“The problem is, Piglet,” said Pooh, “the problem is that I’m not sure about how many.”
“How many what, Pooh?” asked Piglet. They were in Pooh’s house, Getting Ready.
“How many pots of hunny, Piglet. I shall want a Little Something when we are on Rabbit’s outing, and a pot of hunny is just the sort of Little Something I’ll want. But one? Or shall I bring two?”
“Pooh,” said Piglet, who had wrapped some haycorns in a handkerchief for just the same reason, “if you bring two and you only want one, can’t you just bring the other one home with you?”
“Piglet!” said Pooh happily, “that is a Very Good Idea indeed! Thank you.”
Piglet blushed just a bit. “You’re welcome, Pooh,” he said humbly. “I’m glad I could help.”
“You helped a Great Deal, Piglet,” said Pooh. “I shall bring three pots.”
He chose three pots from his cupboard, closed them tightly, and wrapped them in a tablecloth. Then he picked up the tablecloth and said “Now, Piglet, we can go to the Gathering Place. Where did Rabbit say it was?”
“Rabbit said we should meet at Eeyore’s meadow,” said Piglet. He had been standing on one foot, then the other, then the first one again for the past few minutes. He had been doing this because while he waited he was also worrying. If they were late, Rabbit might start the outing without them.
But now Pooh was ready and they set out on the path to Eeyore’s meadow. Pooh stumped along the path and Piglet scampered beside him as usual. Today Piglet’s scampering was a bit quicker than usual because he was so excited about the Outing. Rabbit had announced that they were all going to pay a visit to something outside the Hundred Acre Wood, and they would see New Things they hadn’t seen before. Piglet was a little nervous, because he was a Very Small Animal. He thought that he’d be perfectly safe, though, because everyone would be there. Especially Pooh.
They came around the last bend in the path and saw Eeyore’s meadow. Piglet was glad to see that the others hadn’t left without them. In fact they weren’t even the last ones to arrive; Kanga, Roo, and Tigger weren’t there yet, and neither were Otter and Turtle.
When Piglet and Pooh joined everyone in Eeyore’s meadow, Rabbit was rushing around counting everyone and muttering “oh for goodness sakes, where are they? I told them not to be late. My stars…”
“Oh don’t get your ears in a twist,” said Otter, who had just arrived.
“Otter! Turtle!” cried Rabbit, “where have you been? Didn’t I say we’d be gathering at ten o’clock sharp?”
“Your outing has not been whemmled, Rabbit,” said Turtle.
“Quite right,” agreed Otter, “and being a bit late is not at all the same thing as being ragmatical, after all.”
“Whemmled? Ragmatical?” said Rabbit, his ears drooping a bit. “Well I’ll tell you who else is late, at least. Where can Kanga be? And Roo? Roo will have such a good time on my outing…”
“And Tigger,” said Eeyore, who was sadly munching on some thistles. “Don’t forget about him, Rabbit.”
“Oh,” said Rabbit. “Yes,” Rabbit said. “Tigger,” said Rabbit. “I suppose he will be coming, won’t he. I don’t suppose he might have Somewhere Else to Be?”
“That,” said Owl, “is especially unlikely when it comes to Tigger. He is not a fellow who scrupulously adheres to a predetermined schedule, you know. And Roo always has much more fun when Tigger comes too.”
“I suppose so,” said Rabbit unhappily. “But I do wish…”
Rabbit couldn’t finish whatever it was he was going to wish because just as he was about to say what he wished, he was Bounced from behind.
“Hullo there, Longears!” said Tigger, who had done the bouncing. “Sorry we’re a little late. Roo was taking a nap.”
“I was not,” said Roo, who didn’t like to admit anything about naps.
“Now, Roo dear,” said Kanga, “there’s nothing wrong with naps, and you know it.”
“Don’t like naps,” grumbled Roo.
“What are we waitin’ for?” said Tigger. “Let’s hit the road!” He gave a bounce or two, just as a test.
Rabbit was still organizing people into groups and pointing to where they should stand in line when Tigger started leading everyone off down the path.
“Wait! Stop!”yelled Rabbit. He dashed past everyone and stopped in front of Tigger, holding up his paw. Tigger stopped. “What’s up, Longears?” he asked.
“You’re going,” said Rabbit, “the wrong way.”
Tigger laughed and turned around. “Come on, folks,” he said, “Rabbit says it’s this way instead!”
Rabbit stayed where he was, his ears drooping. The line of animals kept coming up to Rabbit, then turning to go the other way. Pooh and Piglet were almost at the end. When Pooh arrived in front of Rabbit, he said “don’t worry, Rabbit, everyone knows it’s really your Outing.”
“You should run up to the front,” said Piglet, “Tigger doesn’t know the way.”
Rabbit’s ears perked up. “That’s right!” he said. “I’ve got to make sure we get there!” And Rabbit hopped off to the front of the line.
“That was another good idea, Piglet,” said Pooh.
