Читать книгу The House at Pooh Corner - A. A. Milne, A.A. Milne - Страница 5

An Introduction is to introduce people, but Christopher Robin and his friends, who have already been introduced to you, are now going to say Goodbye. So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the opposite of an Introduction was he said ‘The what of a what?’ which didn’t help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head and told us that the Opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that that’s what it is.

Why we are having a Contradiction is because last week when Christopher Robin said to me, ‘What about that story you were going to tell me about what happened to Pooh when –’ I happened to say very quickly, ‘What about nine times a hundred and seven?’ And when we had done that one, we had one about cows going through a gate at two a minute, and there are three hundred in the field, so how many are left after an hour and a half? We find these very exciting, and when we have been excited quite enough, we curl up and go to sleep … and Pooh, sitting wakeful a little longer on his chair by our pillow, thinks Grand Thoughts to himself about Nothing, until he, too, closes his eyes and nods his head, and follows us on tiptoe into the Forest. There, still, we have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we can catch hold of them. How did the last one begin? ‘One day when Pooh was walking in the Forest, there were one hundred and seven cows on a gate … ’ No, you see, we have lost it. It was the best, I think. Well, here are some of the other ones, all that we shall remember now. But, of course it isn’t really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be there … and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.

A. A. M.