Tigger's Houseguest

**Tigger's Houseguest** is the second segment of the third episode of the third season of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, that originally aired on ABC on September 1, 1990, and the 59th episode in the overall. It is one of the episodes under Learning.

## Synopsis

One day, Tigger bounces into Pooh's house and asks if he wants to play, but Pooh is too busy cleaning out his empty honey jars for refilling. However, neither of them notice when something strange devours the wooden handle to Pooh's sink pump. When Tigger leaves, Pooh notices his sink pump handle is gone and goes looking for it as his table is also devoured behind his back.

Tigger next appears at Piglet's hoping to play with him, but Piglet is working on his Christmas List, saying his list is long because of his many friends. As Tigger leaves, Piglet hopes to finish his lest before it gets too dark to see, only to have it granted when something eats his window frame.

Tigger then arrives at Rabbit's house, and Rabbit refuses to play with him as he is far too busy gardening. As Tigger dejectedly walks away, something eats the wooden stand for Rabbit's scarecrow and his fence, leaving him quite alarmed.

Tigger heads home, only to find his door jammed. When he tries to force it open, he ends up crashing into his house when something eats the door. He then hears an insect that proceeds to hide in a matchbox. Making friends with the bug (which he calls a "blue-faced, yellow-bellied housefly"), he ties the matchbox to a string and puts wheels on it, allowing him to take his bug friend anywhere. However the bug, in reality a hungry termite, has other ideas and promptly sneaks away.

Meanwhile, Rabbit, Pooh and Piglet are wondering what is eating the wood in their homes. Tigger then arrives to introduce his new friend to them, but Rabbit ignores it while Pooh and Piglet think Tigger's new friend is imaginary and decide to make up to him for their inability to play with him earlier.

Tigger comes home, feeling sad after finding his insect friend has disappeared only to find him there. When Pooh and Piglet arrive, and Tigger tries introducing them to his bug friend, Tigger finds he's disappeared again in the commotion, leaving his friends to think he's imagined that his friend has run away.

At Piglet's house, Piglet and Pooh are trying to think of a way to help Tigger while Rabbit tries to discover what's chewing everything into sawdust. Rabbit then solves the mystery when the Termite eats the floor boards under his feet. When he gathers everyone to see what he's discovered, Tigger states that the Termite resembles his blue-faced, yellow-bellied housefly friend. They then set out and split up to find the termite, and Pooh, Rabbit and Piglet end up all encountering it. When the Termite seeks shelter at Tigger's side in the matchbox. Upon realizing that Tigger's insect friend is the termite and that Tigger's new friend is more real than they imagined, Rabbit tries to make Tigger make the termite leave, but Tigger refuses. After listening to Rabbit's reason, Tigger decides to leave with the termite to keep it company. However, the Termite disappears again, probably having overheard what everyone has said and they go off after it.

The four find the termite again after a long search, only to find it rebuilding for them everything it ate. The termite then makes a statue of Tigger in thanks for being its friend and leaves, leaving Tigger saddened as he tows his statue home.

After, Rabbit, Pooh and Piglet visit Tigger to be there for him as friends and that they're sorry about his friend. Tigger, glad for their arrival, says that they're just in time to see his newest set of insect friends; he says that he has had so much fun with one bug that it will be ten times as fun with ten of them. He then introduces them to his newest friends; fleas. Tigger has decided to start a circus with them, but finds they too have disappeared. Everyone then starts scratching as they jumped on by the fleas and Tigger remarks that while he's heard of close friends, he's never had them this close before as the episode ends.

## Characters

* Pooh
* Piglet
* Tigger
* Rabbit

## Trivia

* This episode, along with "King of the Beasties," were on *The Tigger Movie: 10th Anniversary Edition* DVD as bonus episodes. However, the audio of this episode on the DVD is in the PAL pitch rather than being heard in the NTSC pitch.