2005-06-07

They drop on you

"Look Pooh!" said Piglet suddenly. "There's something in one of the Pine Trees."

"So there is!" said Pooh, looking up wonderingly. "There's an Animal." Piglet took Pooh's arm, in case Pooh was frightened.

"Is it One of the Fiercer Animals?" he said, looking the other way. Pooh nodded.

"It's a Jagular," he said.

"What do Jagulars do?" asked Piglet, hoping that they wouldn't.

"They hide in the branches of trees, and drop on you as you go underneath," said Pooh. "Christopher Robin told me."

"Perhaps we better hadn't go underneath, Pooh. In case he dropped and hurt himself."

"They don't hurt themselves," said Pooh. "They're such very good droppers." Piglet still felt that to be underneath a Very Good Dropper would be a Mistake, and he was just going to hurry back for something which he had forgotten when the Jagular called out to them.

"Help! Help!" it called.

"That's what Jagulars always do," said Pooh, much interested. "They call 'Help! Help!' and then when you look up, they drop on you."

"I'm looking down," cried Piglet loudly, so as the Jagular shouldn't do the wrong thing by accident. Something very excited next to the Jagular heard him, and squeaked:

"Pooh and Piglet! Pooh and Piglet!" All of a sudden Piglet felt that it was a much nicer day than he had thought it was. All warm and sunny —

"Pooh!" he cried. "I believe it's Tigger and Roo!"

"So it is," said Pooh. "I thought it was a Jagular and another Jagular."

--A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner chapter 4

If you think you understand the applicability of this quotation today, excellent.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"If you think you understand the applicability of this quotation today, excellent."

Almost certainly not this, but close enough that I thought you might enjoy it anyway:

Catgarookey spotted in Salisbury.

Anonymous said...

There's an old Vedic story about a snake and a string. It's dark and someone steps on something. He can't see well, so he starts yelling, "Snake! Snake!" Soon everyone in the village is running around frightened, yelling, "Snake!" Then a man brings a lantern to look. With the light, he sees it clearly. "It's only a string," he says and everyone calms down. (My rewording of the original.)
Ellen Finkelstein
Ellen's Knowledge Blog