In the city of Lages there is a river that surrounds the city, and the river forms a pond downtown where the slaves used to wash the masters' clothes in the nineteenth century. Today this place is called Jonas Ramos Park. At that time a single woman had become pregnant. As soon as the child was born the woman drowned the child in the lake. The demon received the child's death as an offering. He became a serpent and came to live into and to curse the whole river. His head is in the pond and his tail is along the river. From then on, the demon threatens to shake and to flood the city. To prevent this from happening, the population erected a church near the pond and they put the image of the Virgin Mary inside it, as if she were stepping the head of the serpent. Whenever the statue is removed, the river swirls and floods parts of the city. That is why the population is careful that they never remove the statue of the Virgin from the church.