For flute, oboe, clarinet, trombone, viola, bass, and narrator.

Commissioned by OperaFeHk in 2012.

Duration approximately 12’00.

This piece was born out of true happenstance: Once upon a time, while drooling through one of my theory classes, a friend of mine engaged me in a story writing game. She began by writing the phrase, “Once upon a time there was a house on top of an enormous hill. The townspeople beneath the hill were afraid of it because…” with the expectation that I would complete the sentence and we’d continue along in this fashion. I will never forget the sense of satisfaction I felt when I responded with, “…because it had great galloping hippo legs”.

The piece tells the surreal tale of a house with hippopotamus legs. Colleagues of mine have often adapted it with theatric flair to delight and mystify their audiences.