“He will,” said Pooh.
Piglet’s ears twitched so quickly that he had to lean them against the side of the Trap to keep them quiet.
“He will say it again,” said Pooh, “and I shall go on humming. And that will Upset him. Because when you say ‘Ho- ho ’ twice, in a gloating sort of way, and the other person only hums, you suddenly find, just as you begin to say it the third time—that—well, you find—”
“What?”
“That it isn’t,” said Pooh.
“Isn’t what?”
Pooh knew what he meant, but, being a Bear of Very Little Brain, couldn’t think of the words.
“Well, it just isn’t,” he said again.
“You mean it isn’t ho- ho -ish any more?” said Piglet hopefully.
Pooh looked at him admiringly and said that that was what he meant—if you went on humming all the time, because you couldn’t go on saying “Ho- ho !” forever.
“But he’ll say something else,” said Piglet.
“That’s just it. He’ll say: ‘What’s all this?’ And then I shall say—and this is a very good idea, Piglet, which I’ve just thought of— I shall say: ‘It’s a trap for a Heffalump which I’ve made, and I’m waiting for the Heffalump to fall in.’ And I shall go on humming. That will Unsettle him.”
“Pooh!” cried Piglet, and now it was his turn to be the admiring one. “You’ve saved us!”
“Have I?” said Pooh, not feeling quite sure.
But Piglet was quite sure; and his mind ran on, and he saw Pooh and the Heffalump talking to each other, and he thought suddenly, and a little sadly, that it would have been rather nice if it had been Piglet and the Heffalump talking so grandly to each other, and not Pooh, much as he loved Pooh; because he really had more brain than Pooh, and the conversation would go better if he and not Pooh were doing one side of it, and it would