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6. ENGLISH. BEDTIME STORIES FOR ADULTS. 6. "Hadim's Secret Tulips." Constantinople. 1518 (Ottoman Empire time). Hadim is a merchant. He travels the 6000km Silk Road to bring back fine silks, new spices and exotic perfumes. He is in love with Safiya the Beautiful and promises her to bring back something special. Something never seen in the city. The Emperor of the time is Selim the Grim.

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8. ENGLISH. BEDTIME STORIES FOR ADULTS. 8. "The Magician of Sarajevo.". Bosnia.They met in a thunderstorm in Sarajevo, Bosnia and fell in love. This was a love such as no other, for she was in his city on a soul-searching pilgrimage: to ask the Latin Bridge some questions about war. By the river Miljacka, she sat down and wept. Lightning struck: a thunderstorm attacked Sarajevo. She ran. To him, for safety and shelter. "You're here," he said when she fell into his magical space. "I've waited so long for you to come." He winked. She ran to the man. "I'm a deserter," she said. "I fled from my country. South Africa." In this tiny place, in the summer of 2010, they find truths and tell secrets.

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12. ENGLISH. BEDTIME STORIES FOR ADULTS. 12. "Maximilian Smiles." Britain. Maximilian the Second always smiled and that was a problem.

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This version of the story "Carmen Lombardi" has a music and sound effect track added. Bedtime Stories for Adults: set in Italy. Carmen was born invisible. She was child number 5 of 9 children of the famous Lombardi family in Italy. The Lombardi family was genetically superior. Lucky children born into this bloodline, soon showed traits and talents of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Marco Polo, or Dante. Since the 1500's, every generation brought at least one genius.

Music clips from Pixabay Free Music. Thank you to all contributing artists:

"Frost Waltz " by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Lone Harvest" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Let the mystery unfold" and "Hiding place in the forest" : Music by Geoffrey Harvey from Pixabay
"Sad piano atmosphere no pad" by Musictown from Pixabay
"Waltz for Piano and Violin" by Music For Videos from Pixabay
"Peaceful Classical Piano And Violin" and "Sad Melodic Classical Waltz" by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay
"For When It Rains" Music by Juan Sanchez from Pixabay
"Moonlight Sonata" Music by 23843807 from Pixabay

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ENGLISH. BEDTIME STORIES FOR ADULTS 2. Fun/serious story with a tiny important twist. Do not let the beginning frighten you. I wrote the outline to this story in Guatemala -- because I am a photographer. I took pictures of beautiful churches in small towns in Guatemala. And of the people. I try to tread lightly on the souls of humans. But do I? There was a Teresa begging in front of a yellow church. This is a true story? (Or not?)

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13. ENGLISH. BEDTIME STORIES FOR ADULTS. 13. "Kidnapped in Colombia." Cartagena. 2020. Carlos kidnapped me in Cartagena in broad daylight. I blame the Marxist guerilla group -- the ELN for this. I was not supposed to be in town on that Saturday, February 15, 2020. But this was the news report that kept me in Cartagena: "The National Liberation Army (ELN) is planning to hold a nationwide armed strike from Friday, February 14, through Monday, February 17. According to an ELN statement, the group plans to restrict the movement of vehicles and people during the 72-hour strike. Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo announced on Monday, February 10, that the military has been placed on maximum alert.
I spent Saturday in town, on my own. I took photos, stayed too long, got lost and then...Carlos!

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English Fiction 1. "Storks in Serbia". This is my first English Podcast. I speak Afrikaans as a first language and I write in Afrikaans. This story was published in South Africa in the magazine SARIE. I wrote this in Serbia, in the town of Mokrin, when I visited a family in 2010. There are really massive lamp posts in Mokrin, and there are storks on most of them. They sit in nests. I have 4 children. One day, I sat under a stork. I had a chat with this stork to clearly explain that I did not want any more children (you all know that storks bring babies, right? The people of Serbia found my chat with storks on lamp post hilarious. But -- this story "Storks in Serbia" was the "baby" the storks brought me on that day. I want to dedicate this first English story to my friend, Linda Weed, for her encouragement to speak in English. Without her, every Podcast would still be in Afrikaans.

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Immigrante storie. Hierdie storie is vir my oudste dogter. Ek moes haar alleen in Kanada in 'n klein dorpie los, toe sy 'n tieners was, omdat ek dringend SA toe moes gaan. Dit het my hart gebreek. Ek het die storie gemeng met Kanada ondervindinge, oor die coolste goed wat mens sien en beleef as jy in die kouer dele van Kanada woon. Ek was net 4 jaar in sneeu-gebied, maar dit het my lewe verryk. Margaret, die Kanadese vrou in die storie, bly regtig in 'n houthuisie. Sy het klassieke musiek gespeel en my so baie geleer. Margaret het 10 jaar in die Noordpool gebied gewoon. Storie opgedra aan my kind, en aan Margaret.

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