A Toothless Hippo - a story goes with it. (Sorry Damon)

I have a customer called Kevin, who likes to travel. He recently returned from Zambia with a large carved hippo, which had no teeth. This is the story.

He was staying with his wife at a lodge, and one day they decided to walk to the local village, about 2 kms away. There they found some wood carvers busy with their projects, and Kevin really liked this hippo, so he started to haggle with the carver over the price - the guy eventually started to point down at Kevin's feet, and it appeared he was willing to swap the hippo for Kevin's shoes! So Kevin ended up having to walk barefoot back to the lodge, but happily in possession of the hippo. The carver had not yet got round to the teeth, but had made four cavities for them.

So he asked me to do some dental implants - we selected American Ash for the teeth, as he didn't want them too white. I suspect the wood of the hippo is a mahogany - it stands about 18" high.

(When he asked me for the cost, I couldn't resist looking down at his feet!)