The Magic Pudding

Author: Norman Lindsay

At last! I completed the 2010 Global Reading Challenge in the nick of time. and after searching high and low, I had to resort to an eBook on Project Gutenberg for my Australasian material. What I found was this delightful children's tale first published in 1918.

The story revolves around Bunyip Bluegum, a koala bear who decides to travel the world as a Gentleman of Leisure. Since all he took with him was a walking stick, by lunchtime he was feeling rather peckish and sorry for himself until he chanced upon Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff having lunch. It turned out that their lunch was a steak-n-kidney pudding that, no matter how much of it you ate, always became whole again. With thin arms and legs and a basin for a hat, the pudding was a rude fellow who insisted on being eaten, and so Bunyip was invited to share the meal.

Afterwards the trio travelled together, when they were met by a couple of Pudding Thieves, a Possum and a Wombat. Bunyip kept the pudding from running away by sitting on it, while the Pudding Owners fought off the thieves. Having helped them save the pudding, Bunyip was invited to become a member of the Noble Society of Pudding Owners.

As the Pudding Owners continued on their travels, they were accosted several times by the Thieves, either in disguise or by some other form of trickery. They were also joined by an market gardener - a dog named Benjimen, from whom the Thieves stole a bag that they used to trick the Pudding Owners.

When they finally reached the town of Tooraloo, again they got into a fight with the Pudding Thieves (who were wearing top-hats and coat-tails), hence attracting the attention of the Mayor and the Constable. In an attempt to restore some order to the town, the Mayor declared to the Constable,

"It's very clear that somebody has to be arrested," said the Mayor. "I can't be put to the trouble of wearing my robes of office in public without somebody having to pay for it. I don't care whether you arrest the top-hat batterers, or the battered top-hatterers; all I say is, do your duty, whatever happens—

"So somebody, no matter who,
You must arrest or rue it;
As I'm the Mayor of Tooraloo,
And you've the painful job to do,
I call on you to do it."

upon which the Constable decided to arrest the pudding. They were all then marched off to court for a trial, only to find the Judge and the court Usher indulging in some port and playing cards. The Judge decides to have the pudding for lunch, so Bunyip suggested they try the case themselves, with Bill as prosecutor.

During the proceedings, Bunyip declared that the pudding had been poisoned, therefore astounding the Judge who had already taken seven slices.

"If," said the Usher, in a quavering voice—

"If you take a poisoned Puddin'
And that poisoned Puddin' chew,
The sensations that you suffer
I should rather say were due
To the poison in the Puddin'
In the act of Poisoning You.
And I think the fact suffices
Through this dreadfulest of crimes,
As you've eaten seven slices
You've been poisoned seven times."

"It was your idea having it up on the bench," said the Judge, angrily, to the Usher. "Now,

"If what you say is true,
That idea you'll sadly rue,
The poison I have eaten is entirely due to you.
It's by taking your advice
That I've had my seventh slice,
So I'll tell you what I'll do
You unmitigated Jew,
As a trifling satisfaction,
Why, I'll beat you black and blue,"

and with that he hit the Usher a smart crack on the head with a port bottle.

A commotion began, and in the midst of that melee our Bunyip, his friends and the pudding got away. Finally, as they were pretty close up to the end of the book, they decide to stop wandering and live in a tree house in Benjimen's garden.

This was a lovely, lighthearted book to read, interspersed with songs and rhymes, served in four slices instead of chapters. I can't help thinking, though, that you could look at it from a satirical point of view (especially the events in the town of Tooraloo) and wonder whether it is a reflection of greed and corruption in the administration and judiciary of a government.