The Three Rabbits
Cliff Williams
One day Ann, Meghan, and Katie find themselves on an adventure in the Forest with a strange bear.
"Everyone likes a good bounce, and this story bounces." – Tigger
"There aren't any thistles in the story, but it is still okay." – Eeyore
Once there were three rabbits who lived in the Forest. Their names were Ann, Meghan, and Katie. Ann lived next to a dandelion patch, Meghan lived behind a large oak tree, and Katie lived on the other side of the pond.
One day Ann decided to go on an Adventure. She put a green bow on her tail, combed the hair on her ears and set off to see if Meghan and Katie wanted to go with her. She went to Meghan’s house first. When she got there, she found a note tacked to the door. It said, “Gone on an Adventure. Back later.”
“Hmmm,” said Ann. “I wonder where she went.” She thought for a minute. “Maybe Katie is home. I’ll go see if she wants to come with me.”
When Ann got to Katie’s house, she found a note tacked on her front door. It said, “Went with Meghan on an Adventure. Back later.”
“I guess I’ll have to go by myself,” Ann thought to herself. So she started wandering through the Forest.
After a few minutes of walking here and there, and there and here, she came to a hole. It was in the middle of an ivy spread. “I wonder what’s in this hole,” Ann asked herself. “I think I’ll go in and see.”
Ann poked her head into the hole, then her body and lastly her legs. Just as she pulled the last part of herself in, she encountered two bright eyes staring back at her. “Uh, oh. I better get out,” she exclaimed. She scrambled out of the hole so fast that she did a backwards somersault onto the ivy.
“I wonder what that was,” she said.
“It’s not what,” a voice said. “It’s who.”
Standing before Ann was a soft, furry bear.
“Who are you?” she asked with astonishment.
“I’m Edward. And who are you?” “I’m Ann.”
The two looked at each other for a minute. Then Ann said, “I’m on an Adventure, and I saw this hole, so I went in and saw two eyes.”
“They were my eyes,” Edward said.
“Oh,” said Ann. “Did you say you are on an Adventure?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere in particular,” Ann replied.
“Would you mind if I came along?” asked Edward.
“Yes, I mean, No, I don’t mind. I wanted Meghan and Katie to come with me but they weren’t home, so maybe you can come and show me some Adventuresome Places.”
“Would you like to go to the stream?”
“Yes, let’s go there,” replied Ann.
The two started for the stream.
While Ann was meeting Edward, Meghan and Katie were having their own Adventure. They had gone to the stream to see if they could find any Unusual Animals. After looking around for awhile and not finding any, Meghan said, “Let’s pretend that we’re Woozles.”
“Okay,” said Katie. “What do they do?”
“I don’t know,” replied Meghan.
“Maybe they swim in the water with just their noses showing,” suggested Katie.
“Yes, that must be it,” Meghan responded excitedly. She ran to the edge of the stream and jumped in. Katie ran after her and jumped in, too. The two of them swam to the middle of the stream, turned downstream and started swimming with only their noses showing. A ripple spread out behind each nose.
At that very moment, Ann and Edward burst out of the trees beside the stream at the spot where the two noses were making their way downstream.
“Look at that!” Ann exclaimed.
“It looks like Woozles,” said Edward.
“Is that what Woozles do?” asked Ann.
“Yes,” Edward replied. “They swim just under the surface so that all you can see is their noses.”
The two noses kept swimming and soon were out of sight.
“I can’t wait to tell Meghan and Katie,” Ann said. “They’ll wish they had been with us.”
“Where should we go now?” asked Edward.
“Let’s just walk around in the Forest,” Ann replied. So they went back to the trees and started walking.
Pretty soon they came to a large hole in the ground.
“Wow! What a big hole,” Ann said. “I wonder what it’s for.”
“It’s a heffalump trap,” said Edward.
“A heffalump trap?” asked Ann.
“Yes,” replied Edward. “You put branches over the hole, and on the branches you put leaves so it looks like the ground. Then when a heffalump comes along, it falls in.”
