Palimpsest_Features
6th Feb 2004, 10:06
Chapter One
What Madeleine Found In The Garden
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One morning, little Madeleine went into her back yard and quite unexpectedly found a Hoppopotamus crying in the garden. "What are you?" she asked him, because she did not know that he was a Hoppopotamus yet.
"I'm a Hoppopotamus," he sobbed. Although he was upset, he was far too polite to ignore a little girl's question.
"A what?" Madeleine muttered. She looked closely at the poor creature as he wailed away. "Why, you're like a hippo, but you have bunny legs and bunny ears, and a bunny bottom!"
It was true. The Hoppopotamus sat on enormous furry, rabbit-like haunches, with long, flat, padded rear feet and a cotton-ball tail. The front of him looked very much like a hippopotamus, though, barrel-chested and rough skinned, with thick, stumpy front legs and feet. He had a squarish hippopotamus head and squarish hippopotamus teeth, but big floppy rabbit ears.
"Yes, I know," he sobbed, "go ahead and laugh. Everyone else does."
Madeleine was genuinely puzzled. "Laugh? I can't imagine why I would do that," she said. "Is something funny?"
The Hoppopotamus stopped crying almost immediately and looked at her, blinking big, pitiful tears out of his eyes. "You're not going to laugh at me?" he asked, a left-over sob causing his voice to catch in his throat.
"Oh no," Madeleine said, shaking her head solemnly. "My mother told me that it's not nice to laugh at people. Or people like you who aren't people at all. Why would I laugh at you, anyway?"
"Because I look so silly," the Hoppopotamus said, sniffling and sounding like he might start crying again at any moment.
"Oh no, Mister Hoppomop…Hiphop…oh no, Mister Hoppo!" Madeleine said, walking over to pat him on his back, being careful not to tread upon her father's flowers. "I don't think you look silly at all—I think you're very pretty. Now please tell me why you're crying in my garden."
"Pretty…?" the Hoppopotamus wonderingly at little Madeleine through the left-over tears in his eyes. He wiped them away and composed himself.
"Well, first of all, I think you should tell me your name, please…and then maybe you could tell me where I am?"
"Well! My name is Madeleine, and you're in my back garden," Madeleine said, "in the big, big city of Saint Louis, sitting right on top of one of Daddy's azaleas, I think."
The Hoppopotamus looked terribly embarrassed and spent several fruitless seconds trying to look behind himself to see what he was sitting on. Madeleine, not wanting him to be upset again, said, "Oh, but it's ok, he won't mind." Unfortunately, she was lying—which isn't a nice thing for a little girl to do, even though she was trying to make the Hoppopotamus feel better. Her father was very proud of his gardens, and he probably was not going to be happy at all about his flattened azalea.
"Well, that does help a little," the Hoppopotamus said, nodding. "St. Louis…I'm still not entirely sure how I got here, to tell you the truth." He paused and sniffed a few more times.
"I never fit in anywhere, you know. The rabbits always run away and hide, because they're afraid I'll smash them. The hippos always laugh at my rabbit ears and rabbit tail, because they stick ridiculously up in the air when I try to sit in the water with them.
"I finally gave up trying to fit in with all of them, and I started wandering around, hoping that I might find some other hoppopotamuses that I could live with. You know…I never have found even one…" His voice cracked, and he blinked a few fresh tears away.
"One day, not so long ago, I stumbled upon a man in a forest that wasn't too far from here, I don't think. He didn't laugh at me or run away, like most people do—he just kept looking at me, saying, ‘Remarkable…remarkable!' over and over again. I told him about all of my problems, and he said that I should go to the Zoo, where there were all kinds of different animals. They didn't have any hoppopotamuses, as far as he was aware, but he said they would find me very interesting and would feed me and give me a place to live."
"Oh yes, the Zoo!" Madeleine cut in happily. "I love the Zoo! My mother takes me there all the time—that would be a great place for you!"
"No," the Hoppopotamus lamented, "No, it wasn't a great place for me. The Zoo people were shocked to see me at first, just like everyone else. Then, they ignored me and started arguing amongst each other about whether I was a lagomorph or an ateriodactyl. Let me tell you, I didn't at all know what they were talking about, but I was upset enough without them calling me such horrid names.
