A Milne - Now We Are Six

There are lots and lots of people who are always asking things,
Like Dates and Pounds-and-ounces and the names of funny Kings,
And the answer’s either Sixpence or A Hundred Inches Long,
And I know they’ll think me silly if I get the answer wrong.
So Pooh and I go whispering, and Pooh looks very bright,
And says, “Well, I say sixpence, but I don’t suppose
I’m right.”
And then it doesn’t matter what the answer ought to be,
’Cos if he’s right, I’m Right, and if he’s wrong, it isn’t Me.

It’s funny how often they say to me, “Jane?
“Have you been a good girl?”
“Have you been a good girl?”
And when they have said it, they say it again,
“Have you been a good girl?”
“Have you been a good girl?”
I go to a party, I go out to tea,
I go to an aunt for a week at the sea,
I come back from school or from playing a game;
Wherever I come from, it’s always the same:
“Well?
“Have you been a good girl, Jane?”

It’s always the end of the loveliest day:
“Have you been a good girl?”
“Have you been a good girl?”
I went to the Zoo, and they waited to say:
“Have you been a good girl?”
“Have you been a good girl?”

Well, what did they think that I went there to do?
And why should I want to be bad at the Zoo?
And should I be likely to say if I had?
So that’s why it’s funny of Mummy and Dad,
This asking and asking, in case I was bad,
“Well?
“Have you been a good girl, Jane?”

If I were John and John were Me,
Then he’d be six and I’d be three.
If John were Me and I were John,
I shouldn’t have these trousers on.

Of Hilary the Great and Good
They tell a tale at Christmas time
I’ve often thought the story would
Be prettier but just as good
If almost anybody should
Translate it into rime .
So I have done the best I can
For lack of some more learned man .
Good King Hilary
Said to his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
“Run to the wicket-gate
Quickly, quickly,
Run to the wicket-gate
And see who is knocking.
It may be a rich man,
Sea-borne from Araby,
Bringing me peacocks,
Emeralds and ivory;
It may be a poor man,

Travel-worn and weary,
Bringing me oranges
To put in my stocking.”
Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor,
Laughed both loud and free: * Haw! Haw! Haw!
“I’ve served Your Majesty, man to man,
Since first Your Majesty’s reign began,
And I’ve often walked, but I never, never ran,
Never, never, never,” quoth he.
Good King Hilary
Said to his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
“Walk to the wicket-gate
Quickly, quickly,
Walk to the wicket-gate
And see who is knocking.

It may be a captain,
Hawk-nosed, bearded,
Bringing me gold-dust,
Spices, and sandalwood:
It may be a scullion,
Care-free, whistling,
Bringing me sugar-plums
To put in my stocking.”
Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor,
Laughed both loud and free:
“I’ve served in the Palace since I was four,
And I’ll serve in the Palace a-many years more,
And I’ve opened a window, but never a door,
Never, never, never,” quoth he.
Good King Hilary
Said to his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
“Open the window
Quickly, quickly,
Open the window
And see who is knocking.

It may be a waiting-maid,
Apple-cheeked, dimpled,
Sent by her mistress
To bring me greeting;
It may be children,
Anxious, whispering,
Bringing me cobnuts,
To put in my stocking.”
Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor,
Laughed both loud and free;
“I’ll serve Your Majesty till I die—
As Lord Chancellor, not as spy
To peep from lattices; no, not I,
Never, never, never,” quoth he.

Good King Hilary
Looked at his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
He said no word
To his stiff-set Chancellor,
But ran to the wicket-gate
To see who was knocking.
He found no rich man
Trading from Araby;
He found no captain,
Blue-eyed, weather-tanned;
He found no waiting-maid
Sent by her mistress;
But only a beggarman
With one red stocking.
Good King Hilary
Looked at the beggarman,
And laughed him three times three;
And he turned that beggarman round about:
“Your thews are strong, and your arm is stout;

Come, throw me a Lord High Chancellor out,
And take his place,” quoth he.
Of Hilary the Good and Great
Old wives at Christmas time relate
This tale, which points, at any rate,
Two morals on the way.
The first: “ Whatever Fortune brings ,
Don’t be afraid of doing things .”
(Especially, of course, for Kings.)
It also seems to say
(But not so wisely): “ He who begs
With one red stocking on his legs
Will be, as sure as eggs are eggs ,
A Chancellor some day .”

Here I go up in my swing
Ever so high.
I am the King of the fields, and the King Of the town.
I am the King of the earth, and the King Of the sky.
Here I go up in my swing…
Now I go down.

Elizabeth Ann
Said to her Nan:
“Please will you tell me how God began?
Somebody must have made Him. So
Who could it be, ’cos I want to know?”
And Nurse said, “ Well! ”
And Ann said, “Well?
I know you know, and I wish you’d tell.”
And Nurse took pins from her mouth, and said,
“Now then, darling, it’s time for bed.”
Elizabeth Ann
Had a wonderful plan:
She would run round the world till she found a man
Who knew exactly how God began.

She got up early, she dressed, and ran
Trying to find an Important Man.
She ran to London and knocked at the door
Of the Lord High Doodelum’s coach-and-four.
“Please, sir (if there’s anyone in),
However-and-ever did God begin?”

The Lord High Doodelum lay in bed,
But out of the window, large and red,
Came the Lord High Coachman’s face instead.
And the Lord High Coachman laughed and said:
“Well, what put that in your quaint little head?”

Elizabeth Ann went home again
And took from the ottoman Jennifer Jane.
“Jenniferjane,” said Elizabeth Ann,
“Tell me at once how God began.”
And Jane, who didn’t much care for speaking,
Replied in her usual way by squeaking.
What did it mean? Well, to be quite candid,
I don’t know, but Elizabeth Ann did.
Elizabeth Ann said softly, “Oh!
Thank you, Jennifer. Now I know.”