Speaker 1: Chapter ten of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milney.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter ten,
in which Christopher Robin gives Pooh a party and we
say good bye. One day when the sun had come
back over the forest, ringing with it the scent of may,
and all the streams of the forest were tinkling happily
to find themselves their own pretty shape again, and the
little pools lay dreaming of the life they had seen
and the big things they had done. And in the
warmth and quiet of the forest, the cuckoo was trying
over his voice carefully and listening to see if he
liked it. And woodpigeons were complaining gently to themselves in
their lazy, comfortable way that it was the other fellow's fault,
but it didn't matter very much on such a day
as this. Christopher Robin whistled in a special way he had,
and Owl came flying out of the hundred acre wood
to see what was wanted. All said Christopher Robin. I
am going to give a party. You are are? You?
Said Owl? And it's to be a special sort of party,
because it's because of what Pooh did when he did
what he did to save pill it from the flood.
Oh that's what it's for, is it? Said Owl? Yes,
So will you tell Pooh as quickly as you can
and all the others, because it will be tomorrow. Oh
it will, will it? Said Owl, still being as helpful
as possible. So will you go and tell them? Owl?
Owl tried to think of something very wise to say,
but couldn't, so he flew off to tell the others.
And the first person he told was Pooh, Pooh. He said,
Christopher Robin is giving a party, Oh, said Pooh, And then,
seeing that Owl expected him to say something else, he said,
will there be those little case things with pink sugar icing?
Owl felt that it was rather beneath him to talk
about little cake things with pink sugar icing, so he
told Pooh exactly what Christopher Robin had said, and flew
off to eore a party for me, thought Pooh to himself.
Oh grand, And he began to wonder if all the
other animals would know that it was a special Pooh party,
and if Christopher Robin had told him about the floating
bear and the brain of Pooh and all the wonderful
ships he had invented and sailed on, and he began
to think how awful it would be if everybody had
forgotten about it, and nobody quite knew what the party
was for. And the more he thought like this, the
more the party got muddled in his mind, like a
dream when nothing goes right. And the dream began to
sing itself over in his head until it became a
sort of song. It was an anxious poo. So three
cheers for Pooh, for who for Pooh? Why what did
he do? I thought you knew he saved his friend
from a wedding. Three cheers for Bear, for whear for Bear.
He couldn't swim, but he rescued him, He rescued who Oh.
Listen do I'm talking of Pooh? Of who of Pooh?
I'm sorry, I keep forgetting Well, Pooh was a bear
of enormous sprain, just say it again, of enormous sprain
of enormous s whatt Well, he ate a lot, and
I don't know if he could swim or not, but
he managed to float on a sort of boat, on
a sort of what well, a sort of pot. So
now let's give him three hearty cheers. So now let's
give him three hearty witches, and hope he'll be with
us for years and years and grow in health and
wisdom and riches. Three cheers for Pooh, for who for Pooh?
Three cheers for Bear, for where for Bear? Three cheers
for the wonderful Winnie thee Pooh. Just tell me somebody,
what did he do? While this was going on inside him,
Owl was talking to Eoor. Eyre, said Owl. Christopher Robin
is giving a party. Very interesting, said Eore. 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. There is an invitation for you. What's that like?
An invitation? Yes? I heard you? Who dropped it? This
isn't anything to eat. It's asking you to the party tomorrow.
Eorre shook his head slowly. A you mean Piglet, the
little fellow with the excited ears. That's Piglet. I'll tell him. No, no,
said Owl, getting quite fussy. It's you, Are you sure?
Of course? I'm sure? Christopher Robin said all of them,
Tell all of them, all of them except ere, all
of them, said Owl. Suckling Ah, said Eore, Ahi, mistake, No, doubt,
but still I shall come. Only don't blame me if
it rains. 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 Eore and Picklet.
And between them on the other side were Rabbit and
Roue 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 them
to the time. It was the first party to which
Ru had ever been, and he was very excited. As
soon as ever they sat down, he began to talk.
Hello Pooh, he squeaked, Hello, rou said Pooh. Ru jumped
up and down in his seat for a little while,
and then began again, Hello Piglet. He squeaked Piglet waved
ay poll at him, being too busy to say anything.
Hello Eore, said Ru. Eor nodded gloomily at him. It
will rain soon, you see if it doesn't, he said.
Ru looked to see if it didn't, and it didn't,
so he said hello owl, and Owl said hello, 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 Rue, drink up your milk first, deer,
and talk afterwards. So Ru, 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 quite a long time afterwards, when they had all
nearly eaten enough, Christopher Robin banged on the table with
a spoon, and everybody stopped talking and was very silent,
except Ru, who was just finishing a loud attack of
hiccups and trying to look as if it was one
of Rabbit's relations. 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
whispered where is it? While he was looking, he or
coughed in an impressive way and began to speak the 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 Awl
and Kanga would have done the aim Oh and Pooh.
My remarks do not, of course supply to Piglet and Rue,
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 all, said Ru accidentally. Rue dear, said
Keanga reproachfully, was it me, asked Rue, a little surprised.
What's e you're talking about? Piglet whispered the Pooh. I
don't know, said Pooh rather dolefully. I thought this was
your party. I thought it was once, but I suppose
it isn't. I'd sooner it was yours than yours, said Picklet,
So would I, said Pooh. Hill, said Ru again, as
I was saying, said ere loudly and sternly as I
was saying, when I was interrupted by various loud sounds.
I feel that here it is, cried Christopher Robin, excitedly.
Pass it down to silly old Pooh. It's for Pooh,
for Pooh, said Eore. Of course it is the best
bear in all the world I might have known, said Eore.
After all, no one can't complain. I have my friends.
Somebody spoke to me only yesterday, and it was last
week or the week before that rabbit bumped into me
and said bother. The social round always something going on.
Nobody was listening for They were all saying, open it, Pooh,
what is it? Pooh? I know what it is, No,
you doun't, and other helpful remarks of this sort. And
of course Pooh was opening it as quickly as ever
he could, but without cutting the string, because you never
know when a bit of string might be useful. At last,
it was undone. When Pooh saw what it was, he
nearly fell down he was so pleased. It was a
special pencil case. There were pencils, and it marked B forbear,
and pencils marked HB for helping bear, and pencils marked
BB for brave bear. There was a knife for sharpening
the pencils, and India rubber 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. 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 Oh, said pooh Oh. Pooh said everybody else
except Eyre. Thank you, growled Pooh. But or was saying
to himself. This writing business, pencils and what not overrated,
if you ask me, silly stuff, nothing in it. Later on,
when they had all said goodbye and thank you to
Christopher Robin, Pooh and Picklet walked home thoughtfully together in
the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent.
When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, said Picolet.
At last, what's the first thing you say to yourself?
What's for breakfast? Said Pooh? What do you say, Picklet?
I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today,
said Picklet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. It's the same thing, he said.
And what did happen, asked Christopher Robin when next morning?
I don't know. Could you think and tell me and
Pooh sometime if you wanted it very much? Pooh does,
said Christopher Robin. He gave a deep sigh, picked up
up his bear by the leg, and walked off to
the door, trailing Winnie the Pool behind him. At the door,
he turned and said, coming to see me have my bath?
I might, I said, was Pool's pencil case any better
than mine? It was just the same, I said. He
nodded and went out, and in a moment I heard
Winnie the Pooh bump bump bump, going up the stairs
behind him. End of chapter ten. End of Winnie the
Pooh by A. A. Milney