“I am not Alice.”
“It makes no difference who we are. The important thing is that we are.
That’s what Owl says, and he is very wise. Seven plus four is twelve, he once
said on quite an ordinary sunny day. Both Eeyore and me felt very stupid, ‘cos
it’s hard to do sums. It’s much easier to figure out the weather.”
“My name is Sophie.”
“Nice to meet you, Sophie. As I said, I think you must be new around
here. But now this little bear has to go ‘cos I’ve got to find Piglet. We are going
to a great big garden party for Rabbit and his friends.”
He waved with one paw. Sophie saw now that he was holding a little
folded piece of paper in the other.
“What is that you’ve got there?” she asked.
Winnie-the-Pooh produced the paper and said: “This was what made me
lose my way.”
“But it’s only a piece of paper.”
“No it’s not only a piece of paper. It’s a letter to Hilde-through-the-
Looking-Glass.”
“Oh—I can take that.”
“Are you the girl in the looking glass?”
“No, but. . .”
“A letter must always be delivered personally. Christopher Robin had to
teach me that only yesterday.”
“But I know Hilde.”
“Makes no difference. Even if you know a person very well, you should
never read their letters.”
“I mean, I can give it to Hilde.”
“That’s quite a different thing. Here you are, Sophie. If I can get rid of
this letter, I can probably find Piglet as well. To find Hilde-through-the-
Looking-Glassyou must first find a big looking glass. But that is no easy
matter round here.”
And with that the little bear handed over the folded paper to Sophie and
set off through the woods on his little feet. When he was out of sight, Sophie
unfolded the piece of paper and read it:
Dear Hilde, It’s too bad that Alberto didn’t also tell Sophie that Kant
advocated the establishment of a “league of nations.” In his treatise Perpetual
Peace, he wrote that all countries should unite in a league of the nations,
which would assure peaceful coexistence between nations. About 125 years
after the appearance of this treatise in 1795, the League of Nations was
founded, after the First World War. After the Second World War it was
replaced by the United Nations. So you could say that Kant was the father of
the UN idea. Kant’s point was that man’s “practical reason” requires the
nations to emerge from their wild state of nature which creates wars, and
contract to keep the peace. Although the road to the establishment of a
league of nations is laborious, it is our duty to work for the “universal and last-
ing securing of peace.” The establishment of such a league was for Kant a
far-distant goal. You could almost say it was philosophy’s ultimate goal. I am
in Lebanon at the moment. Love, Dad.
Sophie put the note in her pocket and continued on her way homeward.
This was the kind of meeting in the woods Alberto had warned her about. But
she couldn’t have let the little teddy wander about in the woods on a never