Hadithi Hadithi?
Hadithi Njoo!
This is the story of why the hippo is hunted by the El Molo of Lake Turkana
Hadithi Hadithi?
Hadithi Njoo!
Long ago, the people of the El Molo tribe kept hippos as their flock. Since animals could talk back then, they would have long, happy conversations with the majestic creatures. The hippos were kept in a big enclosure on the gorgeous Lorian Island.
Because the hippos had no teeth, they had to be fed by hand every day. And so, a woman named Sepenya was given the task of ensuring the precious animals were fed. She would travel in a small canoe across the blue waters of Lake Turkana to the island. She always had a pouch of water with her, to drink from after her journey.
One day, Sepenya forgot her water cask. After the long boating to Lorian, she desperately needed water. The water from the lake was drinkable, but it didn’t taste good at all. Only the hippos knew how to get sweet water from Lake Turkana.
“Please, kind hippos,” she implored, “fetch me some sweet water in my calabash.”
The hippos swayed their heads from side to side. “No, we will not.”
“Please, I will die of thirst if you don’t help me,” Sepenya cried.
Finally, the hippos gave in, making only one request. “We will bring you the sweet water, but when you leave Lorian this evening, you must leave the gate to our enclosure wide open,” they said.
In that moment, Sepenya would do anything for water, and so she agreed, ignoring the consequences of what might happen. She drank deeply from her calabash when the hippos brought her the water, forgetting her worries as her thirst was quenched. She fed the hippos as usual. And when the evening tide came in, she left the gate open as she’d promised. The hippos strolled around calmly in the enclosure, allaying her fears of any foul play.
Yet, when she arrived the next day, all of them were gone. After searching for a long while, Sepenya finally saw them in the water. She called their names, but they ignored her. She wept bitterly because she knew they would die if no one could catch them and feed them. She implored Elwak, the creator of the hippos, to help them find food so they would survive in the wild. Immediately, the hippos grew the menacing teeth we now know them for.
The El Molo loved the hippos dearly; they thought the animals would return to the corral in the evening. Day after day, they waited, but the hippos were at home in the lake. And so to remember the bond, the young men of the tribe are initiated into manhood by hunting the hippos, which still live in Lake Turkana to this day.
QUESTIONS
1. How did hippos eat before Elwak gave them teeth?
2. What was the name of the woman who fed the hippos?
3. How did the hippos escape?