Ah! The Old 'Cultural Hero Asleep in Mountain' Trope again!
I'm helping with a script for a short film to be shot in early 2026 which will be an update of Rip Van Winkle. We are so close to finishing that we need to nail down how to properly credit the original writer(s) and source work(s) on screen.
Did a deep dive because Washington Irving lifted many elements of his 1819 story from a German work published in 1800 called "Der Ziegenhirt" (goat herder). And that work lifts key elements from an ancient but pervasive myth archetype now commonly known as "Cultural hero asleep in mountain". In that trope, a king or major cultural figure/warrior is not really dead but simply sleeping in the mountains, sometimes in a cave in the mountains, sometimes guarded by warriors and waiting to return at the time of greatest need. Dozens of examples get listed: Ghengis Khan, King Arthur, William Tell, Constantine, Charlemagne, Nero and ...Walt Disney(!)
The Disney version is the urban legend that Walt, either whole body or just brain, is cryogenically frozen in a well guarded chamber under the Matterhorn in Anaheim.
Gives a whole new meaning to 'Disney on Ice' but the answer at the end of the rabbit hole is crediting Washington Irving alone is best.
We lost Walt 60 years ago -- Thursday, December 15, 1966