Chapter 3 ...in which Pooh and piglet go hunting
and nearly catch a woozle
THE Piglet lived in a very grand house in the middle of a
beech-tree, and the beech-tree was in the middle of the forest, and the
Piglet lived in the middle of the house. Next to his house was a piece
of broken board which had: "TRESPASSERS W" on it. When Christopher Robin
asked the Piglet what it meant, he said it was his grandfather's name,
and had been in the family for a long time. Christopher Robin said you
couldn't be called Trespassers W, and Piglet said yes, you could, because
his grandfather was, and it was short for Trespassers Will, which was short
for Trespassers William. And his grandfather had had two names in case
he lost one -- Trespassers after an uncle, and William after Trespassers.
"I've got two names," said Christopher Robin carelessly.
"Well, there you are, that proves it," said Piglet.
One fine winter's day when Piglet was brushing away the snow
in front of his house, he happened to look up, and
there was Winnie-the-Pooh. Pooh was walking round and round
in a circle, thinking of something else, and when
Piglet called to him, he just went on walking.
"Hallo!" said Piglet, "what are you doing?"
"Hunting," said Pooh.
"Hunting what?"
"Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
"Tracking what?" said Piglet, coming closer
"That's just what I ask myself. I ask myself, What?"
"What do you think you'll answer?"
"I shall have to wait until I catch up with it," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
"Now, look there." He pointed to the ground in
front of him. "What do you see there?"
"Tracks," said Piglet. "Paw-marks." He gave a little squeak
of excitement. "Oh, Pooh! Do you think it's a -- a -- a
Woozle?"
"It may be," said Pooh. "Sometimes it is, and sometimes it
isn't. You never can tell with paw-marks."
With these few words he went on tracking, and Piglet, after
watching him for a minute or two, ran after him.
Winnie-the-Pooh had come to a sudden stop, and was bending
over the tracks in a puzzled sort of way.
"What's the matter?" asked Piglet.
"It's a very funny thing," said Bear, "but there seem to be
two animals now. This -- whatever-it-was -- has been joined
by another -- whatever-it-is --
and the two of them are now proceeding in company. Would you
mind coming with me, Piglet, in case they turn out to
be Hostile Animals?"
Piglet scratched his ear in a nice sort of way, and said that
he had nothing to do until Friday, and would be delighted
to come, in case it really was a Woozle.
"You mean, in case it really is two Woozles," said Winnie-the-Pooh,
and Piglet said that anyhow he had nothing to do
until Friday. So off they went together.
There was a small spinney of larch trees just here, and it
seemed as if the two Woozles, if that is what they were, had
been going round this spinney; so round this spinney went
Pooh and Piglet after them; Piglet passing the time by telling
Pooh what his Grandfather Trespassers W had done to Remove
Stiffness after Tracking, and how his Grandfather
Trespassers W had suffered in his later years from Shortness
of Breath, and other matters of interest, and Pooh
wondering what a Grandfather was like, and if perhaps this
was Two Grandfathers they were after now, and, if so,
whether he would be allowed to take one home and keep it,
and what Christopher Robin would say. And still the
tracks went on in front of them....
Suddenly Winnie-the-Pooh stopped, and pointed excitedly in
front of him. "Look!"
"What?" said Piglet, with a jump. And then, to show that he
hadn't been frightened, he jumped up and down once or
twice more in an exercising sort of way.
"The tracks!" said Pooh. "A third animal has joined the other
two!" "Pooh!" cried Piglet "Do you think it is another
Woozle?"
"No," said Pooh, "because it makes different marks. It is
either Two Woozles and one, as it might be, Wizzle, or Two,
as it might be, Wizzles and one, if so it is, Woozle. Let
us continue to follow them."
So they went on, feeling just a little anxious now, in case
the three animals in front of them were of Hostile Intent. And
Piglet wished very much that his Grandfather T. W. were there,
instead of elsewhere, and Pooh thought how nice it
would be if they met Christopher Robin suddenly but quite
accidentally, and only because he liked Christopher Robin
so much. And then, all of a sudden, Winnie-the-Pooh stopped
again, and licked the tip of his nose in a cooling
manner, for he was feeling more hot and anxious than ever
in his life before. There were four animals in front of them!
"Do you see, Piglet? Look at their tracks! Three, as it were,
Woozles, and one, as it was, Wizzle. Another Woozle
has joined them!"
And so it seemed to be. There were the tracks; crossing over
each other here, getting muddled up with each other
there; but, quite plainly every now and then, the tracks of
four sets of paws.
"I think," said Piglet, when he had licked the tip of his
nose too, and found that it brought very little comfort, "I think
that I have just remembered something. I have just remembered
something that I forgot to do yesterday and sha'n't be
able to do to-morrow. So I suppose I really ought to go back
and do it now."
"We'll do it this afternoon, and I'll come with you," said
Pooh.
"It isn't the sort of thing you can do in the afternoon,"
said Piglet quickly. "It's a very particular morning thing, that has
to be done in the morning, and, if possible, between the hours
of What would you say the time was?"
"About twelve," said Winnie-the-Pooh, looking at the sun.
"Between, as I was saying, the hours of twelve and twelve
five. So, really, dear old Pooh, if you'll excuse me --
What's that."
Pooh looked up at the sky, and then, as he heard the whistle
again, he looked up into the branches of a big oak-tree,
and then he saw a friend of his.
"It's Christopher Robin," he said.
"Ah, then you'll be all right," said Piglet.
"You'll be quite safe with him. Good-bye," and he trotted
off home as quickly as he could, very glad to be Out of All
Danger again.
Christopher Robin came slowly down his tree.
"Silly old Bear," he said, "what were you doing? First you
went round the spinney twice by yourself, and then Piglet ran
after you and you went round again together, and then you
were just going round a fourth time"
"Wait a moment," said Winnie-the-Pooh, holding up his paw.
He sat down and thought, in the most thoughtful way he could
think. Then he fitted his paw into one of the Tracks ...
and then he scratched his nose twice, and stood up.
"Yes," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
"I see now," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
"I have been Foolish and Deluded," said he, "and I am a Bear
of No Brain at All."
"You're the Best Bear in All the World," said Christopher
Robin soothingly.
"Am I?" said Pooh hopefully. And then he brightened up suddenly.
"Anyhow," he said, "it is nearly Luncheon Time."
So he went home for it.
