Winnie the Pooh (12 page)
“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?”
“Your family.”
“What about them?”
Pooh rubbed his nose and said that he thought Rabbit had been talking about his family.
“Did I?” said Rabbit carelessly.
“Yes, you said—”
“Never mind, Pooh,” said Piglet impatiently.
“The question is, What are we to do about Kanga?”
“Oh, I see,” said Pooh.
“The best way,” said Rabbit, “would be this. The best way would be to steal Baby Roo and hide him, and then when Kanga says, ‘Where’s Baby Roo?’ we say, ‘
Aha!
’”
“
Aha!
” said Pooh, practising. “
Aha! Aha!…
Of course,” he went on, “we could say ‘Aha!’ even if we hadn’t stolen Baby Roo.”
“Pooh,” said Rabbit kindly, “you haven’t any brain.”
“I know,” said Pooh humbly.
“We say ‘
Aha!
’ so that Kanga knows that
we
know where Baby Roo is. ‘
Aha!
’ means ‘We’ll tell you where Baby Roo is, if you promise to go away from the Forest and never come back.’ Now don’t talk while I think.”
Pooh went into a corner and tried saying “Aha!” in that sort of voice. Sometimes it seemed to him that it did mean what Rabbit said, and sometimes it seemed to him that it didn’t. “I suppose it’s just practice,” he thought. “I wonder if Kanga will have to practise too so as to understand it.”
“There’s just one thing,” said Piglet, fidgeting a bit. “I was talking to Christopher Robin, and he said that a Kanga was Generally Regarded as One of the Fiercer Animals. I am not frightened of Fierce Animals in the ordinary way, but it is well known that, if One of the Fiercer Animals is Deprived of Its Young, it becomes as fierce as Two of the Fiercer Animals. In which case ‘
Aha!
’ is perhaps a
foolish
thing to say.”
“Piglet,” said Rabbit, taking out a pencil, and licking the end of it, “you haven’t any pluck.”
“It is hard to be brave,” said Piglet, sniffing slightly, “when you’re only a Very Small Animal.”
Rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said:
“It is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us.”
Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened any more, and when Rabbit went on to say that Kangas were only Fierce during the winter months, being at other times of an Affectionate Disposition, he could hardly sit still, he was so eager to begin being useful at once.
“What about me?” said Pooh sadly. “I suppose I shan’t be useful?”
“Never mind, Pooh,” said Piglet comfortingly. “Another time perhaps.”
“Without Pooh,” said Rabbit solemnly as he sharpened his pencil, “the adventure would be impossible.”
“Oh!” said Piglet, and tried not to look disappointed. But Pooh went into a corner of the room and said proudly to himself, “Impossible without Me!
That
sort of Bear.”
“Now listen all of you,” said Rabbit when he had finished writing, and Pooh and Piglet sat listening very eagerly with their mouths open. This was what Rabbit read out:
PLAN TO CAPTURE BABY ROO
- General Remarks
. Kanga runs faster than any of Us, even Me. - More General Remarks
. Kanga never takes her eye off Baby Roo, except when he’s safely buttoned up in her pocket. - Therefore
. If we are to capture Baby Roo, we must get a Long Start, because Kanga runs faster than any of Us, even Me. (
See
1.) - A Thought
. If Roo had jumped out of Kanga’s pocket and Piglet had jumped in, Kanga wouldn’t know the difference, because Piglet is a Very Small Animal. - Like Roo.
- But Kanga would have to be looking the other way first, so as not to see Piglet jumping in.
- See
2. - Another Thought
. But if Pooh was talking to her very excitedly, she
might
look the other way for a moment. - And then I could run away with Roo.
- Quickly.
- And Kanga wouldn’t discover the difference until Afterwards
.
Well, Rabbit read this out proudly, and for a little while after he had read it nobody said anything. And then Piglet, who had been opening and shutting his mouth without making any noise, managed to say very huskily:
“And—Afterwards?”
“How do you mean?”
“When Kanga
does
Discover the Difference?”
“Then we all say ‘
Aha!
’”
“All three of us?”
“Yes.”
“Oh!”
“Why, what’s the trouble, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, “as long as
we all three
say it. As long as we all three say it,” said Piglet, “I don’t mind,” he said, “but I shouldn’t care to say ‘
Aha!
’ by myself. It wouldn’t sound
nearly
so well. By the way,” he said, “you
are
quite sure about what you said about the winter months?”
