0:22:50 > 0:22:57.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Hello, I'm Clare. If you could put on a show
0:23:05 > 0:23:09with anyone and anything in it, what would you choose?
0:23:09 > 0:23:12Thinking of the things I'm going to have in my show,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16there would have to be horses, maybe even dancing dogs.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21Acrobatic ants, even singing squirrels! I'm hoping it's going to
0:23:21 > 0:23:25be as good as the show in tonight's bedtime story. It's called
0:23:25 > 0:23:29The Show At Rickety Barn. All was quiet at Rickety Barn Farm.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34The animals were lazily chewing grass or snoozing in the sunshine.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38It looked like just another ordinary day.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Jasper the cat was lapping his morning milk
0:23:41 > 0:23:44when a wonderful plan popped into his head.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47"I'll put on a show," he thought.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52He made a huge poster to pin on the door of the Rickety Barn.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56"There!" he said. "The other animals will love my performance."
0:23:56 > 0:24:01Jasper thought that he had better start practising straight away.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05"Why are you singing?" asked Sniggle the pig as he passed by.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10Jasper whispered in his ear, "I'm getting ready for the show."
0:24:10 > 0:24:13"Show, what show?" squealed Sniggle, loudly.
0:24:13 > 0:24:20"Shh! The Rickety Barn show, of course!" Jasper replied, grandly.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24"How exciting!" said Sniggle. "Might a pig be in it, too?"
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Jasper wanted to be the star of his show,
0:24:27 > 0:24:32but he didn't want to disappoint his friend. "What can you do?" he asked.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36"Accompany your singing with a one-pig band!" said Sniggle,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40trotting off to practise. "Why are you tooting on that bugle?"
0:24:40 > 0:24:45asked Suzie, the hen. "I'm getting ready for the show," said Sniggle.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49"Show? What show?" clucked Suzie in excitement.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53"The Rickety Barn show, what else?" declared Sniggle.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55"Can we hens be in it, too?" pleaded Suzie.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58"What can you do?" Sniggle asked.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01"Dance along to the band!" cried Suzie,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04and she rushed off to tell the others.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07"What's all this rowdy nonsense?"
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Austin, the old carthorse, enquired bossily.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14"We're getting ready for the show!" bragged Suzie.
0:25:14 > 0:25:21"Show? What show?" Austin asked, with a rare whinny of excitement.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"The Rickety Barn show," chorused the hens.
0:25:24 > 0:25:30"Sounds delightful," said Austin, "I'd like to offer my services."
0:25:30 > 0:25:34"Well, what can you do?" Suzie asked Austin.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39"Bring an air of dignity to the proceedings," he announced.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43"I will be reading a short poem that I have written specially."
0:25:43 > 0:25:46And he plodded off to practise.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Flora, the sheep, appeared. "Great poem, Austin,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53"but why are you reading it to yourself?" she asked.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Austin looked around with a superior air.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01"I'm getting ready for the show," he declared.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05"Show? What show?" bleated Flora, loudly.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10"The Rickety Barn show, of course," replied Austin, stuffily.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14"How marvellous! Can we sheep be in it, too?" pleaded Flora.
0:26:14 > 0:26:20"Well," Austin pondered, "what can you do?"
0:26:20 > 0:26:23"An acrobatics display!" announced Flora,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26as she skipped away to tell the others.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30"Yoo-hoo, what's happening?" mooed Chloe, the cow.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32"We're getting ready for the show",
0:26:32 > 0:26:36called Flora, from the top of the swaying pyramid.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40"Show? What show?" asked Chloe. "Haven't you heard?
0:26:40 > 0:26:45"The Rickety Ba-a-arn show!" replied all the sheep together.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48"What fun, can the cows be in it, too?" pleaded Chloe.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53"Ma-a-ybe, what can you do?" Flora asked.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56"Perform a juggling act," boasted Chloe,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59and she hurried off to tell the others.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04"Why are you throwing things around?" gasped Bruce, the sheepdog,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06as plates crashed around him.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09"Getting ready for the show," replied Chloe.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11"Show? What show?" he demanded.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15"The Rickety Barn show, what else?" replied the cows.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20"You can't have a show without a host," advised Bruce.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24"Oh..." said Chloe, because there wasn't much else to say.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25Just before three o'clock,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29all the performers gathered in the Rickety Barn.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Bruce stood by the door to welcome the audience.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36The animals huddled nervously behind the hay bales.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40At three o'clock, nobody had arrived for the show.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44By five past three, the animals were starting to shuffle their feet.
0:27:44 > 0:27:50By ten past three, still nobody had come through the Rickety Barn door.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53"Where is everyone?" muttered Jasper.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57"I've no idea," replied Austin, grumpily.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Then Sniggle squealed with laughter.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02The others gave him a puzzled look.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07"There's nobody to watch the show, because we're all IN it!"
0:28:07 > 0:28:12There was only one thing to do. "The show must go on!" cried Jasper.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14And it did.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19And that story was called The Show At Rickety Barn.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Now there's an idea!
0:28:21 > 0:28:25I could have a horse reciting poems and rhymes in my show.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29While I get practising with Sam, it's time for you to go to bed.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33I'll see you very soon for another story. Goodnight.