"Are you sure?" said Rabbit, still more surprised.
"Quite, quite sure," said Pooh.
So Pooh pushed and pushed and pushed his way through the hole, and at last he
"You were quite right," said Rabbit, looking at him all over. "It is you. Glad
"Well, I wasn't sure. You know how it is in the Forest. One can't have anybody coming into one's house. One has to be careful. What about a mouthful of
Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o'clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when Rabbit said, "Honey or condensed milk with your bread?" he was so excited that he said,
"Both," and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added, "But don't bother about the bread, please." And for a long time after that he said nothing... until at last, humming to himself in a rather sticky voice, he got up, shook Rabbit lovingly by the paw, and said that he must be going on.
"As a matter of fact," said Rabbit, "I was going out myself directly."
"Oh well, then, I'll be going on. Good-bye."
Rabbit took the covers off the dishes, and said, "No, there wasn't."
"I thought not," said Pooh, nodding to himself "Well, good-bye. I must be going
So he started to climb out of the hole. He pulled with his front paws, and pushed with his back paws, and in a little while his nose was out in the open again... and then his ears... and then his front paws... and then his shoulders... and then
"Oh, help!" said Pooh. "I'd better go back."
"Oh, bother!" said Pooh. "I shall have to go on."
"I can't do either!" said Pooh. "Oh, help and bother!"
Now, by this time Rabbit wanted to go for a walk too, and finding the front door full, he went out by the back door, and came round to Pooh, and looked at him.
"Hallo, are you stuck?" he asked.
"N-no," said Pooh carelessly. "Just resting and thinking and humming to myself."
"Here, give us a paw."
Pooh Bear stretched out a paw, and Rabbit pulled and pulled and pulled...
"I was just beginning to think," said Bear, sniffing slightly, "that Rabbit might never be able to use his front door again. And I should hate that," he
"So should I," said Rabbit.
"Use his front door again?" said Christopher Robin. "Of course he'll use his front door again. "Good," said Rabbit.
"If we can't pull you out, Pooh, we might push you back."
Rabbit scratched his whiskers thoughtfully, and pointed out that, when once Pooh
"I mean," said Rabbit, "that having got so far, it seems a pity to waste it."
"Then there's only one thing to be done," he said. "We shall have to wait for
"About a week, I should think."
"You can stay here all right, silly old Bear. It's getting you out which is so
"We'll read to you," said Rabbit cheerfully. "And I hope it won't snow," he added. "And I say, old fellow, you're taking up a good deal of room in my house-do you mind if I use your back legs as a towel-horse? Because, I mean, there they are-doing nothing-and it would be very convenient just to hang the
Bear began to sigh, and then found he couldn't because he was so tightly stuck; and a tear rolled down his eye, as he said:
"Then would you read a Sustaining Book, such as would help and comfort a Wedged
Robin read that sort of book at the North end of Pooh, and Rabbit hung his washing on the South end... and in between Bear felt himself getting slenderer and slenderer. And at the end of the week Christopher Robin said,
So he took hold of Pooh's front paws and Rabbit took hold of Christopher Robin, and all Rabbit's friends and relations took hold of Rabbit, and they all pulled
And then, all of a sudden, he said "Pop!" just as if a cork were coming out of
And Christopher Robin and Rabbit and all Rabbit's friends and relations went
So, with a nod of thanks to his friends, he went on with his walk through the forest, humming proudly to himself. But, Christopher Robin looked after him
Winnie-The-Pooh - Chapter 3
...IN WHICH POOH AND PIGLET GO HUNTING AND NEARLY CATCH A WOOZLE
THE Piglet lived in a very grand house in the middle of a beech-tree, and the beech-tree was in the middle of the forest, and the Piglet lived in the middle of the house. Next to his house was a piece of broken board which had:
"TRESPASSERS W" on it. When Christopher Robin asked the Piglet what it meant, he said it was his grandfather's name, and had been in the family for a long time.
Christopher Robin said you couldn't be called Trespassers W, and Piglet said yes, you could, because his grandfather was, and it was short for Trespassers
Will, which was short for Trespassers William. And his grandfather had had two names in case he lost one-Trespassers after an uncle, and William after
"Hunting," said Pooh.
"Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
"That's just what I ask myself. I ask myself, What?"
"I shall have to wait until I catch up with it," said Winnie-the-Pooh. "Now, look there." He pointed to the ground in front of him. "What do you see there?"
"Tracks," said Piglet. "Paw-marks." He gave a little squeak of excitement. "Oh,
With these few words he went on tracking, and Piglet, after watching him for a minute or two, ran after him. Winnie-the-Pooh had come to a sudden stop, and was
"It's a very funny thing," said Bear, "but there seem to be two animals now.
This-whatever-it-was-has been joined by another-whatever-it-is and the two of them are now proceeding in company. Would you mind coming with
Piglet scratched his ear in a nice sort of way, and said that he had nothing to do until Friday, and would be delighted to come, in case it really was a Woozle.
"You mean, in case it really is two Woozles," said Winnie-the-Pooh, and Piglet said that anyhow he had nothing to do until Friday. So off they went together.
There was a small spinney of larch trees just here, and it seemed as if the two
Woozles, if that is what they were, had been going round this spinney; so round this spinney went Pooh and Piglet after them; Piglet passing the time by telling
Pooh what his Grandfather Trespassers W had done to Remove Stiffness after
Tracking, and how his Grandfather Trespassers W had suffered in his later years from Shortness of Breath, and other matters of interest, and Pooh wondering what a Grandfather was like, and if perhaps this was Two Grandfathers they were after now, and, if so, whether he would be allowed to take one home and keep it, and what Christopher Robin would say. And still the tracks went on in front of