THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
BY A. A. MILNE
_with decorations
by Ernest H. Shepard_
PUBLISHED BY
E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC., NEW YORK
THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
First Printing September, 1928
100th Printing December, 1936
139th Printing July, 1949
Reprinted, from new plates and engravings
and type entirely reset August, 1950
141st Printing September, 1951
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE
AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK
DEDICATION
_You gave me Christopher Robin, and then
You breathed new life in Pooh.
Whatever of each has left my pen
Goes homing back to you.
My book is ready, and comes to greet
The mother it longs to see--
It would be my present to you, my sweet,
If it weren't your gift to me._
_Contradiction_
An introduction is to introduce people, but Christopher Robin and his
friends, who have already been introduced to you, are now going to
say Good-bye. So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the
opposite of an Introduction was, he said "The what of a what?" which
didn't help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head
and told us that the opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a
Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that
that's what it is.
Why we are having a Contradiction is because last week when Christopher
Robin said to me, "What about that story you were going to tell me
about what happened to Pooh when----" I happened to say very quickly,
"What about nine times a hundred and seven?" And when we had done that
one, we had one about cows going through a gate at two a minute, and
there are three hundred in the field, so how many are left after an
hour and a half? We find these very exciting, and when we have been
excited quite enough, we curl up and go to sleep ... and Pooh, sitting
wakeful a little longer on his chair by our pillow, thinks Grand
Thoughts to himself about Nothing, until he, too, closes his eyes and
nods his head, and follows us on tip-toe into the Forest. There, still,
we have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you
about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we
can catch hold of them. How did the last one begin? "One day when Pooh
was walking in the Forest, there were one hundred and seven cows on a
gate...." No, you see, we have lost it. It was the best, I think. Well,
here are some of the other ones, all that we shall remember now. But,
of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be
there ... and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.
A. A. M.
_Contents_
I. IN WHICH _A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore_
II. IN WHICH _Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast_
III. IN WHICH _A Search Is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the
Heffalump Again_
IV. IN WHICH _It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees_
V. IN WHICH _Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher
Robin Does in the Mornings_
VI. IN WHICH _Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In_
VII. IN WHICH _Tigger Is Unbounced_
VIII. IN WHICH _Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing_
IX. IN WHICH _Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It_
X. IN WHICH _Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place,
and We Leave Them There_
THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
CHAPTER I
IN WHICH _A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore_
One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do
something, so he went round to Piglet's house to see what Piglet was
doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track,
and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire,
but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he
looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.
"He's out," said Pooh sadly. "That's what it is. He's not in. I shall
have to go a fast Thinking Walk by myself. Bother!"
But first he thought that he would knock very loudly just to make
_quite_ sure ... and while he waited for Piglet not to answer, he
jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum came suddenly into his head,
which seemed to him a Good Hum, such as is Hummed Hopefully to Others.
The more it snows
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
On snowing.
And nobody knows
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
Are growing.
"So what I'll do," said Pooh, "is I'll do this. I'll just go home first
and see what the time is, and perhaps I'll put a muffler round my neck,
and then I'll go and see Eeyore and sing it to him."
He hurried back to his own house; and his mind was so busy on the
way with the hum that he was getting ready for Eeyore that, when he
suddenly saw Piglet sitting in his best arm-chair, he could only stand
there rubbing his head and wondering whose house he was in.
"Hallo, Piglet," he said. "I thought you were out."
"No," said Piglet, "it's you who were out, Pooh."
"So it was," said Pooh. "I knew one of us was."
He looked up at his clock, which had stopped at five minutes to eleven
some weeks ago.
"Nearly eleven o'clock," said Pooh happily. "You're just in time for a
little smackerel of something," and he put his head into the cupboard.
"And then we'll go out, Piglet, and sing my song to Eeyore."
"Which song, Pooh?"
"The one we're going to sing to Eeyore," explained Pooh.
The clock was still saying five minutes to eleven when Pooh and Piglet
set out on their way half an hour later. The wind had dropped, and the
snow, tired of rushing round in circles trying to catch itself up,
now fluttered gently down until it found a place on which to rest, and
sometimes the place was Pooh's nose and sometimes it wasn't, and in
a little while Piglet was wearing a white muffler round his neck and
feeling more snowy behind the ears than he had ever felt before.
"Pooh," he said at last, and a little timidly, because he didn't want
Pooh to think he was Giving In, "I was just wondering. How would it
be if we went home now and _practised_ your song, and then sang it to
Eeyore tomorrow--or--or the next day, when we happen to see him?"
"That's a very good idea, Piglet," said Pooh. "We'll practise it now as
we go along. But it's no good going home to practise it, because it's
a special Outdoor Song which Has To Be Sung In The Snow."
"Are you sure?" asked Piglet anxiously.
"Well, you'll see, Piglet, when you listen. Because this is how it
begins. _The more it snows, tiddely pom_----"
"Tiddely what?" said Piglet.
"Pom," said Pooh. "I put that in to make it more hummy. _The more it
goes, tiddely pom, the more_----"
"Didn't you say snows?"
"Yes, but that was _before_."
"Before the tiddely pom?"
"It was a _different_ tiddely pom," said Pooh, feeling rather muddled
now. "I'll sing it to you properly and then you'll see."
So he sang it again.
The more it
SNOWS-tiddely-pom,
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
On
Snowing.
And nobody
KNOWS-tiddely-pom,
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
Are
Growing.
He sang it like that, which is much the best way of singing it, and
when he had finished, he waited for Piglet to say that, of all the
Outdoor Hums for Snowy Weather he had ever heard, this was the best.
And, after thinking the matter out carefully, Piglet said:
"Pooh," he said solemnly, "it isn't the _toes_ so much as the _ears_."
By this time they were getting near Eeyore's Gloomy Place, which was
where he lived, and as it was still very snowy behind Piglet's ears,
and he was getting tired of it, they turned into a little pine wood,
and sat down on the gate which led into it. They were out of the snow
now, but it was very cold, and to keep themselves warm they sang Pooh's
song right through six times, Piglet doing the tiddely-poms and Pooh
doing the rest of it, and both of them thumping on the top of the gate
with pieces of stick at the proper places. And in a little while they
felt much warmer, and were able to talk again.
"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and what I've been thinking is this.
I've been thinking about Eeyore."
"What about Eeyore?"
"Well, poor Eeyore has nowhere to live."
"Nor he has," said Piglet.
"_You_ have a house, Piglet, and I have a house, and they are very good
houses. And Christopher Robin has a house, and Owl and Kanga and Rabbit
have houses, and even Rabbit's friends and relations have houses or
somethings, but poor Eeyore has nothing. So what I've been thinking is:
Let's build him a house."
"That," said Piglet, "is a Grand Idea. Where shall we build it?"
"We build it here," said Pooh, "just by this wood, out of the wind,
because this is where I thought of it. And we will call this Pooh
Corner. And we will build an Eeyore House with sticks at Pooh Corner
for Eeyore."
"There was a heap of sticks on the other side of the wood," said
Piglet. "I saw them. Lots and lots. All piled up."
"Thank you, Piglet," said Pooh. "What you have just said will be
a Great Help to us, and because of it I could call this place
Poohanpiglet Corner if Pooh Corner didn't sound better, which it does,
being smaller and more like a corner. Come along."
So they got down off the gate and went round to the other side of the
wood to fetch the sticks.
* * * * *
Christopher Robin had spent the morning indoors going to Africa and
back, and he had just got off the boat and was wondering what it was
like outside, when who should come knocking at the door but Eeyore.
"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came
out. "How are _you_?"
"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is."
"_And_ freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we
haven't had an earthquake lately."
"What's the matter, Eeyore?"
"Nothing, Christopher Robin. Nothing important. I suppose you haven't
seen a house or what-not anywhere about?"
"What sort of a house?"
"Just a house."
"Who lives there?"
"I do. At least I thought I did. But I suppose I don't. After all, we
can't all have houses."
"But, Eeyore, I didn't know--I always thought----"
"I don't know how it is, Christopher Robin, but what with all
this snow and one thing and another, not to mention icicles
and such-like, it isn't so Hot in my field about three o'clock
in the morning as some people think it is. It isn't Close, if
you know what I mean--not so as to be uncomfortable. It isn't
Stuffy. In fact, Christopher Robin," he went on in a loud whisper,
"quite-between-ourselves-and-don't-tell-anybody, it's Cold."
"Oh, Eeyore!"
"And I said to myself: The others will be sorry if I'm getting myself
all cold. They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's
blown into their heads by mistake, and they don't Think, but if it goes
on snowing for another six weeks or so, one of them will begin to say
to himself: 'Eeyore can't be so very much too Hot about three o'clock
in the morning.' And then it will Get About. And they'll be Sorry."
"Oh, Eeyore!" said Christopher Robin, feeling very sorry already.
"I don't mean you, Christopher Robin. You're different. So what it all
comes to is that I built myself a house down by my little wood."
"Did you really? How exciting!"
"The really exciting part," said Eeyore in his most melancholy voice,
"is that when I left it this morning it was there, and when I came back
it wasn't. Not at all, very natural, and it was only Eeyore's house.
But still I just wondered."
Christopher Robin didn't stop to wonder. He was already back in _his_
house, putting on his waterproof hat, his waterproof boots and his
waterproof macintosh as fast as he could.
