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Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, where Christopher Robin played, stood an enchanting neighborhood, home to several of the boy’s friends. They’re faces that you’ve certainly met before, time and again, so you wouldn’t need new introductions to any of them. After all, you remember the donkey named Eeyore, and Kanga and little Roo? Then there’s Rabbit, and Piglet, and there’s Owl. Of course, there’s Tigger too.
But most of all, there’s Edward Bear, who you may know better by the name, Winnie the Pooh.
On this quiet little day out in the wood, Pooh sat himself along a log, having just finished his exercises for the morning. Breakfast would be the next thing in order, and Pooh was hoping to enjoy a small smackerel of his favorite, honey.
Things, however, have a rather funny way of working out for Pooh, or perhaps, not quite the way of working out at all.
Just as he was about to pluck the top of the lid from his labeled “HUNNY” pot off, along came a scurrying little Piglet. Now, being one of Pooh’s very good friends, him coming along and passing Pooh’s house isn’t quite an unexpected sight or happenstance, but rather, what he happened to be carrying along with him today. And what Piglet had in his arms would be a helping of papers.
“Oh, good morning, Pooh!”
“Good morning, Piglet!” Pooh reached to remove the lid from his honeypot. “I was just about to have some breakfast. Would you like to join me?”
“Sorry Pooh, but I can’t today.” Piglet hoisted his papers up a bit higher, which were rather colorful. “Rabbit wanted my help with setting up for the party later on.”
“The party?”
“For the anniversary celebration.” Piglet waited as Pooh patiently waited for a further explanation. “Oh, Pooh, did you forget? This will be the 100th year celebration of the 100 Acre Wood.”
“Oh, of course!” Pooh nodded along, but then paused. “The 100 Acre Wood is 100 years old?”
“Well, I think it’s older than that, actually,” reasoned Piglet. “But, we’ve known about it for 100 years, thanks to Owl’s relatives documenting it before we came in!”
“Ah, yes, of course.” Pooh sat for a moment, still not quite getting it. He was a bear of very little brain, after all. “Who are Owl’s relatives?”
“You know, his family that he always mentions.” Piglet waited as Pooh still stared to him. “His Uncle Robert, his Great Uncle Torbert, his Aunt Ophelia?”
“Yes.”
“…Pooh, you don’t remember any of them, do you?”
“No.”
“Oh, Pooh.” Piglet sighed. “Well, we are celebrating our home today.”
“And how does one celebrate a home, Piglet?”
“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Piglet waited as Pooh shook his head. “Why, you just—and then you do something along the lines of—after all, it’s quite simple—if that makes sense.”
“Right.” Pooh nodded along to agree, though he found Piglet’s answer did not quite answer his question at all.
“Piglet, there you are,” cried Rabbit, hurrying onto the scene. “We need those papers to decorate the banners for the celebration!” He blinked and turned to Pooh, who in turn turned to Rabbit. “Pooh, where have you been this morning?”
“Hallo, Rabbit!” Pooh waved. “I was just about to have a small smackerel of honey for breakfast, and I was asking if Piglet wanted to join me.”
“And I was explaining what we were doing today,” pointed out Piglet.
“Pooh Bear, didn’t you remember that we were supposed to be celebrating the wood today?”
“Yes? No? Hm.” Pooh folded his arms and tapped on his head, in the usual way he did when he need to dig deep for that little brain of his. “Think, think, think…”
“Never you mind that thinking, come along!” Rabbit, not nearly sharing Piglet’s patience, quickly pushed the two best friends along. “We must make sure that we have everything ready for today, after all. Come along, come now!”
“Oh, bother.”
“Oh, d-d-dear…”
While they hurried away to help Rabbit, Pooh had just a moment to wistfully gaze back to his still unopened honeypot, with a rumbly in his tumbly reminding him of the breakfast he sadly skipped for the day.
Coming to a clearing in the woods (which just so happened to be closer to Rabbit’s house more than anyone else’s), the trio arrived to help set everything up. Pooh’s other friends were already gathered, with Kanga and Roo setting a table up for everyone to eat at. Tigger bounced about, tossing decorations of streamers and confetti about, twirling around and singing his usual song on the wonderful thing about Tiggers being wonderful things.
“Tigger, you’re making a mess of everything!” Rabbit hurried off from Piglet and Pooh to chase down Tigger, who hadn’t heard his long eared friend and merrily bounced along.
Meanwhile, Owl flew about to each of the chairs, tying balloons onto each one. Each time did, he would regale a busy Kanga with reminders on how his Uncle Robert had told him about the woods, which reminded him of the time that his Great Uncle Torbert had gone on an expedition for the hundred acre, which naturally brought up the other time—
“Does he always have so many stories to tell, Mama?” Roo sank in the chair that he stood upon, having just finished setting down a plate.
“Owl does have many family members that have told him a great deal of many things,” offered Kanga, though this didn’t quite answer anything.
All the while, as Piglet wandered around to place the papers down, Pooh spotted Eeyore collecting and sorting out a variety of sticks and small branches. Having not been told what to do, and curious over what it could be for, Pooh made his way over by Eeyore to see what the donkey was doing.
“Hallo, Eeyore.”
“Good morning, Pooh Bear, and thanks for noticing,” gloomily greeted Eeyore. He looked to Pooh, but then past him to study the sky. “The sun is a bit hot now, but those clouds are moving in. Wouldn’t do any good if it would start to rain.” Eeyore sighed. “I suppose the first of us to spot it should call out, ‘Tut tut, it looks like rain,’ or something similar enough.”
“But those sort of clouds are so nice and white and fluffy,” pointed out Pooh. “Rain clouds are usually black or grey for the storms, no?”
“I suppose.”
“By the by, what is it that you’re doing exactly, Eeyore?”
“Well, Christopher Robin suggested that we make sure to have some fun games to play today, so I wanted to gather everyone enough sticks to play Poohsticks.”
“Oh, I see!”
“Hopefully it won’t begin or end with me in the river again,” murmured Eeyore.
“Hopefully not,” agreed Pooh. “Well, Eeyore, if we play any rounds of Poohsticks in teams, I will play with you today.”
“Me?”
“Yes.” Pooh smiled and nodded. “Normally, I play with Piglet or Christopher Robin, but I think that it would be quite nice to enjoy a few rounds with you too.”
“If you’re sure that you want to Pooh, then…I suppose that would be nice.” A rather unusual sight came about, as Eeyore’s mouth curved into a smile. A thought crossed Eeyore’s mind, about winning this sort of game several times before, but since this was Pooh asking to be on his team, and that the bear wouldn’t have quite thought that one out well, he decided that Pooh had certainly and simply wanted to play the game with him. And that was quite a nice change of pace for Eeyore indeed.
Just as Pooh turned to leave, however, he was quickly tackled into a fast roll to the ground. Upon opening his eyes, Pooh found himself face-to-face with a very striped (and very smiley) face.
“Buddy Bear! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Ya made it!” Tigger beamed brightly down at Pooh on the grass, who had no other option but to look up to him (not that he minded, of course). “It wouldn’t be a fun party without you. And Tiggers love fun parties!”
“Hallo, Tigger.” Pooh smiled to Tigger, who remained quite comfortably perched on his rather round belly. “You’ve done a lovely job with the decorations.”
“Yep, great job,” mumbled Eeyore.
“Thanks you guys! Tiggers are great decorators, after all.” Tiggers tended to be rather great at many things, if one ever asked Tigger. “Long Ears doesn’t seem to think so though.”
“You just ran around throwing everything everywhere!”
“What else are you supposed to do with decorations?” Tigger shook his head. “Rabbit just doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“They look great to me, Tigger!” Roo hopped up and down on his seat, waving to his friend.
“Roo, come now, no hopping at the table.” Kanga set her hands on his shoulders to settle her son. “You know better on how to behave. Plus, I really don’t want to start over with all of this.”
“Why, that reminds me of the time my Aunt Ophelia had to start over on her living space,” brought up Owl, diving down from the sky. “She originally had things set up in such a nice manner, but—”
“What a wonderful story, Owl!” Rabbit clasped his hands together and forced up a grin.
