The play is set in a canoe, adrift on the bosom of the Pacific Ocean. There are two characters, both of them in the canoe: one is a Bear of Very Little Brain named Pu, and the other is a morose donkey named Robert Taylor.
Pu [glancing at his wrist, where a watch would have been if he had owned a watch]: Well, it’s 11:30! Time for a little smackerel of something!
Robert Taylor: Go ahead, I’m not hungry.
Pu: I’m happy to hear it, you’re being a fierce donkey and all!
RT: I couldn’t eat anything. I’m stuffed.
Pu: Considering you’re a stuffed animal, that’s a terrible joke.
RT: What are you going to eat?
Pu: Oh that’s right, there’s nothing, is there?
RT: Do you think we’ll ever reach land?
Pu: Why shouldn’t we? There used to be land all around this ocean—on every side!
RT: I’m afraid.
Pu: No, you mustn’t be. “Fear is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It’s a clever, treacherous adversary.”
RT: Where did you hear that?
Pu: Some book.
RT: I didn’t know you could read.
Pu: I can’t. But there are a few books that are bigger than their readers. Here’s more: “I had no means of controlling where I was going—no rudder, no sails, no motor, some oars but insufficient brawn.”
RT: Sounds a lot like us.
Pu: It does, but that isn’t really much help or much comfort, is it?
RT: No, it’s not. [sadly] I guess we’d better just go on drifting.
Pu: Yes, let’s do that.
[curtain]
