Today we have something a little different.
Dr. Jane Goodall is going to tell you a story.
Stay tuned after the animation
to learn how to download this as a free children's book.
Ready?
Let's begin.
It starts as a whisper,
a word on the air.
It can't quite be heard, but you know that it's there.
As gentle as sunlight,
as tenacious as hale,
in its route to the heart, it could not but prevail.
And the people looked up from their day-to-day tasks,
their day-to-day jobs
and their day-to-day masks.
They heard or they felt
where the whisper could lead,
and they looked with eyes wide
at what that might mean.
And once they could see it, they hadn't a chance
To resist the sweet song
of the deep spell it cast.
But the feeling it brought them at first glance
was pain,
as they lifted their eyes on the land they had claimed.
Since they saw at last
as if raised from a dream,
they were almost alone on the land and the sea.
For the trees had almost gone,
and the bees had almost gone,
and the creatures in their shells by the seas
had almost gone.
And the people felt sad as they saw their new Earth,
but they knew this was it,
one wild chance for rebirth.
Breaking new ground, seeds rolling down,
smell of the earth on your hands and your brow.
No time for sorrow, we're building tomorrow.
The sound of things growing now keeps us around.
As the wildness grows, and the deep wood grows,
and the sense that the future's come to meet you
grows,
There's no chance we can rest.
We must do our best.
This moment can lead us back home,
that's our test.
It starts as a whisper,
a word on the air.
It can't quite be heard, but you know that it's there.
It then spoke like thunder.
Until we all moved.
And we could.
And we did.
And it's done.
She's renewed.