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-

-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER ***

-

-

-

-

-

-                       THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

-

-                            BY A. A. MILNE

-

-                           _with decorations

-                         by Ernest H. Shepard_

-

-                             PUBLISHED BY

-                  E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC., NEW YORK

-

-                       THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

-

-             COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.

-                          ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

-                          PRINTED IN U. S. A.

-

-                    First Printing September, 1928

-

-                     100th Printing December, 1936

-

-                       139th Printing July, 1949

-

-               Reprinted, from new plates and engravings

-                 and type entirely reset August, 1950

-

-                    141st Printing September, 1951

-

-            PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE

-             AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK

-

-

-

-

-                              DEDICATION

-

-

-    _You gave me Christopher Robin, and then

-      You breathed new life in Pooh.

-    Whatever of each has left my pen

-      Goes homing back to you.

-    My book is ready, and comes to greet

-      The mother it longs to see--

-    It would be my present to you, my sweet,

-      If it weren't your gift to me._

-

-

-

-

-                            _Contradiction_

-

-

-An introduction is to introduce people, but Christopher Robin and his

-friends, who have already been introduced to you, are now going to

-say Good-bye. So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the

-opposite of an Introduction was, he said "The what of a what?" which

-didn't help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head

-and told us that the opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a

-Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that

-that's what it is.

-

-Why we are having a Contradiction is because last week when Christopher

-Robin said to me, "What about that story you were going to tell me

-about what happened to Pooh when----" I happened to say very quickly,

-"What about nine times a hundred and seven?" And when we had done that

-one, we had one about cows going through a gate at two a minute, and

-there are three hundred in the field, so how many are left after an

-hour and a half? We find these very exciting, and when we have been

-excited quite enough, we curl up and go to sleep ... and Pooh, sitting

-wakeful a little longer on his chair by our pillow, thinks Grand

-Thoughts to himself about Nothing, until he, too, closes his eyes and

-nods his head, and follows us on tip-toe into the Forest. There, still,

-we have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you

-about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we

-can catch hold of them. How did the last one begin? "One day when Pooh

-was walking in the Forest, there were one hundred and seven cows on a

-gate...." No, you see, we have lost it. It was the best, I think. Well,

-here are some of the other ones, all that we shall remember now. But,

-of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be

-there ... and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.

-

-                                                               A. A. M.

-

-

-

-

-                              _Contents_

-

-

-       I. IN WHICH _A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore_

-

-      II. IN WHICH _Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast_

-

-     III. IN WHICH _A Search Is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the

-          Heffalump Again_

-

-      IV. IN WHICH _It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees_

-

-       V. IN WHICH _Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher

-          Robin Does in the Mornings_

-

-      VI. IN WHICH _Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In_

-

-     VII. IN WHICH _Tigger Is Unbounced_

-

-    VIII. IN WHICH _Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing_

-

-      IX. IN WHICH _Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It_

-

-       X. IN WHICH _Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place,

-          and We Leave Them There_

-

-

-

-

-                       THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

-

-

-

-

-                               CHAPTER I

-

-         IN WHICH _A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore_

-

-

-One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do

-something, so he went round to Piglet's house to see what Piglet was

-doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track,

-and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire,

-but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he

-looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.

-

-"He's out," said Pooh sadly. "That's what it is. He's not in. I shall

-have to go a fast Thinking Walk by myself. Bother!"

-

-But first he thought that he would knock very loudly just to make

-_quite_ sure ... and while he waited for Piglet not to answer, he

-jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum came suddenly into his head,

-which seemed to him a Good Hum, such as is Hummed Hopefully to Others.

-

-    The more it snows

-              (Tiddely pom),

-    The more it goes

-              (Tiddely pom),

-    The more it goes

-              (Tiddely pom),

-          On snowing.

-    And nobody knows

-              (Tiddely pom),

-    How cold my toes

-              (Tiddely pom),

-    How cold my toes

-              (Tiddely pom),

-          Are growing.

-

-"So what I'll do," said Pooh, "is I'll do this. I'll just go home first

-and see what the time is, and perhaps I'll put a muffler round my neck,

-and then I'll go and see Eeyore and sing it to him."

-

-He hurried back to his own house; and his mind was so busy on the

-way with the hum that he was getting ready for Eeyore that, when he

-suddenly saw Piglet sitting in his best arm-chair, he could only stand

-there rubbing his head and wondering whose house he was in.

-

-"Hallo, Piglet," he said. "I thought you were out."

-

-"No," said Piglet, "it's you who were out, Pooh."

-

-"So it was," said Pooh. "I knew one of us was."

-

-He looked up at his clock, which had stopped at five minutes to eleven

-some weeks ago.

-

-"Nearly eleven o'clock," said Pooh happily. "You're just in time for a

-little smackerel of something," and he put his head into the cupboard.

-"And then we'll go out, Piglet, and sing my song to Eeyore."

-

-"Which song, Pooh?"

-

-"The one we're going to sing to Eeyore," explained Pooh.

-

-The clock was still saying five minutes to eleven when Pooh and Piglet

-set out on their way half an hour later. The wind had dropped, and the

-snow, tired of rushing round in circles trying to catch itself up,

-now fluttered gently down until it found a place on which to rest, and

-sometimes the place was Pooh's nose and sometimes it wasn't, and in

-a little while Piglet was wearing a white muffler round his neck and

-feeling more snowy behind the ears than he had ever felt before.

-

-"Pooh," he said at last, and a little timidly, because he didn't want

-Pooh to think he was Giving In, "I was just wondering. How would it

-be if we went home now and _practised_ your song, and then sang it to

-Eeyore tomorrow--or--or the next day, when we happen to see him?"

-

-"That's a very good idea, Piglet," said Pooh. "We'll practise it now as

-we go along. But it's no good going home to practise it, because it's

-a special Outdoor Song which Has To Be Sung In The Snow."

-

-"Are you sure?" asked Piglet anxiously.

-

-"Well, you'll see, Piglet, when you listen. Because this is how it

-begins. _The more it snows, tiddely pom_----"

-

-"Tiddely what?" said Piglet.

-

-"Pom," said Pooh. "I put that in to make it more hummy. _The more it

-goes, tiddely pom, the more_----"

-

-"Didn't you say snows?"

-

-"Yes, but that was _before_."

-

-"Before the tiddely pom?"

-

-"It was a _different_ tiddely pom," said Pooh, feeling rather muddled

-now. "I'll sing it to you properly and then you'll see."

-

-So he sang it again.

-

-    The more it

-    SNOWS-tiddely-pom,

-    The more it

-    GOES-tiddely-pom

-    The more it

-    GOES-tiddely-pom

-    On

-    Snowing.

-

-    And nobody

-    KNOWS-tiddely-pom,

-    How cold my

-    TOES-tiddely-pom

-    How cold my

-    TOES-tiddely-pom

-    Are

-    Growing.

-

-He sang it like that, which is much the best way of singing it, and

-when he had finished, he waited for Piglet to say that, of all the

-Outdoor Hums for Snowy Weather he had ever heard, this was the best.

-And, after thinking the matter out carefully, Piglet said:

-

-"Pooh," he said solemnly, "it isn't the _toes_ so much as the _ears_."

-

-By this time they were getting near Eeyore's Gloomy Place, which was

-where he lived, and as it was still very snowy behind Piglet's ears,

-and he was getting tired of it, they turned into a little pine wood,

-and sat down on the gate which led into it. They were out of the snow

-now, but it was very cold, and to keep themselves warm they sang Pooh's

-song right through six times, Piglet doing the tiddely-poms and Pooh

-doing the rest of it, and both of them thumping on the top of the gate

-with pieces of stick at the proper places. And in a little while they

-felt much warmer, and were able to talk again.

-

-"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and what I've been thinking is this.

-I've been thinking about Eeyore."

-

-"What about Eeyore?"

-

-"Well, poor Eeyore has nowhere to live."

-

-"Nor he has," said Piglet.

-

-"_You_ have a house, Piglet, and I have a house, and they are very good

-houses. And Christopher Robin has a house, and Owl and Kanga and Rabbit

-have houses, and even Rabbit's friends and relations have houses or

-somethings, but poor Eeyore has nothing. So what I've been thinking is:

-Let's build him a house."

-

-"That," said Piglet, "is a Grand Idea. Where shall we build it?"

-

-"We build it here," said Pooh, "just by this wood, out of the wind,

-because this is where I thought of it. And we will call this Pooh

-Corner. And we will build an Eeyore House with sticks at Pooh Corner

-for Eeyore."

-

-"There was a heap of sticks on the other side of the wood," said

-Piglet. "I saw them. Lots and lots. All piled up."

-

-"Thank you, Piglet," said Pooh. "What you have just said will be

-a Great Help to us, and because of it I could call this place

-Poohanpiglet Corner if Pooh Corner didn't sound better, which it does,

-being smaller and more like a corner. Come along."

-

-So they got down off the gate and went round to the other side of the

-wood to fetch the sticks.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Christopher Robin had spent the morning indoors going to Africa and

-back, and he had just got off the boat and was wondering what it was

-like outside, when who should come knocking at the door but Eeyore.

-

-"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came

-out. "How are _you_?"

-

-"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.

-

-"So it is."

-

-"_And_ freezing."

-

-"Is it?"

-

-"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we

-haven't had an earthquake lately."

-

-"What's the matter, Eeyore?"

-

-"Nothing, Christopher Robin. Nothing important. I suppose you haven't

-seen a house or what-not anywhere about?"

-

-"What sort of a house?"

-

-"Just a house."

-

-"Who lives there?"

-

-"I do. At least I thought I did. But I suppose I don't. After all, we

-can't all have houses."

-

-"But, Eeyore, I didn't know--I always thought----"

-

-"I don't know how it is, Christopher Robin, but what with all

-this snow and one thing and another, not to mention icicles

-and such-like, it isn't so Hot in my field about three o'clock

-in the morning as some people think it is. It isn't Close, if

-you know what I mean--not so as to be uncomfortable. It isn't

-Stuffy. In fact, Christopher Robin," he went on in a loud whisper,

-"quite-between-ourselves-and-don't-tell-anybody, it's Cold."

-

-"Oh, Eeyore!"

-

-"And I said to myself: The others will be sorry if I'm getting myself

-all cold. They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's

-blown into their heads by mistake, and they don't Think, but if it goes

-on snowing for another six weeks or so, one of them will begin to say

-to himself: 'Eeyore can't be so very much too Hot about three o'clock

-in the morning.' And then it will Get About. And they'll be Sorry."

-

-"Oh, Eeyore!" said Christopher Robin, feeling very sorry already.

-

-"I don't mean you, Christopher Robin. You're different. So what it all

-comes to is that I built myself a house down by my little wood."

-

-"Did you really? How exciting!"

-

-"The really exciting part," said Eeyore in his most melancholy voice,

-"is that when I left it this morning it was there, and when I came back

-it wasn't. Not at all, very natural, and it was only Eeyore's house.

-But still I just wondered."

-

-Christopher Robin didn't stop to wonder. He was already back in _his_

-house, putting on his waterproof hat, his waterproof boots and his

-waterproof macintosh as fast as he could.

-

-"We'll go and look for it at once," he called out to Eeyore.

-

-"Sometimes," said Eeyore, "when people have quite finished taking a

-person's house, there are one or two bits which they don't want and are

-rather glad for the person to take back, if you know what I mean. So I

-thought if we just went----"

-

-"Come on," said Christopher Robin, and off they hurried, and in a very

-little time they got to the corner of the field by the side of the

-pine-wood, where Eeyore's house wasn't any longer.

-

-"There!" said Eeyore. "Not a stick of it left! Of course, I've still

-got all this snow to do what I like with. One mustn't complain."

-

-But Christopher Robin wasn't listening to Eeyore, he was listening to

-something else.

-

-"Can't you hear it?" he asked.

-

-"What is it? Somebody laughing?"

-

-"Listen."

-

-They both listened ... and they heard a deep gruff voice saying in a

-singing voice that the more it snowed the more it went on snowing, and

-a small high voice tiddely-pomming in between.

-

-"It's Pooh," said Christopher Robin excitedly....

-

-"Possibly," said Eeyore.

-

-"_And_ Piglet!" said Christopher Robin excitedly.

-

-"Probably," said Eeyore. "What we _want_ is a Trained Bloodhound."

-

-The words of the song changed suddenly.

-

-"_We've finished our HOUSE!_" sang the gruff voice.

-

-"_Tiddely pom!_" sang the squeaky one.

-

-"_It's a beautiful HOUSE...._"

-

-"_Tiddely pom...._"

-

-"_I wish it were MINE...._"

-

-"_Tiddely pom...._"

-

-"Pooh!" shouted Christopher Robin....

-

-The singers on the gate stopped suddenly.

-

-"It's Christopher Robin!" said Pooh eagerly.

-

-"He's round by the place where we got all those sticks from," said

-Piglet.

-

-"Come on," said Pooh.

-

-They climbed down their gate and hurried round the corner of the wood,

-Pooh making welcoming noises all the way.

-

-"Why, here _is_ Eeyore," said Pooh, when he had finished hugging

-Christopher Robin, and he nudged Piglet, and Piglet nudged him, and

-they thought to themselves what a lovely surprise they had got ready.

-

-"Hallo, Eeyore."

-

-"Same to you, Pooh Bear, and twice on Thursdays," said Eeyore gloomily.

-

-Before Pooh could say: "Why Thursdays?" Christopher Robin began to

-explain the sad story of Eeyore's Lost House. And Pooh and Piglet

-listened, and their eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger.

-

-"_Where_ did you say it was?" asked Pooh.

-

-"Just here," said Eeyore.

-

-"Made of sticks?"

-

-"Yes."

-

-"Oh!" said Piglet.

-

-"What?" said Eeyore.

-

-"I just said 'Oh!'" said Piglet nervously. And so as to seem quite at

-ease he hummed Tiddely-pom once or twice in a what-shall-we-do-now kind

-of way.

-

-"You're sure it _was_ a house?" said Pooh. "I mean, you're sure the

-house was just here?"

-

-"Of course I am," said Eeyore. And he murmured to himself, "No brain at

-all some of them."

-

-"Why, what's the matter, Pooh?" asked Christopher Robin.

-

-"Well," said Pooh.... "The fact _is_," said Pooh.... "Well, the fact

-_is_," said Pooh.... "You see," said Pooh.... "It's like this," said

-Pooh, and something seemed to tell him that he wasn't explaining very

-well, and he nudged Piglet again.

-

-"It's like this," said Piglet quickly.... "Only warmer," he added after

-deep thought.

-

-"What's warmer?"

-

-"The other side of the wood, where Eeyore's house is."

-

-"_My_ house?" said Eeyore. "My house was here."

-

-"No," said Piglet firmly. "The other side of the wood."

-

-"Because of being warmer," said Pooh.

-

-"But I ought to _know_----"

-

-"Come and look," said Piglet simply, and he led the way.

-

-"There wouldn't be _two_ houses," said Pooh. "Not so close together."

-

-They came round the corner, and there was Eeyore's house, looking as

-comfy as anything.

-

-"There you are," said Piglet.

-

-"Inside as well as outside," said Pooh proudly.

-

-Eeyore went inside ... and came out again.

-

-"It's a remarkable thing," he said. "It _is_ my house, and I built it

-where I said I did, so the wind must have blown it here. And the wind

-blew it right over the wood, and blew it down here, and here it is as

-good as ever. In fact, better in places."

-

-"Much better," said Pooh and Piglet together.

-

-"It just shows what can be done by taking a little trouble," said

-Eeyore. "Do you see, Pooh? Do you see, Piglet? Brains first and then

-Hard Work. Look at it! _That's_ the way to build a house," said Eeyore

-proudly.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-So they left him in it; and Christopher Robin went back to lunch with

-his friends Pooh and Piglet, and on the way they told him of the Awful

-Mistake they had made. And when he had finished laughing, they all sang

-the Outdoor Song for Snowy Weather the rest of the way home, Piglet,

-who was still not quite sure of his voice, putting in the tiddely-poms

-again.

-

-"And I know it _seems_ easy," said Piglet to himself, "but it isn't

-_every one_ who could do it."

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER II

-

-        IN WHICH _Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast_

-

-

-Winnie-the-pooh woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and

-listened. Then he got out of bed, and lit his candle, and stumped

-across the room to see if anybody was trying to get into his

-honey-cupboard, and they weren't, so he stumped back again, blew out

-his candle, and got into bed. Then he heard the noise again.

-

-"Is that you, Piglet?" he said.

-

-But it wasn't.

-

-"Come in, Christopher Robin," he said.

-

-But Christopher Robin didn't.

-

-"Tell me about it tomorrow, Eeyore," said Pooh sleepily.

-

-But the noise went on.

-

-"_Worraworraworraworraworra_," said Whatever-it-was, and Pooh found

-that he wasn't asleep after all.

-

-"What can it be?" he thought. "There are lots of noises in

-the Forest, but this is a different one. It isn't a growl,

-and it isn't a purr, and it isn't a bark, and it isn't the

-noise-you-make-before-beginning-a-piece-of-poetry, but it's a noise

-of some kind, made by a strange animal. And he's making it outside my

-door. So I shall get up and ask him not to do it."

-

-He got out of bed and opened his front door.

-

-"Hallo!" said Pooh, in case there was anything outside.

-

-"Hallo!" said Whatever-it-was.

-

-"Oh!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"

-

-"Hallo!"

-

-"Oh, _there_ you are!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"

-

-"Hallo!" said the Strange Animal, wondering how long this was going on.

-

-Pooh was just going to say "Hallo!" for the fourth time when he thought

-that he wouldn't, so he said: "Who is it?" instead.

-

-"Me," said a voice.

-

-"Oh!" said Pooh. "Well, come here."

-

-So Whatever-it-was came here, and in the light of the candle he and

-Pooh looked at each other.

-

-"I'm Pooh," said Pooh.

-

-"I'm Tigger," said Tigger.

-

-"Oh!" said Pooh, for he had never seen an animal like this before.

-"Does Christopher Robin know about you?"

-

-"Of course he does," said Tigger.

-

-"Well," said Pooh, "it's the middle of the night, which is a good time

-for going to sleep. And tomorrow morning we'll have some honey for

-breakfast. Do Tiggers like honey?"

-

-"They like everything," said Tigger cheerfully.

-

-"Then if they like going to sleep on the floor, I'll go back to bed,"

-said Pooh, "and we'll do things in the morning. Good night." And he got

-back into bed and went fast asleep.

-

-When he awoke in the morning, the first thing he saw was Tigger,

-sitting in front of the glass and looking at himself.

-

-"Hallo!" said Pooh.

-

-"Hallo!" said Tigger. "I've found somebody just like me. I thought I

-was the only one of them."

-

-Pooh got out of bed, and began to explain what a looking-glass was, but

-just as he was getting to the interesting part, Tigger said:

-

-"Excuse me a moment, but there's something climbing up your table,"

-and with one loud _Worraworraworraworraworra_ he jumped at the end

-of the tablecloth, pulled it to the ground, wrapped himself up in it

-three times, rolled to the other end of the room, and, after a terrible

-struggle, got his head into the daylight again, and said cheerfully:

-"Have I won?"

-

-"That's my tablecloth," said Pooh, as he began to unwind Tigger.

-

-"I wondered what it was," said Tigger.

-

-"It goes on the table and you put things on it."

-

-"Then why did it try to bite me when I wasn't looking?"

-

-"I don't _think_ it did," said Pooh.

-

-"It tried," said Tigger, "but I was too quick for it."

-

-Pooh put the cloth back on the table, and he put a large honey-pot on

-the cloth, and they sat down to breakfast. And as soon as they sat

-down, Tigger took a large mouthful of honey ... and he looked up at the

-ceiling with his head on one side, and made exploring noises with his

-tongue and considering noises, and what-have-we-got-_here_ noises ...

-and then he said in a very decided voice:

-

-"Tiggers don't like honey."

-

-"Oh!" said Pooh, and tried to make it sound Sad and Regretful. "I

-thought they liked everything."

-

-"Everything except honey," said Tigger.

-

-Pooh felt rather pleased about this, and said that, as soon as he had

-finished his own breakfast, he would take Tigger round to Piglet's

-house, and Tigger could try some of Piglet's haycorns.

-

-"Thank you, Pooh," said Tigger, "because haycorns is really what

-Tiggers like best."

-

-So after breakfast they went round to see Piglet, and Pooh explained as

-they went that Piglet was a Very Small Animal who didn't like bouncing,

-and asked Tigger not to be too Bouncy just at first. And Tigger, who

-had been hiding behind trees and jumping out on Pooh's shadow when it

-wasn't looking, said that Tiggers were only bouncy before breakfast,

-and that as soon as they had had a few haycorns they became Quiet and

-Refined. So by and by they knocked at the door of Piglet's house.

-

-"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet.

-

-"Hallo, Piglet. This is Tigger."

-

-"Oh, is it?" said Piglet, and he edged round to the other side of the

-table. "I thought Tiggers were smaller than that."

-

-"Not the big ones," said Tigger.

-

-"They like haycorns," said Pooh, "so that's what we've come for,

-because poor Tigger hasn't had any breakfast yet."

-

-Piglet pushed the bowl of haycorns towards Tigger, and said: "Help

-yourself," and then he got close up to Pooh and felt much braver, and

-said, "So you're Tigger? Well, well!" in a careless sort of voice. But

-Tigger said nothing because his mouth was full of haycorns....

-

-After a long munching noise he said:

-

-"Ee-ers o i a-ors."

-

-And when Pooh and Piglet said "What?" he said "Skoos ee," and went

-outside for a moment.

-

-When he came back he said firmly:

-

-"Tiggers don't like haycorns."

-

-"But you said they liked everything except honey," said Pooh.

-

-"Everything except honey and haycorns," explained Tigger.

-

-When he heard this Pooh said, "Oh, I see!" and Piglet, who was rather

-glad that Tiggers didn't like haycorns, said, "What about thistles?"

-

-"Thistles," said Tigger, "is what Tiggers like best."

-

-"Then let's go along and see Eeyore," said Piglet.

-

-So the three of them went; and after they had walked and walked and

-walked, they came to the part of the Forest where Eeyore was.

-

-"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Pooh. "This is Tigger."

-

-"What is?" said Eeyore.

-

-"This," explained Pooh and Piglet together, and Tigger smiled his

-happiest smile and said nothing.

-

-Eeyore walked all round Tigger one way, and then turned and walked all

-round him the other way.

-

-"What did you say it was?" he asked.

-

-"Tigger."

-

-"Ah!" said Eeyore.

-

-"He's just come," explained Piglet.

-

-"Ah!" said Eeyore again.

-

-He thought for a long time and then said:

-

-"When is he going?"

-

-Pooh explained to Eeyore that Tigger was a great friend of Christopher

-Robin's, who had come to stay in the Forest, and Piglet explained to

-Tigger that he mustn't mind what Eeyore said because he was _always_

-gloomy; and Eeyore explained to Piglet that, on the contrary, he was

-feeling particularly cheerful this morning; and Tigger explained to

-anybody who was listening that he hadn't had any breakfast yet.

-

-"I knew there was something," said Pooh. "Tiggers always eat thistles,

-so that was why we came to see you, Eeyore."

-

-"Don't mention it, Pooh."

-

-"Oh, Eeyore, I didn't mean that I didn't _want_ to see you----"

-

-"Quite--quite. But your new stripy friend--naturally, he wants his

-breakfast. What did you say his name was?"

-

-"Tigger."

-

-"Then come this way, Tigger."

-

-Eeyore led the way to the most thistly-looking patch of thistles that

-ever was, and waved a hoof at it.

-

-"A little patch I was keeping for my birthday," he said; "but, after

-all, what _are_ birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow. Help yourself,

-Tigger."

-

-Tigger thanked him and looked a little anxiously at Pooh.

-

-"Are these really thistles?" he whispered.

-

-"Yes," said Pooh.

-

-"What Tiggers like best?"

-

-"That's right," said Pooh.

-

-"I see," said Tigger.

-

-So he took a large mouthful, and he gave a large crunch.

-

-"_Ow!_" said Tigger.

-

-He sat down and put his paw in his mouth.

-

-"What's the matter?" asked Pooh.

-

-"_Hot!_" mumbled Tigger.

-

-"Your friend," said Eeyore, "appears to have bitten on a bee."

-

-Pooh's friend stopped shaking his head to get the prickles out, and

-explained that Tiggers didn't like thistles.

-

-"Then why bend a perfectly good one?" asked Eeyore.

-

-"But you said," began Pooh--"you _said_ that Tiggers liked everything

-except honey and haycorns."

-

-"_And_ thistles," said Tigger, who was now running round in circles

-with his tongue hanging out.

-

-Pooh looked at him sadly.

-

-"What are we going to do?" he asked Piglet.

-

-Piglet knew the answer to that, and he said at once that they must go

-and see Christopher Robin.

-

-"You'll find him with Kanga," said Eeyore. He came close to Pooh, and

-said in a loud whisper:

-

-"_Could_ you ask your friend to do his exercises somewhere else? I

-shall be having lunch directly, and don't want it bounced on just

-before I begin. A trifling matter, and fussy of me, but we all have our

-little ways."

-

-Pooh nodded solemnly and called to Tigger.

-

-"Come along and we'll go and see Kanga. She's sure to have lots of

-breakfast for you."

-

-Tigger finished his last circle and came up to Pooh and Piglet.

-

-"Hot!" he explained with a large and friendly smile. "Come on!" and he

-rushed off.

-

-Pooh and Piglet walked slowly after him. And as they walked Piglet said

-nothing, because he couldn't think of anything, and Pooh said nothing,

-because he was thinking of a poem. And when he had thought of it he

-began:

-

-    What shall we do about poor little Tigger?

-    If he never eats nothing he'll never get bigger.

-    He doesn't like honey and haycorns and thistles

-    Because of the taste and because of the bristles.

-    And all the good things which an animal likes

-    Have the wrong sort of swallow or too many spikes.

-

-"He's quite big enough anyhow," said Piglet.

-

-"He isn't _really_ very big."

-

-"Well, he _seems_ so."

-

-Pooh was thoughtful when he heard this, and then he murmured to himself:

-

-    But whatever his weight in pounds, shillings, and ounces,

-    He always seems bigger because of his bounces.

-

-"And that's the whole poem," he said. "Do you like it, Piglet?"

-

-"All except the shillings," said Piglet. "I don't think they ought to

-be there."

-

-"They wanted to come in after the pounds," explained Pooh, "so I let

-them. It is the best way to write poetry, letting things come."

-

-"Oh, I didn't know," said Piglet.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Tigger had been bouncing in front of them all this time, turning round

-every now and then to ask, "Is this the way?"--and now at last they

-came in sight of Kanga's house, and there was Christopher Robin. Tigger

-rushed up to him.

-

-"Oh, there you are, Tigger!" said Christopher Robin. "I knew you'd be

-somewhere."

-

-"I've been finding things in the Forest," said Tigger importantly.

-"I've found a pooh and a piglet and an eeyore, but I can't find any

-breakfast."

-

-Pooh and Piglet came up and hugged Christopher Robin, and explained

-what had been happening.

-

-"Don't _you_ know what Tiggers like?" asked Pooh.

-

-"I expect if I thought very hard I should," said Christopher Robin,

-"but I _thought_ Tigger knew."

-

-"I do," said Tigger. "Everything there is in the world except honey and

-haycorns and--what were those hot things called?"

-

-"Thistles."

-

-"Yes, and those."

-

-"Oh, well then, Kanga can give you some breakfast."

-

-So they went into Kanga's house, and when Roo had said, "Hallo, Pooh,"

-and "Hallo, Piglet" once, and "Hallo, Tigger" twice, because he had

-never said it before and it sounded funny, they told Kanga what they

-wanted, and Kanga said very kindly, "Well, look in my cupboard, Tigger

-dear, and see what you'd like." Because she knew at once that, however

-big Tigger seemed to be, he wanted as much kindness as Roo.

-

-"Shall I look, too?" said Pooh, who was beginning to feel a little

-eleven o'clockish. And he found a small tin of condensed milk, and

-something seemed to tell him that Tiggers didn't like this, so he

-took it into a corner by itself, and went with it to see that nobody

-interrupted it.

-

-But the more Tigger put his nose into this and his paw into that, the

-more things he found which Tiggers didn't like. And when he had found

-everything in the cupboard, and couldn't eat any of it, he said to

-Kanga, "What happens now?"

-

-But Kanga and Christopher Robin and Piglet were all standing round Roo,

-watching him have his Extract of Malt. And Roo was saying, "Must I?"

-and Kanga was saying "Now, Roo dear, you remember what you promised."

-

-"What is it?" whispered Tigger to Piglet.

-

-"His Strengthening Medicine," said Piglet. "He hates it."

-

-So Tigger came closer, and he leant over the back of Roo's chair, and

-suddenly he put out his tongue, and took one large golollop, and, with

-a sudden jump of surprise, Kanga said, "Oh!" and then clutched at the

-spoon again just as it was disappearing, and pulled it safely back out

-of Tigger's mouth. But the Extract of Malt had gone.

-

-"Tigger _dear_!" said Kanga.

-

-"He's taken my medicine, he's taken my medicine, he's taken my

-medicine!" sang Roo happily, thinking it was a tremendous joke.

-

-Then Tigger looked up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes, and his

-tongue went round and round his chops, in case he had left any outside,

-and a peaceful smile came over his face as he said, "So _that's_ what

-Tiggers like!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Which explains why he always lived at Kanga's house afterwards, and had

-Extract of Malt for breakfast, dinner, and tea. And sometimes, when

-Kanga thought he wanted strengthening, he had a spoonful or two of

-Roo's breakfast after meals as medicine.

-

-"But _I_ think," said Piglet to Pooh, "that he's been strengthened

-quite enough."

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER III

-

-                 IN WHICH _A Search Is Organdized, and

-               Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump Again_

-

-

-Pooh was sitting in his house one day, counting his pots of honey, when

-there came a knock on the door.

-

-"Fourteen," said Pooh. "Come in. Fourteen. Or was it fifteen? Bother.

-That's muddled me."

-

-"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.

-

-"Hallo, Rabbit. Fourteen, wasn't it?"

-

-"What was?"

-

-"My pots of honey what I was counting."

-

-"Fourteen, that's right."

-

-"Are you sure?"

-

-"No," said Rabbit. "Does it matter?"

-

-"I just like to know," said Pooh humbly. "So as I can say to myself:

-'I've got fourteen pots of honey left.' Or fifteen, as the case may be.

-It's sort of comforting."

-

-"Well, let's call it sixteen," said Rabbit. "What I came to say was:

-Have you seen Small anywhere about?"

-

-"I don't think so," said Pooh. And then, after thinking a little more,

-he said: "Who is Small?"

-

-"One of my friends-and-relations," said Rabbit carelessly.

-

-This didn't help Pooh much, because Rabbit had so many

-friends-and-relations, and of such different sorts and sizes, that he

-didn't know whether he ought to be looking for Small at the top of an

-oak-tree or in the petal of a buttercup.

-

-"I haven't seen anybody today," said Pooh, "not so as to say 'Hallo,

-Small,' to. Did you want him for anything?"

-

-"_I_ don't _want_ him," said Rabbit. "But it's always useful to know

-where a friend-and-relation _is_, whether you want him or whether you

-don't."

-

-"Oh, I see," said Pooh. "Is he lost?"

-

-"Well," said Rabbit, "nobody has seen him for a long time, so I suppose

-he is. Anyhow," he went on importantly, "I promised Christopher Robin

-I'd Organize a Search for him, so come on."

-

-Pooh said good-bye affectionately to his fourteen pots of honey, and

-hoped they were fifteen; and he and Rabbit went out into the Forest.

-

-"Now," said Rabbit, "this is a Search, and I've Organized it----"

-

-"Done what to it?" said Pooh.

-

-"Organized it. Which means--well, it's what you do to a Search, when

-you don't all look in the same place at once. So I want _you_, Pooh,

-to search by the Six Pine Trees first, and then work your way towards

-Owl's House, and look out for me there. Do you see?"

-

-"No," said Pooh. "What----"

-

-"Then I'll see you at Owl's House in about an hour's time."

-

-"Is Piglet organdized too?"

-

-"We all are," said Rabbit, and off he went.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-As soon as Rabbit was out of sight, Pooh remembered that he had

-forgotten to ask who Small was, and whether he was the sort of

-friend-and-relation who settled on one's nose, or the sort who got

-trodden on by mistake, and as it was Too Late Now, he thought he would

-begin the Hunt by looking for Piglet, and asking him what they were

-looking for before he looked for it.

-

-"And it's no good looking at the Six Pine Trees for Piglet," said Pooh

-to himself, "because he's been organdized in a special place of his

-own. So I shall have to look for the Special Place first. I wonder

-where it is." And he wrote it down in his head like this:

-

-

-                      ORDER OF LOOKING FOR THINGS

-

-    1. Special Place. (_To find Piglet._)

-    2. Piglet.        (_To find who Small is._)

-    3. Small.         (_To find Small._)

-    4. Rabbit.        (_To tell him I've found Small._)

-    5. Small Again.   (_To tell him I've found Rabbit._)

-

-"Which makes it look like a bothering sort of day," thought Pooh, as he

-stumped along.

-

-The next moment the day became very bothering indeed, because Pooh was

-so busy not looking where he was going that he stepped on a piece of

-the Forest which had been left out by mistake; and he only just had

-time to think to himself: "I'm flying. What Owl does. I wonder how you

-stop----" when he stopped.

-

-_Bump!_

-

-"Ow!" squeaked something.

-

-"That's funny," thought Pooh. "I said 'Ow!' without really oo'ing."

-

-"Help!" said a small, high voice.

-

-"That's me again," thought Pooh. "I've had an Accident, and fallen down

-a well, and my voice has gone all squeaky and works before I'm ready

-for it, because I've done something to myself inside. Bother!"

-

-"Help--help!"

-

-"There you are! I say things when I'm not trying. So it must be a very

-bad Accident." And then he thought that perhaps when he did try to say

-things he wouldn't be able to; so, to make sure, he said loudly: "A

-Very Bad Accident to Pooh Bear."

-

-"Pooh!" squeaked the voice.

-

-"It's Piglet!" cried Pooh eagerly. "Where are you?"

-

-"Underneath," said Piglet in an underneath sort of way.

-

-"Underneath what?"

-

-"You," squeaked Piglet. "Get up!"

-

-"Oh!" said Pooh, and scrambled up as quickly as he could. "Did I fall

-on you, Piglet?"

-

-"You fell on me," said Piglet, feeling himself all over.

-

-"I didn't mean to," said Pooh sorrowfully.

-

-"I didn't mean to be underneath," said Piglet sadly. "But I'm all right

-now, Pooh, and I _am_ so glad it was you."

-

-"What's happened?" said Pooh. "Where are we?"

-

-"I think we're in a sort of Pit. I was walking along, looking for

-somebody, and then suddenly I wasn't any more, and just when I got up

-to see where I was, something fell on me. And it was you."

-

-"So it was," said Pooh.

-

-"Yes," said Piglet. "Pooh," he went on nervously, and came a little

-closer, "do you think we're in a Trap?"

-

-Pooh hadn't thought about it at all, but now he nodded. For suddenly he

-remembered how he and Piglet had once made a Pooh Trap for Heffalumps,

-and he guessed what had happened. He and Piglet had fallen into a

-Heffalump Trap for Poohs! That was what it was.

-

-"What happens when the Heffalump comes?" asked Piglet tremblingly, when

-he had heard the news.

-

-"Perhaps he won't notice _you_, Piglet," said Pooh encouragingly,

-"because you're a Very Small Animal."

-

-"But he'll notice _you_, Pooh."

-

-"He'll notice _me_, and I shall notice _him_," said Pooh, thinking it

-out. "We'll notice each other for a long time, and then he'll say:

-'Ho-_ho_!'"

-

-Piglet shivered a little at the thought of that "Ho-_ho_!" and his ears

-began to twitch.

-

-"W-what will _you_ say?" he asked.

-

-Pooh tried to think of something he would say, but the more he thought,

-the more he felt that there _is_ no real answer to "Ho-_ho_!" said by a

-Heffalump in the sort of voice this Heffalump was going to say it in.

-

-"I shan't say anything," said Pooh at last. "I shall just hum to

-myself, as if I was waiting for something."

-

-"Then perhaps he'll say, 'Ho-_ho_!' again?" suggested Piglet anxiously.

-

-"He will," said Pooh.

-

-Piglet's ears twitched so quickly that he had to lean them against the

-side of the Trap to keep them quiet.

-

-"He will say it again," said Pooh, "and I shall go on humming. And that

-will Upset him. Because when you say 'Ho-_ho_' twice, in a gloating

-sort of way, and the other person only hums, you suddenly find, just as

-you begin to say it the third time--that--well, you find----"

-

-"What?"

-

-"That it isn't," said Pooh.

-

-"Isn't what?"

-

-Pooh knew what he meant, but, being a Bear of Very Little Brain,

-couldn't think of the words.

-

-"Well, it just isn't," he said again.

-

-"You mean it isn't ho-_ho_-ish any more?" said Piglet hopefully.

-

-Pooh looked at him admiringly and said that that was what he meant--if

-you went on humming all the time, because you couldn't go on saying

-"Ho-_ho_!" for ever.

-

-"But he'll say something else," said Piglet.

-

-"That's just it. He'll say: 'What's all this?' And then _I_ shall

-say--and this is a very good idea, Piglet, which I've just thought

-of--_I_ shall say: 'It's a trap for a Heffalump which I've made, and

-I'm waiting for the Heffalump to fall in.' And I shall go on humming.

-That will Unsettle him."

-

-"Pooh!" cried Piglet, and now it was _his_ turn to be the admiring one.

-"You've saved us!"

-

-"Have I?" said Pooh, not feeling quite sure.

-

-But Piglet was quite sure; and his mind ran on, and he saw Pooh and the

-Heffalump talking to each other, and he thought suddenly, and a little

-sadly, that it _would_ have been rather nice if it had been Piglet and

-the Heffalump talking so grandly to each other, and not Pooh, much as

-he loved Pooh; because he really had more brain than Pooh, and the

-conversation would go better if he and not Pooh were doing one side

-of it, and it would be comforting afterwards in the evenings to look

-back on the day when he answered a Heffalump back as bravely as if the

-Heffalump wasn't there. It seemed so easy now. He knew just what he

-would say:

-

-HEFFALUMP (_gloatingly_): "Ho-_ho_!"

-

-PIGLET (_carelessly_): "Tra-la-la, tra-la-la."

-

-HEFFALUMP (_surprised, and not quite so sure of himself_):

-"Ho-_ho_!"

-

-PIGLET (_more carelessly still_): "Tiddle-um-tum,

-tiddle-um-tum."

-

-HEFFALUMP (_beginning to say Ho-ho and turning it awkwardly

-into a cough_): "H'r'm! What's all this?"

-

-PIGLET (_surprised_): "Hullo! This is a trap I've made, and

-I'm waiting for a HEFFALUMP to fall into it."

-

-HEFFALUMP (_greatly disappointed_): "Oh!" (_After a long

-silence_): "Are you sure?"

-

-PIGLET: "Yes."

-

-HEFFALUMP: "Oh!" (_nervously_): "I--I thought it was a trap

-_I'd_ made to catch Piglets."

-

-PIGLET (_surprised_): "Oh, no!"

-

-HEFFALUMP: "Oh!" (_Apologetically_): "I--I must have got it

-wrong, then."

-

-PIGLET: "I'm afraid so." (_Politely_): "I'm sorry." (_He goes

-on humming._)

-

-HEFFALUMP: "Well--well--I--well. I suppose I'd better be

-getting back?"

-

-PIGLET (_looking up carelessly_): "Must you? Well, if you see

-Christopher Robin anywhere, you might tell him I want him."

-

-HEFFALUMP (_eager to please_): "Certainly! Certainly!" (_He

-hurries off._)

-

-POOH (_who wasn't going to be there, but we find we can't do

-without him_): "Oh, Piglet, how brave and clever you are!"

-

-PIGLET (_modestly_): "Not at all, Pooh." (_And then, when

-Christopher Robin comes, Pooh can tell him all about it._)

-

-While Piglet was dreaming this happy dream, and Pooh was wondering

-again whether it was fourteen or fifteen, the Search for Small was

-still going on all over the Forest. Small's real name was Very Small

-Beetle, but he was called Small for short, when he was spoken to at

-all, which hardly ever happened except when somebody said: "_Really_,

-Small!" He had been staying with Christopher Robin for a few seconds,

-and he started round a gorse-bush for exercise, but instead of coming

-back the other way, as expected, he hadn't, so nobody knew where he was.

-

-"I expect he's just gone home," said Christopher Robin to Rabbit.

-

-"Did he say Good-bye-and-thank-you-for-a-nice-time?" said Rabbit.

-

-"He'd only just said how-do-you-do," said Christopher Robin.

-

-"Ha!" said Rabbit. After thinking a little, he went on: "Has he written

-a letter saying how much he enjoyed himself, and how sorry he was he

-had to go so suddenly?"

-

-Christopher Robin didn't think he had.

-

-"Ha!" said Rabbit again, and looked very important. "This is Serious.

-He is Lost. We must begin the Search at once."

-

-Christopher Robin, who was thinking of something else, said: "Where's

-Pooh?"--but Rabbit had gone. So he went into his house and drew a

-picture of Pooh going on a long walk at about seven o'clock in the

-morning, and then he climbed to the top of his tree and climbed down

-again, and then he wondered what Pooh was doing, and went across the

-Forest to see.

-

-It was not long before he came to the Gravel Pit, and he looked down,

-and there were Pooh and Piglet, with their backs to him, dreaming

-happily.

-

-"Ho-_ho_!" said Christopher Robin loudly and suddenly.

-

-Piglet jumped six inches in the air with Surprise and Anxiety, but Pooh

-went on dreaming.

-

-"It's the Heffalump!" thought Piglet nervously. "Now, then!" He

-hummed in his throat a little, so that none of the words should stick,

-and then, in the most delightfully easy way, he said: "Tra-la-la,

-tra-la-la," as if he had just thought of it. But he didn't look

-round, because if you look round and see a Very Fierce Heffalump

-looking down at you, sometimes you forget what you were going to say.

-"Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um," said Christopher Robin in a voice like Pooh's.

-Because Pooh had once invented a song which went:

-

-      Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,

-      Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,

-    Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.

-

-So whenever Christopher Robin sings it, he always sings it in a

-Pooh-voice, which seems to suit it better.

-

-"He's said the wrong thing," thought Piglet anxiously. "He ought to

-have said, 'Ho-_ho_!' again. Perhaps I had better say it for him." And,

-as fiercely as he could, Piglet said: "Ho-_ho_!"

-

-"How _did_ you get there, Piglet?" said Christopher Robin in his

-ordinary voice.

-

-"This is Terrible," thought Piglet. "First he talks in Pooh's voice,

-and then he talks in Christopher Robin's voice, and he's doing it so

-as to Unsettle me." And being now Completely Unsettled, he said very

-quickly and squeakily: "This is a trap for Poohs, and I'm waiting to

-fall in it, ho-_ho_, what's all this, and then I say ho-_ho_ again."

-

-"_What?_" said Christopher Robin.

-

-"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."

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER IV

-

-         IN WHICH _It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees_

-

-

-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

-today 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-lets"--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. Stornry

-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 tomorrow," Eeyore

-was saying. "Blizzards and what-not. Being fine today 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 tomorrow, 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.

-

-

-

-

-                               CHAPTER V

-

-                   IN WHICH _Rabbit Has a Busy Day,

-       and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings_

-

-

-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, 'Gon 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 are 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.

-

-"Tomorrow," 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, "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 me," 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 Robin's 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.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER VI

-

-        IN WHICH _Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In_

-

-

-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 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 if he 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 today," 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 all 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 bridge. They looked

-and looked ... and even the sight of Piglet's stick coming out a little

-in front of Rabbit's didn't cheer them up as much as you would have

-expected. And then, just as Pooh was beginning to think that he must

-have chosen the wrong stone or the wrong river or the wrong day for his

-Idea, something grey showed for a moment by the river bank ... and it

-got slowly bigger and bigger ... and at last it was Eeyore coming out.

-

-With a shout they rushed off the bridge, and pushed and pulled at him;

-and soon he was standing among them again on dry land.

-

-"Oh, Eeyore, you _are_ wet!" said Piglet, feeling him.

-

-Eeyore shook himself, and asked somebody to explain to Piglet what

-happened when you had been inside a river for quite a long time.

-

-"Well done, Pooh," said Rabbit kindly. "That was a good idea of ours."

-

-"What was?" asked Eeyore.

-

-"Hooshing you to the bank like that."

-

-"_Hooshing_ me?" said Eeyore in surprise. "Hooshing _me_? You didn't

-think I was _hooshed_, did you? I dived. Pooh dropped a large stone on

-me, and so as not to be struck heavily on the chest, I dived and swam

-to the bank."

-

-"You didn't really," whispered Piglet to Pooh, so as to comfort him.

-

-"I didn't _think_ I did," said Pooh anxiously.

-

-"It's just Eeyore," said Piglet. "_I_ thought your Idea was a very good

-Idea."

-

-Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a

-Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes

-that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different

-when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it. And,

-anyhow, Eeyore _was_ in the river, and now he _wasn't_, so he hadn't

-done any harm.

-

-"How did you fall in, Eeyore?" asked Rabbit, as he dried him with

-Piglet's handkerchief.

-

-"I didn't," said Eeyore.

-

-"But how----"

-

-"I was BOUNCED," said Eeyore.

-

-"Oo," said Roo excitedly, "did somebody push you?"

-

-"Somebody BOUNCED me. I was just thinking by the side of the

-river--thinking, if any of you know what that means, when I received a

-loud BOUNCE."

-

-"Oh, Eeyore!" said everybody.

-

-"Are you sure you didn't slip?" asked Rabbit wisely.

-

-"Of course I slipped. If you're standing on the slippery bank of a

-river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did

-you think I did?"

-

-"But who did it?" asked Roo.

-

-Eeyore didn't answer.

-

-"I expect it was Tigger," said Piglet nervously.

-

-"But, Eeyore," said Pooh, "was it a Joke, or an Accident? I mean----"

-

-"I didn't stop to ask, Pooh. Even at the very bottom of the river I

-didn't stop to say to myself, '_Is_ this a Hearty Joke, or is it the

-Merest Accident?' I just floated to the surface, and said to myself,

-'It's wet.' If you know what I mean."

-

-"And where was Tigger?" asked Rabbit.

-

-Before Eeyore could answer, there was a loud noise behind them, and

-through the hedge came Tigger himself.

-

-"Hallo, everybody," said Tigger cheerfully.

-

-"Hallo, Tigger," said Roo.

-

-Rabbit became very important suddenly.

-

-"Tigger," he said solemnly, "what happened just now?"

-

-"Just when?" said Tigger a little uncomfortably.

-

-"When you bounced Eeyore into the river."

-

-"I didn't bounce him."

-

-"You bounced me," said Eeyore gruffly.

-

-"I didn't really. I had a cough, and I happened to be behind Eeyore,

-and I said '_Grrrr--oppp--ptschschschz_.'"

-

-"Why?" said Rabbit, helping Piglet up, and dusting him. "It's all

-right, Piglet."

-

-"It took me by surprise," said Piglet nervously.

-

-"That's what I call bouncing," said Eeyore. "Taking people by surprise.

-Very unpleasant habit. I don't mind Tigger being in the Forest," he

-went on, "because it's a large Forest, and there's plenty of room to

-bounce in it. But I don't see why he should come into _my_ little

-corner of it, and bounce there. It isn't as if there was anything very

-wonderful about my little corner. Of course for people who like cold,

-wet, ugly bits it _is_ something rather special, but otherwise it's

-just a corner, and if anybody feels bouncy----"

-

-"I didn't bounce, I coughed," said Tigger crossly.

-

-"Bouncy or coffy, it's all the same at the bottom of the river."

-

-"Well," said Rabbit, "all I can say is--well, here's Christopher Robin,

-so _he_ can say it."

-

-Christopher Robin came down from the Forest to the bridge, feeling

-all sunny and careless, and just as if twice nineteen didn't matter a

-bit, as it didn't on such a happy afternoon, and he thought that if he

-stood on the bottom rail of the bridge, and leant over, and watched

-the river slipping slowly away beneath him, then he would suddenly

-know everything that there was to be known, and he would be able to

-tell Pooh, who wasn't quite sure about some of it. But when he got to

-the bridge and saw all the animals there, then he knew that it wasn't

-that kind of afternoon, but the other kind, when you wanted to _do_

-something.

-

-"It's like this, Christopher Robin," began Rabbit. "Tigger----"

-

-"No, I didn't," said Tigger.

-

-"Well, anyhow, there I was," said Eeyore.

-

-"But I don't think he meant to," said Pooh.

-

-"He just _is_ bouncy," said Piglet, "and he can't help it."

-

-"Try bouncing _me_, Tigger," said Roo eagerly. "Eeyore, Tigger's going

-to try _me_. Piglet, do you think----"

-

-"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "we don't all want to speak at once. The point

-is, what does Christopher Robin think about it?"

-

-"All I did was I coughed," said Tigger.

-

-"He bounced," said Eeyore.

-

-"Well, I sort of boffed," said Tigger.

-

-"Hush!" said Rabbit, holding up his paw. "What does Christopher Robin

-think about it all? That's the point."

-

-"Well," said Christopher Robin, not quite sure what it was all about,

-"_I_ think----"

-

-"Yes?" said everybody.

-

-"_I_ think we all ought to play Poohsticks."

-

-So they did. And Eeyore, who had never played it before, won more times

-than anybody else; and Roo fell in twice, the first time by accident

-and the second time on purpose, because he suddenly saw Kanga coming

-from the Forest, and he knew he'd have to go to bed anyhow. So then

-Rabbit said he'd go with them; and Tigger and Eeyore went off together,

-because Eeyore wanted to tell Tigger How to Win at Poohsticks, which

-you do by letting your stick drop in a twitchy sort of way, if you

-understand what I mean, Tigger; and Christopher Robin and Pooh and

-Piglet were left on the bridge by themselves.

-

-For a long time they looked at the river beneath them, saying nothing,

-and the river said nothing too, for it felt very quiet and peaceful on

-this summer afternoon.

-

-"Tigger is all right _really_," said Piglet lazily.

-

-"Of course he is," said Christopher Robin.

-

-"Everybody is _really_," said Pooh. "That's what _I_ think," said Pooh.

-"But I don't suppose I'm right," he said.

-

-"Of course you are," said Christopher Robin.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER VII

-

-                    IN WHICH _Tigger ls Unbounced_

-

-

-One day Rabbit and Piglet were sitting outside Pooh's front door

-listening to Rabbit, and Pooh was sitting with them. It was a drowsy

-summer afternoon, and the Forest was full of gentle sounds, which all

-seemed to be saying to Pooh, "Don't listen to Rabbit, listen to me."

-So he got into a comfortable position for not listening to Rabbit, and

-from time to time he opened his eyes to say "Ah!" and then closed them

-again to say "True," and from time to time Rabbit said, "You see what I

-mean, Piglet" very earnestly, and Piglet nodded earnestly to show that

-he did.

-

-"In fact," said Rabbit, coming to the end of it at last, "Tigger's

-getting so Bouncy nowadays that it's time we taught him a lesson. Don't

-you think so, Piglet?"

-

-Piglet said that Tigger _was_ very Bouncy, and that if they could think

-of a way of unbouncing him, it would be a Very Good Idea.

-

-"Just what I feel," said Rabbit. "What do _you_ say, Pooh?"

-

-Pooh opened his eyes with a jerk and said, "Extremely."

-

-"Extremely what?" asked Rabbit.

-

-"What you were saying," said Pooh. "Undoubtably."

-

-Piglet gave Pooh a stiffening sort of nudge, and Pooh, who felt more

-and more that he was somewhere else, got up slowly and began to look

-for himself.

-

-"But how shall we do it?" asked Piglet. "What sort of a lesson, Rabbit?"

-

-"That's the point," said Rabbit.

-

-The word "lesson" came back to Pooh as one he had heard before

-somewhere.

-

-"There's a thing called Twy-stymes," he said. "Christopher Robin tried

-to teach it to me once, but it didn't."

-

-"What didn't?" said Rabbit.

-

-"Didn't what?" said Piglet.

-

-Pooh shook his head.

-

-"I don't know," he said. "It just didn't. What are we talking about?"

-

-"Pooh," said Piglet reproachfully, "haven't you been listening to what

-Rabbit was saying?"

-

-"I listened, but I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say

-it again, please, Rabbit?"

-

-Rabbit never minded saying things again, so he asked where he should

-begin from; and when Pooh had said from the moment when the fluff got

-in his ear, and Rabbit had asked when that was, and Pooh had said he

-didn't know because he hadn't heard properly, Piglet settled it all by

-saying that what they were trying to do was, they were just trying to

-think of a way to get the bounces out of Tigger, because however much

-you liked him, you couldn't deny it, he _did_ bounce.

-

-"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

-

-"There's too much of him," said Rabbit, "that's what it comes to."

-

-Pooh tried to think, and all he could think of was something which

-didn't help at all. So he hummed it very quietly to himself.

-

-    If Rabbit

-    Was bigger

-    And fatter

-    And stronger,

-    Or bigger

-    Than Tigger,

-    If Tigger was smaller,

-    Then Tigger's bad habit

-    Of bouncing at Rabbit

-    Would matter

-    No longer,

-    If Rabbit

-    Was taller.

-

-"What was Pooh saying?" asked Rabbit. "Any good?"

-

-"No," said Pooh sadly. "No good."

-

-"Well, I've got an idea," said Rabbit, "and here it is. We take Tigger

-for a long explore, somewhere where he's never been, and we lose him

-there, and next morning we find him again, and--mark my words--he'll be

-a different Tigger altogether."

-

-"Why?" said Pooh.

-

-"Because he'll be a Humble Tigger. Because he'll be a Sad

-Tigger, a Melancholy Tigger, a Small and Sorry Tigger, an

-Oh-Rabbit-I-_am_-glad-to-see-you Tigger. That's why."

-

-"Will he be glad to see me and Piglet, too?"

-

-"Of course."

-

-"That's good," said Pooh.

-

-"I should hate him to go _on_ being Sad," said Piglet doubtfully.

-

-"Tiggers never go on being Sad," explained Rabbit. "They get over it

-with Astonishing Rapidity. I asked Owl, just to make sure, and he said

-that that's what they always get over it with. But if we can make

-Tigger feel Small and Sad just for five minutes, we shall have done a

-good deed."

-

-"Would Christopher Robin think so?" asked Piglet.

-

-"Yes," said Rabbit. "He'd say 'You've done a good deed, Piglet. I would

-have done it myself, only I happened to be doing something else. Thank

-you, Piglet.' And Pooh, of course."

-

-Piglet felt very glad about this, and he saw at once that what they

-were going to do to Tigger was a good thing to do, and as Pooh and

-Rabbit were doing it with him, it was a thing which even a Very Small

-Animal could wake up in the morning and be comfortable about doing. So

-the only question was, where should they lose Tigger?

-

-"We'll take him to the North Pole," said Rabbit, "because it was a very

-long explore finding it, so it will be a very long explore for Tigger

-unfinding it again."

-

-It was now Pooh's turn to feel very glad, because it was he who had

-first found the North Pole, and when they got there, Tigger would see a

-notice which said, "Discovered by Pooh, Pooh found it," and then Tigger

-would know, which perhaps he didn't know, the sort of Bear Pooh was.

-_That_ sort of Bear.

-

-So it was arranged that they should start next morning, and that

-Rabbit, who lived near Kanga and Roo and Tigger, should now go home

-and ask Tigger what he was doing tomorrow, because if he wasn't doing

-anything, what about coming for an explore and getting Pooh and Piglet

-to come too? And if Tigger said "Yes" that would be all right, and if

-he said "No"----

-

-"He won't," said Rabbit. "Leave it to me." And he went off busily.

-

-The next day was quite a different day. Instead of being hot and sunny,

-it was cold and misty. Pooh didn't mind for himself, but when he

-thought of all the honey the bees wouldn't be making, a cold and misty

-day always made him feel sorry for them. He said so to Piglet when

-Piglet came to fetch him, and Piglet said that he wasn't thinking of

-that so much, but of how cold and miserable it would be being lost all

-day and night on the top of the Forest. But when he and Pooh had got

-to Rabbit's house, Rabbit said it was just the day for them, because

-Tigger always bounced on ahead of everybody, and as soon as he got out

-of sight, they would hurry away in the other direction, and he would

-never see them again.

