Mudpoo and the Magic Tree Stump

by Peter Klein

  Grumblegoo had been busy thinking, ‘I wonder how the Magic Tree Stump really works?’ She had tried to make other wishes, but nothing unusual happened. She decided to watch the Magic Tree Stump every day until she discovered its secret.

  One day, Foggerty Frog declared that he was going to visit the children at the Iluka School. He had heard that this was a good place to learn more about the world.

  “Be careful,” warned Grumblegoo.

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine, I’ve heard the children there are very clever and friendly,” he replied and away he hopped.

  Grumblegoo sat quietly for a long time, closely watching the Magic Tree Stump. All of a sudden, she spotted something that really surprised her. This is what she saw.

  Andrenna Ant was walking across the Magic Tree Stump, carrying a tiny bread crumb, “I wish I was a hundred times stronger,” thought Andrenna Ant to herself, then suddenly, there was a ‘SWOOSHING’ sound and some shiny dust and Andrenna Ant was strong enough to carry a whole apple core on her own!

  “Well WIGGLEMY- WHISKERS,” whispered Grumblegoo to herself, “how bizarre!”

  Grumblegoo decided she’d try an experiment to discover how the Magic Tree Stump really worked.

  She sat on the tree stump and declared in a loud Grumblegoo voice, “I wish for an omelette!”. Nothing happened.

  “I wish for a huge plate of lamingtons,” she demanded and still, nothing happened.

  “I wish for a vegemite and cheese sandwich,” she said rather hopefully, but still, nothing happened.

  “I wish for a pair of silky pyjamas, with pink cotton socks,” she said in a silly voice, just in case it worked, but nothing happened.

  Grumblegoo was just about to give up for the day when Kev, the sulfurcrested cockatoo, came by and happened to land on the Magic Tree Stump.

  “I wish you could talk!” declared Grumblegoo, but again, nothing happened.

  Grumblegoo looked at Kev miserably.

  Kev, the sulfur-crested cockatoo then squawked, “I wish I could talk,” repeating Grumblegoo’s words, as most cockatoo’s do.

  Suddenly there was a ‘SWOOSHING’ sound and some shiny swirling dust and a stunned Kev croaked in a scratchy, cocky voice; “G’day Grumblegoo!”

  “You... you...can talk!” Grumblegoo leapt up into the air and danced an Irish jig.

  “Yippee . . . ” she cried, “what did you think about?”

  “Well bust-my-billy Grumblegoo, I just thought, ‘I wish I could talk’ and . . . WHAM, here I am!”

  “I think I’m beginning to see,” replied Grumblegoo looking rather pleased.

  “Great-gathering-goannas, can you explain to ME what is going on?” squawked Kev.

  “It’s the Magic Tree Stump! It grants each creature only one opportunity to wish and you have to be quick. You’re only allowed a few seconds to wish for all the things you want! I think that’s how it works?” declared Grumblegoo.

  Grumblegoo decided to test her theory further. She thought they might coax Clancy the koala down from her gum tree, by placing a huge branch of sweet juicy Eucalyptus leaves on the Magic Tree Stump.

  Ever so slowly, Clancy wobbled down to the Magic Tree Stump. Grumblegoo and Kev stood very still and watched. Sure enough, there was a ‘SWOOSHING’ sound and Clancy was covered in a shiny, swirling dust.

  Grumblegoo and Kev held their breath and waited to see what might happen.

  “What are you staring at?” snapped Clancy.

  Grumblegoo and Kev cheered, “It worked! Yahoo!”

  “Don’t bust your boiler,” said Clancy, “I’m going back up to my tree and I’m never coming down.”

  “Why ever not?” asked Grumblegoo.

  “Because I wished I could talk and I wished for a tree that never ran out of gum leaves,” replied Clancy.

  “Well I’ll be blowed,” muttered Grumblegoo, “it appears Clancy managed to think of everything she wanted!”

  “STREUTH! Lucky old Clancy,” squawked Kev.

  Clancy had returned high into her tree and happily munched away on her never-ending supply of gum leaves, like nothing magical at all had just happened.

  One evening, Grumblegoo found Sally, the green tree snake, asleep on the Magic Tree Stump and like many of the other forest animals now, Sally was able to talk.

