Chapter I: Front Matter

THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

BY A. A. MILNE

_with decorations
by Ernest H. Shepard_

PUBLISHED BY
E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC., NEW YORK

THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN U. S. A.

First Printing September, 1928

100th Printing December, 1936

139th Printing July, 1949

Reprinted, from new plates and engravings
and type entirely reset August, 1950

141st Printing September, 1951

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE
AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK

DEDICATION

_You gave me Christopher Robin, and then
You breathed new life in Pooh.
Whatever of each has left my pen
Goes homing back to you.
My book is ready, and comes to greet
The mother it longs to see--
It would be my present to you, my sweet,
If it weren't your gift to me._

_Contradiction_

An introduction is to introduce people, but Christopher Robin and his friends, who have already been introduced to you, are now going to say Good-bye. So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the opposite of an Introduction was, he said "The what of a what?" which didn't help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head and told us that the opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that that's what it is.

Why we are having a Contradiction is because last week when Christopher Robin said to me, "What about that story you were going to tell me about what happened to Pooh when----" I happened to say very quickly, "What about nine times a hundred and seven?" And when we had done that one, we had one about cows going through a gate at two a minute, and there are three hundred in the field, so how many are left after an hour and a half? We find these very exciting, and when we have been excited quite enough, we curl up and go to sleep ... and Pooh, sitting wakeful a little longer on his chair by our pillow, thinks Grand Thoughts to himself about Nothing, until he, too, closes his eyes and nods his head, and follows us on tip-toe into the Forest. There, still, we have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we can catch hold of them. How did the last one begin? "One day when Pooh was walking in the Forest, there were one hundred and seven cows on a gate...." No, you see, we have lost it. It was the best, I think. Well, here are some of the other ones, all that we shall remember now. But, of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be there ... and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.

A. A. M.

_Contents_

I. IN WHICH _A House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore_

II. IN WHICH _Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast_

III. IN WHICH _A Search Is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the
Heffalump Again_

IV. IN WHICH _It Is Shown That Tiggers Don't Climb Trees_

V. IN WHICH _Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher
Robin Does in the Mornings_

VI. IN WHICH _Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In_

VII. IN WHICH _Tigger Is Unbounced_

VIII. IN WHICH _Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing_

IX. IN WHICH _Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It_

X. IN WHICH _Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place,
and We Leave Them There_

THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER