Listen To Sleep - Quiet Bedtime Stories & Meditations

By request, this is the first in a series of guided sleep meditations. There's no story, just a guided meditation to help you fall asleep on the nights you feel like something different. They will be bonus episodes of the podcast in addition to the weekly stories. Please let me know how you like it with an email to erik@listentosleep.com. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to ma...

A Canadian fairy tale for the Harvest Moon. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . To read this and other Canadian fairy tales, you can download them for free online at https://www.gutenberg.or...

A classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale, by request. If the podcast helps you sleep, please consider leaving a review where you listen. It really helps others find it. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listen...

An old German fairy tale complete with a prince, a maiden, an evil stepmother and of course, a fairy. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . Download the text of this public domain story for fr...

A Punjabi tale about the value of being grateful, even for life's setbacks and losses. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . Download the text of this public domain story for free online at ht...

An old French fairy tale about being careful what you wish for... For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . Download the text of this public domain story for free at https://www.gutenberg.org/eboo...

An old fairy tale about three magical dogs in celebration of National Dog Day and dedicated to my very good dog, Bodhi. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this public domain st...

A sleepy Scottish tale about a good widow and a bad fairy. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this public domain story for free at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37532 . Host...

Part two of the story of Loki and the Dwarfs in this Viking tale from the book In The Days of Giants by Abbie Farwell Brown. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this public doma...

Zoé Brown is the guest artist on this bonus episode, reading a touching French story about a miller and the secret he keeps locked away in his windmill. I'm so excited to share this story with you, because I love Zoé's storytelling. Be sure to check out her podcast called The Airing Cupboard where she tells the “extraordinary stories of ordinary people.” You can find it at https://www.theairingcup...

More trouble with Loki and the Dwarves in this Viking tale from the book In The Days of Giants by Abbie Farwell Brown. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this public domain sto...

This week's story choice was inspired by my ongoing struggles with the gophers and rabbits in my veggie garden. It's a Japanese fairy tale by Yei Theodora Osaki. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listento...

More elfin mischief this week with another Scottish fairy tale. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this public domain story for free at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37532 ....

A sleepy 13th century Icelandic tale about a man, a bear, and two kings. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this public domain story for free at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebook...

A little creepy. A little sleepy. A classic Danish tale from last October. The Amputated Arms (parts 1 & 2 strung together into a story almost an hour long, by request) by Jorgen Wilhelm Bergsoe. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a...

Skadi, a giantess, hopes to marry the Norse god Balder The Beautiful in this Viking tale from the book In The Days of Giants by Abbie Farwell Brown. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You c...

In celebration of 100,000 downloads of Listen To Sleep, we're going back to the book that started it all. It's a viking myth with some relaxing music in the background. Part two of The Magic Apples by Abbie Farwell Brown. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where y...

Anna Kohlweis, who makes music as Squalloscope, is the guest artist on this bonus episode. She gives a beautiful reading of Hans Christian Andersen's The Story Of The Year. She has been a favorite of mine since I first heard her in 2017, and she let me include her new single for you after the introduction and before the story. This episode is a little different and a real treat. I hope you love it...

In celebration of 100,000 downloads of Listen To Sleep, we're going back to the book that started it all. It's a viking myth with some relaxing music in the background. Part one of The Magic Apples by Abbie Farwell Brown. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where y...

Chapter 1 of Iola Leroy, a novel by Frances Watkins Harper. She was an abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer, one of the first African American women to be published in the United States. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you l...

In solidarity with #blacklivesmatter and to honor the life of George Floyd, this week’s story is Frederick Douglass’s classic essay, My Escape From Slavery. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep...

A Scottish tale about the consequences of not respecting a fairy's home. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this story (and other public domain classics) for free at https://ww...

Over the past few months, I reached out to some artists whose work I love and respect to ask them if they would be interested in reading to you. This bonus episode is read by Andy Fenstermaker, who makes music and poetry as Andy The Doorbum. He is full of heart and not afraid to dive into the darkness to shine a light or simply sit and wait for the sun to return. During the past few months of quar...

A sweet slice-of-life story by Willa Cather about a family in the American West at the turn of the 19th century. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podcast, please leave a review where you listen or become a patron at https://patreon.com/listentosleep . You can read this story (and other public...

Written in the style of Finnish Realism, this 19th century tale of a household transformed by modern technology is a sweet tale of simpler times. This extended episode includes the sound of crickets I recorded one evening this past summer up at my cabin. For a searchable, tagged index of all the episodes or to make a request, go to https://www.listentosleep.com . If you'd like to support the podca...