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 #10 Here We Go Gathering Nuts In May 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 High in a squiggly bark gum tree above the narrow bush track that leads down to Tumbledown Creek at the bottom of Roddy The Rooster's farm lives Mrs Possum. Mrs Possum is always gathering nuts. It's her favourite food and, as she always says, "You have to be prepared for a rainy day." Well, as it just so happened, for one whole week it rained continuously at Roddy The Rooster's farm. Storm after storm - and all the farmyard animals and creatures of the bush, large and small, had to shelter from the rain that seemed like it would never stop. Then, at last, on the morning of the eighth day, the sun shone brightly and the sky was blue and Roddy The Rooster and his friends Cassie The Carpetsnake and Joe The Jolly Jumbuck went for a walk to see how much water was in the creek. They were walking down the bush track next to the farmyard when they came upon Mrs Possum who was crying. Mrs Possum explained to Roddy and his friends that she had come out of her shelter this morning to check on her collection of nuts after all the rain and they were gone - "Stolen," she added blowing her nose. Roddy The Rooster couldn't believe that someone would have stolen Mrs Possum's collection of nuts. "But they are gone," said Mrs Possum, "Gone from there," and she pointed to the hole at the bottom of the trunk of the squiggly bark gum tree where the collection of nuts was once stored. Roddy and Cassie and Joe told Mrs Possum they would see what they could find out about the missing nuts from the other creatures of the bush and said goodbye Mrs Possum promising to return soon. They followed the track down to Tumbledown Creek which was very full and flowing fast. "My, we have had a lot of rain! Look how full the creek is!" said Roddy. "Well, I'm not very happy!" came a deep voice from behind the creek wall. It was Old Mr Wombat cleaning out his house. "What are you doing, Mr Wombat?" asked Roddy. "I'm cleaning out my house - I've been flooded for days," explained Mr Wombat as he carried out his soaking wet sofa lounge. Roddy asked Old Mr Wombat if he'd seen any nuts for Mrs Possum had lost all she had gathered. "Nuts!?" cried Mr Wombat, "A whole heap of them washed down the track with the rains straight into my home." And Mr Wombat pointed to a spot beside his home where a pile of nuts stood. "It's taken me all morning to move them!" "Mrs Possum's nuts!!" yelled Cassie. And Roddy, Cassie and Joe started gathering up all of Mrs Possum's nuts. Later that day Roddy, Cassie and Joe returned to Mrs Possum with all of her nuts. When Roddy explained the story to Mrs Possum she was embarassed for thinking someone would steal from her. "Oh well," said Roddy, "It was all a misunderstanding." And together they piled all the nuts into the hole at the bottom of the trunk of the squiggly bark gum tree. Then Joe pushed a large rock into the hole to hold the nuts in tight. "Thank you Roddy, Cassie and Joe,"said Mrs Possum, "Thank you very much. Now I'm even better prepared for a rainy day - should it ever happen... again!" 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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