Susan meets Tigger and Winnie the Pooh

In the glade of the forest, Mai made her way into the center of the woods, calling out his name twice. However, the White Rabbit was gone again. There was still no luck for the young lady to catch the rabbit.

“I’m sure he did go this way…,” she said, looking around with her fists on her hips. “He could be hiding around here somewhere.”

Little did she know that there were two bald twins peeking from behind the bushes, and they were wearing long-sleeved áo dài in the colors red and blue with two slits on each side, white pants, and black oriental slippers. On their heads, there were two black caps with different kanji on them. One had the red kanji that read “palace”, while the other had the blue kanji that read “illusion”.

“Where could he possibly be hiding?” Mai wondered, as she looked behind a tree. The two men moved between the bushes and the tree, yet they were hidden within a shadow. As Mai turned toward an open log, the twins moved next to the tree and they stood right behind her.

“Not here…,” Mai said, before kneeling down to the log’s level. “I wonder…”

As she crawled into the log, the twins looked at each other and skipped on top of the log in unison, before stopping in front of the other side of the log. Once Mai came out from the log, she stood still for a moment and brushed her apron with her hands.

“I suppose he—“ she started to say, before she jolted and gasped in shock when she turned and glanced at the two men.

“Why… what peculiar oriental figures.”

Just then, she spotted two collars with their names embroidered in white and read them one at a time: “Tweedle-Para… and Tweedle-Dox.”

Mai placed a finger on the red clothed man’s nose and a low honking sound came out of his mouth, surprising her.

“If you think we’re made of wax, you ought to pay to see us, you know,” Tweedle-Dox said, and he jabbed his twin brother with his left elbow. As a result, a high honking noise emitted from Tweedle-Para’s mouth.

“If you think we’ve come to life, you ought to say something to us,” Tweedle-Para added, before jabbing his twin with his right elbow. The same low honk came out of Tweedle-Dox’s mouth, and Tweedle-Dox bounced into Tweedle-Para, the same high honk emitting from him. The twins then hopped on the log and made the same honking noises by jabbing one another with their average-sized feet, slender hips, muscularly-developed torsos, and their backs before landing on the grassy terrain.

“That’s logic!” the twins said in unison, holding their left index fingers up.

“Well,” Mai said with a short chuckle as she gave them a short curtsey. “It’s been nice meeting you boys. Goodbye.”

Just as she started walking away, however, the twins darted and stood right in her way.

“Ahh, you’re beginning backwards,” Tweedle-Dox said to her.

“The first thing to say actually is…,” Tweedle-Para added, before the twins broke out in song again and took Mai’s hands. They spun her around in a circle, like a game of ring around the rosie, before they shook her hands rapidly and released her, causing her to fall on the ground.

How do you do and shake hands Shake hands, shake hands How do you do and shake hands State your name and business!

“That’s manners!” the twins said to her, holding up their opposite index fingers in front of her.

The two front bangs were covering Mai’s face, so Mai flipped them out of the way to give herself a better view.

“Really?” Mai asked them, and she then stood up on her feet. “My name is Mai, and I’m following a White Rabbit, so—“

As she turned to leave, the twins suddenly appeared in front of her again, stopping her in her tracks.

“Oh, no. You can’t leave yet,” Tweedle-Dox said to her, waving his hands in front of her.

“No, the visit has just begun,” Tweedle-Para added.

“I’m very sorry, but—,” Mai said as she continued walking, with the twins still in her way.

“Would you like to play hide and seek?” Tweedle-Para asked, as multiple clones of the twins popped up from the trees and a single bush. The clones disappeared and the twins then fused themselves into one body, yet their legs and arms were still with each of the two siblings.

“Button! Button! Who’s got the button?” Tweedle-Dox said.

“No thank you,” Mai replied to them politely, only to see the twins in front of her again in fighting stances.

“If you stay a little, Miss Mai, we’ll have a battle,” Tweedle-Para said, and the twins began bopping one another in a honking, comical fight.

“That’s very nice of you, but I must get going,” Mai said as she gently pushed them out of the way. The twins then jolted in front of her and stood next to two trees that served as an archway in the woods.

“Why?” they asked her in unison.

“Because I’m following a white rabbit,” Mai answered them, only to be blocked by them again.

“Why?” the twins asked her once more.

“Well, I-I’m curious to know where he has to go,” Mai replied to them, before finally starting to leave again.

“Ohhh, she’s curious,” Tweedle-Para said in a whispered, as he and his brother had inquisitive expressions on their faces.

“The oysters were curious, too, weren’t they?” Tweedle-Dox whispered to him, causing Mai to stop and turn around to listen to what the twins were saying.

“Ay… and you remember what happened to them.”

The twins huddled with one another and started crying, before Mai came walking straight back to them.

“Poor things…,” they said in sad voices, their hats off their heads and in their hands to showcase their grief.

“What? What did happen to the oysters?” Mai asked them. Tweedle-Para and Tweedle-Dox whirled their hats on their fingers as they began marching towards the log.

“Oh, you wouldn’t be interested in hearing about it,” Tweedle-Dox said to her.

“But I am,” Mai replied to them, as she followed them and got in front of them.

“Ohhh, no. You’re in too much of a hurry,” said Tweedle-Para.

Mai was still in front of them as she was walking in reverse towards the log, and said: “Perhaps I could spare a little time hearing it.”

“You could?” the twins said, smiles of delight forming on their faces. “Well!”

With that said, the boys placed Mai on the log before making back-flips and landed in front of the bushes and trees.