Page:The House at Pooh Corner (1961).pdf/61

This page has been validated.
The Search for Small
45

“Yes,” said Piglet. “Pooh,” he went on nervously, and came a little closer, “do you think we’re in a trap?”

Pooh hadn’t thought about it at all, but now he nodded. For suddenly he remembered how he and Piglet had once made a Pooh Trap for Heffalumps, and he guessed what had happened. He and Piglet had fallen into a Heffalump Trap for Poohs! That was what it was.

“What happens when the Heffalump comes?” asked Piglet tremblingly, when he had heard the news.

“Perhaps he won’t notice you, Piglet,” said Pooh encouragingly, “because you’re a Very Small Animal.”

“But he'll notice you, Pooh.”

“He'll notice me, and I shall notice him,” said Pooh, thinking it out. “We'll notice each other for a long time, and then he’ll say: ‘Ho-ho!’ ”

Piglet shivered a little at the thought of that “Ho-ho!” and his ears began to twitch.

“W-what will you say?” he asked.

Pooh tried to think of something he would say, but the more he thought, the more he felt that there is no real answer to “Ho-ho!” said by a Heffalump in the sort of voice this Heffalump was going to say it in.

“I shan’t say anything,” said Pooh at last. “I shall