The Owl and the Prairie Dog Little Prairie Dogs

Beneath the American prairies, deep underground,

the little prairie dogs are stirring.

Come on, little prairie dogs, wake up!

It's time to tell a story of life on the prairies.

PRAIRIE DOG SHRIEKS

PRAIRIE DOG SQUEAKS

Snow and Ashki have woken up early this morning

and they're keen to get out and play.

Morning, Snow!

SNOW YAWNS Morning, Ashki.

-Shall we sneak out to play before Mum wakes up?

-Yeah!

Can we play king of the castle?

All right, then.

What do we have to do, again?

Oh, Snow!

Find the tallest mound you can,

stand on it so you're king, then I try to win back your castle.

OK! I'm off.

King of the castle is my most favourite game ever!

There are so many mounds to stand on all over town.

Is this one tall enough?

Eek! A big black spider!

Run!

And that one's taken.

Oh, there must be one somewhere...

I'll try this way.

BIRD SQUAWKS

Oh! What was that?

Oh, no!

Oh! What was that big fluffy monster?

I don't want to stand on top in case the big monster sees me.

Oh, I wish Ashki was here!

Hmm. This is strange. I can't see Snow.

He should be easy to spot on a mound.

Where are you, King Snow?

Oh, thank goodness! That sounds like Ashki.

Ashki! Quick! Over here!

Snow? Is that you?

Where are you?

Psst! I'm over here, behind this burrow! Come quick!

Ha ha! What's wrong, Snow?

You're supposed to be standing on top of a burrow,

not hiding behind one!

Oh, Ashki! You won't believe it.

I chose the tallest burrow, but there was a huge monster inside.

Yellow eyes and a big brown face! I got such a fright!

OK, OK. Calm down, Snow.

You're saying you saw a huge monster

with a big face and yellow eyes?

Sounds like a big hairy bison to me.

No, no! It's definitely not a bison.

It was hiding in one of our old burrows.

You couldn't fit a bison into a burrow, silly.

Hmmm. Well, come on. Let's see if we can find it again.

Oh! I know! If it wasn't a bison,

then maybe it was that badger over there.

No, it wasn't the badger either.

It was smaller than that and it definitely had big yellow eyes.

OK. Well, let's keep looking.

Which burrow was it in?

I don't know, Ashki. I ran away so fast,

but I think it was over here somewhere.

Ah! Over there!

Look!

There it is again, in that burrow!

Yellow monster eyes staring at us.

BIRD JABBERS

Oh! I'm scared!

Wow, Snow!

I see what you mean! They ARE big yellow eyes.

But they're not monsters.

Are you sure, Ashki?

They look really strange to me.

No, it's fine, Snow.

They're just one of our neighbours,

the burrowing owls.

Mum says they like us prairie dogs because they use our old burrows

to build their nests in.

Oh, Ashki! You're so clever!

Actually, close up, they're not frightening at all.

In fact, they're really cute.

Look, that one's saying, "Hello!"

-BIRD CHITTERS

-Ha! So she is!

I think they're trying to be friendly, Snow.

Look at her now. She's doing a little dance for us.

Ha ha ha! So she is! It's like the peekaboo dance.

I'm going to do it back to her.

Peekaboo!

Ha ha ha! They're playing along, Ashki!

Look! They're peekaboo-ing!

He he he! Peekaboo!

-Peekaboo!

-Peekaboo! Peekaboo!

Oh, wow, Ashki! Look at her fly!

She's really fast.

-Hmm, Ashki?

-Yes, Snow?

Why can't prairie dogs fly? I'd like to fly like Mrs Owl.

Prairie dogs don't have wings, Snow.

Owls have feathery wings

and when they open and flap their wings, they can fly.

Hmm. Well, they're not flying right now.

Shall we challenge them to a game of king of the castle?

Great idea, Snow! I'll go first.

Go on, Mrs Owl! I want to be king!

Wooo!

Whee! Ha ha ha!

Oh, I'm not king anymore, Mrs Owl.

You're really good!

OK, Snow, your turn.

But watch out.

Mrs Owl's one of the best at protecting her castle.

OK, here I go!

I'm going to be king of the castle!

Please, Mrs Owl, let me stand on the castle!

Oh, bad luck, Snow.

It's my turn again now.

I'm sure I can do it this time.

Looks like they're not at the top right now.

-Hey, I'm the king of the castle!

-Watch out, Ashki!

You're the dirty raaa...

Mrs Owl is brilliant at this game,

especially as she can fly.

-WHISPERS:

-Snow, look!

She's off her castle!

I'm going to sneak over this way. She can't see me.

Right, I'm going to make a run for it

and beat Mrs Owl to be king of the castle.

Here goes!

Oh, no!

She got there first! She really is king of the castle.

I think Mrs Owl will always win this game, Snow.

She's brilliant at defending her castle!

I think so too.

Well, it's been fun playing with them, hasn't it?

Yes, Ashki, it was a lot of fun.

I like burrowing owls. They're fun neighbours to have.

We should come back and play with them another day.

OK, Snow. So long as it's not king of the castle.

Mrs Owl is just too good at that game.

Come on! We'd better get back to Mum

and tell her about all the games we've been playing.

I wonder if she's even out of bed yet!

Snow and Ashki have had a real adventure.

They've learnt that the burrowing owls

are the best at playing king of the castle

and they've made friends with the big, yellow-eyed birds.

As dusk arrives on the prairie, it's goodbye to the burrowing owls

and goodbye to Snow and Ashki.

Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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