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Speaker 1: Chapter four of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milney.

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This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter four,

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in which Eore loses a tale and Pooh finds one

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the old gray donkey. Eore stood by himself in a

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thirsty corner of the forest, his front feet well apart,

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his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes

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he thought sadly to himself why, and sometimes he thought

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where four, And sometimes he thought inn so much as which,

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And sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.

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So when Winnie the Pooh came stumping along, Eorre was

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very glad to be able to stop thinking for a

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little in order to say how do you do? In

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a gloomy manner to him? And how were you? Said

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Winnie the Pooh. Eorre shook his head from side to side.

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Not very holl he said, I don't seem to have

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felt at all how for a long time. Dear, dear,

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said Pooh, I'm sorry about that. Let's have a look

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at you. So Or stood there gazing sadly at the ground,

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and Winnie the Pooh walked all round him. Once. Why oh,

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what's happened to your tail? He said in surprise. What

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has happened to it? Said Eor? It isn't there? Are

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you sure? Well? Either a tail is there or isn't there?

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You can't make a mistake about that, and yours isn't there?

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Then what isnahing? Let's have a look, said Eore, and

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he turned slowly round to the place where his tail

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had been a little while ago, and then, finding that

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he couldn't catch it up, he turned round the other

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way until he came back to where he was at first.

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And then he put his head down and looked between

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his front legs, and at last he said, with a long,

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sad sigh, Oh, I believe you're right. Of course I'm right,

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said Pooh. That accounts for a good deal, said Eore gloomily. Hm,

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it explains everything. No wonder. You must have left it somewhere,

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said Winnie the Pooh. Somebody must have taken it, said Eore.

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How like them, he added. After a long silence, Pooh

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felt that he ought to say something helpful about it,

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but didn't quite know what, so he decided to do

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something helpful instead. Eore, he said, solemnly, I Winnie the

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pool will find your tail for you. Thank you. Pooh

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answered ere, you're a real friend, said he, not like some,

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he said, So Winnie the Pooh went off to find

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your's tail. It was a fine spring morning in the forest.

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As he started out, little soft clouds played happily in

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a blue sky, skipping from time to time in front

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of the sun, as if they had come to put

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it out, and then sliding away suddenly, so that the

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next might have his turn through them. Between them, the

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sun shone bravely, and a copse, which had worn its

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furs all the year round, seemed old and dowdy now

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beside the new green lace which the beeches had put

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up so prettily. Through copse and Spinny marched bare down

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open slopes of gorse and heather, over rocky beds of streams,

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up steep banks of sandstone, into the heather again, and so,

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at last, tired and hungry, to the hundred acre wood.

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For it was in the hundred acre wood that owl lived.

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And if anyone knows anything about anything, said bear to himself.

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It's all who knows something about something? He said, Oh,

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my name's not Winnie the Pooh, he said, which it is,

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he added, So there you are. Owell lived in the

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chest and old World residence of great charm, which was

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grander than anybody else's, or seems so to bear, because

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it had both a knocker and a bell poll. Underneath

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the knocker there was a notice which said, please ring

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if an urn sir is required. Underneath the bell pull

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there was a notice which said please knock if an

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earned sir is not required. These notices had been written

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by Christopher Robin, who was the only one in the

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forest who could spell for old Wise. Though he was

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in many ways able to read and write and spell

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his own name w L, yet somehow went all to

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pieces over delicate words like measles and buttered toast. Winnie

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the Pooh read the two notices very carefully, first from

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left to right, and afterwards in kse he had missed

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some of it from right to left. Then, to make

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quite sure, he knocked and pulled the knocker, and he

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pulled and knocked the bell rope. And he called out

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in a very loud voice, Oh, I require an answer.

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It's bear speaking. And the door opened and Owl looked out,

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Hello Pooh. He said, how's things terrible? And sad, said Pooh,

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because ere, who is a friend of mine, has lost

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his tail, and he's moping about it, So could you

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very calmly tell me how to find it for him? Well?

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Said Owl. The customary procedure in such cases is as follows.

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What does customony proceed cake mean, said Pooh. For I

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am a bear of very little brain and long words

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to bother me, it means the thing to do, as

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long as it means that I don't mind, said Pooh humbly.

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The thing to do is as follows, first issue a reward,

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then just the moment, said Pooh, holding up his paw.

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What do we do to this? What were you saying?

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You sneezed just as you were going to tell me

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I didn't sneeze, Yes, you did. All excuse me, Pooh,

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I didn't. You can't sneeze without knowing it, Well, you

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can't know it without something having been sneezed. What I

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said was first issue a reward. You're doing it again,

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said Pooh, sadly. A reward, said Owl, very loudly. We

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write a notice to say that we will give a

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large something to anyone who finds he or's tail. I see,

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I see, said Pooh, nodding his head. Talking about large somethings,

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he went on dreamily. I generally have a small something

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about now about this time in the morning, and he

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looked wistfully at the cupboard in the corner of Owl's parlor,

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just a mouthful of condensed milk or what not, with

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perhaps a lick of honey. Well, then said Owl, we

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write out this notice, and we put it up all

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over the forest a look of honey. Murmured Bear to himself,

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or or not, as the case may be, and he

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gave a deep sigh and tried very hard to listen

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to what Owl was saying. But Oowl went on and on,

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using longer and longer words, until at last he came

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back to where he started, and he explained that the

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person to write out this notice was Christopher Robin. It

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was he who wrote the ones on my front door

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for me. Did you see them? Pooh? For some time now,

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Pooh had been saying yes and no in turn, with

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his eyes shut to all that Owl was saying, and

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having said yes yes last time, he said no, not

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at all now, without really knowing what Owl was talking about.

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Didn't you see them? Said Owl, a little surprised, Come

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and look at them now. So they went outside, and

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Pooh looked at the knocker and the notice below it,

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and he looked at the bell rope and the notice

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below it. And the more he looked at the bell rope,

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the more he felt that he had seen something like

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it somewhere else some time before. HANSO, bell rope, isn't it?

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Said Owl Pooh nodded. It reminds me of something, he said,

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But I can't think. What where did you get it?

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I just came across it in the forest. It was

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hanging over a bush, and I thought at first somebody

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lived there, so I rang it. Then nothing happened, and

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then I rang it again, very loudly, and it came

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off in my hand, And as nobody seemed to want it,

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I took it home, and all said, Pooh, solemnly, you

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made a mistake. Somebody did want it. Who eyore, my

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dear friend, or he was he was fond of it,

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fond of it, attached to it, said Winnie the Pooh sadly.

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So with these words he unhooked it and carried it

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back to Ere. And when Christopher Robin had nailed it

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on in its right place again, Ere frisked about the forest,

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waving his tail so happily that Whinnie the Pooh came

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all over funny and had to hurry home for a

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little snack of something to sustain him, and wiping his

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mouth half an hour afterward, he sang to himself proudly,

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who found the tail? I said, Pooh at a quarter

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two too, Only it was a quarter two eleven. Really,

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I found the tail end of chapter four