Click here Roddy The Rooster Contest Answer three simple questions (all answers at this site) to enter a monthly draw to win Roddy The Rooster & Friends video, cd and colour-in book and consolation prizes. Story #33 Easter Yummies Easter Tummies If you would like to have Roddy's Story of the Month sent to you each month by e-mail, subscribe to Roddy's Story of the Month Mailing List! You can also read previous months' feature stories, one for each month since August 1997. Most have a picture, so have a look! - Other Farmyard Stories

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Written by Roddy Lee It was late afternoon on a dry Saturday in April when a yellow station wagon covered in dust arrived at the Tumbledown Creek Farm house. Peering out from underneath his barndoor Roddy The Rooster and his friends - Cassie The Carpetsnake, Joe The Jolly Jumbuck, Mrs Cow, Mr Horse, Penny and Pixie Piglet, Desmond Duck and Mrs Hen and her Cheeky Chicks - watched as the yellow station wagon covered in dust unloaded. "Oh no!" cried Roddy, "It's the city cousins!!" All the farmyard animals moaned. "There goes our Easter fun," said Desmond Duck. "It's not fair," cried the Cheeky Chicks. They'd been looking forward to Easter since, well, since the day after Christmas. "We were going to play hide and seek in the barnyard and swim down in Tumbledown Creek." Not likely now the farmer's city cousins had arrived. What a rambuckus bunch the city cousins were. Roddy The Rooster remembered how rowdy the city cousins were from earlier visits to Tumbledown Creek Farm. "I'm afraid they'll be no hide and seek in the barnyard or swim down in Tumbledown Creek until the cousins leave," Roddy stated plainly. "We all know what they're like, they come here and take over the whole farm. What with their soccer balls and skate boards and boogie boards and toys. Best you all lay low until they leave." Cassie The Carpetsnake was particularly put out, "Well, I'm not putting up with it! I'm going to somewhere safe until that station wagon full of city slickers leaves our beautiful farm!" And with that Cassie slid out of the barn. Roddy The Rooster yelled out to Cassie as she left the barn, "You'd be safe in here, but if you want to go, remember, you must be back by morning. Before the Easter Bunyip comes! That's if you've been good all year and you want a scrumptious chocolate Easter Egg!!" Penny and Pixie Piglet, Desmond Duck and the Cheeky Chicks became excited again, "Yes," said Pixie with a big grin, "It's chocolate eggs for everyone!" Roddy The Rooster and his friends all love chocolate. What a treat! They only get to eat the sweet treat when the Easter Bunyip visits, and that's only once a year! "You only get chocolate Easter Eggs if you've been good - all year!" Roddy reminded the young farmyard animals. Joe The Jolly Jumbuck looked over to Roddy and asked, "Aren't you going to see the Easter Bunyip this year, Roddy?" Roddy The Rooster whipped a wad of letters out from under his wing, "Yes, I've got all your letters here, telling the Easter Bunyip all the good things you've done this year. I was just on my way to deliver them." It was Roddy the Rooster's custom every year on Easter Eve to collect all letters written to the Easter Bunyip by the farmyard animals and deliver them to him. Every year the Easter Bunyip reads all the letters and decides who has been good. So with the sun setting on Easter Eve Roddy The Rooster peered out of the barn to check that the city cousins had settled inside the farm house, then farewelled his friends, "I'll be back late tonight. I expect you'll all be asleep. Wake you in the morning!" Mr Horse escorted Roddy to the front gates of Tumbledown Creek Farm just in case the city cousins appeared. As he left the farm, Roddy asked Mr Horse to remind his friends to keep out of the city cousins' way. Joe The Jolly Jumbuck, Desmond Duck, Penny and Pixie Piglet and Mrs Hen and her Cheeky Chicks were surprised when Mr Horse arrived back in the barn with his face covered in chocolate. "What happened Mr Horse," asked Mrs Hen, "Why is your face covered in chocolate?" "Funny thing," Mr Horse replied scratching his head, "After I said goodbye to Roddy I could smell this sweet aroma of chocolate coming