The Countryside Quest: Bedtime Tale

This is a bedtime story about you wandering through an early morning foggy meadow. You head into the woodland and take photographs of the trees. You walk to a lake and rest, and read by the water. As night-time sets in, you set up a camp and drift peacefully asleep. In a dream, you meet a small hedgehog who sends you on a quest for a long-lost chalice.

After your experience, you awaken the next morning, feeling deeply refreshed. You continue your journey through the countryside, where you check into a bed and breakfast, and you settle down and drift peacefully asleep into Slumberland.

Transcript

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax.

And as you begin to comfortably fall asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background.

And in this bedtime story,

You're wandering through an early morning meadow.

There's low fog bubbling around your feet,

Simmering just above the plants and the grasses of this meadow.

And something about that milky bubbling fog,

And the rising sunlight which is gradually evaporating that fog away,

Seems to give a certain stillness to this environment,

Almost as if the sound of each footstep struggles to weave its way through the fog and out to your ears.

And as you continue to walk through this meadow,

The sun continuing to softly and slowly rise over the horizon,

You can hear the morning sounds of songbirds,

Singing gently in the trees,

Occasionally seeing the puff of fog bounce as rabbits leap through the meadow.

And you can feel the slight cool air on your cheeks,

With that tinge of warmth from the sun.

And while you walk through this serene meadow,

Occasionally you find yourself lost in thought,

Your mind drifting and wandering in the peacefulness of the experience.

And as you wander and wander,

You walk from the meadow into some woodland,

Passing through a gate.

And to pass through that gate you have to lift the latch,

Lift the gate,

Swing that gate open,

Turn around,

Holding the gate up as you move it back,

Lift it back into position and then lower the latch.

And yet the fog just works its way through the gate,

Through the fence,

Meandering along the floor of that woodland,

Easily and effortlessly finding its own way into the woodland.

And as the fog in the woodland rises gently,

So it gives the trees a greater sense of depth.

As the nearer trees,

The more in view you can notice their colours.

But the further back you look,

It's like the trees are layered,

As their colours become more muted.

And while walking through this landscape,

Some of those early rays of morning light,

Shining,

Dancing golden rays through the branches,

Almost as if that light is zapping the fog,

Helping the fog to disperse,

But giving the green leaves a slight yellow tinge,

That helps to create the most beautiful scene.

And so you stop and take some photographs as you go,

Framing trees within your shot,

The fog helping to create that separation between the subject you're photographing and the rest of the trees in the woodland,

And knowing that ordinarily when walking in woodland and taking photos,

You see trees with interesting character,

Gnarled branches and trunks,

Leaves hanging off trees in an interesting way,

Some trees having interesting symmetry,

Others having interesting asymmetry,

But ordinarily with no fog.

The background is too chaotic and similar to the tree,

To make the tree stand out and look as good in the photograph as it did to your eyes when you saw it.

And so taking this momentary opportunity,

Knowing the fog will dissipate fairly quickly,

You take as many photographs as you can,

And while the fog gently dissipates and rises up and leaves,

The canopy of the woodland.

So you just have the sound of your footsteps and some singing birds for company,

And while walking through this woodland,

Going deeper and deeper into the woodland,

So you spot a deer in the distance,

Just noticing its form through the trees.

You stop and take some photos of that deer,

Trying not to get too close to disturb it.

As you continue on further,

You can hear the hoot of an owl,

And almost out of the blue,

You spy a young owl resting in a tree,

Seemingly staying as still as possible as if not to be noticed.

You take some photos of that young owl,

Before out of the corner of your eye,

Seeing the parent owl with its fully formed feathers.

You take some photos of that owl,

And you feel that this has been a productive trip.

Your observational abilities have really paid off in your patience and your calmness,

Walking so calmly through the woodland that you don't disturb the nature as you go,

And while continuing to walk and explore the woodland.

You come out at a lake in the heart of this woodland,

And you sit down on the edge of the lake,

With your feet gently in the water,

That water so calm and soft,

Just the right temperature,

The feeling of the water,

Lapping peacefully over your feet and your lower legs,

And you see an unusual sight for this area.

You see a number of flamingo,

Standing,

Wading in that water,

And you watch as those flamingo stand there,

And then dunk their heads down below the surface for a while,

Pull their heads back up,

The water running,

Dripping off their beak,

The way the light glistens across the lake surface,

Making the surface of the lake almost seem to sparkle,

And while watching this scene,

The sun now higher in the sky,

Approaching midday,

You rest back with a book,

You begin to read that book,

Absorbing yourself in the story,

And you absorb yourself in that story so much so,

That the sun continues to pass across the sky,

Clouds drift past,

Trees rustle,

The flamingos continue to feed,

The sun begins to set,

And you start to notice that,

You're squinting a little to see the pages,

And only then realise it's started to go dark,

And discover how long you've sat here for,

Absorbed in that book,

So deeply absorbed,

You didn't notice that time passing,

You move away from the waters edge a little,

Decide to set up a camp,

Set up a campfire,

And relax into the tent,

You place the book beside a sleeping bag,

Ready to read a little more later,

You make yourself comfortable,

Before cooking yourself some food over that campfire,

The scent of the food wafting calmly to your nostrils,

Helping your mouth salivate a little,

You enjoy some food and drink,

As the sounds of crickets begin to form around you,

Like a small chorus of buzzing notes,

The occasional sounds of birds,

And the sound of splashing in the lake,

As the birds on the lake move their wings,

Some perhaps landing on the water,

Others maybe taking off,

Others perhaps just cleaning themselves,

But it's now too dark to see the lake,

And the dusty patchwork of stars,

Begin to awaken in the night sky,

The arch of the Milky Way,

Blanketing across the centre of the sky,

Occasional shooting stars,

Fizzing past,

And you rest back into the tent,

The entrance to the tent still open,

As you enjoy the warmth of the fire that's burning down to embers,

So softly and calmly,

And once the fire has fully burned down,

And all the crackling of the fire has stopped,

You seal up the entrance to the tent,

And lie back and continue to read,

And while you read you can hear the occasional scampering sound of small creatures outside,

You hear the relaxing sound of the animals in the nearby woodland,

You think you hear the sound of perhaps a deer walking up to the lake's edge,

Maybe drinking a little water,

Before heading back to the safety of the woodland,

And you continue reading through that book,

But start to feel your eyes getting heavier with each line you read,

As if as your eyes are scanning left to right and then down a line,

Left to right and then down a line,

Those eyes moving down,

Feel more weighted down and heavier and heavier,

And begin to want to close,

And so after a number of hours of reading some more,

You place a bookmark into the book where you are at,

You put the book down beside you,

Before settling back,

Snuggling down into the most comfortable way,

In that sleeping bag,

Feeling the perfect temperature,

And finding your eyes blink a few times,

Before closing fully,

And discovering yourself drifting and floating so peacefully,

So calmly,

So relaxed asleep,

And as you sleep,

So you begin to imagine yourself in a computer game,

And you're exploring a fantasy landscape,

And you think of this game as perhaps being a bit like Skyrim,

Or maybe The Witcher,

Some kind of open world fantasy adventure,

And you can see the tall mountains in the distance,

The aesthetically pleasing river thundering through the landscape,

And as you explore this landscape,

You notice there are calm flowing streams,

Weaving through forests,

Sharing their water with that larger flowing river,

And while you walk around and explore,

Following a path through the landscape,

You meet a small hedgehog,

And this small hedgehog tells you that they have a quest for you,

They'd like you to go in search of a long lost chalice,

And they hand you a document,

And you have a sense of that document,

Pinning its details to a map,

And you decide to do that quest,

So you take a look at the map,

And start to follow the path to the next location for the quest,

And you walk alongside that large river,

Before detouring off through the forest,

Traipsing through the undergrowth,

Walking over the undulating landscape,

And you walk towards some lights of a town,

And you head into that town,

Seeing people arriving with horse and cart,

Some people riding on horseback,

And there's a market down the centre of the town,

With different vendors,

Offering different services and selling different items,

And there are buildings through the town,

Including inns and places to stay,

Places to get food and drink,

And places for different services,

Like upgrading the clothes or the armour or the weapons,

And you're quite happy with what you've got,

But you decide that you will spend a night at the inn,

So you head to the inn,

You ask the innkeeper for a room for the night,

They suggest you head upstairs,

So you head upstairs and head to your room,

You head over to the bed,

And you have to decide how long to sleep for,

And you work out in your mind,

That it's probably 8 hours until the sun will fully be risen,

So you decide to sleep for 6,

You lay down in the bed,

And you have this sense of those 6 hours counting down,

While you sleep deeper and deeper,

6,

5,

3,

2,

1,

And on the count of 1,

You open your eyes and climb out of bed,

And it's still slightly dark outside,

Although there's the faintest hint that light will be coming soon,

Then you head out of the inn and continue walking through this town,

Over a stone bridge,

Wandering through a marshy landscape,

And then through a landscape filled with fields,

And hedgerows dividing those fields,

And the sun beginning to rise above the horizon,

The sky turning a golden colour as you continue to walk,

And while walking you notice off in the distance,

There's an area of hills and meadows,

And on one of the hills is a castle,

And you look at the map and can see,

That seems to be where you're heading,

And so you walk your way towards that castle,

And while walking you just enjoy the environment,

You enjoy the sounds of birds,

The feeling of the breeze,

The rustling of the leaves in the trees,

And you notice the gentle thud of each footstep you take,

And on your journey you hear a gentle meow,

And so you slow down and almost sneak to try to not disturb whatever's meowing,

And from under a bush a small little ginger cat wanders onto the path,

You head over to that cat,

Crouch down,

You gently stroke its belly,

Stroke behind its ear,

You stroke its back,

The cat rolls onto its back,

And so you stroke its belly some more,

And then you set off and continue to explore,

And as you do you say goodbye to the cat,

You apologise to the cat that you have to go,

You continue walking along this path,

The occasional person on horseback trots past you,

Says good morning as they go,

And from time to time you stop and eat,

And then continue on that journey,

And later in the day you eventually arrive at the road that leads to the castle,

You follow that road up to the castle entrance,

You knock on the door,

The door then opens and you enter,

And as you enter,

So the footsteps echo around this castle,

Around this open space and stone walls,

Occasionally you walk across thick rugs,

Which absorb each footstep you take,

And then back out onto the stone floor,

And as you walk around,

So you look at the map,

Which is now more zoomed in and you can see the rooms,

That you have explored within this castle,

And you see the mark for where the princess is,

And so you navigate your way round this castle,

Until you find the most opulent grand room,

And seated on a throne in that grand room is the princess,

And you head over to the princess,

And the princess tells you,

That to find the chalice that you are seeking,

You need to head to the village for some beans,

And once you have the beans,

You need to know where to plant them,

And it will feel right,

And then they will grow,

And you leave this princess,

You navigate your way back out of the castle,

You see that your map has updated,

There is a new marker,

And as you walk back down that path,

To the main path,

And begin to navigate your way in the direction of that marker,

And as you walk in the direction of that marker,

So you enjoy the experience of meandering through nature,

And the marker seems to be leading to a town in the heart of this land,

And so you follow that road,

You weave your way round and on to different paths,

Sometimes going off the path,

Scrambling through the meadows,

Wandering through woodland,

Watching as you get closer and closer to where you are headed,

And this town in the heart of this land,

Is much bigger than the towns you have seen previously,

There are taller towers,

Larger structures,

And a lot more light,

Which stands out as evening begins to set in,

And you head to the town,

And similar to other towns,

There are market stalls through the centre of town,

And buildings offering different wares,

And places to stay and to eat,

And you head over and talk to a ferret standing near the entrance to the town,

You ask them where you can buy some magic beans,

You explain what it is you're looking for,

And the ferret directs you to a specific cellar,

You weave your way through the people in the town,

Looking at each market stall as you go,

You find your way to the cellar you seek,

And they look like an old Victorian gentleman,

They're wearing a long black cape,

A tall hat and dark clothes,

They have piercing friendly eyes,

And you purchase off of them a bag of those beans,

They tell you they only grow when it's a full moon,

And that to grow them,

It has to be in a location,

Where the water marks an X,

And there are no trees immediately around,

And you thank them and take those beans,

And set off to leave the town,

And while you walk out of the town,

So you look at your map,

You find a point where two streams seem to cross,

