← Koala Moon: Kids Bedtime Stories & Sleep Stories for Kids Podcast
Koala Moon: Kids Bedtime Stories & Sleep Stories for Kids Podcast
The Cow That Jumped Over the Moon 🐮🌙 Childrens Bedtime Story
00:32:50
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- [00:11]
Abby
Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime a dream. Do you remember the story about the owl and the pussycat who went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat? Well, tonight's story is another clever mash up of old and new, an old nursery rhyme reimagined for you by one of our amazing writers, Jane Thomas. Oh, but first, Coco's here passing me a slip with two names on that I must thank for joining us in the clubhouse tonight. It's you, Frances and Miles from Illinois. Welcome. So glad to have you join us. Don't forget to click Follow in your podcast app so you never miss a story. Before we begin, a quick message for the grown ups. If you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy ad free listening, unlock four bonus stories per month and much, much more. You can join Koko Club. Subscribe in just two taps via the link in the show notes, but now here's a quick word from our sponsors.
- [01:18]
Elio
It is estimated that over 4 million people have been abducted by alien life forms, but only one of them asked for it.
- [01:26]
Abby
This is Elio of Earth. If any aliens are listening from Disney and Pixar.
- [01:31]
Kelly
Yes, it's really happening.
- [01:32]
Elio
He'll go where no one has gone before.
- [01:35]
Abby
Welcome to the community Verse. What is this place? These are the lava tunnels, Gordon. I am not fireproof.
- [01:42]
Elio
Disney and Pixar's Elio. Rated pg. Parental guidance suggested only in theaters. Tickets available now.
- [01:49]
Kelly
Hey, sleepyheads. I'm Kelly, the host of Koala Shine, the perfect daytime adventure show for long car journeys, school runs and lazy Sunday mornings. I'm popping up here on Koala Moon because I've heard you want more Koala Kid stories, and I'm here to deliver. Beep beep. Special delivery. Koala Shine is a tiny bit different from Koala Moon as it's designed for daytime listening. So after a great night's sleep with a story from Abby, you can have a big old stretch and tune into Koala Shine, joining your favorite characters on crazy adventures around the world. With new episodes every Friday, we'll follow Hector and Sunny on a daytime safari, explore the big city with Munchie the raccoon, and visit the circus with Super Soul. You'll also hear cool facts, jokes and learn about the world we live in. Plus, there's a chance for your voices to be featured on the podcast too. Koalashine offers mindful fun entertainment on the move designed to spark curiosity. Search Koalashine now on your favorite podcast platform. And be sure to hit follow so that finding your next adventure is easy peasy lemon squeezy. Hope to see you there, Koala Shine.
- [02:59]
Abby
Ok, as I was saying, we'll soon meet up with George the Cat again and his owl friend Barnaby. But before we get started, snuggle down into bed and just get as comfy as possible. Close your eyes gently and relax your face, your eyebrows, your cheeks and your forehead, Even the bridge of your nose. Can you make everything feel really loose and floppy? Maybe rub your cheeks with your fingertips or your eyebrows, or smooth over your forehead just to help it all relax. And gently breathe in and out. Nice. All relax. Now it's time for me to begin. The Cow that Jumped over the Moon by Jane Thomas There's a lullaby I'm sure you've heard. I'll bet you know it word for word. There's a cow, a cat, a dish, a moon. Do you think you know the tune? Say it with me as I go. If of course, the words you know. Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon the little dog laughed to see such sport and the dish ran away with the spoon. The first time George heard this, he liked it. The second time he heard it, he was really very fond of it. And by the third time he heard it, he loved it. George is a great grey fluffball of a cat who lives at the top of a very high tower in the busiest, boldest brashest city of the world. And of all things, of all the creatures in the world, who could have been his very best friend, his number one chum, his greatest pal, his bosom buddy, just so happens to be an owl called Barnaby. Barnaby will often fly to the top of the very high tower in order to spend the night chattering away with his friend George. And sometimes, on very special nights, when the moon is busy shining and everything is just as it should be in the world, the pair of them head off on an adventure. Each of these adventures always comes from a story George has heard from Oscar and Ollie. They're the two boys he lives with, and whenever they come home from school, George will go from room to room and listen to everything they learned that day. In this way, he has learned the times tables, even the really complicated 7 and 8 times tables, and all about the pyramids in Egypt and that the Amazon river weaves its way through the jungles of South America. He has learned why the moon is sometimes there and sometimes isn't. And why, he will only ever see a rainbow when it is somehow sunny and rainy both at the same time. And that the blue whale isn't a fish at all, it's a mammal, even though it lives in the ocean. And now George has heard all about the cow that jumped over the moon and is delighted to discover that his friend Barnaby knows just the place to go to see him do it once more. They have to wait two long weeks before the time is just right. Hers Barnaby says that the cow will only perform the jump when the moon is full and bright each night. George sits in the window and watches until the moon rises in the sky. Each night he can see it is a tiny little bit bigger than it was just the night before. And when it's full, when it is so big, he can easily see the man on the moon looking back at him. George knows it is time to head to the top of the fire escape and wait for Barnaby to appear. When he does, George starts plodding his way down the fire escape, Barnaby floating gently by his side. Much as George wants to see the cow jumping over the moon, he also wants to feel the grass beneath his paws. He doesn't make the journey down the fire escape very often. After all, he crosses over to the park and lets the grass tickle him. And he walks up to a clump of lavender and in one quick move thrusts his head right into the middle of the bush. He takes a deep breath in, inhaling the glorious scent and then backs out and rushes over to jasmine and does the same. And with roses and lilacs and honeysuckle. Sometimes Oscar and Ollie's mother will bring flowers home and put them in a vase on the table. And on those days George will leap onto the table and lie next to the vase looking up at their beauty. The real thing out here in the flower beds of the park. That's even better. Barnaby gives his friends some more moments with the flowers and then beckons him over, guiding him towards a particular street lamp. Underneath the street lamp, looking as if he is waiting for them, is a very old man sitting on the front of a very old tuk tuk. A bright orange carriage with three wheels. It has two seats in the back and one in the front for the driver. George had heard all about these tuk tuks and how popular they were in India, but this would be his first time riding one. There is a rose coloured canopy serving as a roof and lights are wrapped all round the pillars and posts so the tuk tuk dances with Light and colour. George and Barnaby climb into the back seat and settle down on the soft cushions, and the very old man, so old he looks as though he must have lived for a thousand years, eases the orange carriage forwards. There is hardly anyone else on the roads at this time of night and they push along the highway, the wind rustling George's grey fur. Barnaby wraps his wings around himself and curls up on a cushion in the corner, telling George he should really do the same. It's a long way they must travel to find the cow that jumps over the moon. But George, who spends so much time up in the rooms at the top of the highest tower of the busiest city of the world, can't help but look out at the world rushing by. The bright flashing lights of the city and the noises that spill out of the doorways are soon replaced by the gentle glow of the street lamps in the suburbs. In one garden, George glimpses a bench and two people sitting on it, leaning back and looking up at the stars. And then, in a moment, the scene is whisked away and replaced by a cat walking slowly through a garden, looking for something around the base of the bushes. The cat sees George go rushing by and for a moment George is convinced. The other cat winks at him and just in case it's true, he waves his paw. And then that scene is gone too, and the houses are set further and further back from the road. And then there are no houses at all and they are in the countryside. There are hedgerows lit from within by glow worms and fireflies, and George sees a pair of hedgehogs dancing in slow motion in what seems to be a huge chamber inside. Soft sounds of piano music spilling out from a place buried deep within a hedgerow. Then they are passing fields made bright by the white wool of the sheep, and George can see dozens and dozens of lambs who were dancing and playing by the light of the moon, as if it were the middle of the day and the sun still shone down on them. And then the hedgerows give way to walls of stone that have stood for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. And still the tuk tuk, driven by the man who looks to be more than a thousand years old, races along, weaving this way and that as the road twists and turns. Barnaby still sleeps on his pillow, his wings wrapped around him and covering his face, and George, with nothing to see now that the walls are here, faces forwards and closes his eyes, feeling the wind rush against his fur. He's rocked to sleep by the motion of the tuk tuk as it bounces gently up and down on the rises and falls of the road. George is woken by a gentle cough and Barnaby is up on the handlebars of the tuk tuk, waiting for his friend to draw himself out of his dream. Together they walk up a path that winds its way through the woods, a strip of silver in the darkness that leads them over a little bridge and down through a tunnel and across a meadow and back into the thick tangle of trees and branches and trunks and stumps. Every now and then, George sees a red toadstool with white spots, so he knows, in the way anyone does who's heard enough of the right stories, that this must be a magical land. Then, as they push their way through the darkness, leaves brushing softly against their faces, George begins to hear the sound of a violin playing a merry tune. And up ahead, he can see a clearing in the trees. The violin becomes a little louder as they approach and by the time they're in the clearing, surrounded by high trees that seem to reach far, far into the sky, George realises that the violin is there in that clearing and playing it is, of course, a cat. Her cat, fiddling the fiddle and rushing the bow back and forth across the strings of that violin, having music pour out into the night. Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, whispers George to himself. They stay for a while, sitting on a log to listen to the cat play his wonderful tunes. And as George's eyes adjust to the light, he sees that they're not alone and in fact, all around them, the ground is moving with the dancing of animals, where mice link arms and swing themselves around and foxes whirl hedgehogs from left to right. And George realises his foot is tapping in time to the music. And he and Barnaby are swept up with it all and find that they too are linking a paw and a wing and swirling, twirling to the sound of the cat and the fiddle. And then Barnaby leads George towards another path again, a shining river of silver, lit bright in the forest. And as they go along, the trees fall back and they are there on a hilltop. Barnaby nudges George to look to the side. And there at the base of the hill stands a black and white cow. And suddenly she's running and running and then she's leaping, leaping and heading high, high into the sky. George holds his breath as the cow sails higher and higher. And then there it is. The cow is leaping over the moon. And George whispers to himself, hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the moon. And as he whispers this, a small dog, no larger than a cat, just a small dog who is all white with a dark patch over his right eye, comes to stand beside them once more. The cow is running and running and then she's leaping, leaping and heading high, high into the sky. And once more she is leaping over the moon. And the dog with the dark patch over his eye sitting beside George. And Barnaby leans back his head and laughs aloud. Hey diddle diddle. The cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport, whispers George to himself. Then Barnaby is pulling George towards another path and this one is lit by a million fireflies, so it's a golden thread leading them through a meadow. And looking behind him, George realises that the little dog with the dark patch over his right eye is following behind. And behind him is the cow who's jumped over the moon. And behind her is the cat with her fiddle and a whole stream of animals still dancing and twirling and whirling to her music. And this strange little band, led by an owl and a fluffball grey cat, move their way slowly along the golden thread of path until they see a farmhouse up ahead. The farmhouse is lit from within and there's music and laughter coming from inside. And the cat changes the music she's playing on her fiddle to match the music that's spilling out from the farmhouse. George climbs onto a bale of hay by the window and peers inside, his eyes opening wide as he sees chairs and tables dancing with candlesticks and jugs. And a clock has climbed down from its place on the mantelpiece and is dancing with a book that has leapt from a shelf on the far side of the room. George then sees a dish whispering to a spoon and the spoon seems to be giggling. And then they glance to see that nobody else is looking, not expecting George to be peering in at the window. They don't look that way. And then they run off into the kitchen together. Hey diddle diddle. The cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the moon the little dog laughed to see such sport and the dish ran away with the spoon. George whispers the poem to himself and sighs, content, for everything is complete now. Barnaby has once more brought him to a magical place where the words of long loved stories come alive. He turns to see everything again, watching the cat and the fiddle stamping her paw in time to the music, tail swaying behind her. And the cow runs to the base of the hill and then is rushing, rushing faster and faster. And then she is leaping, leaping higher and higher. And there she is soaring once more over the moon. George is sure he sees the man on the moon laugh along with the little dog with the dark patch over his right eye, who is rolling on the floor, laughing as he watches the cow again and again leap high, high over the moon. And George takes a final look into the kitchen and sees the dish and the spoon in the corner by the pantry, whispering to each other. And then with a quick glance, they're gone, running away together again. It is a very tired George who is led back through the woods by a very tired Barnaby. They follow the golden thread of path, the one lit by the fireflies and then the silver thread of path lit by the light of the moon. And they cross over bridges and meadows and through tunnels and weave their way to the very edge of the woodland, leaving behind the cat and the fiddle, the cow and the dog, the dish and the spoon. The man who must be a thousand years old is waiting for them in the orange tuk tuk with the rose coloured canvas on the roof and the lights that are wrapped around every pillar and post. And he helps George up onto the soft pile of cushions in the back. Barnaby arranges himself once more on the pillow, wrapping his wings about himself and covering his eyes as he nestles down to sleep. As they head back to George's home, the moon is lower in the sky, a silver disc shrinking towards the ground. And on the other side of the world there's a hint of of purple grey as the sun comes closer and closer to the horizon, ready to start a brand new day. George buries himself into a blanket on the seat in the back of the tuk tuk and watches as the walls become hedgerows and and the hedgerows become gardens and the gardens slowly fade away to be replaced by the buildings of the city. There is a boy on a bicycle with a basket on the front that's filled to overflowing with fresh bread. And George catches the scent of the bread on the air as they rush by. And there's a lady guiding a horse and cart through the town. The cart filled to overflowing with flowers just like the ones Oscar and Ollie's mother sometimes brings home and puts in a vase. And the scent of those is with George for a moment and then he's whisked along in his tuk tuk. A lady comes by with a basket on her head and George can see that it is filled with mangoes and the mangoes are so sweet and ready for eating and he can catch their scent in the air. Another boy rides another bicycle and he has a huge bag around his shoulder and George can see it is filled with rolled up newspapers and he's throwing them into the shop doorways one by one as he goes. And George knows, for those rolled up newspapers appear in his home every day, just how the papers smell as they're opened and folded. He loves the evenings when Oscar and Ollie's father takes up the paper and finds pieces that he reads aloud to the family. Because then George too can know what's going on in the outside world. He hears all about the events that are happening and the shows and the competitions and the excitement that goes on beyond the rooms, in the very top of the tallest tower in the busiest city of the world. And then the Tuk tuk is back at the street lamp where Barnaby and George first found it. Only the sun has crept over the horizon now and only a couple of stars remain in the purple of the early morning sky. And the street lamp has been turned off. The man, who must be a thousand years old turns and strokes George's soft fur and tickles him under his chin and he winks at Barnaby as the two of them get off. And then the orange tuk tuk with the rose coloured canvas roof is gone and it seems to George as if he was never there at all. Once again George takes a moment to walk in the park and feel the soft green grass beneath his paws. And he buries his head in the lavender, the jasmine, the roses, the lilac and the honeysuckle. And once again, if you knew where to look, you would see the outline of a cat working its way slowly, so slowly, back up the metal stairs of the fire escape that is on one side of the huge tower. And beside him is the outline of an owl floating softly and silently through the air, guiding his friend home. At the top, George turns to Barnaby and thanks him for the night and for finding them the tuk tuk and taking them far, far away from the city to the wonderful world where the creatures of the long loved stories live. And Barnaby assures him that anytime, anytime he hears such a story, George must tell him and Barnaby will take him to the place where the story started, for he knows them all so well. And once more, just before he heads inside to curl up on the end of Oscar's bed, or maybe Ollie's, George turns to Barnaby and says aloud the lines of the poem he knows so well and that this night has been brought to life. There's a lullaby I'm sure you've heard. I'll bet you know it word for word. There's a cow, a cat, a dish and a moon. Do you think you know the tune? Say it with me as I go. If, of course, the words you know. Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle the cow jumped over the moon the little dog laughed to see such sport and the dish ran away with the spoon.