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0:50:03 > 0:50:06CBeebies Bedtime Story.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10Yes, that star is shining very brightly, isn't it, Teddy?
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Hello. I'm Sarah.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16We just love to look at the stars in the night sky, but not as much
0:50:16 > 0:50:21as our friend Small Billy, who you'll meet in tonight's story.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26Billy is a bilby, which is a little animal that lives on Australia.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29It looks a bit like a rabbit and likes to go out at night.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35The story is called Small Billy And The Midnight Star
0:50:35 > 0:50:37and is by Nette Hilton and Bruce Whatley.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Every night, Small Billy, the smallest bilby
0:50:43 > 0:50:47in the bilby patch, sat under the midnight sky to watch the stars.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49He loved them all.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52Every single one of them.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55But the one he loved best was the smallest one,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58which hung close to the edge of the sky.
0:50:58 > 0:51:03Every night, he reached up to her and she shone down on him.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06But she was so very far away.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10"Sometimes, I'm scared that you won't be there," Small Billy said,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13after a long hard bilby busy day.
0:51:13 > 0:51:19He stretched his arms out wide and called, "I love you, star!
0:51:19 > 0:51:23"I love you best of all."
0:51:23 > 0:51:27The star shone down an especially bright shine.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31"See?" said the oldest bilby in the bilby patch, "She loves you too."
0:51:31 > 0:51:36And for a little while, from the time it took the moon to wander from the
0:51:36 > 0:51:41low side of the hill to the high side of the hill, Small Billy felt better.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44But when a passing cloud hid the star from view,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47he grew frightened all over again.
0:51:47 > 0:51:53"What if she goes away and forgets me and never ever comes back?" he said.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57"She'll be there," said the oldest bilby, "she always comes back."
0:51:58 > 0:52:03The star hurried out from behind the cloud and beamed down on him,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07splashing his whiskers with starlight and brushing his ears with silver.
0:52:07 > 0:52:13But Small Billy could only think of the midnight sky without his star.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16"I need to give her something," he said,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20"something to make her remember me forever and always."
0:52:22 > 0:52:26"I know," he called out to the star, "I'll give you a kiss."
0:52:27 > 0:52:31He stretched up on tiptoe and tried to kiss her,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33but he just wasn't tall enough.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39"Was that a kiss?" asked one of the little bilbies.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43"Not yet," said Small Billy, "but it soon will be."
0:52:44 > 0:52:48He stood on a rock on the top of the hill and opened his arms wide
0:52:48 > 0:52:52and reached up high, but still he couldn't reach.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56So he set off to fetch another rock and then another.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00The star shone down, leading Small Billy from one star-shiny rock
0:53:00 > 0:53:05to the next. "What are you doing?" asked the oldest bilby.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09"We know," said the little ones, "he's building a kiss."
0:53:09 > 0:53:14"You can't build a kiss," said the oldest bilby with a smile.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18"He can, he can," sang the little ones, "and so can we."
0:53:19 > 0:53:21One by one, two by two, three by three,
0:53:21 > 0:53:23the little bilbies joined in,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26fetching and carrying, lifting and pushing
0:53:26 > 0:53:30each star-shiny rock all the way to the top of the hill.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34And high above them, the star shone down from the fading night sky.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40Little by little, rock by rock, the kiss grew higher and bigger
0:53:40 > 0:53:46and rounder and fatter until it almost, almost, touched the sky.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51"Are we there yet?" asked the little bilbies, "Are we? Are we?"
0:53:51 > 0:53:54"Almost," said Small Billy.
0:53:54 > 0:53:59"That's not a kiss," said the oldest bilby in the bilby patch.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02"No," said Small Billy as he climbed from
0:54:02 > 0:54:05one star-dappled rock to another,
0:54:05 > 0:54:06"this is a kiss."
0:54:07 > 0:54:12And opening his arms wide enough to hold the whole heavens, he reached
0:54:12 > 0:54:18up on tiptoe and kissed the smallest star at the edge of the dawn sky.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23All the bilbies in the bilby patch caught their breath -
0:54:23 > 0:54:26not a whisker or a nose twitched.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29The little star grew bigger and bigger and brighter
0:54:29 > 0:54:33and brighter until the desert glowed with the colours of the morning sky
0:54:33 > 0:54:39and the rocks on the top of the hill blazed gold and purple and crimson.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42She sparkled on the pools in the river bed
0:54:42 > 0:54:45until they flashed like glass beads.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48She dusted the tops of the spinifex with copper.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51She danced above the little bilbies in the bilby patch
0:54:51 > 0:54:55and tickled their tummies with starshine.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00And then she shone her deepest, clearest light,
0:55:00 > 0:55:02right onto the smallest bilby of all.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08"Look at that," said the little bilbies.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13"She won't forget you now," whispered the oldest bilby in the bilby patch.
0:55:15 > 0:55:22"And I'll remember her," said Small Billy, "forever and always."
0:55:24 > 0:55:27I hope you enjoyed that story, which was called
0:55:27 > 0:55:29Small Billy And The Midnight Star.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35Why don't we blow our stars a kiss good night before we go to bed?
0:55:35 > 0:55:40Ready, Teddy? One, two, three.
0:55:40 > 0:55:41SARAH BLOWS A KISS
0:55:42 > 0:55:45I'll see you soon for another bedtime story.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47Sleep tight.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd