Anna Maxwell Martin - Mole's Sunrise CBeebies Bedtime Stories

CBeebies Bedtime Story.

Well, I an see brown, spiky branches and, em...

Oh, bright green plant shoots.

What else can we see?

Oh, hello. I'm Anna.

I'm looking at the garden,

telling the animals everything that I can see.

Can you see out of your window?

Can you see the moon?

Has the sun disappeared because it's the end of the day?

In tonight's Bedtime Story,

the sun is just about to come up at the beginning of the day.

But I'm going to let the animals tell you about it.

The story is by Jeanne Willis and Sarah Fox-Davies

and it's called Mole's Sunrise.

Vole got up just before dawn.

Mole was eating breakfast, but Vole didn't have time.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" asked Mole.

"I want to see the sunrise," said Vole.

Mole had never seen the sunrise.

"It's beautiful," said Vole. "I'd love to see it," said Mole.

"Come with me," said Vole.

Off they went, hand in hand.

"Are we going very far?" asked Mole.

"Only down to the lake," said Vole, "It's the best place.

"Mind the tree root, Mole."

Mole felt the damp mist in his fur.

He heard the crackle of leaves under his feet.

Mole sniffed the air. He could smell the lake.

"We're here," he said.

"Let's sit on the log with the others," said Vole.

"What others?" asked Mole."

There was Rabbit, Squirrel and Sparrow.

Mole and Vole sat with them. "We've come to see the sunrise," said Vole.

"So have we," said Rabbit. "I hear it's very beautiful," said Mole.

"I should say so," said Squirrel.

"Here comes the sun," said Vole, "I can just see the top of its head.

"It's like the soft yolk of a fried egg."

"Like the one I had for breakfast," thought Mole.

"It's rising higher," said Rabbit, "It's up to its middle.

"It's sizzling in the lake like an egg in a pan of butter.

"Now it's burst! It's dripping hot, runny, sunny stuff everywhere."

"That's what happened to my egg," said Mole.

He wiped the yolk off his waistcoat.

The sun rose out of the lake.

"Now the clouds are like scoops

"of raspberry ice cream," said Rabbit.

"And blueberry," added Vole, "swirled with steaming custard."

"Delicious," said Mole, who always swirled custard on his ice cream.

The sun rose higher and higher.

"Now it reminds me of a shiny gold button," said Squirrel.

Mole felt the shiny gold button on his waistcoat.

The sun was like that, only a zillion times bigger,

or so everybody said.

"It only looks as small as a button

"because it's so far away," said Vole.

Sparrow said the sun was hotter than the hottest fire -

"It's so hot it's melting the moody clouds," he said,

"It's made them as light and fluffy as feather down."

Mole felt Sparrow's soft feathers. "I get the picture," he said.

The sun had risen. "So that's what the sunrise looks like," said Mole.

"Thank you for showing it to me.

"I never knew it was so beautiful."

Mole was blind, but at last he'd seen the sunrise.

He didn't see it with his eyes, he saw it in his mind

and it was even more beautiful than anyone could imagine.

That story was called Mole's Sunrise.

Wasn't the sunrise beautiful?

Well, it's time for you to go to bed

and dream about the raspberry ice cream swirling clouds

and the shiny gold button sun.

I'll see you soon for another story. Night-night.

Now, what can we see if we look our of the window?

What can you see, Rabbit?

SNORING