The Seagull Honker Old Jack's Boat

Go on, Salty!

# 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-ha!

# ..Those lovely Rockpool Tales. #

Ah, there we are. Go on, girl. Go and sit down.

Oh, dear!

-Hello.

-JACK CHUCKLES

-Oh, dearie me. What a day. Oh!

-HONKING

SALTY WHIMPERS

JACK SIGHS

Did you put that there, Salty?

Well, now, this is a funny old thing, this is.

This is the old car hooter I had when I was young.

Oh, I had a lot of fun with this, I did.

Would you like to hear the story of this car hooter?

-Would you, Salty?

-SALTY BARKS

-All right, then.

-JACK LAUGHS

It all happened when I was a boy

in a twinkly time, long, long ago.

In those days, I used to run down

to play on the beach as often as I could,

meeting up with my best friends, Little Ernie and Little Sailor Sue.

On this particular day, as we walked down to the rockpools,

-I was making a lot of noise.

-HONKING

JACK MIMICS HOOTER

"What's that?" asked Ernie.

"It's a car hooter I found. Makes a great sound," I said.

As we walked over to the rockpools, we talked about the things we liked.

I liked finding things that made different sounds.

Sue, she liked collecting stamps.

And Ernie... Well, Ernie, he liked ice cream.

"In fact," he said, "I want one right now.

"I wonder if my dad will buy me one?" And he dashed off to find out.

Well, Sue and I...thought we would keep going to the rockpools.

So off we ran.

We scrabbled over to the rocks

until we found ourselves gazing at the still surface of a rockpool.

We gazed deep down into the glittery waters...

and there...a magical world appeared before our eyes.

BUBBLING

One morning, the big, wide sea

washed an old car hooter into the rockpool.

To Andrew the Anemone

the object looked like a large shell with a fat black end.

"Look at this," Andrew said to his best friend, Sally the Starfish.

"It's very big," replied Sally.

At that moment, Bertrum the Butterfish bustled past

looking a bit flustered.

"Can you tell us what it is?" asked Andrew.

"I don't know," replied Bertrum.

He was so agitated his hat kept bouncing off his head as he spoke.

"Have you seen what's going on up there?"

Andrew and Sally looked up to the surface of the rockpool

and there, gazing down at them through the shivery water,

was the enormous face... of a seagull.

Bertrum looked worried. "Those seagulls

"get very interested in rockpools when the tide's gone out.

"Sometimes they're looking for something to eat,

"and sometimes they just want to take things back to their nests.

"It's best for us rockpoolers

"to keep away and wait for them to go away.

"So, please, don't bother me

"with questions and quash-tions about that...thing!"

And Bertrum dashed off, looking for something to scare away the seagull.

Andrew and Sally gazed at the hooter.

They really, really wanted to find out what it was.

And the best creature to answer questions and quash-tions

was Reginald the Great Wise Limpet.

But he lived on a rock by the edge of the rockpool,

right where the seagull was.

Well, just then, they were interrupted by a small voice.

"Maybe it's a shell."

It was Buster the Hermit Crab.

He scuttled over to look at the hooter.

"This would make the perfect new home for me."

Now, hermit crabs borrow shells to live in.

And then when they grow too large,

they move out of that shell and into a bigger one.

Buster clambered out of his shell and into the hooter

and after a brief scrabble, he popped his head back out.

"This is perfect," he smiled.

"Well, that's it, then," laughed Andrew, "now we know what it is.

"It's Buster's new home."

But just then Bertrum bustled back.

"Is that thing still here?" he said. "It really must go."

Sally and Andrew looked at each other.

"But it makes the perfect shell for Buster to live in," said Andrew.

"It doesn't belong here," sniffed Bertrum.

"There are plenty of other shells in the rockpool Buster could use.

"It's big and shiny and seagulls are very interested in shiny things.

"It has to go!"

And with a wary look at the seagull above, Bertrum dashed off again.

Buster was very sad, he didn't want to get rid of his new home.

He was already planning to have a sofa delivered.

"What are we going to do?" said Andrew.

Sally knew what to do.

They needed to get some advice from Reginald the Great Wise Limpet.

"But he's up there and so's the seagull," said Andrew.

"Then, we'll just have to be careful," smiled Sally.

