King asleep in mountain

A king in the mountain, king under the mountain or sleeping hero is a prominent motif that appears in many folktales and legends. The Antti Aarne for folktale motifs classifies these stories as number 766, relating them to the tale of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.

General features

Frederick sends out the boy to see whether the ravens still fly.

King in the mountain stories involve legendary heroes, often accompanied by armed retainers, sleeping in remote dwellings, including caves on high mountaintops, remote islands, or supernatural worlds. The hero is frequently a historical figure of some military consequence in the history of the nation where the mountain is located.

The stories told by the Brothers Grimm concerning Frederick Barbarossa and Charlemagne are typical of the stories told, and have been influential on many subsequent adaptations. The presence of the hero is unsuspected, until some herdsman wanders into the cave, typically looking for a lost animal, and sees the hero. The stories almost always mention the detail that the hero has grown a long beard, indicative of the long time he has slept beneath the mountain.

Often the hero speaks with the herdsman. Their conversation typically involves the hero asking, "Do the eagles (or ravens) still circle the mountaintop?" The herdsman, or a mysterious voice, replies, "Yes, they still circle the mountaintop." "Then begone! My time has not yet come."

The herdsman is usually supernaturally harmed by the experience: he ages rapidly, he emerges with his hair turned white, and often he dies after repeating the tale. This ocurrence is well-known from many stories about people entering caves and experiencing a different time scale than on earth (Time dilation#Time dilation in popular culture), suggesting a parallel dimension.

The story goes on to say that the king in the mountain sleeps in the mountain, awaiting a summons to arise with his knights and defend the nation in a time of deadly peril; and the omen that presages his rising will be the extinction of the birds that trigger his awakening.

Examples

The motif is interesting in that it combines the idea of a supernatural national defender with the concept of conservation. A number of kings, rulers, and fictional characters and religious figures have become attached to this story. They include:

• Csaba, the son of Attila the Hun (Hungary) who is supposed to ride down the Milky Way when the Székelys are threatened.
• King Matthias Corvinus (Hungary) from southern Slavic myths.
• Frederick Barbarossa (Germany)
• Henry the Fowler (Germany)
• Charlemagne (Germany, France)
• William Tell (Switzerland)
• King Arthur (England, Wales)
• Sir Francis Drake (England)
• Fionn mac Cumhaill (Ireland)
• Ogier the Dane (Danish: Holger Danske, Denmark)
• Wenceslas or Václav (Czech Republic)
• Sebastian I, (Portugal) (it is said by Sebastianists that the king will return in a hazy morning in time of need)
• Emperor Constantine XI of the Eastern Roman Empire, a.k.a. the Immortal Emperor turned to marble (Greece) (a similar story, although Constantine was said to be turned into a statue, not to be resting in a mountain.)
• Bran the Blessed (England, Wales)
• Owain Lawgoch (Wales)
• An unnamed giant is supposed to sleep in Plynlimon in Wales.
• Marko Kraljević (Serbia)
• King Olaf I (Norway) (After being defeated at the Battle of Svolder Olaf fought on until the last aboard his mighty ship the Long Serpent before leaping overboard never to be seen again...or at least not until his supposed return.)
• The mythical sage Väinämöinen is the protagonist of the Finnish national epic Kalevala. At the end of Kalevala, he leaves on a boat, promising to return when he is most needed.
• Merlin of the Arthurian legend, who is imprisoned in an oak tree by Nimue.
• Kralj Matjaž (Slovenia)
• Giewont massif which is said to be a sleeping knight (Poland)
• The remains of the Golem of Prague are said to be in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue in Prague, and that it can be brought back to defend the Jewish people. (Jewish mysticism)
• Fionn Mac Cumhail (Ireland)
• Gerald Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Kildare (Ireland)
• Vlad Dracula (Romania)
• Theseus (Athens)
• The Pueblo hero-god Montezuma - believed to have been a divine king in prehistoric times, and suspended in an Arizona mountain that bears his image - not necessarily the same figure as the historical Aztec Emperor Moctezuma.
• St. Wenceslas of Bohemia. He sleeps in the Blanik mountain and will emerge to protect his country at its worst time, riding on his white horse and holding a magical sword of mythological knight Bruncvík.

Stories that merge the king in the mountain motif with that of the returning savior (often riding a white horse and holding a sword) are prominent in several religions:

• Most of Christianity expects the Second Coming of Jesus to bring the Reign of God.
• Shiism expects the return of the Mahdi.
• It is believed that the prophet Elijah shall return at the end of time to foretell the coming of the Jewish Messiah.
• Hindus expect the advent of of Vishnu's avatar Kalki at the end of this age (Kali yuga).
• Buddha predicted that he will be succeeded by Maitreya Buddha.
• In Zoroastrianism there is an expectation of future redeemer Saoshyant.

The sleeping hero in popular culture

In his books about Adolf Hitler, Chilean revisionist Miguel Serrano depicts Hitler either as a prophet or a reincarnation of Vishnu/Wotan awaiting in New Swabia for the time of his Second Coming; ultimately, he will return (Serrano says) to save the world in the verge of his perdition at the hands of the Jewish total Global domination plans. This pseudo-scientific construct, merging topics about spiritism and Vril mysticism tries to make Hitler, thus, an exponent of the King in the mountain legend.

J.R.R. Tolkien uses the king in the mountain in the form of the Dead Men of Dunharrow.

A similar story appears in the 1989 movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where the sleeping hero is a knight from the Crusades, made immortal by the Holy Grail.

A version of the sleeping hero legend is included in several entries in the Nintendo game franchise 'The Legend of Zelda', most explicitly in the Gamecube version, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

American comic book icon Captain America fell into suspended animation at the end of World War II, only to be awakened in the modern era.

American comic book super hero Captain Marvel from Fawcett Comics, after having been cancelled in 1953, was given a story where he (and most of his friends and his arch foes) was trapped in suspended animation for 20 years to explain his revival in 1973 by DC Comics.

British author Susan Cooper makes use of the return of King Arthur as a plot element in The Dark is Rising Sequence.

Neal J. Iacono's 2001 novel Dracula: Son of the Dragon applies the King in the mountain motif to Vlad Ţepeş.

In music, a single by Kate Bush released on 24 October 2005 is named "King of the Mountain". This song connects popular myths about Elvis Presley's death to the king of the mountain motif.

After his death in 1984, urban legends arose that comedian Andy Kaufman would return from seclusion. These rumors were fueled by Kaufman himself, who joked about faking his death, only to return 20 years later. Similar legends surround the death of Tupac Shakur.

In the book "Marauders of Gor" (Book Nine of the Gor Series) by John Norman, the hero Torvald is supposed to return in times of need for a viking-like civilization. Upon reaching his cave however, the seekers only find an arrow. Facing only themselves, they use the arrow to rally the whole country and defend themselves without the help of their mystical hero (although in the aftermath of the battle, the hero of the book has a short conversation with someone who could have been Torvald).

In The Books of Magic Timothy Hunter sees the mystical King in the mountain and talks to a mistrel who is guarding his grave.

See also

• Seven Sleepers
• Rip van Winkle

External links

• a list of other sleeping hero legends