"Bergentrückung" redirects here. For the video game song, seeUndertale Soundtrack.
Theking asleep in the mountain (D 1960.2 inStith Thompson'smotif-index)[1] is a prominentfolkloretrope found in many folktales andlegends. Thompson termed it as theKyffhäuser type.[2] Some other designations areking in the mountain,king under the mountain,sleeping hero, orBergentrückung ("mountain rapture").
The Thompson motif entries A 571, "Cultural hero asleep in mountain", and E 502, "The Sleeping Army", are similar and can occur in the same tale.[1] A related motif is the "Seven Sleepers" (D 1960.1,[2] also known as the "Rip Van Winkle" motif), whose type tale is theSeven Sleepers ofEphesus (AT tale type 766).
Frederick sends out the boy to see whether the ravens still fly.
King in the mountain stories involve legendaryheroes, 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 somemilitary consequence in the history of the nation where themountain is located.
The stories gathered by theBrothers Grimm concerningFrederick Barbarossa andCharlemagne are typical of the stories told, and have been influential on many variants and subsequent adaptations. The presence of the hero is unsuspected; until someherdsman 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.[citation needed]
In the Brothers Grimm version, 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."[citation needed]
The herdsman in this story was thensupernaturally harmed by the experience: he ages rapidly, he emerges with hishair turned white, and often he dies after repeating the tale. The story goes on to say that the king sleeps in the mountain, awaiting a summons to arise with his knights and defend the nation in a time of deadly peril. Theomen that presages his rising will be the extinction of the birds that trigger his awakening.[6][7][permanent dead link]
A number of Europeankings, rulers, fictional characters and religious figures have become attached to this story. Major examples are King Arthur of Britain, Charlemagne of the Franks, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, as well as[8][9]Ogier the Dane andWilliam Tell.[9]
A motif inLatvian legends involves a castle sinking into ground leaving a hill behind it. In legends that have someone enter such hill, the inhabitants of the castle are found in sleep-like state. If the visitor is able to guess the name of the castle, it is returned to the surface with its inhabitants awakened. The choir song "Gaismas pils" (The Castle of Light), which is part of Latvia's Cultural Canon, drew inspiration from these legends.[citation needed]
Vytautas the Great inLithuania is believed by some to rise from the grave to defend the country when danger threatens it.[10]
King Arthur (Great Britain andBrittany). According to the legend, Arthur was taken away toAvalon to sleep until he was needed by the people of Britain. Several legends talk of a herdsman who stumbles across a cave on mainland Britain, wherein he finds Arthur sleeping, often with his knights andExcalibur by his side.[11] In a variation on this, sometimes the exploring herdsman finds instead just Arthur's knights, orSir Lancelot,Guinevere and the knights sleeping in wait onthe return of the "Once and Future King". In early Arthurian literature, Arthur references his predecessorBrân the Blessed as having his head placed on a mound overlooking Britain so as to protect it. He wishes to do the same, and later they overlook and protect Britain together.[citation needed]
Thomas the Rhymer is found under a hill with a retinue of knights in a tale fromAnglo-Scottish border. Likewise,Harry Hotspur was said to have been hunting in theCheviots when he and his hounds got holed-up in the Hen Hole (or "Hell-hole"), awaiting the sound of a hunting horn to awaken them from their slumber. Another border variant concerns a party of huntsmen who chased aroebuck into the Cheviots when they heard the sweetest music playing from the Henhole. However, when they entered, they became lost and are trapped to this day.[13]
Brân the Blessed. Referenced as protecting the Isles and overlooking Britain; his head severed and placed on a mound. Arthur later says he wishes to do the same and in early Arthurian literature both guard Britain together.
Owain Lawgoch, Welsh soldier and nobleman (14th century).
Owain Glyndŵr, the last native born Welshman to hold the title "Prince of Wales"; he disappeared after a long but ultimately unsuccessful rebellion against the English. He was never captured or betrayed and refused all Royal pardons.
