Oh, I'm going to be. Welcome to this newscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep.

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supported by full moons. Tonight we'll read the opening stories of Sinbad the Sailor and his seven voyages taken

from the Arabian Nights, edited by Andrew Lang and published in 1898.

Sinbad is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story cycle of Middle Eastern origin.

He is described as hailing from Baghdad during the ninth century.

In the course of seven voyages, he has fantastic adventures in magical realms,

encountering monsters, and witnessing supernatural phenomenon. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. of your bed. Now take a few deep breaths.

In the times of the Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, there lived in Baghdad, a poor porter named Hindbad, who on a very hot day was

sent to carry a heavy load from one end of the city to the other. Before he had accomplished half the distance,

he was so tired that finding himself in a quiet street where the pavement was sprinkled with rose water and a cool breeze was blowing, he set his burden upon the ground and sat down to rest in the shade of a grand house.

Very soon he decided that he could not have chosen a pleasanter place.

A delicious perfume of aloes wood and pastills came from the open windows and mingled with the scent of the rose

water which steamed up from the hot pavement.

Within the palace he heard some music, as of many instruments cunningly played,

and the melodious warble of nightingales and other birds.

And by this, and the appetizing smell of many dainty dishes of which he presently became aware,

he judged that feasting and merrymaking were going on. He wondered who lived in this magnificent house, which he

had never seen before, the street in which it stood, being one which he seldom had occasion to pass.

To satisfy his curiosity, he went up to some splendidly dressed servants who stood at the door and asked one of them the name of the master of the mansion.

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