Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Sleepy Stories. I'm your host, Lucy,
Speaker 1: and my friends and I will be reading you a
Speaker 1: sleepy bedtime story every week to relax you and to
Speaker 1: help you to drift off into a RESTful sleep. From
Speaker 1: time to time, we will also read you a relaxing,
Speaker 1: peaceful meditation that will take you somewhere beautiful and calming.
Speaker 1: Once we have read the stories, we will then read
Speaker 1: them a second time, but this time they will be
Speaker 1: ready even slower. This will help you to relax even more.
Speaker 1: Before we begin, I would like you to close your
Speaker 1: eyes and breathe in and out nice and deeply. Take
Speaker 1: a few seconds to inhale, and then hold your breath
Speaker 1: for a few seconds more, and then release and breathe out.
Speaker 1: Do this a few times if you need to. While
Speaker 1: you listen to the music and you listen to my voice,
Speaker 1: give yourself time to let your body relax and your
Speaker 1: mind settle. It's important that we allow time for us
Speaker 1: to feel safe, cozy, and completely at ease. And now
Speaker 1: it's time for this week's story.
Speaker 2: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hermia and Lyssander were lovers, but
Speaker 2: Hermia's father wished her to marry another man named Demetrius.
Speaker 2: Now in Athens, where they lived, there was a wicked
Speaker 2: law by which any girl who refused to marry according
Speaker 2: to her father's wishes might be put to death. Hermia's
Speaker 2: father was so angry with her for refusing to do
Speaker 2: as he wished that he actually brought her before the
Speaker 2: Duke of Athens to ask that she might be killed
Speaker 2: if she refused to obey him. The Duke gave her
Speaker 2: four days to think about it, and at the end
Speaker 2: of that time, if she still refused to marry Demetrius,
Speaker 2: she would have to die Lessander, of course, was nearly
Speaker 2: mad with grief, and the best thing to do seemed
Speaker 2: to him for Hermia to run away to his aunt's
Speaker 2: house at a place beyond the reach of that cruel law,
Speaker 2: and there he would come to her and marry her.
Speaker 2: But before she started, she told her friend Helena what
Speaker 2: she was going to do. Lena had been Demetrius's sweetheart
Speaker 2: long before his marriage with Hermia had been thought of,
Speaker 2: and being very silly like all jealous people, she could
Speaker 2: not see that it was not poor Hermia's fault that
Speaker 2: Demetrius wished to marry her instead of his own lady Helena.
Speaker 2: She knew that if she told Demetrius that Hermia was
Speaker 2: going as she was to the wood outside Athens, he
Speaker 2: would follow her. And I can follow him, and at
Speaker 2: least I shall see him, she said to herself. So
Speaker 2: she went to him and betrayed her friend's secret. Now,
Speaker 2: this wood, where Lyssander was to meet Hermia, and where
Speaker 2: the other two had decided to follow them, was full
Speaker 2: of fairies, as most woods are if only one had
Speaker 2: eyes to see them. And in this wood, on this
Speaker 2: night were the King and Queen of the fairies, Oberon
Speaker 2: and Titania. Now fairies are very wise people, but now
Speaker 2: and then they can be quite as foolish as mortal folk.
Speaker 2: Oberon and Titania, who might have been as happy as
Speaker 2: the days were long, had thrown away all their joy
Speaker 2: in a foolish quarrel. They never met without saying disagreeable
Speaker 2: things to each other, and scolded each other so dreadfully
Speaker 2: that all their little fairy followers, for fear, would creep
Speaker 2: into acorn cups and hide them there. So, instead of
Speaker 2: keeping one happy court and dancing all night through the
Speaker 2: moonlight as his fairies use, the king and his attendants
Speaker 2: wandered through one part of the wood, while the queen
Speaker 2: with hers kept state in another. And the cause of
Speaker 2: all this trouble was a little Indian boy whom Titania
Speaker 2: had taken to be one of her followers. Oberon wanted
Speaker 2: the child to follow him and be one of his
Speaker 2: fairy knights, but the queen would not give him up.
Speaker 2: On this night, in a mossy, moonlit glade, the King
Speaker 2: and Queen of the fairies met. I'll meet by moonlight.
Speaker 2: Proud Titania, said the King. What jealous? Oberon answered the queen.
Speaker 2: You spoil everything with your quarreling. Come, fairies, let us
Speaker 2: leave him. I am not friends with him. Now it
Speaker 2: rests with you to make up the quarrel, said the King.
Speaker 2: Give me that little Indian boy, and I will again
Speaker 2: be your humble servant and suitor. Set your mind at rest,
Speaker 2: said the queen. Your whole fairy kingdom buys not that
Speaker 2: boy from me. Come, fairies, and she and her train
Speaker 2: rode off down the moonbeams. Well go your ways, said Oberon,
Speaker 2: but I'll be even with you before you leave this wood.
Speaker 2: Then Oberon called his favorite fairy Puck. Puck was the
Speaker 2: spirit of mischief. He used to slip into the dairies,
Speaker 2: and take the cream away, and get into the churn
Speaker 2: so that the butter would not come, and turn the
Speaker 2: beer sour, and lead peace out of their way on
Speaker 2: dark nights, and then laugh at them and tumble people's
Speaker 2: stools from under them when they were going to sit down,
Speaker 2: and upset their hot ale over their chins when they
Speaker 2: were going to drink. Now, said Oberon, to this little sprite,
Speaker 2: fetch me the flower called love in idleness. The juice
Speaker 2: of that little purple flower, laid on the eyes of
Speaker 2: those who sleep, will make them when they awake, to
Speaker 2: love the first thing they see. I will put some
Speaker 2: of the juice of that flower on my Titania's eyes,
Speaker 2: and when she awakes, she will love the first thing
Speaker 2: she sees, were it a lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
Speaker 2: or meddling monkey, or a busy ape. While Puck was gone,
Speaker 2: Demetrius passed through the glade, followed by poor Helena. And
Speaker 2: still she told him how she loved him, and reminded
Speaker 2: him of all his promises, And still he told her
Speaker 2: that he did not and could not love her, and
Speaker 2: that his promises were nothing. Oberon was sorry for poor Helena,
Speaker 2: and when Puck returned with the flower, he bade him
Speaker 2: follow Demetrius and put some of the juice on his eyes,
Speaker 2: so that he might love Helena when he woke and
Speaker 2: looked on her as much as she loved him. So
Speaker 2: Puck set off, and wandering through the wood, found not
Speaker 2: Demetrius but Lysander, on whose eyes he put the juice.
Speaker 2: But when Lysander woke, he saw not his own Hermia,
Speaker 2: but Helena, who was walking through the wood looking for
Speaker 2: the cruel Demetrius. And directly he saw her, he loved her,
Speaker 2: and he left his own lady under the spell of
Speaker 2: the purple flower. When Hermia awoke, she found Lyssander gone
Speaker 2: and wondered about the wood, trying to find him. Puck
Speaker 2: went back and told Oberon what he had done, and
Speaker 2: Oberon soon found that he had made a mistake and
Speaker 2: set about looking for Demetrius, and having found him, put
Speaker 2: some of the juice on his eyes, And the first
Speaker 2: thing Demetrius saw when he woke was also Helena. So
Speaker 2: now Demetrius and Lyssander were both following her through the wood,
Speaker 2: and it was Hermia's turn to follow her lover, as
Speaker 2: Helena had done before. Or the end of it was
Speaker 2: that Helena and Hermia began to quarrel, and Demetrius and
Speaker 2: Lyssander went off to fight. Oberon was very sorry to
Speaker 2: see his kind scheme to help these lovers turn out
Speaker 2: so badly. So he said to Puck, these two young
Speaker 2: men are going to fight. You must overhang the night
Speaker 2: with drooping fog and lead them so astray that one
Speaker 2: will never find the other. When they are tired out,
Speaker 2: they will fall asleep. Then drop this other herb on
Speaker 2: Lessander's eyes that will give him his old sight and
Speaker 2: his old love. Then each man will have the lady
Speaker 2: who loves him, and they will all think that this
Speaker 2: has only been a midsummer night's dream. Then when this
Speaker 2: is done, all will be well with them. So Puck
Speaker 2: went and did as he was told, And when the
Speaker 2: two had fallen asleep without meeting each other, Puck poured
Speaker 2: the juice on Lyssander's eyes and said, when thou wakest,
Speaker 2: thou takest true delight in the sight of thy former
Speaker 2: lady's eye, Jack shall have Jill, not shall go ill. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Oberon found Titania asleep on a bank where grew wild thyme,
Speaker 2: ox lips and violets, and woodbine, musk roses, and egglantine.
