POOH CORNER

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 75, Issue 6442, 5 November 1947, Page 10

POOH CORNER

Hullo Everyone, I wonder how many of you went to the Waikato A- and P. Show? Piglet and I went and we had a great day’s fun. We left home in the morning on Saturday and after a trip in the beautiful spring sunshine we arrived at the showgrounds. We had taken our lunch with us but we decided to have a look round first. We visited the prize cattle, sheep, and pigs and saw the Calf Club exhibits. We then went to the side-shows, saw Smoky the tiny horse and had a ride on the merry-go-round. I didn’t like that much and I felt rather giddy when I got off but Piglet thought it was lovely—in fact he then went on the big wheel which goes round away up in the air. He didn’t like that quite so much though. We bought some floss candy and decided it must be time to have our lunch so off we went and made some tea which we had with our sandwiches. We specially wanted to see the Dominion jumping event so we hurried back to the stand and just managed to find a seat where we could watch the horses jumping. Next came the grand parade and we were so thrilled to see the big bulls and cows, horses with their necks covered with prize ribbons and . specially • the children of the various pony clubs (two hundred of them altogether) all parading' round the ring. The dogs looked so small beside the other animals and we felt sorry for the tiny ones amongst all the enormous beasts. Several cows broke away and went dashing off on theii; own and they did look so funny bucking and frisking about. After the parade there was a display of marching by some teams of girls and it was very good, but we loved watching the ponies jumping. They had to jump into a pen, stop, and jump out at right angles and quite a number wouldn’t stop. When that class was finished they went on to the high jump and some of them went up so high before they knocked th.e rail off. They were so interesting to watch. Piglet and I had such an enjoyable day that we were sorry when it was over and we wished we could have been there the first two days too. I am looking forward to hearing from some of you who were there too, because I’m sure you would all like it just as we did. Lots of love.—From Winnie-the-Pooh.

THE FOREST FIRE (Kazan's mate, Grey Wolf, had beep blinded in a fight with a lynx.) In her blindness Grey Wolf could no longer hunt with her mate; but gradually a new code of understanding grew up between them, and through her blindness they learned many things that they had not known before. By early summer Grey Wolf could travel with Kazan if he did not move too swiftly. She ran at his flank, with her shoulder or muzzle touching him, and Kazan learned not to leap, but to trot. Very quickly he found that he must choose the easiest trails for Grey Wolf’s feet. When they came to a space to be bridged by a leap, he would nuzzle Grey Wolf and- whine, and she would stand with ears alert—listening. Then Kazan would take the leap, and she understood the distance she had to cover. She always overleaped, which was a good fault,

In another way she became a greater help than ever to Kazan. Scent and hearing entirely took the place of sight. Each day strengthened these senses, and at the same time there developed between the two the dumb language whereby Grey Wolf could tell Kazan what she had discovered by scent or sound. It became a curious habit of Kazans’ always to look at her when they stopped to listen or to scent the air.

Then came the great fire. Grey Wolf caught the scent of it when it was still two days to the west. The sun that night went down in a lurid cloud. The moon, drifting into the west, became blood red. All the next day Grey Wolf was nervous and towards noon Kazan caught in the air that warning that she had sensed many hours before him. Steadily the scent grew stronger, and by the middle of the afternoon the sun was veiled by a film of smoke. Kazan and Grey Wolf, along with hundreds of other animals, were on a triangle of land between two rivers. The wind began to blow up from the base of the triangle driving the fire before it, and the head of the triangle became a death-trap. All through the night, the southern sky was filled with a lurid glow, and by morning the heat and smoke and ash were stifling. ' Panic-stricken, Kazan searched vainly for a means of escape. Not for an instant did he leave Grey Wolf, It would have been easy for him to swim scross either of the two streams, but at the first touch of water on her paws Grey Wolf drew back shrinking. Like all her breed, she would face fire and death before water. Kazan urged. A dozen times he leaped in, and swam out into the stream; but Grey Wolf would come no farther than she could wade. They could now hear the distant murmuring roar of the fire. Ahead of it came the wild things. Moose, caribou, and deer plunged into the water of one of the streams. Out upon a white finger of sand lumbered a big black bear with two cubs, and even the cubs took to the water, and swam across easily. Kazan watched them and whined to Grey Wolf. Then out upon that white finger of sand came other things that dreaded the water as Grey Wolf dreaded it; a big fat porcupine, a sleek little marten, a fisher-cat which sniffed the air and wailed like a child. Those things that could not, or would not, swim outnumbered the_others by three to one. Hundreds "of erminp scurried along the shore like rats, their squeaking little voices sounding incessantly. Foxes ran swiftly along the banks, seeking a tree or a windfall that might bridge the water for them; the lynx snarled and faced the fire; and Grey Wolf’s own tribe—the wolves—dared take no deeper step than she.

MERIT CORNER Janice Gudsell, Te Kawa, aged 10 years, is our first D.M.W., havingwon 9 merits in the second series. Heartiest congratulations Janice. (2nd Series—sth November) Joy Gregory, M.W., Te Kawa. Dear Winnie-the-Pooh, How are you and Piglet getting on ? In the August holidays a man came to our school to level out a piece of the play ground. The boys are going- to have it made into a football ground, but at present we are using it to play rounders on. Not long ago a man came to take our photos. Mr Gudsell ou/ school teacher has the prints now. Yesterday Mum went over to Hamilton to see' if she could buy me a bike. J did not know this, so on arriving home and finding a bike waiting for me I was very pleased- After I had changed my clothes I went out to try it out. As 1 was coming home the chain broke so Dad had to fix it. 1 am going to ride it to music to-morrow. 1 learn music from Mrs Shaw. Could the next competition be this:—Get as many words as possible ending in ing. A small prize could be given.—Y ours sincerely, Marigold, M.W. The boys will be excited when they have their new football ground Marigold. Do you think they will let you play rounders on it when it is finished? I do hope the photos turned out well. It is fun having them to look at afterwards and remember all your old school friends. What an excitement it must have been to find a bike waiting for you when you arrived home- I hope the chain didn’t break again when you went to- music. I think the town would run out of paper altogether if we had your competition, because there must be thousands and thousands of words ending with “ing”. If everyone entered it would use up pages and pages of paper. Thank you very much for the suggestion however. JOKES A visitor came to the village and noticed an old man weeping by a tree. “And how old are you,” he asked the old one. “I’ll be 90 come Tuesday,” responded the veteran. “And why are yo’u crying,” asked the visitor. “My father’s been hitting- me,” he rejoined. “Goodness, your father—at your age? What for pray? “For throwing stones at my grandfather,” replied the other. A person was boasting that he had never spoken the truth in his life before“Then,” said his friend, “you have done it row for the first time,” A TELEPHONE MIX-UP “Are you there?” “Yes.” “Who are you please?” “Watt.” “What is your name please ?•” “Watt’s my name.” “Yes, what is your name?” “I say my name is Watt.” “Oh well, I’m coming round to see •you.” “All right—are you Jones?” “No, I’m Knott.” “Well will you. tell me your name please ? ” “I’m Will Knott.” “Why won’t you?” “I say my name is William Knott.” “Then will you be in when I call, Watt?” “Certainly Knott.” I Marigold, M.W.

Dripping and panting, and half choked by heat and smoke, Kazan came to Grey Wolf’s side. There was only one refuge left near them and that was the sand-bar. It stretched out for fifty feet into the stream. Quickly he led his blind mate toward it. As they came through the low bush to the river bed something stopped them both. To their nostrils had come the scent of a deadlier enemy than fire. A lynx had taken possession of the sand-bar and was crouching at the end of it. Three porcupines had dragged themselves into the edge of the water and lay there like balls, their qfiills alert and quivering. A fisher-cat was snarling at the lynx. The lynx, with ears laid back, watched Kazan and Grey Wolf as they began the invasion of the sand-bar.

Faithful Grey Wolf was full in sight, and she sprang shoulder too shoulder with Kazan, her fangs bared. With an angry snap Kazan drove her back, and she stood quivering and whining while he advanced. Light-footed, his pointed ears forward, no menace or threat in his attude, he advanced. It was the deadly advance of the husky trained in battle, skilled in the art of killing. A man from civilisation would have said that the dog was approaching the lynx with friendly intentions. The lynx, however, understood: it was the old feud of many generations. Instinct told the fisher-cat what was coming, and it crouched low and flat; the porcupines, scolding like little children at the presence of enemies and the thickening clouds of smoke, thrust their quills still more erect. The lynx lay flat like a cat, its hindquarters twitching and gathered for the spring. Kazan’s feet seemed scarcely to touch the sand as he circled lightly round it. The lynx pivoted as he circled, and then it shot in a round, snarling ball over the eght feet of space that separated them.

(To be Concluded Next Week)

! RIDDLE Why did the kitchen sink?—Because it saw the door step. —Marigold, M.W.