Fern and the Secret of Shapeshifting - A Bedtime Story

0:04 He Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world. I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories. Tonight we have a very special treat for you because tonight I'm finally doing a guaranteed story idea for one of our contest winners. Let's have a listen, Okay, so welcome everyone we have with us today Audrey and Audrey won the art contest for Dad's Bedtime Stories that I did quite a while ago, and we've finally gotten together to give me her guaranteed story idea. So, Audrey, what are you thinking for the guaranteed story idea?

0:50 I'm thinking it will be about a girl who wakes up as a fox and when she goes into the living room, they tell her that she's a shape shift her and she gets to go on an adventure and learn how to use her shape shifting powers.

1:08 So like her family always knew she was a shape shifter, yes, and she but she's confused they never told her before. She just turns into a fox and she goes downstairs and they're like, oh, yeah, by the way, you're a you're a shape shifter.

1:22 Yeah. It's like a coming of age thing and she wakes up as a fox and then they're like, oh yeah, and also you're a shape shifter.

1:28 Oh that's cool. What, like what kind of adventure you think she goes on.

1:33 I'm thinking that the parents will like teach her how to swim as a fish. They'll like take her to the ocean and teach her how to transform into some kind of ocean animal whim, and then teach how to fly as like a bird and how to like run as a four legged animal.

1:57 How long have you been listening to Dad's bit types?

2:01 I have to say at least a year and a half.

2:03 Oh that's a long time. What was it? Do you remember the first story you ever heard?

2:08 Like?

2:08 What made you start listening?

2:11 I think we started with the first episode. Okay, it took us a while to like catch up.

2:17 Yeah, probably probably like years almost. Unless you listen to multiple ones every day, it.

2:24 Does shake me a while to get to bed. So sometimes I'll listen to like two and Night.

2:28 Oh nice, And what's your favorite series so far?

2:33 I liked the Bedtime Storytime episodes.

2:35 I think I like the random ones. Yeah, this will kind of be an episode of Bedtime story Time too. Now, Audrey and I did talk some more, and she did give me some more ideas on you know, exactly how she thought the story would go, and I've incorporated those into the story. But I didn't want to ruin it for you by telling you exactly what would happen first, so you're just gonna have to listen and find out.

3:01 Thank you so much to Audrey for both agreeing to interview with me, for coming up with the story idea, and for the wonderful art that inspired it. If you like the podcast and have a suggestion for it, you can always leave me a voicemail on speak pipe, fill out the Google form, or you know, just send me an email or something. And if you you want add free episodes or just feel like supporting the podcast a little extra, you can join us on Patreon. But now we should probably get on with the story. After a possible word from a possible sponsor, of course, time to close your eyes, get as comfy as you can in that bed, and imagine yourself doing what the kid Fern in the story does. Fern was having a very strange dream.

3:59 She knew it was, at least she thought she did. She was standing in the middle of a forest at night, surrounded by enormous pine trees that stretched high above her, moonlight seeping in through the branches. Everything was quiet. Then something moved behind the trees. Fern turned to see a fox step into the moonlight and was beautiful. Its fur was deep orange, almost red, with black legs and bright white fur beneath its chin. Its enormous fluffy tail swayed slowly behind it. The fox looked directly at Fern. Fern looked directly back. Neither of the moved. Then the fox turned and ran. Fern didn't know why, but she ran after it. She ducked beneath branches and jumped over fallen trees, following flashes of orange fur through the darkness. The fox

5:16 was fast, really fast, so Fern pushed herself harder, and then something strange happened. She stopped feeling her feet hitting the ground, and instead she felt four paws. Fern looked down, orange legs flashed beneath her. She'd become the fox, and somehow this didn't seem strange at all. Fern raced through the forest. She bounded over logs she never would have attempted to jump as a human. She squeezed between bushes without slowing down. She heard tiny animals moving beneath leaves and smelled things she hadn't even realized had smells. A rabbit had passed beneath a bush, a deer had walked through here earlier. Something small was hiding under that log.

6:20 Fern could almost see the smells around her. She ran faster, her paws barely seemed to touch the ground. She darted around trees, scrambled over rocks, and squeezed beneath a fallen trunk before bursting into a clearing. She stopped. The moon hung high above her. Fern lifted her nose and smelled the cool night air. For some reason, being a fox felt completely natural. Then Fern opened her eyes. She was back in her bedroom. For a few seconds, she simply lay there. That had been a weird dream. Fern stretched, except instead of two arms reaching above her head, two orange paws stretched across her pillow. Fern froze. She slowly lowered them. Pause, definitely pause. Fern looked down. Orange fur covered her body behind her. Something large and fluffy moved

7:41 beneath the blankets. Fern whipped around a tail. She had a tail. Fern leapt her to bed. Unfortunately, she'd apparently forgotten, and she was now about one third or normal height. She landed on all four paws. Fern stared at them. No, it came out as a strange mixture between a bark and a squeak, definitively answering the age old question of what does the fox say? Fern raced across the room to warder mirror, but the mirror was much too high.

