There was once a herd of hippopotamuses who lived in a big muddy, gloopy pool. The hippos spent a lot of time eating water lillies and grass. And when not eating they spent their time swimming lots and generally cavorting in the water.
For many years the waters had been there.
The pool got a little smaller as the sun beat down in the summer but grew again as the rains came and the hippos looked through the rain pattering on the water and felt comfortable and generally at ease and munched another water lily.
But over the years the rains became less and less and the clouds in the sky became smaller and came less often. Slowly the pool began to shrink and there were fewer water lillies and as the pool got smaller year by year the hippos began to get tetchy and grumpy and spent a lot of time stumping around the edge of the pool looking to get into the water. not all the hippos could get into the pool now. But the hippos took their turn at standing and swimming in the water and occasionally when they found one, munching on a water lily.
As the pool got smaller and smaller the hippos began to notice that there was one hippo, a very big and very grumpy hippo, who never got out of the pool and lunged at any hippo who tried to get into the deep part of the pool. The hippos muttered about how selfish the fat hippo was and sometimes shouted hippo swear words at him like "You're a big greedy Croc head." Or "Zebra bottom."
As the pool got smaller and smaller the hippos spent more time wandering around in the sun that was beating down and eating grass. The fat, smug hippo stayed in the middle of the pool eating water lillies and not really bothered that the pool was getting smaller as the water was deep enough for him and he had water lillies enough, and that's all that mattered.
The sun kept beating down on the pool and the clouds eventually failed to come and the pool began to shrink so much that the fat smug hippo was the only hippo with enough water to swim in. the other hippos stood around looking at the other hippo trying to cover himself in mud and failing. The other hippos weren't happy. Some hadn't swum for years and used to listen to stories of the older hippos about frolicking and snorting in water with a yearning. Wondering about what it was like to have so much water that you could lie in it all day without being disturbed by any other hippos if you didn't want to be.
The fat smug hippo looked at the other hippos wandering around and thought why don't they find their own pool. Silly hippos they'd all gone red from standing in the sun so much. At first he'd heard them complaining about their sun burn. He'd had to chase a few away who tried to roll in his mud but now these hippos seemed to tolerate the sun and though not happy as a muddy hippo they were surviving.
The hippos looked at the smug fat hippo and he was barely covered by water, the pool had died. The fat smug hippo wallowed ever deeper but there wasn't enough water, mud or water lillies for him. The sun was hurting the fat smug hippo's back but there was no water to stop the burning. And he bellowed in pain and his back slowly began to crack.
With the pool finally dead the hippos had a big meeting, a wallow of hippos, and after much grunting and shouting they began to listen to some of the special hippos. the one who spent a lot time talking dreamily about their dreams and visions. Some had seen that there might be more water elsewhere, over the hill and through the woods but maybe many many days march from the dead pool. At last they decided, yes they would go over the hill and through the dark woods and maybe they would find another big pool into which they could jump and throw water lillies up into the air and catch them and swallow them down.
The fat smug hippo's back was hurting and it was cracking badly. He saw the other hippos standing around in a big circle for many days. He couldn't hear what they were saying but one morning he saw them follow one of the dignified older hippos and start trudging up the hill. Why? Nobody had ever gone over the hill. His back was hurting so much now. It felt as if the sun was sucking away at him. he tried to shout after the other hippos as they disappeared up the hill, "Help me, Help me. My back hurts so badly, help me, please." He tried to follow the other hippos but was too weak to move, the sun was too hot ,his back hurt so much.
The line of hippos was slowly moving up the hill. the line wavered in the heat haze and he could barely see it. He felt a great weight on him and he had to go to sleep but his skin was burning. He felt so weak he could barely keep his head up. He'd just lain his head down when he heard a soft yicker. He opened his eyes to see a few yards away was a Hyeana, looking at him with hungry steely blood red eyes. The smug hippo wasn't worried, even when he saw other Hyaenas running to join the first one. No Hyaenas could hurt a big hippo.
"Go away and find a stupid wildebeest or an impala. You cannot hurt me," he shouted in his best and biggest voice that he could manage, though really he felt so weak.
"You're so right hippo," said the Hyaena chief silkily, "We can't hurt you your skin is so thick and you're so big, but our friend will kill you," he said looking up to the sky and the sun beating down.
"That's rubbish," the hippo snorted. "I'll simply follow my friends there." Nodding his head at distant line of hippos, so far up the hill.
"I don't think you will," the Hyaena chief said with such certainty that it chilled the smug hippo's heart.
"Rubbish, look," he raised a leg, or tried to but it hurt so much. He tried again, harder, so hard that he heard his skin crack and he let out a shout of pain. He couldn't move any of his legs, his skin had dried out so much.
"See, my friend," the Hyaena said softly. "Now we're going to sit down in the shade over there and just wait. Your blood smells so rich, we'll enjoy drinking that."
Now for the first time the fat smug hippo knew he was doomed. Doomed because he's wallowed in his own pool and wouldn't let anybody in. He'd never taken his turn out of the pool. His skin had never burnt gradually until it became used to the sun. Now he couldn't move because he'd been so greedy he hadn't changed like the other hippos. Now they were away looking for a pool they might find.
He looked at the burning eyes in the tree's shade.
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