Hare, Hippopotamus and Elephant lived in the forest, as they had done for thousands of years. But often, when Hippopotamus and Elephant had nothing better to do, they would be horrid to Hare and tease him
Now Hare was getting very fed up with Hippopotamus and Elephant being nasty to him day after day, so he thought of a plan. Hare first went to Elephant. “Elephant”, said Hare, “if we were to have a tug of war together, I think I would win.”
“You! Win against me? You must be joking!” said Hippopotamus. “There is no way a twitty little twink like you could possibly win against mighty me.”
“You! Win against me? You must be joking!” said Hippopotamus. “There is no way a twitty little twink like you could possibly win against mighty me.”
“Go on then, off you go into the trees,” said Hippopotamus, taking the other end of the rope. “When you start to pull, I’ll tug you so hard you’ll be flicked into the river.”
Hare stood in between Elephant and Hippopotamus and tugged the rope. Hippopotamus in the river felt the tug and started to pull …
When John Burningham first started out in the 1960’s he headed to New York in search of work. He found an agent who sent him mostly educational pieces to illustrate. They paid a much higher rate than in England. New York at that time was a very lively place, especially in graphic design, illustration and advertising.
He illustrated this African folk tale for the American publisher Follet. ‘For a flat fee I was commissioned to do a 32-page book and when they saw the work they asked for a 48-page book for the same money.’
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