In tonight's bedtime story for kids, we're going to meet a worry doll named Sofía, and learn how exactly she and her doll friends work every night to take away worries. They carry them out of your window, in the shape of a rumbly grumbly little cloud, and transform them into something quite beautiful. Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Jane Thomas
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Kowala Moon, a podcast of
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Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
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Speaker 1: a dream. Before we begin, I want to give a
00:00:23
Speaker 1: big warm hello to Mickey from Preston, Frankie from Calgary,
00:00:28
Speaker 1: Clover from Canada, Henry and Eddie from Australia, and Maddie
00:00:33
Speaker 1: from Austin, Texas. Oh, and a happy ninth birthday to
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Speaker 1: Owen in Virginia. Thanks for joining the club. Everyone. It's
00:00:41
Speaker 1: great to have you enjoy all your bonus episodes in
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Speaker 1: all the ad free listening. Now, have you ever laid
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Speaker 1: in bed worrying, letting little grumbly clouds fill your head? Well,
00:00:56
Speaker 1: there are certain little magical dolls that can help with that.
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Speaker 1: Worry Dolls the little tiny dolls originally made in Guatemala
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Speaker 1: in South America. They're teeny tiny and so simple you
00:01:09
Speaker 1: can make them yourself, but wow, they are powerful. All
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Speaker 1: you have to do is tuck the little dolls under
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Speaker 1: your pillow when you fall asleep. They will listen to
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Speaker 1: your worries and help whisk them away as you sleep,
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Speaker 1: so that when you wake up you feel a little lighter. Tonight,
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Speaker 1: I want to tell you about a certain worry door
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Speaker 1: named Sophia, and how exactly she and her dold friends
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Speaker 1: work every night to take away worries and turn them
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Speaker 1: into something actually quite wonderful. This is the Secret of
00:01:44
Speaker 1: the Worry Dolls by Jane Thomas. Today's story is all
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Speaker 1: about a very special little doll. You might have one already,
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Speaker 1: and if not, you can bring one to life. All
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Speaker 1: you need is some colored threads and a few popsicle sticks.
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Speaker 1: And if you don't have sticks, then an old pencil
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Speaker 1: that's now too small to write with will do. Then
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Speaker 1: the magic will take over and do the rest. Because
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Speaker 1: you are probably tucked up in bed listening to this story,
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Speaker 1: you only need to imagine those colored threads and those
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Speaker 1: little bits of stick. Your imagination will work. For now,
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Speaker 1: Let's imagine you have a spool of red thread and
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Speaker 1: you're winding it slowly, slowly around the base of the
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Speaker 1: popsicle stick. Wind it around and around and around and
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Speaker 1: around until you have quite covered a small part of
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Speaker 1: the stick. Now, let's imagine you have a spool of
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Speaker 1: blue thread, and where the red thread stops, you're going
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Speaker 1: to start winding the blue around and around and around
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Speaker 1: and around. Now, imagine taking some green thread and adding
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Speaker 1: a stripe of that, and perhaps some yellow above that.
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Speaker 1: Above the yellow, you're going to take a pen and
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Speaker 1: add some eyes and a nose and even a smile.
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Speaker 1: Now let's add a hat. Choose whichever color you like best,
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Speaker 1: and imagine winding that thread around and around the popsicustic
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Speaker 1: just above the eyes you've drawn. The little creature you've
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Speaker 1: created is called a worry dog. And now you're going
00:03:55
Speaker 1: to imagine sliding your hand under your pillow and your
00:04:00
Speaker 1: worry dolls safely there. Be sure to keep your head
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Speaker 1: on the pillow so your worry door stays where she
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Speaker 1: needs to. And now imagine yourself taking those colored threads
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Speaker 1: again and a new popsicle stick and making a second,
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Speaker 1: and a third, and a fourth worried doll. Each one
00:04:25
Speaker 1: needs to be lined up neatly under your pillow. And
00:04:30
Speaker 1: you see them there, in their colorful skirts and colorful hats,
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Speaker 1: with their smiling faces. They're all lying in place, holding hands,
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Speaker 1: waiting for your worries to pour their way through the
00:04:46
Speaker 1: pillow and into their arms. Because this is the magic
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Speaker 1: trick that worried dolls perform every single night all around
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Speaker 1: the world for hundred and thousands and millions of people,
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Speaker 1: and what hardly anyone knows is what happens to those
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Speaker 1: worries that are poured into the waiting arms. I'm going
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Speaker 1: to tell you their secret and let you know how
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Speaker 1: this magic trick really works. Sophia had been a worried
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Speaker 1: dol for many, many years. Tonight, she slips her way
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Speaker 1: beneath Sierra's pillow, listening to the soft breathing of the
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Speaker 1: little girl as she slowly falls asleep. Sierra turns this
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Speaker 1: way and that, pointing her toes and itching her nose,
00:05:45
Speaker 1: trying her left side, then her right side, then her back,
00:05:51
Speaker 1: then her front, finding the single most comfortable position in
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Speaker 1: her bed. Finally, so feels Sierra curlor around her big
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Speaker 1: old teddy bear Arthur, and her breathing slows, Sofia hears
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Speaker 1: her take a deep breath in, and finally there's a
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Speaker 1: deep breath out, one more deep breath in, and one
00:06:22
Speaker 1: more deep breath out, and Sophia knows that Sierra is asleep.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: She lies there, unmoving beneath Sierra's pillow, waiting for the
00:06:36
Speaker 1: warriors to appear. As Sierra sinks deeper and deeper into
00:06:42
Speaker 1: her sleep, disappearing into a land of dreams. The warriors
00:06:47
Speaker 1: slip away from her mind and into the soft warmth
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Speaker 1: of the pillow, and from there they gently float down
00:06:56
Speaker 1: into Sofia's waiting arms. The worries appear as tiny black clouds,
00:07:05
Speaker 1: each one a little more grumbly and gloomy than the
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Speaker 1: last one. Worry even appears with a tiny little rumble
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Speaker 1: of thunder behind it, and Sofia takes each one and
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Speaker 1: tucks them carefully into the bag she always carries. Once
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Speaker 1: Sofia is completely sure that all the warriors have worked
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Speaker 1: their way through the pillow, she pulls the bag close
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Speaker 1: to her chest and slips out from beneath the pillow.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: Sofia heads to the window of Sierra's bedroom, and, lifting
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Speaker 1: her colorful skirts, very carefully, steps across the window ledge
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Speaker 1: and out onto the railings. There are pots of bright
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Speaker 1: red flowers hanging from the railings, and their scent fills
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Speaker 1: the sky. Sophia looks up to the stars twinkling above
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Speaker 1: and sits herself down to wait for her ride for
00:08:10
Speaker 1: the night, putting the bag of Sierra's worries next to her.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: The little clouds move around in the bag and the
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Speaker 1: rumble of thunder is sometimes heard. Sophia even sees a
00:08:27
Speaker 1: tiny flash of lightning light up the bag. At one point,
00:08:33
Speaker 1: she sits and counts the stars and breathes in the
00:08:38
Speaker 1: scent of the flowers, And just as she is wondering
00:08:43
Speaker 1: if she has time to fall asleep against the soft
00:08:47
Speaker 1: mossy pillow, she's found her ride for the evening arrives.
00:08:53
Speaker 1: A barn owl sweeps through the skies, white wings and
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Speaker 1: white face bright against the black of the night sky.
00:09:04
Speaker 1: Sofia sees dozens of other warry dolls already nestled on
00:09:09
Speaker 1: the barn how's back, tucked into his feathers, and with
00:09:13
Speaker 1: their bags kept close to their sides. She climbs aboard
00:09:19
Speaker 1: and says hello to everyone there, settling down beside her
00:09:24
Speaker 1: friend Angela, who comes from the house next door and
00:09:29
Speaker 1: every evening carries the worries of a little boy named Sebastian.
00:09:36
Speaker 1: Angela's bag is nearly empty tonight, Sofia notices, and she
00:09:42
Speaker 1: smiles to herself, glad that Sebastian has few worries to
00:09:47
Speaker 1: share today. If she wanted Sofia could of course look
00:09:54
Speaker 1: into the bag and take each worry out and ask
00:09:59
Speaker 1: it what it was. But this isn't important for her.
00:10:04
Speaker 1: Warrior doors aren't there to decide how important to worry
00:10:07
Speaker 1: may or may not be, or to compare the warriors
00:10:11
Speaker 1: with those of anyone else. They're just there to take
00:10:15
Speaker 1: them away, in this case, on the back of a
00:10:19
Speaker 1: barn owl. The owl flies silently through the night, swooping
00:10:25
Speaker 1: towards window sills and doorsteps and rooftops and flower pots
00:10:31
Speaker 1: and all the places where warry doors sit and wait
00:10:35
Speaker 1: with their bags of dark, cloudy warriors. When he has
00:10:41
Speaker 1: gathered the entire neighborhood of dolls, he heads off towards
00:10:46
Speaker 1: the mountains in the distance. The mountains are deep purple
00:10:52
Speaker 1: against the black of the night sky. A small stream
00:10:57
Speaker 1: starts at the top and runs its way down the side,
00:11:02
Speaker 1: cascading down in waterfalls and parts that rush, and parts
00:11:07
Speaker 1: where it slows so much it seems to stop moving altogether.
00:11:15
Speaker 1: During the day, people visit the mountain and walk up
00:11:19
Speaker 1: the path that winds around and around, crossing the stream
00:11:25
Speaker 1: five times with the help of little wooden bridges before
00:11:30
Speaker 1: they reach the very top. From the top of the mountain,
00:11:36
Speaker 1: the people feel as if they're looking out on the
00:11:40
Speaker 1: rest of the world. More mountains stretch off into the distance,
00:11:47
Speaker 1: some covered in trees and others in heathers, and others
00:11:53
Speaker 1: in rocks that scatter this way, and that what nobody
00:11:59
Speaker 1: has ever noticed, because they have no idea it is.
00:12:03
Speaker 1: There is a very small door by the side of
00:12:08
Speaker 1: one of these five bridges. It's only a few inches
00:12:12
Speaker 1: high and looks exactly as if it should be there,
00:12:18
Speaker 1: just a bit of bark that's fallen from a tree sometime.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: But the owl lands as close to the door as
00:12:26
Speaker 1: he can in a clearing made just for this purpose,
00:12:31
Speaker 1: and the warry doors take it in turns to slide,
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Speaker 1: one by one off his wings and down to the ground.
00:12:40
Speaker 1: Each carefully holds their bags, being sure not to let
00:12:46
Speaker 1: any of the black clouds and thunderclaps and lightning strikes
00:12:51
Speaker 1: fall out, and they head towards the tiny door, checking
00:12:57
Speaker 1: that nobody's around to see them. The door leads to
00:13:02
Speaker 1: a passageway that is lined with twinkling fairy lights. Sofia
00:13:08
Speaker 1: joins the line of warried dolls walking down the passageway,
00:13:12
Speaker 1: listening to the voices in the distance that grow louder
00:13:17
Speaker 1: and louder as she disappears. Further into the heart of
00:13:21
Speaker 1: the mountain. She walks slowly, as do all the warrior dolls.
00:13:30
Speaker 1: These are the dolls that may carry the warriors of
00:13:33
Speaker 1: the world, but they have none of their own. There
00:13:39
Speaker 1: is no rush to be somewhere, and so they take
00:13:43
Speaker 1: their time, always moving forwards, but at their own pace.
00:13:50
Speaker 1: Some dolls will pass by Sophia, and she will in
00:13:55
Speaker 1: turn pass others. None of them knows how many worries
00:14:00
Speaker 1: the others are carrying. None of them knows the weight
00:14:04
Speaker 1: of the little black clouds they have in their bags,
00:14:08
Speaker 1: and so nobody worries whether they are first or last
00:14:13
Speaker 1: to enter the great chamber inside the mountain. Sofia walks
00:14:19
Speaker 1: into the chamber and sees the other hundreds and thousands
00:14:24
Speaker 1: and millions of tiny warry dolls, each dressed in their
00:14:30
Speaker 1: skirts of different colored stripes and their hats of every
00:14:35
Speaker 1: color of the rainbow, and each carrying a bag with them.
00:14:41
Speaker 1: The chamber is softly lit and has a warm, comforting glow.
00:14:48
Speaker 1: The ceiling is so far above that it disappears into blackness.
00:14:56
Speaker 1: In the center of the chamber a rose and rows
00:15:00
Speaker 1: of tables, and Sofia approaches one that is empty putting
00:15:06
Speaker 1: her bag down and looking at the doll who stands
00:15:09
Speaker 1: on the other side. This doll is a little different
00:15:14
Speaker 1: to Sofia, for she is dressed all in silver and gold,
00:15:19
Speaker 1: and she sparkles and shimmers with every move she makes.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: She smiles across at Sofia as she reaches into the bag,
00:15:31
Speaker 1: then pulls out the first worry, the little black cloud,
00:15:37
Speaker 1: rumbling and twisting and turning in her hands. The doll
00:15:44
Speaker 1: holds it close to her chest and begins to rock
00:15:49
Speaker 1: back and forth, back and forth, just the way a
00:15:54
Speaker 1: mother would rock a restless baby to help them sleep. Slowly, slowly,
00:16:04
Speaker 1: the little black cloud stops its rumbling and twisting and turning,
00:16:10
Speaker 1: and it settles down. Then, slowly, slowly, the little black
00:16:18
Speaker 1: cloud begins to change shape as the doll in the
00:16:22
Speaker 1: silver and gold and sparkling and shimmering dress continues to
00:16:28
Speaker 1: rock it gently from side to side. It takes a
00:16:33
Speaker 1: few minutes for the transformation to happen, and by the
00:16:37
Speaker 1: time it's finished, the worry has been turned into a glorious,
00:16:43
Speaker 1: gorgeous red rose. Even though she's seen this happen a
00:16:48
Speaker 1: thousand times before, Sofia still holds her breath for a moment,
00:16:55
Speaker 1: amazed by what she's seen, The doll in silver and
00:17:00
Speaker 1: gold gently places the rose on the table and reaches
00:17:05
Speaker 1: into the bag for another worry, doing the same thing
00:17:10
Speaker 1: as before, rocking it slowly from side to side as
00:17:16
Speaker 1: it slowly transforms from an angry little black cloud that
00:17:22
Speaker 1: fights and fidgets and becomes a beautiful white lily. By
00:17:30
Speaker 1: the time she has finished transforming all of the worries,
00:17:35
Speaker 1: Sophia is left with a bouquet of flowers on the table,
00:17:41
Speaker 1: with roses and lilies and complicated passion fruit flowers and
00:17:48
Speaker 1: delicate daisies and fluffy dandelions all around Sofia, The tables
00:17:57
Speaker 1: are filled with flowers and leaves and buds and petals.
00:18:04
Speaker 1: As the dolls dressed in silver and gold finish working
00:18:08
Speaker 1: their magic, the warry doors gather up their flowers and
00:18:14
Speaker 1: put them carefully back into their bags. Sophia waits for
00:18:21
Speaker 1: Sebastian's worries to be transformed for her friend Angela, and
00:18:27
Speaker 1: together they head back towards the passageway that leads to
00:18:32
Speaker 1: the outside world. Soft music plays as they walk along
00:18:38
Speaker 1: beside the twinkling fairy lights, the sort of music that
00:18:44
Speaker 1: makes you think of the moon and the stars, and
00:18:48
Speaker 1: the two warrior dolls walk hand in hand towards the
00:18:52
Speaker 1: little door that looks like nothing more than a broken
00:18:57
Speaker 1: piece of bark, and the bar now who's been waiting
00:19:01
Speaker 1: for them to return. Sofia climbs carefully onto the owl's back,
00:19:09
Speaker 1: watching the wings filled with other warry doors who carry
00:19:13
Speaker 1: bags bulging with flowers. And they fly off into the night,
00:19:20
Speaker 1: leaving behind the purple mountain and the stream that pours
00:19:25
Speaker 1: down the side, and the path that winds around and around,
00:19:31
Speaker 1: and the views from the top that seem to look
00:19:35
Speaker 1: out on the rest of the world. The owl lands
00:19:40
Speaker 1: in a garden, and Sofia climbs down, wondering here and
00:19:46
Speaker 1: there as she chooses places to put her flowers. Many
00:19:51
Speaker 1: of the warry doors have fluffy dandelions tonight, and they
00:19:56
Speaker 1: walk together towards the field it with the little white
00:20:02
Speaker 1: clouds that will twinkle with dew when the sun rises
00:20:06
Speaker 1: in the morning. These are the fields that are filled
00:20:11
Speaker 1: with worries that are no longer. These are the fields
00:20:18
Speaker 1: where people can come and pick a fluffy dandelion and
00:20:23
Speaker 1: blow the little seeds off into the wind, really sing
00:20:28
Speaker 1: all that magic to float away across the world. The
00:20:35
Speaker 1: daisies are all placed together, too, waiting for people to
00:20:40
Speaker 1: come along and make daisy chains to wrap around their hair,
00:20:45
Speaker 1: and necklaces to hang around their necks, and bracelets to
00:20:51
Speaker 1: tie around their wrists. Sofiar is careful with the rose,
00:20:57
Speaker 1: brushing the petals gently they form the perfect shape. Wondering
00:21:04
Speaker 1: if this beautiful rose will be chosen by someone making
00:21:09
Speaker 1: a bouquet of flowers for a bride. She smiles as
00:21:14
Speaker 1: she thinks how wonderful it is that nobody knows, nobody
00:21:20
Speaker 1: really knows that so many of the flowers in the
00:21:24
Speaker 1: world of the leaves on the trees, of the petals
00:21:30
Speaker 1: and buds and stems and stalks all come from the
00:21:35
Speaker 1: warriors that have been magically taken away by her and
00:21:40
Speaker 1: the other warry doors. And finally her bag is empty,
00:21:47
Speaker 1: and it's time to return to Sierra's home. Sofia sits
00:21:53
Speaker 1: for a moment on the window sill. After the owl
00:21:57
Speaker 1: flies away is brought lord wings sweeping gently up and
00:22:03
Speaker 1: down through the black of the night. Sophia looks up
00:22:09
Speaker 1: at the stars and breathes in the air, still sweetened
00:22:14
Speaker 1: by the red flowers at her feet. Finally, while the
00:22:20
Speaker 1: sky is still dark and before it becomes that deep
00:22:25
Speaker 1: blue that it will be just before the dawn, Sofia
00:22:30
Speaker 1: goes back into Sierra's room and tiptoes across to the pillow.
00:22:38
Speaker 1: She slides her way into the soft, cool space beneath
00:22:42
Speaker 1: it and listens to the little girl's breathing. Sierra has
00:22:50
Speaker 1: turned on her back now, but Arthur the teddy bear
00:22:55
Speaker 1: is still held to her side. Sophia curls up to
00:23:01
Speaker 1: using her bag as a pillow as she settles down
00:23:04
Speaker 1: to sleep. Sierra, as with most people in the world,
00:23:11
Speaker 1: has never stopped to wonder how it is possible that
00:23:16
Speaker 1: she can go to sleep with worries racing through her
00:23:20
Speaker 1: mind and wake up to find them quite disappeared. She
00:23:26
Speaker 1: has never stopped to wonder if she is actually involved
00:23:31
Speaker 1: in the world's greatest magic trick every single night. She
00:23:39
Speaker 1: has never noticed the little black clouds slipping their way
00:23:44
Speaker 1: from her mind and through her pillow to be gathered
00:23:48
Speaker 1: by a waiting dog dressed in a skirt of red
00:23:52
Speaker 1: and blue and green and yellow. And she has no
00:23:59
Speaker 1: idea that the flowers by her window sill were each
00:24:05
Speaker 1: once upon a time a worry that was spirited away
00:24:10
Speaker 1: on the back of an owl to a purple mountain,
00:24:14
Speaker 1: where it was hugged and soothed and calmed by a
00:24:19
Speaker 1: dog in silver and gold. Sierra has no idea that
00:24:27
Speaker 1: the next day, when she will head into the nearby
00:24:31
Speaker 1: field with her friends, and when she leans down and
00:24:37
Speaker 1: pulls a fluffy dandelion into her hand, that when she
00:24:42
Speaker 1: blows the seeds and watches them drift and float on
00:24:47
Speaker 1: the breeze, that she is releasing some magic into the world.
00:24:56
Speaker 1: Just as you will never see a worry as a
00:24:59
Speaker 1: little black cloud rumbling and grumbling, you will probably never
00:25:06
Speaker 1: see a worry doll in her colorful skirt, holding her
00:25:10
Speaker 1: bag and disappearing on the back of an hour. But
00:25:17
Speaker 1: just because you can't see something doesn't make it impossible.
00:25:24
Speaker 1: Magicians do it all the time. After all, they make
00:25:29
Speaker 1: something happen even when you're standing right there, looking and
00:25:36
Speaker 1: watching and trying to see what they're doing. Worried doors
00:25:43
Speaker 1: are a magic trick that you are taking part in
00:25:47
Speaker 1: every single night when you curl up in bed and
00:25:52
Speaker 1: fall asleep and pour your worries into your pillow. They
00:26:00
Speaker 1: are part of the world's way of saying you are
00:26:04
Speaker 1: being looked after, and you are safe, and you are loved.
00:26:12
Speaker 1: They are as real as the stars in the sky
00:26:16
Speaker 1: and the dreams in your heart. When you see a
00:26:22
Speaker 1: flower growing where it seems impossible for a flower to be,
00:26:28
Speaker 1: you will know that magic is out there.