"Eventually, they stopped arguing, and one of them said, ‘Creature, we can not figure out how to scientifically classify you. So, I'm afraid, we have no place for you.'" His voice cracked again, and he struggled to compose himself.
"So," he finally continued, "I just started sobbing and walked away, not paying any attention to where I was going. The next thing I knew, I was here, talking to you." He looked sadly at the little girl. "I suppose you're going to send me away now, too."
Madeleine was horrified. "Send you away! But you don't have anywhere to live! I couldn't do that!"
The Hoppopotamus stared at her in amazement. "You couldn't? You wouldn't? You won't! I can stay with you?"
"Oh!" Madeleine said. She hadn't really thought the whole matter through yet. She rubbed her chin, as her father often did when he was thinking about something especially complicated, and she set her mind to work on it. "I like you very much, Mister Hoppo, and I'd love for you to stay with me, but I don't think this would be the best home for you. We live in the city, and our yard is much too small for you, don't you think?"
Seeing the Hoppopotamus's crestfallen expression, she quickly continued. "But don't be sad again, Mister Hoppomus. I'm sure that if we both concentrate very hard, we'll think of a good place for you—hopefully somewhere nearby, so we can play together all the time. And you can stay with me until we find a better place…how does that sound?"
"Oh, that sounds wonderful," the Hoppopotamus said, smiling for the first time that morning, "just wonderful. Thank you, Miss Madeleine. I think you're my best friend ever."
Madeleine smiled back at him. "Oh, one thing, though," she said conspiratorially, leaning close to him and whispering, "we'll have to be quiet and keep you hidden from my mother and father. They say that friends are only allowed to stay over for one night at a time, and only on Fridays or Saturdays. You might be here for several days, and it's only Tuesday!"
The Hoppopotamus agreed that he would be very quiet and would try to remain out of sight while they were inside. Then the two of them tried (rather unsuccessfully, I must say) to rearrange Madeleine's father's azalea so it wouldn't look quite so smashed.
Now, it wasn't such an honest thing for Madeleine to invite the Hoppopotamus to stay over for several nights without her parents' permission, although I'd like to think they would have understood that the poor creature needed her help. She should have told them the truth, especially since she already was going to have a difficult time explaining the damage to her father's garden. However, while her methods may have been objectionable, at least her heart was in the right place, as any good little girl's heart should be, and I suppose we must give her some credit for that.
When Madeleine and the Hoppopotamus reached the back door of the house, the Hoppopotamus waited while Madeleine stepped inside to see if her mother was around. She went through the kitchen into the hallway and walked past the main stairwell, eventually stopping to peek into the living room at the end of the hall. Her mother was reading a book in a chair just around the corner from the entry to the living room, out of sight of both the hallway and the stairs. Madeleine hurried back to the kitchen and opened the back door, beckoning the Hoppopotamus inside.
"Shhhh!" she said, pointing down the hallway to indicate that her mother was there. They walked softly down the hall, Madeleine on her tiptoes and the Hoppopotamus moving in a strange, almost rolling motion, his long rabbit feet rocking forward and back and his stumpy front hippo feet taking small, choppy steps. They reached the stairs and crept quietly upward, with Madeleine on the inside and the Hoppopotamus attempting quite preposterously to hide behind her as they went.
They had almost made it all the way up when one of the stairs creaked, giving them away.
"Madeleine?" her mother called.
The Hoppopotamus panicked and hopped noisily up the last remaining steps into the nearest room, which, luckily, happened to be Madeleine's. Madeleine remained frozen on the stairway. "Yes, mother?" she said, trying to sound calm.
"What a racket! You know you're not supposed to run on the stairs!"
"Oh, I'm sorry…I…I didn't mean it..."
"You worried me…and I didn't even hear you come inside!" There was a brief pause as Madeleine cringed on the stairs, hoping her mother wouldn't come to investigate. "So, are you going to play in your room for a while, then?"
Madeleine breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that her mother hadn't suspected that a Hoppopotamus was hopping up the stairs along with her. "Yes, mother, I'm going to play inside now. Sorry for making so much noise."
"All right. Just remember that you have to be careful on the stairs."
"I will." Madeleine waited a moment to ensure that her mother had gone back to her reading, then she climbed the last few steps and went into her room.