from the mailbox. I nudged it open and inside I found a chocolate Easter Egg." Desmond Duck was stumped. He, too, scratched his head, "A chocolate Easter Egg for the mailman or from the mailman?!" "Neither," said Mr Horse, "At least, I don't think so." Mrs Hen looked at Mr Horse suspiciously, "Did you eat the mailman's egg, Mr Horse?" "No," Mr Horse laughed but then went serious again, "I continued on my usual route from the front gates of the farm to Roddy's barn when I sniffed out another chocolate Easter Egg, outside the barn behind the old coach wheel." The Cheeky Chicks were getting excited, "Another chocolate Easter Egg?!!" Mrs Hen looked Mr Horse in the eye, "So you ate that one!" Mr Horse gave out a long "Nooo," then continued, "Then, blow me down, if I didn't sniff out another one just near the barn door." Mr Horse looked over to Mrs Hen, "Yes," he confirmed, "I ate that one! How could I resist?" Mr Horse licked some chocolate from his lips, "I tell you," he stated, "the farm is littered with chocolate Easter Eggs." With this news all the farm animals licked their lips as one. A little later that night Mr Horse, Mrs Cow, Joe The Jolly Jumbuck, Penny and Pixie Piglet, Desmond Duck, Mrs Hen and her Cheeky Chicks and Cassie The Carpetsnake returned to Roddy's barn as a group. Mrs Cow had found Cassie curled up in a eucalyptus tree at the far end of the paddock and the news of the chocolate Easter Eggs had seen her join in on the hunt and sweet feast. Now they were all back in Roddy The Rooster's barn having eaten their way through all the Easter Eggs that they had found scattered over the barnyard, paddock and garden around the farmhouse. "Ohhh," groaned Joe The Jolly Jumbuck, "I'm so full." "Me too," chorused the other farmyard animals. "I've eaten far to much," confirmed Mrs Hen. "I feel sick," came a cry from the Cheeky Chicks. Too much chocolate!! No one could move. Slowly, one by one, the farm animals fell asleep The groaning didn't stop until they had all nodded off. It was still dark, very, very early in the morning when Roddy The Rooster woke his friends on Easter morning. Roddy was excited - the Easter Bunyip had been and, look, there was a chocolate Easter Egg for Roddy The Rooster and all his friends. "Groan!!" Roddy The Rooster was taken aback when his friends groaned. It seemed that everyone was still feeling ill from the chocolate feast of the night before. Cassie The Carpetsnake spoke up, "Sorry Roddy but I think we all had our fill of chocolate Easter Eggs last night!" Now it was Roddy The Rooster's turn to scatch his head. "What do you mean the chocolate Easter Eggs you had last night?" When Cassie The Carpetsnake and Mr Horse explained the story Roddy was shocked again. "Oh no," he cried, "You've eaten the chocolate Easter Eggs left out by the farmer for the city cousins. It's called a Treasure Hunt!!" Roddy explained what a Treasure Hunt was and his friends felt bad. "The children will be so disappointed," said Mrs Cow remorsefully. "Sorry," was all The Cheeky Chicks could say as they rubbed their sore tummies again. Suddenly Desmond Duck piped up, "Wait, I have an idea!" Soon Roddy The Rooster and his friends were racing around the farmyard and the paddock and the garden near the farm house hiding their chocolate Easter eggs in the same spots where they'd found the farmer's chocolate Easter Eggs last night. "We've had plenty," was Joe The Jolly Jumbuck's thoughts. "I couldn't eat another piece of chocolate Easter Egg if you paid me!" said Cassie The Carpetsnake. It was dawn on Easter morning when Roddy The Rooster and his friends were peering out from underneath the barn. As the sun came over the hill Roddy gave out his familiar morning call from under the barn door. "Cockadoodle-doo!!!" In a flash the screen door on the farm house burst open followed by the city cousins in their pyjamas. Roddy The Rooster and his friends smiled as the children found the Easter Eggs on their Treasure Hunt. Roddy put his wing around Desmond Duck's shoulder and patted him gently, "Well done, Desmond. You saved the day. Happy Easter." More Roddy The Rooster's Farmyard Stories #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #36

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