Celestine and the Penguins CBeebies Bedtime Stories

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Oh, hello! I'm Lulu.

I was telling Mr Penguin that although I love the winter time,

it does mean I wear extra layers of clothes to keep me warm and cosy.

There are penguins in tonight's bedtime story,

who are quite a long way from home.

The story, by Penny Ives, is called Celestine And The Penguins.

Celestine was all ready for winter.

The garden was still bright with a few late flowers,

and yellow leaves waving lazily from the trees.

"Why won't you snow?" she shouted at the sky.

"It's supposed to be cold!"

The next day was just as warm when Celestine went out to play.

She did her best to pretend it had snowed,

but mud ducks and mud balls are horrible and brown, she decided.

I'll have to make some lovely, white snow for myself.

"Ta-da," cried Celestine,

throwing cotton wool balls into the air.

But each one fell straight to the ground.

"Oh dear," she sighed. "Cotton wool is too lumpy.

"What else can I try?

"Hooray," sang Celestine,

throwing handfuls of flour into the air.

But that just made her cough. "I know," she smiled.

"Little pieces of paper will be just right.

"Yippee," she shouted.

"It's snowing!"

Just then, Celestine caught sight of something

out of the corner of her eye.

She stopped, and very slowly turned around.

Behind her,

the garden was bobbing with lots and lots

and lots of baby penguins, all milling about.

"Oh, my goodness," squeaked Celestine.

"Where did you all come from?"

"We're lost," said one little penguin.

"A long way from home," sighed another.

"Can we stay with you?" asked a third.

"How did you get here?" asked Celestine.

One penguin began to explain.

"We come from a cold place, far away

"and we were huddled fast asleep in our nursery," he began.

"Our mums and dads had gone fishing for dinner when a storm began.

"The wind blew, the sea roared, and then, crack,

"the ice split in two and we were adrift.

"We were carried on the waves,

"further and further from home, up and down, up and down.

"We called and called and as the sea got warmer and warmer,

"our iceberg got smaller and smaller and smaller!

"But, just in time, we landed on a little beach.

"Straight away, we set off to look for snow.

"We walked and walked and walked

"and walked, until we found your lovely white garden.

"But this isn't real snow," said one of the baby penguins sadly.

"It's not cold and crunchy, or sparkly or slidy.

"And now we're too hot

"and we want to go home," wailed the littlest penguin.

"I'm very sorry," sighed Celestine, looking at the pieces of paper.

"I did my best."

She sat down and thought for a moment.

"I know what to do," she said happily.

"I've got a brilliant idea. Come with me."

"This is called a freezer," announced Celestine.

"It's very cold in here. You'll like it!"

"Careful, careful, please, no pushing.

"There's room for everyone if I take these things out."

But there wasn't quite. "Mmm," thought Celestine.

Then she had another excellent idea.

"Celestine, what are you doing?

"I can hear you from the hall." "Nothing...

"just playing with a few baby penguins."

Celestine took lollies from the freezer

and found elastic bands in a drawer.

"Come on," she cried, "with these slippery lollies on our feet,

"we can go ice lolly skating.

"How about making a pea and ice slide?"

But when Celestine looked down at the floor,

what a mess!

It had begun to look like green soup.

"Mmm," thought Celestine.

"Let's play upstairs instead. Follow me to the bathroom.

"I've just had the best idea yet!

"Let's make ice cream bergs," said Celestine,

"but this time, try not to make so much mess!"

They were having a lovely, sticky, splashy time,

when somebody knocked at the door.

"Who's there?" asked Celestine.

"It's Mummy," came the reply.

Then Mummy opened the door.

"Celestine, what are you doing?" she shrieked.

"I told you," explained Celestine.

"I was playing with baby penguins

"and Mum, they've been ever so naughty!"

Celestine tried to explain everything.

"I see," said Mrs Duck, when Celestine had finished.

"Their parents must be very, very worried.

"These little penguins need to go home, straight away."

Mrs Duck and Celestine

squeezed all the little penguins onto the bus

and together they set off towards the sea.

Down at the harbour, an explorer ship was getting ready to set sail.

"Don't worry, Mrs Duck," the Captain promised.

"I'll see all these baby penguins safely back home."

"Thank you, Celestine," called the penguins

as they jumped on board, waving goodbye with their tickets.

"Goodbye, goodbye," called Celestine.

As the ship chugged off towards the horizon,

Celestine felt something soft and cold,

tickle her cheek.

She looked up at the sky.

Oh! It was snowing!

"Hooray!" she danced.

"Tomorrow I can play in the snow all day!

"Of course you can," smiled mum,

"after you help me clean up all that mess."

And that story was called Celestine And The Penguins.

I'm so glad the penguins got home safely and it finally snowed.

I hope you've tidied up just like Celestine

and are nice and cosy wherever you are,

because it's time for you to go to bed.

I'll see you soon for another story. Night night!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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