The Moon Lantern Old Jack's Boat

Good day to you.

# This is the place to be For Salty Dog and me

# Down by the harbour we'll be there

# Round every corner there's something to share

# Give us a cheer Our friends are here

# Just Salty Dog and me. #

Ha-ha, come on, Salty!

# This is the place to meet

# Down at the end of the street

# Seagulls flying up in the blue

# There's always a cup of tea waiting for you

# Out in the sun, heavens above Just Salty Dog and me

# Haul away, haul away Sing the song of the sea

# Hoist the sail, I'll tell you a tale of Salty Dog and me

# This is the place to go

# And these are the people we know

# The village is busy with things to see

# And there's the Rainbow down by the quay

# There's stories to tell, join us as well, just Salty Dog and me. #

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Right now, Salty, we've got to buy some fish for supper

and then get down to the Rainbow and polish the moon lantern.

That's the lamp we use on a dark night

when there's no moon at all.

Do you remember? Yes. Course you do. Good girl. Come on, then.

-Morning, Ernie.

-Oh, morning, Jack.

Salty and I would like a nice bit of fish for our supper.

-Ah, that could be a problem.

-Oh?

Yes, we're closed for the day.

Oh, that's a shame.

I tell you what - I'll put you a nice piece of cod to one side.

-After the delivery.

-What delivery? What...

-Eggs.

-Oh?

They're for Sam. She loves eggs.

And these beauties were laid by Emily's chickens.

-I said I'd take 'em over.

-Is that why you're closing up?

-Egg-xactly!

-Oh!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

-Oh, dear.

-Thank you.

Why don't you come with me, help me look after them?

Yes, I think you might need help.

Come on, Salty, we'll keep an eye on him.

I mean, it's not that I'm clumsy or anything.

-Dustbin!

-It's just that when I've got an important job to do...

Football!

-Elephant!

-Elephant?

No, I'm sorry. I made it up!

Paving stone. Oh!

-Oh! Thank you, Jack.

-Yes, no problem.

Look, there's Sam over there.

Yeah. Listen, I've got to polish the moon lantern today.

Do you think you can get those eggs safely to Sam there?

-Oh, yes.

-Good. Well, I'll see you later.

Those little egg boxes will be safe now.

It's not THESE egg boxes I'm worried about.

-It's the other 20 I've got to deliver.

-You're kidding? Good luck!

Whoops-a-daisy, Ernie. Steady now.

Come on, Salty, back to the Rainbow. Oh, dear.

There she is. The Rainbow. What have you got for us today, my dear?

HOOTER

Hey, come on, Salty.

HE HUMS

Here we are.

Come on, Salty, go in your bed. Good girl.

You curl up in there while I find this moon lantern.

There it is. There you are!

Here, Ernie's certainly got his hands full with those eggs.

Hoo-hoo!

Do you know what? This moon lantern

makes me recall an adventure we had involving eggs. Do you remember?

Yes. Let me get comfortable and I'll tell you the story.

Oh, yes, Salty. This will make your whiskers whiffle, this one will.

Once upon a twinkly time, the Rainbow set off from Staithes,

waved goodbye to Whitby and disappeared over the horizon.

We sailed into the night and as we sailed, we sang.

-# Just Salty Dog and me

-HOOTER

-# Upon the briny sea

-HOOTER

# The moon is round and full tonight

# It's casting out a silvery light

# And the waves seem to glimmer and sparkle and shimmer

# For Salty Dog and me. #

HOOTER

On the horizon we spied the silvery blue silhouette of a ship.

"Uh-oh," I cried. "That looks to me like the Hurly-Burly."

Now, in case you don't already know, the Hurly-Burly is a pirate ship

and it belongs to Kitty Cutlass, the trickiest pirate to sail the seas.

"Ahoy, me old diamonds!" cried Kitty,

bringing the Hurly-Burly up alongside.

"And what might you two be doing on this beautiful evening?"

"Well, Kitty, we were thinking of going for an underwater walk,"

says I.

"I'm coming, too," cried Kitty,

"because I've heard that there are stars at the bottom of the sea

"and I want to find them."

And before you could say, "Limboing lobsters,"

we were all under the waves.

Well, as we wandered along, a creature swam over.

She had a huge leathery body

that was shaped like a giant bicycle helmet

and her front flippers were very large.

"I am a leatherback turtle," she told us.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"Kitty here has heard that there are stars at the bottom of the sea,

"so we thought we'd try and find some."

"Oh, yes," said the turtle.

"There are lots of stars I could show you but I can't be too long.

"I've laid my eggs on an island not far from here."

Salty didn't know that turtles laid eggs.

"Oh, we do," replied the turtle.

"They're buried safely in the sand but they'll be hatching soon.

"Then my baby turtles find their way to the sea

"by the light of the moon."

"How many eggs have you laid?" I asked.

"127," replied the turtle.

"Turtles have big families," said Salty.

"Come on, come on, we're supposed to be searching for stars," said Kitty.

We soon found ourselves in an underwater jungly place

where a huge mountain loomed

and strange, frondy plants waggled and waved in the water.

"Look at that mountain," I said.

"It's a volcano, actually," said the turtle. "Isn't it magnificent?"

We all stopped to admire it for it was indeed magnificent.

"Your sea stars are just here," said the turtle,

pointing a flipper at a large rock.

"Oh, tickle me dimples! Look how many there are,"

cried Kitty greedily.

And, sure enough, the rock was covered

in crowds of different-coloured, beautiful, bumpy stars.

"Treasure!" cried Kitty

and she tried to pick up one of the stars. But...

"Ow!" The star let out a squeal.

"Take your hands off me at once!" it cried.

Well, Kitty, she jumped back in surprise.

"I thought you were precious treasure," she said.

"I'm a starfish," said the starfish crossly.

Kitty looked very hot and bothered.

"Sorry I disturbed you. I won't do it again," she said, blushing.

But before Kitty could get any more flustered,

we all felt an enormous rumble

and the whole of the sea bed seemed to tremble.

"Ooooh!" howled Salty.

"What's that?"

"Goodness!" cried the turtle. "The volcano is erupting."

"Quick, follow me."

So we all swam off at top speed up to the surface of the waves

and into a sandy bay.

"It's all right, we'll be safe here," said the turtle.

"This is the island where I buried my eggs."

Well, we were just in time.

In the distance, we saw a huge orange-grey plume

rising from the waves.

The volcano was erupting all right.

"Thank you for saving us," I told the turtle.

And we all sat down on the sand to watch the cloud of volcano ashes

curling upwards out of the sea.

As we looked across the beach, we suddenly saw the sand moving.

"Uh-oh!" cried the turtle. "My eggs are hatching."

As she spoke, the cloud of smoke and ashes from the volcano

curled into the sky and covered the moon.

It started getting darker, but if we squinted,

we could just see that the baby turtles had hatched

from their buried eggs and were digging themselves out of the sand.

"Oh, no!" said the turtle in a panic.

"The moon is hidden behind that dusty cloud

"and it's too dark for my babies to find the sea. What do I do?"

Then Salty's whiskers whiffled. She was having one of her bright ideas.

SHE BARKS

She pointed her paw to the Rainbow, which was anchored in the distance.

"Salty, you're a genius," I cried. "We need to light the moon lantern."

But we had to be quick

for the turtle babies were starting to appear from the sand.

"You'll never be able to swim to your ship in time," said Kitty.

"Too far away."

"I think my friends can help," said the turtle.

We went to the water's edge

and the turtle called out to all her friends.

"Leatherback turtles, wherever you are, I need your help.

"Please form a path."

And soon the sea was teeming with leatherback turtles.

They all formed a path, like stepping stones, from the beach

right across the sea to the Rainbow.

"Quick!" cried the turtles. "Use our backs as stepping stones.

"We're ever so strong."

So he did.

Hoppity, skippity, quickity, quickity. Heh!

And before we knew it, we were back aboard the Rainbow. Oh!

"Right, Salty," says I, "let's light the moon lantern."

Well, in a matter of seconds, the moon lantern had flickered into life

and it gave out a huge silvery white light, which sparkled on the sea.

The baby turtles saw the twinkling waves

and made their way safely to the sea.

"Thank you for saving my babies," called the turtle happily.

"You're welcome," we said. "Congratulations.

"You've got a lovely family.

"Look at them all."

"Tickle me dimples. That was an adventure!" cried Kitty

as she jumped back on board the Hurly-Burly and sailed away.

"Come on, Salty, my girl," I said, "we'd better get going.

"That's more than enough excitement for one night."

So, with the silvery light of our moon lantern to guide us,

we sailed all the way home.

Did you like that story, Salty? Yeah?

All true, of course. Mind you, my stories always are.

HE CHUCKLES

Oh! Look.

Oh, dear.

Come on.

-Oh, hello, Jack, Salty.

-How did you get on with the egg delivery?

All the eggs were delivered carefully and safely,

without any mishaps whatsoever.

-Was Sam pleased to get them?

-Were you pleased to get the eggs?

-Lovely, Ernie.

-Just...

-What the doctor ordered.

-No, no. Just one problem.

-What's that, then, Ernie?

Well, Sam's oven wasn't working

so we have to take the eggs down to Shelly's caff to have them cooked.

-It's a smashing idea.

-It certainly is that.

-Off we go, Sam.

-Right you are.

Dustbin!

Football!

-Elephant!

-Elephant?

Ha-ha! That's what Jack said.

ALL LAUGH

-Pavement.

-Oh!

Oh, dear.

We might have missed our fish supper

but I think there will be scrambled eggs at the Mermaid Cafe tonight.

Come on, Salty. Oh, dear me!

Well, Salty, that's it for today.

We'll see all our friends again next time.

Oh, and we'll see YOU next time as well. Bye-bye.

Come on, girl.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd