Once upon a time there was a little boy who was forever asleep. Since the day he was born he never woke up. His eyes were forever closed and his breathing was forever sound because never did he enter the state of wakefulness. Only once during the course of his life did he give a little stir. His mother waited in anticipation, but the boy merely stirred and he continued sleeping.
He was forever asleep because he was conceived during the war and the explosive sound from the outside world was thoroughly frightening for him that he opted to surrender to the unconsciousness.
Over the years it was discovered that the sleeping boy had a power. That whoever came in contact with his bodily fluid would fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. His mother who, although loved him dearly, at times could not hide her disappointment of having such a disabled son, decided that it was not wrong at all to make a profit out of his son’s special power. So his mother bottled his bodily fluid and sold it to those with sleeping disorder. One drop of this sleeping substance guaranteed eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Through grapevines, a solid client base was formed. Intellectuals, law enforcements, tradesmen were her regular buyers. The boy’s mother became a wealthy woman.
One day a worn down woman came to see the boy’s mother. She was the wife of a very honorable person who worked for the government. She came weeping, for her dear husband had been philandering. The husband would tiptoe out of their bedroom every night to sleep with young girls, sometimes two at a time. She could not do anything to stop it for fear that she would be thrown out on the streets because he was the sole breadwinner. Her only hope was the sleeping substance that would guarantee her husband sleeping soundly at night.
The trick worked for some times. Until one day the husband found out that he had been sedated. He was so angry. He charged into the sleeping boy’s room, knocking the mother out of the way, carried the sleeping boy on his shoulder and threw him into the open fire. The boy burned to death.
His mother was utterly devastated that she lost her source of income. Certain that she could give birth to another sleeping boy, she slept with the first sailor she crossed path with. And nine months later, she gave birth to a boy who never slept.
