Showing posts with label the Sleeping King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Sleeping King. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Dreams of Slumbering Kings


Grimm’s Saga No. 433: The Sleeping King

The Legend of Saint Guntram, the Goodly King

The Frankish King Guntram was a kindly, peace-loving monarch. Once this king went out hunting with companions and servants. The hunting party criss-crossed the forest innumerable times and soon became confused and exhausted. Only a single companion, the king’s dearest and most trusted, remained with him. Overcome with fatigue, the king sat down under a tree, placed his head in his dear friend’s lap and closed his eyes in slumber. When he was fast asleep, a small animal slithered out of Guntram’s mouth snake-like. It proceeded to the bubbling stream flowing nearby. Pausing at the bank, the creature looked longingly across the water.

The king’s companion noticing everything, took his sword from the sheath and laid it across the brook. The little creature now moved onto the sword and in this manner crossed the stream, where it crept into a hole in the mountainside and fell asleep. After several hours, the creature returned over the same sword-bridge and crept into the mouth of the slumbering king. When Guntram awoke, he said to his companion: “I must tell you my dream and the wonderful face I had. I gazed upon a big, big river, an iron bridge had been built over it. I managed to cross the bridge and entered a cave in a high mountain. An unheard of treasure, the hoard of our ancestors lay hidden in the mountain.”

Now his companion told him what had happened while he slept and how the dream corresponded to the actual apparition he himself had seen. They went to the exact spot and began digging in the mountain, where they found an enormous hoard of gold and silver. It had been concealed there in ancient times.

To read more about the Goodly King Guntram, hit the following Wiki-link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guntram


To read about more slumbering kings:
http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2010/04/fairy-tale-of-three-slumbering-knights.htm
Translation Copyright FairyTaleChannel.com

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Fairy Tale of Three Slumbering Knights


Grimm’s Saga No. 298: The Three Tells

From the wild mountain regions of Switzerland, a Tale of Three Slumbering Knights

According to popular belief among common folk and shepherds, there is a cleft in the rock near Waldsaetter Lake in the wild mountainous region of Switzerland. Here, the three liberators of the country sleep. They are called the Three Tells. They are dressed in their ancient garb but will rise up again from their slumbers as saviors when the time of distress descends over the land. But only the fortunate seeker can find access to the cave.

A shepherd boy told the following story to a traveler: His father pursuing a lost goat among the rocky crevices, entered a cave and just when he noticed that the three men slumbering inside were the Three Tells, the older one, the actual Tell sat up and asked: “What time is it in the world?” In response to the shepherd’s terrified answer “It is close to midday,” the Old Tell replied “It is not yet time that we come.” And he lay down again and went to sleep. However in a time of dire need the boy’s father returned with several companions to wake the Three Tells. Although he often searched for the cave, he never found it again.

More tales of slumbering kings;

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2010/04/grimms-saga-no.html

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Fairy Tale of King Redbeard


King Friedrich Redbeard Sleeps in Kyffhaeuser Mountain

There are many legends circulating about this king. They say he is not really dead but will live until doomsday. No other kings shall come after him. Until he returns, he shall sit hidden in the Kyffhausen Mountain. But when he emerges from his slumbers, he will hang his shield upon a withered tree. The tree will at once begin to blossom and a better time will come. In the meantime, he speaks to all the people who happen to wander into the mountain and occasionally he even looks outside. But usually he sits on a bench before a round stone table. Holding his head in his hands, he sleeps while his weary head nods off and his eyes blink drowsily. His beard has grown long. Some say it has even grown through the stone table. But according to others, it has only grown round the table twice. Folks say it must grow around the table three times before the king can awake. But for now, it only reaches twice around the table.

In 1669 a farmer wanted to take his crop of corn from Reblingen to Nordhausen. A man of small stature led him into the mountain where he had to empty his sacks of corn and fill them with gold. The farmer saw the king sitting at the table, but he did not move.

Once it was told that a shepherd was whistling a tune that pleased the king. A gnome led the shepherd inside the mountain. At once the king stood up and asked: “Are the ravens still flying around the mountain?” When the shepherd replied that they were, the king cried out: “Now I must sleep one-hundred more years.”


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