Montag, 1. Januar 2007

About Eeyore




Eeyore is a fictional character from the book series Winnie-the-Pooh (that were popularized by a successful cartoon by Disney studios). Eeyore spells his name "eoR". He is a pessimistic, gloomy, old donkey who is a friend of Winnie the Pooh. Eeyore's name is a phonetic representation of the donkey's bray: an (onomatopoeia), possibly derived from the baby talk name for the animal.

Characteristics

Eeyore is a mule who thinks he is a donkey who is hardly ever happy and when he is, he remains sardonic and a bit cynical. His grumpiness might be attributed to the fact that his tail is affixed to his behind using a pushpin. According to Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Eeyore is full of sawdust, which makes him able to have a pintail on his behind. Nevertheless, he seems genuinely appreciative of the efforts of his friends to cheer him up -- for example, when Pooh and Piglet build The House at Pooh Corner for him, or when they give him birthday presents of a honey jar (empty) and a balloon (accidentally burst).
Some of Eeyore's friends include Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Roo, Kanga, Owl, Gopher, Christopher Robin, and many other friends that the gang makes on their journeys.
Eeyore is always overlooked and is often used as a beast of burden, most notably when he was ridden by Rabbit in his search for train "borrowers" in The Tigger Without A Name and The Pooh With A Name. Nearly all of Eeyore's houses have fallen down, been knocked down, or been bounced down. Eeyore is not good at rebuilding the houses; butterflies often knock them down just by landing on them. Yet, like tortured Sisyphus, he soldiers on and rebuilds again, time after time.
Despite his depressive nature, Eeyore is capable of great compassion, which is shown when he grows a plant that Rabbit (a master gardener) was unable to grow, just by showing the plant a little love.
In merchandise by The Walt Disney Company, Eeyore sometimes has an uncharacteristic smile. Also, he is somewhat less caustic and sarcastic in the Disney version than in A. A. Milne's original stories. It must also be noted that Eeyore's tail was not always fixed to him by a pushpin, although Disney has chosen this as part of his permanent image. Eeyore lost his tail in one of Milne's stories. Owl found it and used it as a bell pull for his door, before Winnie the Pooh found it for Eeyore. Christopher Robin then pinned it back on.
Tigger, on the other hand is over-enthusiastic, hyperactive and has an overdeveloped 'can do' attitude (he often assumes he can do things that he cannot). On the whole, he seems to appeal more to the American outlook on life.
Eeyore's "birthday" was December 25 1921, when Christopher Robin received him as a Christmas present.


Eeyore Quotes

Don’t pay any attention to me, nobody ever does.

Thanks for noticing me.

It's not much of a tail, but I'm sort of attached to it.

They're funny things, accidents. You never have them until you're having them.

Sometimes he thought sadly to himself "Why?" and sometimes he thought "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought "Inasmuch as which?" - and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.'

It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately.

Brains first and then hard work.

Good day, everybody. If it is a good day...Which I doubt.

"There may be something in what you say, Rabbit," he said at last. " I have been neglecting you. I must move about more. I must come and go."
"That's right, Eeyore. Drop in on any of us at any time, when you feel like it."
"Thank you, Rabbit. And if anyone says in a Loud Voice 'Bother, it's Eeyore,' I can drop out again."

"You seem so sad, Eeyore."
"Sad? Why should I be sad? It's my birthday. The happiest day of the year."
"Your birthday?" said Pooh in great surprise.
"Of course it is. Can't you see? Look at all the presents I've had."
He waved a foot from side to side.
"Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar."
Pooh looked - first to the right and then to the left.
"Presents?" said Pooh. "Birthday cake?" said Pooh. "Where?"
"Can't you see them?"
"No," said Pooh.
"Neither can I," said Eeyore. "Joke," he explained. "Ha Ha"

"What did you say it was?" he asked.
"Tigger."
"Ah!" said Eeyore.
"He's just come," explained Piglet.
"Ah! said Eeyore again.
He thought for a long time and then said: "When is he going?"

Eeyore was very glad to be able to stop thinking for a little, in order to say "How do you do" in a gloomy manner to Pooh.
"And how are you?" said Winnie-the-Pooh. Eeyore shook his head from side to side.
"Not very how," he said. "I don't seem to felt at all how for a long time."

