Chapter 7- Higher Purposes
In which Eeyore tries to throw a stick so high into the air that it does not come back for a while

Pooh was out for a stroll, and it was a particularly fine day in One Hundred Acre Wood. Birds were flitting, building nests, bees were buzzing, building honey, and Pooh was ambling, building up an appetite.

As the sun climbed in the sky, Pooh's appetite grew bigger and bigger. He found himself closer to Eeyore's house than anyone else's, and decided to drop by. As he walked closer to Eeyore's, he started hearing a strange sound.

"Wheep, thump."

"Hallo?", said Pooh.

"Wheep, thump," came the sound.

"Hallooo?", asked Pooh again, in a Brave voice.

"Whheeep, thump," replied the Sound. "Wheep, thump. Wheep... thump. WHEEEP ... THUMP. Ow!"

"That's an Eeyore "Ow!"' thought Pooh. "Eeyore? Is that you?" he asked.

"Oh, Pooh! Hallo! I didn't expect to see you here," said Eeyore, surprised at first, but then sad.

"Whatever's the matter, Eeyore?'

"Oh, it's nothing. You wouldn't understand. It's not a Bear thing," said Eeyore, in a very Resigned voice.

"Oh dear Eeyore. Well, why don't you tell me what the matter is, and we can decide whether it's a Bear thing or not? How's that?" said Pooh brightly.

"Well, alright, but it won't do much good," said Eeyore. "It's like this you see. My cousin, Brae, is coming to visit later today. I've been trying to impress her for ever so long, because I very much want to be her friend."

"Oho!", said Pooh.

"Yes, and so what I was trying to do was to throw this stick so high into the sky that it wouldn't come back. Wouldn't it be impressive if I could?", asked Eeyore, picking up a small branch and spinning it into the air high above his head, with a loud "Wheep!"

"Thump," said the branch, as it hit the forest floor, grazing Eeyore in the process.

"Ow!" said Eeyore, again.

"Oh dear," said Pooh. "But why, Eeyore, do you want to impress your cousin Brae?"

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to understand," said Eeyore, "but I'll tell you anyway. Brae is a very special Donkey. She won Most Fetching Donkey in the Twenty Furlong Valley contest last year. Ever since then, everyone has been trying to impress her. So I thought I'd do the same."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to do something just because everyone else is?" asked Pooh, sensing a contradiction on its way.

"Umm, well, it's not just that everyone else is doing it. Cousin Brae really is very Fetching."

"And you think that throwing a stick high into the air will make her like you?"

"Not just high into the air -- but so high that it never comes back. I knew you wouldn't understand. Hang on a sec." Eeyore rummaged around for a picture of his Cousin Brae. "Here she is, Pooh. Just look at her. Wouldn't you want to send a stick high into the sky for a chance to be her friend?"

"Ah," said Pooh.

And so it was that the residents of One Hundred Acre Wood soon built a stick projecting apparatus of fearsome size and power, launching a stick so high that it took two days to come back down.

Next Month: Chapter 7: "In which Pooh learns that contradiction ought to be embraced."