The Sleeping Almanac: Sleep Stories for Adults from Myth and Fairy Tale

The Sleeping Almanac · Sleep Stories from Myth and Fairy Tale

The Sleeping Almanac retells the world's oldest stories, myths, lost civilizations, and forgotten cosmologies, in slow, calm narration designed to be listened to as you fall asleep. Each episode is researched, written, and narrated to drift over you rather than demand your attention. The pacing is slow. The music never spikes. The goal is the opposite of keeping you awake. Each season moves through a different story tradition. Norse mythology, Egyptian myth, the great fairy tales from Cinderella to The Little Mermaid, the tales of 1001 Nights, and now Season Four, Homer's Odyssey. New episodes several times a week, every one of them three hours long. The almanac is now a book. Norse Myths Retold for Sleep gathers twelve of the oldest stories, retold to be read in a low lamp until the page slips from your hand. On Kindle now, free with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX2WLVPD This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

  1. 1d ago

    Mulan · The Original Ballad · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep

    A slow, calm 3 hour storybook sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Tonight the storyteller opens the old book to the Ballad of Mulan, the short poem from the Northern Wei dynasty that began the whole legend, told long and slow. A daughter at her loom hears the army lists calling her father's name, so she buys a horse at one market, a saddle at another, a bridle at a third, a long whip at the fourth, and rides north in his place. Twelve years she serves, and her comrades never know. When the emperor offers her any reward she can name, she asks only for a swift horse home, and the ballad closes with its famous gentle riddle, two hares running side by side through the grass. Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. There is a war at the far edges of it, but it stays at the edges; the story keeps its eyes on the loom, the river, the mountain road, and the long ride home. There is nothing here to fear. You do not have to watch. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning. Episode 9 of 12 · The Storybook Season Where this sits: Part 9 of 12 in The Storybook Season, one storyteller, one lantern, and one complete famous tale each night, each told from its original source. Tonight, the daughter who rode twelve years in her father's place. Every episode stands on its own, and any night is a fine night to begin. Chapters:0:00 Welcome3:20 The Loom That Faced the Door8:57 Twelve Scrolls of Paper15:51 The Four Markets26:19 The Yellow River Nights34:56 The Horses of the Black Mountain41:55 Ten Thousand Miles Like Flying50:39 Twelve Winters, Twelve Springs58:30 The Hall of Light1:04:54 The Road Home1:12:39 The Dress by the Window1:20:19 The Two Hares1:27:58 Goodnight. And the Lamp at the Edge of Morning Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: add the link after the YouTube upload.New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 🕯 Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com📜 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com🕊 Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel🎙 David's interview podcast, Conversations That Count: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC🎧 Also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J6lZ10GvK07qCv3aQxnkR and Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/conversations-that-count-a31f16a6-3131-4c8f-982f-19d52407e8eb/id1890348796 This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

    Mulan · The Original Ballad · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep
  2. 3d ago

    The Odyssey · The Gathering of the War · The Untold Story Before Troy · 3 Hour Sleep Story

