Mrs Beamish is worried for Mr Dovetail and Daisy. While everyone believes they have moved, Mrs Beamish isn't so sure and wonders if she is the reason for their disappearance!

‘Ickabog, Ickabog, he’ll get you if you stop,

Ickabog, Ickabog, so skip until you flop,

Never look back if you feel squeamish,

’Cause he’s caught a soldier called Major—’

This is the song that the children sing when they are skipping outside Daisy Dovetail's old house. In the last chapter Daisy heard this song...

‘I drank a single bottle and the Ickabog’s a lie,

I drank another bottle, and I thought I heard it sigh,

And now I’ve drunk another, I can see it slinking by,

The Ickabog is coming, so let’s drink before we die!’

These are little poems where each line rhymes with the last one. 

stop and flop

squeamish and beamish

lie and sigh

by and die

Your challenge today is to make up a little four-line rhyme about the Ickabog. One day to begin to to write down lots of words about the Ickabog like where it lives, what is looks like, how it sounds. Use your imagination and then start writing. Here are a few examples...

The Ickabog lives in the shadows of the bog.

He roars and growls like a fearsome dog.

But his bark is not as bad as his bite.

So don't go near him in the middle of the night! 

The Ickabog is coming I can hear his roar.

Everyone inside and close the door.

Shut the windows and draw your blind.

This Ickabog will not be kind!

I saw the Ickabog in a local store.

I saw the Ickabog outside your door.

I saw the Ickabog up a tree.

I think the Ickabog wants some tea!

Share your poem or song.