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  • WOMAN: ♪ Hey, now... ♪

  • Hey, wow... ♪

  • Here's how

  • Come and read

  • Between the lions

  • CHORUS: ♪ Come on

  • Come in

  • Begin

  • The world awaits

  • WOMAN: ♪ Between the lions

  • Between the covers of a book

  • It's time to look between the lions

  • Behold the tales beyond the tails

  • CHORUS: ♪ Behind the door

  • Become, explore

  • Come in between the lions

  • Begin between the lions

  • Be here between the lions! ♪

  • Come, Sir Lionel!

  • The time is, uh... n...

  • Nigh.

  • Nigh-- nigh!

  • Yes, Sir Leona!

  • Wa-hoo!

  • Yonder approacheth the queen!

  • The queen!

  • Finally, someone recognizes

  • my true regal position in writing-dom.

  • I see my loyal subjects are dressed

  • to hear my latest tale

  • of knights in shining armor.

  • Yes, your majesty!

  • Yes, your majesty!

  • Tell me, your majesty

  • does thy story have

  • a mean, nasty, villain?

  • The meanest.

  • The nastiest!

  • Oh, read it, read it, read it!

  • Yeah, read it, please, please, please?

  • Mine is a tale of brave knights on a glorious quest

  • faced by the meanest villain on earth.

  • It's called, "The Quest for the Chest."

  • Quest.

  • Chest.

  • Written by...

  • Babs Caplan.

  • ( trumpet fanfare )

  • Your majesty!

  • Your majesty!

  • CAPLAN ( reading ): "'The Quest for the Chest.'

  • "A Babs Caplan Production

  • "starring Faith Prince, David Garrison and Michael McGrath.

  • "Written by Babs Caplan...

  • based upon a story by Babs Caplan."

  • CAPLAN ( reading ):

  • ESTHER and LESTER ( singing ):

  • ( horses whinny )

  • Oh, yeah, here comes the good part!

  • Mmm...!

  • ( snorting )

  • ( coughing )

  • Oh, chest... you are the best chest.

  • ( snorts )

  • It is our destiny to be together.

  • ( chuckles )

  • CAPLAN ( reading ):

  • ( thunderous knock )

  • ( singing ):

  • ( snorts )

  • We don't want any.

  • I am Lady Esther and this is my jester, Lester

  • and we are on a quest for the chest from Budapest.

  • ( snorting )

  • Never heard of it.

  • CAPLAN ( reading ):

  • Gadzooks! That's it!

  • ( Esther and Lester giggling )

  • Oh... that.

  • So?

  • ( gasps )

  • We request that you give us that chest.

  • No.

  • BOTH ( whining ): Please...

  • CHESTER: Oh, very well.

  • ( squeals )

  • ESTHER and LESTER: ♪ Quest, quest

  • The Chest of Budapest. ♪

  • So, how much did you love it?

  • LIONEL: I, um, well, uh...

  • It wasn't the best story I've ever heard.

  • Best!

  • Well, why not?

  • Well, uh...

  • Um... for one thing, there was no story.

  • Yeah, he just asked for the chest

  • and Sir Chester gave it to him.

  • Yeah.

  • CLEO: Excuse me.

  • Babs, I don't want to be a pest...

  • Pest.

  • but may I suggest something?

  • Suggest.

  • There sure are

  • a lot of monkeys in here today.

  • Oh, Tuesday is Free Monkey Lunch Day.

  • They walk around with words while they digest.

  • Digest.

  • THEO: Mmm, see?

  • Now, we couldn't help

  • but overhear your story, Babs.

  • Now, we don't want to interfere...

  • But we have some thoughts.

  • Are you interested?

  • Of course!

  • I'm interested in all little people and lions.

  • Animals are good.

  • Yeah, right...

  • Um, look, I think the cubs might enjoy the story more

  • if there were a... a challenge.

  • Right!

  • Say if Count Chester would somehow test

  • Esther and Lester Jester.

  • Test.

  • Yeah!

  • A good villain would test

  • their courage... and stuff.

  • Test.

  • A test.

  • Test!

  • Yes, a test.

  • Test.

  • A test.

  • Oh, read it yourself!

  • ( laughs )

  • Brainstorm!

  • What if the heroes faced a test?

  • That'd do it.

  • Away! Away!

  • I must have room to work.

  • Of course.

  • Good idea.

  • Oh.

  • Oh, you want us to leave, too.

  • Oh yes, your majesty.

  • We're leaving, your majesty.

  • LEONA: Whatever you say, your majesty.

  • LIONEL: Oh, yes, your majesty.

  • Hey, and next, Martha Reader and the Vowelles

  • singing the zesty short "e"-- "eh"-- sound

  • in the word "vest."

  • ( Martha singing repeated short "e" sound to pop tune )

  • ( Vowelles respond rhythmically with short "e" sound )

  • CROWD: Vest!

  • ( monkeys hooting )

  • ANNOUNCER: And now, Barnaby B. Busterfield III

  • says the best word with the "est" ending.

  • ( clears his throat )

  • The best word with the "est" ending is... "best."

  • Oh, how obvious was, um, uh, uh...

  • That?

  • Yeah. Huh!

  • Huh!

  • Well, it is!

  • ( scoffs )

  • ( cheering )

  • GAWAIN: Excellent!

  • Gawain here once again at Blending Fields

  • where two brave knights in armor

  • will charge together at high speed and make a word.

  • Competing today we have Sir Dr...

  • ( cheering )

  • And Sir Ess!

  • ( cheering )

  • Blend on, dudes!

  • BOTH: Dress!

  • ( cheering )

  • Does this make me look fat?

  • "Dress"-- excellent!

  • That's Gawain's word for today.

  • And this is Gawain saying

  • Don't stress, because I guess I'll see you next time on...

  • ( hip hop music playing )

  • ANNOUNCER: And now some names

  • with the short "e"-- "eh"-- sound in them.

  • You'll love it, I bet!

  • Meet Letty, Bret, Yvette and Ed

  • Betty, Betty's setter, Red

  • Terry, Kerry, Brent, Raquel

  • And Terry's ferrets, Trent and Mel

  • Here's Deb and Kevin, Lex and Kenji

  • Zeb and Devon, Rex and Benjie

  • Rennie, Kenny, Jen, Annette

  • And Benny and his sister, Bette! ♪

  • Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's your name? ♪

  • What's your name? What's your name? What's your name? ♪

  • Enjoy your little moment of fame! ♪

  • ♪ ♪ ♪

  • Here's Brendan, Denny, Nell and Ned

  • Glendon, Chen, Miguel and Fred

  • In all these names you'll find short "e" ♪

  • You know it sounds like "eh." ♪

  • See you! "Eh"!

  • ( song ends )

  • ( makes whooshing sound )

  • J... j... j...

  • ( makes whooshing sound )

  • E... t.

  • Et.

  • J... et.

  • Jet.

  • Jet... jet.

  • ( imitating engine roaring )

  • ( imitating engine again )

  • Jet.

  • ( imitates engine rumbling )

  • ANNOUNCER: And now, Fun with Chicken Jane.

  • Today, "Chicken Jane and the Red Elephant."

  • ( music plays )

  • WOMAN ( singing ):

  • ( squawks )

  • ( clucking )

  • ( trumpeting )

  • ( sounding out letters )

  • ( rumbling )

  • ( ice creaking )

  • ( Jane squawks )

  • ( squawks )

  • LIONEL: Come on, hold still, Click.

  • Yeah.

  • I feel like a baked potato.

  • That's your armor, Click.

  • You can't be a knight without armor.

  • CAPLAN: Eureka!

  • My story is done.

  • ( Lionel and Leona gasp )

  • Great! The story's done!

  • CLICK: Are we playing now?

  • Because I cannot see.

  • Hello?

  • ( clunk )

  • Oh.

  • Did you add a test, your majesty?

  • Test.

  • Oh, yes, the best test ever to foil

  • a hero's quest.

  • Wow!

  • Best!

  • Test!

  • ( thud )

  • Quest.

  • Read it

  • read it, read it!

  • ( singing )

  • ( horses whinny )

  • ( singing )

  • ( snorting )

  • Oh!

  • Ooh!

  • M-m-m-m...

  • ( fluttering tongue )

  • Gadzooks! That's it!

  • ( giggling excitedly )

  • ( oohing and ahhing )

  • We request that you give us that chest.

  • ( Chester snorts )

  • You may have your chest

  • if... you pass a test.

  • I shall write the word "chest" on a piece of paper...

  • and "guest" on another.

  • ( chicken honks )

  • If you choose the "chest" paper

  • you get the chest.

  • If you choose "guest"

  • you will be a guest in my dungeon forever!

  • ( Count Chester laughing evilly )

  • Is a dungeon a cold, dark place

  • with bars on the doors and windows

  • and really bad food?

  • Yes!

  • ( groans )

  • We'll take that test, Count Chester.

  • How diabolical!

  • Oh, what will they do?

  • Choose!

  • ( no sound )

  • LADY ESTHER: That one.

  • What's it say, hmm?

  • Guest!

  • You lose!

  • ( both crying )

  • ( laughing evilly )

  • CAPLAN: "And he locked them in the dungeon forever!"

  • ( Count Chester laughing evilly )

  • BOTH: What?!

  • So, how much did you love it?

  • But it... it's awful!

  • I mean, the... the cheater wins!

  • That's not a very good lesson for me to learn

  • at my young, impressionable age.

  • No, it isn't, is it?

  • BOTH: No!

  • Um, Babs, we don't want to seem

  • like we were eavesdropping...

  • No, and we don't want to tell you

  • how to write your story...

  • No... no!

  • But we were thinking you might...

  • Might.

  • might want to try to come up with a way

  • for the hero to win.

  • A way for the hero to win.

  • Yes, if that's your vision, of course.

  • Yeah, do it, do it, do it!

  • Come on, you can cook something up.

  • Did you say, "Cook up"?

  • Yeah, cook up.

  • Cook up?

  • Yeah, that's what Lionel said.

  • Cook... up.

  • Cook... up!

  • Brainstorm!

  • Hold your comments!

  • Hold your applause!

  • I'm going back in!

  • ( all exclaim )

  • Genius doesn't like to be watched while it works!

  • CHORUS: ♪ What's Cooking? with Theo and Cleo

  • Check out what's cooking! ♪

  • Okay, Theo, my big wild boar burger.

  • ( laughing )

  • Wow!

  • What's cooking today is...

  • "Peppered tenderloin in a kettle with no melons and no egg."

  • Yummy!

  • CLEO: One-- ( cracks pointer )

  • "Get rid of the melons and the egg."

  • Good-bye melons!

  • Adios, egg!

  • Wa-be-de-pah!

  • Whoo!

  • CLEO: Two-- ( cracks pointer )

  • "Pepper the tenderloin."

  • Mmm, pepper...

  • Most important, yes.

  • Pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, pep... ♪

  • ( sneezes )

  • ( sneezes )

  • Oh!

  • Whoa!

  • CLEO: Three-- ( cracks pointer )

  • "Put the peppered tenderloin in a kettle."

  • Tenderloin.

  • Kettle.

  • Yes.

  • ( groaning )

  • Here we go.

  • Wait!

  • What?

  • CLEO: Four-- ( cracks pointer )

  • "Cook for ten hours"?!

  • Ten urs?!

  • BOTH: Nah!

  • ( both chewing loudly )

  • And now, once again, it's time for the adventures of Sam Spud

  • parboiled potato detective.

  • SAM SPUD: The name is Spud, Sam Spud.

  • I was working late one night.

  • The blinking of the neon sign outside my window was endless.

  • It was about to drive me crazy.

  • Suddenly there was a knock at my door.

  • Who's there?

  • Butter.

  • Butter who?

  • Butter open up, Spud

  • or we'll be forced to batter down this door!

  • SAM SPUD: Butter? He looked more like a tub of lard.

  • As a matter of fact, he was a tub of lard.

  • But it was his pals that worried me.

  • They looked like a couple of really bad iggs.

  • Iggs?

  • What's an igg?

  • Oh, sorry!

  • That's not right.

  • I-G-G-S spells "iggs."

  • That shouldn't be an "I."

  • That should be an "E."

  • E-G-G-S, "eggs."

  • They looked like a couple of really bad eggs.

  • As a matter of fact, they were a couple of really bad eggs--

  • hard-boiled and rotten as they come.

  • I could tell one of them was ready to crack.

  • As a matter of fact, he did.

  • ( grumbling )

  • The yoke's on us.

  • This is really bad.

  • Uh-oh!

  • ( panting )

  • Whew!

  • What so you say we check out

  • that diner on the corner?

  • Ah! I like a Spud who asks a tub

  • to share some grub as the sun comes up.

  • Mm-hmm, indeed I do!

  • This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

  • ( music begins playing )

  • MAN: ♪ If you can read E-N, "en" ♪

  • Then you can read "ten" and "pen" ♪

  • And you can read "hen" and "Zen" ♪

  • And you can read "men" ♪

  • CHORUS: ♪ Yeah, come on and read it again

  • All you need is a little E-N ♪

  • If you can read E-N, "en" ♪

  • Then you can read "end" and "mend" ♪

  • And you can read "send" and "spend" ♪

  • And you can read "lend" ♪

  • Yeah, I bet you're getting to know

  • Every "en" that I'm tending to show

  • If you can read E-N, "en" ♪

  • Then you can read "when" and "then" ♪

  • And you can read "den" ♪

  • And you can read "ten" ♪

  • If you can read "en." ♪

  • ( song ends )

  • And now The Word Doctor with Dr. Ruth Wordheimer.

  • Hello.

  • Here's Dr. Ruth.

  • MONKEY: Ooh! Ooh!

  • Something tells me

  • it's time for another "long word freak-out."

  • Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, Dr. Ruth!