"We'll go and look for it at once," he called out to Eeyore.
"Sometimes," said Eeyore, "when people have quite finished taking a
person's house, there are one or two bits which they don't want and are
rather glad for the person to take back, if you know what I mean. So I
thought if we just went----"
"Come on," said Christopher Robin, and off they hurried, and in a very
little time they got to the corner of the field by the side of the
pine-wood, where Eeyore's house wasn't any longer.
"There!" said Eeyore. "Not a stick of it left! Of course, I've still
got all this snow to do what I like with. One mustn't complain."
But Christopher Robin wasn't listening to Eeyore, he was listening to
something else.
"Can't you hear it?" he asked.
"What is it? Somebody laughing?"
"Listen."
They both listened ... and they heard a deep gruff voice saying in a
singing voice that the more it snowed the more it went on snowing, and
a small high voice tiddely-pomming in between.
"It's Pooh," said Christopher Robin excitedly....
"Possibly," said Eeyore.
"_And_ Piglet!" said Christopher Robin excitedly.
"Probably," said Eeyore. "What we _want_ is a Trained Bloodhound."
The words of the song changed suddenly.
"_We've finished our HOUSE!_" sang the gruff voice.
"_Tiddely pom!_" sang the squeaky one.
"_It's a beautiful HOUSE...._"
"_Tiddely pom...._"
"_I wish it were MINE...._"
"_Tiddely pom...._"
"Pooh!" shouted Christopher Robin....
The singers on the gate stopped suddenly.
"It's Christopher Robin!" said Pooh eagerly.
"He's round by the place where we got all those sticks from," said
Piglet.
"Come on," said Pooh.
They climbed down their gate and hurried round the corner of the wood,
Pooh making welcoming noises all the way.
"Why, here _is_ Eeyore," said Pooh, when he had finished hugging
Christopher Robin, and he nudged Piglet, and Piglet nudged him, and
they thought to themselves what a lovely surprise they had got ready.
"Hallo, Eeyore."
"Same to you, Pooh Bear, and twice on Thursdays," said Eeyore gloomily.
Before Pooh could say: "Why Thursdays?" Christopher Robin began to
explain the sad story of Eeyore's Lost House. And Pooh and Piglet
listened, and their eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger.
"_Where_ did you say it was?" asked Pooh.
"Just here," said Eeyore.
"Made of sticks?"
"Yes."
"Oh!" said Piglet.
"What?" said Eeyore.
"I just said 'Oh!'" said Piglet nervously. And so as to seem quite at
ease he hummed Tiddely-pom once or twice in a what-shall-we-do-now kind
of way.
"You're sure it _was_ a house?" said Pooh. "I mean, you're sure the
house was just here?"
"Of course I am," said Eeyore. And he murmured to himself, "No brain at
all some of them."
"Why, what's the matter, Pooh?" asked Christopher Robin.
"Well," said Pooh.... "The fact _is_," said Pooh.... "Well, the fact
_is_," said Pooh.... "You see," said Pooh.... "It's like this," said
Pooh, and something seemed to tell him that he wasn't explaining very
well, and he nudged Piglet again.
"It's like this," said Piglet quickly.... "Only warmer," he added after
deep thought.
"What's warmer?"
"The other side of the wood, where Eeyore's house is."
"_My_ house?" said Eeyore. "My house was here."
"No," said Piglet firmly. "The other side of the wood."
"Because of being warmer," said Pooh.
"But I ought to _know_----"
"Come and look," said Piglet simply, and he led the way.
"There wouldn't be _two_ houses," said Pooh. "Not so close together."
They came round the corner, and there was Eeyore's house, looking as
comfy as anything.
"There you are," said Piglet.
"Inside as well as outside," said Pooh proudly.
Eeyore went inside ... and came out again.
"It's a remarkable thing," he said. "It _is_ my house, and I built it
where I said I did, so the wind must have blown it here. And the wind
blew it right over the wood, and blew it down here, and here it is as
good as ever. In fact, better in places."
"Much better," said Pooh and Piglet together.
"It just shows what can be done by taking a little trouble," said
Eeyore. "Do you see, Pooh? Do you see, Piglet? Brains first and then
Hard Work. Look at it! _That's_ the way to build a house," said Eeyore
proudly.
* * * * *
So they left him in it; and Christopher Robin went back to lunch with
his friends Pooh and Piglet, and on the way they told him of the Awful
Mistake they had made. And when he had finished laughing, they all sang
the Outdoor Song for Snowy Weather the rest of the way home, Piglet,
who was still not quite sure of his voice, putting in the tiddely-poms
again.
"And I know it _seems_ easy," said Piglet to himself, "but it isn't
_every one_ who could do it."