8:27 She looked around frantically. There was a chair beside the desk. Fern jumped onto the chair, and then onto the desk. She scurried over in front of the mirror, and a fox stared back at her, A beautiful fox, bright orange fur, white chest, black paws, pointy ears, but still a fox. Fern screamed, in a particularly human scream. Her bedroom door flew open. Her mother rushed in Fern. Her father appeared directly behind her. They both stopped. Fern stood on the desk and looked at them. Her parents looked at the empty bed, then the open window, then the fox. Her mother tilted her head Fern. Fern blinked, How was that possibly the first conclusion they'd come to? Yes, Fern shouted, though it mostly sounded like an angry fox noise. Her

9:46 parents looked at each other. Now, her father said, her mother nodded, So it finally happened. Fern stared at them. So it happened. Fern jumped down from the desk, on to the chair, on to the ground, and marched towards them, which wasn't nearly as intimidating as she'd intended, because her paws made very little noise against the carpet. Her parents remained strangely calm. Okay, her mother said, we need to talk.

10:28 That was not generally a sentence Fern enjoyed hearing, but considering she was currently a fox, she figured that this particular conversation might be important. They went downstairs. Fern hopped onto the couch, turned around twice without meaning to, and sat upright with her tail wrapped around her paws. Her parents sat across from her. Her father leaned forward, Ah, Fern, there's something we've known we'd eventually have to tell you.

11:06 Fern stared at him. Her mother continued, ah, honey, you're a shape shifter. Fern waited, then she looked down at herself. Actually, her father added, I suppose that part is fairly obvious now, Fern narrowed her fox eyes. Her mother smiled, you see, our family comes from a very long line of shape shifters on both sides. Actually, Fern looked from one parent to the other, both sides at a certain age. Her mother explained, every shape shifter meets their spirit animal, usually in a dream. Fern immediately thought about the fox. The animal represents something important about who you are. Her father said, your strongest natural traits. Fern looked down at her paws again.

12:18 So what does fox mean, she tried to ask. Her parents seemed to understand her, even though she wasn't entirely sure she was speaking actual words anymore. Foxes or agile, her mother said, Clever, adaptable. They notice things other animals miss, and a lot of old stories. The fox survives not because it's the biggest or strongest, but because it understands what's happening and finds another way. Fern considered that she liked fox. But here's the important part. Her father said, your spirit animal isn't the only animal you can become.

13:10 Fern's ears perked up. Any animal, she asked. Eventually, her mother said, but shape shifting isn't about memorizing what an animal looks like, you have to understand it, really and truly understand it, how it moves, how it senses the world, what it feels like to be that animal. Ferns stared at them. Normally, she would have had several questions about the scientific reliability of everything they were telling her, but she was sitting on the couch with four paws and a tail, so skepticism seemed slightly less useful than usual.

14:00 Her mother stood, maybe it would be easier if we showed you. She stepped away from the furniture for a moment. Nothing happened. Then her body shimmered. Her shape seemed to soften, almost as though Fern couldn't quite focus on her. Her mother shrank slightly. Dark fur spread across her body. Four paws touched the floor, and where her mother had been standing was now a beautiful gray wolf. Fern's jaw dropped.

14:41 The wolf looked at her father. Here turn Fern somehow understood her perfectly, even though she didn't really say anything. Her father stood. His body shimmered too, except he didn't get it's smaller. He got considerably larger. A moment later, a huge brown bear stood in the living room. Fern jumped backward. The bear lifted one paw. Relax, it's still me.

15:19 Fern stared. Her father was a bear, her mother was a wolf, and Fern was a fox. Apparently this was just perfectly normal in their household. Her mother explained that the wolf had been her own spirit animal. Wolves represented instinct, loyalty, cooperation, and an incredibly strong connection to family. Her father explained that the bear represented strength and courage, but also protection and patience. A bear doesn't need to prove it's strong every five minutes, he said, it already knows. Fern looked between them, then she looked down at herself again. Okay, she said, how do I turn back? Her parents transformed into humans again. That's your first lesson, her mother said.

16:31 Fern sad very still, you don't force yourself to become human. You remember what being human feels like. Fern closed her eyes. Think about your hands, her mother said, not what they look like, but what they feel like, or what they felt like when you were human. Fern imagined her fingers. She remembered picking things up, holding a pencil, wiggling each finger separately near legs. Her father said, Fern remembered standing upright, walking on two feet, the strange balance of being tall instead of low to the ground, her face, her arms, her hands, her toes. Being Fern. Something tingled in her paws.