“Oh,” Ann said. And then she added, “Why don’t we jump in and pretend we’re Heffalumps?”
“That sounds fun,” Edward replied.
The two jumped into the hole.
“What do heffalumps do when they’re in a heffalump trap?” asked Ann.
“They make loud ‘Harumph’s’,” replied Edward, “like this.” Edward harumphed.
Then Ann harumphed. Edward harumphed again, and then they both harumphed.
Just as the two of them were harumphing, Meghan and Katie, who had gotten tired of being Woozles and had started for home, came along.
“That’s a weird noise,” exclaimed Meghan.
“It sounds like heffalumps,” Katie said.
“Are we near the Heffalump trap?” asked Meghan.
“Yes,” replied Katie. “It’s just ahead of us.”
“Let’s go tell Ann,” said Meghan excitedly. “I’ll bet she’s never seen a Heffalump.”
Meghan and Katie hurried off to find Ann.
When Edward and Ann got tired of pretending to be heffalumps, they climbed out of the heffalump trap.
“Let’s go to my house,” Ann said, and when she added, “for tea and honey,” Edward’s eyes lit up. The two of them went off.
Meghan and Katie had gone to Ann’s house, and were just about to leave because Ann wasn’t there, when Ann and Edward popped into view.
“Here’s Ann,” Meghan said.
“Hi, Ann,” Katie called.
“Hi, Meghan. Hi, Katie,” Ann called back. “Where have you two been?”
“We’ve been in the Forest on an Adventure,” Meghan replied.
“So have I,” said Ann,” and you’ll never guess what I saw.”
“What?” asked Katie.
“Woozles—two of them, swimming down the stream. Just their noses were showing, and they made ripples as they swam, like two V’s.”
Meghan and Katie looked at each other.
“Are you sure they were Woozles?” Meghan asked.
“That’s what Edward said they were,” Ann responded, as she motioned to Edward with one of her paws.
Meghan and Katie looked at each other again and began to laugh.
“Why are you laughing?” asked Ann.
“Because we were the Woozles,” Meghan said between giggles. “We jumped into the stream and swam down it with just our noses showing.”
“Oh,” said Ann. “I see.” Then she added, “You’re good pretenders.”
“Thanks,” said Katie.
“What did you do on your Adventure?” asked Ann.
“After we got out of the stream, we went walking through the Forest and we saw a heffalump,” Meghan replied.
“We didn’t exactly see it,” Katie said.
“We heard heffalumps in the heffalump trap, so we came back to get you,” Meghan continued.
It was Ann’s and Edward’s turn to look at each other. They began laughing so hard that they couldn’t talk.
Meghan asked tentatively, “Were you two pretending to be heffalumps?”
Ann nodded.
“Hmmm,” said Meghan. “You sounded just like heffalumps.”
“Thanks,” said Ann.
Katie looked at Edward curiously. “Say, Ann, you haven’t told us who your friend is.”
“This is Edward, “Ann responded. “He was in a hole I was investigating.”
“Which I was investigating, too,” Edward added.
Katie looked at him even more curiously. “You look just like Pooh,” she said.
“I am Pooh,” he responded.
Ann’s mouth dropped open. “You told me your name was Edward,” she said.
“It is,” he replied. “Edward Bear. But most of the time everyone calls me Pooh—Winnie-the-Pooh.”
There was an awkward pause.
Finally Katie said, “I thought you looked familiar.”
“I’ve always wanted to meet you,” Meghan said.
Ann recovered. “Let’s go in and have a little Something.”
Pooh’s face brightened. “Thank you,” he said. “I would like that.”
The four of them went into Ann’s house and sat down to generous helpings of tea and honey. Pooh had most of the honey.
Ever afterwards, Ann, Meghan, and Katie remembered the day as The Day We Met Pooh. And Pooh remembered it as the day he met his three favorite rabbits.
© 2004 by Cliff Williams