Fill five a nod, Jill, don't you let him go
Come and measure, it's a pleasure
You know anyone can do with
If you use a beam, see what I mean
There's really nothing to win
How tall are you and your friends, too?
Remember, you're still growing
Giant stops, but he's so tall
He's much, much taller than us all
Mini Matts, Mini Matts, Mini Matts, Mini Matts
Eenie, meenie, minie Matts, Eenie, meenie, minie Matts
Cactus Nodgel, Bible Nodgel, don't you let him go
Hello. I'm Mr. Snodgel.
I'm very tall.
I'm taller than Clown.
Much, much taller than Clown.
I'm taller than Clown.
He's shorter than me.
The Ringmaster is taller than me.
He's much, much taller than me.
He's taller than me and I'm...
shorter than him.
Clown is quite tall.
I'm taller than Clown.
The Ringmaster is the tallest of us all.
Remember Mr. Who? Diddy, diddy?
I wonder if he's taller or shorter than me.
I know that he lives in a very tall tree.
Wonder what he's up to.
Let's go and see.
A long way away, in a land far away,
lived an owl called Mr. Who.
He lived in a tree, a very tall tree,
right next to a short one or two.
Now poor Mr. Who didn't know what to do.
He was bored and he wanted to play.
But the possum next door was polishing his floor.
He was far too busy today.
Then Mr. Who had a good idea.
I'll think of every friend I know.
I'll go and invite them to come here next week.
And we'll all have a magical show.
So he wrote out a list of the people he knew.
A very long list of names.
At the top of the list was a turtle called Bert.
At the bottom a koala called James.
That list was as long as an elephant's trunk.
And it looked like one too hanging down.
Then Mr. Who rolled the whole thing up
and flew off to invite them around.
It took him three hours to invite all his friends
to the marvelous magical show.
But they all said they'd come.
And they all said they'd do the best magic tricks that they know.
Well, that very next week on the Wednesday morning,
everyone arrived at once.
Except that is for an emu called Liz,
who's really a bit of a dunce.
They all wore their very best magical clothes
with stars and spangles and bows.
And everyone brought something special to eat for supper
right after the show.
Mr. Who stood on a tall wooden box
and said what most owls say.
Who, he said,
who will be first to do a new magic trick today?
The first was a long, thin snake called Jake,
who stretched himself out like a stick.
Then he coiled himself up like a spring and zing!
Jake disappeared. Boy, what a trick!
Then came three jugglers,
three red kangaroos called Bouncer, Hopper and Sport.
Bouncer was normal, Hopper was tall,
and Sport was really quite short.
The stars of the show were two fire-eating dragons
who called themselves Bonnie and Clyde.
They both wore red and white polka dot ties.
One was narrow and one was wide.
After that it was time for something to eat,
time for supper, and everyone cheered.
But when they got back to the long supper table,
the food had all disappeared.
What a mystery, they said.
Where could it have gone?
They searched and they looked, but no luck.
All they could find was one little carrot
as short as the legs on a duck.
Now smart Mr. Who thought he knew what had happened,
and he said, Where's that emu called Liz?
She was supposed to be minding the table.
I bet she knows where all the food is.
When they found her, she told them that she hadn't eaten the food,
although really she had.
And she made up a story about where it had gone,
so no one would know she was bad.
She said that while everyone was watching the show,
a very tall ant took it all,
and she said that this ant was two meters high,
as tall as four ducks and a ball.
Well, everyone knew that it just wasn't true,
so finally Liz said she was sorry.
There was no ant, and she ate the food.
The whole thing was just a tall story.
That's all right, Liz, said Mr. Who.
We forgive you because you're our friend.
Then he said, Zigazack, and the food all came back.
Hooray! Happy day! That's the end!
MUSIC
Long and short.
MUSIC
Short nose.
MUSIC
Lion with a long tail.
MUSIC
Short whip.
MUSIC
Long whip.
MUSIC
Tall hat.
MUSIC
Short hat.
MUSIC
Ringmaster with his hat on is tall,
and clown is short, and I am in between.
Are you tall or short in your class,
or are you in between like me?
How will you find out?
MUSIC
I wonder what height clown really is.
I'll measure him.
But I haven't a tape measure.
So what'll I use?
I'll use my feet.
One, two.
One, two, three, four, five.
Clown is five of my shoes tall.
You could use anything at all to measure with.
Like a piece of string to measure a brown cat.
One length, two lengths.
The string again for a tall, tall hat.
One length.
A paper clip for the tail of a mouse.
One, two, three, four, five, six paper clips.
A long, long stick for the height of a house.
One stick, two sticks.
Your forefinger to measure a comb.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
eleven fingers.
Or a hinge to find the length of a bone.
One, two, three, four, five hinges.
You can use anything at all that you own
to measure things you find at your home.
Hmm, measuring.
I have a measuring problem for you.
We'll need to use Mr. Schnodgel's feet.
He has two feet and they're both the same length.
The left foot is as long as the right foot.
Now, here's the problem.
Can you guess how many of Mr. Schnodgel's feet it is
from one end of this tightrope to the other?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
Eleven of my feet.
These ropes are tricky things,
but I have a friend who is tricky with ropes.
Three pieces of rope.
A long piece.
A longer piece.
A short piece.
Why is he making three loops?
Sleeping lizards. Now they're all the same length.
Three pieces of rope again.
This time they're all the same length.
He's tying two of them together.
Now he's tying the other one.
He's bunching them all up.
Galloping goannas. It's all one piece of rope.
A tie.
A pair of scissors.
One, two, three.
Equal pieces of tie.
Zig-a-zack. Tie come back.
He won't get that tie together again without Humboldt the magician's help.
He hasn't changed the length of the tie.
That's still the same as before.
He won't be able to wear it again.
I can show you something about my length.
Watch me closely and see if you think I'm changing it by getting shorter or longer.
I'm going to show you something about my length.
I know what Worm is trying to show us.
If I roll out the plasticine, it's as long as this.
But now if I wind it up, it looks shorter but it isn't.
It's still the same length.
What about this?
And what about this?
It's all still the same length.
Now I have four shorter pieces.
But if I put them together again, I get the first length back.
Time for me to go. They're taking me to the circus. Bye bye.
Thanks for watching.