“Sweet Dreams”

A Healing Fairy Tale
By: Irena Nemchonok and Victor Peppard

Once upon a time, there was a Mama Turtle and a Papa Turtle who had a Little Daughter Turtle. The Mama and the Papa loved their Little Daughter turtle very much and they were always happy together.

But misfortune struck; Little Daughter Turtle couldn’t get to sleep at night. Every night at bedtime Mama and Papa Turtle would make a nice comfy bed under a bush by the lake and the best place in that bed was the one for Little Daughter Turtle. Little Daughter Turtle would lie awake for a long time with her eyes wide open and when Mama and Papa Turtle closed their eyes and hid their little heads inside their shell-houses, she would get up and walk around the
lake. She would walk and walk. She really wanted to go to sleep, but she was afraid to even close her eyes, because she had terrible dreams.

Soon Mama and Papa Turtle noticed that their Little Daughter Turtle was growing thinner by the day and that she did not feel well and had a bad appetite. She even began to walk slower than the other turtles. So Mama and Papa decided to go to see the Wise Old Turtle. “Bring me your Little Daughter Turtle,” said the Wise Old Turtle, “and I will have a little chat with her.

” So Mama and Papa Turtle brought their Little Daughter to the Wise Old Turtle.

“What’s the matter with you,” the Wise Old Turtle asked Little Daughter Turtle? “Why are you so sad? Why do you look so tired?”

“I can’t sleep at night at all,” answered Little Daughter Turtle.

“Why is that?” asked the Wise Old Turtle.

“I’m afraid to go to sleep, because I have terrible dreams,” said Little Daughter Turtle sadly.

“And whose dreams do you see,” asked the Wise Old Turtle?

“I see my own dreams, of course,” said Little Daughter Turtle.

“If they are your own dreams, then make them good and sweet.”

“But I don’t know how to do that,” said Little Daughter Turtle.

“Here is what you do,” said the Wise Old Turtle. “As soon as you have a bad dream, wake up and tell it to your Mama.”