Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - The Adventures of Theseus - Part 3

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

The Adventures of Theseus - Part 3. We return to the mythic journey of Theseus, as he nears the end of his perilous quest as he reaches Athen to meet his father the King. In this episode he encounters one of his most dangerous and cunning foes yet. Join me to listen to his final steps in fulfilling his destiny. Please leave a 5-star review & SUBSCRIBE on Apple and Spotify. Sleep Cove Premium Become a Premium Member for Bonus Episodes & Ad-Free listening: Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and become a Premium Member. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Instant Access⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and sign up in two taps. The Sleep Cove Premium Feed includes: - Access to over 400 Ad-free Episodes - Regular Exclusive Bonus Episodes - A Back Catalogue of Dozens of Exclusive Episodes - Full Audiobooks like Alice in Wonderland - Your name read out on the Show - Our Love! Get your 7-day free trial:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://sleepcove.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For Apple users, click the TRY FREE button for a 2-week free trial and become a Premium Member Today. Support our Sponsors: Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Zoe.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and find out what ZOE Membership could do for you. And because you listen to Sleep Cove, you can use the exclusive code SLEEPCOVE10 to to get 10% off membership. Our Sister Shows: - Calm Cove - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bgSKfkbt⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠- Relaxing Music & Ambient Sounds - Mysteries at Midnight - Mystery Bedtime Stories - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/skj6YFah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Let's Begin - Daytime Meditations with wake sections at the end - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/Z--DgSH4 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - YouTube Bedtime Story Channel -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://rb.gy/t7wyjk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - YouTube Sleep Hypnosis & Meditation Channel - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClE6WJgPYRBtwVQ1qDBrbqw⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect: - Join the Newsletter for a Bonus Meditation -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/bonus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://rb.gy/azpdrd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/sleep_cove/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@sleepcovechris⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Recommended Products: Comfortable Sleep Headphones -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/headphones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Best Mattress from Puffy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepcove.com/puffy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ All Content by Sleep Cove is for educational or entertainment purposes and does not provide or replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your medical professional before making any changes to your treatment and if in any doubt, contact your doctor. Please listen in a place where you can safely go to sleep. Sleep Cove is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury arising from the use of this content. _________________ Sleep Cove content includes guided sleep meditations, sleep hypnosis (hypnotherapy), sleep stories (visualizations) and Bedtime Stories for adults and grown-ups, all designed to help you get a great night's sleep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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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? Or admired the delicate features of Queen Nefertiti?

If you have, you'll probably like the History of Egypt podcast. Every week, we explore tales of this ancient culture. The history of Egypt is available. wherever you get your podcasting fix. Come, let me introduce you to the world of ancient Egypt. Hi and welcome to Sleep Cove with me, Christopher Fitton. Tonight, we return to the mythic journey of Theseus as he nears the end of his perilous quest

to reach Athens and meet his father the king. In this final part, Theseus encounters one of his most cunning and dangerous foes yet, the cruel and deceptive Prochristes. It's a tale of trickery, justice and the final steps of a hero fulfilling his destiny. This story is from a collection of Greek myths by James Boland. and I'll be reading the next story of Theseus soon. So please remember to subscribe so you don't miss out on his next adventure. So close your eyes, get comfortable, and here is the last part of the adventures of Theseus.

Part 5 Procrustis the bitterness. Athens was now not more than 20 miles away, but the road thither led through the Parnes Mountains, and was only a narrow path winding among the rocks, and up and down many a lonely wooden glen. Theseus had seen worse and far more dangerous roads than this. and he strewed bravely onward, happy in the thought that he was so near the end of his long journey. But it was very slow travelling among the mountains, and he was not always sure that he was following the right path.

The sun was almost down when he came to a broad green valley. where the trees had been cleared away. A little river flowed through the middle of this valley. And on either side were grassy meadows, where cattle was grazing, and on a hillside close by, half hidden among the trees, there was a great stone house, with vines running over its walls and roof. While Theseus was wondering who it could be that lived in this pretty but lonely place, a man came out of the house and hurried down to the road to meet him. He was a well-dressed man, and his face was wreathed with smiles, and he bowed low to Theseus, and invited him kindly.

to come up to the house and be his guest that night. This is a lonely place, he said, and it is not often that travellers pass this way, but there is nothing that gives me so much joy as to find strangers and feast them at my table and hear them tell other things they have seen and heard, come up and sit with me,

and lodge under my roof, and you shall sleep on a wonderful med, which I have a bed, which fits every guest, and cures him of every ill. Theseus was pleased with a man's ways, and he was both hungry and tired. He went up with him and sat down,

down under the vines by the door, and the man said, Now I will go in and make the bed ready for you, and you can lie down upon it and rest, and later, when you feel refreshed, you shall sit at my table and sup with thee, and I will listen to the pleasant tales, which I know you will tell. And when he had gone into the house, Theseus looked around him to see what sort of place it was.

He was filled with surprise at the richness of it, other gold and silver and beautiful things with which every room seemed to be adorned for it. It was indeed a place fit for a prince. While he was looking and wandering, the vines before him were parted and the fair face of a young girl peeped out. Noble stranger, she whispered, do not lie down on my master's bed, for those who do never rise again. Fly down the glen and hide yourself in the deep woods. ere he returns, or else there will be no escape for you. Who is your master, fair maiden?

And that I should be afraid of him, asked Theseus. Men call him pro-christes, all the stretcher. So the girl, as you talked alone and fast, he is a robber, he brings hither all the stretcher, strangers that he finds traveling through the mountains. He puts them on his iron bed. He robs them of all they have. No one who comes into his house ever goes out again. Why do they call him the stretcher? And what is that iron bed of his? asked Theseus, in no wise alarmed. did he not tell you that it fits all guests? said the girl, and most truly it does fit them.

For if the traveller is too long, Procrustis hues off his legs until he is of the right love. But if he is too short, as is the case with most guests, then he stretches his limbs and body with ropes until he has long enough. It is for this reason that men call him the stretcher. He thinks that I have heard of this stretcher before, said Theseus, and then he remembered that someone at Alusis had warned him to beware of the wily robber, Prochristes, who lurked, in the glens of the Parnes' peaks and lured travellers into his den.

Hark, hark! Whisper in the girl, I hear him coming. And the vine leaves closed over her hiding place. The very next moment. Prochristes stood in the door, bowing and smiling, as though he had never done her. any harm to his fellow men.

My dear young friend, he said, the bed is ready, and I will show you the way. After you have taken a pleasant little nap, we will sit down at the table, and you may tell me of the wonderful things which you have seen in the course of your travels. Theseus arose and followed his host, and when they had come into an inner chamber, there, surely enough, was the bedstead of iron. Very curiously wrought, and upon it a soft couch, which seemed to invite him to lie down and rest.

but Theseus, peering about, saw the axe and the ropes with cunning pulleys, lying hidden behind the curtains, and he saw too that the floor was covered with stains of blood. Now my dear young friend, said Prochristes, I pray you to lie down and take your ease, for I know that you have travelled far and are faint from want of rest and sleep. Thy down and while sweet slumber overtakes you, I will have a care that no and seemingly noise, nor buzzing fly, nor vexing that disturbs your dreams.

Is this your wonderful bed? asked Theseus. It is, answered Prochristes, and you need to lie down upon it, and it will fit you perfectly. But you must lie upon it first, said Theseus, and let me see how it will fit itself to your stature. Oh no, said Prochristes,

for then the spell will be broken, and as he spoke, his cheeks grew ashy pale. But I tell you, you must lie upon it, said Theseus, and he seized the trembling man around the waist, and threw him by force upon the bed, and no sooner, when he was prone upon the couch, that curious iron arms reached out and clasped his body in their embrace, and held him down so that he could not move hand or foot. The wretched man shrieked and cried for mercy, but Theseus stood over him and looked him straight in the eye. Is this the kind of bed, on which you,

have your guests lie down, he asked. But Procrustes answered not a word. The Theseus brought out the axe and the ropes and the pulleys, and asked him what they were for, and why they were hidden in the chamber. He was still silent and could do nothing now, but tremble and weep. It is true, said Theseus, that you have lured hundreds of travellers into your den, only to rob them. It is true that it is your want to fasten them in this bed and then chop off their legs, or stretch them out until they fit the iron frame. Tell me, is this true? It is true, it is true, solved Prochristes, and now kindly touch the spring above my head and let me go, and you shall have everything that I possess. But Theseus turned away. You are caught, he said, in the trap which you set for others and for me.

There is no mercy, for the man who shows no mercy, and he went out of the room and left the wretch to perish by his own cruel device. Theseus looked through the house and found their great wealth of gold and silver and costly things which Prochristes had taken from the strangers who had fallen in silver, into his hands. He went into the dining hall, and there indeed was the table with a rich feast of meats and drinks and delicacies, such as no king would scorn, but there was a seat and plate for only the host, and none at all for guests. Then the girl, whose fair face, Theseus had seen under the vines, came running into the house, and she seized the young hero's hands, and blessed and thanked him because he had rid of the world of the cruel prochristes. Only a month ago, she said,

My father, a rich merchant of Athens, was travelling towards Elusis, and I was with him, happy and carefree, as any bird in the green woods. This robber lured us into his den, for we had much gold with us. My father, he stretched upon his iron bed, but me he made his slave. Then Theseus caught together all the inmates of the house. Poor wretches which Prochristes had forced to serve him, and he parted the robbers' spoils among them, and told them that they were free to go, wheresoever they wished. And on the next day he went on, through their narrow, crooked ways, among the mountains and hills,

and came at last to the plain of Athens and saw the noble city and in its mist the rocky height where the great temple of Athena stood and a little way from the temple he saw the white walls of the palace of the king when Theseus entered the city and went walking at the street

everybody wondered who the tall, fair youth could be, but the fame of his deeds had gone before him, and soon it was whispered that this was the hero who had slain the robbers in the mountains and wrestled with Circeon of Elusis and had caught Prochristes in his own cunning trap. Tell us no such thing,

said some butchers who were driving their loaded carts to market. Their lad is better suited to sing sweet songs to the ladies than to fight robbers and wrestle

with giants. See his silken black hair, said one, and his girlish face, said another, and his long coat, dangling about his legs, said a third, and his golden sandals, said a fourth, ha ha, laughed the first, I wager, that he never lifted a ten-pound weight in his life.

Think of such a fellow as he, hurling old Scyron from the cliffs. Nonsense. Theseus heard all this talk. as he strode along, and it angered him not a little, but he had not come to Athens to quarrel with butchers. Without speaking a word, he walked straight up to the foremost cart, and before its driver had time to think, took hold of the slaughtered ox, which was being hauled to market, and held it high above the tops of the tops of the houses, into the garden beyond. Then he did likewise, with the oxen in the second, the third and the fourth wagons,

and turning about, went on his way, and left the wonder-stricken butches, staring after him, speechless in the street. He climbed to the stairway, which led to the top of the steeper, deep rocky hill, and his heart beat fast in his bosom, as he stood on the threshold of his father's palace. Where is the king? he asked of the guard. You cannot see the king, was the answer, but I will take you to his

nephews. The man led the way into the feast hall, and there Theseus saw his 50 cousins sitting about the table, eating and drinking and making merry. And there was a great noise of revelry in the hall. The minstrels, singing and playing, and the slave girls dancing, and the half-drunken princes, shouting and cursing. as Theseus stood in the doorway, knitting his eyebrows and clenching his teeth for the anger which he felt. One of the feasters saw him and cried out, See the tall fellow in the doorway? What does he want here?

