Heavy weighs the crown. Less so upon those who seize it than those who it is thrust. As sole scion of the Hippo tribe, young Hippo was content to roam the beautiful island of Hippo, hunting pork and pineapple, until the completely unexpected heart attack of his portly father, Hippo, left Hippo to lead the people. Strangely enough, this was the same way in which the elder Hippo had inherited the throne from Hippo’s grandfather, Hippo…
Hippo took quickly to learning the task as the dutiful son he was, helping bring the isle incremental improvements such as a roasting spit with insulated handles and boosting the organic search rank of their tourism site with a flat HTML header, but the work wasn’t in him. Hippo loved his people, but where serving them sustained his father, all that kept Hippo afloat were thoughts of the Mainland.
He’d never left the island in his life, and so much work remained to prepare its levee and drainage system for the rising tide of global climate change, but adventure called to Hippo and he could not ignore it. Hippo knew not where he’d go or what he’d do, but passed the reins to his mother, Queen Hippo, and packed the royal canoe.
Hippo would return to fulfill the responsibilities of his birthright someday, but he could not fill the bellies of his subjects until finding what would fill his own. Finding his own mentors would show him what kind of ruler he wanted to be. Finding his own triumphs, and even crushing knockout defeats, would help him become it. The island would stay beautiful until then.
