Head to Harmony Cove where a turtle named Michel runs a lost property, aiming to return all left-behind objects to their owners! These kids sleep stories are designed for cozy relaxation.
This time, he's found at a strange kind of metal object that has him totally perplexed. What could it be? Tune into these kids sleep stories to find out!
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Narrator: Abbe Opher
Author: Jane Thomas
Story Themes: Helping Others, Animals, Problem Solving, Kids Sleep Stories
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About Koala Moon 🐨🌕
Koala Moon is the beloved kids podcast that has become a treasured part of bedtime for families around the world. With over 50 million listens, it’s more than just a show, it’s a nightly ritual filled with wonder, calm, and connection.
Each week, host Abbe Opher gently guides listeners through a new bedtime story, combining soothing narration, original storytelling, and tranquil soundscapes that support healthy sleep routines. These aren’t ordinary kids bedtime stories; they're immersive journeys into a cozy world of imagination, designed to help little ones relax, unwind, and fall asleep peacefully.
Inside Sleepy Forest and beyond, you’ll meet familiar friends like Koko the Koala, his adventurous sister Kira, the time-traveling pups Hector and Sunny, and many more. Whether it’s a short tale for busy evenings or a longer weekend wind-down, every episode is crafted to soothe and delight. And with gentle themes woven from nature, kindness, and curiosity, there’s always something new to spark joy. That’s why our bedtime stories for kids continue to be loved by families who rely on them for calm, connection, and consistent bedtime routines.
All of our bedtime stories for kids are written in-house and narrated with love, helping turn bedtime into something families look forward to. You’ll find kids sleep stories that inspire imagination and calm, while also supporting emotional growth and rest.
Need help settling an energetic child? Or looking for a bedtime story that the whole family can enjoy together? Koala Moon delivers a weekly mix of cozy tales, quiet adventure, and familiar characters that make falling asleep feel easy. It’s no wonder so many parents call it their favorite kids podcast for evening calm.
With its unique blend of storytelling and mindfulness, Koala Moon brings a sense of peace into your home, one tale at a time. Every episode includes moments of quiet reflection and even the occasional sleep meditation for kids, gently encouraging little minds to slow down.
So, curl up with a story, snuggle in tight, and join Koko and friends under the magical Koala Moon. These kids bedtime stories are more than entertainment, they’re a soft landing at the end of every day. Sleep tight, and sweet dreams. 🌙
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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
00:00:20
Speaker 1: a dream. Coco and I would like to thank you
00:00:23
Speaker 1: for your continued support. You're making a big difference in
00:00:27
Speaker 1: helping us improve our little podcast and help make many
00:00:31
Speaker 1: more bedtimes a dream. We're getting ready to head back
00:00:36
Speaker 1: to Harmony Cove tonight and help reunite some precious lost
00:00:40
Speaker 1: property with its owner. But before we do, let's warmly
00:00:44
Speaker 1: welcome our newest freshest recruits to Coco's Club. Hello, and
00:00:48
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. Amos and Isaiah from Massachusetts,
00:00:52
Speaker 1: Lucy aged eight, Eleanora and Emilia from Henderson, Texas, Orion
00:00:58
Speaker 1: from Maryland and Addison and Cassidy sisters from Glasgow, Scotland.
00:01:03
Speaker 1: We're delighted you join the club and hope you enjoy
00:01:06
Speaker 1: all the bonus episodes and add free stories coming your way.
00:01:10
Speaker 1: So I wonder whether you remember Harmony Cove. It's where
00:01:14
Speaker 1: our friend Echo the Turtle lives now quite happily after
00:01:18
Speaker 1: his encounter with Confidence of the Bear. We'll be staying
00:01:22
Speaker 1: on the beach for this story and hanging out with
00:01:25
Speaker 1: a very special sea turtle who has an important and
00:01:28
Speaker 1: very busy job running the Lost Property Office. Why is
00:01:32
Speaker 1: it so busy and important, Well, it's pretty easy for
00:01:36
Speaker 1: visitors to lose track of their things amongst millions and
00:01:39
Speaker 1: billions of grains of golden sand. It seems every day
00:01:44
Speaker 1: more and more items are lost and end up at
00:01:46
Speaker 1: the office. And tonight our friend is trying to reunite
00:01:50
Speaker 1: a very mysterious object with its owner. Only problem is
00:01:55
Speaker 1: he has no idea what it is. Soon see how
00:02:00
Speaker 1: he muddles through and finds out who it belongs to.
00:02:03
Speaker 1: But first, lie back in bed and get comfy. Find
00:02:09
Speaker 1: your fingers and toes and give them a little gentle
00:02:12
Speaker 1: wiggle and squeeze.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: Perhaps, roll back.
00:02:16
Speaker 1: Your shoulders and move around in bed a bit until
00:02:19
Speaker 1: you're in your most relaxing spot. Now close your eyes
00:02:25
Speaker 1: and breathe in and out steadily and quietly. Perfect, It's
00:02:32
Speaker 1: time to begin. The Lost Property Turtle by Jane Thomas.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: There's a beach not far from Sleepy Forest that, even
00:02:48
Speaker 1: if you were to sail up and down the entire coastline,
00:02:52
Speaker 1: you would be unlikely to find.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: It.
00:02:54
Speaker 2: Is tucked into a hidden.
00:02:56
Speaker 1: Cove where the cliffs rise from the sea and fold
00:03:01
Speaker 1: this way and that in such a way as to
00:03:04
Speaker 1: disguise the entrance from even the most nosy, curious and
00:03:08
Speaker 1: inquisitive eyes. And yet on hot summer days, when the
00:03:14
Speaker 1: sun beats down and the only escape is to dive
00:03:18
Speaker 1: into the cooling waves, this hidden beach is one of
00:03:22
Speaker 1: the busiest beaches anywhere in the world. It's known by
00:03:28
Speaker 1: locals as Harmony Cove, as it's so very peaceful. As
00:03:35
Speaker 1: soon as the sun starts to rise and sunbeams reach
00:03:40
Speaker 1: around the corners of the cliffs, the beach shines and
00:03:44
Speaker 1: shimmers as if it is covered in diamonds. And by locals,
00:03:52
Speaker 1: I mean all the sea turtles and hermit crabs, or
00:03:56
Speaker 1: the sea lions and dolphins, or the starfi should see
00:04:00
Speaker 1: an enemies, an octopus and fiddler crabs. Sometimes koalas and
00:04:07
Speaker 1: kangaroos even turn up there, taking the long paths that
00:04:12
Speaker 1: zigzag their way down the steep cliffs and running towards
00:04:18
Speaker 1: the gentle waves that ease themselves up up and down
00:04:23
Speaker 1: the shifting sands. Because Harmony Cove gets so very busy,
00:04:30
Speaker 1: there is of course a lost property office.
00:04:35
Speaker 2: There are piles and piles.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Of strange items in there, most of which Michele has
00:04:43
Speaker 1: no real understanding of, but he keeps them safe and
00:04:48
Speaker 1: sound until the owners come along and reclaim them. Michelle
00:04:54
Speaker 1: is a sea turtle, and he's been working in the
00:04:57
Speaker 1: Lost Property office for nearly four months now. He's learned
00:05:03
Speaker 1: about plastic buckets and spades and inflatable unicorns, and been
00:05:10
Speaker 1: temporarily terrified by an inflatable crocodile.
00:05:15
Speaker 2: He now knows that.
00:05:17
Speaker 1: A single washed up flip flop makes an excellent surfboard
00:05:22
Speaker 1: if you happen to be starfish sized, and that if
00:05:27
Speaker 1: you blow into the tops of empty drinks bottles you
00:05:31
Speaker 1: can make music. Michelle takes great pride in working out
00:05:37
Speaker 1: what a particular item does and ensuring it gets back
00:05:41
Speaker 1: to its rightful owner. If a young octopus comes up
00:05:47
Speaker 1: and says they've lost their favorite bucket, Michelle makes sure
00:05:52
Speaker 1: the octopus describes it absolutely perfectly before he searches under
00:05:58
Speaker 1: his table and through the boxes of bits and bobs,
00:06:03
Speaker 1: pulling out exactly the right one. Would you say it's
00:06:09
Speaker 1: yellow like the sun or yellow like the sand, He'll ask?
