Once upon a time, not long ago, and not far away, there was a barn.
And beside the barn, there was a windmill.
And beside the windmill, there was a house.
And beyond the house, there were hills.
And in the hills, there was an echo.
Can you see the echo?
No.
You can't see an echo.
Now look back across the farm and find the boot.
You can see the boot, but you can't see an echo.
As an echo is a sound that bounces, now look up the way up.
As an echo is a sound that bounces, would you like to hear an echo?
Listen, I'll shout loudly to the hills and see if the echo comes back.
Hello?
Did you hear it?
That was an echo coming from the hills.
Now listen, once again.
Where are you?
That's an echo.
There's a story about an echo and a small boy named Peter.
So we go to the castle, I'll hurry over first and go in the back door so that I can let
the drawbridge down and open the big front doors for you.
Are you ready?
Here's my castle.
Hello?
Here we are inside and here's one little chair for one of you and a bigger chair for two
more to curl up in and a rocking chair for someone who likes to rock.
Now, look up then.
I'll call Jerome because Jerome is going to help tell the story.
He doesn't know what the story is but he can do it, I think.
He has to be the echo, a whistles one.
Is that an echo or is a Jerome whistling back?
What do you think?
It was Jerome.
Hello, friendly.
Hello, Jerome.
I wasn't sure that that was you or an echo.
We were talking about echoes.
There's an echo in the hills behind the farms.
Oh, we heard it.
And the story is about an echo too.
Oh, a story about an echo.
You know what an echo is.
Well, no, I don't.
Oh, you don't know what an echo is?
No.
Well, an echo is a sound like your voice or a loud sound of any kind.
A sound that bounces.
Bounces?
Yeah, it's like a ball thrown against a wall, bounces back.
Really?
Well, in some places the sound will bounce back.
Oh, wow.
And the story is about a shepherd boy named Peter.
And his echo.
Oh.
He played a shepherd's pipe.
And the echo sounded just like a shepherd's pipe.
And you're going to help tell the story.
Oh, good.
You're going to be the echo.
An echo.
Yes.
So, to be an echo, you go outside, you see,
and you get out of sight where no one can hear you,
and the echo isn't quite as loud as the sound.
All right.
Now, we'll just practice once.
Hello, Jerome.
Oh, friendly.
I thought we were going to tell a story.
No, Jerome.
The echo, you see, says the same thing.
I was just making a sound to bounce, to make an echo.
So, when I say, hello, Jerome, the echo would say,
hello, Jerome.
Oh, I see.
You want to try it just once?
All right.
Hello, Jerome.
That's very good.
Was that better?
Yeah, no.
Let me help you with that ear.
Thank you.
Now, whenever you're an echo, you just get outside the window.
All right.
And I need the giant pipe, because this is like Peter's
shepherd's pipe.
Oh, you see, this shepherd took care of sheep up in the mountains.
He was all alone, except for the sheep.
And he had no one to play with.
That's too bad.
Just an echo.
Oh.
But that was fun, because whatever he played on his shepherd's pipe
came back from the mountains.
And he found that the echo and the shepherd's pipe
sounded good together.
I see.
Like this.
Now, you'll be the echo high.
Jerome can whistle.
Whoo.
Come in.
Is that all right?
Very, very fun.
Well, that was the tune that Peter liked to play with his echo best.
He played it all day long to be done.
Oh.
Like that.
All day long.
Until the end of the afternoon, he was just getting a little bit sleepy.
So he thought that a lullaby would be a good thing to play.
Mm-hmm.
Now go outside.
All right.
Jerome.
Yes.
Come here a minute.
Oh, this part.
Yeah.
Oh, this part.
Oh, all right, friendly.
That was part of his story.
He played a lullaby.
And the echo played back.
The echo didn't have to.
He played it over and over again and louder and louder.
And the echo was sound asleep.
The lullaby had put the echo to sleep.
Come and draw.
All right.
This is the part of the story where the shepherd goes down the mountain back to his
farm.
And he was very unhappy because he no longer had an echo to play with.
This is fun.
The echo was honestly.
Well, on the farm, sleeping in the door of the barn with a kitten.
Oh.
When Peter woke the kitten up and told the kitten what had happened, and the kitten said,
maybe I can wake the echo.
Oh.
Now, this is where you get to be only animal.
Oh, but you be a kitten.
So, the kitten said very loudly.
My, my, my.
Peter listened, but the echo didn't wake up.
No.
Sleeping on the front porch of the farmhouse was a dog.
And the dog said, I am bigger than the kitten.
I can wake the echo.
So the dog tried to wake the echo.
Now you can be a dog.
Now.
Ah.
And Peter listened.
But the echo didn't wake up.
No.
In the barnyard was a big cow.
And the cow said, I am bigger than the kitten, and I am bigger than the dog.
And I can wake up the echo.
Now be a cow.
So the cow said, mmm.
Mmm.
And everyone listened.
But the echo didn't wake up.
Sitting on a fence post, there was a rooster.
And the rooster said, I am no bigger than the kitten, and I am smaller than the dog.
And I am not anywhere near as big as a cow.
But I can wake up that echo.
Oh.
And so the rooster stood straight up on the fence post.
And said, mmm.
And everyone listened, and they heard the echo.
And the rooster said again, mmm.
And the echo said again, mmm.
And the rooster had waked up the echo.
And so Peter ran up the mountain playing his shepherd's butt.
And the echo was wide awake, and Peter was always careful after that late in the afternoon
to not play a lullaby.
Oh.
He didn't want the echo to fall asleep again.
I see.
Mmm.
Sometimes it's nice to have a lullaby if you want to fall asleep, isn't it?
That's right.
Like the sleeping music.
Mmm.
That puts me to sleep.
Mmm.
Thank you for helping tell the story, you're all.
It was fun, friendly.
You were very good echo.
one of them, and the rocking chair for another,
who likes to rock, and the big arm chair
for two more to curl up in when you come again to wear a castle.
Now, close the big front doors and pull up the dropperage
after you're gone.
Good night.
The friendly giant is Bob Hummee.
Jerome, the giant giraffe, is Ken Osce.
Ed Sprague is the director.
The friendly giant is created and produced
for Wisconsin's educational television station
WHA-TV by Bob Hummee.