"I once dreamed I was TLee's sock puppet," said the shaman. "After that, I could never be sure if I was a shaman dreaming he was a sock puppet or-"
"Yes," said Pooh. "I remember the story."
"Am I repeating myself?"
"No. At least no more so than ever."
"Good," said the shaman. "I worry about that. It's all about relevance, you know. If you repeat yourself too much, you start being irrelevant. For most people, that just makes them boring. For a shaman, it's an existential problem."
"I wouldn't know," said Pooh. "If it doesn't have anything to do with something to eat, I'm largely bored."
"I see your point. Perhaps it should be like that for me as well."
"You seem worried."
"I am," replied the shaman. "This outage at the Campfire was most disconcerting."
"What outage?"
"Didn't you notice that we just seemed to stop existing for four days?"
"No, I didn't."
"Hmmm. That's most interesting. There's something deep in that."
"Thanks for the warning," replied Pooh.
"See, there's a hitch with being a shaman," said the shaman. "You derive your power from the tribe. You only exist, because the tribe needs your services. No tribe? No shaman."
"No shaman? No Pooh?"
"Well, now we get into the dodgy subject of the existence of transcendental beings," said the shaman.
"I thought you said I was your ima. . .imagi-nerical friend," said Pooh.
"Well, yes, I did. However, you exist outside of my frame of reality. Everybody knows Pooh Bear. I'm somewhat different."
"How's that?"
"I only exist for the benefit of the tribe." said the shaman. "I'm here to grease the wheels in their dealings with the Great Beyond. If the tribe stops needing me, then. . ."
"Then what?"
"You say you didn't experience anything while the Campfire was down?"
"No," said Pooh. "Did you?"
"I remember it raining during the night." replied the shaman.
"See?" said Pooh. "That's more than I've got to show for it."
"All this talk is making me hungry."
"Same here."
"Someone is bound to have toast and honey at the Campfire." said Pooh. "That's what I feel like right now."
"Funny," said the shaman. "You don't look like toast and honey."
"It must be light."
"Speaking of which," said the shaman. "You go on ahead, I've got the sun to get up and then I have to stop by the pond and wake up the ducks."
"I'll save you a slice," replied Pooh waving the shaman on. The sky was beginning to brighten. The shaman had to hurry if he was going to remain on schedule.
