Little Hum and the Buffalo

Little Hum and the Buffalo

By Eusebio Lopez, a Tagalog man… Retold by Navin

Once upon a time, there lived a little hummingbird. She flew hither and thither, drinking nectar and doing loops in the air. In that same quadrant of the forest lived a large water buffalo. Whenever the hummingbird flitted by, the buffalo would make a noise that sounded something like “heemph.” The hummingbird at first assumed that the buffalo was just clearing his throat, but she eventually realized that the buffalo seemed to be making the noise in response to her presence. She grew quite annoyed, and finally decided to ask him about it.

“Listen here Friend Buffalo,” she said one day, “Why do you always make a strange sound when I pass you?”

“Heemph,” snickered Buffalo, “I’m sorry, Little Hum, I just can’t help it! You’re so small that I feel forced to scoff at your diminutive size! But I stop just in time and only that sound trickles out.”

Little Hum shook her tailfeathers and flew off, feeling embarrassed and annoyed. Who was that Buffalo to act so rude and judge other’s size? She decided to teach it a lesson.

A few days later, Buffalo sat unmoving in the jungle river, relaxing in the shallows. Little Hum flew out of the trees, and was greeted by the “heemph!” she expected.

“Now then,” she bristled, gliding down to where Buffalo sat, “how can you scoff at me when you’re so puny yourself?”

“ME? PUNY,” exploded Buffalo, “How can you say such a thing? I weigh seven tons! My mother once said that carrying me in her tummy felt like carrying a meteor!” “Why don’t we have a challenge, and if I win, you can never scoff at me again?” inquired Little Hum. The Buffalo heartily agreed, grateful to now have some entertainment for the afternoon.

“I challenge you to a drinking contest,” intonated Little Hum, “Whichever one of us can drink more water is the champion.” Buffalo consented, and began slurping up water from the river. He drank for hours and hours, and when he felt that his stomach would burst, sat back with a sigh. “Your turn, Little Hum,” he preened, “Let’s see how much your teaspoon-sized gut can handle.”

Now, Little Hum might have been small, but she was no fool. She had carefully timed her challenge such that the tide was coming in when Buffalo began to drink. Now, the tide would begin to go out. “It doesn’t look like you’ve drank much, Buffalo,” surmised Little Hum, “In fact, the water seems to have risen since you began!” “Can’t you see I’m about to burst?!” roared Buffalo. Little Hum shrugged and began to pretend to drink water. To Buffalo’s amazement, the entire river began to recede when Little Hum sipped! When she finished drinking, the river was several feet lower than when it began!

Laughing in Buffalo’s dumbfounded, conceited face, Little Hum whisked away on the breeze, leaving him to roll on the riverbank with a bellyache and a broken ego.