Winnie-the-Pooh · OmniClassics

WINNIE-THE-POOH _BY A. A. MILNE_ _JUVENILES_ When We Were Very Young "_The best book of verses for children_ _ever written._"--A. EDWARD NEWTON in _The Atlantic Monthly_. Fourteen Songs from When We Were Very Young Words by A. A. Milne. Music by H. Fraser-Simson. Decorations by E. H. Shepard. The King's Breakfast Words by A. A. Milne. Music by H. Fraser-Simson. Decorations by E. H. Shepard _ESSAYS_ Not That It Matters The Sunny Side If I May _MYSTERY STORY_ The Red House Mystery WINNIE-THE-POOH BY A. A. MILNE McCLELLAND & STEWART, LTD. PUBLISHERS - - TORONTO Copyright, Canada, 1926 By McClelland & Stewart, Limited Publishers, Toronto First Printing, October, 1926 Second " July, 1927 Third " December, 1928 Fourth " December, 1929 Fifth " March, 1931 Printed in Canada TO HER HAND IN HAND WE COME CHRISTOPHER ROBIN AND I TO LAY THIS BOOK IN YOUR LAP. SAY YOU'RE SURPRISED? SAY YOU LIKE IT? SAY IT'S JUST WHAT YOU WANTED? BECAUSE IT'S YOURS---- BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU. INTRODUCTION If you happen to have read another book about Christopher Robin, you may remember that he once had a swan (or the swan had Christopher Robin, I don't know which) and that he used to call this swan Pooh. That was a long time ago, and when we said good-bye, we took the name with us, as we didn't think the swan would want it any more. Well, when Edward Bear said that he would like an exciting name all to himself, Christopher Robin said at once, without stopping to think, that he was Winnie-the-Pooh. And he was. So, as I have explained the Pooh part, I will now explain the rest of it. You can't be in London for long without going to the Zoo. There are some people who begin the Zoo at the beginning, called WAYIN, and walk as quickly as they can past every cage until they get to the one called WAYOUT, but the nicest people go straight to the animal they love the most, and stay there. So when Christopher Robin goes to the Zoo, he goes to where the Polar Bears are, and he whispers something to the third keeper from the left, and doors are unlocked, and we wander through dark passages and up steep stairs, until at last we come to the special cage, and the cage is opened, and out trots something brown and furry, and with a happy cry of "Oh, Bear!" Christopher Robin rushes into its arms. Now this bear's name is Winnie, which shows what a good name for bears it is, but the funny thing is that we can't remember whether Winnie is called after Pooh, or Pooh after Winnie. We did know once, but we have forgotten.... I had written as far as this when Piglet looked up and said in his squeaky voice, "What about _Me_?" "My dear Piglet," I said, "the whole book is about you." "So it is about Pooh," he squeaked. You see what it is. He is jealous because he thinks Pooh is having a Grand Introduction all to himself. Pooh is the favourite, of course, there's no denying it, but Piglet comes in for a good many things which Pooh misses; because you can't take Pooh to school without everybody knowing it, but Piglet is so small that he slips into a pocket, where it is very comforting to feel him when you are not quite sure whether twice seven is twelve or twenty-two. Sometimes he slips out and has a good look in the ink-pot, and in this way he has got more education than Pooh, but Pooh doesn't mind. Some have brains, and some haven't, he says, and there it is. And now all the others are saying, "What about _Us_?" So perhaps the best thing to do is to stop writing Introductions and get on with the book. A. A. M. CONTENTS I. IN WHICH WE ARE INTRODUCED TO WINNIE-THE-POOH AND SOME BEES, AND THE STORIES BEGIN II. IN WHICH POOH GOES VISITING AND GETS INTO A TIGHT PLACE III. IN WHICH POOH AND PIGLET GO HUNTING AND NEARLY CATCH A WOOZLE IV. IN WHICH EEYORE LOSES A TAIL AND POOH FINDS ONE V. IN WHICH PIGLET MEETS A HEFFALUMP VI. IN WHICH EEYORE HAS A BIRTHDAY AND GETS TWO PRESENTS VII. IN WHICH KANGA AND BABY ROO COME TO THE FOREST, AND PIGLET HAS A BATH VIII. IN WHICH CHRISTOPHER ROBIN LEADS AN EXPOTITION TO THE NORTH POLE IX. IN WHICH PIGLET IS ENTIRELY SURROUNDED BY WATER X. IN WHICH CHRISTOPHER ROBIN GIVES A POOH PARTY, AND WE SAY GOOD-BYE WINNIE-THE-POOH CHAPTER I IN WHICH WE ARE INTRODUCED TO WINNIE-THE-POOH AND SOME BEES, AND THE STORIES BEGIN Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn't. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you. Winnie-the-Pooh. When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say, "But I thought he was a boy?" "So did I," said Christopher Robin. "Then you can't call him Winnie?" "I don't." "But you said----" "He's Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don't you know what '_ther_' means?" "Ah, yes, now I do," I said quickly; and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get. Sometimes Winnie-the-Pooh likes a game of some sort when he comes downstairs, and sometimes he likes to sit quietly in front of the fire and listen to a story. This evening---- "What about a story?" said Christopher Robin. "_What_ about a story?" I said. "Could you very sweetly tell Winnie-the-Pooh one?" "I suppose I could," I said. "What sort of stories does he like?" "About himself. Because he's _that_ sort of Bear." "Oh, I see." "So could you very sweetly?" "I'll try," I said. So I tried. * * * * * Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a forest all by himself under the name of Sanders. (_"What does 'under the name' mean?" asked Christopher Robin._ "_It means he had the name over the door in gold letters, and lived under it._" _"Winnie-the-Pooh wasn't quite sure," said Christopher Robin._ _"Now I am," said a growly voice._ _"Then I will go on," said I._) One day when he was out walking, he came to an open place in the middle of the forest, and in the middle of this place was a large oak-tree, and, from the top of the tree, there came a loud buzzing-noise. Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree, put his head between his paws and began to think. First of all he said to himself: "That buzzing-noise means something. You don't get a buzzing-noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something. If there's a buzzing-noise, somebody's making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that _I_ know of is because you're a bee." Then he thought another long time, and said: "And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey." And then he got up, and said: "And the only reason for making honey is so as _I_ can eat it." So he began to climb the tree. He climbed and he climbed and he climbed, and as he climbed he sang a little song to himself. It went like this: Isn't it funny How a bear likes honey? Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! I wonder why he does? Then he climbed a little further ... and a little further ... and then just a little further. By that time he had thought of another song. It's a very funny thought that, if Bears were Bees, They'd build their nests at the _bottom_ of trees. And that being so (if the Bees were Bears), We shouldn't have to climb up all these stairs. He was getting rather tired by this time, so that is why he sang a Complaining Song. He was nearly there now, and if he just stood on that branch ... _Crack!_ "Oh, help!" said Pooh, as he dropped ten feet on the branch below him. "If only I hadn't----" he said, as he bounced twenty feet on to the next branch. "You see, what I _meant_ to do," he explained, as he turned head-over-heels, and crashed on to another branch thirty feet below, "what I _meant_ to do----" "Of course, it _was_ rather----" he admitted, as he slithered very quickly through the next six branches. "It all comes, I suppose," he decided, as he said good-bye to the last branch, spun round three times, and flew gracefully into a gorse-bush, "it all comes of _liking_ honey so much. Oh, help!" He crawled out of the gorse-bush, brushed the prickles from his nose, and began to think again. And the first person he thought of was Christopher Robin. (_"Was that me?" said Christopher Robin in an awed voice, hardly daring to believe it._ "_That was you._" _Christopher Robin said nothing, but his eyes got larger and larger, and his face got pinker and pinker._) So Winnie-the-Pooh went round to his friend Christopher Robin, who lived behind a green door in another part of the forest. "Good morning, Christopher Robin," he said. "Good morning, Winnie-_ther_-Pooh," said you. "I wonder if you've got such a thing as a balloon about you?" "A balloon?" "Yes, I just said to myself coming along: 'I wonder if Christopher Robin has such a thing as a balloon about him?' I just said it to myself, thinking of balloons, and wondering." "What do you want a balloon for?" you said. Winnie-the-Pooh looked round to see that nobody was listening, put his paw to his mouth, and said in a deep whisper: "_Honey!_" "But you don't get honey with balloons!" "_I_ do," said Pooh. Well, it just happened that you had been to a party the day before at the house of your friend Piglet, and you had balloons at the party. You had had a big green balloon; and one of Rabbit's relations had had a big blue one, and had left it behind, being really too young to go to a party at all; and so you had brought the green one _and_ the blue one home with you. "Which one would you like?" you asked Pooh. He put his head between his paws and thought very carefully. "It's like this," he said. "When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you're coming. Now, if you have a green balloon, they might think you were only part of the tree, and not notice you, and, if you have a blue balloon, they might think you were only part of the sky, and not notice you, and the question is: Which is most likely?" "Wouldn't they notice _you_ underneath the balloon?" you asked. "They might or they might not," said Winnie-the-Pooh. "You never can tell with bees." He thought for a moment and said: "I shall try to look