This was the script used for a children's outdoor theatre production of Winnie the Pooh performed during the La Trobe University Moat Festival in 1993.
Adapted by Raquel Ashton, Darren Britten and Donna Benjamin.
Directed by Donna Benjamin.
Page 1
WINNIE THE POOH ( and Friends )
As audience enter POOH is doing stoutness exercises and humming to himself. POOH is attempting to complete a new song which comes out in its full form once the audience is seated.
POOH humming the more it hum hum snows
(POOH stretches up as far as he can go)
POOH hmmm hmm tiddely tiddely pom
(he tries to reach his toes)
POOH Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.
A fly can’t bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,”
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fish can’t whistle and neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken, I don’t know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.
EEYORE That’s right, Sing. Umty-tiddly, umpty-too. Here we go gathering
Nuts in May, Enjoy yourself.”
POOH I am Eeyore.
EEYORE Some can
POOH Why, what’s the matter?
EEYORE Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can’t all, and some of us don’t.
That’s all there is to it.
POOH Can’t all what?, rubbing his nose.
EEYORE Gaiety. Song-and-dance, Here we go round the mulberry bush.
POOH Oh! He thought for a long time What mulberry bush is that?
EEYORE Bon-hommy.....sigh.....I’m not complaining, but There it is.
POOH You seem so sad, Eeyore.
EEYORE Sad? Why should I be sad? It’s my birthday. The happiest day of
the year.
POOH Your birthday?
EEYORE Of course it is. Can’t you see? Look at all the presents I have had.
He waved a foot from side to side.
EEYORE Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar.
POOH looked first to the right and then to the left.
POOH Presents?... Birthday cake?... Where?
EEYORE Can’t you see them?
POOH No.
EEYORE Neither can I, pause Joke, Ha ha!
Pooh scratched his head, being a little
puzzled by all this.
POOH But is it really your birthday?
EEYORE It is.
POOH Oh! well many happy returns of the day, Eeyore.
EEYORE And many happy returns to you, Pooh Bear.
POOH But it isn’t my birthday.
EEYORE No, it’s mine.
POOH But you said ‘Many happy returns’—
EEYORE Well, why not? You don’t always want to be miserable on my
birthday, do you?
POOH Oh, I see.
EEYORE It’s bad enough, (almost breaking down) being miserable myself,
what with no presents and no cake and no candles, and no proper
notice taken of me at all, but if everybody else is going to be
miserable too-
This was too much for Pooh.
POOH Stay there!
POOH turns and hurries back home as quick
as he can to get a present for EEYORE .
Outside his house he found Piglet, jumping up
and down trying to reach the knocker.
POOH Hallo, Piglet
PIGLET Hallo, Pooh.
POOH What are you trying to do?
PIGLET I was just trying to reach the knocker. I just came round—
POOH Let me do it for you.
He reaches up and knocks at the door.
POOH I have just seen Eeyore, and poor Eeyore is in a Very Sad
Condition, because it’s his birthday, and nobody has taken any
notice of it, and he’s very Gloomy - you know what Eeyore is -
and there he was, and- What a long time whoever lives here is
answering this door.
POOH knocks again.
PIGLET But Pooh, it’s your own house!
POOH Oh! So it is.
POOH goes in and comes
back with a Jar of Honey
POOH I’m giving this to Eeyore, as a present. What are you going to
give?
PIGLET Couldn’t I give it too? From both of us?
POOH No. That would not be a good plan.
PIGLET All right, then, I’ll give him a balloon. I’ve got one left from my
party. I’ll go and get it now, shall I?
POOH That, Piglet, is a very good idea. It is just what Eeyore wants to
cheer him up. Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.
PIGLET trots off; and in the other direction
goes POOH, with his jar of honey
POOH heads off towards EEYORE and gets
waylaid by his tummy
POOH Dear, dear, I didn’t know it was as late as that.
Lucky I brought this with me, Many a bear going out on a warm
day like this would never have thought of bringing a little
something with him.
So he sat down and took the top off his
jar of honey. And he began to eat.
Guzzles entire pot and puts it down
POOH Now let me see.....Where was I going? Ah, yes!
POOH picks up pot and realises he has
eaten Eeyore’s birthday present!
POOH Bother! What shall I do? I must give him something.
For a little while POOH ponders
POOH Well, it’s a very nice pot, even if there’s no honey in it, and if I
washed it clean, and got somebody to write ‘A Happy Birthday’
on it, Eeyore could keep things in it, which might be Useful.
POOH comes across RABBIT
POOH Good morning, Rabbit.
RABBIT Good morning, Pooh.
POOH Many happy returns of Eeyore’s birthday.
RABBIT Oh is that what it is?
POOH What are you giving him, Rabbit?
RABBIT What are you giving him, Pooh?
POOH I’m giving him a Useful Pot to Keep Things In, and I wanted to
ask you—
RABBIT (accusingly) Somebody has been keeping honey in it.
POOH You can keep anything in it. It’s Very Useful like that. And I
wanted to ask you —
RABBIT You ought to write ‘A Happy Birthday’ on it.
POOH That was what I wanted to ask you. Because my spelling is
Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in
the wrong places. Would you write ‘A Happy Birthday’ on it for
me?
RABBIT It’s a nice pot....(looking at it all round.).... Couldn’t I give it too?
From both of us?
POOH No. That would not be a good plan. Now I’ll just wash it first, and
then you can write on it.
POOH washes and dries the POT, while Rabbit
licks the end of his pencil, and wonders how
to spell Birthday
RABBIT (anxiously ) Can you read, Pooh? There’s a notice about
knocking and ringing outside my door, which Christopher Robin
wrote. Could you read it?
POOH Christopher Robin told me what it said, and then I could.
RABBIT Well, I’ll tell you what this says and then you’ll be able to.
So Rabbit wrote … and this is what he wrote:
HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH
THUTHDA
BTHUTHDY.
Pooh looked on admiringly.
RABBIT I’m just saying ‘A Happy Birthday’.
POOH ( very much impressed ) It’s a nice long one.
RABBIT Well, actually, of course, I’m saying ‘A Very Happy Birthday
with love from Pooh.’ Naturally it takes a good deal of pencil to
say a long thing like that.
POOH Oh, I see.
PIGLET comes running out with a BIG RED
BALLOON. Thinking how pleased Eeyore would
be, he doesn’t look where he was going …..
and falls down flat on his face.
Bang!!??*!!
PIGLET Has the whole world blown up? pause Perhaps it’s only the forest
that has pause or perhaps I’ve blown up and I’m all alone in the
moon pause or somewhere. And I’ll never see Christopher Robin
or Pooh or Eeyore or Rabbit ever again. heavy breathing. breaks
into tears ……
PIGLET stops sniffling
PIGLET Well even if I’m in the moon I needn’t be face downwards all the
time.
PIGLET cautiously gets up and looks about him.
He was still in the forest!
PIGLET Well, that’s funny, I wonder what that bang was. I couldn’t have
made such a noise falling down. And where’s my balloon? And
what are these small pieces of damp rag doing?
PIGLET Perhaps Eeyore doesn’t like balloons so very much.
PIGLET reappears covered in
BITS OF BURST BALLOON
EEYORE has arrived somehow
PIGLET Good morning, Eeyore.
EEYORE Good morning Little Piglet. If it is a Good morning, which I
doubt, not that it matters.
PIGLET Many happy returns of the day.
EEYORE Just say that again.
PIGLET Many Hap–
EEYORE Wait a moment.
EEYORE I did this yesterday.
as he fell down for the third time.
EEYORE It’s quite easy. It’s so as I can hear better…. There, that’s done it!
Now then, what were you saying?
EEYORE pushes his ear forward with his hoof.
PIGLET Many happy returns of the day,
EEYORE Meaning me?
PIGLET Of course, Eeyore.
EEYORE My birthday?
PIGLET Yes.
EEYORE Me having a real birthday?
PIGLET Yes, Eeyore and I’ve bought you a present .
Eeyore takes down his right hoof from his
right ear, turns around, and with great
difficulty puts up his left hoof.
EEYORE I must have that in the other ear, Now then.
PIGLET A present.
EEYORE Meaning me again?
PIGLET Yes
EEYORE My birthday still?
