TRANSCRIPTION 🔗
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Announcer: This is
a Getty podcast.
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[Theme music begins]
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Host: You might have heard a
bedtime story, but have you
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ever heard a bed tell a story?
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Welcome to If Objects Could
Talk, the podcast where art
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and artifacts come alive and
tell their side of the story.
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At the end of a long day,
I am ready to curl up with
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all my pillows and blankets,
and maybe even a few of my
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favorite stuffed animals.
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And people in the past were no
different, except some of their
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beds were quite a bit fancier.
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[Light classical music begins]
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Our guest today is a bed.
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Not just any bed,
a lit à la turque.
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That’s French, and we’ll let
her explain what it means.
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She was made in Paris between
1750 and 1760 by many, many
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different craftspeople.
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Who knew beds were
such hard work?
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Luckily, she knows a thing
or two about rest and
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recovery, and hopefully she
can stay awake long enough
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to share that with us.
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Bed: [deep, feminine
voice yawns] Oh, hello.
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Yes, I’m awake.
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Completely awake.
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I was just resting my eyes.
[yawns again]
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I am the lit à la turque.
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Lit, that’s French for bed.
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À la turque, that means
“in the Turkish style”.
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I guess I am here to
tell you a bedtime story.
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[Classical music plays]
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Once upon a time, there was a
handsome prince [man laughs]
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whose father gave him
three impossible tasks
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to prove himself worthy.
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[music abruptly ends]
Um, what’s this?
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I’m not sharing a bedtime story?
[voice whispers “nope”]
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I am telling a story about
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myself...the bed.
Oh, I am so sorry.
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[yawns] I’m just so sleepy.
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I must have misheard you.
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Well, what is there
to tell about me?
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I am a bed.
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Impressive and
gorgeous, to be certain.
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[bells chime] I am
unusually large, even
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for a bed of my time.
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I am so high off the ground that
you would have needed a small
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stool just to climb into me.
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My frame is beautifully
carved with all the swirls and
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flourishes of the Rococo style.
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[Classical music plays]
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Rococo was the great passion
of mid-18th century France,
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and it was all about an
abundance of elegance
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and the beauty of nature.
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My two ends scroll outward
like unfurling scrolls of
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paper, and that, actually,
is the reason I am called
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“in the Turkish style”.
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In the 1700s, anything that
seemed exotic was wildly
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fashionable in France.
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Turkey, China, Egypt,
all the rage.
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[voice says “Ooh la la”]
Craftsmen and designers loved to
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borrow shapes and feelings from
these distant lands
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to capture a sense of mystery,
luxury, and the faraway,
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like living in a fairy tale.
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I was designed to lie with my
back against the wall, like a
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very elegant sofa, but grander.
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Above me would have
hung a baldachin,
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that’s a fabric canopy.
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Textiles would hang from the
canopy and go to each side
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of the bed, making the whole
space feel more dramatic.
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[opera singing]
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My baldaquin
is gone now, sadly.
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Oh, but I still remember
the feeling of all
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that silk overhead.
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I also have large
wheels at my base.
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Practical.
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The servants would pull my
body out from the wall
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to make me up with
fresh linens while
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my tall back stayed in place.
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Then they’d push
me right back in.
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Neat as you please.
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Thank you.
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I loved being the center of
attention, and lucky for me,
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there were often guests.
[voices chatter]
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You know how at a
sleepover everyone
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stays up late whispering
and
Load full transcript
giggling in the dark?
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[giggles] Well, imagine a
sleepover, but in reverse.
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[child says “Huh?”] Instead
of late at night, all the
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fun happens first thing
in the morning. Friends
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arrive while you’re still
getting ready, doing hair,
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lacing dresses, picking out
the perfect accessories.
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[voices over low music]
Everyone is chatting and
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laughing, sharing gossip
from the night before.
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Hot chocolate is being
sipped, because in France,
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in those days, hot chocolate
wasn’t just a treat.
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It was how fashionable people
started their mornings.
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Can you imagine starting
every single morning that way?
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[child exclaims “Mmm!”]
And I was practically
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the guest of honor.
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[sighs] Of course,
not everything in
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life can be a party.
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Eventually, the
guests went home.
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[voices say goodbye] Thank
you very much for coming.
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The hot chocolate was finished.
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I’m so glad you could come.
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And then, bliss, sleep,
my very favorite.
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[lullaby music] Sleep is
very important, you know.
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You probably have a bedtime,
and with great fortune and
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care, you don’t wake up
until your alarm goes off.
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However, in 18th-century France,
people practiced something
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called biphasic sleep: bi,
meaning two; phasic, meaning
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phases, so two phases of sleep.
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They would have a first sleep
starting around dusk and then
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wake up around midnight [voice
yawns] to read, [page turns]
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to pray, [voice murmurs] to do
a spot of cleaning, [sweeps]
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to visit the neighbors.
[voices say hello]
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Could you imagine waking in the
middle of the night to do your
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homework or clean your room, let
alone head to your neighbor’s
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house to borrow a cup of milk?
[voice says “No way.”]
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But for hundreds of
years, that
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is how people did it. [yawn]
Oh, are you getting sleepy?
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[voice says “Uh-huh.”] Talking
about sleep tends to do
that.
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Shall I tell you the
story of how I was made?
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It’s a long story, but I’ll
try to keep it brief so
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that you won’t fall asleep.
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That’s only charming
when I do it.
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[Classical music plays]
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A bed like me does
not simply appear.
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I was the work of many
hands—many very skilled, very
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particular, very serious hands.
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There was a menuisier—that’s
French for the woodworker.
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Mine was Monsieur Jean-Baptiste
Tilliard, a master and
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head of his own workshop.
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In his workshop,
my frame was built.
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[hammering and sawing]
But Monsieur Tilliard
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and his team could not
do everything themselves.
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Oh, no.
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In Paris at this time,
furniture making was governed
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by the guilds, groups
of craftsmen
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with very strict rules about
who was allowed to do what.
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And so I passed through
many, many hands.
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There was a sculpteur, the
sculptor, who carved the
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elaborate ornament on my frame.
[sawing]
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The acanthus leaves,
the flowing curves, each
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one cut by hand, one careful
chisel stroke at a time.
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Then came the
doreur, the gilder.
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[chimes] Gilding means
applying a thin layer
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of gold to a surface.
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My frame was first covered in
a special paint called gesso
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to smooth it, [paint sloshing]
and then the doreur would
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go back over every carved
detail and sharpen it up again
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before applying the gold.
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All of that done by
hand, by eye, by feel.
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And then my very
favorite, the tapissier.
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Say it with me, tap-ee-see-ay,
the upholsterer, the person
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responsible for my cushions,
my padding, my fabric.
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Fabrics like silk, cotton,
or wool, sometimes
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in combination, on enormous
looms called draw looms.
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Weavers wove fabrics with
patterns of flowers, vines,
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and leaves so intricate
they looked like paintings.
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[Classical music plays]
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The fabric for my cushions and
bolsters, those are the long
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pillow rolls at my scrolled
ends, would have been woven
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in Lyon, dyed in deep, rich
colors, then sewn and stretched
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and fitted by the tapissier
with absolute precision.
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There is a sad little
secret about fabric, though.
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[sighs] It is the
first thing to go.
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[voice says “no
way.”] No, it’s true!
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Wood lasts for centuries,
gold as well, but
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fabric...fabric is fragile.
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It fades, it frays, it falls
to pieces, just like me.
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When someone wakes me from
a deep slumber [yawns] We
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have many beds from my era.
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We have very little of
their original fabric.
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So alas, my original
fabric is gone.
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The material on me now was
made much later to give you
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a sense of my former glory.
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But in my time, the
upholstery would’ve been
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changed out regularly,
even with the seasons.
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[Classical music plays]
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Can you imagine, a new
look every few months?
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Hmm.
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I rather liked that.
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How about one more
story before bedtime?
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I mean, my bedtime, of course.
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I told you a story
about myself, the bed.
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Now, perhaps you would like to
hear that bedtime story after
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all, which, as it turns out, is
also a story about fairy tales.
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[Slow, piano music plays]
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Once upon a time, there was a
woman named Madame d’Aulnoy,
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Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy.
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She lived in France about 100
years before I was made, but her
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books were still very popular in
my youth, and she did something
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no one had done before: she gave
fairy tales their name, contes
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de fées, tales of fairies.
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Folktales and legends have
existed forever, but we can
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thank Madame d’Aulnoy for
inventing the term fairy tales
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for them, and doesn’t “fairy
tale” just sound more magical?
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My favorite of her stories
is called “The White Cat”.
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In it, three princes must
complete impossible tasks
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set by their father, the
king, to prove which one is
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worthy to rule the kingdom.
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On one of the prince’s travels,
he arrives at an enchanted
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castle filled with invisible
hands that serve him, and he is
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welcomed by a beautiful white
cat [cat meow] who is really
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a princess under a spell.
[cat purrs]
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The prince is given a room
to sleep in, and
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the bed is covered in quilts
embroidered with gold and
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silver thread [bells chime]
and curtains of the finest
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silk, because the cat princess
knows that a guest deserves
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the very best, and a truly
beautiful bed is a kindness.
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[voice yawns]
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Eventually, the prince
breaks the spell.
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00:10:28,507 --> 00:10:30,400
The cat turns back
into a princess.
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[woman’s voice says hello]
They return to the kingdom,
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00:10:32,730 --> 00:10:34,895
[crowd cheers] and it turns
out the other two brothers
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have also completed their
challenges [voices say “woah.”]
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and found brides. [laughter]
Three weddings! Oh, that’s a
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lot of cake, and a lot of silk.
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I’m sure everyone was exhausted
after, and gladly turned
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to their beautiful beds.
[group yawns]
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My favorite part of that story
is how everyone came together
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for one big, happy ending,
just like so many people
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came together to make me.
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00:11:03,207 --> 00:11:07,711
Well, [yawns] I cannot keep
my eyes open any longer.
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I simply cannot.
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It was lovely telling you my
bed story, and my bedtime story.
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Nighty night.
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[Lullaby music fades out and
Theme music begins]
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I hope you enjoyed learning
about beds and fairy tales.
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Join us next time when
a little guy talks about
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something really big.
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To see photographs of the
bed, visit our website at
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getty dot edu slash IOCT.
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We’ve also got a listening
guide with discussion questions
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and related activities there.
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This episode was written
by Tocarra Elise and
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produced by Zoe Goldman.
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Shani Jamila voiced the bed.
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Theme music, mixing, and sound
design by Alexandra Kalinowski.
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Christopher Sprinkle
is executive producer.
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Special thanks to curators
Anne-Lise Desmas and
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Miriam Schefzyk, as
well as Rebekkah Hart.
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These stories are
historical fiction.
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They’re based on historical
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facts and deep research,
but we’ve filled in the
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gaps to make a good story.
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If you have questions about
what you’ve heard, write to us
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at podteam at getty dot edu.
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Catch you next time.