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What Madeleine Found In The Garden
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One morning, little Madeleine went into her back yard and quite unexpectedly found a Hoppopotamus crying in the garden. "What are you?" she asked him, because she did not know that he was a Hoppopotamus yet.
"I'm a Hoppopotamus," he sobbed. Although he was upset, he was far too polite to ignore a little girl's question.
"A what?" Madeleine muttered. She looked closely at the poor creature as he wailed away. "Why, you're like a hippo, but you have bunny legs and bunny ears, and a bunny bottom!"
It was true. The Hoppopotamus sat on enormous furry, rabbit-like haunches, with long, flat, padded rear feet and a cotton-ball tail. The front of him looked very much like a hippopotamus, though, barrel-chested and rough skinned, with thick, stumpy front legs and feet. He had a squarish hippopotamus head and squarish hippopotamus teeth, but big floppy rabbit ears.
"Yes, I know," he sobbed, "go ahead and laugh. Everyone else does."
Madeleine was genuinely puzzled. "Laugh? I can't imagine why I would do that," she said. "Is something funny?"
The Hoppopotamus stopped crying almost immediately and looked at her, blinking big, pitiful tears out of his eyes. "You're not going to laugh at me?" he asked, a left-over sob causing his voice to catch in his throat.
"Oh no," Madeleine said, shaking her head solemnly. "My mother told me that it's not nice to laugh at people. Or people like you who aren't people at all. Why would I laugh at you, anyway?"
"Because I look so silly," the Hoppopotamus said, sniffling and sounding like he might start crying again at any moment.
"Oh no, Mister Hoppomop…Hiphop…oh no, Mister Hoppo!" Madeleine said, walking over to pat him on his back, being careful not to tread upon her father's flowers. "I don't think you look silly at all—I think you're very pretty. Now please tell me why you're crying in my garden."
"Pretty…?" the Hoppopotamus wonderingly at little Madeleine through the left-over tears in his eyes. He wiped them away and composed himself.
"Well, first of all, I think you should tell me your name, please…and then maybe you could tell me where I am?"
"Well! My name is Madeleine, and you're in my back garden," Madeleine said, "in the big, big city of Saint Louis, sitting right on top of one of Daddy's azaleas, I think."
The Hoppopotamus looked terribly embarrassed and spent several fruitless seconds trying to look behind himself to see what he was sitting on. Madeleine, not wanting him to be upset again, said, "Oh, but it's ok, he won't mind." Unfortunately, she was lying—which isn't a nice thing for a little girl to do, even though she was trying to make the Hoppopotamus feel better. Her father was very proud of his gardens, and he probably was not going to be happy at all about his flattened azalea.
"Well, that does help a little," the Hoppopotamus said, nodding. "St. Louis…I'm still not entirely sure how I got here, to tell you the truth." He paused and sniffed a few more times.
"I never fit in anywhere, you know. The rabbits always run away and hide, because they're afraid I'll smash them. The hippos always laugh at my rabbit ears and rabbit tail, because they stick ridiculously up in the air when I try to sit in the water with them.
"I finally gave up trying to fit in with all of them, and I started wandering around, hoping that I might find some other hoppopotamuses that I could live with. You know…I never have found even one…" His voice cracked, and he blinked a few fresh tears away.
"One day, not so long ago, I stumbled upon a man in a forest that wasn't too far from here, I don't think. He didn't laugh at me or run away, like most people do—he just kept looking at me, saying, ‘Remarkable…remarkable!' over and over again. I told him about all of my problems, and he said that I should go to the Zoo, where there were all kinds of different animals. They didn't have any hoppopotamuses, as far as he was aware, but he said they would find me very interesting and would feed me and give me a place to live."
"Oh yes, the Zoo!" Madeleine cut in happily. "I love the Zoo! My mother takes me there all the time—that would be a great place for you!"
"No," the Hoppopotamus lamented, "No, it wasn't a great place for me. The Zoo people were shocked to see me at first, just like everyone else. Then, they ignored me and started arguing amongst each other about whether I was a lagomorph or an ateriodactyl. Let me tell you, I didn't at all know what they were talking about, but I was upset enough without them calling me such horrid names.
