Winnie-the-Pooh - Chapter 8

Megan Rapinoe here. This week on A Touch More, our Captain America Hillary Knight is joining us to talk about her story about career, and the March Madness Bracket is out, and we have thoughts and predictions to share. Plus, we're also taking a look at the NWSL's Blockbuster opening weekend. Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. A Touch More is an expo-tition to the North Pole. One fine day, Poo had stumped up to the top of the forest to see if his friend Christopher Robin was interested in bears at all. At breakfast that morning, a simple meal of marmalade spread lightly over a honeycomber, too. 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 high 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, because I've got a lot of honey on my nice new nose. I don't much care if it snows or thaws, because I've got a lot of honey on my nice clean paws. Sing Ho for a bear. Sing Ho for a poo. 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, Poo 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. Hello, poo bear. I can't get this boot on. That's bad, said Poo. Do you think you could very kindly lean against me, because I keep pulling so hard that I fall over backwards? Poo 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 Poo. What do we do next? We are all going on an expedition, said Christopher Robin, as he got up and brushed himself. Thank you, Poo. Going on an expo-tition, said Poo eagerly. I don't think I've ever been on one of those. What are we going to do on this expo-tition? Expedition, silly old bear. It's got an X in it. Oh, said Poo. I know, but he didn't really. We're going to discover the North Pole. Oh, said Poo again. What is the North Pole, he asked? It's just a thing you discover, said Christopher Robin carelessly, not being quite sure himself. Oh, I see, said Poo. Are bears any good at discovering it? Of course they are, and rabbit and canga and all of you. It's an expedition. That's what an expedition means. A long line of everybody. You better tell the others to get ready while I see if my gun's all right, and we must all bring provisions. Bring what? Things to eat. Oh, said Poo happily. I thought you said provisions. I'll go and tell them. And he stumped off. The first person he met was rabbit. Hello, rabbit, he said. Is that you? Let's pretend it isn't, said rabbit, and see what happens. I've got a message for you. I'll give it to him. We're all going on an expo-tition with Christopher Robin. What is it when we're on it? A sort of boat, I think, said Poo. Oh, that sort. Yes, and we're going to discover a pole or something, or was it a mole? Anyhow, we're going to discover it. We are, are we, said rabbit? Yes, and we've got to bring pro- things to eat with us in case we want to eat them. Now I'm going down to piglets. Tell Kanga, will you? He left rabbit and hurried down to piglets' house. The piglet was sitting on the ground at the door of his house, blowing happily at a dandelion, and wondering whether it would be this year, next year, sometime, or never. He had just discovered that it would be never, and was trying to remember what it was, and hoping it wasn't anything nice, when Poo came up. Oh, piglets, said Poo excitedly. We're going on an expo-tition, all of us, with things to eat, to discover something. To discover what, said piglet anxiously. Oh, just something. Nothing fierce. Christopher Robin didn't say anything about fierce, he just said it had an X. It isn't their necks, I mind, said piglet earnestly, it's their teeth. But if Christopher Robin is coming, I don't mind anything. In a little while they were already at the top of the forest, and the expo-tition started. First came Christopher Robin and Rabbit, then Piglet and Poo, then Kanga, with Rue in her pocket, and Owl, then Eor, and at the end, in a long line, all rabbits' friends and relations. I didn't ask them, explained Rabbit carelessly. They just came, they always do. They can march at the end, after Eor. What I say, said Eor, is that it's unsettling. I didn't want to come on this expo, what Poo said. I only came to oblige. But here I am. And if I am the end of the expo, what we're talking about, then let me be the end. But if every time I want to sit down for a little rest, I have to brush away half a dozen of Rabbit's smaller friends and relations first, then this isn't an expo, whatever it is at all. It's simply a confused noise. That's what I say. I see what Eor means, said Owl. If you ask me, I'm not asking anybody, said Eor. I'm just telling everybody. We can look for the North Pole, or we can play Here We Go Gathering Nuts in May, with the end part of an aunt's nest. It's all the same to me. There is a shout from the top of the line. Come on, called Christopher Robin. Come on, called the Poo and Piglet. Come on, called Owl. We're starting, said Rabbit. I must go. And he hurried off to the front of the expo-tition with Christopher Robin. All right, said