17:29 Fern opened her eyes. Don't stop, her mother said. The tingling spread. Fern suddenly felt strangely light, not like she was floating, more like her body had stopped being completely solid. Her paws stretched, her legs changed, her tail disappeared. Fern grew upward, and a moment later she was sitting on the couch as herself, her human self anyways. Fern immediately held both hands in front of her face, ten fingers.

18:10 She wiggled them. Then she looked down. She was wearing her pajamas. Fern blinked. Wait, she grabbed her shirt. Where were these? Her father laughed, And we have absolutely no idea. The magic changes them with you, man brings them back when you return to human form, for which every shapeshifter and human history has been extremely grateful. Fern laughed. Then she looked at her parents. So you're gonna teach me, her mother smiled, Where can it teach you everything? Her father headed to the door and lesson two starts outside.

19:06 Fern followed, because somewhere beyond their backyard was an entire world full of animals, and for the first time in her life, Fern was about to learn what it actually felt like to be one of them, or all of them. Hopefully. Fern followed her parents out the back door and into the forest behind their house. The morning air was cool, and sunlight slipped through the trees and golden beams. Her mother stopped beside the trail. First, we're going to start with something you already know, Fern smiled. The fox. Her mother nodded exactly. Fern closed her eyes. This time, she didn't think about what a fox looked like. She remembered what it had felt like for pause against the ground, her body low and light, her ears turning toward every

20:14 tiny sound, that incredible fluffy tail behind her, the world full of smells. The tingling started almost immediately. Fern's body softened, her arms shortened, her hands became pause. A moment later, she opened her eyes from much closer to the ground, fox again. Her mother transformed next, instead of becoming a wolf, she too became a fox. Then Fern's father shimmered and shrank down beside them. Ferns stared at him. He was a much larger fox than either of them. Are you a giant fox, Fern asked, I don't know. Her father replied, maybe I'm just a big guy in every form. Fern laughed.

21:13 Then her mother took off running. Come on, she said, and Fern followed Almost immediately. Something inside her seemed to take over. Running on four legs should have been confusing, but it wasn't. Her paws knew exactly what to do. Fern flew between the trees. Her parents ran beside her. They leaped over roots, darted around rocks, and squeezed between bushes.

21:46 But this time Fern wasn't distracted by the running. She was noticing something else. Her ears moved constantly. There a woodpecker hammered against a tree far away. Somewhere behind them, a squirrel raced through dry leaves. Fern could even hear insects buzzing among the plants. Then there were the smells.

22:15 They were everywhere. Fern slowed beside a tree and sniffed. Something had climbed it recently, a raccoon. She didn't know how she knew that, but she just did. Further along, Fern suddenly stopped she smelled water. Her parents kept running. Fern followed, and a few moments later, the trees opened into a huge body of water. Her parents transformed back into humans. Fern copied them. The tingling passed through her body, and soon she stood beside them again. That was awesome, Fern said. Her father smiled, wait until you try this one.

23:11 He stepped into the water. Fern watched him way deeper. What are you doing, she asked, less than three He suddenly dove beneath the surface. His body shimmered underwater. Then something long and well gray passed Fern's legs. Fern jumped, and a dolphin poked its head up above the surface. Come on in, he said. Fern stared, you're you're a dolphin.

23:51 Excellent observation. Her mother just laughed, Come on slowly, Fern stepped into the water. It was cold at first, but she got used to it now. Her mother said, call the fish how she asked, Well, you don't use your words exactly, You just sort of reach out with your mind. Fern wasn't exactly sure what that meant. Still, she closed her eyes. She thought about the water, the creatures beneath the surface, and she imagined herself saying hello without actually speaking.

24:40 Something brushed against her ankle. Fern opened her eyes. A small sunfish swam beside her. Then another appeared, then another, and another. Within seconds, dozens of tiny and somewhat large fish surrounded her legs. Fern's eyes widened. They can hear me, not exactly, her mother said, but living things understand more than humans usually realize. Fern crouched in the water. She looked around at all of the fish, big and small, and all of the other sea creatures that had come to join them. Dolphins, seals, things she didn't even recognize.

25:40 Fern studied the dolphin, after all, it kind of looked like the best thing to turn into. She studied its skin, its fins, its eyes, that blowhole, or whatever it was. But then she tried to look deeper. She looked into the dolphin. How did it move? Its fins barely seemed to do anything, yet it stayed perfectly balanced in the water.

26:17 It didn't fight the water. It sort of belonged to the water. Fern imagined, feeling water pressing against every side of her body. Not something to push through, but something that supported her. She watched the dolphin breathe and suddenly she felt another strange sensation, the tingling. That's it, her mother whispered, don't think about turning into the dolphin. Fern kept watching. Just let yourself understand it. Fern's body began to change. The world stretched around her. The water rose over her head, and for a terrifying second, Fern thought she was drowning. Then she breathed, only, instead of breathing through her mouth as she was used to, the air came in through a different part of her body, her blow,

27:29 a hole or whatever it was. It felt like she could hold her breath for a very long time. She dove down under the water and looked around. She could see better under the water than she'd ever imagined. The other fish surrounded her. Fern could feel them noticing her. Curiosity passed through the group. Not words exactly, more like feelings.

