A story from Nikolai Nosov`s `The Adventures of Dunno
and his friends`
TALENT AND ADMIRERS, OR DUNNO THE POET
After Dunno failed to become an artist he made
up his mind to be a poet and write poems. He`s
known a poet who lived in Dandelion str. His
real name was Poundling but as all poets he was
fond of beautiful pen names. As soon as
Poundling started writing poems he has become
well known as Floweret.
Once Dunno visited him and asked to teach him
to write poems.
-Have you got a talent, - Floweret asked him.
-Surely!
-Gonna verify it. Do you know what the rhyme is?
-Rime? I dunno, - Dunno said.
-Rhyme appears whenever two words have got the same
endings. Duck - F.. ck, Walrus-Sirus. Grasped
the idea, eh?
-Don`t just! Be sure for it!
-Tell me now what is a rhyme for the word
`ring`.
-Herring.
-But I see no rhyme here.
-Why not? They end the same way.
-That`s not enough, - Floweret explained. -
The words must be similar to form a smooth
pair. Then only they`ll rhyme well. Attention,
please! Stick - brick, stove - grove, book -
brook.
-I see, I see! - Dunno shouted. - That`s great!
Ha-ha-ha!
-Now invent a rhyme for the word `oakum`, -
Floweret offered.
-Gokkum, soccum.
-There are not such stupid words!
-Are you kidding, dude?
-Nope! You must use the words that exist and
never invent the new ones!
-What if I can`t?
-Then you`re giftless.
-Then try your best to find a rhyme for
your `oakum` yourself!
- A deal! - Flowered agreed.
He began to walk around a room and look at the
ceiling examining options.
-Oakum, Nockum, Flockum, Trockum. Well, this
word has got no rhyme!
-So you are wrong and I am not giftless! You
see?
-Gifltless or not, but I`m sick and tired of
you. I feel my head gonna blast. Go and try to
write poems combining a meaning and rhymes, and
poems will flow as a stream.
-Duh! Gotta get a talent, the rest will come.
Dunno returned home and began to write poems
immediately. At last, at dawn, he invited other
residents of their Flowerburg, city of the tiny
folks to listen to poems he wrote about them.
Being flattered all came in.
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-First of all, I gonna recite a poem about our
Know-all.
Know-all swam in the river,
He caught cold, he`s got high fever.
-What?! It`s all lies! I`m healthy!
-Of course, you are. I wrote it for the rhyme`s
sake. Besides why to write about the real
things? They are real all the same!
-Gonna get a sock, eh? But ... before
it tell what you`ve written about the other folks.
-Bustler.
Bustler, hungry as a lion,
Can`t stop gulping a cold iron!
-Is it really so simple!
-Bros! - Bustler screamed.
-Hold me seven at
once, or I give him a hiding right now! I never
ever swallowed any iron, neither hot, nor cold uns`.
-You did not, I know, - Dunno explained. - I
was made to do it by the rhyme! Better listen
what I`ve wrote about our Perhapser.
Our Perhapser, shush! A secret!
He hides a sweet under his pillow.
Having heard it Perhapser made a quick run over
to his home and back and exlaimed in anger:
-There`s no candy under my pillow! You`re a
liar!
But Dunno just stated that Perhapser must have
understood nothing in poetry.
-Poetry is whenever you write that something
is under one`s pillow while there`s nothing under it!
-Friends! - T` was Doc Pillulenik who lost his
temper at last. - Stop this outrage! Should we
all stand and listen to Dunno`s lies?
-Agree! - the tiny folks shouted. - This is not
poems but teasing rhymes!
But Know-all, Bustler and Perhapser disagreed.
They insisted on Dunno`s going on with his
mischievous ditties. The rest, however,
objected to the very idea until Dunno said that
he would go to other folks to read his poems
about his friends.
-What? - the community gasped. - You gonna
defame us! If you ever do, never come back to
us again.
After that Dunno had to surrender under the
condition they wouldn`t be angry with him.
Since then Dunno hasn`t been writing poems any
more.
THE END
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