Once upon a time, not long ago, and not far away, there was a friendly farm.
There's the house with the dog on the front porch.
Is there a pony on this farm? Not near the windmill.
Not in the barn, anyplace, just a big old cow. No pony.
There's a big boot. Now look up, look way up.
That was my boot. A giant wears giant boots, friendly giants too.
The ponies wear boots. If he'd found a pony, would he have boots?
He'd have shoes, like small horse shoes.
Well, let's 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.
You ready? Here's my castle.
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.
There.
Now look up, look way up and I'll whistle for Jerome.
He always whistles back, doesn't he? When I whistle this little tune.
He didn't whistle back. Shall I whistle once more? Maybe he isn't coming.
I'll whistle once again.
Oh, oh.
There. Jerome, that's why you didn't whistle back.
I couldn't whistle friendly. You had a horse shoe, and you were carrying it in your mouth.
Well, it isn't one of your shoes. Oh, no. It's not a giraffe shoe.
No, it's a horse shoe. Where'd you get it? I found it.
Found a horse shoe. On the ground? Well, let's hang it up here.
Careful. I won't hurt you. No, I meant that you shouldn't drop it and maybe lose it.
Oh, well. It'd be bad luck to lose it. Oh, Jerome. Bad luck to lose a horse shoe?
Well, it could be bad luck. I don't think so, really, Jerome. That's something that you hear,
but it doesn't really mean that you'd have bad luck just because you lose a horse shoe.
Well, it might be. It happened to a friend of mine.
It did, really? Yes. What happened? Well, he was on a long hike, and he lost a horse shoe,
and he had trouble getting back home. He had bad luck.
Really? Yes. Well, that's too bad. Anyone I know?
I don't think so. He was a horse friend of mine.
Oh, I see. He was a horse, and it was one of his own shoes, a lot.
Well, that would be different. It would be bad luck for a horse to lose one of his own shoes.
It was for him? He'd have trouble getting back from that hike because it would hurt his foot.
Yes. It would go without a shoe gone. Excuse me, Jerome.
It would be the same if he were a pony. Ponies are like horses, a little smaller.
There's a book about a pony who lost a shoe. See?
Oh. That's a shoe for my pony. Do you know who wrote it? No. Margaret Frisky.
Oh. Mm-hmm. And there's a picture of the pony right there.
Oh. Oh. And the book is by Margaret Frisky.
And the pictures are by Jean Edgerton. She drew that picture and all the other pictures in the book.
Nice picture. Do you know who made the book? No. Children's Press.
And I see. And it's about a pony who lost a shoe. Oh.
Like my friend? Yes. Let me get over here where everyone can see all of the pictures.
I hope he found it again. We'll see. We'll see. It's about a little boy who owns the pony.
Oh. There. I can see it now. Can you see it now? Mm-hmm.
And the little boy says, sometimes I wear no shoes. I run through the grass with no shoes.
You see, he goes barefoot.
But I have shoes. I have high shoes and low shoes and walking through the town shoes.
And boots for walking in the rain. Like giant boots, aren't they?
My pony has shoes too, but he lost one. I can't ride him.
He wants a new shoe, a bright shoe, a nail it on tight shoe.
So I went to find a shoe for my pony. A little duck had no shoes.
His feet were webbed for swimming.
And a little lamb had no shoes. And what did the lambs say, Jerome?
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah..."
That's what the lion said.
And the little kitten had no shoes.
He had soft pads for tiptoeing.
He had claws that he can push out when he wants to climb a tree.
And so do all the cats have paws and claws, tigers and lions...
What's the big lion?
He has paws and claws.
Rabbit had no shoes!
he could dig with his front feet and thump with his back feet and jump right over the tulips.
My cow had no shoes. She wasn't going anywhere. She just stood in the grass and what did she say,
John? Well, my pony was limping and I had to walk and lead him. Some little bird will tell us,
where we can find a shoe for you. Who said the owl? Who? He clung to the tree with his long,
sharp claws. The old hens clucked and scratched for their dinner and the rooster
crowed on the fence. We saw squirrels with their nimble feet and they could hold nuts with their
feet or jump through the trees and catch on to the branches. Then we met a clown with shoes as
big as paddles. Oh, he says your pony needs a shoe. Go across the bridge and into the town
and turn to the right and look for a chestnut tree.
So we did run up the road, cross the bridge, turn to the right and underneath the spreading
chestnut tree was a black smith. Your pony needs a shoe. He said, bring him in, bring him in.
The black smith had a new shoe, a bright shoe, a nail-ed-on tight shoe and he put it on my pony.
You see, he held the pony's leg between his legs and nailed it on and away went the little boy
riding. Clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap,
clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap, clippity-clap. That's all. I was still
riding. Yes, that's the sound the pony made when he had all four of his horse shoes, pony shoes,
pony shoes, pony-clap, clippity-clap. What is this you made of? Iron?
Now, how is it put on the foot as a horse as a pony? Well, I think it's nailed on.
That's what the blacksmith does. Do you think that hurts? No, friendly. No, because a horse or a
pony has special feet, hard, something like my feet. Yes, but do you have horses? No, you don't
have shoes. Well, you don't have to walk on hard roads much, do you? No, not much. You can walk
where it saw grass and fields, things like that. Well, now we know that it's bad luck to lose a
horse shoe if you're a horse and a bad luck to lose a pony shoe if you're a pony.
Clippity-clap, clippity-clap, who wrote the book? Do you remember Margaret Frisky? Yes. You know,
who made the pictures? Gene Edgerton. Gene Edgerton. And you know who made the book?
Children's Press. And it was about a pony. And not only a pony, but all the other animals.
Oh, yes. Who don't have shoes? That's right. Because they can do special things with their
feet. And if they had shoes, they couldn't, like a duck. That's right. They couldn't do all those
things. No, a duck couldn't swim as well if the duck had shoes to get full of water. I never thought
that. Or a squirrel. If a squirrel was wearing shoes, he couldn't climb a tree. That's right.
But it's nice for some of us to have shoes. Giant has to have big boots. You ready? I'm tired.
Good night, Jerome. Good night, friendly.
It is late. This little chair will be waiting for one of you. And the rocking chair for another.
There's a big arm chair for two more to curl up. And when you come again to our castle,
I'll close the big front doors and pull up the dropper jacket you've gone.
Maybe the cowl will jump over the moon. It will be a horse. Good night. Good night.
The friendly giant is Bob Humming. Jerome, the giant giraffe, is Ken Oast. Ed Sprague is the
director. The friendly giant is created and produced for Wisconsin's educational television
station WHA TV by Bob Humming.