The Original Winnie-the-Pooh

Most of us have been exposed, in some small way, to Winnie-the-Pooh. You may not, however, be familiar with A. A. Milne’s original Winnie-the-Pooh, who is incredible. I was completely indifferent toward all things Winnie the Pooh until I rediscovered the original A. A. Milne books, complete with the adorable pencil drawings of Ernest Shepard.

Sadly, I own only one of these delightful stories, although our local library has the whole collection in one massive volume.

The following is an excerpt from Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees:

He put his head between his paws and thought very carefully.

“It’s like this,” he said. “When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you’re coming. Now, if you have a green balloon, they might think you were only part of the tree, and not notice you, and if you have a blue balloon, they might think you were only part of the sky, and not notice you, and the question is: Which is most likely?”

“Wouldn’t they notice you underneath the balloon?” you asked.

“They might, or they might not,” said Winnie-the-Pooh. “You never can tell with bees.”

He thought for a moment and said: “I shall try to look like a small black cloud. That will deceive them.”