The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground | A Sleepy Fairytale

Welcome back, sleepy friends. Tonight’s bedtime story is The Princess That Was Hidden Underground by Andrew Lang—a magical, dreamy fairytale to guide you into a restful night’s sleep. After the storytelling ends, the music continues softly to help you drift off.

So lights out & sweet dreams!

Joanne

Music in this episode via Epidemic Sound

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Drift Off,

A podcast created to help you gently unwind and find rest through peaceful bedtime stories.

I'm your host Joanne and I'm so glad you're here.

Tonight I'll be reading a lesser-known fairy tale from the Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lange titled The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground.

The story will be read two times,

With the second reading a little slower to help you get sleepy.

It's a magical tale about a clever young man,

A secret palace hidden deep beneath the earth,

And a love that quietly blossoms in the most mysterious of places.

Now,

Before we begin,

Let's take a few moments to help you settle in and prepare for sleep.

Take a nice deep breath in and slowly let it go.

Let's do that again.

Breathing in gently,

And breathing out,

Releasing the day.

Allow your body to soften.

Let those shoulders relax.

Unclench your jaw,

And let your hands and feet grow heavy and still.

And if you like,

You can begin to imagine a soft moonlit path at dusk,

A quiet stone walkway winding gently downward into the earth.

With each step,

You feel yourself drifting into stillness.

Into a hushed and secret place where silver walls shimmer in candlelight.

A place where something magical and unexpected is waiting to be discovered.

And now dear one,

Let's begin our story.

Once there was a king who had great riches,

Which when he died,

He divided among his three sons.

The two eldest of these lived in rioting and feasting,

And thus wasted and squandered their father's wealth till nothing remained,

And they found themselves in want and misery.

The youngest of the three sons,

On the contrary,

Made good use of his portion.

He married a wife,

And soon they had a most beautiful daughter from whom,

When she was grown up,

He caused a great palace to be built underground.

Then he allowed his daughter to live inside of it,

And then sent heralds all over the world to make known that he who should find the king's daughter should have her to wife.

If he were not capable of finding her,

Then he must die.

Many young men sought to discover her,

But all perished in attempt.

After many had met their death thus,

There came a young man,

Beautiful to behold and as clever as he was beautiful,

Who had a great desire to attempt the enterprise.

First,

He went to a shepherd and begged him to hide him in a sheepskin which had a golden fleece,

And in this disguise to take him to the king.

The shepherd let himself be persuaded to do so,

Took a skin having a golden fleece,

Sewed the young man in it,

Putting in also food and drink,

And so brought him before the king.

When the latter saw the golden lamb,

He asked the herd,

Will you sell me this lamb?

But the herd answered,

No,

O king,

I will not sell it,

But if you find pleasure therein,

I will be willing to oblige you,

And I will lend it to you free of charge for three days.

After that,

You must give it back to me.

This the king agreed to do,

And he arose and took the lamb to his daughter.

When he had led it into her palace,

And through many rooms,

He came to a shut door.

Then he called,

Open Sartara Martara of the earth,

And the door opened of itself.

After that,

They went through many more rooms,

And came to another closed door.

Again,

The king called out,

Open Sartara Martara of the earth,

And this door opened like the other,

And they came into the apartment where the princess lived,

The floor,

Walls,

And roof of which were all silver.

When the king had embraced the princess,

He gave her the lamb to her great joy.

She stroked it,

Caressed it,

And played with it.

After a while,

The lamb got loose,

Which,

When the princess saw,

She said,

See father,

The lamb is free.

But the king answered,

It is only a lamb,

Why should it not be free?

Then he left the lamb with the princess and went his way.

In the night,

However,

The young man threw off the skin.

When the princess saw how beautiful he was,

She fell in love with him and asked him,

Why did you come here disguised in a sheepskin like that?

Then he answered,

When I saw how many people sought you and could not find you and lost their lives in doing so,

I invented this trick,

And so I am come safely to you.

The princess exclaimed,

You have done well so to do,

But you must know that your wager is not yet won,

For my father will change me and my maidens into ducks and will ask you which of these ducks is the princess.

Then I will turn my head and with my bill will clean my wings so that you may know me.

When they had spent three days together,

Chatting and caressing one another,

The shepherd came back to the king and demanded his lamb.

Then the king went to his daughter to bring it away,

Which troubled the princess very much,

For she said they had played so nicely together.

But the king said,

I cannot leave it with you,

My daughter,

For it is only lent to me.

So he took it away with him and gave it back to the shepherd.

Then the young man threw the skin from off him and went to the king saying,

Sire,

I am persuaded I can find your daughter.

When the king saw how handsome he was,

He said,

My lad,

I have pity on your youth.

This enterprise has already cost the lives of many and will certainly be your death as well.

But the young man answered,

I accept your conditions,

O king.

I will either find her or lose my head.

Thereupon he went before the king who followed after him,

Till they came to the great door.

Then the young man said to the king,

Speak the words that it may open.

And the king answered,

What are the words?

Shall I say something like,

Shut,

Shut?

No,

Said he.

Say,

Open Sartara Martara of the earth.

When the king had so said,

The door opened of itself and they went in,

While the king gnawed his mustache in anger.

Then they came to the second door,

Where the same thing happened as at the first,

And they went in and found the princess.

Then spoke the king and said,

Yes,

Truly you have found the princess.

Now I will turn her as well as her maidens into ducks,

And if you can guess which of these ducks is my daughter,

Then you shall have her to wife.

