DODLY:
There you are, Sheepy. Baa-aa-aa! Hm...
FLYNN:
Dodly?
DODLY:
Oh, can't talk now.
FLYNN:
Hmm!
DODLY:
You were right, little lamby. You must be very tired. Come on, in the box. Baa-aa-aa!
FLYNN:
Dodly, what are you doing?
DODLY:
Just putting toy sheep into this box.
FLYNN:
That's what I thought. Why?
DODLY:
To keep track of how many real sheep are in our backyard.
FLYNN:
What?
DODLY:
Yep. Every time a sheep comes to visit us, I put a toy sheep in the box. Then I can keep track of the real sheep we have by counting the ones in the box. They move around too much to count them. See, at the moment, we have... 1, 2, 3, 4.
FLYNN:
So you're telling me if you have four sheep here, that means we've got four real sheep in the backyard?
DODLY:
That's right, Flynn!
FLYNN:
Dodly, we don't have any sheep in our backyard.
DODLY:
Sorry, Flynn! Gotta dash. I can hear another one arriving.
FLYNN:
Dodly! We don't have any sheep visiting us. Oh!
DODLY:
There you go, sheep.
FLYNN:
So, Dodly, now how many are we supposed to have?
DODLY:
Oh! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
FLYNN:
I've got an idea to save you from tipping the sheep out of the box every time.
DODLY:
Really?
FLYNN:
Yep. Every time you put a sheep in the box, draw a picture of the sheep on the outside. that way you can work out how many are on the inside by counting the pictures on the outside. Easier than tipping them out every time.
DODLY:
That's a great idea. OK. I counted 5 sheep so I'll just put them back in and draw 5 sheep on the box. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
FLYNN:
That should keep him busy for hours. (Laughs) No.
BOY:
Today for show-and-tell, I'm going to tell you about my walk to school. # As I walked to school today # Some ducks followed me # Can you see how many? # Yeah, there were 3 # As I turned around the corner # Guess what else I saw? # Some little jumping frogs of course # And look how many - 4 # And then I crossed the road and saw some penguins in a line # Come on, count them with me # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 # Well I hope you liked my story # And my pictures were some fun # They showed how many things I saw # But now my story's done. #
DODLY:
Baa-aa-aa! In you go, lamby. There! Now...
FLYNN:
Dodly, are you still pretending there are sheep outside?
DODLY:
There are! Another one has just arrived. So I put another toy sheep in and I'm drawing another picture.
FLYNN:
So how many sheep are in the box now?
DODLY:
I had 5 and I've just drawn 1 more so that's 5, 6. 6 pictures, so there are 6 real sheep in the backyard.
FLYNN:
Dodly, there aren't any...
DODLY:
Gotta go! (Chuckles)
FLYNN:
Goodness me.
DODLY:
Welcome to my home, Sheepy. You'll be safe in there. Hmm, I think I'll draw your picture over here.
FLYNN:
That drawing takes a bit of time.
DODLY:
It sure does. I could be feeding the sheep!
FLYNN:
Well, instead of drawing the sheep every time, why don't you use little strokes? You know, just draw 1 little line for each sheep to show how many are in the box.
DODLY:
That's a great idea! OK, now... I've got 6 pictures and I was about to do 1 more so that's... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 1 more... 7. 7 sheep in the box, so that means there are 7 sheep in the yard.
FLYNN:
Oh, Dodly, I can see by the strokes that there are 7 sheep in there, but there's no sheep in the backyard.
DODLY:
Excuse me, Flynn. I think I can hear another one arriving! Here I come, lamby!
FLYNN:
Hmm! (Grunts) No, no, no...
BOY:
5. 5, 6. 5, 6, 7. 7 milkshakes! That's my record!
GIRL:
I think today I'll go for a fly. It's amazing the things you can see from the sky. One day I flew a long way to a place called Egypt, where there are amazing old buildings called pyramids. A long, long time ago the Egyptians had a special way of writing numbers. I'll show you. This is the way they wrote 1. Look familiar? The old Egyptian 2 looks different. Here's 3. What number is this? Four. This is how they wrote five. Number six. Seven Eight. And nine. Instead of doing another stroke to show ten, the Egyptians used a new symbol. There, ten. It takes up a lot less room than ten strokes. I think it looks like the heel of my foot. (Giggles)
DODLY:
Baaa!
FLYNN:
Dodly.
DODLY:
Baaa!
FLYNN:
Dodly!
DODLY:
(Laughs) There you go, Sheepy. That was fun, wasn't it? Hmm. OK. (Sighs) Hmm... (Gasps) Oh, no!
FLYNN:
What's wrong?
DODLY:
I've just added another stroke to show how many sheep we've got but I've run out of room. Oh! What if some more come to visit?
FLYNN:
Hmm. That's a problem.
DODLY:
Mmm.
FLYNN:
I know! You can record how many sheep are in the box using numerals. How many strokes have you got now?
DODLY:
Let's see. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
FLYNN:
Well, instead of having eight strokes, you can write the numeral 8. It takes up a lot less room than eight strokes.
DODLY:
Ha. OK. Hmm... Let's see. Cool! No counting. I just read the numeral and, straightaway, I know I've got eight sheep in the box. Which means we've got eight sheep in the backyard.
FLYNN:
Dodly, the only sheep we have are the ones in the box. And they're toys.
DODLY:
(Gasps) Oh, sorry, Flynn. I think I can hear another one!
FLYNN:
Oh, no. I think I must be hearing things. Oh. Oh. (Grumbles)
BOY:
I've been invited to my friend's birthday. See? There's lots of information on my invitation. It tells me it's Karen's birthday. This number tells me that she is six years old on her birthday. And this number here tells me what day the party is on. The 10th of January. Now, if you look here, that number tells me what time her birthday is. 12 o'clock. Mmm. Lunchtime. And, look, here's another number. That's her street number. 7 High Street. I wouldn't want to go to the wrong house. And this number here - 4356 7219 - that's her phone number. I have to ring her now and tell her I can't come. I've got chickenpox.
MAN:
Hi there. As you can see, I am the number three. But did you know this isn't always how I used to be? A long time ago when people wrote me, they used some strokes. Count them - one, two, three. In some places, people wrote the strokes on their side. all three, which, when I think about it, makes good sense to me. But then someone, I don't know who, thought to give me a curve or two. So now this is how I look. It's how you write me in your book.
GIRL:
In Bangladesh, we speak and write a language called Bengali. These are our numerals. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. And ten. (Speaks Bengali)
DODLY:
Come on, Sheepy, come inside. Whoa!
FLYNN:
Dodly! What are you... doing?
DODLY:
(Groans) Well, oh, another sheep is in the backyard so I was trying to put another toy one in the box. But I tripped and I dropped it. And I think I've lost some sheep. Now I can't keep track of how many are in the backyard.
FLYNN:
It doesn't matter.
DODLY:
It does!
FLYNN:
No, it doesn't. You've already got the number written down. That's all you need.
DODLY:
Oh, right. (Sighs)
FLYNN:
OK, OK, what was the last number you wrote down?
DODLY:
Number eight, but I was trying to put one more sheep in, so one more after eight is nine!
FLYNN:
Right.
DODLY:
Mmm. Yeah! See?
FLYNN:
There you go, Dodly. Nice and simple.
DODLY:
Yep. That's great, Flynn. And if I draw a picture a sheep above it, I'll remember that the nine means nine sheep.
FLYNN:
Right. And then maybe we can stop this pretend sheep game.
DODLY:
Oh, excuse me, Flynn.
FLYNN:
Oh, not again. I don't believe it. (Grumbles) I've had it with these sheep. (Grumbles)
DODLY:
Oh, there's one more sheep outside. Oh! So that makes nine, and one more is ten. Ten real sheep outside. Oh.
FLYNN:
Dodly. For once and for all, there are no real sheep!
DODLY:
You know, gosh, ten sheep, that's a lot for the backyard. Maybe I should bring a few inside! Hmm, sheep! In you come. Come on, it's OK.
FLYNN:
Right, that's it. You've gone too far, Dodly. Dodly! Dodly. Wait, Dodly. Come here.