'The Magic Pudding' by Norman Lindsay Online Trivia

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The story begins with Bunyip Bluegum, an intelligent and ambitious young koala who lives in a tree with his Uncle Wattleberry. Bunyip decides he wants to see the world, but he cannot decide whether he wants to be a traveller (a 'bagman') or a hobo (a 'swagman'). Who does he ask for advice?

Answer: Egbert Rumpus Bumpus, a poet

Bunyip isn't sure whether a bag or a swag (the bedroll which swagmen carried around on their backs) is heavier, so he asks the poet for advice. The poet tells Bunyip that as he is not carrying a bag or a swag with him, he should be a 'gentleman of leisure' instead. Bunyip decides to go along with this, takes his uncle's stick and sets off into the world. Unfortunately, he forgets to bring any food with him.

Albert, incidentally, is the Magic Pudding's real name, and you'll be hearing more about him soon.

2. Bunyip finds Barnacle Bill, an old sailor, eating lunch with his friend Sam Sawnoff, a penguin. The lunch in question happens to be none other than a talking pudding, and a very bad-tempered one at that! Not only can the pudding talk, but he is a 'cut-and-come-again' pudding. In other words, no matter how much pudding they eat, there are no marks left on the pudding, and he never runs out. He can also become lots of different meals. What is he when Bunyip eats him for the first time?

Answer: A steak-and-kidney pudding

Bunyip comments, "There's nothing I enjoy more than a good go in at steak-and-kidney pudding in the open air." The pudding can also be, amongst other things, a plum pudding, a boiled jam roll, and an apple dumpling.

Bill and Sam explain how they found the pudding; they were on board a ship called the Saucy Sausage that ran aground on an iceberg. All the crew were drowned, except for Bill, Sam, and Curry and Rice, the ship's cook. Bill and Sam survived by eating ice, but were confused as to how Curry and Rice managed to stay fat. They discovered that he was living on a pudding that never ran out. Bill does not go into too much detail about what happens next, but somehow, Curry and Rice fell off the iceberg (the pudding reckons he was rolled off by Bill and Sam).

3. Bunyip, Sam, Bill and the Pudding come across two pudding thieves sharpening a knife, and end up getting into a fight with them. What type of animals are the pudding thieves?

Answer: A wombat and a possum

The Possum and the Wombat are old enemies of Bill and Sam, and attempt to steal the pudding throughout the book. Bunyip sits on the Pudding to stop him running away, while Bill and Sam fight the pudding thieves.

4. The pudding thieves have more tricks up their sleeves. They disguise themselves as firemen and ask our heroes to carry a hose reel for them, in order to help them put out a fire. The Wombat then runs off with the Pudding. However, in his haste to get away, the Possum's back gets singed. Bunyip, Bill and Sam search for the Pudding, and ask various animals on the way if they have seen a singed possum. Only one of the animals they meet is able to help. Which one?

Answer: Dobson Dorking, a rooster

Henderson the Hedgehog is hard of hearing, the Bandicoot is too frightened to answer any questions, and the Parrot just laughs at them. Fortunately, Dobson Dorking has seen the Possum, who smells of burning feathers, and tells our heroes that the Possum has gone to the Wombat's house. Bunyip disguises himself as a salesman and goes to the Wombat's house, while Bill and Sam hide and wait for a sign. Bunyip sprinkles sugar - which he claims is 'Pudding Enlarger' - on the Pudding and says the magic words, "Hey presto, pots and pans!" This is the sign for Bill and Sam to beat up the pudding thieves and rescue the Pudding.

5. Our heroes tuck into the Pudding after having rescued him again. Bill tells a tale of an incident involving Sam, and a young woman the penguin fell in love with while serving as a foremast hand on a ship. What was the name of the ship?

Answer: The Saucy Soup Tureen

While most of Bill's songs are about the Salt Junk Sarah and the antics of its bo'sun, this one isn't. In this particular song, Sam is in love with the Hearl of Buncle's niece, but the Hearl looks down on him. The Saucy Soup Tureen goes down in a tornado, and Sam saves the young woman and her uncle with the help of a chicken coop. When they arrive on land, she asks Sam to marry her, and Sam becomes the new Hearl of Buncle after his wife's uncle dies.

Sam says modestly that Bill was using a bit of artistic licence - he didn't actually marry the Earl's niece, although she does give him five shillings and tell him he is always welcome to come to the servants' kitchen for food.

