So Pooh went off to find Eeyore�s tail.  It was a fine spring morning in the forest.  Through copse and spinney marched Bear, down open slopes of gorse and heather, over rocky beds of streams, up steep banks of sandstone and into the heather again.  At last, tired and hungry, he came to the Hundred Acre Wood.  For it was there that Owl lived.

�And if anyone knows anything about anything,� said Bear to himself, �it�s Owl,� he said, �or my name�s not Winnie-the-Pooh,� he said.  �Which it is,� he added.

Owl�s residence was grander than anybody else�s, or seemed so because it had both a knocker and a bell-pull.  Underneath the knocker there was a notice which said:

PLEZ RING IF AN RNSER IS REQIRD.

Underneath the bell-pull there was a notice which said:

       PLEZ CKOCKE IF AN RNSER IS NOT REQID.

       These notices had been written by Christopher Robin, who was the only one in the forest who could spell; for Owl, wise though he was in many ways, able to read and write and spell his own name WOL, somehow went all to pieces over delicate words like MEASLES and BUTTERED TOAST.

       Winnie-the-Pooh read the two notices very carefully.  Then he called out in a very loud voice, �Owl!  I require an answer.  It�s Bear speaking.�

       The door opened and Owl looked out.  �Hallo, Pooh,� he said.  �How�s things?�

       �Terrible and sad,� said Pooh, �because Eeyore has lost his tail.  Could you very kindly tell me how to find it for him?�

       �Well,� said Owl, �the thing to do is as follows.  First, Issue a Reward.  Then . . .�

       �Just a moment,� said Pooh holding up his paw.  �What do we do to this � what were you saying?  You sneezed just as you were going to tell me.�

       �I didn�t sneeze.�

       �Yes, you did, Owl.�

       �Excuse me, Pooh, I didn�t.  You can�t sneeze without knowing it.�

       �Well, you can�t know it without something having been sneezed.�

       �What I said was, �First Issue a Reward�.�

       �You�re doing it again,� said Pooh sadly.

       �A Reward!� said Owl very loudly.  �We write a notice to say that we will give a large something to anybody who finds Eeyore�s tail.�

       �I see, I see,� said Pooh, nodding his head.

       �Well, then,� said Owl.  �We write out this notice, and we put it up all over the forest.