So, the two brave but nervous friends

swam up to the surface of the rockpool,

hiding in the seaweed so the seagull couldn't see them.

When they arrived, the seagull

was walking around on his long, spindly legs.

Sally noticed a large leaf floating nearby.

"Let's hide under that and paddle across to Reginald," she said.

"The seagull will think it's just a leaf floating on the water."

So the little rockpoolers squeezed together underneath the leaf

and they slowly made their way over to the rock where Reginald lived.

Meanwhile, the seagull had stopped

and was looking at the surface of the rockpool.

There was a leaf making its slow way across the water.

Reginald was keeping a watchful eye on the seagull,

when he also noticed the leaf coming towards him.

"Interesting," he thought.

"That must be one of those newfangled clockwork leaves

"that can sail themselves."

Reginald didn't always get things quite right, did he, Salty?

"Psst!" said the leaf.

Reginald was a little surprised, now the leaf was talking to him.

It really was a very clever leaf.

"Yes, Mr Leaf," he whispered, "Can I help?"

"I'm not a leaf," said the leaf.

"You look like a leaf," said Reginald.

"It's me, Sally!" said Sally.

And she popped her head out from under the leaf.

"We need your help, oh, great, wise limpet."

But before Sally could say anything else,

there was a swoosh and the leaf suddenly shot up in the air

with Andrew and Sally holding on to it. "Yikes!"

The seagull had grabbed the leaf in its beak

and was now inspecting it carefully.

It gave the leaf a great shake and... "Whoa!"

Andrew and Sally let go and went flying back into the water.

Splish! Splosh!

SALTY WHINES

The seagull peered down into the rockpool

as Sally and Andrew spun round and round in a long trail of bubbles.

They landed with a big bump on the fat, black end of the hooter.

And then...they found out what it was.

Because the hooter let out a watery...

HONKING

A stream of honky bubbles shot poor Buster straight out of his new home

and up to the surface of the rockpool,

where he burst out in a fountain of water right in the seagull's face!

Buster flipped over the seagull's head

and splashed back into the rockpool.

Then, with a startled squawk, the seagull...

flew off as fast as he could.

He didn't want to be around if the rockpool was honking

and blasting hermit crabs at him. Oh, no!

Down below, Andrew and Sally cheered.

Now they finally knew what their object was.

It was...

a seagull honker.

Yes!

Buster floated back down to them, feeling a little dazed,

as you would if you'd just been blasted at a seagull.

Bertrum was so pleased with the seagull honker

that he bustled over and said, "The seagull honker can stay."

-Everybody cheered.

-ALL CHEER

Later, Buster cancelled his sofa delivery

and moved back into his old home,

which seemed a lot safer than living inside a seagull honker.

And, finally, Bertrum announced

that they should celebrate getting rid of the seagull.

So, the little rockpoolers had a big party

that lasted till the end of the day.

When Sue and I looked up from the rockpool,

we both wondered where Ernie was.

"Why don't you use your hooter to get his attention?" said Sue.

Well, this was a good idea, but when I looked for it, it was gone.

We looked around, but we couldn't find it anywhere.

Then, suddenly, I heard a familiar sound.

-It was my car hooter.

-HONKING

We both looked over at the beach and there was Ernie with his dad

and three wonderful ice creams.

He was honking the hooter to get our attention.

"Ice creams," he shouted. "Get your ice creams!"

JACK CHUCKLES

Well, we dashed back over to him and he laughed.

"You left your car hooter when you went over to the rockpools.

"I picked it up, I knew it'd be useful."

Well, it had worked

and we all settled down to a wonderful ice cream each.

Oh! And then we played and played

until it was time for us to go home.

JACK CHUCKLES

And the tide came in

and covered the rockpool like a great seaweedy blanket.

-JACK CHUCKLES

-And from then on,

we always honked the hooter to get each other's attention,

especially when there was ice cream to be eaten.

JACK SIGHS

HONKING

Ernie, there's an ice cream waiting for you at the Mermaid!

Oh, on my way! ERNIE CHUCKLES

So, why don't you join us for some more Rockpool Tales next time?

Bye-bye. Come on, Salty, ice-cream time.

You can have a nice biscuit

and I'll have the ice cream.