Koko & The Very Sleepy Caterpillar 🐨🐛 Kids Sleep Stories

[00:00:10] Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime a dream. How have you guys been enjoying our Easter stories? Did you know there's a crazy Easter adventure waiting for you over on Koala Shine? The Jupiter twins are going on an egg hunt. But not normal eggs, of course not, no, dragon eggs.

[00:00:37] And the dragons are like goalkeepers, keeping the eggs away from the wizarding pupils. Will Lily and Jake win the prize? Hmm, that's a big question. Go and save the episode for tomorrow so you can find out. Back to tonight's bedtime story though. Yep, it really is bedtime again. I'm so, so happy to be joining my pal, Koko.

[00:01:01] We've both been super stressed and busy lately. So we haven't really seen that much of each other and he's just confided in me that he's feeling a little overwhelmed. Every cell in his little koala body is crying out for some much needed relaxation. And, luckily, he knows just what it needs. What do you think that is? Burgers? No. Burgers? No.

[00:01:29] A lie down. Almost. He needs his garden time. The clever little koala takes himself into his yard and he sets up a cosy den where he can down, pause, rest and get inspiration from a very sleepy caterpillar.

[00:01:48] Let's join him. As you get comfy in bed, I'll get started with Coco and the very sleepy caterpillar by Jane Thomas.

[00:02:08] Today we find Coco at the end of his garden. He's by himself, lying in the shade of a tree, looking up at the dapples of sunlight coming through the leaves.

[00:02:20] Have you ever noticed how many insects gather in a single shaft of sunlight? Coco has. He's watching them now. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny things busily buzzing back and forth in that sunbeam, just going about their day.

[00:02:41] Coco came to the garden to find a little peace. He's had a really busy few days, going to the beach with Kira and a load of their friends, and going to the park with Kira and a load of their friends, and going to the fairground with Kira and a load of their friends.

[00:02:58] It has been noise and bustle for hour after hour after hour after hour. And Coco is, well, he's exhausted. Do you ever feel like that? When you suddenly just feel your energy fading and you need time to yourself. Whenever Coco gets that feeling, he takes himself off somewhere he knows he'll be left alone for a while. And today, he's chosen the garden.

[00:03:27] He rolled up a picnic rug and tucked it under one arm, and packed up a lunchbox with sandwiches and cake. One should always take cake wherever one goes. It's one of Coco's rules in life. He picked up a huge bottle filled with water, then trundled down to the edge of the garden to create his nest for the day. He had to go back to the house briefly because he realised it was far more comfortable with a cushion beneath his head.

[00:03:57] And this is where we find him now, lying on his back on a tartan picnic rug, with his head resting on a plump red cushion. Breathing slowly in and out as he listens to the trees rustle and the birds chattering. Have you noticed how shadows move throughout the day?

[00:04:25] As the sun rises in the sky, the shadows shift, shrinking and stretching as the sun goes up and then slowly sinks down. Coco knows the perfect place to lay his tartan rug, where he can lie in the shade all day long. He doesn't need to move at all.

[00:04:49] It's the perfect place to recharge his batteries and get ready to go out into the world again. A dragonfly lands on the end of Coco's nose, and he almost has to cross his eyes trying to look at it. The dragonfly looks back at him with huge round eyes, delicate silver wings sparkling in the dapples of sunlight.

[00:05:17] The dragonfly's body is a gorgeous, delicate length of turquoise, as if he's been dipped in a perfect rock pool and somehow kept the colour. Coco breathes as slowly and gently as he can, not wanting to disturb the dragonfly.

[00:05:40] With a long breath in, that he holds for four, three, two, one. And that he slowly lets out for four, three, two, one. They stay together for a while, a silent exchange between dragonfly and koala.

[00:06:06] And then the dragonfly bows his head as if saying goodbye, and his silver wings become a blur as he gently rises away from Coco's nose and heads off into the world once more. Coco turns on his side and faces the flower bed. There are huge, drooping yellow flowers.

[00:06:35] He has no idea what they're called, but they look like bells. And as he watches, he notices a faint buzzing sound coming from inside one of the bells. He shifts himself across his tartan rug closer to the sound and peers inside, seeing a big, round, black and yellow bumblebee, busy gathering up the pollen.

[00:07:02] The bumblebee's body and legs are covered in big, fat puffs of yellow where he's picked up the pollen. And the bee turns to look at Coco, resting a while on the edge of the golden bell before, just as the dragonfly did, dipping his head as if saying goodbye and then taking off to head back to his hive.

[00:07:27] Coco lies on his side and watches the flowers for a while, counting the bees as they fly in and out of the drooping golden bells.

[00:07:41] Then something catches his eye, walking through the grass, and he turns on his front and props his head up with his paws so he can lie and watch a shimmering beetle making its way slowly across the lawn. At first glance, the beetle looks as though it is black.

[00:08:05] But, as Coco watches, the beetle crawls through the patches of dappled sunlight and he sees that actually it is green and purple and gold and silver all swirled together. The beetle navigates the beetle.

[00:08:51] Breathing as gently as he can to not disturb the little creature. And then, the beetle bows his head as if saying goodbye and disappears into the leaves of the flower with the golden bells. Coco's about to turn onto his back once more when something else catches his eye in the grass.

[00:09:18] Coco's about to turn onto his head as if he can to not disturb the tree.

[00:09:52] Coco's about to turn onto his head as if he can to not disturb the tree. Coco's about to turn into the tree. Coco's about to turn into the tree. Coco's about to turn into the tree. And then a seventh, right at the top, just by her little blackhead. And somehow, that spot isn't quite round, but it's in the shape of a perfect heart. Then the ladybird opens out her wings, lifting them slowly up and down, watching Coco, before she flies up and hovers right in front of his face.

[00:10:22] And can you guess what she did just before she flew away? If you said she bowed her head as if saying goodbye, you'd be absolutely right. Coco rolls onto his back once more and closes his eyes, smiling to himself.

[00:10:44] All the noise and drama and chaos of the last few days is drifting away. And he listens to his own breathing as he lies there on the grass, feeling as his body rises and falls with each breath he takes.

[00:11:08] In the distance, he hears doors opening and closing. And then a car starts and drives away. And he wonders where those inside are going. Perhaps to the beach, where they will build sandcastles and float in the sea

[00:11:30] and find crabs in rock pools and long tendrils of seaweed they put over their heads and pretend a hair. Some days, many days, Coco loves going to the beach. But not today. Or perhaps they are just off to the shops, where they'll bustle around with the others and fill their basket with bread and eggs

[00:11:58] and bright red strawberries and bright orange carrots and say hello to their friends they bump into and how are you? And talk about this and that for a while. Some days, many days, Coco loves going to the shops. But not today. Coco feels something tickling against his leg.

[00:12:26] And he sits up and looks down to see what it is that's moving slowly across him. And he finds himself looking directly at a bright green caterpillar, the colour of a lime or one of the lighter stripes of a watermelon. The caterpillar pauses on his journey, looks across at Coco and yawns.

[00:12:57] Coco had no idea caterpillars could yawn. But that is definitely what this one was doing. The caterpillar yawn so wide and so long that, as is the way of these things, Coco felt he had to yawn too. He yawned and stretched his arms

[00:13:24] and then shook his head and blinked his eyes and looked back down at the caterpillar who was trying to keep moving forwards but his legs just kept stopping and his eyes kept closing. Coco sat as still as he could and watched as the caterpillar took a few steps forwards then yawned

[00:13:53] then closed his eyes then shook his head as if to wake himself up and did the same thing again. A few steps forwards a yawn briefly closing the eyes then a shake. Eventually, Coco murmured in a soft whisper so not to alarm the caterpillar.

[00:14:22] Where are you trying to go, little fella? He didn't expect an answer because of course who can talk to caterpillars? But the caterpillar stopped and looked up at Coco with big round eyes and then rose up so half his body was in the air and he seemed to point at the leaves of the plant with the golden bell flowers.

[00:14:54] And after this extraordinary effort the caterpillar collapsed onto Coco's leg once more closed his eyes and gave in to his sleep. The day was so quiet and so still that Coco swore he could almost hear little caterpillar snores coming from the creature.

[00:15:23] Coco sat and thought for a while about what he should do. He didn't mind the caterpillar sleeping on his leg. Not at all. He would have been quite happy to lie back himself and get back to watching the sun dance through the leaves as they moved in the breeze. All the while knowing the caterpillar was fast asleep snoring gently resting on his leg. But

[00:15:53] the caterpillar had been trying so very hard to get towards the leaves of the plant with the golden flowers and perhaps he should help him out. Eventually after giving it much thought for it is possible to give things a lot of thought when you're lying on your own in the garden and the world is silent and peaceful without interruptions

[00:16:23] or expectations Coco decided he should lift the caterpillar onto the palm of his paw and place him beside the plant with the golden bell flowers. And so that is exactly what he did. As he nudged the sleeping caterpillar onto his paw he saw its eyes open a little to find out what was happening

[00:16:53] and then a little smile seemed to spread across his face as he saw Coco was moving him closer to the leaves where he'd been headed. Coco thought the caterpillar would just curl up asleep in the flowers but as he watched the caterpillar used the very last of its energy to climb its way

[00:17:23] up the stem of the plant and then out across to one of the leaves and then stranger still to Coco rather than going and lying down on top of one of the leaves as would be the easiest thing to do the caterpillar decided slowly slowly slowly the caterpillar

[00:17:52] started to spin a cocoon of the softest finest silver thread wrapping himself up in a shimmering silver coat that hung suspended by the finest thread from the underside of the leaf before he finished the last parts of his cocoon the caterpillar made sure to look across at Coco

[00:18:21] and he seemed to smile and Coco swore that the caterpillar winked at him and then the cocoon was sealed and the caterpillar hung hung perfectly still in his little silk wrap the whole thing made Coco feel even more sleepy and as he lay back on his

[00:18:51] rug he picked up the corners and folded them over himself so he too was wrapped up just like the caterpillar had been a little burrito of a koala snug and cosy at the end of the garden with his head resting on a plump red cushion he felt himself drifting into a dream where he was a caterpillar

[00:19:20] working his way across a bright green lawn wriggling his body up and down and round the blades of grass heading towards the tree at the end of the garden ko-ko woke up a few hours later and leaned over to eat his sandwiches and his cake and then curled up again and went

[00:19:50] right back to sleep there was no use pretending the last few days of beach and play park and fairground with kira and their friends hadn't been exhausting and his tired little body and brain just wanted to sleep for a while so that is exactly what he did of

[00:20:20] course koko had to wake up eventually and do things like go inside and have dinner and a bath and climb into his proper bed and then get up and go to school but having had his quiet day to himself none of that was a bother at all but each day before the sun started to turn red and spread oranges and

[00:20:50] pinks and golds across the

[00:22:24] caterpillar what did you dream about for all that time you were asleep and so on the seventh day koko once more took his tartan rug and his plump cushion and his sandwiches and of course his cake and his large bottle of water to the end of the garden and set up

[00:22:54] camp beneath the shade of the dappling tree and he turned on his side so he could lie there and look at the caterpillar sleeping softly in his silver silk cocoon of course he saw ladybugs again and the black beetles that weren't black at all and dragonflies with bodies the colour of a rock

[00:23:24] ball and fat yellow and black bumble bees with big puffs of yellow pollen on their legs and he watched all of those with interest while keeping half an eye on the caterpillar sleeping in its cocoon and then all of a sudden the cocoon started to move

[00:23:54] he started to swing slowly back and forth back and forth and coco didn't see ladybugs or black beetles or bumblebees or dragonflies anymore because all he could see was this tiny silver cocoon rocking beneath the underside of the leaf

[00:24:25] he thought for a moment unable to take his eyes off the cocoon and then crossing his fingers for luck he rushed up to the house and called his sister Kira to come and join him at the end of the garden something magical was going to happen he told her and he wanted her to see it too what magic she asked him

[00:24:54] and he said he didn't know but something for sure and she should hurry on the way out coco grabbed a plump purple cushion for Kira and they ran down the garden and threw themselves onto the rug and coco propped himself up on his and Kira on her purple cushion and they watched the cocoon that was still swinging to and fro

[00:25:23] on the underside of the leaf and then the silver silk of the cocoon started to split and coco watched as a crumpled up wing slowly reached out of the cocoon then the wing wasn't crumpled up anymore as it was spreading itself wide and coco and kira looked

[00:25:53] at this rainbow of delicate colours that formed a pattern on the wing there was soft pink and bright pink and a dash of sunshine yellow and a dab of sunset red and here some pale blue sky and here some sky the colour of midnight then the cocoon split some more

[00:26:23] and another crumpled up wing reached out out then it wasn't crumpled anymore as it spread wide and a wing exactly the same as the other reached out with its pinks and yellows and blues all in a perfect pattern the caterpillar shook off the last of the silk cocoon a gleaming black

[00:26:53] body with the same big eyes it had looked at Coco as before and experimented by lifting its butterfly wings up and down very slowly and gently seeing how they felt both Coco and Kira hardly dared to breathe as they watched the butterfly clamber around to the top of

[00:27:22] the leaf so it was the right way up for the first time in a week and its six little legs walked slowly along the leaf until it was perched on the very point Coco leaned forwards and put his nose almost to the leaf and the caterpillar looked into his eyes and once more

[00:27:52] Coco almost had to cross his own so he could see the creature properly and of course as I'm sure you've guessed the caterpillar bowed his head as if saying goodbye to Coco before you go whispered Coco please Mr. Butterfly what did you dream

[00:28:22] about all that time you were asleep wrapped up in your silver silk cocoon the butterfly had been about to take off and head out into the world but then it paused for a moment and seemed to put his head

[00:29:33] and seemed to laugh as the flower bounced up and down a little as he landed. And then he flew to where drops of dew had slid down a blade of grass and formed the tiniest puddle. And the butterfly dabbled his feet in the water and looked at the reflection of its glorious wings on the surface.

[00:29:59] And then it danced across to a red rose and a blue cornflower and the gorgeous golden tongue of a honeysuckle flower. You thought about where your wings would take you, whispered Coco.

[00:30:22] And the butterfly, swinging gently from one of the tendrils of a very complicated lily, nodded his head up and down. And then he flapped his wings once more, those wings with the soft pink and bright pink and a dash of sunshine yellow and a dab of sunset red

[00:30:50] and some pale blue sky and sky the colour of midnight and fluttered up, up into the air, dancing in all directions as he went, finally free of his silver silk cocoon. I don't suppose, said Coco thoughtfully,

[00:31:19] as he and Kira gathered up the tartan rug and the cushions. There is anything better to dream about, is there? The beautiful things we will see and the beautiful places we will go. And Kira had to agree with her brother that they sounded like wonderful dreams to have.

[00:31:49] So, that night, each of them wrapped themselves up in their blankets as if they too were sleeping inside the silver cocoon of a caterpillar and wished that they too could dream of beautiful things and beautiful places. To each of them, that meant something slightly different

[00:32:19] because everyone sees the world a little differently but it meant something wonderful. So, here's to dreams of our favourite things and favourite people and favourite places when we can dance from one to the other as if they are everything the world is made of.

[00:32:49] And we can float through the world as if on wings of midnight blue.