    A slow, calm 3 hour Greek mythology sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Everyone knows the ten years at Troy. Tonight is the story just before it, the half forgotten season when the war was still only a rumor crossing the water. A king plows his own field with salt to escape an oath he invented himself, and loses the one contest of wits he ever plainly lost. A goddess hides her son, the greatest warrior the world will ever know, in the last place anyone would think to look, among a king's daughters, in a borrowed dress. A peddler comes ashore with silks and a single spear, and one horn note undoes all the hiding in a heartbeat. And at the end, in one small bay, a thousand ships gather and wait for nothing in the world but a wind. This is Part 2 of 2. If you have not yet heard how Odysseus himself came to be, that story, The Making of Odysseus, is on this channel too. Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. A war is coming for these men, but it stays far off all night, on the far side of the sea. Not one sword is raised in this telling. There are only farewells, disguises, clever men being clever, and ships gathering on quiet water. You do not have to watch. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning. A Sleeping Almanac special · Part 2 of 2 · The full Odyssey season continues on this channel Chapters (real times, computed from the build audio, see status note above)0:00 Welcome7:06 Chapter One: The Sail with No Business There16:41 Chapter Two: The Warning of Twenty Years23:54 Chapter Three: The King Who Sowed Salt34:31 Chapter Four: The Leaving of Ithaca45:25 Chapter Five: The Boy with Two Fates53:36 Chapter Six: The Island of Hidden Things1:01:43 Chapter Seven: The Peddler at the Door1:11:08 Chapter Eight: The Horn and the Spear1:20:54 Chapter Nine: The Bay of a Thousand Fires1:29:43 Chapter Ten: The Counting of the Ships1:44:45 Chapter Eleven: The Last Night at Aulis1:50:09 Chapter Twelve: Goodnight. And the Sails Going Out at Dawn 🕯 Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com📜 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com🕊 Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel This is a bedtime story for adults, made for sleep, insomnia, relaxation, and quiet nights when the mind will not switch off. Drawn from Homer's Iliad, including the Catalogue of Ships, Apollodorus' Bibliotheca, Hyginus' Fabulae, and the summary of the lost Cypria. These are retellings. Where the old stories turn toward fear or cruelty, we turn gently toward comfort, choosing the telling that serves a calm night. New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 6pm ET. This channel uses AI tools (script research, narration, visuals) under the direction of a human editor. Every episode is researched, reviewed, and revised before publication. Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v1sADE-DYKgNew episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 6pm ET. 🎙 David's interview podcast, Conversations That Count: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC🎧 Also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J6lZ10GvK07qCv3aQxnkR and Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1890348796 #SleepStory #TheOdyssey #GreekMythology #Odysseus

  3. 3d ago

    Robin Hood · The Original Legend · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep

    A slow, calm 3 hour storybook sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Tonight the storyteller opens the old book to Robin Hood, from the oldest ballads and the Gest of Robyn Hode, the greenwood as it always was. A tall stranger met on a narrow bridge with a quarterstaff, a friar who carries an outlaw across a river and back again, a golden arrow won in plain sight, a poor knight lent four hundred pounds and his dignity with it, and a king who comes to the greenwood to see for himself. Sherwood at dusk is one of the calmest places any story has ever kept. Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. There are arrows in it, but they are aimed only at willow wands and targets, and nobody in the greenwood goes to sleep hungry or afraid. There is nothing here to fear. You do not have to watch. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning. Episode 8 of 12 · The Storybook Season Where this sits: Part 8 of 12 in The Storybook Season, one storyteller, one lantern, and one complete famous tale each night, each told from its original source. Tonight, the greenwood and its gentleman outlaw. Every episode stands on its own, and any night is a fine night to begin. Chapters:0:00 Welcome2:28 The Greenwood10:04 The Stranger on the Bridge18:54 The Miller's Son and the Man in Scarlet26:34 The Knight at Dinner34:24 Four Hundred Pounds44:04 The Friar at the River51:07 The Golden Arrow56:03 The Splitting of the Wand1:03:08 The King Comes to the Greenwood1:09:28 Lincoln Green1:16:52 The Turning of the Year1:25:47 Goodnight. And the Lamp at the Edge of Morning Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: add the link after the YouTube upload.New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 🕯 Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com📜 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com🕊 Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel🎙 David's interview podcast, Conversations That Count: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC🎧 Also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J6lZ10GvK07qCv3aQxnkR and Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/conversations-that-count-a31f16a6-3131-4c8f-982f-19d52407e8eb/id1890348796 This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

    Robin Hood · The Original Legend · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep
  4. 5d ago

    Sleeping Beauty · The Original Fairy Tale · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep

    A slow, calm 3 hour fairy tale sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Tonight the storyteller opens the old book to Sleeping Beauty the old way, from Perrault and from the Grimms' Briar Rose. A wish granted by the water, gifts spoken over a golden cradle, one spindle left in a high tower room, and then the enchantment the tale is named for: the whole castle falls asleep together, the cooks and the horses and the doves and the fire on the hearth, and a hedge of briars rises to guard the quiet. A hundred years pass in that stillness, and when the time is finally right, the hedge blooms and opens all by itself. Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. The spindle does its small work early, and after that the entire story is one long, protected sleep, which is rather the point. There is nothing here to fear. You do not have to watch. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning. Episode 7 of 12 · The Storybook Season Where this sits: Part 7 of 12 in The Storybook Season, one storyteller, one lantern, and one complete famous tale each night, each told from its original source. Tonight, the castle that slept for a hundred years. Every episode stands on its own, and any night is a fine night to begin. Chapters:0:00 Welcome2:38 The Wish by the Water8:02 The Feast of the Golden Plates15:24 The Gifts of the Wise Women22:14 The Thirteenth Wish, and the Twelfth27:15 The Kingdom Without Spindles33:46 The Tower Room41:05 The Castle Falls Asleep50:48 The Hedge of Briars59:16 A Hundred Years of Quiet1:06:48 The Hedge in Bloom1:16:15 The Waking House1:28:25 Goodnight. And the Lamp at the Edge of Morning Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: add the link after the YouTube upload.New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 🕯 Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com📜 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com🕊 Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel🎙 David's interview podcast, Conversations That Count: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC🎧 Also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J6lZ10GvK07qCv3aQxnkR and Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/conversations-that-count-a31f16a6-3131-4c8f-982f-19d52407e8eb/id1890348796 This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

    Sleeping Beauty · The Original Fairy Tale · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep
  5. Aug 13

    Alice in Wonderland · The Original Story · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep

    A slow, calm 3 hour fairy tale sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Tonight the storyteller opens the old book to Alice in Wonderland, as Lewis Carroll first told it in 1865. A golden afternoon on a riverbank, a white rabbit with a waistcoat pocket and a watch inside it, a fall so long and slow it feels like floating, and a tea table where the dormouse sleeps peacefully through everything. The whole adventure is a dream from its first page to its last, which makes it the safest adventure there is, and at the end the dreamer simply wakes on the same warm bank, with her head in her sister's lap. Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. It is all a dream on a riverbank, and the story knows it, so nothing in it can follow you anywhere except into sleep. There is nothing here to fear. You do not have to watch. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning. Episode 6 of 12 · The Storybook Season Where this sits: Part 6 of 12 in The Storybook Season, one storyteller, one lantern, and one complete famous tale each night, each told from its original source. Tonight, a dream on a riverbank. Every episode stands on its own, and any night is a fine night to begin. Chapters:0:00 Welcome2:50 A Golden Afternoon, and a White Rabbit with a Watch9:53 The Little Golden Key19:06 The Pool of Tears and the Caucus Race35:22 The Rabbit Sends in Little Bill48:36 Advice from a Caterpillar1:01:08 Pepper, a Pig, and a Grin Without a Cat1:17:04 The Maddest Tea Party in All the World1:33:35 Painting the Roses Red1:50:06 The Mock Turtle's Story2:06:27 The Lobster Quadrille, and Who Stole the Tarts2:25:46 Alice's Evidence, and a Pack of Cards2:38:04 Goodnight. And the Lamp at the Edge of Morning Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: add the link after the YouTube upload.New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 🕯 Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com📜 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com🕊 Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel🎙 David's interview podcast, Conversations That Count: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC🎧 Also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J6lZ10GvK07qCv3aQxnkR and Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/conversations-that-count-a31f16a6-3131-4c8f-982f-19d52407e8eb/id1890348796 This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

    Alice in Wonderland · The Original Story · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep
  6. Aug 11

    Peter Pan · The Original Story · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep

    A slow, calm 3 hour fairy tale sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Tonight the storyteller opens the old book to Peter Pan, as J. M. Barrie wrote him in 1911. A nursery at number fourteen, a large gentle dog for a nurse, a boy who comes back for his lost shadow, and directions no map has ever improved: second star to the right, and straight on till morning. There are mermaids in a lagoon, a patient Never bird on her floating nest, a little house built around a sleeping girl, and a window kept open at the end, because some windows always are. Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. There is a pirate in it, but tonight he is more pocket watch than menace, and the nursery window stays open the whole time. There is nothing here to fear. You do not have to watch. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning. Episode 5 of 12 · The Storybook Season Where this sits: Part 5 of 12 in The Storybook Season, one storyteller, one lantern, and one complete famous tale each night, each told from its original source. Tonight, the boy who would not grow up. Every episode stands on its own, and any night is a fine night to begin. Chapters:0:00 Welcome2:40 The Nursery at Number Fourteen16:38 The Boy Who Came for His Shadow37:09 Second Star to the Right46:55 The Island That Woke59:47 The Little House1:09:52 The Home Under the Ground1:20:30 The Mermaids' Lagoon1:33:10 The Never Bird1:40:12 Wendy's Story1:47:56 The Gentleman and the Clock1:57:28 The Window Left Open2:04:58 Goodnight. And the Lamp at the Edge of Morning Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: add the link after the YouTube upload.New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 🕯 Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com📜 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com🕊 Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel🎙 David's interview podcast, Conversations That Count: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC🎧 Also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J6lZ10GvK07qCv3aQxnkR and Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/conversations-that-count-a31f16a6-3131-4c8f-982f-19d52407e8eb/id1890348796 This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

    Peter Pan · The Original Story · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep
  7. Aug 9

    Cinderella · The Original Fairy Tale · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep

    A slow, calm 3 hour fairy tale sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Tonight the storyteller opens the old book to Cinderella, exactly as Charles Perrault first set it down in 1697. A pumpkin hollowed out by a godmother's hand, six mice turned to six grey horses, a whiskered rat for a coachman, six lizards for footmen, and not one ball but two. The slipper is glass, it fits in front of everyone, and the story ends not in punishment but in forgiveness, with places found at court for both sisters. Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. There are unkind sisters in it, but the unkindness stays quiet, and the ending forgives them, which is how Perrault himself chose to close it. There is nothing here to fear. You do not have to watch. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning. Episode 4 of 12 · The Storybook Season Where this sits: Part 4 of 12 in The Storybook Season, one storyteller, one lantern, and one complete famous tale each night, each told from its original source. Tonight, the slipper of glass and the kindness at the end. Every episode stands on its own, and any night is a fine night to begin. Chapters:0:00 Welcome3:07 The House with the Cold Hearths9:01 Cinders, and the Two Names15:50 An Invitation Sealed in Red Wax23:33 Dressing the Sisters30:14 The Godmother in the Garden36:46 Six Mice, Three Rats, and Six Lizards46:26 The First Ball55:21 The Day Between1:04:33 The Stroke of Twelve1:11:41 The Slipper Tried Through the City1:16:59 Forgiveness, and Two Places at Court1:23:04 Goodnight. And the Lamp at the Edge of Morning Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: add the link after the YouTube upload.New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 🕯 Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com📜 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com🕊 Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel🎙 David's interview podcast, Conversations That Count: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC🎧 Also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J6lZ10GvK07qCv3aQxnkR and Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/conversations-that-count-a31f16a6-3131-4c8f-982f-19d52407e8eb/id1890348796 This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

    Cinderella · The Original Fairy Tale · 3 Hour Sleep Story to Fall Asleep

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

The Sleeping Almanac retells the world's oldest stories, myths, lost civilizations, and forgotten cosmologies, in slow, calm narration designed to be listened to as you fall asleep. Each episode is researched, written, and narrated to drift over you rather than demand your attention. The pacing is slow. The music never spikes. The goal is the opposite of keeping you awake. Each season moves through a different story tradition. Norse mythology, Egyptian myth, the great fairy tales from Cinderella to The Little Mermaid, the tales of 1001 Nights, and now Season Four, Homer's Odyssey. New episodes several times a week, every one of them three hours long. The almanac is now a book. Norse Myths Retold for Sleep gathers twelve of the oldest stories, retold to be read in a low lamp until the page slips from your hand. On Kindle now, free with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX2WLVPD This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.

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