Arabian Nights - Night 2 - Bedtime Story & Sleep Meditation

Welcome to One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of timeless Arabian stories, told in a calm, relaxing manner, designed specifically to help you sleep, with an accompaniment of wonderful ambient music by Oleg Mazur. This meditation consists of two parts. First, I will help you relax, with some calming breathing exercises, and then I'll tell you one of the wonderful stories of Queen Scheherazade.

Transcript

Hello and welcome,

My dear friend.

My name is Sonia and today I will accompany you in this wonderful journey into a peaceful,

Rejuvenating sleep.

This meditation consists of two parts.

First,

We'll focus on letting go of the tensions and worries of the past day through some calming breathing exercises.

Then I will venture with you into the realm of wonderful dreams by telling you amazing stories written down centuries ago in one thousand and one night.

I will do my best to help you relax and find peace and comfort in the safety of your own bed.

Feel free to get comfortable as I introduce you to our journey.

Twist and turn as much as you wish and find that perfect position that is most comfortable for you.

You can lay flat on your back with your hands alongside your body and stretch your arms,

Legs and relax.

You can curl up on your side,

Laying cozily under your warm blanket.

Feel free to hug a pillow or your favorite stuffed animal.

You can even sit up with your favorite cup of sleepytime tea as long as you make sure that your lights are either turned off or dimmed down.

Allow yourself to just exist in the calmness of the dark.

Allow yourself to embrace the night and let go of the day just for a little bit.

Tomorrow will come another day and tomorrow there will be time for basking in the sun and enjoying life in its full,

Brightly lit glory.

But that will come tomorrow.

Now it's time to let go.

Breathe,

Listen,

Relax and sleep.

Now that you're comfortable,

You might start feeling your body is relaxing.

The tension of the past day slowly leaving your feet,

Your knees,

Your hips and the entirety of your legs.

Your breathing is slowing down and you can feel your belly rise and fall calmly and gently.

Your hands resting,

Getting ready for another day of adventure and wonderful experiences.

Your wrists are relaxing and so are your elbows and your shoulders.

Your neck is gently melting into your pillow,

Allowing itself to let go of the heaviness of your head after a long day.

Your eyes are closed and you're surrounded by the calm and safety of darkness.

And I am here with you.

The gentle sounds of my voice and music are filling up your head,

Pushing away all the stress and worries of the past day.

Now try focusing on your breath.

Can you feel it calming down?

On your inhale,

Imagine the air entering your nostrils,

Swirling around in your head,

Taking all the unnecessary thoughts with it,

Like a fresh gust of wind lifting up leaves and dust off the ground.

As you exhale,

Imagine all those thoughts and worries picked up by your breath leaving your head through your mouth,

Or nose if you prefer.

There is no right or wrong here,

It's just you,

Me,

Breathing and soft reassuring darkness.

Inhale,

Pick up all the silly thoughts and let them go when you exhale.

Inhale,

Allow your breath to stay in your lungs,

And then exhale,

Allowing yourself to let go completely.

Inhale and exhale.

In through your nose and out through your mouth.

In slowly and calmly and out.

In and out.

Just a few more inhale and exhale.

Your body is letting go and your mind is being emptied by the fresh breeze of your breathing,

Picking up all those nasty thoughts and stresses of the past day and leaving it all behind,

Getting ready for sleep and venturing into the wonderful land of dreams and stories.

The Second Night When the sheik,

Continued Scheherazade,

Observed the tears of the calf,

His heart sympathized with him and he said to the herdsman,

Let this calf remain with the cattle.

Meanwhile the genie wondered at this strange story and the owner of the gazelle thus proceeded,

O Lord of the kings of the jen.

While this happened,

My cousin,

This gazelle,

Looked on and said,

Slaughter this calf for he is fat.

But I could not do it,

So I ordered the herdsman to take him back,

And he took him and went away.

And as I was sitting on the following day,

He came to me and said,

O my master,

I have to tell thee something that thou wilt be rejoiced to hear,

And the reward is due to me for bringing good news.

I answered,

Well?

And he said,

O merchant,

I have a daughter who learned enchantment in her youth from an old woman in our family,

And yesterday,

When thou gavest me the calf,

I took him to her,

And she looked at him and covered her face and wept,

And then laughed and said,

O my father,

Hath my condition became so degraded in thy opinion that thou bringest me before strange men?

Where,

Said I,

Are any strange man?

And wherefore didst thou weep and laugh?

She answered,

This calf that is with thee is the son of our master,

The merchant,

And the wife of our master hath enchanted both him and his mother,

And this was the reason for my laughter.

But as to the reason of my weeping,

It was on account of his mother,

Because his father slaughtered her.

And I was excessively astonished at this,

And scarcely was I certain that the light of morning had appeared when I hastened to inform thee.

When I heard,

O genie,

The words of the herdsman,

I went forth with him,

Intoxicated,

Without wine,

From the excessive joy and happiness that I received,

And arrived at his house,

Where his daughter welcomed me and kissed my hand,

And the calf came to me and fawned upon me,

And I said to the herdsman's daughter,

Is that true,

Which thou hast said respecting this calf?

She answered,

Yes,

O my master,

He is verily thy son,

And the vital spirit of thy heart.

O maiden,

Said I,

Is thou will restore him all the cattle and other property of mine that thy father hath under his care shall be thine.

Upon this she smiled and said,

O my master,

I have no desire for the property unless on two conditions.

The first is,

That thou shalt marry me to him,

And the second,

That I shall enchant her who enchanted him,

And so restrain her,

Otherwise I shall not be secure from her artifice.

On hearing,

O genie,

These her words I said,

And thou shalt have all the property that is under the care of thy father besides,

And as to my cousin,

Even her blood shall be lawful to thee.

So when she heard this,

She took a cup,

And filled it with water,

And repeated a spell over it,

And sprinkled with it the calf,

Saying to him,

If God created thee a calf,

Remain in this form,

And not be changed.

But if thou be enchanted,

Return to thy original form by permission of God,

Whose name be exalted.

Upon which he shook,

And became a man,

And I threw myself upon him,

And said,

I conjure thee by Allah,

That thou relate to me all that my cousin did to thee,

And to thy mother.

So he related to me all that had happened to them both,

And I said to him,

O my son,

God hath given thee one to liberate thee,

And to avenge thee,

And I married to him,

O genie,

The herdsman daughter,

After which he transferred my cousin into this gazelle.

And as I happened to pass this way,

I saw this merchant,

And asked him what had happened to him,

And when he had informed me,

I sat down to see the result.

This is my story.

The genie said,

This is wonderful tale,

And I give up to thee a third of my claim to his blood.

The second sheik,

The owner of the two hounds,

Then advanced,

And said to the genie,

If I relate to thee the story of myself and these hounds,

And thou find it to be in like manner wonderful,

Will thou remit to me also a third of thy claim to the blood of this merchant?

The genie answered,

Yes.

Then said the sheik,

Know,

O lord of the kings of the gen,

That these two hounds are my brothers.

My father died and left to us three thousand pieces of gold,

And I opened a shop to sell and buy.

But one of my brothers made a journey with a stock of merchandise and was absent from us for the space of a year with the caravans,

After which he returned destitute.

I said to him,

Did I not advise thee to abstain from travelling?

But he wept and said,

O my brother,

God,

To whom be ascribed all might and glory,

Decreed this event,

And there is no longer any profit in this words,

I have nothing left.

So I took him up into the shop,

And then went with him to the bath,

And clad him in a costly suit of my own clothing.

After which we sat down together to eat,

And I said to him,

O my brother,

I will calculate the gain of my shop during the year and divide it exclusive of the principle between me and thee.

Accordingly,

I made the calculation and found my gain to amount to two thousand pieces of gold,

And I praised God to whom be ascribed all might and glory,

And rejoiced exceedingly and divided the gain in two equal parts between myself and him.

My other brother then set forth on a journey,

And after a year returned in the like condition,

And I did unto him as I had done to the former.

After this,

When we had lived together for some time,

My brothers again wished to travel,

And were desirous that I should accompany them,

But I would not.

What,

Said I,

Have ye gained in your travels that I should expect to gain?

They important me,

But I would not comply with their request,

And we remained selling and buying in our shops a whole year.

Still,

However,

They persevered in proposing that we should travel,

And I still refused,

Until after the lapse of six entire years,

When at last I consented and said to them,

O my brothers,

Let us calculate what property we possess.

We did so,

And found it to be six thousand pieces of gold,

And then I said to them,

We will bury half of it in the earth,

That it may be of service to us if any misfortune befall us,

In which case each of us shall take a thousand pieces with which to traffic.

Excellent is thy advice,

Said they.

So I took the money,

And divided it into two equal portions,

And buried three thousand pieces of gold,

And of the other half I gave to each of them a thousand pieces.

We then prepared merchandise,

And hired a ship,

And embarked our goods,

And proceeded on our voyage,

For the space of a whole month,

At the expiration of which we arrived at a city where we sold our merchandise,

For every piece of gold we gained ten.

And when we were about to set sail again,

We found,

On the shore of the sea,

A maiden clad in tattered garments,

Who kissed my hand,

And said to me,

O my master,

Are thou possessed of charity and kindness,

If so,

I will requite thee of them.

I answered,

Yes,

I have those qualities,

Though thou requite me not.

Then said she,

O my master,

Accept me as thy wife,

And take me to thy country,

For I give myself to thee.

Sit kindly towards me,

For I am one who requires to be treated with kindness and charity,

And who will requite thee for so doing?

And let not my present conditions at all deceive thee.

When I heard these words,

My heart was moved with tenderness towards her,

In order to the accomplishment of a purpose of God,

To whom be ascribed all might and glory.

And I took her,

And clothed her,

And furnished for her a place in the ship in a handsome manner,

And regarded her with kind and respectful attention.

We then set sail,

And I became most cordially attached to my wife,

So that,

On her account,

I neglected the society of my brothers,

Who in consequence became jealous of me,

And likewise envied me my wealth and the abundance of my merchandise,

Casting the ice of the covetousness upon the whole of the property.

They therefore consulted together to kill me,

And take my wealth,

Saying,

Let us kill our brother,

And all the property shall be ours.

And the devil made these actions to seem fair in their eyes.

So they came to me while I was sleeping by the sight of my wife,

And took both of us up and threw us into the sea.

But as soon as my wife awoke,

She shook herself and became transformed into a Geniach.

She immediately bore me away and placed me upon an island,

And for a while disappeared.

In the morning,

However,

She returned and said to me,

I am thy wife who carried thee,

And rescued thee from death by permission of God,

Whose name be exalted.

I know that I am a Geniach.

I saw thee,

And my heart loved thee for the sake of God,

For I am a believer in God and his apostle.

God bless and save him.

I came to thee in the condition in which thou saved me,

And thou did marry me.

And see,

I have rescued thee from drowning.

But I am incensed against thy brothers,

And I must kill them.

When I heard her tale,

I was astonished,

But thank her for what she had done.

But,

Said I,

As to the destruction of my brothers,

It is not what I desire.

I then related to her all that had happened between myself and them,

From first to last.

And when she had heard it,

She said,

I will,

This next night,

Fly to them,

And sink their ship and destroy them.

But I said,

I conjured thee by Allah,

That thou do it not.

For the author of the proverb said,

Although benefactor of him who hath done evil,

The action that he hath done is sufficient for him.

Besides,

They are at all events my brothers.

She still,

However,

Said,

They must be killed,

And I continued to propiate her towards them.

And at last she lifted me up and soared through the air,

And placed me on the roof of my house.

Having opened the doors,

I dug up what I had hidden in the earth,

And after I had saluted my neighbors and bought merchandise,

I opened my shop.

And in the following night,

When I entered my house,

I found these two dogs tied up in it.

And as soon as they saw me,

They came to me and wept and clung to me,

But I knew not what had happened,

Until immediately my wife appeared before me and said,

These are the things that I brothers.

And who,

Said I,

Hath done this unto them?

She answered,

I sent to my sister,

And she did it,

And they shall not be restored until after the lapse of ten years.

And I was now on my way to her,

That she might restore them as they have been in this state ten years.

When I saw this man,

And being informed what had befallen him,

I determined not to quit the place,

Until I should have seen what would have happened between thee and him.

This is my story.

Verily,

Said the genie,

It is a wonderful tale,

And I give up to thee a third of the claim to that I had to this blood,

On account of his offence.

Upon this the third sheik,

The owner of the mule,

Said to the genie,

As to me break not my heart if I relate thee nothing more than this.

And that was the end of the second night.

And so I will leave you too for now,

So that you can find refuge in the calmness and darkness of the night.

I hope to see you tomorrow too.