When man was first created they were given gifts by Prometheus. They had received many wonderful things such as the shape of the gods and understanding. There is one special gift that Prometheus did not give man, dreaming. Prometheus wanted to grant man this godly ability, but he could not. Only Hallucinus, god of dreams, could do such a thing. There was only one problem with what Prometheus wanted to do. No one actually knew where to find Hallucinus. Only his father Hypnos, god of sleep, knew where to find him.
He went to Hypnos in hopes of being told where to find Hallucinus and explained to him how he wanted to give man the gift of dreaming. Sadly, Prometheus had no such luck. Hypnos said to him “I lost contact with Hallucinus a couple decades ago. I suggest Apollo, those two were always close. ” With that Prometheus was off to speak to Apollo. He went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked to speak to Apollo. Once there Prometheus explained to the oracle what exactly he seeked. She was quite concerned with this idea and had a terrible feeling about it.
Yet after a bit of persuasion the oracle let Prometheus speak to Apollo. She warned Prometheus, “If man receives this gift, then it will be their demise. ” When he got there Apollo greeted him and asked, “To what do I owe the pleasure of such a visit from you Prometheus? ” Prometheus responded with, “Well Apollo I am here to ask for the location of Hallucinus. ” “What exactly for” asked Apollo. “I was hoping he could help me in giving man the gift of dreaming” Prometheus replied. It took quite a bit of persuasion but Apollo finally gave in.
Before he gave Prometheus the information he too warned him about the demise of man. After that final warning Apollo told him where to find Hallucinus, but he also said, “Please respect this sacred information and keep his location secret. ” Prometheus went to the secret location and spoke to Hallucinus. Hallucinus, like Apollo, was among the most attractive of the gods. He was also highly intelligent, that is why he too at first was hesitant to do as Prometheus asked. Eventually Prometheus made him an offer he could not resist, a seat in the throne room of the gods.
For so long that was all Hallucinus wanted, to be acknowledged by all the other gods. That is why he stayed in isolation for so long, because he felt that he was not needed. Hallucinus went to work on giving man the gift of dreaming, and after two nights every single one was able to dream. Being a man of his word, Prometheus got Hallucinus a spot in the throne room. He explained to Zeus the reason why Hallucinus just disconnected himself from all the other gods. Zeus took pity upon him and gave him a throne right next to his father.
Time passed and everything was going so well. Until one night Zeus realized that man was dreaming. This was the very thing that Hallucinus, Apollo, and the Oracle of Delphi feared would happen. Of course, since dreaming was something only the gods were supposed to have the ability to do, just like with Prometheus giving man fire, this did not sit well with Zeus at all. Zeus wanted Hallucinus to make the dreams man had different in some way or else he would take away his throne and torture him in much worse ways than he already did to Prometheus.
In order to keep Zeus from taking everything from him, Hallucinus also gave man bad dreams. These bad dreams were named night terrors. They did not occur every night though. As long as man was good and honest to the gods, he would dream of his wildest fantasies. On the other hand, if man did not fulfill his duties to the gods, then Hallucinus would send them their greatest fear in the form of a night terror. This entertained Zeus to some wicked extent. To this day Hallucinus still has his coveted throne and for the mere entertainment of Zeus is why we dream and why we also have night terrors.
