It was a hot and windy day in Lisbon... so hot that these three young women didn't know what to wear. After much discussion and the trying on and taking off of clothes, they finally decided to dress in each other's clothes, and fix their makeup in the same, friendly style.
"It may be hot," the first one said, "but it's never too hot for felt boots that make our legs look so thin and shapely." "And so chic!" said the second girl. And so felt it was in hot pink, bright orange and lipstick red.
When it came to their hair, they were also quite particular. The first one said, "To stand out in a crowd, one must have very fluffy hair." "To stand out in a crowd," the second said, "you must braid your hair nicely." But the third one stood on top of the table and said, "You're both right! but we must ALSO have multi-colored hair - everyone else wears just brown or blonde - we must be spectacular!" And so they were....
They strolled along the Corniche, looking in shop windows like the one above, and hoping some young stud steed would notice them, and wisk them away like prince charming.
Then out of nowwhere it seemed, they came across three handsome princes disguised as giraffes. "Did you know" the first girl said, "giraffes have the biggest hearts of all the animal kingdom." "No, that's not possible" said her friend, "elephants are MUCH larger." "Ah but you forget, the giraffe has to have the biggest heart so that he can pump the blood all the way up that long neck to his head! He is really a remarkable creature...in fact, he's spectacular! Like us!" ....and with that, the three lovelies from Lisbon found their true loves while window shopping in front of the Rosa/Hilda/Ana vitrine. A perfect, happy ending!
All these wonderful softies are handmade by Hilda Portela, who lives in Lisbon. I made up this little story, insprired by the beautiful colors and personalities of her dolls. Hilda's flickr pool is here for more photos of these softies and her other work, including her famous horses. Her Planeta Hilda blog and how to purchase her softies - here.
