In the old days it was said that the great King Arthur, who accomplished so many extraordinary feats, his queen Ginevra, his lords, ladies of the court, knights and dogs did not die, but fell asleep in one cave under a high mountain. They also said that they were destined to wake up only if someone found the way to this hidden cave, penetrated it, blew a large hunting horn lying on a large stone table, and then cut the baldric that lay there with a stone sword.
No one knew the place where this cave was, no one saw the entrance to it. But one day, a farmer, a hundred years ago, was sitting in the ruins of an old castle, in which, according to ancient legend, King Arthur lived. The farmer was knitting a fishing net. Suddenly he dropped a ball of rope, which rolled somewhere down the stones between the heather and nettle bushes and completely disappeared from sight. The farmer thought that he had fallen into some kind of crevice, so he parted the heather bushes with his hands, in which the ball had disappeared, and saw a narrow door to the dungeon.
Curiosity forced him to follow the ball down. The farmer found himself in a vaulted gallery and walked along it. He stumbled every now and then. Agile lizards ran away from under his feet. The dark wings of bats touched his head. Finally, with a sinking heart, he noticed the reflections of a distant flame. As the farmer walked, the light in the gallery became brighter and brighter, and finally he saw a huge hall with stone vaults. A bright fire burned in a recess in the center of the hall, although there was no fuel in the hearth. The light fell on the beautiful walls of the hall, completely covered with carved stone decorations. In the background, the king and queen were sitting on a throne, fast asleep, leaning on their hands. They were surrounded by court ladies and knights. Dogs were sleeping on the floor. On the table lay a hunting horn, a stone sword and a baldric.
The farmer became scared, he forgot what and how to do, and respectfully took an ancient sword from the table. He took it out of the dusty old sheath and with a sinking heart saw that the eyes of the king and all the courtiers began to slowly open. When the blade of the sword was completely exposed, the sleepers straightened up. The farmer swung his sword and cut the baldric, then slowly sheathed the sword.
At that moment, the spell again began to take possession of King Arthur's entourage. The faces that had come to life for a moment became pale, the sparkling eyes dimmed, the eyelids drooped. Everyone fell asleep again. Only the king opened his sad eyes, extended his hands forward and said sadly:
- Woe, woe! This madman took out his sword, cut the belt, but forgot the main thing - to blow the horn.
Having said this, the king leaned back on his throne and fell into an enchanted sleep forever.
The farmer felt unimaginable horror. He rushed headlong along the long gallery and, when he came out into the light of God, he could not understand whether all this really happened or whether he had a terrible dream.
He returned home, repenting that he had failed to awaken the great king and his court. At night he had a dream: King Arthur stood in front of him, as if alive, with his eyes closed and, stretching out his hands to him, he called him to him with signs. This dream was repeated every night. The farmer was completely exhausted, lost weight, and turned pale. Finally, he told his neighbors what had happened to him and, together with two friends, went to look for the entrance to the cave. But no matter how they searched, they could not find the door to the underground gallery. Then the farmer went to the priest and confessed everything to him. The priest advised him to celebrate the requiem mass at the place where he saw the entrance.
“My son,” said the priest, “you could not restore the life of the great King Arthur, his wife and companions, not because of a lack of desire, but simply because you forgot how to act.” Now, probably, no one will be able to revive the famous heroes. Pray that the Lord will give peace to their souls, and then peace will return to you.
And so they did. The priest celebrated a funeral mass, and the farmer fervently prayed for the souls of those sleeping in a magical sleep.
From then on, the terrible dreams stopped, and the farmer lived happily as before.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru