thumb|Portrait of the Saci-pererê (2007) by J. Marconi.
Saci () is a character in Tupi and Guarani folklore. He is a one-legged black boy, who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red cap that enables him to disappear and reappear wherever he wishes (usually in the middle of a dirt devil). Considered an annoying prankster in most parts of Brazil, and a potentially dangerous and malicious creature in others, he nevertheless grants wishes to anyone who manages to trap him or steal his magic cap. Legend says that a person can trap a Saci inside a bottle when he is in the form of a dust devil (see Fig. right where he is portrayed in the center of the whirlwind).
The Saci legend is seen as a combination of native Tupi lore with African-Brazilian and European myth or superstition combined into it. Also, much of the currently told folklore about the Saci is traceable to what writer Monteiro Lobato collected and published in 1917–1918, and the children's book version he created and published in 1921.
According to present-day folklore, this genie can be captured and trapped inside a corked bottle to grant the wishes of its master, or its magic can be acquired by stealing its cap (), and the sulfuric smell about the black genie is emphasized, leading to criticism of racism.
Etymology
The term derives from meaning "sick eye", or rather "evil eye". The Saci-pererê of myth originally referred to a Cuculiformes (cuckoo family) bird, more specifically the striped cuckoo.
German ethnologist Horst H. Figge, who sees extensive influence of African Umbanda religion in Brazilian culture, has argued that Saci-Cerere can be explained as deriving from Ewe language "one hand", while the form Matimpererê was even more amenable to interpretation as Ewe "without one foot". and the ability to create whirlwind and to dance and twirl inside it, were part of the folklore solicited in 1917 from the readership of São Paulo and its periphery by newspaper contributor Monteiro Lobato, subsequently published in book form in 1918.
Trickster
Usually an incorrigible prankster, the Saci causes no major harm, but there is no little harm that he won't do. In the barn, he sets farm animals loose,
Counteraction and protection
As aforementioned, the Saci can raise the dust devil (dusty whirlwind) and spin-dance inside it, according to folk belief. It is believed the Saci's whirlwind can be diverted and broken up by casting a rosary of white beads or a straw cross from Palm Sunday.
The Saci prefers dryness, or is a dessicated being, and dares not cross a water stream, (or rosary made of grass or sedge).
The captured Saci can be imprisoned inside a bottle, and be forced to grant wishes in exchange for freedom, and onward, is a composite of Tupi spirit and other layers, partly from African slave culture, and partly from European influence. It has optimistically been characterized as a sort of melting pot lore of three races by Alceu Maynard Araújo (1964)