# The Sleepy Little Hedgehog Who Collected Lullabies

An episode of [Kid’s Bedtime Stories Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1780176346), 15 Jul 2026, 9:04.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72981967/ep017.mp3

Join Hazel, a tiny hedgehog who cannot sleep because the forest is too noisy, on a heartwarming nighttime adventure! When Hazel sets out to find the quietest place in the woods, she discovers that Cricket, Frog, and Owl each have a special lullaby to share. And high above, Grandmother Oak hums the oldest song of all. In this educational bedtime story for kids ages 5 to 10, children learn about nocturnal animals, forest ecosystems, and the calming sounds of nature. A gentle tale about discovering that the world has always been singing you to sleep — you just have to listen with sleepy ears. Perfect for bedtime wind-down and helping little ones drift off to dreamland. #kids #bedtime #stories #educational #children #podcast #lullaby #hedgehog #forest #nature #sleep

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Once upon a time, in a cozy burrow beneath the
[0:03] Speaker 1: great oak tree, there lived a tiny hedgehog named Hazel.
[0:07] Speaker 1: Hazel had soft brown quills, bright curious eyes, and the
[0:12] Speaker 1: tiniest pink paws you ever did see. She loved daytime adventures,
[0:18] Speaker 1: rolling in autumn leaves, munching on crunchy beetles, and splashing
[0:23] Speaker 1: in puddles after the rain. But when night fell and
[0:27] Speaker 1: the moon rose high above the oak tree, something very
[0:31] Speaker 1: peculiar happened. Hazel could not sleep. Every night, she would
[0:36] Speaker 1: curl into a tight little ball, close her eyes tight,
[0:40] Speaker 1: and try very hard to drift off to dreamland. But
[0:44] Speaker 1: the forest was so full of sounds. The wind washed
[0:48] Speaker 1: through the branches, an owl hooted from somewhere up high.
[0:53] Speaker 1: Crickets chirped their endless songs. A bruck babbled over smooth
[0:58] Speaker 1: stones near by. It was all so interesting that Hazel's
[1:03] Speaker 1: eyes popped right got open. One evening, as the sun
[1:08] Speaker 1: painted the sky in shades of peach and lavender, Hazel
[1:13] Speaker 1: decided she had had enough. She waddled out of her
[1:17] Speaker 1: burrow and set off on a very important mission. She
[1:22] Speaker 1: was going to find the quietest, sleepiest most wonderfully boring
[1:28] Speaker 1: place in the entire forest. Her first app was the meadow,
[1:33] Speaker 1: where she found her front cricket, sitting on a tall
[1:35] Speaker 1: blade of grass, rubbing his wings together. Trip chirp, chrip, chrip.
[1:40] Speaker 1: He sang, happily, good evening, Cricket said, Hazel, your singing
[1:45] Speaker 1: is very lovely, but it keeps me awake. Could you
[1:49] Speaker 1: perhaps sing something a little more sleepy? Cricket tilted his
[1:54] Speaker 1: head sleepy. I do not believe I know any sleepy songs.
[2:01] Speaker 1: But wait, my grandmother taught me a lullaby once. Let
[2:08] Speaker 1: me try, and so cricket began to sing a new tune.
[2:14] Speaker 1: It was slower, softer, like tiny bells ringing far away.
[2:19] Speaker 1: The melody floated through the meadow and settled over the
[2:25] Speaker 1: wild flowers like a warm blanket. Hazel felt her eyelids
[2:31] Speaker 1: grow just a little bit heavier. That is beautiful, she whispered.
[2:38] Speaker 1: Could you teach it to me? And he did. Hazel
[2:43] Speaker 1: hummed the cricket lullaby all the way to the brook,
[2:46] Speaker 1: where she found Ripple, the frog, sitting on a mossy stone,
[2:49] Speaker 1: croaking to the stars. Good earning, Ripple said, Hazel, I
[2:55] Speaker 1: am collecting lullabies to help me sleep. Do you know
[2:59] Speaker 1: any Ripple puffed up his green cheeks, rubets. I know
[3:04] Speaker 1: the song of the lowing water. My mother sang it
[3:07] Speaker 1: to me when I was just a tadple. Listen closely.
[3:12] Speaker 2: Ripple began to sing in a deep, gentle voice. It
[3:17] Speaker 2: sounded exactly like a brook tumbling over pebbles, slow and steady,
[3:23] Speaker 2: with little pauses between each note, like the water resting
[3:27] Speaker 2: in quiet pools before spilling onward. Hazel felt the sound
[3:33] Speaker 2: wrap around her like a soft scarf.
[3:36] Speaker 1: That is wonderful, she said, May I keep it? Of course,
[3:41] Speaker 1: said Ripple, A lullabye is meant to be shared. Next,
[3:46] Speaker 1: Hazel climbed a small hill to the edge of the
[3:49] Speaker 1: pine forest, where she found owl perched on a low branch,
[3:53] Speaker 1: blinking slowly in the moonlight. Good evening, Owl, said Hazel politely.
[3:59] Speaker 1: I am collecting lullabies. Do you have one? Owl ruffled
[4:03] Speaker 1: his feathers and hooted softly. Hoo hoo. I have something
[4:09] Speaker 1: even better than a lullabi, little hedgehog, I have the
[4:13] Speaker 1: lullabi of the night sky. O will began to sing.
[4:17] Speaker 1: His voice was low and round, like a warm drum.
[4:22] Speaker 1: He sang about the stars being little lanterns, that the
[4:25] Speaker 1: moon lights up one by one as darkness falls, and
[4:30] Speaker 1: how each star is a night light for a sleeping
[4:33] Speaker 1: child somewhere in the world. He sang about the Milky
[4:37] Speaker 1: Way being a river of silver dreams, and how the
[4:41] Speaker 1: moon watches over everyone until morning. Hazel sat very still,
[4:48] Speaker 1: her tiny puls tucked beneath her chin. She could almost
[4:53] Speaker 1: see the stars blinking in rhythm with owl. Song. That
[4:59] Speaker 1: is the most beautiful lullaby I have ever heard, she breathed.
[5:06] Speaker 1: But Owl was not finished. There is one more voice
[5:12] Speaker 1: you need to hear, little one, come with me.
[5:16] Speaker 3: Owl flew silently through the trees, and Hazel trotted along below,
[5:21] Speaker 3: her little paws pattering softly on the forest floor. They
[5:25] Speaker 3: arrived at the very heart of the forest, where the oldest,
[5:28] Speaker 3: tallest tree stood. Its trunk was so wide that five
[5:33] Speaker 3: grown up hedgehogs could not have wrapped their arms around it.
[5:37] Speaker 3: Its branches stretched up so high they seemed to tickle
[5:41] Speaker 3: the belly of the moon.
[5:43] Speaker 1: This is grandmother Oak, whispered Thal. She's the oldest living
[5:49] Speaker 1: thing in our forest. Listen. Hazel pressed her ear against
[5:55] Speaker 1: the rough bark at first she heard nothing, but then
[6:00] Speaker 1: very slowly, she began to hear something deep and low.
[6:04] Speaker 1: It was the tree itself breathing. The wind moved through
[6:09] Speaker 1: her ten thousand leaves, and each leaf caught the breeze
[6:13] Speaker 1: and released it in a soft, shushing sound. It was
[6:16] Speaker 1: like the whole tree was humming one long, endless note.
[6:21] Speaker 1: Hazel closed her eyes. The crooked lullaby, the frog's water song,
[6:27] Speaker 1: the owl's starl allabi, and the oak trees breathing all
[6:32] Speaker 1: swirled together in her mind. They were not noisy anymore.
[6:37] Speaker 1: They were not keeping her awake. They were the forest
[6:39] Speaker 1: ung's lullaby, and it had been playing every single night
[6:43] Speaker 1: since the very first tree grew its very first leaf. Ah,
[6:48] Speaker 1: whispered Hazel. The forest was never too loud. I was
[6:53] Speaker 1: just listening the wrong way. Owl smiled, which is a
[6:58] Speaker 1: very hard thing for an owl to do, but he
[7:03] Speaker 1: managed it anyway. The world is full of lullaby's, little Hedgehog,
[7:09] Speaker 1: you just have to listen with sleepy ears. Hazel waddled
[7:14] Speaker 1: back to her burrow beneath the oak tree. She curled
[7:17] Speaker 1: into a tight little ball, tucked her pink paws under
[7:20] Speaker 1: her chin, and closed her eyes. This time, when the
[7:24] Speaker 1: wind washed, she had grandmother Oak coming. When the crickets chirped,
[7:29] Speaker 1: she heard their slow, gentle lullaby. When the brook babbled,
[7:33] Speaker 1: she had ripples song of the flowing water. And when
[7:36] Speaker 1: owl hooted from the tree tops, she had the stars
[7:39] Speaker 1: being switched on one by one, like tiny night lights
[7:43] Speaker 1: in the sky. And for the very first time, Hazel
[7:46] Speaker 1: the hedgehog fell fast, fast asleep, with the tiniest smile
[7:52] Speaker 1: on her tiny pink face. And the next morning, when
[7:58] Speaker 1: the sun peeked through the oak leaves and painted golden
[8:00] Speaker 1: stripes across her burrow, Hazel woke up feeling wonderfully rested.
[8:05] Speaker 1: She stretched her little paws, shook out her quills, and
[8:08] Speaker 1: trotted outside into the bright new day. If on that
[8:12] Speaker 1: night on Hazel never had trouble sleeping again. And sometimes
[8:17] Speaker 1: if you walk through the forest very quietly on a
[8:20] Speaker 1: warm evening, you can hear her humming the cricket lullaby
[8:25] Speaker 1: as she waddles home to her burrow, ready to listen
[8:29] Speaker 1: to the forest sing her to sleep. And if you
[8:32] Speaker 1: listen very carefully too, you may hear the lullabies as well.
[8:38] Speaker 1: The wind in the leaves, the crookeds in the grass,
[8:43] Speaker 1: the brook over the stones, the owl in the branches.
[8:48] Speaker 1: They have always been there, singing softly, waiting for you
[8:52] Speaker 1: to close your eyes and listen with your sleepy ears.
[8:57] Speaker 1: Good Night, little one, the forests singing your lullaby. Now
[9:02] Speaker 1: the end

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