Heffalumps and Woozles

Heffalumps and Woozles are nightmarish creatures who first appeared in the 1968 featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. They haunt Pooh in his nightmare during the song "Heffalumps and Woozles." According to Tigger, Heffalumps and Woozles love to steal honey. Heffalumps look cute and cuddly like elephants, while Woozles look sly and cunning like weasels. Many of the Heffalumps turn out to be friendly in later installments.

History
Heffalumps and Woozles are both stated to have the ability to transform, such as a Heffalump that turns first into a Woozle and then a Woozle with the head of a Heffalump, and a Heffalump with a yo-yo that transforms first into a smaller Heffalump, then a Woozle, and then into a pot of honey, out of which comes another Heffalump that eats all the honey and explodes.

The Heffalumps and Woozles came in every shape and size, such as the large Heffalump wtih a yo-yo, which transforms into a transparent balloon Heffalump that sucks up a pot of honey and explodes, a Heffalump and Woozle duo, a Woozle who turns his nose into a horn, several marching Woozles with a tuba-playing Heffalump, a bee-like Heffalump, three Jack-in-the-Box Woozles, a harp-playing Heffalump, two Heffalumps who use their trunks as accordions, a Woozle who lights the fuse of a Heffalump with a stick of dynamite on its head, a small flying Heffalump that transforms into a marching Heffalump wearing a green uniform with a popgun for a trunk, and several Heffalump-like hot air balloons, one of which then transforms into a watering can after failing to shake Pooh off.

Pooh's Nightmare
After being told about Heffalumps and Woozles by Tigger, Pooh has a nightmare about Heffalumps and Woozles.

In the beginning of the dream, a group of singing honey pots warn Pooh to beware of the Heffalumps and Woozles. Pooh runs from the honey pots and runs into a Heffalump, which bats Pooh away before transforming into a Woozle. The Woozle's head then turns into a Heffalump's head, but the body remains that of a Woozle. The scene zooms in on the Heffalump's eyes, which merge together and turn into a pink Heffalump, which splits into two Heffalumps, which then multiply rapidly to create a large group of Heffalumps, before the screen zooms out to show all the Heffalumps are designs on the shirt of large Heffalump with an umbrella, hat, and yo-yo. That Heffalump then collapses and transforms into a different Heffalump, then a Woozle, and then a pot of honey (the umbrella and yo-yo go flying offscreen as soon as he transforms, but the hat remains the entire time, and ends up becoming the lid of the honey pot). Pooh runs over to the honey and picks it up, but another Heffalump comes out of the honey pot. At first it is just a head, but as it eats the honey it grows a body, then rapidly gets bigger and explodes, sending Pooh and the honey pot flying.

A female Heffalump and male Woozle skip rope while showing off their powers by changing color and pattern, the honey pots warn Pooh to beware again, and then the dream shifts again, this time to a sort of parade. Pooh tries to run from the honey pots, but stops in surprise when he sees a Woozle turns his nose into a flute. Then, a beautiful blue female Heffalump walks behind a walking honey pot, flapping her arms as she walks. She takes the lid off the pot, but it starts to laugh crazily and she slams the lid back on. Then, three Woozles and a Heffalump with a tuba for a trunk march behind the first Woozle. The tuba Heffalump accidentally steps on the tail of one of the Woozles, who falls over, and the tuba Heffalump stomps on the Woozle's butt and head.

The dream changes again as a bee-like Heffalump steals a pot of honey from Pooh (the pot looks very similar to the one the Heffalump came out of earlier, but it is unclear if it is the same pot). Pooh chases the bee, but falls down and is laughed at by a trio of Jack-in-the-Box Woozles. The bee holding the honey pot with her trunk dives to the ground into a lake of honey that appears. A beautiful female Heffalump and handsome male Heffalump come out of the lake, both covered in honey. They fall in love with each other and begin to dance in the honey as a spotlight appears and focuses on them, while another beautiful female Heffalump plays a harp made of honey and two male Heffalumps play accordion music with their trunks. A Woozle snake-charmer makes a rope come out of a honey pot, and Pooh then climbs up the rope. The Woozle then plays his flute again and makes Pooh disappear in a flash of light.

