The Legend of the Sleepers is an adapted version of a Christian and Koranic legend about a group of young Christian men who escape the Roman persecutions of the Christians around 250 AD by hiding in a cave, only to emerge years later in a Christian world. Simon Magus is a well-known Christian figure who confronts Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. Both short stories recount these well-known legends, but with a sense of unreality or haze that makes it quite difficult to grasp what is really happening, especially in the Sleepers. The miracles of Simon Magus are finally quite funny. Interesting, but a bit too mystical for me.
“Is it a dream or a sleepwalking illusion of his half-dormant consciousness, a dream of his pagan body, descending as it did from pagan ancestors, worshippers of the moon goddess, the full-moon goddess, ancestors who are calling to him now? Surely there is a full moon outside or a new moon at least, and the souls of his ancestors are awakening, the souls of his ancient forebears, calling to his pagan body, tempting his pagan blood.”
“The Legend of the Sleepers” and “Simon Magus” published in The Encyclopedia of the Dead, 1983.
Original Title : Легенда о спавачима / Legenda o spavačima
Translated from Serbian