-

-"Not never?" said Piglet.

-

-"Well, not until we find him again, Piglet. Tomorrow, or whenever it

-is. Come on. He's waiting for us."

-

-When they got to Kanga's house, they found that Roo was waiting too,

-being a great friend of Tigger's, which made it Awkward; but Rabbit

-whispered "Leave this to me" behind his paw to Pooh, and went up to

-Kanga.

-

-"I don't think Roo had better come," he said. "Not today."

-

-"Why not?" said Roo, who wasn't supposed to be listening.

-

-"Nasty cold day," said Rabbit, shaking his head. "And you were coughing

-this morning."

-

-"How do you know?" asked Roo indignantly.

-

-"Oh, Roo, you never told me," said Kanga reproachfully.

-

-"It was a Biscuit Cough," said Roo, "not one you tell about."

-

-"I think not today, dear. Another day."

-

-"Tomorrow?" said Roo hopefully.

-

-"We'll see," said Kanga.

-

-"You're always seeing, and nothing ever happens," said Roo sadly.

-

-"Nobody could see on a day like this, Roo," said Rabbit. "I don't

-expect we shall get very far, and then this afternoon we'll all--we'll

-all--we'll--ah, Tigger, there you are. Come on. Good-bye, Roo! This

-afternoon we'll--come on, Pooh! All ready? That's right. Come on."

-

-So they went. At first Pooh and Rabbit and Piglet walked together, and

-Tigger ran round them in circles, and then, when the path got narrower,

-Rabbit, Piglet and Pooh walked one after another, and Tigger ran round

-them in oblongs, and by-and-by, when the gorse got very prickly on

-each side of the path, Tigger ran up and down in front of them, and

-sometimes he bounced into Rabbit and sometimes he didn't. And as they

-got higher, the mist got thicker, so that Tigger kept disappearing, and

-then when you thought he wasn't there, there he was again, saying "I

-say, come on," and before you could say anything, there he wasn't.

-

-Rabbit turned round and nudged Piglet.

-

-"The next time," he said. "Tell Pooh."

-

-"The next time," said Piglet to Pooh.

-

-"The next what?" said Pooh to Piglet.

-

-Tigger appeared suddenly, bounced into Rabbit, and disappeared again.

-"Now!" said Rabbit. He jumped into a hollow by the side of the path,

-and Pooh and Piglet jumped after him. They crouched in the bracken,

-listening. The Forest was very silent when you stopped and listened to

-it. They could see nothing and hear nothing.

-

-"H'sh!" said Rabbit.

-

-"I am," said Pooh.

-

-There was a pattering noise ... then silence again.

-

-"Hallo!" said Tigger, and he sounded so close suddenly that Piglet

-would have jumped if Pooh hadn't accidentally been sitting on most of

-him.

-

-"Where are you?" called Tigger.

-

-Rabbit nudged Pooh, and Pooh looked about for Piglet to nudge, but

-couldn't find him, and Piglet went on breathing wet bracken as quietly

-as he could, and felt very brave and excited.

-

-"That's funny," said Tigger.

-

-There was a moment's silence, and then they heard him pattering off

-again. For a little longer they waited, until the Forest had become

-so still that it almost frightened them, and then Rabbit got up and

-stretched himself.

-

-"Well?" he whispered proudly. "There we are! Just as I said."

-

-"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and I think----"

-

-"No," said Rabbit. "Don't. Run. Come on." And they all hurried off,

-Rabbit leading the way.

-

-"Now," said Rabbit, after they had gone a little way, "we can talk.

-What were you going to say, Pooh?"

-

-"Nothing much. Why are we going along here?"

-

-"Because it's the way home."

-

-"Oh!" said Pooh.

-

-"I _think_ it's more to the right," said Piglet nervously. "What do

-_you_ think, Pooh?"

-

-Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right,

-and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right,

-then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to

-begin.

-

-"Well," he said slowly----

-

-"Come on," said Rabbit. "I know it's this way."

-

-They went on. Ten minutes later they stopped again.

-

-"It's very silly," said Rabbit, "but just for the moment I----Ah, of

-course. Come on...."

-

-"Here we are," said Rabbit ten minutes later. "No, we're not...."

-

-"Now," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "I think we ought to be

-getting--or are we a little bit more to the right than I thought?..."

-

-"It's a funny thing," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "how everything

-looks the same in a mist. Have you noticed it, Pooh?"

-

-Pooh said that he had.

-

-"Lucky we know the Forest so well, or we might get lost," said Rabbit

-half an hour later, and he gave the careless laugh which you give when

-you know the Forest so well that you can't get lost.

-

-Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.

-

-"Pooh!" he whispered.

-

-"Yes, Piglet?"

-

-"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of

-you."

-

-When Tigger had finished waiting for the others to catch him up, and

-they hadn't, and when he had got tired of having nobody to say, "I say,

-come on" to, he thought he would go home. So he trotted back; and the

-first thing Kanga said when she saw him was "There's a good Tigger.

-You're just in time for your Strengthening Medicine," and she poured it

-out for him. Roo said proudly, "I've _had_ mine," and Tigger swallowed

-his and said, "So have I," and then he and Roo pushed each other about

-in a friendly way, and Tigger accidentally knocked over one or two

-chairs by accident, and Roo accidentally knocked over one on purpose,

-and Kanga said, "Now then, run along."

-

-"Where shall we run along to?" asked Roo.

-

-"You can go and collect some fir-cones for me," said Kanga, giving them

-a basket.

-

-So they went to the Six Pine Trees, and threw fir-cones at each other

-until they had forgotten what they came for, and they left the basket

-under the trees and went back to dinner. And it was just as they were

-finishing dinner that Christopher Robin put his head in at the door.

-

-"Where's Pooh?" he asked.

-

-"Tigger dear, where's Pooh?" said Kanga. Tigger explained what had

-happened at the same time that Roo was explaining about his Biscuit

-Cough and Kanga was telling them not both to talk at once, so it was

-some time before Christopher Robin guessed that Pooh and Piglet and

-Rabbit were all lost in the mist on the top of the Forest.

-

-"It's a funny thing about Tiggers," whispered Tigger to Roo, "how

-Tiggers _never_ get lost."

-

-"Why don't they, Tigger?"

-

-"They just don't," explained Tigger. "That's how it is."

-

-"Well," said Christopher Robin, "we shall have to go and find them,

-that's all. Come on, Tigger."

-

-"I shall have to go and find them," explained Tigger to Roo.

-

-"May I find them too?" asked Roo eagerly.

-

-"I think not today, dear," said Kanga. "Another day."

-

-"Well, if they're lost tomorrow, may I find them?"

-

-"We'll see," said Kanga, and Roo, who knew what _that_ meant, went

-into a corner, and practised jumping out at himself, partly because he

-wanted to practise this, and partly because he didn't want Christopher

-Robin and Tigger to think that he minded when they went off without him.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"The fact is," said Rabbit, "we've missed our way somehow."

-

-They were having a rest in a small sand-pit on the top of the Forest.

-Pooh was getting rather tired of that sand-pit, and suspected it of

-following them about, because whichever direction they started in, they

-always ended up at it, and each time, as it came through the mist at

-them, Rabbit said triumphantly, "Now I know where we are!" and Pooh

-said sadly, "So do I," and Piglet said nothing. He had tried to think

-of something to say, but the only thing he could think of was, "Help,

-help!" and it seemed silly to say that, when he had Pooh and Rabbit

-with him.

-

-"Well," said Rabbit, after a long silence in which nobody thanked him

-for the nice walk they were having, "we'd better get on, I suppose.

-Which way shall we try?"

-

-"How would it be," said Pooh slowly, "if, as soon as we're out of sight

-of this Pit, we try to find it again?"

-

-"What's the good of that?" said Rabbit.

-

-"Well," said Pooh, "we keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I

-thought that if we looked for this Pit, we'd be sure not to find it,

-which would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something that

-we _weren't_ looking for, which might be just what we _were_ looking

-for, really."

-

-"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.

-

-"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was _going_ to be when

-I began it. It's just that something happened to it on the way."

-

-"If I walked away from this Pit, and then walked back to it, of

-_course_ I should find it."

-

-"Well, I thought perhaps you wouldn't," said Pooh. "I just thought."

-

-"Try," said Piglet suddenly. "We'll wait here for you."

-

-Rabbit gave a laugh to show how silly Piglet was, and walked into the

-mist. After he had gone a hundred yards, he turned and walked back

-again ... and after Pooh and Piglet had waited twenty minutes for him,

-Pooh got up.

-

-"I just thought," said Pooh. "Now then, Piglet, let's go home."

-

-"But, Pooh," cried Piglet, all excited, "do you know the way?"

-

-"No," said Pooh. "But there are twelve pots of honey in my cupboard,

-and they've been calling to me for hours. I couldn't hear them properly

-before, because Rabbit _would_ talk, but if nobody says anything except

-those twelve pots, I _think_, Piglet, I shall know where they're

-calling from. Come on."

-

-They walked off together; and for a long time Piglet said nothing, so

-as not to interrupt the pots; and then suddenly he made a squeaky noise

-... and an oo-noise ... because now he began to know where he was; but

-he still didn't dare to say so out loud, in case he wasn't. And just

-when he was getting so sure of himself that it didn't matter whether

-the pots went on calling or not, there was a shout from in front of

-them, and out of the mist came Christopher Robin.

-

-"Oh, there you are," said Christopher Robin carelessly, trying to

-pretend that he hadn't been Anxious.

-

-"Here we are," said Pooh.

-

-"Where's Rabbit?"

-

-"I don't know," said Pooh.

-

-"Oh--well, I expect Tigger will find him. He's sort of looking for you

-all."

-

-"Well," said Pooh, "I've got to go home for something, and so has

-Piglet, because we haven't had it yet, and----"

-

-"I'll come and watch you," said Christopher Robin.

-

-So he went home with Pooh, and watched him for quite a long time ...

-and all the time he was watching, Tigger was tearing round the Forest

-making loud yapping noises for Rabbit. And at last a very Small and

-Sorry Rabbit heard him. And the Small and Sorry Rabbit rushed through

-the mist at the noise, and it suddenly turned into Tigger; a Friendly

-Tigger, a Grand Tigger, a Large and Helpful Tigger, a Tigger who

-bounced, if he bounced at all, in just the beautiful way a Tigger

-ought to bounce.

-

-"Oh, Tigger, I _am_ glad to see you," cried Rabbit.

-

-

-

-

-                             CHAPTER VIII

-

-               IN WHICH _Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing_

-

-

-Half way between Pooh's house and Piglet's house was a Thoughtful Spot

-where they met sometimes when they had decided to go and see each

-other, and as it was warm and out of the wind they would sit down there

-for a little and wonder what they would do now that they _had_ seen

-each other. One day when they had decided not to do anything, Pooh made

-up a verse about it, so that everybody should know what the place was

-for.

-

-    This warm and sunny Spot

-      Belongs to Pooh.

-    And here he wonders what

-      He's going to do.

-    Oh, bother, I forgot--

-      It's Piglet's too.

-

-Now one autumn morning when the wind had blown all the leaves off the

-trees in the night, and was trying to blow the branches off, Pooh and

-Piglet were sitting in the Thoughtful Spot and wondering.

-

-"What _I_ think," said Pooh, "is I think we'll go to Pooh Corner and

-see Eeyore, because perhaps his house has been blown down, and perhaps

-he'd like us to build it again."

-

-"What _I_ think," said Piglet, "is I think we'll go and see Christopher

-Robin, only he won't be there, so we can't."

-

-"Let's go and see _everybody_," said Pooh. "Because when you've been

-walking in the wind for miles, and you suddenly go into somebody's

-house, and he says, 'Hallo, Pooh, you're just in time for a little

-smackerel of something,' and you are, then it's what I call a Friendly

-Day."

-

-Piglet thought that they ought to have a Reason for going to see

-everybody, like Looking for Small or Organizing an Expotition, if Pooh

-could think of something.

-

-Pooh could.

-

-"We'll go because it's Thursday," he said, "and we'll go to wish

-everybody a Very Happy Thursday. Come on, Piglet."

-

-They got up; and when Piglet had sat down again, because he didn't

-know the wind was so strong, and had been helped up by Pooh, they

-started off. They went to Pooh's house first, and luckily Pooh was at

-home just as they got there, so he asked them in, and they had some,

-and then they went on to Kanga's house, holding on to each other, and

-shouting "Isn't it?" and "What?" and "I can't hear." By the time they

-got to Kanga's house they were so buffeted that they stayed to lunch.

-Just at first it seemed rather cold outside afterwards, so they pushed

-on to Rabbit's as quickly as they could.

-

-"We've come to wish you a Very Happy Thursday," said Pooh, when he had

-gone in and out once or twice just to make sure that he _could_ get out

-again.

-

-"Why, what's going to happen on Thursday?" asked Rabbit, and when Pooh

-had explained, and Rabbit, whose life was made up of Important Things,

-said, "Oh, I thought you'd really come about something," they sat down

-for a little ... and by-and-by Pooh and Piglet went on again. The wind

-was behind them now, so they didn't have to shout.

-

-"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.

-

-"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."

-

-"And he has Brain."

-

-"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."

-

-There was a long silence.

-

-"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."

-

-Christopher Robin was at home by this time, because it was the

-afternoon, and he was so glad to see them that they stayed there until

-very nearly tea-time, and then they had a Very Nearly tea, which is one

-you forget about afterwards, and hurried on to Pooh Corner, so as to

-see Eeyore before it was too late to have a Proper Tea with Owl.

-

-"Hallo, Eeyore," they called out cheerfully.

-

-"Ah!" said Eeyore. "Lost your way?"

-

-"We just came to see you," said Piglet. "And to see how your house was.

-Look, Pooh, it's still standing!"

-

-"I know," said Eeyore. "Very odd. Somebody ought to have come down and

-pushed it over."

-

-"We wondered whether the wind would blow it down," said Pooh.

-

-"Ah, that's why nobody's bothered, I suppose. I thought perhaps they'd

-forgotten."

-

-"Well, we're very glad to see you, Eeyore, and now we're going on to

-see Owl."

-

-"That's right. You'll like Owl. He flew past a day or two ago and

-noticed me. He didn't actually say anything, mind you, but he knew it

-was me. Very friendly of him, I thought. Encouraging."

-

-Pooh and Piglet shuffled about a little and said, "Well, good-bye,

-Eeyore" as lingeringly as they could, but they had a long way to go,

-and wanted to be getting on.

-

-"Good-bye," said Eeyore. "Mind you don't get blown away, little

-Piglet. You'd be missed. People would say 'Where's little Piglet been

-blown to?'--really wanting to know. Well, good-bye. And thank you for

-happening to pass me."

-

-"Good-bye," said Pooh and Piglet for the last time, and they pushed on

-to Owl's house.

-

-The wind was against them now, and Piglet's ears streamed behind him

-like banners as he fought his way along, and it seemed hours before he

-got them into the shelter of the Hundred Acre Wood and they stood up

-straight again, to listen, a little nervously, to the roaring of the

-gale among the tree-tops.

-

-"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?"

-

-"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

-

-Piglet was comforted by this, and in a little while they were knocking

-and ringing very cheerfully at Owl's door.

-

-"Hallo, Owl," said Pooh. "I hope we're not too late for----I mean, how

-are you, Owl? Piglet and I just came to see how you were, because it's

-Thursday."

-

-"Sit down, Pooh, sit down, Piglet," said Owl kindly. "Make yourselves

-comfortable."

-

-They thanked him, and made themselves as comfortable as they could.

-

-"Because, you see, Owl," said Pooh, "we've been hurrying, so as to be

-in time for--so as to see you before we went away again."

-

-Owl nodded solemnly.

-

-"Correct me if I am wrong," he said, "but am I right in supposing that

-it is a very Blusterous day outside?"

-

-"Very," said Piglet, who was quietly thawing his ears, and wishing

-that he was safely back in his own house.

-

-"I thought so," said Owl. "It was on just such a blusterous day as this

-that my Uncle Robert, a portrait of whom you see upon the wall on your

-right, Piglet, while returning in the late forenoon from a----What's

-that?"

-

-There was a loud cracking noise.

-

-"Look out!" cried Pooh. "Mind the clock! Out of the way, Piglet!

-Piglet, I'm falling on you!"

-

-"Help!" cried Piglet.

-

-Pooh's side of the room was slowly tilting upwards and his chair

-began sliding down on Piglet's. The clock slithered gently along

-the mantelpiece, collecting vases on the way, until they all crashed

-together on to what had once been the floor, but was now trying to

-see what it looked like as a wall. Uncle Robert, who was going to be

-the new hearth-rug, and was bringing the rest of his wall with him as

-carpet, met Piglet's chair just as Piglet was expecting to leave it,

-and for a little while it became very difficult to remember which was

-really the north. Then there was another loud crack ... Owl's room

-collected itself feverishly ... and there was silence.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-In a corner of the room, the tablecloth began to wriggle.

-

-Then it wrapped itself into a ball and rolled across the room.

-

-Then it jumped up and down once or twice, and put out two ears. It

-rolled across the room again, and unwound itself.

-

-"Pooh," said Piglet nervously.

-

-"Yes?" said one of the chairs.

-

-"Where are we?"

-

-"I'm not quite sure," said the chair.

-

-"Are we--are we in Owl's House?"

-

-"I think so, because we were just going to have tea, and we hadn't had

-it."

-

-"Oh!" said Piglet. "Well, did Owl _always_ have a letter-box in his

-ceiling?"

-

-"Has he?"

-

-"Yes, look."

-

-"I can't," said Pooh. "I'm face downwards under something, and that,

-Piglet, is a very bad position for looking at ceilings."

-

-"Well, he has, Pooh."

-

-"Perhaps he's changed it," said Pooh. "Just for a change."

-

-There was a disturbance behind the table in the other corner of the

-room, and Owl was with them again.

-

-"Ah, Piglet," said Owl, looking very much annoyed; "where's Pooh?"

-

-"I'm not quite sure," said Pooh.

-

-Owl turned at his voice, and frowned at as much of Pooh as he could see.

-

-"Pooh," said Owl severely, "did _you_ do that?"

-

-"No," said Pooh humbly. "I don't _think_ so."

-

-"Then who did?"

-

-"I think it was the wind," said Piglet. "I think your house has blown

-down."

-

-"Oh, is that it? I thought it was Pooh."

-

-"No," said Pooh.

-

-"If it was the wind," said Owl, considering the matter, "then it wasn't

-Pooh's fault. No blame can be attached to him." With these kind words

-he flew up to look at his new ceiling.

-

-"Piglet!" called Pooh in a loud whisper.

-

-Piglet leant down to him.

-

-"Yes, Pooh?"

-

-"_What_ did he say was attached to me?"

-

-"He said he didn't blame you."

-

-"Oh! I thought he meant--Oh, I see."

-

-"Owl," said Piglet, "come down and help Pooh."

-

-Owl, who was admiring his letter-box, flew down again. Together they

-pushed and pulled at the arm-chair, and in a little while Pooh came out

-from underneath, and was able to look round him again.

-

-"Well!" said Owl. "This is a nice state of things!"

-

-"What are we going to do, Pooh? Can you think of anything?" asked

-Piglet.

-

-"Well, I _had_ just thought of something," said Pooh. "It was just a

-little thing I thought of." And he began to sing:

-

-    I lay on my chest

-    And I thought it best

-    To pretend I was having an evening rest;

-    I lay on my tum

-    And I tried to hum

-    But nothing particular seemed to come.

-    My face was flat

-    On the floor, and that

-    Is all very well for an acrobat;

-    But it doesn't seem fair

-    To a Friendly Bear

-    To stiffen him out with a basket-chair.

-    And a sort of sqoze

-    Which grows and grows

-    Is not too nice for his poor old nose,

-    And a sort of squch

-    Is much too much

-    For his neck and his mouth and his ears and such.

-

-"That was all," said Pooh.

-

-Owl coughed in an unadmiring sort of way, and said that, if Pooh was

-sure that _was_ all, they could now give their minds to the Problem of

-Escape.

-

-"Because," said Owl, "we can't go out by what used to be the front

-door. Something's fallen on it."

-

-"But how else _can_ you go out?" asked Piglet anxiously.

-

-"That is the Problem, Piglet, to which I am asking Pooh to give his

-mind."

-

-Pooh sat on the floor which had once been a wall, and gazed up at the

-ceiling which had once been another wall, with a front door in it which

-had once been a front door, and tried to give his mind to it.

-

-"Could you fly up to the letter-box with Piglet on your back?" he asked.

-

-"No," said Piglet quickly. "He couldn't."

-

-Owl explained about the Necessary Dorsal Muscles. He had explained this

-to Pooh and Christopher Robin once before, and had been waiting ever

-since for a chance to do it again, because it is a thing which you can

-easily explain twice before anybody knows what you are talking about.

-

-"Because you see, Owl, if we could get Piglet into the letter-box, he

-might squeeze through the place where the letters come, and climb down

-the tree and run for help."

-

-Piglet said hurriedly that he had been getting bigger lately, and

-couldn't _possibly_, much as he would like to, and Owl said that he had

-had his letter-box made bigger lately in case he got bigger letters, so

-perhaps Piglet _might_, and Piglet said, "But you said the necessary

-you-know-whats _wouldn't_," and Owl said, "No, they _won't_, so it's

-no good thinking about it," and Piglet said "Then we'd better think of

-something else," and began to at once.

-

-But Pooh's mind had gone back to the day when he had saved Piglet from

-the flood, and everybody had admired him so much; and as that didn't

-often happen he thought he would like it to happen again. And suddenly,

-just as it had come before, an idea came to him.

-

-"Owl," said Pooh, "I have thought of something."

-

-"Astute and Helpful Bear," said Owl.

-

-Pooh looked proud at being called a stout and helpful bear, and said

-modestly that he just happened to think of it. You tied a piece of

-string to Piglet, and you flew up to the letter-box with the other end

-in your beak, and you pushed it through the wire and brought it down to

-the floor, and you and Pooh pulled hard at this end, and Piglet went

-slowly up at the other end. And there you were.

-

-"And there Piglet is," said Owl. "If the string doesn't break."

-

-"Supposing it does?" asked Piglet, wanting to know.

-

-"Then we try another piece of string."

-

-This was not very comforting to Piglet, because however many pieces

-of string they tried pulling up with, it would always be the same him

-coming down; but still, it did seem the only thing to do. So with

-one last look back in his mind at all the happy hours he had spent in

-the Forest _not_ being pulled up to the ceiling by a piece of string,

-Piglet nodded bravely at Pooh and said that it was a Very Clever

-pup-pup-pup Clever pup-pup Plan.

-

-"It won't break," whispered Pooh comfortingly, "because you're a Small

-Animal, and I'll stand underneath, and if you save us all, it will be

-a Very Grand Thing to talk about afterwards, and perhaps I'll make up

-a Song, and people will say 'It was so grand what Piglet did that a

-Respectful Pooh Song was made about it."

-

-Piglet felt much better after this, and when everything was ready, and

-he found himself slowly going up to the ceiling, he was so proud that

-he would have called out "Look at _me_!" if he hadn't been afraid that

-Pooh and Owl would let go of their end of the string and look at him.

-

-"Up we go!" said Pooh cheerfully.

-

-"The ascent is proceeding as expected," said Owl helpfully. Soon it was

-over. Piglet opened the letter-box and climbed in. Then, having untied

-himself, he began to squeeze into the slit, through which in the old

-days when front doors _were_ front doors, many an unexpected letter

-that WOL had written to himself, had come slipping.

-

-He squeezed and he squoze, and then with one last sqooze he was out.

-Happy and excited he turned round to squeak a last message to the

-prisoners.

-

-"It's all right," he called through the letter-box. "Your tree is blown

-right over, Owl, and there's a branch across the door, but Christopher

-Robin and I can move it, and we'll bring a rope for Pooh, and I'll

-go and tell him now, and I can climb down quite easily, I mean it's

-dangerous but I can do it all right, and Christopher Robin and I will

-be back in about half-an-hour. Good-bye, Pooh!" And without waiting to

-hear Pooh's answering "Good-bye, and thank you, Piglet," he was off.

-

-"Half-an-hour," said Owl, settling himself comfortably. "That will just

-give me time to finish that story I was telling you about my Uncle

-Robert--a portrait of whom you see underneath you. Now let me see,

-where was I? Oh, yes. It was on just such a blusterous day as this that

-my Uncle Robert----"

-

-Pooh closed his eyes.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER IX

-

-       IN WHICH _Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It_

-

-

-Pooh had wandered into the Hundred Acre Wood, and was standing in front

-of what had once been Owl's House. It didn't look at all like a house

-now; it looked like a tree which had been blown down; and as soon as a

-house looks like that, it is time you tried to find another one. Pooh

-had had a Mysterious Missage underneath his front door that morning,

-saying, "I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT," and

-while he was wondering what it meant, Rabbit had come in and read it

-for him.

-

-"I'm leaving one for all the others," said Rabbit, "and telling them

-what it means, and they'll all search too. I'm in a hurry, good-bye."

-And he had run off.

-

-Pooh followed slowly. He had something better to do than to find a new

-house for Owl; he had to make up a Pooh song about the old one. Because

-he had promised Piglet days and days ago that he would, and whenever

-he and Piglet had met since, Piglet didn't actually say anything, but

-you knew at once why he didn't; and if anybody mentioned Hums or Trees

-or String or Storms-in-the-Night, Piglet's nose went all pink at the

-tip and he talked about something quite different in a hurried sort of

-way.

-

-"But it isn't Easy," said Pooh to himself, as he looked at what had

-once been Owl's House. "Because Poetry and Hums aren't things which

-you get, they're things which get _you_. And all you can do is to go

-where they can find you."

-

-He waited hopefully....

-

-"Well," said Pooh after a long wait, "I shall begin '_Here lies a

-tree_' because it does, and then I'll see what happens."

-

-This is what happened.

-

-    _Here lies a tree which Owl (a bird)

-      Was fond of when it stood on end,

-      And Owl was talking to a friend

-    Called Me (in case you hadn't heard)

-    When something Oo occurred._

-

-    _For lo! the wind was blusterous

-      And flattened out his favourite tree;

-      And things looked bad for him and we--

-    Looked bad, I mean, for he and us--

-    I've never known them wuss._

-

-    _Then Piglet (PIGLET) thought a thing:

-      "Courage!" he said. "There's always hope.

-      I want a thinnish piece of rope.

-    Or, if there isn't any bring

-    A thickish piece of string."_

-

-    _So to the letter-box he rose,

-      While Pooh and Owl said "Oh!" and "Hum!"

-      And where the letters always come

-    (Called "LETTERS ONLY") Piglet sqoze

-    His head and then his toes._

-

-    _O gallant Piglet (PIGLET)! Ho!

-      Did Piglet tremble? Did he blinch?

-      No, No, he struggled inch by inch

-    Through LETTERS ONLY, as I know

-    Because I saw him go._

-

-    _He ran and ran, and then he stood

-      And shouted, "Help for Owl, a bird

-      And Pooh, a bear!" until he heard

-    The others coming through the wood

-    As quickly as they could._

-

-    _"Help-help and Rescue!" Piglet cried

-      And showed the others where to go.

-      Sing ho! for Piglet (PIGLET) ho

-    And soon the door was opened wide

-    And we were both outside!_

-

-    _Sing ho! for Piglet, ho!

-    Ho!_

-

-"So there it is," said Pooh, when he had sung this to himself three

-times. "It's come different from what I thought it would, but it's

-come. Now I must go and sing it to Piglet."

-

-    I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT.

-

-"What's all this?" said Eeyore.

-

-Rabbit explained.

-

-"What's the matter with his old house?" asked Eeyore.

-

-Rabbit explained.

-

-"Nobody tells me," said Eeyore. "Nobody keeps me Informed. I make it

-seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me."

-

-"It certainly isn't seventeen days----"

-

-"Come Friday," explained Eeyore.

-

-"And today's Saturday," said Rabbit. "So that would make it eleven

-days. And I was here myself a week ago."

-

-"Not conversing," said Eeyore. "Not first one and then the other. You

-said 'Hallo' and Flashed Past. I saw your tail in the distance as I was

-meditating my reply. I _had_ thought of saying 'What?'--but, of course,

-it was then too late."

-

-"Well, I was in a hurry."

-

-"No Give and Take," Eeyore went on. "No Exchange of Thought:

-'_Hallo--What_'----I mean, it gets you nowhere, particularly if the

-other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the

-conversation."

-

-"It's your fault, Eeyore. You've never been to see any of us. You just

-stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for the others to

-come to _you_. Why don't you go to _them_ sometimes?"

-

-Eeyore was silent for a little while, thinking.

-

-"There may be something in what you say, Rabbit," he said at last. "I

-must move about more. I must come and go."

-

-"That's right, Eeyore. Drop in on any of us at any time, when you feel

-like it."

-

-"Thank-you, Rabbit. And if anybody says in a Loud Voice 'Bother, it's

-Eeyore,' I can drop out again."

-

-Rabbit stood on one leg for a moment.

-

-"Well," he said, "I must be going."

-

-"Good-bye," said Eeyore.

-

-"What? Oh, good-bye. And if you do come across a house for Owl, you

-must let us know."

-

-"I will give my mind to it," said Eeyore.

-

-Rabbit went.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Pooh had found Piglet, and they were walking back to the Hundred Acre

-Wood together.

-

-"Piglet," said Pooh a little shyly, after they had walked for some time

-without saying anything.

-

-"Yes, Pooh?"

-

-"Do you remember when I said that a Respectful Pooh Song might be

-written about You Know What?"

-

-"Did you, Pooh?" said Piglet, getting a little pink round the nose.

-"Oh, yes, I believe you did."

-

-"It's been written, Piglet."

-

-The pink went slowly up Piglet's nose to his ears, and settled there.

-

-"Has it, Pooh?" he asked huskily. "About--about----That Time

-When?----Do you mean really written?"

-

-"Yes, Piglet."

-

-The tips of Piglet's ears glowed suddenly, and he tried to say

-something; but even after he had husked once or twice, nothing came

-out. So Pooh went on.

-

-"There are seven verses in it."

-

-"Seven?" said Piglet as carelessly as he could. "You don't often get

-_seven_ verses in a Hum, do you, Pooh?"

-

-"Never," said Pooh, "I don't suppose it's _ever_ been heard of before."

-

-"Do the Others know yet?" asked Piglet, stopping for a moment to pick

-up a stick and throw it away.

-

-"No," said Pooh. "And I wondered which you would like best. For me to

-hum it now, or to wait till we find the others, and then hum it to all

-of you."

-

-Piglet thought for a little.

-

-"I think what I'd like best, Pooh, is I'd like you to hum it to me

-_now_--and--and _then_ to hum it to all of us. Because then Everybody

-would hear it, but I could say 'Oh, yes, Pooh's told me,' and pretend

-not to be listening."

-

-So Pooh hummed it to him, all the seven verses and Piglet said nothing,

-but just stood and glowed. Never before had anyone sung ho for Piglet

-(PIGLET) ho all by himself. When it was over, he wanted to ask for one

-of the verses over again, but didn't quite like to. It was the verse

-beginning "O gallant Piglet," and it seemed to him a very thoughtful

-way of beginning a piece of poetry.

-

-"Did I really do all that?" he said at last.

-

-"Well," said Pooh, "in poetry--in a piece of poetry--well, you _did_

-it, Piglet, because the poetry says you did. And that's how people

-know."

-

-"Oh!" said Piglet. "Because I--I thought I did blinch a little. Just at

-first. And it says, 'Did he blinch no no.' That's why."

-

-"You only blinched inside," said Pooh, "and that's the bravest way for

-a Very Small Animal not to blinch that there is."

-

-Piglet sighed with happiness, and began to think about himself. He was

-BRAVE....

-

-When they got to Owl's old house, they found everybody else there

-except Eeyore. Christopher Robin was telling them what to do, and

-Rabbit was telling them again directly afterwards, in case they hadn't

-heard, and then they were all doing it. They had got a rope and were

-pulling Owl's chairs and pictures and things out of his old house so as

-to be ready to put them into his new one. Kanga was down below tying

-the things on, and calling out to Owl, "You won't want this dirty old

-dish-cloth any more, will you, and what about this carpet, it's all

-in holes," and Owl was calling back indignantly, "Of course I do! It's

-just a question of arranging the furniture properly, and it isn't a

-dish-cloth, it's my shawl." Every now and then Roo fell in and came

-back on the rope with the next article, which flustered Kanga a little

-because she never knew where to look for him. So she got cross with Owl

-and said that his house was a Disgrace, all damp and dirty, and it was

-quite time it did tumble down. Look at that horrid bunch of toadstools

-growing out of the floor there! So Owl looked down, a little surprised

-because he didn't know about this, and then gave a short sarcastic

-laugh, and explained that that was his sponge, and that if people

-didn't know a perfectly ordinary bath-sponge when they saw it, things

-were coming to a pretty pass. "_Well!_" said Kanga, and Roo fell in

-quickly, crying, "I _must_ see Owl's sponge! Oh, there it is! Oh, Owl!

-Owl, it isn't a sponge, it's a spudge! Do you know what a spudge is,

-Owl? It's when your sponge gets all----" and Kanga said, "Roo, dear!"

-very quickly, because that's _not_ the way to talk to anybody who can

-spell TUESDAY.

-

-But they were all quite happy when Pooh and Piglet came along, and they

-stopped working in order to have a little rest and listen to Pooh's

-new song. So then they all told Pooh how good it was, and Piglet said

-carelessly, "It _is_ good, isn't it? I mean as a song."

-

-"And what about the new house?" asked Pooh. "Have you found it, Owl?"

-

-"He's found a name for it," said Christopher Robin, lazily nibbling at

-a piece of grass, "so now all he wants is the house."

-

-"I am calling it this," said Owl importantly, and he showed them what

-he had been making. It was a square piece of board with the name of the

-house painted on it.

-

-    THE WOLERY

-

-It was at this exciting moment that something came through the trees,

-and bumped into Owl. The board fell to the ground, and Piglet and Roo

-bent over it eagerly.

-

-"Oh, it's you," said Owl crossly.

-

-"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Rabbit. "_There_ you are! Where have _you_ been?"

-Eeyore took no notice of them.

-

-"Good morning, Christopher Robin," he said, brushing away Roo and

-Piglet, and sitting down on THE WOLERY. "Are we alone?"

-

-"Yes," said Christopher Robin, smiling to himself.

-

-"I have been told--the news has worked through to my corner of the

-Forest--the damp bit down on the right which nobody wants--that a

-certain Person is looking for a house. I have found one for him."

-

-"Ah, well done," said Rabbit kindly.

-

-Eeyore looked round slowly at him, and then turned back to Christopher

-Robin.

-

-"We have been joined by something," he said in a loud whisper. "But no

-matter. We can leave it behind. If you will come with me, Christopher

-Robin, I will show you the house."

-

-Christopher Robin jumped up.

-

-"Come on, Pooh," he said.

-

-"Come on, Tigger!" cried Roo.

-

-"Shall we go, Owl?" said Rabbit.

-

-"Wait a moment," said Owl, picking up his notice-board, which had just

-come into sight again.

-

-Eeyore waved them back.

-

-"Christopher Robin and I are going for a Short Walk," he said, "not a

-Jostle. If he likes to bring Pooh and Piglet with him, I shall be glad

-of their company, but one must be able to Breathe."

-

-"That's all right," said Rabbit, rather glad to be left in charge of

-something. "We'll go on getting the things out. Now then, Tigger,

-where's that rope? What's the matter, Owl?"

-

-Owl, who had just discovered that his new address was THE SMUDGE,

-coughed at Eeyore sternly, but said nothing, and Eeyore, with most of

-THE WOLERY behind him, marched off with his friends.

-

-So, in a little while, they came to the house which Eeyore had found,

-and for some minutes before they came to it, Piglet was nudging Pooh,

-and Pooh was nudging Piglet, and they were saying, "It is!" and "It

-can't be!" and "It is, _really_!" to each other.

-

-And when they got there, it really was.

-

-"There!" said Eeyore proudly, stopping them outside Piglet's house.

-"And the name on it, and everything!"

-

-"Oh!" cried Christopher Robin, wondering whether to laugh or what.

-

-"Just the house for Owl. Don't you think so, little Piglet?"

-

-And then Piglet did a Noble Thing, and he did it in a sort of dream,

-while he was thinking of all the wonderful words Pooh had hummed about

-him.

-

-"Yes, it's just the house for Owl," he said grandly. "And I hope he'll

-be very happy in it." And then he gulped twice, because he had been

-very happy in it himself.

-

-"What do _you_ think, Christopher Robin?" asked Eeyore a little

-anxiously, feeling that something wasn't quite right.

-

-Christopher Robin had a question to ask first, and he was wondering how

-to ask it.

-

-"Well," he said at last, "it's a very nice house, and if your own house

-is blown down, you _must_ go somewhere else, mustn't you, Piglet? What

-would _you_ do, if _your_ house was blown down?"

-

-Before Piglet could think, Pooh answered for him.

-

-"He'd come and live with me," said Pooh, "wouldn't you, Piglet?"

-

-Piglet squeezed his paw.

-

-"Thank you, Pooh," he said, "I should love to."

-

-

-

-

-                               CHAPTER X

-

-   IN WHICH _Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place,

-                       and We Leave Them There_

-

-

-Christopher Robin was going away. Nobody knew why he was going; nobody

-knew where he was going; indeed, nobody even knew why he knew that

-Christopher Robin _was_ going away. But somehow or other everybody in

-the Forest felt that it was happening at last. Even Smallest-of-all,

-a friend-and-relation of Rabbit's who thought he had once seen

-Christopher Robin's foot, but couldn't be quite sure because perhaps it

-was something else, even S. of A. told himself that Things were going

-to be Different; and Late and Early, two other friends-and-relations,

-said, "Well, Early?" and "Well, Late?" to each other in such a hopeless

-sort of way that it really didn't seem any good waiting for the answer.

-

-One day when he felt that he couldn't wait any longer, Rabbit brained

-out a Notice, and this is what it said:

-

-"Notice a meeting of everybody will meet at the House at Pooh Corner to

-pass a Rissolution By Order Keep to the Left Signed Rabbit."

-

-He had to write this out two or three times before he could get the

-rissolution to look like what he thought it was going to when he began

-to spell it: but, when at last it was finished, he took it round to

-everybody and read it out to them. And they all said they would come.

-

-"Well," said Eeyore that afternoon, when he saw them all walking up to

-his house, "this _is_ a surprise. Am _I_ asked too?"

-

-"Don't mind Eeyore," whispered Rabbit to Pooh. "I told him all about it

-this morning."

-

-Everybody said "How-do-you-do" to Eeyore, and Eeyore said that he

-didn't, not to notice, and then they sat down; and as soon as they were

-all sitting down, Rabbit stood up again.

-

-"We all know why we're here," he said, "but I have asked my friend

-Eeyore----"

-

-"That's Me," said Eeyore. "Grand."

-

-"I have asked him to Propose a Rissolution." And he sat down again.

-"Now then, Eeyore," he said.

-

-"Don't Bustle me," said Eeyore, getting up slowly. "Don't now-then

-me." He took a piece of paper from behind his ear, and unfolded it.

-"Nobody knows anything about this," he went on. "This is a Surprise."

-He coughed in an important way, and began again: "What-nots and

-Etceteras, before I begin, or perhaps I should say, before I end, I

-have a piece of Poetry to read to you. Hitherto--hitherto--a long word

-meaning--well, you'll see what it means directly--hitherto, as I was

-saying, all the Poetry in the Forest has been written by Pooh, a Bear

-with a Pleasing Manner but a Positively Startling Lack of Brain. The

-Poem which I am now about to read to you was written by Eeyore, or

-Myself, in a Quiet Moment. If somebody will take Roo's bull's-eye away

-from him, and wake up Owl, we shall all be able to enjoy it. I call

-it--POEM."

-

-This was it.

-

-    Christopher Robin is going.

-    At least I think he is.

-    Where?

-    Nobody knows.

-    But he is going--

-    I mean he goes

-    (_To rhyme with "knows"_)

-    Do we care?

-    (_To rhyme with "where"_)

-    We do

-    Very much.

-    (_I haven't got a rhyme for that "is" in the second line yet.

-      Bother._)

-    (_Now I haven't got a rhyme for bother. Bother._)

-    Those two bothers will have to rhyme with each other. Buther.

-    The fact is this is more difficult than I thought,

-    I ought--

-    (_Very good indeed_)

-    I ought

-    To begin again,

-    But it is easier

-    To stop.

-    Christopher Robin, good-bye,

-    I

-    (_Good_)

-    I

-    And all your friends

-    Sends--

-    I mean all your friend

-    Send--

-    (_Very awkward this, it keeps going wrong_)

-    Well, anyhow, we send

-      Our love

-    END.

-

-"If anybody wants to clap," said Eeyore when he had read this, "now is

-the time to do it."

-

-They all clapped.

-

-"Thank you," said Eeyore. "Unexpected and gratifying, if a little

-lacking in Smack."

-

-"It's much better than mine," said Pooh admiringly, and he really

-thought it was.

-

-"Well," explained Eeyore modestly, "it was meant to be."

-

-"The rissolution," said Rabbit, "is that we all sign it, and take it to

-Christopher Robin."

-

-So it was signed POOH, PIGLET, WOL, EOR, RABBIT, KANGA, BLOT, SMUDGE,

-and they all went off to Christopher Robin's house with it.

-

-"Hallo, everybody," said Christopher Robin--"Hallo, Pooh."

-

-They all said "Hallo," and felt awkward and unhappy suddenly, because

-it was a sort of good-bye they were saying, and they didn't want to

-think about it. So they stood around, and waited for somebody else to

-speak, and they nudged each other, and said "Go on," and gradually

-Eeyore was nudged to the front, and the others crowded behind him.

-

-"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin. Eeyore swished his tail

-from side to side, so as to encourage himself, and began.

-

-[Illustration: _"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin._]

-

-"Christopher Robin," he said, "we've come to say--to give you--it's

-called--written by--but we've all--because we've heard, I mean we all

-know--well, you see, it's--we--you--well, that, to put it as shortly

-as possible, is what it is." He turned round angrily on the others and

-said, "Everybody crowds round so in this Forest. There's no Space. I

-never saw a more Spreading lot of animals in my life, and all in the

-wrong places. Can't you _see_ that Christopher Robin wants to be alone?

-I'm going." And he humped off.

-

-Not quite knowing why, the others began edging away, and when

-Christopher Robin had finished reading POEM, and was looking up to say,

-"Thank you," only Pooh was left.

-

-"It's a comforting sort of thing to have," said Christopher Robin,

-folding up the paper, and putting it in his pocket. "Come on, Pooh,"

-and he walked off quickly.

-

-"Where are we going?" said Pooh, hurrying after him,

-and wondering whether it was to be an Explore or a

-What-shall-I-do-about-you-know-what.

-

-"Nowhere," said Christopher Robin.

-

-So they began going there, and after they had walked a little way

-Christopher Robin said:

-

-"What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?"

-

-"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best----" and then he had to stop and

-think. Because although Eating Honey _was_ a very good thing to do,

-there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better

-than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. And then

-he thought that being with Christopher Robin was a very good thing

-to do, and having Piglet near was a very friendly thing to have; and

-so, when he had thought it all out, he said, "What I like best in the

-whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What

-about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a

-little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day

-outside, and birds singing."

-

-"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like _doing_

-best is Nothing."

-

-"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long

-time.

-

-"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to

-do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh,

-nothing, and then you go and do it."

-

-"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

-

-"This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."

-

-"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.

-

-"It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear,

-and not bothering."

-

-"Oh!" said Pooh.

-

-They walked on, thinking of This and That, and by-and-by they came

-to an enchanted place on the very top of the Forest called Galleons

-Lap, which is sixty-something trees in a circle; and Christopher Robin

-knew that it was enchanted because nobody had ever been able to count

-whether it was sixty-three or sixty-four, not even when he tied a piece

-of string round each tree after he had counted it. Being enchanted,

-its floor was not like the floor of the Forest, gorse and bracken and

-heather, but close-set grass, quiet and smooth and green. It was the

-only place in the Forest where you could sit down carelessly, without

-getting up again almost at once and looking for somewhere else. Sitting

-there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached

-the sky, and whatever there was all the world over was with them in

-Galleons Lap.

-

-Suddenly Christopher Robin began to tell Pooh about some of the things:

-People called Kings and Queens and something called Factors, and a

-place called Europe, and an island in the middle of the sea where no

-ships came, and how you make a Suction Pump (if you want to), and

-when Knights were Knighted, and what comes from Brazil. And Pooh, his

-back against one of the sixty-something trees, and his paws folded

-in front of him, said "Oh!" and "I didn't know," and thought how

-wonderful it would be to have a Real Brain which could tell you things.

-And by-and-by Christopher Robin came to an end of the things, and was

-silent, and he sat there looking out over the world, and wishing it

-wouldn't stop.

-

-But Pooh was thinking too, and he said suddenly to Christopher Robin:

-

-"Is it a very Grand thing to be an Afternoon, what you said?"

-

-"A what?" said Christopher Robin lazily, as he listened to something

-else.

-

-"On a horse," explained Pooh.

-

-"A Knight?"

-

-"Oh, was that it?" said Pooh. "I thought it was a----Is it as Grand as

-a King and Factors and all the other things you said?"

-

-"Well, it's not as grand as a King," said Christopher Robin, and then,

-as Pooh seemed disappointed, he added quickly, "but it's grander than

-Factors."

-

-"Could a Bear be one?"

-

-"Of course he could!" said Christopher Robin. "I'll make you one." And

-he took a stick and touched Pooh on the shoulder, and said, "Rise, Sir

-Pooh de Bear, most faithful of all my Knights."

-

-So Pooh rose and sat down and said "Thank you," which is the proper

-thing to say when you have been made a Knight, and he went into a

-dream again, in which he and Sir Pomp and Sir Brazil and Factors

-lived together with a horse, and were faithful Knights (all except

-Factors, who looked after the horse) to Good King Christopher Robin

-... and every now and then he shook his head, and said to himself

-"I'm not getting it right." Then he began to think of all the things

-Christopher Robin would want to tell him when he came back from

-wherever he was going to, and how muddling it would be for a Bear of

-Very Little Brain to try and get them right in his mind. "So, perhaps,"

-he said sadly to himself, "Christopher Robin won't tell me any more,"

-and he wondered if being a Faithful Knight meant that you just went on

-being faithful without being told things.

-

-Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the

-world, with his chin in his hands, called out "Pooh!"

-

-"Yes?" said Pooh.

-

-"When I'm--when----Pooh!"

-

-"Yes, Christopher Robin?"

-

-"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."

-

-"Never again?"

-

-"Well, not so much. They don't let you."

-

-Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again.

-

-"Yes, Christopher Robin?" said Pooh helpfully.

-

-"Pooh, when I'm--_you_ know--when I'm _not_ doing Nothing, will you

-come up here sometimes?"

-

-"Just Me?"

-

-"Yes, Pooh."

-

-"Will you be here too?"

-

-"Yes, Pooh, I will be, _really_. I _promise_ I will be, Pooh."

-

-"That's good," said Pooh.

-

-"Pooh, _promise_ you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a

-hundred."

-

-Pooh thought for a little.

-

-"How old shall _I_ be then?"

-

-"Ninety-nine."

-

-Pooh nodded.

-

-"I promise," he said.

-

-Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and

-felt for Pooh's paw.

-

-"Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if I--if I'm not quite----"

-he stopped and tried again--"Pooh, _whatever_ happens, you _will_

-understand, won't you?"

-

-"Understand what?"

-

-"Oh, nothing." He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Come on!"

-

-"Where?" said Pooh.

-

-"Anywhere," said Christopher Robin.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens

-to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a

-little boy and his Bear will always be playing.

-

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-

-

-

-                       BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

-

-                            BY A. A. MILNE

-

-                 _with Decorations by_ E. H. SHEPARD:

-

-    WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG

-    NOW WE ARE SIX

-    WINNIE-THE-POOH

-    THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

-    THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN STORY BOOK

-    SONG-BOOKS FROM THE POEMS OF A. A. MILNE

-    _with Music by_ H. FRASER-SIMSON:

-      FOURTEEN SONGS

-      THE KING'S BREAKFAST

-      TEDDY BEAR AND OTHER SONGS

-      THE HUMS OF POOH

-      SONGS FROM "NOW WE ARE SIX"

-

-

-                       E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.

