Tragically Hip

Far away in Africa, where sun is hot as a burning pan and water is fresh as a just plucked carrot, lived a herd of hippos. One day a new hippo happened to come to the existing pod and asked for shelter.

„I came from thousands of miles away, I haven‘t eaten or drank all day. I got lost from my family and don‘t know what to do, please help a poor hippo, I beg of you, “ he said.

„Why do you want to join us instead of keeping on searching for your own family?, “ the bull asked. He had a gut feeling that this young calf wouldn‘t do much harm to their pod and actually was not very reluctant to accept him. However, he was still responsible for the whole herd‘s safety and well being, thus he simply couldn‘t make such a decision light-heartedly.

The calf explained, „Yesterday morning I woke up alone, all of my family just wasn‘t at home, we didn‘t have plans to move out from there, so I didn‘t know what to think and got scared. I tried to look for them around where I could, but they were out of my reach and it vastly upset my mood. My parents and sister were all that I had, and so I kept searching for them on the path. I spent a whole week on the road and got no result, so now I just think they‘re held by men with guns. I can‘t fight with them – I‘m too young and not strong, so now I am looking for another herd to belong. “

The bull was touched by such a tragic story and decided to accept the youngster into his pod. But he still wanted to keep an eye on him, because the little hippo seemed quite strange, yet the bull was still unsure of how exactly. He informed the pod about their new member and asked them to report straight away if something unusual or bad happens.

Then he said to the young one, „Okay, I‘ll take you in for a while and if you fit in, you can stay with us. What‘s your name, by the way? “

„My name is Karl and thank you dearly, I promise to behave. You saved me clearly. “

Several days passed, and the calf wasn‘t very successful at fitting in. The point is, no one really knew why exactly. Karl just seemed to be very annoying and simply couldn‘t make any friends. One night, to Karl‘s frustration, he overheard a conversation between two mother cows in the river.

One said, „That Karl has been here for almost a week and yet everyone still dislikes him. He seems quite a nice calf, but he still hasn‘t made even one friend. “

The other agreed, „Yes, the young one is very displeasing, and I can‘t even tell why. I think, if it continues, eventually he will have to leave. “

Karl then realised, that now matter how much he wanted to be a part of this pod, he will never be one because of his uniqueness. And Karl himself perfectly knew what was the trouble. He just hoped it wouldn‘t matter. After all, how could he expect an alien pod to accept him with all his traits when even his own family herd left him alone. Karl wanted to cry, but he didn‘t shed a tear. He pulled himself together, took all his belongings and the next morning he went to the bull to say goodbye.

„I thank you for all the good wishes intended
But I am afraid that my stay here has ended.
I knew that such thing would happen everywhere,
But I naively hoped that you wouldn‘t care.
You see, I have told you a slight piece of lies,
I perfectly knew why my herd cut the ties,
It wasn‘t my manners, or that I was weak
It was only one thing – the way that I speak.
I hoped in the world there‘s a place to speak rhymes,
But now I will leave and wait for better times.
I‘m thankful for everything that you for me did,
I guess for forever I‘ll stay tragically hip. “