PIGLET Of course, Eeyore.
EEYORE Me going on having a real birthday?
PIGLET Yes, Eeyore, and I brought you a balloon.
EEYORE Balloon? You did say balloon, one of those big coloured things
you blow up? gaiety, song-and-dance, here we are and there we
are?
PIGLET Yes, but I’m afraid - I’m very sorry Eeyore - but when I was
running along to bring it to you I fell down.
EEYORE Dear, Dear, how unlucky! You ran too fast I expect. You didn’t
hurt yourself, little Piglet ?
PIGLET No, but I-I-oh, Eeyore, I burst the balloon.
long silence.
EEYORE My balloon?
PIGLET nods
EEYORE My birthday balloon?
PIGLET sniffing Yes, Eeyore. Here it is. With — many happy returns of
the day.
he gives EEYORE the small piece
of BURST BALLOON.
EEYORE Is this it?
PIGLET nods.
EEYORE My present?
PIGLET nods again.
EEYORE The balloon?
PIGLET Yes.
EEYORE Thankyou, Piglet. You don’t mind my asking, but what colour
was this balloon when it - was a balloon?
PIGLET Red.
EEYORE I just wondered…. Red. My favourite colour…. How big was it?
PIGLET` About as big as me.
EEYORE I just wondered …. about as big as Piglet. My favourite size.
Well, well.
PIGLET is at a loss for words and opens
and shuts mouth miserably
POOH appears
POOH Many happy returns of the day
EEYORE Thankyou, Pooh, I’m having them.
POOH (excitedly ) I’ve bought you a little present.
EEYORE I’ve had it.
PIGLET is sitting a little way off, his head
in his paws, snuffling to himself.
POOH It’s a useful pot. Here it is. And it’s got ‘A Very Happy Birthday
with love from Pooh’ written on it. That’s what all that writing is.
And it’s for putting things in. There!
When Eeyore sees the pot,
he becomes quite excited.
EEYORE Why! I believe my balloon will just go into that pot!
POOH Oh, no, Eeyore. Balloons are much too big to go into pots. What
you do with a balloon is, you hold the balloon —
EEYORE (proudly ) Not mine. Look, Piglet!
PIGLET looks sorrowfully round, EEYORE picks
up the BALLOON with his teeth, and places it
carefully in the POT; picks it out and puts it on
the ground; and then picks it up again and puts
it carefully back.
POOH So it does. It goes in!
PIGLET So it does! And it comes out!
EEYORE Doesn’t it? It goes in and out like anything.
POOH (happily ) I’m very glad that I thought of giving you a Useful Pot
to put things in.
PIGLET (happily ) I’m very glad that I thought of giving you Something
to put in a Useful Pot.
EEYORE isn’t listening, continues as above .
PIGLET excitedly nudges POOH and whispers
in his ear and they whisper to each other
EEYORE notices.
EEYORE Its not as if I’m important enough to pay common courtesy to but
would you mind telling me what you're whispering about?
PIGLET (nervously) I'm sorry Eeyore.Would you mind turning around–
EEYORE Oh! Party games is it now? I’ve never liked Party Games....Over
Rated that's what they are.
PIGLET No, no just so as we can look at the other end of you.
EEYORE Oh of course I didn’t realise, or if you prefer we can play ‘Here
we go gathering nuts in May' with the end part of an ants nest. It’s
all the same to me.
(EEYORE trudges round, PIGLET and POOH
run around to the nether regions of EEYORE
and look concerned.)
EEYORE Would someone please tell me which game we are playing?.
POOH Eeyore your tail just isn’t there.
EEYORE Are you sure?
POOH Well either a tail is there or it isn't there. You can't make a mistake
about it, and yours isn't there!
EEYORE Then what is?
POOH &
PIGLET Nothing!
EEYORE Lets have a look.
(EEYORE looks around each side and under his
belly there is silence during this examination)
EEYORE Well, (pause) I believe you’re right
long silence
EEYORE Of course it’s to be expected that on one’s birthday one must lose
an essential bodily part. Some people don't realise what a tail
means to a person of tailness, to some its just a little extra-on the
back. But as I said it’s to be expected
PIGLET You must have left it somewhere
POOH Oh! I do that all the time.
