Abstract: The fable allows the author to convey an ethical message. Aware of the genre's poten-tial at the time of Salazar's dictatorship, José Cardoso Pires (1925-1998) used it as a tool to challenge the established order. Using the story Dinossauro Excelentíssimo, published in 1972, we examine the paradox of a censor who, in spite of himself, found himself the victim of the "máquina de controlar palavras".
