In tonight's bedtime story for kids, we're going to a familliar little cabin in sleepy forest, where Kira the panda can't get back to sleep. Luckily, her big brother Koko can teach her a whole lot of tips and tricks to help her fall back into dreamland. Let's see if any of them work on you! Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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The No1 kids bedtime stories & sleep meditations podcast that helps children sleep like a dream. Hosted by the world's biggest fan of bedtime stories, Abbe Opher! All episodes are safe for babies, children and really big kids 0 to 100, so settle down tonight and get sleepy with the world's greatest bedtime stories & sleep meditations for kids.
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Luke Prendergast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime dream.
00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello to the newest Coco Club members. There's a lot
00:00:24
Speaker 1: of you today. You mean, I'm grinning and Coco's just
00:00:28
Speaker 1: getting the celebratory trumpets and drums out before the fanfair.
00:00:32
Speaker 1: Deaferens us all though, I want to say a huge
00:00:35
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us for the year. To Luca,
00:00:38
Speaker 1: a Hector and Sunny Superfan, to Henry to Brooks from Iowa, USA,
00:00:44
Speaker 1: to Aaron from Scotland, to Beatrice in Port Townshend and
00:00:48
Speaker 1: to Darcy and Bridy in Australia. You are the bravest
00:00:52
Speaker 1: kids in the world. Well done, and thank you again
00:00:55
Speaker 1: for being such loyal listeners. We wouldn't still be here
00:00:58
Speaker 1: without your support. I think you know that. I've said
00:01:01
Speaker 1: it so many times now. I wonder have you ever
00:01:04
Speaker 1: had a sleepless night one where you toss and turn
00:01:07
Speaker 1: and can't settle no matter what. They're either too hot,
00:01:11
Speaker 1: too cold, or your mind is whirling with thoughts. Me too,
00:01:17
Speaker 1: it's tough to know what to do when that's going on.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: Tonight's story, Mike, give you some good ideas, though, because
00:01:24
Speaker 1: Coco's little sister, Kira, has a big day tomorrow and
00:01:27
Speaker 1: she's struggling with exactly this. Try as she might, Kira
00:01:32
Speaker 1: cannot sleep, But luckily she's got her wonderful brother Coco
00:01:37
Speaker 1: to help her, and he tries all sorts of things
00:01:40
Speaker 1: to send her back to dreamland. Let's see which one
00:01:43
Speaker 1: has you snoozing. Always, the best thing to start with
00:01:47
Speaker 1: is to stretch and wiggle your body a bit to
00:01:50
Speaker 1: shake off the day and start some relaxing breathing. So
00:01:54
Speaker 1: for the next few seconds, reach out your arms or
00:01:57
Speaker 1: point and flex your feet, perhaps roll and jiggle your
00:02:02
Speaker 1: shoulders and pull some funny faces to Then when you're
00:02:06
Speaker 1: done with all that movement, let everything becomes still, and
00:02:11
Speaker 1: then breathe in and then side out and again breathe
00:02:19
Speaker 1: in and out, and then just let your breath flow
00:02:28
Speaker 1: in and out steadily. If you're breathing through your nose,
00:02:33
Speaker 1: perhaps you can feel your breath gently flowing over your
00:02:36
Speaker 1: top lip, or if you're breathing out of your mouth,
00:02:41
Speaker 1: just passing your lips. Get really comfy and just gently
00:02:49
Speaker 1: breathe as I begin. Coco helps Kira get back to
00:02:54
Speaker 1: sleep by Luke Brendergast. Deep in the heart of a
00:03:06
Speaker 1: far away forest stood a cozy wooden cabin. Inside the
00:03:11
Speaker 1: cabin lived a family of koalas. Coco the Koala lived
00:03:15
Speaker 1: with his parents and his grandparents, and also with his
00:03:19
Speaker 1: little sister, Kira, who was not a koala but a
00:03:22
Speaker 1: panda bear. Coco's parents had adopted her a year ago,
00:03:27
Speaker 1: and as far as Cocoa was concerned, it was the
00:03:29
Speaker 1: best thing that had ever happened to him. Kira was
00:03:33
Speaker 1: so kind and loyal and funny. She was the best
00:03:36
Speaker 1: sister Coco could ever have dreamed of having. One evening,
00:03:41
Speaker 1: the whole family sat at the dinner table in their
00:03:44
Speaker 1: little wooden cabin, eating a delicious meal of eucalyptus stew,
00:03:49
Speaker 1: which Coco's mum had lovingly prepared for them. That evening,
00:03:54
Speaker 1: They dipped their spoons into their bowls and took big,
00:03:58
Speaker 1: long slurfs of steaming broth. Kira, however, was rather fidgety.
00:04:06
Speaker 1: She simply couldn't keep still. She kept hopping up and
00:04:10
Speaker 1: down on her seat and wiggling her bump and wiggling
00:04:13
Speaker 1: her little toes. What's going on with you this evening, Kira?
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Their mum asked her gently, I've never seen you this
00:04:22
Speaker 1: restless before. Is something wrong? Ah? No, Mum, Kira replied,
00:04:30
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong at all. Quite the contrary. In fact,
00:04:34
Speaker 1: there's something very right. Her mum raised an inquisitive eyebrow,
00:04:39
Speaker 1: and Kira explained that the next day, her year at
00:04:43
Speaker 1: Sleepy Forest Elementary School were going on a school trip
00:04:47
Speaker 1: to the other side of the forest where there was
00:04:50
Speaker 1: a high ropes course. There were ladders on trees, and
00:04:54
Speaker 1: wooden bridges in the canopies, and zip wires that brought
00:04:58
Speaker 1: you back down to the forest floor. Here's a band
00:05:01
Speaker 1: a bear's dream, she squealed, almost tipping off her chair.
00:05:07
Speaker 1: And it was also the reason she was so restless.
00:05:11
Speaker 1: She was too full up with excitement to sit still.
00:05:15
Speaker 1: She simply couldn't wait for tomorrow to come. Cocoa and
00:05:21
Speaker 1: Kira's mom laughed a sweet, chuckling laugh. Well, I'm very
00:05:26
Speaker 1: excited for you too, Kira. By you're going to have
00:05:30
Speaker 1: to settle down and eat your food and get a
00:05:34
Speaker 1: good night's sleep. You're going to need to be well
00:05:37
Speaker 1: fed and well rested for all that tree climbing tomorrow.
00:05:43
Speaker 1: As per usual. Her mother, who was a very wise
00:05:47
Speaker 1: Koala indeed was right. Kia did need to make sure
00:05:52
Speaker 1: she had plenty of energy for her school trip, so
00:05:56
Speaker 1: she did her best to keep her excitement under control,
00:06:00
Speaker 1: and she finished off every last mouthful of her eucalyptus stew.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: She even asked for seconds. When they had finished their dinner,
00:06:10
Speaker 1: Coco let out a big yawn, and because yawns can
00:06:15
Speaker 1: be terribly catching like that, Kira let out a big
00:06:19
Speaker 1: yawn too. Wow, said Coco. You might actually be tired, Kira.
00:06:27
Speaker 1: Come on, let's go and get ready for bed while
00:06:30
Speaker 1: you're yawning already. Hopefully you'll be able to sleep the
00:06:34
Speaker 1: whole night through. Coco and Kira went to their room.
