marched Bear; down open slopes of gorse and heather, over rocky beds of
streams, up steep banks of sandstone into the heather again; and so at
last, tired and hungry, to the Hundred Acre Wood. For it was in the
Hundred Acre Wood that Owl lived.
"And if anyone knows anything about anything," said Bear to himself,
"it's Owl who knows something about something," he said, "or my name's
not Winnie-the-Pooh," he said. "Which it is," he added. "So there you
are."
Owl lived at The Chestnuts, an old-world residence of great charm, which
was grander than anybody else's, or seemed so to Bear, because it had
both a knocker and a bell-pull. Underneath the knocker there was a
notice which said:
PLES RING IF AN RNSER IS REQIRD.
Underneath the bell-pull there was a notice which said:
PLEZ CNOKE IF AN RNSR IS NOT REQID.


These notices had been written by Christopher Robin, who was the only
one in the forest who could spell; for Owl, wise though he was in many
ways, able to read and write and spell his own name WOL, yet somehow
went all to pieces over delicate words like MEASLES and BUTTEREDTOAST.
Winnie-the-Pooh read the two notices very carefully, first from left to
right, and afterwards, in case he had missed some of it, from right to
left. Then, to make quite sure, he knocked and pulled the knocker, and
he pulled and knocked the bell-rope, and he called out in a very loud
voice, "Owl! I require an answer! It's Bear speaking." And the door
opened, and Owl looked out.
"Hallo, Pooh," he said. "How's things?"
"Terrible and Sad," said Pooh, "because Eeyore, who is a friend of mine,
has lost his tail. And he's Moping about it. So could you very kindly
tell me how to find it for him?"
"Well," said Owl, "the customary procedure in such cases is as follows."
"What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean?" said Pooh. "For I am a Bear of
Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me."
"It means the Thing to Do."
"As long as it means that, I don't mind," said Pooh humbly.