Ted Robbins - Marvin's Funny Dance CBeebies Bedtime Stories

A one, a two, a three, a four, a five, a six...

Oh, hello! I'm Ted.

You've just caught me trying out my funniest dance moves

ready to show my friend Marvin.

He's the star of tonight's bedtime story. Are you ready to hear it?

Great. It's called Marvin's Funny Dance, by Sarah McConnell.

Early one morning, Marvin meerkat squeezed himself out

of his cold, dark burrow and into the hot African sun.

Moe was already up as usual doing the stretching exercises for merecadets.

"Morning, Marv!" said Moe chirpily.

"Humph," grumbled Marvin. "Have I missed anything?" "Nope," said Moe.

"Same as usual."

Marvin was in a grumpy mood.

He hated morning merecadets.

Every day was the same old thing.

You see, Marvin liked to be different.

He gave Moe a little wink and he began wiggling his hips,

waggling his toes,

rubbing his tummy

and touching his nose.

"Marvin Meer!" shouted Thelma the chief meerkat

at the top of her voice.

"Stop that now and be serious for once."

But Marvin couldn't be serious. No matter how hard he tried.

His head was too full of cheeky tricks and crazy ideas.

"I just like making people laugh," he told Moe.

But most of the time no-one laughed except for Moe, of course.

"That Marvin's such a show-off," they said.

One morning, two big brown birds called the buzzard brothers

were spotted in the distance.

The buzzard brothers were bully birds

and they were always bothering the meerkat family.

But it was so hot that day,

that nearly all the meerkats had drifted into a deep sleep.

Even wide-awake Warren had dropped off

and he was supposed to be the lookout.

Only Marvin was still awake with no-one to play with

and nothing to do.

Suddenly, a mischievous idea popped into his head.

"He he he! This will make them laugh!" he chuckled.

He cupped his paws around his mouth and "Squawk! Squawk!" went Marvin.

Exactly like a bad-tempered buzzard.

The meerkats went wild. Leaping here, leaping there

and diving into their burrows.

Old Bertie was shaking like a leaf

and cousin Clarence fell out of his tree.

Even Moe got a fright.

"Uh-oh," said Marvin, when he saw what he'd done.

"Now I'm in trouble."

"Marvin!" said Thelma. "You've gone too far!"

and she sent him to his burrow to think about what he'd done.

"Sorry," said Marvin sadly. "I just thought it would be fun."

Outside, Moe shook his head.

Marvin had made him think.

"The buzzard brothers have bullied us for too long," he said.

"But I've got a plan! We need a tree,

"some dung balls and plenty of guts,"

and he rushed off to tell the others.

The meerkats worked fast, they pulled and they puffed,

they heaved and they huffed until there it was -

a spectacular bird scaring contraption.

"We'll call it the mere catapult!" said Moe.

Then, all of a sudden, wide-awake Warren chirped the alarm call!

The buzzard brothers were back!

But the meerkats weren't ready and they lost their nerve.

They're not the bravest of animals, you know.

"What are we going to do?" said Warren when the birds had gone.

"Mmm..." said cousin Clarence.

"We need someone to distract the brothers so our plan will work.

"But who?"

"It has to be someone brave," said Moe smiling.

"Someone who doesn't mind standing out from the crowd.

"A bit of a show-off, maybe?"

"Marvin!" they all said at once.

Moe went to find him.

"Marv," he said, "we need your help."

and quickly he whispered the plan in Marvin's ear.

Marvin gave a little wink and crept up the hill

which overlooked the meerkat's burrow.

When he reached the top, he began to dance just like he had that morning.

He twirled, he moved, he swirled, he grooved

like no other meerkat had ever danced before.

The birds spotted him and started flapping towards him.

But this time the meerkats were ready.

"Fire!" shouted Moe.

The birds swerved as the dung balls shot through the air.

They went right, they went left, but it was too much of them.

"We've never had to put up with this before,"

the buzzard brothers complained. And in a flurry of feathers

they were gone. Two little dots in the distance.

And they never came back!

How the meerkats whooped and cheered!

Marvin ran down the hill to join the others

and, when he got to the bottom, do know what he saw?

All the meerkats were laughing and dancing.

A funny little dance where you wiggle your hips and waggle your toes,

rub your tummy and touch your nose.

That story was called Marvin's Funny Dance.

Marvin was a bit cheeky to begin with but, in the end,

he saved the day.

Tomorrow perhaps you can try some funny dancing just like Marvin.

But now it's time for you to go to bed.

Get tucked up warm and cosy and have sweet dreams.

I'll see you again soon.

Night-night.