Case file · Folklore / legend
Cobra Norato, the giant snake
Raul Bopp's 1931 poem Cobra Norato made famous the Amazon legend of the Cobra Grande: twins born as snakes to a woman of the lower Amazon, the gentle Norato and his violent sister Maria Caninana.
1931 CE · -1.92, -55.52 · status: legend
The account
Legends of a giant snake, Boiúna or Cobra Grande, are told all along the river; in Belém it is said to sleep under the cathedral. Óbidos and the lower Amazon are a traditional setting; position approximate.
The sceptical view
The legend may draw on large anacondas and on river bank collapses blamed on the snake.