Penelope, the Bow and the Olive Tree Bed · The Odyssey · Greek Mythology Sleep Story

The voice you hear is the creator's own. He cloned it from recordings of his own voice, so every story is told in his voice. If you enjoy falling asleep to it, follow the show so each new story arrives on its own, and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts so other people can find it. Subscribing on YouTube helps the show grow, even if you only listen here: youtube.com/@TheSleepingAlmanac The Sleeping Almanac is also a shelf of books, bedtime stories to read and mythology coloring books: gildenmyth.com/books Welcome to The Sleeping Almanac. Tonight a great bow comes down off a wall where it has hung at rest through a whole long war, and the strongest young men in a kingdom warm it and grease it at the fire and cannot bend it, because strength was never the thing it was waiting for. A queen carries her husband's bow down the stairs in her own two arms and sets the terms of a contest she believes no one can win. A boy plants twelve iron axe heads in a straight trench down the hall floor, a game he has never once seen played, and his hands know it anyway. And a beggar in rags asks to try that bow, and turns it in his hands the way a singer turns a new lyre, and strings it without rising from his stool, and plucks it once, and one clear note answers like a swallow. You will see a single arrow fly clean through the sockets of all twelve axes without touching iron. You will see a house give a wandering king back his name, and then his hall, and then his wife, who makes him prove himself with a bed whose secret is a living olive tree for a leg, rooted in the island itself, that no man alive could move. The night is stern for a little while in its middle, told plainly and in a low voice and staged not at all, and it is brief, and it passes. On the far side of it there is a house swept clean, and two people knowing each other again after twenty years, and a night the grey eyed goddess made longer so they would have time enough. A calm, hopeful telling for sleep, calm enough to drift to and rich enough to stay awake for if you choose. Close your eyes. Let the hall go quiet. There is nothing to do now but listen and rest. CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome and the Singer at the Fire 4:40 Chapter One: The Morning of the Axes 12:17 Chapter Two: The Bow Comes Down 21:32 Chapter Three: The Contest of the Young Men 30:14 Chapter Four: The Two Herdsmen in the Yard 37:46 Chapter Five: The Beggar Asks for the Bow 44:27 Chapter Six: The Singer Strings the Bow 50:43 Chapter Seven: The Arrow Through the Twelve 56:52 Chapter Eight: The Reckoning 1:02:31 Chapter Nine: The House Made Clean 1:08:21 Chapter Ten: Come and See 1:14:33 Chapter Eleven: The Bed That Could Not Be Moved 1:25:00 Chapter Twelve: Goodnight. And the Night the Goddess Made Longer Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1HRpIBQzS6E New episodes every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. 🎙️ Sleep stories from history, Kingdoms at Dusk: https://kingdomsatdusk.com 📖 All our worlds: https://gildenmyth.com 🕊️ Goddess sleep meditations, The Tender Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTenderHourChannel 🌙 Join the almanac, first looks and the occasional quiet letter: https://gildenmyth.com This show uses AI tools (research, narration, visuals) under human editorial direction. Every episode is reviewed before release.