The dream then shifts for the final time. A flying Heffalump sees Pooh walking past with a pot of honey and dives at him, but instead smashes into the ground and transforms into a larger Heffalump with a popgun for a nose. The Heffalump marches behind Pooh for a while, then crouches down (still marching even while stationary), and shoots Pooh in the butt with the popgun, and Pooh goes flying, getting the honey pot stuck on his head in the process, until he flies into the trunk of a Heffalump with a stick of dynamite on its head. However, Pooh's butt is too large to fit and he gets stuck in the Heffalump's trunk. As Pooh kicks wildly, trying to free himself, a Woozle marches over and twirls a large matchstick until the Heffalump notices him, then lights the match on the Heffalump's trunk, lights the dynamite, and runs away as the Heffalump explodes.

The pot of honey on Pooh's head transforms into a Heffalump balloon and carries him up to where other balloons are. One of the balloons notices a pot of honey attached to itself, smiles widely, and begins to eat the honey. Pooh first tries to grab the pot of honey from the balloon, then, because he can't reach it, jumps over to the balloon, grabbing the honey pot and pulling it out of the balloon's reach. The balloon tries to shake him off before transforming into a watering can and dousing Pooh with water. Pooh falls from the sky and wakes up.

Book version
In the original book version of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, the Heffalumps appear in one of Pooh's nightmares during his quest to catch one. He has set a big trap for a Heffalump, which is an undescribed creature, but is seen to look like a mammoth or an elephant due to its illustration. The Heffalumps also torture Piglet far worse because he is too small to fight them if they do catch one. Piglet hopes the quest will be uneventful and hopes Heffalumps don't exist. When he sees Pooh stumbling around with a honey pot on his head, the Piglet runs back to Christopher Robin screaming about having seen a real Heffalump, thinking Pooh is one. He says its head looks "like a jar." But when Robin sees its Pooh, Piglet is so ashamed of his stupidity he runs off home.

Woozles are mentioned in another chapter, where Pooh is hunting them (he is actually following his own footsteps) and he claims monsters are making identical footprints to confuse him. He thinks Christopher Robin is also a Woozle but then realizes who it is.

Fan Theories
The bee holding the honey pot with her trunk dives to the ground into a lake of honey that appears as she splashes and swim through the ground. A beautiful female Heffalump and handsome male Heffalump come out of the lake and covered in honey when they're done swimming. The Heffalumps swimming in the honey are similar to the elephants swimming in the water. Two Heffalumps live under the honey, and they can breathe and swim. The male dancer catches the female to be his bride.

It is possible that the two dancers were covered in honey at first, or they may have been made of honey before turning into Heffalumps, similar to how a honey pot turns into a hot air balloon Heffalump.

It is actually slightly unclear if the Heffalump Pooh got stuck in was dynamite or a cannon - because of how tightly Pooh was stuck in the Heffalump's trunk, the Heffalump likely would have exploded if it were a cannon as well.

Pooh thinks the Heffalumps and Woozles want his honey. However, in most of the scene, the Heffalumps seem to mainly be playful, and don't try to hurt Pooh or steal his honey. The only two that seem to seek him out are the Heffabee, who wants the honey from him, and the popgun Heffalump, who shoots Pooh and sends him flying into the dynamite Heffalump's trunk, probably in an attempt to get the honey Pooh was holding. The Woozles do seem to be a bit more evil however, such as the matchstick Woozle that blows up the dynamite Heffalump, or the Woozle rope-charmer that makes Pooh vanish.

Pooh tries to steal the honey pot from the transparent Heffalump in the beginning (though he likely didn't know the Heffalump was hiding inside the pot at first), and later tries to steal the honey from the hot air balloon as the balloon is eating it. And when the Heffabee steals the honey from Pooh, the pot looks a lot like the pot that the transparent Heffalump came out of, so the bee may have been stealing the pot back from Pooh. Even many of the Heffalumps that do cause trouble for Pooh don't seem to do it on purpose. The dynamite Heffalump was just standing there minding his own business when Pooh went flying into his trunk (and then he got blown up by the matchstick Woozle), the transparent Heffalump was just trying to eat his honey, and the hot air balloon only tried to shake Pooh off because Pooh was trying to take its honey.

The fat Heffalump with the yo-yo did not transform the first time on purpose - he looked surprised when he transformed. When he realized he had the power to transform, he transformed into a Woozle on purpose (he waggles his eyebrows at the viewer with a satisfied expression after he transforms into the Woozle), but then he transformed into a honey pot, which he didn't mean to do (again, he looks surprised as he transforms).

