In tonight's bedtime story for kids, we head to Sleepy Forest, where a new shop is opening - Heavenly Hats! It's owned by a Warthog and a Peacock, Winnie and Patrick, who are dedicated to finding the perfect hat for every animal of the forest! Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Jane Thomas
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Kuala Moon, 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. In tonight's story, we're visiting Sleepy Forest on
00:00:24
Speaker 1: a very special day. We're going to be the lucky
00:00:27
Speaker 1: ones to attend the grand opening of a sparkly, brand
00:00:31
Speaker 1: new shop with the delightful name Heavenly Hats. It's the
00:00:35
Speaker 1: ambitious new idea of the wonderful Warthog and the polite
00:00:38
Speaker 1: Peacock who dream of creating the perfect hat for every
00:00:42
Speaker 1: animal that walks through their doors. We're going to learn
00:00:45
Speaker 1: a lot about hats and who likes to wear what.
00:00:48
Speaker 1: So in readiness, let's hop into bed and clear our heads.
00:00:52
Speaker 1: Lie back and rest your head on your pillow. Earn
00:00:57
Speaker 1: gently breathe out. Maybe you put your hands gently on
00:01:01
Speaker 1: your tummy so that when you breathe in, they softly
00:01:04
Speaker 1: move up and down with your breath. Lovely, Now, let's
00:01:10
Speaker 1: get started and so we can soon meet our two
00:01:13
Speaker 1: magical Milliners. This is Winny the wart Hog's Heavenly Hats
00:01:19
Speaker 1: by Jane Thomas. Something new is coming to Sleepy Forest
00:01:31
Speaker 1: and everyone everyone is excited. It isn't something anybody really
00:01:36
Speaker 1: thought they needed not until they saw the posters and
00:01:40
Speaker 1: the advertisements in the newspaper, and then suddenly they all
00:01:44
Speaker 1: wondered how they'd ever lived without it. Heavenly Hats was
00:01:48
Speaker 1: written in huge red, bold letters across the tops of posters,
00:01:53
Speaker 1: and underneath, in a golden scrawl, he said, We've got
00:01:57
Speaker 1: you covered. A picture of one bat wearing a very
00:02:01
Speaker 1: smart bowler hat filled the middle of the poster, and
00:02:04
Speaker 1: down in the bottom right hand corner was a small
00:02:07
Speaker 1: photograph of a warthog and a peacock, both beaming and
00:02:11
Speaker 1: each wearing an elaborate hat covered in flowers and fruits
00:02:16
Speaker 1: and sparkly bits and dangly bits. Winnie and Patrick can't
00:02:21
Speaker 1: wait to welcome you, It said, in tiny lettering beneath,
00:02:24
Speaker 1: that if you could have any hat in the world,
00:02:29
Speaker 1: what would you choose? That's the question going through everybody's
00:02:33
Speaker 1: minds in sleepy Forest, Cocoa is going traditional. I need
00:02:40
Speaker 1: a floppy hat with a broad brim, and I'll hang
00:02:43
Speaker 1: some corks round it, he announced to anybody who'd listened.
00:02:48
Speaker 1: A horse named Harry, originally from the Midwest in America,
00:02:52
Speaker 1: declared that he would need a stetson. Ah what he
00:02:57
Speaker 1: was asked a dozen times, and a dozen times she
00:03:00
Speaker 1: answered with a sigh, A stetson is a cowboy hair. Oh,
00:03:08
Speaker 1: they'd say. Now they knew exactly what he meant. But
00:03:12
Speaker 1: as excited as everybody was, nobody could possibly be more
00:03:16
Speaker 1: excited than Winnie and Patrick. Winnie the Warthog and Patrick
00:03:20
Speaker 1: the Peacock had met at hat school. Yes, there is
00:03:24
Speaker 1: such a thing. They study hat making there, although it's
00:03:28
Speaker 1: usually called by its fancy name millinery. They'd attended a
00:03:33
Speaker 1: class called Miss Milliner's Millinery, and to be honest, Winnie
00:03:37
Speaker 1: had showed up thinking she'd find out all about how
00:03:39
Speaker 1: to run a windmill. And it took a few weeks
00:03:42
Speaker 1: of staring at big hats and small hats, and wide
00:03:44
Speaker 1: hats and tall hats to realize that millinery was something
00:03:48
Speaker 1: quite different. Indeed, Miss Milliner of Miss Milliner's Millinery is
00:03:54
Speaker 1: a weaver bird all the way from Southern Africa, and
00:03:58
Speaker 1: she is especially skilled in the ear of weaving straw hats.
00:04:02
Speaker 1: She of course knows all about other hats too, that
00:04:06
Speaker 1: goes without saying, but her favorite thing is to create
00:04:10
Speaker 1: the perfect straw hat for somebody. She once created a
00:04:14
Speaker 1: hat for a princess who wanted to be able to
00:04:16
Speaker 1: hide her face when she was outside. Miss Miliner worked
00:04:20
Speaker 1: for weeks to create a vast straw hat with a
00:04:24
Speaker 1: slightly floppy edge so that the princess could have it
00:04:27
Speaker 1: covering her face and nobody would know who she was.
00:04:31
Speaker 1: It's one of her proudest achievements, making that glorious blue
00:04:35
Speaker 1: and red striped hat. But of course she can't tell
00:04:39
Speaker 1: anyone about it, otherwise they'd all know it was the
00:04:42
Speaker 1: princess beneath the very noticeable hat. She keeps a few
00:04:47
Speaker 1: newspaper cuttings, though, and takes them out from time to
00:04:50
Speaker 1: time and smiles to herself. Mysterious hat wearer, says one headline,
00:04:57
Speaker 1: and who lies beneath says another. Miss Milliner can't help
00:05:04
Speaker 1: but chuckle to herself, for she is one of the
00:05:07
Speaker 1: only people in the world who knows the secret. Despite
00:05:12
Speaker 1: realizing she was going to learn all about hats rather
00:05:15
Speaker 1: than windmills, Winnie threw herself into the course with Gusto.
00:05:20
Speaker 1: She soon became firm friends with Patrick. They shared a
00:05:25
Speaker 1: table together and would do the tasks together, learning to
00:05:29
Speaker 1: make the felt stiff when it needed to be and
00:05:32
Speaker 1: soft when it needed to be, and finding out which
00:05:35
Speaker 1: hat would suit which head shape and the sort of
00:05:38
Speaker 1: hats to be worn to weddings and to summary picnics
00:05:42
Speaker 1: and to the theater. They decided to open the hat
00:05:46
Speaker 1: shop together and had a wonderful evening throwing names backwards
00:05:51
Speaker 1: and forwards. They'd finally landed on Heavenly Hats, thinking that
00:05:58
Speaker 1: all good things come from above when it comes to
00:06:00
Speaker 1: putting something on your head. And then they'd had a
00:06:04
Speaker 1: laugh when Patrick suggested We've got you covered as the tagline.
00:06:09
Speaker 1: It was perfect. They enlisted their friend William, a very
00:06:13
Speaker 1: serious wombat, to be part of the poster campaign, and
00:06:17
Speaker 1: he was happy in a very straight faced sort of way,
00:06:21
Speaker 1: for he was a very serious wombat at all times,
00:06:24
Speaker 1: to have his picture taken wearing a smart bowler hat.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: He also propped the handle of a black umbrella over
00:06:31
Speaker 1: his arm and wore his smartest waistcoat for the occasion,
00:06:36
Speaker 1: and he really looked for all the world like he
00:06:39
Speaker 1: might be about to go to work in a bank.
00:06:42
Speaker 1: He doesn't. He works in a laundrette. But that's beside
00:06:46
Speaker 1: the point. Entirely. They spent ages getting their shop ready
00:06:50
Speaker 1: for opening day. It's absolutely gorgeous. There's a huge window
00:06:56
Speaker 1: display where hats hang from invisible threads and seem to
00:07:00
Speaker 1: float in mid air all by themselves. And around that
00:07:04
Speaker 1: the outside wall is painted a glorious deep green, the
00:07:09
Speaker 1: color of a forest. The name of the shop is
00:07:12
Speaker 1: in huge gold letters three feet high, and as you
00:07:17
Speaker 1: open the door and go in, a little bell jangles.
