Speaker 1: Welcome to Snuggle Cozy Stories for Kids, a production of
Speaker 1: Slumber Studios. To listen ad free, check out our premium feed.
Speaker 2: Good Evening, I'm Chloe. Our story tonight is about a
Speaker 2: little boy who lives on a tropical island. He wants
Speaker 2: to help everybody get a good night's sleep. I'm sure
Speaker 2: you're going to love it, but first, let's take a
Speaker 2: moment to get ready for bed. So first of all,
Speaker 2: make sure you are lying on your back or belly
Speaker 2: and close your eyes. Now, stretch out your arms and
Speaker 2: legs like a starfish. You can stretch your hands and
Speaker 2: your feet out too. As you stretch, imagine that you
Speaker 2: are letting go of all the things that happened in
Speaker 2: your day. It's as if they are floating out of
Speaker 2: your hands and feet. Then take a nice big yawn
Speaker 2: to make sure that everything has been released. And when
Speaker 2: you are at the end of your yawn, you can
Speaker 2: simply stop, relax your arms and legs and get into
Speaker 2: a comfy position. Now let's join the little boy on
Speaker 2: the tropical island. Long ago, when humans still believed in
Speaker 2: magic and mystery, there was a little boy called Rangan.
Speaker 2: Ragan was small for his age. He had short, dark
Speaker 2: hair and wide round eyes. When he smiled, he smiled
Speaker 2: with his heart. Just seeing his smile could make anyone
Speaker 2: feel better. He had knobby knees and pointy elbows, and
Speaker 2: on the top of his left shoulder he had a
Speaker 2: perfectly formed birthmark in the shape of a cloud. Rangan
Speaker 2: lived on a beautiful island at the top of the
Speaker 2: Indian Ocean. It was the shape of a full round teardrop.
Speaker 2: It was covered in a thick green jungle that was
Speaker 2: full of tropical birds and animals. Its edges were lined
Speaker 2: with beautiful beaches where the sand was soft and the
Speaker 2: water was as clear as the water in your bathtub. Actually,
Speaker 2: this island is a real place. Today we call it
Speaker 2: Sri Lanka, but in Ragan's time it had no name.
Speaker 2: Raangan lived on the island with his family and friends.
Speaker 2: He lived in a big village right in the middle
Speaker 2: of the island, where waterfalls crushed down the hillsides and
Speaker 2: birds with incredible feathers sang from dawn until dusk. It
Speaker 2: was a wonderful place, but there was a problem. For
Speaker 2: many many nights, the people of the island had stopped sleeping.
Speaker 2: They would lie down on their beds at night, close
Speaker 2: their eyes ready for sleep, but be disappointed every time
Speaker 2: sleep would not come. They tried tiring themselves out before bed.
Speaker 2: They tried drinking warm milk and eating sweet, soothing foods.
Speaker 2: They tried telling each other stories and singing songs and
Speaker 2: lighting a fire. They tried everything, but no matter what
Speaker 2: they did, they couldn't sleep. One morning, after another night
Speaker 2: of not sleeping, Rankan sat outside his house and thought
Speaker 2: there had to be a way to help everyone sleep.
Speaker 2: The soft morning breeze tickled the skin on his arms
Speaker 2: and rustled through the jungle leaves. He took a great
Speaker 2: breath in and sighed. He looked into the jungle. He
Speaker 2: couldn't explain why, but something told him that today would
Speaker 2: be a good day to go exploring. He got up
Speaker 2: and stretched his arms. The morning was still cool. He
Speaker 2: walked inside his home to fetch his special hat. He
Speaker 2: picked up a parcel of coconut rice and banana pudding.
Speaker 2: Then he took a long stick from the side of
Speaker 2: the house. He marched to the edge of the jungle,
Speaker 2: took a deep breath in, and walked inside. As soon
Speaker 2: as Ragan entered the jungle, the world seemed to become
Speaker 2: quiet and peaceful. The gigantic leaves seemed to muffle all
Speaker 2: of the outside noises. The fallen leaves on the ground
Speaker 2: were soft against his bare feet. He could smell a
Speaker 2: fur familiar, earthy, chalky smell in the air. He felt
Speaker 2: safe and relaxed. When he looked up above his head
Speaker 2: to the tree canopy, he could see sunlight breaking through
Speaker 2: the tiny gaps in the leaves. Here and there, the
Speaker 2: sound of frogs croaking and birds fluttering rerupted like an orchestra.
Speaker 2: He didn't exactly know where he was going, but he
Speaker 2: could feel the way he was supposed to go. It
Speaker 2: was like someone was pulling him along with a fine
Speaker 2: golden thread. He just had to stay quiet and feel
Speaker 2: its gentle tug in the right direction. For most of
Speaker 2: the morning, Rangon walked through the jungle. He saw all
Speaker 2: kinds of animals. He saw monkeys and deer, lizards and bats.
Speaker 2: But he noticed that all of them seemed tired or sleepy.
Speaker 2: They stumbled when they walked, or had to rest after
Speaker 2: they moved. He wondered if perhaps they hadn't been able
Speaker 2: to sleep either. Eventually, Rangan came across a winding stream.
Speaker 2: It was small and narrow, but the water flowed fast
Speaker 2: and fresh. It wound through the jungle, making a happy,
Speaker 2: gurgling noise. He followed it curiously. It seemed to be
Speaker 2: leading him somewhere important. Its gurgling noise started to change.
Speaker 2: The stream became thicker and wider, more like a river.
Speaker 2: Ragon thought he could hear it crashing and churning. Then
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, it seemed to disappear completely. Ragon
Speaker 2: hurried to see what had happened to the stream, and
Speaker 2: his mouth fell open in surprise. The stream hadn't disappeared
Speaker 2: at all. It had just plummeted down the side of
Speaker 2: a steep, rocky cliff. The stream was no longer a stream,
Speaker 2: but a beautiful waterfall that cascaded down the cliff face.
Speaker 2: Its water glittered and danced in the sun. But that
Speaker 2: wasn't what surprised Ragan. The most there in the pool
Speaker 2: of the waterfall was an elephant. But it wasn't just
Speaker 2: any old elephant. It was a turquoise elephant. Rangon rubbed
Speaker 2: his eyes and looked again, but he wasn't imagining it.
Speaker 2: The elephant was definitely turquoise. Its beautiful, pale blue skin
Speaker 2: seemed to gleam and glow. The elephant looked up at
Speaker 2: Raangan and waved its trunk in a friendly way. Raangan
Speaker 2: couldn't believe it, but at the same time, he felt
Speaker 2: sure that the elephant was a friend. So ever so carefully,
Speaker 2: he began to climb down the waterfall to meet the elephant.
Speaker 2: When he got there, he felt a sudden wave of
Speaker 2: peace flow over him. The elephant seemed to be giving
Speaker 2: out a glow of well being. Ragan stepped into the
Speaker 2: waterfall's pool and felt the cool water against his bare legs.
Speaker 2: It felt so refreshing after all his walking. Then he
Speaker 2: asked the elephant what it was doing there. To Rangan's surprise,
Speaker 2: the elephant spoke back. He explained that he was trying
Speaker 2: to get home, but he was feeling too tired and weak.
Speaker 2: He came to the waterfall to try and feel better.
Speaker 2: Ragon understood. He brought out his lunch of coconut rice
Speaker 2: and banana pudding and told the elephant that maybe he
Speaker 2: just needed some lunch. The elephant wiggled his ears happily
Speaker 2: when he heard that. Ragon laughed and shared the lunch
Speaker 2: between them. The elephant ate his coconut rice with his trunk,
Speaker 2: hoovering it up like a vacuum cleaner, but he particularly
Speaker 2: liked the banana pudding. When they had finished, the elephant
Speaker 2: seemed to glow a brighter turquoise. He thanked Raangon for
Speaker 2: being so kind and asked him what he was doing
Speaker 2: so far into the jungle. Ramgon explained that he had
Speaker 2: been thinking about how to help everyone's sleep when something
Speaker 2: in the jungle seemed to call out to him. The
Speaker 2: elephant trumpeted his trunk in excitement. He told Ragon that
Speaker 2: this must have been a lucky day because he knew
Speaker 2: exactly how to help. Raanghan felt a warm rush of
Speaker 2: relief wash over him. He asked the elephant how he
Speaker 2: could help, but the elephant just winked and told him
Speaker 2: that it would be simpler for him to show him.
Speaker 2: Then he grabbed Ragan's shirt with his trunk. He wiggled
Speaker 2: his bottom, bent his knees, and flapped his ears. Then,
Speaker 2: with an almighty jump, the elephant soared into the sky,
Speaker 2: carrying Ragan along with him. Ragon didn't feel scared at all.
Speaker 2: If anything, he felt weightless and light. The elephant had
Speaker 2: a firm grip on his clothes. They soared up and
Speaker 2: up above the jungle, bursting through the canopy and into
Speaker 2: the clear, open sky. Ragon looked at the elephant and
Speaker 2: and laughed. He was the exact same shade of turquoise
Speaker 2: as the sky. If Ragon hadn't known there was an
Speaker 2: elephant flying next to him, he would never have guessed it.
Speaker 2: They flew through the air, watching the beautiful island below.
Speaker 2: From up there, it seemed like an emerald green jewel
Speaker 2: floating in a calm, blue sea. Then the elephant swerved
Speaker 2: and Rangon saw a small cluster of pearly white clouds.
Speaker 2: They were heading straight toward it. Ranggon thought they might
Speaker 2: stop at the cloud, but instead they soared through it.
Speaker 2: Ranggon closes his eyes momentarily, expecting to open them again
Speaker 2: and see more sky, But he was surprised. When he
Speaker 2: opened his eyes, he saw that they had landed in
Speaker 2: a beautiful garden in the sky. Everything was made of clouds.
Speaker 2: The soil, the pots, the garden benches. They were all
Speaker 2: a curious pearly color, like a mixture of white, pink,
Speaker 2: purple and peach. Drungan looked around in awe. What an
Speaker 2: amazing place. Then the elephant led him to a special
Speaker 2: part of the garden where fruits and vegetables grew. Walking
Speaker 2: on the clouds with a curious feeling, Ragon felt like
Speaker 2: he was walking on a sponge. Then they stopped in
Speaker 2: front of one particular plant. It crept along the ground
Speaker 2: like a vine. Here and there, large round fruits were growing,
Speaker 2: like small watermelons. The fruits were pale orange and pink,
Speaker 2: and smelt like passion fruit and vanilla. When Rangon got close,
Speaker 2: he started to yawn with tiredness. The elephants smiled. These
Speaker 2: were sleep fruits. He scooped some of them up in
Speaker 2: his trunk and winked at Ragan. Then he explained that
Speaker 2: if the sleep fruits could grow on Rangan's eyes and
Speaker 2: the people would never have to worry about not being
Speaker 2: able to sleep again. Langan tried to smile, but he
Speaker 2: was too sleepy. The sleep fruits already had an effect
Speaker 2: on him. He asked the elephant how they would grow,
Speaker 2: but the elephant shook his head. These fruits just needed
Speaker 2: to be planted. Then the elephant cracked open the fruits
Speaker 2: he had picked and threw them out into the sky.
Speaker 2: The seeds of the sleep fruits burst out and fell
Speaker 2: down on the island like rain, They pitapat through the
Speaker 2: jungles and plopped into the sea. They landed, they took
Speaker 2: root and began to grow. Rangan rubbed his eyes and yawned.
Speaker 2: The elephant chuckled. It was time to take Rangon home,
Speaker 2: so he picked him up with his trunk and floated
Speaker 2: back down to the island. As they got closer and
Speaker 2: closer to the island, Rangan saw the sleep fruit plants
Speaker 2: growing everywhere. People were coming out of their houses to
Speaker 2: see them. Even the birds and the animals were curious.
Speaker 2: They kept floating down and down, until eventually they landed
Speaker 2: right outside Rangan's home. In the very place where Ragan
Speaker 2: had sat in the morning, a sleep fruit plant was growing.
Speaker 2: The elephant picked a fruit and gave it to Ragan.
Speaker 2: He explained that the fruits only needed to be eaten
Speaker 2: once to cure sleeplessness, and when the whole island has
Speaker 2: found sleep, the fruits will simply stop growing and return
Speaker 2: to the sky. Raangan was too tired to ask any questions,
Speaker 2: so he just nodded and took the fruit. Then the
Speaker 2: elephant thanked him for sharing his lunch before flying off
Speaker 2: into the sky. Guy Rangan stumbled inside his home and
Speaker 2: went to his bed. He lay down immediately. His whole
Speaker 2: body felt so soft and sleepy. He looked at the
Speaker 2: fruit in his hand and smelled its delicious smell. He
Speaker 2: bit into the sleep fruit. It tasted like melted ice cream.
Speaker 2: The moment it touched his tongue, a great sleepiness washed
Speaker 2: over him. Rangan's eyes closed, his breathe became slow and soft.
Speaker 2: The fruit fell from his hands, and before he knew it,
Speaker 2: Ragon had drifted into the deepest, most RESTful sleep of
Speaker 2: his life. All around the island, people and animals were
Speaker 2: doing the same. They lay down in their beds or
Speaker 2: under the shade of the trees, bit into their sleep fruits,
Speaker 2: and fell into a glorious sleep. High above the jungle,
Speaker 2: floating through the sky, the turquoise elephant smiled. Peter has
Speaker 2: given Ragan's Island the greatest gift of all, a good
Speaker 2: night's rest u