Pooh goes looking for the Honey Girl

Pooh walked over to his cupboard and opened it. There was a jar in it. Pooh took it out and put it on the table. He was about to open the jar when he suddenly noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under his door. It was a white piece of paper with something written on it, Pooh saw. He walked to the door and picked it up.

It had all squigly lines on it.

"Letters!", Pooh thought wise, and nodded in deep thoughts.
"But what would the letters say?", he asked himself.

Pooh held the paper up and looked at it closely. There was one squigly line he saw on the paper which made him think. He knew that line somehow. Could it be his name?
Pooh shook his bear-head, lay down the piece of paper and started to open the jar again. His eye fell on the label on the jar.
"Honey!", Pooh yelled aloud, "The letters spell HONEY! It's a treasure map!"
Now that he had figured out what important things were written on the piece of paper, Pooh decided immediately to go and find the treasure. But first he would eat. He opened the jar of honey, ate, and went out to find Rabbit.

Rabbit would help him read what was on the piece of paper.

Rabbit was busy finding food for the winter to store in his house. He walked around with a little cart which he filled with all kinds of rabbit goodies. Suddenly he noticed Pooh walking by towards his home with a steady pace.
"I wonder what Pooh wants from me?", Rabbit pondered, "I hope he didn't eat all the honey I gave him yesterday, yet."
He hid the cart under some bushes and ran after Pooh.

"Pooh?", Rabbit asked when he had catched up with Pooh.
"I have no time!", Pooh said without looking, "I have to go and talk to Rabbit about a treasure!"
"A treasure?", Rabbit asked, keeping up with Pooh's pace. Pooh's bear-feet moved very quickly, tump-tump-tump. But rabbits always walk fast, so Rabbit had no problem in keeping up with Pooh.

"Yes, a treasure!", Pooh exclaimed happily. He looked at who he was talking to and halted.

"Rabbit! I wanted to talk to you!"
"About a treasure?", Rabbit said.
"How did you know that?", Pooh asked, "You are so clever..."
"Well, what about that treasure?", Rabbit asked hastily.
"I have this piece of paper...", Pooh mumbled and showed the piece of paper to Rabbit. "...which has all those squigly lines on it. Letters! And here-" Pooh pointed randomly to the letters.
"-it says 'Honey'! I know because the little drawings are the same as on my honey jars I got from you!"
Rabbit look at Pooh and sighed.
"Did you eat all the honey yet?", Rabbit asked. Pooh nodded.
"But there is more where the letters say, I think!", reminded Pooh.

Rabbit took the piece of paper and read aloud:

               

         'Dear Pooh,

          I know a girl who is as sweet as honey,
          And who would love to meet you sometime.
          Would you visit her someday, please?
          Her name is Annemarie and I'm sure she 
          will take good care of your tummy.


				Love,
				Eelko.'

"No treasure map, Pooh!", Rabbit said, hoping Pooh wouldn't be too disappointed.
"Yes it is!", Pooh exclaimed. "A girl as sweet as honey! I want to meet her!"
Pooh took the piece of paper from Rabbit and set off for Christopher Robin's house.
"But Pooh, what about Christopher?", Rabbit asked him.
Pooh stood still and thought about that. Christopher would miss him and he would miss Christopher. And he would miss the honey Christopher gave him all the time. But a girl who is as sweet as honey...
"Christopher went somewhere on his holly-day. He said it was going to be lots of fun, and that he'll be back soon. I will be back soon too. I will find a holly-day and go to Annemarie. Then she will give me honey, and I will write to Christopher where I am, so he can come and see me there too. You may come too!?", Pooh said.
Rabbit looked at Pooh and shook his head.
"No, I can't come.", he said, "I have to take care of my garden, and my carrots."
"Well, I got to go now!", Pooh said and turned around.

"Wait!", Rabbit said and ran inside his little house. He came running out with something in his hand.
"Here you are. A knapsack. I put some honey in it too. Don't eat it all at once!", Rabbit said to Pooh and shook his finger in front of Pooh. "You can put your letter in it too."
Pooh looked at the knapsack. It had a long stick and a red-and-white napkin at the end, folded so that it was some sort of bag.
"I will put all the letters in it, and the paper too!", Pooh said, and did so. He waved at Rabbit and walked on.
"Say bye to Eeyore and Kanga for me! I will be back soon!", Pooh called to Rabbit. "And to Roo and Piglet and Owl too!"

He waved at Rabbit and walked on to the Bee tree.

There Pooh climbed up into the tree, and waved at the bees.
"I'll be gone for some time, now!", Pooh said to the bees. "You can make a lot of honey for me, for when I get back!"
The bees buzzed around him. Pooh got to another branch, where a balloon was stuck to a sign. 'For Imurguncies', the sign said. Christopher Robin hung that ballon in the tree some time after Pooh's adventure in the tree, when he was too scared to get out of it. Pooh thought that this was an imurguncie good enough to use the balloon. He waved the bees away and jumped out of the tree, hanging on to the ballon.

He got to Christopher Robin's house, but nobody was home, so he just walked on, singing happily. This was what he sung:

            I'm going to visit Annemarie,

               Annemarie, Annemarie.

            I'm going to visit Annemarie,

          And she's going to fill my tum-my,

              With ho-ney, with ho-ney.

Pooh thought about how long the journey was going to take. He shook his head and didn't know. Who would he meet on his journey? What kind of weather would he have?
Pooh looked up to the sky, and saw it was not going to rain for quite some time.

"Good.", Pooh said to himself. "I don't like rain. I like honey.", and he walked on.

Just as he had said this, he saw a truck go by. He saw the huge machine, and was somewhat startled by the sound of the engine, but what he also saw was the huge drawing of a jar of honey on the side of it. It was a very big jar of honey, slightly tilted to one side, so the honey was about to drop out.
Pooh looked at it and wanted very much to go inside the truck.
The truck stopped at the side of the road, and a man walked out of the the front of the truck.
"Now, I will only stop for a minute!", the man said kindly to someone else in the truck. "Now, get out and go behind those bushes!"
A little boy got out and looked around. He saw Pooh and ran towards him. Pooh hid behind a tree, so the big man wouldn't see him.
"Don't be long!", the father told his boy.

The little boy stopped as he arrived with Pooh.
"Haay! I'm Tommy! Who are you?", the boy asked Pooh.
Pooh looked up to him and said: "Pooh."
"Pooh?", the boy asked. "What a funny name! Where are you going?"
"To Annemarie, the girl as sweet as honey. But first I have to find Eelko!", Pooh told him.
"I don't know Annemarie, but I know where Eelko is.", the boy told Pooh. Pooh looked delighted at the little boy. "But I don't know how we're going to get you there... Wait!"
The boy looked around and told Pooh to hide near the back of the truck. Pooh went there and hid under some bushes.

"Dad! Can I take a look at the honey again? Please?!?!?", the boy asked when he got back to front of the truck.
"Again? Well... Why not. I don't know why you like it so much, but hey, I don't mind. They're only honey jars. Thousands of them. That's all.", the father said.

Pooh heard it all and had to keep from crying out. Honey! Thousands of jars of honey! He didn't know what 'thousand' meant, but he thought it was a lot. More than two, at least.

The father of the boy opened up the back of the truck, and walked back to the front. The boy looked a the jars and cried out.
"It's so beautiful! All those jars with golden honey!"
Tommy beckoned to Pooh to come closer. Pooh tip-toed to Tommy.
"Get in! Hurry! I will bring you to Eelko!", Tommy said.
Pooh hopped inside, and looked around. Thousands of jars of honey. Now he knew what Thousands meant. It meant 'heaven', like Christopher Robin once told him, where everything is nice and you get everything you want. Pooh stood still on top of some jars.

"Don't be afraid! I will be back!", Tommy said and closed the door. It went dark a bit, but there was some light coming from a small window above. Pooh sat down and opened a jar.
As the truck started to move again, Pooh was already on to his third jar of honey. He jummed it all up. Then he ate another eight jars full of honey and fell asleep to the humming sound of the engine.

And that's how Pooh got to Eelko. Pooh ate allot of honey on the way to him, but there was plenty left for Tommy and his father, Pooh gathered. He put two jars of honey in the knapsack he got from Rabbit, and jumped out after Tommy's father had opened the door and Tommy had said Pooh could get out now.
Pooh jumped out, and thanked Tommy for the trip. Tommy pointed to a house nearby.
"That's where Eelko lives!", Tommy said. "He's at home. His lights are on!"
"Thank you.", Pooh said. "I hope he has some honey for me..."
Tommy smiled at Pooh.
"Bye Pooh! If you want a lift home, just tell Eelko! He'll bring you home, if you like."

Pooh waved at Tommy. Tommy got in the truck again, and drove off with his father. Pooh waved at him until the truck was completely out of sight. Then he turned to Eelko's house and walked to the door.

He knocked on it several times, and Eelko opened.

"Pooh! You're here!", Eelko said.
"Yes, I am. Do you know where Annemarie is?", Pooh asked quickly. He wanted to see the girl as sweet as honey.
"Yes I know where she is! Let me take you to her!", Eelko said and took his coat. Eelko took Pooh's hand and closed the door behind him.
"Let's find this sweet girl.", Eelko said, taking Pooh's hand.
"Sweet as honey...", Pooh added, and they both nodded as they walked on to Annemarie's house...