What a fine world this would be if a swallow could fall in love with a stray cat and the two of them could live happily ever after! In this marvelous dreamworld there is no prejudice at all between creatures or people high and low. Jorge Amado, the internationally best-selling Brazilian novelist, has written a delightful fable that could become the favorite gift between star-crossed lovers everywhere. Although this is indeed a fantasy in which Dawn and Morning and Spring and the Wind are memorable characters along with Miss Swallow and the Striped Cat, the Reverend Parrot and the Old Owl, Amado fans will be cheered by the same storyteller's art, the wild imagination, the lusty humor, and the philosophical asides of the master himself. Jorge Amado brings a richness of meaning to the simple tale of long ago when the Swallow and the Tom Cat fell in love.