The hippo lives in the water during the day and on land at night. One day it came time for the animal governments to collect taxes. During the day the government of the water went to collect taxes from all the fish and the government of the land went to collect taxes from the land animals.
The water government found the hippo in the water and tried to collect taxes from him. The hippo said: “I am not a water animal. Look, I have four legs and no fins. I am a land animal. I was just hot so I came into the water to cool off. I am just a guest here, I shouldn’t have to pay taxes.” So the water government let him go.
That evening the hippo went on shore. Sure enough, he was approached by agents of the land government. When they wanted to collect taxes from him the hippo said: “I am not a land animal, I am a water animal. Look at me, I just got out of the water. I live in the water all day. Besides, I have already paid my taxes to the water government.” The land government agents said: “We will see about that. We see you have four legs and a tail, and no fins. You look like a land animal to us. We will take you to the head animals, the lion and the buffalo, to decide your fate.” So the land government agents grabbed his tail and started marching him away.
When the hippo saw that it wasn’t going to go well for him he made a dash for the water. The animals held tightly to his tail. Finally his tail broke off but he made it to the water. Only a tiny stub of his tail was left. Ever since then he has had a short tail to remind him of his error. Not only that, he is not friends with any other animals land or water. He lives alone with his own kind, all of them with short tails.