It's bedtime now.
Time to snuggle into bed and let your eyes softly close.
Let's take three deep breaths together.
Ready?
Good.
Notice how warm and safe and comfortable you feel.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Allow your mind to travel with the sound of my voice.
Beneath you,
Your bed has transformed and you find yourself lying on the soft dirt floor of your spacious burrow.
It sounds as though it may have rained overnight.
You can hear the ripple of water as it moves over the rocks in the nearby creek bed.
This is great news as it means that the earth will be nice and soft,
Making it easier for you to dig for earthworms.
Your family is moving about in the shallow burrow.
You reach the entrance and carefully pull the leaf plug,
Obscuring your home to the side.
Your hands have long spindly fingers with sharp claws which make gripping the earth,
The damp leaves of the rainforest,
And the slippery worms easy.
It's time to find some breakfast.
You move along on all fours,
Your tiny body close to the ground.
You are small enough to fit into a human's hand.
Your long pointed snout allows you to pick up the scent of the earthworms you seek with your highly developed sense of smell.
As you sniff the air,
You have a look around.
Towering trees form a thick canopy high above you.
Everywhere you turn,
You find different variegated leaves on the trees,
On the ground,
And floating in the water.
You can hear the leaves rustle as a few of you start foraging for worms.
You are hungry and a bit impatient,
So you use your four paws to stamp on the ground,
Looking as though you're having a little tantrum.
This is how you get the earthworms to give away their hiding place,
By increasing their movement and activity.
Unfortunately,
It seems that your stamping has also gotten the attention of a predator.
You hear the alarm from your family and quickly hide out of harm's way.
The sound that your family made was wholly unique.
In fact,
You are the only mammals in the world known to use stridulation.
The sound emanates from hard,
Carotidinous quills on the middle of your backs.
When these three rows of quills are rubbed together,
They create a high-frequency sound,
Similar to crickets or cicadas.
Fortunately,
Your hiding place seems to have a plethora of worms,
So you quickly pluck them from the ground with your sharp claws and teeth,
Sating your ravenous hunger.
Before you woke up,
You had been in a state of torpor.
This happens when the dry season is upon you and food is scarce.
Now that you have come out of torpor,
You are so pleased to feel the wet ground beneath you and the mist in the air,
And to have your fill of worms.
You hear from your family again,
And it seems the predator has moved on.
You let them know that you have found a good spot for worms,
And they head to your hiding spot.
They are so pleased that you decided to share with them.
Their barbed quills are now lying flat and relaxed.
As they come your way,
You notice the bright yellow crest of spines framing their faces like a lion's mane.
Their little black faces have a yellow band that extends from their foreheads down their snouts.
Their bodies are striped with black and yellow quills,
And they have yellow bellies.
Now that you have completed your feast,
It is time to tell the rest of the family back at the burrow of your findings.
You pad your way back to the leaf plug,
Pulling it aside and making your way in.
You tell your family of the adventure,
And where they may wish to forage when they decide to go out.
After all of this storytelling and feelings of triumph,
You start to feel a deep sense of relaxation come over you.
From the tip of your long snout,
Past your whiskers,
Up the yellow stripe between your black eyes,
Over your crest of yellow spines,
And down your neck and the length of your back,
And into your legs and feet.
Your eyelids become heavy and you gently let them close.
Your breathing becomes soft and deep and effortless.
You are completely comfortable resting alongside your family.
You breathe in,
Filling your lungs with the smell of your family,
Your burrow,
And the soft rain outside.
The muscles in your body release,
And you feel fully supported by the ground beneath you.
You are completely relaxed and you let yourself drift off to sleep.
Good night little Olin Tenric of Madagascar.
