Lesson 6: Winnie-The-Pooh

Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a forest all by himself under the name of Sanders

One day when he was out walking, he came to an open place in the middle of the forest, and in the middle of this place was a large oak-tree, and, from the top of the tree, there came a loud buzzing-noise.

Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree, put his head between his paws, and began to think.

First of all he said to himself: That buzzing-noise means something. You don’t get a buzzing-noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something. If there’s a buzzing-noise, somebody’s making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you’re a bee.

Then he thought another long time, and said: ‘And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey.’

And then he got up, and said: ‘And the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it.’ So he began to climb the tree. He climbed and he climbed and he climbed, and as he climbed he sang a little song to himself.

Then he climbed a little further… and a little further… and then just a little further. By that time he had thought of another song.

He was getting rather tired by this time, so that is why he sang a Complaining Song. He was nearly there now, and if he just stood on that branch…

Crack!

‘Oh, help!’ said Pooh, as he dropped ten feet to the branch below him.

‘If only I hadn’t –’ he said, as he bounced twenty feet on to the next branch.

‘You see, what I meant to do,’ he explained, as he turned head-over-heels, and crashed onto another branch thirty feet below, ‘what I meant to do –’

‘Of course, it was rather –’ he admitted, as he slithered very quickly through the next six branches. ‘It all comes, I suppose,’ he decided, as he said goodbye to the last branch, spun round three times, and flew gracefully into a gorse-bush, ‘it all comes of liking honey so much. Oh, help!’

He crawled out of the gorse-bush, brushed the prickles from his nose, and began to think again. And the first person he thought of was Christopher Robin.

Vocabulary:

 

Buzz: A continuous sound like one a bee makes. 

Example sentence: What’s that buzzing sound?

 

Further: More.

Example sentence: Let’s walk a bit further down the road.

 

Rather:  Slightly or a little bit.

Example sentence: I rather like it.

 

Complain:  To say that you are annoyed about something.

Example sentence: Lots of people have complained about the noise.

 

Nearly: Almost.

Example sentence: It’s nearly three weeks since I last saw her.

 

Bounce: To hit a surface and then move quickly away.

Example sentence: The ball bounced high into the air.

 

 

Admit: To agree that you did something bad

Example sentence: She admitted to stealing the keys.

 

Slither: To move smoothly by twisting and sliding.

Example sentence: The snake slithered through the trees.