Good evening. Welcome to the Just Sleep podcast. I'm Tasia, your host.

Every week, I will read you an old story to help you relax, put the stressful day behind you,

and drift off to sleep.

Occasionally, we will run ads in order to cover the costs of the production of the podcast.

Rest assured, there will be no ads during or after the story.

If you prefer an ad-free and intro-free show, you can join Just Sleep Premium.

Visit Just Sleeppodcast.com slash support for more information.

A huge shout-out to G.W. Farmer, a listener on Audible.

Thank you so much for your positive feedback. I appreciate you.

And I don't want to leave out the new supporters of the podcast, Orrett, Jane, Lance,

Sav, Ali, and Carmen. Thank you for your support. Tonight, I will be reading three more beautiful stories from Shakespeare, retold by Edith Nesbitt.

So lie down, close your eyes, and let me read you a story.

A Mid-Summer Night's Dream

Hermia and Lysander were lovers, but Hermia's father wished her to marry another man named Demetrius.

Now in Athens, where they lived, there was a wicked law, by which any girl who refused to marry according to her father's wishes

might be put to death. Hermia's father was so angry with her for refusing to do as he wished

that he actually brought her before the Duke of Athens to ask that she might be killed

as she still refused to obey him. The Duke gave her four days to think about it,

and at the end of that time, if she still refused to marry Demetrius,

she would have to die.

Lysander, of course, was nearly mad with grief,

and the best thing to do seemed to him for Hermia to run away to his aunt's house at a place beyond the reach of that cruel law, and there he would come to her and marry her.

...