Elephant, Hippopotamus & Rabbit

Book excerpt: Having been born in Africa during an era when owning a picture book, let alone affording TV was a luxury, ‘Tug Of War’ was inspired by many of the African folk stories that were told to us by my grandmother. These stories were occasionally told during evenings, after meals and were extremely entertaining as well as educational in a way that made me visualize them. As a result, I have been motivated to share this experience pictorially in this book. It tells of three characters, Elephant, Hippopotamus and Rabbit. The story begins deep in the African jungle where the agile and witty Rabbit entertains himself by challenging Elephant and Hippopotamus to a game of tug of war. The little animal selects the competitors on two distinct characteristics. They live in completely different environments and possess similar strengths. Elephant naturally prefers the inner jungle and Hippopotamus spends most of his time in the water. This presents a perfect opportunity for a perfect match with Rabbit handing each end of the rope to each large animal at different times declaring that he can defeat either Elephant or Hippopotamus to this pull game. It actually ends with both huge animals fiercely competing against one another yet ignorantly believing that Rabbit is on the other end. This teaches us to acknowledge and respect each other and not to judge each other in terms of natural built or stature.