Heffalumps and woozles are scary creatures from my favourite film of all time, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day, which can be found as part of The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh.

After being warned by Tigger that "Heffalumps and woozles steal honey", Pooh falls asleep and has a nightmare about them. So, I imagine, do millions of children across the world.

The nightmare involves a spooky song that goes "A heffalump or woozle is very confuzle, a heffalump or woozle's very sly...". The aforementioned creatures appear in bright colours and play with yo-yo's, take part in a marching band, transform themselves into hot air balloons and other things. In particular, the bit where they "tie themselves in horrible knots" greatly disturbed me during my younger years. I wonder if those lovely people at Disney know that this seemingly innocent tale from the Hundred Acre Wood has effectively caused enormous numbers of children to have nightmares?

The film may have been aimed at children, but personally I'd give it a 12 rating.

Heffalumps and woozles are just about the only "bad guys" from the Winnie the Pooh stories. A.A. Milne actually had a few other scary characters in his books including Jagulars and Wizzles, though the Disney animated films simply cast these two villians. These creatures were originally found in books, Winnie-the-Pooh and House at Pooh Corner.

Heffalump

A heffalump is a Hostile Animal that comes in every shape, size, and color, though is most often elephant shaped. While rarely seen, these animals are feared by all the inhabitants of the 100 Aker Woods. Their favorite thing to do is to steal honey (particularly Pooh's "hunny").

How to Catch a Heffalump

You can catch a heffalump by building a cunning trap such as a Very Deep Pit, using Hunny for bait. Of course if you are Winnie the Pooh, you probably don't want to use real hunny, so you can use yellow cheese and just put it in a jar marked "Hunny". To be sure to catch the heffalump, it is said you should put the Very Deep Pit "somewhere where a Heffalump was, just before he fell into it, only about a foot further on." Once you catch one, you can "lead it home by a string, or it may come if you whistle."

Woozle

The woozle is the other Hostile Animal that comes in every shape, size, and color. Unlike the heffalumps, a woozle usually resembles a weasel. They live at the East Pole, so are rarely seen by Christopher Robin's friends. Their tracks are often seen, and it is known that they also love to steal hunny.

Pink Elephants

While Milne creates a series of colorful characters, nothing could bring the heffalumps and woozles to life like the nightmare sequence from Disney's Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day from The Many Adventures of Winnie-The-Pooh collection.

The blustery day turns into a blustery night where many strange noises are heard by the willy nilly silly old bear. Pooh looks cautiously into the night air only to get bounced by Tigger. Tigger then tells Winnie about how much Heffalumps and Woozles love to steal hunny. After Tigger leaves, Pooh decides he must guard his hunny, but falls asleep at his post while mumbling to himself. In his exhaustion comes the twisting and turning psychedelic dream sequence where Pooh is accosted again and again by these dastardly creatures. It is very similar to the scene in Dumbo where the baby elephant and Timothy the mouse are taunted by the Pink Elephants on Parade in their drunken stupor.

Below is the music from Pooh's dream:

They're black, they're brown,
They're up, they're down
They're in, they're out
They're all about
They're far, they're near
They're gone, they're here
They're quick and slick, they're insincere
Beware, beware, be a very wary bear

A heffalump, a woozle, is very confusle
A heffalump, a woozle's very sly, sly, sly
They come in one's and twosles
But if they so choosles
Before your eyes you'll see them multiply, ply, ply

They're extraordinary
So better be wary
Because they come in every shape and size, size, size
If hunny's what you covet
You'll find that they love it
Because they'll guzzle up the thing you prize
Beware, beware, be a very wary bear

Beware, beware, beware, beware, beware!

Music written in 1968 by the Sherman Brothers, Richard Sherman and Robert Sherman

CST Approved

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