“Yes, thank you, I am,” said Chunky, for, though you may not know it, jungle animals are often kind to one another, and they do not scratch or bite one another unless they are very hungry or very angry. So Chunky was polite to Tum Tum.
“Take care, after this,” went on the elephant, “not to step into a pool when you can not see the bottom.”
“I’ll be careful,” promised Chunky.
Then he and Tum Tum walked through the jungle, and the elephant reached up, with his long trunk, and picked green leaves off the trees, putting them where Chunky could get them.
[“Out came Chunky as nicely as you please”]
For many months after this Chunky lived in the jungle on the edge of the river, which he had known ever since he was a baby hippo. He ate lots of green grass and roots, learning to dig the last from the bottom of the river with his big front teeth. And Chunky grew to be a large hippo, though he was not yet full size, and only about a year old. Mumpy, his sister, and Bumpy, his brother, also grew larger and stronger, as they also ate grass and roots.
After having lived for quite a while in their home among the reeds near the place in the river where the crocodile had caught Chunky, the hippo family moved on to a new spot, where the grass was better and where there were not so many crocodiles.