Yes, girl-faced stranger, said another, What do you want here? I am here, said Theseus, to ask that hospitality, which men of our race, never refuse to give. Nor do we refuse, cried they. Come in, eat and drink, and be our guest. I will come in, said Theseus, but I will be the guest of the king. Where is he? Never by the king, said what?

of his cousins, he has taken his ease and we reign in his stead. But Theseus strode boldly through the feast hall and went about the palace, asking for the king. At last he found Egeus, lonely and sorrowful, sitting in an inner chamber. The heart of Theseus was very sad. and he saw the lines of care upon the old man's face, and marked his trembling, halting ways. Great king, he said, I am a stranger in Athens,

and I have come to you to ask food and shelter, and friendship, such as I know you never deny to those of noble rank, and of your own race. And who are you, young man, said the king. I am Theseus, was the answer. The Theseus, who has ridd the world of the mountain robbers, and of Circeon the wrestler, and of Procrustes, the pitiless stretcher.

I am he, said Theseus, and I come from old treason on the other side of the psionic sea. The king started and turned very pale. Treason, treason, he cried. Then checking himself, he said, Yes, yes, you are welcome, brave stranger, to such shelter and food and friendship

as the king of Athens can give. Now it so happened that there was, with a king, a fair but wicked witch, named Medea, who had so much power over him that he never dared to do anything without asking her leave. So he turned to her and said, Am I not right, Medea, in bidding this young hero welcome? You are right, King Aegeus, she said, and let him be shown at once. to your guest chamber, that he may rest himself, and afterwards dine with us at your own table. Medea had learned by her magic arts who Theseus was, and she was not at all pleased to have him in Athens,

for she feared that when he should make himself known to the king, her own power, her own power, would be at an end. So when Theseus was resting himself in the guest chamber, she told Egeus that the young stranger was no hero at all, but a man whom his nephews had hired to kill him, for they had grown tired of waiting for him to die. The poor old king was filled with fear, for he believed her words

and he asked her what he should do to save his life let me manage it she said the young man will soon come down to dine with us I will drop poison into a glass of wine and at the end of the meal I will give it to him

nothing can be easier so when the hour came Theseus sat down to dine With the king and Medea And while he ate He told of his deeds And of how he had overcome the robber giants And Circeon

The wrestler And Prochristes The pitiless And as the king listened His heart yearned strangely Towards the young man And he longed to save him from Medea's poisoned cup.

Then Theseus paused in his talk to help himself to a piece of the roasted meat, and, as was the custom of the time, drew his sword to carve it. For you must remember that all these things happened long ago, before people had learned to use knives and, and forks at the table. As the sword flashed from its scabbard, Igeus saw the letters that were engraved upon it, the initials of his own name.

He knew at once that it was the stone which he had hidden so many years before, under the stone on the mountainside above treason. My son, my son, he cried, and he sprang up and dashed the cup of poison wine from the table and flung his arms around Theseus. It was indeed a glad meeting for both father and son, and they had many things to ask and to tell. As for the wicked Medea, she knew that her day of rule was pre-lawful. passed. She ran out of the palace and whistled a loud shrill call, and men say that a chariot

drawn by dragons came rushing through the air, and she leaped into it and was carried away, and no one ever saw her again. The very next morning Egeus sent out as heralds to make it known through all the city that Theseus was his son, and that he would in time be king in his stead. When the fifty nephews heard this, they were very angry and alarmed. Shall this upstart cheetahs out of our heritage? They cried, and they made a plot to whey-lay and kill Theseus in a grove. by the city gate. Right cunningly did the wicked fellows lay their trap to catch the young hero. And one morning, as he was passing that way alone, several of them fell suddenly upon him

with swords and lances and tried to slay him outright. There were thirty to one, but he faced them boldly and held them at bay, while he shouted for help. The men of Athens, who had borne so many wrongs from the hands of the nephews, came running out from the streets, and in the fight which followed, every one of the plotters who had lain in ambush was slain. And the other nephews, when they heard about it, fled from the city in haste, and never came back again.