Winnie the Pooh (13 page)

“Rabbit had to go away,” said Pooh. “I think he thought of something he had to go and see about suddenly.”

“And Piglet?”

“I think Piglet thought of something at the same time. Suddenly.”

“Well, we must be getting home,” said Kanga. “Good-bye, Pooh.” And in three large jumps she was gone.

Pooh looked after her as she went.

“I wish I could jump like that,” he thought. “Some can and some can’t. That’s how it is.”

But there were moments when Piglet wished that Kanga couldn’t. Often, when he had had a long walk home through the Forest, he had wished that he were a bird; but now he thought jerkily to himself at the bottom of Kanga’s pocket,

And as he went up in the air, he said, “
Ooooooo!
” and as he came down he said, “
Ow!
” And he was saying, “
Ooooooo-ow, Ooooooo-ow, Ooooooo-ow
” all the way to Kanga’s house.

Of course as soon as Kanga unbuttoned her pocket, she saw what had happened. Just for a moment, she thought she was frightened, and then she knew she wasn’t; for she felt quite sure that Christopher Robin would never let any harm happen to Roo. So she said to herself, “If they are having a joke with me, I will have a joke with them.”

“Now then, Roo, dear,” she said, as she took Piglet out of her pocket. “Bed-time.”

“
Aha!
” said Piglet, as well as he could after his Terrifying Journey. But it wasn’t a very good “
Aha!
” and Kanga didn’t seem to understand what it meant.

“Bath first,” said Kanga in a cheerful voice.

“
Aha!
” said Piglet again, looking round anxiously for the others. But the others weren’t there. Rabbit was playing with Baby Roo in his own house, and feeling more fond of him every minute, and Pooh, who had decided to be a Kanga, was still at the sandy place on the top of the Forest, practising jumps.

“I am not at all sure,” said Kanga in a thoughtful voice, “that it wouldn’t be a good idea to have a
cold
bath this evening. Would you like that, Roo, dear?”

Piglet, who had never been really fond of baths, shuddered a long indignant shudder, and said in as brave a voice as he could:

“Kanga, I see the time has come to spleak painly.”

“Funny little Roo,” said Kanga, as she got the bath-water ready.

“I am
not
Roo,” said Piglet loudly. “I am Piglet!”

“Yes, dear, yes,” said Kanga soothingly. “And imitating Piglet’s voice too! So clever of him,” she went on, as she took a large bar of yellow soap out of the cupboard. “What
will
he be doing next?”

“Can’t you
see
?” shouted Piglet. “Haven’t you got
eyes
? Look at me!”

“I
am
looking, Roo, dear,” said Kanga rather severely. “And you know what I told you yesterday about making faces. If you go on making faces like Piglet’s, you will grow up to
look
like Piglet—and
then
think how sorry you will be. Now then, into the bath, and don’t let me have to speak to you about it again.”

Before he knew where he was, Piglet was in the bath, and Kanga was scrubbing him firmly with a large lathery flannel.

“Ow!” cried Piglet. “Let me out! I’m Piglet!”

“Don’t open the mouth, dear, or the soap goes in,” said Kanga. “There! What did I tell you?”

“You—you—you did it on purpose,” spluttered Piglet, as soon as he could speak again…and then accidentally had another mouthful of lathery flannel.

“That’s right, dear, don’t say anything,” said Kanga, and in another minute Piglet was out of the bath, and being rubbed dry with a towel.

“Now,” said Kanga, “there’s your medicine, and then bed.”

“W-w-what medicine?” said Piglet.

“To make you grow big and strong, dear. You don’t want to grow up small and weak like Piglet, do you? Well, then!”

At that moment there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” said Kanga, and in came Christopher Robin.

“Christopher Robin, Christopher Robin!” cried Piglet. “Tell Kanga who I am! She keeps saying I’m Roo. I’m
not
Roo, am I?”

Christopher Robin looked at him very carefully, and shook his head.

“You can’t be Roo,” he said, “because I’ve just seen Roo playing in Rabbit’s house.”

“Well!” said Kanga. “Fancy that! Fancy my making a mistake like that.”

“There you are!” said Piglet. “I told you so. I’m Piglet.”

Christopher Robin shook his head again.

“Oh, you’re not Piglet,” he said. “I know Piglet well, and he’s
quite
a different colour.”

Piglet began to say that this was because he had just had a bath, and then he thought that perhaps he wouldn’t say that, and as he opened his mouth to say something else, Kanga slipped the medicine spoon in, and then patted him on the back and told him that it was really quite a nice taste when you got used to it.

“I knew it wasn’t Piglet,” said Kanga. “I wonder who it can be.”

“Perhaps it’s some relation of Pooh’s,” said Christopher Robin. “What about a nephew or an uncle or something?”

Kanga agreed that this was probably what it was, and said that they would have to call it by some name.

“I shall call it Pootel,” said Christopher Robin. “Henry Pootel for short.”

And just when it was decided, Henry Pootel wriggled out of Kanga’s arms and jumped to the ground. To his great joy Christopher Robin had left the door open. Never had Henry Pootel Piglet run so fast as he ran then, and he didn’t stop running until he had got quite close to his house. But when he was a hundred yards away he stopped running, and rolled the rest of the way home, so as to get his own nice comfortable colour again….

So Kanga and Roo stayed in the Forest. And every Tuesday Roo spent the day with his great friend Rabbit, and every Tuesday Kanga spent the day with her great friend Pooh, teaching him to jump, and every Tuesday Piglet spent the day with his great friend Christopher Robin. So they were all happy again.

Chapter Eight

IN WHICH

Christopher Robin Leads an Expotition to the North Pole

O
NE FINE DAY
Pooh had stumped up to the top of the Forest to see if his friend Christopher Robin was interested in Bears at all. At breakfast that morning (a simple meal of marmalade spread lightly over a honey-comb or two) he had suddenly thought of a new song. It began like this: