Eeyore's Birthday

IN WHICH EEYORE HAS A BIRTHDAY AND GETS TWO PRESENTS

Down by the stream, where the water swirled and sparkled, stood Eeyore, the old grey donkey. He looked down into the water and saw his own face looking back at him. He saw his long ears and his sad eyes.

"Oh, dear," he said to himself in a whisper. "How very sad."

He turned and walked slowly along the muddy bank. Swish, swash, went his hooves in the soft grass. Then he splashed through the cool water to the other side of the stream and walked all the way back. He looked into the water again.

"Just as I thought," he sighed. "I look just as sad from over here. But nobody minds. Nobody seems to notice."

Just then, there was a crackle-crackle-snap in the ferns behind him, and out came Winnie-the-Pooh.

"Good morning, Eeyore," said Pooh.

"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore in a low, slow voice. "If it is a good morning. Which I'm not so sure about."

"Why, what's the matter?" asked Pooh.

"Oh, nothing," said Eeyore. "Some of us are happy and some of us are... not. That's just how it is."

"Happy about what?" asked Pooh, rubbing his nose.

"Singing and dancing. Hopping and skipping," said Eeyore. "I'm not complaining, but... there it is."

Pooh sat down on a big, warm stone. He tried to think very hard. It sounded like a riddle, and Pooh was not a Bear for Riddles. He was a Bear for Songs. So, he sang a little hummy song instead.

When he finished, Eeyore didn't say anything at all. He just kept staring at his sad face in the water.

"You seem so sad, Eeyore," said Pooh softly.

"Sad?" said Eeyore, turning his head. "Why would I be sad? It's my birthday. The happiest day of the year."

"Your birthday?" said Pooh, his eyes opening wide with surprise.

"Of course it is," said Eeyore. "Can't you see all my presents?" He waved a grey hoof from side to side. "And look at my birthday cake. With the pink sugar on top."

Pooh looked to his right. He saw only buttercups. He looked to his left. He saw only tall green reeds.

"Presents?" asked Pooh. "Birthday cake? Where?"

"Can't you see them?" asked Eeyore.

"No," said Pooh.

"Neither can I," said Eeyore. "It's a joke. Ha ha."

Pooh scratched the fur behind his ear. "But is it really, truly your birthday?"

"It is."

"Oh! Well, a very happy birthday, Eeyore!"

"And a very happy birthday to you, Pooh Bear."

"But it isn't my birthday," said Pooh.

"No," said Eeyore. "It's mine."

"But you said 'happy birthday' to me."

"Well, why not?" asked Eeyore. "You don't want to be sad on my birthday, do you?" His voice started to wobble. "It's bad enough that I'm sad... with no presents... and no cake... and no one taking any notice of me at all..."

This was too much for Pooh. "Stay right there!" he called to Eeyore. He turned and hurried away as fast as his fluffy legs could carry him. He had to get Eeyore a present right away!

Outside his own house, he found Piglet. Piglet was jumping up and down, stretching his little arms, trying to reach the door knocker.

"Hello, Piglet," said Pooh.

"Hello, Pooh," said Piglet.

"What are you trying to do?"

"I was trying to knock on the door," said Piglet.

"Here, let me," said Pooh kindly. He reached up and knocked on the door. Tap-tap-tap. "I just saw Eeyore," he said to Piglet, "and he is very, very sad. It's his birthday, and nobody remembered, and... my goodness. The bear in this house is taking a long time to open the door." And he knocked again. Louder this time.

"But Pooh," said Piglet in a small voice, "it's your own house!"

"Oh!" said Pooh. "So it is! Well then, let's go in."

Inside, the first thing Pooh did was go to his cupboard. He looked for a jar of honey. He found one, a smallish one, right at the back. He took it down.

"I am giving this to Eeyore for his birthday," he told Piglet. "What are you going to give him?"

"Could... could I give it, too?" asked Piglet. "From both of us?"

"No," said Pooh. "That is not a good plan."

"Oh. All right, then. I'll give him a balloon! I have one left from my party. I'll go get it now!"

"That, Piglet," said Pooh, "is a very good idea. A balloon makes everyone happy."

So Piglet trotted off to his house, and Pooh started his walk to Eeyore, carrying the jar of honey.

It was a warm, sunny day. The path was long. Pooh hadn't gone very far when a funny feeling started in his tummy. A rumbly-tumbly feeling. It was time, his tummy told him, for a little something.

"Oh, dear," said Pooh. "I didn't know it was that late." He sat down under a shady tree and took the lid off the jar. "It's lucky I brought this with me," he thought. And he began to eat the sweet, sticky honey. Lick, lick, lick.

"Now, where was I going?" he thought, as he took the last, delicious lick from inside the jar. "Ah, yes. Eeyore." He stood up slowly.

And then he remembered. He had eaten Eeyore's birthday present!

"Oh, bother!" said Pooh. "What shall I do? I must give him something."

He thought and thought. Then he looked at the empty honey pot. "Well," he thought, "it is a very nice pot. If I wash it, Eeyore could keep things in it. It could be a Useful Pot."

So he went to Owl's house in the Hundred Acre Wood.

"Good morning, Owl," said Pooh.

"Good morning, Pooh," said Owl.

"A happy birthday to Eeyore," said Pooh.

"What are you giving him, Owl?"

"What are you giving him, Pooh?"

"I'm giving him a Useful Pot to Keep Things In," said Pooh proudly. "And I wanted to ask you..."

"Is this it?" said Owl, taking the pot from Pooh's paw. "Someone has been keeping honey in it."

"You can keep anything in it," said Pooh. "And I wanted to ask... could you write 'A Happy Birthday' on it for me? My spelling is a bit wobbly."

"Of course," said Owl. Pooh washed the pot until it was shiny and clean. Owl licked the end of his pencil and began to write. He wrote and he wrote.

When he was finished, it said: HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY.

"It's very long," said Pooh, very impressed.

"Well," said Owl, "I am actually writing 'A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh.' That takes a lot of pencil."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh. And he took the Useful Pot and went to find Eeyore.

While all this was happening, Piglet ran to his house to get the balloon. It was big and red and beautiful. He held it very tightly so it wouldn't float away. He ran as fast as his little legs could go, because he wanted to be the very first one to give Eeyore a present.

He was running and thinking about how happy Eeyore would be, and he didn't look where he was going... and suddenly, his foot went into a rabbit hole, and he fell down flat on his face.

BANG!

The noise was so loud! Piglet lay very still. Then, slowly, he got up and looked around. He was still in the forest. "That's funny," he thought. "Where's my balloon?"

He looked down. On the ground was a little, wrinkly piece of red rubber.

It was the balloon.

"Oh, dear," whispered Piglet. "Oh, dearie, dearie, dear." He picked up the little scrap. "I can't go back now. And I don't have another one. Maybe... maybe Eeyore doesn't like balloons very much anyway."

Feeling very sad, he walked the rest of the way to the stream where Eeyore was standing.

"Good morning, Eeyore," Piglet called out.

"Good morning, Little Piglet," said Eeyore. "If it is a good morning. Not that it matters."

"Happy birthday!" said Piglet.

Eeyore stopped looking at the water and stared at Piglet. "Say that again," he said.

"Happy-"

"Wait," said Eeyore. He slowly lifted one of his back hooves up to his ear. "So I can hear better," he explained. "Now, what were you saying?"

"A happy birthday!" said Piglet again, a little louder.

"For me?"

"Of course, Eeyore."

"My birthday?"

"Yes! And I've brought you a present."

Eeyore put his hoof down. "A present?"

"Yes," said Piglet.

"For my real birthday?"

"Yes, Eeyore. I brought you a balloon."

"A balloon?" said Eeyore. "A big, colored, floaty thing?"

"Yes," said Piglet. "But I'm very, very sorry, Eeyore. When I was running to bring it to you... I fell down."

"Oh, dear," said Eeyore. "How unlucky. You didn't hurt yourself, did you, Little Piglet?"

"No, but... I... I... oh, Eeyore, I burst the balloon!"

There was a long, quiet moment.

"My balloon?" said Eeyore at last.

Piglet nodded, his ears drooping.

"My birthday balloon?"

"Yes, Eeyore," sniffed Piglet. "Here it is. With... with happy birthday." He held out the small, wrinkly piece of red.

Eeyore looked at it. "Is this it?"

Piglet nodded.

"My present?"

Piglet nodded again.

"The balloon?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Piglet," said Eeyore softly. "What... what color was it, when it was a balloon?"

"Red."

"Red," he whispered to himself. "My favorite color... And how big was it?"

"About as big as me."

"About as big as Piglet," Eeyore mumbled sadly. "My favorite size. Well, well."

Piglet felt so miserable, he didn't know what to say. Just then, a happy shout came from the other side of the stream. It was Pooh!

"Happy birthday!" called Pooh.

"Thank you, Pooh," said Eeyore. "I'm having one."

Pooh splashed through the water. "I've brought you a present!" he said excitedly. "It's a Useful Pot! And it says 'A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh' right on it. You can keep things in it. There!"

Eeyore looked at the empty honey pot. His eyes suddenly grew wide and bright.

"Why!" he said. "I do believe my Balloon will fit perfectly into that Pot!"

"Oh no, Eeyore," said Pooh. "Balloons are much too big for pots."

"Not mine," said Eeyore proudly. "Look, Piglet!"

Piglet looked up. Eeyore gently picked up the little piece of red balloon with his teeth and carefully placed it inside the pot. Then he tipped the pot over and it slid out onto the grass. Then he picked it up again and put it carefully back inside.

"So it does!" said Pooh. "It goes in!"

"So it does!" said Piglet. "And it comes out!"

"Doesn't it?" said Eeyore. "It goes in and out beautifully."

"I'm so glad," said Pooh happily, "that I gave you a Useful Pot to put things in."

"And I'm so glad," said Piglet happily, "that I gave you Something to put in a Useful Pot."

But Eeyore wasn't listening. He was taking his balloon out of his pot, and putting it back in again, as happy as a donkey could ever be.