The Farmer's Time-Travelling Reverie: Bedtime Story

This sleep story is about a farmer who sits under a tree where he drifts into a reverie, imagining himself resting in a spa. After a while, he leaves the spa and goes exploring. He finds a lake and rides a pedalo out to an island in the middle of the lake.

On the island, the farmer finds a tree with a pulsing light. He steps through the pulsing light and finds himself in a city in the distant future. In the location where they found themselves, there were other portals to other times and places. They went through a portal to an old medieval village where they found their way out on a sailboat where they saw a Dolphin and a Humpback Whale, then through another portal to a 1960s music festival. After the farmer has explored these portals he heads back to the island and rows back to the shore.

Once back at the spa the farmer came out of his reverie under that tree and went back to his farm and to his farmhouse and drifted comfortably asleep.

Transcript

So allow yourself to get comfortable and take a moment to close your eyes.

And as you begin to drift off asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster with the sound of my voice or the spaces between my words.

But as you drift asleep to this story,

I'll just talk in the background.

I'm just going to tell a story about a farmer.

And this farmer goes out to work every morning,

Really early,

Just as the sun's rising,

Walking down a muddy path towards the farm,

Hearing the morning songbirds,

Feeling that crisp air against their face,

Breathing it in and out.

Seeing the way the sun begins to rise over the hills in the distance,

As the sky begins to lighten,

And they walk down to their farm,

And they have their routine and they like to just follow their routine every day.

Walking down to the farm,

Heading over to the pigs,

And the farmer knows that you're always told not to give animals human traits,

And yet the farmer's sure that these animals recognise him.

And those pigs trot over as the farmer puts some feed in a trough,

And he pats the pigs,

He knows each one by name,

And then he walks along to a field to feed the cows,

And the cows do the same,

They all come walking over to meet him at the side of the field,

And he doesn't know whether they're doing that really just for the food,

Or because they recognise him,

And actually like his presence.

He likes to think that it's that the animals like him,

And he goes along to a field of chickens,

And he walks into that field,

Pouring chicken food,

Sprinkling it and spraying it around the field,

And then he goes and he gets on a tractor,

Starts that tractor,

Puts on some noise cancelling headphones,

And starts slowly driving his tractor down a lane,

And the farmer often thinks to himself that it's fortunate that he drives this tractor in such a deserted area,

Because the noise it makes is so loud,

And yet with his noise cancelling headphones on,

There's just the slightest hum,

And he just gets to slowly enjoy the scenery,

Heading down the lane,

Hedges either side,

Rolling fields,

Distant woodland,

As that sky gets lighter,

While the sun continues to rise,

And the lane begins to curve up a hill,

And he has to put his foot down a little bit more to keep the tractor moving,

He makes it to the top of the hill,

Parks up the tractor,

Leaves the tractor,

Walks through a gate into a field on the top of this hill,

And looks down at the valley below,

Seeing that morning mist,

Hovering low in that valley,

And as he watches that morning mist,

So he can see the birds flying in the distance,

And looking way off in the distance,

He can see the sea,

Just right over on the horizon,

And the way the sun just shimmers very slightly on the top of that sea,

Way off in the distance,

And the farmer walks over to a tree,

Rests his back against that tree as he sits down,

Gets out a lunchbox,

A flask,

Pours himself a warm tea,

Holds that warm tea in his two hands,

Brings it up just under his nose,

Blows gently into that tea,

Feeling the warm steam rising up,

The moisture around his chin,

His cheeks,

His nose,

The smell of that tea,

The warmth from the cup,

As he takes a sip,

And then a deep relaxing breath,

And enjoys taking a bit of a break from his hard work,

And he can hear the birds in the tree above him,

Singing and flying around,

The slight rustling of the leaves in the breeze,

And he can still feel that crispness of the air,

And once he's finished his tea,

So he shakes out the end of that cup,

Puts the cup back on top of the flask,

And puts the flask away,

And rests himself back against the tree,

Takes a moment to close his eyes,

And just listen to the surroundings,

Distant bird sounds,

The rustling leaves,

Just enjoying being in the moment,

As he allows himself to relax,

To begin to relax his muscles,

Because his muscles often end up aching from the hard work,

And while he begins to relax,

So his mind starts to wander,

And as his mind wanders,

He begins to have a sense of himself,

Relaxing in a spa,

And the more absorbed in this reverie he becomes,

The more he's sure he can feel that tickling feeling of air bubbles blasting against his legs,

And his lower back,

And tickling just under his armpits,

As if his arms are becoming weightless,

Like they're floating on the water,

Resting gently on the side of a spa,

And as he continues to relax,

And drift into this reverie,

So he begins to notice that distinct smell of the water,

The feeling of that water against his skin,

And the warmth of the water,

Almost like the water is giving him a comfortable warm hug,

And the sound of that water bubbling away,

And then he begins to see this experience,

Noticing the colour of the water,

And then realising that as he begins to see more of the experience,

He notices most of it's white,

And there seems to be snow for miles and miles in every direction,

Just snow and mountains,

And mountains covered in snow,

And snow falling with large snowflakes,

Gently hovering down in a moonlit sky,

And he can notice those snowflakes,

Resting on his arms for a while,

Before they melt with the warmth of the spa,

And occasionally tickling his nose,

And as he relaxes in that spa,

So he rests back,

And rests his head back,

And gazes up to the sky,

And as he gazes up to the sky,

So he notices dancing light,

Weaving very slowly and gently across the sky,

And he finds himself almost mesmerised by the light,

As it dances in the sky with a cloud of stars behind,

And after relaxing in this spa for a while,

He feels this compulsion to go and explore,

He wades through the water,

And wades deep in that water,

And walks up some steps to the other side of the spa,

And just in shorts he walks out onto the snow,

And he can feel an unusual invigorating feeling,

Of being so warm from the spa,

That there's a refreshingness to the coldness,

And yet at the same time he's aware that it's cold,

And as he dries,

So he puts on the fluffiest,

Most comfortable white dressing gown,

Wraps it tight around his waist,

And feels so warm in that dressing gown,

Slips on some thick fluffy boots,

And starts walking through that snow,

Walking through the snow towards something that seems to be sparkling in the distance,

And he's curious what it is,

And he can hear each footstep in the snow,

That crunching,

Crackling sound of each footstep that he takes,

With that light snow still occasionally tickling his nose,

And after some time of walking through the snow,

So he comes to a lake,

And he notices this lake has a thin layer of ice over the surface,

And he touches that thin layer of ice with one foot just on the edge,

And hears that squeaking and cracking sound,

And then that sudden giving way of the ice,

As it cracks under that foot,

And he walks a little bit around that lake,

Where just on the shore,

He sees a pedalo in the shape of a swan,

And that pedalo has room for two people,

But he feels that he's sure he can pedal it himself,

And he pushes it down to the water,

As it cracks and pushes through the ice,

And starts bobbing on the surface of the lake,

And he jumps in from the back of the swan,

His bum fitting perfectly in the hard scooped out shaped seat,

And he pulls his dressing gown round him a little bit more,

Puts his feet on the pedals,

And starts to pedal out into that lake,

And he can see that flashing light,

That thing that's glistening off in the distance,

Two pedals across this lake towards that glistening light,

And with each pedal that he takes,

So that swan cracks its way through more and more of that ice,

Until eventually the farmer can notice that there's an island in the middle of this lake,

And on that island the farmer can see a tree,

And in that tree the farmer can see something flashing,

Glistening,

And now that the farmer's closer he can notice that it appears to be like a bright blue rather than a white as the farmer first thought it was,

And that light is almost undulating and pulsing,

And the farmer pedals that pedalo up onto that island,

Letting the front of that swan ride up onto the island a little bit,

And then climbs out onto the island,

Holding the swan's neck,

He drags that pedalo up the island a little bit away from the water,

And starts walking over to that tree,

And as he gets nearer to that tree,

So he can hear a whirring,

Pulsing sound,

Almost like electricity passing through the tree,

He notices that there's no snow falling on the island,

There's almost like a ring of no weather,

Where the farmer can notice there's snow falling over the water,

Around the whole island,

And yet none of the snow is falling on the island,

Almost as if the island is protected maybe by a dome or something,

And the farmer walks to the tree,

Walks to that pulsing light in the tree,

Picks up a stick from the ground,

And reaches it towards the pulsing light,

And nothing seems to happen,

The stick just goes through it,

So the farmer puts the stick down,

And reaches out with his arm,

And it doesn't feel like anything,

Nothing seems to be happening,

So the farmer starts walking forward,

Until his arm,

And his front leg,

And then the rest of his body follows,

And his head,

Through that pulsing light,

And he finds himself,

Stood on a platform,

Looking down over a vast city,

And there's rows of car like things flying past,

Almost like traffic jams in the sky,

Just all moving,

At one speed,

With everything moving with such precision,

That there's no way that there's anyone controlling any one of those cars independently,

