Welcome to Drift Off, bedtime stories to quiet your mind and help you get sleepy.

I'm your host Joanne and I can't wait to help tuck you in.

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Tonight's bedtime story is a beautiful tale retold by storyteller Aaron Shepard,

a Canadian Native American version of Cinderella called the Hidden One.

Because this is a shorter story, I decided to tell it twice to help give you a bit more time to get sleepy as you listen.

So settle in under the covers and snuggle up tight, sweet dreams and good night.

A long time ago in a village by a lake, there lived a great hunter who was invisible.

He was called the Hidden One.

It was known that any young woman who could see him would become his bride.

Many were hopeful young women who visited his wigwam at the far end of the village.

Each was tested by the hunter's sister who was called the patient one by years past and none succeeded.

In the same village lived two sisters who had lost their mother.

The younger sister had a good heart, but the older one was jealous and cruel.

While their father was out hunting, the older sister would torment the younger one, holding her down and burning her arms and face with sticks from the fire.

Don't you dare tell our father, she would say. Our next time will be worse.

When the father came home, he would ask and dismay, why is she burnt again? The older sister would answer.

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