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1''The Muddle-Headed Wombat'' is a series of Australian children's stories by Creator/RuthPark. The first stories were written for the Children's Hour on [[Creator/TheABC ABC Radio]] in the 1950s, continuing until the programme was discontinued in 1972. They were adapted into a series of picture books illustrated by Noela Young, with the first published in 1962.
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3The stories revolve around the amiable and child-like Wombat, and his friends, the more mature Mouse and the neurotic Tabby.
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5!!These stories include examples of:
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7* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal:
8** Mouse wears tiny glasses which is sometimes hardly noticable.
9** Tabby is the only one who doesn't regularly wear clothes, but sometimes accessorises with a hat or a scarf when the situation calls for it.
10* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: All of the main characters have their moments, including Mouse, since she often gets disrespected due to her size and plain appearance.
11* AndTheAdventureContinues: At the end of each chapter, including the last one.
12* BuffoonishTomcat: Tabby is vain and neurotic and frequently the butt of slapstick disasters inadvertantly brought about by Wombat.
13* ButtMonkey: Tabby, but, in fairness, all three friends have their own moments. Mouse ended up being stuck under the pillow the other two were sleeping on, just because [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished she tried to check up on Tabby during the night]].
14* CatsAreMean: Tabby can act like a real jerk, but then again, he was on his own for a very long time and had to possibly develop a self-centered view of himself to survive. [[YouAreNotAlone Now he has two friends to keep him in check.]]
15* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Wombat is very prone to doing this, which is part of the reason ''why'' he's characterized as "muddleheaded".
16* ADogNamedDog: The main characters are a wombat named Wombat, a long-tailed bush mouse named Long-Tailed Bush Mouse ("Mouse" to her friends), and a tabby cat named Tabby.
17* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Wombat's default outfit is a battered old straw hat and an overcoat and no trousers.
18* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Tabby, and sometimes Wombat as well.
19* {{Malaproper}}: One of the signs of the muddle-headed wombat's muddle-headedness, such as reporting that his favorite fairy tale is "Cindergorilla".
20* OminousOwl: There is one in the 4th chapter, antagonizing the trio for setting a tree house in its home tree. [[spoiler:It decides not to bother the trio anymore when the treehouse ends up underneath the tree instead.]]
21* OnlySaneWoman: Mouse, but she also has her own moments, like when [[spoiler:she chose to take a [[ItMakesSenseInTheContext break from taming the Circus Beetles]], by hiding them in a package and going to take a rest in a hiding spot. The already displeased ringmaster didn't approve of this. However, she just wanted to make sure the beetles get their rest too.]]
22* PredatorPreyFriendship: Tabby and Mouse have a genuine friendship, [[AnimalJingoism though sometimes Tabby acts arrogant to her and she mocks him in return.]] Tabby is actually scared of wild rats, due to their apparently savage behavior.
23* SpeciesSurname: Both Mouse and Wombat have this, although Mouse's name is actually the Long-Tailed Bush-Mouse.
24* {{Spoonerism}}: Wombat does this a lot; one of his catchphrases is the assurance that he "treely ruly" means what he's saying.
25* SquashedFlat: This is the go-to threat of Wombat to those who offend them and in that case you better wish you are at least middle-sized and elastic (like Tabby). Sometimes Wombat also does this to other characters, if they seem overly stressed out.
26** And in one case, a huge dog, expectedly, does this to Wombat himself (though chooses not to maul him). Wombat considers himself to be greatly humiliated (since he thinks only wombats do that).
27* TeamMom: Most certainly, Mouse is this. Often, but not always, Tabby plays the TeamDad. Wombat tends to sometimes be the TheBabyOfTheBunch but his appearance and behavior more resembles the overweight, rather dumb and sometimes rebellious yet well-meaning teenage son of the other two.
28* TrueCompanions: Ultimately, the trio, since, with all their faults and shortcomings, they couldn't ask for better friends than each other.
29* VitriolicBestBuds: While Wombat and the Mouse have a friendship based on them being a duo of nice fun-loving people. Tabby and Mouse form the intelligent, responsible duo who takes care of Wombat. But Wombat and Tabby has the most vitriolic friendship since they are both [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold golden-hearted jerks]] who tend to cause AmusingInjuries or KickTheDog moments to each other. But, eventually, they form a bumbling, comedic duo on their own. Which, in turn, ends up accidentally [[HereWeGoAgain causing problems for Mouse.]]
30* WomenAreWiser: The female Mouse is the most consistently sensible character of the main trio, compared to the muddle-headed Wombat and the neurotic Tabby, both male.
31* YourSizeMayVary: Mouse, most often when she decided to travel on top of Wombat's old scarecrow hat. When she's on the ground, she grows to about 1/3 the size of Tabby.

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