The Curious Wizard: Bedtime Tale

This is a bedtime story about a panther on a boat on the ocean, looking for treasure. They find a treasure chest, but inside the chest is just a pen, parchment, and ink. They draw something on the parchment and find themselves transported to a different land. In this land, they meet curious creatures, including a beagle-like wizard named Gizz who teaches them about what they found and shows them to his library.

Following his experience, the panther returns through the portal, back to his boat, and drifts asleep into Slumberland, before making his journey home.

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 a boat is rocking gently on the ocean,

Wobbling up and down with the waves,

Almost hypnotically moving side to side as those waves flow past,

Rolling peacefully to the shore.

The sound of water lapping against the underside of the boat,

The slight sloshing sound of that water,

The gentle creaks and sound of movement as the boat peacefully undulates on the waves.

And on this boat is a panther on a quest in search of a treasure chest.

And this panther is sat at the back of the boat with a map of the ocean and the land around,

And a bright red cross marked on that map.

And the panther looks around and squints,

Looking off into the distance,

Looking for any signs of landmass on the horizon,

Looks at the sun and the shadows,

And tries to work out exactly where they are and how close to that X they are.

And while resting on this boat,

Looking at this map,

They can smell that salty sea air,

And they decide that they're fairly close to that X.

And they head to the front of the boat,

Push the lever forward,

The motors whirring at the back,

Moving that boat just slowly around with their eyes firmly fixed on the sonar screen,

Hearing that ping as it scans the ocean floor,

And just moving slowly through the water,

And circling around,

Moving slowly back in the other direction,

Scanning an area where they expect to find that treasure,

And then scanning back the other way,

As the sun continues to creep slowly across the sky,

Just plodding across that sky with its regular pace until the sky begins to darken,

And the horizon begins to turn orange,

And the air begins to cool,

And then the stars begin to appear in the sky,

And the glint of the silvery moon starts to rise over the ocean,

With the surface of the ocean sparkling like a million diamonds dancing on the surface of the waves,

And the panther continues to scan the ocean floor,

Until eventually they get a ping back that there's something there,

And with that ping back,

They head to the back of the boat,

May lower an anchor,

Its chain unfurling,

As the weight of the anchor drags it down to the ocean floor,

And find something to hang on to,

With a gentle thud,

They then place an automated submarine into the water,

And they begin to steer that automated submarine down towards the ocean floor,

And as it lowers,

So they turn on the lights,

And they can see on a screen,

As they navigate it,

Almost like navigating on a computer game,

They can see the murky water,

Seaweed drifting past the screen,

As they lower that all the way down,

Until it reaches the ocean floor,

And on the ocean floor they navigate it,

To the location that pinged on the sonar,

And they can see in that location,

What looks like the ruins of an old ship,

And they carefully navigate into those ruins,

Watching small fish,

Darting in and out of the ruined ship,

An eel weaving its way out of the way,

And out through a window,

They navigate it down a corridor in that ship,

This ship,

Reclaimed largely by nature on the ocean floor,

With life surrounding all the old wood,

Then finding a damaged trapdoor,

And very carefully maneuvering that automated sub,

Down through that trapdoor,

Looking around,

The lights glinting,

Off metal plates,

And other bits and pieces left lying around down here,

As propellers of the submarine,

Churn up gentle waves of silt and sand,

And they have to wait for a moment,

With the propellers off,

For all that to settle,

Before making the next move,

And it's a very slow and delicate job,

But as they explore,

They eventually find what they were looking for,

In the corner of a room,

All weathered by the time of the water,

And reclaimed by nature,

Is a wooden chest,

That glistens and sparkles,

With golden straps around the outside,

And it looks like perhaps it's diamond encrusted,

As if it's very important,

And the panther carefully maneuvers that sub,

Back out the way they came,

Very carefully back out of that trapdoor,

Weaving it back through that boat,

And carefully and slowly back up to the surface,

And then lifts it back onto the boat,

Cleans it off,

Closes the computer,

Feels a sense of excitement that they found what they're looking for,

And that tomorrow they'll be able to go down,

And try and reclaim that treasure,

And bring that treasure up to their boat,

And with that they head to bed on the boat,

They rest down,

And almost being gently rocked to sleep,

By the waves rolling by,

And the silence being almost deafening,

Of no bird sounds,

No other nature sounds,

Just the occasional creak and sound from within the boat,

And the sounds of the water,

Churning and bubbling against the underside of the boat,

And that gentle rocking feeling,

They drift and float,

Peacefully and comfortably asleep,

And as they drift and float asleep,

So they dream of being an explorer,

Of finding treasure,

Of changing lives with their discovery,

And they drift deeper and deeper asleep,

Enjoying the most peaceful restful sleep,

Before awakening the next day,

And once they're prepared for the day,

They get into their diving gear,

Head to the back of their boat,

And the low morning sun is almost bobbing on the horizon,

Just tickling the surface of the water,

A slight orangey yellow glow,

Dancing along the water's surface,

They drop off the back of the boat,

Begin to lower themselves under the water,

Taking with them a hook on the end of a chain,

That's gradually unfurling as they dive,

And they can hear the low sound,

Of that chain unfurling and gradually passing into the water,

As they drag it deeper and deeper,

And as they go deeper and deeper,

They turn on lights on their diving suit,

And with their flippers,

They push further down,

Their breathing bubbling upside them,

The bubbles tickling within their fur,

The slightly cool water,

Moving around within the suit,

With every movement they make,

And they head down to the ocean bottom,

Along the bottom of the ocean,

Swim in through the side of that boat,

Find their way down to that trapdoor,

And then they swim down into the trapdoor,

Over to that chest,

And it takes a while,

But they attach the hook,

And the chain around the chest,

Then they do their best to manually move the chest,

To beneath the trapdoor,

And then get beneath the chest,

And lift and push it up through the trapdoor,

As it thuds down with a creak,

Onto the wooden surface within the boat,

Then they swim up through the trapdoor,

And lift and pull that chest through the boat,

Just trying to get that chest out,

Into the open,

Out onto the open ocean floor,

And once they get that chest out,

Into the open ocean,

So they follow the chain,

Swimming all the way back to the boat,

Coming up next to the back of the boat,

The sun catching their face with its warmth,

The waves lifting them up and down,

Slightly out of time with the boat,

And they go right over to the back of the boat and climb themselves out,

They go and change out of the wetsuit,

And their diving gear,

And they have a rest for a moment,

And have a drink of tea,

Before then going and starting to reel in that chain,

Just slowly and carefully,

And as they reel in that chain,

They can notice the weight of that chest on the chain,

They pull that chest all the way to the boat,

And once at the boat,

They help the chain,

Hooking it out of the water,

Carefully lowering it onto the floor on the back of the boat,

Then they undo the chain,

And they let the last of the water flow off of that chest,

They take some photographs of the chest,

They have a look at how they might be able to get into it,

Before just deciding to break the lock,

And this chest was sealed so tight,

That as they broke the lock,

And then broke the catches,

It gave a hiss,

As air finally managed to escape it,

As if the air inside the chest was under some pressure,

Perhaps what stopped the water getting in,

And as they opened the chest,

They saw that inside it,

Was the softest,

Silkiest,

Purple material,

And resting on that purple material,

Was a single silver feather pen,

And next to that pen,

The tiny pot,

And at the back of this chest,

Were some sheets of parchment,

Most of them unused,

And they took that silver feather pen,

The little container,

And the parchment,

Through to the main part of their boat,

Placed them on a table,

And started to take a look at them,

Before going back,

Just re-examining the chest,

See if there was anything else there,

They checked under the material,

And found this was all that was in the chest,

And they were led to believe that this was a treasure chest,

That people have sought for hundreds of years,

And they opened up the ink,

And found that it was a purple pot of ink,

And it had a slight fruity smell to it,

A very pleasant scent,

And they took the parchment,

And they could feel that parchment in their fingers,

The slight coarseness to it,

And they spread that parchment out,

And they saw that one of the bits of parchment had some scribbling on it,

And perhaps some writing,

And the other parchment was clear,

And they carefully dunked the tip of the silver feather pen,

Into the ink,

And it was almost as if the pen drank some of the ink,

Sucking it up,

The nib of that pen turning slightly purple,

They dabbed it onto the parchment,

And then made their first stroke,

And then another,

And another,

And another,

And as it scratched across the parchment,

They felt themselves almost drifting into a reverie,

As if the hand was just mapping something out on that parchment,

Almost as if they were possessed,

Or in some kind of altered state,

Just one with the pen,

Their mind almost seeming to go blank,

And then as the pen stopped moving,

So their eyes focused back on the parchment,

And they saw what looked like a circle drawn on the parchment,

With some shading around the outside of the circle,

As if to make it more 3D,

And appear a little deeper,

And they'd colored in the center of that circle,

With some lines to make it look like it's got some depth,

And they picked it up to take a good look at that,

And they couldn't understand what they'd drawn,

They put it to one side,

They put the pen down,

The ink down,

They moved it all out the way,

And sat,

Just drinking a glass of water and feeling dejected,

They put many years into tracking down this treasure,

And all they found is an old silver feather pen,

And some paper,

And they wondered whether there was anything else down there on that boat,

But this was well stored in a very secure treasure chest,

And it seems unlikely that there would be another treasure chest down there,

And they never saw any evidence for one,

And as the day continued on,

And the sun plodded across the sky,

So they continued to try and think through what their next course of action should be,

And the sun began to set,

And the moon crept up in the sky,

And silvery light of the moon shone low through the windows of the boat,

And tickling the surface of that parchment,

Which started to glisten,

And fizz,

And crackle,

Drawing the attention of the panther,

Whose ears pricked up as they looked over,

And they could see on that parchment,

Silver sparkles happening where the ink was,

First just fizzing and popping,

But then beginning to turn slightly smoky,

Almost like fog,

But with a silver quality,

And then the center of the circle began to darken,

And as it darkened,

So it looked like it was beginning to spin,

And as it began to spin,

So it started to appear deeper and deeper,

As if it was extending somehow out back beyond the parchment,

And the panther went over and carefully picked up that parchment,

There was no damage to the table,

So it couldn't be going back through the table,

But it definitely looked like it was getting deeper and deeper,

And they moved it around and looked around it in different angles,

From the side it just looked like a sheet of paper,

And from the back it was just a normal flat sheet of parchment,

But from the front it had depth,

And they placed it on a chair and sat down opposite it,

Gazing into it,

Trying to really work out what's going on,

Thinking they can almost make out subtle shapes within that slightly twirling vortex that's appearing on the page,

Hearing that fizzing and popping,

Sounding like it's starting to wrap around them,

As if it's coming off the page,

And as they lean forward to look even harder,

So they start to feel almost like pins and needles around their nose and their cheeks,

Around their forehead,

The tips of their whiskers tingling,

The fur on the back of their neck vibrating,

Vibrating,

Their ears fizzing,

They had a sense that with their eyes they could see their nose elongating,

And found themselves drawn into this picture,

Somehow sucked into that vortex,

With everything turning a silvery color,

And then white,

And then out of the white turning black,

And out of the black,

Finding themselves in a meadow at night,

With a silvery light behind them,

What looks like that parchment still fizzing and popping,

And seeing in the parchment the faintest hint of looking back at the inside of the boat,

And they turn and they look around them,

And they can smell the different scents of the flowers in this meadow,

And being curious,

They begin to investigate,

They make a note of where this location is,

And start to explore the meadow,

And as they walk around this meadow,

So they can hear the sounds of night animals,

They can see a different moon to the one they used to,

And a very small second moon,

But they can't tell whether it orbits the moon in this sky,

Or it's just two moons visible from this planet,

And the night sky stars look very different to the stars they used to,

And the scent of the flowers throughout this meadow smell familiar,

And yet some are slightly different,

And there's the fluffiest of moths darting in and out of some of those flowers,

And some nighttime birds exploring some of those flowers,

Buzzing before the flowers,

Extending a long tongue into the flowers,

Backing themselves out,

And then flying to another flower,

And they brush past some pink flowers that are tall and almost bell-like,

But they smell of the sweetest scent of lavender,

And as they put their noses forward to get a closer scent,

So they notice the inside of these flowers seems to be oozing a slight green goo,

And as they touch that goo,

It's ever so slightly sticky,

And they touch it with a paw,

And as they dab on their paw,

So they find that that stickiness seems to make it stretch,

Almost like it's turning to candy floss between the fingertips,

And then a bird comes over,

Hovers before the flower,

Extends its tongue,

And seems to drink out and suck out that green goo,

Just carrying on its night's work from plant to plant,

And something about this place just feels so calm,

It's a deep sense of peace and serenity,

As if there's a harmony here between all things,

And they continue on through the meadow to a distant sound of flowing water,

And the water is just bubbling along somewhere beyond the undulating hills of the meadow,

And they push on through the meadow,

Rustling through the grass,

The way the moonlight seems to dance along the surface of the grass,

Which moves like waves on the surface of the ocean,

As the wind blows the softest breeze,

And while walking,

They spy a large shadow,

And they can hear the chewing noise of some large animal,

And as they get nearer and nearer,

So they start to think it's like a wildebeest or some other big mammal,

It seems to be eating the grass,

The way a cow or some other similar kind of animal would eat,

But when they get nearer,

And they can start to see it,

Its skin is very much like that of an alligator's skin,

And its head looks very much like an alligator's head,

Except that where there would ordinarily be rows of teeth,

Are just floppy lips slapping together,

And behind those floppy lips,

Are very flat teeth,

With the front teeth being almost like little spades,

And those lips that are smacking together,

Seem to have the dexterity of a model maker,

Being able to carefully pick exactly which blades of grass they want,

And being able to put their mouths down,

Scoop through the grass,

Grabbing the grass,

But only taking the bits of grass that are ready to be eaten right now,

While leaving the rest there to continue growing.

And they pretty much ignore the panther,

Just very slowly working their way through that grass,

And they seem to have a long tail,

And broad legs and feet,

And their belly is very low to the ground,

Almost as if they just slide through that grass,

Punching their way perhaps all day and all night,

To be able to eat enough to keep themselves full,

And the panther continues on,

Heading towards that sound of water,

And they head over one of the hills,

And they see a tiny brook weaving its way through this meadow,

Glistening with the moonlight,

And standing in the water is a bird that looks a bit like a flamingo,

Standing tall,

And occasionally tilting itself over,

Scooping its head through the water,

And then tilting itself back again,

With some of that water dripping from its mouth,

Those drips sparkling like diamonds as they fall back to the water,

And then repeating the same again and again,

And they pass all the way down to that brook,

Wade through the brook,

And head into the woodland on the far side of the brook,

And they hear what sounds,

Like the end of a whip as it cracks,

And it breaks the sound barrier,

And wonder where the sound has come from,

And then they hear it again and again,

All coming from behind them from the direction they've just been,

But they continue on,

Walking into this woodland,

And they see a little creature,

Hearing it scurry around a tree,

Its toes tapping gently against the bark of the tree,

And they watch as it climbs up to a branch,

And stops and turns and looks at them,

And it kind of resembles a chipmunk,

And they head over in the direction of that little creature,

And they try and talk to the creature,

And they're surprised when the creature seems to understand them and responds,

They explain that it may sound absurd,

But they stepped through a bit of paper,

And found themselves here,

And they don't know where here is,

And the chipmunk doesn't understand the question,

And can't really comprehend the idea of something coming from somewhere else,

To them,

Here is just here,

It would be like someone saying they came from somewhere else,

Where are they,

When you're on the planet or in the place,

You just know,

And so they explain where here is,

Where this wood is,

But they explain it all in relation to what they know here,

And they say that their name is Gonk,

And while they talk,

So their teeth just keep on chattering,

And their teeth chatter between every single word that they say,

And then there's another sound,

Like the cracking of a whip,

And so the panther asks what is that sound,

What's making it,

And they say that it's those creatures that hang around at the brook,

They scoop up very,

Very,

Very tiny creatures out of the water,

And they scoop them up,

And gradually fill up a pouch within their neck,

And they have to do multiple scoops to fill that pouch as much as they can with the creatures,

And then once the pouch is fully filled up,

They breathe in,

And they push the air through the pouch,

Which forces the water out at such a high speed that it makes that cracking sound,

And all they have left within the pouch are the creatures they're eating without any of the water,

And that those birds,

As the panther would say they probably are,

Are called boomwhackers,

They whack their head in the water,

And they do that multiple times,

And then they let out that loud boom,

And that's just how they feed,

And the chipmunk explains that if you'd like to know where here is,

And perhaps why you're here,

You should go and talk to the wise one,

Who lives in a hut deep in the woods,

They largely keep themselves to themselves,

And they give the panther directions,

And so the panther thanks the chipmunk and sets off,

Walking their way through this woodland,

The finest of mists,

Gently whispering around their feet,

And parting with each step,

And the moonlight dancing through the trees overhead,

The streams of light intertwining as the wind blows a breeze,

The leaves rustling,

And this woodland being so peaceful,

And so calm,

And they work their way through this woodland,

Following the directions from the chipmunk,

Until they can smell the distant smell of cooking,

Almost like someone's having a barbecue,

And they see a distant glow,

And they continue on through this woodland,

Until framed by the trees,

And they exit that woodland towards a small cabin,

Its windows glowing gently,

A wispy tuft of smoke rising from the chimney,

A small seating area outside the front of this cabin,

And someone sat there near a campfire,

Crackling away the flames,

Dancing gently in the breeze,

And as they get closer,

They see a character wearing a purple robe,

And the closer they get,

The more distinctive that character is,

They look so much like a beagle,

Just with ever so slightly droopy eyes,

That just make them look extra friendly,

And a sloppy smile,

And the first thing they do on seeing the panther,

Is offer the panther a drink,

And they say,

Hi,

I'm Gizzy,

I'm the Wizzy,

Let's get fizzy,

And drink some drink,

Drinking this drink will make you fizzy,

And the fizzy will make you dizzy,

And as you get dizzy,

So,

Your world will spin,

And as your world spins,

While you get a little dizzy,

Sitting here,

Drinking this fizzy with Gizzy,

The Wizzy from a land you don't know,

You'll find that spinning world becomes clear,

And as the spinning stops,

So,

You'll discover something here,

And the panther sits down on a log,

The side of their face and their fur,

Gently massaged by the warmth from the fire,

The light dancing almost hypnotically before them,

The drink fizzing and popping in a glass,

And they take a swig of that drink,

And their mind starts to spin,

And their consciousness begins to fizz,

And they feel that tingling sensation,

Like they did when they passed through the portal,

Only this time,

The tingling is all over,

And seems to be connected with this reality,

And they fizz,

And they can feel that tingling,

From the top of their head to the tips of their toes,

Down their spine,

Like getting the finest massage,

And they feel a deep wave of relaxation pass through them,

And then a certain clarity starts to come across their vision,

As they look around,

It's as if the world is singing,

As if they can hear the hum of every atom in this world,

As if they can see the vibration of every particle,

And the way that every single atom,

When they look closely,

It's just a fuzzy blob,

And that each fuzzy blob is just gently tickling every other fuzzy blob,

And the edges of all the fuzzy blobs merge and weave and interact,

And that there's no distinction between any of the fuzzy blobs,

There's no space between them and a tree,

There's just a path of endless fuzzy blobs in all directions,

And then their senses begin to adapt slowly,

Carefully,

To this new perception of reality,

Just like your eyes adapting to the light when you move from the darkness,

And as they adapt,

So everything comes into sharp focus,

They can see clearly,

And they can see that beagle just sat opposite them in their purple cape,

With their hood up,

And they notice that that beagle has a tuft of gray beard,

And the friendliest brown eyes,

And the panther asks them again that they're a bit confused,

Who were they?

And they say that their name is Gizzy,

And they're the wizard,

And so the locals and everyone here just calls them Gizzy Wizzy,

And that name seems to have stuck on,

They quite like it,

And so they even use it themselves,

Why not use a nickname you like?