00:06:18
Speaker 1: Or when you say it's big, would you say as
00:06:25
Speaker 1: big as the shell on my back, or as big
00:06:29
Speaker 1: as a castle. He has boxes of left flip flops
00:06:35
Speaker 1: and right flip flops, and these are divided further into
00:06:40
Speaker 1: flip flops made from foam and plastic and leather and cork.
00:06:48
Speaker 1: He has boxes of swimming shorts, ranging from the tiniest
00:06:54
Speaker 1: scraps of material used by shrimps to those so enormous
00:07:00
Speaker 1: they can be worn by a whale. He has sunglasses
00:07:05
Speaker 1: and sun hats, towels and tents, books and lunch boxes,
00:07:13
Speaker 1: all the stuff creatures take to the beach Michelle has
00:07:17
Speaker 1: tucked away under his table, waiting to be reunited with
00:07:22
Speaker 1: its owner.
00:07:25
Speaker 2: There's a special section.
00:07:27
Speaker 1: For things that have been left for a very long time.
00:07:31
Speaker 1: Michelle will hand these out in those emergency moments when
00:07:36
Speaker 1: a special little something makes someone feel a whole lot better,
00:07:43
Speaker 1: like the time a seal fell on her bucket and
00:07:46
Speaker 1: spade and broke them, or when a seagul forgot to
00:07:51
Speaker 1: bring his sunscreen along, And now he's going to help
00:07:56
Speaker 1: a little hermit crab who has turned up at his stall.
00:08:03
Speaker 1: I'm Cloudier, she announces, please to meet you. Cloudia is
00:08:09
Speaker 1: being very formal and proper because she has something very
00:08:14
Speaker 1: important to ask. Please to meet you, too, says Michel,
00:08:21
Speaker 1: And how can I help you?
00:08:23
Speaker 2: Little one?
00:08:25
Speaker 1: Well, I was surfing in the waves. I was doing
00:08:30
Speaker 1: so well, and then I made a bit of a mistake,
00:08:35
Speaker 1: and I humbled.
00:08:37
Speaker 3: And and and.
00:08:42
Speaker 1: The hermaid crab suddenly looked very sad. Indeed, Michele came
00:08:47
Speaker 1: out from behind his table and put his flipper around her.
00:08:52
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm here to help, he assured her. What
00:08:58
Speaker 1: happened in the waves? I lost my shell, she wailed.
00:09:04
Speaker 3: See I can't go back and see Mam and Dad
00:09:10
Speaker 3: without my shell, and my brothers for never stop teasing
00:09:16
Speaker 3: me about it.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: What am I going to do?
00:09:22
Speaker 1: Michel knew there had been something odd about the little
00:09:26
Speaker 1: creature standing in front of him, but he hadn't quite
00:09:31
Speaker 1: been able to put his flipper on it. As soon
00:09:35
Speaker 1: as she said it, it was obvious a missing shell. Goodness,
00:09:44
Speaker 1: Fortunately for you, Michel said, with a smile.
00:09:50
Speaker 2: I have a lot of shells back here. We'll find
00:09:55
Speaker 2: a perfect one for you.
00:09:58
Speaker 1: Claudia snif you can help, she said, definitely, said Michel,
00:10:08
Speaker 1: We'll find you the best shell you've ever seen. Just
00:10:13
Speaker 1: you wait, Cloudia managed to smile even better than my brothers.
00:10:23
Speaker 1: I promise even better than your brothers. Cloudier grinned, but said, Michel,
00:10:34
Speaker 1: you need to pretend you're someone else for a moment.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: Can you do that for me? Cloudia was all wide
00:10:44
Speaker 1: eyes and wondering. You're going to have to pretend your Goldilocks.
00:10:53
Speaker 1: We don't want to shell that's too small, and we
00:10:57
Speaker 1: definitely don't want to shell that's too big. We want
00:11:04
Speaker 1: a shell that's just right. Okay, so you be sure
00:11:11
Speaker 1: to tell me if it's too tight or too loose,
00:11:16
Speaker 1: and we'll keep going until we found the perfect shell
00:11:21
Speaker 1: for you. Cloudia giggled. She liked the idea of being Goldilocks.
00:11:30
Speaker 1: She curved her back and waited for mi shell to
00:11:33
Speaker 1: come out. With the first shell, Cloudier wiggled and wobbled
00:11:41
Speaker 1: and pushed and heaved her way into the shell, and finally.
00:11:46
Speaker 2: Said, with a gasp, it's too small.
00:11:53
Speaker 1: Michelle helped pull her out, heaving Cloudier's little crab claws
00:11:59
Speaker 1: until she's suddenly flew out of.
00:12:01
Speaker 2: The shell like a cork out of a bottle.
00:12:06
Speaker 1: She fell onto the sand with a thump and a bump.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: Michelle searched under his table and came out with a
00:12:17
Speaker 1: larger shell and handed that over Cloudier backed into the shell,
00:12:24
Speaker 1: almost disappearing entirely inside. Only her eyes poked out, and
00:12:32
Speaker 1: then they were gone too. It's too pig, came a
00:12:39
Speaker 1: voice echoing from inside the shell. Michelle saw it shake
00:12:46
Speaker 1: and jiggle, and realized Cloudier was trying to get out,
00:12:52
Speaker 1: so he leaned over and helped lift it from her.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: She blinked, her eyes dazzled by the sun again after
00:13:02
Speaker 1: the dark of the shell. They tried ten more shells,
00:13:09
Speaker 1: each one a little bit too small or a little
00:13:13
Speaker 1: bit too big, before Michele remembered that sometimes he stored
00:13:19
Speaker 1: the shells with the buckets. He rattled around under his
00:13:25
Speaker 1: table and emerged carrying a beautiful, shining shell. Inside it gleamed,
00:13:35
Speaker 1: streaked with rainbows on the shiny interior. On the outside,
00:13:43
Speaker 1: it curled and whirled to a single, glorious point with
00:13:48
Speaker 1: patterns that made it look like it should belong to
00:13:52
Speaker 1: a leopard. Cloudier's eyes opened wide. She had never in
00:14:00
Speaker 1: all her life seeing anything as beautiful as that shell.
00:14:08
Speaker 1: She crossed her claws and hoped and hoped that it
00:14:12
Speaker 1: would fit her. Michel placed it beside her, and Cloudier
00:14:19
Speaker 1: backed in, feeling how her sides just.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: Touched the shell.
00:14:26
Speaker 1: She stood up and felt its weight around her, and
00:14:31
Speaker 1: curled up inside to check she could sleep in there,
00:14:36
Speaker 1: and pulled out her claws and walked across the sand
00:14:40
Speaker 1: a little. It's the Goldilocks shell, she declared, eyes shining.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: Can I really have it?
00:14:52
Speaker 2: Can I? Michel was delighted.
00:14:57
Speaker 1: He watched as the little permit.
00:15:00
Speaker 2: Crabs scuttled off across.
00:15:02
Speaker 1: The sand, back to where her family waited on a
00:15:06
Speaker 1: picnic rug. Even from a distance, Michele could see how
00:15:13
Speaker 1: big Cloudier's brother's eyes became when he looked at the shell.
00:15:19
Speaker 1: Cloudier turned slowly and proudly, showing off her new home.
00:15:27
Speaker 1: He really did have a wonderful job, Michelle thought to himself,
00:15:34
Speaker 1: and smiled extra widely for the rest of the day
00:15:39
Speaker 1: as he reunited creatures with their missing spades and flip
00:15:44
Speaker 1: flops and sombreros and umbrellas. As the sun started to
00:15:52
Speaker 1: go down, the creatures began packing up their bags and
00:15:57
Speaker 1: disappearing home, swimming out to sea to their apartments in
00:16:03
Speaker 1: their coral reefs, or heading up the path to their
00:16:08
Speaker 1: penthouses high up on the cliffs. He was smiled at
00:16:14
Speaker 1: and thanked by all the animals who had been reunited
00:16:19
Speaker 1: with their belongings, and Cloudier even rushed over to give
00:16:25
Speaker 1: him a quick hug before she left. Michele lives down
00:16:31
Speaker 1: at Harmony Cove. So after he had taken an evening swim,
00:16:38
Speaker 1: floating in the sea and letting the waves push him
00:16:42
Speaker 1: this way and that, he came back to the beach
00:16:47
Speaker 1: and settled down next to his lost Property stand to
00:16:50
Speaker 1: dry his shell. He was almost completely content, except for
00:16:59
Speaker 1: one thing niggling at his mind. Have you ever had
00:17:04
Speaker 1: that You've been trying to fall asleep and there is
00:17:08
Speaker 1: one thing, It could be a tiny something and nothing,
00:17:14
Speaker 1: worrying away right at the back of your mind, and
00:17:20
Speaker 1: it means you can't fall asleep. The more you try
00:17:25
Speaker 1: to ignore it, the bigger it gets, until suddenly your
00:17:32
Speaker 1: entire mind is filled with this one small thing. That's
00:17:38
Speaker 1: what Michel was going through right now, and the reason
00:17:44
Speaker 1: he couldn't fall asleep. There was an item in his
00:17:49
Speaker 1: lost property box that had been there ever since he started,
00:17:55
Speaker 1: and he still had no idea what it was. He
00:18:02
Speaker 1: had been thinking about it for weeks, and somehow it
00:18:07
Speaker 1: had become a bigger and bigger and bigger problem.
00:18:12
Speaker 2: In his mind. Until now.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: He just knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until
00:18:21
Speaker 1: he knew exactly what it was. Michele sighed and stood up,
00:18:29
Speaker 1: wandering around to root about in the box and find
00:18:33
Speaker 1: the mysterious item. He pulled it out and set it
00:18:38
Speaker 1: on the table in front of him, eyeing it up
00:18:42
Speaker 1: for what felt like the millionth time. It was a
00:18:47
Speaker 1: small silver bar, about as long as his flipper, and
00:18:54
Speaker 1: there were lots and lots of holes in it.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: For a while he thought it might be a sea creature.
00:19:04
Speaker 1: Sleeping off a long swim, but he checked, and this
00:19:10
Speaker 1: silver bar didn't breathe or show any sign that it
00:19:15
Speaker 1: had ever been alive. Michelle wandered with it down to
00:19:22
Speaker 1: the sea, now quite calm since the moon had risen.
00:19:28
Speaker 1: The sea does that, you know, It calms down at
00:19:33
Speaker 1: the end of the day. However much the waves crash
00:19:38
Speaker 1: and churn against the cliffs during the day, it always.
00:19:44
Speaker 2: Seems to go calm at night.
00:19:48
Speaker 1: Michelle looked at the almost perfect reflection of the night
00:19:53
Speaker 1: sky in the waves, seeing the constellations in the shape
00:20:00
Speaker 1: the big whale and the swordfish and the running starfish.
00:20:07
Speaker 1: He placed the silver bar as gently as he could
00:20:11
Speaker 1: on the surface of the sea and then let go,
00:20:17
Speaker 1: waiting to see if it would float. For a moment,
00:20:21
Speaker 1: it did, and then it slipped into the dark water,
00:20:27
Speaker 1: heading down to the sandy seafloor, with a stream of
00:20:32
Speaker 1: bubbles rising to the surface as it fell. Michele quickly
00:20:40
Speaker 1: grabbed it and pulled it out again, heading back to
00:20:44
Speaker 1: the shore. So it doesn't float, he said to himself.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: That means it isn't a boat, and it isn't a
00:20:56
Speaker 1: sort of surfboard. Michele thought about all the sand castles
00:21:04
Speaker 1: he'd seen creatures build with the help of the buckets
00:21:08
Speaker 1: and spades, and he wondered if the silver bar was
00:21:13
Speaker 1: meant to help with that. He tried scooping sand into
00:21:18
Speaker 1: a bucket with it and didn't get very far at all.
00:21:22
Speaker 2: In fact, it was useless for that.
00:21:27
Speaker 1: Then he tried scooping sand into it, packing it into
00:21:31
Speaker 1: the small holes, but they were so small that when
00:21:35
Speaker 1: he dipped it up to pour out the castle, nothing
00:21:39
Speaker 1: really happened at all. He supposed it could be a
00:21:45
Speaker 1: very odd sort of lunch box, although he wasn't sure
00:21:50
Speaker 1: what you might cram into each of those tiny holes.
00:21:56
Speaker 1: The silver bar looked a bit of a mess, all
00:21:59
Speaker 1: covered with sand, and he thought he should probably look
00:22:03
Speaker 1: after it in case whoever owned it came back to
00:22:07
Speaker 1: find it someday. So he wandered back down to the
00:22:11
Speaker 1: sea and shook it around in the water until all
00:22:16
Speaker 1: the sand had come loose, and then he took it
00:22:20
Speaker 1: back to the beach with him. Droplets of water gleamed
00:22:25
Speaker 1: in the holes, and he shook the silver bar to
00:22:29
Speaker 1: get them out, and as he shook it, air rushed
00:22:35
Speaker 1: in and out of the holes, and the silver bar
00:22:40
Speaker 1: made a noise. In fact, it made lots of noises.
00:22:48
Speaker 1: Michelle stopped. He peered inside to see if something was
00:22:54
Speaker 1: living in there, but all he could see was black.
00:23:00
Speaker 1: He shook the silver bar again and it made another
00:23:04
Speaker 1: series of odd noises. How strange, he thought to himself.
00:23:13
Speaker 1: Then he remembered how he could blow across the tops
00:23:17
Speaker 1: of the empty drink's bottles, and how they all made
00:23:22
Speaker 1: a different sound. Slowly, he lifted the silver bar to
00:23:28
Speaker 1: his mouth and he blew. The noise and sounds that
00:23:35
Speaker 1: came out of it startled him so much he dropped
00:23:39
Speaker 1: it on the sand, and then he had to go
00:23:43
Speaker 1: through the process of washing and drying it all over again.
00:23:50
Speaker 1: This time he was ready. Michel lifted it to his
00:23:56
Speaker 1: mouth and blew. He moved his mouth along the silver
00:24:01
Speaker 1: bar and blew into some different holes, and they made
00:24:06
Speaker 1: different noises. After a while, he worked out that each
00:24:13
Speaker 1: of the holes made a different noise. Michelle started at
00:24:19
Speaker 1: one end of the silver bar and breathed out hard,
00:24:24
Speaker 1: working his way up to the other end. The notes
00:24:29
Speaker 1: got higher and higher in pitch with each hole. It
00:24:35
Speaker 1: was almost as if he thought each hole had been
00:24:40
Speaker 1: carefully crafted to make a very particular noise. Just as
00:24:48
Speaker 1: he was beginning to think this odd little silver bar
00:24:53
Speaker 1: might be some sort of musical instrument, a seagull poked
00:24:59
Speaker 1: his head around the cliff edge.
00:25:02
Speaker 2: Hi.
00:25:03
Speaker 1: The sea girl called Michelle turned hello, he answered back,
00:25:11
Speaker 1: a little uncertainly. You didn't get many visitors at night.
00:25:17
Speaker 1: In fact, harmony cove was entirely his when it was dark,
00:25:22
Speaker 1: and you rather like that if truth be told, I say,
00:25:29
Speaker 1: said the sea girl, I think you've got my friend's harmonica. There,
00:25:36
Speaker 1: I've got your friends, what asked Michelle. The sea girl
00:25:42
Speaker 1: flew over and landed next to the sea turtle. He's harmonica,
00:25:49
Speaker 1: sure as feathers is feathers that's Pete's harmonica. He leaned
00:25:55
Speaker 1: over as if to take it from the sea turtle.
00:26:00
Speaker 1: Michelle held it back. If it really does belong to Pete,
00:26:07
Speaker 1: this harmonica, then I should be the one to return
00:26:12
Speaker 1: it to him. I am, after all, in charge of
00:26:18
Speaker 1: lost property, he said. The seagull shrugged, fine by me,
00:26:26
Speaker 1: Come he lives around here, and the seagull disappeared back
00:26:31
Speaker 1: where he had come from. Michelle shuffled after him, the
00:26:36
Speaker 1: harmonica in his mouth. As he climbed across knobbly rocks
00:26:41
Speaker 1: and slithered across sheets of seaweed. He kept panting hard
00:26:47
Speaker 1: into the harmonica, and he gave out little puffs of
00:26:51
Speaker 1: music each time he breathed out.
00:26:57
Speaker 2: The seagull hopped.
00:26:58
Speaker 1: Along, easily, flying over the awkward bits and waiting patiently
00:27:04
Speaker 1: for Michele to catch up. When Michele thought they'd gone
00:27:10
Speaker 1: so far they would surely be in a new country soon,
00:27:14
Speaker 1: he saw the shapes of a hundred sea lions silhouetted
00:27:19
Speaker 1: against the sky. The sea gull flew over and landed
00:27:26
Speaker 1: on one, whispering something into his ear, and the sea
00:27:31
Speaker 1: lion turned and waddled over to Michel Listen or chap
00:27:39
Speaker 1: squawky here says you have my harmonica?
00:27:46
Speaker 3: Is that so?
00:27:49
Speaker 1: Michel was as cautious as ever. He'd hidden the silver
00:27:54
Speaker 1: bar beneath his flipper. I might have it, he said,
00:28:01
Speaker 1: Describe it to me please, Oh, certainly, certainly, said the
00:28:08
Speaker 1: sea lion. I'd say. It's about as long as your flipper. Silver,
00:28:17
Speaker 1: ten little holes in it, says blues on the top
00:28:22
Speaker 1: of it in swirling twirling letters. Few scratches on the undercarriage.
00:28:30
Speaker 1: I'm afraid it's a bit hard to keep a harmonica
00:28:34
Speaker 1: in tiptop shape out on these rocks. Michele turned and
00:28:40
Speaker 1: checked the silver bar, ten holes, blues written in swirling
00:28:47
Speaker 1: twirling letters, and yes, he was right, a few little
00:28:54
Speaker 1: scratches on the underside, turned back to the sea li
00:29:00
Speaker 1: iron and held it out. The sea Lion's eyes lit up,
00:29:05
Speaker 1: and he clapped his flippers together in delight. By jove,
00:29:12
Speaker 1: that's it, You, sir, are a gentleman, he said happily.
00:29:20
Speaker 1: Michele handed it over and was about to leave when
00:29:24
Speaker 1: he had a thought. Excuse me, he said, a little shyly. Pete,
00:29:33
Speaker 1: isn't it The sea lion nodded. Do you know how
00:29:39
Speaker 1: to make real music. With that, Pete, some of the
00:29:44
Speaker 1: nearby sea lions laughed a little. Pete glared at them
00:29:49
Speaker 1: to be quiet. I do play a little Would you
00:29:54
Speaker 1: like to hear something? Michelle nodded eagerly for you any time,
00:30:03
Speaker 1: Eh need time, And with that, the sea lion drew
00:30:10
Speaker 1: the harmonica to his mouth and breathed out. At first,
00:30:18
Speaker 1: he played a song so lively and busy that Michel
00:30:23
Speaker 1: couldn't help but tap his flippers in time to the music,
00:30:29
Speaker 1: watching as the sea lions twirled around to the sounds
00:30:35
Speaker 1: of the sea shanty. When Pete finished, they all sat
00:30:41
Speaker 1: back and clapped their flippers loudly, barking their approval and
00:30:48
Speaker 1: calling for an encore. And Pete leaned back against a
00:30:56
Speaker 1: rock and closed his eyes once more, putting the harmonica
00:31:02
Speaker 1: to his lips. This time, he played a slow and
00:31:09
Speaker 1: beautiful tune. It sounded like the sea and the waves
00:31:16
Speaker 1: all at once. Michele closed his eyes and as he listened,
00:31:24
Speaker 1: he saw mermaids float through his mind. He saw dolphins
00:31:31
Speaker 1: drifting through the tides and wails leaning into the waves.
00:31:40
Speaker 1: He saw sea gulls floating high up on the thermals,
00:31:46
Speaker 1: and starfish sleeping on the sands, and that night and
00:31:53
Speaker 1: for many nights after, Michelee didn't sleep by himself in
00:32:00
Speaker 1: Harmony Cove. He slept beside the sea lions and fell
00:32:07
Speaker 1: asleep to the music of the harmonica, drifting away on
00:32:15
Speaker 1: dreams of long summer days and starry moonlight nights