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"A trap for ho-ho's," said Piglet huskily. "I've just
made it, and I'm waiting for the ho-ho to come-come."
How long Piglet would have gone on like this I don't
know, but at that moment Pooh woke up suddenly and decided that
it was sixteen. So he got up; and as he turned his head so as
to soothe himself in that awkward place in the middle of the
back where something was tickling him, he saw Christopher
Robin.
"Hallo!" he shouted joyfully.
"Hallo, Pooh."
Piglet looked up, and looked away again. And he felt so
Foolish and Uncomfortable that he had almost decided to run
away to Sea and be a Sailor, when suddenly he saw something.
"Pooh!" he cried. "There's something climbing up your
back."
"I thought there was," said Pooh.
"It's Small!" cried Piglet.
"Oh, that's who it is, is it?" said Pooh.
"Christopher Robin, I've found Small!" cried Piglet.
"Well done, Piglet," said Christopher Robin.
And at these encouraging words Piglet felt quite happy
again, and decided not to be a Sailor after all. So when
Christopher Robin had helped them out of the Gravel Pit, they
all went off together hand-in-hand.
And two days later Rabbit happened to meet Eeyore in
the Forest.
"Hallo, Eeyore," he said, "what are you looking for?"
"Small, of course," said Eeyore. "Haven't you any
brain?"
"Oh, but didn't I tell you?" said Rabbit. "Small was
found two days ago."
There was a moment's silence.
"Ha-ha," said Eeyore bitterly. "Merriment and what-not.
Don't apologize. It's just what would happen."
One day when Pooh was thinking, he thought he would go and
see Eeyore, because he hadn't seen him since yesterday. And as
he walked through the heather, singing to himself, he suddenly
remembered that he hadn't seen Owl since the day before yesterday,
so he thought that he would just look in at the Hundred Acre Wood
on the way and see if Owl was at home.
Well, he went on singing, until he came to the part of
the stream where the stepping-stones were, and when he was in
the middle of the third stone he began to wonder how Kanga and
Roo and Tigger were getting on, because they all lived together
in a different part of the Forest. And he thought, "I haven't
seen Roo for a long time, and if I don't see him to-day it will
be a still longer time." So he sat down on the stone in the
middle of the stream, and sang another verse of his song, while
he wondered what to do.
The other verse of the song was like this:
I could spend a happy morning
Seeing Roo,
I could spend a happy morning
Being Pooh.
For it doesn't seem to matter,
If I don't get any fatter
(And I don't get any fatter),
What I do.
The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which
had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too that
Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of
the stream for the rest of the morning, when he remembered
Rabbit.
"Rabbit," said Pooh to himself. "I like talking to
Rabbit. He talks about sensible things. He doesn't use long,
difficult words, like Owl. He uses short, easy words, like
'What about lunch?' and 'Help yourself, Pooh.' I suppose,
really, I ought to go and see Rabbit."
Which made him think of another verse:
Oh, I like his way of talking,
Yes, I do.
It's the nicest way of talking
Just for two.
And a Help-yourself with Rabbit
Though it may become a habit,
Is a pleasant sort of habit
For a Pooh.
So when he had sung this, he got up off his stone,
walked back across the stream, and set off for Rabbit's house.
But he hadn't got far before he began to say to
himself:
"Yes, but suppose Rabbit is out?"
"Or suppose I get stuck in his front door again, coming
out, as I did once when his front door wasn't big enough?"
"Because I know I'm not getting fatter, but his front
door may be getting thinner."
"So wouldn't it be better if----"
And all the time he was saying things like this he was
going more and more westerly, without thinking . . . until
suddenly he found himself at his own front door again.
And it was eleven o'clock.
Which was Time-for-a-little-something....
Half an hour later he was doing what he had always
really meant to do, he was stumping off to Piglet's house. And
as he walked, he wiped his mouth with the back of his paw, and
sang rather a fluffy song through the fur. It went like this:
I could spend a happy morning
Seeing Piglet.
And I couldn't spend a happy morning
not seeing Piglet.
And it doesn't seem to matter
If I don't see Owl and Eeyore (or any of the
others),
And I'm not going to see Owl or Eeyore (or any of
the others)
Or Christopher Robin.
Written down like this, it doesn't seem a very good
song, but coming through pale fawn fluff at about half-past
eleven on a very sunny morning, it seemed to Pooh to be one of
the best songs he had ever sung. So he went on singing it.
Piglet was busy digging a small hole in the ground
outside his house.
"Hallo, Piglet," said Pooh.
"Hallo, Pooh,--" said Piglet, giving a jump of
surprise. "I knew it was you."
"So did I," said Pooh. "What are you doing?"
"I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up
into an oak-tree, and have lots of haycorns just outside the
front door instead of having to walk miles and miles, do you
see, Pooh?"
"Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.
"It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so
that's why I'm planting it."
"Well," said Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my
house, then it will grow up into a beehive."
Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.
"Or a piece of a honeycomb," said Pooh, "so as not to
waste too much. Only then I might only get a piece of a
beehive, and it might be the wrong piece, where the bees were
buzzing and not hunnying. Bother."
Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.
"Besides, Pooh, it's a very difficult thing, planting
unless you know how to do it," he said; and he put the acorn in
the hole he had made, and covered it up with earth, and jumped
on it.
"I do know," said Pooh, "because Christopher Robin gave
me a mastershalum seed, and I planted it, and I'm going to have
mastershalums all over the front door."
"I thought they were called nasturtiums," said Piglet
timidly, as he went on jumping.
"No," said Pooh. "Not these. These are called
mastershalums."
When Piglet had finished jumping, he wiped his paws on
his front, and said, "What shall we do now?" and Pooh said,
"Let's go and see Kanga and Roo and Tigger," and Piglet said,
"Y-yes. L-let's"--because he was still a little anxious about
Tigger, who was a Very Bouncy Animal, with a way of saying
How-do-you-do, which always left your ears full of sand, even
after Kanga had said, "Gently, Tigger dear," and had helped you
up again. So they set off for Kanga's house.
Now it happened that Kanga had felt rather motherly
that morning, and Wanting to Count Things--like Roo's vests,
and how many pieces of soap there were left, and the two clean
spots in Tigger's feeder; so she had sent them out with a
packet of watercress sandwiches for Roo and a packet of
extract-of-malt sandwiches for Tigger, to have a nice long
morning in the Forest not getting into mischief. And off they
had gone.
And as they went, Tigger told Roo (who wanted to know)
all about the things that Tiggers could do.
"Can they fly?" asked Roo.
"Yes," said Tigger, "they're very good flyers, Tiggers
are. Strornry good flyers."
"Oo!" said Roo. "Can they fly as well as Owl?"
"Yes," said Tigger. "Only they don't want to."
"Why don't they want to?" well, they just don't like it
somehow."
Roo couldn't understand this, because he thought it
would be lovely to be able to fly, but Tigger said it was
difficult to explain to anybody who wasn't a Tigger himself.
"Well," said Roo, "can they jump as far as Kangas?"
"Yes," said Tigger. "When they want to."
"I love jumping," said Roo. "Let's see who can jump
farthest, you or me."
"I can," said Tigger. "But we mustn't stop now, or we
shall be late."
"Late for what?"
"For whatever we want to be in time for," said Tigger,
hurrying on.
In a little while they came to the Six Pine Trees.
"I can swim," said Roo. "I fell into the river, and I
swimmed. Can Tiggers swim?"
"Of course they can. Tiggers can do everything."
"Can they climb trees better than Pooh?" asked Roo,
stopping under the tallest Pine Tree, and looking up at it.
"Climbing trees is what they do best," said Tigger.
"Much better than Poohs."
"Could they climb this one?"
"They're always climbing trees like that," said Tigger.
"Up and down all day."
"Oo, Tigger, are they really?"
"I'll show you," said Tigger bravely, "and you can sit
on my back and watch me. "For of all the things which he had
said Tiggers could do, the only one he felt really certain
about suddenly was climbing trees.
"Oo, Tigger--oo, Tigger--oo, Tigger!" squeaked Roo
excitedly.
So he sat on Tigger's back and up they went.
And for the first ten feet Tigger said happily to
himself, "Up we go!"
And for the next ten feet he said:
"I always said Tiggers could climb trees."
And for the next ten feet he said:
"Not that it's easy, mind you."
And for the next ten feet he said:
"Of course, there's the coming-down too. Backwards."
And then he said:
"Which will be difficult . . ."
"Unless one fell . . ."
"When it would be . . ."
"EASY."
And at the word "easy," the branch he was standing on
broke suddenly, and he just managed to clutch at the one above
him as he felt himself going . . . and then slowly he got his
chin over it . . . and then one back paw . . . and then the
other . . . until at last he was sitting on it, breathing very
quickly, and wishing that he had gone in for swimming instead.
Roo climbed off, and sat down next to him.
"Oo, Tigger," he said excitedly, "are we at the top?
"No," said Tigger.
"Are we going to the top?"
"No," said Tigger.
"Oh!" said Roo rather sadly. And then he went on
hopefully: "That was a lovely bit just now, when you pretended
we were going to fall-bump-to-the-bottom, and we didn't. Will
you do that bit again?"
"No," said Tigger.
Roo was silent for a little while, and then he said,
"Shall we eat our sandwiches, Tigger?" And Tigger said, "Yes,
where are they?" And Roo said, "At the bottom of the tree." And
Tigger said, "I don't think we'd better eat them just yet." So
they didn't.