-

-

-

-

+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
+
+                            BY A. A. MILNE
+
+                           _with decorations
+                         by Ernest H. Shepard_
+
+                             PUBLISHED BY
+                  E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC., NEW YORK
+
+                       THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
+
+             COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.
+                          ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+                          PRINTED IN U. S. A.
+
+                    First Printing September, 1928
+
+                     100th Printing December, 1936
+
+                       139th Printing July, 1949
+
+               Reprinted, from new plates and engravings
+                 and type entirely reset August, 1950
+
+                    141st Printing September, 1951
+
+            PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE
+             AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+                              DEDICATION
+
+
+    _You gave me Christopher Robin, and then
+      You breathed new life in Pooh.
+    Whatever of each has left my pen
+      Goes homing back to you.
+    My book is ready, and comes to greet
+      The mother it longs to see--
+    It would be my present to you, my sweet,
+      If it weren't your gift to me._
+
+
+
+
+                            _Contradiction_
+
+
+An introduction is to introduce people, but Christopher Robin and his
+friends, who have already been introduced to you, are now going to
+say Good-bye. So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the
+opposite of an Introduction was, he said "The what of a what?" which
+didn't help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head
+and told us that the opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a
+Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that
+that's what it is.
+
+Why we are having a Contradiction is because last week when Christopher
+Robin said to me, "What about that story you were going to tell me
+about what happened to Pooh when----" I happened to say very quickly,
+"What about nine times a hundred and seven?" And when we had done that
+one, we had one about cows going through a gate at two a minute, and
+there are three hundred in the field, so how many are left after an
+hour and a half? We find these very exciting, and when we have been
+excited quite enough, we curl up and go to sleep ... and Pooh, sitting
+wakeful a little longer on his chair by our pillow, thinks Grand
+Thoughts to himself about Nothing, until he, too, closes his eyes and
+nods his head, and follows us on tip-toe into the Forest. There, still,
+we have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you
+about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we
+can catch hold of them. How did the last one begin? "One day when Pooh
+was walking in the Forest, there were one hundred and seven cows on a
+gate...." No, you see, we have lost it. It was the best, I think. Well,
+here are some of the other ones, all that we shall remember now. But,
+of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be
+there ... and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.
+
+                                                               A. A. M.
+
+
+
+
+                              _Contents_
+
+
+       I. IN WHICH _A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore_
+
+      II. IN WHICH _Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast_
+
+     III. IN WHICH _A Search Is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the
+          Heffalump Again_
+
+      IV. IN WHICH _It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees_
+
+       V. IN WHICH _Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher
+          Robin Does in the Mornings_
+
+      VI. IN WHICH _Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In_
+
+     VII. IN WHICH _Tigger Is Unbounced_
+
+    VIII. IN WHICH _Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing_
+
+      IX. IN WHICH _Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It_
+
+       X. IN WHICH _Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place,
+          and We Leave Them There_
+
+
+
+
+                       THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I
+
+         IN WHICH _A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore_
+
+
+One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do
+something, so he went round to Piglet's house to see what Piglet was
+doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track,
+and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire,
+but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he
+looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.
+
+"He's out," said Pooh sadly. "That's what it is. He's not in. I shall
+have to go a fast Thinking Walk by myself. Bother!"
+
+But first he thought that he would knock very loudly just to make
+_quite_ sure ... and while he waited for Piglet not to answer, he
+jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum came suddenly into his head,
+which seemed to him a Good Hum, such as is Hummed Hopefully to Others.
+
+    The more it snows
+              (Tiddely pom),
+    The more it goes
+              (Tiddely pom),
+    The more it goes
+              (Tiddely pom),
+          On snowing.
+    And nobody knows
+              (Tiddely pom),
+    How cold my toes
+              (Tiddely pom),
+    How cold my toes
+              (Tiddely pom),
+          Are growing.
+
+"So what I'll do," said Pooh, "is I'll do this. I'll just go home first
+and see what the time is, and perhaps I'll put a muffler round my neck,
+and then I'll go and see Eeyore and sing it to him."
+
+He hurried back to his own house; and his mind was so busy on the
+way with the hum that he was getting ready for Eeyore that, when he
+suddenly saw Piglet sitting in his best arm-chair, he could only stand
+there rubbing his head and wondering whose house he was in.
+
+"Hallo, Piglet," he said. "I thought you were out."
+
+"No," said Piglet, "it's you who were out, Pooh."
+
+"So it was," said Pooh. "I knew one of us was."
+
+He looked up at his clock, which had stopped at five minutes to eleven
+some weeks ago.
+
+"Nearly eleven o'clock," said Pooh happily. "You're just in time for a
+little smackerel of something," and he put his head into the cupboard.
+"And then we'll go out, Piglet, and sing my song to Eeyore."
+
+"Which song, Pooh?"
+
+"The one we're going to sing to Eeyore," explained Pooh.
+
+The clock was still saying five minutes to eleven when Pooh and Piglet
+set out on their way half an hour later. The wind had dropped, and the
+snow, tired of rushing round in circles trying to catch itself up,
+now fluttered gently down until it found a place on which to rest, and
+sometimes the place was Pooh's nose and sometimes it wasn't, and in
+a little while Piglet was wearing a white muffler round his neck and
+feeling more snowy behind the ears than he had ever felt before.
+
+"Pooh," he said at last, and a little timidly, because he didn't want
+Pooh to think he was Giving In, "I was just wondering. How would it
+be if we went home now and _practised_ your song, and then sang it to
+Eeyore tomorrow--or--or the next day, when we happen to see him?"
+
+"That's a very good idea, Piglet," said Pooh. "We'll practise it now as
+we go along. But it's no good going home to practise it, because it's
+a special Outdoor Song which Has To Be Sung In The Snow."
+
+"Are you sure?" asked Piglet anxiously.
+
+"Well, you'll see, Piglet, when you listen. Because this is how it
+begins. _The more it snows, tiddely pom_----"
+
+"Tiddely what?" said Piglet.
+
+"Pom," said Pooh. "I put that in to make it more hummy. _The more it
+goes, tiddely pom, the more_----"
+
+"Didn't you say snows?"
+
+"Yes, but that was _before_."
+
+"Before the tiddely pom?"
+
+"It was a _different_ tiddely pom," said Pooh, feeling rather muddled
+now. "I'll sing it to you properly and then you'll see."
+
+So he sang it again.
+
+    The more it
+    SNOWS-tiddely-pom,
+    The more it
+    GOES-tiddely-pom
+    The more it
+    GOES-tiddely-pom
+    On
+    Snowing.
+
+    And nobody
+    KNOWS-tiddely-pom,
+    How cold my
+    TOES-tiddely-pom
+    How cold my
+    TOES-tiddely-pom
+    Are
+    Growing.
+
+He sang it like that, which is much the best way of singing it, and
+when he had finished, he waited for Piglet to say that, of all the
+Outdoor Hums for Snowy Weather he had ever heard, this was the best.
+And, after thinking the matter out carefully, Piglet said:
+
+"Pooh," he said solemnly, "it isn't the _toes_ so much as the _ears_."
+
+By this time they were getting near Eeyore's Gloomy Place, which was
+where he lived, and as it was still very snowy behind Piglet's ears,
+and he was getting tired of it, they turned into a little pine wood,
+and sat down on the gate which led into it. They were out of the snow
+now, but it was very cold, and to keep themselves warm they sang Pooh's
+song right through six times, Piglet doing the tiddely-poms and Pooh
+doing the rest of it, and both of them thumping on the top of the gate
+with pieces of stick at the proper places. And in a little while they
+felt much warmer, and were able to talk again.
+
+"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and what I've been thinking is this.
+I've been thinking about Eeyore."
+
+"What about Eeyore?"
+
+"Well, poor Eeyore has nowhere to live."
+
+"Nor he has," said Piglet.
+
+"_You_ have a house, Piglet, and I have a house, and they are very good
+houses. And Christopher Robin has a house, and Owl and Kanga and Rabbit
+have houses, and even Rabbit's friends and relations have houses or
+somethings, but poor Eeyore has nothing. So what I've been thinking is:
+Let's build him a house."
+
+"That," said Piglet, "is a Grand Idea. Where shall we build it?"
+
+"We build it here," said Pooh, "just by this wood, out of the wind,
+because this is where I thought of it. And we will call this Pooh
+Corner. And we will build an Eeyore House with sticks at Pooh Corner
+for Eeyore."
+
+"There was a heap of sticks on the other side of the wood," said
+Piglet. "I saw them. Lots and lots. All piled up."
+
+"Thank you, Piglet," said Pooh. "What you have just said will be
+a Great Help to us, and because of it I could call this place
+Poohanpiglet Corner if Pooh Corner didn't sound better, which it does,
+being smaller and more like a corner. Come along."
+
+So they got down off the gate and went round to the other side of the
+wood to fetch the sticks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Christopher Robin had spent the morning indoors going to Africa and
+back, and he had just got off the boat and was wondering what it was
+like outside, when who should come knocking at the door but Eeyore.
+
+"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came
+out. "How are _you_?"
+
+"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
+
+"So it is."
+
+"_And_ freezing."
+
+"Is it?"
+
+"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we
+haven't had an earthquake lately."
+
+"What's the matter, Eeyore?"
+
+"Nothing, Christopher Robin. Nothing important. I suppose you haven't
+seen a house or what-not anywhere about?"
+
+"What sort of a house?"
+
+"Just a house."
+
+"Who lives there?"
+
+"I do. At least I thought I did. But I suppose I don't. After all, we
+can't all have houses."
+
+"But, Eeyore, I didn't know--I always thought----"
+
+"I don't know how it is, Christopher Robin, but what with all
+this snow and one thing and another, not to mention icicles
+and such-like, it isn't so Hot in my field about three o'clock
+in the morning as some people think it is. It isn't Close, if
+you know what I mean--not so as to be uncomfortable. It isn't
+Stuffy. In fact, Christopher Robin," he went on in a loud whisper,
+"quite-between-ourselves-and-don't-tell-anybody, it's Cold."
+
+"Oh, Eeyore!"
+
+"And I said to myself: The others will be sorry if I'm getting myself
+all cold. They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's
+blown into their heads by mistake, and they don't Think, but if it goes
+on snowing for another six weeks or so, one of them will begin to say
+to himself: 'Eeyore can't be so very much too Hot about three o'clock
+in the morning.' And then it will Get About. And they'll be Sorry."
+
+"Oh, Eeyore!" said Christopher Robin, feeling very sorry already.
+
+"I don't mean you, Christopher Robin. You're different. So what it all
+comes to is that I built myself a house down by my little wood."
+
+"Did you really? How exciting!"
+
+"The really exciting part," said Eeyore in his most melancholy voice,
+"is that when I left it this morning it was there, and when I came back
+it wasn't. Not at all, very natural, and it was only Eeyore's house.
+But still I just wondered."
+
+Christopher Robin didn't stop to wonder. He was already back in _his_
+house, putting on his waterproof hat, his waterproof boots and his
+waterproof macintosh as fast as he could.
+
+"We'll go and look for it at once," he called out to Eeyore.
+
+"Sometimes," said Eeyore, "when people have quite finished taking a
+person's house, there are one or two bits which they don't want and are
+rather glad for the person to take back, if you know what I mean. So I
+thought if we just went----"
+
+"Come on," said Christopher Robin, and off they hurried, and in a very
+little time they got to the corner of the field by the side of the
+pine-wood, where Eeyore's house wasn't any longer.
+
+"There!" said Eeyore. "Not a stick of it left! Of course, I've still
+got all this snow to do what I like with. One mustn't complain."
+
+But Christopher Robin wasn't listening to Eeyore, he was listening to
+something else.
+
+"Can't you hear it?" he asked.
+
+"What is it? Somebody laughing?"
+
+"Listen."
+
+They both listened ... and they heard a deep gruff voice saying in a
+singing voice that the more it snowed the more it went on snowing, and
+a small high voice tiddely-pomming in between.
+
+"It's Pooh," said Christopher Robin excitedly....
+
+"Possibly," said Eeyore.
+
+"_And_ Piglet!" said Christopher Robin excitedly.
+
+"Probably," said Eeyore. "What we _want_ is a Trained Bloodhound."
+
+The words of the song changed suddenly.
+
+"_We've finished our HOUSE!_" sang the gruff voice.
+
+"_Tiddely pom!_" sang the squeaky one.
+
+"_It's a beautiful HOUSE...._"
+
+"_Tiddely pom...._"
+
+"_I wish it were MINE...._"
+
+"_Tiddely pom...._"
+
+"Pooh!" shouted Christopher Robin....
+
+The singers on the gate stopped suddenly.
+
+"It's Christopher Robin!" said Pooh eagerly.
+
+"He's round by the place where we got all those sticks from," said
+Piglet.
+
+"Come on," said Pooh.
+
+They climbed down their gate and hurried round the corner of the wood,
+Pooh making welcoming noises all the way.
+
+"Why, here _is_ Eeyore," said Pooh, when he had finished hugging
+Christopher Robin, and he nudged Piglet, and Piglet nudged him, and
+they thought to themselves what a lovely surprise they had got ready.
+
+"Hallo, Eeyore."
+
+"Same to you, Pooh Bear, and twice on Thursdays," said Eeyore gloomily.
+
+Before Pooh could say: "Why Thursdays?" Christopher Robin began to
+explain the sad story of Eeyore's Lost House. And Pooh and Piglet
+listened, and their eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger.
+
+"_Where_ did you say it was?" asked Pooh.
+
+"Just here," said Eeyore.
+
+"Made of sticks?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh!" said Piglet.
+
+"What?" said Eeyore.
+
+"I just said 'Oh!'" said Piglet nervously. And so as to seem quite at
+ease he hummed Tiddely-pom once or twice in a what-shall-we-do-now kind
+of way.
+
+"You're sure it _was_ a house?" said Pooh. "I mean, you're sure the
+house was just here?"
+
+"Of course I am," said Eeyore. And he murmured to himself, "No brain at
+all some of them."
+
+"Why, what's the matter, Pooh?" asked Christopher Robin.
+
+"Well," said Pooh.... "The fact _is_," said Pooh.... "Well, the fact
+_is_," said Pooh.... "You see," said Pooh.... "It's like this," said
+Pooh, and something seemed to tell him that he wasn't explaining very
+well, and he nudged Piglet again.
+
+"It's like this," said Piglet quickly.... "Only warmer," he added after
+deep thought.
+
+"What's warmer?"
+
+"The other side of the wood, where Eeyore's house is."
+
+"_My_ house?" said Eeyore. "My house was here."
+
+"No," said Piglet firmly. "The other side of the wood."
+
+"Because of being warmer," said Pooh.
+
+"But I ought to _know_----"
+
+"Come and look," said Piglet simply, and he led the way.
+
+"There wouldn't be _two_ houses," said Pooh. "Not so close together."
+
+They came round the corner, and there was Eeyore's house, looking as
+comfy as anything.
+
+"There you are," said Piglet.
+
+"Inside as well as outside," said Pooh proudly.
+
+Eeyore went inside ... and came out again.
+
+"It's a remarkable thing," he said. "It _is_ my house, and I built it
+where I said I did, so the wind must have blown it here. And the wind
+blew it right over the wood, and blew it down here, and here it is as
+good as ever. In fact, better in places."
+
+"Much better," said Pooh and Piglet together.
+
+"It just shows what can be done by taking a little trouble," said
+Eeyore. "Do you see, Pooh? Do you see, Piglet? Brains first and then
+Hard Work. Look at it! _That's_ the way to build a house," said Eeyore
+proudly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So they left him in it; and Christopher Robin went back to lunch with
+his friends Pooh and Piglet, and on the way they told him of the Awful
+Mistake they had made. And when he had finished laughing, they all sang
+the Outdoor Song for Snowy Weather the rest of the way home, Piglet,
+who was still not quite sure of his voice, putting in the tiddely-poms
+again.
+
+"And I know it _seems_ easy," said Piglet to himself, "but it isn't
+_every one_ who could do it."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+        IN WHICH _Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast_
+
+
+Winnie-the-pooh woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and
+listened. Then he got out of bed, and lit his candle, and stumped
+across the room to see if anybody was trying to get into his
+honey-cupboard, and they weren't, so he stumped back again, blew out
+his candle, and got into bed. Then he heard the noise again.
+
+"Is that you, Piglet?" he said.
+
+But it wasn't.
+
+"Come in, Christopher Robin," he said.
+
+But Christopher Robin didn't.
+
+"Tell me about it tomorrow, Eeyore," said Pooh sleepily.
+
+But the noise went on.
+
+"_Worraworraworraworraworra_," said Whatever-it-was, and Pooh found
+that he wasn't asleep after all.
+
+"What can it be?" he thought. "There are lots of noises in
+the Forest, but this is a different one. It isn't a growl,
+and it isn't a purr, and it isn't a bark, and it isn't the
+noise-you-make-before-beginning-a-piece-of-poetry, but it's a noise
+of some kind, made by a strange animal. And he's making it outside my
+door. So I shall get up and ask him not to do it."
+
+He got out of bed and opened his front door.
+
+"Hallo!" said Pooh, in case there was anything outside.
+
+"Hallo!" said Whatever-it-was.
+
+"Oh!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"
+
+"Hallo!"
+
+"Oh, _there_ you are!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"
+
+"Hallo!" said the Strange Animal, wondering how long this was going on.
+
+Pooh was just going to say "Hallo!" for the fourth time when he thought
+that he wouldn't, so he said: "Who is it?" instead.
+
+"Me," said a voice.
+
+"Oh!" said Pooh. "Well, come here."
+
+So Whatever-it-was came here, and in the light of the candle he and
+Pooh looked at each other.
+
+"I'm Pooh," said Pooh.
+
+"I'm Tigger," said Tigger.
+
+"Oh!" said Pooh, for he had never seen an animal like this before.
+"Does Christopher Robin know about you?"
+
+"Of course he does," said Tigger.
+
+"Well," said Pooh, "it's the middle of the night, which is a good time
+for going to sleep. And tomorrow morning we'll have some honey for
+breakfast. Do Tiggers like honey?"
+
+"They like everything," said Tigger cheerfully.
+
+"Then if they like going to sleep on the floor, I'll go back to bed,"
+said Pooh, "and we'll do things in the morning. Good night." And he got
+back into bed and went fast asleep.
+
+When he awoke in the morning, the first thing he saw was Tigger,
+sitting in front of the glass and looking at himself.
+
+"Hallo!" said Pooh.
+
+"Hallo!" said Tigger. "I've found somebody just like me. I thought I
+was the only one of them."
+
+Pooh got out of bed, and began to explain what a looking-glass was, but
+just as he was getting to the interesting part, Tigger said:
+
+"Excuse me a moment, but there's something climbing up your table,"
+and with one loud _Worraworraworraworraworra_ he jumped at the end
+of the tablecloth, pulled it to the ground, wrapped himself up in it
+three times, rolled to the other end of the room, and, after a terrible
+struggle, got his head into the daylight again, and said cheerfully:
+"Have I won?"
+
+"That's my tablecloth," said Pooh, as he began to unwind Tigger.
+
+"I wondered what it was," said Tigger.
+
+"It goes on the table and you put things on it."
+
+"Then why did it try to bite me when I wasn't looking?"
+
+"I don't _think_ it did," said Pooh.
+
+"It tried," said Tigger, "but I was too quick for it."
+
+Pooh put the cloth back on the table, and he put a large honey-pot on
+the cloth, and they sat down to breakfast. And as soon as they sat
+down, Tigger took a large mouthful of honey ... and he looked up at the
+ceiling with his head on one side, and made exploring noises with his
+tongue and considering noises, and what-have-we-got-_here_ noises ...
+and then he said in a very decided voice:
+
+"Tiggers don't like honey."
+
+"Oh!" said Pooh, and tried to make it sound Sad and Regretful. "I
+thought they liked everything."
+
+"Everything except honey," said Tigger.
+
+Pooh felt rather pleased about this, and said that, as soon as he had
+finished his own breakfast, he would take Tigger round to Piglet's
+house, and Tigger could try some of Piglet's haycorns.
+
+"Thank you, Pooh," said Tigger, "because haycorns is really what
+Tiggers like best."
+
+So after breakfast they went round to see Piglet, and Pooh explained as
+they went that Piglet was a Very Small Animal who didn't like bouncing,
+and asked Tigger not to be too Bouncy just at first. And Tigger, who
+had been hiding behind trees and jumping out on Pooh's shadow when it
+wasn't looking, said that Tiggers were only bouncy before breakfast,
+and that as soon as they had had a few haycorns they became Quiet and
+Refined. So by and by they knocked at the door of Piglet's house.
+
+"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet.
+
+"Hallo, Piglet. This is Tigger."
+
+"Oh, is it?" said Piglet, and he edged round to the other side of the
+table. "I thought Tiggers were smaller than that."
+
+"Not the big ones," said Tigger.
+
+"They like haycorns," said Pooh, "so that's what we've come for,
+because poor Tigger hasn't had any breakfast yet."
+
+Piglet pushed the bowl of haycorns towards Tigger, and said: "Help
+yourself," and then he got close up to Pooh and felt much braver, and
+said, "So you're Tigger? Well, well!" in a careless sort of voice. But
+Tigger said nothing because his mouth was full of haycorns....
+
+After a long munching noise he said:
+
+"Ee-ers o i a-ors."
+
+And when Pooh and Piglet said "What?" he said "Skoos ee," and went
+outside for a moment.
+
+When he came back he said firmly:
+
+"Tiggers don't like haycorns."
+
+"But you said they liked everything except honey," said Pooh.
+
+"Everything except honey and haycorns," explained Tigger.
+
+When he heard this Pooh said, "Oh, I see!" and Piglet, who was rather
+glad that Tiggers didn't like haycorns, said, "What about thistles?"
+
+"Thistles," said Tigger, "is what Tiggers like best."
+
+"Then let's go along and see Eeyore," said Piglet.
+
+So the three of them went; and after they had walked and walked and
+walked, they came to the part of the Forest where Eeyore was.
+
+"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Pooh. "This is Tigger."
+
+"What is?" said Eeyore.
+
+"This," explained Pooh and Piglet together, and Tigger smiled his
+happiest smile and said nothing.
+
+Eeyore walked all round Tigger one way, and then turned and walked all
+round him the other way.
+
+"What did you say it was?" he asked.
+
+"Tigger."
+
+"Ah!" said Eeyore.
+
+"He's just come," explained Piglet.
+
+"Ah!" said Eeyore again.
+
+He thought for a long time and then said:
+
+"When is he going?"
+
+Pooh explained to Eeyore that Tigger was a great friend of Christopher
+Robin's, who had come to stay in the Forest, and Piglet explained to
+Tigger that he mustn't mind what Eeyore said because he was _always_
+gloomy; and Eeyore explained to Piglet that, on the contrary, he was
+feeling particularly cheerful this morning; and Tigger explained to
+anybody who was listening that he hadn't had any breakfast yet.
+
+"I knew there was something," said Pooh. "Tiggers always eat thistles,
+so that was why we came to see you, Eeyore."
+
+"Don't mention it, Pooh."
+
+"Oh, Eeyore, I didn't mean that I didn't _want_ to see you----"
+
+"Quite--quite. But your new stripy friend--naturally, he wants his
+breakfast. What did you say his name was?"
+
+"Tigger."
+
+"Then come this way, Tigger."
+
+Eeyore led the way to the most thistly-looking patch of thistles that
+ever was, and waved a hoof at it.
+
+"A little patch I was keeping for my birthday," he said; "but, after
+all, what _are_ birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow. Help yourself,
+Tigger."
+
+Tigger thanked him and looked a little anxiously at Pooh.
+
+"Are these really thistles?" he whispered.
+
+"Yes," said Pooh.
+
+"What Tiggers like best?"
+
+"That's right," said Pooh.
+
+"I see," said Tigger.
+
+So he took a large mouthful, and he gave a large crunch.
+
+"_Ow!_" said Tigger.
+
+He sat down and put his paw in his mouth.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Pooh.
+
+"_Hot!_" mumbled Tigger.
+
+"Your friend," said Eeyore, "appears to have bitten on a bee."
+
+Pooh's friend stopped shaking his head to get the prickles out, and
+explained that Tiggers didn't like thistles.
+
+"Then why bend a perfectly good one?" asked Eeyore.
+
+"But you said," began Pooh--"you _said_ that Tiggers liked everything
+except honey and haycorns."
+
+"_And_ thistles," said Tigger, who was now running round in circles
+with his tongue hanging out.
+
+Pooh looked at him sadly.
+
+"What are we going to do?" he asked Piglet.
+
+Piglet knew the answer to that, and he said at once that they must go
+and see Christopher Robin.
+
+"You'll find him with Kanga," said Eeyore. He came close to Pooh, and
+said in a loud whisper:
+
+"_Could_ you ask your friend to do his exercises somewhere else? I
+shall be having lunch directly, and don't want it bounced on just
+before I begin. A trifling matter, and fussy of me, but we all have our
+little ways."
+
+Pooh nodded solemnly and called to Tigger.
+
+"Come along and we'll go and see Kanga. She's sure to have lots of
+breakfast for you."
+
+Tigger finished his last circle and came up to Pooh and Piglet.
+
+"Hot!" he explained with a large and friendly smile. "Come on!" and he
+rushed off.
+
+Pooh and Piglet walked slowly after him. And as they walked Piglet said
+nothing, because he couldn't think of anything, and Pooh said nothing,
+because he was thinking of a poem. And when he had thought of it he
+began:
+
+    What shall we do about poor little Tigger?
+    If he never eats nothing he'll never get bigger.
+    He doesn't like honey and haycorns and thistles
+    Because of the taste and because of the bristles.
+    And all the good things which an animal likes
+    Have the wrong sort of swallow or too many spikes.
+
+"He's quite big enough anyhow," said Piglet.
+
+"He isn't _really_ very big."
+
+"Well, he _seems_ so."
+
+Pooh was thoughtful when he heard this, and then he murmured to himself:
+
+    But whatever his weight in pounds, shillings, and ounces,
+    He always seems bigger because of his bounces.
+
+"And that's the whole poem," he said. "Do you like it, Piglet?"
+
+"All except the shillings," said Piglet. "I don't think they ought to
+be there."
+
+"They wanted to come in after the pounds," explained Pooh, "so I let
+them. It is the best way to write poetry, letting things come."
+
+"Oh, I didn't know," said Piglet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Tigger had been bouncing in front of them all this time, turning round
+every now and then to ask, "Is this the way?"--and now at last they
+came in sight of Kanga's house, and there was Christopher Robin. Tigger
+rushed up to him.
+
+"Oh, there you are, Tigger!" said Christopher Robin. "I knew you'd be
+somewhere."
+
+"I've been finding things in the Forest," said Tigger importantly.
+"I've found a pooh and a piglet and an eeyore, but I can't find any
+breakfast."
+
+Pooh and Piglet came up and hugged Christopher Robin, and explained
+what had been happening.
+
+"Don't _you_ know what Tiggers like?" asked Pooh.
+
+"I expect if I thought very hard I should," said Christopher Robin,
+"but I _thought_ Tigger knew."
+
+"I do," said Tigger. "Everything there is in the world except honey and
+haycorns and--what were those hot things called?"
+
+"Thistles."
+
+"Yes, and those."
+
+"Oh, well then, Kanga can give you some breakfast."
+
+So they went into Kanga's house, and when Roo had said, "Hallo, Pooh,"
+and "Hallo, Piglet" once, and "Hallo, Tigger" twice, because he had
+never said it before and it sounded funny, they told Kanga what they
+wanted, and Kanga said very kindly, "Well, look in my cupboard, Tigger
+dear, and see what you'd like." Because she knew at once that, however
+big Tigger seemed to be, he wanted as much kindness as Roo.
+
+"Shall I look, too?" said Pooh, who was beginning to feel a little
+eleven o'clockish. And he found a small tin of condensed milk, and
+something seemed to tell him that Tiggers didn't like this, so he
+took it into a corner by itself, and went with it to see that nobody
+interrupted it.
+
+But the more Tigger put his nose into this and his paw into that, the
+more things he found which Tiggers didn't like. And when he had found
+everything in the cupboard, and couldn't eat any of it, he said to
+Kanga, "What happens now?"
+
+But Kanga and Christopher Robin and Piglet were all standing round Roo,
+watching him have his Extract of Malt. And Roo was saying, "Must I?"
+and Kanga was saying "Now, Roo dear, you remember what you promised."
+
+"What is it?" whispered Tigger to Piglet.
+
+"His Strengthening Medicine," said Piglet. "He hates it."
+
+So Tigger came closer, and he leant over the back of Roo's chair, and
+suddenly he put out his tongue, and took one large golollop, and, with
+a sudden jump of surprise, Kanga said, "Oh!" and then clutched at the
+spoon again just as it was disappearing, and pulled it safely back out
+of Tigger's mouth. But the Extract of Malt had gone.
+
+"Tigger _dear_!" said Kanga.
+
+"He's taken my medicine, he's taken my medicine, he's taken my
+medicine!" sang Roo happily, thinking it was a tremendous joke.
+
+Then Tigger looked up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes, and his
+tongue went round and round his chops, in case he had left any outside,
+and a peaceful smile came over his face as he said, "So _that's_ what
+Tiggers like!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Which explains why he always lived at Kanga's house afterwards, and had
+Extract of Malt for breakfast, dinner, and tea. And sometimes, when
+Kanga thought he wanted strengthening, he had a spoonful or two of
+Roo's breakfast after meals as medicine.
+
+"But _I_ think," said Piglet to Pooh, "that he's been strengthened
+quite enough."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III
+
+                 IN WHICH _A Search Is Organdized, and
+               Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump Again_
+
+
+Pooh was sitting in his house one day, counting his pots of honey, when
+there came a knock on the door.
+
+"Fourteen," said Pooh. "Come in. Fourteen. Or was it fifteen? Bother.
+That's muddled me."
+
+"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.
+
+"Hallo, Rabbit. Fourteen, wasn't it?"
+
+"What was?"
+
+"My pots of honey what I was counting."
+
+"Fourteen, that's right."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"No," said Rabbit. "Does it matter?"
+
+"I just like to know," said Pooh humbly. "So as I can say to myself:
+'I've got fourteen pots of honey left.' Or fifteen, as the case may be.
+It's sort of comforting."
+
+"Well, let's call it sixteen," said Rabbit. "What I came to say was:
+Have you seen Small anywhere about?"
+
+"I don't think so," said Pooh. And then, after thinking a little more,
+he said: "Who is Small?"
+
+"One of my friends-and-relations," said Rabbit carelessly.
+
+This didn't help Pooh much, because Rabbit had so many
+friends-and-relations, and of such different sorts and sizes, that he
+didn't know whether he ought to be looking for Small at the top of an
+oak-tree or in the petal of a buttercup.
+
+"I haven't seen anybody today," said Pooh, "not so as to say 'Hallo,
+Small,' to. Did you want him for anything?"
+
+"_I_ don't _want_ him," said Rabbit. "But it's always useful to know
+where a friend-and-relation _is_, whether you want him or whether you
+don't."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Pooh. "Is he lost?"
+
+"Well," said Rabbit, "nobody has seen him for a long time, so I suppose
+he is. Anyhow," he went on importantly, "I promised Christopher Robin
+I'd Organize a Search for him, so come on."
+
+Pooh said good-bye affectionately to his fourteen pots of honey, and
+hoped they were fifteen; and he and Rabbit went out into the Forest.
+
+"Now," said Rabbit, "this is a Search, and I've Organized it----"
+
+"Done what to it?" said Pooh.
+
+"Organized it. Which means--well, it's what you do to a Search, when
+you don't all look in the same place at once. So I want _you_, Pooh,
+to search by the Six Pine Trees first, and then work your way towards
+Owl's House, and look out for me there. Do you see?"
+
+"No," said Pooh. "What----"
+
+"Then I'll see you at Owl's House in about an hour's time."
+
+"Is Piglet organdized too?"
+
+"We all are," said Rabbit, and off he went.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As soon as Rabbit was out of sight, Pooh remembered that he had
+forgotten to ask who Small was, and whether he was the sort of
+friend-and-relation who settled on one's nose, or the sort who got
+trodden on by mistake, and as it was Too Late Now, he thought he would
+begin the Hunt by looking for Piglet, and asking him what they were
+looking for before he looked for it.
+
+"And it's no good looking at the Six Pine Trees for Piglet," said Pooh
+to himself, "because he's been organdized in a special place of his
+own. So I shall have to look for the Special Place first. I wonder
+where it is." And he wrote it down in his head like this:
+
+
+                      ORDER OF LOOKING FOR THINGS
+
+    1. Special Place. (_To find Piglet._)
+    2. Piglet.        (_To find who Small is._)
+    3. Small.         (_To find Small._)
+    4. Rabbit.        (_To tell him I've found Small._)
+    5. Small Again.   (_To tell him I've found Rabbit._)
+
+"Which makes it look like a bothering sort of day," thought Pooh, as he
+stumped along.
+
+The next moment the day became very bothering indeed, because Pooh was
+so busy not looking where he was going that he stepped on a piece of
+the Forest which had been left out by mistake; and he only just had
+time to think to himself: "I'm flying. What Owl does. I wonder how you
+stop----" when he stopped.
+
+_Bump!_
+
+"Ow!" squeaked something.
+
+"That's funny," thought Pooh. "I said 'Ow!' without really oo'ing."
+
+"Help!" said a small, high voice.
+
+"That's me again," thought Pooh. "I've had an Accident, and fallen down
+a well, and my voice has gone all squeaky and works before I'm ready
+for it, because I've done something to myself inside. Bother!"
+
+"Help--help!"
+
+"There you are! I say things when I'm not trying. So it must be a very
+bad Accident." And then he thought that perhaps when he did try to say
+things he wouldn't be able to; so, to make sure, he said loudly: "A
+Very Bad Accident to Pooh Bear."
+
+"Pooh!" squeaked the voice.
+
+"It's Piglet!" cried Pooh eagerly. "Where are you?"
+
+"Underneath," said Piglet in an underneath sort of way.
+
+"Underneath what?"
+
+"You," squeaked Piglet. "Get up!"
+
+"Oh!" said Pooh, and scrambled up as quickly as he could. "Did I fall
+on you, Piglet?"
+
+"You fell on me," said Piglet, feeling himself all over.
+
+"I didn't mean to," said Pooh sorrowfully.
+
+"I didn't mean to be underneath," said Piglet sadly. "But I'm all right
+now, Pooh, and I _am_ so glad it was you."
+
+"What's happened?" said Pooh. "Where are we?"
+
+"I think we're in a sort of Pit. I was walking along, looking for
+somebody, and then suddenly I wasn't any more, and just when I got up
+to see where I was, something fell on me. And it was you."
+
+"So it was," said Pooh.
+
+"Yes," said Piglet. "Pooh," he went on nervously, and came a little
+closer, "do you think we're in a Trap?"
+
+Pooh hadn't thought about it at all, but now he nodded. For suddenly he
+remembered how he and Piglet had once made a Pooh Trap for Heffalumps,
+and he guessed what had happened. He and Piglet had fallen into a
+Heffalump Trap for Poohs! That was what it was.
+
+"What happens when the Heffalump comes?" asked Piglet tremblingly, when
+he had heard the news.
+
+"Perhaps he won't notice _you_, Piglet," said Pooh encouragingly,
+"because you're a Very Small Animal."
+
+"But he'll notice _you_, Pooh."
+
+"He'll notice _me_, and I shall notice _him_," said Pooh, thinking it
+out. "We'll notice each other for a long time, and then he'll say:
+'Ho-_ho_!'"
+
+Piglet shivered a little at the thought of that "Ho-_ho_!" and his ears
+began to twitch.
+
+"W-what will _you_ say?" he asked.
+
+Pooh tried to think of something he would say, but the more he thought,
+the more he felt that there _is_ no real answer to "Ho-_ho_!" said by a
+Heffalump in the sort of voice this Heffalump was going to say it in.
+
+"I shan't say anything," said Pooh at last. "I shall just hum to
+myself, as if I was waiting for something."
+
+"Then perhaps he'll say, 'Ho-_ho_!' again?" suggested Piglet anxiously.
+
+"He will," said Pooh.
+
+Piglet's ears twitched so quickly that he had to lean them against the
+side of the Trap to keep them quiet.
+
+"He will say it again," said Pooh, "and I shall go on humming. And that
+will Upset him. Because when you say 'Ho-_ho_' twice, in a gloating
+sort of way, and the other person only hums, you suddenly find, just as
+you begin to say it the third time--that--well, you find----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"That it isn't," said Pooh.
+
+"Isn't what?"
+
+Pooh knew what he meant, but, being a Bear of Very Little Brain,
+couldn't think of the words.
+
+"Well, it just isn't," he said again.
+
+"You mean it isn't ho-_ho_-ish any more?" said Piglet hopefully.
+
+Pooh looked at him admiringly and said that that was what he meant--if
+you went on humming all the time, because you couldn't go on saying
+"Ho-_ho_!" for ever.
+
+"But he'll say something else," said Piglet.
+
+"That's just it. He'll say: 'What's all this?' And then _I_ shall
+say--and this is a very good idea, Piglet, which I've just thought
+of--_I_ shall say: 'It's a trap for a Heffalump which I've made, and
+I'm waiting for the Heffalump to fall in.' And I shall go on humming.
+That will Unsettle him."
+
+"Pooh!" cried Piglet, and now it was _his_ turn to be the admiring one.
+"You've saved us!"
+
+"Have I?" said Pooh, not feeling quite sure.
+
+But Piglet was quite sure; and his mind ran on, and he saw Pooh and the
+Heffalump talking to each other, and he thought suddenly, and a little
+sadly, that it _would_ have been rather nice if it had been Piglet and
+the Heffalump talking so grandly to each other, and not Pooh, much as
+he loved Pooh; because he really had more brain than Pooh, and the
+conversation would go better if he and not Pooh were doing one side
+of it, and it would be comforting afterwards in the evenings to look
+back on the day when he answered a Heffalump back as bravely as if the
+Heffalump wasn't there. It seemed so easy now. He knew just what he
+would say:
+
+HEFFALUMP (_gloatingly_): "Ho-_ho_!"
+
+PIGLET (_carelessly_): "Tra-la-la, tra-la-la."
+
+HEFFALUMP (_surprised, and not quite so sure of himself_):
+"Ho-_ho_!"
+
+PIGLET (_more carelessly still_): "Tiddle-um-tum,
+tiddle-um-tum."
+
+HEFFALUMP (_beginning to say Ho-ho and turning it awkwardly
+into a cough_): "H'r'm! What's all this?"
+
+PIGLET (_surprised_): "Hullo! This is a trap I've made, and
+I'm waiting for a HEFFALUMP to fall into it."
+
+HEFFALUMP (_greatly disappointed_): "Oh!" (_After a long
+silence_): "Are you sure?"
+
+PIGLET: "Yes."
+
+HEFFALUMP: "Oh!" (_nervously_): "I--I thought it was a trap
+_I'd_ made to catch Piglets."
+
+PIGLET (_surprised_): "Oh, no!"
+
+HEFFALUMP: "Oh!" (_Apologetically_): "I--I must have got it
+wrong, then."
+
+PIGLET: "I'm afraid so." (_Politely_): "I'm sorry." (_He goes
+on humming._)
+
+HEFFALUMP: "Well--well--I--well. I suppose I'd better be
+getting back?"
+
+PIGLET (_looking up carelessly_): "Must you? Well, if you see
+Christopher Robin anywhere, you might tell him I want him."
+
+HEFFALUMP (_eager to please_): "Certainly! Certainly!" (_He
+hurries off._)
+
+POOH (_who wasn't going to be there, but we find we can't do
+without him_): "Oh, Piglet, how brave and clever you are!"
+
+PIGLET (_modestly_): "Not at all, Pooh." (_And then, when
+Christopher Robin comes, Pooh can tell him all about it._)
+
+While Piglet was dreaming this happy dream, and Pooh was wondering
+again whether it was fourteen or fifteen, the Search for Small was
+still going on all over the Forest. Small's real name was Very Small
+Beetle, but he was called Small for short, when he was spoken to at
+all, which hardly ever happened except when somebody said: "_Really_,
+Small!" He had been staying with Christopher Robin for a few seconds,
+and he started round a gorse-bush for exercise, but instead of coming
+back the other way, as expected, he hadn't, so nobody knew where he was.
+
+"I expect he's just gone home," said Christopher Robin to Rabbit.
+
+"Did he say Good-bye-and-thank-you-for-a-nice-time?" said Rabbit.
+
+"He'd only just said how-do-you-do," said Christopher Robin.
+
+"Ha!" said Rabbit. After thinking a little, he went on: "Has he written
+a letter saying how much he enjoyed himself, and how sorry he was he
+had to go so suddenly?"
+
+Christopher Robin didn't think he had.
+
+"Ha!" said Rabbit again, and looked very important. "This is Serious.
+He is Lost. We must begin the Search at once."
+
+Christopher Robin, who was thinking of something else, said: "Where's
+Pooh?"--but Rabbit had gone. So he went into his house and drew a
+picture of Pooh going on a long walk at about seven o'clock in the
+morning, and then he climbed to the top of his tree and climbed down
+again, and then he wondered what Pooh was doing, and went across the
+Forest to see.
+
+It was not long before he came to the Gravel Pit, and he looked down,
+and there were Pooh and Piglet, with their backs to him, dreaming
+happily.
+
+"Ho-_ho_!" said Christopher Robin loudly and suddenly.
+
+Piglet jumped six inches in the air with Surprise and Anxiety, but Pooh
+went on dreaming.
+
+"It's the Heffalump!" thought Piglet nervously. "Now, then!" He
+hummed in his throat a little, so that none of the words should stick,
+and then, in the most delightfully easy way, he said: "Tra-la-la,
+tra-la-la," as if he had just thought of it. But he didn't look
+round, because if you look round and see a Very Fierce Heffalump
+looking down at you, sometimes you forget what you were going to say.
+"Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um," said Christopher Robin in a voice like Pooh's.
+Because Pooh had once invented a song which went:
+
+      Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
+      Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
+    Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.
+
+So whenever Christopher Robin sings it, he always sings it in a
+Pooh-voice, which seems to suit it better.
+
+"He's said the wrong thing," thought Piglet anxiously. "He ought to
+have said, 'Ho-_ho_!' again. Perhaps I had better say it for him." And,
+as fiercely as he could, Piglet said: "Ho-_ho_!"
+
+"How _did_ you get there, Piglet?" said Christopher Robin in his
+ordinary voice.
+
+"This is Terrible," thought Piglet. "First he talks in Pooh's voice,
+and then he talks in Christopher Robin's voice, and he's doing it so
+as to Unsettle me." And being now Completely Unsettled, he said very
+quickly and squeakily: "This is a trap for Poohs, and I'm waiting to
+fall in it, ho-_ho_, what's all this, and then I say ho-_ho_ again."
+
+"_What?_" said Christopher Robin.
+
+"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."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+         IN WHICH _It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees_
+
+
+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
+today 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-lets"--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. Stornry
+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 tomorrow," Eeyore
+was saying. "Blizzards and what-not. Being fine today 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 tomorrow, 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.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V
+
+                   IN WHICH _Rabbit Has a Busy Day,
+       and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings_
+
+
+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, 'Gon 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 are 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.
+
+"Tomorrow," 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, "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 me," 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 Robin's 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.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+        IN WHICH _Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In_
+
+
+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 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 if he 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 today," 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 all 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 bridge. They looked
+and looked ... and even the sight of Piglet's stick coming out a little
+in front of Rabbit's didn't cheer them up as much as you would have
+expected. And then, just as Pooh was beginning to think that he must
+have chosen the wrong stone or the wrong river or the wrong day for his
+Idea, something grey showed for a moment by the river bank ... and it
+got slowly bigger and bigger ... and at last it was Eeyore coming out.
+
+With a shout they rushed off the bridge, and pushed and pulled at him;
+and soon he was standing among them again on dry land.
+
+"Oh, Eeyore, you _are_ wet!" said Piglet, feeling him.
+
+Eeyore shook himself, and asked somebody to explain to Piglet what
+happened when you had been inside a river for quite a long time.
+
+"Well done, Pooh," said Rabbit kindly. "That was a good idea of ours."
+
+"What was?" asked Eeyore.
+
+"Hooshing you to the bank like that."
+
+"_Hooshing_ me?" said Eeyore in surprise. "Hooshing _me_? You didn't
+think I was _hooshed_, did you? I dived. Pooh dropped a large stone on
+me, and so as not to be struck heavily on the chest, I dived and swam
+to the bank."
+
+"You didn't really," whispered Piglet to Pooh, so as to comfort him.
+
+"I didn't _think_ I did," said Pooh anxiously.
+
+"It's just Eeyore," said Piglet. "_I_ thought your Idea was a very good
+Idea."
+
+Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a
+Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes
+that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different
+when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it. And,
+anyhow, Eeyore _was_ in the river, and now he _wasn't_, so he hadn't
+done any harm.
+
+"How did you fall in, Eeyore?" asked Rabbit, as he dried him with
+Piglet's handkerchief.
+
+"I didn't," said Eeyore.
+
+"But how----"
+
+"I was BOUNCED," said Eeyore.
+
+"Oo," said Roo excitedly, "did somebody push you?"
+
+"Somebody BOUNCED me. I was just thinking by the side of the
+river--thinking, if any of you know what that means, when I received a
+loud BOUNCE."
+
+"Oh, Eeyore!" said everybody.
+
+"Are you sure you didn't slip?" asked Rabbit wisely.
+
+"Of course I slipped. If you're standing on the slippery bank of a
+river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did
+you think I did?"
+
+"But who did it?" asked Roo.
+
+Eeyore didn't answer.
+
+"I expect it was Tigger," said Piglet nervously.
+
+"But, Eeyore," said Pooh, "was it a Joke, or an Accident? I mean----"
+
+"I didn't stop to ask, Pooh. Even at the very bottom of the river I
+didn't stop to say to myself, '_Is_ this a Hearty Joke, or is it the
+Merest Accident?' I just floated to the surface, and said to myself,
+'It's wet.' If you know what I mean."
+
+"And where was Tigger?" asked Rabbit.
+
+Before Eeyore could answer, there was a loud noise behind them, and
+through the hedge came Tigger himself.
+
+"Hallo, everybody," said Tigger cheerfully.
+
+"Hallo, Tigger," said Roo.
+
+Rabbit became very important suddenly.
+
+"Tigger," he said solemnly, "what happened just now?"
+
+"Just when?" said Tigger a little uncomfortably.
+
+"When you bounced Eeyore into the river."
+
+"I didn't bounce him."
+
+"You bounced me," said Eeyore gruffly.
+
+"I didn't really. I had a cough, and I happened to be behind Eeyore,
+and I said '_Grrrr--oppp--ptschschschz_.'"
+
+"Why?" said Rabbit, helping Piglet up, and dusting him. "It's all
+right, Piglet."
+
+"It took me by surprise," said Piglet nervously.
+
+"That's what I call bouncing," said Eeyore. "Taking people by surprise.
+Very unpleasant habit. I don't mind Tigger being in the Forest," he
+went on, "because it's a large Forest, and there's plenty of room to
+bounce in it. But I don't see why he should come into _my_ little
+corner of it, and bounce there. It isn't as if there was anything very
+wonderful about my little corner. Of course for people who like cold,
+wet, ugly bits it _is_ something rather special, but otherwise it's
+just a corner, and if anybody feels bouncy----"
+
+"I didn't bounce, I coughed," said Tigger crossly.
+
+"Bouncy or coffy, it's all the same at the bottom of the river."
+
+"Well," said Rabbit, "all I can say is--well, here's Christopher Robin,
+so _he_ can say it."
+
+Christopher Robin came down from the Forest to the bridge, feeling
+all sunny and careless, and just as if twice nineteen didn't matter a
+bit, as it didn't on such a happy afternoon, and he thought that if he
+stood on the bottom rail of the bridge, and leant over, and watched
+the river slipping slowly away beneath him, then he would suddenly
+know everything that there was to be known, and he would be able to
+tell Pooh, who wasn't quite sure about some of it. But when he got to
+the bridge and saw all the animals there, then he knew that it wasn't
+that kind of afternoon, but the other kind, when you wanted to _do_
+something.
+
+"It's like this, Christopher Robin," began Rabbit. "Tigger----"
+
+"No, I didn't," said Tigger.
+
+"Well, anyhow, there I was," said Eeyore.
+
+"But I don't think he meant to," said Pooh.
+
+"He just _is_ bouncy," said Piglet, "and he can't help it."
+
+"Try bouncing _me_, Tigger," said Roo eagerly. "Eeyore, Tigger's going
+to try _me_. Piglet, do you think----"
+
+"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "we don't all want to speak at once. The point
+is, what does Christopher Robin think about it?"
+
+"All I did was I coughed," said Tigger.
+
+"He bounced," said Eeyore.
+
+"Well, I sort of boffed," said Tigger.
+
+"Hush!" said Rabbit, holding up his paw. "What does Christopher Robin
+think about it all? That's the point."
+
+"Well," said Christopher Robin, not quite sure what it was all about,
+"_I_ think----"
+
+"Yes?" said everybody.
+
+"_I_ think we all ought to play Poohsticks."
+
+So they did. And Eeyore, who had never played it before, won more times
+than anybody else; and Roo fell in twice, the first time by accident
+and the second time on purpose, because he suddenly saw Kanga coming
+from the Forest, and he knew he'd have to go to bed anyhow. So then
+Rabbit said he'd go with them; and Tigger and Eeyore went off together,
+because Eeyore wanted to tell Tigger How to Win at Poohsticks, which
+you do by letting your stick drop in a twitchy sort of way, if you
+understand what I mean, Tigger; and Christopher Robin and Pooh and
+Piglet were left on the bridge by themselves.
+
+For a long time they looked at the river beneath them, saying nothing,
+and the river said nothing too, for it felt very quiet and peaceful on
+this summer afternoon.
+
+"Tigger is all right _really_," said Piglet lazily.
+
+"Of course he is," said Christopher Robin.
+
+"Everybody is _really_," said Pooh. "That's what _I_ think," said Pooh.
+"But I don't suppose I'm right," he said.
+
+"Of course you are," said Christopher Robin.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII
+
+                    IN WHICH _Tigger ls Unbounced_
+
+
+One day Rabbit and Piglet were sitting outside Pooh's front door
+listening to Rabbit, and Pooh was sitting with them. It was a drowsy
+summer afternoon, and the Forest was full of gentle sounds, which all
+seemed to be saying to Pooh, "Don't listen to Rabbit, listen to me."
+So he got into a comfortable position for not listening to Rabbit, and
+from time to time he opened his eyes to say "Ah!" and then closed them
+again to say "True," and from time to time Rabbit said, "You see what I
+mean, Piglet" very earnestly, and Piglet nodded earnestly to show that
+he did.
+
+"In fact," said Rabbit, coming to the end of it at last, "Tigger's
+getting so Bouncy nowadays that it's time we taught him a lesson. Don't
+you think so, Piglet?"
+
+Piglet said that Tigger _was_ very Bouncy, and that if they could think
+of a way of unbouncing him, it would be a Very Good Idea.
+
+"Just what I feel," said Rabbit. "What do _you_ say, Pooh?"
+
+Pooh opened his eyes with a jerk and said, "Extremely."
+
+"Extremely what?" asked Rabbit.
+
+"What you were saying," said Pooh. "Undoubtably."
+
+Piglet gave Pooh a stiffening sort of nudge, and Pooh, who felt more
+and more that he was somewhere else, got up slowly and began to look
+for himself.
+
+"But how shall we do it?" asked Piglet. "What sort of a lesson, Rabbit?"
+
+"That's the point," said Rabbit.
+
+The word "lesson" came back to Pooh as one he had heard before
+somewhere.
+
+"There's a thing called Twy-stymes," he said. "Christopher Robin tried
+to teach it to me once, but it didn't."
+
+"What didn't?" said Rabbit.
+
+"Didn't what?" said Piglet.
+
+Pooh shook his head.
+
+"I don't know," he said. "It just didn't. What are we talking about?"
+
+"Pooh," said Piglet reproachfully, "haven't you been listening to what
+Rabbit was saying?"
+
+"I listened, but I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say
+it again, please, Rabbit?"
+
+Rabbit never minded saying things again, so he asked where he should
+begin from; and when Pooh had said from the moment when the fluff got
+in his ear, and Rabbit had asked when that was, and Pooh had said he
+didn't know because he hadn't heard properly, Piglet settled it all by
+saying that what they were trying to do was, they were just trying to
+think of a way to get the bounces out of Tigger, because however much
+you liked him, you couldn't deny it, he _did_ bounce.
+
+"Oh, I see," said Pooh.
+
+"There's too much of him," said Rabbit, "that's what it comes to."
+
+Pooh tried to think, and all he could think of was something which
+didn't help at all. So he hummed it very quietly to himself.
+
+    If Rabbit
+    Was bigger
+    And fatter
+    And stronger,
+    Or bigger
+    Than Tigger,
+    If Tigger was smaller,
+    Then Tigger's bad habit
+    Of bouncing at Rabbit
+    Would matter
+    No longer,
+    If Rabbit
+    Was taller.
+
+"What was Pooh saying?" asked Rabbit. "Any good?"
+
+"No," said Pooh sadly. "No good."
+
+"Well, I've got an idea," said Rabbit, "and here it is. We take Tigger
+for a long explore, somewhere where he's never been, and we lose him
+there, and next morning we find him again, and--mark my words--he'll be
+a different Tigger altogether."
+
+"Why?" said Pooh.
+
+"Because he'll be a Humble Tigger. Because he'll be a Sad
+Tigger, a Melancholy Tigger, a Small and Sorry Tigger, an
+Oh-Rabbit-I-_am_-glad-to-see-you Tigger. That's why."
+
+"Will he be glad to see me and Piglet, too?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"That's good," said Pooh.
+
+"I should hate him to go _on_ being Sad," said Piglet doubtfully.
+
+"Tiggers never go on being Sad," explained Rabbit. "They get over it
+with Astonishing Rapidity. I asked Owl, just to make sure, and he said
+that that's what they always get over it with. But if we can make
+Tigger feel Small and Sad just for five minutes, we shall have done a
+good deed."
+
+"Would Christopher Robin think so?" asked Piglet.
+
+"Yes," said Rabbit. "He'd say 'You've done a good deed, Piglet. I would
+have done it myself, only I happened to be doing something else. Thank
+you, Piglet.' And Pooh, of course."
+
+Piglet felt very glad about this, and he saw at once that what they
+were going to do to Tigger was a good thing to do, and as Pooh and
+Rabbit were doing it with him, it was a thing which even a Very Small
+Animal could wake up in the morning and be comfortable about doing. So
+the only question was, where should they lose Tigger?
+
+"We'll take him to the North Pole," said Rabbit, "because it was a very
+long explore finding it, so it will be a very long explore for Tigger
+unfinding it again."
+
+It was now Pooh's turn to feel very glad, because it was he who had
+first found the North Pole, and when they got there, Tigger would see a
+notice which said, "Discovered by Pooh, Pooh found it," and then Tigger
+would know, which perhaps he didn't know, the sort of Bear Pooh was.
+_That_ sort of Bear.
+
+So it was arranged that they should start next morning, and that
+Rabbit, who lived near Kanga and Roo and Tigger, should now go home
+and ask Tigger what he was doing tomorrow, because if he wasn't doing
+anything, what about coming for an explore and getting Pooh and Piglet
+to come too? And if Tigger said "Yes" that would be all right, and if
+he said "No"----
+
+"He won't," said Rabbit. "Leave it to me." And he went off busily.
+
+The next day was quite a different day. Instead of being hot and sunny,
+it was cold and misty. Pooh didn't mind for himself, but when he
+thought of all the honey the bees wouldn't be making, a cold and misty
+day always made him feel sorry for them. He said so to Piglet when
+Piglet came to fetch him, and Piglet said that he wasn't thinking of
+that so much, but of how cold and miserable it would be being lost all
+day and night on the top of the Forest. But when he and Pooh had got
+to Rabbit's house, Rabbit said it was just the day for them, because
+Tigger always bounced on ahead of everybody, and as soon as he got out
+of sight, they would hurry away in the other direction, and he would
+never see them again.
+
+"Not never?" said Piglet.
+
+"Well, not until we find him again, Piglet. Tomorrow, or whenever it
+is. Come on. He's waiting for us."
+
+When they got to Kanga's house, they found that Roo was waiting too,
+being a great friend of Tigger's, which made it Awkward; but Rabbit
+whispered "Leave this to me" behind his paw to Pooh, and went up to
+Kanga.
+
+"I don't think Roo had better come," he said. "Not today."
+
+"Why not?" said Roo, who wasn't supposed to be listening.
+
+"Nasty cold day," said Rabbit, shaking his head. "And you were coughing
+this morning."
+
+"How do you know?" asked Roo indignantly.
+
+"Oh, Roo, you never told me," said Kanga reproachfully.
+
+"It was a Biscuit Cough," said Roo, "not one you tell about."
+
+"I think not today, dear. Another day."
+
+"Tomorrow?" said Roo hopefully.
+
+"We'll see," said Kanga.
+
+"You're always seeing, and nothing ever happens," said Roo sadly.
+
+"Nobody could see on a day like this, Roo," said Rabbit. "I don't
+expect we shall get very far, and then this afternoon we'll all--we'll
+all--we'll--ah, Tigger, there you are. Come on. Good-bye, Roo! This
+afternoon we'll--come on, Pooh! All ready? That's right. Come on."
+
+So they went. At first Pooh and Rabbit and Piglet walked together, and
+Tigger ran round them in circles, and then, when the path got narrower,
+Rabbit, Piglet and Pooh walked one after another, and Tigger ran round
+them in oblongs, and by-and-by, when the gorse got very prickly on
+each side of the path, Tigger ran up and down in front of them, and
+sometimes he bounced into Rabbit and sometimes he didn't. And as they
+got higher, the mist got thicker, so that Tigger kept disappearing, and
+then when you thought he wasn't there, there he was again, saying "I
+say, come on," and before you could say anything, there he wasn't.
+
+Rabbit turned round and nudged Piglet.
+
+"The next time," he said. "Tell Pooh."
+
+"The next time," said Piglet to Pooh.
+
+"The next what?" said Pooh to Piglet.
+
+Tigger appeared suddenly, bounced into Rabbit, and disappeared again.
+"Now!" said Rabbit. He jumped into a hollow by the side of the path,
+and Pooh and Piglet jumped after him. They crouched in the bracken,
+listening. The Forest was very silent when you stopped and listened to
+it. They could see nothing and hear nothing.
+
+"H'sh!" said Rabbit.
+
+"I am," said Pooh.
+
+There was a pattering noise ... then silence again.
+
+"Hallo!" said Tigger, and he sounded so close suddenly that Piglet
+would have jumped if Pooh hadn't accidentally been sitting on most of
+him.
+
+"Where are you?" called Tigger.
+
+Rabbit nudged Pooh, and Pooh looked about for Piglet to nudge, but
+couldn't find him, and Piglet went on breathing wet bracken as quietly
+as he could, and felt very brave and excited.
+
+"That's funny," said Tigger.
+
+There was a moment's silence, and then they heard him pattering off
+again. For a little longer they waited, until the Forest had become
+so still that it almost frightened them, and then Rabbit got up and
+stretched himself.
+
+"Well?" he whispered proudly. "There we are! Just as I said."
+
+"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and I think----"
+
+"No," said Rabbit. "Don't. Run. Come on." And they all hurried off,
+Rabbit leading the way.
+
+"Now," said Rabbit, after they had gone a little way, "we can talk.
+What were you going to say, Pooh?"
+
+"Nothing much. Why are we going along here?"
+
+"Because it's the way home."
+
+"Oh!" said Pooh.
+
+"I _think_ it's more to the right," said Piglet nervously. "What do
+_you_ think, Pooh?"
+
+Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right,
+and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right,
+then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to
+begin.
+
+"Well," he said slowly----
+
+"Come on," said Rabbit. "I know it's this way."
+
+They went on. Ten minutes later they stopped again.
+
+"It's very silly," said Rabbit, "but just for the moment I----Ah, of
+course. Come on...."
+
+"Here we are," said Rabbit ten minutes later. "No, we're not...."
+
+"Now," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "I think we ought to be
+getting--or are we a little bit more to the right than I thought?..."
+
+"It's a funny thing," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "how everything
+looks the same in a mist. Have you noticed it, Pooh?"
+
+Pooh said that he had.
+
+"Lucky we know the Forest so well, or we might get lost," said Rabbit
+half an hour later, and he gave the careless laugh which you give when
+you know the Forest so well that you can't get lost.
+
+Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
+
+"Pooh!" he whispered.
+
+"Yes, Piglet?"
+
+"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of
+you."
+
+When Tigger had finished waiting for the others to catch him up, and
+they hadn't, and when he had got tired of having nobody to say, "I say,
+come on" to, he thought he would go home. So he trotted back; and the
+first thing Kanga said when she saw him was "There's a good Tigger.
+You're just in time for your Strengthening Medicine," and she poured it
+out for him. Roo said proudly, "I've _had_ mine," and Tigger swallowed
+his and said, "So have I," and then he and Roo pushed each other about
+in a friendly way, and Tigger accidentally knocked over one or two
+chairs by accident, and Roo accidentally knocked over one on purpose,
+and Kanga said, "Now then, run along."
+
+"Where shall we run along to?" asked Roo.
+
+"You can go and collect some fir-cones for me," said Kanga, giving them
+a basket.
+
+So they went to the Six Pine Trees, and threw fir-cones at each other
+until they had forgotten what they came for, and they left the basket
+under the trees and went back to dinner. And it was just as they were
+finishing dinner that Christopher Robin put his head in at the door.
+
+"Where's Pooh?" he asked.
+
+"Tigger dear, where's Pooh?" said Kanga. Tigger explained what had
+happened at the same time that Roo was explaining about his Biscuit
+Cough and Kanga was telling them not both to talk at once, so it was
+some time before Christopher Robin guessed that Pooh and Piglet and
+Rabbit were all lost in the mist on the top of the Forest.
+
+"It's a funny thing about Tiggers," whispered Tigger to Roo, "how
+Tiggers _never_ get lost."
+
+"Why don't they, Tigger?"
+
+"They just don't," explained Tigger. "That's how it is."
+
+"Well," said Christopher Robin, "we shall have to go and find them,
+that's all. Come on, Tigger."
+
+"I shall have to go and find them," explained Tigger to Roo.
+
+"May I find them too?" asked Roo eagerly.
+
+"I think not today, dear," said Kanga. "Another day."
+
+"Well, if they're lost tomorrow, may I find them?"
+
+"We'll see," said Kanga, and Roo, who knew what _that_ meant, went
+into a corner, and practised jumping out at himself, partly because he
+wanted to practise this, and partly because he didn't want Christopher
+Robin and Tigger to think that he minded when they went off without him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The fact is," said Rabbit, "we've missed our way somehow."
+
+They were having a rest in a small sand-pit on the top of the Forest.
+Pooh was getting rather tired of that sand-pit, and suspected it of
+following them about, because whichever direction they started in, they
+always ended up at it, and each time, as it came through the mist at
+them, Rabbit said triumphantly, "Now I know where we are!" and Pooh
+said sadly, "So do I," and Piglet said nothing. He had tried to think
+of something to say, but the only thing he could think of was, "Help,
+help!" and it seemed silly to say that, when he had Pooh and Rabbit
+with him.
+
+"Well," said Rabbit, after a long silence in which nobody thanked him
+for the nice walk they were having, "we'd better get on, I suppose.
+Which way shall we try?"
+
+"How would it be," said Pooh slowly, "if, as soon as we're out of sight
+of this Pit, we try to find it again?"
+
+"What's the good of that?" said Rabbit.
+
+"Well," said Pooh, "we keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I
+thought that if we looked for this Pit, we'd be sure not to find it,
+which would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something that
+we _weren't_ looking for, which might be just what we _were_ looking
+for, really."
+
+"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.
+
+"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was _going_ to be when
+I began it. It's just that something happened to it on the way."
+
+"If I walked away from this Pit, and then walked back to it, of
+_course_ I should find it."
+
+"Well, I thought perhaps you wouldn't," said Pooh. "I just thought."
+
+"Try," said Piglet suddenly. "We'll wait here for you."
+
+Rabbit gave a laugh to show how silly Piglet was, and walked into the
+mist. After he had gone a hundred yards, he turned and walked back
+again ... and after Pooh and Piglet had waited twenty minutes for him,
+Pooh got up.
+
+"I just thought," said Pooh. "Now then, Piglet, let's go home."
+
+"But, Pooh," cried Piglet, all excited, "do you know the way?"
+
+"No," said Pooh. "But there are twelve pots of honey in my cupboard,
+and they've been calling to me for hours. I couldn't hear them properly
+before, because Rabbit _would_ talk, but if nobody says anything except
+those twelve pots, I _think_, Piglet, I shall know where they're
+calling from. Come on."
+
+They walked off together; and for a long time Piglet said nothing, so
+as not to interrupt the pots; and then suddenly he made a squeaky noise
+... and an oo-noise ... because now he began to know where he was; but
+he still didn't dare to say so out loud, in case he wasn't. And just
+when he was getting so sure of himself that it didn't matter whether
+the pots went on calling or not, there was a shout from in front of
+them, and out of the mist came Christopher Robin.
+
+"Oh, there you are," said Christopher Robin carelessly, trying to
+pretend that he hadn't been Anxious.
+
+"Here we are," said Pooh.
+
+"Where's Rabbit?"
+
+"I don't know," said Pooh.
+
+"Oh--well, I expect Tigger will find him. He's sort of looking for you
+all."
+
+"Well," said Pooh, "I've got to go home for something, and so has
+Piglet, because we haven't had it yet, and----"
+
+"I'll come and watch you," said Christopher Robin.
+
+So he went home with Pooh, and watched him for quite a long time ...
+and all the time he was watching, Tigger was tearing round the Forest
+making loud yapping noises for Rabbit. And at last a very Small and
+Sorry Rabbit heard him. And the Small and Sorry Rabbit rushed through
+the mist at the noise, and it suddenly turned into Tigger; a Friendly
+Tigger, a Grand Tigger, a Large and Helpful Tigger, a Tigger who
+bounced, if he bounced at all, in just the beautiful way a Tigger
+ought to bounce.
+
+"Oh, Tigger, I _am_ glad to see you," cried Rabbit.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+               IN WHICH _Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing_
+
+
+Half way between Pooh's house and Piglet's house was a Thoughtful Spot
+where they met sometimes when they had decided to go and see each
+other, and as it was warm and out of the wind they would sit down there
+for a little and wonder what they would do now that they _had_ seen
+each other. One day when they had decided not to do anything, Pooh made
+up a verse about it, so that everybody should know what the place was
+for.
+
+    This warm and sunny Spot
+      Belongs to Pooh.
+    And here he wonders what
+      He's going to do.
+    Oh, bother, I forgot--
+      It's Piglet's too.
+
+Now one autumn morning when the wind had blown all the leaves off the
+trees in the night, and was trying to blow the branches off, Pooh and
+Piglet were sitting in the Thoughtful Spot and wondering.
+
+"What _I_ think," said Pooh, "is I think we'll go to Pooh Corner and
+see Eeyore, because perhaps his house has been blown down, and perhaps
+he'd like us to build it again."
+
+"What _I_ think," said Piglet, "is I think we'll go and see Christopher
+Robin, only he won't be there, so we can't."
+
+"Let's go and see _everybody_," said Pooh. "Because when you've been
+walking in the wind for miles, and you suddenly go into somebody's
+house, and he says, 'Hallo, Pooh, you're just in time for a little
+smackerel of something,' and you are, then it's what I call a Friendly
+Day."
+
+Piglet thought that they ought to have a Reason for going to see
+everybody, like Looking for Small or Organizing an Expotition, if Pooh
+could think of something.
+
+Pooh could.
+
+"We'll go because it's Thursday," he said, "and we'll go to wish
+everybody a Very Happy Thursday. Come on, Piglet."
+
+They got up; and when Piglet had sat down again, because he didn't
+know the wind was so strong, and had been helped up by Pooh, they
+started off. They went to Pooh's house first, and luckily Pooh was at
+home just as they got there, so he asked them in, and they had some,
+and then they went on to Kanga's house, holding on to each other, and
+shouting "Isn't it?" and "What?" and "I can't hear." By the time they
+got to Kanga's house they were so buffeted that they stayed to lunch.
+Just at first it seemed rather cold outside afterwards, so they pushed
+on to Rabbit's as quickly as they could.
+
+"We've come to wish you a Very Happy Thursday," said Pooh, when he had
+gone in and out once or twice just to make sure that he _could_ get out
+again.
+
+"Why, what's going to happen on Thursday?" asked Rabbit, and when Pooh
+had explained, and Rabbit, whose life was made up of Important Things,
+said, "Oh, I thought you'd really come about something," they sat down
+for a little ... and by-and-by Pooh and Piglet went on again. The wind
+was behind them now, so they didn't have to shout.
+
+"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
+
+"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
+
+"And he has Brain."
+
+"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
+
+There was a long silence.
+
+"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."
+
+Christopher Robin was at home by this time, because it was the
+afternoon, and he was so glad to see them that they stayed there until
+very nearly tea-time, and then they had a Very Nearly tea, which is one
+you forget about afterwards, and hurried on to Pooh Corner, so as to
+see Eeyore before it was too late to have a Proper Tea with Owl.
+
+"Hallo, Eeyore," they called out cheerfully.
+
+"Ah!" said Eeyore. "Lost your way?"
+
+"We just came to see you," said Piglet. "And to see how your house was.
+Look, Pooh, it's still standing!"
+
+"I know," said Eeyore. "Very odd. Somebody ought to have come down and
+pushed it over."
+
+"We wondered whether the wind would blow it down," said Pooh.
+
+"Ah, that's why nobody's bothered, I suppose. I thought perhaps they'd
+forgotten."
+
+"Well, we're very glad to see you, Eeyore, and now we're going on to
+see Owl."
+
+"That's right. You'll like Owl. He flew past a day or two ago and
+noticed me. He didn't actually say anything, mind you, but he knew it
+was me. Very friendly of him, I thought. Encouraging."
+
+Pooh and Piglet shuffled about a little and said, "Well, good-bye,
+Eeyore" as lingeringly as they could, but they had a long way to go,
+and wanted to be getting on.
+
+"Good-bye," said Eeyore. "Mind you don't get blown away, little
+Piglet. You'd be missed. People would say 'Where's little Piglet been
+blown to?'--really wanting to know. Well, good-bye. And thank you for
+happening to pass me."
+
+"Good-bye," said Pooh and Piglet for the last time, and they pushed on
+to Owl's house.
+
+The wind was against them now, and Piglet's ears streamed behind him
+like banners as he fought his way along, and it seemed hours before he
+got them into the shelter of the Hundred Acre Wood and they stood up
+straight again, to listen, a little nervously, to the roaring of the
+gale among the tree-tops.
+
+"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?"
+
+"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.
+
+Piglet was comforted by this, and in a little while they were knocking
+and ringing very cheerfully at Owl's door.
+
+"Hallo, Owl," said Pooh. "I hope we're not too late for----I mean, how
+are you, Owl? Piglet and I just came to see how you were, because it's
+Thursday."
+
+"Sit down, Pooh, sit down, Piglet," said Owl kindly. "Make yourselves
+comfortable."
+
+They thanked him, and made themselves as comfortable as they could.
+
+"Because, you see, Owl," said Pooh, "we've been hurrying, so as to be
+in time for--so as to see you before we went away again."
+
+Owl nodded solemnly.
+
+"Correct me if I am wrong," he said, "but am I right in supposing that
+it is a very Blusterous day outside?"
+
+"Very," said Piglet, who was quietly thawing his ears, and wishing
+that he was safely back in his own house.
+
+"I thought so," said Owl. "It was on just such a blusterous day as this
+that my Uncle Robert, a portrait of whom you see upon the wall on your
+right, Piglet, while returning in the late forenoon from a----What's
+that?"
+
+There was a loud cracking noise.
+
+"Look out!" cried Pooh. "Mind the clock! Out of the way, Piglet!
+Piglet, I'm falling on you!"
+
+"Help!" cried Piglet.
+
+Pooh's side of the room was slowly tilting upwards and his chair
+began sliding down on Piglet's. The clock slithered gently along
+the mantelpiece, collecting vases on the way, until they all crashed
+together on to what had once been the floor, but was now trying to
+see what it looked like as a wall. Uncle Robert, who was going to be
+the new hearth-rug, and was bringing the rest of his wall with him as
+carpet, met Piglet's chair just as Piglet was expecting to leave it,
+and for a little while it became very difficult to remember which was
+really the north. Then there was another loud crack ... Owl's room
+collected itself feverishly ... and there was silence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a corner of the room, the tablecloth began to wriggle.
+
+Then it wrapped itself into a ball and rolled across the room.
+
+Then it jumped up and down once or twice, and put out two ears. It
+rolled across the room again, and unwound itself.
+
+"Pooh," said Piglet nervously.
+
+"Yes?" said one of the chairs.
+
+"Where are we?"
+
+"I'm not quite sure," said the chair.
+
+"Are we--are we in Owl's House?"
+
+"I think so, because we were just going to have tea, and we hadn't had
+it."
+
+"Oh!" said Piglet. "Well, did Owl _always_ have a letter-box in his
+ceiling?"
+
+"Has he?"
+
+"Yes, look."
+
+"I can't," said Pooh. "I'm face downwards under something, and that,
+Piglet, is a very bad position for looking at ceilings."
+
+"Well, he has, Pooh."
+
+"Perhaps he's changed it," said Pooh. "Just for a change."
+
+There was a disturbance behind the table in the other corner of the
+room, and Owl was with them again.
+
+"Ah, Piglet," said Owl, looking very much annoyed; "where's Pooh?"
+
+"I'm not quite sure," said Pooh.
+
+Owl turned at his voice, and frowned at as much of Pooh as he could see.
+
+"Pooh," said Owl severely, "did _you_ do that?"
+
+"No," said Pooh humbly. "I don't _think_ so."
+
+"Then who did?"
+
+"I think it was the wind," said Piglet. "I think your house has blown
+down."
+
+"Oh, is that it? I thought it was Pooh."
+
+"No," said Pooh.
+
+"If it was the wind," said Owl, considering the matter, "then it wasn't
+Pooh's fault. No blame can be attached to him." With these kind words
+he flew up to look at his new ceiling.
+
+"Piglet!" called Pooh in a loud whisper.
+
+Piglet leant down to him.
+
+"Yes, Pooh?"
+
+"_What_ did he say was attached to me?"
+
+"He said he didn't blame you."
+
+"Oh! I thought he meant--Oh, I see."
+
+"Owl," said Piglet, "come down and help Pooh."
+
+Owl, who was admiring his letter-box, flew down again. Together they
+pushed and pulled at the arm-chair, and in a little while Pooh came out
+from underneath, and was able to look round him again.
+
+"Well!" said Owl. "This is a nice state of things!"
+
+"What are we going to do, Pooh? Can you think of anything?" asked
+Piglet.
+
+"Well, I _had_ just thought of something," said Pooh. "It was just a
+little thing I thought of." And he began to sing:
+
+    I lay on my chest
+    And I thought it best
+    To pretend I was having an evening rest;
+    I lay on my tum
+    And I tried to hum
+    But nothing particular seemed to come.
+    My face was flat
+    On the floor, and that
+    Is all very well for an acrobat;
+    But it doesn't seem fair
+    To a Friendly Bear
+    To stiffen him out with a basket-chair.
+    And a sort of sqoze
+    Which grows and grows
+    Is not too nice for his poor old nose,
+    And a sort of squch
+    Is much too much
+    For his neck and his mouth and his ears and such.
+
+"That was all," said Pooh.
+
+Owl coughed in an unadmiring sort of way, and said that, if Pooh was
+sure that _was_ all, they could now give their minds to the Problem of
+Escape.
+
+"Because," said Owl, "we can't go out by what used to be the front
+door. Something's fallen on it."
+
+"But how else _can_ you go out?" asked Piglet anxiously.
+
+"That is the Problem, Piglet, to which I am asking Pooh to give his
+mind."
+
+Pooh sat on the floor which had once been a wall, and gazed up at the
+ceiling which had once been another wall, with a front door in it which
+had once been a front door, and tried to give his mind to it.
+
+"Could you fly up to the letter-box with Piglet on your back?" he asked.
+
+"No," said Piglet quickly. "He couldn't."
+
+Owl explained about the Necessary Dorsal Muscles. He had explained this
+to Pooh and Christopher Robin once before, and had been waiting ever
+since for a chance to do it again, because it is a thing which you can
+easily explain twice before anybody knows what you are talking about.
+
+"Because you see, Owl, if we could get Piglet into the letter-box, he
+might squeeze through the place where the letters come, and climb down
+the tree and run for help."
+
+Piglet said hurriedly that he had been getting bigger lately, and
+couldn't _possibly_, much as he would like to, and Owl said that he had
+had his letter-box made bigger lately in case he got bigger letters, so
+perhaps Piglet _might_, and Piglet said, "But you said the necessary
+you-know-whats _wouldn't_," and Owl said, "No, they _won't_, so it's
+no good thinking about it," and Piglet said "Then we'd better think of
+something else," and began to at once.
+
+But Pooh's mind had gone back to the day when he had saved Piglet from
+the flood, and everybody had admired him so much; and as that didn't
+often happen he thought he would like it to happen again. And suddenly,
+just as it had come before, an idea came to him.
+
+"Owl," said Pooh, "I have thought of something."
+
+"Astute and Helpful Bear," said Owl.
+
+Pooh looked proud at being called a stout and helpful bear, and said
+modestly that he just happened to think of it. You tied a piece of
+string to Piglet, and you flew up to the letter-box with the other end
+in your beak, and you pushed it through the wire and brought it down to
+the floor, and you and Pooh pulled hard at this end, and Piglet went
+slowly up at the other end. And there you were.
+
+"And there Piglet is," said Owl. "If the string doesn't break."
+
+"Supposing it does?" asked Piglet, wanting to know.
+
+"Then we try another piece of string."
+
+This was not very comforting to Piglet, because however many pieces
+of string they tried pulling up with, it would always be the same him
+coming down; but still, it did seem the only thing to do. So with
+one last look back in his mind at all the happy hours he had spent in
+the Forest _not_ being pulled up to the ceiling by a piece of string,
+Piglet nodded bravely at Pooh and said that it was a Very Clever
+pup-pup-pup Clever pup-pup Plan.
+
+"It won't break," whispered Pooh comfortingly, "because you're a Small
+Animal, and I'll stand underneath, and if you save us all, it will be
+a Very Grand Thing to talk about afterwards, and perhaps I'll make up
+a Song, and people will say 'It was so grand what Piglet did that a
+Respectful Pooh Song was made about it."
+
+Piglet felt much better after this, and when everything was ready, and
+he found himself slowly going up to the ceiling, he was so proud that
+he would have called out "Look at _me_!" if he hadn't been afraid that
+Pooh and Owl would let go of their end of the string and look at him.
+
+"Up we go!" said Pooh cheerfully.
+
+"The ascent is proceeding as expected," said Owl helpfully. Soon it was
+over. Piglet opened the letter-box and climbed in. Then, having untied
+himself, he began to squeeze into the slit, through which in the old
+days when front doors _were_ front doors, many an unexpected letter
+that WOL had written to himself, had come slipping.
+
+He squeezed and he squoze, and then with one last sqooze he was out.
+Happy and excited he turned round to squeak a last message to the
+prisoners.
+
+"It's all right," he called through the letter-box. "Your tree is blown
+right over, Owl, and there's a branch across the door, but Christopher
+Robin and I can move it, and we'll bring a rope for Pooh, and I'll
+go and tell him now, and I can climb down quite easily, I mean it's
+dangerous but I can do it all right, and Christopher Robin and I will
+be back in about half-an-hour. Good-bye, Pooh!" And without waiting to
+hear Pooh's answering "Good-bye, and thank you, Piglet," he was off.
+
+"Half-an-hour," said Owl, settling himself comfortably. "That will just
+give me time to finish that story I was telling you about my Uncle
+Robert--a portrait of whom you see underneath you. Now let me see,
+where was I? Oh, yes. It was on just such a blusterous day as this that
+my Uncle Robert----"
+
+Pooh closed his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX
+
+       IN WHICH _Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It_
+
+
+Pooh had wandered into the Hundred Acre Wood, and was standing in front
+of what had once been Owl's House. It didn't look at all like a house
+now; it looked like a tree which had been blown down; and as soon as a
+house looks like that, it is time you tried to find another one. Pooh
+had had a Mysterious Missage underneath his front door that morning,
+saying, "I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT," and
+while he was wondering what it meant, Rabbit had come in and read it
+for him.
+
+"I'm leaving one for all the others," said Rabbit, "and telling them
+what it means, and they'll all search too. I'm in a hurry, good-bye."
+And he had run off.
+
+Pooh followed slowly. He had something better to do than to find a new
+house for Owl; he had to make up a Pooh song about the old one. Because
+he had promised Piglet days and days ago that he would, and whenever
+he and Piglet had met since, Piglet didn't actually say anything, but
+you knew at once why he didn't; and if anybody mentioned Hums or Trees
+or String or Storms-in-the-Night, Piglet's nose went all pink at the
+tip and he talked about something quite different in a hurried sort of
+way.
+
+"But it isn't Easy," said Pooh to himself, as he looked at what had
+once been Owl's House. "Because Poetry and Hums aren't things which
+you get, they're things which get _you_. And all you can do is to go
+where they can find you."
+
+He waited hopefully....
+
+"Well," said Pooh after a long wait, "I shall begin '_Here lies a
+tree_' because it does, and then I'll see what happens."
+
+This is what happened.
+
+    _Here lies a tree which Owl (a bird)
+      Was fond of when it stood on end,
+      And Owl was talking to a friend
+    Called Me (in case you hadn't heard)
+    When something Oo occurred._
+
+    _For lo! the wind was blusterous
+      And flattened out his favourite tree;
+      And things looked bad for him and we--
+    Looked bad, I mean, for he and us--
+    I've never known them wuss._
+
+    _Then Piglet (PIGLET) thought a thing:
+      "Courage!" he said. "There's always hope.
+      I want a thinnish piece of rope.
+    Or, if there isn't any bring
+    A thickish piece of string."_
+
+    _So to the letter-box he rose,
+      While Pooh and Owl said "Oh!" and "Hum!"
+      And where the letters always come
+    (Called "LETTERS ONLY") Piglet sqoze
+    His head and then his toes._
+
+    _O gallant Piglet (PIGLET)! Ho!
+      Did Piglet tremble? Did he blinch?
+      No, No, he struggled inch by inch
+    Through LETTERS ONLY, as I know
+    Because I saw him go._
+
+    _He ran and ran, and then he stood
+      And shouted, "Help for Owl, a bird
+      And Pooh, a bear!" until he heard
+    The others coming through the wood
+    As quickly as they could._
+
+    _"Help-help and Rescue!" Piglet cried
+      And showed the others where to go.
+      Sing ho! for Piglet (PIGLET) ho
+    And soon the door was opened wide
+    And we were both outside!_
+
+    _Sing ho! for Piglet, ho!
+    Ho!_
+
+"So there it is," said Pooh, when he had sung this to himself three
+times. "It's come different from what I thought it would, but it's
+come. Now I must go and sing it to Piglet."
+
+    I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT.
+
+"What's all this?" said Eeyore.
+
+Rabbit explained.
+
+"What's the matter with his old house?" asked Eeyore.
+
+Rabbit explained.
+
+"Nobody tells me," said Eeyore. "Nobody keeps me Informed. I make it
+seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me."
+
+"It certainly isn't seventeen days----"
+
+"Come Friday," explained Eeyore.
+
+"And today's Saturday," said Rabbit. "So that would make it eleven
+days. And I was here myself a week ago."
+
+"Not conversing," said Eeyore. "Not first one and then the other. You
+said 'Hallo' and Flashed Past. I saw your tail in the distance as I was
+meditating my reply. I _had_ thought of saying 'What?'--but, of course,
+it was then too late."
+
+"Well, I was in a hurry."
+
+"No Give and Take," Eeyore went on. "No Exchange of Thought:
+'_Hallo--What_'----I mean, it gets you nowhere, particularly if the
+other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the
+conversation."
+
+"It's your fault, Eeyore. You've never been to see any of us. You just
+stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for the others to
+come to _you_. Why don't you go to _them_ sometimes?"
+
+Eeyore was silent for a little while, thinking.
+
+"There may be something in what you say, Rabbit," he said at last. "I
+must move about more. I must come and go."
+
+"That's right, Eeyore. Drop in on any of us at any time, when you feel
+like it."
+
+"Thank-you, Rabbit. And if anybody says in a Loud Voice 'Bother, it's
+Eeyore,' I can drop out again."
+
+Rabbit stood on one leg for a moment.
+
+"Well," he said, "I must be going."
+
+"Good-bye," said Eeyore.
+
+"What? Oh, good-bye. And if you do come across a house for Owl, you
+must let us know."
+
+"I will give my mind to it," said Eeyore.
+
+Rabbit went.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pooh had found Piglet, and they were walking back to the Hundred Acre
+Wood together.
+
+"Piglet," said Pooh a little shyly, after they had walked for some time
+without saying anything.
+
+"Yes, Pooh?"
+
+"Do you remember when I said that a Respectful Pooh Song might be
+written about You Know What?"
+
+"Did you, Pooh?" said Piglet, getting a little pink round the nose.
+"Oh, yes, I believe you did."
+
+"It's been written, Piglet."
+
+The pink went slowly up Piglet's nose to his ears, and settled there.
+
+"Has it, Pooh?" he asked huskily. "About--about----That Time
+When?----Do you mean really written?"
+
+"Yes, Piglet."
+
+The tips of Piglet's ears glowed suddenly, and he tried to say
+something; but even after he had husked once or twice, nothing came
+out. So Pooh went on.
+
+"There are seven verses in it."
+
+"Seven?" said Piglet as carelessly as he could. "You don't often get
+_seven_ verses in a Hum, do you, Pooh?"
+
+"Never," said Pooh, "I don't suppose it's _ever_ been heard of before."
+
+"Do the Others know yet?" asked Piglet, stopping for a moment to pick
+up a stick and throw it away.
+
+"No," said Pooh. "And I wondered which you would like best. For me to
+hum it now, or to wait till we find the others, and then hum it to all
+of you."
+
+Piglet thought for a little.
+
+"I think what I'd like best, Pooh, is I'd like you to hum it to me
+_now_--and--and _then_ to hum it to all of us. Because then Everybody
+would hear it, but I could say 'Oh, yes, Pooh's told me,' and pretend
+not to be listening."
+
+So Pooh hummed it to him, all the seven verses and Piglet said nothing,
+but just stood and glowed. Never before had anyone sung ho for Piglet
+(PIGLET) ho all by himself. When it was over, he wanted to ask for one
+of the verses over again, but didn't quite like to. It was the verse
+beginning "O gallant Piglet," and it seemed to him a very thoughtful
+way of beginning a piece of poetry.
+
+"Did I really do all that?" he said at last.
+
+"Well," said Pooh, "in poetry--in a piece of poetry--well, you _did_
+it, Piglet, because the poetry says you did. And that's how people
+know."
+
+"Oh!" said Piglet. "Because I--I thought I did blinch a little. Just at
+first. And it says, 'Did he blinch no no.' That's why."
+
+"You only blinched inside," said Pooh, "and that's the bravest way for
+a Very Small Animal not to blinch that there is."
+
+Piglet sighed with happiness, and began to think about himself. He was
+BRAVE....
+
+When they got to Owl's old house, they found everybody else there
+except Eeyore. Christopher Robin was telling them what to do, and
+Rabbit was telling them again directly afterwards, in case they hadn't
+heard, and then they were all doing it. They had got a rope and were
+pulling Owl's chairs and pictures and things out of his old house so as
+to be ready to put them into his new one. Kanga was down below tying
+the things on, and calling out to Owl, "You won't want this dirty old
+dish-cloth any more, will you, and what about this carpet, it's all
+in holes," and Owl was calling back indignantly, "Of course I do! It's
+just a question of arranging the furniture properly, and it isn't a
+dish-cloth, it's my shawl." Every now and then Roo fell in and came
+back on the rope with the next article, which flustered Kanga a little
+because she never knew where to look for him. So she got cross with Owl
+and said that his house was a Disgrace, all damp and dirty, and it was
+quite time it did tumble down. Look at that horrid bunch of toadstools
+growing out of the floor there! So Owl looked down, a little surprised
+because he didn't know about this, and then gave a short sarcastic
+laugh, and explained that that was his sponge, and that if people
+didn't know a perfectly ordinary bath-sponge when they saw it, things
+were coming to a pretty pass. "_Well!_" said Kanga, and Roo fell in
+quickly, crying, "I _must_ see Owl's sponge! Oh, there it is! Oh, Owl!
+Owl, it isn't a sponge, it's a spudge! Do you know what a spudge is,
+Owl? It's when your sponge gets all----" and Kanga said, "Roo, dear!"
+very quickly, because that's _not_ the way to talk to anybody who can
+spell TUESDAY.
+
+But they were all quite happy when Pooh and Piglet came along, and they
+stopped working in order to have a little rest and listen to Pooh's
+new song. So then they all told Pooh how good it was, and Piglet said
+carelessly, "It _is_ good, isn't it? I mean as a song."
+
+"And what about the new house?" asked Pooh. "Have you found it, Owl?"
+
+"He's found a name for it," said Christopher Robin, lazily nibbling at
+a piece of grass, "so now all he wants is the house."
+
+"I am calling it this," said Owl importantly, and he showed them what
+he had been making. It was a square piece of board with the name of the
+house painted on it.
+
+    THE WOLERY
+
+It was at this exciting moment that something came through the trees,
+and bumped into Owl. The board fell to the ground, and Piglet and Roo
+bent over it eagerly.
+
+"Oh, it's you," said Owl crossly.
+
+"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Rabbit. "_There_ you are! Where have _you_ been?"
+Eeyore took no notice of them.
+
+"Good morning, Christopher Robin," he said, brushing away Roo and
+Piglet, and sitting down on THE WOLERY. "Are we alone?"
+
+"Yes," said Christopher Robin, smiling to himself.
+
+"I have been told--the news has worked through to my corner of the
+Forest--the damp bit down on the right which nobody wants--that a
+certain Person is looking for a house. I have found one for him."
+
+"Ah, well done," said Rabbit kindly.
+
+Eeyore looked round slowly at him, and then turned back to Christopher
+Robin.
+
+"We have been joined by something," he said in a loud whisper. "But no
+matter. We can leave it behind. If you will come with me, Christopher
+Robin, I will show you the house."
+
+Christopher Robin jumped up.
+
+"Come on, Pooh," he said.
+
+"Come on, Tigger!" cried Roo.
+
+"Shall we go, Owl?" said Rabbit.
+
+"Wait a moment," said Owl, picking up his notice-board, which had just
+come into sight again.
+
+Eeyore waved them back.
+
+"Christopher Robin and I are going for a Short Walk," he said, "not a
+Jostle. If he likes to bring Pooh and Piglet with him, I shall be glad
+of their company, but one must be able to Breathe."
+
+"That's all right," said Rabbit, rather glad to be left in charge of
+something. "We'll go on getting the things out. Now then, Tigger,
+where's that rope? What's the matter, Owl?"
+
+Owl, who had just discovered that his new address was THE SMUDGE,
+coughed at Eeyore sternly, but said nothing, and Eeyore, with most of
+THE WOLERY behind him, marched off with his friends.
+
+So, in a little while, they came to the house which Eeyore had found,
+and for some minutes before they came to it, Piglet was nudging Pooh,
+and Pooh was nudging Piglet, and they were saying, "It is!" and "It
+can't be!" and "It is, _really_!" to each other.
+
+And when they got there, it really was.
+
+"There!" said Eeyore proudly, stopping them outside Piglet's house.
+"And the name on it, and everything!"
+
+"Oh!" cried Christopher Robin, wondering whether to laugh or what.
+
+"Just the house for Owl. Don't you think so, little Piglet?"
+
+And then Piglet did a Noble Thing, and he did it in a sort of dream,
+while he was thinking of all the wonderful words Pooh had hummed about
+him.
+
+"Yes, it's just the house for Owl," he said grandly. "And I hope he'll
+be very happy in it." And then he gulped twice, because he had been
+very happy in it himself.
+
+"What do _you_ think, Christopher Robin?" asked Eeyore a little
+anxiously, feeling that something wasn't quite right.
+
+Christopher Robin had a question to ask first, and he was wondering how
+to ask it.
+
+"Well," he said at last, "it's a very nice house, and if your own house
+is blown down, you _must_ go somewhere else, mustn't you, Piglet? What
+would _you_ do, if _your_ house was blown down?"
+
+Before Piglet could think, Pooh answered for him.
+
+"He'd come and live with me," said Pooh, "wouldn't you, Piglet?"
+
+Piglet squeezed his paw.
+
+"Thank you, Pooh," he said, "I should love to."
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X
+
+   IN WHICH _Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place,
+                       and We Leave Them There_
+
+
+Christopher Robin was going away. Nobody knew why he was going; nobody
+knew where he was going; indeed, nobody even knew why he knew that
+Christopher Robin _was_ going away. But somehow or other everybody in
+the Forest felt that it was happening at last. Even Smallest-of-all,
+a friend-and-relation of Rabbit's who thought he had once seen
+Christopher Robin's foot, but couldn't be quite sure because perhaps it
+was something else, even S. of A. told himself that Things were going
+to be Different; and Late and Early, two other friends-and-relations,
+said, "Well, Early?" and "Well, Late?" to each other in such a hopeless
+sort of way that it really didn't seem any good waiting for the answer.
+
+One day when he felt that he couldn't wait any longer, Rabbit brained
+out a Notice, and this is what it said:
+
+"Notice a meeting of everybody will meet at the House at Pooh Corner to
+pass a Rissolution By Order Keep to the Left Signed Rabbit."
+
+He had to write this out two or three times before he could get the
+rissolution to look like what he thought it was going to when he began
+to spell it: but, when at last it was finished, he took it round to
+everybody and read it out to them. And they all said they would come.
+
+"Well," said Eeyore that afternoon, when he saw them all walking up to
+his house, "this _is_ a surprise. Am _I_ asked too?"
+
+"Don't mind Eeyore," whispered Rabbit to Pooh. "I told him all about it
+this morning."
+
+Everybody said "How-do-you-do" to Eeyore, and Eeyore said that he
+didn't, not to notice, and then they sat down; and as soon as they were
+all sitting down, Rabbit stood up again.
+
+"We all know why we're here," he said, "but I have asked my friend
+Eeyore----"
+
+"That's Me," said Eeyore. "Grand."
+
+"I have asked him to Propose a Rissolution." And he sat down again.
+"Now then, Eeyore," he said.
+
+"Don't Bustle me," said Eeyore, getting up slowly. "Don't now-then
+me." He took a piece of paper from behind his ear, and unfolded it.
+"Nobody knows anything about this," he went on. "This is a Surprise."
+He coughed in an important way, and began again: "What-nots and
+Etceteras, before I begin, or perhaps I should say, before I end, I
+have a piece of Poetry to read to you. Hitherto--hitherto--a long word
+meaning--well, you'll see what it means directly--hitherto, as I was
+saying, all the Poetry in the Forest has been written by Pooh, a Bear
+with a Pleasing Manner but a Positively Startling Lack of Brain. The
+Poem which I am now about to read to you was written by Eeyore, or
+Myself, in a Quiet Moment. If somebody will take Roo's bull's-eye away
+from him, and wake up Owl, we shall all be able to enjoy it. I call
+it--POEM."
+
+This was it.
+
+    Christopher Robin is going.
+    At least I think he is.
+    Where?
+    Nobody knows.
+    But he is going--
+    I mean he goes
+    (_To rhyme with "knows"_)
+    Do we care?
+    (_To rhyme with "where"_)
+    We do
+    Very much.
+    (_I haven't got a rhyme for that "is" in the second line yet.
+      Bother._)
+    (_Now I haven't got a rhyme for bother. Bother._)
+    Those two bothers will have to rhyme with each other. Buther.
+    The fact is this is more difficult than I thought,
+    I ought--
+    (_Very good indeed_)
+    I ought
+    To begin again,
+    But it is easier
+    To stop.
+    Christopher Robin, good-bye,
+    I
+    (_Good_)
+    I
+    And all your friends
+    Sends--
+    I mean all your friend
+    Send--
+    (_Very awkward this, it keeps going wrong_)
+    Well, anyhow, we send
+      Our love
+    END.
+
+"If anybody wants to clap," said Eeyore when he had read this, "now is
+the time to do it."
+
+They all clapped.
+
+"Thank you," said Eeyore. "Unexpected and gratifying, if a little
+lacking in Smack."
+
+"It's much better than mine," said Pooh admiringly, and he really
+thought it was.
+
+"Well," explained Eeyore modestly, "it was meant to be."
+
+"The rissolution," said Rabbit, "is that we all sign it, and take it to
+Christopher Robin."
+
+So it was signed POOH, PIGLET, WOL, EOR, RABBIT, KANGA, BLOT, SMUDGE,
+and they all went off to Christopher Robin's house with it.
+
+"Hallo, everybody," said Christopher Robin--"Hallo, Pooh."
+
+They all said "Hallo," and felt awkward and unhappy suddenly, because
+it was a sort of good-bye they were saying, and they didn't want to
+think about it. So they stood around, and waited for somebody else to
+speak, and they nudged each other, and said "Go on," and gradually
+Eeyore was nudged to the front, and the others crowded behind him.
+
+"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin. Eeyore swished his tail
+from side to side, so as to encourage himself, and began.
+
+[Illustration: _"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin._]
+
+"Christopher Robin," he said, "we've come to say--to give you--it's
+called--written by--but we've all--because we've heard, I mean we all
+know--well, you see, it's--we--you--well, that, to put it as shortly
+as possible, is what it is." He turned round angrily on the others and
+said, "Everybody crowds round so in this Forest. There's no Space. I
+never saw a more Spreading lot of animals in my life, and all in the
+wrong places. Can't you _see_ that Christopher Robin wants to be alone?
+I'm going." And he humped off.
+
+Not quite knowing why, the others began edging away, and when
+Christopher Robin had finished reading POEM, and was looking up to say,
+"Thank you," only Pooh was left.
+
+"It's a comforting sort of thing to have," said Christopher Robin,
+folding up the paper, and putting it in his pocket. "Come on, Pooh,"
+and he walked off quickly.
+
+"Where are we going?" said Pooh, hurrying after him,
+and wondering whether it was to be an Explore or a
+What-shall-I-do-about-you-know-what.
+
+"Nowhere," said Christopher Robin.
+
+So they began going there, and after they had walked a little way
+Christopher Robin said:
+
+"What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?"
+
+"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best----" and then he had to stop and
+think. Because although Eating Honey _was_ a very good thing to do,
+there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better
+than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. And then
+he thought that being with Christopher Robin was a very good thing
+to do, and having Piglet near was a very friendly thing to have; and
+so, when he had thought it all out, he said, "What I like best in the
+whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What
+about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a
+little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day
+outside, and birds singing."
+
+"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like _doing_
+best is Nothing."
+
+"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long
+time.
+
+"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to
+do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh,
+nothing, and then you go and do it."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Pooh.
+
+"This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.
+
+"It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear,
+and not bothering."
+
+"Oh!" said Pooh.
+
+They walked on, thinking of This and That, and by-and-by they came
+to an enchanted place on the very top of the Forest called Galleons
+Lap, which is sixty-something trees in a circle; and Christopher Robin
+knew that it was enchanted because nobody had ever been able to count
+whether it was sixty-three or sixty-four, not even when he tied a piece
+of string round each tree after he had counted it. Being enchanted,
+its floor was not like the floor of the Forest, gorse and bracken and
+heather, but close-set grass, quiet and smooth and green. It was the
+only place in the Forest where you could sit down carelessly, without
+getting up again almost at once and looking for somewhere else. Sitting
+there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached
+the sky, and whatever there was all the world over was with them in
+Galleons Lap.
+
+Suddenly Christopher Robin began to tell Pooh about some of the things:
+People called Kings and Queens and something called Factors, and a
+place called Europe, and an island in the middle of the sea where no
+ships came, and how you make a Suction Pump (if you want to), and
+when Knights were Knighted, and what comes from Brazil. And Pooh, his
+back against one of the sixty-something trees, and his paws folded
+in front of him, said "Oh!" and "I didn't know," and thought how
+wonderful it would be to have a Real Brain which could tell you things.
+And by-and-by Christopher Robin came to an end of the things, and was
+silent, and he sat there looking out over the world, and wishing it
+wouldn't stop.
+
+But Pooh was thinking too, and he said suddenly to Christopher Robin:
+
+"Is it a very Grand thing to be an Afternoon, what you said?"
+
+"A what?" said Christopher Robin lazily, as he listened to something
+else.
+
+"On a horse," explained Pooh.
+
+"A Knight?"
+
+"Oh, was that it?" said Pooh. "I thought it was a----Is it as Grand as
+a King and Factors and all the other things you said?"
+
+"Well, it's not as grand as a King," said Christopher Robin, and then,
+as Pooh seemed disappointed, he added quickly, "but it's grander than
+Factors."
+
+"Could a Bear be one?"
+
+"Of course he could!" said Christopher Robin. "I'll make you one." And
+he took a stick and touched Pooh on the shoulder, and said, "Rise, Sir
+Pooh de Bear, most faithful of all my Knights."
+
+So Pooh rose and sat down and said "Thank you," which is the proper
+thing to say when you have been made a Knight, and he went into a
+dream again, in which he and Sir Pomp and Sir Brazil and Factors
+lived together with a horse, and were faithful Knights (all except
+Factors, who looked after the horse) to Good King Christopher Robin
+... and every now and then he shook his head, and said to himself
+"I'm not getting it right." Then he began to think of all the things
+Christopher Robin would want to tell him when he came back from
+wherever he was going to, and how muddling it would be for a Bear of
+Very Little Brain to try and get them right in his mind. "So, perhaps,"
+he said sadly to himself, "Christopher Robin won't tell me any more,"
+and he wondered if being a Faithful Knight meant that you just went on
+being faithful without being told things.
+
+Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the
+world, with his chin in his hands, called out "Pooh!"
+
+"Yes?" said Pooh.
+
+"When I'm--when----Pooh!"
+
+"Yes, Christopher Robin?"
+
+"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."
+
+"Never again?"
+
+"Well, not so much. They don't let you."
+
+Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again.
+
+"Yes, Christopher Robin?" said Pooh helpfully.
+
+"Pooh, when I'm--_you_ know--when I'm _not_ doing Nothing, will you
+come up here sometimes?"
+
+"Just Me?"
+
+"Yes, Pooh."
+
+"Will you be here too?"
+
+"Yes, Pooh, I will be, _really_. I _promise_ I will be, Pooh."
+
+"That's good," said Pooh.
+
+"Pooh, _promise_ you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a
+hundred."
+
+Pooh thought for a little.
+
+"How old shall _I_ be then?"
+
+"Ninety-nine."
+
+Pooh nodded.
+
+"I promise," he said.
+
+Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and
+felt for Pooh's paw.
+
+"Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if I--if I'm not quite----"
+he stopped and tried again--"Pooh, _whatever_ happens, you _will_
+understand, won't you?"
+
+"Understand what?"
+
+"Oh, nothing." He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Come on!"
+
+"Where?" said Pooh.
+
+"Anywhere," said Christopher Robin.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens
+to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a
+little boy and his Bear will always be playing.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+                       BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
+
+                            BY A. A. MILNE
+
+                 _with Decorations by_ E. H. SHEPARD:
+
+    WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG
+    NOW WE ARE SIX
+    WINNIE-THE-POOH
+    THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
+    THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN STORY BOOK
+    SONG-BOOKS FROM THE POEMS OF A. A. MILNE
+    _with Music by_ H. FRASER-SIMSON:
+      FOURTEEN SONGS
+      THE KING'S BREAKFAST
+      TEDDY BEAR AND OTHER SONGS
+      THE HUMS OF POOH
+      SONGS FROM "NOW WE ARE SIX"
+
+
+                       E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.
+
+
+
+
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER ***
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-<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER ***</div>

-

-<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop">

-  <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt="cover">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<h1>THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</h1>

-

-<p>BY A. A. MILNE</p>

-

-<p><i>with decorations<br>

-by Ernest H. Shepard</i></p>

-

-<p>PUBLISHED BY<br>

-E. P. DUTTON &amp; CO., INC., NEW YORK</p>

-

-<p>THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</p>

-

-<p>COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY E. P. DUTTON &amp; CO., INC.<br>

-ALL RIGHTS RESERVED<br>

-PRINTED IN U. S. A.</p>

-

-<p>First Printing September, 1928</p>

-

-<p>100th Printing December, 1936</p>

-

-<p>139th Printing July, 1949</p>

-

-<p>Reprinted, from new plates and engravings<br>

-and type entirely reset August, 1950</p>

-

-<p>141st Printing September, 1951</p>

-

-<p>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE<br>

-AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<h2>DEDICATION</h2>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>You gave me Christopher Robin, and then</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>You breathed new life in Pooh.</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Whatever of each has left my pen</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Goes homing back to you.</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>My book is ready, and comes to greet</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>The mother it longs to see—</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>It would be my present to you, my sweet,</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>If it weren't your gift to me.</i></div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h2><i>Contradiction</i></h2>

-

-

-

-<p>An introduction is to introduce people, but Christopher Robin and his

-friends, who have already been introduced to you, are now going to

-say Good-bye. So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the

-opposite of an Introduction was, he said "The what of a what?" which

-didn't help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head

-and told us that the opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a

-Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that

-that's what it is.</p>

-

-<p>Why we are having a Contradiction is because last week when Christopher

-Robin said to me, "What about that story you were going to tell me

-about what happened to Pooh when——" I happened to say very quickly,

-"What about nine times a hundred and seven?" And when we had done that

-one, we had one about cows going through a gate at two a minute, and

-there are three hundred in the field, so how many are left after an

-hour and a half? We find these very exciting, and when we have been

-excited quite enough, we curl up and go to sleep ... and Pooh, sitting

-wakeful a little longer on his chair by our pillow, thinks Grand

-Thoughts to himself about Nothing, until he, too, closes his eyes and

-nods his head, and follows us on tip-toe into the Forest. There, still,

-we have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you

-about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we

-can catch hold of them. How did the last one begin? "One day when Pooh

-was walking in the Forest, there were one hundred and seven cows on a

-gate...." No, you see, we have lost it. It was the best, I think. Well,

-here are some of the other ones, all that we shall remember now. But,

-of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be

-there ... and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.</p>

-

-<p class="ph3">A. A. M.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h2><i>Contents</i></h2>

-

-

-

-<table>

-<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">IN WHICH <i>A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">IN WHICH <i>Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">IN WHICH <i>A Search Is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the

-Heffalump Again</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IN WHICH <i>It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">IN WHICH <i>Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin

-Does in the Mornings</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">IN WHICH <i>Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">IN WHICH <i>Tigger Is Unbounced</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">IN WHICH <i>Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IN WHICH <i>Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It</i></a></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">IN WHICH <i>Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and

-We Leave Them There</i></a></td></tr>

-</table>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h2>THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</h2>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h3>

-

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore</i></p>

-

-

-<p>One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do

-something, so he went round to Piglet's house to see what Piglet was

-doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track,

-and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire,

-but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he

-looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.</p>

-

-<p>"He's out," said Pooh sadly. "That's what it is. He's not in. I shall

-have to go a fast Thinking Walk by myself. Bother!"</p>

-

-<p>But first he thought that he would knock very loudly just to make

-<i>quite</i> sure ... and while he waited for Piglet not to answer, he

-jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum came suddenly into his head,

-which seemed to him a Good Hum, such as is Hummed Hopefully to Others.</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">The more it snows</div>

-    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">The more it goes</div>

-    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">The more it goes</div>

-    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent6">On snowing.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And nobody knows</div>

-    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my toes</div>

-    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my toes</div>

-    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent6">Are growing.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"So what I'll do," said Pooh, "is I'll do this. I'll just go home first

-and see what the time is, and perhaps I'll put a muffler round my neck,

-and then I'll go and see Eeyore and sing it to him."</p>

-

-<p>He hurried back to his own house; and his mind was so busy on the

-way with the hum that he was getting ready for Eeyore that, when he

-suddenly saw Piglet sitting in his best arm-chair, he could only stand

-there rubbing his head and wondering whose house he was in.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Piglet," he said. "I thought you were out."</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Piglet, "it's you who were out, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"So it was," said Pooh. "I knew one of us was."</p>

-

-<p>He looked up at his clock, which had stopped at five minutes to eleven

-some weeks ago.</p>

-

-<p>"Nearly eleven o'clock," said Pooh happily. "You're just in time for a

-little smackerel of something," and he put his head into the cupboard.

-"And then we'll go out, Piglet, and sing my song to Eeyore."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Which song, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>"The one we're going to sing to Eeyore," explained Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>The clock was still saying five minutes to eleven when Pooh and Piglet

-set out on their way half an hour later. The wind had dropped, and the

-snow, tired of rushing round in circles trying to catch itself up,

-now fluttered gently down until it found a place on which to rest, and

-sometimes the place was Pooh's nose and sometimes it wasn't, and in

-a little while Piglet was wearing a white muffler round his neck and

-feeling more snowy behind the ears than he had ever felt before.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Pooh," he said at last, and a little timidly, because he didn't want

-Pooh to think he was Giving In, "I was just wondering. How would it

-be if we went home now and <i>practised</i> your song, and then sang it to

-Eeyore tomorrow—or—or the next day, when we happen to see him?"</p>

-

-<p>"That's a very good idea, Piglet," said Pooh. "We'll practise it now as

-we go along. But it's no good going home to practise it, because it's

-a special Outdoor Song which Has To Be Sung In The Snow."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you sure?" asked Piglet anxiously.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, you'll see, Piglet, when you listen. Because this is how it

-begins. <i>The more it snows, tiddely pom</i>——"</p>

-

-<p>"Tiddely what?" said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Pom," said Pooh. "I put that in to make it more hummy. <i>The more it

-goes, tiddely pom, the more</i>——"</p>

-

-<p>"Didn't you say snows?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, but that was <i>before</i>."</p>

-

-<p>"Before the tiddely pom?"</p>

-

-<p>"It was a <i>different</i> tiddely pom," said Pooh, feeling rather muddled

-now. "I'll sing it to you properly and then you'll see."</p>

-

-<p>So he sang it again.</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">The more it</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">SNOWS-tiddely-pom,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">The more it</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">GOES-tiddely-pom</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">The more it</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">GOES-tiddely-pom</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">On</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Snowing.</div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">And nobody</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">KNOWS-tiddely-pom,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">TOES-tiddely-pom</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">TOES-tiddely-pom</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Are</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Growing.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>He sang it like that, which is much the best way of singing it, and

-when he had finished, he waited for Piglet to say that, of all the

-Outdoor Hums for Snowy Weather he had ever heard, this was the best.

-And, after thinking the matter out carefully, Piglet said:</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh," he said solemnly, "it isn't the <i>toes</i> so much as the <i>ears</i>."</p>

-

-<p>By this time they were getting near Eeyore's Gloomy Place, which was

-where he lived, and as it was still very snowy behind Piglet's ears,

-and he was getting tired of it, they turned into a little pine wood,

-and sat down on the gate which led into it. They were out of the snow

-now, but it was very cold, and to keep themselves warm they sang Pooh's

-song right through six times, Piglet doing the tiddely-poms and Pooh

-doing the rest of it, and both of them thumping on the top of the gate

-with pieces of stick at the proper places. And in a little while they

-felt much warmer, and were able to talk again.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and what I've been thinking is this.

-I've been thinking about Eeyore."</p>

-

-<p>"What about Eeyore?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well, poor Eeyore has nowhere to live."</p>

-

-<p>"Nor he has," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>You</i> have a house, Piglet, and I have a house, and they are very good

-houses. And Christopher Robin has a house, and Owl and Kanga and Rabbit

-have houses, and even Rabbit's friends and relations have houses or

-somethings, but poor Eeyore has nothing. So what I've been thinking is:

-Let's build him a house."</p>

-

-<p>"That," said Piglet, "is a Grand Idea. Where shall we build it?"</p>

-

-<p>"We build it here," said Pooh, "just by this wood, out of the wind,

-because this is where I thought of it. And we will call this Pooh

-Corner. And we will build an Eeyore House with sticks at Pooh Corner

-for Eeyore."</p>

-

-<p>"There was a heap of sticks on the other side of the wood," said

-Piglet. "I saw them. Lots and lots. All piled up."</p>

-

-<p>"Thank you, Piglet," said Pooh. "What you have just said will be

-a Great Help to us, and because of it I could call this place

-Poohanpiglet Corner if Pooh Corner didn't sound better, which it does,

-being smaller and more like a corner. Come along."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>So they got down off the gate and went round to the other side of the

-wood to fetch the sticks.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Christopher Robin had spent the morning indoors going to Africa and

-back, and he had just got off the boat and was wondering what it was

-like outside, when who should come knocking at the door but Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came

-out. "How are <i>you</i>?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.</p>

-

-<p>"So it is."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>And</i> freezing."</p>

-

-<p>"Is it?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we

-haven't had an earthquake lately."</p>

-

-<p>"What's the matter, Eeyore?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Nothing, Christopher Robin. Nothing important. I suppose you haven't

-seen a house or what-not anywhere about?"</p>

-

-<p>"What sort of a house?"</p>

-

-<p>"Just a house."</p>

-

-<p>"Who lives there?"</p>

-

-<p>"I do. At least I thought I did. But I suppose I don't. After all, we

-can't all have houses."</p>

-

-<p>"But, Eeyore, I didn't know—I always thought——"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't know how it is, Christopher Robin, but what with all

-this snow and one thing and another, not to mention icicles

-and such-like, it isn't so Hot in my field about three o'clock

-in the morning as some people think it is. It isn't Close, if

-you know what I mean—not so as to be uncomfortable. It isn't

-Stuffy. In fact, Christopher Robin," he went on in a loud whisper,

-"quite-between-ourselves-and-don't-tell-anybody, it's Cold."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore!"</p>

-

-<p>"And I said to myself: The others will be sorry if I'm getting myself

-all cold. They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's

-blown into their heads by mistake, and they don't Think, but if it goes

-on snowing for another six weeks or so, one of them will begin to say

-to himself: 'Eeyore can't be so very much too Hot about three o'clock

-in the morning.' And then it will Get About. And they'll be Sorry."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus9.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore!" said Christopher Robin, feeling very sorry already.</p>

-

-<p>"I don't mean you, Christopher Robin. You're different. So what it all

-comes to is that I built myself a house down by my little wood."</p>

-

-<p>"Did you really? How exciting!"</p>

-

-<p>"The really exciting part," said Eeyore in his most melancholy voice,

-"is that when I left it this morning it was there, and when I came back

-it wasn't. Not at all, very natural, and it was only Eeyore's house.

-But still I just wondered."</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin didn't stop to wonder. He was already back in <i>his</i>

-house, putting on his waterproof hat, his waterproof boots and his

-waterproof macintosh as fast as he could.</p>

-

-<p>"We'll go and look for it at once," he called out to Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Sometimes," said Eeyore, "when people have quite finished taking a

-person's house, there are one or two bits which they don't want and are

-rather glad for the person to take back, if you know what I mean. So I

-thought if we just went——"</p>

-

-<p>"Come on," said Christopher Robin, and off they hurried, and in a very

-little time they got to the corner of the field by the side of the

-pine-wood, where Eeyore's house wasn't any longer.</p>

-

-<p>"There!" said Eeyore. "Not a stick of it left! Of course, I've still

-got all this snow to do what I like with. One mustn't complain."</p>

-

-<p>But Christopher Robin wasn't listening to Eeyore, he was listening to

-something else.</p>

-

-<p>"Can't you hear it?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>"What is it? Somebody laughing?"</p>

-

-<p>"Listen."</p>

-

-<p>They both listened ... and they heard a deep gruff voice saying in a

-singing voice that the more it snowed the more it went on snowing, and

-a small high voice tiddely-pomming in between.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus10.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"It's Pooh," said Christopher Robin excitedly....</p>

-

-<p>"Possibly," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>And</i> Piglet!" said Christopher Robin excitedly.</p>

-

-<p>"Probably," said Eeyore. "What we <i>want</i> is a Trained Bloodhound."</p>

-

-<p>The words of the song changed suddenly.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>We've finished our HOUSE!</i>" sang the gruff voice.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Tiddely pom!</i>" sang the squeaky one.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>It's a beautiful HOUSE....</i>"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Tiddely pom....</i>"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>I wish it were MINE....</i>"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Tiddely pom....</i>"</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh!" shouted Christopher Robin....</p>

-

-<p>The singers on the gate stopped suddenly.</p>

-

-<p>"It's Christopher Robin!" said Pooh eagerly.</p>

-

-<p>"He's round by the place where we got all those sticks from," said

-Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Come on," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>They climbed down their gate and hurried round the corner of the wood,

-Pooh making welcoming noises all the way.</p>

-

-<p>"Why, here <i>is</i> Eeyore," said Pooh, when he had finished hugging

-Christopher Robin, and he nudged Piglet, and Piglet nudged him, and

-they thought to themselves what a lovely surprise they had got ready.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Eeyore."</p>

-

-<p>"Same to you, Pooh Bear, and twice on Thursdays," said Eeyore gloomily.</p>

-

-<p>Before Pooh could say: "Why Thursdays?" Christopher Robin began to

-explain the sad story of Eeyore's Lost House. And Pooh and Piglet

-listened, and their eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Where</i> did you say it was?" asked Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Just here," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Made of sticks?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"What?" said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"I just said 'Oh!'" said Piglet nervously. And so as to seem quite at

-ease he hummed Tiddely-pom once or twice in a what-shall-we-do-now kind

-of way.</p>

-

-<p>"You're sure it <i>was</i> a house?" said Pooh. "I mean, you're sure the

-house was just here?"</p>

-

-<p>"Of course I am," said Eeyore. And he murmured to himself, "No brain at

-all some of them."</p>

-

-<p>"Why, what's the matter, Pooh?" asked Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh.... "The fact <i>is</i>," said Pooh.... "Well, the fact

-<i>is</i>," said Pooh.... "You see," said Pooh.... "It's like this," said

-Pooh, and something seemed to tell him that he wasn't explaining very

-well, and he nudged Piglet again.</p>

-

-<p>"It's like this," said Piglet quickly.... "Only warmer," he added after

-deep thought.</p>

-

-<p>"What's warmer?"</p>

-

-<p>"The other side of the wood, where Eeyore's house is."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>My</i> house?" said Eeyore. "My house was here."</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Piglet firmly. "The other side of the wood."</p>

-

-<p>"Because of being warmer," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"But I ought to <i>know</i>——"</p>

-

-<p>"Come and look," said Piglet simply, and he led the way.</p>

-

-<p>"There wouldn't be <i>two</i> houses," said Pooh. "Not so close together."</p>

-

-<p>They came round the corner, and there was Eeyore's house, looking as

-comfy as anything.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus11.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"There you are," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Inside as well as outside," said Pooh proudly.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore went inside ... and came out again.</p>

-

-<p>"It's a remarkable thing," he said. "It <i>is</i> my house, and I built it

-where I said I did, so the wind must have blown it here. And the wind

-blew it right over the wood, and blew it down here, and here it is as

-good as ever. In fact, better in places."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus12.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Much better," said Pooh and Piglet together.</p>

-

-<p>"It just shows what can be done by taking a little trouble," said

-Eeyore. "Do you see, Pooh? Do you see, Piglet? Brains first and then

-Hard Work. Look at it! <i>That's</i> the way to build a house," said Eeyore

-proudly.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>So they left him in it; and Christopher Robin went back to lunch with

-his friends Pooh and Piglet, and on the way they told him of the Awful

-Mistake they had made. And when he had finished laughing, they all sang

-the Outdoor Song for Snowy Weather the rest of the way home, Piglet,

-who was still not quite sure of his voice, putting in the tiddely-poms

-again.</p>

-

-<p>"And I know it <i>seems</i> easy," said Piglet to himself, "but it isn't

-<i>every one</i> who could do it."</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast</i></p>

-

-

-<p>Winnie-the-pooh woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and

-listened. Then he got out of bed, and lit his candle, and stumped

-across the room to see if anybody was trying to get into his

-honey-cupboard, and they weren't, so he stumped back again, blew out

-his candle, and got into bed. Then he heard the noise again.</p>

-

-<p>"Is that you, Piglet?" he said.</p>

-

-<p>But it wasn't.</p>

-

-<p>"Come in, Christopher Robin," he said.</p>

-

-<p>But Christopher Robin didn't.</p>

-

-<p>"Tell me about it tomorrow, Eeyore," said Pooh sleepily.</p>

-

-<p>But the noise went on.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Worraworraworraworraworra</i>," said Whatever-it-was, and Pooh found

-that he wasn't asleep after all.</p>

-

-<p>"What can it be?" he thought. "There are lots of noises in

-the Forest, but this is a different one. It isn't a growl,

-and it isn't a purr, and it isn't a bark, and it isn't the

-noise-you-make-before-beginning-a-piece-of-poetry, but it's a noise

-of some kind, made by a strange animal. And he's making it outside my

-door. So I shall get up and ask him not to do it."</p>

-

-<p>He got out of bed and opened his front door.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus13.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Hallo!" said Pooh, in case there was anything outside.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo!" said Whatever-it-was.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo!"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, <i>there</i> you are!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo!" said the Strange Animal, wondering how long this was going on.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh was just going to say "Hallo!" for the fourth time when he thought

-that he wouldn't, so he said: "Who is it?" instead.</p>

-

-<p>"Me," said a voice.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Pooh. "Well, come here."</p>

-

-<p>So Whatever-it-was came here, and in the light of the candle he and

-Pooh looked at each other.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm Pooh," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm Tigger," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Pooh, for he had never seen an animal like this before.