00:06:40
Speaker 1: They changed into their pajamas. Coco wore a blue pajama
00:06:43
Speaker 1: shirt and some blue shorts because blue was his favorite
00:06:46
Speaker 1: color and Kira's favorite color was purple, so she put
00:06:51
Speaker 1: on a big purple T shirt and pulled the purple
00:06:54
Speaker 1: bow out of her hair. They went to the bathroom
00:06:57
Speaker 1: and brushed their teeth, making sure they brushed for a
00:07:00
Speaker 1: whole minute on the top and a hole minute on
00:07:03
Speaker 1: the bottom. They pulled faces at each other in the
00:07:07
Speaker 1: bathroom mirror to keep themselves occupied. All kinds of monstrous faces,
00:07:13
Speaker 1: until soon enough the time was up. They spat their
00:07:17
Speaker 1: toothpaste into the sink and wiped away the bits that
00:07:20
Speaker 1: had dribbled down onto their chins. When they went back
00:07:25
Speaker 1: through to the bedroom, their mum had already been in
00:07:28
Speaker 1: to pull the curtains closed. A soft, silvery moonlight peeked
00:07:33
Speaker 1: in through the corners of the window, and they could
00:07:36
Speaker 1: hear the magical whisperings of the forest trees outside. Cocoa
00:07:42
Speaker 1: and Kira climbed into their beds. Cocoa let out another
00:07:47
Speaker 1: big yawn, and so did Kira. Mi. Mi said, Kira,
00:07:54
Speaker 1: I must be tired. Nine night, Cocoa nannike Coco replied,
00:08:02
Speaker 1: and with that they turned over and fell asleep. One
00:08:08
Speaker 1: minute passed, and another minute and another one slipped by. Outside,
00:08:18
Speaker 1: a breeze stirred through the trees, and Kira, poor poor Kira,
00:08:26
Speaker 1: lay wide awake in her bed. She had woken up
00:08:31
Speaker 1: after only a few minutes of sleep, her stomach once
00:08:36
Speaker 1: again full of excitement about the following day. She turned
00:08:41
Speaker 1: over in her bed, first this way, then that way,
00:08:45
Speaker 1: trying her best to find a comfortable position that would
00:08:49
Speaker 1: send her straight back into the land of dreams. But
00:08:54
Speaker 1: try as she might, she could not. Eventually, Kira's twisting
00:09:00
Speaker 1: and turning roused Coco from his sleep. He turned over
00:09:06
Speaker 1: and looked at her across the room and said, oh,
00:09:10
Speaker 1: dear Kira, can't you sleep? Kira let out a sigh.
00:09:18
Speaker 1: I'm afraid I can't, Coco, She said, I fell asleep
00:09:24
Speaker 1: for a few minutes there, but then I woke up
00:09:27
Speaker 1: full of excitement, and now I can't get myself back
00:09:31
Speaker 1: to sleep. Well, Coco whispered, the best thing to help
00:09:38
Speaker 1: you fall asleep is to concentrate on your breathing. Your
00:09:44
Speaker 1: breath carries the special magic of sleep on it, so
00:09:49
Speaker 1: if you pull it gently all the way down into
00:09:53
Speaker 1: your belly, it helped settle all your excitement and let
00:09:59
Speaker 1: you drift to sleep. Do you want to try it, Kira?
00:10:04
Speaker 1: Why don't we try some deep breathing together. Kira said
00:10:09
Speaker 1: that sounded like a good idea indeed, so Coco told
00:10:14
Speaker 1: her to take a deep breath all the way down
00:10:18
Speaker 1: into the warm bottom of her tummy, and then he
00:10:22
Speaker 1: told her to let the breath out slowly. They breathed
00:10:27
Speaker 1: in and they breathed out. You have to feel the
00:10:34
Speaker 1: breath go all the way down to the tips of
00:10:37
Speaker 1: your fingers and the tips of your toes, Kira, Coco
00:10:41
Speaker 1: told her. Kira did as Coco said. She took a
00:10:46
Speaker 1: deep breath in and felt it tingle all the way
00:10:50
Speaker 1: down to the tips of her fingers and the tips
00:10:53
Speaker 1: of her toes. Then she let it slowly out. She
00:10:59
Speaker 1: felt her body you relax as though it were carried
00:11:02
Speaker 1: on a big fluffy cushion. Has that helped, Coco whispered,
00:11:11
Speaker 1: I definitely feel more relaxed, Kira told him, But I
00:11:16
Speaker 1: haven't been able to fall asleep. What do you think
00:11:19
Speaker 1: I should do? Well, we'll have to try something different,
00:11:26
Speaker 1: Coco said. Do you want to know what I do
00:11:30
Speaker 1: whenever I can't sleep? Yes, please, replied Kira. I count sheep,
00:11:38
Speaker 1: he said, count sheep. Asked Kira, what does that mean.
00:11:46
Speaker 1: It's a method for falling back asleep. Coco explained. You
00:11:52
Speaker 1: close your eyes and in your head you imagine sheep
00:11:56
Speaker 1: grazing in a beautiful grassy field. In the middle of
00:12:01
Speaker 1: the field is a fence, a low white fence, and
00:12:06
Speaker 1: one by one, the sheep run along and hop over
00:12:10
Speaker 1: the fence, one after another. An endless stream of sheep
00:12:16
Speaker 1: and you count them as you go. The theory is
00:12:20
Speaker 1: that counting sheep is so monotonous that you'll fall back
00:12:25
Speaker 1: asleep again without even knowing it. Would you like to
00:12:29
Speaker 1: give it a try? Kira said that it was certainly
00:12:34
Speaker 1: worth a go. Close your eyes, then said Coco, and
00:12:40
Speaker 1: do what I just said, count the sheep. Kira closed
00:12:46
Speaker 1: her eyes, and, just like her big brother had told
00:12:50
Speaker 1: her to, she pictured a beautiful green meadow with lots
00:12:55
Speaker 1: of sheep grazing on it. The sheep was so so
00:13:00
Speaker 1: big and fluffy that they looked like big puffs of
00:13:03
Speaker 1: cloud sitting on the grass munching away. Then she pictured
00:13:09
Speaker 1: a white fence in the field, and then one by
00:13:13
Speaker 1: one she nudged the sheep in her imagination to start
00:13:18
Speaker 1: jumping the fence. First one, then two, then three, four,
00:13:28
Speaker 1: five and six, seven, eight, nine, ten. She counted twenty sheep,
00:13:41
Speaker 1: and then thirty sheep. She counted fifty sheep, and then
00:13:46
Speaker 1: one hundred sheep. By the time she got to two
00:13:51
Speaker 1: hundred and seventeen sheep, Kira decided that as fun as
00:13:55
Speaker 1: it was, this counting sheep method was not successfully sending
00:14:00
Speaker 1: her off to sleep. Coco, she whispered, I counted two
00:14:07
Speaker 1: hundred and seventeen sheep. The field is pretty busy with
00:14:11
Speaker 1: sheep now, but I still can't fall asleep. Okay, Coco replied,
00:14:19
Speaker 1: Let's try something else. Then he slipped out of his
00:14:24
Speaker 1: bed and turned on their night light, which was in
00:14:28
Speaker 1: the shape of a little pig. Then he perched on
00:14:32
Speaker 1: the side of Kira's bed. Do you think a cup
00:14:37
Speaker 1: of hot chocolate might help you fall back to sleep,
00:14:41
Speaker 1: he asked. Kira nodded, I think it might, okay, then
00:14:49
Speaker 1: said Coko. I'll go make you one now. I won't
00:14:52
Speaker 1: be long. Thank you, Coko, Kira said. Coco went out
00:14:59
Speaker 1: of their bedroom and climbed the ladder down into the
00:15:02
Speaker 1: lower section of their cozy, little log cabin. Everyone else
00:15:08
Speaker 1: had gone to bed now, and a kitchen was only
00:15:11
Speaker 1: lit up by watery moonlight coming in through the windows.
00:15:17
Speaker 1: He poured some milk into a saucepan and very carefully
00:15:22
Speaker 1: placed the saucepan in the hot oven so that the
00:15:26
Speaker 1: milk could warm. When it was ready, he put on
00:15:30
Speaker 1: oven mits and took the saucepan out. He poured the
00:15:34
Speaker 1: warm milk out into Kira's favorite mug, a purple one,
00:15:39
Speaker 1: of course, and then he added a few scoops of
00:15:44
Speaker 1: the most delicious hot chocolate powder ever, which came from
00:15:49
Speaker 1: Papa Praleine's chocolate factory just on the other side of
00:15:53
Speaker 1: Sleepy Forest. He stirred the chocolate powder into the warm
00:15:58
Speaker 1: milk and till all the clumpy bits had dissolved and
00:16:03
Speaker 1: the milk had turned a lovely, thick brown color. Coco
00:16:09
Speaker 1: took a deep breath in through his nose. Mmmm, that's
00:16:16
Speaker 1: smelled delicious, if he did say so himself. Careful not
00:16:23
Speaker 1: to let any of the drinks slosh and spill over
00:16:27
Speaker 1: the sides, Coco picked up the mug of hot chocolate
00:16:31
Speaker 1: and climbed back up the ladder. He went back into
00:16:35
Speaker 1: his bedroom and perched on the edge of Kira's bed. Again,
00:16:41
Speaker 1: here you go, Kira, he whispered softly. Here's your hot chocolate.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: Kia sat up in her bed and took the purple
00:16:52
Speaker 1: mug from her brother. She gave the hot chocolate a
00:16:56
Speaker 1: sipo that delicious cocoa. She said, thank you very much.
00:17:06
Speaker 1: It's so warm and soothing in my tummy. I'm sure
00:17:12
Speaker 1: this will help send me back off to sleep. She
00:17:16
Speaker 1: took another sip of the hot chocolate. Then she said, Hey, Coco,
00:17:24
Speaker 1: do you think you could sing a nighttime lullaby on
00:17:27
Speaker 1: your ukulele. I think that would help me to get
00:17:32
Speaker 1: to sleep too. Of course I can, Coco said, because
00:17:38
Speaker 1: there was very little he loved doing so much as
00:17:42
Speaker 1: playing his ukulele. He picked it up from the side
00:17:46
Speaker 1: and gave it a little strum, just to check that
00:17:50
Speaker 1: it was in tune. He cast about the room, searching
00:17:55
Speaker 1: for inspiration on what lullaby to sing for Kira. His
00:18:01
Speaker 1: eyes drifted over their beds, across the walls, and out
00:18:06
Speaker 1: of the window, where he saw that the sky was
00:18:10
Speaker 1: now spangled with lots of little stars. That gave him
00:18:17
Speaker 1: just the idea. Coco strummed his ukulele and began to
00:18:24
Speaker 1: sing one of his favorite lullabies ever. Twing called Twin
00:18:31
Speaker 1: cool little Star, How I wander what you are? Ha
00:18:41
Speaker 1: berbove the world so high like a diamond in the sky.
00:18:51
Speaker 1: Twin called Twinkle, little Star, how I wonder what you are.
00:19:03
Speaker 1: As Coco ended his lullabi, he looked at his sister
00:19:08
Speaker 1: and saw that her eyes were closed, her duvet was
00:19:13
Speaker 1: rising and falling steadily from her breath, and a look
00:19:18
Speaker 1: of peaceful contentment had settled over her face. It seemed
00:19:26
Speaker 1: that she had fallen into a deep slumber. So Coco
00:19:32
Speaker 1: carried on strumming his ukulele, gently, letting the spangly cords
00:19:39
Speaker 1: echo around their little cabin room like waves lapping on
00:19:45
Speaker 1: the shore, bearing Kira ever deeper into sleep. When he
00:19:54
Speaker 1: was sure that his sister had drifted completely off, Coco
00:20:00
Speaker 1: stop his strumming. He rested his ukuley on his knee.
00:20:07
Speaker 1: He looked at Kira fondly. Kira opened one eye. Oh,
00:20:15
Speaker 1: dear Kira, Poco sighed, you're still not asleep. Kira shook
00:20:23
Speaker 1: her head. I loved your ukuley playing, she told him.
00:20:30
Speaker 1: It was so peaceful. It made me feel all warm inside,
00:20:37
Speaker 1: and I felt like I was drifting away up into
00:20:42
Speaker 1: the sky. And for a while I thought I was
00:20:47
Speaker 1: floating up there with all the twinkly stars. But well,
00:20:54
Speaker 1: I still can't sleep. I'm still too excited. Coco put
00:21:01
Speaker 1: his ukulele back down on the side and stroked his
00:21:04
Speaker 1: chin thoughtfully. Hm, he murmured, We'll have to think of
00:21:12
Speaker 1: something even better. Then, Coco scratched his head for more
00:21:18
Speaker 1: ideas of what could help send his little sister off
00:21:22
Speaker 1: to sleep. He let his eyes ramble across the room,
00:21:28
Speaker 1: lit up as it was with the pink glow of
00:21:32
Speaker 1: the pig night light. His eyes drifted over the wall,
00:21:38
Speaker 1: over the sprigs of bamboo that grew in the corner
00:21:41
Speaker 1: of the cabin, and at last alighted upon the bookshelf.
00:21:49
Speaker 1: Coco had an idea. Hey, Kira, he said, how about
00:21:56
Speaker 1: I read you a bedtime story. Hopefully that would take
00:22:00
Speaker 1: your mind off your excitement and transport you to a
00:22:03
Speaker 1: whole other magical world. Then hopefully you'll be able to
00:22:09
Speaker 1: fall asleep from beneath her douve. Kira smiled and nodded.
00:22:17
Speaker 1: That sounds like an excellent idea, Coco, She said, could
00:22:23
Speaker 1: you read me a story? Pretty please? So Coco got
00:22:28
Speaker 1: up from the edge of Kira's bed and walked over
00:22:31
Speaker 1: to the bookshelf. Their dad had built the shelf and
00:22:35
Speaker 1: fixed it upon the wall years ago, and it contained
00:22:39
Speaker 1: many wonderful volumes of books. There were adventure books and
00:22:45
Speaker 1: mystery books, there were fantasy books and books for a
00:22:51
Speaker 1: rainy day. But there was one particular volume that Coco
00:22:58
Speaker 1: knew he needed. Right at the end of the shelf
00:23:02
Speaker 1: stood a big, dusty book bound in leather with its
00:23:07
Speaker 1: well used ancient pages, yellowed and crisp. On the spine
00:23:13
Speaker 1: in gold lettering were written the words bedtime Stories. Ko
00:23:21
Speaker 1: Ko pulled the book off the shelf and carried it
00:23:24
Speaker 1: back across the room. He sat on the edge of
00:23:29
Speaker 1: Kira's bed once more and lay the book on his lap.
00:23:34
Speaker 1: It felt heavy. He flipped the book over and it
00:23:38
Speaker 1: fell open on a story. Oh, Kira, ko Ko whispered,
00:23:45
Speaker 1: This one looks like the perfect story. It isn't one
00:23:50
Speaker 1: we've heard before. It's called the Sleepy Star. The Sleepy Star.
00:23:58
Speaker 1: Kira repeated, that does sound like a good story. She
00:24:04
Speaker 1: nestled down further into her duvet and nuzzled her head
00:24:08
Speaker 1: into the softness of her pillow. Let's read that one,
00:24:14
Speaker 1: and so ko Ko began to read the words of
00:24:18
Speaker 1: the story the Sleepy Star. It went like this, Once
00:24:25
Speaker 1: upon a time there was a star who, whenever nighttime fell,
00:24:30
Speaker 1: got very sleepy. Indeed, now this doesn't sound like such
00:24:36
Speaker 1: a bad thing to us creatures who live on the earth,
00:24:39
Speaker 1: who fall asleep when darkness sets in, but it was
00:24:44
Speaker 1: something of a problem for the star. That's because since
00:24:49
Speaker 1: the beginning of history, it's the star's job to be
00:24:53
Speaker 1: awake at night and twinkling, and then when daylight comes,
00:25:00
Speaker 1: that's when the stars get to close their eyes and rest.
00:25:05
Speaker 1: But this little star, she got tired at night, and
00:25:10
Speaker 1: so when all the other stars were out twinkling and shining,
00:25:16
Speaker 1: she'd yawn and drift off and her eyes would close,
00:25:22
Speaker 1: and then her light would go out. When this happened,
00:25:28
Speaker 1: the other stars would wake her up. Come on, they
00:25:33
Speaker 1: would say, you have to stay awake. It's night time
00:25:38
Speaker 1: and we need your twinkling. And then the little star
00:25:45
Speaker 1: would peer open her eyes and concentrate on being awake,
00:25:50
Speaker 1: and that would work for a little while, but sooner
00:25:54
Speaker 1: or later, and it was always sooner, she would drift
00:26:00
Speaker 1: off back to sleep and her light would go out.
00:26:06
Speaker 1: The other stars did everything they could to try to
00:26:10
Speaker 1: solve the problem. They took turns at prodding the little
00:26:15
Speaker 1: star to try to keep her awake, but that just
00:26:20
Speaker 1: resulted in a little star becoming tired and grouchy. No
00:26:25
Speaker 1: one likes to be prodded like that. They even tried
00:26:30
Speaker 1: telling her stories all night to keep her entertained, but
00:26:35
Speaker 1: the stories didn't work. The sleepy little star would just
00:26:41
Speaker 1: fall asleep right in the middle of them. Finally, they
00:26:47
Speaker 1: investigated whether she was getting enough sleep during the daytime
00:26:51
Speaker 1: so that she had enough energy to twinkle at night,
00:26:55
Speaker 1: and what they discovered was that she was often awake
00:26:59
Speaker 1: during the daytime when she ought to be asleep. They
00:27:04
Speaker 1: scratched their starry heads about this. What a topsy turvy
00:27:10
Speaker 1: little star, that sleepy star was. They just could not
00:27:15
Speaker 1: think of what to do about it. One night, while
00:27:19
Speaker 1: they were trying to keep the sleepy star awake, the
00:27:23
Speaker 1: silver moon sailed past them. The moon was renowned far
00:27:28
Speaker 1: and wide for being one of the wisest beings to
00:27:32
Speaker 1: voyage across the skies, and so the stars told the
00:27:38
Speaker 1: Moon about the sleepy little star's predicament. They explained that
00:27:43
Speaker 1: she slept at night and stayed awake in the day,
00:27:47
Speaker 1: which was entirely the wrong way around for a star.
00:27:52
Speaker 1: Could the wise Moon think of any solution for their dilemma?
00:27:57
Speaker 1: The Moon stroked his silvery chin while he contemplated the problem.
00:28:03
Speaker 1: It was a tricky one, indeed, but the stories of
00:28:08
Speaker 1: the Moon's wisdom were not unfounded, and soon enough he
00:28:13
Speaker 1: came up with a solution. This sleepy star, he said,
00:28:20
Speaker 1: clearly doesn't like to twinkle at night and sleep during
00:28:24
Speaker 1: the day. So instead of changing him, why don't we
00:28:29
Speaker 1: all just accept him for who he is. He's a
00:28:33
Speaker 1: day twinkler, not a night twinkler, so perhaps you should
00:28:39
Speaker 1: let him do just that or The stars scratched their
00:28:44
Speaker 1: heads once again. They'd never considered just letting the sleepy
00:28:49
Speaker 1: star be the way the sleepy star was. That was
00:28:54
Speaker 1: a rather inspired idea from the Moon, they agreed. Smile
00:29:00
Speaker 1: began to spread across the faces of all the stars,
00:29:05
Speaker 1: including the sleepy star herself, who rather liked the idea
00:29:10
Speaker 1: of being allowed to twinkle at the time. She preferred
00:29:14
Speaker 1: to twinkle. That's a wonderful solution, the stars told the moon.