EEYORE (with growing ire) Someone must have taken it. (long silence)
How like them.
POOH Eeyore, I, Winnie-The-Pooh, will find your tail for you. I will see
if Rabbit can help me, because if anyone knows anything about
anything its Rabbit who knows something about something, or my
name's not Winnie-The-Pooh. Which it is … So there you are.
Long silence
EEYORE Thankyou Pooh. I think. ( wanders off muttering to himself )
bonhommy, bonhommy, French word meaning bonhommy, I'm
not complaining but there it is.
PIGLET confused But, Pooh, you don’t have a tail.
POOH checks out his nether regions.
TIGGER: Worraworraworraworra
POOH: Was that you Piglet?
PIGLET , terrrified, shakes his head.
TIGGER: Worraworraworra
POOH: It wasn’t me. I don’t think.
TIGGER: Worraworra
silence
TIGGER: Worraworraworra
POOH: There are lots of noises in the forest, but this is a different one. It
Isn’t a growl an it Isn’t a purr, and it Isn't a bark, and it Is'nt the
noise-you-make-before-you-begin-a-piece-of-poetry; but it is a
noise of some kind, made by a strange animal!
TIGGER: Worraworraworraworra
TIGGER leaps out of the bushes
TIGGER Hallo Pooh
POOH: Hallo Tigger.
TIGGER: And what is it you two are doing?
POOH: Well, we’re off looking for—
TIGGER: Oh! Excuse me a moment but there is something crawling up
behind me. Worraworraworra
(TIGGER leaps into the air, rolls around on the
ground, runs around in circles e.t.c. Finally he
collapses exhausted)
TIGGER: Have I won?
POOH: Thats your tail.
TIGGER: I wondered what it was.
POOH: It grows on the back of you and swishes the flies away. Eeyore
has one or rather he had one, until it was lost. That’s what we’re
looking for.
TIGGER: Why did it try to bite me when I was'nt looking?
POOH: I don't think it did
TIGGER: It tried, but I was too quick for it.
(during the next portion of dialogue POOH,
PIGLET and TIGGER are walking towards
RABBIT’S house)
PIGLET: Well,well so your a Tigger. What do Tiggers like to do? Piglet’s
like collecting haycorns.
POOH Poohs like to hum.
TIGGER: Tiggers like to fly.
PIGLET: Oh! Can they fly?
TIGGER: Yes, they're very good flyers, Tiggers are Strornry good flyers.
PIGLET: Can they fly as well as Owl?
TIGGER: Yes only they don't want to.
POOH: Why don't they want to?
TIGGER: Well they just don't like it somehow.
POOH: I wrote a song about flying once;
(during this time TIGGER has been chasing
something real or imaginary)
During this time they reach RABBIT’S House.
POOH:(reading the notices on RABBIT”S door)
PLEZ RING IF AN
RNSER IS REQIRD..
PLEZ CNOKE IF AN
RNSER IS NOT REQIRD
POOH looks at TIGGER In a questioning sort of
way, as he is not sure whether to knock or
ring.TIGGER shrugs. POOH then knocks and
pulls the KNOCKER and knocks and pulls the
BELL-ROPE, and calls out in a loud voice)
POOH: Rabbit I require an answer! It's Bear speaking.
RABBIT : (peering around his door) Hallo Pooh, how’s things?
POOH: Terrible and sad, because Eeyore, who is a friend of mine, has lost
his tail. And he’s Moping about it. So could you very kindly tell
me how to find it for him?
RABBIT: Certainly, but to begin with, who is your new stripey friend?
POOH: This is Tigger
(Tigger gives his biggest silliest grin)
RABBIT: He’s very bouncy Isn't he?
(POOH and TIGGER Nod vigorously)
RABBIT: Well Welcome to you young Tigger. Now to the problem of the
tail. The customary procedure in such cases is as follows.
POOH: What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean? For I am a Bear of
very little Brain, and long words bother me.
RABBIT: It means the thing to do.
POOH: As long as it means that, I don't mind.
