The story goes that a freak accident occurred at a circus during an act involving a dwarf bouncing on a trampoline.
The dwarf jumped sideways off the trampoline just at the moment a hippopotamus began to yawn.
[2] Euan Ferguson writing in The Observer in 2003 said the story is a marvelous metaphor for the reality that "Life is not safe.
"[3] The hoax first appeared in 1988; it was reported in the National Lampoon magazine, allegedly sourced from the Las Vegas Sun.
[4] According to Snopes, the hoax news story began circulating on the internet with a Usenet post in 1994.