Page:The House at Pooh Corner (1961).pdf/119

 know what that means, when I received a loud BOUNCE.”

“Oh, Eeyore!” said everybody.

“Are you sure you didn’t slip?” asked Rabbit wisely.

“Of course I slipped. If you’re standing on the slippery bank of a river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did you think I did?”



“But who did it?” asked Roo.

Eeyore didn’t answer.

“I expect it was Tigger,” said Piglet nervously.

“But, Eeyore,” said Pooh, “was it a Joke, or an Accident? I mean”

“I didn’t stop to ask, Pooh. Even at the very bottom of the river I didn’t stop to say to myself, ‘ this a Hearty Joke, or is it the Merest Accident?’ I just floated to the surface, and said to myself ‘It’s wet.’ If you know what I mean.”