The Hippo and the Trumpet

Bedtime Stories with Rajesh Rajoo | Season 1 | Episode 4

Podcast Episodes on: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Breaker Amazon Music JioSaavan

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A long time ago, in the deep woods, there lived a little hippo called Hazel.

She was the cutest, happiest baby hippo ever.

She lived with her brother Harry, her mother, Mamma Hippo and father, Big Daddy Hippo in a lovely house by the stream.

 

One day, when Big Daddy Hippo returned from work, he brought along a large box.

"Look what I got you my baby," he shouted out happily from his pickup truck.

When Hazel came out running, her daddy called out again.

"Close your eyes," he said. Hazel closed her eyes… and waited.

 

She heard her daddy get out from the truck and come towards her slowly.

"Open your eyes," said Daddy Hippo coming near.

Hazel opened her eyes. And what did she see?

A beautiful box of musical instruments.

There was a trumpet, a drum, a xylophone and two bells.

 

She grabbed the box and ran up to her room shouting "Thank you daddeee..."

"You'll have to share it with Harry too," shouted her father after her, but Hazel didn't hear a word.

By then, she was already in her room that she shared with Harry…

And she was so excited that she forgot everything. She played the instruments all evening.

.

She even forgot Harry, who came into the room every now and then to check on Hazel.

That’s a lot of noise, thought Harry.

 

After dinner, when they were all in bed, Hazel climbed out slowly and went over to her toy cupboard,

She took out the trumpet thinking she'd play it quietly in her bed.

But a trumpet is a trumpet. When she played it, it was loud.


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Also by Rajesh Rajoo - Adventures of Ella ElephantBook 1 & Book 2.
Illustrations by Divyesh Swamikutty.

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Harry woke up with a start and so did her parents.

Mamma Hippo came upstairs, put the trumpet away and tucked Hazel in bed.

"Back to sleep sweetie...," she said "that trumpet must be very tired, you've been playing it all evening..."

Harry Hippo giggled at his sister and went back to sleep.

 

The next day morning, as she got out of bed, Hazel ran up to the cupboard.

But when she opened it, she couldn't find her trumpet.

Just then she heard the sound of a trumpet outside her house.

She ran into the yard and saw Harry playing the trumpet.

And the monkey who lived nearby, playing the drum.

 

"Hey, those are mine," cried Hazel, "give them back to me."

But Harry and the monkey hurried into the woods with the instruments.

And Hazel came back crying to Mamma Hippo.

 

"Sweetie, didn't daddy tell you the instruments are also for Harry?" asked Mamma Hippo.

"Noooooo, they're mine," said Hazel, "not Harry's."

"Sweetie, we need to share our toys," said Mamma Hippo.

"Noooooo, they're mine mommy," said Hazel again.

 

"Listen sweetie, you can't play all the instruments together," said Mamma Hippo.

"But when you share your instruments, everyone can play it together... it’ll be so much fun…" she said.

So, after breakfast, when Big Daddy Hippo went to work and Harry Hippo was off to school, Mamma Hippo played the instruments with Hazel.

 

Hazel loved it that the instruments sounded beautiful when played together.

She loved this new game. Everything was a game to her.

She played the trumpet and her mommy played the xylophone.

And they had a wonderful time.

 

That evening, when everyone was home, Hazel gave Big Daddy Hippo the xylophone, Harry Hippo the drum and Mamma Hippo, the two bells.

Then everybody played it together.

What a ruckus they made. But it was also so much fun.

Suddenly Big Daddy Hippo started singing, looking at Hazel, "If you're happy and you know it, play the trumpet..."


Everybody stopped playing while Hazel played the trumpet.

Then Mamma Hippo sang, looking at Harry, "If you're happy and you know it play the drum..."

And Harry Hippo played the drum.

On and on they went happily till it was dinner time.

Hazel loved every bit of it.

 

She learnt that it was so much fun to share and do things together.

So much fun when the trumpet, the drum, the xylophone and the bells were played together.

From that day on, whenever Hazel took out her box of musical instruments, and Harry was around, she always called him to join her. 


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Rajesh Rajoo is also the author of the bedtime series Adventures of Ella Elephant that's on Amazon Kindle. His podcast Bedtime Stories with Rajesh Rajoo is on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Breaker | Amazon Music JioSaavan

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