Production code: 114
Original air date: February 21, 2001
Please and Thank-You's: Owl teaches Tigger the importance of saying "please", but Tigger takes the idea of it being "the magic word" too literally.
The Rumor Millstone: Rabbit tells a fib about spaghetti squash to keep Tigger out of his garden, but the fib quickly grows into something much bigger.
This episode as a whole contains examples of:
- An Aesop:
- "Please and Thank-You's:" "Please" may be an important word to use, but don't expect to get your own way just because you use it.
- "The Rumor Millstone:" Telling even a small lie can have massive consequences and the truth will come out in the end.
- Central Theme: Politeness and honesty. "Please and Thank-You's" teaches the importance of saying "please", but also to not use it as a means of getting your own way. "The Rumor Millstone" shows how telling even a tiny fib can cause massive trouble and that it's better to be truthful.
Please and Thank-You's contains examples of:
- Literal-Minded: Tigger takes the idea of "please" being "the magic word" too literally, to the point where he tries to fly and Kessie has to stop him.
The Rumor Millstone contains examples of:
- Gossip Evolution: Rabbit tells a fib to Tigger about spaghetti squash being bad for his bounce to keep him out of his garden. But the fib changes every time it's passed on, until it becomes a story of a giant monster coming to "squash" the entire wood. It's only when everyone compares notes at the end that the truth comes out
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Rabbit ends up paying for his fib when it grows out of control, and the chaos caused by this ends up doing more damage to his garden than Tigger's bouncing did to begin with.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Rabbit quickly feels remorseful after he realizes that everything in the episode was caused by his lie. Even when Tigger tries to take part of the blame for not listening to Rabbit the first time, the latter still admits that he shouldn't have started the rumor to begin with.
- Poor Communication Kills: In this case, its Rabbit's lie getting more and more muddled as it passes from person to person. It gets to the point that even Rabbit believes that a monster is coming to the wood.
- Start X to Stop X: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger decide that, in order to scare the supposed monster away from Rabbit's garden, they should pretend to be a monster. It works a little too well — Rabbit, on seeing them approaching, thinks they're the actual monster.
