Alan Alexander Miln. The house at Pooh Corner -
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"Now, Pooh," he said, "when I say 'Now!' you can drop
it. Eeyore, when I say 'Now!' Pooh will drop his stone."
"Thank you very much, Rabbit, but I expect I shall
know."
"Are you ready, Pooh? Piglet, give Pooh a little more
room. Get back a bit there, Roo. Are you ready?"
"No," said Eeyore.
"Now!" said Rabbit.
Pooh dropped his stone. There was a loud splash, and
Eeyore disappeared....
It was an anxious moment for the watchers on the
bridge. They looked and looked . . . and even the sight of
Piglet's stick coming out a little in front of Rabbit's didn't
cheer them up as much as you would have expected. And then,
just as Pooh was beginning to think that he must have chosen
the wrong stone or the wrong river or the wrong day for his
Idea, something grey showed for a moment by the river bank . .
. and it got slowly bigger and bigger . . . and at last it was
Eeyore coming, out.
With a shout they rushed off the bridge, and pushed and
pulled at him; and soon he was standing among them again on dry
land.
"Oh, Eeyore, you are wet!" said Piglet, feeling him.
Eeyore shook himself, and asked somebody to explain to
Piglet what happened when you had been inside a river for quite
a long time.
"Well done, Pooh," said Rabbit kindly. "That was a good
idea of ours."
"What was?" asked Eeyore.
"Hooshing you to the bank like that."
"Hooshing me?" said Eeyore in surprise. "Hooshing me?
You didn't think I was hooshed, did you? I dived. Pooh dropped
a large stone on me, and so as not to be struck heavily on the
chest, I dived and swam to the bank."
"You didn't really," whispered Piglet to Pooh, so as to
comfort him.
"I didn't think I did," said Pooh anxiously.