Rabbit, because he had such big ears, was the first to hear the Strange Sound carried on the breeze through the Hundred Acre Wood. “What was that?” he said suddenly.
Eeyore, who also had very sensitive ears, said “probably mud.”
Pooh hadn’t heard anything, so all he said was “What was what, Rabbit?”
Piglet had thought he might have heard a faint sound, but he felt too shy to mention it for fear of being wrong.
“Mud?” said Rabbit. “I was talking about a sound I heard, Eeyore.”
“So was I,” said Eeyore in a glum voice. “Sounded like mud to me.”
“How,” said Rabbit, “can mud make a noise?”
“Not an expert on mud,” said Eeyore, looking in the grass to see if there might be some thistles, “just thought that’s what it sounded like. Don’t make a big Question out of it. It’s only me, after all. Not like it’s Important.”
“But Eeyore,” Rabbit began, but stopped when the Strange Sound came again, but a bit louder this time. It was loud enough that everyone heard it this time, even Pooh.
“I don’t know what made the noise,” said Pooh, “but it sounded to me like a call for help.”
“Oh Pooh,” said Piglet, “do you think we should go try to help? It couldn’t be a trap set by a Heffalump, could it?”
“I don’t think so, Piglet,” said Pooh. “But if we all go together, I think we’ll be safe.”
“Mud doesn’t usually need help,” said Eeyore, who had found some thistles and had started munching on them.
“Maybe it’s someone stuck in some mud,” said Pooh, who had been thinking about mud after Eeyore mentioned it.
“Oh, we could all make a chain,” said Piglet excitedly, “holding on to each other, and that way we could reach Whoever It Is that’s stuck in the mud and help them out.”
“That,” said Pooh, “is a Very Good Idea, Piglet.”
Piglet was so pleased that the tips of his ears turned pink and he tried not to smile too much.
Rabbit was Vexed. “Why are we talking about mud?” he asked.
“Just tried to help,” said Eeyore, “just forget it. Like it didn’t happen.”
Rabbit started to nod, as if that was exactly what he wanted to do. But then Tigger bounced in from Somewhere Else and knocked Rabbit over. Roo, who had been bouncing along with Tigger, hopped up and said to everyone “We heard a noise! Maybe somebody is stuck in the mud somewhere! Do you think so, Rabbit? Do you, Eeyore?”
Eeyore, who was still chewing a mouthful of thistles, nodded seriously at Roo. Rabbit was still feeling too Bounced to say anything. So Pooh said “That’s just what we were saying, Roo. And Piglet had a Very Good Idea. Tell Roo your idea, Piglet.”
Piglet’s ears grew even pinker, but he told Roo and Tigger his idea anyway.
“Ooh, yes, let’s go right now before they sink into the mud!” said Roo excitedly. “Where do we find the mud, Pooh?”
Pooh started to think, but instead of thinking where the mud could be, he accidentally thought of a little Hum instead. So he said:
“If someone needs a little help,
he might let out a hopeful yelp.
And if his yelp was very lucky,
help would come make him unstucky.”
“That’s very good, Pooh,” said Piglet admiringly.
“I’m not sure about the ‘unstucky’,” said Pooh. “But it came along with ‘lucky’, and wanted to stay, so I let it.”
“Just like Roo came with Tigger,” said Piglet.
Just then Rabbit, who had been brushing himself off after being Bounced by Tigger, announced that if they were going to go find Whoever It Was that needed help, they should start right away.
“We shall go this way,” he said, and marched off in a Direction.
Everyone started after Rabbit. After they had gone a little way, just as Piglet realized that they were going in the direction of the river, they all heard the Strange Sound again. This time it was louder still. Now they could all hear that the sound was “Pillaloo! Pillaloo!”
“Don’t know anyone named ‘pillaloo’,” said Eeyore sadly.
“Oh no, Eeyore,” said Owl, who had just swooped down and landed on a branch nearby. “‘Pillaloo’ is what you call when you’re stuck in the mud and need someone to help you get out. You’ll find it used in Henry Murray’s book from 1857, you see, although he left out the mud.”
“Probably forgot,” said Eeyore gloomily.
“Ooh, after we help can I play in the mud?” asked Roo.
Rabbit said “No” at the same time Tigger said “Yes”, which made the answer hard to understand. “That means yes, that means yes!” chanted Roo happily.
Around a bend they saw that they had come to the river. And there, not quite in the water but not quite out of it either, was Whoever It Was. He was standing with all four feet deep in the mud, and he was stuck.
“Pillaloo!” shouted Whoever It Was. Then he noticed everyone coming closer and said, still in a loud voice, “Oy, ‘ello there. An’ I’m just needin’ a spot ‘o assistance, if y’ wouldna mind.”
Rabbit organdized everyone into a chain, just as Piglet had said, and in just a minute or two the Whoever It Was had been rescued from the mud and was standing on dry land again. He introduced himself politely as Fox, and explained that he had been passing through the Hundred Acre Wood on his way to Somewhere Else, and had been wanting to cross the river when he got stuck in the mud.
Pooh explained where Fox could find the bridge, where he could cross the river safely, and even, if he liked, play a game of Poohsticks. Fox was just saying he thought he would like Poohsticks, but he really ought to be getting along. But maybe on the way back…when there was another loud muddy noise. This one wasn’t anyone calling “Pillaloo” because they were stuck — it was Tigger and Roo bouncing into the mud and causing a Huge Splash.
Someone did shout out though. It was Rabbit, who had been standing closest to where Tigger landed in the mud, and was now covered in mud up to the tips of his ears.
“That sounded like mud too,” said Eeyore, ambling slowly toward a patch of thistles he had noticed.
Rabbit’s muddy ears drooped. “Pillaloo,” sighed Rabbit.
