Winnie the Pooh

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 Eeyore and

Piglet, and between them on the other side were Rabbit, and Roo 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 the time.

It was the first party to which Roo had ever been, and he was very excited. As

soon as ever they had sat down he began to talk.

'Hallo, Pooh!' he squeaked.

'Hallo, Roo!' said Pooh.

Roo jumped up and down in his seat for a little while and then began again.

'Hallo, Piglet!' he squeaked.

Piglet waved a paw at him, being too busy to say anything.

'Hallo, Eeyore!' said Roo.

Eeyore nodded gloomily at him. 'It will rain soon, you see if it doesn't,' he

said.

Roo looked to see if it didn't, and it didn't, so he said 'Hallo, Owl!'-and Owl said 'Hallo, 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 Roo, 'Drink up your milk first, dear, and talk afterwards.' So Roo, 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 his spoon, and everybody stopped talking and was very silent, except Roo 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, Eeyore coughed in an impressive way and began to speak.

'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 Owl and Kanga-would have done the same. Oh, and Pooh. My remarks do not, of course, apply to Piglet and Roo, 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-'

'H-hup!' said Roo accidentally.

'Roo, dear!' said Kanga reproachfully.

'Was it me?' asked Roo, a little surprised.

'What's Eeyore talking about?' Piglet whispered to 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 Eeyore's,' said Piglet.

'So would I,' said Pooh.