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Cluck Kent and the

Quest for the Golden BirdSeed

By Gracie TallarekSpecial thanks to my family,

my teachers and my best friend

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Once upon a time there was a Tortoise, whose name was Mr. Ponds. For a great and old creature he was always very sad because he was very lonely and

wanted a family more than anything in the world.

One day when Mr. Ponds was taking a nice long walk, he saw a very strange thing… A purple chicken egg on top of a hill, looking very alone.

“Humbly bumble,” he thought, “it’ll get all bussley cold all by it’s bumbly self, I’d

better take it humbly bumbly home and keep it bussley warm.”

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And so Mr. Ponds took the egg home and kept it warm until… one day the egg started to crack!

When the egg started cracking Mr. Ponds was very excited! In this egg there was something very special. So Mr. Ponds waited and waited,

watching his egg hatch…

Mr. Ponds gasped when out of the egg came a baby chicken! Mr. Ponds named his baby Cluck Kent, and raised him as well as he could.

By the time Cluck was almost grown up he had a wild curiosity and

imagination. He would often play near the woods by his house, pretending to go on marvelous adventures.

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One day Cluck was playing with his best friend, Peter Pecker, a woodpecker. They wandered near the woods and suddenly saw something on the ground, Cluck

picked it up and realized it was a treasure map. On closer inspection Cluck read that it lead to ‘the Golden BirdSeed’.

“Oh! What a grand adventure this would be!” exclaimed Cluck.

Peter was less than impressed, “I don’t know, Cluck, it seems awfully dangerous.”

“Don’t be such a worrywart!” laughed Cluck, and before Peter could reply he jumped into the woods. Peter unhappily followed his friend.

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After a long while both Cluck and Peter were very tired and had to admit that they were very lost.

“Ohhh! This is how we’ll die!” whined Peter. “Nonsense,” replied Cluck, “we just need to find someone to ask directions from.”

So they walked and walked until…

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They saw four calling birds sitting in a tree. Cluck and Peter decided to ask them for the directions they desperately needed.

“Hey!!” yelled Cluck. But the calling birds were talking so loud that they could not hear Cluck’s calls no matter how loud he was.

“Come on,” urged Peter, after they had tried getting the birds’ attention many times. And they continued on their way.

“I’m so hungry!” whined Peter after they had been walking another long while. Cluck agreed, they had been walking most of the day, and hadn’t had a bite to eat

since breakfast. “Pssst!”

“What was that?!” Cluck asked, almost panicking. “Pssst!! Over here!!”

Cluck and Peter looked, and saw a berry bush, looking at them. “Eat my berries! They’re good for you!”

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So Cluck and Peter approached the bush, but before they could pick any berries… “Waaaaaaait! Don’t eat his berries! He’s poisonous! Eat mine!”

“Uh…” Cluck said, confused, “what’s going on?” “Oh, well this bush and I are friends,” replied one of the bushes.

“But one of us can only lie, while the other one can tell the truth,” said the other bush.

“But, how do we know which berries are safe to eat…?” murmured Peter to Cluck. “Hmm…” Cluck said, “we need to think about this, like when we play at home.”

So they thought and thought and thought some more. “Oh! Berry bushes, what berries would the other bush say is safe to

eat?” asked Cluck. “HIS!”

“MINE!” “Now we can eat, but from the other bush, this is the poisonous one, and the liar.”

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After Cluck and Peter had their fill of berries they asked the bushes which way to go and left, continuing on their quest. However, not long after they heard a

slithering in the underbrush.

“What was that?!” Peter cried, terrified. Just then, a snake came out from under a bush! Peter and Cluck were very scared,

“Hello there, my pretties. Would you like to be the lunch of Slithers, the snake?” asked the serpent.

Peter and Cluck cried out as Slithers approached, but right before the snake could strike there was another noise from nearby.

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“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” a great fox asked, “a snake trying to hurt two adventurers? That simply won’t do.”

The fox then picked up the snake and put him on a tall tree branch where he couldn’t harm anyone.

“Thank you so much for saving us!” said Cluck to the fox. “It wasn’t a problem. Say, you boys look tired, would you like to join me for a cup

of tea? My house is just around the corner.” “Yes please! Thank you Mr...uh…”

“Montague, Dr. Montague.”

“Cluck, I’m not sure if this is a great idea, we’re looking for the Golden BirdSeed after all!” insisted Peter

“Excuse me,” said Dr. Montague slyly, “the Golden Birdseed? It just so happens that I have it in my den.”

So Cluck, Peter and Dr. Montague left for the fox’s den.

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When they got there Dr. Montague offered them a cup of tea and insisted on running them a bath. “No hero should be dirty when he

completes his adventure and heads home, and see? Here’s the birdseed.”So Cluck and Peter started to take their bath, playing and enjoying the

increasing warmth of their bath.

“Uh, Peter,” said Cluck quietly after awhile, “does something seem wrong about this bath? I’m so warm.”

“I don’t know, but this water tastes great…” said Peter as the smile quickly disappeared from his face, “uh-oh…”

“Relax boys,” cooed Dr. Montague maliciously, “it’ll all be over before you know it.” Peter was very afraid but Cluck had a plan and

whispered it very quietly to Peter.

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“Peter, if you follow this plan we will get out safely and get the bird-seed too.” “But, I’m scared!” replied Peter.

“It’s okay, just pretend this is one of our games at home and everything will be alright!”

And all at once they acted out their plan. Cluck spilled the soup onto the fire while Peter ran to deeper in the cave to fetch the birdseed. The fox was so

surprised that he spilled his tea all over himself!

While Dr. Montague was in shock, Cluck ran over to the china cabinet that held Dr. Montague’s prized teacups.

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“Don’t move or else I’ll break your tea cups!” yelled Cluck. “You wouldn’t dare…” growled the fox. Just then Peter came back, hauling the

bucket full of glittering birdseed. “H-how dare you take treasures!?” demanded

Dr. Montague in outrage.Cluck picked up a teacup, “I don’t want to break this but

if you try to follow I will.” And with that Cluck and Peter made their escape, leaving Dr. Montague to pout.

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Halfway home Cluck put down the teacup, safe in some moss for Dr. Montague to find later.

“You’re ridiculous,” Peter said to Cluck. “We already took his birdseed, what do we need with a teacup?” Cluck questioned.

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When they finally returned home, they met Mr. Ponds, “Oh! There you two are! Huuuuuumbles! I was just about to go bumbly off and

find you. Are you bussely safe?” “Yes, Pa,” said Cluck, “we went on an adventure!”

“Oh, well you humbly bumbly boys had better tell me all about it after bussely dinner.”

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After dinner Cluck and Peter told Mr. Ponds all about their adventure, about the birds the bushes the snake and the fox.

“Well,” Mr. Ponds said at the end of the story, “that just goes to show that the bussely bravest, not to mention the humbly cutest, always bumbly win.”

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