  • Dr. Ruth, you got to help me with this word.

  • It's so long, I can't read it.

  • It's too...

  • hard.

  • It's not too hard.

  • I will help you.

  • Take a deep breath.

  • ( inhales deeply )

  • Start on the left

  • and read one part of the word at a time.

  • ( exhales forcefully )

  • Okay!

  • Start on the left.

  • "En...

  • "ter...

  • "tain...

  • ing."

  • Good!

  • Now put them together.

  • "En... ter.. tain... ing."

  • "Enter... taining."

  • "Entertaining."

  • "Entertaining."

  • You read it!

  • Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

  • No, no, it wasn't hard.

  • It was kind of...

  • ooh... ooh... entertaining!

  • Oh, I'm going to go find some more long words to read!

  • Oh, thank you, Dr. Ruth!

  • You are welcome!

  • ( door closes )

  • That was painless.

  • Ooh, I'm good!

  • LEONA: Watch the whiskers.

  • LIONEL: Hold still, Click.

  • You want eyeholes in your armor or not?

  • Know what?

  • Click's right--

  • she does look more like a baked potato than a knight.

  • Does not.

  • It's cool armor!

  • Ready to hear what I cooked up?

  • ALL: Oh, yes!

  • Oh, your baked potato can listen, too.

  • CLICK: Hey!

  • "The Quest for the Chest"

  • written by Babs Caplan.

  • You remember that Lady Esther

  • and Lester the Jester were on the quest for the chest?

  • And they went to Count Chester's castle.

  • BOTH: ♪ Quest, quest, quest, quest. Quest, quest, quest, quest. ♪

  • ( snorts )

  • That is the weirdest Christmas carol I've ever heard.

  • ( both exclaim )

  • Gadzooks, that's it!

  • ( squeals )

  • ( giggling )

  • ( both giggling )

  • We request that you give us this chest.

  • You may have the chest, if you pass a test.

  • I shall write the word "chest" on a piece of paper...

  • Oh...

  • ( groaning )

  • Hmm... hmm...

  • ( groans )

  • ( chicken squawks )

  • Ah.

  • and "guest"

  • on another.

  • If you choose the "chest" paper, you get the chest.

  • Oh, boy.

  • If you choose the "guest," you will be a guest

  • in my dungeon forever!

  • Oh, boy!

  • We'll take the test!

  • That one.

  • What's it say, hmm?

  • Gak!

  • Now how will we know

  • what was written on that paper?!

  • This one says "guest"

  • so that means the one I chose and threw into the fire

  • must have said "chest"

  • Right?

  • ( groans )

  • Grumble, grumble.

  • She's bested me!

  • Yes, she's right!

  • She's right!

  • We've got the chest! ♪

  • She's right, she's right! ♪

  • BOTH: ♪ Now we've go the chest

  • The one we just mentioned. ♪

  • ( crying )

  • Well, how much did you love what I cooked up?

  • That was the best story I ever heard!

  • Yeah, the best!

  • The best!

  • Excellent!

  • Brava... bravissima.

  • Of course it was the best.

  • The thinking juices were flowing in my brain

  • like gravy over a steaming ham!

  • THEO: Oh, boy!

  • Wow, she has such a way with words.

  • Mmm.

  • It will be my biggest seller!

  • This book will make me famous, and I owe it all to you!

  • Don't think that I am not grateful.

  • When they build a statue to me

  • I will see to it that they carve your names

  • under the pedestal.

  • BOTH: Wow.

  • Good-bye, your majesty!

  • Wow.

  • Hey, Leona, let's keep playing!

  • We can be knights for days!

  • Yay!

  • Giddyap, giddyap, giddyap!

  • Knights for days.

  • Hey, who left this baked potato here?

  • I'll eat it!

  • CLICK: Hey!

  • ( both gasp )

  • I thought the talking potato was coming next week.

  • And now, Walter and Clay Pigeon take a siesta.

  • ( both snoring )

  • Well, this may not be great television

  • but I'm loving it!

  • ( chuckles )

  • There are games and stories at the Between the Lions Web site:

  • pbskids.org, or America Online keyword: PBS Kids.

  • "And that's why he's called..."

  • "Cliff... Hanger!"

  • Right!

  • Help a friend get wild about reading.

  • It's cool!

  • Way cool!

  • "When last we left Cliff..."

  • ♪ ♪ ♪

  • [Captioned by The Caption Center WGBH Educational Foundation]

  • CHORUS: ♪ Between the lions... ♪

  • Between the lions... ♪

  • WOMAN: ♪ Come in between the lions

  • Begin between the lions

  • Be here between the lions! ♪

WOMAN: ♪ Hey, now... ♪

Subtitles and vocabulary

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