The Queen's Enchanted Adventure (Meditation Bedtime Story)

So,

Just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax.

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.

And as you comfortably fall asleep,

I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background.

And this is a bedtime story about a queen who lives in a palace high up in a mountain.

And she often feels that she leads quite an isolated existence.

Being the queen,

She's often expected to just remain in that palace.

People will come occasionally and visit.

She'll hold functions and balls.

But most of her time is spent just gazing out over the land below.

And she can see from this palace high up in the mountains,

The vast landscape stretching out below,

The snow-capped mountains,

The crisp blue sky,

The forests and weaving rivers,

The peaceful meadows.

And all she can do is look out and dream about being able to go and explore,

About having the freedom to lead a life.

And one day,

She wakes during the night when she hears a sound coming from somewhere else in the palace.

She leaves her bedroom,

Walks quietly down the large corridor on the softest of rugs,

Almost feeling like the eyes in the paintings are following her,

But at the same time feeling a deep sense of comfort and connection to her history as she walks.

She continues down that corridor and can still hear that noise,

Until eventually she arrives at the heavy wooden door to one of the studies.

She carefully and slowly inches open that door and inside the study,

She sees a fairy flying around.

Flying from ornament to ornament,

She can hear its wings with the high-pitched buzz,

Just a blur behind the fairy's back.

She asks who this fairy is and what they're doing in her palace,

And the fairy says that they've been observing the Queen for many years,

That the Queen's parents had tasked them with that role,

To look after her,

Keep an eye on her,

And so that is what they've been doing.

But over recent years,

They've felt that the Queen was seeking something,

Was often lost in thought,

And they had no way of being able to find out what was going on for the Queen without revealing themselves.

And they were wondering now whether to do so,

And they were searching this study to try to find any books that might contain ancient knowledge that would reveal whether there's any circumstances where they're allowed to reveal themselves to the person they've been tasked to watch over.

And the Queen comments that it seems like a pointless point now,

When they're talking,

And the fairy agrees that it does seem rather pointless about whether it's allowed or not,

When it's happening.

And so the Queen heads deeper into the study.

She lights the fire in the fireplace,

Pours herself a drink.

It's just the early hours of the morning,

The sun hasn't even risen yet.

She sits herself down in the most comfortable of armchairs near the fireplace,

As the fire begins to crackle to life,

Gestures for the fairy to stand or sit down somewhere,

Rather than buzzing around,

And then talks to the fairy and shares her thoughts and worries,

Her concerns,

The things she feels she's missing out on,

The life she would like to have.

And the fairy says that she can use magic to help her to be able to go out unrecognised,

And she can then explore and find herself,

Find out who she truly is,

And find out what it's like to not be a Queen.

And the Queen remarks that,

This is all very well and good,

But what about those in the palace?

They would obviously miss her and recognise she's missing.

And the fairy says that,

With her magic,

She can always take the Queen's place for a time.

She can make herself look like the Queen,

The Queen can share with her some of the tasks she's supposed to do over the next few days.

She already knows the Queen's mannerisms,

She's kept a close eye on the Queen.

And so the Queen has a gulp of the drink and says,

Let's make it so.

And the fairy pulls out a tiny magic wand,

With fairy dust sprinkling from the end with each movement,

And as the fairy dust liberally flies off in all directions,

The fairy begins to chant an incantation,

Doing specific gestures,

Hand movements,

Specific patterns,

A focus seeming to increase,

The room filling with more sparkling fairy dust,

As the furniture springs to life,

Begins to dance and sing,

As the fire begins to dance in tune in the fireplace,

As the fairy continues her incantation.

And the Queen watches with intrigue,

And notices a cold drink seems to be beginning to bubble and turn hot,

And so the fairy continues her incantation,

The Queen puts down the drink as the glass warms up,

And then with a movement of the hands like the end of a conductor conducting music,

With stillness striking the room,

Furniture becoming still,

The fire seeming to become still in the fireplace,

The fairy dust settling to the ground and vanishing,

Silence setting over the room,

The fairy says,

Drink that warm drink,

And the Queen drinks the drink,

And as she drinks the last drop,

A swirl of light starting from around her feet,

Spirals up around her legs,

Around her midriff,

Around her chest,

Her arms,

Her head,

Getting brighter and brighter,

She feels a tingling throughout her whole body,

And then as the light fades,

She feels no different,

She asks what has changed,

And the fairy gestures to the window,

And the Queen heads over to the window,

Opens the thick curtains,

And can see her reflection in the window against the darkness outside,

She notices that she has long blonde hair,

Freckles on her face,

Blue eyes,

Almost the exact opposite of her normal look,

Of brown hair,

Brown eyes,

And clear skin,

She notices the changes to her cheekbones,

To the structure of her face,

And notices she's wearing a pretty sunflower dress,

And she looks very different to how she ordinarily looks,

And the fairy says that even your voice has changed,

To yourself you sound as you do,

But to everyone else,

You sound very different,

And the Queen looks at her arms,

At her hands,

At her footwear,

And the fairy says,

You will have just one day,

Through until midnight,

And so a little over 24 hours,

Before this wears off,

And in a flash of light,

You'll turn back to looking like the Queen that you are,

And so the fairy says that you should go now,

Before anyone wakes up,

There's a number of hours before morning,

But go now,

Leave the palace,

And I'll turn into you,

And with that,

The fairy waves her wand over her own head,

And in a flash of light,

Just as she's finishing saying those words,

The words are finished in the Queen's voice,

As the Queen sees herself standing there,

And she says,

I suppose it's back to bed,

And finds her way through to the Queen's bedroom,

As the Queen heads through the corridors,

Quietly,

Softly,

And finds her way out of the building,

Begins to descend the mountain,

Descending down towards the forest below,

Following the track that so many people travel up to see her along,

She can hear the first hint of early morning birds coming from that forest below,

She can feel the fresh,

Cool air as she breathes that in,

While descending,

And she feels a sense of excitement and curiosity about this experience that she'll have,

