Tom Ward - Diamond in the Snow CBeebies Bedtime Stories

Hello! I'm Tom and - oh, dear - I've never done this before.

It's called ice-skating, apparently. It's all new to me.

I'm sure there are lots of things that are new to you as well.

Things you may never have done or seen before.

Let me tell you a story all about a little mole and the first time

he ever saw something.

Something that was new to him.

It's called Diamond In The Snow.

"Cold-diggety!" gasped Mole,

as he burrowed out of the ground one afternoon.

"Whatever's this?" It was the middle of winter

and the woodland was covered in a thick blanket of snow.

Mole had never seen snow before.

It made the woodland look strange and beautiful.

So Mole left his hole and set off to explore.

It was so quiet, as if everything had fallen under a magic spell.

Mole wandered on, enchanted,

until he suddenly found himself sliding down a steep snowy bank.

"Wow!" cried Mole, as his paws slipped from under him.

"Whee!" he shouted, as he sped down the slope.

"Oh!" he groaned, as he crashed into a tree trunk.

Mole picked himself up and then gasped in surprise.

Something smooth and sparkly was sticking out of the snow beside him.

Mole was sure that it hadn't been there a moment ago.

"It's as if it appeared by magic!" thought Mole.

"It looks like a diamond," he decided. "I must take it home."

Mole carried the diamond back up the steep bank.

It was hard work.

The diamond had become wet and slippery

and it was difficult to hold.

"Drat!" said Mole,

as he stumbled and the diamond shot up out of his paws.

"It's as if it were trying to escape," gasped Mole,

as he chased it down the slope.

"Perhaps it's a magic diamond," he thought.

"Phew!" panted Mole, when he finally reached the top of the bank.

He was hot and tired.

But he hurried on, anxious to get home.

By now, he was sure that the diamond was magical,

because it was changing shape in his paws.

He was almost home when he suddenly realised that his arms were empty.

The diamond had disappeared right from under his nose.

Just then, a snowball came whizzing through the air,

closely followed by Hedgehog, Squirrel and Rabbit.

"Hello, Mole!" said Hedgehog cheerily.

"Do you want to come snowballing with us?" asked Squirrel.

But Mole was still staring unhappily at his empty paws.

"What's wrong, Mole?" asked Rabbit.

So Mole told them all about the magic diamond,

how it had appeared from nowhere

and changed shape and tried to escape

and how it had finally disappeared from under his nose.

But Mole could tell his friends didn't really believe him.

So he took them back to the tree trunk

where the diamond had first appeared.

"That's where I found it," said Mole, pointing down into the snow.

Rabbit, Hedgehog and Squirrel were all smiling.

"Look," said Rabbit, pointing up into the tree.

Mole squinted up and then he saw them.

The tree above them was filled with hundreds of diamonds.

They were hanging from every branch. "They're icicles," said Squirrel.

"They're just frozen water," said Hedgehog.

"The one you found must have melted in your paws," explained Rabbit.

"So it wasn't magic, then?" said Mole sadly.

"Not really," said Rabbit kindly.

The four friends set off up the bank again.

But when they got to the top,

Mole glanced back to take one last look at the icicle tree.

"Wait a minute," he said excitedly. "Look!"

The sun was setting over the snowy woodland,

casting its rays into the branches of the tree,

making each icicle shimmer with a beautiful golden light.

It was the most spectacular thing that any of them had ever seen.

Mole, Rabbit, Hedgehog and Squirrel

stood staring at the tree, enchanted,

until the last of the light had died away.

"That was marvellous," sighed Rabbit,

as they made their way back through the woodland.

"Wonderful," agreed Hedgehog.

"Fantastic," added Squirrel.

"You see?" said Mole, grinning proudly.

"I told you they were magic."

And that story was called Diamond In The Snow.

Now, if only a little magic could happen and I could skate properly.

Hmmm. Let's see.

Oh, dear. Well, without any magic,

it looks like I'm just going to have to practise my ice-skating

if I'm going to get better at it. Bye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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