[Illustration: “There was Alice on Chunky’s broad back!”]
_Kneetime Animal Stories_
CHUNKY
THE HAPPY HIPPO
HIS MANY ADVENTURES
BY
RICHARD BARNUM
Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Mappo, the
Merry Monkey,” “Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant,”
“Tinkle, the Trick Pony,”
“Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat,” etc.
_ILLUSTRATED BY
WALTER S. ROGERS_
PUBLISHERS
BARSE & CO.
NEW YORK, N. Y. NEWARK, N. J.
Copyright, 1918
by
BARSE & CO.
Chunky, The Happy Hippo
_Printed in the United States of America_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I CHUNKY HAS A LAUGH 7
II CHUNKY IS SURPRISED 17
III CHUNKY IS BITTEN 26
IV CHUNKY IN THE MUD 36
V CHUNKY IS CAUGHT 45
VI CHUNKY TAKES A TRIP 55
VII CHUNKY’S NEW FRIENDS 66
VIII CHUNKY ON A SHIP 75
IX CHUNKY FALLS OVERBOARD 84
X CHUNKY IN THE CIRCUS 91
XI CHUNKY’S NEW TRICK 102
XII CHUNKY AND THE LITTLE GIRL 112
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
“There was Alice on Chunky’s broad back!” _Frontispiece_
“He went in backward and made a great splash” 15
“It was the crocodile that had bitten Chunky” 35
“Out came Chunky as nicely as you please” 51
“The little hippo boy was being taken away” 65
“Splash! That was Chunky himself falling overboard” 87
“‘Now he is smiling at you!’” 109
CHUNKY, THE HAPPY HIPPO
CHAPTER I
CHUNKY HAS A LAUGH
Once upon a time, some years ago, but not so long that you could not
easily remember if you tried, there lived in a muddy river of a far-off
country called Africa, a great, big, animal-baby named “Chunky.” He was
not a fish, though he could stay under water, not breathing at all, for
maybe ten minutes, and that is why he swam in the muddy river so much.
He did not mind the mud in the river. He rather liked it, for when he
sank away down under the dark, brown water no one could see him.
And Chunky did not want any of the lions or tigers, or perhaps the
black African hunters to see him, for they might have hurt him.
But, for all that, Chunky was a happy, jolly, little animal-baby, and
would soon grow up to be a big animal boy, for he ate pecks and pecks
of the rich, green grass that grew on the bottom and banks of the
African river.
Now, I suppose, you are wondering what sort of animal-baby Chunky was.
In the first place he was quite large――as large as the largest fat pig
on your grandfather’s farm. And Chunky really looked a little like a
pig, except that his nose was broad and square instead of pointed.
Chunky was a hippopotamus, as perhaps you have guessed. But, as
hippopotamus is quite a long and hard word for little boys and girls to
remember, I will first tell you what it means, and then I will make it
short for you, so you will have no hard work at all to remember it, or
say it.
Hippopotamus means “river-horse”; and a great many years ago when
people first saw the queer animals swimming in the African rivers, they
thought they were horses that liked to be in the water instead of on
land. So that is how the hippopotamus got its name of river horse. But
we’ll call them hippos for short, and it will do just as well.
Chunky was called the happy hippo. And he was very happy. In fact when
he opened his big mouth to swallow grass and river weeds you might have
thought he was laughing.
Chunky lived with Mr. and Mrs. Hippo, who were his father and mother,
in a sort of big nest among the reeds and bushes on the bank of the
river. Near them were other hippos, some large and some small, but
Chunky liked best to be with his own folks.
Besides his father and mother, there was Mumpy, his sister, and Bumpy,
his brother. Funny names, aren’t they? And I’ll tell you how the little
hippos happened to get them.
One day, when Chunky didn’t have any name, nor his brother or sister
either, a great, big, fat hippo mother came over to see Mrs. Hippo. The
visitor, whose name was Mrs. Dippo, as we might say, because she liked
to dip herself under the water so much――this Mrs. Dippo said, talking
hippopotamus talk of course:
“My, what nice children you have, Mrs. Hippo.”
“Yes, they are rather nice,” said Mrs. Hippo, as she looked at the
three of them asleep in the soft, warm mud near the edge of the river.
You may think it queer for the little hippo babies to sleep in the mud.
But they liked it. The more mud they had on them the better it kept off
the mosquitoes and other biting bugs.
“Have you named them yet?” asked Mrs. Dippo.
“Not yet,” answered Mrs. Hippo. “I’ve been waiting until I could think
of good names.”
“Well, I’d call that one Chunky,” said Mrs. Dippo, pointing with her
left ear at the largest of the three little hippos. Mrs. Dippo had to
point with her ear, for she was too heavy to raise one foot to point
and stand on three. She had only her ears to point with. “I’d call him
Chunky,” said Mrs. Dippo.
“Why?” asked Mrs. Hippo.
“Oh, because he’s so jolly-looking; just like a great, big fat chunk of
warm mud,” answered Mrs. Dippo. “Call him Chunky.”
“I will,” said Mrs. Hippo, and that is how Chunky got his name.
“Now for your other two children,” went on Mrs. Dippo. “That one,” and
she pointed her ear at Chunky’s sister, “I should call Mumpy.”
“Why?” Mrs. Hippo again asked.
“Oh, because she looks just as if her cheeks were all swelled out with
the mumps,” answered Mrs. Dippo. For animals sometimes have mumps,
or pains and aches just like them. But Chunky’s sister didn’t have
them――at least not then. The reason her cheeks stuck out so was because
she had a big mouthful of river grass on which she was chewing.
“Yes, I think Mumpy will be a good name for her,” said Mrs. Hippo, and
so Chunky’s sister was named. Then there was left only his brother, who
was younger than Chunky.
Just as Mrs. Dippo finished naming the two little animal children, the
one who was left without a name awakened from his sleep and got up.
He slipped on a muddy place near the bank of the river and bumped into
Chunky, nearly knocking him over.
“Oh, look out, you bumpy boy!” cried Mrs. Hippo, speaking, of course,
in animal talk.
“Ha! That’s his name!” cried Mrs. Dippo, with a laugh.
“What is?” asked Mrs. Hippo.
“Bumpy!” said Mrs. Dippo. “Don’t you see? He bumped into Chunky, so you
can call him Bumpy!”
“That’s a fine name,” said Mrs. Hippo, and Bumpy liked it himself.
So that is how the three little hippos were named, and after that they
kept on eating and growing and growing and eating until they were quite
large――larger even than pigs.
One day, Mr. and Mrs. Hippo and most of their animal friends were quite
far out in the river, diving down to dig up the sweet roots that grew
near the bottom. Chunky, Mumpy and Bumpy were on the bank lying in the
sun to get dry, for they had been swimming about near shore.
“Are you going in again?” asked Mumpy, of her brothers, talking, of
course, in the way hippos do.
“No, I’ve been in swimming enough to-day,” said Bumpy. “I’m going back
into the jungle and sleep,” for the river where the hippos lived was
near a jungle, in which there were elephants, monkeys and other wild
animals.
“I’m going in the water once more,” said Mumpy. “I haven’t had enough
grass to eat.”
“I haven’t, either,” said Chunky, who was fatter than ever and jollier
looking. “I’ll go in with you, Mumpy.”
So the two young hippos walked slowly down to the edge of the deep,
muddy river. Far out in the water they could see their father and
mother, with the larger animals, having a swim. Chunky and Mumpy walked
slowly now, though they could run fast when they needed to, to get away
from danger; for though a hippo is fat and seems clumsy, and though his
legs are very short, he can, at times, run very fast.
And as they went slowly along, Chunky and Mumpy looked about on all
sides of them, and sniffed the air very hard. They were trying to see
danger, and also to smell it. In the jungle wild animals can sometimes
tell better by smelling when there is danger than by looking. For the
tangled vines do not let them see very far among the trees, but there
is nothing to stop them from smelling unless the wind blows too hard.
“Is everything all right, Chunky?” asked Mumpy of her brother, as she
saw him stop on the edge of a patch of reeds just before going into
the water, and sniff the air very hard.
“Yes, I think so,” he answered in hippo talk. For his father and mother
had taught him something of how to look for danger and smell for
it――the danger of lions or of tigers or of the black or white hunter
men who came into the jungle to shoot or catch the wild animals.
“Come on, Mumpy!” called Chunky. “We’ll have another nice swim.”
“And we’ll get some more sweet grass to eat――I’m hungry yet!” replied
the little girl hippo; for animals, such as elephants and hippos who
live in the jungle or river, need a great deal of food.
Out to the edge of the river went Chunky and his sister. They saw some
other young hippos――some mere babies and others quite large boys and
girls, as we would say――on the bank or in the water.
Just as Chunky and Mumpy were going to wade in, they noticed, on a high
part of the bank, not far away, a fat hippo boy who was called Big Foot
by the jungle animals, as one of his feet was larger than the other
three.
“Watch me jump into the river!” called Big Foot.
Then, when they were all looking, and he thought, I suppose, that he
was going to do something smart, he gave a jump and splashed into the
water. But something went wrong. Big Foot stumbled, just as he jumped,
and, instead of making a nice dive, he went in backward and made a
great splash.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” laughed Chunky, wagging his stubby tail. “Ho! Ho! I can
jump better than that, and I’m not as large as you, Big Foot! Ha! Ha!”
and Chunky laughed again. “That was an awful funny jump!”
Big Foot climbed out of the water up on the bank. His eyes, which
seemed like lumps or bumps on his head, appeared to snap at Chunky as he
looked at him and Mumpy.
“Some one laughing at me, eh?” growled Big Foot in his deep voice. “Ha!
I’ll show you! Why are you laughing at me?” he asked, and he went so
close to Mumpy that he bumped into her and almost knocked her into the
river.
“Here! You let my sister alone!” bravely cried Chunky, stepping close
to Big Foot.
“Well, what did she want to laugh for when I splashed in the water?”
asked Big Foot.
“I didn’t laugh,” answered Mumpy, speaking more gently than did the two
boy hippos.
“Yes, you did!” exclaimed Big Foot, angrily.
[Illustration: “He went in backward and made a great splash”]
“No, she didn’t laugh. I laughed,” said Chunky, and his sister thought
he was very brave to say it right out that way. “I laughed at you, Big
Foot,” said Chunky. “You looked so funny when you fell into the water
backwards. Ha! Ha!” and Chunky laughed again.
“So! You’ll laugh at me, will you?” asked Big Foot, and his voice was
more angry. “Well, I’ll fix you!” and with a loud grunt, like a great
big pig, he rushed straight at Chunky.