Sleeping Enchantment

A Sleeping Enchantment is a form of a spell used to put people to sleep.

Mary Collins, in the guise of Lady Helen, used such an enchantment while singing to the court of Camelot, putting the entire court to sleep in an attempt to assassinate Prince Arthur Pendragon (The Dragon's Call). The song she sang, translated in English, was: "Lovely night has come to us, lovely night, soft and dark; the lovely night that ends a long and hard, weary day; so rest... Lay your body down, forget your life. Spiders of the night come, spin your silky webs. Spiders of the night come, bind them in their sleep. Now spiders of the night, spin! Wrapped in your shroud, dead to the world... just like my son:﻿ dead, dead, dead, DEAD!"

When Merlin woke the Elanthia Beetles up by reading the spell on the top of the box they were kept in, Edwin sent them back to sleep with the incantation "Swefn" (A Remedy to Cure All Ills).

Before leaving Camelot in the episode The Sins of the Father Morgause put a Sleeping Enchantment on her healing bracelet to cure Morgana from her nightmares. This spell was: "Gefultuma híe þæt heo onslæpe".

The sorceress Morgause later cast a powerful Sleeping Enchantment over the entire city of Camelot, using her half-sister Morgana as an energy source for the spell.

The Great Dragon said that it was one thing to cast such spell, but the power to maintain it was completely another matter. These spells, infact, need a vessel, a constant living presence to give them strength. A man can be the source of this pestilence. Morgause's spell was woven with magic of such power that even Merlin was not immune. The spell was: "Acene slæp swilce cwalu. Acene slæp swilce cwalu. Acene slæp swilce cwalu".

Before casting this spell on her half-sister, Morgause put another Sleeping Enchantment on Morgana herself.



Merlin tried several times to break Morgause's spell and to wake Gaius up, chanting these spells: "Ic ácwice þé. Ic þé bebíede þæt þú ne slæpest! Brimstréam!" Anyway Morgauses's magic was too strong and the only way to break the enchantment was to kill Morgana, the vessel (The Fires of Idirsholas).

Merlin used a Sleeping Enchantment on Vivian ("Swefe nu!") when she entered Arthur's rooms under Trickler's Love Spell. He then hid her in Arthur's closet just as the prince arrived (Sweet Dreams).