Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy Bookshelf: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Part 1

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

Welcome back, sleepyheads. Tonight, we have a very special episode - it's the first installment from a new podcast we've created called The Sleepy Bookshelf. Hosted by our good friend, Elizabeth Grace, we will hear the first part of the story this evening.  To hear the rest, you'll need to follow The Sleepy Bookshelf feed wherever you listen to podcasts: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sleepy-bookshelf/id1573623902 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Jj6DoEoG2R5fWdIEbZ0bd --- Website: https://sleepybookshelf.com/   Do you enjoy relaxing nature and white noise sounds? Do you use sounds to calm a fussy baby? Get a 30-day free trial of the Deep Sleep Sounds App: https://deepsleepsounds.com/getsleepy. You can even use the Deep Sleep Sounds app to play your own unique soundscape in tandem with a Get Sleepy episode. Here's how: (1) Download the Deep Sleep Sounds App on Apple or Android; (2) Open the app, go to the Controls tab, and turn Background Audio on; (3) In the Sounds tab, add sounds to your Mix by tapping the plus (+) icon next to that sound; (4) Adjust the volume of your sounds in the Mix tab of the app; (5) Press play on your favorite Get Sleepy episode in whatever podcast player you prefer, and enjoy a good night's rest.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Get Sleepy. The podcast where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm your host Thomas. We have a very special episode for you tonight. It's the first instalment from a new podcast we've created called the Sleepy Bookshelf. If you love Get Sleepy and want another great podcast to fall asleep with each week, click the link in the show notes and follow the Sleepy Bookshelf right now. So what is the Sleepy Bookshelf? Well it's pretty simple. In every episode we read part of a classic work of fiction, and it's all designed to help you relax and fall asleep, just like Get Sleepy.

If you've listened to this show for a while, then you'll already be familiar with the Sleepy Bookshelf's host, my good friend, Elizabeth Grace. She was a professional audiobook narrator before she started reading Forget Sleepy, so she's the perfect person to help you nod off to these classic works. Books will be released one at a time as seasons, with new episodes dropping every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Over the next few months, we'll be putting you to sleep with classics like Pride and Prejudice, The Wizard of Oz, and Her Journey to the center of the earth. But tonight we'll fall asleep to the first part of Alice's adventures in Wonderland.

If you want to hear the rest of the book, you'll need to follow or subscribe over on the Sleepy Bookshelf feed. It's 100% free and available wherever you listen to podcasts. We are so excited to be able to offer this new podcast to you all and I really hope you enjoy it. But do not be alarmed. Our regular lineup of original Get Sleepy Stories isn't going anywhere. After tonight, the Sleepy bookshelf will only be available

on the sleepy bookshelf's own podcast feed. So if you like it, go ahead and subscribe. Maybe even leave a nice review on Apple podcasts to show your support. your support. So, without further ado, I'll hand over to Elizabeth with the first episode of the Sleepy Bookshelf. Good evening and welcome to the Sleepy Bookshelf where we put down our worries from the day and pick up a good book. I'm Elizabeth your host and I'm so glad to have you here with me. Tonight we'll be starting our very first book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. It's the story of a girl who tumble down a rabbit hall and discovers a magical world full of new surprises. So get cozy in bed and allow your imagination to lead you into a new

world. Before you know it, you'll be fast asleep and don't worry if you nod off before I finish this part of the story. At the beginning of the next episode, I'll give a thorough recap. That way, you can rest easy without worrying about missing anything important. Keep in mind that all of the books on this show are selected and edited to help you fall asleep. We keep the plotlines, protagonists and antagonists and moments of tension, but we remove anything that might be startling or upsetting to ensure you always get a good night's rest. That's what makes this the sleepy bookshelf. Now before I open our book for tonight, enjoy this moment to just settle in and put the day behind you. Take an inhale

and a big stretch in bed, and on your exhale relax into a comfortable position. If there are any parts of your body that still feel tense, then give them an extra stretch. They deserve it after a day of hard work. And you deserve a good night's rest. Now you can just listen to my voice as you make your way into a peaceful sleep. And while you do that, I'll turn to the first pages of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 1. Chapter 1. Down the Rabbit Hole.

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do. Once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading but it had no pictures or conversations? So she was considering in her own mind as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy. Whether the pleasure of making a Daisy chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies. When suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that, Nordid Alice think it's so very much out of the way, to hear the rabbit say to itself, Oh dear, oh dear, I shall be late. When she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this. But at the time, it all seemed quite natural. But when the rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat pocket and looked at it, Out of its waste coat pocket and looked at it and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waste coat pocket or a watch to take out of it. Burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it.

And fortunately, was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit hall under the hedge. In another moment, Down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was going to get out again. The rabbit hall went straight on like a tunnel for some way and then dipped suddenly down. So suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping before she found herself falling down a very deep well. either the well was very deep or she fell very slowly before she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything. Then she looked at the sides of the well and noticed they were filled with cupboards and

bookshelves. Here in there she saw maps and pictures hung up on pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed. It was labeled orange marmalade. But to her great disappointment, it was empty. She did not want to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody underneath. So she managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it. Well, thought Alice to herself. After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs. How brave they'll all think me at home. Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of a house, which was very likely true. Down, down, down, with the fall never come to an end, Alice wondered. I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time. She said aloud. I must be getting

somewhere near the center of the earth. Let me see. That would be 4,000 miles down, I think. For you see, Alice had learned several things of this sort in her lessons in the school room, and although this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over to herself. Yes, that's about the right distance, she thought. But then I wonder what latitude, or longitude I've got to. Alice had no idea what latitude was, or longitude either, but thought they were nice, grand words to say.

Presently she began again. I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth. How funny it will seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward to the ground. The Antipathy's, I think. She was rather glad there was no one listening this time, as it didn't sound at all like the right word. But said Alice, I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, mom, is this New Zealand or Australia? She tried to Fancy, cut-seeing as you're falling through the air. Do you think you could manage it? And what an ignorant girl they'll think me for asking said Alice.

No, it'll never do to ask. Perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere. Down, down, down. Perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere. Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. Diner will miss me very much tonight I should think. She said, Diner was the cat. I hope they'll remember her sorcerer of milk at tea time. Diner my dear, I wish you were down here with me.

There are no mice in the air I'm afraid. But you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder. And here Alice began to get rather sleepy. And when Tone sang to herself in a dreamy sort of way, do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats? And sometimes do bats eat cats. For you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dina and saying me the truth, did you ever eat a bad?

When suddenly, dump, dump, down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves and the fall was over. Alice was not a bit hard and she jumped up onto her feet in a moment. She looked up but it was all dark overhead. Before her was another long passage and the white rabbit was still inside, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost. A way went Alice like the wind and was just in time to hear it say as it turned a corner. Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting. She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the rabbit was no longer to be seen. She found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.

There were doors all around the hall, but they were all locked. And when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door. She walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever going to get out again. Suddenly, she came upon a little, three-legged table, all made of solid glass. There was nothing on it except a tiny golden key. And Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall, but alas, either the locks were too large or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time around, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before.

And behind it was a little door, about 15 inches high. She tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight, it fit. Alice opened the door and found that it's led to a small passage, not much larger than a rat hole. She knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the doorway. And even if my head would go through, thought poor Alice, it would be a very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could fold up like a telescope. I think I could, if I only knew how to begin.

I could if I only knew how to begin. For you see, so many out of the way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible. They're seemed to be no use waiting by the little door. So, she went back to the table. Half-herping she might find another key on it, or at any rate, a book of rules for folding people up like telescopes. This time, she found a little bottle on it, which certainly was not here before, said Alice, and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words, drink me, beautifully printed on it in large letters. It was all very well to say drink me, but the

wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. She said, and see whether it's marked poison or not. For she had read several nice little stories about children who had gotten burnt and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, or because they did not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them. Such as that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long. And that if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds, and she had never forgotten that if you drink from a bottle marked poison, it is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later. However, this bottle was not marked poison, so Alice ventured to taste it. It had in fact a sort of mixed flavor of cherry And hot butted toast.

And, finding it very nice, she soon finished it off. What a curious feeling, said Alice. I must be folding up like a telescope. And so it was indeed, she was now only 10 inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden. Godden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further. She felt a little nervous about this. For it might end, you know, said Alice to herself. In my going out altogether, like a candle, I wonder what I should be like then.

And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing. After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into the garden at once. But a last for poor Alice. When she got to the door, she found she had forgotten that a little golden key. And when she went back to the door. She fan she had forgotten that a little golden key. And when she went back to the table for it, she fan she could not possibly reach it. She could see it quite plainly through the glass and tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table. But it was too slippery. When she had tired

herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and cried. loose in crying like that," said Alice to herself, rather sharply. I advise you to leave off this minute. She generally gave herself very good advice, though she very seldom followed it. And sometimes, she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes. Once, she remembered scolding herself for having cheated in a game of croquet, she was playing against herself. For this curious child, was very fond of pretending to be two people. But it is no use now, thought Alice, to pretend to be two people, why there's hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person. Soon, her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under

the table. She opened it and found in it a very small cake, on which the words, eat me, were beautifully marked in currents. Well, I'll eat it," said Alice. And if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key. And if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door. So either way I'll get into the garden and I don't care which happened. She ate a little bit and said anxiously to herself, which way, which way? Holding her hand on top of her head to feel which way it was growing. And she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size. To be sure, this generally does happen when one eats cake. But Alice had gotten so much into the way of expecting nothing but

out of the way things to happen. And it seemed quite dull for life to go on in the common way. So she set to work and very soon finished off the cake. CHAPTER 2 The Pool of Tears Curiouser and Curiouser, cried Alice. She was so surprised that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak. Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was. Goodbye, feet. For when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight.

to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off. Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dear. I'm sure I shouldn't be able. I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you. You must manage the best way you can, but I must be kind to them, thought Alice, or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go. Let me see, I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas. And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. They must go by the mail carrier, she thought, and how funny it will seem, sending presents to one's own feet. And how odd the directions will look.

I shall address the package too. Alice's right foot, Esquire, Hath rug near the fender, with Alice's love. Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking. Just then, her head struck against the roof of the hall. In fact, she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door. golden key and hurried off to the garden door. Poor Alice, it was as much as she could do, lying down on one side to look through into the garden with one eye. But to get through was more hopeless than ever. She sat down and began to cry again. "'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice. A great girl like you to go on crying

in this way. Stop this moment, I tell you.' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all around her, about four inches deep, and reaching halfway down the hall. After a time she had a little pattern of feet in the distance and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the white rabbit returning, splendidly dressed Gendily dressed, with a pair of white kid-cluffs in one hand and a large fan in the other. He came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came. Oh, the Duchess, the Duchess, or won't she be angry if I've kept her waiting? Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask anyone for help. So,, the rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan and scurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go. Alice took up the fan and gloves Alice took up the fan and glums, and as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking.

Dear dear, how strange everything is today, and yesterday things went on as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different, but if I'm not the same, the next question is, who in the world am I? Oh, that's the great puzzle. And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself to see if she could have been changed into any of them. I'm sure I'm not Ada, she said. For her hair goes in such long or English, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all.

And I'm sure I can't be mable. For I know all sorts of things, and she, oh, she knows such a very little. Besides, she's she, and I'm I, and oh dear, how puzzling it all is. Alice continued, I'll try to see if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see, 4 times 5 is 12 and 4 times 6 is 13 and 4 times 7 is, Oh dear, I shall never get to 20 at that rate. However, the multiplication table doesn't signify. Let's try geography. London is the capital of Paris,

and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome, oh, that's all wrong, I'm certain, I must have been changed for Maple. I'll try to recite a poem I know, and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons and began to repeat it. But her voice sounded horse and strange and the words did not come the same as they used to. How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail and pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale. How cheerfully he seems to grin how neatly spread his claws and welcome little fishes in with gently smiling jaws.

I'm sure those are not the right words, said Paul Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on. I must be maple after all, and I shall have to go and live in that pokey little house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh, ever so many lessons to learn. No, I've made up my mind about it. If I'm mable, I'll stay down here. It'll be no use for them to put their heads down and say, come up again dear, I shall only look up and say, who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I'll come up.

If not, I'll stay down here till I'm somebody else. But oh dear, Cry Dallas, with a sudden burst of tears. I do wish they would put their heads down. I'm so very tired of being all alone here." As she said this, she looked down at her hands and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the rabbits, little white kid gloves, while she was talking. How can I have done that? She thought. I must be growing small again.

She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it and Found that as nearly as she could guess She was now about two feet high and was going on shrinking rapidly She soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it hastily. Just in time to avoid herself still in existence. And now for the garden, and she ran, with all speed back to the little door. But alas, the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before. And things are worse than ever, thought the poor child.

For I never was so small as this before, never, and I declare it is too bad that it is. As she said these words, her foot slipped and in another moment, splash. She was up to her chin in saltwater. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea. And in that case, I can go back by railway, she said to herself. Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion that wherever you go on the English coast, you find a number of bathing machines in the sea. Some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses and behind them a railway station. However, she soon made out that she

was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high. I wish I hadn't cried so much, said Alice as she swam about, trying to find her way out. I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears. That will be a strange thing to be sure. However, everything is strange today. Just then, she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was. At first, she thought it must be a walrus or a hippopotamus. But then she remembered how small she was now, and

she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself. Would it be of any use now, thought Alice, to speak to this mouse. Everything is so out of the way down here that I should think very likely it can talk. At any rate, there's no harm in trying. So she began. O mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here. O mouse. Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse. She had never done such a thing before, but she remembered having seen this phrase in her brother's Latin grammar book, a mouse, of a mouse, two a mouse, a mouse, oh mouse.

The mouse looked at her rather inquisitively and seemed to wink with the one of its little eyes, but it said nothing. Perhaps it doesn't understand English, thought Alice. I dare say it's a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror. For with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened. So she began again, this time in French. Where is my cat?" she said, which was her first sentence in her French lesson book. The mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water and seemed to quiver all over with fright. Oh, I beg your pardon, cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animal's feelings. I quite forgot you didn't like cats.

Not like cats, cried the mouse in a shrill, passionate voice. Would you like cats if you were me?" Well, perhaps not, said Alice in a soothing tone. Don't be angry about it. And yet, I wish I could show you our Kat Diner. I think you'd take her fancy to cats if you could only see her. She's such a dear, quiet thing. Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool. And she sits, purring so nicely by the fire, looking her paws and washing her face.

And she is such a nice soft thing. And she's such a capital one for catching mice. Oh, I beg your pardon. Cryed Alice again. For this time, the mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended. We won't talk about her anymore if you'd rather not. We indeed cried the mouse who was trembling down to the end of his tail.

As if I would talk indeed, said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation. dogs. The mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly. There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you. A little bright, high-tired terrier, you know, with oh such long, curly, brown hair. And it'll fetch things when you throw them. And it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things. I can't remember half of them. And it belongs to a farmer, you know. And he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds. He says it kills all the rats and oh dear, cried Alice in a sorrowful tone. I'm afraid I've offended it again. For the mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.

So she called, softly after it. Mouse dear, do come back again, and we won't talk about cats or dogs either if you don't like them. When the mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her. Its face was quite pale and it said in a low, trembling voice. Let us get to the shore and then I'll tell you my history, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs. It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with birds and animals that had fallen into it. There was a duck and a dodo, a parrot and an eagle it and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way and the whole party swam to

the shore. ... ... ... I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room.

I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. ... ... ... ... ... ... you you