And the hippopotamus said, "Yes, just like the whale; only when I come
to the surface, I don't make such a big blowing sound as the whale
does."
Well, the little Cub Bear thought a long while, and he couldn't think
of anything the hippopotamus could do.
So he said to his papa, "Papa, can you tell me what the hittopotamus
can do to help us in building our house?"
And the Papa Bear said, "I don't know. I think if he would go down and
live in the lake above the dam that the beaver built, that would be
the best place for him, and he could help the beaver to make the dam
higher, and then when the beaver went to sleep the hippopotamus could
make some kind of a noise to warn us when people were coming."
So the hippopotamus agreed that he would do this, and he went down to
the lake. Just before he left he said, "I am very hungry, and I would
like something to eat."
The little Cub Bear said, "We have plenty of meat here, if you would
like some meat."
The hippopotamus said, "I don't eat meat. I eat grass like a horse,
only the grass I eat I get way down under the water."
The little Cub Bear said, "Then you will find plenty to eat down in the
lake."
And the hippopotamus went away to the lake, where he got acquainted
with the beaver, and planned to live there as long as the animals were
living in the forest.