  “What did you wish for?” inquired Grumblegoo.

  “Oh, I just wished everyone would like me for who I am,” she replied. Grumblegoo understood Sally’s wish really well (for reasons you can guess).

  She invited Sally to sleep on the Magic Tree Stump to guard it against unfriendly strangers and to this, she happily agreed. Grumblegoo figured that by asking Sally to guard the Magic Tree Stump, she could do an important job, as well as make some new friends, all at the same time!

  Percy, the ringtail possum, stumbled across the Magic Tree Stump and soon he was getting his wish; a wonderful sleep, hanging by his tail. Grumblegoo asked him to hang around to help Sally and this made him feel very important.

  Foggerty returned from visiting the children at the Iluka school and was pleased to discover that Grumblegoo had made several new friends.

  He told, Kev, Sally, Percy and Grumblegoo (Clancy was too busy eating) about his adventures. Foggerty told them how he became the Iluka Primary School’s science project. They measured and weighed him and watched him eat and jump. Best of all, he was able to watch the students use something called ‘the internet’, so he learnt so much more about the world.

  “We live in a littoral rainforest,” croaked Foggerty.

  “Littoral rainforest?” repeated Grumblegoo, taken aback by Foggerty’s new found knowledge.

  “A littoral rainforest is a subtropical forest that grows in nutrient-rich, sandy soils near the sea,” beamed Foggerty, who indeed felt that he really was the smartest frog in the world.

  “Did you know,” continued Foggerty, “that rainforests cover only 0.3 percent of Australia and yet they contain about half of Australia’s plant families and about one third of Australia’s mammal and bird species?”

  “Great story,” said Grumblegoo who had never quite understood percentages and fractions, “but I’ve got to go fishing.”

  “I’ve got sleeping to catch up on,” murmured Percy.

  “Slithering to do,” added Sally.

  “BELCHING BUNYIPS!” cried Kev, “Is that the time? Got to fly!”

  “I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow?” said Foggerty, looking hopeful and proud as his friends quickly disappeared into the forest.

  Grumblegoo thought carefully as she sat fishing in the Clarence River. She felt they should have stayed and listened to Foggerty. After all, wasn’t knowledge something to be proud of? She felt sure that everythingFoggerty learnt at school could be very important and might one day prove to be useful.

  “Next time,” she murmured to herself, “I will ask everyone to listen and learn something from Foggerty.”

  Grumblegoo would soon be proven right. There was trouble brewing just around the corner and Foggerty’s knowledge would prove to be very important indeed.

  Deep in the Southern Ocean near the Antarctic Peninsula, a happy pod of humpback whales were ‘spy hopping’ and splashing with their enormous pectoral fins. It was almost time for their annual ten thousand kilometre migration to Hervey Bay, Australia, for the breeding season.

  Humpbacks were huge whales (about the size of a semi-trailer) and yet despite their size, they were able to leap right out of the water, sometimes just for fun. They played with their friends the minke whales as they twirled and splashed around under the majestic ice-flows.

  Not far from where the whales were playing, in the shadows of an enormous iceberg, a grey, musky-smelling, miserable pirate boat was anchored. The boat creaked and groaned, as rusty bolts and crusty barnacles vibrated to the gentle swell of the ocean.

  BONES, GROT, SNOT and PONG, the smelly vessel’s four horrible inhabitants, ignored the spectacular sight of humpbacks leaping out of
the water. They were too engrossed in their important meeting.

  They sat in the musky galley of their rusty boat, studying a huge map of the Antarctic waters. Their galley was where they ate, washed, slept and had messy parties. It was also home to many fat rats and tiny bugs, living on the food scraps the pirates left behind on unwashed dinner plates.

  “Why are we killing whales?” inquired Grot again, belching after gobbling down an enormous fish too fast, and taking a large gulp of foul-smelling wine.

  “For scientific research . . . !” said Snot, pounding his horrible fist onto the table.

  “Science?” repeated Grot, wiping his forearm across his face to clean runaway bits of wine, food and snot that were stuck just above his top lip.

  “Yeah, we kill whales to save them from themselves!” grunted Bones, who had been sharpening an enormous, scary-looking knife.