By-and-by Pooh and Piglet came along. Pooh was telling
Piglet in a singing voice that it didn't seem to matter, if he
didn't get any fatter, and he didn't think he was getting any
fatter, what he did; and Piglet was wondering how long it would
be before his haycorn came up.
"Look, Pooh!" said Piglet suddenly. "There's something
in one of the Pine Trees."
"So there is!" said Pooh, looking up wonderingly.
"There's an Animal."
Piglet took Pooh's arm, in case Pooh was frightened.
"Is it One of the Fiercer Animals?" he said, looking
the other way.
Pooh nodded.
"It's a Jagular," he said.
"What do Jagulars do?" asked Piglet, hoping that they
wouldn't.
"They hide in the branches of trees, and drop on you as
you go underneath," said Pooh. "Christopher Robin told me."
"Perhaps we better hadn't go underneath, Pooh. In case
he dropped and hurt himself."
"They don't hurt themselves," said Pooh. "They're such
very good droppers."
Piglet still felt that to be underneath a Very Good
Dropper would be a Mistake, and he was just going to hurry back
for something which he had forgotten when the Jagular called
out to them.
"Help! Help!" it called.
"That's what Jagulars always do," said Pooh, much
interested. "They call 'Help! Help!' and then when you look up,
they drop on you."
"I'm looking down," cried Piglet loudly, so as the
Jagular shouldn't do the wrong thing by accident. Something
very excited next to the Jagular heard him, and squeaked:
"Pooh and Piglet! Pooh and Piglet!"
All of a sudden Piglet felt that it was a much nicer
day than he had thought it was. All warm and sunny----
"Pooh!" he cried. "I believe it's Tigger and Roo!"
"So it is," said Pooh. "I thought it was a Jagular and
another Jagular."
"Hallo, Roo!" called Piglet. "What are you doing?"
"We can't get down, we can't get down!" cried Roo.
"Isn't it fun? Pooh, isn't it fun, Tigger and I are living in a
tree, like Owl, and we're going to stay here for ever and ever.
I can see Piglet's house. Piglet, I can see your house from
here. Aren't we high? Is Owl's house as high up as this?"
"How did you get there, Roo?" asked Piglet.
"On Tigger's back! And Tiggers can't climb downwards,
because their tails get in the way, only upwards, and Tigger
forgot about that when we started, and he's only just
remembered. So we've got to stay here for ever and ever--unless
we go higher. What did you say, Tigger? Oh, Tigger says if we
go higher we shan't be able to see Piglet's house so well, so
we're going to stop here."
"Piglet," said Pooh solemnly, when he had heard all
this, "what shall we do?" And he began to eat Tigger's
sandwiches.
"Are they stuck?" asked Piglet anxiously.
Pooh nodded.
"Couldn't you climb up to them?"
"I might, Piglet, and I might bring Roo down on my
back, but I couldn't bring Tigger down. So we must think of
something else. "And in a thoughtful way he began to eat Roo's
sandwiches, too.
Whether he would have thought of anything before he had
finished the last sandwich, I don't know, but he had just got
to the last but one when there was a crackling in the bracken,
and Christopher Robin and Eeyore came strolling along together.
"I shouldn't be surprised if it hailed a good deal
to-morrow," Eeyore was saying. "Blizzards and what-not. Being
fine to-day doesn't Mean Anything. It has no sig--what's that
word? Well, it has none of that. It's just a small piece of
weather."
"There's Pooh!" said Christopher Robin, who didn't much
mind what it did to-morrow, as long as he was out in it.
"Hallo, Pooh!"
"It's Christopher Robin!" said Piglet. "He'll know what
to do."
They hurried up to him.
"Oh, Christopher Robin," began Pooh.
"And Eeyore," said Eeyore.
"Tigger and Roo are right up the Six Pine Trees, and
they can't get down, and----"
"And I was just saying," put in Piglet, "that if only
Christopher Robin----"
"And Eeyore----"
"If only you were here, then we could think of
something to do."
Christopher Robin looked up at Tigger and Roo, and
tried to think of something.
"I thought," said Piglet earnestly, "that if Eeyore
stood at the bottom of the tree, and if Pooh stood on Eeyore's
back, and if I stood on Pooh's shoulders----"
"And if Eeyore's back snapped suddenly, then we could
all laugh. Ha ha! Amusing in a quiet way," said Eeyore, "but
not really helpful."
"Well," said Piglet meekly, "I thought----"
"Would it break your back, Eeyore?" asked Pooh, very
much surprised.
"That's what would be so interesting, Pooh. Not being
quite sure till afterwards."
Pooh said "Oh!" and they all began to think again.
"I've got an idea!" cried Christopher Robin suddenly.
"Listen to this, Piglet," said Eeyore, "and then you'll
know what we're trying to do."
"I'll take off my tunic and we'll each hold a corner,
and then Roo and Tigger can jump into it, and it will be all
soft and bouncy for them, and they won't hurt themselves."
"Getting Tigger down," said Eeyore, "and not hurting
anybody. Keep those two ideas in your head, Piglet, and you'll
be all right."
But Piglet wasn't listening, he was so agog at the
thought of seeing Christopher Robin's blue braces again. He had
only seen them once before, when he was much younger, and,
being a little over-excited by them, had had to go to bed half
an hour earlier than usual; and he had always wondered since if
they were really as blue and as bracing as he had thought them.
So when Christopher Robin took his tunic off, and they were, he
felt quite friendly to Eeyore again, and held the corner of the
tunic next to him and smiled happily at him. And Eeyore
whispered back: "I'm not saying there won't be an Accident now,
mind you. They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them
till you're having them."
When Roo understood what he had to do, he was wildly
excited, and cried out: "Tigger, Tigger, we're going to jump!
Look at me jumping, Tigger! Like flying, my jumping will be.
Can Tiggers do it?" And he squeaked out: "I'm coming,
Christopher Robin!" and he jumped-- straight into the middle of
the tunic. And he was going so fast that he bounced up again
almost as high as where he was before--and went on bouncing and
saying, "Oo!" for quite a long time--and then at last he
stopped and said, "Oo, lovely!" And they put him on the ground.
"Come on, Tigger," he called out. "It's easy."
But Tigger was holding on to the branch and saying to
himself: "It's all very well for Jumping Animals like Kangas,
but it's quite different for Swimming Animals like Tiggers.
"And he thought of himself floating on his back down a river,
or striking out from one island to another, and he felt that
that was really the life for a Tigger.
"Come along," called Christopher Robin. "You'll be all
right."
"Just wait a moment," said Tigger nervously. "Small
piece of bark in my eye." And he moved slowly along his branch.
"Come on, it's easy!" squeaked Roo. And suddenly Tigger
found how easy it was.
"Ow!" he shouted as the tree flew past him.
"Look out!" cried Christopher Robin to the others.
There was a crash, and a tearing noise, and a confused
heap of everybody on the ground.
Christopher Robin and Pooh and Piglet picked themselves
up first, and then they picked Tigger up, and underneath
everybody else was Eeyore.
"Oh, Eeyore!" cried Christopher Robin. "Are you hurt?"
And he felt him rather anxiously, and dusted him and helped him
to stand up again.
Eeyore said nothing for a long time. And then he said:
"Is Tigger there?"
Tigger was there, feeling Bouncy again already.
"Yes," said Christopher Robin. "Tigger's here."
"Well, just thank him for me," said Eeyore.
IT was going to be one of Rabbit's busy days. As soon as he
woke up he felt important, as if everything depended upon him.
It was just the day for Organizing Something, or for Writing a
Notice Signed Rabbit, or for Seeing What Everybody Else Thought
About It. It was a perfect morning for hurrying round to Pooh,
and saying, "Very well, then, I'll tell Piglet," and then going
to Piglet, and saying, "Pooh thinks--but perhaps I'd better see
Owl first." It was a Captainish sort of day, when everybody
said, "Yes, Rabbit " and "No, Rabbit," and waited until he had
told them.
He came out of his house and sniffed the warm spring
morning as he wondered what he would do. Kanga's house was
nearest, and at Kanga's
house was Roo, who said "Yes, Rabbit " and "No, Rabbit"
almost better than anybody else in the Forest; but there was
another animal there nowadays, the strange and Bouncy Tigger;
and he was the sort of Tigger who was always in front when you
were showing him the way anywhere,
and was generally out of sight when at last you came to the
place and said proudly "Here we are!"
"No, not Kanga's," said Rabbit thoughtfully to himself,
as he curled his whiskers in the sun, and to make quite sure
that he wasn't going there, he turned to the left and trotted
off in the other direction, which was the way to Christopher
Robin's house.
"After all," said Rabbit to himself, "Christopher Robin
depends on Me. He's fond of Pooh and Piglet and Eeyore, and so
am I, but they haven't any Brain. Not to notice. And he
respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can
spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling
isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply
doesn't count. And Kanga is too busy looking after Roo, and Roo
is too young and Tigger is too bouncy to be any help, so
there's really nobody but Me, when you come to look at it. I'll
go and see if there's anything he wants doing, and then I'll do
it for him. It's just the day for doing things."
He trotted along happily, and by-and-by he crossed the
stream and came to the place where his friends-and-relations
lived. There seemed to be even more of them about than usual
this morning, and having nodded to a hedgehog or two, with whom
he was too busy to shake hands, and having said, "Good morning,
good morning," importantly to some of the others, and "Ah,
there you are," kindly, to the smaller ones, he waved a paw at
them over his shoulder, and was gone leaving such an air of
excitement and I-don't-know-what behind him, that several
members of the Beetle family, including Henry Rush, made their
way at once to the Hundred Acre Wood and began climbing trees,
in the hope of getting to the top before it happened, whatever
it was, so that they might see it properly. Rabbit hurried on
by the edge of the Hundred Acre Wood, feeling more important
every minute, and soon he came to the tree where Christopher
Robin lived. He knocked at the door, and he called out once or
twice, and then he walked back a little way and put his paw up
to keep the sun out, and called to the top of the tree, and
then he turned all round and shouted "Hallo!" and "I say!"
"It's Rabbit!"--but nothing happened. Then he stopped and
listened, and everything stopped and listened with him, and the
Forest was very lone and still and peaceful in the sunshine,
until suddenly a hundred miles above him a lark began to sing.
"Bother!" said Rabbit. "He's gone out." He went back to
the green front door, just to make sure, and he was turning
away, feeling that his morning had got all spoilt, when he saw
a piece of paper on the ground. And there was a pin in it, as
if it had fallen off the door.
"Ha!" said Rabbit, feeling quite happy again. "Another
notice!"
This is what it said:
GON OUT
BACKSON
BISY
BACKSON
C. R.
"Ha!" said Rabbit again. "I must tell the others." And
he hurried off importantly.
The nearest house was Owl's, and to Owl's House in the
Hundred Acre wood he made his way. He came to Owl's door, and
he knocked and he rang, and he rang and he knocked, and at last
Owl's head came out and said "Go away, I'm thinking--oh, it's
you?" which was how he always began.
"Owl," said Rabbit shortly, "you and I have brains. The
others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this
Forest--and when I say thinking I mean thinking--you and I must
do it."
"Yes," said Owl. "I was."
"Read that."
Owl took Christopher Robin's notice from Rabbit and
looked at it nervously. He could spell his own name WOL, and he
could spell Tuesday so that you knew it wasn't Wednesday, and
he could read quite comfortably when you weren't looking over
his shoulder and saying "Well?" all the time, and he could----
"Well?" said Rabbit.
"Yes," said Owl, looking Wise and Thoughtful.
"I see what you mean. Undoubtedly."
"Well?"
"Exactly," said Owl. "Precisely." And he added, after a
little thought, "If you had not come to me, I should have come
to you."
"Why?" asked Rabbit.
"For that very reason," said Owl, hoping that something
helpful would happen soon.
"Yesterday morning," said Rabbit solemnly, "I went to
see Christopher Robin. He was out. Pinned on his door was a
notice!"
"The same notice?"
"A different one. But the meaning was the same. It's
very odd."
"Amazing," said Owl, looking at the notice again, and
getting, just for a moment, a curious sort of feeling that
something had happened to Christopher Robin's back. "What did
you do?"
"Nothing."
"The best thing," said Owl wisely.
"Well?" said Rabbit again, as Owl knew he was going to.
"Exactly," said Owl.
For a little while he couldn't think of anything more;
and then, all of a sudden, he had an idea.
"Tell me, Rabbit," he said, "the exact words of the
first notice. This is very important. Everything depends on
this. The exact words of the first notice."
"It was just the same as that one really."
Owl looked at him, and wondered whether to push him off
the tree; but, feeling that he could always do it afterwards,
he tried once more to find out what they were talking about.
"The exact words, please" he said, as if Rabbit hadn't
spoken.
"It just said, 'Gone out. Backson.' Same as this, only
this says 'Bisy Backson' too."
Owl gave a great sigh of relief.
"Ah!" said Owl. "Now we know where we are."
"Yes, but where's Christopher Robin?" said Rabbit.
"That's the point."
Owl looked at the notice again. To one of his education
the reading of it was easy. "Gone out, Backson. Bisy,
Backson"-- just the sort of thing you'd expect to see on a
notice.
"It is quite clear what has happened, my dear Rabbit,"
he said. "Christopher Robin has gone out somewhere with
Backson. He and Backson are busy together. Have you seen a
Backson anywhere about in the Forest lately?"
"I don't know," said Rabbit. "That's what I came to ask
you. What are they like?"
"Well," said Owl, "the Spotted or Herbaceous Backson is
just a--"
"At least," he said, "it's really more of a----"
"Of course," he said, "it depends on the----"
"Well," said Owl, "the fact is," he said, "I don't know
what they're like," said Owl frankly.
"Thank you," said Rabbit. And he hurried off to see
Pooh.
Before he had gone very far he heard a noise. So he
stopped and listened. This was the noise.
NOISE, BY POOH
Oh, the butterflies are flying,
Now the winter days are dying,
And the primroses are trying
To be seen.
And the turtle-doves are cooing,
And the woods arc up and doing,
For the violets are blue-ing
In the green.
Oh, the honey-bees are gumming
On their little wings, and humming
That the summer, which is coming,
Will be fun.
And the cows are almost cooing,
And the turtle-doves are mooing,
Which is why a Pooh is poohing
In the sun.
For the spring is really springing;
You can see a skylark singing,
And the blue-bells, which are ringing,
Can be heard.
And the cuckoo isn't cooing,
But he's cucking and he's ooing,
And a Pooh is simply poohing
Like a bird.
"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.
"Hallo, Rabbit," said Pooh dreamily.
"Did you make that song up?"
"Well, I sort of made it up," said Pooh. "It isn't
Brain," he went on humbly, "because You Know Why, Rabbit; but
it comes to me sometimes."
"Ah!" said Rabbit, who never let things come to him,
but always went and fetched them. "Well, the point is, have you
seen a Spotted or
Herbaceous Backson in the Forest, at all?"
"No," said Pooh. "Not a--no," said Pooh. "I saw Tigger
just now."
"That's no good."
"No," said Pooh. I thought it wasn't."
"Have you seen Piglet?"
"Yes," said Pooh. "I suppose that isn't any good
either?" he asked meekly.
"Well, it depends if he saw anything."
"He saw me," said Pooh.
Rabbit sat down on the ground next to Pooh and, feeling
much less important like that, stood up again.
"What it all comes to is this," he said. "What does
Christopher Robin do in the morning nowadays?"
"What sort of thing?"
"Well, can you tell me anything you've seen him do in
the morning? These last few days."
"Yes," said Pooh. "We had breakfast together yesterday.
By the Pine Trees. I'd made up a little basket, just a little,
fair-sized basket, an ordinary biggish sort of basket, full
of--"
"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "but I mean later than that.
Have you seen him between eleven and twelve?"
"Well," said Pooh, "at eleven o'clock--at eleven
o'clock--well, at eleven o'clock, you see, I generally get home
about then. Because I have One or Two Things to Do."
"Quarter past eleven, then?"
"Well--" said Pooh.
"Half past?"
"Yes," said Pooh. "At half past--or perhaps later--I
might see him."
And now that he did think of it, he began to remember
that he hadn't seen Christopher Robin about so much lately. Not
in the mornings. Afternoons, yes; evenings, yes; before
breakfast, yes; just after breakfast, yes. And then, perhaps,
"See you again, Pooh," and off he'd go.
"That's just it," said Rabbit. "Where?"
"Perhaps he's looking for something."
"What?" asked Rabbit.
"That's just what I was going to say," said Pooh. And
then he added, "Perhaps he's looking for a-- for a--"
"A Spotted or Herbaceous Backson?"
"Yes," said Pooh. "One of those. In case it isn't."
Rabbit looked at him severely.
"I don't think you're helping," he said.
"No," said Pooh. "I do try," he added humbly.
Rabbit thanked him for trying, and said that he would
now go and see Eeyore, and Pooh could walk with him if he
liked. But Pooh, who felt another verse of his song coming on
him, said he would wait for Piglet, good-bye, Rabbit; so Rabbit
went off.
But, as it happened, it was Rabbit who saw Piglet
first. Piglet had got up early that morning to pick himself a
bunch of violets; and when he had picked them and put them in a
pot in the middle of his house, it suddenly came over him that
nobody had ever picked Eeyore a bunch of violets, and the more
he thought of this, the more he thought how sad it was to be an
Animal who had never had a bunch of violets picked for him. So
he hurried out again, saying to himself, "Eeyore, Violets" and
then "Violets, Eeyore," in case he forgot, because it was that
sort of day, and he picked a large bunch and trotted along,
smelling them, and feeling very happy, until he came to the
place where Eeyore was.
"Oh, Eeyore," began Piglet a little nervously, because
Eeyore was busy.
Eeyore put out a paw and waved him away.
"To-morrow," said Eeyore. "Or the next day." Piglet
came a little closer to see what it was. Eeyore had three
sticks on the ground, and was looking at them. Two of the
sticks were touching at one end, but not at the other, and the
third stick was laid across them. Piglet thought that perhaps
it was a Trap of some kind.
"Oh, Eeyore," he began again, "I just--"
"Is that little Piglet?" said Eeyore, still looking
hard at his sticks.
"Yes, Eeyore, and I--"
"Do you know what this is?"
"No," said Piglet.
"It's an A."
"Oh," said Piglet.
"Not O--A," said Eeyore severely. "Can't you hear, or
do you think you have more education than Christopher Robin?"
"Yes," said Piglet. "No," said Piglet very quickly. And
he came closer still.
"Christopher Robin said it was an A, and an A it
is--until somebody treads on it," Eeyore added sternly.
Piglet jumped backwards hurriedly, and smelt at his
violets.
"Do you know what A means, little Piglet?"
"No, Eeyore, I don't."
