Winnie the Pooh

'Pooh Bear.'

'Are you sure?' said Rabbit, still more surprised.

'Quite, quite sure,' said Pooh.

'Oh, well, then, come in.'

So Pooh pushed and pushed and pushed his way through the hole, and at last he

got in.

'You were quite right,' said Rabbit, looking at him all over. 'It is you. Glad

to see you.'

'Who did you think it was?'

'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

something?'

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.

'Must you?' said Rabbit politely

'Well,' said Pooh, 'I could stay a little longer if it-if you-' and he tried

very hard to look in the direction of the larder.

'As a matter of fact,' said Rabbit, 'I was going out myself directly.'

'Oh well, then, I'll be going on. Good-bye.'

'Well, good-bye, if you're sure you won't have any more.'

'Is there any more?' asked Pooh quickly.

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

on.'

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...

'0w!' cried Pooh. 'You're hurting!'

'The fact is,' said Rabbit, 'you're stuck.'

'It all comes,' said Pooh crossly, 'of not having front doors big enough.'