Work Text:
The Lament of Eeyore's Tail
by Pirate Turner
Winnie sighed glumly as Christopher Robin finished setting their table. "There we go, Pooh Bear," the boy spoke brightly. "We're all ready for tea now."
Winnie cast a sorrowful glance around the small table. "No," he lamented, "not all of us."
Christopher Robin sighed as he sat down and looked at his old friend. "What's wrong, Pooh?" When the small bear began to cry, he reached over and gathered him close into his arms.
"They're all mad at me!"
"Who?"
"All my friends!"
"Now, Pooh bear, what would make you think that?"
"They haven't talked to me since last night!" Winnie sobbed. "We were all playing, and I was playing with Eeyore, and his tail fell off!" His tears soaked Christopher Robin's thin shirt as he held to his best friend and cried his heart out.
Christopher Robin gently patted his teddy bear's back. "Aw, Pooh! Come on! You know Eeyore's tail always falls off!"
"I know, but it was staying on since you put it back on with that special tape! You know," he blubbered in between sobs, "that . . . that one that comes from ducks?"
Christopher Robin smiled. "Duct tape," he told him. "My Daddy taught me all about that stuff. It's supposed to keep anything together."
"But it didn't keep Eeyore's tail on! It fell off, and it all happened because I was playing with him!"
Christopher Robin pulled Pooh away from him just enough so that he could sit him on his lap and dry his tears. "It didn't fall off just because you were playing with him. It would have fallen off any way. I bet our friends are actually waiting on you to come see them."
Pooh hesitantly dabbed at his eyes with his small paws. "What . . . What makes you think that?" he asked, even as he thought that Christopher Robin had to be right. It made no sense to him why they wouldn't be mad. Yet he knew his best friend had to be right, because he always was.
"Because friends wouldn't be upset over something like that," Christopher Robin told him. He stood up with his arms still wrapped gently around him. "Come on, you silly old bear. We're gonna go find our friends, and then you'll see they're not upset."
Pooh hoped that Christopher Robin wouldn't prove to be wrong for the first time ever as he carried him to Rabbit's house. Christopher Robin knocked on the door in the old tree and was immediately answered by Rabbit calling, "Come in!"
No sooner had they stepped through the door than every one of their friends jumped out of hiding and yelled, "SURPRISE!" Pooh looked around him through tear-filled eyes at the party hats, birthday banners, and piles of bright honey pots. His ears wriggled in delight, and he beamed as his friends started to sing Happy Birthday to him.
After they had finished, he hugged Christopher Robin tightly and told him, "Thank you, Christopher Robin! You know, it must be nice to always be right, but what's really nice is having friends like you guys!" He smiled at his friends as Christopher Robin let him down to play. "I thought you were mad at me," Pooh admitted.
"F-For what?" Piglet asked, wringing his tiny, pink paws together. "I-I d-don't know about y-you doing anything wr-wrong, Pooh bear . . . "
"He didn't," Christopher Robin assured Pooh, softly stroking his back.
"I thought you were mad, because I made Eeyore's tail fall off again."
"Oh that!" Rabbit exclaimed.
Tigger laughed. "Dropping their tails is what Eeyores do best just like bouncing is what Tiggers do best!" He began to bounce through Rabbit's house, and Rabbit chased after him, yelling at him to stop and waving his broom just a fraction of an inch behind him.
Pooh could now see Eeyore who stood behind the spot where Rabbit and Tigger had been. "I . . . I'm sorry, Eeyore," Pooh apologized.
"What for?" the donkey asked. "They're right. My tail's always falling off." He sighed sadly. "You all thought Christopher Robin had fixed it with duct tape, but I knew it wouldn't last. It never does. That's just my fate in life, I guess," Eeyore lamented sorrowfully.
"Well, it shouldn't have to be!"
"No, it shouldn't, but I reckon that's all I'm good for."
"That's so not true!" Pooh rushed to him and hugged him tightly just as Christopher Robin had hugged him a little while before. "You're good," he said, "for a wonderful friend!"
Eeyore's gray cheeks turned pink as he blushed. He felt something go out from beneath him and looked between his legs. His tail looked back at him, and he sighed. "There it goes again."
The End