Speaker 2: There Titania always slept a part of the night wrapped
Speaker 2: in the enameled skin of a snake. Oberon stooped her
Speaker 2: and laid the juice on her eyes, saying, what thou
Speaker 2: seest when thou awake, do it for thy true love?
Speaker 2: Take now. It happened that when Titania woke, the first
Speaker 2: thing she saw was a stupid clown, one of a
Speaker 2: party of players who had come out into the wood
Speaker 2: to rehearse their play. This clown had met with Puck,
Speaker 2: who had clapped an ass's head on his shoulders so
Speaker 2: that it looked as if it grew there directly. Titania
Speaker 2: woke and saw this dreadful monster. She said, what angel
Speaker 2: is this? Are you as wise as you are beautiful?
Speaker 2: If I am wise enough to find my way out
Speaker 2: of this wood, that's a night for me, said the
Speaker 2: foolish clown. Do not desire to go out of the wood,
Speaker 2: said Titania. The spell of the love juice was on her,
Speaker 2: and to her the clown seemed the most beautiful and
Speaker 2: delightful creature on all the earth. I love you, she
Speaker 2: went on, Come with me, and I will give you
Speaker 2: fairies to attend on you. So she called four fairies,
Speaker 2: whose names were pease Blossom, Cobweb, Moth, and mustard seed.
Speaker 2: You must attend this gentleman, said the queen. Feed him
Speaker 2: with apricots and dewberries, purple grapes, green figs and mulberries.
Speaker 2: Steal honey bags for him from the bumble bees, and
Speaker 2: with the wings of painted butterflies, fan the moonbeams from
Speaker 2: his sleeping eyes. I will, said one of the fairies,
Speaker 2: and all the others said I will. Now sit down
Speaker 2: with me, said the queen to the clown, and let
Speaker 2: me stroke your dear cheeks, and stick muskroses in your smooth,
Speaker 2: sleek head, and kiss your fair large ears. My gentle joy,
Speaker 2: where's pease Blossom, asked the clown with the ass's head.
Speaker 2: He did not much care about the Queen's affection, but
Speaker 2: he was very proud of having fairies to wait on him. Ready,
Speaker 2: said pease Blossom. Scratch my head, pease Blossom, said the clown.
Speaker 2: Where's Cobweb? Ready, said Cobweb, kill me, said the clown.
Speaker 2: The red bumblebee. On the top of this thistle yonder
Speaker 2: and bring me the honey bag. Where's muster seed ready,
Speaker 2: said mustard seed. Oh I want nothing, said the clown,
Speaker 2: Only just help cobweb to scratch. I must go to
Speaker 2: the barber for methinks, I am marvelous hairy about the face.
Speaker 2: Would you like anything to eat? Said the fairy queen.
Speaker 2: I should like some good dry oats, said the clown,
Speaker 2: for his donkey's head made him desire donkey's food and
Speaker 2: some hay to follow. Shall some of my fairies fetch
Speaker 2: you new nuts from the squirrel's house, asked the queen.
Speaker 2: I'd rather have a handful of two or good dried peas,
Speaker 2: said the clown. But please don't let any of your
Speaker 2: people disturb me. I'm going to sleep, then, said the queen,
Speaker 2: and I will wind thee in my arms. And so
Speaker 2: when Oberon came along, he found his beautiful queen lavishing
Speaker 2: kisses and endearments on a clown with a donkey's head,
Speaker 2: And before he released her from the enchantment, he persuaded
Speaker 2: her to give him the little Indian boy he so
Speaker 2: much desired to have. Then he took pity on her
Speaker 2: and threw some of the juice of the disenchanting flower
Speaker 2: on her pretty eyes, and then in a moment she
Speaker 2: saw plainly the donkey headed clown she had been loving,
Speaker 2: and knew how foolish she had been. Oberon took off
Speaker 2: the ass's head from the clown and left him to
Speaker 2: finish his sleep with his own silly head, lying on
Speaker 2: the time in violets. Thus all was made plain and
Speaker 2: straight again. Oberon and Titania loved each other more than ever.
Speaker 2: Demetrius thought of no one but Helena, and Helena had
Speaker 2: never any thought of any one but Demetrius. As for
Speaker 2: Hermia and Lysander, they were as loving a couple as
Speaker 2: you could meet in a day's march, even through a
Speaker 2: fairy wood. So the four mortal lovers went back to
Speaker 2: Athens and were married, and the fairy king and Queen
Speaker 2: lived happily together in that very wood to this very day.
Speaker 2: A midsummer night's dream. Hermia and Lysander were lovers, but
Speaker 2: Hermia's father wished her to marry another man named Demetrius.
Speaker 2: Now in Athens, where they lived, there was a wicked
Speaker 2: law by which any girl who refused to marry a
Speaker 2: according to her father's wishes might be put to death.
Speaker 2: Hermia's father was so angry with her for refusing to
Speaker 2: do as he wished. That he actually brought her before
Speaker 2: the Duke of Athens to ask that she might be
Speaker 2: killed if she refused to obey him. The Duke gave
Speaker 2: her four days to think about it, and at the
Speaker 2: end of that time, if she still refused to marry Demetrius,
Speaker 2: she would have to die. Lessander, of course, was nearly
Speaker 2: mad with grief, and the best thing to do seemed
Speaker 2: to him for Hermia to run away to his aunt's
Speaker 2: house at a place beyond the reach of that cruel law,
Speaker 2: and there he would come to her and marry her.
Speaker 2: But before she started, she told her friend Helen what
Speaker 2: she was going to do. Helena had been Demetrius's sweetheart
Speaker 2: long before his marriage with Hermia had been thought of,
Speaker 2: and being very silly like all jealous people, she could
Speaker 2: not see that it was not poor Hermia's fault that
Speaker 2: Demetrius wished to marry her instead of his own. Lady Helena,
Speaker 2: she knew that if she told Demetrius that Hermia was
Speaker 2: going as she was to the wood outside Athens, he
Speaker 2: would follow her. And I can follow him, and at
Speaker 2: least I shall see him, she said to herself, So
Speaker 2: she went to him and betrayed her friend's secret. Now,
Speaker 2: this wood, where Lyssander was to meet Hermia, and where
Speaker 2: the other two had decided to follow them, was full
Speaker 2: of fairies, as most woods are, if only one had
Speaker 2: eyes to see them. And in this wood, on this
Speaker 2: night were the King and Queen of the fairies, Oberon
Speaker 2: and Titania. Now fairies are very wise people, but now
Speaker 2: and then they can be quite as foolish as mortal folk.
Speaker 2: Oberon and Titania, who might have been as happy as
Speaker 2: the days were long, had thrown away all their joy
Speaker 2: in a foolish quarrel. They never met without saying disagreeable
Speaker 2: things to each other, and scolded each other so dreadfully
Speaker 2: that all their little fairy followers, for fear, would creep
Speaker 2: into acorn cups and hide them there. Oh, instead of
Speaker 2: keeping one happy court and dancing all night through the
Speaker 2: moonlight as his fairies use, the king and his attendants
Speaker 2: wandered through one part of the wood, while the queen
Speaker 2: with hers kept state in another. And the cause of
Speaker 2: all this trouble was a little Indian boy, whom Titania
Speaker 2: had taken to be one of her followers. Oberon wanted
Speaker 2: the child to follow him and be one of his
Speaker 2: fairy knights, but the queen would not give him up.
Speaker 2: On this night, in a mossy, moonlit glade, the King
Speaker 2: and Queen of the fairies met. I'll meet by moonlight.
Speaker 2: Proud Titania, said the king. What jealous? Oberon answered the queen.
Speaker 2: You spoil everything with your quarreling. Come, fairies, let us
Speaker 2: leave him. I am not friends with him. Now it
Speaker 2: rests with you to make up the quarrel, said the King.
Speaker 2: Give me that little Indian boy, and I will again
Speaker 2: be your humble servant and suitor. Set your mind at rest,
Speaker 2: said the queen. Your whole fairy kingdom buys not that
Speaker 2: boy from me. Come fairies, and she and her train
Speaker 2: rode off down the moonbeams. Well go your ways, said Oberon,
Speaker 2: but I'll be even with you before you leave this wood.
Speaker 2: Then Oberon called his favorite fairy Puck. Puck was the
Speaker 2: spirit of mischief. He used to slip into the dairies
Speaker 2: and take the cream away and get into the churns
Speaker 2: so that the butter would not come and turn the
Speaker 2: beer sour, and lead people out of their way on
Speaker 2: dark nights, and then laugh at them and tumble people's
Speaker 2: stools from under them when they were going to sit down,
Speaker 2: and upset their hot ale over their chins when they
Speaker 2: were going to drink. Now, said Oberon to this little sprite,
Speaker 2: fetch me the flower called love in idleness. The juice
Speaker 2: of that little purple flower, laid on the eyes of
Speaker 2: those who sleep, will make them, when they awake, to
Speaker 2: love the first thing they see. I will put some
Speaker 2: of the juice of that flower on my Titania's eyes,
Speaker 2: and when she awakes, she will love the first thing
Speaker 2: she sees, were it a lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
Speaker 2: or meddling monkey, or a busy ape. While Puck was gone,
Speaker 2: Demetrius passed through the glade, followed by poor Helena, and
Speaker 2: still she told him how she loved him, and reminded
Speaker 2: him of all his promises, And still he told her
Speaker 2: that he did not and could not love her, and
Speaker 2: that his promises were nothing. Oberon was sorry for poor Helena,
Speaker 2: and when Puck returned with the flower, he bade him
Speaker 2: follow Demetrius and put some of the juice on his eyes,
Speaker 2: so that he might love Helena when he woke, and
Speaker 2: looked on her as much as she loved him, so
Speaker 2: Puck set off, and wandering through the wood, found not
Speaker 2: Demetrius but Lysander, on whose eyes he put the juice.
Speaker 2: But when Lysander woke, he saw not his own Hermia,
Speaker 2: but Helena, who was walking through the wood looking for
Speaker 2: the cruel Demetrius, and directly he saw her. He loved her,
Speaker 2: and he left his own lady under the spell of
Speaker 2: the purple flower. When Hermia awoke, she found Lyssander gone
Speaker 2: and wondered about the wood trying to find him. Puck
Speaker 2: went back and told Oberon what he had done, and
Speaker 2: Oberon soon found that he had made a mistake and
Speaker 2: set about looking for Demetrius, and having found him, put
Speaker 2: some of the juice on his eyes. And the first
Speaker 2: thing Demetrius saw when he woke was also Helena. So
Speaker 2: now Demetrius and Lessander were both following her through the wood,
Speaker 2: and it was Hermia's turn to follow her lover, as
Speaker 2: Helena had done before the end of it was that
Speaker 2: Helena and Hermia began to quarrel, and Demetrius and Lyssander
Speaker 2: went off to fight. Oberon was very sorry to see
Speaker 2: his kind scheme to help these lovers turn out so badly,
Speaker 2: so he said to Puck, these two young men are
Speaker 2: going to fight. You must overhang the night with drooping
Speaker 2: fog and lead them so astray that one will never
Speaker 2: find the other. When they are tired out, they will
Speaker 2: fall asleep. Then drop this other herb on Lessander's eyes
Speaker 2: that will give him his old sight and his old love.
Speaker 2: Then each man will have the lady who loves him.
Speaker 2: They will all think that this has only been a
Speaker 2: midsummer night's dream. Then when this is done, all will
Speaker 2: be well with them. So Puck went and did as
Speaker 2: he was told, And when the two had fallen asleep
Speaker 2: without meeting each other, Puck poured the juice on Lyssander's
Speaker 2: eyes and said, when thou wakest, thou takest true delight
Speaker 2: in the sight of thy former lady's eye, Jack shall
Speaker 2: have Jill, Nought shall go ill. Meanwhile, Oberon found Titania
Speaker 2: asleep on a bank where grew wild thyme, ox lips
Speaker 2: and violets, and woodbine, musk roses and egglantine. There Titania
Speaker 2: always slept a part of the night, wrapped in the
Speaker 2: enameled skin of a snake. Oberon stooped over her and
Speaker 2: laid the juice on her eyes, saying, what thou seest
Speaker 2: when thou awake, do it for thy true love? Take now.
Speaker 2: It happened that when Titania woke, the first thing she
Speaker 2: saw was a stupid clown, one of a party of
Speaker 2: players who had come out into the wood to rehearse
Speaker 2: their play. This clown had met with Puck, who had
Speaker 2: clapped an ass's head on his shoulders so that it
Speaker 2: looked as if it grew there Directly. Titania woke and
Speaker 2: saw this dreadful monster. She said, what angel is this?
Speaker 2: Are you as wise as you are beautiful? If I
Speaker 2: am wise enough to find my way out of this wood,
Speaker 2: that's enough for me, said the foolish clown. Do not
Speaker 2: desire to go out of the wood, said Titania. The
Speaker 2: spell of the love juice was on her, and to
Speaker 2: her the clown seemed the most beautiful and delightful creature
Speaker 2: on all the earth. I love you, she went on,
Speaker 2: Come with me, and I will give you fairies to
Speaker 2: attend on you. So she called four fairies, whose names
Speaker 2: were pease blossom, cobweb moth, and mustard seed. You must
Speaker 2: attend this gentleman, said the queen. Feed him with apricots
Speaker 2: and dewberries, purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries, steal honey
Speaker 2: bags for him from the bumble bees, and with the
Speaker 2: wings of painted butterflies, fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes.
Speaker 2: I will, said one of the fairies, and all the
Speaker 2: others said, I will. Now sit down with me, said
Speaker 2: the queen to the clown, and let me stroke your
Speaker 2: dear cheeks, and stick muskroses in your smooth sleek head,
Speaker 2: and kiss your fair large ears. My gentle joy, where's
Speaker 2: pease blossom? Asked the clown with the ass's head. He
Speaker 2: did not much care about the queen's affection, but he
Speaker 2: was very proud of having fairies to wait on him. Ready,
Speaker 2: said pease Blossom. Scratch my head, pease Blossom, said the clown.
Speaker 2: Where's Cobweb? Ready? Said cobweb? Kill me, said the clown.
Speaker 2: The red bumblebee on the top of it. Thistle yonder
Speaker 2: and bring me the honey bag. Where's mustard seed? Ready?
Speaker 2: Said mustard seed. Oh? I want nothing, said the clown,
Speaker 2: Only just help Cobweb to scratch. I must go to
Speaker 2: the barber for methinks. I am marvelous, hairy about the face.
Speaker 2: Would you like anything to eat, said the fairy queen.
Speaker 2: I should like some good dry oats, said the clown,
Speaker 2: for his donkey's head made him desire donkey's food and
Speaker 2: some hay to follow. Shall some of my fairies fetch
Speaker 2: you new nuts from the squirrel's house, asked the queen.
Speaker 2: I'd rather have a handful of two or good dried peas,
Speaker 2: said the clown. But please don't let any of your
Speaker 2: people disturb me. I'm going to sleep, then, said the queen,
Speaker 2: and I will wind thee in my arms. And so
Speaker 2: when Oberon came along, he found his beautiful queen lavishing
Speaker 2: kisses and endearments on a clown with a donkey's head,
Speaker 2: And before he released her from the enchantment, he persuaded
Speaker 2: her to give him the little Indian boy he so
Speaker 2: much desired to have. Then he took pity on her
Speaker 2: and threw some of the juice of the disenchanting flower
Speaker 2: on her pretty eyes. And then in a moment, she
Speaker 2: saw plainly the donkey headed clown she had been loving,
Speaker 2: and knew how foolish she had been. Oberon took off
Speaker 2: the ass's head from the clown and left him to
Speaker 2: finish his sleep with his own silly head, lying on
Speaker 2: the time in violets. Thus all was made plain straight again.
Speaker 2: Oberon and Titania loved each other more than ever. Demetrius
Speaker 2: thought of no one but Helena, and Helena had never
Speaker 2: any thought of anyone but Demetrius. As for Hermia and Lyssander,
Speaker 2: they were as loving a couple as you could meet
Speaker 2: in a day's march, even through a fairy wood. So
Speaker 2: the four mortal lovers went back to Athens and were married,
Speaker 2: And the fairy king and Queen live happily together in
Speaker 2: that very wood to this very day.