In tonight's story, we're joining our old friend Snaffles- you remember? The cute little creature that took all the socks from the neighbourhood's washing lines? Well, Snaffles has been quiet recently as he's been busy with a brilliant new project - he’s opening a shop filled with lost and broken things that he's turned into treasure. It's opening night! So relax, get sleepy, and let's begin.
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Suzanna Mcloughlin
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to Kuala Moon, your podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:19
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00:00:36
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00:00:39
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00:00:42
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00:00:45
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Speaker 1: don't forget to follow the show on your pod app
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Speaker 1: know of any new story ideas that you have. Okay,
00:01:02
Speaker 1: so back to tonight. Have you ever heard the phrase
00:01:05
Speaker 1: one man's trash is another man's treasure. Well, we're soon
00:01:09
Speaker 1: going to meet up with our delightful little creature who
00:01:12
Speaker 1: embodies this idea wholeheartedly. He sees promise and potential in everything,
00:01:18
Speaker 1: his creativity and enthusiasm means he really does find ingenious
00:01:23
Speaker 1: ways to inject life back into litter and all the
00:01:26
Speaker 1: left behind items that he comes across. Our little friend
00:01:30
Speaker 1: may be sounding quite familiar, as you did meet him once.
00:01:34
Speaker 1: He's fluffy and he has a deep love of socks.
00:01:38
Speaker 1: He's Kamal and Mina's new friend, and they're heading through
00:01:42
Speaker 1: the woods to see him again. Yeah, it's Snaffles. You
00:01:45
Speaker 1: remember the cute little creature that took all the socks
00:01:48
Speaker 1: from the neighbour's washing lines. Well, Snaffles has been quiet
00:01:52
Speaker 1: recently as he's been busy with a brilliant new project.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: He's opening a shop filled with lost and broken things
00:02:00
Speaker 1: that he's turned into treasure. Treasure. Now, lie back in
00:02:06
Speaker 1: bed and close your eyes. Take some lovely, steady breaths
00:02:11
Speaker 1: as we delved gently into snaffles Little Shop of Treasures
00:02:17
Speaker 1: by Susannah McGlaughlin. There was a hot summer's day when
00:02:29
Speaker 1: Mina and Kamal decided to visit Snaffles again. The neighborhood
00:02:33
Speaker 1: was warm and still, and there were flowers sprouting from
00:02:37
Speaker 1: everywhere and bumblebees buzzing from garden to garden. The smell
00:02:43
Speaker 1: of barbecue smoke hung in the air, and kids strolled
00:02:46
Speaker 1: through the village, riding bikes and having water fights. It
00:02:51
Speaker 1: had been months since Mina and Kamal first met Snaffles,
00:02:55
Speaker 1: the pompom of a creature who was like a smiling
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Speaker 1: golden cloud on legs with a sock on each foot.
00:03:02
Speaker 1: Of course, when they found him, they had been on
00:03:05
Speaker 1: a mission to find all the socks that had been
00:03:07
Speaker 1: squirreled away from people's washing lines. It turned out the
00:03:12
Speaker 1: sock thief was smaller and fluffier than they expected. When
00:03:16
Speaker 1: Mina and Kamal were led to Snaffle's home, the hollow
00:03:19
Speaker 1: of a tree, where the walls were hung with socks,
00:03:22
Speaker 1: and they were in use everywhere you looked, as mittens
00:03:25
Speaker 1: and ear muffs, as tea cosey's and cushions, and everything
00:03:30
Speaker 1: else you could think a sock could possibly be. He'd
00:03:33
Speaker 1: used them for everything, apart from putting them on his feet.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: Silly old Snaffles. Anyway, Mina and Kamal had put everything right,
00:03:44
Speaker 1: and once Snaffles realized the socks left out on the
00:03:47
Speaker 1: lines weren't intended for him, he stopped snaffling them away
00:03:52
Speaker 1: and only helped himself to the handmade ones the neighborhood
00:03:55
Speaker 1: had started making and leaving out especially for him at
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Speaker 1: the bottoms of their garden. The fluffy little creature hadn't
00:04:04
Speaker 1: been seen in anybody's garden for a while, though, in fact,
00:04:08
Speaker 1: believe it or not, Tina at number fifteen had pinned
00:04:11
Speaker 1: a stripy pair of socks for him the night before,
00:04:14
Speaker 1: and they were still there the next morning, shining with dew.
00:04:19
Speaker 1: That was unusual, and Mina and Kamal thought they'd better
00:04:22
Speaker 1: check everything was okay, So after breakfast they headed down
00:04:27
Speaker 1: to the bottom of the garden and into the golden
00:04:29
Speaker 1: field beyond. They crossed the field towards the cluster of
00:04:34
Speaker 1: oak trees that backed onto the forest, slowed down by
00:04:38
Speaker 1: an impromptu cartwheel competition and a short break to stare
00:04:42
Speaker 1: down a rabbit hole. Once into the green shade of
00:04:46
Speaker 1: the trees, they headed over to Snaffles Tree. Now, thanks
00:04:51
Speaker 1: to Graham at number three, there was a carefully whittled
00:04:55
Speaker 1: sign over his round red door reading Snaffles in curly lets.
00:05:01
Speaker 1: The door knocker had a sock over it, as if
00:05:04
Speaker 1: to keep it warm. Mina and Kamal shrugged and knocked
00:05:08
Speaker 1: with their fists instead. Before they could go for their
00:05:13
Speaker 1: second rap on the wooden door. It burst open, and
00:05:17
Speaker 1: a blur of orange fluff went tearing past down the path,
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Speaker 1: arms full of packages. Snaffles's voice drifted back over his
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Speaker 1: shoulder as he went, Hello, Mina, Hello Tamar, he said,
00:05:32
Speaker 1: as they began to follow him into sleepy forest. It's
00:05:36
Speaker 1: jolly nice to see you too, and on such a
00:05:40
Speaker 1: special day. Yes, it's awfully imbortant, a very big day
00:05:45
Speaker 1: for old Snaffles. The kids grinned at each other as
00:05:50
Speaker 1: they tried to keep up with their friend a big day.
00:05:54
Speaker 1: Mina asked, why what have you been looking up these
00:06:01
Speaker 1: past few weeks, Snaffles? Kamal chuckled. Snaffles stopped on the
00:06:06
Speaker 1: path and whirled round to show his beaming smile. Well, Camal,
00:06:13
Speaker 1: I've been starting a business. Her business, Mina said, A
00:06:21
Speaker 1: business I've been opening. Snaffles swept his hand across the air,
00:06:28
Speaker 1: as if imagining the sign over the door. Snaffles is
00:06:33
Speaker 1: trash Emporium. Mina and Kamal swapped amused looks. Who would
00:06:41
Speaker 1: come to buy trash trash emporium? Kamal questioned, Yeah, I
00:06:51
Speaker 1: was going to go with garbage shop, but I thought
00:06:55
Speaker 1: that sounded more luxurious. Snaffles grinned, hi ive been collecting
00:07:01
Speaker 1: lost and broken things, and today I'm opening my shop
00:07:06
Speaker 1: to sell my wares. It all started with the socks.
00:07:10
Speaker 1: When you told me they go on your feet, I
00:07:12
Speaker 1: couldn't believe it. I was using them for all sorts
00:07:15
Speaker 1: of purposes that had nothing to do with keeping your
00:07:18
Speaker 1: toes toasty. And I started to think of the other
00:07:22
Speaker 1: things I use and how some of those started off
00:07:27
Speaker 1: with totally different purposes too. I want to show people
00:07:32
Speaker 1: that lost and broken bits and bobs can be put
00:07:36
Speaker 1: to good use. All you need is a little imagination.
00:07:42
Speaker 1: You've got lots of that, Snaffles Mina laughed. Indeed, I do,
00:07:49
Speaker 1: Snaffles giggled. But I can't stop and chat. I've got
00:07:53
Speaker 1: a shop to open. Follow me, friends, And with that
00:07:58
Speaker 1: he twirled on his toes headed back along the path,
00:08:01
Speaker 1: humming hurriedly. Every now and then he added a little
00:08:07
Speaker 1: skip to his steps, so excited was he to finish
00:08:11
Speaker 1: his big project. After following the path past two old oaks,
00:08:17
Speaker 1: a maple grove, and a batch of silver birch trees,
00:08:21
Speaker 1: the three friends came to a clearing and Snaffles bundled
00:08:26
Speaker 1: into a ramshackle cabin, dumping all of his packages and
00:08:30
Speaker 1: beckoning the kids to come see. Kamal and Mina were
00:08:36
Speaker 1: busy taking in the view of this peculiar structure. The
00:08:40
Speaker 1: cabin seemed to have been built by Snaffles. There was
00:08:45
Speaker 1: a little tuft of yellow fur stuck on a nail
00:08:48
Speaker 1: on the roof. The whole thing had been designed to
00:08:52
Speaker 1: look like a wooden mushroom, with a round base and
00:08:56
Speaker 1: a bulbous rounded roof. A one key he chimney poked
00:09:01
Speaker 1: out of the top, and odd shaped stained glass windows
00:09:05
Speaker 1: were built into the wall, looking out into the forest.
00:09:09
Speaker 1: Snaffles was grinning out of one, now, his face funnily
00:09:14
Speaker 1: distorted by the glass. Snaffles opened the window and called
00:09:20
Speaker 1: glass bottles. I made the windows from a mosaic of
00:09:24
Speaker 1: glass bottles. Some I found on the beach, the others
00:09:29
Speaker 1: I got from Betty Badgers. Her sodas come in all
00:09:32
Speaker 1: sorts of candy colored bottles. Mina and Camal grinned. The
00:09:38
Speaker 1: effect was beautiful in and off the kilter fairy tale
00:09:42
Speaker 1: kind of way. It already looked like the cottage was
00:09:47
Speaker 1: at home in the clearing, with bright green moss growing
00:09:50
Speaker 1: on the window sill and red and white toadstools shooting
00:09:54
Speaker 1: out of the grass, little mirror versions of the big
00:09:57
Speaker 1: wooden mushroom above. A painted sign above the door, reading
00:10:03
Speaker 1: Snaffles's Trash Emporium, glistened in the sun. Don't touch it,
00:10:09
Speaker 1: it's still drying, Snaffles warned. The kids climbed the three
00:10:16
Speaker 1: creaky stairs and stepped into the shop. It was a
00:10:20
Speaker 1: wonderland of shining trinkets and odds and ends, all glimmering
00:10:26
Speaker 1: in warm orange light. It was like a gleaming treasure trove,
00:10:32
Speaker 1: but instead of jewels and gems, the treasures with things
00:10:36
Speaker 1: like pennies and bottle tops. The golden light twinkled and
00:10:41
Speaker 1: caught on them regardless, and the whole thing was glorious.
00:10:46
Speaker 1: It was almost too much to take in. Mina's breath
00:10:51
Speaker 1: caught in wonder Oh Snaffles, it's wonderful, she said, and
00:10:59
Speaker 1: she really meant it. Every inch of surface was covered
00:11:05
Speaker 1: in things, something she didn't recognize and something she did.
00:11:11
Speaker 1: It was like a museum of oddities, like a gorgeous
00:11:15
Speaker 1: shimmering lost and found. Kamal picked up the tip of
00:11:21
Speaker 1: an acorn, which he assumed had blown in through the window,
00:11:25
Speaker 1: and went to flick it out of the front door.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: Snaffles rushed over on his little feet and stopped him.
00:11:32
Speaker 1: Put it back. Please, that's going to be a best seller, Kamal,
00:11:37
Speaker 1: Snaffles said. Kamal squinted at the little acorn cap in puzzlement.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: What do you mean, he asked. Snaffles raised his eyebrows
00:11:48
Speaker 1: as if it was obvious for the snails, it's a
00:11:53
Speaker 1: snail hat. Snaffles carefully took the acorn tip and put
00:12:00
Speaker 1: it back on the shelf next to a line of others.
00:12:05
Speaker 1: Kamal approached and looked at them closer. Oh yeah, Kamal said,
00:12:12
Speaker 1: I see that. Now they've got tiny tassels. It was true.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: On the end of each stalk of each acorn cap,
00:12:23
Speaker 1: Snaffles had carefully sown a miniature tassel from loose thread.
00:12:30
Speaker 1: Snaffles began giving the kids a tour of the shop,
00:12:33
Speaker 1: beaming with pride. He picked up a sheet of paper
00:12:37
Speaker 1: which he'd framed and propped on a shelf. See this,
00:12:41
Speaker 1: he said, People leave all sorts of treasures laying in
00:12:45
Speaker 1: the grass. This is a poem I found near the
00:12:50
Speaker 1: general store. A dreamy look clouded his eyes. It's romantic. Really.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: A poet wrote this and lost it and it floated
00:13:04
Speaker 1: on the breeze into my paws. Now we have no
00:13:09
Speaker 1: way of finding out who they are or what was
00:13:13
Speaker 1: their true meaning. With this poem. All we have is
00:13:18
Speaker 1: there words. He cleared his throat and began to recite
00:13:25
Speaker 1: one punnet of strawberries, three bunches of grapes, one bag
00:13:34
Speaker 1: of onions. Mina cut him off, Snaffles. She said, there's
00:13:40
Speaker 1: not a poem, it's a shopping list. Snaffles squinted at
00:13:46
Speaker 1: the paper for a moment, then giggled. Hah, yeah, he said.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: He read the paper again in his hand, realization dawning
00:13:56
Speaker 1: in his eyes. You're right, but Mina, anything can be poetry,
00:14:02
Speaker 1: really beauties in the ear of the beholder. He put
00:14:08
Speaker 1: the frame shopping list back on the shelf and bumbled
00:14:12
Speaker 1: on to the next shelf alone. He picked up a
00:14:16
Speaker 1: round piece of glass and held it up to his eye.
00:14:20
Speaker 1: The golden brown eye behind the lens grew in size
00:14:24
Speaker 1: as he peered through. It was a lost lens from
00:14:28
Speaker 1: someone's glasses, someone who had very bad sight. Indeed, it
00:14:34
Speaker 1: seemed a magnifying glass, Snaffles said, placing it in Kamal's
00:14:41
Speaker 1: hand and ushering him over to the shelves. You can
00:14:45
Speaker 1: use it to look at teeny tiny things like these.
00:14:52
Speaker 1: Kamal held the lens near his eye and bent over
00:14:56
Speaker 1: the shelf, where neat rows of little crumpled bits of
00:14:59
Speaker 1: pace paper stood in regiment, like little soldiers waiting for orders.
00:15:06
Speaker 1: As Kamal moved the lens and the image began to
00:15:10
Speaker 1: come clear, he gasped. The paper wasn't crumpled. It was
00:15:16
Speaker 1: folded into tens of little, tiny paper frogs. Snaffles had
00:15:23
Speaker 1: made the most beautiful, precise, tiny oregarmi frogs, each one
00:15:30
Speaker 1: glimmered in a different color, all rich, shining jewel tones.
00:15:38
Speaker 1: Are they sweet wrappers, Kamal asked. Snaffles nodded proudly from
00:15:45
Speaker 1: Papapriline's extra sticky, chocky coated toffees. Kamal sniffed the air.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: The frogs did smell kind of chocolatey. He handed the
00:15:56
Speaker 1: glasses lens to Mina, who looked at snafflesnature creations in wonder.
00:16:03
Speaker 1: She told him she thought they were simply marvelous, and
00:16:07
Speaker 1: that she herself would like a miniature frog. Army. Snaffles
00:16:11
Speaker 1: took one and pressed it into her hand, promising he'd
00:16:15
Speaker 1: make her more. After opening day. He said he'd make
00:16:19
Speaker 1: her a whole legion of the things. Next, Snaffles said
00:16:24
Speaker 1: he had more art to show them, taking them behind
00:16:27
Speaker 1: the counter with the till on it. In a little
00:16:30
Speaker 1: alcove above his head, there was a stand labeled with
00:16:35
Speaker 1: a little card that read Sculpture by Snaffles. On the
00:16:40
Speaker 1: stand was a sculpture of a happy little bat made
00:16:43
Speaker 1: out of an old broken umbrella. Snaffles had bent the
00:16:47
Speaker 1: broken metal spokes to make its body and stretched the
00:16:51
Speaker 1: black material over the top for its skin. Who was
00:16:55
Speaker 1: so cute and the perfect Halloween decoration. Though Halloween was
00:17:00
Speaker 1: months away. It was even waterproof, perfect for the garden.