"And I said to myself: The others will be sorry if I'm getting myself all cold. They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake, and They don't Think, but if it goes on snowing for another six weeks or so, one of them will begin to say to himself: `Eeyore can't be so very much too Hot about three o' clock in the morning.' And then it will Get About. And they'll be Sorry."

"People come and go in this Forest, and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They walk to and fro saying 'Ha Ha!'. But do they know anything about A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the Educated - mark this, little Piglet - to the Educated, not meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A."

"It's bad enough, "said Eeyore, almost breaking down, "being miserable myself, what with no presents and no cake and no candles, but if everybody else is going to be miserable too ..."

"One can't complain. I have my friends. Someone spoke to me only yesterday."

"Ha-ha," said Eeyore bitterly. "Merriment and what-not. Don't apologize. It's just what would happen."

"Good morning, Eeyore," said Pooh.
"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore gloomily. "If it is a good morning, which I doubt," said he.
"Why, what's the matter?"
"Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it."
"Can't all what?" said Pooh, rubbing his nose.
"Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush."

"Nobody tells me. Nobody keeps me Informed. I make it seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me."
"It certainly isn't seventeen days - "
"Come Friday," explained Eeyore.
"And today's Saturday," said Rabbit.

"Don't bustle me," said Eeyore, getting up slowly. " Don't now-then me."

"But, Eeyore," said Pooh, "was it a Joke, or an Accident? I mean - "
"I didn't stop to ask, Pooh. Even at the very bottom of the river, I didn't stop to say to myself, `Is this a Hearty Joke or the Merest Accident?'. I just floated to the surface and said to myself, `it's wet'. If you know what I mean.

"Thank you, Pooh," answered Eeyore. "You're a real friend," said he. "Not Like Some," he said.

"It's not very pleasant in my corner of the world at three o'clock in the morning. But for people who like cold, wet, ugly bits it is something rather special."


"A mostly sunny day, to some, can look a lot like partly gray."
from "Lessons from the Hundred-Acre Wood" by Hallie Marshall

It Was There...Now It's Gone
You think you canDepend on tails.You don't expect tailsTo go wrong.The last time I lookedIt was right there.Now when I look there,It's gone.
It was alwaysJust behind me,Always tagging along.A little somethingat the back...I thought it was there,And it's gone.
I assumed it wasAttached to me,That it actuallyHung true.I'd hoped it was stuckVery firmly on.Maybe we neededSome glue.
It used to trailRight behind me,Always tailing along.My little extraAt the back...I thought it was there,Now it's gone.
from "Lessons from the Hundred-Acre Wood" by Hallie Marshall

The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.
from "The Pooh Book of Quotations" by A. A. Milne

"When stuck in the river, it is best to dive and swim to the bank yourself before someone drops a large stone on your chest in an attempt to hoosh you there."
Eeyore from "Eeyore's gloomy Little Instruction Book" by A. A. Milne

"No Give and Take. No Exchange of Thought. It gets you nowhere, particularly if the other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the conversation."
Eeyore from "The House at Pooh Corner" by A. A. Milne

"After all, what are birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow."
Eeyore from "The House at Pooh Corner" by A. A. Milne

"Sitting on thistles doesn't do them any Good. Take all the Life out of them."
Eeyore from "Eeyore's gloomy Little Instruction Book" by A. A. Milne

"Why, what's the matter?" "Nothing Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it" "Can't all what?" said Pooh, rubbing his nose. "Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush." "Oh!" said Pooh. He thought for a long time, and then asked, "What mulberry bush is that?" "Bon-hommy," went on Eeyore gloomily. "French word for meaning bonhommy," he explained. "I'm not complaining, but There It Is."
Eeyore and Pooh from "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne

"I don't hold with all the washing," grumbled Eeyore. "This modern Behind-the-ears nonsense."
Eeyore and Pooh from "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne

Winnie-The-Pooh - Chapter 6

...IN WHICH EEYORE HAS A BIRTHDAY AND GETS TWO PRESENTS
EEYORE, the old grey Donkey, stood by the side of the stream, and looked at himself in the water. "Pathetic," he said. s' That's what it is. Pathetic." He turned and walked slowly down the stream for twenty yards, splashed across it, and walked slowly back on the other side. Then he looked at himself in the water again. "As I thought," he said. "No better from this side. But nobody minds. Nobody cares. Pathetic, that's what it is." There was a crackling noise in the bracken behind him, and out came Pooh. "Good morning, Eeyore," said Pooh. "Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore gloomily. "If it is a good morning," he said. "Which I doubt," said he. "Why, what's the matter?" "Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it." "Can't all what?" said Pooh, rubbing his nose. "Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush." "Oh!" said Pooh. He thought for a long time, and then asked, "What mulberry bush is that?" "Bon-hommy," went on Eeyore gloomily. "French word meaning bonhommy," he explained. "I'm not complaining, but There It Is." Pooh sat down on a large stone, and tried to think this out. It sounded to him like a riddle, and he was never much good at riddles, being a Bear of Very Little Brain. So he sang Cottleston Pie instead:Cottleslon, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie. A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly. Ask me a riddle and I reply: "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."That was the first verse. When he had finished it, Eeyore didn't actually say that he didn't like it, so Pooh very kindly sang the second verse to him:Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie, A fish can't whistle and neither can I. Ask me a riddle and I reply: "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."Eeyore still said nothing at all, so Pooh hummed the third verse quietly to himself:Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie, Why does a chicken, I don't know why. Ask me a riddle and I reply: "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.""That's right," said Eeyore. "Sing. Umty-tiddly, umty-too. Here we go gathering Nuts and May. Enjoy yourself." "I am," said Pooh. "Some can," said Eeyore. "Why, what's the matter?" "Is anything the matter?" "You seem so sad, Eeyore." "Sad? Why should I be sad? It's my birthday. The happiest day of the year." "Your birthday?" said Pooh in great surprise. "Of course it is. Can't you see? Look at all the presents I have had." He waved a foot from side to side. "Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar." Pooh looked--first to the right and then to the left. "Presents?" said Pooh. "Birthday cake?" said Pooh. "Where?" "Can't you see them?" "No," said Pooh. "Neither can I," said Eeyore. "Joke," he explained. "Ha ha!" Pooh scratched his head, being a little puzzled by all this. "But is it really your birthday?" he asked. "It is." "Oh! Well, Many happy returns of the day, Eeyore." "And many happy returns to you, Pooh Bear." "But it isn't my birthday." "No, it's mine." "But you said 'Many happy returns'--" "Well, why not? You don't always want to be miserable on my birthday, do you?" "Oh, I see," said Pooh. "It's bad enough." said Eeyore. almost breaking down "being miserable myself, what with no presents and no cake and no candles, and no proper notice taken of me at all, but if everybody else is going to be miserable too----" This was too much for Pooh. "Stay there!" he called to Eeyore, as he turned and hurried back home as quick as he could; for he felt that he must get poor Eeyore a present of some sort at once, and he could always think of a proper one afterwards. Outside his house he found Piglet, jumping up and down trying to reach the knocker. "Hallo, Piglet," he said. "Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet. "What are you trying to do?" "I was trying to reach the knocker," said Piglet. "I just came round----" "Let me do it for you," said Pooh kindly. So he reached up and knocked at the door. "I have just seen Eeyore is in a Very Sad Condition, because it's his birthday, and nobody has taken any notice of it, and he's very Gloomy--you know what Eeyore is--and there he was, and---- What a long time whoever lives here is answering this door." And he knocked again. "But Pooh," said Piglet, "it's your own house!" "Oh!" said Pooh. "So it is," he said. "Well, let's go in." So in they went. The first thing Pooh did was to go to the cupboard to see if he had quite a small jar of honey left; and he had, so he took it down. "I'm giving this to Eeyore," he explained, "as a present. What are you going to give?" "Couldn't I give it too?" said Piglet. "From both of us?" "No," said Pooh. "That would not be a good plan." "All right, then, I'll give him a balloon. I've got one left from my party. I'll go and get it now, shall I?" "That, Piglet, is a very good idea. It is just what Eeyore wants to cheer him up. Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon." So off Piglet trotted; and in the other direction went Pooh, with his jar of honey. It was a warm day, and he had a long way to go. He hadn't gone more than half-way when a sort of funny feeling began to creep all over him. It began at the tip of his nose and trickled all through him and out at the soles of his feet. It was just as if somebody inside him were saying, "Now then, Pooh, time for a little something." "Dear, dear," said Pooh, "I didn't know it was as late as that." So he sat down and took the top off his jar of honey. "Lucky I brought this with me," he thought. "Many a bear going out on a warm day like this would never have thought of bringing a little something with him." And he began to eat. "Now let me see," he thought! as he took his last lick of the inside of the jar, "Where was I going? Ah, yes, Eeyore." He got up slowly. And then, suddenly, he remembered. He had eaten Eeyore's birthday present! "Bother!" said Pooh. "What shall I do? I must give him something." For a little while he couldn't think of anything. Then he thought: "Well, it's a very nice pot, even if there's no honey in it, and if I washed it clean, and got somebody to write 'A Happy Birthday' on it, Eeyore could keep things in it, which might be Useful." So, as he was just passing the Hundred Acre Wood, he went inside to call on Owl, who lived there. "Good morning, Owl," he said. "Good morning, Pooh," said Owl. "Many happy returns of Eeyore's birthday," said Pooh. "Oh, is that what it is?" "What are you giving him, Owl?" "What are you giving him, Pooh?" "I'm giving him a Useful Pot to Keep Things In, and I wanted to ask you " "Is this it?" said Owl, taking it out of Pooh's paw. "Yes, and I wanted to ask you--" "Somebody has been keeping honey in it," said Owl. "You can keep anything in it," said Pooh earnestly. "It's Very Useful like that. And I wanted to ask you----" "You ought to write 'A Happy Birthday' on it." "That was what I wanted to ask you," said Pooh. "Because my spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. Would you write 'A Happy Birthday' on it for me?" "It's a nice pot," said Owl, looking at it all round. "Couldn't I give it too? From both of us?" "No," said Pooh. "That would not be a good plan. Now I'll just wash it first, and then you can write on it." Well, he washed the pot out, and dried it, while Owl licked the end of his pencil, and wondered how to spell "birthday." "Can you read, Pooh?" he asked a little anxiously. "There's a notice about knocking and ringing outside my door, which Christopher Robin wrote. Could you read it?" "Christopher Robin told me what it said, and then I could." "Well, I'll tell you what this says, and then you'll be able to." So Owl wrote . . . and this is what he wrote:HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY.Pooh looked on admiringly."I'm just saying 'A Happy Birthday'," said Owl carelessly. "It's a nice long one," said Pooh, very much impressed by it. "Well, actually, of course, I'm saying 'A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh.' Naturally it takes a good deal of pencil to say a long thing like that." "Oh, I see," said Pooh. While all this was happening, Piglet had gone back to his own house to get Eeyore's balloon. He held it very tightly against himself, so that it shouldn't blow away, and he ran as fast as he could so as to get to Eeyore before Pooh did; for he thought that he would like to be the first one to give a present, just as if he had thought of it without being told by anybody. And running along, and thinking how pleased Eeyore would be, he didn't look where he was going . . . and suddenly he put his foot in a rabbit hole, and fell down flat on his face. BANG!!!???***!!! Piglet lay there, wondering what had happened. At first he thought that the whole world had blown up; and then he thought that perhaps only the Forest part of it had; and then he thought that perhaps only he had, and he was now alone in the moon or somewhere, and would never see Christopher Robin or Pooh or Eeyore again. And then he thought, "Well, even if I'm in the moon, I needn't be face downwards all the time," so he got cautiously up and looked about him. CE="Arial"> He was still in the Forest! "Well, that's funny," he thought. "I wonder what that bang was. I couldn't have made such a noise just falling down. And where's my balloon? And what's that small piece of damp rag doing?" It was the balloon! "Oh, dear!" said Piglet. "Oh, dear, oh, dearie, dearie, dear! Well, it's too late now. I can't go