While this was going on inside him, Owl was talking to Eeyore.
"Eeyore," said Owl, "Christopher Robin is giving a party."
"Very interesting," said Eeyore. "I suppose they will be sending me down the odd bits which got trodden on. Kind and Thoughtful. Not at all, don't mention it."
"This isn't anything to eat, it's asking you to the party. To-morrow."
"You mean Piglet. The little fellow with the exited ears. That's Piglet. I'll
"Of course I'm sure. Christopher Robin said 'All of them! Tell all of them.'"
"Ah!" said Eeyore. "A mistake, no doubt, but still, I shall come. Only don't
But it didn't rain. Christopher Robin had made a long table out of some long pieces of wood, and they all sat round it. Christopher Robin sat at one end, and
Pooh sat at the other, and between them on one side were Owl and Eeyore and
Piglet, and between them on the other side were Rabbit, and Roo and Kanga. And all Rabbit's friends and relations spread themselves about on the grass, and waited hopefully in case anybody spoke to them, or dropped anything, or asked
"Hallo, Pooh!" he squeaked.
Roo jumped up and down in his seat for a little while and then began again.
"Hallo, Piglet!" he squeaked.
Piglet waved a paw at him, being too busy to say anything.
"Hallo, Eeyore!" said Roo.
Eeyore nodded gloomily at him. "It will rain soon, you see if it doesn't," he
Roo looked to see if it didn't, and it didn't, so he said "Hallo, Owl!"-and Owl said "Hallo, my little fellow," in a kindly way, and went on telling Christopher
Robin about an accident which had nearly happened to a friend of his whom
Christopher Robin didn't know, and Kanga said to Roo, "Drink up your milk first, dear, and talk afterwards." So Roo, who was drinking his milk, tried to say that he could do both at once... and had to be patted on the back and dried for
"This party," said Christopher Robin, "is a party because of what someone did, and we all know who it was, and it's his party, because of what he did, and I've got a present for him and here it is." Then he felt about a little and
While he was looking, Eeyore coughed in an impressive way and began to speak.
"Friends," he said, "including oddments, it is a great pleasure, or perhaps I had better say it has been a pleasure so far, to see you at my party. What I did was nothing. Any of you-except Rabbit and Owl and Kanga-would have done the same. Oh, and Pooh. My remarks do not, of course, apply to Piglet and Roo, because they are too small. Any of you would have done the same. But it just happened to be Me. It was not, I need hardly say, with an idea of getting what
Christopher Robin is looking for now"-and he put his front leg to his mouth and said in a loud whisper, "Try under the table"-"that I did what I did-but because I feel that we should all do what we can to help. I feel that we should
"Roo, dear!" said Kanga reproachfully.
"Was it me?" asked Roo, a little surprised.
"I don't know," said Pooh rather dolefully.
"I thought it was once. But I suppose it isn't."
"I'd sooner it was yours than Eeyore's," said Piglet.
"So would I," said Pooh.
"AS-I-WAS-SAYING," said Eeyore loudly and sternly, "as I was saying when I
"Here it is!" cried Christopher Robin excitedly. "Pass it down to silly old
Pooh. It's for Pooh."
"Of course it is. The best bear in all the world."
"I might have known," said Eeyore. "After all, one can't complain. I have my friends. Somebody spoke to me only yesterday. And was it last week or the week before that Rabbit bumped into me and said 'Bother!' The Social Round. Always
When Pooh saw what it was, he nearly fell down, he was so pleased. It was a
Special Pencil Case. There were pencils in it marked "B" for Bear, and pencils marked "HB " for Helping Bear, and pencils marked "BB" for Brave Bear. There was a knife for sharpening the pencils, and indiarubber for rubbing out anything which you had spelt wrong, and a ruler for ruling lines for the words to walk on, and inches marked on the ruler in case you wanted to know how many inches anything was, and Blue Pencils and Red Pencils and Green Pencils for saying special things in blue and red and green. And all these lovely things were in little pockets of their own in a Special Case which shut with a click when you clicked it. And they were all for Pooh.
"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first