Page:A Menina do Narizinho Arrebitado (1920).pdf/22

 and mullet egg omelette. For dessert, they brought jitai honey in magnolia petals, and a thousand other delicacies. While they dined, an excellent orchestra of cicadas and mosquitoes performed beautiful music composed by the maestro Chalk-browed mockingbird. Then the blue manakin dancers came and danced graceful dances.

Next came a royal parrot who had a reputation as an orator. He climbed up to the rostrum from a golden perch and gave a beautiful speech on the art of speaking. In this speech he proved that men had learned to speak from parrots, and not parrots from men, as the latter's science says. A shower of applause welcomed his words.

The same didn't happen, however, with the poetess Tropidurus, who began to recite a long poem and choked in the middle, ending the recitative in a cry and a whimper. To destroy this bad impression, three magical fireflies came and performed various magic tricks, with the illusion of eating fire being very popular.