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, put the stressful day behind you,

and drift off to sleep.

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Rest assured, there will be no ads during or after the story.

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Tonight, I will be reading

A Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson.

So lie down, close your eyes,

and let me read you a story.

Far out in the ocean where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower and as clear as

crystal, it is very, very deep, so deep indeed that no cable could sound it, and many church

steeples paled one upon another were not reach

from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the sea king and his subjects.

We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand. No indeed,

for on this sand grow the strangest of flowers and plants,

the leaves and stems of which are so pliant that the slightest agitation of the water causes

them to stir as if they had life. Fishes, both large and small, glide between the branches as

birds fly among the trees here upon land.

In the deepest spot of all stands the castle of the Seeking. Its walls are made of coral,

and the long Gothic windows are of the clearest amber. The roof is formed of shells

...