Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Sleepy Stories. I'm your host, Lucy,
and my friends and I will be reading you a
sleepy bedtime story every week to relax you and to
help you to drift off into a RESTful sleep. From
time to time, we will also read you a relaxing,
peaceful meditation that will take you somewhere beautiful and calming.
Once we have read the stories, we will then read
them a second time, but this time they will be
ready even slower. This will help you to relax even more.
Before we begin, I would like you to close your
eyes and breathe in and out nice and deeply. Take
a few seconds to inhale, and then hold your breath
for a few seconds more, and then release and breathe out.
Do this a few times if you need to. While
you listen to the music and you listen to my voice,
give yourself time to let your body relax and your
mind settle. It's important that we allow time for us
selves to feel safe, cozy, and completely at ease. And
now it's time for this week's story.
Speaker 2: The Ice King and his wonderful Grandchild. In the far
off Ages, all the lands of northern Europe were won
for the deep seas had not yet separated them. Then
our forefathers thought that fairies were gods. They built temples
in their honor and prayed to them. Then in the
place whereas now the little town of Ulrum in Friesland,
was the home of the spirit in the ice Ulach.
That is what Uller means, the home of the good
fairy Uller. Uller was the patron of boys and girls.
They liked him because he invented skates and sleds and sleighs.
He had charge of things in winter and enjoyed the cold.
He delighted also in hunting. Dressed in thick furs, he
loved to roam over the hills and through the forests,
seeking out the wolf, the bear, the deer, and the orocks.
His bow and arrows were terrible, for they were very big,
and he was a sure shot. Being the patron of
our tree hunters always sought his favor. The yew tree
was sacred to Uller because the best bows were made
from its wood. No one could cut down a yew
tree without angering Uller. Nobody knew who Ulu's father was,
and if he knew himself, he did not care to
tell anyone. He would not bestow many blessings upon mankind,
Yet thousands of people used to come to Ulum every
year to invoke his aid and ask him to send
a heavy fall of snow to cover the ground. That
meant good crops of food for the next year. The
white snow lying thick upon the ground kept back the
frost giants from biting the earth too hard. Because of
deep winter snows, the ground was soft during the next summer,
so the seed sprouted more easily and there was plenty
to eat. When Ullah traveled over the winter snow to
go out on hunting trips, he strapped snow shoes on
his feet because these were shaped like a warrior's shield.
Ullah was often called the shield God. His protection was
especially invoked by men who fought duels with sword or spear,
which were very common in early days, or by soldiers
or hunters who wished to be very brave or had
engaged in perilous ventures. Now when Ullah wanted a wife
to marry him, he made love to Scotti because she
was a huntress and liked the things which he liked,
so they never had a quarrel. She was very strong
fond of sports and of chasing the wild animals. She
wore a short skirt, which allowed freedom of motion to
her limbs. Then she ranged over the hills and valleys
with wonderful swiftness. So rapid were her movements that many
people likened her to the cold mountain stream that leaps
down from the high peaks and over the rocks, foaming
and dashing to the lowlands. They gave the same name
to both this fairy woman and the water, because they
were so much alike. Indeed, Scoti was very lovely to
look at. It was no wonder that many of the
gods fairies and fell in love with her. It is
even said that she had had several husbands before marrying Ewler.
When you look at her pictures, you will see that
she was as pretty as bright winter itself, when jack
frost closed the trees with white and makes the cheeks
of the girls so rosy. She wore armor of shining steel,
a silver helmet, short white skirts, and white fur leggings.
Her snowshoes were of the hue of winter. Besides a
glittering spear, she had a bow and sharp arrows. These
were held in a silver quiver slung over her shoulders.
All together She looked like winter alive. She loved to
live in the mountains and hear the thunders of cataracts,
the crash of avalanches, the moaning of the winds and
the pine forests. Even the howling of wolves was music
in her ears. She was afraid of nothing. Now from
such a father and mother, one would expect wonderful children,
yet very much like their parents. It turned out that
the offspring of Uller and Scati were all daughters to them.
One after another were given the names meaning glacier, cold,
snow drift, snow whirl, and snow dust, the oldest being
the biggest and hardiest. The others were in degree, softer,
and more easily influenced by the sun and the wind.
