Alan Alexander Miln. The house at Pooh Corner -
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would do it again?" And he went back for some more fir-cones.
It did. It kept on doing it. Then he dropped two in at
once, and leant over the bridge to see which of them would come
out first; and one of them did; but as they were both the same
size, he didn't know if it was the one which he wanted to win,
or the other one. So the next time he dropped one big one and
one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what
he had said it would do, and the little one came out last,
which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice . .
. and when he went home for tea, he had won thirty-six and lost
twenty-eight, which meant that he was-- that he had--well, you
take twenty-eight from thirty-six, and that's what he was.
Instead of the other way round.
And that was the beginning of the game called
Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends
used to play on the edge of the Forest. But they played with
sticks instead of fir-cones, because they were easier to mark.
Now one day Pooh and Piglet and Rabbit and Roo were all
playing Poohsticks together. They had dropped their sticks in
when Rabbit said "Go!" and then they had hurried across to the
other side of the bridge, and now they were all leaning over
the edge, waiting to see whose stick would come out first. But
it was a long time coming, because the river was very lazy that
day, and hardly seemed to mind if it didn't ever get there at
all.
"I can see mine!" cried Roo. "No, I can't, it's
something else. Can you see yours, Piglet? I thought I could
see mine, but I couldn't. There it is! No, it isn't. Can you
see yours, Pooh?"
"No," said Pooh.
"I expect my stick's stuck," said Roo. "Rabbit, my