"Eventually, they stopped arguing, and one of them said, ‘Creature, we can not figure out how to scientifically classify you. So, I'm afraid, we have no place for you.'" His voice cracked again, and he struggled to compose himself.
"So," he finally continued, "I just started sobbing and walked away, not paying any attention to where I was going. The next thing I knew, I was here, talking to you." He looked sadly at the little girl. "I suppose you're going to send me away now, too."
Madeleine was horrified. "Send you away! But you don't have anywhere to live! I couldn't do that!"
The Hoppopotamus stared at her in amazement. "You couldn't? You wouldn't? You won't! I can stay with you?"
"Oh!" Madeleine said. She hadn't really thought the whole matter through yet. She rubbed her chin, as her father often did when he was thinking about something especially complicated, and she set her mind to work on it. "I like you very much, Mister Hoppo, and I'd love for you to stay with me, but I don't think this would be the best home for you. We live in the city, and our yard is much too small for you, don't you think?"
Seeing the Hoppopotamus's crestfallen expression, she quickly continued. "But don't be sad again, Mister Hoppomus. I'm sure that if we both concentrate very hard, we'll think of a good place for you—hopefully somewhere nearby, so we can play together all the time. And you can stay with me until we find a better place…how does that sound?"
"Oh, that sounds wonderful," the Hoppopotamus said, smiling for the first time that morning, "just wonderful. Thank you, Miss Madeleine. I think you're my best friend ever."
Madeleine smiled back at him. "Oh, one thing, though," she said conspiratorially, leaning close to him and whispering, "we'll have to be quiet and keep you hidden from my mother and father. They say that friends are only allowed to stay over for one night at a time, and only on Fridays or Saturdays. You might be here for several days, and it's only Tuesday!"
The Hoppopotamus agreed that he would be very quiet and would try to remain out of sight while they were inside. Then the two of them tried (rather unsuccessfully, I must say) to rearrange Madeleine's father's azalea so it wouldn't look quite so smashed.
Now, it wasn't such an honest thing for Madeleine to invite the Hoppopotamus to stay over for several nights without her parents' permission, although I'd like to think they would have understood that the poor creature needed her help. She should have told them the truth, especially since she already was going to have a difficult time explaining the damage to her father's garden. However, while her methods may have been objectionable, at least her heart was in the right place, as any good little girl's heart should be, and I suppose we must give her some credit for that.
When Madeleine and the Hoppopotamus reached the back door of the house, the Hoppopotamus waited while Madeleine stepped inside to see if her mother was around. She went through the kitchen into the hallway and walked past the main stairwell, eventually stopping to peek into the living room at the end of the hall. Her mother was reading a book in a chair just around the corner from the entry to the living room, out of sight of both the hallway and the stairs. Madeleine hurried back to the kitchen and opened the back door, beckoning the Hoppopotamus inside.
"Shhhh!" she said, pointing down the hallway to indicate that her mother was there. They walked softly down the hall, Madeleine on her tiptoes and the Hoppopotamus moving in a strange, almost rolling motion, his long rabbit feet rocking forward and back and his stumpy front hippo feet taking small, choppy steps. They reached the stairs and crept quietly upward, with Madeleine on the inside and the Hoppopotamus attempting quite preposterously to hide behind her as they went.
They had almost made it all the way up when one of the stairs creaked, giving them away.
"Madeleine?" her mother called.
The Hoppopotamus panicked and hopped noisily up the last remaining steps into the nearest room, which, luckily, happened to be Madeleine's. Madeleine remained frozen on the stairway. "Yes, mother?" she said, trying to sound calm.
"What a racket! You know you're not supposed to run on the stairs!"
"Oh, I'm sorry…I…I didn't mean it..."
"You worried me…and I didn't even hear you come inside!" There was a brief pause as Madeleine cringed on the stairs, hoping her mother wouldn't come to investigate. "So, are you going to play in your room for a while, then?"
Madeleine breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that her mother hadn't suspected that a Hoppopotamus was hopping up the stairs along with her. "Yes, mother, I'm going to play inside now. Sorry for making so much noise."
"All right. Just remember that you have to be careful on the stairs."
"I will." Madeleine waited a moment to ensure that her mother had gone back to her reading, then she climbed the last few steps and went into her room.
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