Trivia

 * Heffalumps and Woozles appear similar to The Pink Elephants in Dumbo.
 * The Heffalumps never stop smiling (though the multicolored one in the beginning does flinch when Pooh runs into its face, and the dynamite Heffalump also looks stunned when Pooh goes flying into its trunk). The Woozles, on the other hand, do change their expressions (one of the marching band Woozles looks startled when it trips and the Heffalump behind it stomps on it, and the Woozle that lights the dynamite looks panicked when he sees that it's about to explode).
 * In the California Adventures version of the ride, the watering cans are trying to extinguish the fuse of the dynamite Heffalump. Meanwhile, in the Disneyland Tokyo version, there is a three-headed Heffalump that resembles a honey tree.
 * Even though Pooh's whole reason for fearing the Heffalumps and Woozles is that they steal honey, towards the end of the dream he attempts to steal the honey from the hot air balloon.
 * At one point in the dancing scene, the animation is reversed.
 * When Pooh jumps to the hot air balloon, the word "Hunny" is visible on the honey pot. Once Pooh grabs the pot, the word vanishes.
 * The singing honeypots are the ones he falls asleep next to.
 * Pooh being stuck in a Heffalump's trunk and escaping when the Heffalump is blown up by dynamite may be a reference to Winnie the Pooh And the Honey Tree, when he is stuck in the door to Rabbit's House and Gopher offers to use dynamite to get him out.
 * The marching Heffalump is the only one to be voiced (though the extent of his speech is "Heh-heh, ho ho!" upon seeing Pooh). Aside from him, all speech comes from the singing honey pots.
 * Each portion of the song fits a sort of theme. The first part, from when the dream begins to after the Heffalump and Woozle duo, seems to be describing the Heffalumps and their powers. The next part, from the band leader to when the Heffabee steals Pooh's honey, is a sort of parade. The part after that, from the dancers to the accordion Heffalumps, is more of a relaxing scene, and the final part has an almost military air, with the popgun Heffalump and the matchstick Woozle both marching, both in uniform, and the presence of explosives.
 * Though the yo-yo Heffalump seems to transform from the second Heffalump into a Woozle intentionally, it seems surprised when it first transforms into a different Heffalump, and when it transforms into a honey pot.
 * In early concept art for the hot air balloon scene, there are a number of differences. First, there are many more balloons. Second, all the balloons except Pooh's and the one with the honey have Woozles riding in them. Lastly, the green balloon with the honey has large ears, which all other balloons lack. (This concept art is seen in the bonus feature of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Friendship Edition)
 * The pot of honey that the Heffabee steals from Pooh looks very similar to the one the transparent Heffalump came from.
 * The dynamite Heffalump appears to have only three legs.
 * According to the Disneyland Tokyo version of the ride, Heffabees eat honey through their stingers. During the ride, a Heffabee spots a pot of honey, eats it, grows too big for its wings to hold, and falls into the pot.
 * In early concept art, the Woozle bandleader has a different color flute, and the flute has a sign attached to it that reads "We love hunny" (This concept art is seen in the bonus feature of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Friendship Edition).
 * In the Disney Monster Hits version of the scene, it skips directly from the transparent Heffalump popping to the marching Heffalump shooting Pooh with the popgun.
 * The marching Heffalump is marching perfectly in sync with Pooh.
 * The male Heffalumps can be either bipedal or four-legged, but the females are all bipedal.
 * There is only one Woozle that walks on all fours, all others are bipedal.
 * Later installments show that not all Heffalumps and Woozles are evil, with some Heffalumps actually being neutral and one Woozle named Wooster who became one of Pooh's friends.
 * When the transparent Heffalump eats the honey, it swells extremely rapidly before exploding. Likewise, when the Heffabee in the Disneyland Tokyo version of the ride eats the honey, it quickly becomes too fat to fly. However, when the hot air balloon eats the honey, its size does not change.
 * Throughout most of the scene, honey is spelled "hunny". However, the jack-in-the-box Woozles spell it "hunney" instead.
 * Heffalumps are based on elephants, while Woozles are based on weasels.
 * Despite being evil, Heffalumps are still cute and adorable. Many of them look like young elephants.
 * The Flying Heffalump starts to transform before hitting the ground.
 * The dancing scene mirrors a dancing scene from Pink Elephants on Parade.

Videos
300px|thumb|left|Music Video "Heffalumps and Woozles" on DTV Monster Hits.