In tonight’s bedtime story for kids, we meet Aunt Tilly and her nephew Bo, and embark on an adventure in mellow yellow the camper van. Hear how the adventurous duo welcome an animal into their van - a Vanimal, if you will, sure to be the first of many. Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Jane Thomas
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to Coco Sleep, a podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:20
Speaker 1: a dream. More and more of you are joining the
00:00:24
Speaker 1: Cocoa Club and we couldn't be happier. Thank you so
00:00:28
Speaker 1: much to you and your parents for going for it
00:00:30
Speaker 1: and signing up Today. Coco and I are delighted to
00:00:34
Speaker 1: welcome Sarah Dylan, Sonny brilliant name, Sebastian, Max, Harry, Emmy,
00:00:43
Speaker 1: alba Eden and Camilla. All of you have joined. On
00:00:49
Speaker 1: a very special day too. We are welcoming another writer
00:00:53
Speaker 1: into the team and I'm really looking forward to sharing
00:00:56
Speaker 1: her story with you. So he's a big, warm hearted
00:00:59
Speaker 1: Well welcome to Jane Thomas too. In a short while,
00:01:04
Speaker 1: we're going to go on a road trip to the
00:01:06
Speaker 1: village of Lower Starry Skies, where we'll meet Tilly and
00:01:10
Speaker 1: Bow who are about to take a trip in a
00:01:12
Speaker 1: charming little camper van called Mellow Yellow. But before we
00:01:17
Speaker 1: set off, get into bed and get all your wriggles
00:01:20
Speaker 1: and giggles out, have a stretch if you need, and
00:01:24
Speaker 1: find your comfiest position. Maybe try having a lovely sigh
00:01:28
Speaker 1: on your next outbreath too. Hm, there and relax a
00:01:36
Speaker 1: little more. Close your eyes, lovely. Now, let's see what
00:01:43
Speaker 1: happens when Tilly and Bow set off in mellow yellow.
00:01:48
Speaker 1: This is Tilly and Bow Meet of Animal by Jane Thomas.
00:02:01
Speaker 1: Everyone in the village of Lower Starry Skies calls Tilly
00:02:05
Speaker 1: Bell their aunt Tilly come to that. Everyone in the
00:02:08
Speaker 1: village of Upper Starry Skies CAUs her that too. Of course,
00:02:13
Speaker 1: she isn't everyone's aunt at all, but she is by
00:02:17
Speaker 1: far the wisest, kindest, most sparkly eyed lady they know,
00:02:22
Speaker 1: and behaves exactly as an aunt should. Her motto is
00:02:27
Speaker 1: do come in if my door is open, and nobody
00:02:32
Speaker 1: has ever known her door to be closed. Aunt Tilly
00:02:35
Speaker 1: lives in a little white cottage that is covered in
00:02:38
Speaker 1: pink roses. She must have the greenest fingers in the world,
00:02:43
Speaker 1: because even in the depths of winter, when the cottage
00:02:47
Speaker 1: is wrapped up in snow and sparkling icicles hang from
00:02:51
Speaker 1: the eaves, the roses still bloom. If you wander down
00:02:56
Speaker 1: the garden path that weaves its way between lavender and
00:02:59
Speaker 1: light hi, you come to a wooden gate that leads
00:03:03
Speaker 1: out into sleepy forest. She really is Aunt Tilly to
00:03:07
Speaker 1: Bow and Bow loves to visit her whenever he can.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: He's going there now, in fact, walking down the lane
00:03:15
Speaker 1: in the sunshine, humming a little something and nothing. As
00:03:19
Speaker 1: he goes. He knows he's close to the cottage when
00:03:22
Speaker 1: he hears the wind chimes. Aunt Tilly has dozens of
00:03:27
Speaker 1: them hanging outside, waiting to play tunes as breezes drift by.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: They have the sweetest melodies Bou has ever heard. Sometimes
00:03:37
Speaker 1: he sits in the garden for hours just listening to
00:03:41
Speaker 1: the music that is magically wonderfully different every single time
00:03:46
Speaker 1: it plays. But not today. Today, He's going straight inside.
00:03:53
Speaker 1: Today he can smell the soft scent of cinnamon slipping
00:03:58
Speaker 1: out of the open door. Normally, Bo is a terribly
00:04:03
Speaker 1: polite little boy who knows how to knock on doors
00:04:06
Speaker 1: and wait to be asked. In Aunt Tillie's place is special, though,
00:04:10
Speaker 1: and in he goes along the corridor that is filled
00:04:13
Speaker 1: with flowers and plants and has walls covered in photographs
00:04:18
Speaker 1: of far off lands. There she is waiting for him.
00:04:23
Speaker 1: In the kitchen. The cinnamon cookies are just out of
00:04:27
Speaker 1: the oven, cooling on the rack, with steam gently rising
00:04:32
Speaker 1: into the warm air. She's wearing, as she always does,
00:04:37
Speaker 1: clothes that seem to float and drift around her, and
00:04:42
Speaker 1: when she gives him a welcome hug, it feels exactly
00:04:46
Speaker 1: as if he's being wrapped up in a billowing cloud. Hello, dear,
00:04:53
Speaker 1: she says, you're just in time for cookies. Bo is
00:04:59
Speaker 1: always just in time for cookies. How does Aunt Tilly
00:05:04
Speaker 1: always know when he's coming? He takes a cookie and
00:05:10
Speaker 1: dips it into a glass of milk. They've done many
00:05:14
Speaker 1: tests over the years, and both Bow and Tilly agree
00:05:18
Speaker 1: that a cookie should be held for exactly five seconds
00:05:21
Speaker 1: in the milk to get the perfect level of softness.
00:05:26
Speaker 1: They look at each other solemnly over the glass, counting
00:05:29
Speaker 1: aloud the seconds in time to the tick of the clock. One, two, three, four, five, perfect,
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Speaker 1: just perfect. Bow takes a bite, and his insides dance
00:05:48
Speaker 1: with delight. Bo is so busy concentrating on the very
00:05:53
Speaker 1: important task of eating his cookie that it's only when
00:05:57
Speaker 1: he finishes that he notices Tilly is busy racking an
00:06:00
Speaker 1: enormous wicker basket. A cake wrapped in a soft blue
00:06:05
Speaker 1: cloth disappears inside, along with piles of sandwiches and jars
00:06:12
Speaker 1: of colored sauces. And a brown paper bag, which Bow
00:06:17
Speaker 1: finds by sneaking a peak, contains a small mountain of
00:06:22
Speaker 1: perfect plump peaches. Pass me those plates, deer till he
00:06:29
Speaker 1: points at the plate sitting on the table, their Mow's favorite,
00:06:33
Speaker 1: covered with teeny tiny birds that he always thinks are
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Speaker 1: so small and delicate they can only have been painted
00:06:41
Speaker 1: on by fairies. He thinks this partly because he's convinced
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Speaker 1: fairies live until he's garden. If you walk around to
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Speaker 1: the side where the honeysuckle grows and the bees spend
00:06:55
Speaker 1: their summers, there are toadstools the size of cushions, and
00:07:00
Speaker 1: proper toadstools too, the kind that are bright red with
00:07:04
Speaker 1: big white spots that always look as if they've been
00:07:08
Speaker 1: freshly polished. Bou is sure that if fairies live anywhere,
00:07:14
Speaker 1: they must live here. What are these? Bo asks? Picking
00:07:20
Speaker 1: up a strange looking spoon from the table. Oh my,
00:07:26
Speaker 1: I nearly forgot, says Tilly. We can't have a picnic
00:07:31
Speaker 1: without runcible spoons, can we? How silly of me hand
00:07:37
Speaker 1: them over. Dear bo is pretty sure runcible spoons aren't
00:07:43
Speaker 1: a real thing, at least not in anyone else's world,
00:07:48
Speaker 1: and they were only real in poems when owls and
00:07:52
Speaker 1: pussy cats went to sea in beautiful pea green boats.
00:07:58
Speaker 1: But of course they would be real in Aunt Tilly's world.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: She had traveled so far east that she had ended
00:08:06
Speaker 1: up going right around the world and getting home again.
00:08:10
Speaker 1: And she had traveled so far north that she had
00:08:13
Speaker 1: gone right around the world that way too, coming home
00:08:17
Speaker 1: with pictures of her standing and smiling with polar bears
00:08:20
Speaker 1: and penguins. If anyone would know where to get a
00:08:25
Speaker 1: runcible spoon, it would be her. Tilly was busy fiddling
00:08:30
Speaker 1: around with wide leather straps and buckles, trying to get
00:08:34
Speaker 1: the picnic basket to stay shut, even though it was
00:08:38
Speaker 1: bulging against everything inside. Let me help, offered Bow, reaching
00:08:45
Speaker 1: in with his smaller, nimbler fingers to try and tighten
00:08:49
Speaker 1: the straps. Oh it won't work, hm, sighed Tilly. Oh
00:08:57
Speaker 1: what a bother. She floated off in the direction of
00:09:01
Speaker 1: the garden shed and emerged triumphantly with a long length
00:09:05
Speaker 1: of rope. Be a dear, and tie it up with
00:09:10
Speaker 1: this bow, she said, as she handed him the rope.
00:09:14
Speaker 1: Bow wasn't terribly good at knots, but he tried his best.
00:09:18
Speaker 1: He took the rope and wound it round and round
00:09:22
Speaker 1: the wicker hamper, looping it through itself time and time again,
00:09:27
Speaker 1: until you could really see no wicker at all, and
00:09:31
Speaker 1: instead just a huge bundle of woven, knotted, mixed up rope.
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Sorry about that, he said sheepishly as he presented it
00:09:42
Speaker 1: to Tilly. Oh but it's perfect, she said, clapping her hands,
00:09:49
Speaker 1: eyes sparkling more than ever. Well done, dear, Now can
00:09:56
Speaker 1: you carry it out to the van? The val asked bo.
00:10:02
Speaker 1: The van, said Tilly. She was already halfway down the
00:10:07
Speaker 1: garden path when she turned, wisps of clothes continuing to
00:10:12
Speaker 1: float and creating a soft whirlwind of blue and silver
00:10:17
Speaker 1: around her. But of course you've not been introduced, have you.
00:10:24
Speaker 1: Bou had no idea what she was talking about, and
00:10:28
Speaker 1: certainly hadn't known until that moment that one should always
00:10:32
Speaker 1: be introduced to vans. But if you think about it,
00:10:38
Speaker 1: if you go anywhere in a van or any vehicle,
00:10:41
Speaker 1: come to that, you will spend a lot of time
00:10:44
Speaker 1: sitting in it and leaning on it and asking it
00:10:48
Speaker 1: to go faster, and then asking it to slow down,
00:10:52
Speaker 1: And things will probably go an awful lot more smoothly
00:10:57
Speaker 1: if you're polite, and politeness starts with a proper introduction. Bow,
00:11:04
Speaker 1: meet Mellow Yellow, said Tilly, with a flourish gesturing towards
00:11:10
Speaker 1: a cheerful little van of sunshine. Yellow sun bounced off
00:11:16
Speaker 1: the polished chrome headlamps, and Mellow Yellow seemed to wink
00:11:21
Speaker 1: at Bow. He could have sworn. The van even gave
00:11:26
Speaker 1: a little shake, just the way a dog wags its
00:11:30
Speaker 1: tail when it's excited to see you. Lovely to meet you,
00:11:36
Speaker 1: said Bow, smoothing his hand along the van's door, and
00:11:40
Speaker 1: peering through the window inside, he saw the miniature world
00:11:46
Speaker 1: that Aunt Tilly had created. Mellow Yellow had everything needed
00:11:54
Speaker 1: for a proper adventure. A gleaming copper sink stood waiting
00:12:00
Speaker 1: to be useful on the side, and endless little sky
00:12:04
Speaker 1: blue cupboards were hooked carefully closed. A narrow shelf ran
00:12:11
Speaker 1: all along the top at the back of the van
00:12:13
Speaker 1: that was filled with books. A bed was covered in
00:12:17
Speaker 1: a mound of blankets, each more colorful than the last,
00:12:22
Speaker 1: with cushions poured into every corner. It looked both thought
00:12:28
Speaker 1: like her little nest. Isn't she wonderful? Said Tilly, pulling
00:12:35
Speaker 1: open the door and gesturing for Bow to help her
00:12:38
Speaker 1: pick up the rope wrapped picnic basket and put it inside.
00:12:43
Speaker 1: I think she's glorious, said Bo. How long have you
00:12:48
Speaker 1: had her? I've never seen her before, many many years,
00:12:55
Speaker 1: said Tilly. But she's been in retirement for a while,
00:13:00
Speaker 1: haven't you, old girl. I decided it was time she
00:13:05
Speaker 1: went on a few adventures again. Bow wasn't sure whether
00:13:11
Speaker 1: Tilly was talking about the van or herself needing adventures,
00:13:16
Speaker 1: but as long as he got to go along, it
00:13:18
Speaker 1: didn't really matter. The passenger seat of Mellow Yellow looked
00:13:23
Speaker 1: like the most comfortable seat he'd ever seen, as wide
00:13:28
Speaker 1: as an arm chair. Help me in, bow said Tilly,
00:13:34
Speaker 1: and he went around to the driver's side and held
00:13:37
Speaker 1: out his arm so she could push herself up, up, up,
00:13:42
Speaker 1: on to the high seat. Bow waited until she had
00:13:46
Speaker 1: wriggled herself comfortable behind the wheel. Noticing that she needed
00:13:51
Speaker 1: to sit on two cushions to be tall enough to
00:13:54
Speaker 1: see through the windshield, he carefully closed the door. He
00:14:00
Speaker 1: didn't dare to bang it and risk hurting the little van,
00:14:04
Speaker 1: and trotted around to the passenger side and climbed up
00:14:08
Speaker 1: his side. He thought to himself, not just the passenger side,
00:14:13
Speaker 1: but his side. Yes, dear your side, smiled Tilly, and
00:14:21
Speaker 1: Bow smiled back, while inwardly scratching his head. He was
00:14:26
Speaker 1: sure he hadn't said anything out loud. Mellow Yellow started
00:14:32
Speaker 1: almost before Tilly had finished turning the key. She was
00:14:36
Speaker 1: keen to go and explore again. The three set off, slowly,
00:14:42
Speaker 1: moving down the little lane and waving at everybody in
00:14:46
Speaker 1: lower starry Skies, who all waved back cheerfully and shook
00:14:51
Speaker 1: their heads, smiling to themselves, wondering what Aunt Tilly was
00:14:57
Speaker 1: up to. This time, Bow felt terribly important and proud,
00:15:03
Speaker 1: sitting next to his great aunt in a gleaming yellow van,
00:15:08
Speaker 1: looking out across the tops of hedgerows in a way
00:15:12
Speaker 1: that wasn't possible when he went in a car. From
00:15:16
Speaker 1: where he sat, he could see the sheep in the fields,
00:15:20
Speaker 1: and far away, right on the edge of sleepy forest,
00:15:24
Speaker 1: he saw some deer lapping at a stream. Mellow Yellow
00:15:30
Speaker 1: bumbled her way out of the village and went slowly
00:15:34
Speaker 1: up the hill towards higher starry skies. She eased her
00:15:40
Speaker 1: way past the tiny church and Mow's school, and the
00:15:44
Speaker 1: book shop with all the hidden nooks called neither up
00:15:48
Speaker 1: nor down, and the store called where there's a wool,
00:15:53
Speaker 1: there's a way, where Tillie bought all her knitting supplies.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: Every now and then Mellow Yellow's horn let out a
00:16:04
Speaker 1: cheery toot, whether Tilly asked it or not. Up and
00:16:10
Speaker 1: up they climbed, finally reaching the very top. Tilly asked
00:16:16
Speaker 1: Mellow Yellow to stop so they could sit and look
00:16:20
Speaker 1: at the view for a moment. Far in the distance,
00:16:24
Speaker 1: the bluest sea shimmered and glittered in the sunshine. A
00:16:29
Speaker 1: little line of sparkles sat against green and yellow meadows
00:16:34
Speaker 1: that rolled down hills and tumbled towards beaches of golden sand. Look,
00:16:43
Speaker 1: said Tilly, Look up there, and she pointed high in
00:16:48
Speaker 1: the sky, far far away. At first, Bo thought it
00:16:54
Speaker 1: was a flock of birds, wheeling and floating in the thermals,
00:16:59
Speaker 1: but as he looked closer, he saw that it was
00:17:03
Speaker 1: a hundred or maybe even a thousand, brightly colored kites.
00:17:09
Speaker 1: Tilly rummaged around in a bag and drew out a long,
00:17:14
Speaker 1: thin brass telescope and handed it across to Bowd. He
00:17:19
Speaker 1: felt a little bit like a pirate as he held
00:17:21
Speaker 1: the telescope to his eye, twisting it this way and
00:17:26
Speaker 1: that he finally made the blurry picture in front of
00:17:30
Speaker 1: him come into focus. There were kites of every color
00:17:36
Speaker 1: and size, fluttering and dancing in the sky. There were
00:17:41
Speaker 1: kites that looked like animals. There were kites that looked
00:17:45
Speaker 1: like fish, and there was even a giant red kite
00:17:51
Speaker 1: that looked exactly like a dragon and had a long, shimmering,
00:17:56
Speaker 1: waving golden tail. Is it very far away, he asked Tilly.
00:18:04
Speaker 1: Not at all, she said, and smiled. And remember, we
00:18:10
Speaker 1: have a picnic to eat. Let's go mellow yellow. The
00:18:16
Speaker 1: little vans set off along the road once more, remembering
00:18:21
Speaker 1: to go slowly on the corners, but letting herself rush
00:18:25
Speaker 1: a little bit on some of the down hills. Sometimes,
00:18:30
Speaker 1: just sometimes, she liked to pretend she was a roller coaster,
00:18:34
Speaker 1: or be it a very old, very slow one. Bo
00:18:40
Speaker 1: watched as tiny trees and towns grew larger and larger
00:18:46
Speaker 1: as they got closer, and then watched again as they
00:18:50
Speaker 1: got smaller and smaller as they receded into the distance
00:18:55
Speaker 1: behind the little yellow van. We're near my favorite field,
00:19:03
Speaker 1: said Tilly, and both thought if anyone was to have
00:19:06
Speaker 1: a favorite field, it would of course, be Tilly. Most
00:19:11
Speaker 1: people just see fields as fields, as places where farmers
00:19:15
Speaker 1: grow food or keep animals, but Tilly saw them as
00:19:19
Speaker 1: separate little worlds. As they rounded a corner, she sighed
00:19:25
Speaker 1: happily and pointed towards the field. There, she said, there,
00:19:31
Speaker 1: it is my absolute favorite field in the whole wide world.
00:19:39
Speaker 1: Isn't she a beauty? The field danced with wild flowers.
00:19:46
Speaker 1: Cheerful red poppies shimmered alongside handsome blue corn flowers, foxgloves
00:19:53
Speaker 1: and dandelions and daisies and fairy lace and bee balm,
00:19:57
Speaker 1: and cardinals and miniatureses all raised their heads and smiled
00:20:04
Speaker 1: As mellow yellow went slowly passed. A huge tree stood
00:20:10
Speaker 1: in the center of the field. Bo could see it
00:20:14
Speaker 1: was an ancient oak, its wide branches and green leaves,
00:20:19
Speaker 1: offering a pool of shade to a group of rabbits.
00:20:24
Speaker 1: Oh look, they're having a picnic too, said Tillie delightedly,
00:20:30
Speaker 1: And she was absolutely right, for the rabbits had laid
00:20:34
Speaker 1: out a pile of leaves as a blanket, and had
00:20:37
Speaker 1: gathered mounds of carrots and plums and peaches to feast on.
00:20:42
Speaker 1: One small rabbit lowered its carrot and waved shyly at
00:20:46
Speaker 1: Bow as they drove past, and thinking it was a
00:20:50
Speaker 1: little strange to wave at a rabbit, Bo waved back.
00:20:55
Speaker 1: It would have been rude not to, he reasoned, although
00:21:00
Speaker 1: that of him was a little glad none of his
00:21:02
Speaker 1: school friends had seen him wave at a rabbit. When
00:21:06
Speaker 1: things are wonderful, time always seems to tumble by so terribly,
00:21:12
Speaker 1: terribly quickly. And in that way they were soon down
00:21:17
Speaker 1: at the edge of the meadow and looking out at
00:21:20
Speaker 1: the golden sand and the sparkling silver sea, and above
00:21:24
Speaker 1: them the kites pulled at the end of their strings
00:21:28
Speaker 1: and dashed this way and that against the bluest of skies.
00:21:34
Speaker 1: Aunt Tillie parked mellow yellow, where the grass looked the
00:21:38
Speaker 1: absolute greenest. It could help me down, dear, she said
00:21:44
Speaker 1: to Bow, and he climbed out and walked around to
00:21:47
Speaker 1: her side, and held out his arms so she could
00:21:50
Speaker 1: take a step and a little jump down onto the ground.
00:21:55
Speaker 1: Take some blankets and pillows off the bed deer, and
00:22:00
Speaker 1: let's get that hamper out too, she said, and Bo
00:22:04
Speaker 1: did as he was asked. Inside the hamper sat the
00:22:10
Speaker 1: peaches and sandwiches and cake, and Bou couldn't wait to
00:22:15
Speaker 1: open it up and start eating. It was, he thought,
00:22:19
Speaker 1: the most perfect picnic spot anyone could ever find. The
00:22:25
Speaker 1: only people nearby were holding onto kites, and they weren't
00:22:29
Speaker 1: so very near at all. He and Tilly were in
00:22:34
Speaker 1: their own little grass green bubble, safe alongside mellow yellow.
00:22:41
Speaker 1: All he could hear was the slightest rustling in the
00:22:45
Speaker 1: grass as the wind wound its way through, and the
00:22:49
Speaker 1: gentle sound of waves washing onto the sand. Oh bother,
00:22:56
Speaker 1: said Tilly. Bo looked up. He had been so very
00:23:03
Speaker 1: very close to falling asleep. Have you ever lain in
00:23:09
Speaker 1: the warm sun on the softest bed of grass, listening
00:23:14
Speaker 1: to the waves and tried not to fall asleep? It's
00:23:18
Speaker 1: almost impossible. What's the trouble, he asked, rubbing his eyes.
00:23:26
Speaker 1: You tied up the hamper so absolutely brilliantly that I
00:23:32
Speaker 1: can't even begin to untie it, she said. Beau looked
00:23:38
Speaker 1: at the mass of rope and thought it was even
00:23:41
Speaker 1: more untidy than when he'd left it. If anything, her
00:23:46
Speaker 1: efforts to untie it had made it worse. Here. Let
00:23:51
Speaker 1: me have a go, he said, and knelt down and
00:23:54
Speaker 1: poked his tongue out slightly in the way he does
00:23:57
Speaker 1: when he's concentrating very hard. Indeed, and tried and tried
00:24:03
Speaker 1: to get the ends of the rope to go back
00:24:05
Speaker 1: through the loops in just the right way. He tried
00:24:10
Speaker 1: this way and that way, and he even tried the
00:24:14
Speaker 1: other way and either way just for good measure, but
00:24:18
Speaker 1: none of them worked. I'm so sorry, he said sadly.
00:24:25
Speaker 1: All that cake, all those peaches, all those delicious Tilly
00:24:32
Speaker 1: made sandwiches, they were all so safely stowed they couldn't
00:24:38
Speaker 1: be released. You know, Dear, I think I know what
00:24:44
Speaker 1: we need, said Tilly. Some scissors, he suggested. If I
00:24:53
Speaker 1: had those, it would be very helpful. Unfortunately they're in
00:24:59
Speaker 1: the hamper. Dear, No, we need another way. I'll be
00:25:05
Speaker 1: right back till He floated off towards the hedgerow, and
00:25:11
Speaker 1: Bou watched as she knelt down and almost seemed to
00:25:15
Speaker 1: talk to it. He wasn't sure what was happening, and
00:25:20
Speaker 1: watched curiously as she reached out her hand and then
00:25:25
Speaker 1: covered something very carefully and gently with the other, before
00:25:30
Speaker 1: drifting back towards him. I believe this little mouse can
00:25:37
Speaker 1: be of assistance, she declared, and out of her hands
00:25:43
Speaker 1: popped a tiny gray mouse with long, pointy teeth, who
00:25:48
Speaker 1: immediately set to work. During his way through the endless
00:25:52
Speaker 1: loops of rope. Bo watched as the mouse munched and chewed,
00:25:59
Speaker 1: gnashed and gnawed, and eventually the rope fell away from
00:26:04
Speaker 1: the wicker humper. Tillie clapped her hands and whipped open
00:26:10
Speaker 1: the lid, leaning in to rummage around and find a
00:26:13
Speaker 1: large piece of cheese. You wonderful little mouse, Thank you,
00:26:21
Speaker 1: she said, and handed him the cheese. The mouse bowed
00:26:26
Speaker 1: his head and took the offering, settling down on the
00:26:30
Speaker 1: blanket beside bow to nibble contentedly. And so the three
00:26:36
Speaker 1: of them sat in the late afternoon sun and watched
00:26:40
Speaker 1: as the kites were slowly wound down from the skies
00:26:45
Speaker 1: and popped back into bags and taken home to sleep
00:26:50
Speaker 1: until the next time they would get to go flying.
00:26:54
Speaker 1: And they watched as the waves became smoother and smoother,
00:27:00
Speaker 1: until there were almost no waves at all, and there
00:27:04
Speaker 1: came only the softest sound of the water gently washing
00:27:10
Speaker 1: along the sand. And they watched as the wind dropped
00:27:16
Speaker 1: and the grass stayed still, and leaves gave up their dancing,
00:27:22
Speaker 1: and the birds flew home from their busy days of
00:27:25
Speaker 1: adventures and settled down into their nests. I think it's
00:27:33
Speaker 1: time I got into my little nest too, said Tilly.
00:27:40
Speaker 1: She showed Bow how to hang a hammock from two
00:27:44
Speaker 1: loops inside the front of the van so he could
00:27:47
Speaker 1: climb up and sway himself to sleep, and the mouse
00:27:54
Speaker 1: was given a special spot on the shelf of books,
00:27:58
Speaker 1: where Tilly moved some of the books along and put
00:28:01
Speaker 1: in a pair of the softest, warmest, snugliest socks she
00:28:06
Speaker 1: could find, so he had a little bed all to himself,
00:28:10
Speaker 1: for the mouse was now going to go wherever she
00:28:15
Speaker 1: and Bo went, And she closed the curtains on mellow
00:28:19
Speaker 1: yellow so the van too could get a good night's sleep.
00:28:25
Speaker 1: Good night, dear, said Tillie, as she clambered into her
00:28:30
Speaker 1: nest in the back, drawing the blankets up high around
00:28:34
Speaker 1: her chin and turning her head this way and that
00:28:39
Speaker 1: until it found the perfect spot on the pillow. Bo
00:28:45
Speaker 1: poured back the curtains a little as he lay in
00:28:48
Speaker 1: his hammer and looked out at the stars in the sky.
00:28:53
Speaker 1: He started to count them, the sparkles of magic, the
00:28:58
Speaker 1: promises of advances, and snuggled down, cozy into his pile
00:29:04
Speaker 1: of rugs. He wondered, just for a moment, what other
00:29:11
Speaker 1: animals they would find to join the van, along with
00:29:15
Speaker 1: the mouse who lay snoring with teeny tiny OsO soft snores,
00:29:22
Speaker 1: safe in his socks, amongst the books er animal. He
00:29:29
Speaker 1: mumbled to himself as he drifted off to sleep, Mellow Yellow,
00:29:38
Speaker 1: You're going to find many, many van animals, and Mellow
00:29:45
Speaker 1: Yellow gently rocked him and dreamed the most wonderful dreams
00:29:51
Speaker 1: of country lanes and meadows and sweeping panoramas and sun
00:29:58
Speaker 1: dressed views, and all the animal friends they would find
00:30:03
Speaker 1: in the endless, timeless travels they would have. He had
00:30:09
Speaker 1: a feeling he and Aunt Tillie would soon have a
00:30:14
Speaker 1: whole host of animals assisting them on their adventures, finding
00:30:20
Speaker 1: their own little nooks in the warm of Mellow Yellow.
00:30:26
Speaker 1: The Vanassasassas