RABBIT: The thing to do is as follows. First issue a Reward. Then—
TIGGER You sneezed-
POOH: (holding up a paw) Just a moment.What do we do to this…what
you were say—
RABBIT: I didn’t sneeze.
TIGGER: Yes you did.
RABBIT: Excuse me Tigger, I didn’t. You can’t sneeze without knowing it.
POOH: Well, you can't know it without something having been sneezed.
RABBIT: What I said was “first issue a reward…”
TIGGER: You’re doing it again
RABBIT: (loudly) Reward! We write a notice to say that we will give a
large something to anybody who finds Eeyore's tail.
POOH: I see, I see...talking about large Somethings, I generally have a
small something about now — about this time in the morning,
TIGGER exits
POOH looks hungrily inside RABBIT’S house.
POOH: Just a mouthful of condensed milk or whatnot, with perhaps a lick
of honey.…
RABBIT: (Who does not notice Pooh's sighs) Well then we write out this
notice and we put it up all over the forest.
POOH: (murmuring) A lick of honey, or not as the case may be..
RABBIT: Now with such an enterprise being embarked upon, the services of
Christopher Robin are required to write out the notices. It was he
who wrote the ones on my front door for me.(pointing to his door)
these ones Pooh.…Pooh?
(POOH who is drifting off to sleep
wakes with a start)
POOH: Oh! ..no..I mean yes..oh sorry ?
RABBIT: The notices that Christopher Robin wrote…sighs Would you like
a mouthful of something? Honey or Condensed milk with your
bread?
POOH: Both, but don’t bother about the bread.
RABBIT gets HONEY and CONDENSED MILK
for POOH who takes it and begins eating.
As POOH eats, RABBIT and PIGLET begin
to talk about TIGGER
RABBIT Where did your new friend go Piglet?
PIGLET I'm not sure, he Bounced away.
RABBIT Well I'm glad, he's quite rude and much too Bouncy. I think it's
about time that someone taught him a lesson. Don't you think so,
Piglet?
PIGLET Mmm, yes, Tigger is very Bouncy. If we could think of a way of
unbouncing him, I think that it would be a Very Good Idea.
RABBIT Just what I feel. What do you say, Pooh?
Pooh opened his eyes with a jerk
POOH Extremely.
RABBIT: Extremely what?
POOH: What you were saying. Undoubtably.
PIGLET gave POOH a stiffening sort of nudge,
and POOH, who felt more and more that he was
somewhere else, got up slowly and began to
look for himself
PIGLET: Pooh, where are you going?
POOH: Nowhere.... I'm not sure where I got to so I thought I'd have a look
for myself.
There's a thing called Twy-stymes. Christopher Robin tried to
teach it to me once, but it didn't.
RABBIT What didn't?
PIGLET Didn't what?
POOH shook his head.
POOH I don't know. It just didn't. What are we talking about?
PIGLET Pooh, haven't you been listening to what Rabbit was saying?
POOH I listened, but I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say
it again, please, Rabbit?
RABBIT Well, where should I begin?
POOH About the moment the fluff got in my ear.
RABBIT And when was that Pooh?
POOH I don’t know, I expect perhaps the reason I don’t know is that I
didn’t hear properly when it got there.
PIGLET What we were trying to do, Pooh, was to think of a way to get the
bounces out of Tigger. Because however much you like him, you
can’t deny it, he does bounce.
POOH Oh, I see.
RABBIT There's too much of him, that's what it comes to.
POOH If Rabbit
Was bigger
And fatter
And stronger,
Or bigger
Than Tigger,
If Tigger was smaller,
Then Tigger's bad habit
Of bouncing at Rabbit
Would matter
No longer,
If Rabbit
Was taller.
RABBIT What was Pooh saying? Any good?
POOH No. No good.
RABBIT Well, I've got an idea, and here it is. We take Tigger for a long
explore, somewhere where he's never been, and we lose him there,
and next morning we find him again, and – mark my words – he'll
be a different Tigger altogether.
POOH Why?
RABBIT Because he'll be a Humble Tigger. Because he'll be a Sad Tigger,
a Melancholy Tigger, a Small and Sorry Tigger, an Oh-Rabbit-I-
am-glad-to-see-you Tigger. That's why.