-"Does Christopher Robin know about you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Of course he does," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh, "it's the middle of the night, which is a good time

-for going to sleep. And tomorrow morning we'll have some honey for

-breakfast. Do Tiggers like honey?"</p>

-

-<p>"They like everything," said Tigger cheerfully.</p>

-

-<p>"Then if they like going to sleep on the floor, I'll go back to bed,"

-said Pooh, "and we'll do things in the morning. Good night." And he got

-back into bed and went fast asleep.</p>

-

-<p>When he awoke in the morning, the first thing he saw was Tigger,

-sitting in front of the glass and looking at himself.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus14.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Hallo!" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo!" said Tigger. "I've found somebody just like me. I thought I

-was the only one of them."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh got out of bed, and began to explain what a looking-glass was, but

-just as he was getting to the interesting part, Tigger said:</p>

-

-<p>"Excuse me a moment, but there's something climbing up your table,"

-and with one loud <i>Worraworraworraworraworra</i> he jumped at the end

-of the tablecloth, pulled it to the ground, wrapped himself up in it

-three times, rolled to the other end of the room, and, after a terrible

-struggle, got his head into the daylight again, and said cheerfully:

-"Have I won?"</p>

-

-<p>"That's my tablecloth," said Pooh, as he began to unwind Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"I wondered what it was," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"It goes on the table and you put things on it."</p>

-

-<p>"Then why did it try to bite me when I wasn't looking?"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't <i>think</i> it did," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"It tried," said Tigger, "but I was too quick for it."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus15.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Pooh put the cloth back on the table, and he put a large honey-pot on

-the cloth, and they sat down to breakfast. And as soon as they sat

-down, Tigger took a large mouthful of honey ... and he looked up at the

-ceiling with his head on one side, and made exploring noises with his

-tongue and considering noises, and what-have-we-got-<i>here</i> noises ...

-and then he said in a very decided voice:</p>

-

-<p>"Tiggers don't like honey."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Pooh, and tried to make it sound Sad and Regretful. "I

-thought they liked everything."</p>

-

-<p>"Everything except honey," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh felt rather pleased about this, and said that, as soon as he had

-finished his own breakfast, he would take Tigger round to Piglet's

-house, and Tigger could try some of Piglet's haycorns.</p>

-

-<p>"Thank you, Pooh," said Tigger, "because haycorns is really what

-Tiggers like best."</p>

-

-<p>So after breakfast they went round to see Piglet, and Pooh explained as

-they went that Piglet was a Very Small Animal who didn't like bouncing,

-and asked Tigger not to be too Bouncy just at first. And Tigger, who

-had been hiding behind trees and jumping out on Pooh's shadow when it

-wasn't looking, said that Tiggers were only bouncy before breakfast,

-and that as soon as they had had a few haycorns they became Quiet and

-Refined. So by and by they knocked at the door of Piglet's house.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Piglet. This is Tigger."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, is it?" said Piglet, and he edged round to the other side of the

-table. "I thought Tiggers were smaller than that."</p>

-

-<p>"Not the big ones," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"They like haycorns," said Pooh, "so that's what we've come for,

-because poor Tigger hasn't had any breakfast yet."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet pushed the bowl of haycorns towards Tigger, and said: "Help

-yourself," and then he got close up to Pooh and felt much braver, and

-said, "So you're Tigger? Well, well!" in a careless sort of voice. But

-Tigger said nothing because his mouth was full of haycorns....</p>

-

-<p>After a long munching noise he said:</p>

-

-<p>"Ee-ers o i a-ors."</p>

-

-<p>And when Pooh and Piglet said "What?" he said "Skoos ee," and went

-outside for a moment.</p>

-

-<p>When he came back he said firmly:</p>

-

-<p>"Tiggers don't like haycorns."</p>

-

-<p>"But you said they liked everything except honey," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Everything except honey and haycorns," explained Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>When he heard this Pooh said, "Oh, I see!" and Piglet, who was rather

-glad that Tiggers didn't like haycorns, said, "What about thistles?"</p>

-

-<p>"Thistles," said Tigger, "is what Tiggers like best."</p>

-

-<p>"Then let's go along and see Eeyore," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus16.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>So the three of them went; and after they had walked and walked and

-walked, they came to the part of the Forest where Eeyore was.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Pooh. "This is Tigger."</p>

-

-<p>"What is?" said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"This," explained Pooh and Piglet together, and Tigger smiled his

-happiest smile and said nothing.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore walked all round Tigger one way, and then turned and walked all

-round him the other way.</p>

-

-<p>"What did you say it was?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>"Tigger."</p>

-

-<p>"Ah!" said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"He's just come," explained Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah!" said Eeyore again.</p>

-

-<p>He thought for a long time and then said:</p>

-

-<p>"When is he going?"</p>

-

-<p>Pooh explained to Eeyore that Tigger was a great friend of Christopher

-Robin's, who had come to stay in the Forest, and Piglet explained to

-Tigger that he mustn't mind what Eeyore said because he was <i>always</i>

-gloomy; and Eeyore explained to Piglet that, on the contrary, he was

-feeling particularly cheerful this morning; and Tigger explained to

-anybody who was listening that he hadn't had any breakfast yet.</p>

-

-<p>"I knew there was something," said Pooh. "Tiggers always eat thistles,

-so that was why we came to see you, Eeyore."</p>

-

-<p>"Don't mention it, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore, I didn't mean that I didn't <i>want</i> to see you——"</p>

-

-<p>"Quite—quite. But your new stripy friend—naturally, he wants his

-breakfast. What did you say his name was?"</p>

-

-<p>"Tigger."</p>

-

-<p>"Then come this way, Tigger."</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore led the way to the most thistly-looking patch of thistles that

-ever was, and waved a hoof at it.</p>

-

-<p>"A little patch I was keeping for my birthday," he said; "but, after

-all, what <i>are</i> birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow. Help yourself,

-Tigger."</p>

-

-<p>Tigger thanked him and looked a little anxiously at Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Are these really thistles?" he whispered.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"What Tiggers like best?"</p>

-

-<p>"That's right," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"I see," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>So he took a large mouthful, and he gave a large crunch.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Ow!</i>" said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>He sat down and put his paw in his mouth.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus17.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"What's the matter?" asked Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Hot!</i>" mumbled Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"Your friend," said Eeyore, "appears to have bitten on a bee."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh's friend stopped shaking his head to get the prickles out, and

-explained that Tiggers didn't like thistles.</p>

-

-<p>"Then why bend a perfectly good one?" asked Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"But you said," began Pooh—"you <i>said</i> that Tiggers liked everything

-except honey and haycorns."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>And</i> thistles," said Tigger, who was now running round in circles

-with his tongue hanging out.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh looked at him sadly.</p>

-

-<p>"What are we going to do?" he asked Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>Piglet knew the answer to that, and he said at once that they must go

-and see Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<p>"You'll find him with Kanga," said Eeyore. He came close to Pooh, and

-said in a loud whisper:</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Could</i> you ask your friend to do his exercises somewhere else? I

-shall be having lunch directly, and don't want it bounced on just

-before I begin. A trifling matter, and fussy of me, but we all have our

-little ways."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh nodded solemnly and called to Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"Come along and we'll go and see Kanga. She's sure to have lots of

-breakfast for you."</p>

-

-<p>Tigger finished his last circle and came up to Pooh and Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Hot!" he explained with a large and friendly smile. "Come on!" and he

-rushed off.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh and Piglet walked slowly after him. And as they walked Piglet said

-nothing, because he couldn't think of anything, and Pooh said nothing,

-because he was thinking of a poem. And when he had thought of it he

-began:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">What shall we do about poor little Tigger?</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">If he never eats nothing he'll never get bigger.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">He doesn't like honey and haycorns and thistles</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Because of the taste and because of the bristles.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And all the good things which an animal likes</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Have the wrong sort of swallow or too many spikes.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"He's quite big enough anyhow," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"He isn't <i>really</i> very big."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, he <i>seems</i> so."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh was thoughtful when he heard this, and then he murmured to himself:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">But whatever his weight in pounds, shillings, and ounces,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">He always seems bigger because of his bounces.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"And that's the whole poem," he said. "Do you like it, Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>"All except the shillings," said Piglet. "I don't think they ought to

-be there."</p>

-

-<p>"They wanted to come in after the pounds," explained Pooh, "so I let

-them. It is the best way to write poetry, letting things come."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, I didn't know," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Tigger had been bouncing in front of them all this time, turning round

-every now and then to ask, "Is this the way?"—and now at last they

-came in sight of Kanga's house, and there was Christopher Robin. Tigger

-rushed up to him.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus18.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Oh, there you are, Tigger!" said Christopher Robin. "I knew you'd be

-somewhere."</p>

-

-<p>"I've been finding things in the Forest," said Tigger importantly.

-"I've found a pooh and a piglet and an eeyore, but I can't find any

-breakfast."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh and Piglet came up and hugged Christopher Robin, and explained

-what had been happening.</p>

-

-<p>"Don't <i>you</i> know what Tiggers like?" asked Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"I expect if I thought very hard I should," said Christopher Robin,

-"but I <i>thought</i> Tigger knew."</p>

-

-<p>"I do," said Tigger. "Everything there is in the world except honey and

-haycorns and—what were those hot things called?"</p>

-

-<p>"Thistles."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, and those."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, well then, Kanga can give you some breakfast."</p>

-

-<p>So they went into Kanga's house, and when Roo had said, "Hallo, Pooh,"

-and "Hallo, Piglet" once, and "Hallo, Tigger" twice, because he had

-never said it before and it sounded funny, they told Kanga what they

-wanted, and Kanga said very kindly, "Well, look in my cupboard, Tigger

-dear, and see what you'd like." Because she knew at once that, however

-big Tigger seemed to be, he wanted as much kindness as Roo.</p>

-

-<p>"Shall I look, too?" said Pooh, who was beginning to feel a little

-eleven o'clockish. And he found a small tin of condensed milk, and

-something seemed to tell him that Tiggers didn't like this, so he

-took it into a corner by itself, and went with it to see that nobody

-interrupted it.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus19.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>But the more Tigger put his nose into this and his paw into that, the

-more things he found which Tiggers didn't like. And when he had found

-everything in the cupboard, and couldn't eat any of it, he said to

-Kanga, "What happens now?"</p>

-

-<p>But Kanga and Christopher Robin and Piglet were all standing round Roo,

-watching him have his Extract of Malt. And Roo was saying, "Must I?"

-and Kanga was saying "Now, Roo dear, you remember what you promised."</p>

-

-<p>"What is it?" whispered Tigger to Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"His Strengthening Medicine," said Piglet. "He hates it."</p>

-

-<p>So Tigger came closer, and he leant over the back of Roo's chair, and

-suddenly he put out his tongue, and took one large golollop, and, with

-a sudden jump of surprise, Kanga said, "Oh!" and then clutched at the

-spoon again just as it was disappearing, and pulled it safely back out

-of Tigger's mouth. But the Extract of Malt had gone.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus20.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Tigger <i>dear</i>!" said Kanga.</p>

-

-<p>"He's taken my medicine, he's taken my medicine, he's taken my

-medicine!" sang Roo happily, thinking it was a tremendous joke.</p>

-

-<p>Then Tigger looked up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes, and his

-tongue went round and round his chops, in case he had left any outside,

-and a peaceful smile came over his face as he said, "So <i>that's</i> what

-Tiggers like!"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Which explains why he always lived at Kanga's house afterwards, and had

-Extract of Malt for breakfast, dinner, and tea. And sometimes, when

-Kanga thought he wanted strengthening, he had a spoonful or two of

-Roo's breakfast after meals as medicine.</p>

-

-<p>"But <i>I</i> think," said Piglet to Pooh, "that he's been strengthened

-quite enough."</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</h3>

-

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>A Search Is Organdized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump

-Again</i></p>

-

-

-<p>Pooh was sitting in his house one day, counting his pots of honey, when

-there came a knock on the door.</p>

-

-<p>"Fourteen," said Pooh. "Come in. Fourteen. Or was it fifteen? Bother.

-That's muddled me."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus21.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Rabbit. Fourteen, wasn't it?"</p>

-

-<p>"What was?"</p>

-

-<p>"My pots of honey what I was counting."</p>

-

-<p>"Fourteen, that's right."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you sure?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Rabbit. "Does it matter?"</p>

-

-<p>"I just like to know," said Pooh humbly. "So as I can say to myself:

-'I've got fourteen pots of honey left.' Or fifteen, as the case may be.

-It's sort of comforting."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, let's call it sixteen," said Rabbit. "What I came to say was:

-Have you seen Small anywhere about?"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't think so," said Pooh. And then, after thinking a little more,

-he said: "Who is Small?"</p>

-

-<p>"One of my friends-and-relations," said Rabbit carelessly.</p>

-

-<p>This didn't help Pooh much, because Rabbit had so many

-friends-and-relations, and of such different sorts and sizes, that he

-didn't know whether he ought to be looking for Small at the top of an

-oak-tree or in the petal of a buttercup.</p>

-

-<p>"I haven't seen anybody today," said Pooh, "not so as to say 'Hallo,

-Small,' to. Did you want him for anything?"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>I</i> don't <i>want</i> him," said Rabbit. "But it's always useful to know

-where a friend-and-relation <i>is</i>, whether you want him or whether you

-don't."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh. "Is he lost?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Rabbit, "nobody has seen him for a long time, so I suppose

-he is. Anyhow," he went on importantly, "I promised Christopher Robin

-I'd Organize a Search for him, so come on."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh said good-bye affectionately to his fourteen pots of honey, and

-hoped they were fifteen; and he and Rabbit went out into the Forest.</p>

-

-<p>"Now," said Rabbit, "this is a Search, and I've Organized it——"</p>

-

-<p>"Done what to it?" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Organized it. Which means—well, it's what you do to a Search, when

-you don't all look in the same place at once. So I want <i>you</i>, Pooh,

-to search by the Six Pine Trees first, and then work your way towards

-Owl's House, and look out for me there. Do you see?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus22.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh. "What——"</p>

-

-<p>"Then I'll see you at Owl's House in about an hour's time."</p>

-

-<p>"Is Piglet organdized too?"</p>

-

-<p>"We all are," said Rabbit, and off he went.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>As soon as Rabbit was out of sight, Pooh remembered that he had

-forgotten to ask who Small was, and whether he was the sort of

-friend-and-relation who settled on one's nose, or the sort who got

-trodden on by mistake, and as it was Too Late Now, he thought he would

-begin the Hunt by looking for Piglet, and asking him what they were

-looking for before he looked for it.</p>

-

-<p>"And it's no good looking at the Six Pine Trees for Piglet," said Pooh

-to himself, "because he's been organdized in a special place of his

-own. So I shall have to look for the Special Place first. I wonder

-where it is." And he wrote it down in his head like this:</p>

-

-

-<p>ORDER OF LOOKING FOR THINGS</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">1. Special Place. (<i>To find Piglet.</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">2. Piglet.        (<i>To find who Small is.</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">3. Small.         (<i>To find Small.</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">4. Rabbit.        (<i>To tell him I've found Small.</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">5. Small Again.   (<i>To tell him I've found Rabbit.</i>)</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"Which makes it look like a bothering sort of day," thought Pooh, as he

-stumped along.</p>

-

-<p>The next moment the day became very bothering indeed, because Pooh was

-so busy not looking where he was going that he stepped on a piece of

-the Forest which had been left out by mistake; and he only just had

-time to think to himself: "I'm flying. What Owl does. I wonder how you

-stop——" when he stopped.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus23.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p><i>Bump!</i></p>

-

-<p>"Ow!" squeaked something.</p>

-

-<p>"That's funny," thought Pooh. "I said 'Ow!' without really oo'ing."</p>

-

-<p>"Help!" said a small, high voice.</p>

-

-<p>"That's me again," thought Pooh. "I've had an Accident, and fallen down

-a well, and my voice has gone all squeaky and works before I'm ready

-for it, because I've done something to myself inside. Bother!"</p>

-

-<p>"Help—help!"</p>

-

-<p>"There you are! I say things when I'm not trying. So it must be a very

-bad Accident." And then he thought that perhaps when he did try to say

-things he wouldn't be able to; so, to make sure, he said loudly: "A

-Very Bad Accident to Pooh Bear."</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh!" squeaked the voice.</p>

-

-<p>"It's Piglet!" cried Pooh eagerly. "Where are you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Underneath," said Piglet in an underneath sort of way.</p>

-

-<p>"Underneath what?"</p>

-

-<p>"You," squeaked Piglet. "Get up!"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus24.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Pooh, and scrambled up as quickly as he could. "Did I fall

-on you, Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>"You fell on me," said Piglet, feeling himself all over.</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't mean to," said Pooh sorrowfully.</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't mean to be underneath," said Piglet sadly. "But I'm all right

-now, Pooh, and I <i>am</i> so glad it was you."</p>

-

-<p>"What's happened?" said Pooh. "Where are we?"</p>

-

-<p>"I think we're in a sort of Pit. I was walking along, looking for

-somebody, and then suddenly I wasn't any more, and just when I got up

-to see where I was, something fell on me. And it was you."</p>

-

-<p>"So it was," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Piglet. "Pooh," he went on nervously, and came a little

-closer, "do you think we're in a Trap?"</p>

-

-<p>Pooh hadn't thought about it at all, but now he nodded. For suddenly he

-remembered how he and Piglet had once made a Pooh Trap for Heffalumps,

-and he guessed what had happened. He and Piglet had fallen into a

-Heffalump Trap for Poohs! That was what it was.</p>

-

-<p>"What happens when the Heffalump comes?" asked Piglet tremblingly, when

-he had heard the news.</p>

-

-<p>"Perhaps he won't notice <i>you</i>, Piglet," said Pooh encouragingly,

-"because you're a Very Small Animal."</p>

-

-<p>"But he'll notice <i>you</i>, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"He'll notice <i>me</i>, and I shall notice <i>him</i>," said Pooh, thinking it

-out. "We'll notice each other for a long time, and then he'll say:

-'Ho-<i>ho</i>!'"</p>

-

-<p>Piglet shivered a little at the thought of that "Ho-<i>ho</i>!" and his ears

-began to twitch.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus25.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"W-what will <i>you</i> say?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh tried to think of something he would say, but the more he thought,

-the more he felt that there <i>is</i> no real answer to "Ho-<i>ho</i>!" said by a

-Heffalump in the sort of voice this Heffalump was going to say it in.</p>

-

-<p>"I shan't say anything," said Pooh at last. "I shall just hum to

-myself, as if I was waiting for something."</p>

-

-<p>"Then perhaps he'll say, 'Ho-<i>ho</i>!' again?" suggested Piglet anxiously.</p>

-

-<p>"He will," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>Piglet's ears twitched so quickly that he had to lean them against the

-side of the Trap to keep them quiet.</p>

-

-<p>"He will say it again," said Pooh, "and I shall go on humming. And that

-will Upset him. Because when you say 'Ho-<i>ho</i>' twice, in a gloating

-sort of way, and the other person only hums, you suddenly find, just as

-you begin to say it the third time—that—well, you find——"</p>

-

-<p>"What?"</p>

-

-<p>"That it isn't," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Isn't what?"</p>

-

-<p>Pooh knew what he meant, but, being a Bear of Very Little Brain,

-couldn't think of the words.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, it just isn't," he said again.</p>

-

-<p>"You mean it isn't ho-<i>ho</i>-ish any more?" said Piglet hopefully.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh looked at him admiringly and said that that was what he meant—if

-you went on humming all the time, because you couldn't go on saying

-"Ho-<i>ho</i>!" for ever.</p>

-

-<p>"But he'll say something else," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"That's just it. He'll say: 'What's all this?' And then <i>I</i> shall

-say—and this is a very good idea, Piglet, which I've just thought

-of—<i>I</i> shall say: 'It's a trap for a Heffalump which I've made, and

-I'm waiting for the Heffalump to fall in.' And I shall go on humming.

-That will Unsettle him."</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh!" cried Piglet, and now it was <i>his</i> turn to be the admiring one.

-"You've saved us!"</p>

-

-<p>"Have I?" said Pooh, not feeling quite sure.</p>

-

-<p>But Piglet was quite sure; and his mind ran on, and he saw Pooh and the

-Heffalump talking to each other, and he thought suddenly, and a little

-sadly, that it <i>would</i> have been rather nice if it had been Piglet and

-the Heffalump talking so grandly to each other, and not Pooh, much as

-he loved Pooh; because he really had more brain than Pooh, and the

-conversation would go better if he and not Pooh were doing one side

-of it, and it would be comforting afterwards in the evenings to look

-back on the day when he answered a Heffalump back as bravely as if the

-Heffalump wasn't there. It seemed so easy now. He knew just what he

-would say:</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>gloatingly</i>): "Ho-<i>ho</i>!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>carelessly</i>): "Tra-la-la, tra-la-la."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>surprised, and not quite so sure of himself</i>):

-"Ho-<i>ho</i>!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>more carelessly still</i>): "Tiddle-um-tum,

-tiddle-um-tum."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>beginning to say Ho-ho and turning it awkwardly

-into a cough</i>): "H'r'm! What's all this?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>surprised</i>): "Hullo! This is a trap I've made, and

-I'm waiting for a <span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> to fall into it."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>greatly disappointed</i>): "Oh!" (<i>After a long

-silence</i>): "Are you sure?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span>: "Yes."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span>: "Oh!" (<i>nervously</i>): "I—I thought it was a trap

-<i>I'd</i> made to catch Piglets."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>surprised</i>): "Oh, no!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span>: "Oh!" (<i>Apologetically</i>): "I—I must have got it

-wrong, then."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span>: "I'm afraid so." (<i>Politely</i>): "I'm sorry." (<i>He goes

-on humming.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span>: "Well—well—I—well. I suppose I'd better be

-getting back?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>looking up carelessly</i>): "Must you? Well, if you see

-Christopher Robin anywhere, you might tell him I want him."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>eager to please</i>): "Certainly! Certainly!" (<i>He

-hurries off.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Pooh</span> (<i>who wasn't going to be there, but we find we can't do

-without him</i>): "Oh, Piglet, how brave and clever you are!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>modestly</i>): "Not at all, Pooh." (<i>And then, when

-Christopher Robin comes, Pooh can tell him all about it.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>While Piglet was dreaming this happy dream, and Pooh was wondering

-again whether it was fourteen or fifteen, the Search for Small was

-still going on all over the Forest. Small's real name was Very Small

-Beetle, but he was called Small for short, when he was spoken to at

-all, which hardly ever happened except when somebody said: "<i>Really</i>,

-Small!" He had been staying with Christopher Robin for a few seconds,

-and he started round a gorse-bush for exercise, but instead of coming

-back the other way, as expected, he hadn't, so nobody knew where he was.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus26.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"I expect he's just gone home," said Christopher Robin to Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"Did he say Good-bye-and-thank-you-for-a-nice-time?" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"He'd only just said how-do-you-do," said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit. After thinking a little, he went on: "Has he written

-a letter saying how much he enjoyed himself, and how sorry he was he

-had to go so suddenly?"</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin didn't think he had.</p>

-

-<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit again, and looked very important. "This is Serious.

-He is Lost. We must begin the Search at once."</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin, who was thinking of something else, said: "Where's

-Pooh?"—but Rabbit had gone. So he went into his house and drew a

-picture of Pooh going on a long walk at about seven o'clock in the

-morning, and then he climbed to the top of his tree and climbed down

-again, and then he wondered what Pooh was doing, and went across the

-Forest to see.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus27.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>It was not long before he came to the Gravel Pit, and he looked down,

-and there were Pooh and Piglet, with their backs to him, dreaming

-happily.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus28.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Ho-<i>ho</i>!" said Christopher Robin loudly and suddenly.</p>

-

-<p>Piglet jumped six inches in the air with Surprise and Anxiety, but Pooh

-went on dreaming.</p>

-

-<p>"It's the Heffalump!" thought Piglet nervously. "Now, then!" He

-hummed in his throat a little, so that none of the words should stick,

-and then, in the most delightfully easy way, he said: "Tra-la-la,

-tra-la-la," as if he had just thought of it. But he didn't look

-round, because if you look round and see a Very Fierce Heffalump

-looking down at you, sometimes you forget what you were going to say.

-"Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um," said Christopher Robin in a voice like Pooh's.

-Because Pooh had once invented a song which went:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent2">Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>So whenever Christopher Robin sings it, he always sings it in a

-Pooh-voice, which seems to suit it better.</p>

-

-<p>"He's said the wrong thing," thought Piglet anxiously. "He ought to

-have said, 'Ho-<i>ho</i>!' again. Perhaps I had better say it for him." And,

-as fiercely as he could, Piglet said: "Ho-<i>ho</i>!"</p>

-

-<p>"How <i>did</i> you get there, Piglet?" said Christopher Robin in his

-ordinary voice.</p>

-

-<p>"This is Terrible," thought Piglet. "First he talks in Pooh's voice,

-and then he talks in Christopher Robin's voice, and he's doing it so

-as to Unsettle me." And being now Completely Unsettled, he said very

-quickly and squeakily: "This is a trap for Poohs, and I'm waiting to

-fall in it, ho-<i>ho</i>, what's all this, and then I say ho-<i>ho</i> again."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>What?</i>" said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo!" he shouted joyfully.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh!" he cried. "There's something climbing up your back."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus29.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"I thought there was," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"It's Small!" cried Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, <i>that's</i> who it is, is it?" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Christopher Robin, I've found Small!" cried Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Well done, Piglet," said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>And two days later Rabbit happened to meet Eeyore in the Forest.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Eeyore," he said, "what are <i>you</i> looking for?"</p>

-

-<p>"Small, of course," said Eeyore. "Haven't you any brain?"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, but didn't I tell you?" said Rabbit. "Small was found two days

-ago."</p>

-

-<p>There was a moment's silence.</p>

-

-<p>"Ha-ha," said Eeyore bitterly. "Merriment and what-not. Don't

-apologize. It's just what <i>would</i> happen."</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees</i></p>

-

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>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

-today 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.</p>

-

-<p>The other verse of the song was like this:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">I could spend a happy morning</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Seeing Roo,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I could spend a happy morning</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Being Pooh.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">For it doesn't seem to matter,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">If I don't get any fatter</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(And I <i>don't</i> get any fatter),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">What I do.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus30.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Rabbit," said Pooh to himself. "I <i>like</i> 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 <i>really</i>, I ought to go and see Rabbit."</p>

-

-<p>Which made him think of another verse:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, I like his way of talking,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Yes, I do.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">It's the nicest way of talking</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Just for two.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And a Help-yourself with Rabbit</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Though it may become a habit,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Is a <i>pleasant</i> sort of habit</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">For a Pooh.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>So when he had sung this, he got up off his stone, walked back across

-the stream, and set off for Rabbit's house.</p>

-

-<p>But he hadn't got far before he began to say to himself:</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, but suppose Rabbit is out?"</p>

-

-<p>"Or suppose I get stuck in his front door again, coming out, as I did

-once when his front door wasn't big enough?"</p>

-

-<p>"Because I <i>know</i> I'm not getting fatter, but his front door may be

-getting thinner."</p>

-

-<p>"So wouldn't it be better if——"</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>And it was eleven o'clock.</p>

-

-<p>Which was Time-for-a-little-something....</p>

-

-<p>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:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">I could spend a happy morning</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Seeing Piglet.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And I couldn't spend a happy morning</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Not seeing Piglet.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And it doesn't seem to matter</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">If I don't see Owl and Eeyore</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">(or any of the others),</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And I'm not going to see Owl or Eeyore</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">(or any of the others)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Or Christopher Robin.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>Piglet was busy digging a small hole in the ground outside his house.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus31.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Hallo, Piglet," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet, giving a jump of surprise. "I knew it was

-you."</p>

-

-<p>"So did I," said Pooh. "What are you doing?"</p>

-

-<p>"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?"</p>

-

-<p>"Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so that's why I'm

-planting it."</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it

-will grow up into a beehive."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.</p>

-

-<p>"Or a <i>piece</i> 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."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.</p>

-

-<p>"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.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus32.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>"I thought they were called nasturtiums," said Piglet timidly, as he

-went on jumping.</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh. "Not these. These are called mastershalums."</p>

-

-<p>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-lets"—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.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus33.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>And as they went, Tigger told Roo (who wanted to know) all about the

-things that Tiggers could do.</p>

-

-<p>"Can they fly?" asked Roo.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Tigger, "they're very good flyers, Tiggers are. Stornry

-good flyers."</p>

-

-<p>"Oo!" said Roo. "Can they fly as well as Owl?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Tigger. "Only they don't want to."</p>

-

-<p>"Why don't they want to?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well, they just don't like it, somehow."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Roo, "can they jump as far as Kangas?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Tigger. "When they want to."</p>

-

-<p>"I <i>love</i> jumping," said Roo. "Let's see who can jump farthest, you or

-me."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>I</i> can," said Tigger. "But we mustn't stop now, or we shall be late."</p>

-

-<p>"Late for what?"</p>

-

-<p>"For whatever we want to be in time for," said Tigger, hurrying on.</p>

-

-<p>In a little while they came to the Six Pine Trees.</p>

-

-<p>"I can swim," said Roo. "I fell into the river, and I swimmed. Can

-Tiggers swim?"</p>

-

-<p>"Of course they can. Tiggers can do everything."</p>

-

-<p>"Can they climb trees better than Pooh?" asked Roo, stopping under the

-tallest Pine Tree, and looking up at it.</p>

-

-<p>"Climbing trees is what they do best," said Tigger. "Much better than

-Poohs."</p>

-

-<p>"Could they climb this one?"</p>

-

-<p>"They're always climbing trees like that," said Tigger. "Up and down

-all day."</p>

-

-<p>"Oo, Tigger, are they <i>really</i>?"</p>

-

-<p>"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.</p>

-

-<p>"Oo, Tigger, oo, Tigger, oo, Tigger!" squeaked Roo excitedly.</p>

-

-<p>So he sat on Tigger's back and up they went.</p>

-

-<p>And for the first ten feet Tigger said happily to himself, "Up we go!"</p>

-

-<p>And for the next ten feet he said:</p>

-

-<p>"I always <i>said</i> Tiggers could climb trees."</p>

-

-<p>And for the next ten feet he said:</p>

-

-<p>"Not that it's easy, mind you."</p>

-

-<p>And for the next ten feet he said:</p>

-

-<p>"Of course, there's the coming-down too. Backwards."</p>

-

-<p>And then he said:</p>

-

-<p>"Which will be difficult ...</p>

-

-<p>"Unless one fell ...</p>

-

-<p>"when it would be ...</p>

-

-<p>"EASY."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>Roo climbed off, and sat down next to him.</p>

-

-<p>"Oo, Tigger," he said excitedly, "are we at the top?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"Are we going to the top?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"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?"</p>

-

-<p>"NO," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>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 <i>think</i> he was getting any fatter, what he did;

-and Piglet was wondering how long it would be before his haycorn came

-up.</p>

-

-<p>"Look, Pooh!" said Piglet suddenly. "There's something in one of the

-Pine Trees."</p>

-

-<p>"So there is!" said Pooh, looking up wonderingly. "There's an Animal."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus34.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Piglet took Pooh's arm, in case Pooh was frightened.</p>

-

-<p>"Is it One of the Fiercer Animals?" he said, looking the other way.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh nodded.</p>

-

-<p>"It's a Jagular," he said.</p>

-

-<p>"What do Jagulars do?" asked Piglet, hoping that they wouldn't.</p>

-

-<p>"They hide in the branches of trees, and drop on you as you go

-underneath," said Pooh. "Christopher Robin told me."</p>

-

-<p>"Perhaps we better hadn't go underneath, Pooh. In case he dropped and

-hurt himself."</p>

-

-<p>"They don't hurt themselves," said Pooh. "They're such very good

-droppers."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Help! Help!" it called.</p>

-

-<p>"That's what Jagulars always do," said Pooh, much interested. "They

-call 'Help! Help!' and then when you look up, they drop on you."</p>

-

-<p>"I'm looking <i>down</i>," cried Piglet loudly, so as the Jagular shouldn't

-do the wrong thing by accident.</p>

-

-<p>Something very excited next to the Jagular heard him, and squeaked:</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh and Piglet! Pooh and Piglet!"</p>

-

-<p>All of a sudden Piglet felt that it was a much nicer day than he had

-thought it was. All warm and sunny——</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh!" he cried. "I believe it's Tigger and Roo!"</p>

-

-<p>"So it is," said Pooh. "I thought it was a Jagular and another Jagular."</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Roo!" called Piglet. "What are you doing?"</p>

-

-<p>"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?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus35.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"How did you get there, Roo?" asked Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>"Piglet," said Pooh solemnly, when he had heard all this, "what shall

-we do?" And he began to eat Tigger's sandwiches.</p>

-

-<p>"Are they stuck?" asked Piglet anxiously.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh nodded.</p>

-

-<p>"Couldn't you climb up to them?"</p>

-

-<p>"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.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"I shouldn't be surprised if it hailed a good deal tomorrow," Eeyore

-was saying. "Blizzards and what-not. Being fine today 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."</p>

-

-<p>"There's Pooh!" said Christopher Robin, who didn't much mind <i>what</i> it

-did tomorrow, as long as he was out in it. "Hallo, Pooh!"</p>

-

-<p>"It's Christopher Robin!" said Piglet. "<i>He'll</i> know what to do."</p>

-

-<p>They hurried up to him.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Christopher Robin," began Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"And Eeyore," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Tigger and Roo are right up the Six Pine Trees, and they can't get

-down, and——"</p>

-

-<p>"And I was just saying," put in Piglet, "that if only Christopher

-Robin——"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>And</i> Eeyore——"</p>

-

-<p>"If only you were here, then we could think of something to do."</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin looked up at Tigger and Roo, and tried to think of

-something.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>I</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——"</p>

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Piglet meekly, "<i>I</i> thought——"</p>

-

-<p>"Would it break your back, Eeyore?" asked Pooh, very much surprised.</p>

-

-<p>"That's what would be so interesting, Pooh. Not being quite sure till

-afterwards."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh said "Oh!" and they all began to think again.</p>

-

-<p>"I've got an idea!" cried Christopher Robin suddenly.</p>

-

-<p>"Listen to this, Piglet," said Eeyore, "and then you'll know what we're

-trying to do."</p>

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Getting Tigger down</i>," said Eeyore, "and <i>Not hurting anybody</i>. Keep

-those two ideas in your head, Piglet, and you'll be all right."</p>

-

-<p>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 <i>really</i> 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 <i>now</i>, mind

-you. They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're

-having them."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Come on, Tigger," he called out. "It's easy."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Come along," called Christopher Robin. "You'll be all right."</p>

-

-<p>"Just wait a moment," said Tigger nervously. "Small piece of bark in my

-eye." And he moved slowly along his branch.</p>

-

-<p>"Come on, it's easy!" squeaked Roo. And suddenly Tigger found how easy

-it was.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus36.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Ow!" he shouted as the tree flew past him.</p>

-

-<p>"Look out!" cried Christopher Robin to the others.</p>

-

-<p>There was a crash, and a tearing noise, and a confused heap of

-everybody on the ground.</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin and Pooh and Piglet picked themselves up first, and

-then they picked Tigger up, and underneath everybody else was Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore!" cried Christopher Robin. "Are you hurt?" And he felt him

-rather anxiously, and dusted him and helped him to stand up again.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore said nothing for a long time. And then he said: "Is Tigger

-there?"</p>

-

-<p>Tigger was there, feeling Bouncy again already.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Christopher Robin. "Tigger's here."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, just thank him for me," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin

-Does in the Mornings</i></p>

-

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>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!"</p>

-

-<p>"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.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus37.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Bother!" said Rabbit. "He's gone out."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit, feeling quite happy again. "Another notice!"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus38.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>This is what it said:</p>

-

-<p class="ph2">GON OUT<br>

-BACKSON<br>

-BISY<br>

-BACKSON.<br>

-C. R.</p>

-

-<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit again. "I must tell the others." And he hurried off

-importantly.</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"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 <i>thinking</i>—you and I must do it."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Owl. "I was."</p>

-

-<p>"Read that."</p>

-

-<p>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——</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus39.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Well?" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Owl, looking Wise and Thoughtful. "I see what you mean.

-Undoubtedly."</p>

-

-<p>"Well?"</p>

-

-<p>"Exactly," said Owl. "Precisely." And he added, after a little thought,

-"If you had not come to me, I should have come to you."</p>

-

-<p>"Why?" asked Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"For that very reason," said Owl, hoping that something helpful would

-happen soon.</p>

-

-<p>"Yesterday morning," said Rabbit solemnly, "I went to see Christopher

-Robin. He was out. Pinned on his door was a notice."</p>

-

-<p>"The same notice?"</p>

-

-<p>"A different one. But the meaning was the same. It's very odd."</p>

-

-<p>"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?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus40.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Nothing."</p>

-

-<p>"The best thing," said Owl wisely.</p>

-

-<p>"Well?" said Rabbit again, as Owl knew he was going to.</p>

-

-<p>"Exactly," said Owl.</p>

-

-<p>For a little while he couldn't think of anything more; and then, all of

-a sudden, he had an idea.</p>

-

-<p>"Tell me, Rabbit," he said, "the <i>exact</i> words of the first notice.

-This is very important. Everything depends on this. The <i>exact</i> words

-of the <i>first</i> notice."</p>

-

-<p>"It was just the same as that one really."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"The exact words, please," he said, as if Rabbit hadn't spoken.</p>

-

-<p>"It just said, 'Gon out. Backson.' Same as this, only this says 'Bisy

-Backson' too."</p>

-

-<p>Owl gave a great sigh of relief.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah!" said Owl. "<i>Now</i> we know where we are."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, but where's Christopher Robin?" said Rabbit. "That's the point."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"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?"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't know," said Rabbit. "That's what I came to ask you. What are

-they like?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Owl, "the Spotted or Herbaceous Backson is just a——"</p>

-

-<p>"At least," he said, "it's really more of a——"</p>

-

-<p>"Of course," he said, "it depends on the——"</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Owl, "the fact is," he said, "I don't know <i>what</i> they're

-like," said Owl frankly.</p>

-

-<p>"Thank you," said Rabbit. And he hurried off to see Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>Before he had gone very far he heard a noise. So he stopped and

-listened. This was the noise.</p>

-

-<p class="ph2">NOISE, BY POOH</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, the butterflies are flying,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Now the winter days are dying,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And the primroses are trying</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">To be seen.</div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">And the turtle-doves are cooing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And the woods are up and doing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">For the violets are blue-ing</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">In the green.</div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, the honey-bees are gumming</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">On their little wings, and humming</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">That the summer, which is coming,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">Will be fun.</div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">And the cows are almost cooing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And the turtle-doves are mooing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Which is why a Pooh is poohing</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">In the sun.</div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">For the spring is really springing;</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">You can see a skylark singing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And the blue-bells, which are ringing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">Can be heard.</div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">And the cuckoo isn't cooing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">But he's cucking and he's ooing,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And a Pooh is simply poohing</div>

-    <div class="verse indent4">Like a bird.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Rabbit," said Pooh dreamily.</p>

-

-<p>"Did you make that song up?"</p>

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>"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?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh. "Not a—no," said Pooh. "I saw Tigger just now."</p>

-

-<p>"That's no good."</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh. "I thought it wasn't."</p>

-

-<p>"Have you seen Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Pooh. "I suppose <i>that</i> isn't any good either?" he asked

-meekly.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, it depends if he saw anything."</p>

-

-<p>"He saw me," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit sat down on the ground next to Pooh and, feeling much less

-important like that, stood up again.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus41.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"What it all comes to is this," he said. "<i>What does Christopher Robin

-do in the morning nowadays?</i>"</p>

-

-<p>"What sort of thing?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well, can you tell me anything you've seen him do in the morning?

-These last few days."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus42.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"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——"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus43.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "but I mean later than that. Have you seen him

-between eleven and twelve?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus44.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>"Quarter past eleven, then?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well——" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Half past."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Pooh. "At half past—or perhaps later—I might see him."</p>

-

-<p>And now that he did think of it, he began to remember that he <i>hadn't</i>

-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.</p>

-

-<p>"That's just it," said Rabbit, "Where?"</p>

-

-<p>"Perhaps he's looking for something."</p>

-

-<p>"What?" asked Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"That's just what I was going to say," said Pooh. And then he added,

-"Perhaps he's looking for a—for a——"</p>

-

-<p>"A Spotted or Herbaceous Backson?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Pooh. "One of those. In case it isn't."</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit looked at him severely.</p>

-

-<p>"I don't think you're helping," he said.</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh. "I do try," he added humbly.</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus45.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore," began Piglet a little nervously, because Eeyore was busy.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore put out a paw and waved him away.</p>

-

-<p>"Tomorrow," said Eeyore. "Or the next day."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus46.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore," he began again, "just——"</p>

-

-<p>"Is that little Piglet?" said Eeyore, still looking hard at his sticks.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Eeyore, and I——"</p>

-

-<p>"Do you know what this is?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"It's an A."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Not O, A," said Eeyore severely. "Can't you <i>hear</i>, or do you think

-you have more education than Christopher Robin?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Piglet. "No," said Piglet very quickly. And he came closer

-still.</p>

-

-<p>"Christopher Robin said it was an A, and an A it is—until somebody

-treads on me," Eeyore added sternly.</p>

-

-<p>Piglet jumped backwards hurriedly, and smelt at his violets.</p>

-

-<p>"Do you know what A means, little Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>"No, Eeyore, I don't."</p>

-

-<p>"It means Learning, it means Education, it means all the things that

-you and Pooh haven't got. That's what A means."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh," said Piglet again. "I mean, does it?" he explained quickly.</p>

-

-<p>"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 <i>them</i>. 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 <i>breathe</i> on."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet stepped back nervously, and looked round for help.</p>

-

-<p>"Here's Rabbit," he said gladly. "Hallo, Rabbit."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"There's just one thing I wanted to ask you, Eeyore. What happens to

-Christopher Robin in the mornings nowadays?"</p>

-

-<p>"What's this that I'm looking at?" said Eeyore, still looking at it.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus47.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Three sticks," said Rabbit promptly.</p>

-

-<p>"You see?" said Eeyore to Piglet. He turned to Rabbit. "I will now

-answer your question," he said solemnly.</p>

-

-<p>"Thank you," said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"What does Christopher Robin do in the mornings? He learns. He becomes

-Educated. He instigorates—I <i>think</i> 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——"</p>

-

-<p>"An A," said Rabbit, "but not a very good one. Well, I must get back

-and tell the others."</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore looked at his sticks and then he looked at Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"What did Rabbit say it was?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>"An A," said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Did you tell him?"</p>

-

-<p>"No, Eeyore, I didn't. I expect he just knew."</p>

-

-<p>"He <i>knew</i>? You mean this A thing is a thing <i>Rabbit</i> knew?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Eeyore. He's clever, Rabbit is."</p>

-

-<p>"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 <i>Rabbit</i> knows! Ha!"</p>

-

-<p>"I think——" began Piglet nervously.</p>

-

-<p>"Don't," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"I think <i>Violets</i> are rather nice," said Piglet. And he laid his bunch

-in front of Eeyore and scampered off.</p>

-

-<p>Next morning the notice on Christopher Robin's door said:</p>

-

-<p class="ph2">GONE OUT<br>

-BACK SOON<br>

-C. R.</p>

-

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In</i></p>

-

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>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 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 if he 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.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus48.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>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:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">Here is a myst'ry</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">About a little fir-tree.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Owl says it's <i>his</i> tree,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And Kanga says it's <i>her</i> tree.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"Which doesn't make sense," said Pooh, "because Kanga doesn't live in a

-tree."</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"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.</p>

-

-<p>"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.</p>

-

-<p>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 <i>that's</i> what he was. Instead of the

-other way round.</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"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?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"I expect my stick's stuck," said Roo. "Rabbit, my stick's stuck. Is

-your stick stuck, Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>"They always take longer than you think," said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"How long do you <i>think</i> they'll take?" asked Roo.</p>

-

-<p>"I can see yours, Piglet," said Pooh suddenly.</p>

-

-<p>"Mine's a sort of greyish one," said Piglet, not daring to lean too far

-over in case he fell in.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, that's what I can see. It's coming over on to my side."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus49.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>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.</p>

-

-<p>"It's coming!" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Are you <i>sure</i> it's mine?" squeaked Piglet excitedly.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, because it's grey. A big grey one. Here it comes! A

-very—big—grey——Oh, no, it isn't, it's Eeyore."</p>

-

-<p>And out floated Eeyore.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus50.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Eeyore!" cried everybody.</p>

-

-<p>Looking very calm, very dignified, with his legs in the air, came

-Eeyore from beneath the bridge.</p>

-

-<p>"It's Eeyore!" cried Roo, terribly excited.</p>

-

-<p>"Is that so?" said Eeyore, getting caught up by a little eddy, and

-turning slowly round three times. "I wondered."</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't know you were playing," said Roo.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm not," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Eeyore, what <i>are</i> you doing there?" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"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."</p>

-

-<p>"But, Eeyore," said Pooh in distress, "what can we—I mean, how shall

-we—do you think if we——"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Eeyore. "One of those would be just the thing. Thank you,

-Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"He's going <i>round</i> and <i>round</i>," said Roo, much impressed.</p>

-

-<p>"And why not?" said Eeyore coldly.</p>

-

-<p>"I can swim too," said Roo proudly.</p>

-

-<p>"Not round and round," said Eeyore. "It's much more difficult. I didn't

-want to come swimming at all today," 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."</p>

-

-<p>There was a moment's silence while everybody thought.</p>

-

-<p>"I've got a sort of idea," said Pooh at last, "but I don't suppose it's

-a very good one."</p>

-

-<p>"I don't suppose it is either," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Go on, Pooh," said Rabbit. "Let's have it."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, if we all threw stones and things into the river on <i>one</i> side

-of Eeyore, the stones would make waves, and the waves would wash him to

-the other side."</p>

-

-<p>"That's a very good idea," said Rabbit, and Pooh looked happy again.</p>

-

-<p>"Very," said Eeyore. "When I want to be washed, Pooh, I'll let you

-know."</p>

-

-<p>"Supposing we hit him by mistake?" said Piglet anxiously.</p>

-

-<p>"Or supposing you missed him by mistake," said Eeyore. "Think of all

-the possibilities, Piglet, before you settle down to enjoy yourselves."</p>

-

-<p>But Pooh had got the biggest stone he could carry, and was leaning over

-the bridge, holding it in his paws.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus51.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"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. <i>Could</i> you stop turning round

-for a moment, because it muddles me rather?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Eeyore. "I <i>like</i> turning round."</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit began to feel that it was time he took command.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, Pooh," he said, "when I say 'Now!' you can drop it. Eeyore, when

-I say 'Now!' Pooh will drop his stone."</p>

-

-<p>"Thank you very much, Rabbit, but I expect I shall know."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you ready, Pooh? Piglet, give Pooh a little more room. Get back a

-bit there, Roo. Are you ready?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Now!</i>" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh dropped his stone. There was a loud splash, and Eeyore

-disappeared....</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus52.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>It was an anxious moment for the watchers on the bridge. They looked

-and looked ... and even the sight of Piglet's stick coming out a little

-in front of Rabbit's didn't cheer them up as much as you would have

-expected. And then, just as Pooh was beginning to think that he must

-have chosen the wrong stone or the wrong river or the wrong day for his

-Idea, something grey showed for a moment by the river bank ... and it

-got slowly bigger and bigger ... and at last it was Eeyore coming out.</p>

-

-<p>With a shout they rushed off the bridge, and pushed and pulled at him;

-and soon he was standing among them again on dry land.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus53.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore, you <i>are</i> wet!" said Piglet, feeling him.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore shook himself, and asked somebody to explain to Piglet what

-happened when you had been inside a river for quite a long time.</p>

-

-<p>"Well done, Pooh," said Rabbit kindly. "That was a good idea of ours."</p>

-

-<p>"What was?" asked Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Hooshing you to the bank like that."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Hooshing</i> me?" said Eeyore in surprise. "Hooshing <i>me</i>? You didn't

-think I was <i>hooshed</i>, did you? I dived. Pooh dropped a large stone on

-me, and so as not to be struck heavily on the chest, I dived and swam

-to the bank."</p>

-

-<p>"You didn't really," whispered Piglet to Pooh, so as to comfort him.</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't <i>think</i> I did," said Pooh anxiously.</p>

-

-<p>"It's just Eeyore," said Piglet. "<i>I</i> thought your Idea was a very good

-Idea."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a

-Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes

-that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different

-when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it. And,

-anyhow, Eeyore <i>was</i> in the river, and now he <i>wasn't</i>, so he hadn't

-done any harm.</p>

-

-<p>"How did you fall in, Eeyore?" asked Rabbit, as he dried him with

-Piglet's handkerchief.</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"But how——"</p>

-

-<p>"I was BOUNCED," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Oo," said Roo excitedly, "did somebody push you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Somebody BOUNCED me. I was just thinking by the side of the

-river—thinking, if any of you know what that means, when I received a

-loud BOUNCE."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Eeyore!" said everybody.</p>

-

-<p>"Are you sure you didn't slip?" asked Rabbit wisely.</p>

-

-<p>"Of course I slipped. If you're standing on the slippery bank of a

-river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did

-you think I did?"</p>

-

-<p>"But who did it?" asked Roo.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore didn't answer.</p>

-

-<p>"I expect it was Tigger," said Piglet nervously.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus54.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"But, Eeyore," said Pooh, "was it a Joke, or an Accident? I mean——"</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't stop to ask, Pooh. Even at the very bottom of the river I

-didn't stop to say to myself, '<i>Is</i> this a Hearty Joke, or is it the

-Merest Accident?' I just floated to the surface, and said to myself,

-'It's wet.' If you know what I mean."</p>

-

-<p>"And where was Tigger?" asked Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>Before Eeyore could answer, there was a loud noise behind them, and

-through the hedge came Tigger himself.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, everybody," said Tigger cheerfully.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Tigger," said Roo.</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit became very important suddenly.</p>

-

-<p>"Tigger," he said solemnly, "what happened just now?"</p>

-

-<p>"Just when?" said Tigger a little uncomfortably.</p>

-

-<p>"When you bounced Eeyore into the river."</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't bounce him."</p>

-

-<p>"You bounced me," said Eeyore gruffly.</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't really. I had a cough, and I happened to be behind Eeyore,

-and I said '<i>Grrrr—oppp—ptschschschz</i>.'"</p>

-

-<p>"Why?" said Rabbit, helping Piglet up, and dusting him. "It's all

-right, Piglet."</p>

-

-<p>"It took me by surprise," said Piglet nervously.</p>

-

-<p>"That's what I call bouncing," said Eeyore. "Taking people by surprise.

-Very unpleasant habit. I don't mind Tigger being in the Forest," he

-went on, "because it's a large Forest, and there's plenty of room to

-bounce in it. But I don't see why he should come into <i>my</i> little

-corner of it, and bounce there. It isn't as if there was anything very

-wonderful about my little corner. Of course for people who like cold,

-wet, ugly bits it <i>is</i> something rather special, but otherwise it's

-just a corner, and if anybody feels bouncy——"</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't bounce, I coughed," said Tigger crossly.</p>

-

-<p>"Bouncy or coffy, it's all the same at the bottom of the river."</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Rabbit, "all I can say is—well, here's Christopher Robin,

-so <i>he</i> can say it."</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin came down from the Forest to the bridge, feeling

-all sunny and careless, and just as if twice nineteen didn't matter a

-bit, as it didn't on such a happy afternoon, and he thought that if he

-stood on the bottom rail of the bridge, and leant over, and watched

-the river slipping slowly away beneath him, then he would suddenly

-know everything that there was to be known, and he would be able to

-tell Pooh, who wasn't quite sure about some of it. But when he got to

-the bridge and saw all the animals there, then he knew that it wasn't

-that kind of afternoon, but the other kind, when you wanted to <i>do</i>

-something.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus55.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"It's like this, Christopher Robin," began Rabbit. "Tigger——"</p>

-

-<p>"No, I didn't," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, anyhow, there I was," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"But I don't think he meant to," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"He just <i>is</i> bouncy," said Piglet, "and he can't help it."</p>

-

-<p>"Try bouncing <i>me</i>, Tigger," said Roo eagerly. "Eeyore, Tigger's going

-to try <i>me</i>. Piglet, do you think——"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "we don't all want to speak at once. The point

-is, what does Christopher Robin think about it?"</p>

-

-<p>"All I did was I coughed," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"He bounced," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, I sort of boffed," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>"Hush!" said Rabbit, holding up his paw. "What does Christopher Robin

-think about it all? That's the point."</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Christopher Robin, not quite sure what it was all about,

-"<i>I</i> think——"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes?" said everybody.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>I</i> think we all ought to play Poohsticks."</p>

-

-<p>So they did. And Eeyore, who had never played it before, won more times

-than anybody else; and Roo fell in twice, the first time by accident

-and the second time on purpose, because he suddenly saw Kanga coming

-from the Forest, and he knew he'd have to go to bed anyhow. So then

-Rabbit said he'd go with them; and Tigger and Eeyore went off together,

-because Eeyore wanted to tell Tigger How to Win at Poohsticks, which

-you do by letting your stick drop in a twitchy sort of way, if you

-understand what I mean, Tigger; and Christopher Robin and Pooh and

-Piglet were left on the bridge by themselves.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus56.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>For a long time they looked at the river beneath them, saying nothing,

-and the river said nothing too, for it felt very quiet and peaceful on

-this summer afternoon.</p>

-

-<p>"Tigger is all right <i>really</i>," said Piglet lazily.</p>

-

-<p>"Of course he is," said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<p>"Everybody is <i>really</i>," said Pooh. "That's what <i>I</i> think," said Pooh.

-"But I don't suppose I'm right," he said.</p>

-

-<p>"Of course you are," said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Tigger ls Unbounced</i></p>

-

-

-<p>One day Rabbit and Piglet were sitting outside Pooh's front door

-listening to Rabbit, and Pooh was sitting with them. It was a drowsy

-summer afternoon, and the Forest was full of gentle sounds, which all

-seemed to be saying to Pooh, "Don't listen to Rabbit, listen to me."

-So he got into a comfortable position for not listening to Rabbit, and

-from time to time he opened his eyes to say "Ah!" and then closed them

-again to say "True," and from time to time Rabbit said, "You see what I

-mean, Piglet" very earnestly, and Piglet nodded earnestly to show that

-he did.</p>

-

-<p>"In fact," said Rabbit, coming to the end of it at last, "Tigger's

-getting so Bouncy nowadays that it's time we taught him a lesson. Don't

-you think so, Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>Piglet said that Tigger <i>was</i> very Bouncy, and that if they could think

-of a way of unbouncing him, it would be a Very Good Idea.</p>

-

-<p>"Just what I feel," said Rabbit. "What do <i>you</i> say, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>Pooh opened his eyes with a jerk and said, "Extremely."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus57.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Extremely what?" asked Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"What you were saying," said Pooh. "Undoubtably."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet gave Pooh a stiffening sort of nudge, and Pooh, who felt more

-and more that he was somewhere else, got up slowly and began to look

-for himself.</p>

-

-<p>"But how shall we do it?" asked Piglet. "What sort of a lesson, Rabbit?"</p>

-

-<p>"That's the point," said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>The word "lesson" came back to Pooh as one he had heard before

-somewhere.</p>

-

-<p>"There's a thing called Twy-stymes," he said. "Christopher Robin tried

-to teach it to me once, but it didn't."</p>

-

-<p>"What didn't?" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"Didn't what?" said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh shook his head.</p>

-

-<p>"I don't know," he said. "It just didn't. What are we talking about?"</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh," said Piglet reproachfully, "haven't you been listening to what

-Rabbit was saying?"</p>

-

-<p>"I listened, but I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say

-it again, please, Rabbit?"</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit never minded saying things again, so he asked where he should

-begin from; and when Pooh had said from the moment when the fluff got

-in his ear, and Rabbit had asked when that was, and Pooh had said he

-didn't know because he hadn't heard properly, Piglet settled it all by

-saying that what they were trying to do was, they were just trying to

-think of a way to get the bounces out of Tigger, because however much

-you liked him, you couldn't deny it, he <i>did</i> bounce.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"There's too much of him," said Rabbit, "that's what it comes to."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh tried to think, and all he could think of was something which

-didn't help at all. So he hummed it very quietly to himself.</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">If Rabbit</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Was bigger</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And fatter</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And stronger,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Or bigger</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Than Tigger,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">If Tigger was smaller,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Then Tigger's bad habit</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Of bouncing at Rabbit</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Would matter</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">No longer,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">If Rabbit</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Was taller.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"What was Pooh saying?" asked Rabbit. "Any good?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh sadly. "No good."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, I've got an idea," said Rabbit, "and here it is. We take Tigger

-for a long explore, somewhere where he's never been, and we lose him

-there, and next morning we find him again, and—mark my words—he'll be

-a different Tigger altogether."</p>

-

-<p>"Why?" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Because he'll be a Humble Tigger. Because he'll be a Sad

-Tigger, a Melancholy Tigger, a Small and Sorry Tigger, an

-Oh-Rabbit-I-<i>am</i>-glad-to-see-you Tigger. That's why."</p>

-

-<p>"Will he be glad to see me and Piglet, too?"</p>

-

-<p>"Of course."</p>

-

-<p>"That's good," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"I should hate him to go <i>on</i> being Sad," said Piglet doubtfully.</p>

-

-<p>"Tiggers never go on being Sad," explained Rabbit. "They get over it

-with Astonishing Rapidity. I asked Owl, just to make sure, and he said

-that that's what they always get over it with. But if we can make

-Tigger feel Small and Sad just for five minutes, we shall have done a

-good deed."</p>

-

-<p>"Would Christopher Robin think so?" asked Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Rabbit. "He'd say 'You've done a good deed, Piglet. I would

-have done it myself, only I happened to be doing something else. Thank

-you, Piglet.' And Pooh, of course."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet felt very glad about this, and he saw at once that what they

-were going to do to Tigger was a good thing to do, and as Pooh and

-Rabbit were doing it with him, it was a thing which even a Very Small

-Animal could wake up in the morning and be comfortable about doing. So

-the only question was, where should they lose Tigger?</p>

-

-<p>"We'll take him to the North Pole," said Rabbit, "because it was a very

-long explore finding it, so it will be a very long explore for Tigger

-unfinding it again."</p>

-

-<p>It was now Pooh's turn to feel very glad, because it was he who had

-first found the North Pole, and when they got there, Tigger would see a

-notice which said, "Discovered by Pooh, Pooh found it," and then Tigger

-would know, which perhaps he didn't know, the sort of Bear Pooh was.

-<i>That</i> sort of Bear.</p>

-

-<p>So it was arranged that they should start next morning, and that

-Rabbit, who lived near Kanga and Roo and Tigger, should now go home

-and ask Tigger what he was doing tomorrow, because if he wasn't doing

-anything, what about coming for an explore and getting Pooh and Piglet

-to come too? And if Tigger said "Yes" that would be all right, and if

-he said "No"——</p>

-

-<p>"He won't," said Rabbit. "Leave it to me." And he went off busily.</p>

-

-<p>The next day was quite a different day. Instead of being hot and sunny,

-it was cold and misty. Pooh didn't mind for himself, but when he

-thought of all the honey the bees wouldn't be making, a cold and misty

-day always made him feel sorry for them. He said so to Piglet when

-Piglet came to fetch him, and Piglet said that he wasn't thinking of

-that so much, but of how cold and miserable it would be being lost all

-day and night on the top of the Forest. But when he and Pooh had got

-to Rabbit's house, Rabbit said it was just the day for them, because

-Tigger always bounced on ahead of everybody, and as soon as he got out

-of sight, they would hurry away in the other direction, and he would

-never see them again.</p>

-

-<p>"Not never?" said Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, not until we find him again, Piglet. Tomorrow, or whenever it

-is. Come on. He's waiting for us."</p>

-

-<p>When they got to Kanga's house, they found that Roo was waiting too,

-being a great friend of Tigger's, which made it Awkward; but Rabbit

-whispered "Leave this to me" behind his paw to Pooh, and went up to

-Kanga.</p>

-

-<p>"I don't think Roo had better come," he said. "Not today."</p>

-

-<p>"Why not?" said Roo, who wasn't supposed to be listening.</p>

-

-<p>"Nasty cold day," said Rabbit, shaking his head. "And you were coughing

-this morning."</p>

-

-<p>"How do you know?" asked Roo indignantly.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Roo, you never told me," said Kanga reproachfully.</p>

-

-<p>"It was a Biscuit Cough," said Roo, "not one you tell about."</p>

-

-<p>"I think not today, dear. Another day."</p>

-

-<p>"Tomorrow?" said Roo hopefully.</p>

-

-<p>"We'll see," said Kanga.</p>

-

-<p>"You're always seeing, and nothing ever happens," said Roo sadly.</p>

-

-<p>"Nobody could see on a day like this, Roo," said Rabbit. "I don't

-expect we shall get very far, and then this afternoon we'll all—we'll

-all—we'll—ah, Tigger, there you are. Come on. Good-bye, Roo! This

-afternoon we'll—come on, Pooh! All ready? That's right. Come on."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus58.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>So they went. At first Pooh and Rabbit and Piglet walked together, and

-Tigger ran round them in circles, and then, when the path got narrower,

-Rabbit, Piglet and Pooh walked one after another, and Tigger ran round

-them in oblongs, and by-and-by, when the gorse got very prickly on

-each side of the path, Tigger ran up and down in front of them, and

-sometimes he bounced into Rabbit and sometimes he didn't. And as they

-got higher, the mist got thicker, so that Tigger kept disappearing, and

-then when you thought he wasn't there, there he was again, saying "I

-say, come on," and before you could say anything, there he wasn't.</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit turned round and nudged Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"The next time," he said. "Tell Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"The next time," said Piglet to Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"The next what?" said Pooh to Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>Tigger appeared suddenly, bounced into Rabbit, and disappeared again.

-"Now!" said Rabbit. He jumped into a hollow by the side of the path,

-and Pooh and Piglet jumped after him. They crouched in the bracken,

-listening. The Forest was very silent when you stopped and listened to

-it. They could see nothing and hear nothing.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus59.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"H'sh!" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"I am," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>There was a pattering noise ... then silence again.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo!" said Tigger, and he sounded so close suddenly that Piglet

-would have jumped if Pooh hadn't accidentally been sitting on most of

-him.</p>

-

-<p>"Where are you?" called Tigger.</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit nudged Pooh, and Pooh looked about for Piglet to nudge, but

-couldn't find him, and Piglet went on breathing wet bracken as quietly

-as he could, and felt very brave and excited.</p>

-

-<p>"That's funny," said Tigger.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus60.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>There was a moment's silence, and then they heard him pattering off

-again. For a little longer they waited, until the Forest had become

-so still that it almost frightened them, and then Rabbit got up and

-stretched himself.</p>

-

-<p>"Well?" he whispered proudly. "There we are! Just as I said."</p>

-

-<p>"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and I think——"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Rabbit. "Don't. Run. Come on." And they all hurried off,

-Rabbit leading the way.</p>

-

-<p>"Now," said Rabbit, after they had gone a little way, "we can talk.

-What were you going to say, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>"Nothing much. Why are we going along here?"</p>

-

-<p>"Because it's the way home."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"I <i>think</i> it's more to the right," said Piglet nervously. "What do

-<i>you</i> think, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus61.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right,

-and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right,

-then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to

-begin.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," he said slowly——</p>

-

-<p>"Come on," said Rabbit. "I know it's this way."</p>

-

-<p>They went on. Ten minutes later they stopped again.</p>

-

-<p>"It's very silly," said Rabbit, "but just for the moment I——Ah, of

-course. Come on...."</p>

-

-<p>"Here we are," said Rabbit ten minutes later. "No, we're not...."</p>

-

-<p>"Now," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "I think we ought to be

-getting—or are we a little bit more to the right than I thought?..."</p>

-

-<p>"It's a funny thing," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "how everything

-looks the same in a mist. Have you noticed it, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>Pooh said that he had.</p>

-

-<p>"Lucky we know the Forest so well, or we might get lost," said Rabbit

-half an hour later, and he gave the careless laugh which you give when

-you know the Forest so well that you can't get lost.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus62.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh!" he whispered.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of

-you."</p>

-

-<p>When Tigger had finished waiting for the others to catch him up, and

-they hadn't, and when he had got tired of having nobody to say, "I say,

-come on" to, he thought he would go home. So he trotted back; and the

-first thing Kanga said when she saw him was "There's a good Tigger.

-You're just in time for your Strengthening Medicine," and she poured it

-out for him. Roo said proudly, "I've <i>had</i> mine," and Tigger swallowed

-his and said, "So have I," and then he and Roo pushed each other about

-in a friendly way, and Tigger accidentally knocked over one or two

-chairs by accident, and Roo accidentally knocked over one on purpose,

-and Kanga said, "Now then, run along."</p>

-

-<p>"Where shall we run along to?" asked Roo.</p>

-

-<p>"You can go and collect some fir-cones for me," said Kanga, giving them

-a basket.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus63.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>So they went to the Six Pine Trees, and threw fir-cones at each other

-until they had forgotten what they came for, and they left the basket

-under the trees and went back to dinner. And it was just as they were

-finishing dinner that Christopher Robin put his head in at the door.</p>

-

-<p>"Where's Pooh?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>"Tigger dear, where's Pooh?" said Kanga. Tigger explained what had

-happened at the same time that Roo was explaining about his Biscuit

-Cough and Kanga was telling them not both to talk at once, so it was

-some time before Christopher Robin guessed that Pooh and Piglet and

-Rabbit were all lost in the mist on the top of the Forest.</p>

-

-<p>"It's a funny thing about Tiggers," whispered Tigger to Roo, "how

-Tiggers <i>never</i> get lost."</p>

-

-<p>"Why don't they, Tigger?"</p>

-

-<p>"They just don't," explained Tigger. "That's how it is."</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Christopher Robin, "we shall have to go and find them,

-that's all. Come on, Tigger."</p>

-

-<p>"I shall have to go and find them," explained Tigger to Roo.</p>

-

-<p>"May I find them too?" asked Roo eagerly.</p>

-

-<p>"I think not today, dear," said Kanga. "Another day."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, if they're lost tomorrow, may I find them?"</p>

-

-<p>"We'll see," said Kanga, and Roo, who knew what <i>that</i> meant, went

-into a corner, and practised jumping out at himself, partly because he

-wanted to practise this, and partly because he didn't want Christopher

-Robin and Tigger to think that he minded when they went off without him.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>"The fact is," said Rabbit, "we've missed our way somehow."</p>

-

-<p>They were having a rest in a small sand-pit on the top of the Forest.

-Pooh was getting rather tired of that sand-pit, and suspected it of

-following them about, because whichever direction they started in, they

-always ended up at it, and each time, as it came through the mist at

-them, Rabbit said triumphantly, "Now I know where we are!" and Pooh

-said sadly, "So do I," and Piglet said nothing. He had tried to think

-of something to say, but the only thing he could think of was, "Help,

-help!" and it seemed silly to say that, when he had Pooh and Rabbit

-with him.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Rabbit, after a long silence in which nobody thanked him

-for the nice walk they were having, "we'd better get on, I suppose.

-Which way shall we try?"</p>

-

-<p>"How would it be," said Pooh slowly, "if, as soon as we're out of sight

-of this Pit, we try to find it again?"</p>

-

-<p>"What's the good of that?" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh, "we keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I

-thought that if we looked for this Pit, we'd be sure not to find it,

-which would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something that

-we <i>weren't</i> looking for, which might be just what we <i>were</i> looking

-for, really."</p>

-

-<p>"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was <i>going</i> to be when

-I began it. It's just that something happened to it on the way."</p>

-

-<p>"If I walked away from this Pit, and then walked back to it, of

-<i>course</i> I should find it."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, I thought perhaps you wouldn't," said Pooh. "I just thought."</p>

-

-<p>"Try," said Piglet suddenly. "We'll wait here for you."</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit gave a laugh to show how silly Piglet was, and walked into the

-mist. After he had gone a hundred yards, he turned and walked back

-again ... and after Pooh and Piglet had waited twenty minutes for him,

-Pooh got up.</p>

-

-<p>"I just thought," said Pooh. "Now then, Piglet, let's go home."</p>

-

-<p>"But, Pooh," cried Piglet, all excited, "do you know the way?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh. "But there are twelve pots of honey in my cupboard,

-and they've been calling to me for hours. I couldn't hear them properly

-before, because Rabbit <i>would</i> talk, but if nobody says anything except

-those twelve pots, I <i>think</i>, Piglet, I shall know where they're

-calling from. Come on."</p>

-

-<p>They walked off together; and for a long time Piglet said nothing, so

-as not to interrupt the pots; and then suddenly he made a squeaky noise

-... and an oo-noise ... because now he began to know where he was; but

-he still didn't dare to say so out loud, in case he wasn't. And just

-when he was getting so sure of himself that it didn't matter whether

-the pots went on calling or not, there was a shout from in front of

-them, and out of the mist came Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus64.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Oh, there you are," said Christopher Robin carelessly, trying to

-pretend that he hadn't been Anxious.</p>

-

-<p>"Here we are," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Where's Rabbit?"</p>

-

-<p>"I don't know," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh—well, I expect Tigger will find him. He's sort of looking for you

-all."</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh, "I've got to go home for something, and so has

-Piglet, because we haven't had it yet, and——"</p>

-

-<p>"I'll come and watch you," said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus65.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>So he went home with Pooh, and watched him for quite a long time ...

-and all the time he was watching, Tigger was tearing round the Forest

-making loud yapping noises for Rabbit. And at last a very Small and

-Sorry Rabbit heard him. And the Small and Sorry Rabbit rushed through

-the mist at the noise, and it suddenly turned into Tigger; a Friendly

-Tigger, a Grand Tigger, a Large and Helpful Tigger, a Tigger who

-bounced, if he bounced at all, in just the beautiful way a Tigger

-ought to bounce.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Tigger, I <i>am</i> glad to see you," cried Rabbit.</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus66.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing</i></p>

-

-

-<p>Half way between Pooh's house and Piglet's house was a Thoughtful Spot

-where they met sometimes when they had decided to go and see each

-other, and as it was warm and out of the wind they would sit down there

-for a little and wonder what they would do now that they <i>had</i> seen

-each other. One day when they had decided not to do anything, Pooh made

-up a verse about it, so that everybody should know what the place was

-for.</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">This warm and sunny Spot</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Belongs to Pooh.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And here he wonders what</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">He's going to do.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, bother, I forgot—</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">It's Piglet's too.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>Now one autumn morning when the wind had blown all the leaves off the

-trees in the night, and was trying to blow the branches off, Pooh and

-Piglet were sitting in the Thoughtful Spot and wondering.</p>

-

-<p>"What <i>I</i> think," said Pooh, "is I think we'll go to Pooh Corner and

-see Eeyore, because perhaps his house has been blown down, and perhaps

-he'd like us to build it again."</p>

-

-<p>"What <i>I</i> think," said Piglet, "is I think we'll go and see Christopher

-Robin, only he won't be there, so we can't."</p>

-

-<p>"Let's go and see <i>everybody</i>," said Pooh. "Because when you've been

-walking in the wind for miles, and you suddenly go into somebody's

-house, and he says, 'Hallo, Pooh, you're just in time for a little

-smackerel of something,' and you are, then it's what I call a Friendly

-Day."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet thought that they ought to have a Reason for going to see

-everybody, like Looking for Small or Organizing an Expotition, if Pooh

-could think of something.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh could.</p>

-

-<p>"We'll go because it's Thursday," he said, "and we'll go to wish

-everybody a Very Happy Thursday. Come on, Piglet."</p>

-

-<p>They got up; and when Piglet had sat down again, because he didn't

-know the wind was so strong, and had been helped up by Pooh, they

-started off. They went to Pooh's house first, and luckily Pooh was at

-home just as they got there, so he asked them in, and they had some,

-and then they went on to Kanga's house, holding on to each other, and

-shouting "Isn't it?" and "What?" and "I can't hear." By the time they

-got to Kanga's house they were so buffeted that they stayed to lunch.

-Just at first it seemed rather cold outside afterwards, so they pushed

-on to Rabbit's as quickly as they could.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus67.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"We've come to wish you a Very Happy Thursday," said Pooh, when he had

-gone in and out once or twice just to make sure that he <i>could</i> get out

-again.</p>

-

-<p>"Why, what's going to happen on Thursday?" asked Rabbit, and when Pooh

-had explained, and Rabbit, whose life was made up of Important Things,

-said, "Oh, I thought you'd really come about something," they sat down

-for a little ... and by-and-by Pooh and Piglet went on again. The wind

-was behind them now, so they didn't have to shout.</p>

-

-<p>"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."</p>

-

-<p>"And he has Brain."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."</p>

-

-<p>There was a long silence.</p>

-

-<p>"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin was at home by this time, because it was the

-afternoon, and he was so glad to see them that they stayed there until

-very nearly tea-time, and then they had a Very Nearly tea, which is one

-you forget about afterwards, and hurried on to Pooh Corner, so as to

-see Eeyore before it was too late to have a Proper Tea with Owl.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Eeyore," they called out cheerfully.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah!" said Eeyore. "Lost your way?"</p>

-

-<p>"We just came to see you," said Piglet. "And to see how your house was.

-Look, Pooh, it's still standing!"</p>

-

-<p>"I know," said Eeyore. "Very odd. Somebody ought to have come down and

-pushed it over."</p>

-

-<p>"We wondered whether the wind would blow it down," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, that's why nobody's bothered, I suppose. I thought perhaps they'd

-forgotten."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, we're very glad to see you, Eeyore, and now we're going on to

-see Owl."</p>

-

-<p>"That's right. You'll like Owl. He flew past a day or two ago and

-noticed me. He didn't actually say anything, mind you, but he knew it

-was me. Very friendly of him, I thought. Encouraging."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh and Piglet shuffled about a little and said, "Well, good-bye,

-Eeyore" as lingeringly as they could, but they had a long way to go,

-and wanted to be getting on.</p>

-

-<p>"Good-bye," said Eeyore. "Mind you don't get blown away, little

-Piglet. You'd be missed. People would say 'Where's little Piglet been

-blown to?'—really wanting to know. Well, good-bye. And thank you for

-happening to pass me."</p>

-

-<p>"Good-bye," said Pooh and Piglet for the last time, and they pushed on

-to Owl's house.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus68.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>The wind was against them now, and Piglet's ears streamed behind him

-like banners as he fought his way along, and it seemed hours before he

-got them into the shelter of the Hundred Acre Wood and they stood up

-straight again, to listen, a little nervously, to the roaring of the

-gale among the tree-tops.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus69.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?"</p>

-

-<p>"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.</p>

-

-<p>Piglet was comforted by this, and in a little while they were knocking

-and ringing very cheerfully at Owl's door.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Owl," said Pooh. "I hope we're not too late for——I mean, how

-are you, Owl? Piglet and I just came to see how you were, because it's

-Thursday."</p>

-

-<p>"Sit down, Pooh, sit down, Piglet," said Owl kindly. "Make yourselves

-comfortable."</p>

-

-<p>They thanked him, and made themselves as comfortable as they could.</p>

-

-<p>"Because, you see, Owl," said Pooh, "we've been hurrying, so as to be

-in time for—so as to see you before we went away again."</p>

-

-<p>Owl nodded solemnly.</p>

-

-<p>"Correct me if I am wrong," he said, "but am I right in supposing that

-it is a very Blusterous day outside?"</p>

-

-<p>"Very," said Piglet, who was quietly thawing his ears, and wishing

-that he was safely back in his own house.</p>

-

-<p>"I thought so," said Owl. "It was on just such a blusterous day as this

-that my Uncle Robert, a portrait of whom you see upon the wall on your

-right, Piglet, while returning in the late forenoon from a——What's

-that?"</p>

-

-<p>There was a loud cracking noise.</p>

-

-<p>"Look out!" cried Pooh. "Mind the clock! Out of the way, Piglet!

-Piglet, I'm falling on you!"</p>

-

-<p>"Help!" cried Piglet.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus70.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Pooh's side of the room was slowly tilting upwards and his chair

-began sliding down on Piglet's. The clock slithered gently along

-the mantelpiece, collecting vases on the way, until they all crashed

-together on to what had once been the floor, but was now trying to

-see what it looked like as a wall. Uncle Robert, who was going to be

-the new hearth-rug, and was bringing the rest of his wall with him as

-carpet, met Piglet's chair just as Piglet was expecting to leave it,

-and for a little while it became very difficult to remember which was

-really the north. Then there was another loud crack ... Owl's room

-collected itself feverishly ... and there was silence.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>In a corner of the room, the tablecloth began to wriggle.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus71.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Then it wrapped itself into a ball and rolled across the room.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus72.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Then it jumped up and down once or twice, and put out two ears. It

-rolled across the room again, and unwound itself.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus73.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Pooh," said Piglet nervously.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes?" said one of the chairs.</p>

-

-<p>"Where are we?"</p>

-

-<p>"I'm not quite sure," said the chair.</p>

-

-<p>"Are we—are we in Owl's House?"</p>

-

-<p>"I think so, because we were just going to have tea, and we hadn't had

-it."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Piglet. "Well, did Owl <i>always</i> have a letter-box in his

-ceiling?"</p>

-

-<p>"Has he?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, look."</p>

-

-<p>"I can't," said Pooh. "I'm face downwards under something, and that,

-Piglet, is a very bad position for looking at ceilings."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, he has, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"Perhaps he's changed it," said Pooh. "Just for a change."</p>

-

-<p>There was a disturbance behind the table in the other corner of the

-room, and Owl was with them again.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus74.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Ah, Piglet," said Owl, looking very much annoyed; "where's Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>"I'm not quite sure," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>Owl turned at his voice, and frowned at as much of Pooh as he could see.</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh," said Owl severely, "did <i>you</i> do that?"</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh humbly. "I don't <i>think</i> so."</p>

-

-<p>"Then who did?"</p>

-

-<p>"I think it was the wind," said Piglet. "I think your house has blown

-down."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, is that it? I thought it was Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"If it was the wind," said Owl, considering the matter, "then it wasn't

-Pooh's fault. No blame can be attached to him." With these kind words

-he flew up to look at his new ceiling.</p>

-

-<p>"Piglet!" called Pooh in a loud whisper.</p>

-

-<p>Piglet leant down to him.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>What</i> did he say was attached to me?"</p>

-

-<p>"He said he didn't blame you."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh! I thought he meant—Oh, I see."</p>

-

-<p>"Owl," said Piglet, "come down and help Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>Owl, who was admiring his letter-box, flew down again. Together they

-pushed and pulled at the arm-chair, and in a little while Pooh came out

-from underneath, and was able to look round him again.</p>

-

-<p>"Well!" said Owl. "This is a nice state of things!"</p>

-

-<p>"What are we going to do, Pooh? Can you think of anything?" asked

-Piglet.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, I <i>had</i> just thought of something," said Pooh. "It was just a

-little thing I thought of." And he began to sing:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">I lay on my chest</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And I thought it best</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">To pretend I was having an evening rest;</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I lay on my tum</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And I tried to hum</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">But nothing particular seemed to come.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">My face was flat</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">On the floor, and that</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Is all very well for an acrobat;</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">But it doesn't seem fair</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">To a Friendly Bear</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">To stiffen him out with a basket-chair.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And a sort of sqoze</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Which grows and grows</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Is not too nice for his poor old nose,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And a sort of squch</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Is much too much</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">For his neck and his mouth and his ears and such.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"That was all," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>Owl coughed in an unadmiring sort of way, and said that, if Pooh was

-sure that <i>was</i> all, they could now give their minds to the Problem of

-Escape.</p>

-

-<p>"Because," said Owl, "we can't go out by what used to be the front

-door. Something's fallen on it."</p>

-

-<p>"But how else <i>can</i> you go out?" asked Piglet anxiously.</p>

-

-<p>"That is the Problem, Piglet, to which I am asking Pooh to give his

-mind."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh sat on the floor which had once been a wall, and gazed up at the

-ceiling which had once been another wall, with a front door in it which

-had once been a front door, and tried to give his mind to it.</p>

-

-<p>"Could you fly up to the letter-box with Piglet on your back?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Piglet quickly. "He couldn't."</p>

-

-<p>Owl explained about the Necessary Dorsal Muscles. He had explained this

-to Pooh and Christopher Robin once before, and had been waiting ever

-since for a chance to do it again, because it is a thing which you can

-easily explain twice before anybody knows what you are talking about.</p>

-

-<p>"Because you see, Owl, if we could get Piglet into the letter-box, he

-might squeeze through the place where the letters come, and climb down

-the tree and run for help."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet said hurriedly that he had been getting bigger lately, and

-couldn't <i>possibly</i>, much as he would like to, and Owl said that he had

-had his letter-box made bigger lately in case he got bigger letters, so

-perhaps Piglet <i>might</i>, and Piglet said, "But you said the necessary

-you-know-whats <i>wouldn't</i>," and Owl said, "No, they <i>won't</i>, so it's

-no good thinking about it," and Piglet said "Then we'd better think of

-something else," and began to at once.</p>

-

-<p>But Pooh's mind had gone back to the day when he had saved Piglet from

-the flood, and everybody had admired him so much; and as that didn't

-often happen he thought he would like it to happen again. And suddenly,

-just as it had come before, an idea came to him.</p>

-

-<p>"Owl," said Pooh, "I have thought of something."</p>

-

-<p>"Astute and Helpful Bear," said Owl.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh looked proud at being called a stout and helpful bear, and said

-modestly that he just happened to think of it. You tied a piece of

-string to Piglet, and you flew up to the letter-box with the other end

-in your beak, and you pushed it through the wire and brought it down to

-the floor, and you and Pooh pulled hard at this end, and Piglet went

-slowly up at the other end. And there you were.</p>

-

-<p>"And there Piglet is," said Owl. "If the string doesn't break."</p>

-

-<p>"Supposing it does?" asked Piglet, wanting to know.</p>

-

-<p>"Then we try another piece of string."</p>

-

-<p>This was not very comforting to Piglet, because however many pieces

-of string they tried pulling up with, it would always be the same him

-coming down; but still, it did seem the only thing to do. So with

-one last look back in his mind at all the happy hours he had spent in

-the Forest <i>not</i> being pulled up to the ceiling by a piece of string,

-Piglet nodded bravely at Pooh and said that it was a Very Clever

-pup-pup-pup Clever pup-pup Plan.</p>

-

-<p>"It won't break," whispered Pooh comfortingly, "because you're a Small

-Animal, and I'll stand underneath, and if you save us all, it will be

-a Very Grand Thing to talk about afterwards, and perhaps I'll make up

-a Song, and people will say 'It was so grand what Piglet did that a

-Respectful Pooh Song was made about it."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus75.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Piglet felt much better after this, and when everything was ready, and

-he found himself slowly going up to the ceiling, he was so proud that

-he would have called out "Look at <i>me</i>!" if he hadn't been afraid that

-Pooh and Owl would let go of their end of the string and look at him.</p>

-

-<p>"Up we go!" said Pooh cheerfully.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus76.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"The ascent is proceeding as expected," said Owl helpfully. Soon it was

-over. Piglet opened the letter-box and climbed in. Then, having untied

-himself, he began to squeeze into the slit, through which in the old

-days when front doors <i>were</i> front doors, many an unexpected letter

-that WOL had written to himself, had come slipping.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus77.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>He squeezed and he squoze, and then with one last sqooze he was out.

-Happy and excited he turned round to squeak a last message to the

-prisoners.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus78.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"It's all right," he called through the letter-box. "Your tree is blown

-right over, Owl, and there's a branch across the door, but Christopher

-Robin and I can move it, and we'll bring a rope for Pooh, and I'll

-go and tell him now, and I can climb down quite easily, I mean it's

-dangerous but I can do it all right, and Christopher Robin and I will

-be back in about half-an-hour. Good-bye, Pooh!" And without waiting to

-hear Pooh's answering "Good-bye, and thank you, Piglet," he was off.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus79.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Half-an-hour," said Owl, settling himself comfortably. "That will just

-give me time to finish that story I was telling you about my Uncle

-Robert—a portrait of whom you see underneath you. Now let me see,

-where was I? Oh, yes. It was on just such a blusterous day as this that

-my Uncle Robert——"</p>

-

-<p>Pooh closed his eyes.</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It</i></p>

-

-

-<p>Pooh had wandered into the Hundred Acre Wood, and was standing in front

-of what had once been Owl's House. It didn't look at all like a house

-now; it looked like a tree which had been blown down; and as soon as a

-house looks like that, it is time you tried to find another one. Pooh

-had had a Mysterious Missage underneath his front door that morning,

-saying, "I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT," and

-while he was wondering what it meant, Rabbit had come in and read it

-for him.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm leaving one for all the others," said Rabbit, "and telling them

-what it means, and they'll all search too. I'm in a hurry, good-bye."

-And he had run off.</p>

-

-<p>Pooh followed slowly. He had something better to do than to find a new

-house for Owl; he had to make up a Pooh song about the old one. Because

-he had promised Piglet days and days ago that he would, and whenever

-he and Piglet had met since, Piglet didn't actually say anything, but

-you knew at once why he didn't; and if anybody mentioned Hums or Trees

-or String or Storms-in-the-Night, Piglet's nose went all pink at the

-tip and he talked about something quite different in a hurried sort of

-way.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus80.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"But it isn't Easy," said Pooh to himself, as he looked at what had

-once been Owl's House. "Because Poetry and Hums aren't things which

-you get, they're things which get <i>you</i>. And all you can do is to go

-where they can find you."</p>

-

-<p>He waited hopefully....</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh after a long wait, "I shall begin '<i>Here lies a

-tree</i>' because it does, and then I'll see what happens."</p>

-

-<p>This is what happened.</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Here lies a tree which Owl (a bird)</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Was fond of when it stood on end,</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And Owl was talking to a friend</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Called Me (in case you hadn't heard)</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>When something Oo occurred.</i></div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>For lo! the wind was blusterous</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And flattened out his favourite tree;</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And things looked bad for him and we—</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Looked bad, I mean, for he and us—</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>I've never known them wuss.</i></div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Then Piglet (PIGLET) thought a thing:</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>"Courage!" he said. "There's always hope.</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>I want a thinnish piece of rope.</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Or, if there isn't any bring</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>A thickish piece of string."</i></div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>So to the letter-box he rose,</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>While Pooh and Owl said "Oh!" and "Hum!"</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And where the letters always come</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>(Called "LETTERS ONLY") Piglet sqoze</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>His head and then his toes.</i></div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>O gallant Piglet (PIGLET)! Ho!</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Did Piglet tremble? Did he blinch?</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>No, No, he struggled inch by inch</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Through LETTERS ONLY, as I know</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Because I saw him go.</i></div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>He ran and ran, and then he stood</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And shouted, "Help for Owl, a bird</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And Pooh, a bear!" until he heard</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>The others coming through the wood</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>As quickly as they could.</i></div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>"Help-help and Rescue!" Piglet cried</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And showed the others where to go.</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Sing ho! for Piglet (PIGLET) ho</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>And soon the door was opened wide</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>And we were both outside!</i></div>

-  </div>

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Sing ho! for Piglet, ho!</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Ho!</i></div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"So there it is," said Pooh, when he had sung this to himself three

-times. "It's come different from what I thought it would, but it's

-come. Now I must go and sing it to Piglet."</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT.</p>

-</div>

-

-<p>"What's all this?" said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit explained.</p>

-

-<p>"What's the matter with his old house?" asked Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit explained.</p>

-

-<p>"Nobody tells me," said Eeyore. "Nobody keeps me Informed. I make it

-seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me."</p>

-

-<p>"It certainly isn't seventeen days——"</p>

-

-<p>"Come Friday," explained Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"And today's Saturday," said Rabbit. "So that would make it eleven

-days. And I was here myself a week ago."</p>

-

-<p>"Not conversing," said Eeyore. "Not first one and then the other. You

-said 'Hallo' and Flashed Past. I saw your tail in the distance as I was

-meditating my reply. I <i>had</i> thought of saying 'What?'—but, of course,

-it was then too late."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, I was in a hurry."</p>

-

-<p>"No Give and Take," Eeyore went on. "No Exchange of Thought:

-'<i>Hallo—What</i>'——I mean, it gets you nowhere, particularly if the

-other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the

-conversation."</p>

-

-<p>"It's your fault, Eeyore. You've never been to see any of us. You just

-stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for the others to

-come to <i>you</i>. Why don't you go to <i>them</i> sometimes?"</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore was silent for a little while, thinking.</p>

-

-<p>"There may be something in what you say, Rabbit," he said at last. "I

-must move about more. I must come and go."</p>

-

-<p>"That's right, Eeyore. Drop in on any of us at any time, when you feel

-like it."</p>

-

-<p>"Thank-you, Rabbit. And if anybody says in a Loud Voice 'Bother, it's

-Eeyore,' I can drop out again."</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit stood on one leg for a moment.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," he said, "I must be going."</p>

-

-<p>"Good-bye," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>"What? Oh, good-bye. And if you do come across a house for Owl, you

-must let us know."</p>

-

-<p>"I will give my mind to it," said Eeyore.</p>

-

-<p>Rabbit went.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Pooh had found Piglet, and they were walking back to the Hundred Acre

-Wood together.</p>

-

-<p>"Piglet," said Pooh a little shyly, after they had walked for some time

-without saying anything.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>"Do you remember when I said that a Respectful Pooh Song might be

-written about You Know What?"</p>

-

-<p>"Did you, Pooh?" said Piglet, getting a little pink round the nose.

-"Oh, yes, I believe you did."</p>

-

-<p>"It's been written, Piglet."</p>

-

-<p>The pink went slowly up Piglet's nose to his ears, and settled there.</p>

-

-<p>"Has it, Pooh?" he asked huskily. "About—about——That Time

-When?——Do you mean really written?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Piglet."</p>

-

-<p>The tips of Piglet's ears glowed suddenly, and he tried to say

-something; but even after he had husked once or twice, nothing came

-out. So Pooh went on.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus81.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"There are seven verses in it."</p>

-

-<p>"Seven?" said Piglet as carelessly as he could. "You don't often get

-<i>seven</i> verses in a Hum, do you, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>"Never," said Pooh, "I don't suppose it's <i>ever</i> been heard of before."</p>

-

-<p>"Do the Others know yet?" asked Piglet, stopping for a moment to pick

-up a stick and throw it away.</p>

-

-<p>"No," said Pooh. "And I wondered which you would like best. For me to

-hum it now, or to wait till we find the others, and then hum it to all

-of you."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet thought for a little.</p>

-

-<p>"I think what I'd like best, Pooh, is I'd like you to hum it to me

-<i>now</i>—and—and <i>then</i> to hum it to all of us. Because then Everybody

-would hear it, but I could say 'Oh, yes, Pooh's told me,' and pretend

-not to be listening."</p>

-

-<p>So Pooh hummed it to him, all the seven verses and Piglet said nothing,

-but just stood and glowed. Never before had anyone sung ho for Piglet

-(PIGLET) ho all by himself. When it was over, he wanted to ask for one

-of the verses over again, but didn't quite like to. It was the verse

-beginning "O gallant Piglet," and it seemed to him a very thoughtful

-way of beginning a piece of poetry.</p>

-

-<p>"Did I really do all that?" he said at last.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh, "in poetry—in a piece of poetry—well, you <i>did</i>

-it, Piglet, because the poetry says you did. And that's how people

-know."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Piglet. "Because I—I thought I did blinch a little. Just at

-first. And it says, 'Did he blinch no no.' That's why."</p>

-

-<p>"You only blinched inside," said Pooh, "and that's the bravest way for

-a Very Small Animal not to blinch that there is."</p>

-

-<p>Piglet sighed with happiness, and began to think about himself. He was

-BRAVE....</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus82.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>When they got to Owl's old house, they found everybody else there

-except Eeyore. Christopher Robin was telling them what to do, and

-Rabbit was telling them again directly afterwards, in case they hadn't

-heard, and then they were all doing it. They had got a rope and were

-pulling Owl's chairs and pictures and things out of his old house so as

-to be ready to put them into his new one. Kanga was down below tying

-the things on, and calling out to Owl, "You won't want this dirty old

-dish-cloth any more, will you, and what about this carpet, it's all

-in holes," and Owl was calling back indignantly, "Of course I do! It's

-just a question of arranging the furniture properly, and it isn't a

-dish-cloth, it's my shawl." Every now and then Roo fell in and came

-back on the rope with the next article, which flustered Kanga a little

-because she never knew where to look for him. So she got cross with Owl

-and said that his house was a Disgrace, all damp and dirty, and it was

-quite time it did tumble down. Look at that horrid bunch of toadstools

-growing out of the floor there! So Owl looked down, a little surprised

-because he didn't know about this, and then gave a short sarcastic

-laugh, and explained that that was his sponge, and that if people

-didn't know a perfectly ordinary bath-sponge when they saw it, things

-were coming to a pretty pass. "<i>Well!</i>" said Kanga, and Roo fell in

-quickly, crying, "I <i>must</i> see Owl's sponge! Oh, there it is! Oh, Owl!

-Owl, it isn't a sponge, it's a spudge! Do you know what a spudge is,

-Owl? It's when your sponge gets all——" and Kanga said, "Roo, dear!"

-very quickly, because that's <i>not</i> the way to talk to anybody who can

-spell TUESDAY.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus83.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>But they were all quite happy when Pooh and Piglet came along, and they

-stopped working in order to have a little rest and listen to Pooh's

-new song. So then they all told Pooh how good it was, and Piglet said

-carelessly, "It <i>is</i> good, isn't it? I mean as a song."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus84.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"And what about the new house?" asked Pooh. "Have you found it, Owl?"</p>

-

-<p>"He's found a name for it," said Christopher Robin, lazily nibbling at

-a piece of grass, "so now all he wants is the house."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus85.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"I am calling it this," said Owl importantly, and he showed them what

-he had been making. It was a square piece of board with the name of the

-house painted on it.</p>

-

-<p class="ph2">THE WOLERY</p>

-

-<p>It was at this exciting moment that something came through the trees,

-and bumped into Owl. The board fell to the ground, and Piglet and Roo

-bent over it eagerly.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, it's you," said Owl crossly.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Rabbit. "<i>There</i> you are! Where have <i>you</i> been?"

-Eeyore took no notice of them.</p>

-

-<p>"Good morning, Christopher Robin," he said, brushing away Roo and

-Piglet, and sitting down on THE WOLERY. "Are we alone?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus86.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Yes," said Christopher Robin, smiling to himself.</p>

-

-<p>"I have been told—the news has worked through to my corner of the

-Forest—the damp bit down on the right which nobody wants—that a

-certain Person is looking for a house. I have found one for him."</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, well done," said Rabbit kindly.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore looked round slowly at him, and then turned back to Christopher

-Robin.</p>

-

-<p>"We have been joined by something," he said in a loud whisper. "But no

-matter. We can leave it behind. If you will come with me, Christopher

-Robin, I will show you the house."</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin jumped up.</p>

-

-<p>"Come on, Pooh," he said.</p>

-

-<p>"Come on, Tigger!" cried Roo.</p>

-

-<p>"Shall we go, Owl?" said Rabbit.</p>

-

-<p>"Wait a moment," said Owl, picking up his notice-board, which had just

-come into sight again.</p>

-

-<p>Eeyore waved them back.</p>

-

-<p>"Christopher Robin and I are going for a Short Walk," he said, "not a

-Jostle. If he likes to bring Pooh and Piglet with him, I shall be glad

-of their company, but one must be able to Breathe."</p>

-

-<p>"That's all right," said Rabbit, rather glad to be left in charge of

-something. "We'll go on getting the things out. Now then, Tigger,

-where's that rope? What's the matter, Owl?"</p>

-

-<p>Owl, who had just discovered that his new address was THE SMUDGE,

-coughed at Eeyore sternly, but said nothing, and Eeyore, with most of

-THE WOLERY behind him, marched off with his friends.</p>

-

-<p>So, in a little while, they came to the house which Eeyore had found,

-and for some minutes before they came to it, Piglet was nudging Pooh,

-and Pooh was nudging Piglet, and they were saying, "It is!" and "It

-can't be!" and "It is, <i>really</i>!" to each other.</p>

-

-<p>And when they got there, it really was.</p>

-

-<p>"There!" said Eeyore proudly, stopping them outside Piglet's house.

-"And the name on it, and everything!"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" cried Christopher Robin, wondering whether to laugh or what.</p>

-

-<p>"Just the house for Owl. Don't you think so, little Piglet?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus87.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>And then Piglet did a Noble Thing, and he did it in a sort of dream,

-while he was thinking of all the wonderful words Pooh had hummed about

-him.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, it's just the house for Owl," he said grandly. "And I hope he'll

-be very happy in it." And then he gulped twice, because he had been

-very happy in it himself.</p>

-

-<p>"What do <i>you</i> think, Christopher Robin?" asked Eeyore a little

-anxiously, feeling that something wasn't quite right.</p>

-

-<p>Christopher Robin had a question to ask first, and he was wondering how

-to ask it.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," he said at last, "it's a very nice house, and if your own house

-is blown down, you <i>must</i> go somewhere else, mustn't you, Piglet? What

-would <i>you</i> do, if <i>your</i> house was blown down?"</p>

-

-<p>Before Piglet could think, Pooh answered for him.</p>

-

-<p>"He'd come and live with me," said Pooh, "wouldn't you, Piglet?"</p>

-

-<p>Piglet squeezed his paw.</p>

-

-<p>"Thank you, Pooh," he said, "I should love to."</p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We

-Leave Them There</i></p>

-

-

-<p>Christopher Robin was going away. Nobody knew why he was going; nobody

-knew where he was going; indeed, nobody even knew why he knew that

-Christopher Robin <i>was</i> going away. But somehow or other everybody in

-the Forest felt that it was happening at last. Even Smallest-of-all,

-a friend-and-relation of Rabbit's who thought he had once seen

-Christopher Robin's foot, but couldn't be quite sure because perhaps it

-was something else, even S. of A. told himself that Things were going

-to be Different; and Late and Early, two other friends-and-relations,

-said, "Well, Early?" and "Well, Late?" to each other in such a hopeless

-sort of way that it really didn't seem any good waiting for the answer.</p>

-

-<p>One day when he felt that he couldn't wait any longer, Rabbit brained

-out a Notice, and this is what it said:</p>

-

-<p>"Notice a meeting of everybody will meet at the House at Pooh Corner to

-pass a Rissolution By Order Keep to the Left Signed Rabbit."</p>

-

-<p>He had to write this out two or three times before he could get the

-rissolution to look like what he thought it was going to when he began

-to spell it: but, when at last it was finished, he took it round to

-everybody and read it out to them. And they all said they would come.</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Eeyore that afternoon, when he saw them all walking up to

-his house, "this <i>is</i> a surprise. Am <i>I</i> asked too?"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus88.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Don't mind Eeyore," whispered Rabbit to Pooh. "I told him all about it

-this morning."</p>

-

-<p>Everybody said "How-do-you-do" to Eeyore, and Eeyore said that he

-didn't, not to notice, and then they sat down; and as soon as they were

-all sitting down, Rabbit stood up again.</p>

-

-<p>"We all know why we're here," he said, "but I have asked my friend

-Eeyore——"</p>

-

-<p>"That's Me," said Eeyore. "Grand."</p>

-

-<p>"I have asked him to Propose a Rissolution." And he sat down again.

-"Now then, Eeyore," he said.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus89.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Don't Bustle me," said Eeyore, getting up slowly. "Don't now-then

-me." He took a piece of paper from behind his ear, and unfolded it.

-"Nobody knows anything about this," he went on. "This is a Surprise."

-He coughed in an important way, and began again: "What-nots and

-Etceteras, before I begin, or perhaps I should say, before I end, I

-have a piece of Poetry to read to you. Hitherto—hitherto—a long word

-meaning—well, you'll see what it means directly—hitherto, as I was

-saying, all the Poetry in the Forest has been written by Pooh, a Bear

-with a Pleasing Manner but a Positively Startling Lack of Brain. The

-Poem which I am now about to read to you was written by Eeyore, or

-Myself, in a Quiet Moment. If somebody will take Roo's bull's-eye away

-from him, and wake up Owl, we shall all be able to enjoy it. I call

-it—POEM."</p>

-

-<p>This was it.</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">Christopher Robin is going.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">At least I think he is.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Where?</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Nobody knows.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">But he is going—</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I mean he goes</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>To rhyme with "knows"</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Do we care?</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>To rhyme with "where"</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">We do</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Very much.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>I haven't got a rhyme for that "is" in the second line yet. Bother.</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Now I haven't got a rhyme for bother. Bother.</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Those two bothers will have to rhyme with each other. Buther.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">The fact is this is more difficult than I thought,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I ought—</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Very good indeed</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I ought</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">To begin again,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">But it is easier</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">To stop.</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Christopher Robin, good-bye,</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Good</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">And all your friends</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Sends—</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">I mean all your friend</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Send—</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Very awkward this, it keeps going wrong</i>)</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">Well, anyhow, we send</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">Our love</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">END.</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>"If anybody wants to clap," said Eeyore when he had read this, "now is

-the time to do it."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus90.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>They all clapped.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus91.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Thank you," said Eeyore. "Unexpected and gratifying, if a little

-lacking in Smack."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus92.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"It's much better than mine," said Pooh admiringly, and he really

-thought it was.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus93.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Well," explained Eeyore modestly, "it was meant to be."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus94.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"The rissolution," said Rabbit, "is that we all sign it, and take it to

-Christopher Robin."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus95.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>So it was signed POOH, PIGLET, WOL, EOR, RABBIT, KANGA, BLOT, SMUDGE,

-and they all went off to Christopher Robin's house with it.</p>

-

-<p>"Hallo, everybody," said Christopher Robin—"Hallo, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>They all said "Hallo," and felt awkward and unhappy suddenly, because

-it was a sort of good-bye they were saying, and they didn't want to

-think about it. So they stood around, and waited for somebody else to

-speak, and they nudged each other, and said "Go on," and gradually

-Eeyore was nudged to the front, and the others crowded behind him.</p>

-

-<p>"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin. Eeyore swished his tail

-from side to side, so as to encourage himself, and began.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus96.jpg" alt="">

-  <div class="caption">

-    <p><i>"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin.</i></p>

-  </div>

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Christopher Robin," he said, "we've come to say—to give you—it's

-called—written by—but we've all—because we've heard, I mean we all

-know—well, you see, it's—we—you—well, that, to put it as shortly

-as possible, is what it is." He turned round angrily on the others and

-said, "Everybody crowds round so in this Forest. There's no Space. I

-never saw a more Spreading lot of animals in my life, and all in the

-wrong places. Can't you <i>see</i> that Christopher Robin wants to be alone?

-I'm going." And he humped off.</p>

-

-<p>Not quite knowing why, the others began edging away, and when

-Christopher Robin had finished reading POEM, and was looking up to say,

-"Thank you," only Pooh was left.</p>

-

-<p>"It's a comforting sort of thing to have," said Christopher Robin,

-folding up the paper, and putting it in his pocket. "Come on, Pooh,"

-and he walked off quickly.</p>

-

-<p>"Where are we going?" said Pooh, hurrying after him,

-and wondering whether it was to be an Explore or a

-What-shall-I-do-about-you-know-what.</p>

-

-<p>"Nowhere," said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<p>So they began going there, and after they had walked a little way

-Christopher Robin said:</p>

-

-<p>"What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best——" and then he had to stop and

-think. Because although Eating Honey <i>was</i> a very good thing to do,

-there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better

-than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. And then

-he thought that being with Christopher Robin was a very good thing

-to do, and having Piglet near was a very friendly thing to have; and

-so, when he had thought it all out, he said, "What I like best in the

-whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What

-about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a

-little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day

-outside, and birds singing."</p>

-

-<p>"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like <i>doing</i>

-best is Nothing."</p>

-

-<p>"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long

-time.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to

-do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh,

-nothing, and then you go and do it."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.</p>

-

-<p>"It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear,

-and not bothering."</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus97.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>They walked on, thinking of This and That, and by-and-by they came

-to an enchanted place on the very top of the Forest called Galleons

-Lap, which is sixty-something trees in a circle; and Christopher Robin

-knew that it was enchanted because nobody had ever been able to count

-whether it was sixty-three or sixty-four, not even when he tied a piece

-of string round each tree after he had counted it. Being enchanted,

-its floor was not like the floor of the Forest, gorse and bracken and

-heather, but close-set grass, quiet and smooth and green. It was the

-only place in the Forest where you could sit down carelessly, without

-getting up again almost at once and looking for somewhere else. Sitting

-there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached

-the sky, and whatever there was all the world over was with them in

-Galleons Lap.</p>

-

-<p>Suddenly Christopher Robin began to tell Pooh about some of the things:

-People called Kings and Queens and something called Factors, and a

-place called Europe, and an island in the middle of the sea where no

-ships came, and how you make a Suction Pump (if you want to), and

-when Knights were Knighted, and what comes from Brazil. And Pooh, his

-back against one of the sixty-something trees, and his paws folded

-in front of him, said "Oh!" and "I didn't know," and thought how

-wonderful it would be to have a Real Brain which could tell you things.

