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Introduction
If you happen to
have read another book about Christopher Robin, you may remember that he
once had a swan (or the swan had Christopher Robin, I don’t know which),
and that he used to call this swan Pooh. That was a long time ago, and when
we said goodbye, we took the name with us, as we didn’t think the swan
would want it any more. Well, when Edward Bear said that he would like
an exciting name all to himself, (Christopher Robin said at once,
without stopping to think, that he was Winnie-the-Pooh. And he was. So, as I have
explained the Pooh part, I will now explain the rest of it.
You can’t
be in London for long without going to the Zoo. There are some people who
begin the Zoo at the beginning, called WAYIN, and walk as quickly as they
can past every cage until they get to the one called WAYOUT, but the
nicest people go straight to the animal they love the most, and stay
there. So when Christopher Robin goes to the Zoo, he goes to where the
Polar Bears are, and he whispers something to the third keeper from the
left, and doors are unlocked, and we wander through dark passages and up
steep stairs, until at last we come to the special cage, and the cage is
opened, and out trots something brown and furry, and with a happy cry of
"Oh, Bear!" Christopher Robin rushes into its arms. Now this bear’s name
is Winnie, which shows what a good name for bears it is, but the funny
thing is that we can’t remember whether Winnie is called after Pooh, or
Pooh after Winnie. We did know once, but we have forgotten ....
I had
written as far as this when Piglet looked up and said in his squeaky
voice, "What about Me?" "My dear Piglet," I said, "the whole book is about
you." “So it is about Pooh," he squeaked. You see what it is. He is
jealous because he thinks Pooh is having a Grand Introduction all to
himself. Pooh is the favourite, of course, there’s no denying it, but
Piglet comes in for a good many things which Pooh misses; because you
can’t take Pooh to school without everybody knowing it, but Piglet is so
small that he slips into a pocket, where it is very comforting to feel him
when you are not quite sure whether twice seven is twelve or twenty-two.
Sometimes he slips out and has a good look in the inkpot, and in this way
he has got more education than Pooh, but Pooh doesn’t mind. Some have
brains, and some haven’t, he says, and there it is.
And now all the
others are saying, “What about Us?" So perhaps the best thing to do is to
stop writing Introductions and get on with the book.
A. A.
M.
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”くまのプーさん”の別の読み方。
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