# Quote — A.A. Milne, Now We Are Six: Classic Gift Edition

> I found a little beetle, so that beetle was his name,
>
> And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same.
>
> I put him in a matchbox, and I kept him all the day...And Nanny let my beetle out
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> Yes, Nanny let my beetle out
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> She went and let my beetle out-
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> And beetle ran away.She said she didn't mean it, and I never said she did,
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> She said she wanted matches, and she just took off the lid
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> She said that she was sorry, but it's difficult to catch
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> An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match.She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn't mind
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> As there's lots and lots of beetles which she's certain we could find
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> If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid-
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> And we'd get another matchbox, and write BEETLE on the lid.We went to all the places which a beetle might be near,
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> And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear,
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> And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout:
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> "A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!"It was Alexander Beetle I'm as certain as can be
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> And he had a sort of look as if he thought it might be ME,
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> And he had a kind of look as if he thought he ought to say:
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> "I'm very, very sorry that I tried to run away."And Nanny's very sorry too, for you know what she did,
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> And she's writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid,
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> So Nan and me are friends, because it's difficult to catch
>
> An excited Alexander you've mistaken for a match.

- Author: [A.A. Milne](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aa-milne.md)
- Book: [Now We Are Six: Classic Gift Edition](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aa-milne/now-we-are-six-classic-gift-edition.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A._A._Milne#Now_We_Are_Six_(1927)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/aa-milne/now-we-are-six-classic-gift-edition/i-found-a-little

## More from this book

> When I was One,
>
> I had just begun.
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> When I was Two,
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> I was nearly new.
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> When I was Three
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> I was hardly me.
>
> When I was Four,
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> I was not much more.
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> When I was Five,
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> I was just alive.
>
> But now I am Six,
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> I'm as clever as clever,
>
> So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aa-milne/now-we-are-six-classic-gift-edition/when-i-was.md)