Delilah Darling is in the Library CBeebies Bedtime Stories

CBeebies Bedtime Story.

No. That's not what I want to read.

I need a book with amazing animals and fantastic facts and some...

Oh! Hello!

I'm Diane.

I was just looking for a book and it needs to be just the right book,

with lots of fun, and I know who would have the perfect book.

Delilah!

Do you know Delilah? You don't? Well...

let me tell you about her in tonight's bedtime story.

The story is by Jeanne Willis and Rosie Reeve

and is called Delilah Darling Is In The Library.

My name is Queen Delilah.

I come from a land far, far away.

Only my mother likes to keep it secret. She always says,

"Delilah, darling, you were born here!"

and "No, Delilah! You cannot wear a crown to school.

"You are not the Queen!" That is nonsense, I'm afraid.

If you don't believe me, ask my brother, Small Boy,

only you won't understand him. He only speaks Far Away languages.

And don't ask Daddy, because he's busy!

Now, this is Gigi.

She is my old pair. An old pair is someone

who tries to look after you until your mother comes home.

She is French, which is a place in France.

Gigi says, "Come, Delilah, my little cabbage.

"Let us go to the library."

Oh, good!

I love looking at books! And smelling them!

And shutting them like this - snap! - when I get to the end.

The library is full of extremely interesting books.

Some have pictures, some have words,

and this one has a squashed baked bean on page five.

But do you know? It's not a bit like the library in my Far Away Land.

Where I come from, they always give you free sticky buns!

Small Boy is hungry. So I ask Gigi,

"When will they bring the buns?" And she says,

"What is buns? I am not understanding.

"Ask that librarian."

So me and Small Boy go and ask Library Anne,

but she says, "No food in 'ere, please!"

And I say, "Really? Where I come from, everyone eats in the library.

"There is a man who walks around with a big tray

"and he shouts, 'Who wants a bun?!' "

"Ssh!" says Library Anne!

But everyone says, "Ooh! Are there buns? Are they free? We want buns!"

"Now, that," says Library Anne, "is why we don't shout in the library."

Library Anne says, "I don't know where you come from, young lady,

"but we have different rules in this library."

I tell her I come from a land far far away.

"Well, run along and find a nice book about it," she says.

So I run along. But Library Anne says,

"No running in the library, please!"

which is odd, because where I come from, everyone runs in the library.

Anyway, I try to find a book about the land where I came from.

But I can't. Anyone would think that it didn't exist.

Then Small Boy says, "Try up there!" in Far Away language.

So I start to climb.

But Library Anne says, "Come down! That is not how we fetch a book!"

I say, "Ooh? I'm sorry. Only I couldn't find the trapeze.

"Where I come from, there is a trapeze to reach too-high books."

"Hey! I like the trapeze idea," says Mrs Woolly Hat.

"I'm short. I never get to read the too-high books."

Library Anne says, "There are more sensible ways of reaching books.

"I will help you find the book properly.

"Now, tell me the name of the land where you come from."

Only I can't, because it's very hard to say.

Small Boy tells her in Far Away language,

but she doesn't understand, so I explain that we come from

a tiny little island between Jafrica and Smindia,

only Library Anne has never heard of such places.

Library Anne opens a big book and says, "Here is a map of the world.

"Can you point to where you come from?"

But would you believe it?

The person who drew the map forgot to put it on!

So I give Library Anne a map I made

to show her what the world is really like.

"Here it is! A map of the land where I come from."

"You can't read its name, because it's under my drawing

"of a Jafrican smelephant,

"which is a bit like a Smindian olyphant, only smellier.

"Where I come from, we have our own animals,

"our own rules and everything. We even have our own song

"called Hooray For Queen Delilah, which I wrote."

"I'd love to hear that!" said Mrs Woolly Hat.

So, ahem, I stand on a chair and sing it. Mrs Woolly Hat joins in.

Here are the words, so you can sing along, too.

# Hooray for Queen Delilah! So beautiful, so brave!

# Hooray for Queen Delilah! The kingdom she will save

# Shout Hooray! Shout Hooray! Shout out loud and strong!

# Hooray for Queen Delilah! Who wrote this lovely song!

# Tra-la! #

Library Anne says, "I wish I lived far, far away. Please stop singing!"

Then she says, "Would you like to borrow a book before you leave?"

"Where I come from, we don't borrow books and leave!

"We all bring our blankets and bears

"and a beautiful princess reads to us until we fall asleep."

"Buns! Blankets! Bears! That's how to run a library!" says everyone.

"There are days," says Library Anne, "when I wish I was an astronaut."

"Delilah, darling," says Gigi,

"I think it is time to say, 'au revoir'."

We go home, I tell my mother about the library.

It was extremely fun

and I borrowed a lovely book called Tropical Diseases.

But it was nothing like the library in the land where I come from.

"But, Delilah, darling," she says, "You come from here! We all do!"

We don't, though. She's just pretending. Funny old thing.

"Oh, mother!" I sigh,

"Sometimes, I think you're living in a world of your own."

"Yes, I know I'm holding my library book upside down!

"Where I come from, that's how everybody reads!"

And that story was called Delilah Darling Is In The Library.

And that's where I need to go to find my favourite book

while you go to bed. I'll see you soon for another story.

Night-night.

Mmm... I think I'll just have a cake first.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd