Sophie Ellis-Bextor - The Snail and the Whale CBeebies Bedtime Stories

CBeebies Bedtime Story.

Hello, I'm Sophie.

My friend Snail here is going on an adventure around the CBeebies house.

There's a snail in tonight's bedtime story

who dreams of faraway adventures.

Let me tell you all about him.

This story is called The Snail and the Whale

and it's by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

This is the tale of a tiny snail

and a great big grey-blue humpback whale.

This is a rock as black as soot

and this is a snail with an itchy foot.

The sea snail slithered all over the rock

and gazed at the sea and the ships in the dock.

And as she gazed, she sniffed and sighed.

"The sea is deep and the world is wide.

"How I long to sail," said the tiny snail.

These are the other snails in the flock

who all stuck tight to the smooth black rock

and said to the snail with the itchy foot,

"Be quiet! Don't wriggle! Sit still! Stay put!"

But the tiny sea snail sighed and sniffed, then cried,

"I've got it! I'll hitch a lift."

This is the trail of the tiny snail.

A silvery trail that looped and curled and said,

"Lift wanted around the world."

This is the whale who came one night

when the tide was high and the stars were bright.

A humpback whale, immensely long,

who sang to the snail a wonderful song

of shimmering ice and coral caves

and shooting stars and enormous waves.

And this is the tail of the humpback whale.

He held it out of the starlit sea and said to the snail,

"Come sail with me."

This is the sea, so wild and free

that carried the whale and the snail on his tail

to towering icebergs and far-off lands

with fiery mountains and golden sands.

These are the waves that arched and crashed,

that foamed and frolicked and sprayed and splashed

the tiny snail on the tail of the whale.

These are the caves beneath the waves

where stripy fish with feathery fins

and sharks with hideous toothy grins

swam around the whale and the snail on his tail.

This is the sky, so vast and high.

Sometimes sunny and blue and warm.

Sometimes filled with a thunderstorm.

With zigzag lightening, flashing and frightening

the tiny snail on the tail of the whale.

And she gazed at the sky, the sea, the land,

the waves and the caves and the golden sand.

She gazed and gazed, amazed by it all.

And she said to the whale, "I feel so small."

But then came the day the whale lost his way.

These are the speedboats running a race,

zigging and zooming all over the place.

Upsetting the whale with their ear-splitting roar,

making him swim too close to the shore.

This is the tide slipping away

and this is the whale lying beached in the bay.

"Quick, off the sand, back to sea," cried the snail.

"I can't move on land. I'm too big," moaned the whale.

The snail felt helpless and terribly small.

Then, "I've got it!" she cried. And started to crawl.

"I must not fail," said the tiny snail.

This is the bell on the school in the bay

ringing the children in from their play.

This is the teacher holding her chalk, telling the class,

"Sit straight, don't talk."

This is the board, as black as soot.

And this is the snail with the itchy foot.

"A snail! A snail!" the teacher turns pale.

"Look!" say the children, "It's leaving a trail."

This is the trail of the tiny snail.

A silvery trail saying, "Save the whale,"

These are the children running from school,

fetching the firemen, digging a pool,

squirting and spraying to keep the whale cool.

This is the tide coming into the bay

and these are the villagers shouting, "Hooray!"

As the whale and the snail travel safely away.

Back to the dock and the flock on the rock, who said,

"How time's flown," and, "Haven't you grown!"

And the whale and the snail told their wonderful tale

of shimmering ice and coral caves

and shooting stars and enormous waves.

And of how the snail, so small and frail,

with her looping, curling, silvery trail,

saved the life of that humpback whale.

And the humpback whale held out his tail

and on crawled snail after snail after snail

and they sang to the sea as they all set sail

on the tail of the grey-blue humpback whale.

That story was called The Snail and the Whale.

I hope you enjoyed it. It's time for you to snuggle up

and dream about exciting adventures yourself.

See you soon for another bedtime story.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd