Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - Bamboo and the Turtle: A Chinese Folk Tale

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Starting point is 00:00:46 please go to sleepcove.com slash support. That's sleepcove.com slash support. If you can't support the show right now, please subscribe with a bell to get alerts on all new free content thank you have you ever gazed in wonder at the great pyramid have you marvelled at the golden face of Tudankhamun

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Starting point is 00:01:59 Hi everyone. And if you celebrate the Lunar New Year, Happy New Year. With the Lunar New Year happening this week, I've read out a classic Chinese fairy tale story about a boiling bamboo and the turtle. It's a quaint and lovely story, and I really hope you enjoy it.

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Starting point is 00:04:36 They had just passed down the holy way between the huge stone animals when bamboo, a little boy of 12, son of a keeper, rushed out from his father's house to see the mandarins go by. Such a parade of great men he had never seen but. before, even on the feast days. There were ten sedan chairs, with bearers dressed in flaming colours, ten long-handled red umbrellas, each carried far in front of his proud owner, and a long line of horsemen. When this wonderful procession had filed past, bamboo was almost ready to be able to

Starting point is 00:05:27 cry because he could not run after the sightseers as they went from temple to temple and from tomb to tomb. But alas, his father had ordered him never to follow tourists. If you do, they will take you for a beggar bamboo, he said shrewdly. And if you're a beggar, then your daddy's one too. Now they don't want any beggars. around the royal tombs. So bamboo had never known the pleasure of pursuing the rich. Many times he had turned back to the little mud house, almost broken-hearted at seeing his playmates running full of glee

Starting point is 00:06:19 after the great men's chairs. On the day when this story opens up, just as the last horseman had passed out of sight among the cedars, bamboo chanced to look up towards one of the smaller temple buildings, of which his father was the keeper. It was the house through which visitors had just been shown. Could his eyes be deceiving him?

Starting point is 00:06:51 No, the great iron doors had been forgotten in the hurry of the moment, and there they stood one. open, as if inviting him to enter. In great excitement, he scurried towards the temple, how often he had pressed his head against the pass, and looked into the dark room, wishing and hoping that some day he might go in. And yet, not once, had he been granted this favour.

Starting point is 00:07:25 Almost every day since babyhood He had gazed at the high stone shaft or tablets Covered with Chinese writing That stood in the centre of the lofty room Reaching almost to the roof But with still greater surprise His eyes had feasted on the giant turtle underneath On whose bag the column rested

Starting point is 00:07:57 There were many such tablets to be seen in China, many such turtles patiently bearing their loads of stone, but this was the only sight of the kind that bamboo had seen. He had never been outside the sealing forest, and of course knew very little of the great world beyond. it is no wonder then that the turtle and the tablet had always astonished him he had asked his father to explain the mystery

Starting point is 00:08:38 why do they have a turtle why not a lion or an elephant for he had seen the stone figures of these animals in the park and had thought the much better able than his friend the turtle to carry loads on their backs. Why, it's just the custom, his father had replied.

Starting point is 00:09:04 The answer always given when Bamboo asked a question. Just the custom. The boy had tried to imagine it all for himself, but had never been quite sure that he was right. And now, Joy of Joys, he was about to enter the very to-o' room itself. Surely once inside, he could find some answer to this puzzle of his childhood. Breathless, he dashed through the doorway, fearing every minute that someone would notice the open gates and close them before he could enter. Just in front of the giant turtle, he fell in a little heap on the floor.

Starting point is 00:09:55 which was covered, each deep with dust. His face was streaked, his clothes were a sight to behold, but bamboo cared nothing for such trifles. He lay there for a few moments, not daring to move. Then, hearing a noise outside, he crawled under the ugly stone beast and crouched. and crouched in his narrow hiding place, as still as a mouse. There, there, said a deep voice, see what you are doing, stirring up such a dust. Why, you will strangle me if you are not careful?

Starting point is 00:10:45 It was the turtle speaking, and yet Bamboos' father had often told him that it was not alive. The boy lay trembling for a minute, too much frightened to get up and run. No use in shaking so, my lad, the voice continued, a little more kindly. I suppose all boys are alike. Good for nothing, but kicking up a dust. He finished this sentence with a hoarse chuckle, and the boy, seeing that he was laughing, looked up with a wonder at the strange crincture. I meant no harm in coming, said the child finally. I only wanted to look at you more closely.

Starting point is 00:11:37 Oh, that was it, hey, well, that is strange. All the others come and stare at the tablet on my back. Sometimes they read aloud the nonsense written there about dead emperors and their titles. But they never so much as look at me, at me, whose father was one of the great four who made the world. Bamboos eyes shone with wonder. What? Your father helped make the world, he gasped.

Starting point is 00:12:17 Well, not my father exactly, but one of my grandfathers. and it amounts to the same thing, doesn't it? But hark, I hear a voice. The keeper is coming back. Run up and close those doors, so you won't notice that they have not been locked. Then you may hide in the corner there, until he has passed.

Starting point is 00:12:45 I have something more to tell you. Bamboo did as he was told. It took all his strength To swing the heavy doors into place He felt very important To think he was doing something For the grandson of a maker of the world And it would have broken his heart

Starting point is 00:13:07 If this visit had been ended Just as it was beginning Sure enough his father And the other keepers passed on Never dreamy But the heavy locks were not fastened as usual. They were talking about the great men

Starting point is 00:13:26 who were just gone. They seemed very happy and were jingling some coins in their hands. Now my boy, said the stone turtle when the sound of the voices had died away and bamboo had come out from his corner. Maybe you think I'm proud of my job. Here I've been holding up.

Starting point is 00:13:51 this chunk for a hundred years. I who am fond of travel. During this time night and day, I have been trying to think of some way to give up my position. Perhaps it's honourable, but you may well imagine. It's not very pleasant. You would have backache, mentioned bamboo timidly, backache. Well, I think so. Back, neck, everything I have is aching. Aking for freedom. But you see, even if I had kicked up my heels and overthrown this monument,

Starting point is 00:14:43 I had no way of getting through these iron bars. He nodded toward the gate. Yes, I understand, agreed bamboo, beginning to feel sorry for his old friend. But now that you are here, I have a plan, and a good one it is too, I think. The watchman have forgotten to lock the gate. What is to prevent me getting my freedom this very night?

Starting point is 00:15:14 You open the gate. I walk out, wiser, replied back. But my father will lose his head if they find that he has failed to do his duty and that you have escaped. Not at all. You can slip his keys tonight, lock the gates after I have gone, and no one will know just what has happened. Why will make this building famous?

Starting point is 00:15:49 It won't hurt your father, but will do him good. So many travellers will be anxious to see the spot from which I'll. I am vanished. I am too heavy for a thief to carry off, and they will be sure that it is another miracle of the gods. Oh, I shall have a good time out in the big world. Just here, bamboo began to cry. Now what is the silly boy blubbering about? Snear the turtle. Is he nothing but a cry, baby?

Starting point is 00:16:31 No, said Bamboo, but I don't want you to go, the turtle replied, Don't want me to go, eh? Just like all the others. You're a fine fellow. What reason have you for wanting to see me weighed down here all the rest of my life with a mountain on my bag? Why, I thought you were sorry for me, and it turns out that you are as mean. as anybody else. It's so lonely here, said bamboo, and I have no playmates. You are the only friend I have. The tortoise laughed loudly. Ho-ho, so it's because I make you a good playmate, eh? Now, if that's your reason, that's another story altogether. What do you say to going with me then? I too need a friend, and if you help me to escape, why, you are the very friend for me.

Starting point is 00:17:44 But how do you get the tablet off your back? Question bamboo doubtfully, it's very heavy. That's easy. Just walk out of the door. The tablet is too tall to go through. It will slide off and sit on the floor instead of my shell. Bamboo, wild with delight and the thought of going on a journey with a turtle, promised to obey the other's commands. After supper, when all were asleep in the little house of the keeper, he slipped from his bed, took down the heavy key from his peg, and ran pell-mell to the temple.

Starting point is 00:18:31 Well, you didn't forget me, did you? as the turtle when bamboo swung the iron gates open Oh no I would not break a promise Are you ready? Yes quite ready So saying the turtle took a step The tablet swayed backward and forward But did not fall Walked the turtle until finally he stuck his ugly head

Starting point is 00:19:03 Through the doorway How good it looks outside, he said. How pleasant the fresh air feels. Is that the moon rising over yonder? It's the first time I've seen it for an age. My word, just look at the trees. How they have grown since they set that tombstone on my back. There's a rake of a forest outside now.

Starting point is 00:19:31 Bamboo was delighted when he saw the turtle's glee at a sky. be careful, he cried, not to let the tablet fall hard enough to break it. Even as he spoke, the awkward beast waddled through the door. The upper end of the monument struck against the wall, toppled off, and fell with a great crash to the floor. Bamboo shivered with fear Would his father come and find out what had happened Don't be afraid my boy No one will come at this hour of the night to spy on us

Starting point is 00:20:19 Bamboo quickly locked the gates Ran back to the house and hung the key on its peg He took a long look at his sleeping parents And then returned to his friend after all he would not be gone long and his father would surely forgive him soon the comrades were walking down the broad road very slowly for the tortoise is not swift of foot and bamboo's legs were none too long where are you going said the boy at last after you begin to feel more at home with the turtle going where should you think I would want to go after my centaurine prison? Why, back to the first home of my father, back to the very spot

Starting point is 00:21:14 where the great good, Panku and his three helpers, hewed out the world? And is it far? Volta the boy, beginning to feel just the least bit tired. At this rate, yes, but bless my life, you do. didn't think we could travel all the way at this snail's pace, I hope. Jump on my back, I'll show you how to go. Before morning we shall be at the end of the world, or rather the beginning. Where is the beginning of the world?

Starting point is 00:21:52 As bamboo, I've never studied geography. We must cross China, then Tibet, and at last in the mountains just, beyond, we shall reach the spot which Panku made the centre of his labour. At that moment, bamboo felt himself being lifted from the ground. At first he thought he would slip off, the turtles round and chill, and he cried out in fright. Never fear, said his friend, only sit quietly. They had now risen far into the air. and bamboo could look down over the great forest of ceiling, all bathed in the moonlight.

Starting point is 00:22:46 There were the broad white roads leading up to the royal tombs. The beautiful temples, the buildings where oxen and sheep, were prepared for sacrifice, the lofty towers and the high tree-covered hills and on which the emperors were buried. Until that night, bamboo had not known the size of this royal graveyard. Could it be that the turtle would carry him beyond the forest? Even as he asked himself this question, he saw that they had reached a mountain and the turtle was ascending higher, still higher, to cross the mighty wall of stone.

Starting point is 00:23:34 Bamboo grew dizzy as the turtle rose, as the turtle rose farther into the sky. He felt as he sometimes did when he played wording games with his little friends and got so dizzy that he tumbled over upon the ground. However, this time he knew that he must keep his head and not fall,

Starting point is 00:23:59 for it must have been almost a mile to the ground below him. They had passed over the mountain and were flying, above a great plain. Far below, bamboo could see sleeping villages and little streams of water that looked like silver in the moonlight, now directly beneath them was a city. A few feeble lights could be seen in the dark narrow streets, and bamboo thought he could hear the faint cries of paddlers crying their midnight water. wears. That's the capital of Shanghai, just below us, said the turtle, breaking his long silence.

Starting point is 00:24:51 It is almost 200 miles from here to your father's house, and we have taken less time than half an hour. Beyond that is the province of the western valleys. In one hour we shall be above Tibet, lightning speed, not been hot summertime, bamboo would have been almost frozen. As it was, his hands and feet were cold and stiff. The turtle, as if knowing how chilly he was, flew nearer to the ground where it was warmer. How pleasant for bamboo! He was so tired that he could not keep his eyes open any longer and was soon soaring in the love. land of dreams. When he waked up, it was morning.

Starting point is 00:25:51 He was lying on the ground in a wild, rocky region, not far away, burned a great wood fire, and the turtle was watching some food that was cooking in a pot. Ho, ho, ho, my lad. So you have at last waked up after your long ride. You see we are a little early. No matter if the dragons does think he can fly faster, I beat him, didn't I? Why, even the phoenix laughs at me and says I am slow. But the phoenix has not come either.

Starting point is 00:26:31 Yes, I've clearly broken the record for speed, and I had a load to carry too, which neither of the others had, I'm sure, question bamboo. in the land of the beginning, said the other wisely. We flew over Tibet and then went to northwest for two hours. If you haven't studied geography, you won't know the name of the country. But here we are, and that is enough, isn't it? Enough for anyone. And today is the yearly feast in honour of the making of the world.

Starting point is 00:27:15 It was very fortunate for me that the gates were left open yesterday. I'm afraid my old friends, the dragon and the phoenix have almost forgotten what I look like. It is so long since they saw me. Lucky beasts they are, not to be loaded down under an emperor's tablet. Hello, I hear the dragon coming now, if I am not mistaken. Yes, here he is. How glad I am to see him, heard a great noise like there were of enormous wings, and then looking up saw a huge dragon just in front of him. He knew it was a dragon from the pictures he had seen

Starting point is 00:28:05 and the carvings in the temples. The dragon and the turtle had no sooner greeted each other, both very happy and the meeting. Then they were joined by a queer-looking bird, unlike any that bamboo had ever seen. But which he knew was the phoenix. The phoenix looked somewhat like a wild swan, but it had the bill of a cock, the neck of a snake, the tail of a fish, and the stripes of a dragon. His feathers were of five colours. when the three friends had chatted merrily for a few minutes

Starting point is 00:28:49 the turtle told them how bamboo had helped him escape from the temple a clever boy said the dragon patting bamboo gently on the back yes yes a clever boy indeed echoed the phoenix ah sighed the turtle if only the good god pancou was here shouldn't we be happy, but I fear he will never come to this meeting place. No doubt he is off in some distant spot, cutting out another world. If I could only just see him once more, I feel that I should die in peace. Just listen, laugh the dragon, as if one of us could die.

Starting point is 00:29:36 Why, you talk like a mere mortal. All day long the three friends chatted, feasted and had a good time looking round at the places where they had lived so happily when Panku had been cutting out the world. They were good to Bambu and showed him many wonderful things of which he had never dreamed. You are not half so mean-looking and so fierce as they paint you on the flags, said Bambu in a friendly voice to the dragon just as they were about to separate. The three friends laughed heartily. Oh no, he is very decent sort of fellow, even if he is covered with fish scales, joked the phoenix. Just before they bade each other

Starting point is 00:30:29 goodbye, the phoenix gave bamboo a long scarlet tail feather for a keepsake, and the dragon gave him a large scale, which turned to gold as soon as the boy took it into his hand. Come, come, we must hurry, said the turtle. I am afraid your father will think you are lost. So bamboo, after having spent the happiest day of his life, mounted the turtle's back, and they rose once more above the clouds. Back they flew even faster than they had come. Bamboo had so many things to talk about, that he did not once think of going to sleep, but he had really seen the dragon and the phoenix, and if he never were to see anything else in his life, he would always be happy.

Starting point is 00:31:28 Suddenly the turtle stopped short in his swift flight, and bamboo felt himself slipping. Too late, he screamed for help. Well, too late he tried to save himself. Down from that dizzying height, he fell turning and tumbling, thinking that the ground was surely coming soon. Swish, he shot through the treetops, trying vainly to clutch the friendly branches. Then with a loud scream he stroked the ground and his long journey was. ended, come out from under that turtle boy. What are you doing inside the temple in the dirt?

Starting point is 00:32:19 Don't you know that this is not a proper place for you? Bamboo rubbed his eyes. Though only half awake, he knew it was his father's voice. But didn't it kill me the fall? He said as his father pulled him out by the heel from under the great stone turtle. What killed you, foolish boy? What can you be talking about? But I'll half kill you if you don't hurry out of this and come to your supper. Really, I believe you're getting too lazy to eat. The idea of sleeping the whole afternoon under that turtle's belly.

Starting point is 00:33:02 Bamboo not really fully awake, stumbled out of the tablet room, and father locked the iron doors. And as his father was locking the iron doors, bamboo noticed something, peeking out of his pocket. It was a scarlet feather. And in his other pocket, he noticed the gold scale. He quickly hid them so his father went to see them. and they both walked back to their house for dinner.

Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - Bamboo and the Turtle: A Chinese Folk Tale

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