The Best Bedtime Story Ever, Seriously! 😴 💤 Sleepy Bedtime Story For Kids

Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original bedtime stories and sleep meditations for kids designed to make bedtime dream. We are shouting out our lovely Australian contingent today. It seems we've got three of you, well more than three, but you're all in Australia. We've got A.D. in Tuwamba in Queensland, Trinity in Perth and Olly Hayes or Enziggy in Sydney. So good day, good day, good day. As little Kevin would say and welcome to the Coco Club, where you can see Coco, you can see Kira, you can see the grandparents, we're all here. Lovely to have you. Thank you for joining us for the year and enjoy all of your extra stories now. To add free listening, don't forget to hit follow that way you're going to hear all of the episodes as soon as they come out. Okay, tonight's bedtime story is a goodie. I can't wait for it. It might possibly be the best bedtime story ever. I'll leave that up to you. But we're going to meet Milo and Millie, who are wide awake, bursting with energy and imagination when bedtime arrives. And as they snuggle down, their mum begins a story from her own childhood. Just a story filled with wonder, gentle magic and a place that may not be quite as imaginable as it seems. Are you ready to listen? Okay, lie down in bed. Give your arms and your legs a nice little shuffle and a wiggle. Maybe just wiggle those toes and the fingers. Have a nice deep breath in. Sigh, sigh it out. That's it. A little bit more comfy. And we're ready to go. Before we begin, a quick message for the grownups. If you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy at-free listening, unlock four bonus stories per month and much, much more you can join Coco Club. Subscribe in just two taps via the link in the show notes. But now, here's a quick word from our sponsors. Gownups, just a quick note before we begin tonight's bedtime story. Sleep Awareness Week is coming to an end, and so is the chance to claim our 30-day free trial of Coco Club. If smoother bed times have been on your mind, this is your last chance to try the very best of Koala Moon, free for a whole month. Inside Coco Club, you'll unlock over 500 episodes, all totally out-free, including the entire Capi and Tito series, exclusive to premium subscribers. And without free listening, that means uninterrupted, calm, steady storytelling from start to finish. If you choose the Koala Kids bundle, you'll also have full access to Koala Shine, Koala Tots and Koala Sleep Sounds, everything designed to help your evenings and afternoons feel more settled and consistent. 30 Days gives you plenty of time to explore, find the stories your little ones ask for again and again, and see just how peaceful bedtime can feel. And if you choose to join as a yearly member, you can request a personal shout out from me in an upcoming episode, a small thank you for me to you. The free trial offer ends on March 16th, so if you'd like to join us, simply tap Try Free in Apple Podcasts, or use the link in our show notes before it disappears. See you there. This is The Best Bedtime Story Ever, seriously by Luke Prendergast. Milo and Millie are so busy building imaginary castles in the air that they don't hear the knock on the door, and the creek as it swings open, or notice their mother's head poke around the frame. And the castle, Milo declares, has hundreds of towering turrets. Oh yes, says Millie. I can see it now. And she can. The castle hovers in the air between them, with its thousands of winding, stony turrets, all culminating in pointed roofs, as though it is really there and not just in their imaginations. Millie lunges for a fluffy tiger that lies at the tip top of their mound of plushy soft toys. And they're at tigers, she announces holding the toy in the air. There are Milo agrees, imagining tigers stalking around the castle grounds. He can see them now, pacing alongside the high walls. And Lions too? Millie adds. Yes, says Milo. And Lions. And also a flamingo. Millie blinks. She frowns at him quizzically. A flamingo, she asks. A flamingo in the castle. Yes, says Milo nodding his head. The flamingo was migrating across the world from the lake where she lives in Kenya, and she went through a magical hole in the sky and ended up in another world where she found the castle. And made friends with the Lions and tigers, so now she lives in the moat. Oh, right, says Millie, giving a nod. Yes, that makes sense. And now she looks at the imaginary castle, shimmering in the air, and sees that there is indeed a bright pink flamingo standing on one leg in the castle's crystal blue moat. The flamingo spots her looking, raises a thickly feathered wing and waves. Millie waves back. Oh, she thinks to herself. Isn't the imagination the most wonderful thing imaginable? Right, says their mom. Come on you two, time for bed. And just like that, the spell is broken. The castle floating in the air gives a little wobble and disappears. The room goes back to normal. It's just their plain old bedroom with the desk and the bunk bed and the lava lamp gloping bright red bubbles. No, mom! Milo says we're not ready for bed. But it's already past your bedtime, the mom insists. But we've got too much energy. Millie says we're full of beans and our imaginations are roaring like lions. We were building castles in the air. Please can we carry on playing for a little while? Please. Their mom gives Millie a smile and shakes her head. No, she says school in the morning, enough playing, come on. Look, we're not sleepy, Millie says. Will you at least agree to tell us a bedtime story, Milo begs? Their mom looks at them one after the other. On her face is the expression she wears when she's thinking something through very carefully. Milo and Millie watch silently full of anticipation. OK, their mom says at last. I will tell you a bedtime story. As long as you're in bed in five seconds flat, deal? Deal. Milo and Millie sing in unison. Their mom starts the countdown. Five, four, three. But she can't even get to two before the two of them are already in bed. Millie in the top bunk, Milo down below, with their covers pulled up to their chins and big grins on their faces. Wow, their mom says, you guys must really want a story. She switches off the main light so that it's only the lava lamps red light and the golden glow of the bedside lamp illuminating the bedroom. She takes a seat at the end of the mattress and tucks a cushion behind her back, settling down and getting comfy. Now she says, I think I've got a pretty special story for you tonight. I think it might just be the best bedtime story ever. Seriously, Milo asks a little frown of skepticism appearing on his face. Seriously, his mom replies. It's a story from my own childhood from when I was just a little girl and I've never told it to anyone before because I've never thought that anyone would believe me. But I'm telling it to you now because I think the two of you will, because you've both got such big imaginations that you'll be able to see that even though it's pretty fantastical, every word of the story is true. So settle down and get comfy, okay? Milo and Millie nod. They are excited now. They can't wait to hear the story. And so their mom lowers her voice to the gentle irresistible whisper she uses when storytelling and begins. Once upon a time, she says, when I was a little girl, I lived in a little village called Lower Stari Skies. It was a very cozy, a very pretty village with chocolate box cottages and winding lanes and golden fields of wheat and woodlands. I love to play in the garden or go with my mom down to the babbling brook and watch the silver fish flash their bellies at the moon. Lower Stari Skies might have looked like an ordinary sleepy village but the very air seemed to tingle with the possibility of magic. From time to time, out to the corner of my eye, I would think I'd seen some wondrous being, a fairy or a pixie or a waddling gnome. But when I'd looked straight at it, it wouldn't be there. Still it made me feel as though something enchanted was always just around the corner, waiting for me. And evening when I was around your age, oh, I must have been about six or seven. I was playing in the field beside our house, right on the edge of the village, when I saw a most peculiar sight. Across the field I spotted a golden retriever and a squirrel, walking together and talking. Yes, that's right, a dog and a squirrel, walking and talking. Well, as you can imagine, I was rather surprised. You don't expect to see a dog and a squirrel walking along merrily together. It'd be more likely to see a dog chasing a squirrel across the park, and the squirrel clambering nifty up the trunk of a tree. And if you did see a dog and a squirrel walking together, you'd not expect to hear them talking and to understand every word. But I did. I understood everything they were saying, as though it had been two humans who had their heads tipped together in conversation. They were talking about a place called Sleepy Forest, somewhere I'd never heard of before. And the squirrel was telling the golden retriever that on that very evening in this Sleepy Forest place, the koalamune was due to sing a very special lullaby. Of course, I had no idea what a koalamune was, but I can vividly remember the glimmer of excitement in the dog's eyes when the squirrel told him that. By that time they were getting close to me, so I crouched down in the long grass so that I wouldn't be spotted. I watched as they passed me by and began to make their way along the side of a thick, green hedge running up the edge of the field. And for a few seconds I thought I would just let them disappear, but then my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to hear more of what they were talking about. I wanted to learn more about Sleepy Forest and the mysterious koalamune. So I crept quietly through the grass, tipped down so as not to unwittingly crunch a leaf or snap a twig. I didn't want them to know I was following them. I could hear small fragments of their conversation, just loose words carried on the breeze, but in order to hear properly I needed to get closer to them. I picked up my pace. When all of a sudden the golden retriever and the fluffy silver squirrel turned and disappeared into the hedge. When I got to where they had vanished I discovered that in the hedge there was a hole, a perfectly circular hole. And then, when I peered through the hole, I saw that the hedge went back much further than would have ever seemed possible. Back so far that all I could see at the end of the tunnel was a disc of soft light. And did I follow them through the tunnel? Well, what do you think? Of course I did. I couldn't resist. I crouched down and crawled through. The leaves of the hedge brushing against my hands and my knees and my long strands of hair. I crawled all the way through, feeling the air all around me, tingling with that familiar magic. And when I got out the other side I stood up to discover that I was in a dense pine forest, and that I wasn't alone. The golden retriever and the squirrel were there too. They'd