Anything is possible in the world of Latin American folklore: Aunt Misery traps Death in a pear tree; Lucia Zenteno carries away a river in her hair; shapeshifting Amazonian dolphins lure young girls to their underwater city; the Feathered Snake brings the first musicians to Earth; and a farmer discovers that doing favors for the Lord of Creation can lead to disaster. One in a series of folklore reference guides (""...an invaluable resource..."" - School Library Journal), this book features 470 tales told in Mexico, Central America and South America, a region underrepresented in collections of world folklore. Gathered from 21 countries, this volume includes English translations of stories from the Inca, Maya, and Aztec civilizations, Spanish and Portuguese missionaries and colonists, African slave cultures and more than 75 indigenous tribes. The tales are numbered and grouped into themed sections.