Welcome weary traveller.
This series is designed to transport you to a place of peace quickly and securely.
Use these tracks when you require a speedy transition into deep rest.
Perhaps that well-needed daytime nap or a necessary break from the everyday on your train or bus ride home.
This series is focused on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.
But before we begin,
Let's take a moment to focus on where we are now.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.
That's it.
Now close your eyes and feel yourself sink deeper into the support beneath you.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
Happy listening.
Cinderella There was once a rich man whose wife lay sick and when she felt her end drawing near,
She called her only daughter to come near her bed and said to her,
Dear child,
Be pious and good and God will always take care of you and I will look down upon you from heaven and I will be with you forever.
Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep,
Never to wake again.
Every day her daughter went to her bed and said to her,
Every day her daughter went to her mother's grave and wept and was always pious and good.
And when the winter came and the snow covered the grave with a thick blanket of white snow,
Then when the sun came in the early spring and melted it away,
The man took to himself another wife.
The new wife brought two daughters home with her and they were fair enough in appearance,
But at heart they were ugly.
And so began very evil times for their poor stepsister.
Is that stupid creature to sit in the same room with us?
They asked their mother.
Those who eat food must earn it.
Out upon her for a kitchen maid,
They cried.
Then they took away her pretty dresses and put on her an old grey dress and gave her wooden shoes to wear.
Just look now at the proud princess,
How she is decked out,
They cried laughing.
Then they sent her away into the kitchen to remain.
She was obliged now to do heavy work from morning to night,
Get up early in the morning,
Draw the water,
Make the fires,
Cook and wash.
And the sisters did their utmost to torment her all the while.
They mocked her daily and they strewed peas and lentils among the ashes and set her to picking them up again.
In the evenings when she was quite tired out with her hard day's work,
She had no bed to lie on,
But was obliged to rest on the hearth among the cinders.
And as she always looked dusty and dirty,
Her two stepsisters named her Cinderella.
It happened one day the father went to the fair and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them.
I would like the first twig,
Father,
That strikes against your hat on the way home.
That's what I'd like you to bring me.
So the father brought for the two stepdaughters,
Fine clothes,
Pearls and jewels,
And the two stepsisters brought the first twig.
And the two stepdaughters brought the second twig.
So the father brought for the two stepdaughters,
Fine clothes,
Pearls and jewels,
And on his way back as he rode through the green lane,
A hazel twig struck against his hat and he broke it off and carried it home with him.
Upon reaching the house,
He gave the two stepdaughters what they'd wish for.
And to Cinderella,
He gave her the hazel twig.
He was amused and she thanked him and she went to her mother's grave and planted the twig there in secret,
All the while crying so bitterly that the tears fell upon it and watered it and it flourished and became a fine tree.
Cinderella went to see it three times a day from that day forth and she wept and prayed.
And she wept and prayed and each time a white bird rose up from the tree and if she uttered any wish,
The bird brought her whatever she had wished for.
Now it came to pass that the king ordained a festival that should last for three days and to which all the beautiful young women of that country were bidden so that the king's son might choose a bride from among them.
When the two stepdaughters heard they too were bidden to appear,
They felt very pleased and they called Cinderella and said,
Comb our hair,
Brush our shoes and make our buckles fast,
We're going to the wedding feast at the king's castle.
When she heard this,
Cinderella could not help crying for she too would have liked to go to the dance and she begged her stepmother to allow her.
What?
You,
Cinderella?
Said she.
In all your dust and dirt you want to go to the festival,
You that have no dress and no shoes,
You want to dance.
But as Cinderella persisted,
At last the stepmother said,
I have strewed a dish full of lentils in the ashes and if you can pick them all out in two hours,
You may go with us.
Cinderella went to the back door that led into the garden and called out,
Oh gentle doves,
Oh turtle doves and all the birds that be,
The lentils in thy ashes lie,
Come and pick up for me.
The good must be put in the dish and the bad you may eat if you wish.
There came a young girl,
Cinderella,
And she said,
I have brought the lentils and the lentils in the ashes.
There came to the kitchen window two white doves and after them some turtle doves and at last a crowd of all the birds under heaven,
Chirping and fluttering.
And they alighted among the ashes and the doves nodded with their heads and began to pick,
Peck,
Pick,
Peck.
Then all the others began to do the same and when it was over all was done and they flew away.
Then Cinderella brought the dish to her stepmother feeling joyful and thinking now she should be allowed to go to the feast.
But the stepmother said,
No Cinderella,
You have no proper clothes and you do not know how to dance and you will be laughed at.
And when Cinderella cried for disappointment she added,
Okay,
If you can pick up two dishes full of lentils out of the ashes nice and clean then you should go with us.
That is not possible,
She thought to herself.
And when she'd strewn two dishes full of lentils among the ashes the maiden went to the back door again and called the doves and turtle doves.
After a little time Cinderella took the dishes back to the stepmother sure this time she would be allowed to go.
But her stepmother did not allow her to go to the dance and she told Cinderella again she would put them all to shame.
After a while the stepmother and stepsisters left leaving Cinderella all alone in the house.
She went to her mother's grave and under the hazel bush cried little tree,
Little tree,
Shake over me that silver and gold may come down and cover me.
And sure enough a little bird came down and threw down a dress of gold and silver it was carrying and a pair of slippers embroidered with silk and silver.
In all haste Cinderella put on the dress and went to the festival.
But her stepmother and stepsisters did not know her they thought she must be a foreign princess because she looked so beautiful in her golden dress.
They never thought of Cinderella at all and they supposed she was sitting at home picking the lentils still out of the ashes.
After some time the king's son spotted Cinderella and took her by the hand and danced with her.
When the dance was finished he refused to stand up with anyone else so that he might not be obliged to let go of Cinderella's hand.
And when anyone else came to claim it he answered she is my partner.
When at last the evening came Cinderella wanted desperately to go home but the prince said he would go with her to take care of her.
He wanted to see where this beautiful maiden lived but Cinderella escaped and jumped up into a pigeon house.
The prince waited until his father came and told him this strange maiden he was so interested in had just jumped into the pigeon house.
The king came and called for axes and hatchets and had the pigeon house set up.
The pigeon house cut down but to the prince's surprise there was nobody in it.
Cinderella had ran home as quick as she could straight to the hazel bush and there she'd taken off her beautiful dress and laid it on her mother's grave.
The bird came and carried it away again and she put on her little grey dress and sat down back in the kitchen among the cinders.
The next day when the festival began anew and the parents and stepsisters had gone to it Cinderella went back to the hazel bush and cried little tree little tree shake over me that silver and gold may come down and cover me.
And the bird came back once more but this dress was more splendid than the one the day before.
And when Cinderella appeared in it among the guests every one of them was astonished at her beauty.
The prince meanwhile had been waiting for her and when she came he took her hand and danced with her alone.
Then the evening came again and she wanted to go home but the prince followed her for he wanted to see where she was going.
But she broke away and ran into the garden at the back of the house.
In the garden stood a fine large tree bearing splendid pears.
Cinderella leapt as lightly as a squirrel among the branches and the prince did not know what had become of her.
So he waited until the father came again and he told him the strange maiden he was so interested in had rushed away.
He thought she must have disappeared into the pear tree.
Again the king called for an axe and again he felled the tree but there was no one in it.
For Cinderella had escaped down the other side and had taken back her beautiful clothes to the bird on the hazel bush and put on her old grey dress once more.
On the third day when the parents and the stepchildren set off Cinderella went back to her mother's grave and said to the tree little tree little tree shake over me that silver and gold may come down and cover me.
The bird cast down another dress more beautiful than even the two dresses were before and slippers of gold and when Cinderella appeared at the feast in this dress nobody knew what to say for wonderment.
The prince again danced with her alone and again when it was evening Cinderella was desperate to go home.
She ran past the prince so quickly he could not follow her but this time he had laid a plan and caused all the steps to be spread with pitch so that as she rushed down them her left shoe remained stuck in it.
The prince picked it up and saw it was of gold and very small and very slender.
The next morning he went to his king and told him none should be his bride save the one whose foot the golden shoe should fit.
The two sisters of Cinderella were very glad at this because they had pretty feet.
The eldest went to her room to try on the shoe but she could not get her great toe into it for the shoe was too big for her.
But she could not get her great toe into it for the shoe was too small.
Her mother handed her a knife and said cut the toe off when you're a queen you'll never have to go on foot.
So the girl cut her toe off squeezed her foot into the shoe concealed the pain and went down to the prince.
Delighted he took her with him on his horse as his bride and rode off.
They had to pass by the grave as they went and there sat the two pigeons on the hazel bush.
They cried there they go there they go there is blood on her shoe the shoe is too small not the right bride at all.
And the prince looked down at the shoe and saw the blood flowing.
He turned his horse round and took the fourth bride back home again.
Saying that she was not the right one.
So the other sister tried on the shoe.
She got her toes comfortably in but her heel was too large.
Her mother handed her the knife and said cut a piece off your heel for when you're queen you'll never have to go on foot.
So the other sister cut a piece off her heel.
The prince assured this time this was the correct princess.
Took her before him lifted her onto his horse and rode off.
But again when they passed by the hazel bush the two pigeons cried there they go there they go there is blood on her shoe the shoe is too small not the right bride at all.
The shoe is too small not the right bride at all.
The prince once more looked down at the new foot and saw the blood flowing again.
He turned his horse round and brought the second fourth bride home.
Have you no other daughter?
He said to Cinderella's father.
Well there is Cinderella my first wife's daughter he said.
But I think it's impossible that she could be your bride.
She didn't even attend the festival.
The king's son ordered her to be sent for but the stepmother said no no no she's much too dirty I could not let her be seen.
But the prince disagreed and so Cinderella came forwards.
The prince looked at her carefully.
How strange this girl was.
How odd looking and how dirty.
But still he had made a promise to his father and himself.
Try on the shoe he said.
And the moment the shoe touched Cinderella's foot the turtle doves arrived and dropped onto her her gown of gold and silver.
And sure enough the prince realized this was the young maiden who he had danced with three nights in a row.
And so it came about that Cinderella was married and her two cruel stepsisters were left to live their lives in isolation forevermore.
