She became immediately fired with a desire to fly. Having lived a staid and
respectable life that could not but find favor in the eyes of the gods, she
raised her voice in prayer.

Jove smiled a little, but granted her request.

On the instant a pair of broad, powerful wings were affixed to her
shoulders.

She was naturally a trifle nervous about trying them at first, but finally
mustered up her courage.

Away she swooped, and with a pardonable vanity took her course over a piece
of jungle where some old friends lived.

Precisely thirty-eight seconds later a convention of animals, all swearing
and trembling with fright, were trying to conceal themselves in the same
three-by-four hole in the ground.

The effect on the other animals disconcerted the good-natured hippopotamus
to such an extent that she lost control of herself and sailed through the
forest like an avalanche on a bender. Down went the trees and crack went
the branches, while horror-stricken beasts with bristling hair split the
welkin with their shrieks.

The hippopotamus made for home at her best speed. Arriving over the
familiar spot, she let go all holds and came down ker-splash in the mud,
knocking the astonished little hippopotamuses out into mid-stream.