been waiting for me. "'Hello,' said the squirrel, who I only noticed just then was wearing a sparkly golden waste coat. "'We were wondering whether you'd pluck up the courage to follow us through the hedge.' "'I never doubted you,' said the golden retriever, giving me a big grin.' "'But Sydney here wasn't so sure.' Sydney the squirrel laughed and gave a shrug. "'I guess I'm more of a skeptic than my friend Hector here,' he said. The golden retriever, Hector, told me that they had noticed me watching them back in the field in lower-stary skies, but to decide did not to let on that they knew. "'It wasn't often,' he said, that they encountered a human who could hear them speak. It suggested I had a particularly strong imagination, and I wanted to see just how strong my imagination was. "'As it turns out,' Sydney said, "'you've got a beautiful imagination. A big and bright enough imagination that it brought you through the tunnel in the hedge, and into the Koala Kingdom.' "'The Koala Kingdom,' I whispered. "'What's that?' "'Who are you?'' Hector said. The Koala Kingdom is this very place we find ourselves in now. The place just over the hedge from lower-stary skies. This part here is called Sleepy Forest, but there are mountains and rivers and jungles in the Kingdom too, and all of them are watched over by the loving Koala Moon. "'The Koala Moon,' I repeated. "'I heard you saying that the Koala Moon would sing a lullaby, but I don't know what the Koala Moon is.' Sydney gave me a friendly smile. "'How about? Instead of telling about it, we show you. How would you like to come with us on an adventure through Sleepy Forest to hear the Koala Moon sing?' I didn't have to think long before I gave him an answer. "'I'd loved to,' I said. And so we set off through the trees. Being only six or seven, I wasn't very tall back then. Next to me hector seemed more like a big friendly lion than a golden retriever. His great paws padding crisply along the autumn forest floor. Sydney glided through the trees with the agility of a gentle breeze, occasionally running up a tree trunk to pluck a ripe fruit or plump nut from a bow, which she would know more on himself or hand to one of us to eat. Sleepy forest was hushed and peaceful. The light looked while light light filtering between the tall pine trees. Soon I began to notice little homes populated by other forest creatures. A badger in a pink apron stepped out of a small bakery to wave at us. A comedian in every colour of the rainbow swam out from a grotto and said, "'What's your hector?' The trees grew denser and denser, as though bit by bit we were approaching the heart of the forest. Then we stepped out into a glade, golden leaves drifting silently from the tree tops. In the middle of the glade, nested a cozy wooden cabin. And in front of that cabin there was a young koala wearing a sunset orange backpack. "'Hello hector,' he said. "'And hello, Sydney. I wondered if you guys were ever going to turn up." "'Sorry, Coco,' hector said to the koala. We got a little bit delayed, because we found ourselves a new friend in lower-story skies.' Hector introduced me to Coco, who gave me a big hug and told me how glad he was to meet me. "'The more the merrier where adventure's concerned,' he said. "'Now come on, we need to get down to Sleepy River. It's dusk and the koala moons about to rise. We don't want to miss her lullaby.' And so the four of us, me and Hector and Sydney, and our new friend Coco, made our way through the forest paths. Other creatures were making their way towards the river too. A raccoon in a leather jacket. A bushy-tailed red squirrel carrying pompoms. Even a yeti carrying a bowl of spaghetti. As we walked, I noticed something funny. There was a little patch sewn onto Coco's orange backpack in the shape of a moon. And that moon was beginning to glow a beautiful golden colour, the colour of pale, runny honey. I pointed to the glowing moon patch and asked Coco what it was. Ah, said Coco with a smile. What that moon patch is, and how it came to be sewn onto my backpack is a long story. A story for another time. But when it glows, it means the koala moons about to rise. Which is why it's good job we made it to the river. Look, we're here. We had broken out of the tree line and found ourselves on the bank of our broad and winding river. It's clear waters flowing gently downstream. Along the waters edge, groups of magical forest creatures had gathered. Chattering gags of friends. A family of tiny dragons with long, scaly tails. They were all relaxing on the ground or lying on their backs and looking at the evening sky which was a wash with pink and orange. Come on, Coco whispered. He led us to a little wooden jetty that reached out onto the river. The jetty had multi-colored bean bags on it, and once Coco had unshouldered his backpack and plopped himself down on a blue one, the rest of us followed suit. The beans of my yellow bean bag seemed to move and reshape themselves just in order to make me as comfy as possible. Beside me Hector gave a sigh of satisfaction. Look, he said. The koala sunshine and the koala moon are passing each other by. A looped up into the sky and saw that the sun and the moon were suspended in the sky at the same time. They each had the face of a koala. The setting koala sunshine glowed dark orange. His fur rippling with dusty light. He gave a yawn. It was almost the sun's bedtime after all. The koala moon, meanwhile, looked well rested. She had lustrous golden fur and let out a soft, honey-colored glow. The very same colour as the moon patch I'd