A calm bedtime story to help settle a wound-up nervous system, set at first light on a flat rock at the western end of the beach. Prince Freddie goes back to sit with the old fisherman, this time on purpose. There is a rod in the water, a thermos, a gannet working the waves, and a second cup handed across without ceremony when Mateo rows in around the headland. Almost nothing is said. A fish is caught, admired and let go. A slow, quiet story about the kind of company that asks nothing of you, and about arrangements that hold together without ever being explained.

Prince Freddie is a small dog in a flat gold crown who lives in a sleepy village on the Spanish coast, where the days are warm, the sea is always close, and nothing is ever in a hurry. These are unhurried sleep stories, written to quiet an anxious mind and soften the end of the day. You are not meant to reach the end.

No ads, ever. How to listen: lie down, dim the light, and let the words do the walking. If you drift off before the last line, the story has done its job.

Follow Prince Freddie Sleep Stories for a new story to fall asleep to. Read the written stories at stories.princefreddie.com and find everything at princefreddie.com.

If Freddie has helped you sleep, a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts helps someone else find him.

If this one ends before you do, there is a longer telling. The Settle, Night 23, is the same story told twice, slower the second time, 26 minutes over a steady sea, with an ending you are not meant to hear. Ad-free, and the first seven nights are free. settle.princefreddie.com

Every story is written by the Prince Freddie studio and read by a calm synthetic voice.

Press play, and let the day settle.