Mudpoo and the Magic Tree Stump (3 page)

The humans heard Grumblegoo's roar.

They didn't stay long enough to see exactly who, or what it was that was running wildly towards them. They dropped their things in terror and ran. Never were they ever so afraid. Never had they seen, or heard anything that was so scary. They ran over logs and through the forest, any way they could to escape. They were so afraid that they never, ever returned. 

Grumblegoo stopped chasing them eventually... she was more concerned about her beautiful tree. She returned to find all that was left was a tangled mess of limbs, leaves and logs, and a huge tree stump. 

Grumblegoo walked slowly towards what was left of her tree, sat down on the stump and for the first time in her life, she cried.

I
t was the next day. 

All of the curious bush creatures were peering out of their hidey-holes towards the shattered, fallen tree. Grumblegoo sat bleary-eyed and sad. She hadn't moved all night. Foggerty, the green tree frog, gently hopped over to Grumblegoo and landed on her lap. He looked up to see the swollen red eyes of his friend and the dull, sad look on her face. She'd been crying all night. 

“I've let everyone down,” murmured Grumblegoo, “especially my tree; it's my job to protect the forest.” 

Grumblegoo looked miserable as she sat on the tree stump. 

“I wish I could always protect this forest and all its plants and creatures forever, so nothing like this could ever happen again.”

Grumblegoo was so miserable that she hardly noticed the ‘SWOOSHING' sound and the shiny swirling dust that flew all around her. 

Foggerty, who could only say,
“CROAK”
and
“RIBBIT”
and make other frog sounds, knew his friend was sad. He sat up on the tree stump, wishing there was something he could do, but he was only a little frog!

‘I wish I was the world's smartest frog and that I could talk,' thought Foggerty sadly. 

Then it happened again . . .the tree stump made a kind of ‘SWOOSHING' sound and Foggerty was covered in a shiny, swirling dust. 

Startled, Grumblegoo leapt to her feet. It was all over in a second. 

“What was that?” exclaimed Grumblegoo, as she looked at poor, surprised Foggerty. 

“What was that?” repeated Foggerty as he looked back at Grumblegoo.

“You . . . you . . . you . . . can talk!” yelped Grumblegoo, “You can talk!” she repeated, looking dumbfounded. 

“How . . . ?” 

“I wished I was the smartest frog in the world and that I could talk,”
replied Foggerty “and there was a swirling, swooshing sound from the tree stump and then it just happened!” 

“Let me see,” asked Grumblegoo, happily surprised, “I'll test you with a question.” 

“Go ahead,” replied Foggerty. 

“Who are you and where do we live?” asked Grumblegoo, who was still a little stunned and couldn't think of anything really clever to ask. 

“I am Foggerty Frog, otherwise known as a green tree frog,” replied Foggerty, “and my scientific name is
Litoria caerulea
and we live in ‘Iluka Nature Reserve', which is a World Heritage area in New South Wales, Australia.” 

Suddenly, Grumblegoo stopped being sad and laughed and laughed and as she laughed, her feathers fluffed up and her red eyes glowed.

“My word you are one smart frog, even if I don't understand everything you say, but better than that, we have ourselves a
‘MAGIC TREE STUMP'
” beamed Grumblegoo. 

“We must keep this our secret,” Grumblegoo told Foggerty, and they both agreed, for now, not to tell anyone. 

Grumblegoo walked with a little skip in her step down to the Clarence River to her favourite hidey-hole to have a well earned sleep. Though she felt sad that her magnificent Karri tree was cut down, she felt sure that if she could understand how the Magic Tree Stump worked its magic, it might prove to be very useful one day. 

That day was much closer than she ever imagined.

A
nyone who has read
‘THE
true
ADVENTURES OF MUDPOO‘
would understand how excited Mudpoo and Harry were when Captain Pete told them they were going on a camping trip to Iluka (in Bundjalung National Park). They were going to meet up with their old friend Liz and another great old friend; Rod the bush poet and his beautiful blue dog Jess. Gus, the talking Kombi van, was so excited he kept jiggling about. 

“C'mon, pack everything,” said an over-excited Gus (he looked like a little house on wheels). 

“Hmmm,” said Captain Pete scratching his head, “I'd better check my list.”

He fumbled through his pocket for a crumbled piece of paper where he'd written a list of everything they needed to pack. Most of the items were scattered all around Gus.

“I'll call out the item and you find it,” said Captain Pete to Mudpoo and Harry. 

“Three toothbrushes,” said Captain Pete. 

“In they go,” said Harry. 

“Torch,” called out Captain Pete. 

“Yes, in it goes,” said Mudpoo.

“Map of Victoria and New South Wales,” checked Captain Pete 

“Here it is,” chimed Mudpoo and Harry together. 

“It's important to check that we have everything we need when we go on a long, adventurous journey,”
muttered Captain Pete, “did you know it's almost one thousand kilometres from our home in Bethanga to Iluka?” 

“Wow that's far!” said Harry. 

“Do you think we'll see our humpback whale friends again?” asked Mudpoo. 

“Well . . . err . . . Iluka is near the coast and humpback whales do pass by there, so you never know,” replied Captain Pete. 

On their last adventure, a humpback whale had rescued Mudpoo's hat and Mudpoo had taught the whales the tune of a beautiful song called the Blue Danube.

 “I wonder if the whales are still singing” Harry pondered. 

“I hope so. I can't wait to camp near the ocean!” exclaimed Mudpoo.

Everyone was kept busy checking and loading, which was made more difficult because Gus was jiggling and chanting,
“Let's go, let's go, let's go . . . ”

Captain Pete placed the last item inside Gus, and after checking Gus's tyres, oil and engine, he declared, “We're ready to go, jump in!” 

“Yippee! Hooray!” shouted Mudpoo and Harry. 

With a
Brrooooommm
and a
Zrroooooomm
away they went . . .

F
oggerty, the green tree frog, could not be stopped. He chatted to Grumblegoo every day and seemed to be able to talk, at length, about almost anything. 

“You see, we frogs are amphibians and you'll find us on all continents on earth, except for Antarctica.” 

“I see,” replied Grumblegoo, pretending to be interested. 

Foggerty went on, “Frogs were the first creatures without a backbone to adapt to life on land.” 

“You don't say,” replied Grumblegoo, who tried not to appear rude.

Grumblegoo loved chatting to Foggerty Frog, but there were times when she wished he wasn't quite so smart. It seemed he was getting smarter every day and couldn't wait to tell Grumblegoo every new fact he learnt, as soon as he learnt it. 

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!