Sleep Fairy: A Sleep Adventure

Get ready for an enchanting bedtime journey where ordinary pajamas turn extraordinary! In this magical meditation, you'll find yourself whisked away on an adventure filled with glowing pajamas, whimsical creatures, and a quest to help the residents of Funderland get a good night's sleep.

As you breathe deeply and follow along, you'll discover a world where anything is possible, and by the end of the journey, you'll be ready to drift off to sleep with a heart full of wonder and a head full of sweet dreams.

Transcript

Sleep Fairy.

The sun has gone down and the moon shines bright in the night sky.

You have brushed your teeth,

Probably a little faster than you should have,

But you plan to brush them twice as long tomorrow.

Supposedly you were told a million times to put your pajamas on,

Though you think that might not be entirely true.

You only heard it three times,

And,

Well,

Three is a lot less than a million.

Anyway,

You've finally pulled on your pajamas,

And now you're lying in bed,

Wondering why everyone thinks you need to sleep.

You wish you could just stay up playing all night long.

You take a deep breath in through your nose,

Watching your tummy puff up like a balloon,

And then let it out through your mouth,

Long and strong.

You guess that if your room was made of straw,

You could blow the whole thing down with your breath,

Just like the big bad wolf.

As you push the last of the air out of your lungs,

Your pajamas begin to shimmer and shine like glittery glow-in-the-dark paint.

These pajamas have never done this before.

Did your family start using a new kind of laundry detergent?

Should you scream for help?

Should you take them off and toss these strange fluorescent PJs out the window?

Okay,

Well,

Maybe this is all in your imagination,

Reminding yourself not to panic.

You close your eyes,

And take another deep breath in through your nose,

And let it out through your mouth.

But when you open your eyes,

Oh,

The pajamas are still glowing,

And now they have lifted you in the air,

Where you hover magically above your bed.

These pajamas must be magic,

But how?

Why?

You remember the two deep breaths you just took?

Could that be it?

What will happen if you take another one?

Your curiosity gets the better of you.

You take a third deep breath in through your nose,

And then cautiously let it out through your mouth.

As you do,

A hole appears in the air before you.

It leads to a bright,

Glowing tunnel,

Swirling with all the colors of the rainbow.

It's a portal to another world.

You just know it.

Do you dare go in?

You consider your options,

And decide that entering a portal to another world is infinitely more exciting than going to sleep.

So you swim your arms through the air,

And push yourself in with a whoosh.

You see all kinds of images fly by as you whiz through the tunnel.

A confused unicorn,

Surrounded by a field of ribbons,

A dragon wincing in pain at its burnt talons,

A witch on a broomstick losing her balance and falling off.

Is that an elf baking a shoe in an oven?

Everything is moving much too fast to get a good look.

Then suddenly,

You tumble out of the tunnel,

Onto a soft patch of moss,

So bouncy it's almost like a mattress.

When your head stops spinning,

You stand up and look around.

You are in a beautiful forest.

But not just any forest.

From the trees,

Instead of leaves,

Sheets and blankets blow from the branches.

The petals on flowers are made of tiny pillows.

And the forest animals don't look like real animals,

But instead like stuffed animals.

A small yellow teddy bear peeks its head around a tree,

Then scurries away.

You scramble after it,

Maybe it can help you.

You follow the teddy bear through the forest of blanket trees into a clearing where a cottage is lit by moonlight.

What a strange cottage though,

It's shaped just like a bed.

From a chimney in the headboard billow soft puffs of smoke.

Someone must be home.

But who would live in such a place?

And where is the entrance?

Just then,

You notice the yellow teddy bear dash into a door in the part of the house that looks like the bed ruffle.

Upon reaching the door,

You ring the doorbell,

Which plays the tune to Rockabye Baby.

After a moment,

The door swings open,

And before you stands a real,

Live fairy.

Her moon-white hair shimmers magically against her midnight black skin.

Her pupils are shaped like stars and twinkle brightly.

But her face is filled with worry,

And her iridescent wings,

Each marked with the letter Z,

Twitch nervously about.

She's about your height,

Not three inches tall as you would expect,

And you wonder briefly if you have shrunk to fairy size.

But you don't have time to consider this for long,

Because the fairy suddenly embraces you in an excited hug.

Finally!

She exclaims,

You're here,

What took you so long?

You don't really know how to answer this,

She's been waiting for you.

How could this be?

You don't even know this fairy's name.

As if she's read your mind,

The fairy says,

Oh,

Excuse my manners,

I'm Snorra Van Snoozerson,

Sleep fairy of Thunderland,

But you can call me Snorra.

To come in,

You must have so many questions.

That is the understatement of the century,

You think to yourself.

The amount of questions you have could fill a cruise ship.

For starters,

What is Thunderland,

And why are you here?

But you keep quiet as you follow Snorra down a hall,

Where all sorts of stuffed animals,

Bears,

Bunnies,

Dogs,

Kittens,

Even a stuffed octopus,

Come out of the doorways to investigate you.

In the kitchen,

Snorra busies herself making some tea that somehow smells exactly like the sunset.

You didn't even know the sunset had a smell,

But as soon as you smell it,

You recognize it instantly.

You take a moment to look around.

Everything seems to be made of pillows,

Even the stove.

The entire house is like the inside of one of your pillow forts.

The lights are all shaped like moon and stars,

And all of the artwork in the house is of people and animals sleeping.

Suddenly the loud sound of snoring booms through the room.

You search for the source,

Until you realize it's the sound of the tea kettle boiling.

Snorra turns off the stove and brings you the tea.

You sit down on,

What else,

Pillows,

At a table made from bedtime storybooks.

You sip your tea politely,

And it tastes just like the sunset too.

So where am I?

You finally gather the courage to ask,

And what am I doing here?

Well,

Snorra begins,

You're in Sleepy Glen,

In Thunderland,

Which is one of the seven fantasy lands.

The other six are Punderland,

Blunderland,

Thunderland,

Sunderland,

Underwearland,

And oh,

What is the other one?

She taps her head,

Trying to remember.

Wonderland,

You offer?

Yes,

Thank you,

How could I forget?

Anyway,

I'm in charge of sleep in Thunderland.

Every night,

I sprinkle a bit of magic fairy dust over every living creature here,

So they can get a good night's sleep.

The trouble is,

A giant came along while I was out,

And ate up my entire supply of sleep dust.

Giants are lazy,

You see,

And sometimes they try to get out of doing work by sleeping for several weeks at a time.

As a result,

Nobody else in Thunderland has been able to sleep for weeks.

That sounds great,

You say?

More time for everyone to have fun.

Oh,

No,

No,

No,

No,

No,

Snorra says,

Nearly spitting out her tea.

It's a complete disaster.

Everyone is too exhausted to function.

The elves are so tired,

They can't seem to remember whether they're making shoes,

Or toys,

Or cookies.

The dragons,

They keep burning themselves instead of their dinners.

The witches keep falling off their broomsticks,

And the unicorns,

Who usually make rainbows with their magic horns,

Accidentally made it rainbows,

And now half the countryside is covered in bow ties.

Oh,

You say,

Recalling some of the images you saw in the portal.

That does sound messy,

But can't you just make more dust?

I can,

And I will,

But I don't have the ingredients,

And I can't leave here because if that giant wakes up,

She points out the window through the trees,

Where you can just see the nose of a sleeping giant poking out,

He's going to be grumpy,

So I'll need to be here to cast a calming spell.

That's why I need you to collect the supplies.

Me?

But I don't know anything about sleeping powder.

Sleeping dust,

Snora corrects you,

And don't worry,

I made you a list,

All you have to do is find these things and put them in here.

She hands you a silky pillowcase and begins to usher you out the door.

You glance down at the list,

Confused.

Eleven pounds of counting sheep's wool,

A sweet dream,

How do I know where to find this stuff?

Tadita will be your guide,

Not a moment to lose!

And with that,

Snora shuts the front door and leaves you bewildered.

The yellow teddy bear you saw before taps you gently on the leg with her stuffed paw.

Huh,

This must be Tadita.

Before you can ask her,

She scampers off down a trail through the woods,

And you scramble to keep up.

After having short legs stuffed with cotton,

She is incredibly fast.

You travel through the nighttime forest of sleepy glen for what seems like ages before bursting into a meadow filled with brilliant sunshine.

You squint in surprise at the glaring light,

And glance back at the forest still at night.

How is this even possible?

What a strange world.

You look down at your list.

Number one,

Twenty daisies from midday meadow.

Huh,

This ought to be easy,

You think to yourself.

But when you look around,

You don't see daisies,

Or any flowers at all for that matter.

But wait a second,

What is that movement in the grass?

You approach carefully and look down.

To your surprise,

You find hundreds of letter Zs,

About the size of mice,

Dancing,

Jumping,

Tumbling through the grass.

They seem to be having some sort of party.

How odd.

You think about the letter Z for a moment.

It's a symbol for sleep.

People are always saying they need to catch some Zs when they're going to bed,

But these Zs aren't helping anyone sleep at night.

They're out here enjoying themselves in the sunshine.

And suddenly,

It dawns on you.

Zs from the day time.

Day Zs.

These are the daisies on the list.

Quickly,

You catch twenty Zs and stuff them in a pillowcase,

Pleased with yourself for being so clever.

Tadida is pleased too.

She claps her furry paws together soundlessly.

You'd like to rest here for a moment,

As you're feeling a bit tired,

But Tadida is off again like a flash.

This time,

She leads you out of midday meadow,

And back into night,

Where you travel over moonlit hills,

To a quaint farm,

Where sheep jump a fence.

As each one jumps over,

It bleats out a number.

Fifty-eight!

Fifty-nine!

Oh,

These are the counting sheep.

You look at the list.

Oh,

How on earth are you supposed to get eleven pounds of wool from these sheep?

You don't have anything with which to cut.

You look down at Tadida.

Have you gotten any shears?

Tadida shakes her head remorsefully.

You shrug and figure you'll have to ask.

Excuse me?

You call out.

A few sheep turn to you,

Annoyed.

Shh,

You'll mess up the count,

They say.

You look around and notice an old black sheep sitting by herself on the side,

Watching the other sheep count.

Upon getting closer,

You can see that she's knitting with wool.

Sorry to bother you,

Miss Sheep,

But do you have any extra wool?

She ignores you.

Tadida tugs at your pajama leg and hums a tune.

You recognize it.

What is that tune?

Suddenly you remember.

You clear your throat and address her in your best singing voice.

Ahem.

Baa,

Baa,

Black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes,

Sir,

Yes,

Sir,

Three bags full.

The black sheep smiles and points to a barn where three bags of wool sit in the doorway.

You bound over and look at the bags.

But how much is eleven pounds?

You notice an old balancing scale in the corner and get an idea.

You learned in school that the average human head weighs eleven pounds.

So you pie a wool onto one side of the scale and rest your head in the other.

Your head pushes the scale down.

You add more wool and put your head back.

The wool side drops down,

So you take out just a little bit of wool and put your head back.

They balance perfectly.

You wonder how you will fit all that wool in a small pillowcase,

But as soon as you start stuffing it in,

Your question is answered.

The pillowcase is magic.

On the inside,

It's humongous.

You could fit a whole building in there.

And no matter how much wool you put in,

The bag doesn't seem to weigh anything.

It certainly would be handy to have one of these for school,

Instead of lugging around a heavy backpack of books,

You think.

As you finish stuffing in the wool,

You can't help but yawn.

Your body feels heavy,

Even though the bag doesn't seem to weigh a thing,

And your feet feel like they're moving underwater.

You struggle to keep up with Tadida.

But when you see a field covered in bow ties,

A witch on a broomstick crash into a windmill,

And a bewildered troll looking for his bridge while he's standing directly on top of it,

You know that the creatures of Thunderland need your help.

Tadida leads you to a giant tree with low-hanging branches.

She begins to climb it,

Which is a very impressive feat for a small stuffed bear with no opposable thumbs.

Tucking the pillowcase in your pajamas,

You follow her up.

You reach the highest tree branch,

And are thankful to rest next to Tadida,

Who peers into a hole in the tree.

You look closer and see an owl inside,

Looking out at you with two bright yellow eyes.

What now?

Should I talk to it?

You move towards the owl in the tree,

But Tadida shakes her head and signals for you to be quiet.

You sit still and wait for something to happen.

You wait,

And wait,

And wait.

You stare at the owl,

Baffled,

And the owl stares back.

You begin to get sleepy,

And are horrified to catch yourself nodding off a few times.

Falling asleep at the top of a tree is not a good plan.

But just as you're about to give up and climb down,

The owl winks at you.

Or at least you think it did.

Maybe you're hallucinating.

Oh,

But then it winks again.

What does it mean?

You look down at your list.

40 winks!

But winks aren't something you can put in a bag.

Are they?

Then you notice Tadida is pointing excitedly in the air in front of you.

Sure enough,

You see something shimmering there,

Like a tiny magic bubble.

Then you notice a second one.

Could these be the winks?

The owl winks again,

And a third floats towards you.

Quickly you begin trapping them inside the pillowcase as they drift your way.

Be careful not to lose your balance on the branch.

Sometimes the owl winks quickly,

One after another,

And sometimes there are several minutes between winks,

But eventually you get 40 of them.

You sigh with relief and climb down the tree,

Collapsing in a heap at the bottom.

If only you had five minutes to close your eyes.

Just a little nap,

That's all you need.

But once again,

Tadida races off through the trees.

You stumble after her,

Watching your feet to make sure they keep stepping.

When you realize the path beneath your feet is made completely of gumdrops,

You look around.

The shrubs on either side of you are cotton candy,

The rocks are made of chocolate,

And the flowers of licorice.

Tadida is leading you straight to a real life-sized gingerbread house.

You want to taste everything in sight,

But you're not sure who lives here,

And they might not take kindly to a stranger gobbling up their landscaping.

As you reach the front door and Tadida knocks,

Or rather,

Quietly pats the gingerbread with her stuffed paw,

The story of Hansel and Gretel pops into your head.

Uh,

Who lives here,

Tadida?

Is it a witch?

You ask,

Worried.

At that very moment,

You hear a gleeful crackle behind you.

You turn to see a stout,

Round woman with bright apple-green eyes,

A rosy face,

And a pointed black hat atop her head.

Uh-oh.

Hehehe,

She giggles.

You are right.

Yes,

A witch does live here.

But you needn't worry,

My dear.

Hansel and Gretel's witch was my evil sister,

Melinda.

Hi,

Maltina.

And I would never eat children.

They're not sweet enough.

And with that,

Maltina pulls off a strip of chocolate from a nearby candy cane tree and offers you some.

.

.

Peppermint bark?

Not wanting to be rude,

You accept and find that it is the best tasting chocolate you've ever had.

You and Tadida now follow Maltina inside to her living room,

Which is also made entirely of sweets.

You have a seat on a marzipan sofa,

The delicious scent of which is so intoxicating you feel slightly dizzy.

Now,

Says Maltina,

What can I do for you?

Need to borrow a cup of sugar?

She holds up a teacup made completely of sugar.

Or you looking for some encouragements?

She holds up some mint candies that scream cheers of support.

You look down at your list.

Uh,

This might sound strange,

You say.

But I need a sweet dream.

Maltina chuckles.

Oh,

Yeah,

That's not strange in the least.

All of my dreams are sweet.

Of course,

I haven't slept in weeks,

So my supply is running rather low.

Well,

Let's see here.

She opens up a cabinet and inside are glass bottles swirling with magic images,

Mostly of sweets.

Waves from an ocean of orange soda washing up on a shore of colored sprinkles.

A mountain of chocolate cake with icing snow.

Rainstorm with lemon drops.

Whoa,

Okay,

Here's one of my favorites.

She reaches out and hands you a bottle.

But before you can touch it,

She snatches it back.

Uh-uh-uh,

Not so fast.

Witch's Code states that we cannot give magic away for free.

It has to be a fair trade.

I must have something in return.

Something sweet.

Oh,

But I don't have anything sweet,

You say,

Hoping she will take pity on you.

No such luck.

She puts the bottle back in the cabinet and locks it.

Well,

I'm afraid I can't help you then.

She sighs and leaves the room,

Muttering to herself about checking on her gardening.

What shall we do,

Tadita?

Tadita shrugs sadly and shakes her head.

You feel so tired.

You'd like to just go to sleep here against these marshmallow cushions.

