Origin: Common Hemeran Fairytale Classification: Cultural / Moral Narrative Common Among: Green Zone schools, Princedom households, and rural Yellow Zone families Moral: Dreams are the measure of life's worth; balance must exist between survival and purpose.

There once was a little boy who loved to dream more than he loved to sleep. Each night, he would close his eyes and build new worlds inside his mind. He dreamed of flying through silver clouds and touching the stars with his bare hands. He dreamed of building castles out of starlight and teaching the sun to sing. He dreamed of growing up to be brave, kind, and tall enough to protect everyone he loved.

One night, while the moon hid behind heavy clouds, the Sleep Thief came to his window. The Thief wore a coat sewn from soft pillows, and his eyes drooped like moons too tired to shine. When he spoke, his voice sounded like a blanket being pulled over the world.

"Give me one of your dreams," said the Thief, "and I will give you one extra year to live."

The boy thought that sounded fair. One dream for one year? Easy. So he gave away his dream of flying, promising he would make new ones later. The next morning, he felt a little heavier, a little older, but still alive.

Every year, the Sleep Thief returned. Every year, the boy waited, ready with another dream to trade.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. He gave away his dream of sailing the seas, of exploring strange cities beyond the horizon. He gave away his dream of singing before crowds so large they sounded like thunder. He gave away his dream of love, whispering, "There will be time for that later."

The boy grew into a man, and still the Thief returned. His hair turned grey, and his eyes lost the color of youth. He had outlived everyone he knew, and his house was full of clocks that never stopped ticking. When the Thief came again, the man sighed and said, "I have no dreams left to give."

The Sleep Thief smiled softly. "Then you have nothing left to trade," he said. "You have bought your years with everything that made them worth keeping."

The man lived for a very long time after that. His heart still beat, but his nights were empty. He never slept again. And sometimes, when he walked the quiet streets, he thought he could still hear the Thief's voice whispering just beyond the edge of his hearing.

Because even if you live forever, what good is forever if you have nothing left to dream about?

Cultural Context

Across Hemera, The Sleep Thief is told as a bedtime story, a cautionary myth, and a moral parable about the danger of surrendering too much of oneself. Parents tell it to their children to teach restraint, that giving up some dreams is part of growing up, but giving them all away is the slowest kind of death.

In the Green Zones, brightly illustrated versions are printed on soft paper, the Thief drawn as gentle and sorrowful rather than cruel. In the Yellow Zone settlements, it is whispered by firelight, told to children fighting against the pull of sleep. There are no pictures there, only the voice of a parent, the crackle of embers, and the reminder that survival alone is not living.

The story's moral has persisted across centuries: life can stretch endlessly for those who trade away what they love, but a long life without dreams is nothing more than a waking death.

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