The Very Muddy Hippopotamus

Once there was a very muddy hippopotamus. She liked to spend her days wallowing in her favorite mud hole. She would roll in the mud. She would squish the mud between her toes. She would sing songs about the mud. She only left to go to the river and and drink, or to get food. And, whenever she left the mud hole, she would always be covered, from the tips of her ears to the end of her tail, in thick, gooey mud.

The other animals in the jungle were not happy with the hippopotamus. The birds, the swallows and flamingos, complained that she would get mud on their lovely feathers. The leopard complained that she would get mud on her elegant spots. The tiger complained that she would get mud over his splendid stripes. Even the antelope complained that she would get mud on her silky, fawn fur (before noticing that she was sharing a paragraph with a tiger and promptly being eaten).

What the other animals did not know was that the hippopotamus had a secret: underneath the mud her skin was a bright, shocking pink. Of course the hippopotamus was very shy about this. “If the other animals see that I’m pink, they’ll all laugh at me,” she thought. And so, whenever she left her mud hole, she would make sure she was completely covered in thick, gooey mud.

One day a fairy queen came to the jungle to see how the animals  were getting along.

All the animals complained about the very muddy hippopotamus. The tiger complained about getting mud on his splendid stripes. The leopard complained about getting mud on her elegant spots. The storks and the flamingos complained about getting mud on their lovely feathers. Even an antelope complained about getting mud on her silky, fawn fur. (This was another antelope who was carefully staying at the opposite end of the paragraph from the tiger).

The fairy queen listened to all the animals grumbling, and then she waved her wand to create a magical hippopotamus washer. There were round, whirling brushes that would scrub the mud off the hippopotamus’ sides. There was another whirling brush that would come down from above and scrub the hippopotamus’ back. There were nozzles that would go back and forth, spraying the hippopotamus with warm, soapy water. There were more nozzles to rinse the hippopotamus with clean water, and more whirling brushes with towels attached to dry her off afterwards. There was even a conveyor belt which would carry the hippopotamus between the whirling brushes and spraying nozzles before she knew what was happening. (The fairy queen decided against including the magical under-body hot wax spray).

And so, the next day, when the hippopotamus left her mud hole to go to the river, she stepped onto the conveyor belt and the magical hippopotamus washer started up. Suddenly there were whirly brushes scrubbing her and nozzles spraying her from directions. Before she knew it the mud was all gone and, the hippopotamus was standing, bright pink, in the middle of the jungle.

The poor hippopotamus was so shy and embarrassed that she wanted to run away and hide. But then something strange happened. All the other animals started saying “ooh” and “ahh”. The tiger said how splendid his black and orange stripes would look next to the pink hippopotamus. The leopard said how elegant his spots would be against a bright pink backdrop. The stork said how lovely it would be with her feathers, and the flamingo was particularly impressed. Even the antelope seemed about to say how well pink would go with her silky, fawn fur, except that she was eaten by a lion before she could speak. (The lion hadn’t been mentioned in our story so far because she’d been hiding in the tall grass waiting to pounce the whole time.)

After that things changed for the hippopotamus. She would still spend most of her days wallowing in her favorite mud hole. She would still roll in the mud. She would still squish the mud between her toes. She would still sings songs about the mud. But now, whenever she left her mud hole, she would jump onto the conveyor belt of the magical hippopotamus washer, and then she would parade about the jungle, bright pink and as happy and proud as can be.