Pingu is asleep in bed, and is woken by Mother and Pinga singing “Happy Birthday”. When he gets up and goes into the kitchen he finds a large parcel waiting for him. He wants to open it, but Mother tells him he has to wait until 12 o’clock. Pingu goes outside, paces up and down for a short while and then notices that Mother and Pinga are about to go out. As they leave, Pingu is sitting by the door nonchalantly looking at a book. Mother asks him if he’d like to come with her and Pinga, but he says that he’ll stay and read the book. Once Mother and Pinga have gone he rushes inside to the parcel, and looks at it from several angles, including from under the table. Forgetting he’s under the table he gets up and bangs his head, and while rubbing it is dismayed to see that he’s knocked over a flower vase, and that the water inside has run all over the parcel. He puts the parcel on the stove to dry it off, and sets about clearing up all the water that was spilt. On finishing, he remembers that the parcel is still on the stove and takes it off, but it’s very hot and he drops it on the floor. Pingu blows on his hands to cool them, and then notices that the parcel is somewhat battered. He straightens it up, and then goes to get a drill so he can make a hole in the parcel to see what’s inside. While he’s looking, he hears Mother and Pinga returning. As they come in, Pingu goes out with the drill hidden behind him so that Mother and Pinga don’t see it. Pinga notices that a patch has appeared on the outside of the parcel, follows Pingu outside and sees him toss the drill into the shed. She asks him what he was doing, but Pingu tells her he wasn’t doing anything. When 12 o’clock arrives, Mother opens the parcel while Pingu, Father, Pinga and Grandfather watch. Inside the parcel is a very battered birthday cake! They’re surprised to see the state that the cake is in, but Father and Grandfather sample it and say that it tastes good, so everyone is happy.

• Silvio Mazzola
• Otmar Gutmann
• Erika Brueggemann

• Marcello Magni
• David Sant
• Carlo Bonomi