"It means Learning, it means Education, it means all
the things that you and Pooh haven't got. That's what A means."
"Oh," said Piglet again. "I mean, does it?" he
explained quickly.
"I'm telling you. People come and go in this Forest,
and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They
walk to and fro saying 'Ha ha!' But do they know anything about
A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the
Educated--mark this, little Piglet--to the Educated, not
meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A. Not,"
he added, "just something that anybody can come and breathe
on."
Piglet stepped back nervously, and looked round for
help.
"Here's Rabbit," he said gladly. "Hallo, Rabbit."
Rabbit came up importantly, nodded to Piglet, and said,
"Ah, Eeyore," in the voice of one who would be saying "Good-bye
" in about two more minutes.
"There's just one thing I wanted to ask you, Eeyore.
What happens to Christopher Robin in the mornings nowadays?"
"What's this that I'm looking at?" said Eeyore, still
looking at it.
"Three sticks," said Rabbit promptly.
"You see?" said Eeyore to Piglet. He turned to Rabbit.
"I will now answer your question," he said solemnly.
"Thank you," said Rabbit.
"What does Christopher Robin do in the mornings? He
learns. He becomes Educated. He instigorates--I think that is
the word he mentioned, but I may be referring to something
else--he instigorates Knowledge. In my small way I also, if I
have the word right, am--am doing what he does. That, for
instance, is?"
"An A," said Rabbit, "but not a very good one. Well, I
must get back and tell the others."
Eeyore looked at his sticks and then he looked at
Piglet.
"What did Rabbit say it was?" he asked.
"An A," said Piglet.
"Did you tell him?"
"No, Eeyore, I didn't. I expect he just knew."
"He knew? You mean this A thing is a thing Rabbit
knew?"
"Yes, Eeyore. He's clever, Rabbit is."
"Clever!" said Eeyore scornfully, putting a foot
heavily on his three sticks. "Education!" said Eeyore bitterly,
jumping on his six sticks. "What is Learning?" asked Eeyore as
he kicked his twelve sticks into the air. "A thing Rabbit
knows! Ha!"
"I think--" began Piglet nervously.
"Don't," said Eeyore.
"I think Violets are rather nice," said Piglet. And he
laid his bunch in front of Eeyore and scampered off.
Next morning the notice on Christopher Robins door
said:
GONE OUT
BACK SOON
C. R.
Which is why all the animals in the Forest-- except, of
course, the Spotted and Herbaceous Backson--now know what
Christopher Robin does in the mornings.
BY the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream
had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being
grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used
to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew
now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no
hurry. We shall get there some day." But all the little streams
higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly,
eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
There was a broad track, almost as broad as a road,
leading from the Outland to the Forest, but before it could
come to the Forest, it had to cross this river. So, where it
crossed, there was a wooden bridge, almost as broad as a road,
with wooden rails on each side of it. Christopher Robin could
just get his chin on to the top rail, if he wanted to, but it
was more fun to stand on the bottom rail, so that he could lean
right over, and watch the river slipping slowly away beneath
him. Pooh could get his chin on to the bottom rail he if wanted
to, but it was more fun to lie down and get his head under it,
and watch the river slipping slowly away beneath him. And this
was the only way in which Piglet and Roo could watch the river
at all, because they were too small to reach the bottom rail.
So they would lie down and watch it . . . and it slipped away
very slowly, being in no hurry to get there.
One day, when Pooh was walking towards this bridge, he
was trying to make up a piece of poetry about fir-cones,
because there they were, lying about on each side of him, and
he felt singy. So he picked a fir-cone up, and looked at it,
and said to himself, "This is a very good fir-cone, and
something ought to rhyme to it." But he couldn't think of
anything. And then this came into his head suddenly:
Here is a myst'ry
About a little fir-tree.
Owl says it's his tree,
And Kanga says it's her tree.
"Which doesn't make sense," said Pooh, "because Kanga
doesn't live in a tree."
He had just come to the bridge; and not looking where
he was going, he tripped over something, and the fir-cone
jerked out of his paw into the river.
"Bother," said Pooh, as it floated slowly under the
bridge, and he went back to get another fir-cone which had a
rhyme to it. But then he thought that he would just look at the
river instead, because it was a peaceful sort of day, so he lay
down and looked at it, and it slipped slowly away beneath him .
. . and suddenly, there was his fir-cone slipping away too.
"That's funny," said Pooh. "I dropped it on the other
side," said Pooh, "and it came out on this side! I wonder if it
would do it again?" And he went back for some more fir-cones.
It did. It kept on doing it. Then he dropped two in at
once, and leant over the bridge to see which of them would come
out first; and one of them did; but as they were both the same
size, he didn't know if it was the one which he wanted to win,
or the other one. So the next time he dropped one big one and
one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what
he had said it would do, and the little one came out last,
which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice . .
. and when he went home for tea, he had won thirty-six and lost
twenty-eight, which meant that he was-- that he had--well, you
take twenty-eight from thirty-six, and that's what he was.
Instead of the other way round.
And that was the beginning of the game called
Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends
used to play on the edge of the Forest. But they played with
sticks instead of fir-cones, because they were easier to mark.
Now one day Pooh and Piglet and Rabbit and Roo were all
playing Poohsticks together. They had dropped their sticks in
when Rabbit said "Go!" and then they had hurried across to the
other side of the bridge, and now they were all leaning over
the edge, waiting to see whose stick would come out first. But
it was a long time coming, because the river was very lazy that
day, and hardly seemed to mind if it didn't ever get there at
all.
"I can see mine!" cried Roo. "No, I can't, it's
something else. Can you see yours, Piglet? I thought I could
see mine, but I couldn't. There it is! No, it isn't. Can you
see yours, Pooh?"
"No," said Pooh.
"I expect my stick's stuck," said Roo. "Rabbit, my
stick's stuck. Is your stick stuck, Piglet?"
"They always take longer than you think," said Rabbit.
"How long do you think they'll take?" asked Roo.
"I can see yours, Piglet," said Pooh suddenly.
"Mine's a sort of greyish one," said Piglet, not daring
to lean too far over in case he fell in.
"Yes, that's what I can see. It's coming over on to my
side."
Rabbit leant over further than ever, looking for his,
and Roo wriggled up and down, calling out "Come on, stick!
Stick, stick, stick!" and Piglet got very excited because his
was the only one which had been seen, and that meant that he
was winning. "It's coming!" said Pooh.
"Are you sure it's mine?" squeaked Piglet excitedly.
"Yes, because it's grey. A big grey one. Here it comes!
A very--big--grey---- Oh, no, it isn't, it's Eeyore."
And out floated Eeyore.
"Eeyore!" cried everybody.
Looking very calm, very dignified, with his legs in the
air, came Eeyore from beneath the bridge.
"It's Eeyore!" cried Roo, terribly excited.
"Is that so?" said Eeyore, getting caught up by a
little eddy, and turning slowly round three times. "I
wondered."
"I didn't know you were playing," said Roo.
"I'm not," said Eeyore.
"Eeyore, what are you doing there?" said Rabbit.
"I'll give you three guesses, Rabbit. Digging holes in
the ground? Wrong. Leaping from branch to branch of a young
oak-tree? Wrong. Waiting for somebody to help me out of the
river? Right. Give Rabbit time, and he'll always get the
answer."
"But, Eeyore," said Pooh in distress, "what can we--I
mean, how shall we--do you think if we--"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "One of those would be just the
thing. Thank you, Pooh."
"He's going round and round," said Roo, much impressed.
"And why not?" said Eeyore coldly.
"I can swim too," said Roo proudly.
"Not round and round," said Eeyore. "It's much more
difficult. I didn't want to come swimming at all to-day," he
went on, revolving slowly. "But if, when in, I decide to
practise a slight circular movement from right to left--or
perhaps I should say," he added, as he got into another eddy,
"from left to right, just as it happens to occur to me, it is
nobody's business but my own."
There was a moment's silence while everybody thought.
"I've got a sort of idea," said Pooh at last, "but I
don't suppose it's a very good one."
"I don't suppose it is either," said Eeyore.
"Go on, Pooh," said Rabbit. "Let's have it."
"Well, if we threw stones and things into the river on
one side of Eeyore, the stones would make waves, and the waves
would wash him to the other side."
"That's a very good idea," said Rabbit, and Pooh looked
happy again.
"Very," said Eeyore.
"When I want to be washed, Pooh, I'll let you know."
"Supposing we hit him by mistake?" said Piglet
anxiously.
"Or supposing you missed him by mistake," said Eeyore.
"Think of all the possibilities, Piglet, before you settle down
to enjoy yourselves."
But Pooh had got the biggest stone he could carry, and
was leaning over the bridge, holding it in his paws.
"I'm not throwing it, I'm dropping it, Eeyore," he
explained. "And then I can't miss--I mean I can't hit you.
Could you stop turning round for a moment, because it muddles
me rather?"
"No," said Eeyore. "I like turning round."
Rabbit began to feel that it was time he took command.
"Now, Pooh," he said, "when I say 'Now!' you can drop
it. Eeyore, when I say 'Now!' Pooh will drop his stone."
"Thank you very much, Rabbit, but I expect I shall
know."
"Are you ready, Pooh? Piglet, give Pooh a little more
room. Get back a bit there, Roo. Are you ready?"
"No," said Eeyore.
"Now!" said Rabbit.
Pooh dropped his stone. There was a loud splash, and
Eeyore disappeared....
It was an anxious moment for the watchers on the
made it, and I'm waiting for the ho-ho to come-come."
How long Piglet would have gone on like this I don't
know, but at that moment Pooh woke up suddenly and decided that
it was sixteen. So he got up; and as he turned his head so as
to soothe himself in that awkward place in the middle of the
back where something was tickling him, he saw Christopher
Robin.
"Hallo!" he shouted joyfully.
"Hallo, Pooh."
Piglet looked up, and looked away again. And he felt so
Foolish and Uncomfortable that he had almost decided to run
away to Sea and be a Sailor, when suddenly he saw something.
"Pooh!" he cried. "There's something climbing up your
back."
"I thought there was," said Pooh.
"It's Small!" cried Piglet.
"Oh, that's who it is, is it?" said Pooh.
"Christopher Robin, I've found Small!" cried Piglet.
"Well done, Piglet," said Christopher Robin.
And at these encouraging words Piglet felt quite happy
again, and decided not to be a Sailor after all. So when
Christopher Robin had helped them out of the Gravel Pit, they
all went off together hand-in-hand.
And two days later Rabbit happened to meet Eeyore in
the Forest.
"Hallo, Eeyore," he said, "what are you looking for?"
"Small, of course," said Eeyore. "Haven't you any
brain?"
"Oh, but didn't I tell you?" said Rabbit. "Small was
found two days ago."
There was a moment's silence.
"Ha-ha," said Eeyore bitterly. "Merriment and what-not.
Don't apologize. It's just what would happen."
One day when Pooh was thinking, he thought he would go and
see Eeyore, because he hadn't seen him since yesterday. And as
he walked through the heather, singing to himself, he suddenly
remembered that he hadn't seen Owl since the day before yesterday,
so he thought that he would just look in at the Hundred Acre Wood
on the way and see if Owl was at home.
Well, he went on singing, until he came to the part of
the stream where the stepping-stones were, and when he was in
the middle of the third stone he began to wonder how Kanga and
Roo and Tigger were getting on, because they all lived together
in a different part of the Forest. And he thought, "I haven't
seen Roo for a long time, and if I don't see him to-day it will
be a still longer time." So he sat down on the stone in the
middle of the stream, and sang another verse of his song, while
he wondered what to do.
The other verse of the song was like this:
I could spend a happy morning
Seeing Roo,
I could spend a happy morning
Being Pooh.
For it doesn't seem to matter,
If I don't get any fatter
(And I don't get any fatter),
What I do.
The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which
had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too that
Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of
the stream for the rest of the morning, when he remembered
Rabbit.
"Rabbit," said Pooh to himself. "I like talking to
Rabbit. He talks about sensible things. He doesn't use long,
difficult words, like Owl. He uses short, easy words, like
'What about lunch?' and 'Help yourself, Pooh.' I suppose,
really, I ought to go and see Rabbit."
Which made him think of another verse:
Oh, I like his way of talking,
Yes, I do.
It's the nicest way of talking
Just for two.
And a Help-yourself with Rabbit
Though it may become a habit,
Is a pleasant sort of habit
For a Pooh.
So when he had sung this, he got up off his stone,
walked back across the stream, and set off for Rabbit's house.
But he hadn't got far before he began to say to
himself:
"Yes, but suppose Rabbit is out?"
"Or suppose I get stuck in his front door again, coming
out, as I did once when his front door wasn't big enough?"
"Because I know I'm not getting fatter, but his front
door may be getting thinner."
"So wouldn't it be better if----"
And all the time he was saying things like this he was
going more and more westerly, without thinking . . . until
suddenly he found himself at his own front door again.
And it was eleven o'clock.
Which was Time-for-a-little-something....
Half an hour later he was doing what he had always
really meant to do, he was stumping off to Piglet's house. And
as he walked, he wiped his mouth with the back of his paw, and
sang rather a fluffy song through the fur. It went like this:
I could spend a happy morning
Seeing Piglet.
And I couldn't spend a happy morning
not seeing Piglet.
And it doesn't seem to matter
If I don't see Owl and Eeyore (or any of the
others),
And I'm not going to see Owl or Eeyore (or any of
the others)
Or Christopher Robin.
Written down like this, it doesn't seem a very good
song, but coming through pale fawn fluff at about half-past
eleven on a very sunny morning, it seemed to Pooh to be one of
the best songs he had ever sung. So he went on singing it.
Piglet was busy digging a small hole in the ground
outside his house.
"Hallo, Piglet," said Pooh.
"Hallo, Pooh,--" said Piglet, giving a jump of
surprise. "I knew it was you."
"So did I," said Pooh. "What are you doing?"
"I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up
into an oak-tree, and have lots of haycorns just outside the
front door instead of having to walk miles and miles, do you
see, Pooh?"
"Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.
"It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so
that's why I'm planting it."
"Well," said Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my
house, then it will grow up into a beehive."
Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.
"Or a piece of a honeycomb," said Pooh, "so as not to
waste too much. Only then I might only get a piece of a
beehive, and it might be the wrong piece, where the bees were
buzzing and not hunnying. Bother."
Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.
"Besides, Pooh, it's a very difficult thing, planting
unless you know how to do it," he said; and he put the acorn in
the hole he had made, and covered it up with earth, and jumped
on it.
"I do know," said Pooh, "because Christopher Robin gave
me a mastershalum seed, and I planted it, and I'm going to have
mastershalums all over the front door."
"I thought they were called nasturtiums," said Piglet
timidly, as he went on jumping.
"No," said Pooh. "Not these. These are called
mastershalums."
When Piglet had finished jumping, he wiped his paws on
his front, and said, "What shall we do now?" and Pooh said,
"Let's go and see Kanga and Roo and Tigger," and Piglet said,
"Y-yes. L-let's"--because he was still a little anxious about
Tigger, who was a Very Bouncy Animal, with a way of saying
How-do-you-do, which always left your ears full of sand, even
after Kanga had said, "Gently, Tigger dear," and had helped you
up again. So they set off for Kanga's house.
Now it happened that Kanga had felt rather motherly
that morning, and Wanting to Count Things--like Roo's vests,
and how many pieces of soap there were left, and the two clean
spots in Tigger's feeder; so she had sent them out with a
packet of watercress sandwiches for Roo and a packet of
extract-of-malt sandwiches for Tigger, to have a nice long
morning in the Forest not getting into mischief. And off they
had gone.
And as they went, Tigger told Roo (who wanted to know)
all about the things that Tiggers could do.
"Can they fly?" asked Roo.
"Yes," said Tigger, "they're very good flyers, Tiggers
are. Strornry good flyers."
"Oo!" said Roo. "Can they fly as well as Owl?"
"Yes," said Tigger. "Only they don't want to."
"Why don't they want to?" well, they just don't like it
somehow."
Roo couldn't understand this, because he thought it
would be lovely to be able to fly, but Tigger said it was
difficult to explain to anybody who wasn't a Tigger himself.
"Well," said Roo, "can they jump as far as Kangas?"
"Yes," said Tigger. "When they want to."
"I love jumping," said Roo. "Let's see who can jump
farthest, you or me."
"I can," said Tigger. "But we mustn't stop now, or we
shall be late."
"Late for what?"
"For whatever we want to be in time for," said Tigger,
hurrying on.
In a little while they came to the Six Pine Trees.
"I can swim," said Roo. "I fell into the river, and I
swimmed. Can Tiggers swim?"
"Of course they can. Tiggers can do everything."
"Can they climb trees better than Pooh?" asked Roo,
stopping under the tallest Pine Tree, and looking up at it.
"Climbing trees is what they do best," said Tigger.
"Much better than Poohs."
"Could they climb this one?"
"They're always climbing trees like that," said Tigger.
"Up and down all day."
"Oo, Tigger, are they really?"
"I'll show you," said Tigger bravely, "and you can sit
on my back and watch me. "For of all the things which he had
said Tiggers could do, the only one he felt really certain
about suddenly was climbing trees.
"Oo, Tigger--oo, Tigger--oo, Tigger!" squeaked Roo
excitedly.
So he sat on Tigger's back and up they went.
And for the first ten feet Tigger said happily to
himself, "Up we go!"
And for the next ten feet he said:
"I always said Tiggers could climb trees."
And for the next ten feet he said:
"Not that it's easy, mind you."
And for the next ten feet he said:
"Of course, there's the coming-down too. Backwards."
And then he said:
"Which will be difficult . . ."
"Unless one fell . . ."
"When it would be . . ."
"EASY."
And at the word "easy," the branch he was standing on
broke suddenly, and he just managed to clutch at the one above
him as he felt himself going . . . and then slowly he got his
chin over it . . . and then one back paw . . . and then the
other . . . until at last he was sitting on it, breathing very
quickly, and wishing that he had gone in for swimming instead.
Roo climbed off, and sat down next to him.
"Oo, Tigger," he said excitedly, "are we at the top?
"No," said Tigger.
"Are we going to the top?"
"No," said Tigger.
"Oh!" said Roo rather sadly. And then he went on
hopefully: "That was a lovely bit just now, when you pretended
we were going to fall-bump-to-the-bottom, and we didn't. Will
you do that bit again?"
"No," said Tigger.
Roo was silent for a little while, and then he said,
"Shall we eat our sandwiches, Tigger?" And Tigger said, "Yes,
where are they?" And Roo said, "At the bottom of the tree." And
Tigger said, "I don't think we'd better eat them just yet." So
they didn't.
By-and-by Pooh and Piglet came along. Pooh was telling
Piglet in a singing voice that it didn't seem to matter, if he
didn't get any fatter, and he didn't think he was getting any
fatter, what he did; and Piglet was wondering how long it would
be before his haycorn came up.
"Look, Pooh!" said Piglet suddenly. "There's something
in one of the Pine Trees."
"So there is!" said Pooh, looking up wonderingly.
"There's an Animal."
Piglet took Pooh's arm, in case Pooh was frightened.
"Is it One of the Fiercer Animals?" he said, looking
the other way.
Pooh nodded.
"It's a Jagular," he said.
"What do Jagulars do?" asked Piglet, hoping that they
wouldn't.
"They hide in the branches of trees, and drop on you as
you go underneath," said Pooh. "Christopher Robin told me."
"Perhaps we better hadn't go underneath, Pooh. In case
he dropped and hurt himself."
"They don't hurt themselves," said Pooh. "They're such
very good droppers."
Piglet still felt that to be underneath a Very Good
Dropper would be a Mistake, and he was just going to hurry back
for something which he had forgotten when the Jagular called
out to them.
"Help! Help!" it called.
"That's what Jagulars always do," said Pooh, much
interested. "They call 'Help! Help!' and then when you look up,
they drop on you."
"I'm looking down," cried Piglet loudly, so as the
Jagular shouldn't do the wrong thing by accident. Something
very excited next to the Jagular heard him, and squeaked:
"Pooh and Piglet! Pooh and Piglet!"
All of a sudden Piglet felt that it was a much nicer
day than he had thought it was. All warm and sunny----
"Pooh!" he cried. "I believe it's Tigger and Roo!"
"So it is," said Pooh. "I thought it was a Jagular and
another Jagular."
"Hallo, Roo!" called Piglet. "What are you doing?"
"We can't get down, we can't get down!" cried Roo.
"Isn't it fun? Pooh, isn't it fun, Tigger and I are living in a
tree, like Owl, and we're going to stay here for ever and ever.
I can see Piglet's house. Piglet, I can see your house from
here. Aren't we high? Is Owl's house as high up as this?"
"How did you get there, Roo?" asked Piglet.
"On Tigger's back! And Tiggers can't climb downwards,
because their tails get in the way, only upwards, and Tigger
forgot about that when we started, and he's only just
remembered. So we've got to stay here for ever and ever--unless
we go higher. What did you say, Tigger? Oh, Tigger says if we
go higher we shan't be able to see Piglet's house so well, so
we're going to stop here."
"Piglet," said Pooh solemnly, when he had heard all
this, "what shall we do?" And he began to eat Tigger's
sandwiches.
"Are they stuck?" asked Piglet anxiously.
Pooh nodded.
"Couldn't you climb up to them?"
"I might, Piglet, and I might bring Roo down on my
back, but I couldn't bring Tigger down. So we must think of
something else. "And in a thoughtful way he began to eat Roo's
sandwiches, too.
Whether he would have thought of anything before he had
finished the last sandwich, I don't know, but he had just got
to the last but one when there was a crackling in the bracken,
and Christopher Robin and Eeyore came strolling along together.
"I shouldn't be surprised if it hailed a good deal
to-morrow," Eeyore was saying. "Blizzards and what-not. Being
fine to-day doesn't Mean Anything. It has no sig--what's that
word? Well, it has none of that. It's just a small piece of
weather."
"There's Pooh!" said Christopher Robin, who didn't much
mind what it did to-morrow, as long as he was out in it.
"Hallo, Pooh!"
"It's Christopher Robin!" said Piglet. "He'll know what
to do."
They hurried up to him.
"Oh, Christopher Robin," began Pooh.
"And Eeyore," said Eeyore.
"Tigger and Roo are right up the Six Pine Trees, and
they can't get down, and----"
"And I was just saying," put in Piglet, "that if only
Christopher Robin----"
"And Eeyore----"
"If only you were here, then we could think of
something to do."
Christopher Robin looked up at Tigger and Roo, and
tried to think of something.
"I thought," said Piglet earnestly, "that if Eeyore
stood at the bottom of the tree, and if Pooh stood on Eeyore's
back, and if I stood on Pooh's shoulders----"
"And if Eeyore's back snapped suddenly, then we could
all laugh. Ha ha! Amusing in a quiet way," said Eeyore, "but
not really helpful."
"Well," said Piglet meekly, "I thought----"
"Would it break your back, Eeyore?" asked Pooh, very
much surprised.
"That's what would be so interesting, Pooh. Not being
quite sure till afterwards."
Pooh said "Oh!" and they all began to think again.
"I've got an idea!" cried Christopher Robin suddenly.
"Listen to this, Piglet," said Eeyore, "and then you'll
know what we're trying to do."
"I'll take off my tunic and we'll each hold a corner,
and then Roo and Tigger can jump into it, and it will be all
soft and bouncy for them, and they won't hurt themselves."
"Getting Tigger down," said Eeyore, "and not hurting
anybody. Keep those two ideas in your head, Piglet, and you'll
be all right."
But Piglet wasn't listening, he was so agog at the
thought of seeing Christopher Robin's blue braces again. He had
only seen them once before, when he was much younger, and,
being a little over-excited by them, had had to go to bed half
an hour earlier than usual; and he had always wondered since if
they were really as blue and as bracing as he had thought them.
So when Christopher Robin took his tunic off, and they were, he
felt quite friendly to Eeyore again, and held the corner of the
tunic next to him and smiled happily at him. And Eeyore
whispered back: "I'm not saying there won't be an Accident now,
mind you. They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them
till you're having them."
When Roo understood what he had to do, he was wildly
excited, and cried out: "Tigger, Tigger, we're going to jump!
Look at me jumping, Tigger! Like flying, my jumping will be.
Can Tiggers do it?" And he squeaked out: "I'm coming,
Christopher Robin!" and he jumped-- straight into the middle of
the tunic. And he was going so fast that he bounced up again
almost as high as where he was before--and went on bouncing and
saying, "Oo!" for quite a long time--and then at last he
stopped and said, "Oo, lovely!" And they put him on the ground.
"Come on, Tigger," he called out. "It's easy."
But Tigger was holding on to the branch and saying to
himself: "It's all very well for Jumping Animals like Kangas,
but it's quite different for Swimming Animals like Tiggers.
"And he thought of himself floating on his back down a river,
or striking out from one island to another, and he felt that
that was really the life for a Tigger.
"Come along," called Christopher Robin. "You'll be all
right."
"Just wait a moment," said Tigger nervously. "Small
piece of bark in my eye." And he moved slowly along his branch.
"Come on, it's easy!" squeaked Roo. And suddenly Tigger
found how easy it was.
"Ow!" he shouted as the tree flew past him.
"Look out!" cried Christopher Robin to the others.
There was a crash, and a tearing noise, and a confused
heap of everybody on the ground.
Christopher Robin and Pooh and Piglet picked themselves
up first, and then they picked Tigger up, and underneath
everybody else was Eeyore.
"Oh, Eeyore!" cried Christopher Robin. "Are you hurt?"
And he felt him rather anxiously, and dusted him and helped him
to stand up again.
Eeyore said nothing for a long time. And then he said:
"Is Tigger there?"
Tigger was there, feeling Bouncy again already.
"Yes," said Christopher Robin. "Tigger's here."
"Well, just thank him for me," said Eeyore.
IT was going to be one of Rabbit's busy days. As soon as he
woke up he felt important, as if everything depended upon him.
It was just the day for Organizing Something, or for Writing a
Notice Signed Rabbit, or for Seeing What Everybody Else Thought
About It. It was a perfect morning for hurrying round to Pooh,
and saying, "Very well, then, I'll tell Piglet," and then going
to Piglet, and saying, "Pooh thinks--but perhaps I'd better see
Owl first." It was a Captainish sort of day, when everybody
said, "Yes, Rabbit " and "No, Rabbit," and waited until he had
told them.
He came out of his house and sniffed the warm spring
morning as he wondered what he would do. Kanga's house was
nearest, and at Kanga's
house was Roo, who said "Yes, Rabbit " and "No, Rabbit"
almost better than anybody else in the Forest; but there was
another animal there nowadays, the strange and Bouncy Tigger;
and he was the sort of Tigger who was always in front when you
were showing him the way anywhere,
and was generally out of sight when at last you came to the
place and said proudly "Here we are!"
"No, not Kanga's," said Rabbit thoughtfully to himself,
as he curled his whiskers in the sun, and to make quite sure
that he wasn't going there, he turned to the left and trotted
off in the other direction, which was the way to Christopher
Robin's house.
"After all," said Rabbit to himself, "Christopher Robin
depends on Me. He's fond of Pooh and Piglet and Eeyore, and so
am I, but they haven't any Brain. Not to notice. And he
respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can
spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling
isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply
doesn't count. And Kanga is too busy looking after Roo, and Roo
is too young and Tigger is too bouncy to be any help, so
there's really nobody but Me, when you come to look at it. I'll
go and see if there's anything he wants doing, and then I'll do
it for him. It's just the day for doing things."
He trotted along happily, and by-and-by he crossed the
stream and came to the place where his friends-and-relations
lived. There seemed to be even more of them about than usual
this morning, and having nodded to a hedgehog or two, with whom
he was too busy to shake hands, and having said, "Good morning,
good morning," importantly to some of the others, and "Ah,
there you are," kindly, to the smaller ones, he waved a paw at
them over his shoulder, and was gone leaving such an air of
excitement and I-don't-know-what behind him, that several
members of the Beetle family, including Henry Rush, made their
way at once to the Hundred Acre Wood and began climbing trees,
in the hope of getting to the top before it happened, whatever
it was, so that they might see it properly. Rabbit hurried on
by the edge of the Hundred Acre Wood, feeling more important
every minute, and soon he came to the tree where Christopher
Robin lived. He knocked at the door, and he called out once or
twice, and then he walked back a little way and put his paw up
to keep the sun out, and called to the top of the tree, and
then he turned all round and shouted "Hallo!" and "I say!"
"It's Rabbit!"--but nothing happened. Then he stopped and
listened, and everything stopped and listened with him, and the
Forest was very lone and still and peaceful in the sunshine,
until suddenly a hundred miles above him a lark began to sing.
"Bother!" said Rabbit. "He's gone out." He went back to
the green front door, just to make sure, and he was turning
away, feeling that his morning had got all spoilt, when he saw
a piece of paper on the ground. And there was a pin in it, as
if it had fallen off the door.
"Ha!" said Rabbit, feeling quite happy again. "Another
notice!"
This is what it said:
GON OUT
BACKSON
BISY
BACKSON
C. R.
"Ha!" said Rabbit again. "I must tell the others." And
he hurried off importantly.
The nearest house was Owl's, and to Owl's House in the
Hundred Acre wood he made his way. He came to Owl's door, and
he knocked and he rang, and he rang and he knocked, and at last
Owl's head came out and said "Go away, I'm thinking--oh, it's
you?" which was how he always began.
"Owl," said Rabbit shortly, "you and I have brains. The
others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this
Forest--and when I say thinking I mean thinking--you and I must
do it."
"Yes," said Owl. "I was."
"Read that."
Owl took Christopher Robin's notice from Rabbit and
looked at it nervously. He could spell his own name WOL, and he
could spell Tuesday so that you knew it wasn't Wednesday, and
he could read quite comfortably when you weren't looking over
his shoulder and saying "Well?" all the time, and he could----
"Well?" said Rabbit.
"Yes," said Owl, looking Wise and Thoughtful.
"I see what you mean. Undoubtedly."
"Well?"
"Exactly," said Owl. "Precisely." And he added, after a
little thought, "If you had not come to me, I should have come
to you."
"Why?" asked Rabbit.
"For that very reason," said Owl, hoping that something
helpful would happen soon.
"Yesterday morning," said Rabbit solemnly, "I went to
see Christopher Robin. He was out. Pinned on his door was a
notice!"
"The same notice?"
"A different one. But the meaning was the same. It's
very odd."
"Amazing," said Owl, looking at the notice again, and
getting, just for a moment, a curious sort of feeling that
something had happened to Christopher Robin's back. "What did
you do?"
"Nothing."
"The best thing," said Owl wisely.
"Well?" said Rabbit again, as Owl knew he was going to.
"Exactly," said Owl.
For a little while he couldn't think of anything more;
and then, all of a sudden, he had an idea.
"Tell me, Rabbit," he said, "the exact words of the
first notice. This is very important. Everything depends on
this. The exact words of the first notice."
"It was just the same as that one really."
Owl looked at him, and wondered whether to push him off
the tree; but, feeling that he could always do it afterwards,
he tried once more to find out what they were talking about.
"The exact words, please" he said, as if Rabbit hadn't
spoken.
"It just said, 'Gone out. Backson.' Same as this, only
this says 'Bisy Backson' too."
Owl gave a great sigh of relief.
"Ah!" said Owl. "Now we know where we are."
"Yes, but where's Christopher Robin?" said Rabbit.
"That's the point."
Owl looked at the notice again. To one of his education
the reading of it was easy. "Gone out, Backson. Bisy,
Backson"-- just the sort of thing you'd expect to see on a
notice.
"It is quite clear what has happened, my dear Rabbit,"
he said. "Christopher Robin has gone out somewhere with
Backson. He and Backson are busy together. Have you seen a
Backson anywhere about in the Forest lately?"
"I don't know," said Rabbit. "That's what I came to ask
you. What are they like?"
"Well," said Owl, "the Spotted or Herbaceous Backson is
just a--"
"At least," he said, "it's really more of a----"
"Of course," he said, "it depends on the----"
"Well," said Owl, "the fact is," he said, "I don't know
what they're like," said Owl frankly.
"Thank you," said Rabbit. And he hurried off to see
Pooh.
Before he had gone very far he heard a noise. So he
stopped and listened. This was the noise.
NOISE, BY POOH
Oh, the butterflies are flying,
Now the winter days are dying,
And the primroses are trying
To be seen.
And the turtle-doves are cooing,
And the woods arc up and doing,
For the violets are blue-ing
In the green.
Oh, the honey-bees are gumming
On their little wings, and humming
That the summer, which is coming,
Will be fun.
And the cows are almost cooing,
And the turtle-doves are mooing,
Which is why a Pooh is poohing
In the sun.
For the spring is really springing;
You can see a skylark singing,
And the blue-bells, which are ringing,
Can be heard.
And the cuckoo isn't cooing,
But he's cucking and he's ooing,
And a Pooh is simply poohing
Like a bird.
"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.
"Hallo, Rabbit," said Pooh dreamily.
"Did you make that song up?"
"Well, I sort of made it up," said Pooh. "It isn't
Brain," he went on humbly, "because You Know Why, Rabbit; but
it comes to me sometimes."
"Ah!" said Rabbit, who never let things come to him,
but always went and fetched them. "Well, the point is, have you
seen a Spotted or
Herbaceous Backson in the Forest, at all?"
"No," said Pooh. "Not a--no," said Pooh. "I saw Tigger
just now."
"That's no good."
"No," said Pooh. I thought it wasn't."
"Have you seen Piglet?"
"Yes," said Pooh. "I suppose that isn't any good
either?" he asked meekly.
"Well, it depends if he saw anything."
"He saw me," said Pooh.
Rabbit sat down on the ground next to Pooh and, feeling
much less important like that, stood up again.
"What it all comes to is this," he said. "What does
Christopher Robin do in the morning nowadays?"
"What sort of thing?"
"Well, can you tell me anything you've seen him do in
the morning? These last few days."
"Yes," said Pooh. "We had breakfast together yesterday.
By the Pine Trees. I'd made up a little basket, just a little,
fair-sized basket, an ordinary biggish sort of basket, full
of--"
"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "but I mean later than that.
Have you seen him between eleven and twelve?"
"Well," said Pooh, "at eleven o'clock--at eleven
o'clock--well, at eleven o'clock, you see, I generally get home
about then. Because I have One or Two Things to Do."
"Quarter past eleven, then?"
"Well--" said Pooh.
"Half past?"
"Yes," said Pooh. "At half past--or perhaps later--I
might see him."
And now that he did think of it, he began to remember
that he hadn't seen Christopher Robin about so much lately. Not
in the mornings. Afternoons, yes; evenings, yes; before
breakfast, yes; just after breakfast, yes. And then, perhaps,
"See you again, Pooh," and off he'd go.
"That's just it," said Rabbit. "Where?"
"Perhaps he's looking for something."
"What?" asked Rabbit.
"That's just what I was going to say," said Pooh. And
then he added, "Perhaps he's looking for a-- for a--"
"A Spotted or Herbaceous Backson?"
"Yes," said Pooh. "One of those. In case it isn't."
Rabbit looked at him severely.
"I don't think you're helping," he said.
"No," said Pooh. "I do try," he added humbly.
Rabbit thanked him for trying, and said that he would
now go and see Eeyore, and Pooh could walk with him if he
liked. But Pooh, who felt another verse of his song coming on
him, said he would wait for Piglet, good-bye, Rabbit; so Rabbit
went off.
But, as it happened, it was Rabbit who saw Piglet
first. Piglet had got up early that morning to pick himself a
bunch of violets; and when he had picked them and put them in a
pot in the middle of his house, it suddenly came over him that
nobody had ever picked Eeyore a bunch of violets, and the more
he thought of this, the more he thought how sad it was to be an
Animal who had never had a bunch of violets picked for him. So
he hurried out again, saying to himself, "Eeyore, Violets" and
then "Violets, Eeyore," in case he forgot, because it was that
sort of day, and he picked a large bunch and trotted along,
smelling them, and feeling very happy, until he came to the
place where Eeyore was.
"Oh, Eeyore," began Piglet a little nervously, because
Eeyore was busy.
Eeyore put out a paw and waved him away.
"To-morrow," said Eeyore. "Or the next day." Piglet
came a little closer to see what it was. Eeyore had three
sticks on the ground, and was looking at them. Two of the
sticks were touching at one end, but not at the other, and the
third stick was laid across them. Piglet thought that perhaps
it was a Trap of some kind.
"Oh, Eeyore," he began again, "I just--"
"Is that little Piglet?" said Eeyore, still looking
hard at his sticks.
"Yes, Eeyore, and I--"
"Do you know what this is?"
"No," said Piglet.
"It's an A."
"Oh," said Piglet.
"Not O--A," said Eeyore severely. "Can't you hear, or
do you think you have more education than Christopher Robin?"
"Yes," said Piglet. "No," said Piglet very quickly. And
he came closer still.
"Christopher Robin said it was an A, and an A it
is--until somebody treads on it," Eeyore added sternly.
Piglet jumped backwards hurriedly, and smelt at his
violets.
"Do you know what A means, little Piglet?"
"No, Eeyore, I don't."
