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Season 1 Episode 2

Thank you for downloading this episode.

👉Check out some of the original art by EH Shepard:

Pooh goes visiting

Pooh has some trouble

All Rabbit's friends and relations

👉The story begins at 1:34 and the tiny lessons begin at 16:14

👉You can find the transcript after the Credits!

👉Visit our website to download the Podcast User's Manual and find out more! https://alittleenglish.com/

A Little English is written, produced, recorded, edited, mixed, mastered and scored by Edward Cooper Howland.

All stories are either in the public domain, or written by me.

Copyright 2024 Edward Cooper Howland

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TRANSCRIPT:

INTRO 0:00

Hi. My name is Cooper Howland, and this is…A Little English. Every episode, I read a short story. After the story, there are three tiny lessons. 

If you’re really serious about studying using this podcast, please go to my website, www.alittleenglish.com. You can get the Podcast User’s Manual, with lots of ideas for self-study. If you just want to listen, then relax and enjoy. 

So, let’s get into this story. Today we are reading Chapter Two of Winnie-the-Pooh, and I have once again invited Tabatha to play Christopher Robin. I think that this is probably the most famous Pooh story. Or, at least, it’s the one that I remember the most clearly from my childhood. The good news is, it doesn’t have that story-within-a-story thing that the last one had. It’s just a story about Pooh going to visit his friend, and…well…you’ll see. 

STORY 1:34

II

In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place

Edward Bear, known to his friends as Winnie-the-Pooh, or Pooh for short, was walking through the forest one day, humming proudly to himself. He had made up a little hum that very morning, as he was doing his Stoutness Exercises in front of the glass: Tra-la-la, tra-la-la, as he stretched up as high as he could go, and then Tra-la-la, tra-la⁠—oh, help!⁠—la, as he tried to reach his toes. After breakfast he had said it over and over to himself until he had learnt it off by heart, and now he was humming it right through, properly. It went like this:

Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,

Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,

Rum-tum-tiddle-um-tum.

Tiddle-iddle, tiddle-iddle,

Tiddle-iddle, tiddle-iddle,

Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.

Well, he was humming this hum to himself, and walking along gaily, wondering what everybody else was doing, and what it felt like, being somebody else, when suddenly he came to a sandy bank, and in the bank was a large hole.

“Aha!” said Pooh. (Rum-tum-tiddle-um-tum.) “If I know anything about anything, that hole means Rabbit,” he said, “and Rabbit means Company,” he said, “and Company means Food and Listening-to-Me-Humming and suchlike. Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.”

So he bent down, put his head into the hole, and called out:

“Is anybody at home?”

There was a sudden scuffling noise from inside the hole, and then silence.

“What I said was, ‘Is anybody at home?’ ” called out Pooh very loudly.

“No!” said a voice; and then added, “You needn’t shout so loud. I heard you quite well the first time.”

“Bother!” said Pooh. “Isn’t there anybody here at all?”

“Nobody.”

Winnie-the-Pooh took his head out of the hole, and thought for a little, and he thought to himself, “There must be somebody there, because somebody must have said ‘Nobody.’ ” So he put his head back in the hole, and said:

“Hallo, Rabbit, isn’t that you?”

“No,” said Rabbit, in a different sort of voice this time.

“But isn’t that Rabbit’s voice?”

“I don’t think so,” said Rabbit. “It isn’t meant to be.”

“Oh!” said Pooh.

He took his head out of the hole, and had another think, and then he put it back, and said:

“Well, could you very kindly tell me where Rabbit is?”

“He has gone to see his friend Pooh Bear, who is a great friend of his.”

“But this is Me!” said Bear, very much surprised.

“What sort of Me?”

“Pooh Bear.”

“Are you sure?” said Rabbit, still more surprised.

“Quite, quite sure,” said Pooh.

“Oh, well, then, come in.”

So Pooh pushed and pushed and pushed his way through the hole, and at last he got in.

“You were quite right,” said Rabbit, looking at him all over. “It is you. Glad to see you.”

“Who did you think it was?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure. You know how it is in the Forest. One can’t have anybody coming into one’s house. One has to be careful. What about a mouthful of something?”

Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o’clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when Rabbit said, “Honey or condensed milk with your bread?” he was so excited that he said, “Both,” and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added, “But don’t bother about the bread, please.” And for a long time after that he said nothing⁠ ⁠… until at last, humming to himself in a rather sticky voice, he got up, shook Rabbit lovingly by the paw, and said that he must be going on.

