Clare Balding - The Show at Rickety Barn CBeebies Bedtime Stories

.

Hello, I'm Clare. If you could put on a show

with anyone and anything in it, what would you choose?

Thinking of the things I'm going to have in my show,

there would have to be horses, maybe even dancing dogs.

Acrobatic ants, even singing squirrels! I'm hoping it's going to

be as good as the show in tonight's bedtime story. It's called

The Show At Rickety Barn. All was quiet at Rickety Barn Farm.

The animals were lazily chewing grass or snoozing in the sunshine.

It looked like just another ordinary day.

Jasper the cat was lapping his morning milk

when a wonderful plan popped into his head.

"I'll put on a show," he thought.

He made a huge poster to pin on the door of the Rickety Barn.

"There!" he said. "The other animals will love my performance."

Jasper thought that he had better start practising straight away.

"Why are you singing?" asked Sniggle the pig as he passed by.

Jasper whispered in his ear, "I'm getting ready for the show."

"Show, what show?" squealed Sniggle, loudly.

"Shh! The Rickety Barn show, of course!" Jasper replied, grandly.

"How exciting!" said Sniggle. "Might a pig be in it, too?"

Jasper wanted to be the star of his show,

but he didn't want to disappoint his friend. "What can you do?" he asked.

"Accompany your singing with a one-pig band!" said Sniggle,

trotting off to practise. "Why are you tooting on that bugle?"

asked Suzie, the hen. "I'm getting ready for the show," said Sniggle.

"Show? What show?" clucked Suzie in excitement.

"The Rickety Barn show, what else?" declared Sniggle.

"Can we hens be in it, too?" pleaded Suzie.

"What can you do?" Sniggle asked.

"Dance along to the band!" cried Suzie,

and she rushed off to tell the others.

"What's all this rowdy nonsense?"

Austin, the old carthorse, enquired bossily.

"We're getting ready for the show!" bragged Suzie.

"Show? What show?" Austin asked, with a rare whinny of excitement.

"The Rickety Barn show," chorused the hens.

"Sounds delightful," said Austin, "I'd like to offer my services."

"Well, what can you do?" Suzie asked Austin.

"Bring an air of dignity to the proceedings," he announced.

"I will be reading a short poem that I have written specially."

And he plodded off to practise.

Flora, the sheep, appeared. "Great poem, Austin,

"but why are you reading it to yourself?" she asked.

Austin looked around with a superior air.

"I'm getting ready for the show," he declared.

"Show? What show?" bleated Flora, loudly.

"The Rickety Barn show, of course," replied Austin, stuffily.

"How marvellous! Can we sheep be in it, too?" pleaded Flora.

"Well," Austin pondered, "what can you do?"

"An acrobatics display!" announced Flora,

as she skipped away to tell the others.

"Yoo-hoo, what's happening?" mooed Chloe, the cow.

"We're getting ready for the show",

called Flora, from the top of the swaying pyramid.

"Show? What show?" asked Chloe. "Haven't you heard?

"The Rickety Ba-a-arn show!" replied all the sheep together.

"What fun, can the cows be in it, too?" pleaded Chloe.

"Ma-a-ybe, what can you do?" Flora asked.

"Perform a juggling act," boasted Chloe,

and she hurried off to tell the others.

"Why are you throwing things around?" gasped Bruce, the sheepdog,

as plates crashed around him.

"Getting ready for the show," replied Chloe.

"Show? What show?" he demanded.

"The Rickety Barn show, what else?" replied the cows.

"You can't have a show without a host," advised Bruce.

"Oh..." said Chloe, because there wasn't much else to say.

Just before three o'clock,

all the performers gathered in the Rickety Barn.

Bruce stood by the door to welcome the audience.

The animals huddled nervously behind the hay bales.

At three o'clock, nobody had arrived for the show.

By five past three, the animals were starting to shuffle their feet.

By ten past three, still nobody had come through the Rickety Barn door.

"Where is everyone?" muttered Jasper.

"I've no idea," replied Austin, grumpily.

Then Sniggle squealed with laughter.

The others gave him a puzzled look.

"There's nobody to watch the show, because we're all IN it!"

There was only one thing to do. "The show must go on!" cried Jasper.

And it did.

And that story was called The Show At Rickety Barn.

Now there's an idea!

I could have a horse reciting poems and rhymes in my show.

While I get practising with Sam, it's time for you to go to bed.

I'll see you very soon for another story. Goodnight.