Winnie-the-Pooh stepped out of his front door just after breakfast one morning. It was a lovely day, and he thought he would do his Stoutness Exercises in the fresh air. After that he would go visit Piglet, and perhaps they would go see how Tigger, Roo, and Kanga were getting on.
Pooh put his feet together to get ready to reach for his toes. His exercise used to be called “touching your toes,” but once Christopher Robin had said that was a silly name because Pooh had never really touched them; what he did was reach for them. After that, “reaching for your toes” was what the exercise was called. But there was some sort of speck in front of his nose. He waved a paw to brush it away, but it came right back.
Pooh turned around to face the other direction. The speck came too, and made a noise that sounded to Pooh just like one of his hums.
“Hmmm,” said Pooh, wondering what it was.
“Hmmm,” said the speck, which probably knew just what it was but wasn’t saying.
“Hullo?” said Pooh, wondering if that was what one said to a speck.
“Hmmm,” said the speck again, and landed on his nose.
Now that the speck wasn’t moving around, which it WOULD do, Pooh could cross his eyes and see that the speck looked like a tiny bird.
“Oh, hullo,” said Pooh. “I’m Pooh. Are you one of Rabbit’s friends and relations? I only ask because nearly everyone is, you know.”
“Hmmm,” said the bird. Then it leapt off of Pooh’s nose and hovered right in front of his face for another moment before flying to Pooh’s flower bed and visiting one flower after another. Then it landed back on his nose.
Pooh tried a few more times but the bird didn’t say anything more than “hmmm.” So he did his Stoutness Exercises (with the bird on his nose the whole time), then stumped down the path to Piglet’s house.
Piglet was outside watering his garden. “Hello, Pooh,” he said happily. “Isn’t this a lovely morning?”
“Yes,” said Pooh, “but there’s something in the air, Piglet.”
Piglet sniffed. “I don’t smell anything special, Pooh,” he said,
“No,” said Pooh, “I mean a tiny bird came to visit me this morning. She only says ‘hmmm,” and she’s in the air in front of my nose right now.”
Piglet looked. “I don’t see any birds, Pooh,” he said.
“You have to look very closely, Piglet,” said Pooh. “This bird is VERY tiny, and you can’t be Too Far Away or you can’t see her.”
“Oh,” said Piglet, coming closer. The bird helped by hovering in front of Piglet’s nose for a few moments. “Oh, yes, I see her!” said Piglet excitedly. “She is very tiny, Pooh. How did you notice her, I wonder?”
“The same way you’re noticing her right now,” said Pooh, who saw that the tiny bird was now sitting on Piglet’s nose.
“Ooh,” said Piglet nervously. As a Very Small Animal, Piglet was often nervous. In this case he wasn’t only nervous, since it was also quite exciting to meet an Even Smaller Animal. “Hello,” said Piglet to the tiny bird. “I’m Piglet. Who are you?”
“Hmmm,” said the bird.
“That,” said Pooh, “is all she says.”
“Maybe she’s a baby bird,” said Piglet, “who hasn’t learned her words yet.”
“That’s a very good idea, Piglet,” said Pooh. “But Piglet, if she’s a baby bird we ought to go to my house right away.”
“Why, Pooh?” asked Piglet.
“Because if she’s a baby bird,” said Pooh, “then she lives in a nest with her mother bird. Kanga is a mother, and you know what she’s always saying to Roo. ‘Don’t go too far from home.’ I first saw this bird outside my house, so maybe that’s where the mother bird is, looking for her baby.”
“Hmmm,” said the bird. Then she zipped through the air and visited each of the flowers in Piglet’s garden, one after the other. She zipped back to Piglet, did a loop in the air around his ears, and landed back on his nose.
“Pooh,” said Piglet.
“Yes Piglet?” said Pooh.
“Pooh, I don’t think this bird is a baby,” said Piglet. “Baby birds have to learn to fly. That’s what Owl says, and he’s a bird too. But this bird is Very Good at flying.”
The bird gave a pleased-sounding “hmmm” and flew another loop around Piglet’s ears.
“Should we go see Owl?” asked Piglet. “Maybe he’ll know how to talk to this bird.”
“Hmmm,” said the bird, sounding interested.
“I think, Piglet,” said Pooh, “that we should go to see Christopher Robin first.”
“Oh, Pooh, that’s a good idea,” said Piglet admiringly. “Let’s go.”
“Hmmm,” said the bird happily.
When they got to Christopher Robin’s house he was outside playing with a red rubber ball. “Oh, hello Pooh, hello Piglet,” he said happily.
“Hello Christopher Robin,” said Pooh. “There’s something in the air today.”
Christopher Robin sniffed. “There is?” he said. “My nose isn’t as good as yours, Pooh, or yours, Piglet. What can you smell?”
“It’s not a smell in the air,” said Pooh, “it’s a Very Tiny Bird.”
The bird flitted to Christopher Robin, hovered in front of his face for a moment, then landed on his nose.
“Hmmm,” said the bird.
“Aha,” said Christopher Robin, “so that’s where you’ve gone, Esmerelda. Did you have a nice visit with Pooh and Piglet?”
“Esmerelda?” said Pooh. “That’s a large name for a Very Tiny Bird. She hasn’t told us her name.”
“Hmmm,” said Esmerelda.
“That’s because Esmerelda is a humming bird,” said Christopher Robin. “She hums.”
“Yes,” said Pooh, “we know.”
“Hmmm,” said Esmerelda happily.
There was a clopping sound and Dromedary came along the path. “Hello, Christopher Robin. Greetings, Pooh and Piglet,” said Dromedary. “Well bless my two humps, is that a hummingbird?”
“This is Esmerelda,” said Christopher Robin.
“Hummingbirds,” said Dromedary, have the highest metabolism of any homeothermic animal. That means they’re always interested in eating.”
Esmerelda zipped off of Christopher Robin’s nose and began to visit each flower in his garden.
“I must have that sort of meta-bolish too,” said Pooh, “Eating is very interesting to me, too.”
“Silly old bear,” said Christopher Robin.
“Hmmm,” said Esmerelda.