"It means Learning, it means Education, it means all
the things that you and Pooh haven't got. That's what A means."
"Oh," said Piglet again. "I mean, does it?" he
explained quickly.
"I'm telling you. People come and go in this Forest,
and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They
walk to and fro saying 'Ha ha!' But do they know anything about
A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the
Educated--mark this, little Piglet--to the Educated, not
meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A. Not,"
he added, "just something that anybody can come and breathe
on."
Piglet stepped back nervously, and looked round for
help.
"Here's Rabbit," he said gladly. "Hallo, Rabbit."
Rabbit came up importantly, nodded to Piglet, and said,
"Ah, Eeyore," in the voice of one who would be saying "Good-bye
" in about two more minutes.
"There's just one thing I wanted to ask you, Eeyore.
What happens to Christopher Robin in the mornings nowadays?"
"What's this that I'm looking at?" said Eeyore, still
looking at it.
"Three sticks," said Rabbit promptly.
"You see?" said Eeyore to Piglet. He turned to Rabbit.
"I will now answer your question," he said solemnly.
"Thank you," said Rabbit.
"What does Christopher Robin do in the mornings? He
learns. He becomes Educated. He instigorates--I think that is
the word he mentioned, but I may be referring to something
else--he instigorates Knowledge. In my small way I also, if I
have the word right, am--am doing what he does. That, for
instance, is?"
"An A," said Rabbit, "but not a very good one. Well, I
must get back and tell the others."
Eeyore looked at his sticks and then he looked at
Piglet.
"What did Rabbit say it was?" he asked.
"An A," said Piglet.
"Did you tell him?"
"No, Eeyore, I didn't. I expect he just knew."
"He knew? You mean this A thing is a thing Rabbit
knew?"
"Yes, Eeyore. He's clever, Rabbit is."
"Clever!" said Eeyore scornfully, putting a foot
heavily on his three sticks. "Education!" said Eeyore bitterly,
jumping on his six sticks. "What is Learning?" asked Eeyore as
he kicked his twelve sticks into the air. "A thing Rabbit
knows! Ha!"
"I think--" began Piglet nervously.
"Don't," said Eeyore.
"I think Violets are rather nice," said Piglet. And he
laid his bunch in front of Eeyore and scampered off.
Next morning the notice on Christopher Robins door
said:
GONE OUT
BACK SOON
C. R.
Which is why all the animals in the Forest-- except, of
course, the Spotted and Herbaceous Backson--now know what
Christopher Robin does in the mornings.
BY the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream
had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being
grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used
to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew
now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no
hurry. We shall get there some day." But all the little streams
higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly,
eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
There was a broad track, almost as broad as a road,
leading from the Outland to the Forest, but before it could
come to the Forest, it had to cross this river. So, where it
crossed, there was a wooden bridge, almost as broad as a road,
with wooden rails on each side of it. Christopher Robin could
just get his chin on to the top rail, if he wanted to, but it
was more fun to stand on the bottom rail, so that he could lean
right over, and watch the river slipping slowly away beneath
him. Pooh could get his chin on to the bottom rail he if wanted
to, but it was more fun to lie down and get his head under it,
and watch the river slipping slowly away beneath him. And this
was the only way in which Piglet and Roo could watch the river
at all, because they were too small to reach the bottom rail.
So they would lie down and watch it . . . and it slipped away
very slowly, being in no hurry to get there.
One day, when Pooh was walking towards this bridge, he
was trying to make up a piece of poetry about fir-cones,
because there they were, lying about on each side of him, and
he felt singy. So he picked a fir-cone up, and looked at it,
and said to himself, "This is a very good fir-cone, and
something ought to rhyme to it." But he couldn't think of
anything. And then this came into his head suddenly:
Here is a myst'ry
About a little fir-tree.
Owl says it's his tree,
And Kanga says it's her tree.
"Which doesn't make sense," said Pooh, "because Kanga
doesn't live in a tree."
He had just come to the bridge; and not looking where
he was going, he tripped over something, and the fir-cone
jerked out of his paw into the river.
"Bother," said Pooh, as it floated slowly under the
bridge, and he went back to get another fir-cone which had a
rhyme to it. But then he thought that he would just look at the
river instead, because it was a peaceful sort of day, so he lay
down and looked at it, and it slipped slowly away beneath him .
. . and suddenly, there was his fir-cone slipping away too.
"That's funny," said Pooh. "I dropped it on the other
side," said Pooh, "and it came out on this side! I wonder if it
would do it again?" And he went back for some more fir-cones.
It did. It kept on doing it. Then he dropped two in at
once, and leant over the bridge to see which of them would come
out first; and one of them did; but as they were both the same
size, he didn't know if it was the one which he wanted to win,
or the other one. So the next time he dropped one big one and
one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what
he had said it would do, and the little one came out last,
which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice . .
. and when he went home for tea, he had won thirty-six and lost
twenty-eight, which meant that he was-- that he had--well, you
take twenty-eight from thirty-six, and that's what he was.
Instead of the other way round.
And that was the beginning of the game called
Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends
used to play on the edge of the Forest. But they played with
sticks instead of fir-cones, because they were easier to mark.
Now one day Pooh and Piglet and Rabbit and Roo were all
playing Poohsticks together. They had dropped their sticks in
when Rabbit said "Go!" and then they had hurried across to the
other side of the bridge, and now they were all leaning over
the edge, waiting to see whose stick would come out first. But
it was a long time coming, because the river was very lazy that
day, and hardly seemed to mind if it didn't ever get there at
all.
"I can see mine!" cried Roo. "No, I can't, it's
something else. Can you see yours, Piglet? I thought I could
see mine, but I couldn't. There it is! No, it isn't. Can you
see yours, Pooh?"
"No," said Pooh.
"I expect my stick's stuck," said Roo. "Rabbit, my
stick's stuck. Is your stick stuck, Piglet?"
"They always take longer than you think," said Rabbit.
"How long do you think they'll take?" asked Roo.
"I can see yours, Piglet," said Pooh suddenly.
"Mine's a sort of greyish one," said Piglet, not daring
to lean too far over in case he fell in.
"Yes, that's what I can see. It's coming over on to my
side."
Rabbit leant over further than ever, looking for his,
and Roo wriggled up and down, calling out "Come on, stick!
Stick, stick, stick!" and Piglet got very excited because his
was the only one which had been seen, and that meant that he
was winning. "It's coming!" said Pooh.
"Are you sure it's mine?" squeaked Piglet excitedly.
"Yes, because it's grey. A big grey one. Here it comes!
A very--big--grey---- Oh, no, it isn't, it's Eeyore."
And out floated Eeyore.
"Eeyore!" cried everybody.
Looking very calm, very dignified, with his legs in the
air, came Eeyore from beneath the bridge.
"It's Eeyore!" cried Roo, terribly excited.
"Is that so?" said Eeyore, getting caught up by a
little eddy, and turning slowly round three times. "I
wondered."
"I didn't know you were playing," said Roo.
"I'm not," said Eeyore.
"Eeyore, what are you doing there?" said Rabbit.
"I'll give you three guesses, Rabbit. Digging holes in
the ground? Wrong. Leaping from branch to branch of a young
oak-tree? Wrong. Waiting for somebody to help me out of the
river? Right. Give Rabbit time, and he'll always get the
answer."
"But, Eeyore," said Pooh in distress, "what can we--I
mean, how shall we--do you think if we--"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "One of those would be just the
thing. Thank you, Pooh."
"He's going round and round," said Roo, much impressed.
"And why not?" said Eeyore coldly.
"I can swim too," said Roo proudly.
"Not round and round," said Eeyore. "It's much more
difficult. I didn't want to come swimming at all to-day," he
went on, revolving slowly. "But if, when in, I decide to
practise a slight circular movement from right to left--or
perhaps I should say," he added, as he got into another eddy,
"from left to right, just as it happens to occur to me, it is
nobody's business but my own."
There was a moment's silence while everybody thought.
"I've got a sort of idea," said Pooh at last, "but I
don't suppose it's a very good one."
"I don't suppose it is either," said Eeyore.
"Go on, Pooh," said Rabbit. "Let's have it."
"Well, if we threw stones and things into the river on
one side of Eeyore, the stones would make waves, and the waves
would wash him to the other side."
"That's a very good idea," said Rabbit, and Pooh looked
happy again.
"Very," said Eeyore.
"When I want to be washed, Pooh, I'll let you know."
"Supposing we hit him by mistake?" said Piglet
anxiously.
"Or supposing you missed him by mistake," said Eeyore.
"Think of all the possibilities, Piglet, before you settle down
to enjoy yourselves."
But Pooh had got the biggest stone he could carry, and
was leaning over the bridge, holding it in his paws.
"I'm not throwing it, I'm dropping it, Eeyore," he
explained. "And then I can't miss--I mean I can't hit you.
Could you stop turning round for a moment, because it muddles
me rather?"
"No," said Eeyore. "I like turning round."
Rabbit began to feel that it was time he took command.
"Now, Pooh," he said, "when I say 'Now!' you can drop
it. Eeyore, when I say 'Now!' Pooh will drop his stone."
"Thank you very much, Rabbit, but I expect I shall
know."
"Are you ready, Pooh? Piglet, give Pooh a little more
room. Get back a bit there, Roo. Are you ready?"
"No," said Eeyore.
"Now!" said Rabbit.
Pooh dropped his stone. There was a loud splash, and
Eeyore disappeared....
It was an anxious moment for the watchers on the