0:00:02 > 0:00:06# Every day you walk down the street Everybody that you meet
0:00:06 > 0:00:09# Has an original point of view
0:00:11 > 0:00:13- # And I say, hey!- Hey!
0:00:13 > 0:00:18# What a wonderful kind of day We can learn to work and play
0:00:18 > 0:00:20# And get along with each other
0:00:20 > 0:00:24# You gotta listen to your heart Listen to the beat
0:00:24 > 0:00:30# Listen to the rhythm of the street Open your eyes! Open your ears!
0:00:30 > 0:00:34# Get together, make things better By working together
0:00:34 > 0:00:38# It's a simple message And it comes from the heart
0:00:38 > 0:00:43# Believe in yourself For that's the place to start
0:00:43 > 0:00:48- # And I say, hey!- Hey! - What a wonderful kind of day
0:00:48 > 0:00:53# We can learn to work and play And get along with each other
0:00:53 > 0:00:59# What a wonderful kind of day, hey! What a wonderful kind of day, HEY! #
0:00:59 > 0:01:03- Hey, DW!- Hey...
0:01:18 > 0:01:22Oh, phooey! Kate! Kate!
0:01:22 > 0:01:24Pal, what happened?
0:01:24 > 0:01:28I've got this terrible itch in the middle of my back.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31- I was trying to scratch it, but I got stuck.- So I see.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Here. Let me help.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38A little to the left. No, to the right. Down. Down. Yes! Perfect.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40There it goes again.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44- There you are, Kate. - Hey, Mom, have you noticed Pal?- Uh?
0:01:44 > 0:01:48- Blah-blah, blah-blah, ITCHING. - Bleep, bloo-bloo,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50bloo-bloo, BATH!
0:02:03 > 0:02:07I'm telling you, try rubbing up against the Herlihys' wood pile.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11- It's heaven! - What are you doing in here, Pal?
0:02:11 > 0:02:17You heard them. Unless I get rid of this itch...it's shampoo city!
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Let me have a look.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Whoo, hoo-hoo, hoo-oo-oo!
0:02:26 > 0:02:27That's better.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Pal, it's a flea.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Buongiorno, signora e signore.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35A pleasure to meet you.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40- You know, there's only one way to get rid of a flea.- No, wait!
0:02:40 > 0:02:45I beg of you. I have been through too much to be squished now.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Hmm. Maybe you shouldn't, amigo.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50These fleas - they travel in packs.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56You let him go, we'll all be scratching till our fur falls out.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59If you will only hear how I've suffered,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03then I know you will find the space for mercy in your canine heart.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07- Sorry, but a flea is a flea.- No!
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Let him speak.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Grazie, signorina. My name is Pepe.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17The famous Pepe. One half of the great Pepe and Sale -
0:03:17 > 0:03:21stars of Italy's most acclaimed flea circus.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23I told you they travelled in packs.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Sale is probably eating your tail at this moment.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31Alas, no. You see, I have lost him -
0:03:31 > 0:03:37Sale, my co-star, my partner, my brother. He's gone.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Oh, how sad. What happened to him?
0:03:41 > 0:03:47We used to perform every afternoon at the Piazza Navona in Rome...
0:03:48 > 0:03:53- THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE - Come and see Sale and Pepe -
0:03:53 > 0:03:57the strongest, smartest, most agile fleas on earth!
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Bravo!
0:03:59 > 0:04:03- Bravissimo!- Watch them lift 160,000 times their own weight.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08I ask YOU, sir, can you lift 11 million kilos?
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Watch these fleas jump over 150 times their own height.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24'At that moment, a sudden gust of wind changed my life for ever.'
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Aaa-aargh!
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Ooh! Oh!
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Sale! Sale!
0:04:33 > 0:04:37- Sale, my brother, where are you? - Look out!
0:04:38 > 0:04:41This is no time for someone as small as you to be out.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43- Hop aboard.- Thanks.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45- My name is Pepe.- Alessio.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48What were you thinking, coming out during passeggiata?
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Pass...whatever you said?
0:04:51 > 0:04:56It's when Romans take their evening walk and look at the shop windows,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and at each other. It's a dangerous time for us.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01- Aaargh!- We must get out of here.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06- Where are we going? - To the best restaurant in Europe.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08During the day, the open-air market
0:05:08 > 0:05:12is filled with people selling vegetables, fruit, flowers,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15and my personal favourite - cheese!
0:05:15 > 0:05:20But why do they leave behind all the best stuff?
0:05:20 > 0:05:22Humans! Go figure.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Never had I had such a feast.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29For a moment, I even forgot my dear brother,
0:05:29 > 0:05:34and with my thorax full of complex sugars, I went to sleep.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37When I awoke, something had happened.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39The whole earth was wobbling.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43For a moment, I thought I was back flying on the trapeze.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48- Alessio, where are we? - I have had enough of city life.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Humans make things so difficult with their traps,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54and their poisons and spiky shoes,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58- so I am taking us to Africa. - What's Africa?
0:05:58 > 0:06:04Africa is a vast land of many nations across the sea from Italy.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06I have always wanted to visit it.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11'I realised at once I was further than ever from my brother Sale.'
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Poor Pepe!
0:06:13 > 0:06:18- You must have been so sad. - Oh, please! He's making it all up.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21If he's got a long-lost brother,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24- then I'm an Irish setter.- Hmm!
