Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - The Child's Story by Charles Dickens

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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

Starting point is 00:01:16 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. And welcome to Sleep Cove with me, Christopher Fitton. The podcaster get a great night's sleep. Tonight, I'm reading The Child Story by Charles Dickens.

Starting point is 00:02:04 Originally published in the main main... 1800s. The child's story is a timeless account of the journey we all take, from carefree childhood and spontaneous youth, through adulthood and marriage, and into our golden years. It's now almost 150 years after its original publication, and I found this story still quite profound. and a little emotional. And I really hope you do too. Please remember to subscribe and follow the show. And I also read all your comments and reviews too.

Starting point is 00:02:55 If you want to listen to this story music free, please go to my bedtime story YouTube channel. I'll leave the link in the show notes. So let's begin the child story by Charles Dickens. Once upon a time, a good many years ago, there was a traveller, and he set out upon a journey. It was a magic journey, and was to seem very long when he began it, and very short, when he got halfway through. He travelled along a rather dark path for some little time without meeting anything. Until at last he came to a beautiful child.

Starting point is 00:03:54 So he said to the child, what do you do here? And the child said, I am always at play. Come and play with me. So he played with that child. the whole day long, and they were very merry. The sky was so blue, the sun was so bright, the water was so sparkling,

Starting point is 00:04:25 the leaves were so green, the flowers were so lovely, and they heard such singing birds and saw so many butterflies, that everything was beautiful. This was in fine weather. When it rained, they loved to watch the falling drops

Starting point is 00:04:51 and to smell the fresh sense. When it blew, it was delightful to listen to the wind and fancy what it said as it came rushing from its home. Where was that, they wondered? Whistling and howling, driving the clouds before it, bending the trees, rumbling in the chimneys, shaking the house, and making the sea roar in fury. But when it snowed, that was best of all, for they liked nothing so well as to look up at the white

Starting point is 00:05:39 flakes falling fast and thick, like down from the breasts of millions of white birds, and to see how smooth and deep the drift was, and to listen to the hush upon the paths and roads. They had plenty of the finest toys in the world, and the most astonishing picture books, all about scimitars and slippers and turbans and dwarves and giants and genie and fairies and bluebeards and beanstalks and riches and caverns

Starting point is 00:06:22 and forests and valetines and orsons and all new and all true but one day of a sudden the traveller lost the child. He called to him over and over again, but got no answer. So he went upon his road and went on for a little while without meeting anything. Until at last, he came to a handsome boy. So he said to the boy, What do you do here? And the boy said, I'm always learning

Starting point is 00:07:05 Come and learn with me So he learned With that boy About Jupiter and Juno And the Greeks and the Romans And I don't know what And learned more than I could tell Or he either

Starting point is 00:07:23 For he soon forgot A great deal of it But they were not always learning They had the merriest games that ever were played. They rode upon the river in summer and skated on the ice in winter. They were active afoot

Starting point is 00:07:46 and active on horseback at cricket and all games at ball. At prisoners' base, hare and hounds, follow my leader, and more sports than I can think of nobody could beat them

Starting point is 00:08:06 they had holidays too and twelfth cakes and parties where they danced till midnight and real theatres where they saw palaces of real gold and silver rise out of the real earth and saw all the wonders of the world at once as to friends

Starting point is 00:08:32 they had such dear friends and so many of them that I want the time to reckon them up they were all young like the handsome boy and were never to be strange to one another all their lives through still one day in the midst of these pleasures the traveller lost the boy as he had lost the child and after calling to him in vain went on upon his journey so he went on for a little while without seeing anything

Starting point is 00:09:13 until the last he came to a young man so he said to the young man what do you do here and the young man said I'm always in love come and love with me so he went to

Starting point is 00:09:31 way with that young man, and presently they came to one of the prettiest girls that ever was seen. Just like Fanny in the corner there. She had eyes like Fanny and hair like Fanny and dimples like Fanny's, and she laughed and coloured just as Fanny does while I was talking about her. So the young man fell in love directly, just as somebody I won't mention. The first time he came here did with Fanny. Well, he was teased sometimes. Just as somebody used to be by Fanny.

