The Lost Dragons: Bedtime Story

This sleep story is about an elderly man who rides on the back of a dragon he has been friends with for years. Dragons have been disappearing so they are on a quest to try to find out what has happened to them. They fly around, search, and then during a dream in a mountain cave the man gains insight into how to solve the mystery of the lost dragons.

Transcript

So as you listen to me and begin to comfortably fall asleep,

I'm just going to tell you a story in the background and while you listen along to the story,

I don't know whether you'll fall asleep faster with the sounds of my words or whether it'll be with the spaces between my words.

But as you begin to fall asleep,

So you can drift and dream and relax through the night.

And there was a dragon who had worked and helped this man for many,

Many years.

This man and this dragon have been searching for something.

And to the man it feels like he's been searching for a lifetime.

And the man was an elderly man.

And yet dragon's lives are so much longer.

The dragon felt like it had barely aged.

But many,

Many,

Many years earlier,

The two of them had their paths crossed,

Setting them on this journey.

And once upon a time in this land,

Dragons were commonplace.

But something had been making them disappear.

And as the dragons disappeared,

So dreams disappeared.

And as dreams disappeared,

Hope disappeared,

Change disappeared.

And young people coming along were growing up in a world unaware of the world that came before them.

And yet this elderly man knew that world,

Lived through that time,

And wanted to help to solve the riddle of where the dragons had gone,

To bring back hope to the land.

And the dragon would fly from place to place,

Often searching for what it didn't know,

Feeling driven by vague thoughts and clues,

Feeling sometimes like it was chasing a shadow.

And the dragon landed on the side of a mountain,

And the man and the dragon knew they just had to rest.

And the dragon thudded down to the ground,

Thudding its body down,

Its neck,

Its chin,

And letting out a long breath as it hit the ground and relaxed.

And the elderly man walked around.

He looked out at the view he could see,

Distant hills and forest,

See the way the cloud was hovering lower than he was,

And the way the setting sun was casting such long shadows.

And the man went into a nearby cave to settle down for the night.

He lit a fire and made some food,

And set up a bed.

He ate his food,

Wondering what the day will bring tomorrow,

Forever searching,

Forever curious.

He lay down in the bed as the fire burned down to embers.

He watched the way the light danced on the walls of the cave,

While his eyes got heavier and heavier and gradually,

His eyes closed.

He knew that at this time he just needed somewhere to rest,

Somewhere to relax,

To gain his thoughts about the way forward.

He didn't know what it was that he would have to discover.

He just knew that he couldn't rest properly until he found it.

And while he rested in that cave,

He could hear the way the wind was whistling into the cave,

Feeling the slight cool breeze on his face,

Breathing in that cool air as he fell into a comfortable sleep.

And as he drifted into that comfortable sleep,

He imagined himself walking along a street,

And there's a slight bit of rain.

And he imagined himself getting an umbrella out,

Protecting himself from the rain,

While at the same time enjoying the rain,

Enjoying the sound of the rain on the umbrella,

The smell of the air,

The way the world seemed quieter and more peaceful when it was raining lightly like this.

And he felt this dream was teaching him something about what he needed to find and do.

And he walked down deserted street in the evening rain,

Aware no one else seemed to be around,

Just a man and his umbrella.

And as he walked along just the man and his umbrella,

He noticed the curious way the raindrops seemed to be slowing right down.

And as the raindrops began to slow right down,

It was as if time began to slow right down,

His attention focused more intensely on the raindrops.

And the more intently his attention focused on the raindrops,

The slower and slower they seemed to get.

And as the raindrops seemed to get slower and slower,

So his attention got drawn even more to them,

To the point where the raindrops seemed to be suspended in mid-air,

And yet he was still able to walk around.

And he walked around and he circled around and he looked at the raindrops from many different angles,

And he found something fascinating about the raindrops.

They had always looked like they were teardrop shaped or perhaps straight lines,

And now they were just circles,

Almost perfect spheres of water just hovering in the air.

And he knew that somehow this was supposed to be teaching him something related to his quest.

And he saw across the other side of the road what started out looking a bit like a shadowy figure,

And then morphed into looking a bit like him,

Just slightly different,

Like an older version of himself.

And he started walking towards that older version of himself,

And as he approached they got younger and younger,

Until when he reached them,

They were a child.

And just as he reached them and they became a child,

They vanished,

And the rain carried on at normal speed,

And then people started walking into view,

Walking up and down the street.

And he found himself drifting deeper and more comfortably asleep.

And after a little while of drifting and dreaming,

He began to awaken in the cave.

At first he noticed the slight occasional crackling of the fire,

Then the sound of the wind outside,

And gradually became more aware in the cave.

He left the cave and joined the dragon to continue their journey.

He climbed onto the back of the dragon,

And the dragon launched itself up into the air,

Giving a strong flap of its wings,

And then flying,

Curious about where the elderly man was going to take them today.

