river to wash and have a drink. of this custom the tortoise was aware. the hippo used to walk first, and the seven wives followed. one day when they had gone down to the river to bathe, the tortoise made a small hole in the middle of the path, and then waited. when the hippo and his wives returned, two of the wives were some distance behind, so the tortoise came out from where he had been hiding, and half buried himself in the hole he had dug, leaving the greater part of his shell exposed. when the two hippo wives came along, the first one knocked her foot against 