He sat on the riverbank and gazed at the little fishes swimming in the water.
“If only I could live in the water,” he thought. “How wonderful life would be.”
So he walked, and he ran, and he strolled, and he hopped, and he lumbered along, until he came to the mountain where Ngai lived.
Ngai was the god of everything and everywhere.
Ngai told the जानवर to live on the land and the fishes to live in the sea.
Ngai told the birds to fly in the air and the ants to live under the ground.
Ngai had told Hippo he was to live on the land and eat grass.
“Please, oh, great Ngai, god of everything and everywhere, I would so much like to live in the rivers and streams,” begged Hippo hopefully, “I would still eat grass.”
“AHA!” thundered the voice of Ngai. “So आप say. But one दिन आप might, just might, eat a मछली to see if it tasted good. And then आप would eat all my little fishes.”
“Oh, no. I promise I wouldn’t!” कहा Hippo.
“AHA!” thundered the voice of Ngai. “So आप say. But how can I be sure of that? I प्यार my little fishes.”
“I would दिखाना you,” promised Hippo. “I will let आप look in my mouth whenever आप like to see that I am not eating your little fishes.”
“And I will stir up the water with my tail so आप can see I have not hidden the bones.”
“AHA!” thundered the voice of Ngai. “Then आप may live in the water, but…”
Hippo waited.
“But आप must come out of the water at night and eat घास so that even in the dark I can tell that आप are not eating my little fishes. Agreed?”
“Agreed!” sang Hippo happily.
And he ran all the way घर until he got to the river where he jumped in with a mighty SPLASH!
And he sank like a stone because he couldn’t swim.
But he could hold his breath and run along the bottom which he does to this very day.
And he stirred up the bottom द्वारा wagging his little tail so that Ngai can see he has not hidden any मछली bones.
And now and then, he floats to the चोटी, शीर्ष and opens his huge mouth ever so wide and says, “Look, Ngai. No fishes.”