Fionn mac Cumhaill is said to sleep in a cave/mountain surrounded by the Fianna. It is told that the day will come when the Dord Fiann is sounded three times and Fionn and theFianna will rise up again, as strong and well as they ever were. In other accounts he will return to glory as a great hero of Ireland.[15]
Sir Francis Drake. It is stated that if England is in deadly peril andDrake's Drum is beaten, then Sir Francis Drake will arise to defend England from the sea. According to the legend, Drake's Drum can be heard at times when England is at war or significant national events take place.[citation needed]
Knights asleep atAlderley Edge in Cheshire. There is an enduring legend of a cavern full of knights in armour awaiting a call to decide the fate of a great battle for England. There is no king named, but there is a wizard involved, who is referred to as Merlin in later versions of the legend.[18]
KingDunmail. A Cumbrian King said to be defeated at the hands of Edmund I of England and Malcolmn of Alba. Dunmail's warriors are said to have fled with his crown, climbing into the mountains to Grisedale Tarn below Helvellyn, where they threw it into the depths to be safe until some future time when Dunmail would come again to lead them. Every year the warriors are said to return to the tarn, recover the crown and carry it down to the cairn onDunmail Raise by the A591.[citation needed]
Legend has itQueen Tamar is not dead, but is sleeping in a gold-wreathed coffin in a mountain. According to it, she will wake up one day and restore theGeorgian Golden Age.[20]
Constantine I, said to have been turned into a stone statue, although not resting within a mountain.[citation needed]
Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last emperor of theEastern Roman Empire, said to have been turned into marble and thus was known as "Marmaromenos", "the Marble King". He was said to be hidden somewhere underground, some say inside walled upGolden Gate of Constantinople, until his glorious return as the Immortal Emperor.[24]
Sebastian I, whoSebastianists hold will one day return on a hazy morning in time of need, hiding in a mysterious island surrounded by fog until then.[26][27]
Väinämöinen, the protagonist of theFinnish national epicKalevala. At the end of Kalevala, he leaves on a boat, promising to return when he is most needed.
Alexander Suvorov (Russia), Russian generalissimo, sleeps in a deep cave where prayer is heard and icon lamp burns. The legend says Suvorov will come back to save his country from a mortal danger.[28]
Napoleon Bonaparte was believed to be still alive and hiding inIrkutsk,Russia, gathering an army to return and conquer the world. According to aRomanian bishop Melchisedech, there was aSlavonic sect whose members shared this belief along with a widespread worship of Napoleon.[33]
Bolesław the Brave, king ofPoland, asleep with a host of knights in a cave hidden somewhere inGiewont, amountainmassif which is itself said to resemble a sleeping knight. Several different versions of the legend exist, sometimes involving a different historical figure or another cave in theTatra Mountains.[34][35]
St. Wenceslas (Václav) ofBohemia (Czech Republic). He sleeps in theBlaník mountain (with a huge army of Czech knights) and will emerge to protect his country at its worst time, riding on his white horse and wielding the legendary hero Bruncvík's sword.[36]
Kay Khosrow, legendary shah ofPersia. The city ofShazand is said to contain a cavern system where Kay Khosrow is hidden along with other immortals. Legend says he will reappear and helpSaoshyant in the last war at the dawn of resurrection.[37]
A traditional tale of the death ofGenghis Khan says he died falling from his horse while being injured, but that whether he died or not is unknown, and he may be merely resting. Every spring and autumn "those who know the secret" of where Genghis is buried are said to put new sets of clothes into his casket and take the old ones out, worn and frayed. Folklore reports another instance of evidence that Genghis would return: every year there is a sacrifice for Genghis Khan in the Ordos and two white horses (the horses of Genghis Khan) appear. In the third year of the Chinese Republic (1914), though, just one horse appeared. When the second horse came, four years later, it had saddle galls. This was taken as evidence that Genghis Khan had been using the horse, and was making ready to appear again.[38]
Bernardo Carpio, the "King of theTagalogs", is said to be trapped in the mountains ofRodriguez, Rizal, east ofMetro Manila onLuzon. Legend has it that Carpio, a man of superhuman strength, causes earthquakes as he struggles to break free of his chains.[40]
The temple ofTrần Hưng Đạo, the supreme commander who defeated Kublai Khan's invasions of Vietnam, housed a sword chest that rung if the nation was in peril, but it also foretold victories.[citation needed]
A king and queen are said to be sleeping in legendary desert city ofZerzura. Trespassers are warned not to wake them. According to the legend they will eventually one day waken.[citation needed]
ThePueblo hero-godMontezuma is believed to have been a divine king in prehistoric times, and suspended in an Arizona mountain that bears his image.[citation needed]
The Sleeping Ute mountain in Colorado is said to have been a "Great Warrior God" who fell asleep while recovering from wounds received in a great battle with "the Evil Ones" (there are many other variants of this legend).[citation needed]
Emperor Norton is claimed by several defunct civil rights groups to have been destined to return to the US when the unity of the Republic is at its nadir.[citation needed]
Some adherents of theQAnon conspiracy theory believe that American figureJohn F. Kennedy Jr. will one day return to purge corruption from the American government.[42]
TheInkarri (from SpanishInca Rey, "Inca King") of theindigenous peoples of Peru, who will return one day to restore theInca Empire.[44] There are two main versions of the myth with several local variations:
In the first, Inkarri was the lastSapa Inca. He was decapitated by the Spaniards, who buried his head in an unknown location. The head is not dead buthibernating while itregenerates the rest of the body. When the regeneration is complete, Inkarri will return.[citation needed]
In the second, Inkarri and his wife Qollari were the founders ofCusco. They fled to theAmazon jungle (to a place calledPaititi, or variations thereof), where they sleep under rocks and will return one day.[citation needed]
King David is depicted inHayim Nahman Bialik's tale "King David in the Cave" as sleeping along with his warriors deep inside a cave, waiting for the blast of theshofar that will awaken them from their millennia of slumber and arouse them to redeem Israel.[45][46] This role was not attributed to King David in earlier Jewish tradition.[citation needed]
Muḥammad al-Mahdī (Shīʿa motif, identified with the mysterious son ofḤasan al-ʿAskarī but occasionally other important figures in Shīʿa history likeal-Ṭayyib Abū al-Qāṣim), sometimes called TheQāʾim) when identified with a historical figure as opposed to someone yet-to-come, the individual is endowed with unnaturally long lifespan and is said to be in occultation.[citation needed]
Jesus, whom Muslims believe to be in occultation, will return alongside theMahdi to defeat the false Messiah, theDajjal. Though Muslims believe Jesus will return to Earth, this is not a resurrection, as Muslims do not believe Jesus died on the cross. Rather, Muslims generally believe that Jesusentered Heaven alive, and that he will return to Earth before the End of Days. See also:Islamic view of Jesus' death andOccultation (Islam)
al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (either died or disappeared in 1021 AD at the age of 35), is believed by theDruze to return at the End of Time to rule from Egypt.[citation needed]
Viṣṇu is often depicted as asleep, woken up by the other gods asking for his help. HisavatarKrishna informsArjuna in theBhagavad Gita that he periodically returns to Earth to establish order and justice. TheMahabharata specifically claims thatVishnu will appear in his tenth avatar ofKalki, yet to come, at the end of theKali Yuga to rule as king.[49]
Sometimes this type of story or archetype is also attached to not-so-heroic figures, who are either simple anti-heroes or fully villains, whose return would mean the end of the world, or whose sleep represents something positive. This kind of archetype is known as the "Chained Satan" archetype.[50] Among examples of this are:
^Alois Jirásek, Old Bohemian Legends (1894, Staré pověsti české)
^Ghaemi, Farzad; Ghandeharion, Azra (June 2019). "When Literature and Religion Intertwine: Rostam as a Pre-Historic Iranian Hero or the Shi'itic Missionary?". In Zhenzhao, Nie; Ross, Charles; Zhenwu, Zhu (eds.).Forum for World Literature Studies(PDF). Vol. 11. Knowledge Hub Publishing Company Limited. pp. 253–254.ISSN1949-8519.
^Owen Lattimore,Mongol Journeys, London: Doran & Co., 1941, pp. 35–37
^OMER, Aurélie. Cuatro versiones inéditas del mito de Inkarrí. Áreas de estudio: Shipetiari y Quero. Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, 2015, vol. 41, no 81, p. 405-434.
