Week 11 Story, The Hippo and the Bird

 

    A hippo waded in the water at a waterhole in the African wilderness. The hippos name was George he was a young teenager insanely bored with life in his ecosystem. He would sit and watch the birds. Overtime George became jealous of the birds, and the way they flitted and floated above the trees. George wanted to feel weightless and fly above the tree line, but he was bound by his weight to the ground and bound by his family to this specific watering hole.

    Eventually George's jealously got the best of him and he wanted to punish the birds for their freedom. He began to devise a plan to catch a bird and kill him. 

George called to the Bird "Hey tommy come here." 

Tommy flew to George and circled around his head.

George started "Tommy have you ever wanted to now what its like to swim under the water?"

"Well no I've never really thought about it. This watering hole seems so small compared to the giant sky."

George immediately became irritated and defensive. "Well its actually really cool its full of all kinds of fish and other animals you've never met before."

Tommy's face showed that he was trying to process that there was this whole underwater world he wasn't familiar with.

"Yeah  actually George I would like that!" exclaimed Tommy.

"Perfect" George said with a smirk. "All you have to do is hop inside my mouth and I'll take you for a spin."

George opened his mouth wide revealing a mouth full of very big teeth. It made Tommy kind of nervous just looking at them but he went ahead and sat on George's tongue. To George's surprise he started to feel regret. He had never had a true friend at the watering hole. All the other animals were scared of his massive jaws. So he was careful when he took Tommy underwater to not crush him. When he came back up Tommy stayed sitting on his tongue. They carried on their strange friendship for many years.

This story is based on Ellen C Babbit's, "The Monkey and the Crocodile" Jakata Tales: The Monkey and the Crocodile. I went for a happier ending because I am a romcom regular. The Hippo in this story is the parallel for the crocodile and the bird is a parallel for the monkey. Instead of the bird outsmarting the hippo like what happens in the regular story he trusts him. I think this a great life lesson to because sometimes when we open up and allow ourselves to be vulnerable like Tommy was we can make great friends. Added Inspiration was the codependent relationship hippos and birds have in real life.

Hippo With Bird