0:39:50 > 0:39:57.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09Hello, I'm Peter.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Tonight's Bedtime Story is called...
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Ah! I've got mice!
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Oh. They're the mice from tonight's story.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26Tonight's story is called The Town Mouse And The Country Mouse.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30An Aesop Fable retold and illustrated by Helen Ward.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37There was once merely a mouse.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41He lived a small and quiet life among the seasons.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45He knew the busyness of summer, and the rich, ripe,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47dozy sweet days of autumn.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54He knew the aching hunger of a long, cold winter under the snow.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58And the smell of the warming earth in the first days of spring.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02The Country Mouse knew he was contented.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Then, one spring morning, a visitor arrived.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11A fine, sleek city cousin, with a lot to say.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15"In the city, we don't have mud.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18"And we don't have dangerous wild animals.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22"In our city, we dine on rich, exotic foods.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24"In sumptuous surroundings.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30"We have such amazing sights and sounds.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32"We have noise and bustle and hum.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34"You should visit.
0:41:34 > 0:41:40"You should come and see the wonders of my electric city."
0:41:41 > 0:41:43Left to his own thoughts,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46the Country Mouse grew less certain of his contentedness.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50He felt a longing for new sights and sounds.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55With the first sharp chill of winter,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58he stole a ride to that bustle and hum.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03The electric city crowded his ears and eyes.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08He gazed at the high horizon where the cold sky was propped up
0:42:08 > 0:42:12on great towers of smooth stone and glass.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15He founds lights in the dark.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18And automatic ups and downs.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20BELL RINGS
0:42:21 > 0:42:25He found his cousin's well-appointed apartment
0:42:25 > 0:42:29with luxurious accommodation for the humblest of creatures.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33But settling to sleep among glorious treasures
0:42:33 > 0:42:40and refined tissue-y bedding, the guest room became suddenly unstable.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45As he hid, he recalled the homely certainties of his own grassy nest.
0:42:46 > 0:42:52Eventually, his grumbling stomach and sharp nose drew him to a table.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57It was just as glamorous as the tales his cousin had told.
0:42:57 > 0:43:03A magnificent feast, so delicious, so sweet, so perfect.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05But so perilous.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08DOG GROWLS AND BARKS
0:43:08 > 0:43:12As he ran, he remembered with fondness his own quiet meals
0:43:12 > 0:43:15and their more modest variety.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19He remembered too the song of the faraway thrush,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21the heave of the worm in the close earth,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25and the buzz of crickets in the hot hay meadows.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28He longed to be elsewhere.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32To see the night sky lit only by stars.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35To be safe. To be contented.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37To be home.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40And once he was home,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42he slept deeply.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Merely a mouse dreaming of spring.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49HE SNORES
0:43:49 > 0:43:53That story was called The Town Mouse And The Country Mouse.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56I'll see you soon for another Bedtime Story.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59And it's time for these two mice to go to bed too.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04Right, come on. Up on my shoulders. That's where they like to sleep.
0:44:04 > 0:44:05Night-night.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07Night-night.
0:44:07 > 0:44:08Night-night.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd