Hey, Story Pirates podcast listeners, Lee here.
Welcome to a new series we are calling Buried Treasure, where we throw back to some of our favorite full episodes from the Story Pirates archives.
Today, we're revisiting the first episode of season two, which features two classic songs, as well as the story of how Siegfried the Orange, brave Viking warrior, helped the Story Pirates take to the skies for the first time.
Now, nobody knows this, but here at Story Pirates, we have a secret code name for every episode that describes what myself, Peter, Rachel, Megan, Nimminy, Eric, etc. are doing on the ship or off the ship.
And in Buried Treasure, we will be revealing those secret code names for the very first time.
Pretty cool, I know. But don't tell anyone.
Unless they, you know, already listen to the show, in which case they'll also know.
But maybe don't tell them just in case. I don't know.
Anyway, we hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, or maybe your very first time experiencing this, dare I say, classic episode.
A classic episode with this secret codename.
Leaving the island. Coming up, right after a few words for the grown-ups.
Oh, the island life is for me, for me, the island life is for me.
Snacks as far as the eye can see, the island life is for me.
Hey! Hey, Peter. Hey, Lee. Oh, did you hear my song?
It goes like this. Oh, the island life is for me, for me.
Yes, yes. Peter, I heard. That's why I came over.
Because I heard you saying, snacks as far as the eye can see.
Peter, there aren't snacks anywhere in sight.
Look around, Lee. We're surrounded by delicious white snacks.
We're standing on snacks right now. In fact, I'm going to eat some snacks.
Peter, that's not a snack. Peter, that's sand.
Sand? Oh, sand. I thought it was a new kind of healthy sugar.
Ugh. How much sand have you eaten? Not that much.
Just three or four hundred bites. Ew, Peter.
The good news is, I guess I finally got my beach body.
Because the beach is in my body. Do you get it?
Yes, I get it. The bad news is my body's full of sand now.
Whose body's full of what? Oh, hey, Rachel.
Hey. Hey, Rachel, I ate 10 pounds of sand.
Not now, Peter. Okay. Listen, you know how we, the story pirates, were on our ship out on the open ocean doing our podcast for a year, and then we crash landed on this deserted island, met a Viking named Siegfried, and have been repairing our ship for months using his special ancient Viking technologies?
Yeah, that's what happened. Well, Megan, Siegfried, Rollo, and I have been working on the ship all morning.
Oh, sorry about that. I had to watch eating sand.
I know, that's not the point. You guys should help, but that's not the point.
The point is, we have news about the ship.
Well, what is it? Oh, I'm not going to tell you.
I brought Megan over to tell you in a more dramatic fashion.
Here she is. Hi, Megan. Megan, you ready?
Born ready. The story pirate ship, the Tidal Wave, has been repaired!
Hooray! Which means it's ready to take flight!
Hooray! Which means it's time for all of us to leave this island!
Aww. I feel weirdly conflicted about this.
Peter, what do you think? I agree. I feel... Oh, yeah.
Peter's been eating sand. Eww. Just think of the most weird things that you can never think of.
I put some jokes in there. I hope you like it.
The Story Pirates. Hey, listeners, welcome back to the Story Pirates podcast, where we take stories written by kids and turn them into sketch comedy and songs.
We are doing amazing, and I hope everyone else is, too.
It's been pretty relaxing here on this deserted island where we crash-landed.
So relaxing that we kind of don't want to leave, even though our ship is fixed.
I love my life here. My work, my purpose, it's all here, on this island.
Okay, everybody, relax. We're not leaving just yet.
Siegfried said he had to put some finishing touches on the ship.
So while we wait, why don't we do a story?
Okay! All right, so listeners, this is the first story of the new season.
And it's about a character who, like me, has a really specific morning routine.
But unlike me, the main character of this story is an adorable rodent.
Here's the kid author to introduce it. Hi, my name is Nina.
I'm 11 years old. I come from New York, and my story is a hamster's workday.
7 a.m. Time to start my day. Good morning, Miss Sally.
Hello, Bunny. Are you ready for work, Miss Sally?
Am I ready for work? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I am ready for work.
I am Miss Sally the hamster. Oh, boy. Here we go.
I'm ready for anything. She's going to do a song, isn't she?
Oh, for sure. It's song time. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
I am ready for work. I will eat. Now I'll finish my look, put a clip in my hair, and that's the start of a hamster's workday.
Which clip would you like for today, Miss Sally?
The pink. Okay. No, the blue. You got it.
No, the pink. Here it is. It's gotta be the red.
The red. Except not the red, the green. Here's the green.
Better make it the pink, though. The pink.
The yellow. Yellow, of course. Of course, the pink.
The pink. The green. The green. Yes, the pink.
The pink. Exactly, the pink. Okay. Yes, okay.
