Tonight we step quietly into a peaceful moment from the past in ancient China.

In this quiet sleep story, a noodle shop owner in Chang'an wakes before dawn to make wrapped glutinous rice parcels (zongzi) for four neighbouring households on the morning before the Dragon Boat Festival.

She washes the softened reed leaves in the courtyard basin by lamplight, folds and fills each parcel with jujubes and chestnuts and plain rice, and winds rush cord around each one before placing it upright in the wide boiling pot. By midday, the kitchen fills with steam and the warm starchy smell of cooked leaves, and the finished zongzi hang in their rows from the beam to cool in the still festival air.

Settle in, relax, and drift gently into sleep. 😴

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

01:38 Sleep story begins

30:13 Goodnight ...