South American Jungle Tales

  HOW THE FLAMINGOES GOT THEIR STOCKINGS

  Once the snakes decided that they would give a costume ball; and to makethe affair a truly brilliant one they sent invitations to the frogs, thetoads, the alligators and the fish.

  The fish replied that since they had no legs they would not be able todo much dancing; whereupon, as a special courtesy to them, the ball washeld on the shore of the Parana. The fish swam up to the very beach andsat looking on with their heads out of water. When anything pleased themthey splashed with their tails.

  To make as good an appearance as possible, the alligators put necklacesof bananas around their throats; and they came to the ball smoking bigParaguay cigars. The toads stuck fish scales all over their bodies; andwhen they walked, they moved their forelegs out and in as though theywere swimming. They strutted up and down the beach with very glum,determined faces; and the fish kept calling to them, making fun of theirscales. The frogs were satisfied to leave their smooth green skins justas they were; but they bathed themselves in perfume and walked on theirhind legs. Besides, each one carried a lightning bug, which waved to andfro like a lantern, at the end of a string in the frog's hand.

  But the best costumes of all were worn by the snakes. All of them,without exception, had dancing gowns of the color of their skins. Therewere red snakes, and brown snakes, and pink snakes, and yellowsnakes--each with a garment of tulle to match. The _yarara_, who is akind of rattler, came in a single-piece robe of gray tulle withbrick-colored stripes--for that is the way the _yarara_ dresses evenwhen he is not going to a ball. The coral snakes were prettier still.They draped themselves in a gauze of reds, whites and blacks; and whenthey danced, they wound themselves round and round like corkscrews,rising on the tips of their tails, coiling and uncoiling, balancing thisway and that. They were the most graceful and beautiful of all thesnakes, and the guests applauded them wildly.

  The flamingoes were the only ones who seemed not to be having a goodtime. Stupid birds that they were, they had not thought of any costumesat all. They came with the plain white legs they had at that time andthe thick, twisted bills they have even now. Naturally they were enviousof all the gowns they saw, but most of all, of the fancy dress of thecoral snakes. Every time one of these went by them, courtesying,pirouetting, balancing, the flamingoes writhed with jealousy. For noone, meanwhile, was asking them to dance.

  "I know what we must do," said one of the flamingoes at last. "We mustgo and get some stockings for our legs--pink, black and white like thecoral snakes themselves--then they will all fall in love with us!"

  The whole flock of them took wing immediately and flew across the riverto a village nearby. They went to the store and knocked:

  "Tan! Tan! Tan!"

  "Who is it?" called the storekeeper.

  "We're the flamingoes. We have come to get some stockings--pink, black,and white."

  "Are you crazy?" the storekeeper answered. "I keep stockings for people,not for silly birds. Besides, stockings of such colors! You won't findany in town, either!"

  The flamingoes went on to another store:

  "Tan! Tan! Tan! We are looking for stockings--pink, black and white.Have you any?"

  "Pink, black and white stockings! Don't you know decent people don'twear such things? You must be crazy! Who are you, anyway?"

  "We are the flamingoes," the flamingoes replied.

  "In that case you are silly flamingoes! Better go somewhere else!"

  They went to still a third store:

  "Tan! Tan! Pink, black and white stockings! Got any?"

  "Pink, black and white nonsense!" called the storekeeper. "Only birdswith big noses like yours could ask for such a thing. Don't make trackson my floor!"

  And the man swept them into the street with a broom.

  So the flamingoes went from store to store, and everywhere people calledthem silly, stupid birds.

  However, an owl, a mischievous _tatu_, who had just been down to theriver to get some water, and had heard all about the ball and theflamingoes, met them on his way back and thought he would have some funwith them.

  "Good evening, good evening, flamingoes," he said, making a deep bow,though, of course, it was just to ridicule the foolish birds. "I knowwhat you are looking for. I doubt if you can get any such stockings intown. You might find them in Buenos Aires; but you would have to orderthem by mail. My sister-in-law, the barn owl, has stockings like that,however. Why don't you go around and see her? She can give you her ownand borrow others from her family."

  "Thanks! Thanks, ever so much!" said the flamingoes; and they flew offto the cellar of a barn where the barn owl lived.

  "Tan! Tan! Good evening, Mrs. Owl," they said. "A relation of yours, Mr.Tatu, advised us to call on you. Tonight, as you know, the snakes aregiving a costume ball, and we have no costumes. If you could lend usyour pink, black and white stockings, the coral snakes would be sure tofall in love with us!"