  “So killing whales . . . is a good thing?” asked Grot again, trying not to show he was still very confused.

  Grot was the biggest and strongest of the pirates and he could lift very heavy things, even though he was a bit clumsy. They couldn’t run the pirate ship without him.

  “Whales are their own worst enemy,” mumbled Pong who spent most of his time listening and keeping his thoughts to himself.

  “I thought WE were their worst enemy,” inquired Grot, puzzled, taking another huge gulp of his horribly sour drink.

  “WE ARE!” roared the others, laughing and pushing each other about.

  “I thought we’re not allowed to kill humpback whales?” queried Grot, still confused.

  This surprised the others, as it was the cleverest thing anyone had said all day.

  “Minke whales . . . we are allowed to kill minke whales,” roared Snot pounding his horrible fist again, knocking over Bone’s drink of smelly, stale beer.

  “Minke whales are like the blowflies of the ocean,” growled Pong, “we need to crush them.”

  “Yes, yes . . . ,” agreed Bones, “crush them, crush them, crush them!” he replied, getting rather worked up.

  “I thought we harpooned whales?” muttered Grot scratching his head.

  “Yeah, that’s what I said,” grumbled Bones.

  “NO, you said crush them!” repeated Grot, quite certain he had heard correctly.

  “Like THIS,” suddenly Bones crushed a poor cockroach that had been nibbling on crumbs that were scattered near the edge of the pirates’ table, “KERRSPLATTT!”

  “MWUAHA, HA, HAAA !” roared the horrible crew with laughter, as the poor cockroach lay splattered all over the grimy dinner table.

  “What if a humpback whale gets in our way?” inquired Grot who, in between gulps of foul smelling wine, was really asking the smartest questions.

  “WHAM, bad luck for them,” growled Snot, who pounded the table with his fist, crushing another poor cockroach. Two more cockroaches scurried to safety, hiding under Grot’s armpit.

  “HA, HA, HAAA !” roared the horrible pirates again, who thought that crushing cockroaches was very clever and funny.

  “What is the plan?” muttered Bones, who was getting tired of talking.

  “Let’s trap them, where they play together near the ice-flow,” roared Snot determinedly.

  “They’ll never escape if we block the entrance!” growled Pong.

  “Sharpen the harpoon, let’s get ready,” yelled Bones “we’ve got whale research to do!”

  “Research . . . ?” inquired Grot, frowning and looking puzzled.

  Bones, Snot and Pong ignored him and roared with laughter!

  Indeed, Snot was correct, not too far away the humpback whales, who loved singing and eating krill, swam in a small bay surrounded by ice. Their friends, the Adelie penguins and fur seals, would cheer each time they gracefully leapt out of the water.

  Minke whales, though much smaller than the humpbacks, loved to join in the fun.

  And it just so happened that amongst those humpback whales, frolicking in that icy Antarctic bay, were Mudpoo’s whale friends; the ones that he had taught his song to during their last adventure in Hervey Bay.

  Little did these singing and splashing whales know that their lives were in perilous danger!

  Gus arrived safely at Woodyhead camping ground near Iluka. After the long trip, everyone patted Gus, who always beamed with pride. Harry and Mudpoo scrambled away to check the beach whilst Captain Pete chose the best shady spot to set up camp. Woodyhead is a part of the beautiful Bundjalung National Park that has many wonderful camping spots.

  “I can see lots of rocks,” cried Mudpoo excitably.

  “ . . . and shells,” added Harry.

  After a little rest, everyone helped Gus and Captain Pete to unload and set up a comfortable camp.

  They had just finished unpacking and setting up when some visitors arrived. They were Captain Pete’s friends; Rod the bush poet and Jess his blue dog and best mate. Rod called Jess ‘the princess of all blue dogs.’

  Captain Pete and his friends chatted away about old times. Rod loved to write stories and so did captain Pete, so they had lots to talk about.

  Rod had just released a book and CD called ‘Frogs and Dogs and Kids,’ which was a huge success (he won an award at the Tamworth Music Festival for it, but that’s another story). A lot of his stories were about how clever Jess was, and how she loved frogs. Mudpoo, Harry and Jess explored the beaches around Woodyhead and Back Beach, it was great fun exploring the rock pools and looking for shells and stranded fish.

