The Heavenly Celebration

written down by Luís Câmara Cascudo, illustrated by Angelica Slongo

There was word among the birds that a celebration would take place in heaven. The birds were all invited and they aroused the envy of the other animals, which cannot fly. Guess who wanted to go to the party, too? The toad! Of all animals, the toad, which is heavy and slow and can't even run fast, wanted to go up there! But she firmly claimed that she was invited and would certainly attend the party.  The other animals almost died of laughter. Especially the birds, as one can imagine! But the toad had a plan. The day before the celebration, she visited the vulture and had a chat with him, made a lot of jokes and said at the end: "My dear vulture, she who limps has to leave early, because the way is long". The vulture replied, "And you're really coming to the dance?" - "Am I coming? Surely! See you then!"  

The toad pretended to leave, but then turned around and hid in the chamber. When she spotted the vulture's guitar on the bed, she crawled in and held still.  When the vulture set off later, he took his guitar, flapped his mighty wings, and flew up to the sky - flap flap flap flap... When he arrived, he put the guitar in a corner and went to greet the birds. The toad looked out with one eye, hopped out and merrily joined the other guests. You can imagine how amazed the birds were when they saw the toad jumping through the sky! They kept asking, but the toad kept on beating around the bush.  When the party began, the toad had a jolly good time.

In the early hours of the morning the toad sneaked away, for she had to return to earth just as she had come. She searched for the vulture's luggage and hid in the guitar again.  As the sun rose, all the guests set off on their flight home. The vulture grabbed his guitar and flew off to earth - flap flap flap flap.... Halfway down, in the middle of a bend, the toad moved and the vulture spotted her inside his instrument, huddled in the dark like a ball.