POOH Will he be glad to see me and Piglet, too?
RABBIT Of course.
POOH That's good.
PIGLET I should hate him to go on being Sad for very long.
RABBIT Tiggers never go on being Sad. They get over it with Astonishing
Rapidity. I asked Owl, just to make sure, and he said that that's
what they always get over it with.
But if we can make Tigger feel Small and Sad just for five
minutes, we shall have done a good deed.
PIGLET (Doubtfully) Would Christopher Robin think so?
RABBIT Yes, He'd say 'You've done a good deed, Piglet. I would have
done it myself, only I happened to be doing something else.
Thank you, Piglet.' And Pooh, of course.
POOH If you're sure.
RABBIT Yes. It is a Thing which even a Very Small Animal could wake up
in the morning and feel comfortable about doing.
PIGLET Oh....Well how shall we lose Tigger then?
RABBIT We'll take him to the Hundred Acre Wood, because it was a very
long explore finding our way through it, so it will be a very long
explore for Tigger un-finding it again.
POOH Yes, we could go on a Picnic.
PIGLET And we could invite Tigger...and he'll say-
RABBIT -'yes I'd love to'
POOH But what if he says No?
RABBIT He won't. Tigger will Bounce on ahead of everybody, so - as soon
as he gets out of sight, we'll hurry away in the other direction, and
we'll never see him again.
PIGLET Not never?
RABBIT Well, not until we find him again, Piglet. Tomorrow, or whenever
it is and we'll all–
TIGGER Worraworraworra
RABBIT ah Tigger!
PIGLET We're going on a Picnic-
POOH Would you like to come?
TIGGER Oh yes, I would like to very much.
RABBIT Well, come on then!
So they went. At first POOH and RABBIT and PIGLET walked
together, and TIGGER ran round them in circles, and then, when
the path got narrower, RABBIT, PIGLET and POOH walked one
after another, and TIGGER ran round them in oblongs, and by-
and-by, when the gorse got very prickly on each side of the path,
TIGGER ran up and down in front of them, and sometimes he
bounced into RABBIT and sometimes he didn't. And as they got
higher, the mist got thicker, so that TIGGER kept disappearing,
and then when you thought he wasn't there, there he was again,
saying, "I say, come on," and before you could say anything, there
he wasn't.
RABBIT turned round and nudged PIGLET.
RABBIT The next time. Tell Pooh.
PIGLET The next time.
POOH The next what?.
TIGGER appeared suddenly, bounced into RABBIT, and
disappeared again.
RABBIT Now!
He jumped into a hollow by the side of the path, and
Pooh and Piglet jumped after him. They crouched in the
bracken, listening. The Forest was very silent when you
stopped and listened to it. They could see nothing and
hear nothing.
RABBIT H'sh!
POOH I am.
There was a pattering noise … then silence again.
TIGGER Hallo!"
he sounded so close suddenly that PIGLET would have
jumped if POOH hadn't accidentally been sitting on
most of him.
TIGGER Where are you?
RABBIT nudged POOH, and Pooh looked about for
PIGLET to nudge, but couldn't find him, and Piglet went
on breathing wet bracken as quietly as he could, and felt
very brave and excited.
TIGGER That's funny.
There was a moment's silence, and then they heard him
pattering off again. For a little longer they waited, until
the Forest had become so still that it almost frightened
them, and then Rabbit got up and stretched himself
RABBIT Well? There we are! Just as I said.
POOH I've been thinking, and I think—
RABBIT No. Don't. Run. Come on.
They all hurried off, Rabbit leading the way.
POOH Now, we can talk. What were you going to say, Pooh?
POOH Nothing much. Why are we going along here?
RABBIT Because it's the way home.
POOH Oh!
PIGLET I think it's more to the right, What do you think, Pooh?
Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them
was the right, and he knew that when you had decided
which one of them was the right, then the other one was
the left, but he never could remember how to begin.
POOH Well—.
RABBIT Come on, I know it's this way.
They went on. Ten minutes later they stopped again.
RABBIT It's very silly, but just for the moment I— Ah, of course. Come
on.…
RABBIT Here we are, No, we're not.…
RABBIT Now, I think we ought to be getting - or are we a little bit more to
the right than I thought?…
RABBIT It's a funny thing, how everything looks the same in a mist. Have
you noticed it, Pooh?