6. Sam, Bill and Bunyip continue to search for the pudding thieves, who they think might be in disguise. Unfortunately, Bill has a run-in with a suspect who turns out to be Bunyip's Uncle Wattleberry. What does Bill do to Uncle Wattleberry to make him 'bound and plunge' in anger?

Answer: He pulls his whiskers

Bunyip goes off to buy tea and sugar, and hears a commotion outside. He finds his uncle in a rage, due to Bill thinking he might be a pudding thief and trying to pull his whiskers off, thinking they might be fake. Uncle Wattleberry does not approve of Bunyip's new friends and continues to 'bound and plunge' to make himself feel better.

The Pudding comes up with some very inventive insults throughout the book. 'Bun-headed old beetle crusher' is a name he calls Bill.

7. Our heroes find the real pudding thieves, who claim to be offering them a present as an apology. The present is, they claim, in a sack of bran, and Bill, Sam and Bunyip put their heads in to have a look - only for the thieves to pull the bag over their heads and run off with the Pudding! Luckily, they are rescued by the original owner of the sack of bran, a kindly old dog called Benjimen Brandysnap. What was Benjimen doing when the Pudding Thieves stole his bran?

Answer: Whistling to his carrots

Benjimen is a market gardener who treats his vegetables with great care, and is taking his eggs to market when he spots Bill, Sam and Bunyip in the bag and hears their cries for help. He explains that he did notice that the pudding thieves were stealing his bran, but couldn't stop them as he was whistling to his carrots, and then had to feed his parsnips.

As a thank you, Bill, Sam and Bunyip invite Benjimen to join them, and they set another trap for the pudding thieves by putting up a sign on a tree advertising a 'Grand Procession of the Amalgamated Society of Puddings'.

8. The pudding thieves fall for the sign. The Wombat has the Pudding stashed under his hat, and Bunyip gets him to remove it by singing the National Anthem, while Bill shouts, "Hats off for the King!" As the pudding thieves don't want to seem unpatriotic, they take their hats off, and the Pudding is free. While Benjimen, Sam and Bill fight the pudding thieves, Bunyip tells a cautionary tale about a pudding thief who paid for his crimes the hard way. What happens to the pudding thief in the story?

Answer: He explodes

As Bunyip says:
'He ate the lot, this guzzling sot
Such appetite amazes
Until those high explosives wrought
Within his tum a high report
And blew him all to blazes.'

The pudding thief in the song steals puddings left, right and centre, from everyone from babies to old men. One night, he spots a strange man making a pudding - and it's no ordinary pudding. Its ingredients include kerosene, glycerine, gunpowder, and a high explosive sausage. No wonder the pudding thief went bang!

9. The party go to the town of Tooraloo and are accosted by a pair of strangers in top hats, who claim to be the Pudding's real parents. However, they are revealed to be - surprise, surprise - the pudding thieves. a fight breaks out and the Mayor of Tooraloo and a Police Constable arrive at the scene. The Constable decides that the Pudding is the ringleader, and is about to arrest him when the Pudding commits another crime. For what crime is the Pudding arrested?

Answer: Pinching the Mayor's leg

The Pudding calls the Mayor a 'sausage-shaped porous plaster' and pinches his leg. The Constable scoops the Pudding up in his helmet before he can do any more damage, and the Pudding is taken to the local court house.

At the court house, the Pudding is put on trial. The Judge and the Usher cannot agree on what sort of pudding he is, so they decide to find out for themselves by eating him. As it is clear that nothing is going to be done about the pudding thieves, Bill puts on a spare wig and acts as a judge himself, with Sam and Benjimen giving evidence. However, the Pudding gets tired of being eaten and throws the Judge's port in Bill's face. Bunyip comes to the rescue by claiming that the Pudding has been poisoned, and the Judge hits the Usher with his port bottle for suggesting they eat the Pudding.

10. While everyone else is fighting amongst themselves in the court house, Sam, Bill, Benjimen and Bunyip escape with the Pudding. Bill realises that the story is coming to an end, and Bunyip suggests the party settle down somewhere so that the Pudding will no longer be at risk from passing pudding thieves. Where do Bunyip, Bill and Sam decide to settle?

Answer: Benjimen's market garden

Benjimen's market garden is the perfect place for a home - there are free vegetables, eggs and fruit to eat, and a big tree to build a house in. The Pudding has a small enclosure on one of the branches, where he takes his exercise, insults passers-by and terrorises the onions and cabbages.

Source: Author Kankurette

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

'The Magic Pudding' by Norman Lindsay Quiz

'The Magic Pudding' is a classic Australian children's book and an old favourite of mine.

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