Once upon a time, there was a hippo who lived in a river, next to a mangrove forest. One day, a nightingale nested on the tree. The hippo loved her voice, but slowly, he became jealous. He, too, wanted to sing like her. The hippo made up his mind that he would come out of the river, climb up the tree, perch on a branch, and start singing. So, he tried to climb up the tree. When he failed, he thought, ‘I shall ram against the tree, until it comes crashing down.’ Then, he stepped onto the leaves of the fallen tree, and began singing. Unfortunately, he just managed to make a lot of noise. All the animals laughed at him. The hippo stopped singing and realised that he should be happy as he was. He used all his strength to raise the tree back up again, and look after it until it had completely recovered.
Hippo, Who Wanted to Sing
