Once upon a time,a hippo lived in a river next to a big tree.

    One day, a bird cameand nested in the tree. The songs of the bird filled the hippo with so much envy(羡慕) that he couldn't think of anything else. Every day he would thinkwhy he wasn't born to be a bird even though the bird told him many times he wasso lucky to be so big and such a good swimmer.

    Finally, the hippo made up his mind that he would come out of the river, climbthe tree, and start singing. However, when he tried to climbthe tree, it was very clear that the hippo didn't have wings, nor claws to climbwith.

    Realizing that hewould never climb up the tree, he angrily hit the tree until it came crashing onthe ground. Then he stepped onto the leaves of the fallen tree, and began singing.

    Unfortunately, hipposcan't sing, either. All that came from his mouth were terrible noises, and whenthe other animals heard this, they all came around to make fun of the hippo.

    He was so ashamedby this. He also felt bad about having knocked the tree over. He used all his strengthto raise the tree back up again, and look after it until it completely recovered.