“The winter months?”
“Yes, only being Fierce in the Winter Months.”
“Oh, yes, yes, that’s all right. Well, Pooh? You see what you have to do?”
“No,” said Pooh Bear. “Not yet,” he said. “What
do
I do?”
“Well, you just have to talk very hard to Kanga so as she doesn’t notice anything.”
“Oh! What about?”
“Anything you like.”
“You mean like telling her a little bit of poetry or something?”
“That’s it,” said Rabbit. “Splendid. Now come along.”
So they all went out to look for Kanga.
Kanga and Roo were spending a quiet afternoon in a sandy part of the Forest. Baby Roo was practising very small jumps in the sand, and falling down mouse-holes and climbing out of them, and Kanga was fidgeting about and saying “Just one more jump, dear, and then we must go home.” And at that moment who should come stumping up the hill but Pooh.
“Good afternoon, Kanga.”
“Good afternoon, Pooh.”
“Look at me jumping,” squeaked Roo, and fell into another mouse-hole.
“Hallo, Roo, my little fellow!”
“We were just going home,” said Kanga. “Good afternoon, Rabbit. Good afternoon, Piglet.”
Rabbit and Piglet, who had now come up from the other side of the hill, said, “Good afternoon,” and “Hallo, Roo,” and Roo asked them to look at him jumping, so they stayed and looked.
And Kanga looked too….
“Oh, Kanga,” said Pooh, after Rabbit had winked at him twice, “I don’t know if you are interested in Poetry at all?”
“Hardly at all,” said Kanga.
“Oh!” said Pooh.
“Roo, dear, just one more jump and then we must go home.”
There was a short silence while Roo fell down another mouse-hole.
“Go on,” said Rabbit in a loud whisper behind his paw.
“Talking of Poetry,” said Pooh, “I made up a little piece as I was coming along. It went like this. Er—now let me see—”
“Fancy!” said Kanga. “Now Roo, dear—”
“You’ll like this piece of poetry,” said Rabbit.
“You’ll love it,” said Piglet.
“You must listen very carefully,” said Rabbit.
“So as not to miss any of it,” said Piglet.
“Oh, yes,” said Kanga, but she still looked at Baby Roo.
“
How
did it go, Pooh?” said Rabbit.
Pooh gave a little cough and began.
LINES WRITTEN BY A
BEAR OF LITTLE BRAIN
On Monday, when the sun is hot
I wonder to myself a lot:
“Now is it true, or is it not,
“That what is which and which is what?”
On Tuesday, when it hails and snows,
The feeling on me grows and grows
That hardly anybody knows
If those are these or these are those.
On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,
And I have nothing else to do,
I sometimes wonder if it’s true
That who is what and what is who.
On Thursday, when it starts to freeze
And hoar-frost twinkles on the trees,
How very readily one sees
That these are whose—but whose are these?
On Friday—
“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” said Kanga, not waiting to hear what happened on Friday. “Just one more jump, Roo, dear, and then we really
must
be going.”
Rabbit gave Pooh a hurrying-up sort of nudge.
“Talking of Poetry,” said Pooh quickly, “have you ever noticed that tree right over there?”
“Where?” said Kanga. “Now, Roo—”
“Right over there,” said Pooh, pointing behind Kanga’s back.
“No,” said Kanga. “Now jump in, Roo, dear, and we’ll go home.”
“You ought to look at that tree right over there,” said Rabbit. “Shall I lift you in, Roo?” And he picked up Roo in his paws.
“I can see a bird in it from here,” said Pooh. “Or is it a fish?”
“You ought to see that bird from here,” said Rabbit. “Unless it’s a fish.”
“It isn’t a fish, it’s a bird,” said Piglet.
“So it is,” said Rabbit.
“Is it a starling or a blackbird?” said Pooh.
“That’s the whole question,” said Rabbit. “Is it a blackbird or a starling?”
And then at last Kanga did turn her head to look. And the moment that her head was turned, Rabbit said in a loud voice “In you go, Roo!” and in jumped Piglet into Kanga’s pocket, and off scampered Rabbit, with Roo in his paws, as fast as he could.
“Why, where’s Rabbit?” said Kanga, turning round again. “Are you all right, Roo, dear?”
Piglet made a squeaky Roo-noise from the bottom of Kanga’s pocket.