Good evening. Welcome to the Just Sleep podcast. I'm Tasia, your host.

Every week, I will read you an old story to help you relax,

but the stressful day behind you and drift off to sleep.

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Tonight, I will be reading

at the back of the North Wind

by George MacDonald.

So lie down,

close your eyes,

and let me read you a story.

Chapter 1. The Hayloft

I have been asked to tell you about the back of the North Wind. An old Greek writer mentioned the people who lived there

and were so comfortable that they could not bear it any longer and drown themselves.

My story is not the same as his.

I do not think Herodotus had got the right account of the place.

I'm going to tell you how it feared with a boy who went there.

He lived in a low room over a coach house, and that was not by any means at the back of the

North Wind, as his mother very well knew. For one side of the room was built only of boards, and the boards were so

old that you might run a penknife through into the north wind. And then let them settle between them,

...