Bagpuss

Opening

(Spoken)

Once upon a time,
not so long ago,
there was a little girl,
and her name was Emily.

And she had a shop.
There it is.
It was rather an unusual shop,
because it didn't sell anything.

You see, everything in that shop window
was a thing that somebody had once lost,
and Emily had found,
and brought home to Bagpuss.

Emily's cat Bagpuss.
The most important,
the most beautiful,
the most magical,
saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world.

Well now, one day Emily found a thing,
and she brought it back to the shop,
and put it down in front of Bagpuss,
who was in the shop window, fast asleep as usual.

But then, Emily said some magic words.

Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss,
old fat furry catpuss,
wake up and look at this thing that I bring.
Wake up, be bright,
be golden and light,
Bagpuss, oh hear what I sing.

And Bagpuss was awake.
And when Bagpuss wakes up, all his friends wake up too.
The mice on the mouse organ woke up and stretched.
Madeleine the ragdoll.
Gabriel the toad.
And last of all, Professor Yaffle,
who was a very distinguished old woodpecker.

He climbed down off his bookend
and went to see what it was that Emily had brought.

Closing

(Spoken)

Bagpuss gave a big yawn and settled down to sleep.
And of course when Bagpuss goes to sleep, all his friends go to sleep too.
The mice were ornaments on the mouse organ.
Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls.
And Professor Yaffle was a carved wooden bookend,
in the shape of a woodpecker.

Even Bagpuss himself, once he was asleep,
was just an old saggy cloth cat.
Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams.
But Emily loved him.