Abstract
In Portugal, the beginnings of literature for children and young people are mainly associated with the publication of collections of folk poetry, legends and short stories. Already at the beginning of the Renaissance, the well-known author of plays Gil Vicente tried to write fairy tales.
From the seventies of the 19th century, the interest in children's literature increased and several anthologies were published, representatives of Romanticism and realism, such as Almeida Garrett, Alexandre Herculano or Eça de Queiroz. Linguist and amateur ethnographer Francisco Adolfo Coelho (1847-1919) devoted most of his life to collecting folk tales and sayings.
Until now, however, it was not primarily entertaining literature, the main emphasis was on its educational and moralizing functions.