Now I'll just put this green clip in my hair and... Perfection!
I look... incredible. Thank you for your help, bunnies.
Now, carry my computer to work for me. You got it.
Your job is to go to your work, and our job is to carry your computer to your work.
Yes, those are our jobs. OK. OK. Just make sure it gets there safely.
Otherwise, I will be devastated. There's about to be more song, isn't there?
Absolutely. I ate my pear, put a clip in my hair, then And just to be fair They'll carry my computer from here to there So I can have a hamster's workday That's when a hamster goes to work!
Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work.
Here I am at my job where I work. Good morning, Miss Sally.
Good morning, desk clerk. Which one is my desk today?
Well, I was thinking... There shall be work, and I meet the desk clerk.
And he tells me my desk is there. And he tells me my desk is there.
And he tells me my desk is... Oh, oh, is that where you want to sit?
Uh-huh. I mean, this is a co-working space, so you can sort of sit wherever you... Just tell me where my desk is.
That one's perfect. Thank you. Do you need anything else?
I sit on my chair, I am glad to be there.
A good place to sit is a thing that is rare.
When you find a good seat, don't get up, don't you dare.
The ocean and share, yeah. And that's a hamster's workday.
Yes, that's a hamster's... Wait a second.
Where's my computer? Where are the bunnies?
Bunnies? We're here. We have your computer.
It's safe. Good. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have been able to do my work at my job.
Speaking of, here comes my work boss. Hello, Sally.
Hello, work boss. Do you have any work for me today?
I certainly do. I'm going to put you on the cloud piece.
Big guy. Cumulonimbus. You think you can handle it?
You bet. You know what else I can handle?
Singing a song? Yeah, I'm going to sing a song.
Here she goes. This is happening. Oh, boy.
My boss came to me and my boss said out loud, edit this story about a cloud.
I decided to confess, which includes saying yes, because I am an editor.
Because you are an editor. My job is being an editor.
You edit stories and that's your job. And that's a hamster's workday.
That's a hamster's work day. A hamster's work day.
That's a hamster's work day. You know, people have a lot of notions about what a hamster does all day.
They think we just run on a wheel, drink from a metal straw, are fluffy.
But if there's anything you've learned from this story, it's that every day I do a ton of amazing stuff.
I wake up, eat a pear, put a clip in my hair.
I call up some bunnies, and just to be fair, they bring my computer to work for me.
A desk clerk shows me where to sit, and my boss asks me to edit a story about a cloud.
Because, yeah, I'm an editor, and that's my job.
And hey, guess what? That cloud story? I want a Pulitzer for it.
And hey, guess what else? I am. And that's a hamster's workday.
And that's a hamster's workday. Yeah. That's a hamster's workday.
A hamster's workday. That's a hamster's workday.
That's a hamster's. I'm Sally the hamster, and I'm ready for anything.
Workday. Awesome story. That was so good.
I love that. Well, everyone, great chat, but as the great Viking Gunnar Bjorn Bloodrock once said to me, as we fought beside one another at Lindisfarne, Siegfried, I think it's time to get off this island and move the podcast back onto the ship.
He said that? I'm paraphrasing. Well, folks, you heard Siegfried.
Time to say goodbye to the island. Wait, Lee...
I really kind of don't want to leave. Me neither.
This island's become our home. Even though Lee's been living in a luxury tree house while the rest of us have been staying in a dank, dark cave.
Yeah. Wait, why was that? It was a budget thing.
But now that you mention it, I do love my luxury tree house with its surround sound, jacuzzi bath, kefir fountain, and of course the one long staircase just going up and one even longer going down and one more leading nowhere.
Just for show. Sorry, Siegfried. We have to stay here.
You can have all that on the ship, too. Yeah, but we built lives here.
I have kids. Lee, I have kids here. Rachel, those are beach pigs.
Okay, yeah, but they're my beach pigs. And hey, Megan, you got to open up your very own theater on the island.
It's true. Critics are calling my one-woman Hedda Gobbler a huge mistake, but I couldn't leave because I'm stranded here too.
And I spent most of my time on this island trapped in the snack pantry.
But you know what? I loved every minute of it.
These are all things you can do on a ship in the sky!
But the island has changed us in more ways than you could ever imagine.
It's like we're different people now. Like, Peter, you used to have a beard.
Now you don't. It's true. I don't know where it went.
And, Lee, you've also always had a beard, but now your beard is super long, unwieldy, and full of secrets.
It's true. What's that beard? Don't worry.
I won't tell anyone. And now my muscles are enormous from carrying around my kids.
I mean, my pigs. And I got bangs. I'm a fan of the bangs.
I know. It was a great decision. And Megan, you look exactly the same because you don't want to change from how you look in your headshot.
But now your consonants and your vowels are sharper than ever.
She sells seashells at seashells.biz. Wow, you're right.
My voice and speech skills are etter than better.
This is home for us now. We've grown here, become better people with longer beards.
We can't leave. Rachel's right. Siegfried, thanks for helping us fix our ship, but I think we're going to stay here on this island forever.
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Shopify.com slash realm. Rachel's right.
Siegfried, thank you for helping us fix our ship, but I think we're going to stay here on this island.
Forever. Hooray! I'm going to go get some snacks.
And I'm going to start rehearsals for my next silent song cycle.
And I'm going to go install a kefir water slide.
And I'm going to hug my pigs. Hooray! No!
No, no, no! Stop! Oh, Rolo, when did you get here?
I've been here the whole time, but I was being very quiet.
Oh, well, hey, Rolo. What reason do you have for wanting to stay on this island?
No reason. I want to get back on the ship.
Oh, gasp. I became a story pirate because I wanted to take kids' stories and turn them into sketches and songs.
If we stay here, we won't be able to do that.
And that makes Rollo very sad. I want to go find stories.
Rollo, you're describing a quest. A quest?
Yes, a quest. Siegfried, what is a quest?
It's a journey to find something. A person, a place, a thing, an idea.
I've been on many quests, from finding the golden apples of Asgard in the treacherous hills of the Troll King, to finding six dollars in loose change under the seat cushion in Lee's luxury treehouse.
Ah, my pockets have holes. Now, it's time for a new quest.
One that we must all embark on together.
It won't be easy, and it won't be not hard, but it will be difficult!
Who's with me? I am with you, Siegfried!
You know what? I'm with you too! Me too!
Me three! Me five! No, six? Alright everybody, time to say goodbye to everything on the island!
Okay... But wait, pigs, hey, do you want to come with me on the ship?
I can teach you all how to wane sky to deck.
That's a yes. Goodbye, luxury tree condo.
Goodbye, luxury tree guest house that no one ever used.
What? Goodbye pantry I got stuck in. Goodbye hole I got stuck in.
Goodbye rock I got stuck under. Goodbye chair I got stuck on top of.
Goodbye pants I got stuck around. Goodbye theater.
Goodbye curtain. Goodbye to my universally detested one-woman production of This Is Us, the musical based on the One Direction movie.
Goodbye critic who said the show was the worst at best.
I'll never forget you. And I'll never forget that show!
Everyone! Except you! Time to get on board!
Alright! So, Siegfried, is this thing ready to fly?
Yes! Prepare yourselves for the majesty of the sky!
Great! Let's leave quick before we all change our minds!
Oh no, sorry. Getting this thing to fly is actually a whole thing for another episode.
Oh. Well, should we do another story then?
Yeah! All right, listeners, this next story comes to us from a kid author who knows a lot about dinosaurs.
And his story is about a very unique dinosaur that does very impressive things in the water.
Take a listen. Hi, my name is Ben. I'm seven years old and I live in Virginia.
This is my story, Backstroke Raptor. Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Velociraptor Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Velociraptor Hey there Velociraptors, what do you do?
And do you want to get off of this island?
Yeah! Well come over here and check out this boat I hope you know how to use one Testing out the boat, we're testing out the boat Testing out the boat, we're testing out the boat This boat has got no engine.
It isn't making a sound. Let's put an engine in the boat, boat, boat.
Engines are useful to make boats go. Now we need some wires and more wires.
Connect the wires to the engine. Don't forget the batteries, batteries.
Connect them to the other end of the wire.
Gotta have a motor, get me a motor. Technically different from the engine.
Finally a... What? I said a what? Propellers!
Propellers will help the boat go forward!
Backstroke Raptor! Backstroke Raptor! Backstroke Velociraptor!
Hey there, Velociraptors, how is it going?
Have you all got this boat working yet? Yeah!
Then I'll do the backstroke and show you the way.
We're a pack, so We should be there in just a couple of days.
Um, that sure is a lot of backstroke. And do you want to ride in our boat with us?
Swinging his arms in a reverse motion He can do the backstroke, we can fix a boat The coolest raptors anybody knows Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Velociraptor Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Velociraptor Backstroke Backstroke Raptor Backstroke Velociraptor It's not the thigh stroke Backstroke Velociraptor It's not the breast stroke Backstroke Velociraptor It's not the butterfly Backstroke Velociraptor It's the backstroke raptor And now, Lee speaks with the author.
Hey Ben, how are you? Good. How's your day so far today?
Good. What'd you do? Well, I found a rock, maybe some sort of geyser rock.
A geyser rock? What does that mean? It's like a volcano, just has hot water that comes out.
That's amazing. Where did you find it? I found it somewhere near the dirt.
Just like on the ground? Yeah. Really? Well, you have to dig for it.
Did you know you were looking for a geyser rock?
Are you an amateur geologist? Got it. And you like rocks.
You're, like, interested in rocks. Yeah.
What do you find interesting about them?
Are there any examples you could give of a kind of rock you could find that would tell us something about the past?
Fossils. And a fossil is what? A fossil is bones of a dinosaur or anything that lived 260 million years ago.
When you're out digging for rocks, are you thinking in your head, like, maybe I'll find a dinosaur bone today?
No, there might not be any dino bones, but I have claimed, I thought I have.
One like a tailbone to a T-Rex or a stegosaur.
You found one of those? I was just digging until I hit something.
And I dug up and it was just like, it looked more like an elephant head.
And then you like took a closer look and you were like, what is this thing?
And then I compared it to the fossils I've seen in museums.
And I was like, I think this might be a new species of dino I might be digging up here.
I don't know yet if I did or not. That would be so cool if you found a new species of dino.
I never got to complete my dig ever. You're not going to complete your dig ever?
I can't. Why not? Well, I can't ever go there.
There's too many, you know... other people around it, and I couldn't do it because my teachers wouldn't let me.
Oh, at school? So I have no idea why they won't let me.
Got it. So you're saying, like, it's sort of hard to do a big archaeological dig at school because there's, like, people around.
Yeah. My school is good, but when I dig, it isn't so good because I have to just stop it all the time.
They're like, stop digging, Ben! Yeah. And you're like, hey, I'm digging here.
I really appreciate your determination. Ben, you wrote the story Backstroke Raptor.
Yeah. I heard somewhere that a raptor could open a door.
Is that true? Yeah. It is? Yeah. Some scientists believe that they're one of the most intelligent animals on the planet.
Because the idea of a dino opening a door sounds pretty scary to me.
I think they can do a lot of things with their claws.
They can probably pick up, like, this phone.
A dino on a phone could wreak havoc. It would probably eat the phone because he doesn't know what it is.
Yes, he probably would eat the phone. Are you able to do the sound that a raptor makes?
Yeah. It's actually really loud. It's like... I think sometimes they do this...
Like a honk, sort of? Yeah. I'm not good at that sound yet, but I'm learning it.
I think I can do every single dino species.
Ben, this has been so fun to talk to you.
Thank you for chatting with me today about dinos and bones and rocks and everything.
All right. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to the Story Pirates podcast.
We're so excited to be back for this brand new season.
Thanks to today's authors, Nina and Ben.
And thanks to everyone who sent us in stories.
We loved reading each and every one of them.
We'll be back next week with two more brand new stories.
But in the meantime, do yourself a favor. go find a cozy corner in your house or school and bring along your favorite notebook and a pen, and then pry open your imagination and write down something wild that no one's ever thought of before, because we can't wait to read it.
See you next week. Bye. The story pirates podcast is a production of Gimlet media.
Produced for Gimlet Media by Annie Rose Strasser and Jasmine Romero.
Produced for the Story Pirates by Lee Overtree and Benjamin Salka.
Associate producers for Story Pirates are Peter McNerney and Andrew Miller.
Technical direction by Sam Baer. Recording, sound design, and mixing by Sam Baer at the Relic Room in New York City.
Theme song by Bobby Lord. Our head writer is Rachel Winitsky.
Contributing writers are Peter McNerney, Megan O'Neill, and Lee Overtree.
Today's episode features performances by Ryan Chittapong, Carly Shiraki, Quinton Johnson, Peter McNerney, Jack Mitchell, Alexander Nader, Josh Nasser, Emily Olcott, Lee Overtree, Brendan O'Grady, Megan O'Neill, Louie Perlman, Caroline Reedy, Peter Russo, and Rachel Winitsky.
The music for A Hamster's Workday was written by Rachel Winitsky, arranged by Jack Mitchell and Eric Gerson, and produced by Eric Gerson.
Backstroke Raptor was written, arranged, and produced by Brendan O'Grady, and associate produced by Jack Mitchell.
And now it's time to say goodbye one last time to my luxury treehouse.
I'll just walk one more time up the very long staircase.
And walk down the very long staircase. One more drink from the kefir fountain.
Okay, maybe one more drink from the kefir fountain.
That was good. Maybe I'll just do one more.
I love my kefir fountain. I can't leave it behind on this island.
I have to pack it. Alright, I'll just put the suitcase here and lift up this giant ceramic keeper fountain that's spouting drinkable yogurt ten feet high.
Okay. Alright, it's in the suitcase. Now I just have to... I just have to close the suitcase and zip the suitcase.
This is extremely difficult. Okay. Wait, I forgot to put my jeans in there.
Okay, I gotta unzip it. Unzipping the suitcase.
All right, it's open again. All right, put my jeans in there on the fountain.
All right, now I gotta close it. Unzipping.
This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
Okay, my clothes are gonna be really wet.