And immediately the king changed all the maidens into ducks,

And he drove them before the young man and said,

Now,

Show me which is my daughter.

Then the princess,

According to their understanding,

Began to clean her wings with her bill,

And the lad said,

She who cleans her wings is the princess.

Now the king could do nothing more but give her to the young man to wife,

And they lived together in great joy and happiness.

Now,

I'm going to read the story one more time,

A little more slowly this time,

To help you feel even sleepier and more relaxed.

There's nothing you need to do,

Just let the words wash over you and allow yourself to drift off peacefully.

Once there was a king who had great riches,

Which when he died,

He divided among his three sons.

The two eldest of these lived in rioting and feasting,

And thus wasted and squandered their father's wealth,

Till nothing remained,

And they found themselves in want and misery.

The youngest of the three sons,

On the contrary,

Made good use of his portion.

He married a wife,

And soon they had a most beautiful daughter,

For whom,

When she was grown up,

He caused a great palace to be built underground.

Then,

He allowed his daughter to live inside it,

And sent heralds all over the world to make known that he who should find the king's daughter should have her to wife.

If he were not capable of finding her,

Then he must die.

Many young men sought to discover her,

But all perished in the attempt.

After many had met their death thus,

There came a young man,

Beautiful to behold,

And as clever as he was beautiful,

Who had a great desire to attempt the enterprise.

First,

He went to a shepherd and begged him to hide him in a sheepskin which had a golden fleece,

And in this disguise to take him to the king.

The shepherd let himself be persuaded to do so,

Took a skin having a golden fleece,

Sewed the young man in it,

Putting in also food and drink,

And so brought him before the king.

When the latter saw the golden lamb,

He asked the shepherd,

Will you sell me this lamb?

But the shepherd answered,

No,

O king,

I will not sell it,

But if you find pleasure therein,

I will be willing to oblige you,

And I will lend it to you free of charge for three days.

After that,

You must give it back to me.

This the king agreed to do,

And he arose and took the lamb to his daughter.

When he had led it into her palace and through many rooms,

He came to a shut door.

Then he called out,

Open Sartara Martara of the earth,

And the door opened of itself.

After that,

They went through many more rooms and came to another closed door.

Again,

The king called out,

Open Sartara Martara of the earth,

And this door opened like the other,

And they came into the apartment where the princess lived,

The floors,

Walls,

And roof of which were all of silver.

When the king had embraced the princess,

He gave her the lamb to her great joy.

She stroked it,

Caressed it,

And played with it.

After a while,

The lamb got loose,

Which,

When the princess saw,

She said,

See,

Father,

The lamb is free.

But the king answered,

It is only a lamb,

Why should it not be free?

Then he left the lamb with the princess and went his way.

In the night,

The young man threw off the skin.

When the princess saw how beautiful he was,

She fell in love with him.

And asked him,

Why did you come here disguised in a sheepskin like that?

Then he answered,

When I saw how many people sought you and could not find you,

And lost their lives in doing so,

I invented this trick,

And so I am come safely to you.

Then the princess exclaimed,

You have done well so to do,

But you must know that your wager is not yet won,

For my father will change me and my maidens into ducks,

And will ask you,

Which of these ducks is the princess?

Then I will turn my head back,

And with my bill will clean my wings,

So that you may know me.

When they had spent three days together,

Chatting and caressing one another,

The shepherd came back to the king and demanded his lamb.

Then the king went to his daughter to bring it away,

Which troubled the princess very much,

For she said they had played so nicely together.

But the king said,

I cannot leave it with you my daughter,

For it is only lent to me.

So he took it away with him and gave it back to the shepherd.

Then the young man threw the skin from off him and went to the king saying,

Sire,

I am persuaded I can find your daughter.

When the king saw how handsome he was,

He said,

My lad,

I have pity on your youth.

This enterprise has already cost the lives of many,

And will certainly be your death as well.

But the young man answered,

I accept your conditions,

O king.

I will either find her or lose my head.

Thereupon he went before the king who followed after him,

Till they came to the great door.

Then the young man said to the king,

Speak the words that it may open.

And the king answered,

What are the words?

Shall I say something like this?

Shut,

Shut?

No,

Said he.

Say,

Open Sartara Martara of the earth.

When the king had so said,

The door opened of itself,

And they went in,

While the king gnawed his mustache in anger.

Then they came to the second door,

Where the same thing happened as at the first,

And they went in and found the princess.

Then spoke the king and said,

Yes,

Truly you have found the princess.

Now I will turn her as well as all her maidens into ducks.

And if you can guess which of these ducks is my daughter,

Then you shall have her to wife.

And immediately the king changed all the maidens into ducks,

And he drove them before the young man and said,

Now,

Show me which is my daughter.

Then the princess,

According to their understanding,

Began to clean her wings with her bill,

And the lad said,

She who cleans her wings is the princess.

Now the king could do nothing more but give her to the young man to wife,

And they lived together in great joy and happiness.

And as the story now fades away,

You can let go now.

Feel yourself resting,

Wrapped in the same quiet stillness that once surrounded the underground palace.

Safe.

And gently held in sleep.

There is nothing more you need to do tonight.

The adventure has ended,

The doors are closed,

And your body and mind can now rest deeply.

You are safe,

And you can let go now,

And just rest.

Sweet dreams,

Dear one.

Sleep well.

Reviews

Ha! Fell asleep before much happened so I’ll have to listen again! Thanks, Joanne! 😴👸🏼🙏