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Alessio meant well, but he could never understand
0:06:27 > 0:06:31how much I missed my brother. When we landed in Alexandria,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34I began to search for a way back home.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Er, scusi, would any of you by chance be heading for Italy?
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Sorry. Never heard of it. But if you want a ride to the Serengeti,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46Nasra wouldn't notice one more.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49'So I parted ways with Alessio and took a ride.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52'The sand fleas told me that in some parts of Africa,
0:06:52 > 0:06:57'there are thousands of kilometres where there are just all animals.'
0:06:57 > 0:07:03I'm going to find a giraffe to live on. I always wanted to be tall.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07So many beautiful animals, so little time.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09My decision was made.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16Oh, no. That won't do. Zala hates anything that itches.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22I was just looking. Oh, who is this Zala, anyway?
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Zala is my host - the hippo,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29and it's my job to keep him free of bugs and wounds.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33I eat flies, leeches and fleas, so that means YOU.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Wait! Wait! I am not just any flea.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39I am a circus flea.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43- What's a circus?- What's a circus?!
0:07:43 > 0:07:47A circus is a place where animals do all kinds of tricks.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49If you've never seen one,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53- you should watch my act before you eat me.- This better be good.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16OK, kid. You can stay.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21'I thought I had found a home - a place where I could be happy,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24'and even forget how much I missed my brother.'
0:08:24 > 0:08:27But what...? What happened?
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Alas, another disaster overcame me.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34If you think that was good, watch this, my friends!
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Bath time!
0:08:36 > 0:08:38All clear!
0:08:41 > 0:08:44'Without Zala I was lost again.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49'Fortunately, there are a lot of tourists who come to the Serengeti
0:08:49 > 0:08:51'to look at the animals.'
0:08:51 > 0:08:54'I heard them speaking Italian, and, immediately,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57'I knew the perfect way to get home.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00'I was bound for Italy,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02'and my long-lost brother.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06'To this day, I don't know what happened,
0:09:06 > 0:09:11'but, somehow, I ended up on the wrong aeroplane.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13'By chance, or by fate,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17'I ended up in the most serene place in the world -
0:09:17 > 0:09:19'Japan'.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24I come from a long way away, and I have heard and seen many things,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26but never have I heard any sound
0:09:26 > 0:09:30- so beautiful to my auditory receptors.- I am flattered.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35- What is happening?- Here in Japan, crickets are often kept as pets
0:09:35 > 0:09:37because our singing is so pleasant.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41We may be stuck in this jar for some time.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47- What I'd give for a salami right now.- I consider pickled cucumber
0:09:47 > 0:09:51- and ginger to be quite delicious. - Ugh! Suit yourself!
0:09:51 > 0:09:56- How about some music to cheer us up?- I am sorry.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58I have lost my will to sing.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03Lost the will?! Nonsense! Come on. We'll sing together.
0:10:03 > 0:10:10# Fi-i-igaro! Fi-i-igaro! Figaro! Figaro! Figaro! #
0:10:10 > 0:10:14I don't have my chorus, or my conductor,
0:10:14 > 0:10:16or my view of the rice paddies.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19All I have is this tiny little jar.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22I decided something had to be done.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27The world could not be deprived of this creature's wonderful song.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29'Using my powerful legs,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33'I jumped out of the jar through an air hole, and then...'
0:10:35 > 0:10:38You... You gave me my freedom.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40How can I ever repay you?
0:10:40 > 0:10:44You already have with your beautiful music.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47'I bummed around for a couple of months
0:10:47 > 0:10:53'on the family's dog. But one day he caught me with his hind leg,
0:10:53 > 0:10:58'and I landed kerplunk in a bottle of some funny-smelling water.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02'For some reason, the bottle was sent across the ocean.'
0:11:02 > 0:11:06Home-made rice vinegar from my old pen pal Tatsui.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11You sure can't get this stuff at Savemart, can you, Pal?
0:11:11 > 0:11:16'And that, my friends, is my long and sorry tale.'
0:11:16 > 0:11:19You never found Sale?
0:11:19 > 0:11:24- I am afraid not.- Don't worry, Pepe. We'll help you find him.- But how?
0:11:24 > 0:11:27- I know. We can mail him to Rome. - Yes.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32- I can carry him to the mailbox. - No, I'll do it. There's a mailbox
0:11:32 > 0:11:35- on the corner that I've marked with my scent.- So?!
0:11:35 > 0:11:39- I've marked that mailbox, too. - Well, I marked it first!
0:11:39 > 0:11:44- Maybe we should e-mail him. - It would be faster. He's MY flea!
0:11:44 > 0:11:46You didn't even know about fleas...
0:11:46 > 0:11:51- I should be the one to take him to the...- Hey, he's gone!
0:11:51 > 0:11:57Arrivederci, my friends! Thank you for not squishing me!
0:11:57 > 0:12:00I have a feeling we haven't heard the last of him.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04You're not scratching, Pal. Maybe we were wrong about the fleas.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07But it's been a while since you had a bath, anyhow.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10PAL WHINES
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Bills, bills, bills, bills.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18What's this? Dottore Pulce's Amazing Flea Circus?!
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Featuring the world-famous Pepe and Sale, reunited at last.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27I specifically asked the museum not to give our address out...
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Subtitles by Sally Davies BBC Broadcast 2004
0:12:34 > 0:12:38E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk