Desmond of Kilmallock, in Limerick, supposed to have perished in the reign of Elizabeth, is only sleeping under the waters of lough Gur. Every seventh year he re-appears in full armor, rides round the lake early in the morning, and will ultimately reappear and claim the family estates.--Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel.
Jewish Legend. Elijah, the prophet, is not dead, but sleeps in Abraham’s bosom till Antichrist appears, when he will return to Jerusalem and restore all things.
Russian Tradition. Elijah Mansur, warrior, prophet, and priest in Asiatic Russia, tried to teach a more tolerant form of Islâm, but was looked on as a heretic, and condemned to imprisonment in the bowels of a mountain. There he sleeps, waiting patiently the summons which will be given him, when he will awake, and wave his conquering sword to the terror of the Muscovite.--Milner, Gallery of Geography, 781.
Scandinavian Tradition. Olaf Tryggvason, king of Norway, who was baptized in London, and introduced Christianity into Norway, Iceland and Greenland. Being overthrown by Swolde, king of Sweden (A.D. 1000), he threw himself into the sea and swam to the Holy Land, became an anchorite, and fell asleep at a greatly advanced age; but he is only waiting his opportunity, when he will sever Norway from Sweden, and raise it to a first-class power.
Scottish Tradition. Thomas of Erceldoune sleeps beneath the Eildon Hills, in Scotland. One day an elfin lady led him into a cavern in these hills, and he fell asleep for seven years, when he revisited the upper earth, under a bond that he would return immediately the elfin lady summoned him. One day, as he was making merry with his friends, he heard the summons, kept his word, and has never since been seen.--Sir W. Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
Spanish Tradition. Bobadil el Chico, last of the Moorish kings of Granada, lies spell-bound near the Alhambra, but in the day appointed he will return to earth and restore the Moorish government in Spain.
Swiss Legend. Three of the family of Tell sleep a semi-death at Rütli, waiting for the hour of their country’s need, when they will wake up and deliver it.
⁂ See Seven Sleepers.
Sleeper Awakened (The). Abou Hassan, the son of a rich merchant at Bagdad, inherited a good fortune; but, being a prudent man, made a vow to divide it into two parts: all that came to him from rents he determined to set apart, but all that was of the nature of cash he resolved to spend on pleasure. In the course of a year he ran through this fund, and then made a resolve in future to ask only one guest at a time to his board. This guest was to be a stranger, and never to be asked a second time. It so happened that the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, disguised as a merchant, was on one occasion his guest, and heard Abou Hassan say that he wished he were caliph for one day, and he would punish a certain imân for tittle-tattling. Haroun-al-Raschid thought that he could make capital of this wish for a little diversion; so, drugging the merchant’s wine, he fell into a profound sleep, was conveyed to the palace, and, on waking, was treated as the caliph. He ordered the imân to be punished, and sent his mother a handsome gift; but at night, another sleeping draught being given him, he was carried back to his own house. When he woke he could not decide if he had been in a dream or not, but his conduct was so strange that he was taken to a mad-house. He was confined for several days, and, being discharged, the caliph in disguise again visited him, and repeated the same game, so that next day he could not tell which had been the dream. At length the mystery was cleared up, and he was given a post about the caliph’s person, and the sultana gave him a beautiful slave for his wife. Abou Hassan now played a trick on the caliph. He pretended to be dead, and sent his young wife to the sultana to announce the sad news. Zobeida, the sultana, was very much grieved, and gave her favorite a sum of money for the funeral expenses. On her return she played the dead woman, and Abou Hassan went to the caliph to announce his loss. The caliph expressed his sympathy, and, having given him a sum of money for the funeral expenses, went to the sultana to speak of the sad news of the death of the young bride. “The bride?” cried Zobeida; “you mean the bridegroom, commander of the faithful.” “No, I mean the bride,” answered the caliph, “for Abou Hassan has but just left me.” “That cannot be, sire,” retorted Zobeida, “for it is not an hour ago that the bride was here to announce his death.” To settle this moot point, the chief of the eunuchs was sent to see which of the two was dead; and Abou, who saw him coming, got the bride to pretend to be dead, and set himself at her head bewailing, so the man returned with the report that it was the bride who was dead, and not the bridegroom. The sultana would not believe him, and sent her aged nurse to ascertain the fact. As she approached, Abou Hassan pretended to be dead, and the bride to be the wailing widow; accordingly, the nurse contradicted the report of the eunuch. The caliph and sultana, with the nurse and eunuch, then all went to see for themselves, and found both apparently dead. The caliph now said he would give 1000 pieces of gold to know which died first, when Abou Hassan cried, “Commander of the faithful, it was I who died first.” The trick was found out, the caliph nearly died with laughter, and the jest proved a little mine of wealth to the court favorite.--Arabian Nights.
Sleepers. (See Seven Sleepers.)