Piglet didn’t say anything, but Pooh thought he looked pleased.
“That Rabbit can be a bit captious when it comes to Tigger,” said Otter to Turtle.
“He’s just hoping this doesn’t turn into a callithump,” Turtle supposed.
Before very long Rabbit led everyone to the edge of the Hundred Acre Wood. They could tell it was the edge because of the signs, which Owl assured everyone said “This is the Edge of the Hundred Acre Wood.” Turtle muttered to Otter “I only counted two words on those signs. I think Owl might not be reading them quite rightly.”
“The signs say ‘no hunting’,” said Otter. “But never mind, Turtle, it really is the edge of the woods. You can tell because of the way there aren’t any more trees.”
Rabbit led everyone across a road and up some steps to a place that had some benches to sit on. Tigger and Roo practiced bouncing on the benches for a while, but then they stopped because they heard A Sound.
“Pooh, did you hear that?” asked Piglet nervously. “I think it might have been a heffalump.”
Pooh scratched his chin. “I don’t think so, Piglet,” he said. “I think heffalumps sound more…more like…they sound different,” he concluded.
“What do you think it was, Pooh?” asked Piglet.
“That,” said Turtle, “was a blare, a hoot, a honk, a resound. It was, Piglet, a whistle!”
“It was not,” said Owl carefully, “a hoot.”
“Never mind all that,” said Otter, “none of you are helping Piglet. What it was, Piglet,” was a train whistle. And not dangerous at all,” he added.
“Train wissle, train wissle, train wissle” shouted Roo excitedly, bouncing on one of the benches again.
“It can’t be very well trained if it’s making all that noise,” said Tigger.
“That reminds me of my nephew Offenhauser,” said Owl. “At a family reunion in a large oak tree, Offenhauser let out a hoot of such astonishing volume and clarity that…”
“Look at that!” called Roo, pointing. Something huge and metal was approaching. “Is that a woozle?” he asked.
“Don’t be alarmed anyone,” said Turtle, “it’s just a train. And we seem to be at a station, so it’s going to stop so people can get on and off.”
“Just as I suspected,” said Eeyore gloomily. “Get on. Get off. Forget your station. Wind up lost. Never find your way back. Lah-di-dah, that’s the way of it.”
“Everyone just be quiet for a moment,” said Rabbit, very loudly. “This is the whole idea of the Outing. We are going for a Train Ride.”
Everyone stayed quiet while they tried to understand what Rabbit meant. Otter and Turtle, who had ridden on trains before, looked at each other. “Oh well,” said Otter, “it’s better than a capriole on the nose, I suppose.”
“Just a moment,” said Turtle, “I believe the cardophagus has something to say.”
Eeyore, had pushed his way to the front where he could see the train approaching. “Yup,” he said, swishing his tail, “it’s a train all right. Used to live in a pasture where the things went right past, twice a day. Just a bother if you ask me. But that black horse I shared the pasture with didn’t like him at all. Trains just went past, though. Never got a ride.”
Everyone was still while the train came to a stop just in front of them. The whistle tooted once more, and Rabbit said “Well come on, it’s time.”
“Time for what?” asked Piglet.
“Time to get on the train, of course,” said Rabbit. “It’s not going to wait forever.” Rabbit stepped up to the door of the train and started to climb aboard.
“Rabbit,” said Pooh, “where is the train going to take us?”
“I’m not going,” said Eeyore, looking at the train suspiciously. “That black horse always said these contraptions were no good.”
“Excuse me,” said Owl, “but I do have that appointment, and I really oughtn’t to break it…” and with that Owl flew away, back in the direction of the Hundred Acre Wood.
“Piglet,” said Pooh, “I think we should stay right here for a while, until I have a Little Something. Would you like to join me?”
“Oh yes, Pooh,” said Piglet gratefully. As a Very Small Animal he found the train frightening, even though Rabbit has said it was safe. Pooh sat down on a bench, took a jar of hunny out of his tablecloth, and started to eat.
“After a bit of cogitation, I think I”d rather just go down my slide a few times,” said Otter.
“A capital idea,” agreed Turtle. They and started back toward the Hundred Acre Wood.
“Doesn’t ANYONE want to ride the train?” wailed Rabbit.
“No thank you, Rabbit dear,” said Kanga. “But it was a very nice Outing indeed.”
The train tooted its whistle again and began to move away.
“Train wissle train wissle train wissle!” shouted Roo, still bouncing on a bench.
“Come on, Roo,” said Tigger, “Race you back to the woods!”
Soon the only ones on the platform were Rabbit, Pooh, and Piglet.
“Would you like a haycorn, Rabbit?” asked Piglet.
“No,” said Rabbit. “My Outing was a disaster.”
“Nonsense,” said Pooh, his mouth full of hunny. “It was a very good Outing, Rabbit. We had a trip outside the Hundred Acre Wood and we got to see a train. And not only that,” he said, smacking his lips. “They serve a very nice lunch here.
