Chapter XLIV : In Which Piglet Reaches His Breaking Point

- December 02, 2021

Friday Writings #5: A Second(ary) Look

"...craft your pieces from the point of view of a secondary character in a story (book, TV show, movie, etc.)"

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Oh, Pooh,

my friend.

Oh, Edward Bear,*

you of little brain.

So stuffed with fluff,

and tubby,

who stands out in the rain.

Why, oh, why

are you the star,

the one the ballads praise,

for getting stuck in rabbit’s door,

too fat to move for days?

While I, a pig

of stature small,

am pegged forever more

as “Friend of Pooh,”

(although that’s true)

I am an afterthought.

To tell the truth,

you put on airs,

for instance with your “ther.”*

As though the forest should bow down

to one with honey in his fur.

I play my part

as loyal friend,

but when the evening comes,

a teeny tiny voodoo bear

gets pins poked in the tums.

*Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne, begins with this introduction.

"Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you. Winnie-the-Pooh.

When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say, ‘But I thought he was a boy?’

‘So did I,’ said Christopher Robin.

‘Then you can’t call him Winnie?’

‘I don’t.’

‘But you said –’

‘He’s Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don’t you know what “ther” means?’

‘Ah, yes, now I do,’ I said quickly; and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get."

And that there "ther" separates the Book Pooh People from the Disney Pooh People!