And they discuss this land,

And then they share that they want to show something to the panther,

They ask the panther to follow them into their cabin,

And they walk through the cabin,

They walk to a bookshelf at the back of the cabin,

And the books on this bookshelf are incredibly dusty,

And they blow off some of that dust,

And then wave it from in front of their face,

Before reaching for one of the books,

Pulling on that book,

And with a click the bookshelf swings open gently and silently,

And they move the bookshelf aside,

Gesture for the panther to follow,

And they descend a spiral staircase deep down under the cabin,

Lights turning on as they go,

And at the foot of the stairs,

Where the air is so still,

And the silence is almost palpable,

They reach for the door,

And they look up at the panther with anticipation,

Patient,

For carefully,

With a smile,

Opening the door,

And the lights pounce on,

With the most comfortable glow,

To reveal a vast underground library,

Made up of books and scrolls,

With the strongest old book smell,

Wafting from this library,

Filling the panther's nostrils,

As they pad across the floor,

Gazing up at all the shelves,

And Gizzy guides them through this library to the back of the library,

And at the back of this library,

They show them a small table,

And on that table is a writing set and some parchment,

Just like the writing set and parchment that they'd found on the ship,

With a silver feather pen,

And that purple ink,

And they realized the material of the purple cloak that Gizzy's wearing,

Is the same as the material that was in that treasure chest,

And they explain that the treasure was the gift of being able to connect our two worlds,

That with the magic of here,

With this drink,

That allows you to see the deeper nature of reality,

It allows you to be able to know how to manipulate the nature of reality,

Because you realize there isn't a separation between reality and you,

You are reality,

And once you realize that,

It's like suddenly being aware of the rules of the matrix,

And so they had traveled to the panther's reality,

Centuries earlier,

Because they had explored this reality,

Had understood this reality,

And wanted to get to understand other realities,

And wanted to find someone to partner with in the other reality,

Who they could share their wisdom with,

And then they can learn about the other reality,

And those in the other reality can learn about their reality,

But then something happened in the panther's reality,

And people stopped traveling from one place to another,

Until now,

And Gizzy explained how you create a portal,

How you can erase the writing and the images on a parchment,

So that you can reuse that parchment again,

And explain that it should have said on a piece of parchment with the set,

The instructions for making the ink,

And the panther says there were some markings and some scribbles,

But they couldn't understand them,

And Gizzy explains they will now,

The way to make the ink,

Is a way that could be made in any reality,

And once you know how to make the ink,

As long as you write with the correct pen,

Using that silver feather pen,

And you write on the correct parchment,

Using that supplied parchment,

Then you can create these portals back and forth,

And there's a lot more you can do as you learn and discover,

And they write down the instructions for being able to make that drink,

And they hand them some of the ingredients that can't be found in their own reality,

And Gizzy asks if the panther would like to spend the night as it's getting late,

And they can talk and they can discuss this reality,

They can even explore the library for a while and then get some sleep before heading back to their reality in the morning,

And after relaxing by the fire in this cabin,

Both sat down in the comfiest of seats,

The fire hypnotically glowing in the fireplace,

Moonlight tickling the window panes,

With light gradually creeping through those windows,

And dust dancing in the beams,

And the gentle smell of the fire as it burns down to embers,

While they both sit and drink a warm cup of tea before they head to bed on the next day,

The panther awakens clear-headed,

Feeling like they've had the best night's sleep,

And they say goodbye to Gizzy,

They find their way back through the woods,

Past gonk,

Past where the boomwhackers were,

And they can still see those creatures munching their way through the grass,

And in daytime it looks almost like they've been hoovering the grass up,

And they head back to that parchment,

Back through the parchment,

Finding themselves back in their boat,

And on their boat in the morning sun,

They sit on a chair at the top of their boat,

Gently rocking side to side,

Looking out over the calmest ocean,

Pondering their experience,

And they see a little way from the boat,

Some dolphins just swimming past,

And diving,

And splashing,

And having fun,

And they head down to the back of the boat,

And they jump off and go and swim over with those dolphins,

Feeling a deeper connection with the life around here now,

Following those dolphins as they dive down deep,

Through a school of sardines,

Like thousands of tiny mirrors,

Flitting under the sea,

Resting on their back on the surface of the water,

Gently being lifted up and down as each wave rolled so gently past,

Spreading their body out to feel that deep connection with the surface of the ocean,

The tension of the water,

A connection with what was below,

And what's above,

And everything around them,

And at the end of the day,

Spending the day,

Almost in a daze,

Lost in thought,

With deep curiosity about the experience,

And how things will be different from here,

And at the end of the day,

They know that for the next couple of days,

They'll be slowly traveling back to the shore,

And then heading home.

So,

For now,

They head to bed,

They relax down in bed,

Thinking of their next encounter with Gizzy,

Potential adventures and discoveries they're going to make,

As they perhaps explore strange new worlds,

Finding themselves drifting and floating so peacefully,

So comfortably relaxed asleep,

Into slumberland.