And she's got the whole of today,

Overnight and through to midnight tomorrow,

And so she explores that forest,

Touching the bark of trees,

The tender,

Waxy leaves in her fingertips,

Softly moving branches out the way as she passes,

Hearing the sounds of different animals,

Birds,

Noticing the faintest hints of the light,

Edging its way down through the canopy overhead,

Occasional beams of light tickling the undergrowth,

As the wind blows a gentle breeze through the tops of the trees,

Curious if she'll see anyone,

And what she'll discover and explore,

And she continues on through the forest,

Finds her way towards a river that passes through this forest,

That travels down from the mountain,

That's travelled from the mountain about as far as she has,

And while following that river,

Smelling the fresh coolness of the air alongside the water,

The gentle sound of that water as it bubbles along beside her,

Finding it easier to pass through the forest,

Along the bank of the river,

Than pushing through the trees,

And knowing that as long as she can find this river,

She can definitely,

Easily find her way back up to the mountain,

And while continuing,

She hears a noise,

And quietly walks towards that noise,

Where she sees some children playing in the edge of the water,

Their trousers rolled up,

Splashing barefoot in the water,

Laughing,

So carefree,

And she stops for a moment to observe,

Before quietly approaching,

And engaging in conversation with them,

Asking them where they live,

What this place is like,

What they enjoy doing,

Learning something about these people,

These children,

Before saying goodbye,

Continuing on,

Crossing the most beautiful stone bridge,

And heading down,

Through the meadows and farmland,

Towards the local village,

And as the morning continues,

And the walking continues,

She sees a farmer,

Walking along with a horse,

That's ploughing a field,

She says good morning to the farmer,

Engages with the farmer,

And learns about their role as a farmer,

They talk about having to wake up early,

Having to work long hours,

The pleasure they get,

And the achievement they get,

And the role they take,

And she continues on,

Hearing the sound of the church bell,

Ringing for the morning,

Heading into the village,

Heading towards the church,

Admiring the simple stained glass windows,

And the basic stone structure of that church,

She meets some people,

Who greet her so friendly,

As they enter the church,

And some as they leave,

Some are carrying flowers,

In baskets,

Others carrying fruit and veg,

She talks to a number of the people,

Each one sharing how they enjoy,

The life they lead,

The things they choose to do,

Feeling a sense of purpose,

Engaging with the community,

Engaging with each other,

All having their own different skills,

And she says goodbye to them,

And continues her journey,

Finding her way to the marketplace,

Feeling a little overwhelmed in the market,

With so many people,

Pushing here and there,

So crowded,

So much noise,

So much confusion,

An assault to her senses she's not used to,

As queen,

She's aware of crowds,

But the crowds are always kept a little distant from her,

Here she's weaving in and out of people,

Having people trying to sell her things,

And so she walks through,

Smelling the different scents of different foods,

Seeing different materials,

Different items of clothing being sold,

Being offered bits of free food and free drinks,

She talks to different sellers,

Learns about their experiences,

Before continuing on out the other side of the village,

Continuing to explore,

Enjoying the peace out the other side of the village,

Heading through meadows,

Following the river past,

A mill,

Its wheel turning,

As the water flows past,

Following along,

Past lavender,

The scent of that lavender,

The colour and the feel of the lavender,

Enjoying that touch of the lavender,

Getting that scent on her hands,

Usually being unable to enjoy touching wildflowers,

Because what she gets is normally picked and delivered,

And up in the mountains,

Flowers don't really grow like this,

And she continues through the meadows,

Until she sees,

In the middle of the meadow,

Some way away,

A small cabin,

With a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney,

She heads over to that cabin,

Knocks gently on the cabin door,

And a small man,

With the friendliest of smiles,

And the cutest of little ginger cats,

Answers the door,

She asks if she can come in for a cup of tea,

Explains she's exploring,

And just getting to meet the people around here,

And to learn from them,

And they invite her in,

She sits by the fire,

The cat jumps up on her lap,

She begins stroking that cat,

And it begins to gently purr,

And snuggle down onto her lap even more,

She's presented with a warm cup of tea,

Which she drinks while talking to this friendly small old man,

Who explains what it's like to live around here,

To have a community to engage with,

To feel a sense of worth,

And they talk about their time in this land,

The history of the land as they know it,

She listens with intrigue,

Absorbed in the stories being told,

To the point she finishes her drink,

And it's beginning to get dark outside,

She says that she should leave,

Because it's getting late,

And she says goodbye,

Says goodbye to the cat,

Before heading back towards the town,

And back in the town,

She hears a lively tavern,

And she's never been inside a tavern,

So she heads to that tavern,

Heads inside,

Asks if they've got a room for the night,

And she's given a key to a room and told where it is,

She heads up to the room,

Freshens up,

Before going back down to the bar,

And at the bar she chats with more locals,

Seeing what they're like when they're not working,

When they're enjoying themselves,

She chats with the bar staff,

She engages in drinking with them,

In playing,

In bar games,

Feeling a part of this community,

Before finding herself getting more and more tired,

And so heading to bed,

And waking the next day,

Knowing she has to make her way back to the palace before midnight,

And so she takes some more time to explore this village,

She starts to ask people about the queen,

About what people thought of the queen,

And they explain that she pretty much seems to let them lead their own lives,

She's a very good queen,

But they never really see her,

She doesn't interfere with their lives,

And some of them say they feel sorry for her that she probably is lonely up there all by herself,

The queen of this land,

Yet not really a part of this land,

And she talks with them some more,

About how things could change,

What they would like to see,

Before developing some ideas,

As the day continues on towards evening,

And so she starts making her journey away from that village,

Following the river,

Heading back through the forest,

Finding her way all the way back to the palace high up in the mountain,

And when she arrives back at the palace,

She knows that she doesn't want to be seen not looking as the queen,

So she waits for a while,

Sitting in the garden,

And it's dark,

And the moon's out,

And the stars are twinkling overhead,

And as her eyes adjust to the dark,

She can see the faint sign of the aurora,

Like curtains waving gently in a breeze,

She enjoys sitting on a bench in the garden,

Gazing out at the view the way the moonlight reflects and sparkles on the river's surface below,

She reflects on her journey,

On her experience,

And as midnight strikes,

With a flash of light from her feet up to her head,

She turns back into herself,

She sneaks back into the palace,

Finds her way back through to the study where she meets with the fairy,

Who is back as the fairy,

She talks with the fairy about her experience,

About what she learned about herself,

About others,

About happiness,

And changes she would like to make that she knows those around her might feel uncomfortable with those changes being made,

Not wanting her to take such risks,

But she decides she wants to,

Feel more part of a community,

She doesn't just want bulls with wealthy other aristocrats from other places,

But she wants to open her home to the local people,

To engage with the local people,

To travel herself for supplies into town,

To head to the market,

To enjoy walks in nature,

To feel like she belongs,

And she explores all this and explains it all with the fairy,

And the fairy says it sounds like she's no longer needed to be here right now,

But if she's ever needed again,

She'll just know it and she'll be there,

And the queen thanks the fairy,

As the fairy seems to just vanish,

And the queen leaves the study,

Heads to bed,

And wonders if she missed anything in the day and a half that she was gone,

Or whether everything ticked on as usual,

And she looks forward to the changes she'll be making,

As she relaxes back in bed,

And drifts and floats so calmly,

So peacefully,

Asleep into slumberland,