April Underhill, Tooth Fairy CBeebies Bedtime Stories

CBeebies Bedtime Story.

So, you go left and then you're there. OK, thank you.

OK, I'll see you very soon.

Hello.

I'm Gina.

Oh, just one second

because I need to try and remember these directions.

I go out of the door, down the path and then...

..was it right or left?

Oh... Maybe I'll have to call them and check them again.

But first, I need to tell you a bedtime story

about a special little fairy who's on an exciting journey.

The story is by Bob Graham and it's called April Underhill, Tooth Fairy.

April Underhill opened the door.

A draught slipped through behind her and Esme,

making the teeth on the rafters chatter and chime.

John Underhill started to speak, "April..."

"Don't say anything," April said.

"We're collecting a tooth tonight and I have to write this down."

"Tonight? April, you're only 7!" said her dad.

"And three-quarters," April added. "I promised!"

"I'm going, too," said Esme.

"You...? And Esme?"

"A tooth in Parkville," said their mum, Faye.

"Darlings, you're far too young."

"You went by yourself when you were six, Mummy," said Esme.

She balanced a bubble on the end of her finger till it popped.

"Same age as me and April's even older!"

"Well, that was long ago," said Mum.

"Before the motorway came."

"Things were different back then."

"Well, some things haven't changed, Mummy."

Esme took a sip of her dandelion soup.

"Children still lose their first teeth," April said.

"And ducklings have to take their first swim."

Their parents looked at them startled.

"OK," said Dad. "You can both go

"but take great care of your little sister, April."

"YES!"

"This is important, April," said Dad.

"To Daniel you're a... a spirit of the air."

"You are magic, he must never see you."

"Magic? Me?!" said April.

Mum found a string bag "For the coin going out

"and the tooth coming back," she said.

"And send me a text if you need to," she added.

Then they lifted off into the night.

The wind took them and shook them.

Pushed them and pulled them.

It shivered down Esme's wings

and rippled through the feathers of a passing owl.

"There's Cornflower Terrace!" shouted April.

They dropped down through the dark,

right onto the doorstep of Daniel's house.

They peered underneath.

April swallowed.

"Hold down my wings, Esme, I'll go first."

Esme crawled in after her to the other side.

"Where will his room be?" she whispered.

"Up there, I think," replied April.

"Let's follow the toys."

"This must be him!" whispered April.

She pulled a note from her pocket,

"We're at number 3, Cornflower Terrace, there's a dog,

"but no cat."

"Oh! There's the tooth!"

Esme shivered with excitement.

"But oh dear! He's put it in the water!" said April.

She made a decision.

"I can swim, I'll get it."

She squeezed her eyes shut

and in a cloud of bubbles went for the bottom.

"I've got it, Esme, I've got it!" "Ssh!" hissed Esme.

As Daniel Dangerfield stirred and woke.

April flew and Esme followed her.

Together they pulled Daniel's eyes shut, like the blinds over windows.

For a long time they dared not breathe.

"He's asleep again," April whispered.

"But he saw us," Esme whispered back.

"I'll text Mummy," said April.

"Whisper in his ear," Mummy responded.

"Whisper what?" Esme asked as she read her reply.

"What Daddy told us, that we're spirits."

"You do it, April," said Esme.

"Me? But I'm soaking."

But she leaned into the dark and whispered,

"We're spirits of the air, Daniel,

"you dreamed us, you did not see us."

"Goodbye Daniel Dangerfield."

They picked up the tooth and flew down the hall.

"April! Wait!" called Esme.

"It's the sweetest sight. I think it's the grandma"

April waded waist-deep in Grandma's hair.

"We did it, Grandma, our very first tooth," she whispered.

"Oh, Esme, we don't take those, we have to go."

They collected their coats, buttoned them tight

and slipped under the door.

Daniel's front tooth swung in its bag

as they cleared the chimney and headed for home.

The wind tumbled them high over the city.

Up the motorway and set them down at their own front door.

Mum and Dad hugged them till their wings crackled.

"Here's a tooth, Daddy, it's wrapped in my wet vest."

"You dived for it?" asked Faye.

"Like a duckling in water," murmured John Underhill proudly.

The girls drank hot elderberry juice and then were hugged some more.

Mum hung Daniel's tooth from the rafters.

"On Saturday, we'll take it to the Fairy Craft Market

"for everyone to see," Dad promised.

The sun rose and a blackbird sang outside the window

louder than the distant traffic.

As April and Esme fell asleep, Daniel Dangerfield woke

to find a coin gleaming by his bedside.

A new tooth was already growing.

What dreams he'd had.

And that was a story called April Underhill, Tooth Fairy.

Have you lost a tooth today?

Because if you have,

then maybe April Underhill will visit you tonight

but you have to be asleep.

So, off you go to bed and I'd better call

and find out what these directions are.

See you very, very soon for another bedtime story. Good night.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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