spotted on Coco's backpack. As they passed each other in the sky, the koala moon and the koala sunshine seemed to smile and wave at each other as though they were old friends. And I suppose that they must be. After all they passed each other every dawn and every dusk. And then, just like that, the koala sunshine slipped beneath the horizon, leaving the koala moon glowing in the sky. Stars like a thousand little fireflies came out to meet her. Night had fallen over the koala kingdom. Here we go, whispered Sydney. The koala moon is about to sing halalabai. I gazed up at the sky at the glowing koala moon, smiling down so lovingly. Upon all of us here, she opened her mouth, she began to sing. I remember the words, she sang about how everyone in the world is loved. Everyone in the world is cherished, you and me and everybody out there. But what I remember most of all is the feeling. As the koala moon sang halalabai, it felt like I was drifting off into the most beautiful dream. It seemed that some part of me became unloosed from my body, floated up above us, and saw all of the creatures laying out beside the glistening sleepy river. I saw the silvery forest stretch out, the slender branches of the trees, the dense leaves of the canopies. In the distance I saw snow-capped mountains that looked so soft like pillowy peaks. I saw wondrous, beautiful jungles, and down at the furthest tip of the koala kingdom, I saw the peaceful cove where the sandy shore met the lapping waves of the big blue sea. I whispered to my new friends about what had happened, how I was still lying on the wooden jetty with them but that I was also floating high above it. What part of me was the floating part, I asked? That's your imagination, Coco whispered back. The koala moon, things are bedtime lullabies, sending our bodies into peaceful sleep, and setting our imaginations free, just like in a dream. And that was what it felt like. It felt as though I was in a dream, even though I wasn't. Golden leaves twisted through the air, water trickled over rocks, an ocean of peace wrapped its soft arms around me and hugged me close. While the notes of the koala moons lullaby twinkle like raindrops all around me. I don't know how long I dozed for, but when I awoke it was the middle of the night. The koala moon was smiling high above us, watching over us, and my friends were all asleep. I whispered goodbye to them and crept back through sleepy forests the way I had come, following a trail of fireflies that lit the way to the magic tunnel. My body was happy and heavy with sleepiness. My heart was full of love. I had discovered a new world, a magical world that I always deep down knew existed. And I had met some wonderful new friends, Sydney the Squirrel, Hector the Golden Retriever, Coco the Koala. I reached the enchanted hetro and ducked down to crawl back through the hole. I came out on the other side, back beside the field on the edge of lower starry skies, with my little red brick cottage standing peacefully before me. My ease opened the door and tipped-oed inside. My parents were in the living room sitting by the fire reading their books. I went in and kissed them both on the forehead. My mother smiled softly at me. Where have you been honey? she asked. Oh, nowhere I told her, just having fun in my imagination. She smiled and nodded. She wished me good night. Good night mum, I said. I love you. I love you too sweetheart, she replied. When I slipped out of the living room climb the stairs across the landing and went into my own room. How soft my duvet was, how comforting my pillow. I had no idea quite how tired I was until I lay my head down to rest. Sleep reached out its warm and gentle arms to hold me. I yore and I stretched my limbs, I rolled over, I closed my eyes. I fell asleep and in my dreams I was beside the head-row again, crouching down low to crawl through the magical portal. I stepped into the koalik kingdom, into sleepy forest to meet my new friends. They were all there, hector and Sydney and Coco. And on each of their faces, glowed smiles bright enough to compete with the glow of the koalimune herself. We're so glad you're here, they told me. We've been waiting for you. And so I dreamed of the magical adventure I had been on that evening of starlit skies and whispering forests of cozy friends and the koalimune's peaceful lullabies. The air around me tingled as I slept, tingled with magic and possibility. Their mom's story ended, but Millie and Milo were already fast asleep. Their chests rose in gentle rhythm with their breathing and their eyelids fluttered with all the magical dreams they were having. Their mom leaned over and kissed the meets on the head, she whispered goodnight. She rose from the bed, stretched and yawned. She was rather tired herself. Quietly as a mouse, she crept over to the door and switched out the light. She shut the door gently and made her way to her own bed. Her head was full of memories, memories of wandering through sleepy forest, making friends with a golden retriever, a squirrel, even a koalabare. Oh, what a wondrous adventure she'd had. What sight she'd seen, and that was just the beginning. The wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing. The wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing. The wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing. The wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing. The wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing. The wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing. The wind was blowing, and the wind was blowing.