Stephen Graham - Giraffes Can't Dance CBeebies Bedtime Stories

CBeebies Bedtime Story.

Oh.

Hello. I'm Stephen.

You've just caught me practising the cha-cha-cha.

You see, we've been invited to the Great Jungle Dance

in tonight's bedtime story, which is called...

Giraffes Can't Dance,

and it's by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees.

Gerald was a tall giraffe

whose neck was long and slim,

but his knees were awfully bandy

and his legs were rather thin.

He was very good at standing still

and munching shoots off trees,

but when he tried to run around...

he buckled at the knees.

Now every year in Africa,

they hold a jungle dance where every single animal

turns up to skip and prance.

This year, when the day arrived,

poor Gerald felt so sad,

because when it came to dancing...

..he was really very bad.

The warthogs started waltzing

and the rhinos rock-and-rolled.

The lions danced the tango

which was elegant and bold.

The chimps all did a cha-cha

with a very Latin feel,

and eight baboons then teamed up

for a splendid Scottish reel.

Gerald swallowed bravely as he walked towards the floor,

but the lions saw him coming

and they soon began to roar.

"Hey! Look at clumsy Gerald,"

the animals all laughed.

"Giraffes can't dance, you silly fool!

"Oh, Gerald, don't be daft!"

Gerald simply froze up,

he was rooted to the spot.

"They're right," he thought.

"I'm useless. Oh, I feel like such a clot."

So he crept off from the dance floor

and he started walking home.

He'd never felt so sad before -

so sad and so alone.

Then he found a little clearing, and he looked up at the sky.

"The moon can be so beautiful,"

he whispered with a sigh.

"Excuse me," coughed a cricket,

who'd seen Gerald earlier on.

"But sometimes when you're different, you just need a different song."

"Listen to the swaying grass, and listen to the trees.

"To me the sweetest music

"is those branches in the breeze.

"So imagine that that lovely moon

"is playing just for you."

"Everything makes music if you really want it to."

With that the cricket smiled

and picked up his violin.

Then Gerald felt his body do the most amazing thing -

his hooves had started shuffling and making circles on the ground,

his neck was gently swaying

and his tail was swishing round.

He threw his arms out sideways

and he swung them everywhere,

then he did a backward somersault

and leapt up in the air.

Gerald felt so wonderful,

his mouth was open wide -

"I'm dancing. Yes, I'm dancing.

"I'm dancing!" Gerald cried.

Then, one by one, each animal

who'd been there at the dance

arrived, while Gerald boogied on,

and watched him, quite entranced.

They shouted, "It's a miracle!

"We must be in a dream.

"Gerald's the best dancer

that we've ever, ever seen!"

"How is it you can dance like that?

"Please, Gerald, tell us how!"

But Gerald simply twizzled round,

and finished with a bow.

Then he raised his head and looked up at the moon and stars above.

"We all can dance," he said.

"When we find the music that we love!"

And that story was called Giraffes Can't Dance.

But now we know they can.

I'm rather tired after all that dancing,

and I think Gerald is, too.

So it's time to settle down and have a good night's sleep.

So we can all do some more dancing tomorrow.

I'll see you soon for another bedtime story.

Night-night.