-And by-and-by Christopher Robin came to an end of the things, and was

-silent, and he sat there looking out over the world, and wishing it

-wouldn't stop.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus98.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>But Pooh was thinking too, and he said suddenly to Christopher Robin:</p>

-

-<p>"Is it a very Grand thing to be an Afternoon, what you said?"</p>

-

-<p>"A what?" said Christopher Robin lazily, as he listened to something

-else.</p>

-

-<p>"On a horse," explained Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"A Knight?"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, was that it?" said Pooh. "I thought it was a——Is it as Grand as

-a King and Factors and all the other things you said?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well, it's not as grand as a King," said Christopher Robin, and then,

-as Pooh seemed disappointed, he added quickly, "but it's grander than

-Factors."</p>

-

-<p>"Could a Bear be one?"</p>

-

-<p>"Of course he could!" said Christopher Robin. "I'll make you one." And

-he took a stick and touched Pooh on the shoulder, and said, "Rise, Sir

-Pooh de Bear, most faithful of all my Knights."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus99.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>So Pooh rose and sat down and said "Thank you," which is the proper

-thing to say when you have been made a Knight, and he went into a

-dream again, in which he and Sir Pomp and Sir Brazil and Factors

-lived together with a horse, and were faithful Knights (all except

-Factors, who looked after the horse) to Good King Christopher Robin

-... and every now and then he shook his head, and said to himself

-"I'm not getting it right." Then he began to think of all the things

-Christopher Robin would want to tell him when he came back from

-wherever he was going to, and how muddling it would be for a Bear of

-Very Little Brain to try and get them right in his mind. "So, perhaps,"

-he said sadly to himself, "Christopher Robin won't tell me any more,"

-and he wondered if being a Faithful Knight meant that you just went on

-being faithful without being told things.</p>

-

-<p>Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the

-world, with his chin in his hands, called out "Pooh!"</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus100.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Yes?" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"When I'm—when——Pooh!"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Christopher Robin?"</p>

-

-<p>"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."</p>

-

-<p>"Never again?"</p>

-

-<p>"Well, not so much. They don't let you."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Christopher Robin?" said Pooh helpfully.</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh, when I'm—<i>you</i> know—when I'm <i>not</i> doing Nothing, will you

-come up here sometimes?"</p>

-

-<p>"Just Me?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"Will you be here too?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Pooh, I will be, <i>really</i>. I <i>promise</i> I will be, Pooh."</p>

-

-<p>"That's good," said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh, <i>promise</i> you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a

-hundred."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh thought for a little.</p>

-

-<p>"How old shall <i>I</i> be then?"</p>

-

-<p>"Ninety-nine."</p>

-

-<p>Pooh nodded.</p>

-

-<p>"I promise," he said.</p>

-

-<p>Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and

-felt for Pooh's paw.</p>

-

-<p>"Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if I—if I'm not quite——"

-he stopped and tried again—"Pooh, <i>whatever</i> happens, you <i>will</i>

-understand, won't you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Understand what?"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, nothing." He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Come on!"</p>

-

-<p>"Where?" said Pooh.</p>

-

-<p>"Anywhere," said Christopher Robin.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens

-to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a

-little boy and his Bear will always be playing.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus101.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-

-<h3>BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS</h3>

-

-<p class="ph2">BY A. A. MILNE</p>

-

-<p class="ph2"><i>with Decorations by</i> E. H. SHEPARD:</p>

-

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0">WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">NOW WE ARE SIX</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">WINNIE-THE-POOH</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN STORY BOOK</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0">SONG-BOOKS FROM THE POEMS OF A. A. MILNE</div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>with Music by</i> H. FRASER-SIMSON:</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">FOURTEEN SONGS</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">THE KING'S BREAKFAST</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">TEDDY BEAR AND OTHER SONGS</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">THE HUMS OF POOH</div>

-    <div class="verse indent2">SONGS FROM "NOW WE ARE SIX"</div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-

-<p class="ph2">E. P. DUTTON &amp; CO., INC.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/ep.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-

