THE VALLEY OF THE LATIN BEAR, Alexander Lenard, Dutton, NY, 1965.
Here is a sample of the humour of this author.
"Brazil has more laws than any other country," a dear native friend explained to me in Sao Paulo. "The only law we lack is the one which prescribes that laws have to be obeyed." Another, himself a teacher in law school, added, "Brazil received the Roman law from Portugal, Napoleon gave her the code civil, the United States furnished her with a constitution, and Mr. Schacht inspired her currency regulations. The Brazilian legislators had nothing else to do but to invent the loopholes for the whole net."
Lenard is the doctor of the small town of Donna Irma in Santa Catarina in the south of Brazil. He describes a typical rural European environment, replete with its independent personalities and superstitions. There is one humorous story about this guy showing up in the doctor's office and asking about this sore. He has, of course, been trying home remedies and only went to the doctor as a last resort. The doctor tries to convince him to take modern medicine (To be fair to the guy with the sore, he inquired the cost of the medicine, which was five weeks wages for him) in vain. In his tirade against superstition, the doctor let slip what was done in his country (nine drops of water taken from a well under the full moon are applied to the sore on a Friday, or was it three Fridays?). Anyway, next thing here's this guy come to pay him a quarter of a calf, as he had tried the doctor's derided superstitious method and it had worked.
There's a funny story about these guys getting on a train and complaining that there is no difference in the seating of the first and third class passengers, although there is a great difference in price. "Just wait," the rail officials say. So along they go until the train runs out of wood to burn and they stop in the middle of the bush. "Okay," shout the train officials: "third class passengers, here are axes. Chop down trees. Second class passengers, chop the felled trees into small logs for us. First class passengers, remain seated. We will be proceeding shortly."
Then there is the delightful rejection notice he received when he sent off his Latin translation of Winnie the Pooh. "Maybe you have too much spare time, but we don't."
Michael McKenny, "Ordem e Progresso", March 3, 1990