Winnie-the-Pooh Page #10

"Winnie-the-Pooh" is a delightful children's book written by A. A. Milne. Set in the Hundred Acre Wood, the story follows the adventures of a lovable bear named Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends, including Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit, and Owl. Each chapter brings a new escapade, often involving honey, Pooh's favorite treat. From searching for the North Pole to getting stuck in Rabbit's front door, the characters embark on whimsical journeys full of humor, friendship, and simple joys. The book's charm lies in its gentle lessons about kindness, imagination, and the importance of treasuring the little things in life.

• Children

								


He was still in the Forest!

"Well, that's funny," he thought. "I wonder what that bang was. I
couldn't have made such a noise just falling down. And where's my
balloon? And what's that small piece of damp rag doing?"

It was the balloon!

"Oh, dear!" said Piglet "Oh, dear, oh, dearie, dearie, dear! Well, it's
too late now. I can't go back, and I haven't another balloon, and
perhaps Eeyore doesn't like balloons so very much."

So he trotted on, rather sadly now, and down he came to the side of the
stream where Eeyore was, and called out to him.

"Good morning, Eeyore," shouted Piglet.

"Good morning, Little Piglet," said Eeyore. "If it is a good morning,"
he said. "Which I doubt," said he. "Not that it matters," he said.

"Many happy returns of the day," said Piglet, having now got closer.

Eeyore stopped looking at himself in the stream, and turned to stare at
Piglet.

"Just say that again," he said.

"Many hap----"

"Wait a moment."

Balancing on three legs, he began to bring his fourth leg very
cautiously up to his ear. "I did this yesterday," he explained, as he
fell down for the third time. "It's quite easy. It's so as I can hear
better.... There, that's done it! Now then, what were you saying?" He
pushed his ear forward with his hoof.

"Many happy returns of the day," said Piglet again.

"Meaning me?"

"Of course, Eeyore."

"My birthday?"

"Yes."

"Me having a real birthday?"

"Yes, Eeyore, and I've brought you a present."

Eeyore took down his right hoof from his right ear, turned round, and
with great difficulty put up his left hoof.

"I must have that in the other ear," he said. "Now then."

"A present," said Piglet very loudly.

"Meaning me again?"

"Yes."

"My birthday still?"

"Of course, Eeyore."

"Me going on having a real birthday?"

"Yes, Eeyore, and I brought you a balloon."

"Balloon?" said Eeyore. "You did say balloon? One of those big
coloured things you blow up? Gaiety, song-and-dance, here we are and
there we are?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid--I'm very sorry, Eeyore--but when I was running
along to bring it you, I fell down."

"Dear, dear, how unlucky! You ran too fast, I expect. You didn't hurt
yourself, Little Piglet?"

"No, but I--I--oh, Eeyore, I burst the balloon!"

There was a very long silence.

"My balloon?" said Eeyore at last.

Piglet nodded.

"My birthday balloon?"

"Yes, Eeyore," said Piglet sniffing a little. "Here it is. With--with
many happy returns of the day." And he gave Eeyore the small piece of
damp rag.

"Is this it?" said Eeyore, a little surprised.

Piglet nodded.

"My present?"

Piglet nodded again.

"The balloon?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Piglet," said Eeyore. "You don't mind my asking," he went
on, "but what colour was this balloon when it--when it was a balloon?"

"Red."

"I just wondered.... Red," he murmured to himself. "My favourite
colour.... How big was it?"

"About as big as me."

"I just wondered.... About as big as Piglet," he said to himself
sadly. "My favourite size. Well, well."

Piglet felt very miserable, and didn't know what to say. He was still
opening his mouth to begin something, and then deciding that it wasn't
any good saying that, when he heard a shout from the other side of the
river, and there was Pooh.

"Many happy returns of the day," called out Pooh, forgetting that he had
said it already.

"Thank you, Pooh, I'm having them," said Eeyore gloomily.

"I've brought you a little present," said Pooh excitedly.

"I've had it," said Eeyore.

Pooh had now splashed across the stream to Eeyore, and Piglet was
sitting a little way off, his head in his paws, snuffling to himself.

"It's a Useful Pot," said Pooh. "Here it is. And it's got 'A Very Happy
Birthday with love from Pooh' written on it. That's what all that
writing is. And it's for putting things in. There!"

When Eeyore saw the pot, he became quite excited.

"Why!" he said. "I believe my Balloon will just go into that Pot!"

"Oh, no, Eeyore," said Pooh. "Balloons are much too big to go into Pots.
What you do with a balloon is, you hold the ballon----"

"Not mine," said Eeyore proudly. "Look, Piglet!" And as Piglet looked
sorrowfully round, Eeyore picked the balloon up with his teeth, and
placed it carefully in the pot; picked it out and put it on the ground;
and then picked it up again and put it carefully back.

"So it does!" said Pooh. "It goes in!"

"So it does!" said Piglet. "And it comes out!"

"Doesn't it?" said Eeyore. "It goes in and out like anything."

"I'm very glad," said Pooh happily, "that I thought of giving you a
Useful Pot to put things in."

"I'm very glad," said Piglet happily, "that I thought of giving you
Something to put in a Useful Pot."

But Eeyore wasn't listening. He was taking the balloon out, and putting
it back again, as happy as could be....

                 *        *        *        *        *

"And didn't I give him anything?" asked Christopher Robin sadly.

"Of course you did," I said. "You gave him--don't you remember--a
little--a little----"

"I gave him a box of paints to paint things with."

"That was it."

"Why didn't I give it to him in the morning?"

"You were so busy getting his party ready for him. He had a cake with
icing on the top, and three candles, and his name in pink sugar,
and----"

"Yes, I remember," said Christopher Robin.




                              CHAPTER VII

                    IN WHICH KANGA AND BABY ROO COME
                  TO THE FOREST, AND PIGLET HAS A BATH


Nobody seemed to know where they came from, but there they were in the
Forest: Kanga and Baby Roo. When Pooh asked Christopher Robin, "How did
they come here?" Christopher Robin said, "In the Usual Way, if you know
what I mean, Pooh," and Pooh, who didn't, said "Oh!" Then he nodded his
head twice and said, "In the Usual Way. Ah!" Then he went to call upon
his friend Piglet to see what he thought about it. And at Piglet's
house he found Rabbit. So they all talked about it together.

"What I don't like about it is this," said Rabbit. "Here are we--you,
Pooh, and you, Piglet, and Me--and suddenly----"

"And Eeyore," said Pooh.

"And Eeyore--and then suddenly----"

"And Owl," said Pooh.

"And Owl--and then all of a sudden----"

"Oh, and Eeyore," said Pooh. "I was forgetting him."

"Here--we--are," said Rabbit very slowly and carefully, "all--of--us,
and then, suddenly, we wake up one morning and, what do we find? We find
a Strange Animal among us. An animal of whom we have never even heard
before! An animal who carries her family about with her in her pocket!
Suppose I carried my family about with me in my pocket, how many
pockets should I want?"

"Sixteen," said Piglet.

"Seventeen, isn't it?" said Rabbit. "And one more for a
handkerchief--that's eighteen. Eighteen pockets in one suit! I haven't
time."

There was a long and thoughtful silence ... and then Pooh, who had
been frowning very hard for some minutes, said: "I make it fifteen."

"What?" said Rabbit.

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen what?"
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