The House at Pooh Corner - A. A. Milne [11]
“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 Four
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 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 which had been 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