00:29:22
Speaker 1: But there is just one problem, and what might that
00:29:28
Speaker 1: problem be? The Moon asked the stars. Well, piped up
00:29:34
Speaker 1: one star. Stars twinkle at night. That's what the very
00:29:40
Speaker 1: name star means. So if this sleepy star here isn't
00:29:45
Speaker 1: twinkling at night, should we still call her a star?
00:29:52
Speaker 1: The Moon agreed that this was a very good point. Indeed,
00:29:57
Speaker 1: perhaps in that case suggested they ought to give the
00:30:02
Speaker 1: sleepy star a new name. Good idea. The stars agreed,
00:30:10
Speaker 1: but then they frowned, what name should we give her?
00:30:13
Speaker 1: Then the Moon smiled at them. Best to ask her,
00:30:19
Speaker 1: don't you think? He said? And so all the other
00:30:24
Speaker 1: stars turned to the Sleepy Star, and they asked her
00:30:28
Speaker 1: what she would like her new name to be. The
00:30:33
Speaker 1: Sleepy Star thought about this question for a little while.
00:30:38
Speaker 1: Then she came up with an answer. I think I
00:30:43
Speaker 1: would like to be called the Sun. The stars all
00:30:48
Speaker 1: nodded in agreement. Son, that was a perfect name, And
00:30:56
Speaker 1: so ever since then, the Sun has not at night,
00:31:00
Speaker 1: but has kept the daytime sky lit bright with all
00:31:05
Speaker 1: of her brilliant twinkling. When Coco had finished telling the story,
00:31:12
Speaker 1: he closed the book. Wasn't that a good story? Kira,
00:31:18
Speaker 1: he whispered, Kira, Kira. Coco peered at his little sister Kira.
00:31:29
Speaker 1: It seemed had fallen asleep. What a miracle. Telling the
00:31:36
Speaker 1: bedtime story had worked its magic. Then Coco watched her
00:31:43
Speaker 1: for a few moments, watched the rise and fall of
00:31:47
Speaker 1: her breathing and the twitching of her little panda nose
00:31:53
Speaker 1: as she drifted off into her dream world. She was
00:31:59
Speaker 1: probably dreaming of swinging from trees, zooming down zip lines
00:32:06
Speaker 1: through the sleepy forest canopy. He waited a minute or
00:32:12
Speaker 1: two to see if she would wake up again, but
00:32:16
Speaker 1: she didn't, and so very quietly, indeed, so as not
00:32:24
Speaker 1: to disturb her, Coco slipped off the edge of her bed.
00:32:30
Speaker 1: He returned the book of bedtime stories to the shelf
00:32:34
Speaker 1: where it belonged, and slid under his own bed covers.
00:32:40
Speaker 1: It was warm in there, so soft and cozy, just
00:32:47
Speaker 1: perfect for falling asleep. Coco let out a big yawn.
00:32:56
Speaker 1: He was very tired, indeed, now all that work trying
00:33:03
Speaker 1: to help Kira fall asleep had really taken it out
00:33:08
Speaker 1: of him. He leant over and turned off the pig
00:33:13
Speaker 1: night light, and the room sank into darkness. Now there
00:33:20
Speaker 1: was just the silvery light of the moon slipping through
00:33:24
Speaker 1: the gaps in the curtains. Now there was just the
00:33:30
Speaker 1: tranquil noise of the crickets outside, and the wind whispering
00:33:36
Speaker 1: through the trees, and the steady grumbles of the trees.
00:33:43
Speaker 1: The world was entirely a peace. Coco closed his eyes.
00:33:51
Speaker 1: He pictured a green meadow in the evening, full of
00:33:55
Speaker 1: fluffy clouds of sheep. In the middle of the field,
00:34:01
Speaker 1: there was a little fence, But before Cocoa could even
00:34:06
Speaker 1: count a single sheep jumping over it, he had fallen
00:34:11
Speaker 1: into a deep and profoundly peaceful sleep,