00:17:06
Speaker 1: A cabinet near the doorway was full of broken toys
00:17:10
Speaker 1: that Snaffles had made sweet again, covering chips in wooden
00:17:14
Speaker 1: toys with little fabric band aids, attaching lost doll arms
00:17:19
Speaker 1: with yarn, and fashioning them in a little sling from
00:17:22
Speaker 1: an old handkerchief. He'd replaced the lost wheel of a
00:17:27
Speaker 1: toy car with a polished round stone and put a
00:17:31
Speaker 1: little felted badger in its front seat as its driver
00:17:36
Speaker 1: and pride of place. On the table in the center
00:17:40
Speaker 1: of the room, surrounded by jars of odd buttons and
00:17:44
Speaker 1: piles of door handles and bits and bobs like that
00:17:48
Speaker 1: was a violin, freshly polished and gleaming. It had three
00:17:54
Speaker 1: normal strings, but the fourth was made of a pondreed,
00:17:58
Speaker 1: woven tight and stretch to cross the instrument. Snaffles picked
00:18:03
Speaker 1: up the bow and demonstrated the changes he'd made to
00:18:06
Speaker 1: the once broken violin. Its new string sounded much different
00:18:12
Speaker 1: to the others, and whilst he soared his bow over
00:18:16
Speaker 1: the first three strings, making a jolly melody, he plucked
00:18:20
Speaker 1: the grass one and it plink blanked in a funny
00:18:23
Speaker 1: way that somehow made the song feel fuller and more bouncy.
00:18:29
Speaker 1: Mina and Camal hooked elbows and danced in circles while
00:18:34
Speaker 1: Snaffles played, and Caamal even did a funny little jig
00:18:38
Speaker 1: that made the kids laugh. Finally, Snaffles said he wanted
00:18:44
Speaker 1: to show them one more thing. It was a vase
00:18:48
Speaker 1: covered in delicate paintings of flowers and carts pulled by
00:18:53
Speaker 1: horses and little cowboys swirling their little lassoos. But most notable,
00:19:00
Speaker 1: it was cracked all over, as if it had been
00:19:05
Speaker 1: smashed to smithereens and put back together it had. What
00:19:11
Speaker 1: made it extra special is that the paste that connected
00:19:15
Speaker 1: each piece was a bright shining gold. Kamal trace the
00:19:22
Speaker 1: golden cracks with his finger. He was beautiful, like a
00:19:27
Speaker 1: cracked river bed or golden paths. Forking through the landscape
00:19:31
Speaker 1: of the painted vase. Kintsugi, Snaffles said proudly. Kint What
00:19:40
Speaker 1: e Mina asked, Snaffles explained. He said kintsugi was a
00:19:46
Speaker 1: Japanese tradition, the art of putting broken things back together.
00:19:52
Speaker 1: He explained that broken pottery would be carefully and lovingly
00:19:57
Speaker 1: put back together using powdered gold or silver in the
00:20:01
Speaker 1: glue that holds it back together. This way, the broken
00:20:06
Speaker 1: thing becomes more beautiful than when it was whole. It
00:20:11
Speaker 1: just shows. He said that if a mistake is made
00:20:15
Speaker 1: or something breaks, with a little t l C. It
00:20:19
Speaker 1: can come back stronger than before. As they continued gazing
00:20:25
Speaker 1: at the vase, the kids began to notice a ruckus outside.
00:20:30
Speaker 1: Merry voices were laughing. An odd clattering and thudding made
00:20:35
Speaker 1: it sound like a party was being set up in
00:20:37
Speaker 1: the clearing. Snaffles was expecting the kerfuffle. He whooped and
00:20:43
Speaker 1: headed outside. Their vendors were setting up their little stores
00:20:49
Speaker 1: and a band was warming up. Snaffles headed back into
00:20:53
Speaker 1: the wooden mushroom cabin and came out with a white
00:20:56
Speaker 1: bed sheet on which he'd painted the words grand Opening.
00:21:02
Speaker 1: He was much too short to put it up, so
00:21:04
Speaker 1: Mina and Kamal hung it for him whilst he said
00:21:07
Speaker 1: things like left, a little right, a little no, the
00:21:11
Speaker 1: other right. The band soon began to play. They were
00:21:17
Speaker 1: a jazz band with shining brass instruments gleaming in the sunshine.
00:21:22
Speaker 1: The front man was a whale, with a fish bowl
00:21:25
Speaker 1: of water on his head like a space helmet, and
00:21:29
Speaker 1: true to his species, he was wailing away to the songs. Slowly,
00:21:35
Speaker 1: the clearing filled with animals of all kinds who'd come
00:21:40
Speaker 1: from all areas of sleepy forest. A little koala named
00:21:45
Speaker 1: Coco in his family entered the party, and Coco joined
00:21:49
Speaker 1: the band, playing on a pink ukulele, whilst his little
00:21:53
Speaker 1: sister Kira danced with their grandpa. Everyone was here to
00:21:58
Speaker 1: show their support to Snaffles. Soon a line twisted out
00:22:04
Speaker 1: of the wooden mushroom and across the grass. People standing
00:22:09
Speaker 1: in nine were served cloudy lemonade by Betty Badger and
00:22:13
Speaker 1: given hot dogs fresh off the barbecue by Munchie the Raccoon.
00:22:19
Speaker 1: Mina and Kamal each wolfed down a hot dog before
00:22:23
Speaker 1: slipping back into the shop, where they were sure Snaffles
00:22:26
Speaker 1: would need a hand. Even though the cabin was large,
00:22:32
Speaker 1: it was crammed with furry animals, all with their eyes
00:22:36
Speaker 1: sparkling and mouths hanging open at the treasures around them.
00:22:41
Speaker 1: Snaffles was darting between them, sometimes weaving through legs or
00:22:46
Speaker 1: climbing over tables a flash of fur, calling out excuse
00:22:51
Speaker 1: me and what can I do for yous? And thank you?
00:22:56
Speaker 1: Come agains. Mina and Kamal told him they'd take over
00:23:00
Speaker 1: the cash registers whilst he served the customers, and he
00:23:04
Speaker 1: gave them a grateful smile. As busy as he was,
00:23:09
Speaker 1: Snaffles was all aglow and full of pride that his
00:23:13
Speaker 1: new dream had come true. The first customer in the
00:23:18
Speaker 1: queue was Peanut the Armadillo, the jet setting tourists who
00:23:23
Speaker 1: was always off to foreign lands. He placed a pair
00:23:27
Speaker 1: of sunglasses on the table. The lenses were made with
00:23:31
Speaker 1: old CDs cut down the little circles with the little
00:23:35
Speaker 1: hole in the middle for looking through. They were pretty
00:23:39
Speaker 1: strange and intriguing, so Kamalal asked to try them on.
00:23:44
Speaker 1: The glasses weren't so good at shielding his eyes. From
00:23:47
Speaker 1: the sun, but as they shone in the light, they
00:23:51
Speaker 1: let off little rainbow like beams, which Mina told him
00:23:55
Speaker 1: looked pretty cool. When Peanut put them on, he looked
00:24:00
Speaker 1: funny with these little beady eyes peeking through the round
00:24:03
Speaker 1: silver discs, but he strutted and twirled, and his attitude
00:24:08
Speaker 1: brought the look together perfectly. He traded the glasses for
00:24:13
Speaker 1: five golden buttons and three acorns, which the siblings new
00:24:18
Speaker 1: Snaffles would be thrilled with. Next in the queue was Cuddle,
00:24:23
Speaker 1: the Little Platypus and her kangaroo best friend, Kevin. Kamal
00:24:29
Speaker 1: reached down to take the lunch box she was buying
00:24:32
Speaker 1: from her little Paws and set it on the counter.
00:24:36
Speaker 1: It was an old tin lunch box that had been
00:24:39
Speaker 1: polished and buffed to look almost new. On the front,
00:24:44
Speaker 1: it had a character from an old TV show who
00:24:47
Speaker 1: looked like a wizard with a long stripy scarf. Cuddle
00:24:52
Speaker 1: grinned and said she'd watched the old recordings of the
00:24:55
Speaker 1: show with her dad. She said the wizard guy fought
00:24:59
Speaker 1: alien and flew a spaceship. Kamal and Mina thought that
00:25:04
Speaker 1: sounded pretty cool. Cuddle handed Mina a broken pen and
00:25:11
Speaker 1: a slinky in payment for the lunch box, which Mina
00:25:14
Speaker 1: accepted with a grin. Cudd Ale waddled out, Kevin bouncing
00:25:19
Speaker 1: next to her, both looking at the sheeny shiny lunch box.
00:25:25
Speaker 1: Then Fritz the Frog hopped onto the counter. He had
00:25:29
Speaker 1: a handful of Oregarmi frogs in his webbed fingers. He
00:25:34
Speaker 1: grinned and popped them down in front of the kids.
00:25:37
Speaker 1: These please, Kamal counted six little frogs there for my
00:25:44
Speaker 1: cousin Filimina. Fritz said, they reminded me of her, since
00:25:48
Speaker 1: she's the teeniest weeniest frog I know. He chuckled for
00:25:55
Speaker 1: the frogs. Fritz left behind a lovely sheet of fabric
00:25:59
Speaker 1: woven from reeds and a few dried water lilies. The
00:26:03
Speaker 1: Snaffles could definitely make use off for his art, and
00:26:08
Speaker 1: so the afternoon went on with customer after customer making
00:26:13
Speaker 1: trades and purchases. When Snaffles finally flipped the open sign
00:26:19
Speaker 1: to closed, the shop was a little depleted, but the
00:26:23
Speaker 1: till was full. Though the shop was closed, the party
00:26:29
Speaker 1: continued and heading outside to join in, Snaffles let loose.
00:26:35
Speaker 1: He took his violin from the shop and played along
00:26:39
Speaker 1: with the band. His legs, bending and kicking and jigging
00:26:43
Speaker 1: as they played. He Camal and Mina played games tossing
00:26:48
Speaker 1: bean bags into baskets and playing jump rope with Snaffles,
00:26:53
Speaker 1: hopping and skipping as the kids chanted rhymes and twirled
00:26:56
Speaker 1: the rope. The sun soon began to sink down towards
00:27:01
Speaker 1: the horizon, and the sky was painted in rich pinks
00:27:06
Speaker 1: and purples and blues. The little creatures began to yawn
00:27:12
Speaker 1: and head back to their homes, patting Snaffles on the back,
00:27:16
Speaker 1: giving him hugs, and offering him their heartfelt congratulations as
00:27:21
Speaker 1: they left. Soon it was just Kamal, Mina and Snaffles
00:27:27
Speaker 1: left in the clearing. Snaffles locked the door of the
00:27:31
Speaker 1: shop with a big old brass key, and the three
00:27:35
Speaker 1: of them headed back towards his tree. Mina and Kamal
00:27:40
Speaker 1: each reached an arm down around Snaffles's shoulders and told
00:27:45
Speaker 1: him they were proud of him. They thought his trash
00:27:49
Speaker 1: Emporium was going to be a great success. They did
00:27:54
Speaker 1: tell him he should change the name, though, they said
00:27:57
Speaker 1: not one thing in that shop could be considered trash.
00:28:01
Speaker 1: It was all treasure. They led Snaffles back to his hollow,
00:28:08
Speaker 1: kindly refusing his offer. Of a cup of tea. They
00:28:12
Speaker 1: could see that he was yawning and slouching lower into himself,
00:28:17
Speaker 1: like he was about to fall asleep where he stood.
00:28:22
Speaker 1: They bade him a final good night before heading back home.
00:28:29
Speaker 1: As they walked back through the field of golden wheat,
00:28:33
Speaker 1: the air was perfectly still. A handful of stars began
00:28:38
Speaker 1: to dot the night, peeking through the colors of the
00:28:42
Speaker 1: sunset sky. The siblings were both yawning as they trudged
00:28:48
Speaker 1: back to their home, each step feeling heavy as they
00:28:52
Speaker 1: began to look forward to their warm and cozy beds.
00:28:58
Speaker 1: Kamal said that he was proud of their friend, but
00:29:02
Speaker 1: he hoped that he'd still be coming around to their
00:29:05
Speaker 1: street looking for socks now and again. Mina agreed and
00:29:12
Speaker 1: said he needn't worry. Snaffles would be selling socks sculptures
00:29:16
Speaker 1: before they knew it, and that after today, she'd quite
00:29:21
Speaker 1: like to foray into sleepy forest every now and again
00:29:25
Speaker 1: to meet more of Snaffles as friends and now customers.
00:29:30
Speaker 1: Kamal agreed and said, in fact, why not go back tomorrow,
00:29:37
Speaker 1: but first sleep each in their own rooms and in
00:29:44
Speaker 1: their own warm beds. Their kids dreamt similar dreams that night,
00:29:51
Speaker 1: dreams where things were one thing but also another, where
00:29:56
Speaker 1: a shopping list could be a poem, and a sweet
00:30:00
Speaker 1: wrapper a frog, and where a little ball of golden
00:30:06
Speaker 1: fluff was dancing and painting and playing his violin. As
00:30:12
Speaker 1: the moon rose and the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, Snaffles, too,
00:30:19
Speaker 1: set to bed and snuffling and snoring, dreamt of his
00:30:25
Speaker 1: friends and his new store and all the things he
00:30:30
Speaker 1: was yet to make. All three drifted off with smiles
00:30:38
Speaker 1: on their faces.