A calm bedtime story for a mind that will not shut off at night, about a dune that gives way underfoot and the room beneath it. Prince Freddie falls through the ceiling of a library holding everything the sea has ever carried to this shore, catalogued on hand-lettered cards by Francisco, an octopus in spectacles with eight arms all doing something useful. There are bottles and charts and a great many boots. There is a card for a pearl that is no longer there. A slow, absorbing story about things being kept, things being only remembered, and how good it feels when someone else is doing the sorting.

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 26, is the same story told twice, slower the second time, 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.