SIDE 1

MERLIN

Ah, wonderful, wonderful! I'm as light as a feather, as happy as an angel!

MORGAN

You know those are Mister Dickens' lines, don't you?

MERLIN

(to MORGAN)

Oh, quite right.

(to audience)

Sincerest apologies. I do get ahead of myself. This is Morgan Le Fay, Magical Librarian of Camelot.

MORGAN

And this is my dear friend, Merlin The Magician. Perhaps the wand gave him away? Quite a powerful tool. But I believe there is no magic as powerful as a good story.

MERLIN

I agree! And while I always enjoy a good story with sorcerers and knights and castles, my favorite story is a ghost tale.

CAROLER #1

It's a story that lives in the heart of a man named Charles Dickens.

CAROLER #2

A story so important that for hundreds of years to come-

CAROLER #3

It will shake the bah-humbugs right out of the hearts of all who read it.

MERLIN

And remind us of the truest magic of all, the magic of kindness and love and generosity.

MORGAN

But it is a story that might never be told if Jack and Annie don't travel back in time to help Mr. Dickens find it in his heart to tell it.

(YOUNG CAROLER whispers something in MERLIN's ear.)

MERLIN

Who are Jack and Annie? And how do they travel through time? Ah, yes, I suppose we really should begin... at the beginning!