Free Mudpoo and the Magic Tree Stump by Peter Klein

W elcome! If you’ve read ‘The (true) Adventures of Mudpoo’, then you’ll already know who most of the characters are, but in this adventure, there are some more interesting characters to meet . . .

    MUDPOO is a happy, curious, five year old boy who loves exploring and discovering everything old and new, wherever he may be. He helps Captain Pete, Gus and Harry the dog, with all of their adventures and is (for some reason unknown to me) trusted by all animals; especially humpback whales.

    CAPTAIN PETE is an inventor and an explorer who loves going camping in his Kombi van called Gus. With help from Gus, Captain Pete shows Mudpoo and Harry some great places to explore. Just between you and me, he gets a little muddled sometimes, but he always tries to be helpful. Sometimes he makes yummy jam and he loves eating Pavlova!

    GUS is like a little house on wheels and at times (sshhh . . . this is a secret) he has been known to talk! He is officially a VW Kombi van, but he really only answers to the name ‘Gus’.

    HARRY is a rugged and reliable little dog who is fiercely loyal to Mudpoo, Captain Pete and Gus. He loves adventures and is never afraid to get his feet dirty, much to Captain Pete’s dismay when he brings mud into the house. He is one of only two talking dogs in the world. If you know about more send us a message! (www.mudpoo.com.au)

    LIZ is a family friend who lives in Nambour in Queensland. She sometimes goes adventuring with all of our Mudpoo friends. She’ll never miss an adventure if it involves watching humpback whales, or sitting around a campfire and eating Pavlova.
    ROD is an old friend of Captain Pete who writes amazing bush poetry. Shhhh, I’ll tell you a secret . . . he makes a great damper. Maybe I can ask him to share the recipe with you and me? He lives with Jess and loves blueberry pie.

    JESS is Rod’s dog and has saved Rod’s life twice (but that’s another story . . . or two). Jess can talk and do amazing tricks. She is very clever and a loyal friend to all boys and girls and animals who try to do their best (a bit like you).

    GRUMBLEGOO is . . . err . . . well . . . oh . . . ??? Maybe I’ll just let you read the story and discover who she is for yourself.



N obody was really certain where Grumblegoo, the smartest, scariest creature in the rainforest had come from, nor how she got there. It seemed she had lived there for as long as anyone could remember. Some say that she hid and lurked around the riverbeds, emerging only at nightfall to emit terrifying, bloodcurdling yowls that made your hair stand up straight on the back of your neck. If you ventured too near to her home you would be gobbled up as a tasty snack. Mind you, no-one I spoke to said that they’d actually seen her, just that, well . . . she did exist and that here is a story to prove it. Despite all of her fearsome ways, the animals of the rainforest loved and respected Grumblegoo. After all, she really did care for their forest. Grumblegoo wasn’t that ugly, nor could you say she was handsome, she just looked . . . well . . . kind of scary.
    On her head she had three sharp, pointy spikes, two bulging, bloodshot eyes and two powerful, curly horns. Her mouth and nose looked like a huge beak and contained sharp, ferocious, pointy teeth. She had a long, colourful, stripy tail that swished as she walked along on her powerful claw-like feet.
    Her whole body was covered in a kind of leathery-feathery material and she had sharp and dangerous claw-like hands. Her voice kind of frothed and garbled when she talked (a bit like what you sound like when you try to talk while brushing your teeth) and when she screamed and shrieked, it sounded worse than what mum, or dad sound like when they scream and shriek that you’ve put mud on their best, clean carpet!
    Okay . . . now back to the story. It was a long, long time ago when a magical Karri seed flew through the air from the far away