Eor, we're going. Only don't blame me. So off they all went to discover the pole, and as they walked, they chatter to each other of this and that, all except Poo, who was making up a song. This is the first verse, he said to Piglet, when he was ready with it. First verse of what? My song. What song? This one. Which one? Well, if you listen to Piglet, you'll hear it. How do you know I'm not listening? Poo couldn't answer that one, so he began to sing. They all went off to discover the pole, Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and All. It's a thing you discover, as I've been told, by Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and All. Eor, Christopher Robin and Poo and Rabbit's relations all went to. And where the pole was none of them knew, sing, hey, for Owl and Rabbit and All. Hush, said Christopher Robin, turning round to Poo, were just coming to a dangerous place. Hush, said Poo, turning round quickly to Piglet. Hush, said Piglet to Kanga. Hush, said Kanga to Owl, while Roo said Hush, several times to himself very quietly. Hush, said Owl to Eor. Hush, said Eor, in a terrible voice to all Rabbit's friends and relations. And Hush, they said hastily to each other all down the line, until it got to the last one of all. And the last and smallest friend in relation was so upset to find that the whole expotition was saying Hush to him that he buried himself head downwards in a crack in the ground and stayed there for two days until the danger was over, and then went home in a great hurry and lived quietly with his aunt ever afterwards. His name was Alexander Beedle. They had come to a stream which twisted and tumbled between high rocky banks, and Christopher Robin saw at once how dangerous it was. It's just the place he explained for an ambush. What sort of bush? whispered Poo to Piglet. A gorse bush? My dear Poo, said Owl in a superior way. You don't know what an ambush is? Owl, said Piglet, looking round at him severely. Poo's whisper was a perfectly private whisper, and there is no need. An ambush, said Owl, is a sort of surprise. So is a gorse bush sometimes, said Poo. An ambush, as I was about to explain to Poo, said Piglet, is a sort of surprise. If people jump out at you suddenly, that's an ambush, said Owl. It's an ambush, Poo, when people jump at you suddenly, explained Piglet. Poo, who now knew what an ambush was, said that a gorse bush had sprung at him suddenly one day when he fell off a tree, and he had taken six days to get all the prickles out of himself. We're not talking about gorse bushes, said Owl a little crossly. I am, said Poo. They were climbing very cautiously up the stream now, going from rock to rock, and after they had gone a little way, they came to a place where the banks wide endowed at each side so that on each side of the water there was a level strip of grass on which they could sit down and rest. As soon as he saw this, Christopher Robin called halt, and they all sat down and rested. I think, said Christopher Robin, that we ought to eat all our provisions now, so we shan't have so much to carry. Eat all our what, said Poo? All that we've brought, said Piglet, getting to work. That's a good idea, said Poo, and he got to work too. Have you all got something? asked Christopher Robin with his mouth full. All except me, said Eor, as usual. He looked round at them in his melancholy way. I suppose none of you are sitting on a thistle by any chance. I believe I am, said Poo. Ow! He got up and looked behind him. Yes, I was, I thought so. Thank you, Poo, if you've quite finished with it, he moved across to Poo's place and began to eat. It don't do them any good, you know, sitting on them, he went on as he looked up, munching. Takes all the life out of them. Remember that another time, all of you. A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference. As soon as he had finished his lunch, Christopher Robin whispered to Rabbit, and Rabbit said, Yes, yes, of course, and they walked a little way up the stream together. I didn't want the others to hear, said Christopher Robin. Quite so, said Rabbit, looking important. It's, I wondered, it's only Rabbit. I suppose you don't know. What does the North Pole look like? Well, said Rabbit, stroking his whiskers. Now you're asking me. I did know once, only I've sort of forgotten, said Christopher Robin, carelessly. It's a funny thing, said Rabbit, but I've sort of forgotten too, although I did know once. I suppose it's just a pole stuck in the ground. Sure to be a pole, said Rabbit, because of calling it a pole, and if it's a pole, well, I should think it would be sticking in the ground, shouldn't you, because there'd be nowhere else to stick it. Yes, that's what I thought. The only thing, said Rabbit, is where is it sticking? That's what we're looking for, said Christopher Robin. They went back to the others. Piglet was lying on his back, sleeping peacefully. Rue was washing his face in pause in the stream, while Kanga explained to everybody proudly that this was the first time he'd ever washed his face himself. And Owl was telling Kanga an interesting anecdote, full of long words like encyclopedia and rhododendron, to which Kanga wasn't listening. I don't hold with all this washing, brumbled Eor, this modern behind-the-ears nonsense. What do you think, Pooh? Well, said Pooh, I think. But we shall never know what Pooh thought, for there came a sudden squeak from Rue, a splash and a loud cry of alarm from Kanga. So much for washing, said Eor. Rue's fallen in, cried Rabbit, and he and Christopher Robin came rushing down to the rescue. Look at me swimming, squeaked Rue from the middle of his pool, and was hurried down a waterfall into the next pool. Are you all right, Rue, dear, called Kanga anxiously? Yes, said Rue. Look at me s- and down he went over the next waterfall into another pool. Everybody was doing something to help. Piglet, wide awake, suddenly was jumping up and down and making, oh, I say, noises. Owl was explaining that in a case of sudden and temporary immersion, the important thing was to keep the head above water. Kanga was jumping along the bank, saying, are you sure you're all right, Rue, dear? To its Rue, from whatever pool he was in at the moment, was answering, look at me swimming. Eor had turned round and hung his tail over the first pool into which Rue fell, and with his back to the accident was grumbling quietly to himself, and saying, all this washing, but catch on to my tail, little Rue, and you'll be all right. And Christopher Robin and Rabbit came hurrying past Eor and were calling out to the others in front of them. All right, Rue, I'm coming, called Christopher Robin. Get something across the stream lower down, some of you fellows, called Rabbit. But Poo was getting something. Two pools below Rue, he was standing with a long pole in his paws, and Kanga came up and took one end of it, and between them they held it across the lower part of the pool, and Rue, still bubbling proudly, look at me swimming, drifted up against it and climbed out. Did you see me swimming? squeak drew excitedly, while Kanga scolded him and rubbed him down. Poo, did you see me swimming? That's called swimming, what I was doing. Rabbit, did you see what I was doing? Swimming. Hello, Piglet, I say Piglet, what do you think I was doing? Swimming. Christopher Robin, did you see me? But Christopher Robin wasn't listening, he was looking at Poo. Poo, he said, where did you find that pole? Poo looked at the pole in his hands. I just found it, he said. I thought it ought to be useful, I just picked it up. Poo said Christopher Robin solemnly, the expedition is over, you have found the North Pole. Oh, said Poo. Eor was sitting with his tail in the water when they all got back to him. Tell Rue to be quick, somebody, he said, my tail's getting cold. I don't want to mention it, but I just mention it. I don't want to complain, but there it is, my tail's cold. Here I am, squeaked Rue. Oh, there you are. Did you see me swimming? Eor took his tail out of the water and swished it from side to side. As I expected, he said, lost all feeling, numbed it. That's what it's done, numbed it. Well, as long as nobody minds, I suppose it's all right. Poor old Eor, I'll dry it for you, said Christopher Robin, and he took out his handkerchief and rubbed it up. Thank you, Christopher Robin, you're the only one who seems to understand about tails. They don't think, that's what the matter was some of these others, they've no imagination. A tail isn't a tail to them, it's just a little bit extra at the back. Never mind, Eor, said Christopher Robin, rubbing his heartist. Is that better? It's feeling more like a tail, perhaps. It belongs again, if you know what I mean. Hello, Eor, said Poo, coming up to them with this poll. Hello, Poo, thank you for asking, but I shall be able to use it again in a day or two. Use what, said Poo? What we were talking about. I wasn't talking about anything, said Poo, looking puzzled. My mistake again. I thought you were saying how very sorry you were about my tail, being all numb, and could you do anything to help? No, said Poo, that wasn't me, he said. He thought for a little and then suggested helpfully. Perhaps it was somebody else. Well, thank him for me when you see him. Poo looked anxiously at Christopher Robin. Poo's found the North Pole, said Christopher Robin. Isn't that lovely? Poo looked modestly down. Is that it, said Eor? Yes, said Christopher Robin. Is that what we were looking for? Yes, said Poo. Oh, said Eor. Well, anyhow, it didn't rain, he said. They stuck the poll in the ground and Christopher Robin tied a message onto it. North Pole, discovered by Poo, Poo found it. Then they all went home again. And I think, but I am not quite sure, that Roo had a hot bath and went straight to bed. But Poo went back to his own house and feeling very proud of what he had done, he had a little something to revive himself.