miguel, where most of its people are still fishermen, and where the sea continues to speak—if one knows how to watch and listen.

Bibliografia

• FURTADO-BRUM, Ângela. Açores, Lendas e Outras Histórias (2a. ed).. Ponta Delgada: Ribeiro & Caravana Editores, 1999. ISBN 972-97803-3-1 p. 85-86.

The port of rabo de Peixe—picture from Wikipedia

Whispers of the Atlantic: Legends from the Azores

Vision Statement

To preserve, translate, and reimagine the legendary heritage of the Azores as a cultural bridge across oceans—connecting generations, honoring the voices of the ancestors, and ensuring that these stories remain vibrant for the future of the diaspora and the world.

---

Mission Statement

Through the Whispers of the Atlantic series, Bruma Publications and Filamentos are committed to:

• Collecting and translating Azorean folktales, myths, and legends with literary fidelity and poetic resonance.
• Sharing these stories with English-speaking readers in North America and beyond fosters cultural pride and cross-cultural dialogue.
• Preserving centuries-old oral traditions as living cultural treasures, not museum relics.
• Inspiring new generations of writers, artists, and dreamers to draw from Azorean heritage in building bridges across languages, cultures, and oceans.