They sat listening for awhile to the ringing of the bells; but
when the clergyman began to read the gospel, at the first word he
uttered they both fell into dust. This is a favourite form of the legend
in Wales as well as Scotland; but, pathetic and beautiful as the various
versions are, they present no variations of importance.[139]

Often the stranger's festive visit to Fairyland is rounded with a sleep.
We have seen this in the instance of Rip van Winkle. Another legend has
been put into literary form by Washington Irving, this time from a
Portuguese source. It relates the adventures of a noble youth who set
out to find an island in which some of the former inhabitants of the
Peninsula had taken refuge at the time of the Moorish conquest, and
where their descendants still dwelt. The island was believed to contain
seven cities; and the adventurer was appointed by the king of Portugal
Adalantado, or governor, of the Seven Cities. He reached the island, and
was received as Adalantado, was feasted, and then fell asleep. When he
came to himself again he was on board a homeward-bound vessel, having
been picked up senseless from a drifting wreck. He reached Lisbon, but
no one knew him. His ancestral mansion was occupied by others: none of
his name had dwelt in it for many a year. He hurried to his betrothed,
only to fling himself, not, as he thought, at her feet, but at the feet
of her great-granddaughter. In cases like this the supernatural lapse of
time may be conceived as taking place during the enchanted sleep, rather
than during the festivities. According to a Coptic Christian romance,
Abimelek, the youthful favourite of King Zedekiah, preserved the prophet
Jeremiah's life when he was thrown into prison, and afterwards persuaded
his master to give him charge of the prophet, and to permit him to
release him from the dungeon. In reward, Jeremiah promised him that he
should never see the destruction of Jerusalem, nor experience the
Babylonish captivity, and yet that he should not die. The sun should
take care of him, the atmosphere nourish him; the earth on which he
slept should give him repose, and he should taste of joy for seventy
years until he should again see Jerusalem in its glory, flourishing as
before. Accordingly, going out one day, as his custom was, into the
royal garden to gather grapes and figs, God caused him to rest and fall
asleep beneath the shadow of a rock. There he lay peacefully slumbering
while the c