Herbert and the New Neighbours | Helen Sheldon | Bedtime Stories for Very Young Engineers

00:00:32 The elephant family laughed and tooted. happily as they unloaded all of their boxes.

Hi, I'm Helen and I'm an acoustic engineer. This. is the story of Herbert and his new neighbours.

Herbert was a little old turtle. He lived in a. little odd house and loved nothing more than to

spend his days in the garden tending to his. beautiful roses and cooling his toes in his

little old pond. One day he heard a loud roar from. outside and an enormous fan came driving down his

quiet lane. Out of the window he saw that a family. of elephants were moving into the house next door!

The next day Herbert went into his garden. and was about to water his roses when he

heard screams and shouts and trumpeting. The. elephant children were playing out next door.

They shouted to Herbert "Hello mr turtle!. We're Gina and George and we're twins!".

"Hello" said Herbert softly to the children but. he soon got a headache from all the noise and

went inside to lie down where it would be quiet.. But suddenly he heard the noise of very large feet

running up and down the stairs in the house next. door. THUNK, THUNK, THUNK! "Oh no" thought Herbert

"I can't sleep for all this noise". He. tried to ignore it but he just couldn't.

The next day he got up to make a cup of tea and. *THUNK, THUNK, THUNK* there it was again. He tried

wearing earplugs but he could still hear it. By. the third day with all the THUNK, THUNK, THUNKS

Herbert was feeling so tired and so sad that he. didn't want to go out at all. He looked out of

the window and he saw that his beautiful. roses were wilting and beginning to die.

Suddenly there was a knock at. the door. It was Gina and George:

"We noticed your beautiful roses are dying and. wondered if we might be able to help you in the

garden? We're very good at watering flowers!". they said. Herbert started to snap "No go away"

but his manners took over. "I mean... would. you both like a drink?" he asked and they all

sat out in his pretty little garden. Mummy and. daddy elephant looked over the fence "Hello mr

turtle! How are you today?" Herbert was quiet. and shy but plucked up all his courage to say:

"I'm not feeling very well as i'm so very tired.. I can't sleep since you moved in as the noise of

the children running on the stairs is so loud in. my bedroom. I've tried ignoring it and I've tried

wearing earplugs but it still keeps me awake!".. Mummy elephant replied "I'm so sorry! We didn't

realise we were disturbing you! We'll have to see. what we can do to stop the noise!". Daddy elephant

told the children they must tiptoe on the stairs. until they could find a way to fix the problem.

Mummy and daddy elephant called Tilly the. giraffe who was the local handy animal,

she always wore her hard hat and helped the. animals in the lane with jobs around the house.

She put in a thick fluffy carpet with. a lovely squidgy layer underneath

to stop the elephant's footsteps shaking. the whole house and since then the children

come round every weekend to help Herbert in the. garden. They use their trunks to suck up water

from the pond and spray it onto the roses and. they play and trumpet to their heart's content.

Herbert watches and listens to them happily. while they look after his garden together

and in the evenings he can't hear the footsteps. in his bedroom since the thick squidgy carpet

soaks them all up. But the children tiptoe up. and down the stairs anyway, just to be safe.