The sun was high over the dusty roads of the Paraná countryside when a sleek, expensive car pulled up to a simple roadside restaurant. A man dressed in fine clothes—a "granfino"—stepped out, his movements hurried and impatient. He burst into the diner, waving a thousand-cruzeiro bill, and demanded that the owner change it immediately.
"You must be joking," the granfino told the owner. "You think that 'poor wretch' has a thousand cruzeiros? If a man like that is anyone in this world, then I’ll be the Governor of the state!". He assumed that because the man looked like a drifter, he was penniless.
He peeled them off one by one, laying them on the table. "Forgive me for not having your change earlier," he said softly.
But the man in the rumpled clothes had heard every word. With a polite and steady voice, he called the young man over. He reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a thick bundle of "orange-colored" bills—notes worth far more than what the granfino was carrying.
"I’m sorry, sir," the owner replied calmly, "I don't have change for such a large bill. But I have an important customer over there who might help".
The worker smiled. "It wasn't buried. This red dirt is the 'Terra Roxa'—the fertile soil where I planted 280,000 coffee trees seven years ago". He explained that while the city elite drove imported Cadillacs and Fords, it was the sweat and the "red earth" of the farmers that kept the country standing.
Feeling small and embarrassed, the granfino asked where he could find such a "hidden treasure." The farmer simply pointed toward the fields of Paraná. "It's no secret," he said. "If you're strong enough to swing a hoe, that earth is worth its weight in gold". Terra Roxa - Tião Carreiro e Pardinho - LETRAS.MUS.BR