Winnie-the-Pooh Page #8

"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

								

for it.

"Bother!" said Pooh, as he got his nose inside the jar. "A Heffalump has
been eating it!" And then he thought a little and said, "Oh, no, I
did. I forgot."

Indeed, he had eaten most of it. But there was a little left at the very
bottom of the jar, and he pushed his head right in, and began to
lick....

By and by Piglet woke up. As soon as he woke he said to himself, "Oh!"
Then he said bravely, "Yes," and then, still more bravely, "Quite so."
But he didn't feel very brave, for the word which was really jiggeting
about in his brain was "Heffalumps."

What was a Heffalump like?

Was it Fierce?

Did it come when you whistled? And how did it come?

Was it Fond of Pigs at all?

If it was Fond of Pigs, did it make any difference what sort of Pig?

Supposing it was Fierce with Pigs, would it make any difference if the
Pig had a grandfather called TRESPASSERS WILLIAM?

He didn't know the answer to any of these questions ... and he was
going to see his first Heffalump in about an hour from now!

Of course Pooh would be with him, and it was much more Friendly with
two. But suppose Heffalumps were Very Fierce with Pigs and Bears?
Wouldn't it be better to pretend that he had a headache, and couldn't go
up to the Six Pine Trees this morning? But then suppose that it was a
very fine day, and there was no Heffalump in the trap, here he would be,
in bed all the morning, simply wasting his time for nothing. What should
he do?

And then he had a Clever Idea. He would go up very quietly to the Six
Pine Trees now, peep very cautiously into the Trap, and see if there
was a Heffalump there. And if there was, he would go back to bed, and
if there wasn't, he wouldn't.

So off he went. At first he thought that there wouldn't be a Heffalump
in the Trap, and then he thought that there would, and as he got nearer
he was sure that there would, because he could hear it heffalumping
about it like anything.

"Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear!" said Piglet to himself. And he wanted to
run away. But somehow, having got so near, he felt that he must just see
what a Heffalump was like. So he crept to the side of the Trap and
looked in....

And all the time Winnie-the-Pooh had been trying to get the honey-jar
off his head. The more he shook it, the more tightly it stuck.

"Bother!" he said, inside the jar, and "Oh, help!" and, mostly,
"Ow!" And he tried bumping it against things, but as he couldn't see
what he was bumping it against, it didn't help him; and he tried to
climb out of the Trap, but as he could see nothing but jar, and not much
of that, he couldn't find his way. So at last he lifted up his head, jar
and all, and made a loud, roaring noise of Sadness and Despair ... and
it was at that moment that Piglet looked down.

"Help, help!" cried Piglet, "a Heffalump, a Horrible Heffalump!" and he
scampered off as hard as he could, still crying out, "Help, help, a
Herrible Hoffalump! Hoff, Hoff, a Hellible Horralump! Holl, Holl, a
Hoffable Hellerump!" And he didn't stop crying and scampering until he
got to Christopher Robin's house.

"Whatever's the matter, Piglet?" said Christopher Robin, who was just
getting up.

"Heff," said Piglet, breathing so hard that he could hardly speak, "a
Heff--a Heff--a Heffalump."

"Where?"

"Up there," said Piglet, waving his paw.

"What did it look like?"

"Like--like----It had the biggest head you ever saw, Christopher Robin.
A great enormous thing, like--like nothing. A huge big--well, like a--I
don't know--like an enormous big nothing. Like a jar."

"Well," said Christopher Robin, putting on his shoes, "I shall go and
look at it. Come on."

Piglet wasn't afraid if he had Christopher Robin with him, so off they
went....

"I can hear it, can't you?" said Piglet anxiously, as they got near.

"I can hear something," said Christopher Robin.

It was Pooh bumping his head against a tree-root he had found.

"There!" said Piglet. "Isn't it awful?" And he held on tight to
Christopher Robin's hand.

Suddenly Christopher Robin began to laugh ... and he laughed ... and he
laughed ... and he laughed. And while he was still laughing--Crash
went the Heffalump's head against the tree-root, Smash went the jar,
and out came Pooh's head again....

Then Piglet saw what a Foolish Piglet he had been, and he was so ashamed
of himself that he ran straight off home and went to bed with a
headache. But Christopher Robin and Pooh went home to breakfast
together.

"Oh, Bear!" said Christopher Robin. "How I do love you!"

"So do I," said Pooh.




                               CHAPTER VI

                     IN WHICH EEYORE HAS A BIRTHDAY
                          AND GETS TWO PRESENTS


Eeyore, the old grey Donkey, stood by the side of the stream, and
looked at himself in the water.

"Pathetic," he said. "That's what it is. Pathetic."

He turned and walked slowly down the stream for twenty yards, splashed
across it, and walked slowly back on the other side. Then he looked at
himself in the water again.

"As I thought," he said. "No better from this side. But nobody minds.
Nobody cares. Pathetic, that's what it is."

There was a crackling noise in the bracken behind him, and out came
Pooh.

"Good morning, Eeyore," said Pooh.

"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore gloomily. "If it is a good
morning," he said. "Which I doubt," said he.

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's
all there is to it."

"Can't all what?" said Pooh, rubbing his nose.

"Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush."

"Oh!" said Pooh. He thought for a long time, and then asked, "What
mulberry bush is that?"

"Bon-hommy," went on Eeyore gloomily. "French word meaning bonhommy," he
explained. "I'm not complaining, but There It Is."

Pooh sat down on a large stone, and tried to think this out. It sounded
to him like a riddle, and he was never much good at riddles, being a
Bear of Very Little Brain. So he sang Cottleston Pie instead:

    Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
    A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
    Ask me a riddle and I reply:
    "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."

That was the first verse. When he had finished it, Eeyore didn't
actually say that he didn't like it, so Pooh very kindly sang the second
verse to him:

    Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
    A fish can't whistle and neither can I.
    Ask me a riddle and I reply:
    "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."

Eeyore still said nothing at all, so Pooh hummed the third verse quietly
to himself:

    Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
    Why does a chicken, I don't know why.
    Ask me a riddle and I reply:
    "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."

"That's right," said Eeyore. "Sing. Umty-tiddly, umty-too. Here we go
gathering Nuts and May. Enjoy yourself."

"I am," said Pooh.

"Some can," said Eeyore.

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Is anything the matter?"

"You seem so sad, Eeyore."
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