“Oh, I was only just getting started—”
“Did you finish with the balloons?” Owl nodded to Rabbit. “Perfect! Why don’t you help Piglet with setting up the banners then?”
“Spelling isn’t my strong suit,” admitted Piglet, scratching his head and flipping one of the papers around, staring at the upside down spelling of “100 Aker” on one.
“Not to worry, Piglet, as I happen to be quite versatile in my spelling!” Owl touted a very untrue fact, though he did certainly believe it to be true. “Why, this reminds me of the time my Uncle Robert and Great Uncle Torbert were together…”
Piglet’s eyes widened as he looked at Rabbit, who kept his forced grin and added a thumbs-up to poor Piglet, as his ears lowered with Owl’s approach. Kanga and Roo continued to set the table, adding tea cups for the teatime that would come with the party. Tigger and Pooh watched as Rabbit hurried around, pushing around a wheelbarrow with fruit and vegetables in it, and hurriedly placing everything into a basket near a several layered cake. Eeyore sat a moment to watch, as Tigger returned his attention to Pooh, who of course did the same.
“So, what’re you thinking about adding to the party, Pooh?”
“Adding?”
“Yeah, Rabbit gave us all these jobs to do.” Tigger tilted his head to Pooh, as his tail swayed about. “What’s yours?”
“Hmm. Well, I don’t suppose there is anything left to do, is there?”
“Huh, well, on the left-to-dos, I suppose there’s—as a matter of fact, you could—” Tigger slid off from Pooh’s belly and slumped down for a moment. “Hmm. Tiggers are great at a very many great things, but assigning jobs for a party may not be one of the things that Tiggers do the best.” He blinked and tilted over Pooh’s line of sight once again, and Pooh took in Tigger from his lined sight. “Did you want to check for unfriendly Heffalumps, Woozles, or Jagulars?”
“Oh, I would rather not,” decided Pooh.
“Not many want to spring at the chance to have themselves hunted by any of those unsortly sort,” added in Eeyore.
“Guess not. Me either, come to think of it,” admitted Tigger. “Well, they’re not all a bad sort, I suppose. And unless they’ve got a craving for cake and honey, I don’t think we’ll see them around anyway.”
“Honey will be here?”
“Honestly, Tigger, the one thing I told you not to mention to Pooh!” Rabbit smacked his forehead. Dragging his hand down his face, he stared to Pooh too. “Yes, Pooh, we have honey for you. But none just yet, understand? It’s for when we’re ready to begin.”
“Are we almost ready to begin then?” Pooh sat up from the grass, looking to Rabbit. “Because I never had breakfast, you see, and I’ve had a rumbly in my tumbly for quite some time now.”
“As a matter of fact, it is almost time, Pooh Bear.” Rabbit nodded, adjusting his food into just the right place for serving others, in a way that makes it presentable just so. “Piglet, Owl, did you finish the banners? The guests are likely coming—Owl, please! Hang them up already! Did either of you get the string? No? Oh, never you mind, leave it to me.”
“Maybe I should have prepared another game besides Poohsticks,” puzzled Eeyore aloud. “Didn’t really think that through.”
“Hey, I’ve got a great idea for a game!”
“Bouncing around near the tables might smash some plates,” Eeyore brought up, reading Tigger’s mind about perfectly. “Unless the game is about seeing how quickly or just how angry you can make Rabbit, in which, I wouldn’t think any of us could win against you, Tigger.”
“Maybe I don’t have an idea after all.”
“Can I help come up with game ideas? Can I? Can I please?” Roo hopped over to the two, clapping his hands as he joined them. “I like games! That’s something I love to do!”
“Yes, that may just be a great idea,” decided Kanga. “Tigger, dear, you don’t mind Roo helping out with that, do you? Eeyore, you too?”
“Sure—”
“Of course!”
Pooh wandered off from the game planners and made sure to keep away from the banner setters. He carefully made his way over to the food, searching around until he spotted a nice honeypot with his name quite literally on it, reading “Pooh’s Hunny” neatly in the middle, just over two trays that read “Milne” and “Shepard,” whoever they were or whoever those belong to. Just as he approached the food trays however, however, came a newcomer that wasn’t quite so new.
