He was at the East Pole, and it was a very cold pole with the coldest sort of snow and ice all over it.
He had found a bee-hive to sleep in, but there wasn't room for his legs, so he had left them outside.
And Wild Woozles, such as inhabit the East Pole, came and nibbled all the fur off his legs to make Nests for their Young.
And the more they nibbled, the colder his legs got, until suddenly he woke up with an Ow! -- and there he was, sitting in his chair with his feet in the water, and water all round him!
He splashed to his door and looked out....
"This is Serious," said Pooh.
"I must have an Escape."
So he took his largest pot of honey and escaped with it to a broad branch of his tree, well above the water, and then he climbed down again and escaped with another pot . . . and when the whole Escape was finished, there was Pooh sitting on his branch dangling his legs, and there, beside him, were ten pots of honey....
Two days later, there was Pooh, sitting on his branch, dangling his legs, and there, beside him, were four pots of honey....
Three days later, there was Pooh, sitting on his branch, dangling his legs, and there beside him, was one pot of honey.
Four days later, there was Pooh...
And it was on the morning of the fourth day that Piglet's bottle came floating past him, and with one loud cry of
"Honey!"
Pooh plunged into the water, seized the bottle, and struggled back to his tree again.
"Bother!" said Pooh, as he opened it.
"All that wet for nothing.
What's that bit of paper doing?"
He took it out and looked at it.
"It's a Missage," he said to himself, "that's what it is.
And that letter is a 'P,' and so is that, and so is that, and
'P' means 'Pooh,' so it's a very important Missage to me, and I can't read it.
I must find Christopher Robin or Owl or Piglet, one of those Clever Readers who can read things, and they will tell me what this missage means.
Only I can't swim.
Bother!"
Then he had an idea, and I think that for a Bear of Very Little Brain, it was a good idea.
He said to himself:
"If a bottle can float, then a jar can float, and if a jar floats, I can sit on the top of it, if it's a very big jar."
So he took his biggest jar, and corked it up.
"All boats have to have a name," he said, "so I shall call mine The Floating Bear."
And with these words he dropped his boat into the water and jumped in after it.
For a little while Pooh and The Floating Bear were uncertain as to which of them was meant to be on the top, but after trying one or two different positions, they settled down with The Floating Bear underneath and Pooh triumphantly astride it, paddling vigorously with his feet.
Christopher Robin lived at the very top of the Forest.
It rained, and it rained, and it rained, but the water couldn't come up to his house.
It was rather jolly to look down into the valleys and see the water all round him, but it rained so hard that he stayed indoors most of the time, and thought about things.
Every morning he went out with his umbrella and put a stick in the place where the water came up to, and every next morning he went out and couldn't see his stick any more, so he put another stick in the place where the water came up to, and then he walked home again, and each morning he had a shorter way to walk than he had had the morning before.
On the morning of the fifth day he saw the water all round him, and he new that for the first time in his life he was on a real island. Which is very exciting.
It was on this morning that Owl came flying over the water to say "How do you do?" to his friend Christopher Robin.
"I say, Owl," said Christopher Robin, "isn't this fun? I'm on an island!"
"The atmospheric conditions have been very unfavourable lately," said Owl.
"The what?"
"It has been raining," explained Owl.
"Yes," said Christopher Robin. "It has."
"The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height."
"The who?"
"There's a lot of water about," explained Owl.
"Yes," said Christopher Robin, "there is."
"However, the prospects are rapidly becoming more favourable.
At any moment -- "
"Have you seen Pooh?"
"No.