And the elderly man shared about his dream,

About frozen time,

How he didn't know what this meant,

But he was sure this was their next clue.

And the dragon didn't know where it had to go,

But trusted that now their focus was on this clue,

They would find a way.

And as they flew over forests,

Over hills,

Over grassland,

Over lakes and rivers,

Through clouds,

Under clouds,

Over clouds,

The man gazed around,

Noticing how little other life they saw,

That perhaps with a loss of hope,

The world was beginning to disappear.

And the man started to recall,

Decades earlier,

An old time,

An old place,

An old way of being,

A time when dragons were believed in,

And dragons existed,

And dragons and man co-existed,

Where everyone just got on.

And while the dragon flew,

The man wondered about these things,

Pondered about them,

With no real idea where his wandering and pondering would take him,

And as he wondered,

He started to realise,

From the back of his mind to the front,

That maybe that was the message,

Maybe that was the learning he was supposed to take,

That it was about a moment in time,

It was about having a moment in time,

And capturing that moment in time,

And exploring that moment in time,

And exploring the lost feelings,

And the lost thoughts,

And the man recalled his childhood,

Where he first became friends with this dragon,

And how he's grown up,

Grown old,

But he's remained with the dragon,

Yet many of his friends grew up with him,

And moved on,

They had other things they wanted to do,

They moved away from the lands with the dragons,

And they would have children,

And those children may hear stories of dragons,

And those children may hear stories of dragons,

But they grew up without the dragons,

And then they would have children,

And they may hear the occasional story of dragons,

But they would grow up without dragons,

And with every passing generation,

People are forgetting the dragons,

They're forgetting the land of the dragons,

The relationship between the people and the dragons,

The friendships that are formed,

And yet this elderly man,

Held on to the friendships,

Grew old with this dragon,

And he realised what it was,

That needed to be taught,

He realised that it was,

About an abundance,

About how there's now a lack of abundance,

Or a different abundance,

There's now an abundance of focus,

On the wrong things,

Not on the connections with those around you,

And that what needs to happen,

Is to build that connection between dragons and man,

And he was unsure exactly how to do that,

Given that dragons have been disappearing,

Because man has been leaving the dragons,

And heading to different lands,

And so he wondered what the way forward would be,

And he realised one thing has never ever happened,

Dragons have never left their land,

That they're disappearing now,

But they're not leaving the land,

Nobody knows where they're disappearing to,

And yet people have been leaving their land,

And finding new land to live in,

And he realised if he flew with his dragon,

And landed in places of people,

It would be undeniable evidence,

That dragons exist,

People would start believing again and maybe,

It would recapture that old time,

And dragons would start to come back,

And as they come back they'd become more abundant,

And friendships would form,

And there's no reason why the dragons,

Had to remain confined to their land,

It's just what they were familiar with,

And they always stuck with what they knew,

But maybe now it's time to go beyond what you know,

And try something new,

And so the elderly man,

Flew the dragon,

Out to one of the new big cities,

He landed the dragon right in the centre of the city,

Surrounded by people,

And there was shock and awe,

And wonder and curiosity,

As he introduced them,

To the dragons,

He showed off his dragon,

And as he did so,

More dragons flew into view,

And landed in the city,

And then people on those dragons,

And the elderly man on his dragon,

Flew to other cities,

Landed in those cities,

Showing off the dragons,

Which led to even more dragons appearing back,

Finding their way to the cities,

And doing the same,

And as this happened,

Something incredible started happening,

Something he never expected,

He started to feel more youthful,

He had a feeling he was going to feel like he recaptured his youth,

But this was different,

He wasn't just recapturing his youth,

He was starting to de-age,

And he realised that,

There was almost like a symbiotic relationship,

Between the humans and the dragons,

It's not just the dragons that age really slowly,

Perhaps they don't age at all,

Because as people were introduced to dragons,

People started to de-age,

Not all the way back,

To childhood,

But back to a time where,

They'd found contentment in life,

A certain acceptance,

Of the ups and downs,

And of the friendships,

An age when they felt they'd learned enough,

To be classed as,

Someone with enough wisdom,

To be that age,

And as the dragons came back,

People realised that they could get on with their lives,

They could do all the things they currently do,

And yet they could do more,

They had friendships with these other races,

With these other species,

With other creatures,

And they all came back,

Balance began to be restored,

Growing up became a thing,

Growing old stopped being a thing,

It was almost like somehow,

There was a fountain of youth,

The kind of connection,

Where all living things create a balance between them,

Where they have more control over their destiny,

By sharing that destiny with others,

And the elderly man who,

Was now just middle aged,

Felt content with his achievements,

Having spent years trying to achieve this,

And for the first time in many years,

He went home,

He saw the land he remembered,

Of kindness,

Of friendship,

Full of dragons,

And other wonderful creatures,

He went to bed and relaxed down,

And drifted into the most peaceful,

Wonderful sleep,

It had in many,

Many years.