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 of the stressful day behind you and drift off to sleep.

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Tonight, I will be reading a story from Nathaniel Halthorn's wonder book.

The Gorgon's Head

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

Perseus was the son of Dene, who was the daughter of a king.

But when Perseus was a very little boy, some wicked people put his mother and himself into a chest

and set them afloat upon the sea. The wind blew freshly and drove the chest away from the shore,

and the uneasy billows tossed it up and down, while Dnai clasped her child closely to her bosom,

and dreaded that some big wave would dash its foamy crest over them both.

The chest sailed on, however, and neither sank nor was upset.

Until, when night was coming, it floated so near an island that it got entangled in a

fisherman's nets, and was drawn out high and dry upon the sand. The island was called Syrahfus,

and it was reigned over by King Polydectes, who happened to be the fisherman's brother.

This fisherman, I am glad to tell you,

was an exceedingly humane and upright man. He showed great kindness to Denae and her little boy, and continued to befriend to them, until Perseus had grown to be a handsome youth, very strong

and active and skillful in the use of arms.

Long before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two strangers, the mother and their child,

...