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The
Party in Heaven |
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My
father first told me this Brazilian tale when I was a little
child.
It is called "A Festa no céu" (The Party in
Heaven) and like every tale,
it has a few variations. I tried to write in English, the version
I like best, which was told me by my father. |
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One
day, while sitting in his chair in Heaven, Saint Peter
had a great idea. He called the birds and asked them to
tell all animals in the forests, woods and swamps,
that there was going to be a party in Heaven.
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Birds
of all kind spread their wings and flew to Earth, telling every
animal about the party. Soon, the news had been spread. All
animals were very excited and it became the main subject
of conversation during the days that followed. |
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However,
not all animals were able to go by themselves as the Heaven was
very high and far away, so it was decided that every bird and
any other winged creature would be in charge of carrying those
who could not fly. |
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The
animals organized a committee to discuss the details of the party.
The swallow would take the anteater, the robin would take the
jaguar, the woodpecker would take the badger, the gull would
take the fox, the sparrow would take the hare, the the hawk would
take the lion, the lark would take the dog, the toucan would
take the crab, the parrot would take the monkey and little by
little every non-winged animal had a companion who would take
them to the party in Heaven. |
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The
cicada was in charge of conducting the band organized by the
vulture, the best guitar player in the forest. Every bird who
could sing and every animal who could play an instrument was
asked to join the band. |
All animals were
invited, except the frog for they thought he was too ugly to
enter the Heaven. Feeling sad for not being able to fly, he had
an idea:he would hide himself inside
the vulture's guitar, so no one would see him. |
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Birds,
butterflies, dragonflies and other animals flew and flew carrying
their friends until they all reached Heaven. As soon as they
arrived, the frog silently came out of the guitar and mixed with
the crowd. Flutes, violins, guitars and tambourines sounded beautiful
tunes and the animals danced during the whole day. They had so
much fun that no one noticed that the frog had gone to the party. |
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The zebra danced
with the lion, the dog with the cat, the hare with the fox, the
hawk with the hen, the parrot with the monkey, even the frog
danced with other animals, and everyone was having a lot of fun. |
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After
the party was over, the frog hid himself inside the guitar again,
so he could return to the forest. Feeling tired for playing during
the whole party, the vulture carried his guitar with a lot of
difficulty and soon realized that it was heavier than normal.
He started to shake it in order to check if there was something
in the inside. It was then that the poor frog slipped out of
the guitar and began to fall towards the Earth. |
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When
he hit some rocks on the ground, he was torn into pieces. Mother
Nature, for pity of the frog, put all pieces back together and
he came back to life again. That is why frogs have a skin full
of patches. |
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In
the most known version of this tale, it is said that after finding
out that the frog was inside his guitar, the vulture threw him
towards the Earth, but I prefer the way my father used to tell
the tale. I think he did not want the vulture to be a bad guy.
In other versions, the tortoise is the one who falls on the ground.
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In
a more different version, it is said that Saint Peter had asked
all animals with tails to leave them at the entrance of Heaven,
so they would not hit each other with their tails during the
dance. Unfortunately, some animals drank too much during the
party and started a fight. Saint Peter became furious and asked
them all to leave immediately. |
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The
dogs were the first to leave and for being in a rush, one got
the tail of the other by mistake. From this day on, every dog
who had been to the party started smelling at each other's tails
in search of their lost one. This habit still remains and that
is why every time a dog meets another dog, smelling at each other's
tail is the first thing they do. |
 I wrote this text based on a Brazilian folk take.
Please, notice that this is a folk tale, I did not create this
story, so I do not own the copyrights, only the text was written
by me from what I could remember of the tale. |
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