Wooden hippopotamus
Memorabilia
Identifier:
2010.003.001
Description
Mario Vargas Llosa keeps a large collection of hippopotami at his home. Vargas Llosa even includes hippopotami in his literary works, for example the play Kathie and the Hippopotamus. Vargas Llosa has taken a particular liking to a story about a baby hippopotamus that lost its mother when the tsunami hit Kenya in 2004. The baby hippopotamus began searching for a new mother. It's choice was unexpected–a 100-year-old tortoise! The tortoise took care of the baby hippo and, when the hippo had grown up, it took care of the aged tortoise. Vargas Llosa suggests we should be more like the hippo and the tortoise.
