Seaweed Knitting Old Jack's Boat

Hello, there. How are you today?

Salty and I have a tale or two to tell you

about this beach, and the rockpools,

and all the magical things that have happened here.

# Come with me, we're off to the sea

# To where I used to play

# Looking back when I was a boy and the fun we had each day

# Over the cobbles and through the streets

# Playing in the sun

# Friends to meet with games and treats

# Adventures just begun

# Stories from a magical world Washed in by the sea

# Meet the rockpool creatures there It's amazing what you see

# Looking back when I was a boy

# Shrimps and starfish Crabs and snails

# In twinkly Rockpool Tales... #

Ha-ha!

# Those lovely Rockpool Tales. #

Ah, hello.

It's feeling rather chilly in Staithes today,

so Salty's wearing her special winter coat.

Yes, Salty, you look lovely, you do. Yes. And I've got this.

It's an old balaclava, you see.

There we are. Watch this. Let's see. Just put it on.

There we are.

There we are. How do I look, Salty? I'll put my glasses on as well.

There. Doesn't look bad, does it? HE LAUGHS

SALTY WHINES

Lovely. Right, then.

Do you know, I remember a time, quite a while back now,

when Little Ernie wasn't so keen to wear his balaclava.

Yes, it all happened when I was a boy,

in a twinkly time long, long ago.

I used to run down to the beach as often as I could,

meeting up with my best friends, Little Ernie

and Little Sailor Sue.

My hands are really cold today.

We used to play on the beach in all weathers

and, as long as we were wrapped up warm, we would stay out for hours.

Well, one day, we were wearing our woolly hats and scarves.

Ernie had a balaclava.

Now, Ernie's balaclava was new.

His auntie had given it to him as a present.

"Let's play Woolly Monsters," suggested Sue.

So we chased each other down the beach.

But suddenly Ernie stopped and tugged off his balaclava.

It's scratchy. I don't want to wear it any more!

And at that moment, the wind whipped the balaclava out of his hand

and blew it along the beach.

We chased it as it tumbled along,

and it landed by the rockpools.

Got it.

We were right by our favourite rockpool by then,

and as we gazed deep down into the glittery green waters,

a magical world appeared before our eyes.

It was a wintry day in the rockpool

and the tide had washed in a tangly jungle of seaweed.

And when Sally the Starfish tried to get out of her home,

she got all tangled up.

"Scupper my suppers," she giggled.

"I'm in a bit of a tangle."

She wasn't the only one.

As the other creatures tried to come out of their homes, one by one,

they all got into terrible tangles.

Bertrum the Butterfish had long, seaweedy fronds

twining around, all over his long body.

Sidney the Snail had seaweed twisted around his feelers,

and Sheena - oh! - she looked like she'd grown a garden

on her little shrimpy body.

The creatures let out lots of "Oohs" and "Oh, ho-ho! "Oh, that tickles!"

as they tried to struggle free.

And then Buster the Crab popped his head out of his doorway.

"What's all the fuss about?" he snapped.

"There's so much seaweed we can't get out of our homes," cried Sally.

"Well, I could sort that out," said Buster. "It's easy."

A snip here and a snap there -

he used his claws to clip a pathway,

and with a few more snips here, and a few more snaps there,

he'd soon freed all his friends.

"Snip, snap, this way and that. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!"

So Sally rolled up all the loose snippings

into a big seaweedy ball.

"Snip, snap, this way and that."

And then Sheena had an idea.

She took the loose ends from the giant seaweed ball

and wound it round her legs.

And then she started to

clickety clicketyclack them, very speedily.

"What are you doing?" asked Sally.

"I'm knitting the seaweed!" said Sheena, giggling.

"Oh, how clever. Can you knit me

"a nice, thick, seaweedy scarf, please?" said Buster.

"Yes, of course."

And soon Sheena had knitted a beautiful seaweed scarf for Buster,

a cosy shell cover for Sidney,

a long, thin sock for Bertrum,

and a lovely little knitted top for herself.

The creatures all felt a lot warmer, and they looked good, too.

"But what about Reginald?" said Buster.

Poor Reginald the Great Wise Limpet

was stuck on his rock in the world up top,

and he must have been feeling ever so cold.

"Poor Reginald. Yes, I'll knit him something as well," said Sheena.

"And you can take it to him, Buster."

So, Sheena knitted Reginald a special balaclava.

Now, we know what a balaclava is,

but the rockpoolers didn't.

So Sally made up a name.

"It's a...

"It's a special warm thing," she said.

When Buster went up top to deliver it,

Reginald looked bright blue with the cold.

"Oh, Great Wise Limpet, you look rather blue," said Buster.

"Here's a warm thing. Sheena knitted it for you."

REGINALD CHITTERS

"Thank you a thousand times.

"I-I-I am so v-v-v-ery, very cold," said Reginald.

But just then, there was a loud "Caw-waaah!"

and a seagull swooped down and pecked at the warm thing.

SALTY BARKS

Yeah, I know, seagulls are terribly troublesome sometimes,

aren't they, Salty? Yeah.

"Get off, you feathery pirate!" cried Reginald.

"Leave my warm thing alone."

But the seagull, he was cold too,

and it wanted the warm thing.

It swooped down again and tugged at it with its beak.

"It's not nice to snatch," said Reginald.

"Stop!" cried Buster, and with a quick whip of his claw,

he grabbed the warm thing.

But the seagull would not let go.

Up and up it flew, and Buster went too,

desperately clinging to the warm thing.

"Oh! Help! Help! Buster's in the sky!" cried Reginald.

All the creatures popped their heads out of the rockpool

to see what was going on.

At that moment, the seagull opened his beak,

and suddenly Buster was tumbling through the sky.

"Ohhh, I'm fa-a-a-alling!" he cried.

"I can't look!" cried Sidney, disappearing into his shell.

Then the wind got caught under the warm thing. Woosh!

And it spread it out like a woolly parachute.

"It's OK! Wee-hee-hee!

"I'm all right now!" Buster cried,

as he landed safely back in the rockpool

with a gentle splash.

"Here we go, Reginald," he said.

"Have your warm thing back. Ha-ha-ha!"

Reginald felt very snugly in his warm thing.

"Perhaps the seagull is cold, too," said Sally,

watching the seagull as it landed nearby.

"It does look a bit blue."

So Sheena disappeared for a moment,

then reappeared with a special seaweed bobble hat.

"Here you are, seagull, this is for you," she said,

tossing it up into the sky.

The seagull took off and swooped down.

And it squawked, "Thank you!"

And it scooped up the bobble hat onto his cold, feathery head.

They're very clever, the seagulls in Staithes, you know.

Oh, yes, they are.

Well, by the time we'd finished looking in the rockpool,

Ernie's ears felt icy.

I hope they don't drop off!

He rubbed his ears, and he complained because

he didn't like the scratchy balaclava.

Here, we'll swap.

So I gave Ernie my hat,

and I wore the balaclava,

and we were all snug and warm.

And it wasn't really itchy at all.

THEY SHOUT

-Let's play tig! I'll be it!

-No!

And so we ran back onto the beach like three woolly beasts,

waving our arms and roaring into the wind.

We played for the rest of the day,

until the tide came in

and covered the rockpool like a great seaweedy blanket.

Sometimes, it's good to be a woolly beast, Salty.

Isn't it, eh?

Yeah, that's right, yeah.

"Waaah! Come and join us next time

"for some more Rockpool Tales!

"Wo-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Goodbye.