Why Hippos Don't Eat Fish
Why Hippos Don't Eat Fish, a Kikuyu folktale
This is a folktale of the Kikuyu People who live in the highlands of south-central Kenya near mighty Mount Kenya, the ice-capped earthly throne of the Good Lord N'gai...
Long, long ago, the Good Lord N'gai – creator of the universe and everything in it – made plans for all the earth's creatures. He made the Hippopotamus as an animal of the forests and plains.
Hippopotamus was greedy, however. With plenty of food all around and no enemies to worry about, he grew fatter and fatter, and the fatter he got, the more he suffered from the heat of the midday sun.
Day after day, Hippopotamus waddled down to the river to drink, where he would gaze with envy at all the little fishes that swam in the clear water cooled by melted snow from far-away Mount Kenya.
"Oh me oh my," he would sigh, "how wonderful it would be if I could live, like Good Lord N'gai's happy little fishes, in this clear, cool, refreshing water!"
Hippopotamus pondered his troubles for many days, until on one particularly hot day he decided to appeal to The Lord of All Creation. "Please, Good Lord N'gai," he cried loudly to the heavens,
"Allow me to leave the forests and plains! Let me live instead in the clear, cool waters of your rivers, chilled by far-away Mount Kenya's melted snow, for the heat of the fiery sun is killing me!"
"No, Hippopotamus", Good Lord N'gai replied, "my little fishes are very dear to me, and if you were to live in the river you might eat my little fishes! No, you must continue to live on dry land."
So Hippopotamus stayed in his home in the forests and plains, where the sun continued to beat down mercilessly on his unprotected hide. "This is more that I can bear!", moaned the poor creature.
"Please, please, Good Lord N'gai," wailed Hippopotamus, "let me leave the forests and plains to live in the rivers and lakes! I promise most faithfully that I will not eat your little fishes."
Good Lord N'gai looked down on the plains baking in the heat of the midday sun and his heart softened. "Hippopotamus," he called down, "how will you prove to me you are not eating my little fishes?"
"I will lie in the cool water by day, and at night I will graze along the river bank until I have eaten my fill," replied Hippopotamus. "I promise you, I will never eat any of your little fishes."
"That alone will not prove you have been true to your promise!," the Good Lord N'gai pointed out. Hippopotamus pondered as his belly rumbled with hunger... and just like that, he had the answer!
"Well then, I will tell you," answered Hippopotamus, smugly. "I will come out of the water every time that food passes through my body, and I will scatter my dung on the earth with my tail."
"All that I have eaten will be spread out in your sight," he added, "and you will see for yourself that there are no fish bones among the dung. Surely, this will be proof enough!"
And that is why, to this very day, the hippopotamus comes out of the water to scatter its dung with its tail, looking up to the heavens all the while as if to say "See, Good Lord N'gai, no fishes!"
(adaptation, via Victoria Falls Guide)
(image via Achim P. Unger)