00:07:22
Speaker 1: The walls are lined with deep shelves that are filled
00:07:25
Speaker 1: with hats of every shape and color you can imagine.
00:07:30
Speaker 1: And in the middle, hanging by yet more invisible threads,
00:07:34
Speaker 1: are a series of mirrors. They're at all sorts of heights,
00:07:40
Speaker 1: anticipating customers of all different ages and sizes, so whether
00:07:45
Speaker 1: you are as small as a butterfly or as big
00:07:48
Speaker 1: as a hippo, there'll always be a mirror at the
00:07:51
Speaker 1: perfect height for you. You would think that, with Patrick being
00:07:56
Speaker 1: a peacock, that he would be into the seriously flammed,
00:08:00
Speaker 1: buoyant hats, but you'd be wrong, Ah, so wrong. Patrick
00:08:05
Speaker 1: is fondest of all the very important looking hats, and
00:08:10
Speaker 1: he's the one who does all the doing, as he
00:08:14
Speaker 1: likes to put it, that will keep the shot going.
00:08:17
Speaker 1: He's quite capable of tucking up his glorious fan of
00:08:20
Speaker 1: shimmering feathers and sitting down with the accounting books and
00:08:24
Speaker 1: the inventory lists, checking that everything is absolutely perfect. Whinnie
00:08:31
Speaker 1: is far more whimsical. Some would say she'd forget her
00:08:35
Speaker 1: head some days if it wasn't attached. Whinnie likes to
00:08:39
Speaker 1: make dreamy floral arrangements and drape bunches of grapes down
00:08:44
Speaker 1: the side of hats that seem to stay in place
00:08:47
Speaker 1: by defying gravity and all rules of physics. Today, for
00:08:53
Speaker 1: the first day of opening, Patrick is wearing a very smart,
00:08:57
Speaker 1: shiny black top hat, and Winnie has parked on the
00:09:02
Speaker 1: side of her head a bright red hat that looks
00:09:05
Speaker 1: exactly like a frosted cupcake. Patrick has given it a
00:09:09
Speaker 1: tentative peck on more than one occasion, just to check
00:09:13
Speaker 1: it isn't actually real, because Winnie has done such a
00:09:17
Speaker 1: good job of making it look like it really must
00:09:20
Speaker 1: be a cupcake. They're going to open first thing, and
00:09:25
Speaker 1: both of them solemnly wish the other good luck before
00:09:29
Speaker 1: Patrick walks over to the door and flings it open
00:09:32
Speaker 1: for the very first time. A giraffe and a zebra
00:09:37
Speaker 1: are the very first to enter, and Winnie trots over
00:09:41
Speaker 1: cupcake hat shaking with excitement. Good morning, Good morning, she says,
00:09:47
Speaker 1: with a smile. You're the very first customers of Heavenly Hats.
00:09:52
Speaker 1: Do please let me know if I can help you
00:09:55
Speaker 1: in any way, And don't worry, as it says outside,
00:09:58
Speaker 1: We've got you covered. The giraffe and the zebra smiled
00:10:02
Speaker 1: back at her. I must say, says the giraffe. I
00:10:09
Speaker 1: wasn't looking for a hat myself, but I do love
00:10:12
Speaker 1: your cupcake. Got anything similar that might fit me? Winnie
00:10:19
Speaker 1: almost exploded with excitement. Loads and loads. Here look at
00:10:24
Speaker 1: this shelf. The giraffe looked and saw an extraordinary array
00:10:29
Speaker 1: of miniature things fashioned into hats. What do you think, zi,
00:10:35
Speaker 1: she asked, picking up a hat that looked like a
00:10:38
Speaker 1: tiny rose bush and popping it on her head. She
00:10:42
Speaker 1: bent down as low as she could so the others
00:10:44
Speaker 1: could see. For giraffes are as, you know, very tall
00:10:49
Speaker 1: animals with heads that can disappear into the sky if
00:10:52
Speaker 1: they're not careful. It's just wonderful, said z Try that
00:10:59
Speaker 1: one too, she said, pointing at a hat that looked
00:11:02
Speaker 1: like a tiny pirate ship. The giraffe popped it on
00:11:07
Speaker 1: and laughed at herself in the tallest of the mirrors,
00:11:10
Speaker 1: seeing the little boat nestled at a quirky angle just
00:11:13
Speaker 1: beside her ears. Maybe I'll go as a pirate to
00:11:20
Speaker 1: the party and wear this hat, she announced. Yes, in fact,
00:11:25
Speaker 1: it's decided. I'll take it. Miss Warthog, you have your
00:11:31
Speaker 1: first sail. Winnie beamed with pride and took the tiny
00:11:36
Speaker 1: pirate ship hat, wrapping it up in sheets of tissue
00:11:40
Speaker 1: paper before popping it into a black and white striped box. Right,
00:11:46
Speaker 1: said z mne her now Zee explained that they were
00:11:51
Speaker 1: off to a fancy dress party and she wanted to
00:11:53
Speaker 1: go as a giraffe. It would be just too funny,
00:11:58
Speaker 1: she thought, to dress up as her best friend. Winnie
00:12:01
Speaker 1: started running her eyes over the various hats covered in
00:12:05
Speaker 1: animal prints, when Patrick stepped over and rustled his feathers.
00:12:11
Speaker 1: Might I suggest, he said, our tallest stove by pat.
00:12:18
Speaker 1: He gestured to the corner, where a narrow hat that
00:12:22
Speaker 1: must have been ten feet tall was waiting. Zi clapped
00:12:27
Speaker 1: her hooves together and rushed to try it on, balancing
00:12:32
Speaker 1: the ridiculously tall hat on her head and taking a
00:12:36
Speaker 1: few tentative steps towards the mirrors. The giraffe giggled brilliant
00:12:43
Speaker 1: she said, it's exactly what we need. It took many
00:12:49
Speaker 1: sheets of tissue paper and an extremely long and narrow
00:12:54
Speaker 1: black and white striped box, but Winnie finally had the
00:12:57
Speaker 1: hat packaged up and ready to be sold. No sooner
00:13:02
Speaker 1: had the giraffe and zebra left than a group of
00:13:05
Speaker 1: otters came rushing into the shop. When he was just
00:13:09
Speaker 1: reaching up to put the rose bush hat back in
00:13:11
Speaker 1: its place on the shelf, when one of the little
00:13:14
Speaker 1: otters pulled at her arm. It goes me, said the otter,
00:13:18
Speaker 1: and in an excited voice, where the utterly awesome waterpolo team,
00:13:24
Speaker 1: and we all need new caps. This was definitely a
00:13:29
Speaker 1: task for Patrick, and he bustled over to the team
00:13:33
Speaker 1: of otters and showed them the shelf covered in hats
00:13:36
Speaker 1: and caps for all sporting occasions. There were hats for
00:13:41
Speaker 1: any one who went and rode a horse, and hats
00:13:44
Speaker 1: for those who rushed around on bicycles, and baseball hats
00:13:49
Speaker 1: and cricket hats, and oh my goodness, so many hats.
00:13:54
Speaker 1: At last they found the water polo caps and they
00:13:57
Speaker 1: all tried on the pink and blue ones their team colors.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: Patrick had to help some of them tie the straps
00:14:05
Speaker 1: under their chins, for it can be quite fiddly to
00:14:07
Speaker 1: tie a bow when you're an otter who's very excited,
00:14:11
Speaker 1: and all thirteen of them lined up to take it
00:14:13
Speaker 1: in turns to look at themselves in the utter height
00:14:16
Speaker 1: mirror in the middle of the shop. Perfect announced the
00:14:22
Speaker 1: first Otter, who was clearly the captain of the team,
00:14:26
Speaker 1: for he was a little bit bossy. We'll take the
00:14:29
Speaker 1: lot please. Winnie decided against using one of their lovely
00:14:35
Speaker 1: hat boxes for this particular sale, and instead pulled out
00:14:39
Speaker 1: a large black and white striped bag and pop them
00:14:43
Speaker 1: all inside. The thirteen pink and blue hats filled it
00:14:49
Speaker 1: almost to the top. She was about to hand it
00:14:52
Speaker 1: over when she had a thought. Would you like some
00:14:57
Speaker 1: swimming caps too? She asked, a present from us to
00:15:03
Speaker 1: team Utterly awesome. The otters were delighted with their boner
00:15:09
Speaker 1: set of swimming caps, also in team colors, and they
00:15:13
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to go and tell every one in Sleepy
00:15:16
Speaker 1: Forest what a wonderful place heavenly hats. Really was smart thinking,
00:15:23
Speaker 1: said Patrick to Winnie when the door had closed behind
00:15:26
Speaker 1: the team. Word of mouth is always the best advertising.
00:15:33
Speaker 1: They'd barely finished tidying up all the sporting hats and
00:15:37
Speaker 1: caps when the door opened once more and an elephant
00:15:41
Speaker 1: squeezed himself into the shop. Whaa hallo, he said, cheerily.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: My what a place you have here, Patrick and Winnie beam.
00:15:57
Speaker 1: How can we help you? Sir? Asked Patrick, expecting the
00:16:02
Speaker 1: elephant to want something like a large straw hat to
00:16:06
Speaker 1: keep off the sun. Ah, hi'm after afez, said the elephant.
00:16:13
Speaker 1: You know, small round, red hat, black castle, that sort
00:16:18
Speaker 1: of thing. Afraid I sad on mine the other day.
00:16:22
Speaker 1: His cheeks turned a little pink, as if this was
00:16:25
Speaker 1: something that happened a lot. One fez coming right up,
00:16:31
Speaker 1: said Patrick, scooting over to the right shelf and putting
00:16:35
Speaker 1: down just the thing. Pop it on, sir, Yes, that's right,
00:16:40
Speaker 1: just like that, Just like that, squealed Winnie. I knew
00:16:45
Speaker 1: I recognized you. You're Cooper, aren't you the comedian? Magician?
00:16:52
Speaker 1: Or is it magician? Comedian? The elephant smiled. Got it
00:16:58
Speaker 1: till one, he said, cheerfully, looking in the mirror and
00:17:03
Speaker 1: happy to see his head once more with a fezz installed.
00:17:07
Speaker 1: He'd felt hot without one this past week. Oh do
00:17:12
Speaker 1: a magic trick for us, won't you, mister Cooper, please,
00:17:17
Speaker 1: begged Winnie. Cooper looked at the cupcake hat jiggling with
00:17:22
Speaker 1: excitement above her sparkling eyes, and even though he didn't
00:17:26
Speaker 1: usually do impromptu shows, he decided this lovely pair deserved one.
00:17:33
Speaker 1: He whipped out a pack of cards from his trunk
00:17:36
Speaker 1: and fanned them out. Patrick, in response, fanned out his
00:17:41
Speaker 1: tail feathers. Take one. Don't let me see it, said
00:17:46
Speaker 1: Cooper to Winnie. She plucked a card from the pack,
00:17:50
Speaker 1: let out a squeak when she saw it was the
00:17:53
Speaker 1: Queen of Hearts, her favorite card of all, given the
00:17:56
Speaker 1: elaborate hat the Queen wears in the image, and then
00:17:59
Speaker 1: pop the card back into the pack. Cooper shuffled solemnly.
00:18:05
Speaker 1: He took the cards and split them into two. He
00:18:09
Speaker 1: shuffled each of the two halves separately, and then put
00:18:13
Speaker 1: them back together again. Shuffled, he asked with a raised eyebrow. Shuffled. Agreed, Winnie,
00:18:23
Speaker 1: your card, said Cooper, lifting the top of the pack
00:18:28
Speaker 1: to reveal the image was the Jack of Spades. Winnie
00:18:33
Speaker 1: swallowed hard. Oh um, she said, awkwardly, not quite. Patrick
00:18:42
Speaker 1: stifled a giggle. The three of clubs, said Cooper. Nope,
00:18:50
Speaker 1: wrong again, the eight of Diamonds, ten of Hearts, Ace
00:18:55
Speaker 1: of Spades. Somehow, Cooper managed to get it wrong fish
00:19:00
Speaker 1: fifty three times, including guessing the joker twice. The fact
00:19:05
Speaker 1: he left Winnie's actual card until the end was almost
00:19:09
Speaker 1: as impressive as if he'd guessed it first. But honestly
00:19:13
Speaker 1: it didn't matter to anyone, because by the time he
00:19:16
Speaker 1: finally said Queen of Hearts, beads of sweat pouring down
00:19:21
Speaker 1: his face, Winnie and Patrick were laughing so hard they
00:19:25
Speaker 1: didn't care it had taken Cooper the entire deck to guess. Well,
00:19:31
Speaker 1: now we know, said Patrick, when at last he could speak.
00:19:36
Speaker 1: It's comedian first. Then magician. Winnie packaged up the fairs
00:19:42
Speaker 1: in the smartly striped box and assured Cooper they would
00:19:46
Speaker 1: be sure to always have a supply of the hats
00:19:49
Speaker 1: in store, just in case you have another accident, she
00:19:54
Speaker 1: whispered to him. They spent the afternoon dishing out hard
00:19:59
Speaker 1: hats moles who needed them for their underground work, and
00:20:03
Speaker 1: straw hats to a family of robins who was soon
00:20:06
Speaker 1: to be flying off on a summer holiday with Albatross
00:20:09
Speaker 1: Airways and Winnie was especially delighted when Alama came in
00:20:14
Speaker 1: looking for a hat to wear to her daughter's wedding.
00:20:18
Speaker 2: The mother of the bride hat, She squeaked, my absolute
00:20:23
Speaker 2: favorite here, let me show you, and the two spent
00:20:29
Speaker 2: a rather wonderful hour going through all sorts of different
00:20:33
Speaker 2: hats before the Lama had finally chosen a purple floral
00:20:37
Speaker 2: one with some delicate silkworm netting that covered her eyes.
00:20:43
Speaker 2: While Cooper the Elephant was one of the largest customers
00:20:47
Speaker 2: they were ever going to see, the final customer of
00:20:51
Speaker 2: the day was undoubtedly one of the smallest. The tiny
00:20:56
Speaker 2: doormouse could barely push the door open, and the bell
00:21:01
Speaker 2: hardly jangled at all as he came pitter pattering into
00:21:05
Speaker 2: the shop. In fact, he was in the shop of
00:21:09
Speaker 2: full five minutes before either Winnie or Patrick noticed him.
00:21:15
Speaker 2: Patrick only did because he was busy spreading out his
00:21:19
Speaker 2: tail feathers and admiring them in the mirror, while Winnie
00:21:24
Speaker 2: pretended her hardest not to notice this rare moment of
00:21:28
Speaker 2: vanity from her friend, and suddenly looking back at him
00:21:32
Speaker 2: in the mirror was a dormouse. Oh goodness, I'm so sorry,
00:21:38
Speaker 2: he said, flustered I was quite distracted there for a moment.
00:21:43
Speaker 1: How can I help you? The dormouse explained that he
00:21:48
Speaker 1: was having a terrible time sleeping ever since he'd misplaced
00:21:53
Speaker 1: the sock he'd been using as a bed for the
00:21:55
Speaker 1: past few years. It was the softest, warmest, coziest sock
00:22:02
Speaker 1: he'd ever known, he said, and he couldn't begin to
00:22:05
Speaker 1: think of trying to replace it with another. There couldn't
00:22:09
Speaker 1: possibly be a sock as wonderful as that, So he
00:22:13
Speaker 1: decided he might try a hat. Wonderful idea, said Winnie.
00:22:20
Speaker 1: Now let's see, how about a nice bowler The dormouse
00:22:28
Speaker 1: climbed into the bowler hat that she drew down from
00:22:31
Speaker 1: the shelf. He turned round and round, trying to get comfortable,
00:22:38
Speaker 1: and eventually sighed no, he said, he couldn't make it work.
00:22:44
Speaker 1: Maybe it's too big, said Patrick, What about this knitted
00:22:52
Speaker 1: wooly winter hat. He chose a lovely red one made
00:22:56
Speaker 1: in the softest wool, and placed it on the floor
00:23:00
Speaker 1: for the dormouse to try out. The tiny creature slipped
00:23:06
Speaker 1: inside the hat and again turned around and around, looking
00:23:11
Speaker 1: for the perfect spot to lie down. But the wool
00:23:15
Speaker 1: used to make the hat was so thick that it was,
00:23:20
Speaker 1: if anything, too dark inside. He didn't like the dark
00:23:25
Speaker 1: so very much. Quite the pickle, said Winnie. She started
00:23:32
Speaker 1: walking along and looking up at all the shelves, skimming
00:23:36
Speaker 1: them for ideas. She had nearly reached the end of
00:23:41
Speaker 1: the shop when she suddenly announced, Oh, I I think
00:23:46
Speaker 1: I've got it. Yes, of course. Winnie reached up and
00:23:51
Speaker 1: pulled down the hat, bringing it over to the dormouse.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: What do you think, she said. The dormouse looked closely
00:24:02
Speaker 1: at the hat. It was covered in narrow blue and
00:24:06
Speaker 1: white stripes, designed to be close around the ears, but
00:24:11
Speaker 1: then leading to a long, loose point on top. There
00:24:16
Speaker 1: was a white, fluffy bobble on the end of the point,
00:24:20
Speaker 1: making it heavy enough to hang to one side a
00:24:25
Speaker 1: night cap, said the dormouse softly. Yes, I think you're right.
00:24:34
Speaker 1: It's obvious now you've shown it to me. The dormouse
00:24:40
Speaker 1: crept inside the hat, his shiny pink nose and long
00:24:45
Speaker 1: white whiskers poking out, and the rest of him quite
00:24:49
Speaker 1: burrowed away beneath the blue and white stripes. Yes, he said, quietly, Yes,
00:24:59
Speaker 1: this is perfect. If you don't mind, I'll just it's
00:25:06
Speaker 1: been a terribly long time, you see, since I had
00:25:12
Speaker 1: a good sleep. The dormouse closed his eyes and was
00:25:18
Speaker 1: fast asleep, his soft little snores drifting out into the shop.
00:25:26
Speaker 1: Winnie and Patrick looked at each other over the sleeping
00:25:30
Speaker 1: dormouse and smiled. I think we can leave him until
00:25:37
Speaker 1: the morning, don't you, whispered Winnie and Patrick nodded gently,
00:25:44
Speaker 1: lifting the dormouse in his nightcap from the floor and
00:25:47
Speaker 1: onto the counter. Perfect timing, Winnie said, as quietly as
00:25:55
Speaker 1: she could. Looking at the clock. The hands pointed to
00:26:00
Speaker 1: six o'clock and it was indeed time to close the
00:26:04
Speaker 1: door of Heavenly Hats for the very first time. Patrick
00:26:10
Speaker 1: also pulled down the blinds in the window, reaching up
00:26:14
Speaker 1: with his beak and pulling on the string that made
00:26:17
Speaker 1: them roll down, down, down. They took one last look
00:26:25
Speaker 1: around their little shop before Patrick, who led the way
00:26:30
Speaker 1: up the stairs to their room above. Winnie flicked off
00:26:35
Speaker 1: the lights as she left, smiling as she heard the
00:26:40
Speaker 1: dormouse's teeny tiny snores still coming out from beneath the nightcap.
00:26:49
Speaker 1: We've got you covered, she whispered. Into the darkness. She
00:26:56
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to see who would come into the shop
00:26:59
Speaker 1: to morrow and what hats they might need. But for
00:27:04
Speaker 1: now she was happy to fall back onto the softness
00:27:09
Speaker 1: of the sofa, pulling a blanket around her and leaning
00:27:14
Speaker 1: back into the pillows. By the time Patrick came through
00:27:20
Speaker 1: with a mug of cocoa, she was fast asleep, her
00:27:24
Speaker 1: soft snores adding to the ones from the dormouse. Patrick
00:27:31
Speaker 1: climbed into the rocking chair and looked out at the
00:27:36
Speaker 1: starry sky. How wonderful it all was, he thought to himself.
00:27:44
Speaker 1: He rocked gently back and forth, back and forth, wondering
00:27:51
Speaker 1: for a moment before he drifted off into dreams, if
00:27:57
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be possible to make a hat in the
00:28:00
Speaker 1: shape of a moon. Moonbeams poured through the window and
00:28:07
Speaker 1: shone on his glorious peacock feathers, and every one in
00:28:13
Speaker 1: heavenly hats from their doormouts, to Winnie. To Patrick slept
00:28:21
Speaker 1: the sleep of a thousand sparkling stars, then to the
00:29:03
Speaker 1: win