Pooh said that he had.
RABBIT Lucky we know the Forest so well, or we might get lost.
Rabbit gives the careless laugh you give when you know
the Forest so well that you can't get lost.
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
PIGLET whispering Pooh!
POOH Yes, Piglet?
PIGLET Nothing, taking Pooh's paw. I just wanted to be sure of you.
--------------------------
Christopher Robin put his head in at Tigger’s door.
"Where's Pooh?" he asked.
"Tigger dear, where's Pooh?" said Kanga. Tigger explained what had happened
at the same time that Roo was explaining about his Biscuit Cough
and Kanga was telling them not both to talk at once, so it was
some time before Christopher Robin guessed that Pooh and Piglet
and Rabbit were all lost in the mist on the top of the Forest.
"It's a funny thing about Tiggers," whispered Tigger to Roo, "how Tiggers
never get lost."
"Why don't they, Tigger?"
"They just don't," explained Tigger. "That's how it is."
"Well," said Christopher Robin, "we shall have to go and find them, that's all.
Come on, Tigger."
"I shall have to go and find them," explained Tigger to Roo.
"May I find them too?" asked Roo eagerly.
"I think not today, dear," said Kanga. "Another day."
"Well, if they're lost to-morrow, may I find them?"
"We'll see," said Kanga, and Roo, who knew what that meant, went into a
corner and practised jumping out at himself, partly because he
wanted to practise this, and partly because he didn't want
Christopher Robin and Tigger to think that he minded when they
went off without him.
RABBIT The fact is, we've missed our way somehow.
They were having a rest in a small sand-pit on the top of the Forest. Pooh was
getting rather tired of that sand-pit, and suspected it of following
them about, because whichever direction they started in, they
always ended up at it, and each time, as it came through the mist
at them, Rabbit said triumphantly, "Now I know where we are!"
and Pooh said sadly, "So do I," and Piglet said nothing. He had
tried to think of something to say, but the only thing he could
think of was, "Help, help!" and it seemed silly to say that, when
he had Pooh and Rabbit with him.
RABBIT Well, pause we'd better get on, I suppose. Which way shall we
try?
POOH slowly How would it be, if, as soon as we're out of sight of this
Pit, we try to find it again?
RABBIT What's the good of that?
POOH Well, we keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I thought
that if we looked for this Pit, we'd be sure not to find it, which
would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something
that we weren't looking for, which might be just what we were
looking for, really.
RABBIT I don't see much sense in that.
POOH No, there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just
that something happened to it on the way.
RABBIT If I walked away from this Pit, and then walked back to it, of
course I should find it.
POOH Well, I thought perhaps you wouldn't. I just thought.
POOH Try! We'll wait here for you.
Rabbit gave a laugh to show how silly Piglet was, and
walked into the mist. After he had gone a hundred yards,
he turned and walked back again … and after Pooh and
Piglet had waited twenty minutes for him, Pooh got up.
POOH I just thought. Now then, Piglet, let's go home.
PIGLET But, Pooh, do you know the way?
POOH No, But there are twelve pots of honey in my cupboard, and
they've been calling to me for hours. I couldn't hear them properly
before because Rabbit would talk, but if nobody says anything
except those twelve pots, I think, Piglet, I shall know where
they're coming from.Come on.
They walked off together; and for a long time Piglet
said nothing, so as not to interrupt the pots; and then
suddenly he made a squeaky noise …and an oo-noise …
because now he began to know where he was; but he
still didn't dare to say so out loud, in case he wasn't.
And just when he was getting so sure of himself that it
didn't matter whether the pots went on calling or not,
there was a shout from in front of them, and out of the
mist came Christopher Robin.
CHRIS Oh, there you are," said Christopher Robin carelessly, trying to
pretend that he hadn't been Anxious.
POOH Here we are," said Pooh.
CHRIS Where's Rabbit?"
POOH I don't know," said Pooh.
CHRIS Oh - well, I expect Tigger will find him. He's sort of looking for
you all."