They all looked alike, so that some people called them
the six White Sisters. Yet they were all so great
and powerful that many considered them giantesses. It was not
possible for men to tame them, for they did very
much as they pleased. No one could stop their doings
or drive them away except Woden, who was the god
of the sun. Yet in winter even he left off
ruling the world and went away during that time, that is,
during seven months Uller took Woden's throne and governed the
affairs of the world. When summer came, Uller went with
his wife up to the North Pole Or They lived
in a house on the top of the Alps. There
they could hunt and roam on their snowshoes to these
cold places, which the whole family enjoyed. Their daughters went also,
and all were very happy. So far about of the earth.
Things went unpleasantly in Uller's family so long as his
daughters were young, For then the girls found enough to
delight in at their daily play. But when grown up
and their heads began to be filled with notions about
the young giants who paid visits to them, then the
family troubles began. Yet all the time he was calling
on human beings to harness him to wheels. There was
one young giant fairy named Ver, who came often to
see all six of Uller's daughters, from the youngest to
the oldest. Yet no one could tell which of them
he was in love with, or could name the girl
he liked best. No, not even the daughters themselves. His
character and his qualities were not well known, for he
put on many disguises and appeared in many places. It
was believed, however, that he had already done a good
deal of mischief and was likely to do more, for
he loved destruction. Yet he often helped the cabouder dwarfs
to do great things, so that showed he was of
some use. In fact, he was the fire fairy. He
kept on courting all the six sisters long after May
day came, and he lengthened his visits until the heat
turned the entire half dozen of them into water, so
they became one. At this, Uller was so angry at
Voor's having delayed so long before popping the question, and
at his daughters losing their shapes, that he made for
marry them all, and at once they taking the name
of Region. Now. When the child of voor En Reagan
was born, it turned out to be in body and
in character just what people expected from such a father
and mother. It was named in Dutch Stume. It grew
fast and soon showed that it was as powerful as
its parents had been. Yet it was much worse when
shut up than when allowed to go free in the air.
Stume loved to do all sorts of tricks in the
kitchen It would make the iron kettle lid flop up
and down with a lively noise. If it were confined
in a vessel, whether of iron or earthenware, When set
over the fire, it would blow the pot or kettle
all to pieces. In order to get out. Thinking itself
a great singer, it would make rather a pleasant sense
when its mother let it come out of a spout.
Yet it never obeyed either of its parents. When they
tried to shut up Stem inside of anything, it always
escaped with a terrible sound. In fact, nothing could long
hold it in without an explosion. Sometimes Stume would go
down into the bowels of the earth and turn on
a stream of water so as to meet the deep
fires which are ever burning far down below us. Then
there would come an awful earthquake, because Stume wanted to
get out, and the earth crust would not let him,
but tried to hold him down. Sometimes Stume slipped down
into a volcano's mouth. Then the mountain, in order to
save itself from being choked, had to spit Stem out,
and this always made a terrible mess on the ground,
and men called it lava. Or Stem might stay down
in the crater as a guest and quietly come out
occasionally in jets and puffs, even when jack Frost was
around and froze the pipes in the house or turned
the water of the pots, pans, kettles, and bottles into
solid ice. Stem behaved very badly. If the frozen kettles
or any other closed vessel were put over the stove
or near the fire, and the ice melted at the
bottom too fast, Steme would blow the whole thing up.
In this way, he often put men's lives in danger
and made them lose their property. No one seemed to
know how to handle this mischievous fairy. Not one man
on earth could do anything with him, so they let
him have his own way. Yet, all the time, though
he was enjoying his own tricks and lively fun, he
was with his own voice calling on human beings to
use him properly and harness him to wheels, for he
was willing to be useful to them, and was all
ready to pull or drive, lift, or lower grind or
pump as the need might be, as long as men
did not treat him properly and give him the right
to get out into the air after he had done
his work. Stum would explode, blow up, and destroy everything.
