"Blyton, Enid - The Five Find-Outers 15 - The Mystery of Banshee Towers 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

So they went over to where a great wooden seat stood, beside an old oak table. Fatty unpacked the lunch, and soon they were all sitting down, eating it, surprised to find that they were so hungry after their fright.

"Ern, tell Fatty your poem," said Bets, suddenly, seeing a piece of paper sticking out of Ern's pocket, and feeling certain that Ern had managed to find time to write down his "pome".

"Poem?" said Fatty, surprised. "Have you been going in for poetry again, Ern? "

"Er - well, Fatty, it's only a silly sort of pome - I mean poem," said Ern, blushing. "I've called it 'Coo'."

"Ah, it's about doves or pigeons then, is it?" said Fatty. "Cooing."

"Well, not exactly that sort of coo," sad Ern, anxiously. "It's reely the sort of 'coo' you say when you're surprised, like. I've got it written down here. I must say I feel like writing a pome about the sea too, now, after seeing all those sea-pictures."

"You're a wonder, Ern," said Fatty, and meant it. "Come along, where's this poem?"

"I couldn't finish it. Fatty," said Ern, looking at it, "That's the worst of me. It all comes in a rush, like, and then fades out and I can't think of a good ending."

"Well, read it Ern," said Fatty. So Ern, blushing again, read out his "pome", at top speed.

"Coo, look at them primroses down in the ditch,
Smiling all over their faces.
Coo, listen to all the birds up in the hedge,
And larks in the big open spaces.
Coo, look at the cows and the cowslips too,
And... and..."

Ern stopped and looked pleadingly at Fatty. "I can't think of the end, Fatty. I just can't."

"Oh _yes_, Ern - there's only one _possible_ ending," said Fatty, and carried on at once.

"Coo, look at the cows and the cowslips too,
And the lions so dandy and yellow.
And the cups full of butter for me and for you,
And hark where the bulrushes bellow!
Coo, look at the runner beans, how fast they go,
And..."

By this time the others were laughing so much that Fatty had to stop for breath and laugh too. Ern stared at him in admiration. "How do you do it, Fatty?" he asked, solemnly. "Takes me ages to think of even one line, and you just go rattling on and on - coo, I'd never have thought of that line, 'Look at the runner beans, how fast they go!' That's right down funny, Fatty."

"Dear old Ern, your lines are poetry, and mine are not," said Fatty, clapping him on the back. "Yours are just a bit too 'cooey' that's all. 'Coo' isn't a good word for poetry, unless it's said by a dove!"

"You're a wonder, you are," said Ern, remembering another of Fatty's lines. "Lions so dandy and yellow - you meant the yellow dandelions there didn't you - honest, Fatty, you're a genius."

"Let's change the subject," said Fatty, feeling rather a fraud. He could reel off verse without stopping, ridiculous, amusing and clever, and could never think why everyone thought it wonderful.

"Everybody finished?" asked Larry, screwing up his papers. "There's a litter basket over there."

"I say," said Pip, suddenly. "What do you suppose has happened to Buster and Bingo? They ought to be here by now, surely?"

"Oh, I expect they turned tail and went home when they got too far behind," said Fatty. "They probably lost our trail. We shan't see them till we get home. I only hope they are behaving themselves."