Winnie the Pooh - Milne Alan Alexander - Страница 16

So they all talked about it together.

"What I don't like about it is this," said Rabbit.

"Here are we-you, Pooh, and you, Piglet, and Me -and suddenly "

"And Eeyore," said Pooh.

"Oh, and Eeyore," said Pooh. "I was forgetting him."

"Here-we-are," said Rabbit very slowly and carefully, all-or-us, and then, suddenly, we wake up one morning, and what do we find? We find a Strange Animal among us. An animal of whom we had never even heard before! An animal who carries her family about with her in her pocket! Suppose I carried my family about with me in my pocket, how many pockets should I want?"

"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.

Pooh rubbed his nose and said that he thought Rabbit had been talking about his

"Never mind, Pooh," said Piglet impatiently. "The question is, What are we to do

"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

"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

"Piglet," said Rabbit, taking out a pencil, and licking the end of it, "you

"It is hard to be brave," said Piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a

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

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

"Now listen all of you," said Rabbit when he had finished writing, and Pooh and

open. This was what Rabbit read out:

I. General Remarks. Kanga runs faster than any of Us, even Me.

2. More General Remarks. Kanga never takes her eye off Baby Roo, except when

3. 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 I.)

4. 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