Robert Webb - The Great Balloon Hullabaloo CBeebies Bedtime Stories

CBeebies Bedtime Story...

Oh, hello. I'm Robert.

What did you have to eat tonight?

Eww! I'm joking, that sounds delicious.

Simon the squirrel in tonight's story is about to have pizza for

his tea, and there's one important ingredient that he mustn't forget.

Cheese! Shall we find out if he remembers it?

This story is called The Great Balloon Hullabaloo

and it's by Peter Bently and Mei Matsuoka.

Simon the squirrel was off to play ball,

but there stood his mum with a list in the hall.

"Please pop to the shops, Simon dearest.

"Here's money for loo roll, pants for yourself, bread and honey.

"One thing that's much more important than these -

"tonight we've got pizza, so don't forget cheese."

So, off trotted Simon with Rodney Raccoon.

Suddenly, Simon said, "Look, it's the moon!

"Everybody knows it's made out of cheese.

"If we jump we can take just as much as we please."

They ran to the lake in a mad, gleeful dash,

leapt from a tree trunk and landed - kersplash!

"You pair are daft noodles! The moon's in the sky,"

laughed Bethany Bear, who stood watching nearby.

"No problem," said Simon, "We'll fly to the moon

"in old Uncle Somerset's special balloon."

"You're all very welcome to go for a ride," said old Uncle Somerset,

"Clamber inside, grab a nice cushion, there's plenty to try."

Then he untied the rope and they rose in the sky.

They shot into space with spectacular force

until a great comet... WHOOSH!

..blew them off course.

"You've gone the wrong way!" Said a cow with a frown.

She'd just jumped the moon and was on her way down.

COW MOOS

"Oh, well!" Simon said, as they sped through the stars,

"It looks like we'll have to go shopping on Mars!"

They landed on Mars and bought honey and bread

from a little green man with three eyes in each head.

Bethany called to her friends, "Look at me!

"There's a wonderful view from this funny old tree!

"But why is it covered in hairy pink moss?"

"Because I'm a monster and, boy, I am cross!"

They fled from the monster and headed for Saturn

where Simon tried pants with a star-spangled pattern.

"Oh, look at that weirdo!" the aliens said.

On Saturn they wear pants on their head.

At the store on Uranus, all shrouded in mist, Simon said,

"Toilet roll's next on Mum's list."

"Of course," grinned the thing with the tentacled face,

"For loo roll this planet is just the right place."

"Right," declared Simon, "Before we go back,

"why don't we stop for a drink and a snack?"

They called in at Pluto for cosmic rock cakes,

which they ate at the Milky Way Parlour with shakes.

On Neptune, they hoped to get space fish and fries.

Instead, all they caught was a scary surprise!

"Time to head home, give it maximum power" said Simon, then,

"Yikes! It's a meteor shower!"

Down poured the meteors. When would they stop?

Then, uh-oh! They all heard a sound. It was pop!

"Don't panic!" said Rodney, "It's under control."

Then he climbed up and plonked his rear end on the hole.

They drifted back down to the earth with a bump

that made Uncle Somerset wake with a jump.

"Oh, don't mind the puncture," he said, "I can patch it,

"but you'd better run home to your mum or you'll catch it."

Imagine the look of surprise on Mum's face when Simon declared,

"I've been shopping in space!"

"You can tell us about it at dinner time, please," said his mum,

"I've made pizzas. I just need the cheese."

Simon searched in the bag for the things on Mum's list.

"Whoops," blushed the squirrel, "There's one thing I missed...

"Cheese!"

COW MOOS

That story was called The Great Balloon Hullabaloo.

You'd better get tucked up in bed now.

Maybe you'll dream about flying to the moon in

a big hot-air balloon just like Simon did.

I'll be back soon with another bedtime story. Sleep tight.

SNORING

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd