Winnie the Pooh

Christopher Robin was interested in Bears at all. At breakfast that morning (a simple meal of marmalade spread lightly over a honeycomb or two) he had suddenly thought of a new song. It began like this:

'Sing Ho! For the life of a Bear.'

When he had got as far as this, he scratched his head, and thought to himself

'That's a very good start for a song, but what about the second line?' He tried singing 'Ho,' two or three times, but it didn't seem to help. 'Perhaps it would be better,' he thought, 'if I sang Hi for the life of a Bear.' So he sang it..

. but it wasn't. 'Very well, then,' he said, 'I shall sing that first line twice, and perhaps if I sing it very quickly, I shall find myself singing the third and fourth lines before I have time to think of them, and that will be a

Good Song. Now then:'

Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear!

Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear!

I don't much mind if it rains or snows,

'Cos I've got a lot of honey on my nice new nose!

I don't much care if it snows or thaws,

'Cos I've got a lot of honey on my nice clean paws!

Sing Ho! for a Bear!

Sing Ho! for a Pooh!

And I'll have a little something in an hour or two!

He was so pleased with this song that he sang it all the way to the top of the

Forest, 'and if I go on singing it much longer,' he thought, 'it will be time for the little something, and then the last line won't be true.' So he turned it

into a hum instead.

Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was going to happen, and he brushed the honey off his nose with the back of his paw, and spruced himself up as well as he could, so as to look Ready for Anything.

'Good morning, Christopher Robin,' he called out.

'Hallo, Pooh Bear. I can't get this boot on.'

'That's bad,' said Pooh.

'Do you think you could very kindly lean against me, 'cos I keep pulling so hard

that I fall over backwards.'

Pooh sat down, dug his feet into the ground, and pushed hard against Christopher

Robin's back, and Christopher Robin pushed hard against his, and pulled and

pulled at his boot until he had got it on.

'And that's that,' said Pooh. 'What do we do next?'

'We are all going on an Expedition,' said Christopher Robin, as he got up and brushed himself. 'Thank you, Pooh.'

'Going on an Expotition?' said Pooh eagerly. 'I don't think I've ever been on

one of those. Where are we going to on this Expotition?'

'Expedition, silly old Bear. It's got an 'x' in it.'

'Oh!' said Pooh. 'I know.' But he didn't really.