The Goodnight Parade🌛🎠 Bedtime Story for Kids

Visit the sleepy village of Snoozing-on-Sea and discover the magical secret that happens every night.

Narrated by: Thomas Jones
Written by: Jessica Miller


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Snuggle, Cozy Stories for kids. This episode is
called the Good Night Parade. Snuggle is a production of
Slumber Studios. To listen ad free and support the show,
sign up for our premium feed. Hey friend, thanks so

(00:27):
much for joining me again. I'm Tom, and I'm so
happy to be able to read you another story here
on Snuggle. You're going to love this one. I just
know it. It's so charming and dreamy all at once.
It's the story of a sleepy little village by the

(00:49):
sea which has one very magical secret. Before we find
out what that is, why don't you get comfortable and
find a position where you feel nice and relaxed. Then
breathe in slowly and notice how your breath fills up

(01:15):
your tummy like a balloon. Breathe out and notice how
your tummy deflates, like you're just gently letting some air
back out of the balloon. A few slow and mindful
breaths like this can really help us to feel more

(01:38):
calm and RESTful, so don't forget you can use the
breath anytime you need to relax a little bit. It's
about time I tell you this amazing story about a
magical seaside village. But we've got to get there fair,

(02:01):
So we start our story awaiting the arrival of a train.
At the station. You are standing on a train platform,

(02:28):
holding a suitcase and a thick green envelope in your hand.
If you look to your right, you can see steep mountains.
It is midsummer, so the mountains are covered with green
fir trees and bright wildflowers dot the ground. If you

(02:57):
look to your left, you can see a sloping, cobblestoned
road that leads down through a charming English village. You
see cottages with thatched roofs, a high street lined with
small shops, and a church with a tall spire. The

(03:25):
village is nestled within a pebbled bay. The ocean laps
at the bay's shore, and it stretches out, bright and blue,
all the way to the horizon. And if you look
straight ahead, you see a sign on the train platform

(03:51):
which reads Welcome to Snoozing on Sea. You open the
green envelope. On the journey here, you read the letter
contained within many times, but now you read it again.

(04:16):
I am so very pleased you agreed to visit over
the summer. The letter begins Snoozing on Sea is a
small village, but I think you will rather like it
when you arrive. Take the main road from the station
until you come to the carousel. Turn left, and you'll

(04:41):
come to a cottage with a bright yellow door and
apple trees growing either side. I'll be waiting for you there,
your friend Elfrida Ida Down. You do just as the

(05:03):
letter says, though. You stop for a moment at the
carousel to admire the painted horses. You decide you like
the green horse with the shiny red saddle the best,
and you promise yourself that one day soon you'll come

(05:26):
back and ride it. You turn left onto a narrow
lane with thick hawthorn shrubs growing either side of the road.
At the end of the lane is a whitewashed cottage

(05:48):
with a neatly thatched roof. There are apple trees growing
on either side of the cottage and a marmalade cat
don't on one of its window sills. The door is
painted sunshine yellow. It looks very much like the other

(06:14):
cottages in the village except for one thing. This cottage
has a small turreted tower on one side. As you approach,
the yellow door opens Elfrida rider Down stands in the

(06:39):
doorway with a wide, welcoming smile. She is a small
woman with snow white hair piled on top of her head,
but though she is old, her eyes have a youthful
twinkle behind her purple glasses. She shows you into her

(07:08):
snug cottage. There is a pie baking in the kitchen.
The living room is furnished with lots of comfortable chairs.
There is another cat snoozing on the back porch. Elfrida

(07:31):
explains that you will be staying in the turret. She
shows you up the spiral staircase and into your tower room.
In one corner of the room is a four poster
bed covered with soft quilts and big squashy pillows. Opposite

(07:59):
to the bed is a wide bay window. From here
you can see the whole village as well as the
brilliant blue of the ocean. You think you'll be very
happy here. Back downstairs, Elfrida hands you a packed lunch,

(08:26):
delicious sandwiches, homemade cookies, and a flask of lemonade. She
tells you to go out and spend the day exploring
the village, and then she gives you a mischievous grin

(08:48):
Snoozing on Sea, she tells you, is a village with
a very magical secret. She simply can't wait for you
to discover what it is. It doesn't take you very
long to fall in love with Snoozing on Sea. The

(09:15):
cottages are painted in candy floss colors. Wherever you go,
you hear the gentle murmuring of the ocean waves. And
if you stand right in the middle of the town
square and sniff deeply, you inhale the mingled aromas of

(09:38):
the fair trees growing on the hills, the salty air
wafting from the sea, and the mouth watering smell of
baking bread and piping hot pastries coming from the nearby bakery.

(10:00):
Around every corner you find something enchanting. One street is
devoted entirely to shops where musical instruments are made and sold.
It is filled with the melody of violin strings being

(10:22):
plucked and piano strings being tuned. One shop window is
filled with silver flutes. Another is stacked high with harmonicas.
Another street sells only toys. Dolls peep out of the

(10:48):
windows of one shop. One another is filled with teddy
bears in every shape and size. During the street used
by spinning tops whirling in colorful circles, and animals giraffes, pandas, owls, frogs,

(11:14):
and leopards, all carved from wood. You come out of
the streets and into the main town square. At the
center of the square is a tall fountain spurting jets
of water. The fountain is decorated with bronze statues of

(11:41):
mermaids combing their hair. To one side of the square
is the town hall. It is a tall brick building
with not one, not two, but three shiny copper weather veins.

(12:04):
The first is in the shape of a shooting star,
the second is in the shape of a fox wearing
a crown, and the third shows a flock of geese
with outspread wings, soaring through the sky. The square is

(12:27):
very beautiful, but even over the burbling of the fountain
you can hear the enticing whisper of the sea. You
follow the sloping, cobbled streets downhill until you reach the
sea shore. The sun is out. The sea is a deep,

(12:54):
cool blue, The sand is a soft pale yellow. The
shore is dotted with painted beach huts striped in shades
of pink, red, and green. Some of the huts sell

(13:14):
ice creams or lollipops, and even sun hats. One hut
is very special. It is home to a tiny puppet theater.
When you peer inside, you can see a miniature stage.

(13:37):
Between its velvet curtains. The puppets dangle a sailor, a pirate,
a ballerina, and an acrobat. You are too late to
see the puppet show today, You promise yourself you'll return

(13:59):
here tomorrow. As you turn to leave, the puppeteer herself
emerges from the back of the hut and waves hello.
She asks if you're a visitor to snoozing on sea.

(14:22):
When you tell her that you are, she gives you
a mysterious smile. She tells you that she thinks you'll
see the puppets again sooner than later. You walk a
little further along the beach, looking for the perfect spot

(14:44):
to sit. At last, you find a place where the
breeze feels especially gentle, the sand especially soft, and the
sun especially warm. You sit down and let your toes

(15:08):
sink slowly down down into the sand. You let out
a deep sigh of contentment. It feels so lovely to
be here beside the sea. You eat the lunch Elfrida

(15:33):
has packed for you. It's so delicious. Elfrida has made
your favorite type of sandwich and baked just the kind
of cookies you love best. Her homemade lemonade is delicious too.

(15:54):
It leaves a sweet, zingy taste on your tongue. With
a full belly, you settle back to admire the sea.
You love to watch the foam that splashes up as
the waves break. Sometimes shapes appear out of the greeny

(16:21):
white foam. You see frothy foam horses galloping over the water,
and big white, foamy polar bears tumbling and rolling towards
the shore. You see delicate, frothy fairies dancing over the

(16:44):
cresting waves, and enormous foam ships sailing towards you. The
sun grows low in the sky. It is time to
go home again. Elfrida will be expecting you back at

(17:09):
the cottage. Elfrida stirs a pot of soup bubbling on
the stove. She turns and smiles when she sees you
come in. You tell her all about your day. When
you are finished talking, she asks if you happened to

(17:33):
discover snoozing on seas magical secret you think very hard.
You saw lots of wonderful things today, like the beautiful carousel,
the street full of toy shops, and the shapes in

(17:54):
the sea foam, but you didn't uncover any magical sea secret.
Elfrida twinkles her eyes at you and tells you she
thinks you'll find out what it is before too long.

(18:16):
You've had a long day and you're feeling very tired.
You climb the tower into your turret room and snuggle
under the covers of your four poster bed. Your arms
and legs feel very heavy, and your eyes keep drooping closed.

(18:45):
But before you drift off to sleep, you can't resist
peering out the window by your bed for one last look.
That's snoozing on sea. The sky is a deep blue,
and the first stars wink at you through the clouds.

(19:11):
The moon is rising over the sea, round and shiny
like a silver coin. The cobbled streets are empty, and
so is the square. A feeling of sleepy quiet has
settled over the village. You yawn, it's time to come

(19:38):
away from the window and rest your head against the pillows.
But then you hear something strange, a clip clop clopping
noise it sounds like hoofs on cobble se stones. You

(20:04):
peer out the window again and your mouth falls open.
A horse is trotting through the village streets. But it's
no ordinary horse. It is a horse from the carousel,
your favorite one. The horse that is painted green with

(20:29):
a shiny red saddle clip cropping behind it. Are the
rest of the carousel horses, bounding up and down, swishing
their manes and neighing gently. With each bound they lift

(20:51):
higher and higher into the sky, until finally they are floating.
You watch in amazement as each horse passes by your window.
As they pass, they turn to you and, in soft

(21:15):
neighing voices, wish you good night. Then they keep going,
bounding along through the sky until they disappear behind the
shadowy mountains. Then you hear another sound, a beautiful, swelling

(21:42):
song that sounds like the sweetest lullabi you've ever heard.
But where is it coming from? You peer out of
the window and see, to your surprise that the bounding
carousel horses have been joined by the musical instruments you

(22:07):
saw in the shop windows earlier. Today. They are drifting
through the air like clouds and making music as they
go violins, pianos, harmonicas, guitars and flutes all float one

(22:32):
by one past your window, filling the sky with incredible music.
Next come the toys, Teddy bears, dolls, leopards, and monkeys.

(22:54):
Good Night, they call as they go past. Good Night.
One Teddy sees your puzzled expression and asks you if
this is the first time you've seen the good night parade.

(23:14):
Yes you not, it is in that case, says the bear.
Enjoy your first parade and good night. You watch out
the window in wonder. It seems the whole village has

(23:38):
come alive to float past your window and wish you
good night. After the toys have passed by, you see
an enormous shooting star, the weather vane from the top
of the town hall. It streaks through the sky, casting

(24:05):
a coppery glow all over the village. Good Night, it
whispers to you in a voice that sounds as soft
and shiny as glitter. Good Night and sleep well. The

(24:27):
Fox and the Crown prances through the air after the
star and wishes you a good night with a flick
of its coppery tail. Good Night, good night, good night.
Call the flock of copper geese flying past your window

(24:49):
with their wings beating rhythmically. Next come the mermaids from
the fountain in the square. They swim past your window
and sing you good night in voices as watery as

(25:09):
the ocean, flicking their shiny tails this way and that
as they go. And after the mermaids are the puppets.
The ballerina puppet dances past you, and the acrobat puppet

(25:31):
tumbles along after her. Good night, they say, and sweet dreams.
But that's not all out from the moonlight ocean gallops
a herd of foam horses, followed by tumbling foam polar bears,

(25:56):
the frothy ship, and the dancing fairies. Yes, all the
wonderful creatures you saw in the sea spray this afternoon.
They drift past your window, smelling of salt. Good night,

(26:17):
they say, softly, good night. You see other sea creatures
rising up out of the waves, beautiful glow in the dark,
jellyfish with tentacles that dangle like chandeliers, as well as shiny,

(26:39):
flickering fish and leaping dolphins. But you don't see anything
after that. The sweet music of the good night parade
has allulled you into a heavy sleep. Elfrida smiles at

(27:03):
you at breakfast the next morning. Now, she says, have
you discovered the magical secret? Snoozing on Sea is the
only village in the world where every night there is
a special good night parade. You tell Elfrida you fell

(27:31):
asleep before the parade could finish. She nods. No one
has ever seen the parade end. That's part of its magic.
Once Elfrida stayed up long enough to see the moon
and the stars join the parade, she remembers how they

(27:57):
whirled through the sky, stopping at her window to wish
her a good night in silvery voices. As for what
happened after that, she couldn't say. She fell fast asleep

(28:17):
before she could find out. The rest of your stay
in Snoozing on Sea is wonderful. Your days are filled
with fun. You ride on the carousel and visit the

(28:38):
puppet theater. You swim in the sea and hunt for
starfish in the rock pools. You visit the bakery bright
and early each morning to buy bread and pastries when
they are still piping hot from the oven. On sunny afternoons,

(29:06):
you lie under the shade of the apple trees in
Elfrida's orchard, and on rainy afternoons you sit curled in
an armchair with one of Elfrida's soft dozy cats snuggled
up on your lap. But the best part of every

(29:31):
day is the evening, snug in your bed in the turret,
you open your window and watch the magnificent parade go
by until your eyes fall shut and you slip into dreams,

(29:54):
with the music of the parade still ringing in your ears.
On your last morning in Snoozing on Sea, you can't
help but feel a little sad. You promise Elfrida you'll

(30:14):
be back as soon as you can. She passes you
a small wooden box tied with a ribbon. It's something
for you to remember Snoozing on Sea by Elfrida, says.

(30:34):
That night, you are lying in your own warm bed
when you remember Elfrida's gift. You unwrap it to find
a silver music box. You turn the key and lift
the lid. You hear the strings of a very firm

(31:00):
a tune, the music of the good Night Parade. You
notice a piece of folded paper tucked into the box.
It is a note from Elfrida, and it reads, now

(31:21):
you can take the good Night Parade with you wherever
you go. Your friend Elfrida Ida down you wonder what
she means. Then, from underneath your window you hear a
strange sound, the clip clopping of hoofs. You look down

(31:50):
to see a brightly painted carousel horse going by. You
peer past the hall and gasp with wonder. After the
horse follow the floating instruments and the toys, teddies, dolls,

(32:13):
wooden animals, and spinning tops. Behind them are the coppery
fox and the swooping flock of geese. The shooting star
lights up the evening with a coppery glow, and behind

(32:38):
the star is the rest of the parade, coming to
wish you a special good night before you close your
eyes and fall into a deep, refreshing, dream filled sleep