He could be made to sing, hiss, squeal, whistle, and
make all kinds of sounds. But unless the bands that
held him in were strong enough, or if Voor got
too hot, or his mother would not give him drink enough,
when the iron pipes were red with heat, he would
lose his temper and explode. He had no respect for
bad or neglected boilers, or for lazy or careless firemen
and engineers. Yet properly harnessed and treated well and fed
with the food such as his mother can give and
rouse by his father's persuasion, Stem is greater than any
giant or fairy that ever was. He can drive a ship,
a locomotive, a submarine, or an aeroplane as fast as
froze bore horse or ship. Everybody today is glad that
Stume is such a good servant and friend. All over
the world, the Ice King and his wonderful grandchild in
the far off ages, all the lands of northern Europe
were one, for the deep seas had not yet separated them.
Then our forefathers thought that fairies were gods. They built
temples in their honor and prayed to them. Then in
the place whereas now the little town of Ulrum in Friesland,
was the home of the spirit in the ice Ullach.
That is what Uller means, the home of the good
fairy Ullar. Uller was the patron of boys and girls.
They liked him because he invented skates and sleds and sleighs.
He had charge of things in winter and enjoyed the cold.
He delighted also in hunting. Dressed in thick furs, he
loved to roam over the hills and through the forests,
seeking out the wolf, the bear, the deer, and the orocks.
His bow and arrows were terrible, for they were very big,
and he was a sure shot. Being the patron of
our tree hunters always sought his favor. The yew tree
was sacred to Uller because the best bows were made
from its wood. No one could cut down a yew
tree without angering Uller. Nobody knew who Uluu's father was,
and if he knew himself, he did not care to
tell anyone. He would not bestow many blessings upon mankind.
Yet thousands of people used to come to Ulum every
year to invoke his aid and ask him to send
a heavy fall of snow to cover the ground. That
meant good crops of food for the next year. The
white snow lying thick upon the ground kept back the
frost giants from biting the earth too hard. Because of
deep winter snows, the ground was soft during the next summer,
so the seed sprouted more easily and there was plenty
to eat. When Ullah traveled over the winter snow to
go out on hunting trips, he strapped snow shoes on
his feet. Because these were shaped like a warrior's shield.
Ullah was often called the shield God. His protection was
especially invoked by men who fought duels with sword or spear,
which were very common in early days, or by soldiers
or hunters who wished to be very brave or had
engaged in perilous ventures. Now when Ullah wanted a wife
to marry him, he made love to Scotti because she
was a huntress and liked the things which he liked,
so they never had a quarrel. She was very strong,
fond of sports and of chasing the wild animals. She
wore a short skirt which allowed freedom of motion to
her limbs. Then she ranged over the hills and valleys
with wonderful swiftness. So rapid were her movements that many
people likened her to the cold mountain stream that leaps
down from the high peaks and over the rocks, foaming
and dashing to the lowlands. They gave the same name
to both this fairy woman and the water because they
were so much alike. Indeed, Scathy was very lovely to
look at. It was no wonder that many of the gods, fairies,
and men fell in love with her. It is even
said that she had had several husbands before marrying Ewler.
When you look at her pictures, you will see that
she was as pretty as bright winter itself when jack
frost closed the trees with white and makes the cheeks
of the girls so rosy. She wore armor of shining steel,
a silver helmet, short white skirts, and white fur legging.
Her snow shoes were of the hue of winter. Besides
a glittering spear, she had a bow and sharp arrows.
These were held in a silver quiver slung over her shoulders. Altogether,
she looked like winter alive. She loved to live in
the mountains and hear the thunders of cataracts, the crash
of avalanches, the moaning of the winds and the pine forests.
Even the howling of wolves was music in her ears.
She was afraid of nothing. Now from such a father
and mother, one would expect wonderful children, yet very much
like their parents. It turned out that the offspring of
Uller and Scati were all daughters to them. One after
another were given the names meaning glacier, cold, snow drift,
snow whirl, and snow dust, the oldest being the biggest
and hardiest. The others were in degree, softer, and more
easily influenced by the sun and the wind. They all
looked alike, so that some people called them the six
White Sisters. Yet they were all so great and powerful
that many considered them giantesses. It was not possible for
men to tame them, for they did very much as
they pleased. No one could stop their doings or drive
them away, except Wodin, who was the god of the sun.
Yet in winter even he left off ruling the world
and went away. During that time, that is, during seven months,
Uller took Woden's throne and governed the affairs of the world.