Your eyelids begin to droop as you think about your bed at home.

Oh,

If only you had just gone to sleep right away,

You wouldn't have ended up here.

But then you think about the poor residents of Funderland.

They've been without sleep for weeks,

And you've only gone a few hours.

Surely you can muster enough energy to help them get some rest.

Determined to find something sweet to give Maltina,

You force yourself to stand up and head out the door.

Just then,

You hear a loud sobbing coming from the back door.

Concerned,

You follow the sound and find Maltina crying over some tall green stalks in her garden.

I planted the wrong magic seeds.

I meant to plant candy corn seeds,

And instead,

I planted regular corn seeds.

I've been so tired,

I can't even think straight.

But now I've ruined everything.

She sobs,

Grape soda tears streaming down her face.

Maltina looks so miserable.

You want to help her.

Well,

You know what makes you feel better when you're upset.

So you walk over and wrap your arms around her in a hug.

Her sobs slow to sniffles,

And she hugs you back.

Oh,

Don't be so hard on yourself.

It's not your fault you're exhausted,

You say,

Feeling quite exhausted yourself.

And anyway,

Real corn is delicious.

It's sweet and juicy,

And you can make all kinds of things with it.

Cornbread,

Corn cakes,

Sweet corn tamales.

Oh,

Jumping jelly beans.

I never thought of that,

Says Maltina.

Thank you for making me feel better.

You're welcome,

You say.

Feeling pleased you could at least help one person in Funderland,

Even if you failed at gathering the sleep dust ingredients.

Suddenly,

Maltina jumps up excitedly.

Oh,

But now I can give you my sweet dream.

Really,

You ask?

Well,

There's more than one meaning to the word sweet,

And you just gave me something sweet.

Three things,

Actually.

A warm hug,

Some kind words,

And helpful advice.

She hurries off inside.

You look down at your list.

Sweet dream was the last item.

We did it,

Tadida!

Now Snorra can make her sleep dust,

And everyone in Funderland can finally get a good night's rest.

Tadida holds up her stuffed paw to give you a high five,

If you can call it that when stuffed bears have no fingers.

When Maltina returns,

She hands you not one,

But three sweet dreams.

Oh,

But I only need one sweet dream for sleep dust,

You protest.

Oh,

It's a fair trade,

She says.

You can keep the other two for yourself when you finally get home to your own bed.

She winks,

And you notice a glittering bubble float away from her eye.

You are certainly glad to be going back home,

But you'll definitely miss this crazy world,

And you wonder if you'll ever come back.

You put the extra sweet dreams in your pocket,

And head back into the woods with Tadida.

On the way back to Snorra's house,

You nearly run directly into a sleeping giant,

But Tadida warns you just in time.

You tiptoe quietly around him,

Thinking what a disaster it would have been if he had woken up now and ruined all of your hard work.

But you think,

We didn't want that.

You think,

We did it once.

You could do it again.

Luckily,

You don't have to.

The giant continues snoring as you reach Snorra's door.

Snorra is overjoyed to have her ingredients.

She hugs you and thanks you over and over for your help.

She offers you some midnight muffins,

And you're really tempted to accept and see what midnight tastes like,

But you decline.

You want to sleep more than anything in the world.

Very well,

Says Snorra.

Home it is.

And with a wave of her wand,

The pajama portal appears once again.

You climb into it as you wave goodbye to Snorra and Tadida.

Suddenly,

You're whizzing through the tube of rainbow colors.

And once again,

You see images of Thunderland.

Now,

Maltina is sound asleep in a bed of cotton candy.

The three witches snore loudly in their covens.

The unicorns nestle together atop the heaps of bow ties.

The dragons breathe out trails of smoke as they snooze in their caves.

A troll snuggles with a blankie under his bridge.

And the elves doze deeply in their dens.

Thunderland is resting at last.

And then before you know it,

You're back in your warm,

Cozy bed.

You pull up your covers and begin to drift off.

When you remember something,

You reach into your pocket.

Sure enough,

There are two bottles there.

Smiling,

You open one up,

And wisps of sparkles waft out and swirl around your head.

Then you close your eyes and dream the sweetest dream ever.

Reviews

Such a gorgeous bedtime story. I truly loved this. Thank you.