The king asleep in the mountain (D 1960.2 in Stith Thompson's motif-index) is a trope commonly found in folklore and legends. Thompson termed it as the Kyffhäuser type. Some other designations are king in the mountain, king under the mountain, sleeping hero, or (German for "mountain rapture").
Examples include the legends of King Arthur, Fionn mac Cumhaill, Charlemagne, Ogier the Dane, King David, Frederick Barbarossa at Kyffhäuser, Falanto of Taranto, Genghis Khan, Constantine XI Palaiologos, Kraljević Marko, Sebastian of Portugal and King Matjaž.
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. A related motif is the "Seven Sleepers" (D 1960.1, also known as the "Rip Van Winkle" motif), whose type tale is the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (AT tale type 766).
General features
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 gathered by the Brothers Grimm concerning Frederick Barbarossa and Charlemagne are typical of the stories told, and have been influential on many variants and 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.
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."
The herdsman in this story was then supernaturally harmed by the experience: he ages rapidly, he emerges with his hair 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. The omen that presages his rising will be the extinction of the birds that trigger his awakening.Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816/1818), no. 23.Kaiser Karl im Untersberg (German)
Examples from Europe
A number of European kings, 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 Ogier the Dane and William Tell.
Baltic states A motif in Latvian 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. Vytautas the Great in Lithuania is believed by some to rise from the grave to defend the country when danger threatens it.
Britain and Ireland King Arthur (Great Britain and Brittany). According to the legend, Arthur was taken away to Avalon 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 and Excalibur by his side. In a variation on this, sometimes the exploring herdsman finds instead just Arthur's knights, or Sir Lancelot, Guinevere and the knights sleeping in wait on the return of the "Once and Future King". In early Arthurian literature, Arthur references his predecessor Brân 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. Merlin of the Arthurian legend, who is imprisoned in an oak tree by Nimue. Thomas the Rhymer is found under a hill with a retinue of knights in a tale from Anglo-Scottish border. Likewise, Harry Hotspur was said to have been hunting in the Cheviots 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 a roebuck 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.Henry Tegner; Ghosts of The North Country, 1991 Butler Publishing, . p.13
Wales
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. An unnamed giant is supposed to sleep in Plynlimon.
Ireland 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 the Fianna 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.Augusta, Lady Gregory – Gods and Fighting Men (1904) The 3rd Earl of Desmond, who dozes under Lough Gur with his silver-shod horse. The 8th Earl of Kildare, who is at temporary rest under the Curragh of Kildare. Dónall na nGeimhlach Ó Donnchú, in legend around County Kerry. Cu Chulainn in Nationalist circles in Northern Ireland.
England King Harold II. In Anglo-Saxon legends he survived the Battle of Hastings and will come one day to liberate the English from the Norman yoke.The Science of Fairy Tales: An Enquiry Into Fairy Mythology, Edwin Sidney Hartland, 1925 edition, p. 143 Sir Francis Drake. Poems created shortly after Sir Francis Drake's death state he will come back as a dragon to destroy Spain. That his death is the rebirth of a new star, that will be the success of England and the bane of Spain. Alluding to his return when he is needed. It is stated that if England is in deadly peril and Drake'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. Knights asleep at Alderley 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.Louisa Stanley, "Alderley Edge and Its Neighbourhood", 1843 King Dunmail. 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 recovered his crown from the Saxons, climbing into the mountains to Grisedale Tarn below Helvellyn. where they then threw it into the depths to be safe until their king can return freeing them British from Saxon, Dane and Norman control. Every year the warriors are said to return to the tarn, recover the crown and carry it down to the cairn on Dunmail Raise. Bringing with them stones to complete Dunmail's cairn making it as tall as he is buried into the ground and when this task is complete his flag will rise again.
Caucasus region Armenia MherMher in the Carved Rock , J. A. Boyle, at the Library of the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (see Daredevils of Sassoun). Artavazd I.
Georgia Legend has it Queen 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 the Georgian Golden Age.Georgia's Queen of Queens Tamar the Great
Dutch and German-speaking realm Dietrich von Bern, legendary Germanic hero, was spirited away to the dwarf kingdom to return in the time of greatest need. Charlemagne, Emperor of future Germany, France, and the Low Countries, rests in the Untersberg near Salzburg (Austria). Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, sleeps in the Kyffhäuser mountain and will rise to save the Empire (Germany). Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. Henry the Fowler, King of East Francia (Germany).
Switzerland William Tell (Switzerland, in some legends accompanied by two other Tells).
Greek, Hellenistic and Byzantine
Ancient Greece Theseus (Athens).
Byzantine Empire Constantine I, said to have been turned into a stone statue, although not resting within a mountain. Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last emperor of the Eastern 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 up Golden Gate of Constantinople, until his glorious return as the Immortal Emperor. Greeks believed King Constantine I of Greece was his return. John III Doukas Vatatzes (also known as "Kaloyannis III'").
Hungarians
Csaba, the son of Attila the Hun who is supposed to ride down the Milky Way when the Székelys are threatened. King St. Stephen, King St. Ladislaus, King Matthias Corvinus.
Italy Roman Empire Emperor Nero (Nero Redivivus)
Spain King Rodrigo, said to escape from the Moorish invasion and await for "the time of maximum need" to save his people. Montesinos. This legendary knight is said to be asleep in the Cave of Montesinos, Ossa de Montiel, Castile-La Mancha. Miguel de Cervantes makes Don Quixote descend into the cave where he falls asleep. In his dream he is met by Montesinos, Durandarte, duenna Ruidera and other fantastic characters. Don Quixote narrates that he saw neither of them eat or sleep.
Portugal Sebastian I, who Sebastianists hold will one day return on a hazy morning in time of need, hiding in a mysterious island surrounded by fog until then. Famous Legends From Portugal: With some Portuguese Legends presented in English for the first time, Miguel Carvalho Abrantes, p. 27-28, 40.
Nordic countries
Ogier the Dane (, Denmark). King Olaf II (Norway). Väinämöinen, 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. Knights of Ålleberg (Sweden).
Slavic nations East Slavic 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. Taras Shevchenko (Ukraine), Ukrainian poet and painter, believed to be a supernatural hero (charakternik), is said to sleep under his grave mound in Kaniv or even in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
South Slavic Marko Kraljević (Serbia, Macedonia). Matija Gubec (Croatia). Kralj Matjaž (Slovenia). Napoleon Bonaparte was believed to be still alive and hiding in Irkutsk, Russia, gathering an army to return and conquer the world. According to a Romanian bishop Melchisedech, there was a Slavonic sect whose members shared this belief along with a widespread worship of Napoleon.The Science of Fairy Tales: An Enquiry Into Fairy Mythology, Edwin Sidney Hartland, 1925 edition, p. 144
West Slavic