Starting point is 00:10:23 And they quarreled sometimes. Just as somebody and Fanny used to quarrel. And they made it up. and sat in the dark and wrote letters every day, and never were happy asunder, and were always looking out for one another and pretending not to, and were engaged at Christmas time, and sat close to one another by the fire,

Starting point is 00:10:54 and were going to be married very soon, all exactly, like somebody I won't mention, and funny. But the traveller lost them one day, as he lost the rest of his friends, and after calling to them to come back, which they never did, went on upon his journey. So he went on for a little while, without seeing anything, until at last he came to a middle aged gentleman. So he said to the gentleman, what are you doing here? And his answer was, I'm always busy, come and be busy with me. So he began to be very busy with that gentleman, and they went on through the wood together. The whole journey was through a wood, only it had been

Starting point is 00:12:01 open and green at first, like a wood in spring, and now began to be thick and dark, like a wood in summer. Some of the little trees that had come out earliest were even turning brown. The gentleman was not alone, but had a lady of about the same age with him, who was his wife, and they had children who were with them too. So they all went on together through the wood, cutting down the trees and making a path through the branches and the fallen leaves and carrying burdens and working hard. Sometimes they came to a long green avenue

Starting point is 00:12:58 that opened into deeper woods. Then they would hear a very little distant voice crying. Father, father, I am another child. Stop for me. And presently, they would see a very little figure, growing larger as it came along, running to join them. when it came up they all crowded around it and kissed and welcomed it and then they all went on together sometimes they came to several avenues at once and then they all stood still and one of the children said

Starting point is 00:13:49 Father, I'm going to see, and another said, Father, I'm going to India. And another, Father, I'm going to seek my fortune where I can. And another, Father, I'm going to heaven. So, with many tears at parting, they went solitary. down those avenues, each child upon its way, and the child who went to heaven rose into the golden air and vanished. Whenever these partings happened, the traveller looked at the gentleman and saw him glance up at the sky above the trees, where the day was beginning to decline and the sunset to come on. He saw too that his hair was turning grey, but they never could rest long, for they had their

Starting point is 00:14:55 journey to perform, and it was necessary for them to be always busy. At last there had been so many partings that there were no children left, and only the traveller, the gentleman and the lady, went upon me. their way in company. And now the wood was yellow, and now brown, and the leaves, even of the forest trees, began to fall. So they came to an avenue that was darker than the rest, and were pressing forward on their journey, without looking down it, when the lady stopped. my husband said the lady i am called they listened and they heard a voice a long way down the avenue say mother mother it was the voice of the first child who had said i'm going to heaven and the father said i pray not yet the sunset is very near i pray not yet

Starting point is 00:16:11 but the voice cried Mother Mother Without minding him Though his hair was now quite white And tears were on his face Then the mother Who was already drawn into the shade of the dark avenue And moving away

Starting point is 00:16:32 With her arms Stood round his neck Kissed him and said My dearest I am summoned and I go And she was gone And the traveller And he were left alone together

Starting point is 00:16:49 And they went on and on together Until they came to Very near the end of the wood So near That they could see the sunset Shining red Before them through the trees Yet once more

Starting point is 00:17:09 while he broke his way among the branches. The traveller lost his friend. He called and called, but there was no reply, and when he passed out of the wood and saw the peaceful sun going down upon a wide purple prospect, he came to an old man sitting on a fallen tree. So he said to the old man,

Starting point is 00:17:37 what do you do here? And the old man said with a calm smile, I am always remembering, come and remember with me. So the traveller sat down by the side of that old man, face to face with the serene sunset, and all his friends came softly back and stood around him. The beautiful child,

Starting point is 00:18:06 the handsome boy, the young man in love, the father, mother and children, every one of them was there and he had lost nothing. So he loved them all and it was kind and forbearing with them all and I was always pleased to watch them all and they all honoured and loved him. And I think the traveller must be yourself, dear grandfather, because this is what you do to us and what we do to you.

Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - The Child's Story by Charles Dickens

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