Prevod

Once upon a time, the snakes gave a grand ball. They invited the frogs and the toads, the flamingos, the caimans, and the fish. The fish, since they cannot walk, could not dance; but as the ball was held on the riverbank, they poked their heads out toward the sand and applauded with their tails.

To make themselves look splendid, the caimans had put necklaces of bananas around their necks, and they smoked Paraguayan cigars. The toads had stuck fish scales all over their bodies and walked along swaying as though they were swimming. And whenever they passed very solemnly along the riverbank, the fish shouted out, making fun of them.

The frogs had perfumed their whole bodies and walked on two legs. Each one also carried a firefly dangling like a little lantern, swaying to and fro.

But the snakes were the most beautiful of all. Every one of them, without exception, wore a dancer’s costume in her own color. The red snakes wore little red tulle skirts; the green ones, green tulle skirts; the yellow ones, yellow tulle skirts; and the yararás wore little gray tulle skirts painted with stripes of brick dust and ash, for those are the colors of yararás.

And the most splendid of all were the coral snakes, who wore long, flowing lengths of red, white, and black gauze and danced like streamers. When the snakes danced and twirled on the tips of their tails, all the guests applauded wildly.

Only the flamingos, whose legs were white in those days, and whose beaks were just as thick and crooked as they are now, were sad. Being rather dim-witted, they had not known how to dress themselves up. They envied everyone else’s costumes, especially those of the coral snakes. Whenever a snake passed in front of them, flirting and making her gauzy streamers ripple, the flamingos nearly died of envy.

Then one flamingo said, “I know what we’ll do. We’ll put on red, white, and black stockings, and the coral snakes will fall in love with us.”

They all took flight together, crossed the river, and went to knock at a shop in the village. “Tap-tap!” they knocked with their feet. “Who is it?” answered the shopkeeper.

“We’re the flamingos. Do you have any red, white, and black stockings?” “No, I haven’t,” the shopkeeper replied. “Are you mad? You won’t find stockings like that anywhere.”

So the flamingos went to another shop. “Tap-tap! Do you have any red, white, and black stockings?” The shopkeeper answered, “What’s that you say? Red, white, and black? There are no stockings like that anywhere. You must be mad. Who are you?”

“We’re the flamingos,” they answered. And the man said, “Then you must certainly be mad flamingos.” So they went to another shop. The shopkeeper shouted:

“What color? Red, white, and black? Only big-beaked birds like you would think of asking for stockings like that. Get out at once!”

And the man drove them away with his broom. The flamingos went around to all the shops, and everywhere they were chased away for being mad. Then an armadillo who had come to the river for a drink decided to play a trick on the flamingos. With a sweeping bow, he said:

“Good evening, gentlemen flamingos! I know what you’re looking for. You won’t find stockings like that in any shop. There may be some in Buenos Aires, but you would have to send for them by parcel post. My sister-in-law, the owl, has stockings like that. Ask her, and she’ll give you the red, white, and black stockings.”

The flamingos thanked him and flew off to the owl’s burrow. They said to her, “Good evening, Owl! We’ve come to ask you for the red, white, and black stockings. Today is the snakes’ grand ball, and if we put on those stockings, the coral snakes will fall in love with us.”

“With great pleasure!” answered the owl. “Wait a moment, and I’ll be right back.” And she flew off, leaving the flamingos alone. Before long she returned with the stockings. But they were not stockings at all: they were coral-snake skins, beautiful skins freshly stripped from snakes the owl had hunted.

“Here are your stockings,” the owl told them. “There’s only one thing you need to worry about: dance all night, dance without stopping for a moment, dance sideways, on your beaks, on your heads, however you please; but don’t stop for a moment, or you’ll find yourselves crying instead of dancing.”

But the flamingos, being so foolish, did not quite understand the terrible danger they were in. Wild with joy, they put on the coral-snake skins like stockings, slipping their legs into the skins, which were shaped like tubes. Then they flew happily off to the ball.

When everyone saw the flamingos in their beautiful stockings, they were filled with envy. The snakes wanted to dance with no one else, and since the flamingos never stopped moving their legs for an instant, the snakes could not get a good look at what those lovely stockings were made of.

Little by little, however, the snakes began to grow suspicious. When the flamingos danced past them, they bent down to the ground to get a closer look.

The coral snakes, especially, were very uneasy. They never took their eyes off the stockings, and they too bent down, trying to touch the flamingos’ legs with their tongues, for a snake’s tongue is like a person’s hand. But the flamingos danced and danced without stopping, though they were utterly exhausted and could scarcely go on.

The coral snakes noticed this and immediately asked the frogs for their little lanterns, which were fireflies. Then they all waited together for the flamingos to collapse from exhaustion.

Sure enough, a minute later, a flamingo who could go on no longer tripped over a caiman’s cigar, staggered, and fell onto his side. At once the coral snakes rushed over with their little lanterns and shone the light on the flamingo’s legs. Then they saw what those stockings were, and they let out a hiss that could be heard from the far bank of the Paraná.

“Those aren’t stockings!” the snakes cried. “We know what they are! We’ve been tricked! The flamingos have killed our sisters and put on their skins as stockings! Their stockings are made of coral-snake skins!”

Hearing this, the flamingos were terrified at being found out and tried to fly away; but they were so tired they could not lift a single wing. Then the coral snakes hurled themselves at them, coiled around their legs, and tore the stockings to shreds with their fangs. Furiously, they ripped the stockings off in pieces, biting the flamingos’ legs as well, so that they would die.

Frantic with pain, the flamingos leaped this way and that, but the coral snakes would not uncoil themselves from their legs. At last, when they saw that not a scrap of stocking remained, the snakes let them go, worn out and straightening the gauze of their dancing costumes.

Besides, the coral snakes were certain the flamingos would die, because at least half the coral snakes that had bitten them were venomous.

But the flamingos did not die. In terrible pain, they ran and plunged into the water. They cried out in agony, and their legs, which had been white, were now red from the snakes’ venom. Days and days passed, and still they felt a dreadful burning in their legs, which remained blood-red because they had been poisoned.

All this happened a very long time ago. And even now, the flamingos spend almost the whole day with their red legs in the water, trying to soothe the burning they feel in them.

Sometimes they leave the riverbank and take a few steps on dry land to see how they are feeling. But the pain of the venom returns at once, and they run back into the water. Sometimes the burning is so fierce that they draw up one leg and stay that way for hours, because they cannot stretch it out.

This is the story of the flamingos, whose legs were once white and are now red. All the fish know why, and they make fun of them. But while the flamingos soothe themselves in the water, they never miss a chance to take revenge, gobbling up any little fish that comes too close to mock them.