In Which Eeyore Observes the Passing of the Seasons
by Pouncer
Winter came early to the Hundred Acre Woods that year, heralded by a frigid wind from the North Pole. ("I discovered the North Pole," interrupted a growly voice. "I know, Pooh. That's why I mentioned it. Let me tell the rest of the story.") The leaves turned brilliant colors and drifted down from the trees, causing Rabbit much trouble as he harvested the last of the root vegetables. Rabbit was prone to fret, and he was worried that his harvest wouldn't last through spring.
"Mark my words," he told Piglet and Winnie the Pooh one afternoon, "we'll all be hungry come February."
Eeyore, the old grey donkey, munched his thistles at the verge of Rabbit's garden and thought that it was all well and good for some people to worry, when they had snug burrows to wait out the cold. Eeyore's own home was rather drafty, and chilly breezes made it difficult to sleep; not that he was one to complain.
Pooh, always focused on his stomach, said to Rabbit, "Perhaps I should collect more honey?" Pooh scratched his nose with a paw and furrowed his brow in Deep Thought, pondering how best to outwit the bees. "Piglet, would you help?"
"Of course, Pooh," Piglet replied in his high voice and the two trotted off.
Eeyore continued to eat his thistles, crunching the bristly bits and relishing the burn on his tongue, watching as Rabbit piled more and more turnips on top of his wheelbarrow. Eeyore scratched at the long grass with a hoof to uncover a choice flower. Once the thistles were eaten, he ambled toward his home. As he passed the deep pond, he saw Pooh and Piglet running over a near hill, attempting to escape a swarm of angry bees.
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The next few weeks proved cold. Owl was heard to speculate that the first snow would fall earlier than it had since his Grand-sire's time. Eeyore walked the woods and tried to keep warm. He found that munching on thistles helped; a particularly nice patch was located near a fallen tree. Lichen grew on its side in little half-moons of green and grey, ruffled like party streamers. Eeyore took a careful bite and decided he wasn't partial to lichen.
That night, a halo surrounded the moon and made it look three times its normal size. Eeyore looked up and sniffed the air and knew that snow would fall by morning. He shuffled back to his house to attempt to fill some of the cracks. Snow was very wet when it melted on a donkey's back. No invitations to wait out the winter in a cozy home were forthcoming, not that Eeyore had expected any, really. He'd best make sure to take care of himself.
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"Eeyore, you gotta come see!" Roo squeaked.
"Oh yeah, you gotta!"
Eeyore was still stunned from Tigger's enthusiastic greeting. He gathered his hooves under his body and pushed up carefully.
The first snow had melted, but the air was now bitter cold all the time, devoid of the normal woodland smells.
Tigger bounced on the path, Roo hopping up and down next to him like a miniature shadow. They led Eeyore to the east, dirt crunching under every step, and around a small copse of trees. A stream had run this way once, as a scrim of pebbles attested. Roo darted ahead, yelling back, "We're almost there!"
They came to a place beside an embankment, where a tree had fallen over and then a second one had fallen across it at right angles. Roo hopped into a mass of roots. "Come on!"
Tigger took Eeyore by the hoof and dragged him closer.
"We thought you might like it - we know your place can get a little breezy," Tigger explained.
Eeyore peered deeper, and saw that the tree trunks had landed in the perfect position to create a snug little shelter next to the bank.
"No one's living here now. We asked!" Roo beamed.
A carpet of crackling leaves covered the ground inside. "It even has a good bed!" Tigger bounced up and down, but only a little, because the roof was low. Eeyore-sized, in fact.
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Christopher Robin's favorite pond had iced over by the Shortest Day. Kanga insisted that they hold a Celebration and Exchange of Presents. Eeyore wasn't expecting an invitation, but Kanga asked him, very nicely, to provide the firewood. He tugged a big fallen log to the edge of the pond and Kanga set it alight just as the sun set in the west. Piglet hovered in the background, warning against sparks. The sky was pink and purple with hazy white clouds streaming past the sun's final resting place.
Snow lay thick on the ground, and Tigger and Roo chased each other around in circles. Kanga provided hot cocoa to warm her workers, and when Christopher Robin trekked over in a warm blue coat and cap to ask, "What are you doing?" they were too engrossed in the chocolate to respond.
