Once, there lived a hippopotamus in a river next to a big tree. There also lived many birds and a squirrel on the tree. The hippopotamus was very jealous whenever he watched the birds flying in the sky and singing melodious songs. He was also jealous of the squirrel when he saw her jumping from one branch to another. He thought that the life of a bird and a squirrel is better than a hippo because birds can fly anywhere in the sky and squirrels can jump but hippos live only in the river. A bird always told the hippo that he was so lucky as he was so big and a good swimmer but he never understood. Finally, he made up his mind that he would climb up the tree, sit on its branch and sing like birds.
Next day, the hippo came out of the river and tried to climb up the tree. All the birds were watching him climbing and tried to stop him but he didn’t listen to anyone. Then, a squirrel tried to make him understand that he didn’t have wings to fly, claws to climb and he couldn’t even hop. He angrily forced his whole body against the tree and the whole tree came crashing down. Then, he proudly stepped onto the branch of the fallen tree and began singing. Unfortunately, hippos can’t sing either. All that came from his mouth were horrible noises and everyone started making fun of him. The hippo was embarrassed and realised that everyone is different from the other; everyone has a unique quality. From that day, he never regretted being a hippo and enjoyed his life. He also felt bad about having knocked down the tree. With all his might, he raised the tree again, replanted it, and looked after it until it had completely recovered.
