Winnie The Pooh | Bedtime Story

Drift off gently into a deep, restful sleep with Chapter One of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne. Our story begins at a clearing in the woods with an encounter with some bees. With the help of a balloon and a cunning plan, you set about stealing some honey. Sweet dreams! Andy

Narrated by Andy Hobson

Transcript

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 that 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.

It went like this.

Isn't it funny how a bear likes honey?

Buzz,

Buzz,

Buzz.

I wonder why he does.

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.

It's a very funny thought,

If bears were bees,

They'd build their nests at the bottom of trees,

And that being so,

If the bees were bears,

We shouldn't have to climb up all these stairs.

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 10 feet to the branch below him.

If only I hadn't,

He said,

As he bounced 20 feet on the next branch.

You see,

What I meant to do,

He explained,

As he turned head over heels and crashed onto another branch,

30 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.

So Winnie the Pooh went round to his friend Christopher Robin,

Who lived behind a green door in another part of the forest.

Good morning Christopher Robin,

He said.

Good morning Winnie the Pooh,

Said you.

I wonder if you've got such a thing as a balloon about you.

A balloon?

Yes,

I just said to myself coming along,

I wonder if Christopher Robin has such a thing as a balloon about him.

What do you want a balloon for?

You said.

Winnie the Pooh looked round to see that nobody was listening,

Put his paw to his mouth,

And said in a deep whisper,

Honey.

But you don't get honey with balloons.

I do,

Said Pooh.

Well,

It just happened that you had been to a party the day before,

At the house of your friend Piglet,

And you had balloons at the party.

You'd had big green balloons,

And one of Rabbit's relations had a big blue one,

And had left it behind,

And so you had brought the green one,

And the blue one home with you.

Which one would you like,

You asked Pooh.

He put his head between his paws,

And thought very carefully.

It's like this,

He said,

When you go after honey with a balloon,

The great thing is not to let the bees know you're coming.

Now,

If you have a green balloon,

They might think you are only part of the tree,

And not notice you.

And if you have a blue balloon,

They might think you're only part of the sky,

And not notice you.

And the question is,

Which is most likely?

Wouldn't they notice you underneath the balloon,

You asked.

They might,

Or they might not,

Said Winnie the Pooh.

You never can tell with bees,

He thought for a moment,

And said,

I shall try to look like a small black cloud,

That would deceive them.

Then you had better have the blue balloon,

He said,

And so it was decided.

You both went out with the blue balloon,

And Winnie the Pooh went to a very muddy place that he knew of,

And rolled,

And rolled,

Until he was black all over.

And then,

When the balloon was blown up as big as big,

And you and Pooh were both holding on to the string,

You let go suddenly,

And Pooh floated gracefully up into the sky,

And stayed there,

Level with the top of the tree,

And about 20 feet away from it.

Hooray,

You shouted.

Isn't that fine,

Shouted Winnie the Pooh down to you.

What do I look like?

You look like a bear holding on to a balloon,

You said.

Not,

Said Pooh anxiously,

Not like a small black cloud in a blue sky?

Not very much.

Oh well,

Perhaps from up here it all looks different,

And as I say,

You never can tell with bees.

There was no wind to blow him nearer to the tree,

So he stayed.

He could see the honey,

He could smell the honey,

But he couldn't quite reach the honey.

After a little while,

He called down to you.

Christopher Robin,

He said in a loud whisper.

Hello,

I think the bees suspect something.

What sort of thing?

I don't know,

But something tells me that they're suspicious.

Perhaps they think you're after the honey.

It may be that you never can tell with bees.

There was another little silence,

And then he called down again.

Christopher Robin?

Yes?

Have you an umbrella in your house?

I think so.

I wish you would bring it out here and walk up and down with it,

And look up at me every now and then,

And say,

It looks like rain.

I think if you did that,

It would help the deception which we are practicing on these bees.

You laughed to yourself,

Silly old bear,

But you didn't say it out loud because you were so fond of him,

And you went home for your umbrella.

Oh,

There you are,

Called down Winnie the Pooh as soon as you got back to the tree.

I was beginning to get anxious.

I have discovered that the bees are now definitely suspicious.

Shall I put my umbrella up,

You said?

Yes,

But wait a moment.

We must be practical.

The important bee to deceive is the queen bee.

Can you see which is the queen bee from down there?

No.

A pity.

Well now,

If you walk up and down with your umbrella saying,

It looks like rain,

I shall do what I can by singing a little cloud song,

Such as a cloud might sing.

So while you're walking up and down and wondering if it would rain,

Winnie the Pooh sang this song.

How sweet to be a cloud,

Floating in the blue.

Every little cloud always sings aloud.

How sweet to be a cloud,

Floating in the blue,

To make him very proud to be a little cloud.

The bees were still buzzing as suspiciously as ever.

Some of them indeed left their nests and flew all around the cloud as it began the second verse of this song.

And one bee sat down on the nose of the cloud for a moment and then got up again.

Christopher,

Ow,

Robin,

Called the cloud.

Yes,

I have just been thinking and have come to a very important decision.

These are the wrong sort of bees.

Are they?

Quite the wrong sort.

So I should think they would make the wrong sort of honey.

Would they?

Yes.

So I think I shall come down now.

How?

You asked.

Winnie the Pooh hadn't thought about this.

If he let go of the string,

He would fall,

Bump,

And he didn't like the idea of that.

So he thought for a long time and then he said,

Christopher Robin,

You must shoot the balloon down with your pea shooter.

Have you got it?

Of course I have,

You said.

But if I do that,

It will spoil your balloon,

You said.

But if you don't,

Said Pooh,

I shall have to let go and that would spoil me.

When he put it like this,

You saw how it was and you aimed very carefully with your pea shooter at the balloon and fired.

Ow,

Said Pooh.

Did I miss,

You asked.

You didn't exactly miss,

Said Pooh,

But you missed the balloon.

I'm so sorry,

You said,

As you fired again with a big puff of breath.

And this time you hit the balloon and the air came slowly out and Winnie the Pooh floated down to the ground.

But his arms were so stiff from holding on to the string or the balloon all that time,

They stayed straight up in the air for more than a week.

And whenever a fly came to settle on his nose,

He had to blow it off.

And I think,

But I'm not sure,

That that is why he was always called Pooh.

Is that the end of the story,

Asked Christopher Robin.

That's the end of that one.

There are others.

About Pooh and me and Piglet and Rabbit and all of you.

Don't you remember?

I do remember.

And then when I'm trying to remember,

I forget.

And that's why he likes having it told to him again,

Because then it's a real story and not just a remembering.

Christopher Robin gave a deep sigh,

Yawned.

And yawns are catching,

So Winnie the Pooh yawned too.

Do you think it's time to go to sleep,

Said Christopher Robin.

Yes,

Said Pooh.

Very much so.

The end.