When summer came, Uller went with his wife up to
the north pole, or they lived in a house on
the top of the Alps. There they could hunt and
roam on their snow shoes to these cold places, which
the whole family enjoyed. Their daughters went also, and all
were very happy. So far above the earth. Things went
unpleasantly in Uller's family so long as his daughters were young,
For then the girls found enough to delight in at
their daily play. But when grown up and their heads
began to be filled with notions about the young giants
who paid visits to them, then the family troubles began.
Yet all the time he was calling on human beings
to harness him to wheels. There was one young giant
fairy named Ver, who came often to see all six
of Uller's daughters, from the youngest to the oldest. Yet
no one could tell which of them he was in
love with, or could name the girl he liked best. No,
not even the daughters themselves. His character and his qualities
were not well known, for he put on many disguises
and appeared in many places. It was believed, however, that
he had already done a good deal of mischief and
was likely to do more, for he loved destruction. Yet
he often helped the cabouder dwarfs to do great things,
so that showed he was of some use. In fact,
he was the fire fairy. He kept on courting all
the six sisters long after May day came, and he
lengthened his visits until the heat turned the entire half
dozen of them into water, so they became one. At
this Uller was so angry at Vor's having delayed so
long before popping the question, and at his daughters losing
their shapes, that he made Voor marry them all and
at once, they taking the name of Region. Now. When
the child of Vor and Reagan was born, it turned
out to be in body and in character just what
people expected from such a father and mother. It was
named in Dutch Stum. It grew fast and soon showed
that it was as powerful as its parents had been.
Yet it was much worse when shut up than when
allowed to go free in the air. Stume loved to
do all sorts of tricks in the kitchen. It would
make the iron kettle lid flop up and down with
a lively noise if it were confined in a vessel,
whether of iron or earthenware. When set over the fire,
it would blow the pot or kettle all to pieces
in order to get out. Thinking itself a great singer,
it would make rather a pleasant sound when its mother
let it come out of a spout. Yet it never
obeyed either of its parents. When they tried to shut
up Stem inside of anything, it always escaped with a
terrible sound. In fact, nothing could long hold it in
without an explosion. Sometimes Stume would go down into the
bowels of the earth and turn on a stream of
water so as to meet the deep fires which are
ever burning far down below us. Then there would come
an awful earthquake because Stume wanted to get out, and
the earth crust would not let him, but tried to
hold him down. Sometimes Stume slipped down into a volcano's mouth.
Then the mountain, in order to save itself from being choked,
had to spit Stem out, and this always made a
terrible mess on the ground, and men called it lava.
Or Stem might stay down in the crater as a
guest and quietly come out occasionally in jets and puffs,
even when jack Frost was around, and froze the pipes
in the house, or turned the water of the pots, pans, kettles,
and bottles into solid ice. Steme behaved very badly. If
the frozen kettles or any other closed vessel were put
over the stove or near the fire, and the ice
melted at the bottom too fast, stem would blow the
whole thing up. In this way, he often put men's
lives in danger and made them lose their property. No
one seemed to know how to handle this mischievous fairy.
Not one man on earth could do anything with him,
so they let him have his own way. Yet all
the time, though he was enjoying his own tricks and
lively fun, he was with his own voice calling on
human beings to use him properly and harness him to wheels,
for he was willing to be useful to them, and
was all ready to pull or drive, lift, or lower,
grind or pump as the need might be. As long
as men did not treat him properly and give him
the right to get out into the air after he
had done his work, stem would explode, blow up, and
destroy everything. He could be made to sing, hiss, squeal, whistle,
and make all kinds of sounds. But unless the bands
that held him in were strong enough, or if Voor
got too hot, or his mother would not give him
drink enough, when the iron pipes were red with heat,
he would lose his temper and explode. He had no
respect for bad or neglected boilers, or for lazy or
careless firemen and engineers. Yet properly harnessed and treated well,
and fed with the food such as his mother can
give and rouse by his father's persuasion, Stume is greater
than any giant or fairy that ever was. He can
drive a ship, a locomotive, a submarine, or an aeroplane
as fast as froze bore horses worship. Everybody today is
glad that Stum is such a good servant and friend
all over the world