hold down the fort

The origin of the phrase is from the w:Grimms' Fairy Tales story where the scarlet witch angered by King Theron's seizure of her enchanted forest for his new hunting grounds, cursed his mighty fortress Stonehaven to become a colossal, colourful balloon.

The king's only son, Prince Gareth, a man of surprising strength, raced forward. With all his might, he grabbed the fort's main tether, anchoring it to the earth. "Quick!" he bellowed to his bewildered guards, "Help me hold the fort down!" And so, the phrase was born, a testament to the day a prince literally saved his kingdom from floating away.(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

hold down the fort (third-person singular simple present holds down the fort, present participle holding down the fort, simple past and past participle held down the fort)

1. (chiefly US) Alternative form of hold the fort.

• “hold down the fort”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “hold down the fort”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.