And those streams seem to cross in a meadow,

And so you walk your way through farmland,

Fields of sheep and cows,

The sun still setting,

And you walk your way past the most pleasant smelling fields,

And after leaving the farmland,

You continue on past dotted trees,

And you continue on,

Until the path starts to follow the side of a stream,

And as you listen to the babbling water,

Feeling more relaxed,

You walk along the side of that stream,

And after walking for quite some time,

You reach that intersection where a stream crosses this stream,

And there's a small narrow bridge over the stream,

And you head just over the bridge,

You notice as the moon rises into the sky,

That it's a full moon,

And so you plant one of those beans,

And you plant one in each of the corners next to the stream,

Unsure whether there's a specific location you needed to plant them,

Or whether it didn't matter,

You pat each one down,

You apply a little of that water,

By cupping the stream water in your hands,

And pouring it over each bean,

One at a time,

You then set up a camp a little away from the stream,

You enjoy some food and drink,

And then you settle down for the night,

And as you rest and drift and dream and float so peacefully asleep,

So the beans begin to grow,

And the more the beans grow,

The deeper asleep you seem to get,

Completely unaware of the connection with those beans,

And when it reaches the morning,

So you're woken by the light on the outside of the tent,

And the singing of songbirds,

You unzip the tent,

And gasp ever so slightly at the sight,

Where the four beans once were,

Now what looks like wooden trunks of trees,

Have grown and risen,

And the four trunks have met above the centre of the cross of the streams,

And intertwined and wrapped and grown taller and taller,

Those trees acting like a bridge,

With the flowing of the stream beneath them,

And this tree seems to stretch up for as high as the eye can see,

And at the foot of a tree,

There's a small sign that just says ascend me,

And so you pack away the camping gear,

You secure everything onto your back,

And you begin to ascend,

And it feels almost like you're rock climbing,

Navigating the trunk of this tree,

And so you carefully continue ascending higher and higher,

And as you reach a certain height,

You notice you're passing through cloud cover,

After a little bit longer,

You come out above the clouds,

And you see the most beautiful,

Almost ethereal magical landscape,

You carefully lower one foot down to that cloud looking ground,

Unsure whether to trust it when you've just climbed through it,

And when it looks just like a cloud,

And although slightly soft,

You don't sink through it,

And so you climb onto that cloud,

Begin to explore this land,

You take out your map and it seems to direct you through this cloud land,

To a specific location,

And you walk through this cloud land,

Seeing curious creatures,

Interesting sights,

And you arrive at a tall tower,

You head into that tall tower,

Begin to ascend a spiral staircase,

Still following the map,

And you arrive at a room within this tall tower,

You carefully open the door to that room,

It swings gently open to a creek,

And on a plinth in the centre of this room,

You see a sparkling chalice,

Almost humming with a mystical magical hum,

You take that chalice,

And as you pick the chalice up,

So it's if the chalice is imbued with memories,

You start to get memories of this chalice's journey to this location,

And you learn that the chalice shouldn't really be moved from here,

And so you decide to place it back where you found it,

But you are told to seek the chalice,

That that was the quest you're on,

But you notice as you've moved the chalice,

Some of the rocks in a wall have slid apart from the wall,

And within that space behind the secret wall,

You find a small cup,

And a note on that cup to say drink me,

And so you drink that drink,

And you feel this deep sense of wanting to sit down a moment,

As if it's an experience that requires being seated,

And as you sit down so your eyes get heavier and close,

And you feel a wave of healing light pass from the chalice,

In through the top of your head,

As if carried on the liquid you've drunk,

Passing that healing pulsing gently down through your head,

Around your ears,

Your eyes,

Around your cheeks,

Your forehead,

Softening,

Relaxing,

Healing those parts as it flows down through your head,

Through your brain,

Through your nostrils,

Through your nose,

Through your mouth,

Your teeth,

Through your jaw,

Down the back of your neck,

The sides of your neck,

Down the front of your neck,

Tingling and passing over the shoulders,

Down both arms,

All the way down to the tips of the fingers,

Passing that healing light with each out breath,

Down through the body,

Until eventually the healing light reaches the tips of your toes,

And your mind drifts deeper and deeper into an experience of inner discovery and wonder,

Learning and healing yourself on a deep and profound level,

In ways you're even unaware of,

And you feel this experience lasts for a long time,

As you discover yourself becoming more absorbed in that experience,

And then after the experience,

You feel that something has changed within you,

You have some new connection with reality,

You also feel you don't need to take that whole chalice away with you,

What you came here for,

You've got,

It just wasn't what you thought it was going to be,

And the experience has made you so tired,

You notice there's a bed against a wall opposite the chalice,

You decide to lie just for a moment down on that bed,

You rest there with your eyes closed,

Drifting deeper and more relaxed asleep,

And after sleeping for a number of hours,

You awaken,

You find your way down and out of this tower,

And at the foot of the tower,

You see a ladybird,

And the ladybird offers for you to climb on its back,

And it'll take you home,

As you climb on the ladybird's back,

As that ladybird flies you over the landscape,

And takes you all the way home,

And once home,

You say goodbye to the ladybird,

You head in to this home,

And you know this isn't your real home,

But your home here in this fantasy computer game,

And you head up to the bedroom,

You head over to the bed,

And at the bed,

You see the question for how long you should sleep for,

You decide to sleep for 10 hours,

You lie back and rest down,

And as you drift and float so peacefully asleep,

So the countdown timer,

Counts down those hours from 10,

To 9,

To 8,

To 7,

To 6,

To 5,

And then you awaken in this land,

You leave your home,

You feel a sense of saving the game,

And with saving the game,

You drift into the deepest,

Most profound sleep,

From this dream,

And after going through a few cycles of deep sleep and dreams,

You awaken feeling so refreshed,

You continue on your journey through this countryside,

Until eventually you arrive,

At a small country village,

You walk through that village across cobbled streets,

You walk to a small bed and breakfast,

You ring the doorbell for this bed and breakfast,

And a friendly woman answers the door and invites you in,

You head up to your room,

You've been told about where breakfast will be in the morning,

And the routines around here,

And it's so quiet and peaceful,

And so you settle down in that bed,

And it is the most comfortable bed to sleep in,

So comfortable in fact that just resting in the bed,

Almost guarantees sleep,

And you let your eyes close,

And you feel it's time now to drift and sleep,

And so you start to fall asleep comfortably,

And it doesn't take long for those eyes to close fully,

Your body to relax deeply and comfortably,

As you drift and float so peacefully relaxed asleep,

Into slumber land,

Reviews

Loved it. You had me at Witcher which is a game I loved. Thank you❤️