Saturday, June 27, 2009

Gumnuts

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie are gumnuts. In 1918 they had a great adventure rescuing their friend Little Ragged Blossom and saving Mr. Lizard from the wicked Mrs. Snake and the Bad Banksia Men. I heard about them once when I enthused about their contemporary Bunyip Bluegum in The Magic Pudding and some of their descendants, but have only just made their acquaintance (via my nephews of course). Apparently they are so beloved a part of Australian tradition that Richard Mills wrote a ballet about them!