"Mline, AA - Winnie the Pooh, Book 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Milne A A)

Winnie-The-Pooh - Introduction



To her
Hand in hand we come
Christopher Robin and I
To lay this book in your lap.
Say you're surprised?
Say it's just what you wanted?
Because it's yours -
because we love you.


INTRODUCTION

IF you happen to have read another book about Christopher Robin, you may
remember that he once had a swan (or the swan had Christopher Robin, I don't
know which) and that he used to call this swan Pooh. That was a long time ago,
and when we said good-bye, we took the name
with us, as we didn't think the swan would want it any more. Well, when Edward
Bear said that he would like an exciting name all to himself, Christopher Robin
said at once, without stopping to think, that he was Winnie-the-Pooh. And he
was. So, as I have explained the Pooh part, I will now explain the rest of it.


You can't be in London for long without going to the Zoo. There are some people
who begin the Zoo at the beginning, called WAYIN, and walk as quickly as they
can past every cage until they get to the one called WAYOUT, but the nicest
people go straight to the animal they love the most, and stay there. So when
Christopher Robin goes to the Zoo, he goes to where the Polar Bears are, and he
whispers something to the third keeper from the left, and doors are unlocked,
and we wander through dark passages and up steep stairs, until at last we come
to the special cage, and the cage is opened, and out trots something brown and
furry, and with a happy cry of "Oh, Bear!" Christopher Robin rushes into its
arms. Now this bear's name is Winnie, which shows what a good name for bears it
is, but the funny thing is that we can't remember whether Winnie is called after
Pooh,
or Pooh after Winnie. We did know once, but we have forgotten. . . .
I had written as far as this when Piglet looked up and said in his squeaky
voice, "What about Me?" "My dear Piglet," I said, "the whole book is about you."
"So it is about Pooh," he squeaked. You see what it is. He is jealous because he
thinks Pooh is having a Grand Introduction all to himself. Pooh is the
favourite, of course, there's no denying it, but Piglet comes in for a good many
things which Pooh misses; because you can't take Pooh to school without
everybody knowing it, but Piglet is so small that he slips into a pocket, where
it is very comforting to feel him when you are not quite sure whether twice
seven is twelve or twenty-two. Sometimes he slips out and has a good look in the
ink-pot, and in this way he has got more education than Pooh, but Pooh doesn't
mind. Some have brains, and some haven't, he says, and there it is.