POOH Well," said Pooh, "I've got to go home for something, and so has
Piglet, because we haven't had it yet, and—"
CHRIS "I'll come and watch you," said Christopher Robin.
So he went home with Pooh, and watched him for quite a long
time… and all the time he was watching, TIGGER was tearing
round the Forest making loud yapping noises for RABBIT. And at
last a very Small and Sorry Rabbit heard him.
And the Small and Sorry Rabbit rushed through the mist at the
noise, and it suddenly turned into Tigger; a Friendly Tigger, a
Grand Tigger, a Large and Helpful Tigger, a Tigger who
bounced, if he bounced at all, in just the beautiful way a Tigger
ought to bounce.
RABBIT Oh, Tigger, I am glad to see you.
POOH: just a mouthful of condensed milk or what not,with perhaps a lick
of honey..
(POOH looks again at the notices and begins to stare at the bell-rope)
RABBIT: Handsome bell-rope Is't it?
POOH: (nodding) It remands me of something,but I can't think
what.Where did you get it?
(TIGGER comes over to look at the bell-rope)
RABBIT: I just came across it in the forest.I was hanging over a bush and
Ithought at first somebody lived there,so I rang it,and nothing
happened,andthen I rang it again very loudly,and it came off in
my and,and as nobody seemed to want it,I took it home,
POOH: Owl you made a mistake,Somebody did want it.
RABBIT: Who?
TIGER: who who?
POOH: Eeyore ,my dear friendEeyore.he was fond of it.
RABBIT: Fond of it?
POOH: Attached to it.
OWII: Oh! I see.. well it seems the required answer has been quicker in
arriving than expected. Hurray back to Eeyore and give him my
apologies.
(Pooh unhooks the bell-rope and hurriedly waddles off.TIGGER is so excited
by the rush that he runs circles around Pooh all the way and ruts
in a few excited Worras)(Pooh is singing this song as they rush
back to Eeyore)
Who found the tail?
"I"said Pooh,
At a quarter to two
(only it was a quarter to eleven really)
I found the tail!
(Christopher Robin and Piglet are sitting out the front of Eeyor's house
playing;making stick houses or drawing pictures in the dirt)
CHRISTOPHER ROBIN: oak its Pooh and Tigger.
PIGLET: Pooh Pooh we'y been waiting for you.
(Pooh Waddle up,Tigger bounds up)
POOH: I found it,I,the ear of it’ll rain,have found my friend Eeyores tail.
(EEYORE looks out of his house)
EEYORE : What was that?
PIGLET: You tail, Pooh has found it.
(C.R takes the tail from Pooh in order to put it back on Eeyore)
C.Rthat's wonderful Pooh at a clever Piear you are
TIGGER: me too, I helped
(C.R toes't hear Tigger because he has Fone over to Eeyore with his tail)
PIGLET: Who is he ?
POOH: That's Tigger I found him before e I found the tail.
PIGLET: He's rather large and bouncy,I thought Tigers were much smaller.
(Tigger overhears the last part of Piglets sentence)
TIGGER: Tiggers are very big and they can fly, Warrior
PIGLET: (a little frightened by Tigger) Oh! well,hall then,I'm Piglet
TIGGER: Strornry good hall to you.
(during this introduction C.R has put Eeyore tail back on and Eeyore
is frisking about with excitement)
EAR: Thankyou Pooh Thankyou.
PQOH: Well Piglet I think it is time we went home for a little something.
PIGLET: So it is Pooh ,so it is.
POOH: Goodbye
PIGLET: Goodbye
(only C.R. responds because the other two are too busy being frisky and
bouncy)
C.R: Fo~dbye Pooh goodbye Piglet.
(POOH and PIGLET walk away)
POOH: Tigger is alight really.
PIGLET sure he is.
POOL: Everbody is really,that what I think,but I don"t suppose I'm right.
PIGLET (grabbing pooh's hand) Of course you are.
(they should be leaving the space by now)
POOH: (singing) who found the tail?
PIGLET: (singing) Pooh did.
POOH: (S) who saved the day?
PIGLET: (S) Pooh did
POOH: (S) who did?
PIGLET: (S) Pooh did,Tiddely Pom.
THE END