back, and I haven't another balloon, and perhaps Eeyore doesn't like balloons so very much." So he trotted on, rather sadly now, and down he came to the side of the stream where Eeyore was, and called out to him. "Good morning, Eeyore," shouted Piglet. "Good morning, Little Piglet," said Eeyore. "If it is a good morning," he said. "Which I doubt," said he. "Not that it matters," he said. "Many happy returns of the day," said Piglet, having now got closer. Eeyore stopped looking at himself in the stream, and turned to stare at Piglet. "Just say that again," he said. "Many hap--" "Wait a moment." Balancing on three legs, he began to bring his fourth leg very cautiously up to his ear. "I did this yesterday," he explained, as he fell down for the third time. "It's quite easy. It's so as I can hear better. ... There, that's done it! Now then, what were you saying?" He pushed his ear forward with his hoof. "Many happy returns of the day," said Piglet again. "Meaning me?" "Of course, Eeyore." "My birthday?" "Yes." "Me having a real birthday?" "Yes, Eeyore, and I've brought you a present." Eeyore took down his right hoof from his right ear, turned round, and with great difficulty put up his left hoof. "I must have that in the other ear," he said. "Now then." "A present," said Piglet very loudly. "Meaning me again?" "Yes." "My birthday still?" "Of course, Eeyore." "Me going on having a real birthday?" "Yes, Eeyore, and I brought you a balloon." "Balloon?" said Eeyore. "You did say balloon? One of those big coloured things you blow up? Gaiety, song-and-dance, here we are and there we are?" "Yes, but I'm afraid--I'm very sorry, Eeyore-- but when I was running along to bring it you, I fell down." "Dear, dear, how unlucky! You ran too fast, I expect. You didn't hurt yourself, Little Piglet?" "No, but I--I--oh, Eeyore, I burst the balloon!" There was a very long silence. "My balloon?" said Eeyore at last. Piglet nodded. "My birthday balloon?" "Yes, Eeyore," said Piglet sniffing a little. "Here it is. With--with many happy returns of the day." And he gave Eeyore the small piece of damp rag. "Is this it?" said Eeyore, a little surprised. Piglet nodded. "My present?" Piglet nodded again. "The balloon?" "Yes." "Thank you, Piglet," said Eeyore. "You don't mind my asking," he went on, "but what colour was this balloon when it--when it was a balloon?" "Red." "I just wondered. ... Red," he murmured to himself. "My favourite colour. ... How big was it?" "About as big as me." "I just wondered. ... About as big as Piglet," he said to himself sadly. "My favourite size. Well, well." Piglet felt very miserable, and didn't know what to say. He was still opening his mouth to begin something, and then deciding that it wasn't any good saying that, when he heard a shout from the other side of the river, and there was Pooh. "Many happy returns of the day," called out Pooh, forgetting that he had said it already. "Thank you, Pooh, I'm having them," said Eeyore gloomily. "I've brought you a little present," said Pooh excitedly. "I've had it," said Eeyore. Pooh had now splashed across the stream to Eeyore, and Piglet was sitting a little way off, his head in his paws, snuffling to himself. "It's a Useful Pot," said Pooh. "Here it is. And it's got 'A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh' written on it. That's what all that writing is. And it's for putting things in. There!" When Eeyore saw the pot, he became quite excited. "Why!" he said. "I believe my Balloon will just go into that Pot!" "Oh, no, Eeyore," said Pooh. "Balloons are much too big to go into Pots. What you do with a balloon is, you hold the balloon " "Not mine," said Eeyore proudly. "Look, Piglet!" And as Piglet looked sorrowfully round, Eeyore picked the balloon up with his teeth, and placed it carefully in the pot; picked it out and put it on the ground; and then picked it up again and put it carefully back. "So it does!" said Pooh. "It goes in!" "So it does!" said Piglet. "And it comes out!" "Doesn't it?" said Eeyore. "It goes in and out like anything." "I'm very glad," said Pooh happily, "that I thought of giving you a Useful Pot to put things in." "I'm very glad," said Piglet happily, "that thought of giving you something to put in a Useful Pot." But Eeyore wasn't listening. He was taking the balloon out, and putting it back again, as happy as could be...."And didn't I give him anything?" asked Christopher Robin sadly. "Of course you did," I said. "You gave him don't you remember--a little--a little " "I gave him a box of paints to paint things with." "That was it." "Why didn't I give it to him in the morning?" "You were so busy getting his party ready for him. He had a cake with icing on the top, and three candles, and his name in pink sugar? and " "Yes, I remember," said Christopher Robin?