“Silly Old Bear,” came the very familiar voice of Christopher Robin. Pooh turned to find the boy walking into the clearing and straight up to his best friend. “Didn’t Rabbit tell you that it was for later?”
“Oh, Christopher Robin!” Pooh chuckled. “I was just going to have a small smackerel, of course.” Pooh’s very definition of a “small smackerel” was very different from what anyone else might define as small.
“Don’t worry, Pooh, you’ll have some soon enough,” assured Christopher Robin, gently patting Pooh over the head. “The guests will be arriving to meet us soon.” The boy turned and pointed to another spot of the clearing. “In fact, here come some now!”
Just as the banners were raised into place by Owl, Rabbit, and Piglet, they turned to find more friends making their way into the area. Lottie the Otter was the first to join in, making her way over and just lightly touching up a few disorganized plates and straightening some crooked chairs. She was joined shortly thereafter by Penguin, who waved to everyone as he gazed around at the set-up.
Across from them came a rather short knight dressed in his suit of armor, none other than Sir Brian Botany. Bold as a lion, his battleaxe attached just behind him. A rather smug Dragon stood just behind him, chuckling at the sight of the short knight, and waving to the rest gathered over there.
“Friends already coming in, welcome, welcome,” called Christopher Robin. “Oh, even our American friends have arrived, it seems!”
Joining after the first arrivals came the next set: Gopher with his work helmet over his head, and atop it was the small bluebird, Kessie. He whistled to the group, while Kessie waved her wings to her friends. Lumpy the friendly young Heffalump came just after them, with his mother just behind him. They waved their trunks out, first catching the attention of Kanga and Roo, and then to the others there too.
A young girl entered just across from them, Christopher Robin’s friend Darby, as well as her pet dog companion, Buster. They waved to the group, eying Tigger and Pooh, but the ground rumbled just behind them. Turning around, they were overtaken rather quickly by none other than Rabbit’s many Friends and Relations, joining in for the festivities as well.
“Looks like everyone is here and taking their places,” noted Rabbit with a satisfied nod.
“This looks like a wonderful turnout,” chimed in Piglet.
“Wow, just look at us all, so many here!” Tigger bounced around in a circle. He winked to the others. “Though, naturally of course, there’s only one Tigger, hoo-hoo!”
“How wonderful,” deadpanned Eeyore.
“Wait, there’s one more seat next to mine,” pointed out Pooh. He took a moment and prodded at his head in his usual way. “Think, think, think…oh, bother, of course!”
Hurrying over, Pooh reached out and took your hand. Yes, your hand! Why, you hadn’t even realized that you were part of the party, but as it turns out, you’ve been here the whole time.
“None of this would ever be possible without You.” Pooh Bear smiled brightly to you, guiding you over to the table. “And though I may have very little brain, even I know about that.”
Each of your friends waved to you, cheering as you took your place at the table with the rest. It simply would never feel right without you there too. You took a moment to look at Pooh, who smiled up to you in the bright way that he usually did, happy as could be.
Owl and Rabbit hurried about, serving everyone some food, cake, and tea, as Christopher Robin took a spoon and tapped over his glass, gathering everyone’s attention.
“Time now for a toast,” he called. “Three cheers for the 100 Acre Wood, and its many years known! 100 years for the 100 Acre Wood! Hip-hip!”
“Hooray!” Everyone raised a glass to join in. “Hip-hip hooray! Hip-hip hooray!”
Glasses chimed, cheers still sounded, and everyone took themselves into conversation. Some brought up stories about a nanny that flew about with her umbrella, others made delighted mentions of a great detective that could solve any crime, and still more brought up an island full of steam train engines as well. All of this mixed in with the usual conversations about this and that, how wonderful it was that the woods had such an enchanted living residence that thrived for so long, and how it was nice of Christopher Robin, Pooh, and friends to invite all of their great many friends.
Once more, Pooh smiled up to you, happy to have you home again. Then, with a hungry delight, he took the honeypot that Christopher Robin passed to him, and stuck his hands right in, sucking in as much honey as he possibly could.
Just another wonderful day here in the 100 Acre Wood.