-

-<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER ***</div>

-</body>

-</html>

+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      The House at Pooh Corner | Project Gutenberg
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+</head>
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop">
+  <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt="cover">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</h1>
+
+<p>BY A. A. MILNE</p>
+
+<p><i>with decorations<br>
+by Ernest H. Shepard</i></p>
+
+<p>PUBLISHED BY<br>
+E. P. DUTTON &amp; CO., INC., NEW YORK</p>
+
+<p>THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</p>
+
+<p>COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY E. P. DUTTON &amp; CO., INC.<br>
+ALL RIGHTS RESERVED<br>
+PRINTED IN U. S. A.</p>
+
+<p>First Printing September, 1928</p>
+
+<p>100th Printing December, 1936</p>
+
+<p>139th Printing July, 1949</p>
+
+<p>Reprinted, from new plates and engravings<br>
+and type entirely reset August, 1950</p>
+
+<p>141st Printing September, 1951</p>
+
+<p>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE<br>
+AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2>DEDICATION</h2>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>You gave me Christopher Robin, and then</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>You breathed new life in Pooh.</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Whatever of each has left my pen</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Goes homing back to you.</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>My book is ready, and comes to greet</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>The mother it longs to see—</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>It would be my present to you, my sweet,</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>If it weren't your gift to me.</i></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h2><i>Contradiction</i></h2>
+
+
+
+<p>An introduction is to introduce people, but Christopher Robin and his
+friends, who have already been introduced to you, are now going to
+say Good-bye. So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the
+opposite of an Introduction was, he said "The what of a what?" which
+didn't help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head
+and told us that the opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a
+Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that
+that's what it is.</p>
+
+<p>Why we are having a Contradiction is because last week when Christopher
+Robin said to me, "What about that story you were going to tell me
+about what happened to Pooh when——" I happened to say very quickly,
+"What about nine times a hundred and seven?" And when we had done that
+one, we had one about cows going through a gate at two a minute, and
+there are three hundred in the field, so how many are left after an
+hour and a half? We find these very exciting, and when we have been
+excited quite enough, we curl up and go to sleep ... and Pooh, sitting
+wakeful a little longer on his chair by our pillow, thinks Grand
+Thoughts to himself about Nothing, until he, too, closes his eyes and
+nods his head, and follows us on tip-toe into the Forest. There, still,
+we have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you
+about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we
+can catch hold of them. How did the last one begin? "One day when Pooh
+was walking in the Forest, there were one hundred and seven cows on a
+gate...." No, you see, we have lost it. It was the best, I think. Well,
+here are some of the other ones, all that we shall remember now. But,
+of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be
+there ... and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.</p>
+
+<p class="ph3">A. A. M.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h2><i>Contents</i></h2>
+
+
+
+<table>
+<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">IN WHICH <i>A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">IN WHICH <i>Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">IN WHICH <i>A Search Is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the
+Heffalump Again</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IN WHICH <i>It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">IN WHICH <i>Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin
+Does in the Mornings</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">IN WHICH <i>Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">IN WHICH <i>Tigger Is Unbounced</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">IN WHICH <i>Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IN WHICH <i>Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">IN WHICH <i>Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and
+We Leave Them There</i></a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h2>THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h3>
+
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore</i></p>
+
+
+<p>One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do
+something, so he went round to Piglet's house to see what Piglet was
+doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track,
+and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire,
+but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he
+looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.</p>
+
+<p>"He's out," said Pooh sadly. "That's what it is. He's not in. I shall
+have to go a fast Thinking Walk by myself. Bother!"</p>
+
+<p>But first he thought that he would knock very loudly just to make
+<i>quite</i> sure ... and while he waited for Piglet not to answer, he
+jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum came suddenly into his head,
+which seemed to him a Good Hum, such as is Hummed Hopefully to Others.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The more it snows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The more it goes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The more it goes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">On snowing.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And nobody knows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my toes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my toes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">(Tiddely pom),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Are growing.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"So what I'll do," said Pooh, "is I'll do this. I'll just go home first
+and see what the time is, and perhaps I'll put a muffler round my neck,
+and then I'll go and see Eeyore and sing it to him."</p>
+
+<p>He hurried back to his own house; and his mind was so busy on the
+way with the hum that he was getting ready for Eeyore that, when he
+suddenly saw Piglet sitting in his best arm-chair, he could only stand
+there rubbing his head and wondering whose house he was in.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Piglet," he said. "I thought you were out."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Piglet, "it's you who were out, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"So it was," said Pooh. "I knew one of us was."</p>
+
+<p>He looked up at his clock, which had stopped at five minutes to eleven
+some weeks ago.</p>
+
+<p>"Nearly eleven o'clock," said Pooh happily. "You're just in time for a
+little smackerel of something," and he put his head into the cupboard.
+"And then we'll go out, Piglet, and sing my song to Eeyore."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Which song, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>"The one we're going to sing to Eeyore," explained Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>The clock was still saying five minutes to eleven when Pooh and Piglet
+set out on their way half an hour later. The wind had dropped, and the
+snow, tired of rushing round in circles trying to catch itself up,
+now fluttered gently down until it found a place on which to rest, and
+sometimes the place was Pooh's nose and sometimes it wasn't, and in
+a little while Piglet was wearing a white muffler round his neck and
+feeling more snowy behind the ears than he had ever felt before.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Pooh," he said at last, and a little timidly, because he didn't want
+Pooh to think he was Giving In, "I was just wondering. How would it
+be if we went home now and <i>practised</i> your song, and then sang it to
+Eeyore tomorrow—or—or the next day, when we happen to see him?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's a very good idea, Piglet," said Pooh. "We'll practise it now as
+we go along. But it's no good going home to practise it, because it's
+a special Outdoor Song which Has To Be Sung In The Snow."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?" asked Piglet anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you'll see, Piglet, when you listen. Because this is how it
+begins. <i>The more it snows, tiddely pom</i>——"</p>
+
+<p>"Tiddely what?" said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Pom," said Pooh. "I put that in to make it more hummy. <i>The more it
+goes, tiddely pom, the more</i>——"</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you say snows?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but that was <i>before</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Before the tiddely pom?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was a <i>different</i> tiddely pom," said Pooh, feeling rather muddled
+now. "I'll sing it to you properly and then you'll see."</p>
+
+<p>So he sang it again.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The more it</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">SNOWS-tiddely-pom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The more it</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">GOES-tiddely-pom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The more it</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">GOES-tiddely-pom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">On</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Snowing.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And nobody</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">KNOWS-tiddely-pom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">TOES-tiddely-pom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How cold my</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">TOES-tiddely-pom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Growing.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>He sang it like that, which is much the best way of singing it, and
+when he had finished, he waited for Piglet to say that, of all the
+Outdoor Hums for Snowy Weather he had ever heard, this was the best.
+And, after thinking the matter out carefully, Piglet said:</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh," he said solemnly, "it isn't the <i>toes</i> so much as the <i>ears</i>."</p>
+
+<p>By this time they were getting near Eeyore's Gloomy Place, which was
+where he lived, and as it was still very snowy behind Piglet's ears,
+and he was getting tired of it, they turned into a little pine wood,
+and sat down on the gate which led into it. They were out of the snow
+now, but it was very cold, and to keep themselves warm they sang Pooh's
+song right through six times, Piglet doing the tiddely-poms and Pooh
+doing the rest of it, and both of them thumping on the top of the gate
+with pieces of stick at the proper places. And in a little while they
+felt much warmer, and were able to talk again.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and what I've been thinking is this.
+I've been thinking about Eeyore."</p>
+
+<p>"What about Eeyore?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, poor Eeyore has nowhere to live."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor he has," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> have a house, Piglet, and I have a house, and they are very good
+houses. And Christopher Robin has a house, and Owl and Kanga and Rabbit
+have houses, and even Rabbit's friends and relations have houses or
+somethings, but poor Eeyore has nothing. So what I've been thinking is:
+Let's build him a house."</p>
+
+<p>"That," said Piglet, "is a Grand Idea. Where shall we build it?"</p>
+
+<p>"We build it here," said Pooh, "just by this wood, out of the wind,
+because this is where I thought of it. And we will call this Pooh
+Corner. And we will build an Eeyore House with sticks at Pooh Corner
+for Eeyore."</p>
+
+<p>"There was a heap of sticks on the other side of the wood," said
+Piglet. "I saw them. Lots and lots. All piled up."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Piglet," said Pooh. "What you have just said will be
+a Great Help to us, and because of it I could call this place
+Poohanpiglet Corner if Pooh Corner didn't sound better, which it does,
+being smaller and more like a corner. Come along."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>So they got down off the gate and went round to the other side of the
+wood to fetch the sticks.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Christopher Robin had spent the morning indoors going to Africa and
+back, and he had just got off the boat and was wondering what it was
+like outside, when who should come knocking at the door but Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came
+out. "How are <i>you</i>?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.</p>
+
+<p>"So it is."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>And</i> freezing."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we
+haven't had an earthquake lately."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Eeyore?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Nothing, Christopher Robin. Nothing important. I suppose you haven't
+seen a house or what-not anywhere about?"</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just a house."</p>
+
+<p>"Who lives there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do. At least I thought I did. But I suppose I don't. After all, we
+can't all have houses."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Eeyore, I didn't know—I always thought——"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how it is, Christopher Robin, but what with all
+this snow and one thing and another, not to mention icicles
+and such-like, it isn't so Hot in my field about three o'clock
+in the morning as some people think it is. It isn't Close, if
+you know what I mean—not so as to be uncomfortable. It isn't
+Stuffy. In fact, Christopher Robin," he went on in a loud whisper,
+"quite-between-ourselves-and-don't-tell-anybody, it's Cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I said to myself: The others will be sorry if I'm getting myself
+all cold. They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's
+blown into their heads by mistake, and they don't Think, but if it goes
+on snowing for another six weeks or so, one of them will begin to say
+to himself: 'Eeyore can't be so very much too Hot about three o'clock
+in the morning.' And then it will Get About. And they'll be Sorry."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus9.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore!" said Christopher Robin, feeling very sorry already.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean you, Christopher Robin. You're different. So what it all
+comes to is that I built myself a house down by my little wood."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you really? How exciting!"</p>
+
+<p>"The really exciting part," said Eeyore in his most melancholy voice,
+"is that when I left it this morning it was there, and when I came back
+it wasn't. Not at all, very natural, and it was only Eeyore's house.
+But still I just wondered."</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin didn't stop to wonder. He was already back in <i>his</i>
+house, putting on his waterproof hat, his waterproof boots and his
+waterproof macintosh as fast as he could.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go and look for it at once," he called out to Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes," said Eeyore, "when people have quite finished taking a
+person's house, there are one or two bits which they don't want and are
+rather glad for the person to take back, if you know what I mean. So I
+thought if we just went——"</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," said Christopher Robin, and off they hurried, and in a very
+little time they got to the corner of the field by the side of the
+pine-wood, where Eeyore's house wasn't any longer.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said Eeyore. "Not a stick of it left! Of course, I've still
+got all this snow to do what I like with. One mustn't complain."</p>
+
+<p>But Christopher Robin wasn't listening to Eeyore, he was listening to
+something else.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you hear it?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? Somebody laughing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen."</p>
+
+<p>They both listened ... and they heard a deep gruff voice saying in a
+singing voice that the more it snowed the more it went on snowing, and
+a small high voice tiddely-pomming in between.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus10.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"It's Pooh," said Christopher Robin excitedly....</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>And</i> Piglet!" said Christopher Robin excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Probably," said Eeyore. "What we <i>want</i> is a Trained Bloodhound."</p>
+
+<p>The words of the song changed suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We've finished our HOUSE!</i>" sang the gruff voice.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Tiddely pom!</i>" sang the squeaky one.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>It's a beautiful HOUSE....</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Tiddely pom....</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I wish it were MINE....</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Tiddely pom....</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" shouted Christopher Robin....</p>
+
+<p>The singers on the gate stopped suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Christopher Robin!" said Pooh eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"He's round by the place where we got all those sticks from," said
+Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>They climbed down their gate and hurried round the corner of the wood,
+Pooh making welcoming noises all the way.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, here <i>is</i> Eeyore," said Pooh, when he had finished hugging
+Christopher Robin, and he nudged Piglet, and Piglet nudged him, and
+they thought to themselves what a lovely surprise they had got ready.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Eeyore."</p>
+
+<p>"Same to you, Pooh Bear, and twice on Thursdays," said Eeyore gloomily.</p>
+
+<p>Before Pooh could say: "Why Thursdays?" Christopher Robin began to
+explain the sad story of Eeyore's Lost House. And Pooh and Piglet
+listened, and their eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Where</i> did you say it was?" asked Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Just here," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Made of sticks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"I just said 'Oh!'" said Piglet nervously. And so as to seem quite at
+ease he hummed Tiddely-pom once or twice in a what-shall-we-do-now kind
+of way.</p>
+
+<p>"You're sure it <i>was</i> a house?" said Pooh. "I mean, you're sure the
+house was just here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I am," said Eeyore. And he murmured to himself, "No brain at
+all some of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's the matter, Pooh?" asked Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh.... "The fact <i>is</i>," said Pooh.... "Well, the fact
+<i>is</i>," said Pooh.... "You see," said Pooh.... "It's like this," said
+Pooh, and something seemed to tell him that he wasn't explaining very
+well, and he nudged Piglet again.</p>
+
+<p>"It's like this," said Piglet quickly.... "Only warmer," he added after
+deep thought.</p>
+
+<p>"What's warmer?"</p>
+
+<p>"The other side of the wood, where Eeyore's house is."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>My</i> house?" said Eeyore. "My house was here."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Piglet firmly. "The other side of the wood."</p>
+
+<p>"Because of being warmer," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"But I ought to <i>know</i>——"</p>
+
+<p>"Come and look," said Piglet simply, and he led the way.</p>
+
+<p>"There wouldn't be <i>two</i> houses," said Pooh. "Not so close together."</p>
+
+<p>They came round the corner, and there was Eeyore's house, looking as
+comfy as anything.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus11.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"There you are," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Inside as well as outside," said Pooh proudly.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore went inside ... and came out again.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a remarkable thing," he said. "It <i>is</i> my house, and I built it
+where I said I did, so the wind must have blown it here. And the wind
+blew it right over the wood, and blew it down here, and here it is as
+good as ever. In fact, better in places."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus12.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Much better," said Pooh and Piglet together.</p>
+
+<p>"It just shows what can be done by taking a little trouble," said
+Eeyore. "Do you see, Pooh? Do you see, Piglet? Brains first and then
+Hard Work. Look at it! <i>That's</i> the way to build a house," said Eeyore
+proudly.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>So they left him in it; and Christopher Robin went back to lunch with
+his friends Pooh and Piglet, and on the way they told him of the Awful
+Mistake they had made. And when he had finished laughing, they all sang
+the Outdoor Song for Snowy Weather the rest of the way home, Piglet,
+who was still not quite sure of his voice, putting in the tiddely-poms
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"And I know it <i>seems</i> easy," said Piglet to himself, "but it isn't
+<i>every one</i> who could do it."</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Winnie-the-pooh woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and
+listened. Then he got out of bed, and lit his candle, and stumped
+across the room to see if anybody was trying to get into his
+honey-cupboard, and they weren't, so he stumped back again, blew out
+his candle, and got into bed. Then he heard the noise again.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, Piglet?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>But it wasn't.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, Christopher Robin," he said.</p>
+
+<p>But Christopher Robin didn't.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about it tomorrow, Eeyore," said Pooh sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>But the noise went on.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Worraworraworraworraworra</i>," said Whatever-it-was, and Pooh found
+that he wasn't asleep after all.</p>
+
+<p>"What can it be?" he thought. "There are lots of noises in
+the Forest, but this is a different one. It isn't a growl,
+and it isn't a purr, and it isn't a bark, and it isn't the
+noise-you-make-before-beginning-a-piece-of-poetry, but it's a noise
+of some kind, made by a strange animal. And he's making it outside my
+door. So I shall get up and ask him not to do it."</p>
+
+<p>He got out of bed and opened his front door.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus13.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Hallo!" said Pooh, in case there was anything outside.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo!" said Whatever-it-was.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>there</i> you are!" said Pooh. "Hallo!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo!" said the Strange Animal, wondering how long this was going on.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh was just going to say "Hallo!" for the fourth time when he thought
+that he wouldn't, so he said: "Who is it?" instead.</p>
+
+<p>"Me," said a voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Pooh. "Well, come here."</p>
+
+<p>So Whatever-it-was came here, and in the light of the candle he and
+Pooh looked at each other.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm Pooh," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm Tigger," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Pooh, for he had never seen an animal like this before.
+"Does Christopher Robin know about you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he does," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh, "it's the middle of the night, which is a good time
+for going to sleep. And tomorrow morning we'll have some honey for
+breakfast. Do Tiggers like honey?"</p>
+
+<p>"They like everything," said Tigger cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Then if they like going to sleep on the floor, I'll go back to bed,"
+said Pooh, "and we'll do things in the morning. Good night." And he got
+back into bed and went fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>When he awoke in the morning, the first thing he saw was Tigger,
+sitting in front of the glass and looking at himself.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus14.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Hallo!" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo!" said Tigger. "I've found somebody just like me. I thought I
+was the only one of them."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh got out of bed, and began to explain what a looking-glass was, but
+just as he was getting to the interesting part, Tigger said:</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me a moment, but there's something climbing up your table,"
+and with one loud <i>Worraworraworraworraworra</i> he jumped at the end
+of the tablecloth, pulled it to the ground, wrapped himself up in it
+three times, rolled to the other end of the room, and, after a terrible
+struggle, got his head into the daylight again, and said cheerfully:
+"Have I won?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's my tablecloth," said Pooh, as he began to unwind Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"I wondered what it was," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"It goes on the table and you put things on it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did it try to bite me when I wasn't looking?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't <i>think</i> it did," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"It tried," said Tigger, "but I was too quick for it."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus15.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Pooh put the cloth back on the table, and he put a large honey-pot on
+the cloth, and they sat down to breakfast. And as soon as they sat
+down, Tigger took a large mouthful of honey ... and he looked up at the
+ceiling with his head on one side, and made exploring noises with his
+tongue and considering noises, and what-have-we-got-<i>here</i> noises ...
+and then he said in a very decided voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Tiggers don't like honey."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Pooh, and tried to make it sound Sad and Regretful. "I
+thought they liked everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Everything except honey," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh felt rather pleased about this, and said that, as soon as he had
+finished his own breakfast, he would take Tigger round to Piglet's
+house, and Tigger could try some of Piglet's haycorns.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Pooh," said Tigger, "because haycorns is really what
+Tiggers like best."</p>
+
+<p>So after breakfast they went round to see Piglet, and Pooh explained as
+they went that Piglet was a Very Small Animal who didn't like bouncing,
+and asked Tigger not to be too Bouncy just at first. And Tigger, who
+had been hiding behind trees and jumping out on Pooh's shadow when it
+wasn't looking, said that Tiggers were only bouncy before breakfast,
+and that as soon as they had had a few haycorns they became Quiet and
+Refined. So by and by they knocked at the door of Piglet's house.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Piglet. This is Tigger."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, is it?" said Piglet, and he edged round to the other side of the
+table. "I thought Tiggers were smaller than that."</p>
+
+<p>"Not the big ones," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"They like haycorns," said Pooh, "so that's what we've come for,
+because poor Tigger hasn't had any breakfast yet."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet pushed the bowl of haycorns towards Tigger, and said: "Help
+yourself," and then he got close up to Pooh and felt much braver, and
+said, "So you're Tigger? Well, well!" in a careless sort of voice. But
+Tigger said nothing because his mouth was full of haycorns....</p>
+
+<p>After a long munching noise he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Ee-ers o i a-ors."</p>
+
+<p>And when Pooh and Piglet said "What?" he said "Skoos ee," and went
+outside for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>When he came back he said firmly:</p>
+
+<p>"Tiggers don't like haycorns."</p>
+
+<p>"But you said they liked everything except honey," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything except honey and haycorns," explained Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>When he heard this Pooh said, "Oh, I see!" and Piglet, who was rather
+glad that Tiggers didn't like haycorns, said, "What about thistles?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thistles," said Tigger, "is what Tiggers like best."</p>
+
+<p>"Then let's go along and see Eeyore," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus16.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>So the three of them went; and after they had walked and walked and
+walked, they came to the part of the Forest where Eeyore was.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Pooh. "This is Tigger."</p>
+
+<p>"What is?" said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"This," explained Pooh and Piglet together, and Tigger smiled his
+happiest smile and said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore walked all round Tigger one way, and then turned and walked all
+round him the other way.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say it was?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Tigger."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"He's just come," explained Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Eeyore again.</p>
+
+<p>He thought for a long time and then said:</p>
+
+<p>"When is he going?"</p>
+
+<p>Pooh explained to Eeyore that Tigger was a great friend of Christopher
+Robin's, who had come to stay in the Forest, and Piglet explained to
+Tigger that he mustn't mind what Eeyore said because he was <i>always</i>
+gloomy; and Eeyore explained to Piglet that, on the contrary, he was
+feeling particularly cheerful this morning; and Tigger explained to
+anybody who was listening that he hadn't had any breakfast yet.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew there was something," said Pooh. "Tiggers always eat thistles,
+so that was why we came to see you, Eeyore."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mention it, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore, I didn't mean that I didn't <i>want</i> to see you——"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite—quite. But your new stripy friend—naturally, he wants his
+breakfast. What did you say his name was?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tigger."</p>
+
+<p>"Then come this way, Tigger."</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore led the way to the most thistly-looking patch of thistles that
+ever was, and waved a hoof at it.</p>
+
+<p>"A little patch I was keeping for my birthday," he said; "but, after
+all, what <i>are</i> birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow. Help yourself,
+Tigger."</p>
+
+<p>Tigger thanked him and looked a little anxiously at Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Are these really thistles?" he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"What Tiggers like best?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"I see," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>So he took a large mouthful, and he gave a large crunch.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ow!</i>" said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>He sat down and put his paw in his mouth.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus17.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" asked Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hot!</i>" mumbled Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"Your friend," said Eeyore, "appears to have bitten on a bee."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh's friend stopped shaking his head to get the prickles out, and
+explained that Tiggers didn't like thistles.</p>
+
+<p>"Then why bend a perfectly good one?" asked Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"But you said," began Pooh—"you <i>said</i> that Tiggers liked everything
+except honey and haycorns."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>And</i> thistles," said Tigger, who was now running round in circles
+with his tongue hanging out.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh looked at him sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"What are we going to do?" he asked Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>Piglet knew the answer to that, and he said at once that they must go
+and see Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find him with Kanga," said Eeyore. He came close to Pooh, and
+said in a loud whisper:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Could</i> you ask your friend to do his exercises somewhere else? I
+shall be having lunch directly, and don't want it bounced on just
+before I begin. A trifling matter, and fussy of me, but we all have our
+little ways."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh nodded solemnly and called to Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along and we'll go and see Kanga. She's sure to have lots of
+breakfast for you."</p>
+
+<p>Tigger finished his last circle and came up to Pooh and Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Hot!" he explained with a large and friendly smile. "Come on!" and he
+rushed off.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh and Piglet walked slowly after him. And as they walked Piglet said
+nothing, because he couldn't think of anything, and Pooh said nothing,
+because he was thinking of a poem. And when he had thought of it he
+began:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">What shall we do about poor little Tigger?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If he never eats nothing he'll never get bigger.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He doesn't like honey and haycorns and thistles</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Because of the taste and because of the bristles.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And all the good things which an animal likes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Have the wrong sort of swallow or too many spikes.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"He's quite big enough anyhow," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't <i>really</i> very big."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he <i>seems</i> so."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh was thoughtful when he heard this, and then he murmured to himself:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But whatever his weight in pounds, shillings, and ounces,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He always seems bigger because of his bounces.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"And that's the whole poem," he said. "Do you like it, Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>"All except the shillings," said Piglet. "I don't think they ought to
+be there."</p>
+
+<p>"They wanted to come in after the pounds," explained Pooh, "so I let
+them. It is the best way to write poetry, letting things come."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I didn't know," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Tigger had been bouncing in front of them all this time, turning round
+every now and then to ask, "Is this the way?"—and now at last they
+came in sight of Kanga's house, and there was Christopher Robin. Tigger
+rushed up to him.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus18.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Oh, there you are, Tigger!" said Christopher Robin. "I knew you'd be
+somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been finding things in the Forest," said Tigger importantly.
+"I've found a pooh and a piglet and an eeyore, but I can't find any
+breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh and Piglet came up and hugged Christopher Robin, and explained
+what had been happening.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't <i>you</i> know what Tiggers like?" asked Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect if I thought very hard I should," said Christopher Robin,
+"but I <i>thought</i> Tigger knew."</p>
+
+<p>"I do," said Tigger. "Everything there is in the world except honey and
+haycorns and—what were those hot things called?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thistles."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and those."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well then, Kanga can give you some breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>So they went into Kanga's house, and when Roo had said, "Hallo, Pooh,"
+and "Hallo, Piglet" once, and "Hallo, Tigger" twice, because he had
+never said it before and it sounded funny, they told Kanga what they
+wanted, and Kanga said very kindly, "Well, look in my cupboard, Tigger
+dear, and see what you'd like." Because she knew at once that, however
+big Tigger seemed to be, he wanted as much kindness as Roo.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I look, too?" said Pooh, who was beginning to feel a little
+eleven o'clockish. And he found a small tin of condensed milk, and
+something seemed to tell him that Tiggers didn't like this, so he
+took it into a corner by itself, and went with it to see that nobody
+interrupted it.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus19.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>But the more Tigger put his nose into this and his paw into that, the
+more things he found which Tiggers didn't like. And when he had found
+everything in the cupboard, and couldn't eat any of it, he said to
+Kanga, "What happens now?"</p>
+
+<p>But Kanga and Christopher Robin and Piglet were all standing round Roo,
+watching him have his Extract of Malt. And Roo was saying, "Must I?"
+and Kanga was saying "Now, Roo dear, you remember what you promised."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" whispered Tigger to Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"His Strengthening Medicine," said Piglet. "He hates it."</p>
+
+<p>So Tigger came closer, and he leant over the back of Roo's chair, and
+suddenly he put out his tongue, and took one large golollop, and, with
+a sudden jump of surprise, Kanga said, "Oh!" and then clutched at the
+spoon again just as it was disappearing, and pulled it safely back out
+of Tigger's mouth. But the Extract of Malt had gone.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus20.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Tigger <i>dear</i>!" said Kanga.</p>
+
+<p>"He's taken my medicine, he's taken my medicine, he's taken my
+medicine!" sang Roo happily, thinking it was a tremendous joke.</p>
+
+<p>Then Tigger looked up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes, and his
+tongue went round and round his chops, in case he had left any outside,
+and a peaceful smile came over his face as he said, "So <i>that's</i> what
+Tiggers like!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Which explains why he always lived at Kanga's house afterwards, and had
+Extract of Malt for breakfast, dinner, and tea. And sometimes, when
+Kanga thought he wanted strengthening, he had a spoonful or two of
+Roo's breakfast after meals as medicine.</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>I</i> think," said Piglet to Pooh, "that he's been strengthened
+quite enough."</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</h3>
+
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>A Search Is Organdized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump
+Again</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Pooh was sitting in his house one day, counting his pots of honey, when
+there came a knock on the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Fourteen," said Pooh. "Come in. Fourteen. Or was it fifteen? Bother.
+That's muddled me."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus21.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Rabbit. Fourteen, wasn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"What was?"</p>
+
+<p>"My pots of honey what I was counting."</p>
+
+<p>"Fourteen, that's right."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Rabbit. "Does it matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I just like to know," said Pooh humbly. "So as I can say to myself:
+'I've got fourteen pots of honey left.' Or fifteen, as the case may be.
+It's sort of comforting."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let's call it sixteen," said Rabbit. "What I came to say was:
+Have you seen Small anywhere about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so," said Pooh. And then, after thinking a little more,
+he said: "Who is Small?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of my friends-and-relations," said Rabbit carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>This didn't help Pooh much, because Rabbit had so many
+friends-and-relations, and of such different sorts and sizes, that he
+didn't know whether he ought to be looking for Small at the top of an
+oak-tree or in the petal of a buttercup.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't seen anybody today," said Pooh, "not so as to say 'Hallo,
+Small,' to. Did you want him for anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> don't <i>want</i> him," said Rabbit. "But it's always useful to know
+where a friend-and-relation <i>is</i>, whether you want him or whether you
+don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh. "Is he lost?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Rabbit, "nobody has seen him for a long time, so I suppose
+he is. Anyhow," he went on importantly, "I promised Christopher Robin
+I'd Organize a Search for him, so come on."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh said good-bye affectionately to his fourteen pots of honey, and
+hoped they were fifteen; and he and Rabbit went out into the Forest.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Rabbit, "this is a Search, and I've Organized it——"</p>
+
+<p>"Done what to it?" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Organized it. Which means—well, it's what you do to a Search, when
+you don't all look in the same place at once. So I want <i>you</i>, Pooh,
+to search by the Six Pine Trees first, and then work your way towards
+Owl's House, and look out for me there. Do you see?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus22.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh. "What——"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll see you at Owl's House in about an hour's time."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Piglet organdized too?"</p>
+
+<p>"We all are," said Rabbit, and off he went.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>As soon as Rabbit was out of sight, Pooh remembered that he had
+forgotten to ask who Small was, and whether he was the sort of
+friend-and-relation who settled on one's nose, or the sort who got
+trodden on by mistake, and as it was Too Late Now, he thought he would
+begin the Hunt by looking for Piglet, and asking him what they were
+looking for before he looked for it.</p>
+
+<p>"And it's no good looking at the Six Pine Trees for Piglet," said Pooh
+to himself, "because he's been organdized in a special place of his
+own. So I shall have to look for the Special Place first. I wonder
+where it is." And he wrote it down in his head like this:</p>
+
+
+<p>ORDER OF LOOKING FOR THINGS</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">1. Special Place. (<i>To find Piglet.</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">2. Piglet.        (<i>To find who Small is.</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">3. Small.         (<i>To find Small.</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">4. Rabbit.        (<i>To tell him I've found Small.</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">5. Small Again.   (<i>To tell him I've found Rabbit.</i>)</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Which makes it look like a bothering sort of day," thought Pooh, as he
+stumped along.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment the day became very bothering indeed, because Pooh was
+so busy not looking where he was going that he stepped on a piece of
+the Forest which had been left out by mistake; and he only just had
+time to think to himself: "I'm flying. What Owl does. I wonder how you
+stop——" when he stopped.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus23.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p><i>Bump!</i></p>
+
+<p>"Ow!" squeaked something.</p>
+
+<p>"That's funny," thought Pooh. "I said 'Ow!' without really oo'ing."</p>
+
+<p>"Help!" said a small, high voice.</p>
+
+<p>"That's me again," thought Pooh. "I've had an Accident, and fallen down
+a well, and my voice has gone all squeaky and works before I'm ready
+for it, because I've done something to myself inside. Bother!"</p>
+
+<p>"Help—help!"</p>
+
+<p>"There you are! I say things when I'm not trying. So it must be a very
+bad Accident." And then he thought that perhaps when he did try to say
+things he wouldn't be able to; so, to make sure, he said loudly: "A
+Very Bad Accident to Pooh Bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" squeaked the voice.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Piglet!" cried Pooh eagerly. "Where are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Underneath," said Piglet in an underneath sort of way.</p>
+
+<p>"Underneath what?"</p>
+
+<p>"You," squeaked Piglet. "Get up!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus24.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Pooh, and scrambled up as quickly as he could. "Did I fall
+on you, Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>"You fell on me," said Piglet, feeling himself all over.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't mean to," said Pooh sorrowfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't mean to be underneath," said Piglet sadly. "But I'm all right
+now, Pooh, and I <i>am</i> so glad it was you."</p>
+
+<p>"What's happened?" said Pooh. "Where are we?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think we're in a sort of Pit. I was walking along, looking for
+somebody, and then suddenly I wasn't any more, and just when I got up
+to see where I was, something fell on me. And it was you."</p>
+
+<p>"So it was," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Piglet. "Pooh," he went on nervously, and came a little
+closer, "do you think we're in a Trap?"</p>
+
+<p>Pooh hadn't thought about it at all, but now he nodded. For suddenly he
+remembered how he and Piglet had once made a Pooh Trap for Heffalumps,
+and he guessed what had happened. He and Piglet had fallen into a
+Heffalump Trap for Poohs! That was what it was.</p>
+
+<p>"What happens when the Heffalump comes?" asked Piglet tremblingly, when
+he had heard the news.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he won't notice <i>you</i>, Piglet," said Pooh encouragingly,
+"because you're a Very Small Animal."</p>
+
+<p>"But he'll notice <i>you</i>, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"He'll notice <i>me</i>, and I shall notice <i>him</i>," said Pooh, thinking it
+out. "We'll notice each other for a long time, and then he'll say:
+'Ho-<i>ho</i>!'"</p>
+
+<p>Piglet shivered a little at the thought of that "Ho-<i>ho</i>!" and his ears
+began to twitch.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus25.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"W-what will <i>you</i> say?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh tried to think of something he would say, but the more he thought,
+the more he felt that there <i>is</i> no real answer to "Ho-<i>ho</i>!" said by a
+Heffalump in the sort of voice this Heffalump was going to say it in.</p>
+
+<p>"I shan't say anything," said Pooh at last. "I shall just hum to
+myself, as if I was waiting for something."</p>
+
+<p>"Then perhaps he'll say, 'Ho-<i>ho</i>!' again?" suggested Piglet anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"He will," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>Piglet's ears twitched so quickly that he had to lean them against the
+side of the Trap to keep them quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"He will say it again," said Pooh, "and I shall go on humming. And that
+will Upset him. Because when you say 'Ho-<i>ho</i>' twice, in a gloating
+sort of way, and the other person only hums, you suddenly find, just as
+you begin to say it the third time—that—well, you find——"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"That it isn't," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't what?"</p>
+
+<p>Pooh knew what he meant, but, being a Bear of Very Little Brain,
+couldn't think of the words.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it just isn't," he said again.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean it isn't ho-<i>ho</i>-ish any more?" said Piglet hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh looked at him admiringly and said that that was what he meant—if
+you went on humming all the time, because you couldn't go on saying
+"Ho-<i>ho</i>!" for ever.</p>
+
+<p>"But he'll say something else," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just it. He'll say: 'What's all this?' And then <i>I</i> shall
+say—and this is a very good idea, Piglet, which I've just thought
+of—<i>I</i> shall say: 'It's a trap for a Heffalump which I've made, and
+I'm waiting for the Heffalump to fall in.' And I shall go on humming.
+That will Unsettle him."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" cried Piglet, and now it was <i>his</i> turn to be the admiring one.
+"You've saved us!"</p>
+
+<p>"Have I?" said Pooh, not feeling quite sure.</p>
+
+<p>But Piglet was quite sure; and his mind ran on, and he saw Pooh and the
+Heffalump talking to each other, and he thought suddenly, and a little
+sadly, that it <i>would</i> have been rather nice if it had been Piglet and
+the Heffalump talking so grandly to each other, and not Pooh, much as
+he loved Pooh; because he really had more brain than Pooh, and the
+conversation would go better if he and not Pooh were doing one side
+of it, and it would be comforting afterwards in the evenings to look
+back on the day when he answered a Heffalump back as bravely as if the
+Heffalump wasn't there. It seemed so easy now. He knew just what he
+would say:</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>gloatingly</i>): "Ho-<i>ho</i>!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>carelessly</i>): "Tra-la-la, tra-la-la."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>surprised, and not quite so sure of himself</i>):
+"Ho-<i>ho</i>!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>more carelessly still</i>): "Tiddle-um-tum,
+tiddle-um-tum."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>beginning to say Ho-ho and turning it awkwardly
+into a cough</i>): "H'r'm! What's all this?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>surprised</i>): "Hullo! This is a trap I've made, and
+I'm waiting for a <span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> to fall into it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>greatly disappointed</i>): "Oh!" (<i>After a long
+silence</i>): "Are you sure?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span>: "Yes."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span>: "Oh!" (<i>nervously</i>): "I—I thought it was a trap
+<i>I'd</i> made to catch Piglets."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>surprised</i>): "Oh, no!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span>: "Oh!" (<i>Apologetically</i>): "I—I must have got it
+wrong, then."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span>: "I'm afraid so." (<i>Politely</i>): "I'm sorry." (<i>He goes
+on humming.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span>: "Well—well—I—well. I suppose I'd better be
+getting back?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>looking up carelessly</i>): "Must you? Well, if you see
+Christopher Robin anywhere, you might tell him I want him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heffalump</span> (<i>eager to please</i>): "Certainly! Certainly!" (<i>He
+hurries off.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pooh</span> (<i>who wasn't going to be there, but we find we can't do
+without him</i>): "Oh, Piglet, how brave and clever you are!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Piglet</span> (<i>modestly</i>): "Not at all, Pooh." (<i>And then, when
+Christopher Robin comes, Pooh can tell him all about it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>While Piglet was dreaming this happy dream, and Pooh was wondering
+again whether it was fourteen or fifteen, the Search for Small was
+still going on all over the Forest. Small's real name was Very Small
+Beetle, but he was called Small for short, when he was spoken to at
+all, which hardly ever happened except when somebody said: "<i>Really</i>,
+Small!" He had been staying with Christopher Robin for a few seconds,
+and he started round a gorse-bush for exercise, but instead of coming
+back the other way, as expected, he hadn't, so nobody knew where he was.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus26.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"I expect he's just gone home," said Christopher Robin to Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he say Good-bye-and-thank-you-for-a-nice-time?" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"He'd only just said how-do-you-do," said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit. After thinking a little, he went on: "Has he written
+a letter saying how much he enjoyed himself, and how sorry he was he
+had to go so suddenly?"</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin didn't think he had.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit again, and looked very important. "This is Serious.
+He is Lost. We must begin the Search at once."</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin, who was thinking of something else, said: "Where's
+Pooh?"—but Rabbit had gone. So he went into his house and drew a
+picture of Pooh going on a long walk at about seven o'clock in the
+morning, and then he climbed to the top of his tree and climbed down
+again, and then he wondered what Pooh was doing, and went across the
+Forest to see.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus27.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>It was not long before he came to the Gravel Pit, and he looked down,
+and there were Pooh and Piglet, with their backs to him, dreaming
+happily.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus28.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Ho-<i>ho</i>!" said Christopher Robin loudly and suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>Piglet jumped six inches in the air with Surprise and Anxiety, but Pooh
+went on dreaming.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the Heffalump!" thought Piglet nervously. "Now, then!" He
+hummed in his throat a little, so that none of the words should stick,
+and then, in the most delightfully easy way, he said: "Tra-la-la,
+tra-la-la," as if he had just thought of it. But he didn't look
+round, because if you look round and see a Very Fierce Heffalump
+looking down at you, sometimes you forget what you were going to say.
+"Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um," said Christopher Robin in a voice like Pooh's.
+Because Pooh had once invented a song which went:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>So whenever Christopher Robin sings it, he always sings it in a
+Pooh-voice, which seems to suit it better.</p>
+
+<p>"He's said the wrong thing," thought Piglet anxiously. "He ought to
+have said, 'Ho-<i>ho</i>!' again. Perhaps I had better say it for him." And,
+as fiercely as he could, Piglet said: "Ho-<i>ho</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>"How <i>did</i> you get there, Piglet?" said Christopher Robin in his
+ordinary voice.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Terrible," thought Piglet. "First he talks in Pooh's voice,
+and then he talks in Christopher Robin's voice, and he's doing it so
+as to Unsettle me." And being now Completely Unsettled, he said very
+quickly and squeakily: "This is a trap for Poohs, and I'm waiting to
+fall in it, ho-<i>ho</i>, what's all this, and then I say ho-<i>ho</i> again."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What?</i>" said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo!" he shouted joyfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" he cried. "There's something climbing up your back."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus29.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"I thought there was," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Small!" cried Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>that's</i> who it is, is it?" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Christopher Robin, I've found Small!" cried Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, Piglet," said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>And two days later Rabbit happened to meet Eeyore in the Forest.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Eeyore," he said, "what are <i>you</i> looking for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Small, of course," said Eeyore. "Haven't you any brain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but didn't I tell you?" said Rabbit. "Small was found two days
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha-ha," said Eeyore bitterly. "Merriment and what-not. Don't
+apologize. It's just what <i>would</i> happen."</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees</i></p>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+today 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.</p>
+
+<p>The other verse of the song was like this:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I could spend a happy morning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Seeing Roo,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I could spend a happy morning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Being Pooh.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For it doesn't seem to matter,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If I don't get any fatter</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(And I <i>don't</i> get any fatter),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">What I do.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus30.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Rabbit," said Pooh to himself. "I <i>like</i> 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 <i>really</i>, I ought to go and see Rabbit."</p>
+
+<p>Which made him think of another verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, I like his way of talking,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yes, I do.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It's the nicest way of talking</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Just for two.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And a Help-yourself with Rabbit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Though it may become a habit,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is a <i>pleasant</i> sort of habit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For a Pooh.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>So when he had sung this, he got up off his stone, walked back across
+the stream, and set off for Rabbit's house.</p>
+
+<p>But he hadn't got far before he began to say to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but suppose Rabbit is out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Or suppose I get stuck in his front door again, coming out, as I did
+once when his front door wasn't big enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I <i>know</i> I'm not getting fatter, but his front door may be
+getting thinner."</p>
+
+<p>"So wouldn't it be better if——"</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>And it was eleven o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Which was Time-for-a-little-something....</p>
+
+<p>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:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I could spend a happy morning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Seeing Piglet.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And I couldn't spend a happy morning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Not seeing Piglet.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And it doesn't seem to matter</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If I don't see Owl and Eeyore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">(or any of the others),</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And I'm not going to see Owl or Eeyore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">(or any of the others)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or Christopher Robin.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Piglet was busy digging a small hole in the ground outside his house.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus31.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Hallo, Piglet," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet, giving a jump of surprise. "I knew it was
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"So did I," said Pooh. "What are you doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"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?"</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so that's why I'm
+planting it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it
+will grow up into a beehive."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.</p>
+
+<p>"Or a <i>piece</i> 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."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.</p>
+
+<p>"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.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus32.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought they were called nasturtiums," said Piglet timidly, as he
+went on jumping.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh. "Not these. These are called mastershalums."</p>
+
+<p>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-lets"—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.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus33.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>And as they went, Tigger told Roo (who wanted to know) all about the
+things that Tiggers could do.</p>
+
+<p>"Can they fly?" asked Roo.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Tigger, "they're very good flyers, Tiggers are. Stornry
+good flyers."</p>
+
+<p>"Oo!" said Roo. "Can they fly as well as Owl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Tigger. "Only they don't want to."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't they want to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they just don't like it, somehow."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Roo, "can they jump as far as Kangas?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Tigger. "When they want to."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>love</i> jumping," said Roo. "Let's see who can jump farthest, you or
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> can," said Tigger. "But we mustn't stop now, or we shall be late."</p>
+
+<p>"Late for what?"</p>
+
+<p>"For whatever we want to be in time for," said Tigger, hurrying on.</p>
+
+<p>In a little while they came to the Six Pine Trees.</p>
+
+<p>"I can swim," said Roo. "I fell into the river, and I swimmed. Can
+Tiggers swim?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they can. Tiggers can do everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Can they climb trees better than Pooh?" asked Roo, stopping under the
+tallest Pine Tree, and looking up at it.</p>
+
+<p>"Climbing trees is what they do best," said Tigger. "Much better than
+Poohs."</p>
+
+<p>"Could they climb this one?"</p>
+
+<p>"They're always climbing trees like that," said Tigger. "Up and down
+all day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oo, Tigger, are they <i>really</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"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.</p>
+
+<p>"Oo, Tigger, oo, Tigger, oo, Tigger!" squeaked Roo excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>So he sat on Tigger's back and up they went.</p>
+
+<p>And for the first ten feet Tigger said happily to himself, "Up we go!"</p>
+
+<p>And for the next ten feet he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I always <i>said</i> Tiggers could climb trees."</p>
+
+<p>And for the next ten feet he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Not that it's easy, mind you."</p>
+
+<p>And for the next ten feet he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, there's the coming-down too. Backwards."</p>
+
+<p>And then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Which will be difficult ...</p>
+
+<p>"Unless one fell ...</p>
+
+<p>"when it would be ...</p>
+
+<p>"EASY."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Roo climbed off, and sat down next to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oo, Tigger," he said excitedly, "are we at the top?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we going to the top?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"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?"</p>
+
+<p>"NO," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>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 <i>think</i> he was getting any fatter, what he did;
+and Piglet was wondering how long it would be before his haycorn came
+up.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Pooh!" said Piglet suddenly. "There's something in one of the
+Pine Trees."</p>
+
+<p>"So there is!" said Pooh, looking up wonderingly. "There's an Animal."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus34.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Piglet took Pooh's arm, in case Pooh was frightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it One of the Fiercer Animals?" he said, looking the other way.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a Jagular," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"What do Jagulars do?" asked Piglet, hoping that they wouldn't.</p>
+
+<p>"They hide in the branches of trees, and drop on you as you go
+underneath," said Pooh. "Christopher Robin told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we better hadn't go underneath, Pooh. In case he dropped and
+hurt himself."</p>
+
+<p>"They don't hurt themselves," said Pooh. "They're such very good
+droppers."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Help! Help!" it called.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what Jagulars always do," said Pooh, much interested. "They
+call 'Help! Help!' and then when you look up, they drop on you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm looking <i>down</i>," cried Piglet loudly, so as the Jagular shouldn't
+do the wrong thing by accident.</p>
+
+<p>Something very excited next to the Jagular heard him, and squeaked:</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh and Piglet! Pooh and Piglet!"</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden Piglet felt that it was a much nicer day than he had
+thought it was. All warm and sunny——</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" he cried. "I believe it's Tigger and Roo!"</p>
+
+<p>"So it is," said Pooh. "I thought it was a Jagular and another Jagular."</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Roo!" called Piglet. "What are you doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"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?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus35.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"How did you get there, Roo?" asked Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>"Piglet," said Pooh solemnly, when he had heard all this, "what shall
+we do?" And he began to eat Tigger's sandwiches.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they stuck?" asked Piglet anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you climb up to them?"</p>
+
+<p>"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.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't be surprised if it hailed a good deal tomorrow," Eeyore
+was saying. "Blizzards and what-not. Being fine today 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."</p>
+
+<p>"There's Pooh!" said Christopher Robin, who didn't much mind <i>what</i> it
+did tomorrow, as long as he was out in it. "Hallo, Pooh!"</p>
+
+<p>"It's Christopher Robin!" said Piglet. "<i>He'll</i> know what to do."</p>
+
+<p>They hurried up to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Christopher Robin," began Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"And Eeyore," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Tigger and Roo are right up the Six Pine Trees, and they can't get
+down, and——"</p>
+
+<p>"And I was just saying," put in Piglet, "that if only Christopher
+Robin——"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>And</i> Eeyore——"</p>
+
+<p>"If only you were here, then we could think of something to do."</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin looked up at Tigger and Roo, and tried to think of
+something.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</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——"</p>
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Piglet meekly, "<i>I</i> thought——"</p>
+
+<p>"Would it break your back, Eeyore?" asked Pooh, very much surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what would be so interesting, Pooh. Not being quite sure till
+afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh said "Oh!" and they all began to think again.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea!" cried Christopher Robin suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to this, Piglet," said Eeyore, "and then you'll know what we're
+trying to do."</p>
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Getting Tigger down</i>," said Eeyore, "and <i>Not hurting anybody</i>. Keep
+those two ideas in your head, Piglet, and you'll be all right."</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>really</i> 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 <i>now</i>, mind
+you. They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're
+having them."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Tigger," he called out. "It's easy."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along," called Christopher Robin. "You'll be all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Just wait a moment," said Tigger nervously. "Small piece of bark in my
+eye." And he moved slowly along his branch.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, it's easy!" squeaked Roo. And suddenly Tigger found how easy
+it was.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus36.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Ow!" he shouted as the tree flew past him.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out!" cried Christopher Robin to the others.</p>
+
+<p>There was a crash, and a tearing noise, and a confused heap of
+everybody on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin and Pooh and Piglet picked themselves up first, and
+then they picked Tigger up, and underneath everybody else was Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore!" cried Christopher Robin. "Are you hurt?" And he felt him
+rather anxiously, and dusted him and helped him to stand up again.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore said nothing for a long time. And then he said: "Is Tigger
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>Tigger was there, feeling Bouncy again already.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Christopher Robin. "Tigger's here."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, just thank him for me," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin
+Does in the Mornings</i></p>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!"</p>
+
+<p>"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.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus37.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Bother!" said Rabbit. "He's gone out."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit, feeling quite happy again. "Another notice!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus38.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>This is what it said:</p>
+
+<p class="ph2">GON OUT<br>
+BACKSON<br>
+BISY<br>
+BACKSON.<br>
+C. R.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" said Rabbit again. "I must tell the others." And he hurried off
+importantly.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"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 <i>thinking</i>—you and I must do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Owl. "I was."</p>
+
+<p>"Read that."</p>
+
+<p>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——</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus39.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Well?" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Owl, looking Wise and Thoughtful. "I see what you mean.
+Undoubtedly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," said Owl. "Precisely." And he added, after a little thought,
+"If you had not come to me, I should have come to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"For that very reason," said Owl, hoping that something helpful would
+happen soon.</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday morning," said Rabbit solemnly, "I went to see Christopher
+Robin. He was out. Pinned on his door was a notice."</p>
+
+<p>"The same notice?"</p>
+
+<p>"A different one. But the meaning was the same. It's very odd."</p>
+
+<p>"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?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus40.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"The best thing," said Owl wisely.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said Rabbit again, as Owl knew he was going to.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," said Owl.</p>
+
+<p>For a little while he couldn't think of anything more; and then, all of
+a sudden, he had an idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, Rabbit," he said, "the <i>exact</i> words of the first notice.
+This is very important. Everything depends on this. The <i>exact</i> words
+of the <i>first</i> notice."</p>
+
+<p>"It was just the same as that one really."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"The exact words, please," he said, as if Rabbit hadn't spoken.</p>
+
+<p>"It just said, 'Gon out. Backson.' Same as this, only this says 'Bisy
+Backson' too."</p>
+
+<p>Owl gave a great sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Owl. "<i>Now</i> we know where we are."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but where's Christopher Robin?" said Rabbit. "That's the point."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"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?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Rabbit. "That's what I came to ask you. What are
+they like?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Owl, "the Spotted or Herbaceous Backson is just a——"</p>
+
+<p>"At least," he said, "it's really more of a——"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," he said, "it depends on the——"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Owl, "the fact is," he said, "I don't know <i>what</i> they're
+like," said Owl frankly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Rabbit. And he hurried off to see Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>Before he had gone very far he heard a noise. So he stopped and
+listened. This was the noise.</p>
+
+<p class="ph2">NOISE, BY POOH</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, the butterflies are flying,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now the winter days are dying,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the primroses are trying</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">To be seen.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the turtle-doves are cooing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the woods are up and doing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For the violets are blue-ing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">In the green.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, the honey-bees are gumming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">On their little wings, and humming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That the summer, which is coming,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Will be fun.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the cows are almost cooing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the turtle-doves are mooing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Which is why a Pooh is poohing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">In the sun.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">For the spring is really springing;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">You can see a skylark singing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the blue-bells, which are ringing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Can be heard.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the cuckoo isn't cooing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But he's cucking and he's ooing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And a Pooh is simply poohing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Like a bird.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Rabbit," said Pooh dreamily.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you make that song up?"</p>
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>"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?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh. "Not a—no," said Pooh. "I saw Tigger just now."</p>
+
+<p>"That's no good."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh. "I thought it wasn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pooh. "I suppose <i>that</i> isn't any good either?" he asked
+meekly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it depends if he saw anything."</p>
+
+<p>"He saw me," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit sat down on the ground next to Pooh and, feeling much less
+important like that, stood up again.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus41.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"What it all comes to is this," he said. "<i>What does Christopher Robin
+do in the morning nowadays?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, can you tell me anything you've seen him do in the morning?
+These last few days."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus42.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"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——"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus43.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "but I mean later than that. Have you seen him
+between eleven and twelve?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus44.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>"Quarter past eleven, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well——" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Half past."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pooh. "At half past—or perhaps later—I might see him."</p>
+
+<p>And now that he did think of it, he began to remember that he <i>hadn't</i>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just it," said Rabbit, "Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he's looking for something."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" asked Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what I was going to say," said Pooh. And then he added,
+"Perhaps he's looking for a—for a——"</p>
+
+<p>"A Spotted or Herbaceous Backson?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pooh. "One of those. In case it isn't."</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit looked at him severely.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think you're helping," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh. "I do try," he added humbly.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus45.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore," began Piglet a little nervously, because Eeyore was busy.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore put out a paw and waved him away.</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow," said Eeyore. "Or the next day."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus46.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore," he began again, "just——"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that little Piglet?" said Eeyore, still looking hard at his sticks.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Eeyore, and I——"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what this is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"It's an A."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Not O, A," said Eeyore severely. "Can't you <i>hear</i>, or do you think
+you have more education than Christopher Robin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Piglet. "No," said Piglet very quickly. And he came closer
+still.</p>
+
+<p>"Christopher Robin said it was an A, and an A it is—until somebody
+treads on me," Eeyore added sternly.</p>
+
+<p>Piglet jumped backwards hurriedly, and smelt at his violets.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what A means, little Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Eeyore, I don't."</p>
+
+<p>"It means Learning, it means Education, it means all the things that
+you and Pooh haven't got. That's what A means."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Piglet again. "I mean, does it?" he explained quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"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 <i>them</i>. 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 <i>breathe</i> on."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet stepped back nervously, and looked round for help.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's Rabbit," he said gladly. "Hallo, Rabbit."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"There's just one thing I wanted to ask you, Eeyore. What happens to
+Christopher Robin in the mornings nowadays?"</p>
+
+<p>"What's this that I'm looking at?" said Eeyore, still looking at it.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus47.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Three sticks," said Rabbit promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"You see?" said Eeyore to Piglet. He turned to Rabbit. "I will now
+answer your question," he said solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"What does Christopher Robin do in the mornings? He learns. He becomes
+Educated. He instigorates—I <i>think</i> 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——"</p>
+
+<p>"An A," said Rabbit, "but not a very good one. Well, I must get back
+and tell the others."</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore looked at his sticks and then he looked at Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"What did Rabbit say it was?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"An A," said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Eeyore, I didn't. I expect he just knew."</p>
+
+<p>"He <i>knew</i>? You mean this A thing is a thing <i>Rabbit</i> knew?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Eeyore. He's clever, Rabbit is."</p>
+
+<p>"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 <i>Rabbit</i> knows! Ha!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think——" began Piglet nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"I think <i>Violets</i> are rather nice," said Piglet. And he laid his bunch
+in front of Eeyore and scampered off.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the notice on Christopher Robin's door said:</p>
+
+<p class="ph2">GONE OUT<br>
+BACK SOON<br>
+C. R.</p>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In</i></p>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 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 if he 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.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus48.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>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:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Here is a myst'ry</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">About a little fir-tree.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Owl says it's <i>his</i> tree,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And Kanga says it's <i>her</i> tree.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Which doesn't make sense," said Pooh, "because Kanga doesn't live in a
+tree."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"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.</p>
+
+<p>"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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>that's</i> what he was. Instead of the
+other way round.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"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?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect my stick's stuck," said Roo. "Rabbit, my stick's stuck. Is
+your stick stuck, Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>"They always take longer than you think," said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"How long do you <i>think</i> they'll take?" asked Roo.</p>
+
+<p>"I can see yours, Piglet," said Pooh suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Mine's a sort of greyish one," said Piglet, not daring to lean too far
+over in case he fell in.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's what I can see. It's coming over on to my side."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus49.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>"It's coming!" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you <i>sure</i> it's mine?" squeaked Piglet excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, because it's grey. A big grey one. Here it comes! A
+very—big—grey——Oh, no, it isn't, it's Eeyore."</p>
+
+<p>And out floated Eeyore.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus50.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Eeyore!" cried everybody.</p>
+
+<p>Looking very calm, very dignified, with his legs in the air, came
+Eeyore from beneath the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Eeyore!" cried Roo, terribly excited.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so?" said Eeyore, getting caught up by a little eddy, and
+turning slowly round three times. "I wondered."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know you were playing," said Roo.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Eeyore, what <i>are</i> you doing there?" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"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."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Eeyore," said Pooh in distress, "what can we—I mean, how shall
+we—do you think if we——"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Eeyore. "One of those would be just the thing. Thank you,
+Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"He's going <i>round</i> and <i>round</i>," said Roo, much impressed.</p>
+
+<p>"And why not?" said Eeyore coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"I can swim too," said Roo proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not round and round," said Eeyore. "It's much more difficult. I didn't
+want to come swimming at all today," 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."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence while everybody thought.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a sort of idea," said Pooh at last, "but I don't suppose it's
+a very good one."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose it is either," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, Pooh," said Rabbit. "Let's have it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if we all threw stones and things into the river on <i>one</i> side
+of Eeyore, the stones would make waves, and the waves would wash him to
+the other side."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a very good idea," said Rabbit, and Pooh looked happy again.</p>
+
+<p>"Very," said Eeyore. "When I want to be washed, Pooh, I'll let you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing we hit him by mistake?" said Piglet anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Or supposing you missed him by mistake," said Eeyore. "Think of all
+the possibilities, Piglet, before you settle down to enjoy yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>But Pooh had got the biggest stone he could carry, and was leaning over
+the bridge, holding it in his paws.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus51.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"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. <i>Could</i> you stop turning round
+for a moment, because it muddles me rather?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Eeyore. "I <i>like</i> turning round."</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit began to feel that it was time he took command.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Pooh," he said, "when I say 'Now!' you can drop it. Eeyore, when
+I say 'Now!' Pooh will drop his stone."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much, Rabbit, but I expect I shall know."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ready, Pooh? Piglet, give Pooh a little more room. Get back a
+bit there, Roo. Are you ready?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Now!</i>" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh dropped his stone. There was a loud splash, and Eeyore
+disappeared....</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus52.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>It was an anxious moment for the watchers on the bridge. They looked
+and looked ... and even the sight of Piglet's stick coming out a little
+in front of Rabbit's didn't cheer them up as much as you would have
+expected. And then, just as Pooh was beginning to think that he must
+have chosen the wrong stone or the wrong river or the wrong day for his
+Idea, something grey showed for a moment by the river bank ... and it
+got slowly bigger and bigger ... and at last it was Eeyore coming out.</p>
+
+<p>With a shout they rushed off the bridge, and pushed and pulled at him;
+and soon he was standing among them again on dry land.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus53.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore, you <i>are</i> wet!" said Piglet, feeling him.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore shook himself, and asked somebody to explain to Piglet what
+happened when you had been inside a river for quite a long time.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, Pooh," said Rabbit kindly. "That was a good idea of ours."</p>
+
+<p>"What was?" asked Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Hooshing you to the bank like that."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hooshing</i> me?" said Eeyore in surprise. "Hooshing <i>me</i>? You didn't
+think I was <i>hooshed</i>, did you? I dived. Pooh dropped a large stone on
+me, and so as not to be struck heavily on the chest, I dived and swam
+to the bank."</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't really," whispered Piglet to Pooh, so as to comfort him.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't <i>think</i> I did," said Pooh anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just Eeyore," said Piglet. "<i>I</i> thought your Idea was a very good
+Idea."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a
+Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes
+that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different
+when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it. And,
+anyhow, Eeyore <i>was</i> in the river, and now he <i>wasn't</i>, so he hadn't
+done any harm.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you fall in, Eeyore?" asked Rabbit, as he dried him with
+Piglet's handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"But how——"</p>
+
+<p>"I was BOUNCED," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Oo," said Roo excitedly, "did somebody push you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody BOUNCED me. I was just thinking by the side of the
+river—thinking, if any of you know what that means, when I received a
+loud BOUNCE."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Eeyore!" said everybody.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure you didn't slip?" asked Rabbit wisely.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I slipped. If you're standing on the slippery bank of a
+river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did
+you think I did?"</p>
+
+<p>"But who did it?" asked Roo.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore didn't answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect it was Tigger," said Piglet nervously.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus54.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"But, Eeyore," said Pooh, "was it a Joke, or an Accident? I mean——"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't stop to ask, Pooh. Even at the very bottom of the river I
+didn't stop to say to myself, '<i>Is</i> this a Hearty Joke, or is it the
+Merest Accident?' I just floated to the surface, and said to myself,
+'It's wet.' If you know what I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"And where was Tigger?" asked Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>Before Eeyore could answer, there was a loud noise behind them, and
+through the hedge came Tigger himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, everybody," said Tigger cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Tigger," said Roo.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit became very important suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Tigger," he said solemnly, "what happened just now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just when?" said Tigger a little uncomfortably.</p>
+
+<p>"When you bounced Eeyore into the river."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't bounce him."</p>
+
+<p>"You bounced me," said Eeyore gruffly.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't really. I had a cough, and I happened to be behind Eeyore,
+and I said '<i>Grrrr—oppp—ptschschschz</i>.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Rabbit, helping Piglet up, and dusting him. "It's all
+right, Piglet."</p>
+
+<p>"It took me by surprise," said Piglet nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I call bouncing," said Eeyore. "Taking people by surprise.
+Very unpleasant habit. I don't mind Tigger being in the Forest," he
+went on, "because it's a large Forest, and there's plenty of room to
+bounce in it. But I don't see why he should come into <i>my</i> little
+corner of it, and bounce there. It isn't as if there was anything very
+wonderful about my little corner. Of course for people who like cold,
+wet, ugly bits it <i>is</i> something rather special, but otherwise it's
+just a corner, and if anybody feels bouncy——"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't bounce, I coughed," said Tigger crossly.</p>
+
+<p>"Bouncy or coffy, it's all the same at the bottom of the river."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Rabbit, "all I can say is—well, here's Christopher Robin,
+so <i>he</i> can say it."</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin came down from the Forest to the bridge, feeling
+all sunny and careless, and just as if twice nineteen didn't matter a
+bit, as it didn't on such a happy afternoon, and he thought that if he
+stood on the bottom rail of the bridge, and leant over, and watched
+the river slipping slowly away beneath him, then he would suddenly
+know everything that there was to be known, and he would be able to
+tell Pooh, who wasn't quite sure about some of it. But when he got to
+the bridge and saw all the animals there, then he knew that it wasn't
+that kind of afternoon, but the other kind, when you wanted to <i>do</i>
+something.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus55.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"It's like this, Christopher Robin," began Rabbit. "Tigger——"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, anyhow, there I was," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't think he meant to," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"He just <i>is</i> bouncy," said Piglet, "and he can't help it."</p>
+
+<p>"Try bouncing <i>me</i>, Tigger," said Roo eagerly. "Eeyore, Tigger's going
+to try <i>me</i>. Piglet, do you think——"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Rabbit, "we don't all want to speak at once. The point
+is, what does Christopher Robin think about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"All I did was I coughed," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"He bounced," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I sort of boffed," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" said Rabbit, holding up his paw. "What does Christopher Robin
+think about it all? That's the point."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Christopher Robin, not quite sure what it was all about,
+"<i>I</i> think——"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" said everybody.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> think we all ought to play Poohsticks."</p>
+
+<p>So they did. And Eeyore, who had never played it before, won more times
+than anybody else; and Roo fell in twice, the first time by accident
+and the second time on purpose, because he suddenly saw Kanga coming
+from the Forest, and he knew he'd have to go to bed anyhow. So then
+Rabbit said he'd go with them; and Tigger and Eeyore went off together,
+because Eeyore wanted to tell Tigger How to Win at Poohsticks, which
+you do by letting your stick drop in a twitchy sort of way, if you
+understand what I mean, Tigger; and Christopher Robin and Pooh and
+Piglet were left on the bridge by themselves.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus56.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>For a long time they looked at the river beneath them, saying nothing,
+and the river said nothing too, for it felt very quiet and peaceful on
+this summer afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>"Tigger is all right <i>really</i>," said Piglet lazily.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he is," said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<p>"Everybody is <i>really</i>," said Pooh. "That's what <i>I</i> think," said Pooh.
+"But I don't suppose I'm right," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you are," said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Tigger ls Unbounced</i></p>
+
+
+<p>One day Rabbit and Piglet were sitting outside Pooh's front door
+listening to Rabbit, and Pooh was sitting with them. It was a drowsy
+summer afternoon, and the Forest was full of gentle sounds, which all
+seemed to be saying to Pooh, "Don't listen to Rabbit, listen to me."
+So he got into a comfortable position for not listening to Rabbit, and
+from time to time he opened his eyes to say "Ah!" and then closed them
+again to say "True," and from time to time Rabbit said, "You see what I
+mean, Piglet" very earnestly, and Piglet nodded earnestly to show that
+he did.</p>
+
+<p>"In fact," said Rabbit, coming to the end of it at last, "Tigger's
+getting so Bouncy nowadays that it's time we taught him a lesson. Don't
+you think so, Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>Piglet said that Tigger <i>was</i> very Bouncy, and that if they could think
+of a way of unbouncing him, it would be a Very Good Idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I feel," said Rabbit. "What do <i>you</i> say, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>Pooh opened his eyes with a jerk and said, "Extremely."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus57.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Extremely what?" asked Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"What you were saying," said Pooh. "Undoubtably."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet gave Pooh a stiffening sort of nudge, and Pooh, who felt more
+and more that he was somewhere else, got up slowly and began to look
+for himself.</p>
+
+<p>"But how shall we do it?" asked Piglet. "What sort of a lesson, Rabbit?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the point," said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>The word "lesson" came back to Pooh as one he had heard before
+somewhere.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a thing called Twy-stymes," he said. "Christopher Robin tried
+to teach it to me once, but it didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"What didn't?" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't what?" said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," he said. "It just didn't. What are we talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh," said Piglet reproachfully, "haven't you been listening to what
+Rabbit was saying?"</p>
+
+<p>"I listened, but I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say
+it again, please, Rabbit?"</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit never minded saying things again, so he asked where he should
+begin from; and when Pooh had said from the moment when the fluff got
+in his ear, and Rabbit had asked when that was, and Pooh had said he
+didn't know because he hadn't heard properly, Piglet settled it all by
+saying that what they were trying to do was, they were just trying to
+think of a way to get the bounces out of Tigger, because however much
+you liked him, you couldn't deny it, he <i>did</i> bounce.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"There's too much of him," said Rabbit, "that's what it comes to."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh tried to think, and all he could think of was something which
+didn't help at all. So he hummed it very quietly to himself.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">If Rabbit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was bigger</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And fatter</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And stronger,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or bigger</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Than Tigger,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If Tigger was smaller,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then Tigger's bad habit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of bouncing at Rabbit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Would matter</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">No longer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If Rabbit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was taller.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"What was Pooh saying?" asked Rabbit. "Any good?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh sadly. "No good."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I've got an idea," said Rabbit, "and here it is. We take Tigger
+for a long explore, somewhere where he's never been, and we lose him
+there, and next morning we find him again, and—mark my words—he'll be
+a different Tigger altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Because he'll be a Humble Tigger. Because he'll be a Sad
+Tigger, a Melancholy Tigger, a Small and Sorry Tigger, an
+Oh-Rabbit-I-<i>am</i>-glad-to-see-you Tigger. That's why."</p>
+
+<p>"Will he be glad to see me and Piglet, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"I should hate him to go <i>on</i> being Sad," said Piglet doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Tiggers never go on being Sad," explained Rabbit. "They get over it
+with Astonishing Rapidity. I asked Owl, just to make sure, and he said
+that that's what they always get over it with. But if we can make
+Tigger feel Small and Sad just for five minutes, we shall have done a
+good deed."</p>
+
+<p>"Would Christopher Robin think so?" asked Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Rabbit. "He'd say 'You've done a good deed, Piglet. I would
+have done it myself, only I happened to be doing something else. Thank
+you, Piglet.' And Pooh, of course."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet felt very glad about this, and he saw at once that what they
+were going to do to Tigger was a good thing to do, and as Pooh and
+Rabbit were doing it with him, it was a thing which even a Very Small
+Animal could wake up in the morning and be comfortable about doing. So
+the only question was, where should they lose Tigger?</p>
+
+<p>"We'll take him to the North Pole," said Rabbit, "because it was a very
+long explore finding it, so it will be a very long explore for Tigger
+unfinding it again."</p>
+
+<p>It was now Pooh's turn to feel very glad, because it was he who had
+first found the North Pole, and when they got there, Tigger would see a
+notice which said, "Discovered by Pooh, Pooh found it," and then Tigger
+would know, which perhaps he didn't know, the sort of Bear Pooh was.
+<i>That</i> sort of Bear.</p>
+
+<p>So it was arranged that they should start next morning, and that
+Rabbit, who lived near Kanga and Roo and Tigger, should now go home
+and ask Tigger what he was doing tomorrow, because if he wasn't doing
+anything, what about coming for an explore and getting Pooh and Piglet
+to come too? And if Tigger said "Yes" that would be all right, and if
+he said "No"——</p>
+
+<p>"He won't," said Rabbit. "Leave it to me." And he went off busily.</p>
+
+<p>The next day was quite a different day. Instead of being hot and sunny,
+it was cold and misty. Pooh didn't mind for himself, but when he
+thought of all the honey the bees wouldn't be making, a cold and misty
+day always made him feel sorry for them. He said so to Piglet when
+Piglet came to fetch him, and Piglet said that he wasn't thinking of
+that so much, but of how cold and miserable it would be being lost all
+day and night on the top of the Forest. But when he and Pooh had got
+to Rabbit's house, Rabbit said it was just the day for them, because
+Tigger always bounced on ahead of everybody, and as soon as he got out
+of sight, they would hurry away in the other direction, and he would
+never see them again.</p>
+
+<p>"Not never?" said Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, not until we find him again, Piglet. Tomorrow, or whenever it
+is. Come on. He's waiting for us."</p>
+
+<p>When they got to Kanga's house, they found that Roo was waiting too,
+being a great friend of Tigger's, which made it Awkward; but Rabbit
+whispered "Leave this to me" behind his paw to Pooh, and went up to
+Kanga.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think Roo had better come," he said. "Not today."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" said Roo, who wasn't supposed to be listening.</p>
+
+<p>"Nasty cold day," said Rabbit, shaking his head. "And you were coughing
+this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?" asked Roo indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Roo, you never told me," said Kanga reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a Biscuit Cough," said Roo, "not one you tell about."</p>
+
+<p>"I think not today, dear. Another day."</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow?" said Roo hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll see," said Kanga.</p>
+
+<p>"You're always seeing, and nothing ever happens," said Roo sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody could see on a day like this, Roo," said Rabbit. "I don't
+expect we shall get very far, and then this afternoon we'll all—we'll
+all—we'll—ah, Tigger, there you are. Come on. Good-bye, Roo! This
+afternoon we'll—come on, Pooh! All ready? That's right. Come on."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus58.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>So they went. At first Pooh and Rabbit and Piglet walked together, and
+Tigger ran round them in circles, and then, when the path got narrower,
+Rabbit, Piglet and Pooh walked one after another, and Tigger ran round
+them in oblongs, and by-and-by, when the gorse got very prickly on
+each side of the path, Tigger ran up and down in front of them, and
+sometimes he bounced into Rabbit and sometimes he didn't. And as they
+got higher, the mist got thicker, so that Tigger kept disappearing, and
+then when you thought he wasn't there, there he was again, saying "I
+say, come on," and before you could say anything, there he wasn't.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit turned round and nudged Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"The next time," he said. "Tell Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"The next time," said Piglet to Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"The next what?" said Pooh to Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>Tigger appeared suddenly, bounced into Rabbit, and disappeared again.
+"Now!" said Rabbit. He jumped into a hollow by the side of the path,
+and Pooh and Piglet jumped after him. They crouched in the bracken,
+listening. The Forest was very silent when you stopped and listened to
+it. They could see nothing and hear nothing.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus59.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"H'sh!" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"I am," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>There was a pattering noise ... then silence again.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo!" said Tigger, and he sounded so close suddenly that Piglet
+would have jumped if Pooh hadn't accidentally been sitting on most of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you?" called Tigger.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit nudged Pooh, and Pooh looked about for Piglet to nudge, but
+couldn't find him, and Piglet went on breathing wet bracken as quietly
+as he could, and felt very brave and excited.</p>
+
+<p>"That's funny," said Tigger.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus60.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence, and then they heard him pattering off
+again. For a little longer they waited, until the Forest had become
+so still that it almost frightened them, and then Rabbit got up and
+stretched himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" he whispered proudly. "There we are! Just as I said."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and I think——"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Rabbit. "Don't. Run. Come on." And they all hurried off,
+Rabbit leading the way.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Rabbit, after they had gone a little way, "we can talk.
+What were you going to say, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing much. Why are we going along here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it's the way home."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>think</i> it's more to the right," said Piglet nervously. "What do
+<i>you</i> think, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus61.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right,
+and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right,
+then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to
+begin.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said slowly——</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," said Rabbit. "I know it's this way."</p>
+
+<p>They went on. Ten minutes later they stopped again.</p>
+
+<p>"It's very silly," said Rabbit, "but just for the moment I——Ah, of
+course. Come on...."</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are," said Rabbit ten minutes later. "No, we're not...."</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "I think we ought to be
+getting—or are we a little bit more to the right than I thought?..."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a funny thing," said Rabbit ten minutes later, "how everything
+looks the same in a mist. Have you noticed it, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>Pooh said that he had.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky we know the Forest so well, or we might get lost," said Rabbit
+half an hour later, and he gave the careless laugh which you give when
+you know the Forest so well that you can't get lost.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus62.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of
+you."</p>
+
+<p>When Tigger had finished waiting for the others to catch him up, and
+they hadn't, and when he had got tired of having nobody to say, "I say,
+come on" to, he thought he would go home. So he trotted back; and the
+first thing Kanga said when she saw him was "There's a good Tigger.
+You're just in time for your Strengthening Medicine," and she poured it
+out for him. Roo said proudly, "I've <i>had</i> mine," and Tigger swallowed
+his and said, "So have I," and then he and Roo pushed each other about
+in a friendly way, and Tigger accidentally knocked over one or two
+chairs by accident, and Roo accidentally knocked over one on purpose,
+and Kanga said, "Now then, run along."</p>
+
+<p>"Where shall we run along to?" asked Roo.</p>
+
+<p>"You can go and collect some fir-cones for me," said Kanga, giving them
+a basket.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus63.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>So they went to the Six Pine Trees, and threw fir-cones at each other
+until they had forgotten what they came for, and they left the basket
+under the trees and went back to dinner. And it was just as they were
+finishing dinner that Christopher Robin put his head in at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Pooh?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Tigger dear, where's Pooh?" said Kanga. Tigger explained what had
+happened at the same time that Roo was explaining about his Biscuit
+Cough and Kanga was telling them not both to talk at once, so it was
+some time before Christopher Robin guessed that Pooh and Piglet and
+Rabbit were all lost in the mist on the top of the Forest.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a funny thing about Tiggers," whispered Tigger to Roo, "how
+Tiggers <i>never</i> get lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't they, Tigger?"</p>
+
+<p>"They just don't," explained Tigger. "That's how it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Christopher Robin, "we shall have to go and find them,
+that's all. Come on, Tigger."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have to go and find them," explained Tigger to Roo.</p>
+
+<p>"May I find them too?" asked Roo eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"I think not today, dear," said Kanga. "Another day."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if they're lost tomorrow, may I find them?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll see," said Kanga, and Roo, who knew what <i>that</i> meant, went
+into a corner, and practised jumping out at himself, partly because he
+wanted to practise this, and partly because he didn't want Christopher
+Robin and Tigger to think that he minded when they went off without him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>"The fact is," said Rabbit, "we've missed our way somehow."</p>
+
+<p>They were having a rest in a small sand-pit on the top of the Forest.
+Pooh was getting rather tired of that sand-pit, and suspected it of
+following them about, because whichever direction they started in, they
+always ended up at it, and each time, as it came through the mist at
+them, Rabbit said triumphantly, "Now I know where we are!" and Pooh
+said sadly, "So do I," and Piglet said nothing. He had tried to think
+of something to say, but the only thing he could think of was, "Help,
+help!" and it seemed silly to say that, when he had Pooh and Rabbit
+with him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Rabbit, after a long silence in which nobody thanked him
+for the nice walk they were having, "we'd better get on, I suppose.
+Which way shall we try?"</p>
+
+<p>"How would it be," said Pooh slowly, "if, as soon as we're out of sight
+of this Pit, we try to find it again?"</p>
+
+<p>"What's the good of that?" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh, "we keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I
+thought that if we looked for this Pit, we'd be sure not to find it,
+which would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something that
+we <i>weren't</i> looking for, which might be just what we <i>were</i> looking
+for, really."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was <i>going</i> to be when
+I began it. It's just that something happened to it on the way."</p>
+
+<p>"If I walked away from this Pit, and then walked back to it, of
+<i>course</i> I should find it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I thought perhaps you wouldn't," said Pooh. "I just thought."</p>
+
+<p>"Try," said Piglet suddenly. "We'll wait here for you."</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit gave a laugh to show how silly Piglet was, and walked into the
+mist. After he had gone a hundred yards, he turned and walked back
+again ... and after Pooh and Piglet had waited twenty minutes for him,
+Pooh got up.</p>
+
+<p>"I just thought," said Pooh. "Now then, Piglet, let's go home."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Pooh," cried Piglet, all excited, "do you know the way?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh. "But there are twelve pots of honey in my cupboard,
+and they've been calling to me for hours. I couldn't hear them properly
+before, because Rabbit <i>would</i> talk, but if nobody says anything except
+those twelve pots, I <i>think</i>, Piglet, I shall know where they're
+calling from. Come on."</p>
+
+<p>They walked off together; and for a long time Piglet said nothing, so
+as not to interrupt the pots; and then suddenly he made a squeaky noise
+... and an oo-noise ... because now he began to know where he was; but
+he still didn't dare to say so out loud, in case he wasn't. And just
+when he was getting so sure of himself that it didn't matter whether
+the pots went on calling or not, there was a shout from in front of
+them, and out of the mist came Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus64.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Oh, there you are," said Christopher Robin carelessly, trying to
+pretend that he hadn't been Anxious.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Rabbit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh—well, I expect Tigger will find him. He's sort of looking for you
+all."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh, "I've got to go home for something, and so has
+Piglet, because we haven't had it yet, and——"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come and watch you," said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus65.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>So he went home with Pooh, and watched him for quite a long time ...
+and all the time he was watching, Tigger was tearing round the Forest
+making loud yapping noises for Rabbit. And at last a very Small and
+Sorry Rabbit heard him. And the Small and Sorry Rabbit rushed through
+the mist at the noise, and it suddenly turned into Tigger; a Friendly
+Tigger, a Grand Tigger, a Large and Helpful Tigger, a Tigger who
+bounced, if he bounced at all, in just the beautiful way a Tigger
+ought to bounce.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Tigger, I <i>am</i> glad to see you," cried Rabbit.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus66.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Half way between Pooh's house and Piglet's house was a Thoughtful Spot
+where they met sometimes when they had decided to go and see each
+other, and as it was warm and out of the wind they would sit down there
+for a little and wonder what they would do now that they <i>had</i> seen
+each other. One day when they had decided not to do anything, Pooh made
+up a verse about it, so that everybody should know what the place was
+for.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">This warm and sunny Spot</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Belongs to Pooh.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And here he wonders what</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">He's going to do.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, bother, I forgot—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It's Piglet's too.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now one autumn morning when the wind had blown all the leaves off the
+trees in the night, and was trying to blow the branches off, Pooh and
+Piglet were sitting in the Thoughtful Spot and wondering.</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>I</i> think," said Pooh, "is I think we'll go to Pooh Corner and
+see Eeyore, because perhaps his house has been blown down, and perhaps
+he'd like us to build it again."</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>I</i> think," said Piglet, "is I think we'll go and see Christopher
+Robin, only he won't be there, so we can't."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go and see <i>everybody</i>," said Pooh. "Because when you've been
+walking in the wind for miles, and you suddenly go into somebody's
+house, and he says, 'Hallo, Pooh, you're just in time for a little
+smackerel of something,' and you are, then it's what I call a Friendly
+Day."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet thought that they ought to have a Reason for going to see
+everybody, like Looking for Small or Organizing an Expotition, if Pooh
+could think of something.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh could.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go because it's Thursday," he said, "and we'll go to wish
+everybody a Very Happy Thursday. Come on, Piglet."</p>
+
+<p>They got up; and when Piglet had sat down again, because he didn't
+know the wind was so strong, and had been helped up by Pooh, they
+started off. They went to Pooh's house first, and luckily Pooh was at
+home just as they got there, so he asked them in, and they had some,
+and then they went on to Kanga's house, holding on to each other, and
+shouting "Isn't it?" and "What?" and "I can't hear." By the time they
+got to Kanga's house they were so buffeted that they stayed to lunch.
+Just at first it seemed rather cold outside afterwards, so they pushed
+on to Rabbit's as quickly as they could.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus67.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"We've come to wish you a Very Happy Thursday," said Pooh, when he had
+gone in and out once or twice just to make sure that he <i>could</i> get out
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's going to happen on Thursday?" asked Rabbit, and when Pooh
+had explained, and Rabbit, whose life was made up of Important Things,
+said, "Oh, I thought you'd really come about something," they sat down
+for a little ... and by-and-by Pooh and Piglet went on again. The wind
+was behind them now, so they didn't have to shout.</p>
+
+<p>"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."</p>
+
+<p>"And he has Brain."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."</p>
+
+<p>There was a long silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin was at home by this time, because it was the
+afternoon, and he was so glad to see them that they stayed there until
+very nearly tea-time, and then they had a Very Nearly tea, which is one
+you forget about afterwards, and hurried on to Pooh Corner, so as to
+see Eeyore before it was too late to have a Proper Tea with Owl.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Eeyore," they called out cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Eeyore. "Lost your way?"</p>
+
+<p>"We just came to see you," said Piglet. "And to see how your house was.
+Look, Pooh, it's still standing!"</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Eeyore. "Very odd. Somebody ought to have come down and
+pushed it over."</p>
+
+<p>"We wondered whether the wind would blow it down," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that's why nobody's bothered, I suppose. I thought perhaps they'd
+forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we're very glad to see you, Eeyore, and now we're going on to
+see Owl."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right. You'll like Owl. He flew past a day or two ago and
+noticed me. He didn't actually say anything, mind you, but he knew it
+was me. Very friendly of him, I thought. Encouraging."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh and Piglet shuffled about a little and said, "Well, good-bye,
+Eeyore" as lingeringly as they could, but they had a long way to go,
+and wanted to be getting on.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," said Eeyore. "Mind you don't get blown away, little
+Piglet. You'd be missed. People would say 'Where's little Piglet been
+blown to?'—really wanting to know. Well, good-bye. And thank you for
+happening to pass me."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," said Pooh and Piglet for the last time, and they pushed on
+to Owl's house.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus68.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>The wind was against them now, and Piglet's ears streamed behind him
+like banners as he fought his way along, and it seemed hours before he
+got them into the shelter of the Hundred Acre Wood and they stood up
+straight again, to listen, a little nervously, to the roaring of the
+gale among the tree-tops.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus69.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.</p>
+
+<p>Piglet was comforted by this, and in a little while they were knocking
+and ringing very cheerfully at Owl's door.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Owl," said Pooh. "I hope we're not too late for——I mean, how
+are you, Owl? Piglet and I just came to see how you were, because it's
+Thursday."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, Pooh, sit down, Piglet," said Owl kindly. "Make yourselves
+comfortable."</p>
+
+<p>They thanked him, and made themselves as comfortable as they could.</p>
+
+<p>"Because, you see, Owl," said Pooh, "we've been hurrying, so as to be
+in time for—so as to see you before we went away again."</p>
+
+<p>Owl nodded solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Correct me if I am wrong," he said, "but am I right in supposing that
+it is a very Blusterous day outside?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very," said Piglet, who was quietly thawing his ears, and wishing
+that he was safely back in his own house.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so," said Owl. "It was on just such a blusterous day as this
+that my Uncle Robert, a portrait of whom you see upon the wall on your
+right, Piglet, while returning in the late forenoon from a——What's
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>There was a loud cracking noise.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out!" cried Pooh. "Mind the clock! Out of the way, Piglet!
+Piglet, I'm falling on you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Help!" cried Piglet.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus70.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Pooh's side of the room was slowly tilting upwards and his chair
+began sliding down on Piglet's. The clock slithered gently along
+the mantelpiece, collecting vases on the way, until they all crashed
+together on to what had once been the floor, but was now trying to
+see what it looked like as a wall. Uncle Robert, who was going to be
+the new hearth-rug, and was bringing the rest of his wall with him as
+carpet, met Piglet's chair just as Piglet was expecting to leave it,
+and for a little while it became very difficult to remember which was
+really the north. Then there was another loud crack ... Owl's room
+collected itself feverishly ... and there was silence.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>In a corner of the room, the tablecloth began to wriggle.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus71.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Then it wrapped itself into a ball and rolled across the room.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus72.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Then it jumped up and down once or twice, and put out two ears. It
+rolled across the room again, and unwound itself.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus73.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Pooh," said Piglet nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" said one of the chairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not quite sure," said the chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we—are we in Owl's House?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, because we were just going to have tea, and we hadn't had
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Piglet. "Well, did Owl <i>always</i> have a letter-box in his
+ceiling?"</p>
+
+<p>"Has he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, look."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't," said Pooh. "I'm face downwards under something, and that,
+Piglet, is a very bad position for looking at ceilings."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he has, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he's changed it," said Pooh. "Just for a change."</p>
+
+<p>There was a disturbance behind the table in the other corner of the
+room, and Owl was with them again.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus74.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Ah, Piglet," said Owl, looking very much annoyed; "where's Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not quite sure," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>Owl turned at his voice, and frowned at as much of Pooh as he could see.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh," said Owl severely, "did <i>you</i> do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh humbly. "I don't <i>think</i> so."</p>
+
+<p>"Then who did?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it was the wind," said Piglet. "I think your house has blown
+down."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, is that it? I thought it was Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"If it was the wind," said Owl, considering the matter, "then it wasn't
+Pooh's fault. No blame can be attached to him." With these kind words
+he flew up to look at his new ceiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Piglet!" called Pooh in a loud whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Piglet leant down to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What</i> did he say was attached to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said he didn't blame you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I thought he meant—Oh, I see."</p>
+
+<p>"Owl," said Piglet, "come down and help Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>Owl, who was admiring his letter-box, flew down again. Together they
+pushed and pulled at the arm-chair, and in a little while Pooh came out
+from underneath, and was able to look round him again.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said Owl. "This is a nice state of things!"</p>
+
+<p>"What are we going to do, Pooh? Can you think of anything?" asked
+Piglet.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I <i>had</i> just thought of something," said Pooh. "It was just a
+little thing I thought of." And he began to sing:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I lay on my chest</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And I thought it best</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To pretend I was having an evening rest;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I lay on my tum</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And I tried to hum</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But nothing particular seemed to come.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">My face was flat</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">On the floor, and that</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is all very well for an acrobat;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But it doesn't seem fair</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To a Friendly Bear</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To stiffen him out with a basket-chair.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And a sort of sqoze</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Which grows and grows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is not too nice for his poor old nose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And a sort of squch</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is much too much</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For his neck and his mouth and his ears and such.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"That was all," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>Owl coughed in an unadmiring sort of way, and said that, if Pooh was
+sure that <i>was</i> all, they could now give their minds to the Problem of
+Escape.</p>
+
+<p>"Because," said Owl, "we can't go out by what used to be the front
+door. Something's fallen on it."</p>
+
+<p>"But how else <i>can</i> you go out?" asked Piglet anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the Problem, Piglet, to which I am asking Pooh to give his
+mind."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh sat on the floor which had once been a wall, and gazed up at the
+ceiling which had once been another wall, with a front door in it which
+had once been a front door, and tried to give his mind to it.</p>
+
+<p>"Could you fly up to the letter-box with Piglet on your back?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Piglet quickly. "He couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>Owl explained about the Necessary Dorsal Muscles. He had explained this
+to Pooh and Christopher Robin once before, and had been waiting ever
+since for a chance to do it again, because it is a thing which you can
+easily explain twice before anybody knows what you are talking about.</p>
+
+<p>"Because you see, Owl, if we could get Piglet into the letter-box, he
+might squeeze through the place where the letters come, and climb down
+the tree and run for help."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet said hurriedly that he had been getting bigger lately, and
+couldn't <i>possibly</i>, much as he would like to, and Owl said that he had
+had his letter-box made bigger lately in case he got bigger letters, so
+perhaps Piglet <i>might</i>, and Piglet said, "But you said the necessary
+you-know-whats <i>wouldn't</i>," and Owl said, "No, they <i>won't</i>, so it's
+no good thinking about it," and Piglet said "Then we'd better think of
+something else," and began to at once.</p>
+
+<p>But Pooh's mind had gone back to the day when he had saved Piglet from
+the flood, and everybody had admired him so much; and as that didn't
+often happen he thought he would like it to happen again. And suddenly,
+just as it had come before, an idea came to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Owl," said Pooh, "I have thought of something."</p>
+
+<p>"Astute and Helpful Bear," said Owl.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh looked proud at being called a stout and helpful bear, and said
+modestly that he just happened to think of it. You tied a piece of
+string to Piglet, and you flew up to the letter-box with the other end
+in your beak, and you pushed it through the wire and brought it down to
+the floor, and you and Pooh pulled hard at this end, and Piglet went
+slowly up at the other end. And there you were.</p>
+
+<p>"And there Piglet is," said Owl. "If the string doesn't break."</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing it does?" asked Piglet, wanting to know.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we try another piece of string."</p>
+
+<p>This was not very comforting to Piglet, because however many pieces
+of string they tried pulling up with, it would always be the same him
+coming down; but still, it did seem the only thing to do. So with
+one last look back in his mind at all the happy hours he had spent in
+the Forest <i>not</i> being pulled up to the ceiling by a piece of string,
+Piglet nodded bravely at Pooh and said that it was a Very Clever
+pup-pup-pup Clever pup-pup Plan.</p>
+
+<p>"It won't break," whispered Pooh comfortingly, "because you're a Small
+Animal, and I'll stand underneath, and if you save us all, it will be
+a Very Grand Thing to talk about afterwards, and perhaps I'll make up
+a Song, and people will say 'It was so grand what Piglet did that a
+Respectful Pooh Song was made about it."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus75.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Piglet felt much better after this, and when everything was ready, and
+he found himself slowly going up to the ceiling, he was so proud that
+he would have called out "Look at <i>me</i>!" if he hadn't been afraid that
+Pooh and Owl would let go of their end of the string and look at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Up we go!" said Pooh cheerfully.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus76.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"The ascent is proceeding as expected," said Owl helpfully. Soon it was
+over. Piglet opened the letter-box and climbed in. Then, having untied
+himself, he began to squeeze into the slit, through which in the old
+days when front doors <i>were</i> front doors, many an unexpected letter
+that WOL had written to himself, had come slipping.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus77.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>He squeezed and he squoze, and then with one last sqooze he was out.
+Happy and excited he turned round to squeak a last message to the
+prisoners.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus78.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"It's all right," he called through the letter-box. "Your tree is blown
+right over, Owl, and there's a branch across the door, but Christopher
+Robin and I can move it, and we'll bring a rope for Pooh, and I'll
+go and tell him now, and I can climb down quite easily, I mean it's
+dangerous but I can do it all right, and Christopher Robin and I will
+be back in about half-an-hour. Good-bye, Pooh!" And without waiting to
+hear Pooh's answering "Good-bye, and thank you, Piglet," he was off.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus79.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Half-an-hour," said Owl, settling himself comfortably. "That will just
+give me time to finish that story I was telling you about my Uncle
+Robert—a portrait of whom you see underneath you. Now let me see,
+where was I? Oh, yes. It was on just such a blusterous day as this that
+my Uncle Robert——"</p>
+
+<p>Pooh closed his eyes.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Pooh had wandered into the Hundred Acre Wood, and was standing in front
+of what had once been Owl's House. It didn't look at all like a house
+now; it looked like a tree which had been blown down; and as soon as a
+house looks like that, it is time you tried to find another one. Pooh
+had had a Mysterious Missage underneath his front door that morning,
+saying, "I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT," and
+while he was wondering what it meant, Rabbit had come in and read it
+for him.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm leaving one for all the others," said Rabbit, "and telling them
+what it means, and they'll all search too. I'm in a hurry, good-bye."
+And he had run off.</p>
+
+<p>Pooh followed slowly. He had something better to do than to find a new
+house for Owl; he had to make up a Pooh song about the old one. Because
+he had promised Piglet days and days ago that he would, and whenever
+he and Piglet had met since, Piglet didn't actually say anything, but
+you knew at once why he didn't; and if anybody mentioned Hums or Trees
+or String or Storms-in-the-Night, Piglet's nose went all pink at the
+tip and he talked about something quite different in a hurried sort of
+way.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus80.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"But it isn't Easy," said Pooh to himself, as he looked at what had
+once been Owl's House. "Because Poetry and Hums aren't things which
+you get, they're things which get <i>you</i>. And all you can do is to go
+where they can find you."</p>
+
+<p>He waited hopefully....</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh after a long wait, "I shall begin '<i>Here lies a
+tree</i>' because it does, and then I'll see what happens."</p>
+
+<p>This is what happened.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Here lies a tree which Owl (a bird)</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Was fond of when it stood on end,</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And Owl was talking to a friend</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Called Me (in case you hadn't heard)</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>When something Oo occurred.</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>For lo! the wind was blusterous</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And flattened out his favourite tree;</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And things looked bad for him and we—</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Looked bad, I mean, for he and us—</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>I've never known them wuss.</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Then Piglet (PIGLET) thought a thing:</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>"Courage!" he said. "There's always hope.</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>I want a thinnish piece of rope.</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Or, if there isn't any bring</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>A thickish piece of string."</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>So to the letter-box he rose,</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>While Pooh and Owl said "Oh!" and "Hum!"</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And where the letters always come</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>(Called "LETTERS ONLY") Piglet sqoze</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>His head and then his toes.</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>O gallant Piglet (PIGLET)! Ho!</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Did Piglet tremble? Did he blinch?</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>No, No, he struggled inch by inch</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Through LETTERS ONLY, as I know</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Because I saw him go.</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>He ran and ran, and then he stood</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And shouted, "Help for Owl, a bird</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And Pooh, a bear!" until he heard</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>The others coming through the wood</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>As quickly as they could.</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>"Help-help and Rescue!" Piglet cried</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And showed the others where to go.</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Sing ho! for Piglet (PIGLET) ho</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>And soon the door was opened wide</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>And we were both outside!</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Sing ho! for Piglet, ho!</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Ho!</i></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"So there it is," said Pooh, when he had sung this to himself three
+times. "It's come different from what I thought it would, but it's
+come. Now I must go and sing it to Piglet."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>I AM SCERCHING FOR A NEW HOUSE FOR OWL SO HAD YOU RABBIT.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"What's all this?" said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit explained.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with his old house?" asked Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit explained.</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody tells me," said Eeyore. "Nobody keeps me Informed. I make it
+seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me."</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly isn't seventeen days——"</p>
+
+<p>"Come Friday," explained Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"And today's Saturday," said Rabbit. "So that would make it eleven
+days. And I was here myself a week ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Not conversing," said Eeyore. "Not first one and then the other. You
+said 'Hallo' and Flashed Past. I saw your tail in the distance as I was
+meditating my reply. I <i>had</i> thought of saying 'What?'—but, of course,
+it was then too late."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I was in a hurry."</p>
+
+<p>"No Give and Take," Eeyore went on. "No Exchange of Thought:
+'<i>Hallo—What</i>'——I mean, it gets you nowhere, particularly if the
+other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the
+conversation."</p>
+
+<p>"It's your fault, Eeyore. You've never been to see any of us. You just
+stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for the others to
+come to <i>you</i>. Why don't you go to <i>them</i> sometimes?"</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore was silent for a little while, thinking.</p>
+
+<p>"There may be something in what you say, Rabbit," he said at last. "I
+must move about more. I must come and go."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, Eeyore. Drop in on any of us at any time, when you feel
+like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank-you, Rabbit. And if anybody says in a Loud Voice 'Bother, it's
+Eeyore,' I can drop out again."</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit stood on one leg for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, "I must be going."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>"What? Oh, good-bye. And if you do come across a house for Owl, you
+must let us know."</p>
+
+<p>"I will give my mind to it," said Eeyore.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit went.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Pooh had found Piglet, and they were walking back to the Hundred Acre
+Wood together.</p>
+
+<p>"Piglet," said Pooh a little shyly, after they had walked for some time
+without saying anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember when I said that a Respectful Pooh Song might be
+written about You Know What?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you, Pooh?" said Piglet, getting a little pink round the nose.
+"Oh, yes, I believe you did."</p>
+
+<p>"It's been written, Piglet."</p>
+
+<p>The pink went slowly up Piglet's nose to his ears, and settled there.</p>
+
+<p>"Has it, Pooh?" he asked huskily. "About—about——That Time
+When?——Do you mean really written?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Piglet."</p>
+
+<p>The tips of Piglet's ears glowed suddenly, and he tried to say
+something; but even after he had husked once or twice, nothing came
+out. So Pooh went on.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus81.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"There are seven verses in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Seven?" said Piglet as carelessly as he could. "You don't often get
+<i>seven</i> verses in a Hum, do you, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never," said Pooh, "I don't suppose it's <i>ever</i> been heard of before."</p>
+
+<p>"Do the Others know yet?" asked Piglet, stopping for a moment to pick
+up a stick and throw it away.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Pooh. "And I wondered which you would like best. For me to
+hum it now, or to wait till we find the others, and then hum it to all
+of you."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet thought for a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I think what I'd like best, Pooh, is I'd like you to hum it to me
+<i>now</i>—and—and <i>then</i> to hum it to all of us. Because then Everybody
+would hear it, but I could say 'Oh, yes, Pooh's told me,' and pretend
+not to be listening."</p>
+
+<p>So Pooh hummed it to him, all the seven verses and Piglet said nothing,
+but just stood and glowed. Never before had anyone sung ho for Piglet
+(PIGLET) ho all by himself. When it was over, he wanted to ask for one
+of the verses over again, but didn't quite like to. It was the verse
+beginning "O gallant Piglet," and it seemed to him a very thoughtful
+way of beginning a piece of poetry.</p>
+
+<p>"Did I really do all that?" he said at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh, "in poetry—in a piece of poetry—well, you <i>did</i>
+it, Piglet, because the poetry says you did. And that's how people
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Piglet. "Because I—I thought I did blinch a little. Just at
+first. And it says, 'Did he blinch no no.' That's why."</p>
+
+<p>"You only blinched inside," said Pooh, "and that's the bravest way for
+a Very Small Animal not to blinch that there is."</p>
+
+<p>Piglet sighed with happiness, and began to think about himself. He was
+BRAVE....</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus82.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>When they got to Owl's old house, they found everybody else there
+except Eeyore. Christopher Robin was telling them what to do, and
+Rabbit was telling them again directly afterwards, in case they hadn't
+heard, and then they were all doing it. They had got a rope and were
+pulling Owl's chairs and pictures and things out of his old house so as
+to be ready to put them into his new one. Kanga was down below tying
+the things on, and calling out to Owl, "You won't want this dirty old
+dish-cloth any more, will you, and what about this carpet, it's all
+in holes," and Owl was calling back indignantly, "Of course I do! It's
+just a question of arranging the furniture properly, and it isn't a
+dish-cloth, it's my shawl." Every now and then Roo fell in and came
+back on the rope with the next article, which flustered Kanga a little
+because she never knew where to look for him. So she got cross with Owl
+and said that his house was a Disgrace, all damp and dirty, and it was
+quite time it did tumble down. Look at that horrid bunch of toadstools
+growing out of the floor there! So Owl looked down, a little surprised
+because he didn't know about this, and then gave a short sarcastic
+laugh, and explained that that was his sponge, and that if people
+didn't know a perfectly ordinary bath-sponge when they saw it, things
+were coming to a pretty pass. "<i>Well!</i>" said Kanga, and Roo fell in
+quickly, crying, "I <i>must</i> see Owl's sponge! Oh, there it is! Oh, Owl!
+Owl, it isn't a sponge, it's a spudge! Do you know what a spudge is,
+Owl? It's when your sponge gets all——" and Kanga said, "Roo, dear!"
+very quickly, because that's <i>not</i> the way to talk to anybody who can
+spell TUESDAY.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus83.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>But they were all quite happy when Pooh and Piglet came along, and they
+stopped working in order to have a little rest and listen to Pooh's
+new song. So then they all told Pooh how good it was, and Piglet said
+carelessly, "It <i>is</i> good, isn't it? I mean as a song."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus84.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"And what about the new house?" asked Pooh. "Have you found it, Owl?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's found a name for it," said Christopher Robin, lazily nibbling at
+a piece of grass, "so now all he wants is the house."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus85.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"I am calling it this," said Owl importantly, and he showed them what
+he had been making. It was a square piece of board with the name of the
+house painted on it.</p>
+
+<p class="ph2">THE WOLERY</p>
+
+<p>It was at this exciting moment that something came through the trees,
+and bumped into Owl. The board fell to the ground, and Piglet and Roo
+bent over it eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's you," said Owl crossly.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Rabbit. "<i>There</i> you are! Where have <i>you</i> been?"
+Eeyore took no notice of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Christopher Robin," he said, brushing away Roo and
+Piglet, and sitting down on THE WOLERY. "Are we alone?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus86.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Yes," said Christopher Robin, smiling to himself.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been told—the news has worked through to my corner of the
+Forest—the damp bit down on the right which nobody wants—that a
+certain Person is looking for a house. I have found one for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, well done," said Rabbit kindly.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore looked round slowly at him, and then turned back to Christopher
+Robin.</p>
+
+<p>"We have been joined by something," he said in a loud whisper. "But no
+matter. We can leave it behind. If you will come with me, Christopher
+Robin, I will show you the house."</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin jumped up.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Pooh," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Tigger!" cried Roo.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we go, Owl?" said Rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a moment," said Owl, picking up his notice-board, which had just
+come into sight again.</p>
+
+<p>Eeyore waved them back.</p>
+
+<p>"Christopher Robin and I are going for a Short Walk," he said, "not a
+Jostle. If he likes to bring Pooh and Piglet with him, I shall be glad
+of their company, but one must be able to Breathe."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right," said Rabbit, rather glad to be left in charge of
+something. "We'll go on getting the things out. Now then, Tigger,
+where's that rope? What's the matter, Owl?"</p>
+
+<p>Owl, who had just discovered that his new address was THE SMUDGE,
+coughed at Eeyore sternly, but said nothing, and Eeyore, with most of
+THE WOLERY behind him, marched off with his friends.</p>
+
+<p>So, in a little while, they came to the house which Eeyore had found,
+and for some minutes before they came to it, Piglet was nudging Pooh,
+and Pooh was nudging Piglet, and they were saying, "It is!" and "It
+can't be!" and "It is, <i>really</i>!" to each other.</p>
+
+<p>And when they got there, it really was.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said Eeyore proudly, stopping them outside Piglet's house.
+"And the name on it, and everything!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" cried Christopher Robin, wondering whether to laugh or what.</p>
+
+<p>"Just the house for Owl. Don't you think so, little Piglet?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus87.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>And then Piglet did a Noble Thing, and he did it in a sort of dream,
+while he was thinking of all the wonderful words Pooh had hummed about
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's just the house for Owl," he said grandly. "And I hope he'll
+be very happy in it." And then he gulped twice, because he had been
+very happy in it himself.</p>
+
+<p>"What do <i>you</i> think, Christopher Robin?" asked Eeyore a little
+anxiously, feeling that something wasn't quite right.</p>
+
+<p>Christopher Robin had a question to ask first, and he was wondering how
+to ask it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said at last, "it's a very nice house, and if your own house
+is blown down, you <i>must</i> go somewhere else, mustn't you, Piglet? What
+would <i>you</i> do, if <i>your</i> house was blown down?"</p>
+
+<p>Before Piglet could think, Pooh answered for him.</p>
+
+<p>"He'd come and live with me," said Pooh, "wouldn't you, Piglet?"</p>
+
+<p>Piglet squeezed his paw.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Pooh," he said, "I should love to."</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">IN WHICH <i>Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We
+Leave Them There</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Christopher Robin was going away. Nobody knew why he was going; nobody
+knew where he was going; indeed, nobody even knew why he knew that
+Christopher Robin <i>was</i> going away. But somehow or other everybody in
+the Forest felt that it was happening at last. Even Smallest-of-all,
+a friend-and-relation of Rabbit's who thought he had once seen
+Christopher Robin's foot, but couldn't be quite sure because perhaps it
+was something else, even S. of A. told himself that Things were going
+to be Different; and Late and Early, two other friends-and-relations,
+said, "Well, Early?" and "Well, Late?" to each other in such a hopeless
+sort of way that it really didn't seem any good waiting for the answer.</p>
+
+<p>One day when he felt that he couldn't wait any longer, Rabbit brained
+out a Notice, and this is what it said:</p>
+
+<p>"Notice a meeting of everybody will meet at the House at Pooh Corner to
+pass a Rissolution By Order Keep to the Left Signed Rabbit."</p>
+
+<p>He had to write this out two or three times before he could get the
+rissolution to look like what he thought it was going to when he began
+to spell it: but, when at last it was finished, he took it round to
+everybody and read it out to them. And they all said they would come.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Eeyore that afternoon, when he saw them all walking up to
+his house, "this <i>is</i> a surprise. Am <i>I</i> asked too?"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus88.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Don't mind Eeyore," whispered Rabbit to Pooh. "I told him all about it
+this morning."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody said "How-do-you-do" to Eeyore, and Eeyore said that he
+didn't, not to notice, and then they sat down; and as soon as they were
+all sitting down, Rabbit stood up again.</p>
+
+<p>"We all know why we're here," he said, "but I have asked my friend
+Eeyore——"</p>
+
+<p>"That's Me," said Eeyore. "Grand."</p>
+
+<p>"I have asked him to Propose a Rissolution." And he sat down again.
+"Now then, Eeyore," he said.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus89.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Don't Bustle me," said Eeyore, getting up slowly. "Don't now-then
+me." He took a piece of paper from behind his ear, and unfolded it.
+"Nobody knows anything about this," he went on. "This is a Surprise."
+He coughed in an important way, and began again: "What-nots and
+Etceteras, before I begin, or perhaps I should say, before I end, I
+have a piece of Poetry to read to you. Hitherto—hitherto—a long word
+meaning—well, you'll see what it means directly—hitherto, as I was
+saying, all the Poetry in the Forest has been written by Pooh, a Bear
+with a Pleasing Manner but a Positively Startling Lack of Brain. The
+Poem which I am now about to read to you was written by Eeyore, or
+Myself, in a Quiet Moment. If somebody will take Roo's bull's-eye away
+from him, and wake up Owl, we shall all be able to enjoy it. I call
+it—POEM."</p>
+
+<p>This was it.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Christopher Robin is going.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">At least I think he is.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nobody knows.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But he is going—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I mean he goes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>To rhyme with "knows"</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Do we care?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>To rhyme with "where"</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We do</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Very much.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>I haven't got a rhyme for that "is" in the second line yet. Bother.</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Now I haven't got a rhyme for bother. Bother.</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Those two bothers will have to rhyme with each other. Buther.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The fact is this is more difficult than I thought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I ought—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Very good indeed</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I ought</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To begin again,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But it is easier</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To stop.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Christopher Robin, good-bye,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Good</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And all your friends</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sends—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I mean all your friend</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Send—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(<i>Very awkward this, it keeps going wrong</i>)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Well, anyhow, we send</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Our love</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">END.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"If anybody wants to clap," said Eeyore when he had read this, "now is
+the time to do it."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus90.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>They all clapped.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus91.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Eeyore. "Unexpected and gratifying, if a little
+lacking in Smack."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus92.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"It's much better than mine," said Pooh admiringly, and he really
+thought it was.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus93.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Well," explained Eeyore modestly, "it was meant to be."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus94.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"The rissolution," said Rabbit, "is that we all sign it, and take it to
+Christopher Robin."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus95.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>So it was signed POOH, PIGLET, WOL, EOR, RABBIT, KANGA, BLOT, SMUDGE,
+and they all went off to Christopher Robin's house with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, everybody," said Christopher Robin—"Hallo, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>They all said "Hallo," and felt awkward and unhappy suddenly, because
+it was a sort of good-bye they were saying, and they didn't want to
+think about it. So they stood around, and waited for somebody else to
+speak, and they nudged each other, and said "Go on," and gradually
+Eeyore was nudged to the front, and the others crowded behind him.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin. Eeyore swished his tail
+from side to side, so as to encourage himself, and began.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus96.jpg" alt="">
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p><i>"What is it, Eeyore?" asked Christopher Robin.</i></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Christopher Robin," he said, "we've come to say—to give you—it's
+called—written by—but we've all—because we've heard, I mean we all
+know—well, you see, it's—we—you—well, that, to put it as shortly
+as possible, is what it is." He turned round angrily on the others and
+said, "Everybody crowds round so in this Forest. There's no Space. I
+never saw a more Spreading lot of animals in my life, and all in the
+wrong places. Can't you <i>see</i> that Christopher Robin wants to be alone?
+I'm going." And he humped off.</p>
+
+<p>Not quite knowing why, the others began edging away, and when
+Christopher Robin had finished reading POEM, and was looking up to say,
+"Thank you," only Pooh was left.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a comforting sort of thing to have," said Christopher Robin,
+folding up the paper, and putting it in his pocket. "Come on, Pooh,"
+and he walked off quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we going?" said Pooh, hurrying after him,
+and wondering whether it was to be an Explore or a
+What-shall-I-do-about-you-know-what.</p>
+
+<p>"Nowhere," said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<p>So they began going there, and after they had walked a little way
+Christopher Robin said:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best——" and then he had to stop and
+think. Because although Eating Honey <i>was</i> a very good thing to do,
+there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better
+than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. And then
+he thought that being with Christopher Robin was a very good thing
+to do, and having Piglet near was a very friendly thing to have; and
+so, when he had thought it all out, he said, "What I like best in the
+whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What
+about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a
+little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day
+outside, and birds singing."</p>
+
+<p>"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like <i>doing</i>
+best is Nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to
+do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh,
+nothing, and then you go and do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.</p>
+
+<p>"It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear,
+and not bothering."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus97.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>They walked on, thinking of This and That, and by-and-by they came
+to an enchanted place on the very top of the Forest called Galleons
+Lap, which is sixty-something trees in a circle; and Christopher Robin
+knew that it was enchanted because nobody had ever been able to count
+whether it was sixty-three or sixty-four, not even when he tied a piece
+of string round each tree after he had counted it. Being enchanted,
+its floor was not like the floor of the Forest, gorse and bracken and
+heather, but close-set grass, quiet and smooth and green. It was the
+only place in the Forest where you could sit down carelessly, without
+getting up again almost at once and looking for somewhere else. Sitting
+there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached
+the sky, and whatever there was all the world over was with them in
+Galleons Lap.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Christopher Robin began to tell Pooh about some of the things:
+People called Kings and Queens and something called Factors, and a
+place called Europe, and an island in the middle of the sea where no
+ships came, and how you make a Suction Pump (if you want to), and
+when Knights were Knighted, and what comes from Brazil. And Pooh, his
+back against one of the sixty-something trees, and his paws folded
+in front of him, said "Oh!" and "I didn't know," and thought how
+wonderful it would be to have a Real Brain which could tell you things.
+And by-and-by Christopher Robin came to an end of the things, and was
+silent, and he sat there looking out over the world, and wishing it
+wouldn't stop.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus98.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>But Pooh was thinking too, and he said suddenly to Christopher Robin:</p>
+
+<p>"Is it a very Grand thing to be an Afternoon, what you said?"</p>
+
+<p>"A what?" said Christopher Robin lazily, as he listened to something
+else.</p>
+
+<p>"On a horse," explained Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"A Knight?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, was that it?" said Pooh. "I thought it was a——Is it as Grand as
+a King and Factors and all the other things you said?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's not as grand as a King," said Christopher Robin, and then,
+as Pooh seemed disappointed, he added quickly, "but it's grander than
+Factors."</p>
+
+<p>"Could a Bear be one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he could!" said Christopher Robin. "I'll make you one." And
+he took a stick and touched Pooh on the shoulder, and said, "Rise, Sir
+Pooh de Bear, most faithful of all my Knights."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus99.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>So Pooh rose and sat down and said "Thank you," which is the proper
+thing to say when you have been made a Knight, and he went into a
+dream again, in which he and Sir Pomp and Sir Brazil and Factors
+lived together with a horse, and were faithful Knights (all except
+Factors, who looked after the horse) to Good King Christopher Robin
+... and every now and then he shook his head, and said to himself
+"I'm not getting it right." Then he began to think of all the things
+Christopher Robin would want to tell him when he came back from
+wherever he was going to, and how muddling it would be for a Bear of
+Very Little Brain to try and get them right in his mind. "So, perhaps,"
+he said sadly to himself, "Christopher Robin won't tell me any more,"
+and he wondered if being a Faithful Knight meant that you just went on
+being faithful without being told things.</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the
+world, with his chin in his hands, called out "Pooh!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus100.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Yes?" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"When I'm—when——Pooh!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Christopher Robin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Never again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, not so much. They don't let you."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Christopher Robin?" said Pooh helpfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh, when I'm—<i>you</i> know—when I'm <i>not</i> doing Nothing, will you
+come up here sometimes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just Me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you be here too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Pooh, I will be, <i>really</i>. I <i>promise</i> I will be, Pooh."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good," said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh, <i>promise</i> you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a
+hundred."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh thought for a little.</p>
+
+<p>"How old shall <i>I</i> be then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ninety-nine."</p>
+
+<p>Pooh nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"I promise," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and
+felt for Pooh's paw.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if I—if I'm not quite——"
+he stopped and tried again—"Pooh, <i>whatever</i> happens, you <i>will</i>
+understand, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Understand what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing." He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Come on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" said Pooh.</p>
+
+<p>"Anywhere," said Christopher Robin.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens
+to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a
+little boy and his Bear will always be playing.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus101.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h3>BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS</h3>
+
+<p class="ph2">BY A. A. MILNE</p>
+
+<p class="ph2"><i>with Decorations by</i> E. H. SHEPARD:</p>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">NOW WE ARE SIX</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">WINNIE-THE-POOH</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN STORY BOOK</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">SONG-BOOKS FROM THE POEMS OF A. A. MILNE</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>with Music by</i> H. FRASER-SIMSON:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">FOURTEEN SONGS</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">THE KING'S BREAKFAST</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">TEDDY BEAR AND OTHER SONGS</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">THE HUMS OF POOH</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">SONGS FROM "NOW WE ARE SIX"</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="ph2">E. P. DUTTON &amp; CO., INC.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/ep.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>