  Captain Pete had a visit from Ranger John.

  “Definitely no dogs allowed in National Parks,” said Ranger John quite firmly.

  “What about talking dogs?” asked Captain Pete.

  When he saw that Harry and Jess were talking dogs, he carefully checked his ranger manual.

  “We have special permits for Guide Dogs, so I suppose I can give you a special permit for talking dogs,” he replied, scratching his forehead.

  “THANK YOU,” replied Captain Pete, Harry and Jess, altogether as they were handed the permits.

  Ranger John smiled, “I don’t suppose I’ll ever meet too many talking dogs,” he said, shaking Captain Pete’s hand before he walked away to check another campsite.

  Their friend Liz arrived in her Kombi van called ‘Kevin’.

  Captain Pete put the billy on at once.

  “You little ripper,” smiled Rod, who loved to have a cup of tea.

  That night they ate beautifully-sizzled sausages, a mouth-watering damper (made in Rod’s camp oven using his secret recipe), some lamingtons, some blueberry pie that Captain Pete had bought from the bakery at Iluka and a beautiful pavlova that Liz had brought along with her and they washed it all down with hot, billy-tea.

  YUMMY!

  That evening, as they sat under the shiny stars, around a small, glistening campfire, with the gentle hum of the ocean in the distance, Captain Pete and Rod took turns to tell them stories. Rod knew lots of great stories and so did Captain Pete.

  Just before bedtime, Captain Pete told the wonderful story of Grumblegoo.

  (Remember . . . you have already heard some of this story).

  He told the story of how a monstrous goanna called Grumblegoo, appeared in the Iluka rainforest, just as some people had cut down an enormous Karri tree. Grumblegoo was fierce and ferocious, and could breathe fire. The creature was covered with pointy spikes and was able to gobble up a whole person, quicker than a wink! (Maybe Captain Pete exaggerated parts of the story a little when he retold it. Does that happen to you sometimes?)

  Everyone listened to the story. Captain Pete said he thought that Grumblegoo might still live in the rainforest, but he also said he wasn’t scared of Grumblegoo, or any other monstrous goanna. After all, he did have a blue belt in Taekwondo and could probably teach it a thing or two if it tried to attack!

  “Nevertheless,” continued Captain Pete, “once Grumblegoo appeared, nobody ever tried to destroy any part of the Iluka rainforest again. Not even the people w
ho wanted to mine there for sand in 1964. They thought better of it once they heard about Grumblegoo.”

  “Maybe Grumblegoo, the monstrous goanna, did a good thing?” whispered Mudpoo to Harry and Jess.

  Harry was too tired to answer. He fell asleep dreaming about firebreathing goannas. Jess dreamt of blueberry pie and friendly frogs. Rod dreamt of billy-tea and damper. Captain Pete dreamt that he was bravely battling monstrous goannas with his blue belt Taekwondo skills. Liz dreamt of the peaceful ocean. And Mudpoo dreamt about his humpback whale friends. He dreamt they were in trouble and needed his help and awoke with a start in the middle of the night. ‘It’s just a dream’ he reassured himself and soon fell asleep again.

  Bones, Grot, Snot and Pong, the horrible whaling boat pirates, slowly sailed their creaking boat towards the open mouth of the icy bay where the whales were swimming. The humpback whales had seen many tourist boats before and eyed the strange vessel with happy curiosity.

  “There are always people in tourist boats coming to see us, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” said the humpback whales to the minke whales. The minke whales were not so sure.

  “WHALE-HO . . . ” yelled Snot loudly.

  “I can see it, stop yelling in my ear,” replied Bones grumpily.

  “Prepare to fire the harpoon,” growled Pong, who had hoisted the pirate flag.

  The poor minke whale was right in their way. Grot aimed the harpoon.

  “You can’t miss,” yelled Bones excitedly.

  Before anyone knew what had happened, there was a loud explosion and the harpoon shot out from the boat like a rocket, missing the minke whale by a hair’s breadth and landing with a huge splash into the deep, icy ocean.

  “Who forgot to tie the rope?” moaned Snot as the harpoon and rope disappeared under the sea.

  “Oops!” replied Grot, “I’m sure I tied the rope to the reel,” he said looking rather sorry.