Why The Warthog Is So Ugly

Why The Warthog Is So Ugly, an African folktale

In the Beginning, Warthog was the handsomest of all the animals. He knew this, and unfortunately became very vain. As a result, none of the other animals liked Warthog very much

One morning, Warthog left his burrow and wandered off with his tail proudly sticking up, searching for breakfast. He passed Porcupine, who had been up all night foraging for food

Porcupine was extremely tired but he still had a long way to go before he reached his home. Porcupine had an idea… why not nip into Warthog's burrow and have a quick nap before Warthog returned?

And so, Porcupine crawled into Warthog's burrow and promptly fell asleep. Meanwhile, Warthog had found a waterhole, wallowed luxuriously in the mud, and found some delicious fresh grass to graze on

Nearby under a tree and watching all of this, was Lioness. Warthog couldn't resist showing off how handsome he was, covered in glistening mud like a bronze statue

Now Lioness was in a particularly bad mood that morning, and having Warthog parade around her so arrogantly was just too much for her to bear. Letting out a great roar, she charged at Warthog!

Warthog realized that he had pushed Lioness too far this time. Fleeing in panic, he ran as fast as he could back to his burrow… with the angry Lioness hot on his tail

Warthog ran straight into his burrow, head first, knowing that Lioness was far too big to follow him in. Indeed, Lioness stopped short just outside the burrow's entrance, roaring in frustration

All of the noise and commotion awoke Porcupine, who had been sound asleep. Thinking that he was being attacked, he instinctively spun around and spread his quills, ready to fend off any intruder

Warthog, however, was running so fast that he was unable to slow down when he saw Porcupine, and ran straight into his coat of 30,000 quills. Warthog cried out in shock and pain!

He hastily backed out of his burrow but many of Porcupine's quills had become stuck in his face and nose. Lioness, seeing Warthog coming out with a face full of quills, laughed mockingly

"Serves you right," said Lioness, "that will teach you to be so vain." When the other animals heard what had happened to Warthog, they all came to laugh too, and no one helped him pull out the quills

Poor Warthog's face swelled up and his once handsome features vanished. He was very upset, but eventually he realized he had learnt a hard lesson for wallowing in vanity

To this very day, Warthogs are still ugly - and they always enter their burrows backwards, just in case!

(adapted, via Travel Butlers)

(images via Dreamstime and Tinga Tinga Tales)