And tall buildings,

And he notices that the clouds are below him,

And that he's just seeing the tops of these buildings,

And there's multiple levels of cars flying between the buildings,

As if they're on highways,

And above the cars,

Are drones,

Thousands and thousands of drones,

That seem to be flying on specific pathways,

And at specific points,

They seem to spiral down from the height they're in,

And take on new paths at different heights,

A little bit like the way that aeroplanes get into a formation around airports,

To take it in turns,

To come in to land,

To make sure that nothing collides on landing and take off,

And they notice that despite being so high up,

There's no wind,

And they're warm,

And they realise that although they can't see it,

There's some kind of a force field,

Or protective barrier from this platform,

And behind them they can notice that glowing,

Undulating,

Pulsing light,

As if that's some kind of a wormhole or a portal from one place to another,

And they notice that there's a whole series of them,

And with curiosity they want to explore,

So they make sure that they know which one they came out of,

They reach through the one they've just come out of,

They feel for that stick,

They pick up the stick,

And they pull the stick halfway through the portal,

So that half of that stick is sticking into this futuristic world,

And they don't know where this world is,

Whether it's the same place,

Just a different time,

Or a different place and time,

And so they pick another path,

Pick another one of those portals,

They walk through the portal,

And they find themselves in an incredibly muddy location,

And they realise they're dressed all in white,

And now they're walking through thick,

Churned up mud,

And they can see a village in the distance,

And it just looks so old,

And they walk down towards that village,

Noticing the way the roofs have been made with plants,

With leaves,

Noticing that all the houses are just made of wood,

And everyone here seems to be dressed in leather and furs,

And very basic clothing,

And they see some smoke coming from holes in the roofs of some of the houses,

They see other people preparing food out by the street,

And they see further down past the village,

Appears to be a coastline,

And they head down to that coastline,

And they climb on a boat,

Just to check it out and explore it,

And they decide this may be the only time they'll have an experience like this,

So they decide to unmoor that boat,

And just sail it around for a little bit,

See what an old boat like this works like,

They push off from the side,

They let down some sails,

Which quickly catch the wind,

And they head out a little way from shore,

On the sea,

And once the shore is over there,

Near the horizon,

They let the sails up,

And they just rock on the waves,

And just relax back,

Enjoying that sloshing of the water against the sides of the boat,

And as the boat just rests there silently,

So they begin to notice splashing sounds,

And they sit up and they look over the side of the boat,

And they see five or six dolphins,

Gently swimming in the water,

And every now and then one of them will leap from the water and splash back down again,

And then another will cross over it,

And then copy it,

And they just seem to be having so much fun playing in the water,

And the farmer just watches as those dolphins play and leap,

And then in the distance,

The farmer notices a humpback whale breach the surface,

Turn its back to the water,

And splash down,

Almost as if to say I can do that too,

And after a while the farmer decides it's time to sail back to shore,

They put up the sails,

And start travelling back over to the shore,

Where they moor up again,

Walk back through all that mud,

And back out through that portal,

Treading muddy footprints,

And their mud soaked shoes,

Through the nicely polished floor the other side of that portal,

And then they decide to pick another portal,

And they walk through that portal,

Curious what will be on the other side,

Hoping it's not going to be more mud,

But as they head through the portal,

So the first thing they notice as their first foot goes through,

Is that it squelches down into thick mud again,

And they walk through,

And they notice that they've just stepped out of a tree on the edge of a field,

And that in this field are thousands and thousands of people,

All partying,

Enjoying themselves,

There's people sat in circles,

Getting stoned,

There's people sat playing guitars,

Playing drums,

Everyone in every direction just looks so happy,

And there's tents everywhere,

And there's tents with music playing,

And so the farmer goes to explore,

And no one here seems to bat an eyelid at how the farmer's dressed,

And the farmer realises that there's a festival going on here,

And there's definitely a 60's vibe to this festival with the music,

With the way everyone's dressed,

And so the farmer explores this festival,

Joins in,

Has a bit of fun here,

Before deciding they've got to head back through that portal again,

And so they head back through that portal,

They go back to that first portal,

And as they pass through that first portal,

Back out onto that island,

They see that on the island was a rowboat,

So they get on to that rowboat,

They use one of the oars to push it a bit more into the water,

And as they leave the island,

So they enter the snow,

And they row across the lake,

And on the other side,

They start walking back towards that spa,

And as they walk,

So they see two planks on part of a fence,

And they take the belt off their dressing gown,

And they wrap the planks together,

They wrap them round their feet,

Almost like a snowboard,

And keeping one foot free,

They push themselves along,

And then just snowboard down back to that spa,

Not knowing how to stop,

So as they reach the spa,

So they snowboard themselves,

Just fly straight in,

Splash down,

Soaking them and their dressing gown,

And just as they splash into the water,

So they wake up beneath that tree,

As they feel some rain on their face,

And they notice some grey clouds moving in,

And decide they best get to their tractor,

And head back down to the fields,

As they start making their way home,

Back down to the farm,

Before then having to walk up the path back to the farmhouse,

Getting soaked on their journey up to the farmhouse,

And once back at the farmhouse,

So they start a fire,

Change into something more relaxing,

Make themselves a cup of tea,

Drink that tea sitting by the fire crackling away,

And then they start reading a book,

And while they are reading,

So they begin to drift comfortably asleep,

And as they drift comfortably asleep,

So that book just rests on their lap,

And they drift and float into a pleasant deep sleep.