“Must you?” said Rabbit politely.

“Well,” said Pooh, “I could stay a little longer if it⁠—if you⁠—” and he tried very hard to look in the direction of the larder.

“As a matter of fact,” said Rabbit, “I was going out myself directly.”

“Oh, well, then, I’ll be going on. Goodbye.”

“Well, goodbye, if you’re sure you won’t have any more.”

“Is there any more?” asked Pooh quickly.

Rabbit took the covers off the dishes, and said, “No, there wasn’t.”

“I thought not,” said Pooh, nodding to himself. “Well, goodbye. I must be going on.”

So he started to climb out of the hole. He pulled with his front paws, and pushed with his back paws, and in a little while his nose was out in the open again⁠ ⁠… and then his ears⁠ ⁠… and then his front paws⁠ ⁠… and then his shoulders⁠ ⁠… and then⁠—

“Oh, help!” said Pooh. “I’d better go back.”

“Oh, bother!” said Pooh. “I shall have to go on.”

“I can’t do either!” said Pooh. “Oh, help and bother!”

Now by this time Rabbit wanted to go for a walk too, and finding the front door full, he went out by the back door, and came round to Pooh, and looked at him.

“Hallo, are you stuck?” he asked.

“N-no,” said Pooh carelessly. “Just resting and thinking and humming to myself.”

“Here, give us a paw.”

Pooh Bear stretched out a paw, and Rabbit pulled and pulled and pulled.⁠ ⁠…

“Ow!” cried Pooh. “You’re hurting!”

“The fact is,” said Rabbit, “you’re stuck.”

“It all comes,” said Pooh crossly, “of not having front doors big enough.”

“It all comes,” said Rabbit sternly, “of eating too much. I thought at the time,” said Rabbit, “only I didn’t like to say anything,” said Rabbit, “that one of us was eating too much,” said Rabbit, “and I knew it wasn't me,” he said. “Well, well, I shall go and fetch Christopher Robin.”

Christopher Robin lived at the other end of the Forest, and when he came back with Rabbit, and saw the front half of Pooh, he said, “Silly old Bear,” in such a loving voice that everybody felt quite hopeful again.

“I was just beginning to think,” said Bear, sniffing slightly, “that Rabbit might never be able to use his front door again. And I should hate that,” he said.

“So should I,” said Rabbit.

“Use his front door again?” said Christopher Robin. “Of course he’ll use his front door again.”

“Good,” said Rabbit.

“If we can’t pull you out, Pooh, we might push you back.”

Rabbit scratched his whiskers thoughtfully, and pointed out that, when once Pooh was pushed back, he was back, and of course nobody was more glad to see Pooh than he was, still there it was, some lived in trees and some lived underground, and⁠—

“You mean I’d never get out?” said Pooh.

“I mean,” said Rabbit, “that having got so far, it seems a pity to waste it.”

Christopher Robin nodded.

“Then there’s only one thing to be done,” he said. “We shall have to wait for you to get thin again.”

“How long does getting thin take?” asked Pooh anxiously.

“About a week, I should think.”

“But I can’t stay here for a week!”

“You can stay here all right, silly old Bear. It’s getting you out which is so difficult.”

“We’ll read to you,” said Rabbit cheerfully. “And I hope it won’t snow,” he added. “And I say, old fellow, you’re taking up a good deal of room in my house⁠—do you mind if I use your back legs as a towel-horse? Because, I mean, there they are⁠—doing nothing⁠—and it would be very convenient just to hang the towels on them.”

“A week!” said Pooh gloomily. “What about meals?”

“I’m afraid no meals,” said Christopher Robin, “because of getting thin quicker. But we will read to you.”

Bear began to sigh, and then found he couldn’t because he was so tightly stuck; and a tear rolled down his eye, as he said:

“Then would you read a Sustaining Book, such as would help and comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness?”

So for a week Christopher Robin read that sort of book at the North end of Pooh, and Rabbit hung his washing on the South end⁠ ⁠… and in between Bear felt himself getting slenderer and slenderer. And at the end of the week Christopher Robin said, “Now!”

So he took hold of Pooh’s front paws and Rabbit took hold of Christopher Robin, and all Rabbit’s friends and relations took hold of Rabbit, and they all pulled together.⁠ ⁠…

And for a long time Pooh only said “Ow!”⁠ ⁠…

And “Oh!”⁠ ⁠…

And then, all of a sudden, he said “Pop!” just as if a cork were coming out of a bottle.

