When spring arrives, big things are happening in nature. Flowers wake up, trees start to turn green, and young babies are born to animals. One such baby animal was born in our zoo as well. A little hippo arrived in the world. It was a big event and all the animals at the zoo were very happy. The caretakers were excited as well.
As time went by, the little hippo was getting acquainted with the world and life at the zoo. He was very clever and learned everything quickly. His caretaker checked on him regularly and observed him. But there was something that still didn’t seem quite right to him. The little hippo was still too small and tired. He wasn’t growing much. He yawned often. The caretaker didn’t like it. He wanted to know what the little hippo was lacking, so he kept an eye on him. But nothing strange happened throughout the day. The hippo ate, walked around, and spent time in the water like the others. Everything was in order. The caretaker therefore decided to try to keep an eye on the hippo at night as well. He came to his enclosure in the evening and waited to see if anything would happen.
All the hippos were already fast asleep. Only the little hippo was not. He was trying to close his eyes, to make himself comfortable, but after a while he would open his eyes again and pace nervously around the enclosure. He simply couldn’t sleep. “So that’s why you’re so tired and aren’t growing! You’re sleep deprived, my friend,” the caretaker thought aloud as he observed the little hippo. The same thing happened during the next few nights. Everyone was asleep except for the little hippo who couldn’t fall asleep.
The caretaker came closer to his enclosure. He gave the hippo a friendly look and said kindly: “What’s the matter with you? Why can’t you sleep?” The hippo looked at him, sad and tired. Then the caretaker picked up a book, sat down in the grass as close to the enclosure as he could manage, and said: “You know what? I’ll try something. When my children can’t seem to fall asleep, I read them a fairytale. And that always does the trick. I’ll try to read something to you, and we’ll see.” The caretaker picked out a nice fairytale and started to read. At first, the little hippo looked at him in confusion. But then he realized that his eyes were actually starting to close. He laid down to listen. He liked the caretaker’s calm voice. It soothed him and lulled him to sleep. A little while later, the little hippo was asleep. The caretaker smiled and left.
The next evening, the little hippo was waiting by the fence, on the lookout for his favorite human friend. He was looking forward to another reading session. The caretaker realized that the little hippo was waiting impatiently for him. So he found a comfortable spot in the grass once again and read. And that’s how it went every night, until the little hippo grew up. When the other caretakers at the zoo found out about this, they laughed and were astonished; they couldn’t believe their ears or eyes. But when they saw that the little hippo was growing beautifully and had enough strength and energy thanks to good sleep, they were happy and praised the caretaker. To this day, the caretaker can’t explain why it was specifically reading what helped the hippo. But he was determined to do anything in his power to make sure that the animals in his zoo were thriving.
And the hippo? If he could speak, he would explain everything to us. An animal can tell when someone is good and kind. It can tell when someone cares about them. And so he was glad to have his attentive caretaker. He had a calm voice and dedicated time and love to the little hippo. And that was the best thing. Besides, he was very good at reading.
