Hello friend, Joanne here. I have had such a long and busy day. And what I would like

to do now is just to take a little time for myself, just an hour or so to enjoy a nice

hot cup of tea as I curl up on the couch and meet you a little story. Would you like that?

Something light to help us both relax, so we can leave this long and busy day behind

us. And as we relax together in this way, maybe, just maybe, it can also help us sleep

better. I feel like a nice story by Henry Beston will be the perfect choice tonight. A lovely

detail called The Adventures of Florian, and I hope you like it. So, are you ready for

a bedtime story? Very well. Get all comfy and cozy as you settle in under the covers.

And let's begin.

Once upon a time, there lived in an old and ruinous house by the shore of the Wild Sea,

a widowed nobleman and his only child, a daughter, named Isabella. They were very

poor in spite of their high birth, so poor that one by one the fields and woods of their

little domain had been sold in order to buy the bare necessities of life. Knowing that

his death would leave Isabella quite alone in the world and practically panieless, her

father brought her up more like a boy than a girl. She could ride a horse as gracefully

as an Amazon. She could swim like a born mermaid and even outdo her father in his favorite

sport of fencing. Yet so sweet was the gentle nature which the girl had inherited from

her mother that this strange upbringing never spoiled her in the least.

Late one October evening when the fierce gusts of wind from the sea shook the old house

to its very foundation and set the ragged tapestries swaying on the walls, Isabella's

father died, leaving her only their ruinous house, a handful of copper pence and a single

golden flooring. The sum of money was enough to keep body and soul together for a few weeks,

...