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some time now Pooh had been saying “Yes” and “No” in turn, with his eyes shut, to all that Owl was saying, and having said, “Yes, yes,” last time, he said “No, not at all,” now, without really knowing what Owl was talking about.

    “Didn’t you see them?” said Owl, a little surprised. “Come and look at them now.”
    So they went outside. And Pooh looked at the knocker and the notice below it, and he looked at the bell-rope and the notice below it, and the more he looked at the bell-rope, the more he felt that he had seen something like it, somewhere else, sometime before.
    “Handsome bell-rope, isn’t it?” said Owl.

    Pooh nodded.
    “It reminds me of something,” he said, “but I can’t think what. Where did you get it?”
    “I just came across it in the Forest. It was hanging over a bush, and I thought at first somebody lived there, so I rang it, and nothing happened, and then I rang it again very loudly, and it came off in my hand, and as nobody seemed to want it, I took it home, and—”
    “Owl,” said Pooh solemnly, “you made a mistake. Somebody did want it.”
    “Who?”
    “Eeyore. My dear friend Eeyore. He was—he was fond of it.”
    “Fond of it?”
    “Attached to it,” said Winnie-the-Pooh sadly.

    So with these words he unhooked it, and carried it back to Eeyore; and when Christopher Robin had nailed it on in its right place again, Eeyore frisked about the forest, waving his tail so happily that Winnie-the-Pooh came over all funny, and had to hurry home for a little snack of something to sustain him. And, wiping his mouth half an hour afterwards, he sang to himself proudly:

Who found the Tail?
“I,” said Pooh,
“At a quarter to two
(Only it was quarter to eleven really),
I found the Tail!”

Chapter Five
    IN WHICH
    Piglet Meets a Heffalump

    O NE DAY , when Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet were all talking together, Christopher Robin finished the mouthful he was eating and said carelessly: “I saw a Heffalump to-day, Piglet.”
    “What was it doing?” asked Piglet.
    “Just lumping along,” said Christopher Robin. “I don’t think it saw me .”
    “I saw one once,” said Piglet. “At least, I think I did,” he said. “Only perhaps it wasn’t.”
    “So did I,” said Pooh, wondering what a Heffalump was like.
    “You don’t often see them,” said Christopher Robin carelessly.
    “Not now,” said Piglet.
    “Not at this time of year,” said Pooh.

    Then they all talked about something else, until it was time for Pooh and Piglet to go home together. At first as they stumped along the path which edged the Hundred Acre Wood, they didn’t say much to each other; but when they came to the stream and had helped each other across the stepping stones, and were able to walk side by side again over the heather, they began to talk in a friendly way about this and that, and Piglet said, “If you see what I mean, Pooh,” and Pooh said, “It’s just what I think myself, Piglet,” and Piglet said, “But, on the other hand, Pooh, we must remember,” and Pooh said, “Quite true, Piglet, although I had forgotten it for the moment.” And then, just as they came to the Six Pine Trees, Pooh looked round to see that nobody else was listening, and said in a very solemn voice:
    “Piglet, I have decided something.”
    “What have you decided, Pooh?”
    “I have decided to catch a Heffalump.”
    Pooh nodded his head several times as he said this, and waited for Piglet to say “How?” or “Pooh, you couldn’t!” or something helpful of that sort, but Piglet said nothing. The fact was Piglet was wishing that he had thought about it first.
    “I shall do it,” said Pooh, after waiting a little longer, “by means of a trap. And it must be a Cunning Trap, so you will have to help me, Piglet.”
    “Pooh,” said Piglet, feeling quite happy again now, “I will.” And then he said, “How shall we do it?” and Pooh said, “That’s just it. How?”