A calm bedtime story for an anxious mind at night, about a young cloud who has landed on the sea and will not get up again. It is her first morning, she is supposed to be high above the water where clouds live and work, and she has decided against it. Prince Freddie wades in to his knees, sits down facing her, and is quite good at waiting. Then Nimbus Junior comes down in a thoughtful spiral with a story about a first December storm and no useful advice whatsoever. A slow, kind story about fear and first times not being the same thing, and about the morning happening anyway.

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 25, is the same story told twice, slower the second time, 29 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.