on telling Christopher Robin about an accident which had nearly happened
to a friend of his whom Christopher Robin didn't know, and Kanga said to
Roo, "Drink up your milk first, dear, and talk afterwards." So Roo, who
was drinking his milk, tried to say that he could do both at once ...
and had to be patted on the back and dried for quite a long time
afterwards.


When they had all nearly eaten enough, Christopher Robin banged on the
table with his spoon, and everybody stopped talking and was very silent,
except Roo who was just finishing a loud attack of hiccups and trying to
look as if it was one of Rabbit's relations.


"This party," said Christopher Robin, "is a party because of what
someone did, and we all know who it was, and it's his party, because of
what he did, and I've got a present for him and here it is." Then he
felt about a little and whispered, "Where is it?"
While he was looking, Eeyore coughed in an impressive way and began to
speak.
"Friends," he said, "including oddments, it is a great pleasure, or
perhaps I had better say it has been a pleasure so far, to see you at my
party. What I did was nothing. Any of you—except Rabbit and Owl and
Kanga—would have done the same. Oh, and Pooh. My remarks do not, of
course, apply to Piglet and Roo, because they are too small. Any of you
would have done the same. But it just happened to be Me. It was not, I
need hardly say, with an idea of getting what Christopher Robin is
looking for now"—and he put his front leg to his mouth and said in a
loud whisper, "Try under the table"—"that I did what I did—but because
I feel that we should all do what we can to help. I feel that we should
all——"
"H—hup!" said Roo accidentally.
"Roo, dear!" said Kanga reproachfully.
"Was it me?" asked Roo, a little surprised.
"What's Eeyore talking about?" Piglet whispered to Pooh.
"I don't know," said Pooh rather dolefully.
"I thought this was your party."
"I thought it was once. But I suppose it isn't."