Sing Me to Sleep

"Mother will you sing to me?" A small Grecian boy asked as his mother tucked him into bed. "Now Hercules, I sang to you last night." She whispered as she placed her lips on the boys forehead. "You're becoming a country, and countries don't let their mother sing them lullabies." The small boy pouted at her response. "But mother, I'll never be able to sleep if you don't sing to me!" He said with a slightly whiny tone causing his mother to give him a stern look.

"How about this: I'll sing to you if you promise to rise early and help the servants prepare breakfast." The curly haired brunette said pulling wool covers up to the boy's neck.

"Oh thank you mother" The little nation sang as his mother sat down in her rocking chair next to his bed.

"Now, what shall I sing?" She pondered to herself. "Oh how about the one your grandmother taught me." Mother Greece began to hum softly before she sang her lovely Greek lullaby.

"Νάνι το παιδί μου, νάνι

Που δεν ήθελε νερό

Τ' άλογο μας το μεγάλο

Αχ! Καρδούλα μου ποιός ξέρει

Τι να λέει το ποταμάκι στο λιβάδι το χλωρό

Νάνι, το νερό το μαύρο

μες στα πράσινα χορτάρια

που ψιλό τραγούδι πιάνει.

Νάνι την τριανταφυλλιά μου

που τη γης δάκρυο ποτίζει,

τ' άλογό μας το καλό.

Κι έχει πόδια λαβωμένα τραχηλιά κρουσταλλιασμένη

Εχει ένα ασημένιο λάζο καρφωμένο μες στα μάτια.

Μόνο μια φορά σαν είδε τ' αντρειωμένα τα βουνά

Εχλιμίντρισε κι εχάθη στα νερά τα σκοτεινά...

Αχ! Πού πήγες άλογό μου

που δεν ήθελες να πιεις;

Αχ, μαράζι μες στο χιόνι...

Νάνι το γαρούφαλό μου

που τη γης δακρυοποτίζει,

τ' άλογό μας το καλό...

Μην έρχεσαι - μη μπαίνεις -

το παραθύρι κλείσ'το

Με φυλλωσιές ονείρου,

μ' όνειρα φυλλωσιάς.

Κοιμάται το παιδάκι μου

Σωπαίνει το μωρό μου...

Αχ! Πού πήγες άλογό μου

που δεν ήθελες να πιεις;

Άλογο της χαραυγής"

By the time Mother Greece was finished with her song, Hercules was fast asleep. She leaned over her boy and placed another kiss on his forehead before standing up straight and looking around the candle lit room. Stacks of books and stone tablets lined the boy's bedroom walls. Inside the books were countless ideas of philosophy, journals and animals.

Hercules was fascinated with knowledge. He wanted to learn about everything he could. His mother had been bringing him books since he was a toddler, reading to him and telling him stories of heroes. The Odyssey had been his favorite story to hear ever since he was little. The Trojan war was also something that interested him. Every type of history would teach the boy new things. And with each new lesson came a deeper meaning. Something to ponder. The Brunette smiled to herself, blowing out the candle and leaving the room.

~~~~~Morning~~~~~

Hercules rose early to see a beautiful sunrise paint his dingy clay walls a violent orange rust. He sluggishly pulled himself out of bed and walked into his washroom. A pale of cold water had been delivered earlier so that he could wash his face and rinse the morning breath out of his mouth. The eleven year old gasped slightly as the cool water hit his heated face. It was refreshing to say the least. Next he cupped some water in his hands and sucked it into his mouth swishing it around until he felt his mouth was clean. He then proceeded to spit the water back into the pale then carry said pale to his bathroom window. Looking below he saw a funnel no more then 5ft below him. The funnel was attached to a pipe that led to the animal's water supply. He had come up with the idea of sending their used water to the animals. It saved them hours of fishing for water in their well. After disposing of the water Hercules made his bed and headed down to the kitchen where cooks and servants were scrambling about trying to finish the meal.

Hercules looked around the kitchen until he saw someone he knew. Koinos, a small brunette boy, was sitting on a barrel of wine sheepishly peeling potatoes while staring out a small window. Hercules smiled to himself as he watched his friend daydream. He that picked up a peeler from the table top and joined his friend.

"You're gonna get in trouble if you don't do it right." Hercules said, waking Koinos from his daydream. The younger boy smiled and nodded. "That's right. It'll be a lashing if there's any skin left this time, but you know I'm far to clever to let that to happen." he said standing up and opening the lid of the wine barrel. Instead of wine, skinless potatoes filled the wooden barrel. "This wine was gonna get thrown out, so I took it to the slave quarters and told them I'd let them have it, if they peeled potatoes for me."

Koinos bragged as he slid the lid back on and sat on top of it. "We're gonna be eating potatoes till we drop."

Hercules just shook his head and laughed. This boy really needed a new name. Koinos was far to plain, maybe something along the lines of Odysseus would suit him better. He was after all, very clever. Shaking the thought out of his head he grabbed a potato and then sat down, cross- legged, on the floor and began to peel until the breakfast bell rang.

Right now fifty people are reading this and going "WTF this isn't yaoi!" well don't worry there will be plenty of yaoi to come my dears to just sit tight and enjoy the story!

.com/watch?v=rcwDbHnde7I&list=FLyTDSbPWuRb45u8eucvouOA&index=3&feature=plpp_video here's the song that mother Greece was singing. It's really beautiful but I don't speak a word of Greek so I just used Google translator I suggest you do the same. I think (if I remember right) the first stanza is something like

"Nani Nani my child

Who does not like water.

T' our big horse

Ah! Sweetheart who knows,

What to say in the green meadow creek"

Again sorry I don't speak Greek if you do please feel free to correct and retranslate