  "Pleased to accommodate you," said the barn owl. "Will you wait just amoment?"

  She flew away and was gone some time. When she came back she had thestockings with her. But they were not real stockings. They were nothingbut skins from coral snakes which the owl had caught and eaten duringthe previous days.

  "Perhaps these will do," she remarked. "But if you wear them at theball, I advise you to do strictly as I say: dance all night long, anddon't stop a moment. For if you do, you will get into trouble, I assureyou!"

  The flamingoes listened to what she said; but, stupidly, did not try toguess what she could have meant by such counsel. They saw no danger inthe pretty stockings. Delightedly they doubled up their claws likefists, stuck them through the snakeskins, which were like so many longrubber tubes, and flew back as quickly as they could to the ball.

  When the guests at the dance saw the flamingoes in such handsomestockings, they were as jealous as could be. You see, the coral snakeswere the lions of the evening, and after the flamingoes came back, theywould dance with no one but the flamingoes. Remembering the instructionsof the barn owl, the flamingoes kept their feet going all the time, andthe snakes could not see very clearly just what those wonderfulstockings were.

  After a time, however, they grew suspicious. When a flamingo camedancing by, the snakes would get down off the ends of their tails toexamine its feet more closely. The coral snakes, more than anybody else,began to get uneasy. They could not take their eyes off those stockings,and they got as near as they could, trying to touch the legs of theflamingoes with the tips of their tongues--for snakes use their tonguesto feel with, much as people use their hands. But the flamingoes keptdancing and dancing all the while, though by this time they were gettingso tired they were about ready to give up.

  The coral snakes understood that sooner or later the flamingoes wouldhave to stop. So they borrowed the lightning bugs from the frogs, to beready when the flamingoes fell from sheer exhaustion.

  And in fact, it was not long before one of the birds, all tired out,tripped over the cigar in an alligator's mouth, and fell down on herside. The coral snakes all ran toward her with their lanterns, and heldthe lightning bugs up so close that they could see the feet of theflamingo as clearly as could be.

  "Aha! Aha! Stockings, eh? Stockings, eh?" The coral snakes began to hissso loudly that people could hear them on the other side of the Parana.

  The cry was taken up by all the snakes: "They are not wearing stockings!We know what they have done! The flamingoes have been killing brothersof ours, and they are wearing their skins as stockings! Those prettylegs each stand for the murder of a coral snake!"

  At this uproar, the flamingoes took fright and tried to fly away. Butthey were so tired from all the dancing that not one of them could movea wing. The coral snakes darted upon them, and began to bite at theirlegs, tearing off the false stockings bit by bit, and, in their rage,sinking their fangs deep into the feet and legs of the flamingoes.

  The flamingoes, terrified and mad with pain, hopped this way and that,trying to shake their e
nemies off. But the snakes did not let go tillevery last shred of stocking had been torn away. Then they crawled off,to rearrange their gauze costumes that had been much rumpled in thefray. They did not try to kill the flamingoes then and there; for mostcoral snakes are poisonous; and they were sure the birds they had bittenwould die sooner or later anyway.

  But the flamingoes did not die. They hopped down to the river and wadedout into the water to relieve their pain. Their feet and legs, which hadbeen white before, had now turned red from the poison in the bites. Theystood there for days and days, trying to cool the burning ache, andhoping to wash out the red.

  "The flamingoes ... hopped down to the river, and wadedout ... to relieve their pain."]

  But they did not succeed. And they have not succeeded yet. Theflamingoes still pass most of their time standing on their red legs outin the water. Occasionally they go ashore and walk up and down for a fewmoments to see if they are getting well. But the pain comes again atonce, and they hurry back into the water. Even there they sometimes feelan ache in one of their feet; and they lift it out to warm it in theirfeathers. They stand that way on one leg for hours, I suppose becausethe other one is so stiff and lame.

  That is why the flamingoes have red legs instead of white. And thefishes know it too. They keep coming up to the top of the water andcrying "Red legs! Red legs! Red legs!" to make fun of the flamingoes forhaving tried to borrow costumes for a ball. On that account, theflamingoes are always at war with the fishes. As they wade up and down,and a fish comes up too close in order to shout "Red legs" at them, theydip their long bills down and catch it if they can.