A long time ago, in the rivers and ponds of Europe, there lived a special creature called Ondine. She, one day, fell in love with a human. He was a handsome man; but not the most faithful of men. When she discovered he was unfaithful, her heart broke. In her anger, Ondine, who was a celestial being, cursed him. The curse was that he would keep breathing as long as he was awake, if he went to sleep, he would stop breathing. This became Ondine's curse. The inability of a human being to breathe, upon falling asleep. When we sleep, we breathe naturally and we take sleep for granted. But, Ondine cast the greatest curse in the world, for it made man choose between breath and sleep.

A king was given the choice of all the gold he wanted in exchange for his sleep. The king chose sleep. He knew that without sleep, one cannot be a happy person. One may have all the gold in the world; but, if one cannot sleep, what use is that gold?