Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,
Your go-to podcast that offers you a calm and relaxing transition into a great night's sleep.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now,
And nowhere you need to go.
Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you and let all the worries of the day drift away.
This is your time and your space.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.
There is nothing you need to be doing now,
And nowhere you need to go.
Happy listening.
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell,
Read by Stephanie Poppins.
My Early Home The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it.
Some shady trees leaned over it,
And rushes and water lilies grew at the deep end.
Over the hedge on one side we looked into a ploughed field,
And on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house,
Which stood by the roadside.
At the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees,
And at the bottom,
A running brook overhung by a steep bank.
While I was young I lived upon my mother's milk,
And I could not eat grass.
In the daytime I ran by her side,
And at night I lay down close by her.
When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees,
And when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the grove.
As soon as I was old enough to eat my grass,
Mother used to go round to work in the daytime and come back in the evening.
There were six young colts in the meadow besides me.
They were older than I was.
Some were nearly as large as grown-up horses.
I used to run with them,
And we had great fun together.
We used to gallop all together round and round the field as hard as we could go,
And sometimes we had rather rough play,
For they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.
One day when there was a good deal of kicking,
My mother whinnied to me to come to her,
And she said,
I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you.
The colts who live here are very good colts,
But they are cart-horse colts,
And of course they have not learned manners.
You have been well-bred and well-born.
Your father has a great name in these parts,
And your grandfather won the cup two years ago at Newmarket races.
Your grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew,
And I think you have never seen me kick or bite.
I hope you will grow up gentle and good,
And never learn bad ways.
Do your work with a good will,
Lift your feet up well when you trot,
And never bite or kick,
Even in play.
I have never forgotten my mother's advice.
I knew she was a wise old horse,
And our master thought a great deal of her.
Her name was Duchess,
But our master often called her Pet.
Our master was a good,
Kind man.
He gave us good food,
Good lodging,
And kind words.
He spoke as kindly to us as he did to his little children,
And we were all very fond of him,
And my mother loved him very much.
When she saw him at the gate,
She would neigh with joy and trot right up to him,
And he would pat and stroke her and say,
Well,
Old pet,
And how is your little darkie?
I was a dull black,
So he called me Darkie.
Then he would give me a piece of bread,
Which was very good,
And sometimes he bought a carrot for my mother.
All the horses would come to him,
But I think we were his favourites.
My mother always took him to the town on market day,
In a light gig.
There was a ploughboy,
Dick,
Who sometimes came into our field to pluck blackberries from the hedge.
When he had eaten all he wanted,
He would have what he called fun with the colts,
Throwing stones and sticks at them to make them gallop.
But we did not much mind him,
For me and my mother could gallop off,
But sometimes a stone would hit and hurt us.
One day he was at this game,
And he did not know the master was in the next field,
But he was there watching what was going on,
And over the hedge he jumped in a snap and caught Dick by the arm.
He gave him such a box on the ears as made him roar with a pained surprise.
And as soon as we saw the master,
We trotted up nearer to see what was going on.
Bad boy,
He said,
Bad boy to chase the colts.
This is not the first time you've done this,
Is it,
Nor the second,
But I'm telling you now it shall be the last.
There,
Young lad,
Take your money and go home.
I shall not want you on my farm again.
After that day we never saw Dick any more.
A new man came.
His name was Old Daniel,
And he looked after the horses just as gently as our master.
So from that day on,
We were very well off.
