The Magician's Heart by E. Nesbit — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime
Drift off to sleep with this gentle bedtime story, a classic audiobook narrated aloud for insomnia relief and deep relaxation as part of Calming Anxiety's Books at Bedtime series. Tonight's sleep story is The Magician's Heart by E. Nesbit, the much-loved author of The Railway Children. It's a witty, warm-hearted fairy tale of christening curses, a magic kiss saved for twenty years, and a wicked magician who was once the dearest little boy in a plaid frock. It's the final story in her 1912 collection The Magic World and is long in the public domain: Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) died more than a century ago.
For more calming audiobooks and sleep stories whenever you need them, download Anchored, the free companion app to Calming Anxiety, with offline-ready relaxation and Books at Bedtime sessions for any hour of the night. Get it on the App Store at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 or on Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored.
In this soothing narrated short story, a wicked magician who is never invited to royal christenings decides to go anyway. At one he curses little Prince Fortunatus to be the stupidest prince in the world. At the next he makes baby Princess Aura the ugliest princess in the world. But a white witch catches him before he can vanish, and gives the princess a kiss to keep until she needs it. Twenty years later, a disguised princess, a lost prince now working as a baker's boy, and the magician's devoted old nurse all arrive at his tower on the very same morning.
Funny, tender and full of Nesbit's sparkle, this is a story about kindness, second chances and the magic of a well-kept kiss. It ends, as all the best fairy tales should, with love, a wedding and a shower of white roses.
If you can't sleep, lie awake at night with a racing mind, or simply love classic children's literature read aloud, let this calm, unhurried bedtime reading ease anxiety and carry you softly towards rest.
Hosted and narrated by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, as part of Calming Anxiety's Coffee Break for the Soul and Books at Bedtime story readings.
And in everything, my friend, be kind.
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