Les Champignons (Conversation Exercise) Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

Let us go now and seek mushrooms
For supper. Stewed with milk
They will provide a nourishing meal.
Shall we require our ration-books?
No. mushrooms are not yet rationed.
Where shall we find them?
In the meadow.
Shall we not require a bag or a basket?
Perhaps. Here is one.
Is that large enough?
Let us hope we shall fill it.
Look, there I think is a mushroom.
Do not hurry. It will not run away.
It is a white stone.
That is a pity.
Here at last is one.
It is rather small. It will not make a very large dish.
Never mind, It is a beginning.
Here is another.
Throw it away. It is a toadstool.
It is nevertheless very handsome.
Many people, I believe, eat toadstools.
Many people also die of eating them.
We will perhaps throw it away.
Here, however, is another mushroom.
It is somewhat worm-eaten. A mushroom
Which is worm-eaten is even more poisonous than a toadstool.
We will throw that one away also.
Let us go in.
Yes, it is growing late.
Have you the mushroom?
Yes, it is in the basket.
We did not require such a large basket. I do not see the mushroom.
It was there a minute ago.
It is not there now.
That is strange. I saw it when I put down the basket to climb the fence.
See, that chicken is eating something.
It is eating the mushroom.
That is a pity. We shall not now have mushrooms for supper.