The legend of Açaí?

Once upon a not so long time ago, there was a village at the edge of the Pará river in the Amazon. Times were hard, but the village grew and grew and grew, until one day there was no more food left for anyone. The chief of the village had to make the very hard decision to have all newborn babies sacrificed.

This chief had a daughter called Iaça, who soon gave birth to a little baby girl. The chief was heartbroken, but had to order that his new granddaughter be sacrificed to be fair to everyone else. Iaça was devastated and cried day and night, going for long days without food or drink and not leaving her house at all. Then one night, she heard the crying of a baby that seemed to be coming from the forest. She dragged herself out of her hut and followed the sound into the surrounding forest, even though she was very weak from having had no food.

The chief woke up the next morning to learn that his daughter had gone missing. He quickly organized a search party and set out to look for her.They found Iaça dead, with a smile on her face, underneath a palm tree that was laden with dark purple fruit. In gratitude for the find of this new food source, the people named the fruit after Iaça (Açaí is Iaça spelled backwards). The chief lifted his orders, and the village prospered thereafter. Some say that the village grew to become the city of Belém in the state of Pará, Brazil.