Now We Are Six (13 page)

Read Now We Are Six Online

Authors: A. A. Milne

In the Dark

I’ve had my supper,

And
had
my supper,

And HAD my supper and all;

I’ve heard the story

Of Cinderella,

And how she went to the ball;

I’ve cleaned my teeth,

And I’ve said my prayers,

And I’ve cleaned and said them right;

And they’ve all of them been

And kissed me lots,

They’ve all of them said “Good-night.”

So—here I am in the dark alone,

There’s nobody here to see;

I think to myself,

I play to myself,

And nobody knows what I say to myself;

Here I am in the dark alone,

What is it going to be?

I can think whatever I like to think,

I can play whatever I like to play,

I can laugh whatever I like to laugh,

There’s nobody here but me.

I’m talking to a rabbit…

I’m talking to the sun…

I think I am a hundred—

I’m one.

I’m lying in a forest…

I’m lying in a cave…

I’m talking to a Dragon…

I’m BRAVE.

I’m lying on my left side…

I’m lying on my right…

I’ll play a lot tomorrow…

I’ll think a lot tomorrow…

I’ll laugh…

a lot…

tomorrow…

(Heigh-ho!)

Good-night.

The End

When I was One,

I had just begun.

When I was Two,

I was nearly new.

When I was Three,

I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,

I was not much more.

When I was Five,

I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I’m as clever as clever.

So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.

A.A. M
ILNE
(1882–1956) began his writing career as a humorist for
Punch
magazine, and also wrote plays and poetry. In 1926, he published his first stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, which were an instant success. Since then, Pooh has become a world-famous bear, and Milne’s stories have been translated into fifty languages.

E
RNEST
H. S
HEPARD
(1879–1976) won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools, and later, like Milne, worked for
Punch
magazine, as a cartoonist and illustrator. Shepard’s witty and loving illustrations of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood have become an inseparable part of the Pooh stories, and they have become classics in their own right.

*
Haw! Haw! Haw!

*
So I have had to write this one in pencil.

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