"Have some cocoa, dear," Kanga said in her kind voice. She passed Christopher Robin a cup and he drank deep. Eeyore sidled close to Christopher Robin's side, warmed more by his presence than the fire.
"C'mon, let's skate!" Christopher Robin said. He sat on a handy boulder while tying his skates, and then glided onto the ice. Although Eeyore knew he would be no good at skating, Christopher Robin laughed so as he circled the ice that Eeyore had to venture out, his hooves sliding ever outward until his belly was cold.
Tigger wouldn't come and skate; he said Tiggers didn't. Eeyore recalled an incident last winter when Tigger had fallen through the ice after boasting that Tiggers were the best skaters ever. Tigger was flighty that way.
Piglet whirled past in a blur of green. He wore a thick sweater Kanga had knitted to keep him warm, since he was such a Very Small Animal.
Pooh sat next to the fire and watched a round-bellied pot carefully. Eeyore suspected it held honey. His own gift to Pooh was hidden amid the trees surrounding the pond: a perfect pinecone for Pooh's mantel. Seeing everyone tiring and heading for the shore, Eeyore decided to collect his gifts. Anyway, his belly was chilled.
He tried to walk to firm ground, his hooves slithering around under him at first, but he found his balance at last and made it safely. The snow provided more purchase as Eeyore went to his hiding place. His nose burned as he inhaled the glacial air, huffing a little from the exertion of carrying his presents.
When Eeyore returned to the fire, Rabbit had arrived with all of his friends-and-relations in tow. They hopped over each other and around the fire and skated out onto the ice and were generally a nuisance. One of them stepped on Eeyore's tail, which just went to show that this younger generation had no respect.
Kanga called, "Present time!" and everyone rushed over to the fire. Rabbit received seeds from Piglet, and gave Eeyore a bucketful of rosehips he'd collected. Pooh got honey and rather sticky soon after. Piglet was given many a haycorn. Kanga had knitted a blue muffler for Eeyore, "To keep you warm while you forage for thistles."
On the walk home, the stars looked close enough to touch, and twinkled like they knew a secret.
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Snow fell every few days though the rest of the winter, but Eeyore didn't find the wet or the cold a bother. His new house was snug, and each new layer of snow only sealed any cracks up tighter. He ate Rabbit's rosehips, sweet as candy, every noontime.
When Eeyore ventured out, he was sure to wrap Kanga's muffler around his neck. The snow was hard and crusted and tough to walk through. Piglet was delighted to see Eeyore near his house TRESSPASSERS W, and invited Eeyore in for tea. Pooh arrived not long after, drawn by the scent of honey.
"I'll go now, if you'd rather spend time alone with Pooh," Eeyore offered.
Pooh and Piglet exchanged a Look, which Eeyore knew meant he would soon be trudging through the snow.
"Eeyore," ventured Piglet, "You're quite welcome to stay."
"Oh yes," said Pooh, "We don't see enough of each other, what with this snow all over the place. It makes visiting diff-, diff-, hard." Pooh's muzzle was gummed with honey.
"Have another haycorn?" Piglet asked.
"I don't mind if I do," said Eeyore. They were nice, for a change from thistles.
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The days continued, a long succession of foraging and visiting friends. Tigger and Roo played out in the snow often, and the cold didn't seem to bother them. Of course, animals that bouncy must be warm all the time anyway. Eeyore noticed that the days seemed to be lasting longer, the sun reluctant to slip under the edge of the horizon and give the wood over to the dark.
As he searched one afternoon for fresh thistles, which had become scarce and harder to find (although Rabbit still had a large store of vegetables in his root cellar, not that he shared), Eeyore spotted a green sprout sticking up through the snow. He went over and pawed around it with a hoof, trying to make out what it was. A delicate white flower hung from the end of the sprout: a snowdrop, first harbinger of spring. Crocuses and daffodils and thistles couldn't be far behind.
Eeyore carefully plucked the snowdrop with his teeth. He thought he'd take it to Christopher Robin, to show him winter was almost over.
-end-
Notes: Written for Kastaka as part of Yuletide 2004. Thanks to everyone who commented on the draft, especially wwolfe and issaro.
Disclaimer: Eeyore, Pooh, and all other residents of the Hundred Acre Woods were created by A.A. Milne. But now they belong to children everywhere, no matter what Disney might think.
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