28:03 Who are you? You're new? Do you want to hang out with us? Fern's father swam past, her mother transformed beside her, and the three of them disappeared into the ocean. Fern forgot that she was underwater. She even stopped thinking about the whole breathing thing. She simply swam. They passed over fallen trees over top of coral reefs. The sunlight rippled across the sandy bottom. Fern chased schools of fish just for fun. They swam all across the ocean, and finally they reached another shore. Fern didn't want to stop, but her father transformed armed. Then her mother. Fern reluctantly remembered being human, hands, feet, air, standing upright. She tingled and changed as well. A moment later, she stood knee

29:18 deep in the water cud, her mother said. Fern smiled proudly. Then her mother pointed upward. Now we're gonna learn the air. Fern looked at the sky. Her mother stepped on to shore. Fish understand water in a way humans don't, she explained. Birds understand air the same way. Fern looked confused. We're in air all the time, she said, yeah. Her father replied, but he Womans mostly ignore it. Birds feel it constantly.

30:04 Her mother began to shimmer, her arms became wings. Feathers covered her body, and a moment later, a beautiful hawk launched into the air and landed high in a nearby tree. Fern stared upward. Her father smiled, Call the birds honey. Fern reached out again. This time she imagined the forest around them, the tree tops, the open sky. A bird landed nearby, then another, blue jays, chickadees, robins, a cardinal, even a raven landed on a branch and watched her.

30:51 Fern studied them. She watched how they balanced, how their feathers moved, how their wings caught the air. Then she focused on a hawk, not simply its shape, but its confidence. The sky wasn't dangerous to hit, The sky was home. Fern tingled, her arms stretched outward, feathers rushed across them, Her body shrank, and suddenly she stood on the ground as a hawk. Her mother called from the tree, Come on, dear.

31:33 Fern looked at her wings, then at the tree, then back at her wings. Her father laughed and transformed into a bald eagle. He spread his enormous wings and lifted effortlessly into the air. Just jump, and your wings should hold you up. Fern stared at him. That sounds like terrible advice, but she jumped. Her wings opened instinctively, and the air caught beneath them. Fern expected to fall. Instead, she rose. She flapped hard, almost too hard. She shot upward awkwardly tipped sideways, corrected herself, and somehow stayed in the air. I am flying. Her mother launched from the tree, and together the three of them climbed. Fern slowly stopped fighting the air. She began to feel it pressure beneath

32:41 her wings, currents, tiny changes in temperature. Her father showed her how to circle inside a rising column of warm air. Fern stopped flapping and rose anyways. She laughed, She could glow, she could turn with tiny movements of her wings and tail. The world stretched beneath them. The lake became a sparkling blue patch surrounded by forest. Their house appeared in the distance.

33:16 They flew together for what felt like hours. Eventually they turned to ward home. Fern followed her parents across the forest and descended into their backyard. She landed somewhat less gracefully than they did, stumbled twice, and then transformed back into herself. Her legs felt strange. After everything she had well been that day, Fox dolphin hawk, Fern yawned, I think my brain is tired. Her father laughed. Shape shifting takes practus. Her mother hugged her. You did incredibly well, dear.

34:06 That night, Fern climbed into bed. Gus, her cat, was already curled into a perfect little ball at the end of her bed. Fern smiled comfortable. Gus opened one eye. Fern lay beside him. Then she stopped. She looked at Gus properly, not just as fur, not as whiskers, not his paws. She watched the way he breathed, the complete relaxation in his body. Cats didn't wonder whether they should be comfortable. They simply found the best spot and became comfortable.

34:52 Fern understood the tingling began. Her body softened, became smaller. Warm fur covered her, her hands became little paws. Gus lifted his head. A small cat now sat beside him. For a moment, Gus stared at her. Fern could feel his confusion. Then something like recognition passed between them. Fern Fern curled beside him. Gus sniffed her once. Apparently satisfied, he curled back up. Fern tucked herself against his warm fur.

35:39 She'd never understood before why cat seemed so ridiculously comfortable when they slept, but now she did. Her body fit perfectly into a little circle, her tail wrapped around her. Gus purring beside her. Fern closed her eye and with each breath she sank down a little deeper into the mattress, becoming a little more comfortable. She began to slowly purr with each breath, and her mind started to wander off to thoughts of new dreams, new animal transformations, and new adventures to come. Good Night, everyone.

38:33 In New York. More union, no mo of thing, no more mo union in m Union, M M