And Christopher Robin and Rabbit and all Rabbit’s friends and relations went head-over-heels backwards⁠ ⁠… and on the top of them came Winnie-the-Pooh⁠—free!

So, with a nod of thanks to his friends, he went on with his walk through the forest, humming proudly to himself. But, Christopher Robin looked after him lovingly, and said to himself, “Silly old Bear!”

LESSONS 16:14

Again, I just love this book. This story is so funny to me. But it also has quite a bit of emotion. And it introduces Rabbit, who I just think is hilarious. I love how it’s really clear, at least to me, that he does not want Pooh to visit. But once it's clear that Pooh is coming in, Rabbit is an excellent host. What a good friend! Let’s do some tiny lessons. 

So, talking about Rabbit, let’s look at THE BIG PICTURE where I ask you about the story itself. Today’s question is: How do you know that Rabbit doesn’t want Pooh to come in? Take a minute, go back to that part of the story, and listen again. 

Of course, at the beginning of the story, Rabbit says that nobody is home. Which, I have to tell you, I had to record that part about four times, because I find that conversation so funny. 

And then at the end, there’s this great conversation where Rabbit is so polite, and such a good host, but he clearly just wants Pooh to go. Pooh says he must be going on, and Rabbit says….”must you?” So polite. Then Pooh tries to get a little more food, and Rabbit says that he, Rabbit, has to leave as well. THEN, even after all that, he still offers Pooh more food. He says, “Well, goodbye, if you’re sure you won’t have any more.” and Pooh says, 

“Is there any more?”  and Rabbit says, “NO.”

Rabbit is great.

Now, let’s go over to the DICTIONARY DISCO, where we talk about vocabulary. I’ve got two good vocabulary words for you. 

• The first one is STOUT, as in “Pooh was doing his stoutness exercises.”
• Stout can mean a kind of beer, a very delicious one, but in this case it means, well, fat. Pooh is…kind of a big boy, as we saw in this story. It also means strong and thick, like an old tree could be stout. I think that’s why they call the beer “stout.” It’s pretty heavy stuff!
• The second word is slender as in, “Bear felt himself getting slenderer and slenderer. Slender is like the opposite of stout. Thin, skinny or slim. But Slender has kind of an elegant sound to it. Slenderrrrr. Maybe you’ve heard of the famous video game, Slender Man? That guy is pretty slim!

• How about YOUR vocabulary words? What words did you not know? What words have you looked up since you’ve been listening? Jump on the Discord. Share them!

Finally, it’s time for the MELODY MOMENT where we talk about pronunciation. Today I’m going to introduce you to the most important sound in English. It’s the most important because it’s the most common sound in the whole language. This sound is…..uh. That’s it. Uh. The interesting thing about this uh, whose name is….the SCHWA…. is that ANY vowel (AEIOU) can make it. For example, listen to these three words. And To The. There’s an A, an O and an E making the exact same sound. And the thing is, I didn’’t say AND, I said ənd. I didn”t say TWO, I said tə. I didn’t say THE, I said thə. So the schwa, it’s everywhere. Go back to any part of this podcast, or ANY podcast, and listen for schwas. Here’s my question: When do we use it? I’ll give you a hint, it has to do with the rhythm that I talked about last episode. 

We use it when the word, or the part of the word is not strong in the rhythm. So like, can you swim? I said cən, not CAN. But how about this? Can you swim? Yes, I CAN. Strong CAN, strong A. Weak Can, schwa. This is kind of my obsession as an english teacher, we’re gonna come back to it a lot. For now, let’s go to the credits. 

CREDITS 21:29

Thank you for listening to Season 1 Episode 2 of A Little English. 

Every episode is produced entirely by me, Cooper Howland, here in Hiroshima, Japan. 

For more information on how to study using this podcast, please go to www.alittleenglish.com, where you can get the Podcast User’s Manual.

You can follow me on social media, @alelearning on instagram and twitter. 

To join the conversation and the community around A Little English, please go to our discord. There’s a link in the show notes. 

If you want to support this podcast, you can go to patreon.com/alittleenglish. If you do, you can join a private discord server for patrons, and you can chat with me. Ask me questions! Maybe I can help you with your homework!  Maybe :)

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review on whatever app you’re using to listen. 

The stories I read are in the public domain, and I get them from standardebooks.org, which is a really good website and you should check it out.

Again, thank you  so much for listening.

For now, be kind to yourselves, and to each other. 

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