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+Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Legends & Romances of Brittany
+
+Author: Lewis Spence
+
+Illustrator: W. Otway Cannell
+
+Release Date: January 6, 2010 [EBook #30871]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS & ROMANCES OF BRITTANY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Katherine Ward, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+LEGENDS & ROMANCES OF BRITTANY
+
+[Illustration: GRAELENT AND THE FAIRY-WOMAN _Fr._]
+
+
+  LEGENDS & ROMANCES
+  OF BRITTANY
+
+
+  _BY_
+  LEWIS SPENCE F.R.A.I.
+
+  AUTHOR OF "HERO TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE RHINE"
+  "A DICTIONARY OF MEDIEVAL ROMANCE AND ROMANCE WRITERS"
+  "THE MYTHS OF MEXICO AND PERU"
+  ETC. ETC.
+
+
+  _WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS BY_
+  W. OTWAY CANNELL A.R.C.A.(Lond.)
+
+  NEW YORK
+  FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+  THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH
+  GREAT BRITAIN
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Although the folk-tales and legends of Brittany have received
+ample attention from native scholars and collectors, they have not as
+yet been presented in a popular manner to English-speaking readers.
+The probable reasons for what would appear to be an otherwise
+incomprehensible omission on the part of those British writers who
+make a popular use of legendary material are that many Breton
+folk-tales strikingly resemble those of other countries, that from
+a variety of considerations some of them are unsuitable for
+presentation in an English dress, and that most of the folk-tales
+proper certainly possess a strong family likeness to one another.
+
+But it is not the folk-tale alone which goes to make up the
+romantic literary output of a people; their ballads, the heroic
+tales which they have woven around passages in their national
+history, their legends (employing the term in its proper sense),
+along with the more literary attempts of their romance-weavers,
+their beliefs regarding the supernatural, the tales which cluster
+around their ancient homes and castles--all of these, although
+capable of separate classification, are akin to folk-lore, and I
+have not, therefore, hesitated to use what in my discretion I
+consider the best out of immense stores of material as being much
+more suited to supply British readers with a comprehensive view of
+Breton story. Thus, I have included chapters on the lore which
+cleaves to the ancient stone monuments of the country, along with
+some account of the monuments themselves. The Arthurian matter
+especially connected with Brittany I have relegated to a separate
+chapter, and I have considered it only fitting to include such of
+the _lais_ of that rare and human songstress Marie de France as deal
+with the Breton land. The legends of those sainted men to whom
+Brittany owes so much will be found in a separate chapter, in
+collecting the matter for which I have obtained the kindest
+assistance from Miss Helen Macleod Scott, who has the preservation of
+the Celtic spirit so much at heart. I have also included chapters on
+the interesting theme of the black art in Brittany, as well as on
+the several species of fays and demons which haunt its moors and
+forests; nor will the heroic tales of its great warriors and
+champions be found wanting. To assist the reader to obtain the
+atmosphere of Brittany and in order that he may read these tales
+without feeling that he is perusing matter relating to a race of
+which he is otherwise ignorant, I have afforded him a slight
+sketch of the Breton environment and historical development, and in
+an attempt to lighten his passage through the volume I have here and
+there told a tale in verse, sometimes translated, sometimes original.
+
+As regards the folk-tales proper, by which I mean stories collected
+from the peasantry, I have made a selection from the works of Gaidoz,
+Sébillot, and Luzel. In no sense are these translations; they are
+rather adaptations. The profound inequality between Breton folk-tales
+is, of course, very marked in a collection of any magnitude, but as
+this volume is not intended to be exhaustive I have had no difficulty
+in selecting material of real interest. Most of these tales were
+collected by Breton folk-lorists in the eighties of the last century,
+and the native shrewdness and common sense which characterize much of
+the editors' comments upon the stories so carefully gathered from
+peasants and fishermen make them deeply interesting.
+
+It is with a sense of shortcoming that I offer the reader this volume
+on a great subject, but should it succeed in stimulating interest in
+Breton story, and in directing students to a field in which their
+research is certain to be richly rewarded, I shall not regret the
+labour and time which I have devoted to my task.
+
+  L. S.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+        I The Land, the People and their Story                      13
+       II Menhirs And Dolmens                                       37
+      III The Fairies of Brittany                                   54
+       IV Sprites And Demons of Brittany                            96
+        V World-Tales in Brittany                                  106
+       VI Breton Folk-Tales                                        156
+      VII Popular Legends of Brittany                              173
+     VIII Hero-Tales of Brittany                                   211
+       IX The Black Art and Its Ministers                          241
+        X Arthurian Romance in Brittany                            254
+       XI The Breton Lays of Marie De France                       283
+      XII The Saints of Brittany                                   332
+     XIII Costumes and Customs of Brittany                         372
+          Glossary and Index                                       392
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  Graelent and the Fairy-Woman                          _Frontispiece_
+  Nomenoë                                                           23
+  The Death of Marguerite in the Castle of Trogoff                  34
+  Raising a Menhir                                                  44
+  The Seigneur of Nann And the Korrigan                             58
+  Merlin And Vivien                                                 66
+  The Fairies of Broceliande Find the Little Bruno                  72
+  Fairies in a Breton 'Houle'                                       81
+  The Poor Boy And the Three Fairy Damsels                          88
+  The Demon-Dog                                                    102
+  N'Oun Doare And the Princess Golden Bell                         112
+  The Bride of Satan                                               144
+  Gwennolaïk and Nola                                              170
+  The Devil in the Form of a Leopard appears before
+      the Alchemist                                                179
+  The Escape of King Gradlon from the Flooded City of
+      Ys                                                           186
+  A Peasant Insurrection                                           197
+  Morvan returns to his Ruined Home                                214
+  The Finding of Silvestik                                         232
+  Héloïse as Sorceress                                             250
+  King Arthur and Merlin at the Lake                               257
+  Tristrem and Ysonde                                              268
+  King Arthur and the Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel                   276
+  The Were-Wolf                                                    288
+  Gugemar comes upon the Magic Ship                                294
+  Gugemar's Assault on the Castle of Meriadus                      300
+  Eliduc carries Guillardun to the Forest Chapel                   312
+  Convoyon and his Monks carry off the Relics of St
+      Apothemius                                                   336
+  St Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint                                  339
+  St Yves instructing Shepherd-boys in the Use of the
+      Rosary                                                       352
+  Queen Queban stoned to Death                                     369
+  Modern Brittany                                                  377
+  The Souls of the Dead                                            385
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THEIR STORY
+
+
+The romantic region which we are about to traverse in search of the
+treasures of legend was in ancient times known as Armorica, a
+Latinized form of the Celtic name, Armor ('On the Sea'). The Brittany
+of to-day corresponds to the departments of Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord,
+Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Inférieure. A popular division of
+the country is that which partitions it into Upper, or Eastern, and
+Lower, or Western, Brittany, and these tracts together have an area of
+some 13,130 square miles.
+
+Such parts of Brittany as are near to the sea-coast present marked
+differences to the inland regions, where raised plateaux are covered
+with dreary and unproductive moorland. These plateaux, again, rise
+into small ranges of hills, not of any great height, but, from their
+wild and rugged appearance, giving the impression of an altitude much
+loftier than they possess. The coast-line is ragged, indented, and
+inhospitable, lined with deep reefs and broken by the estuaries of
+brawling rivers. In the southern portion the district known as 'the
+Emerald Coast' presents an almost subtropical appearance; the air is
+mild and the whole region pleasant and fruitful. But with this
+exception Brittany is a country of bleak shores and grey seas, barren
+moorland and dreary horizons, such a land as legend loves, such a
+region, cut off and isolated from the highways of humanity, as the
+discarded genii of ancient faiths might seek as a last stronghold.
+
+Regarding the origin of the race which peoples this secluded
+peninsula there are no wide differences of opinion. If we take the
+word 'Celt' as describing any branch of the many divergent races which
+came under the influence of one particular type of culture, the true
+originators of which were absorbed among the folk they governed and
+instructed before the historic era, then the Bretons are 'Celts'
+indeed, speaking the tongue known as 'Celtic' for want of a more
+specific name, exhibiting marked signs of the possession of 'Celtic'
+customs, and having those racial characteristics which the science of
+anthropology until recently laid down as certain indications of
+'Celtic' relationship--the short, round skull, swarthy complexion, and
+blue or grey eyes.
+
+It is to be borne in mind, however, that the title 'Celtic' is shared
+by the Bretons with the fair or rufous Highlander of Scotland, the
+dark Welshman, and the long-headed Irishman. But the Bretons exhibit
+such special characteristics as would warrant the new anthropology in
+labelling them the descendants of that 'Alpine' race which existed in
+Central Europe in Neolithic times, and which, perhaps, possessed
+distant Mongoloid affinities. This people spread into nearly all parts
+of Europe, and later in some regions acquired Celtic speech and custom
+from a Celtic aristocracy.
+
+It is remarkable how completely this Celtic leaven--the true history
+of which is lost in the depths of prehistoric darkness--succeeded in
+impressing not only its language but its culture and spirit upon the
+various peoples with whom it came into contact. To impose a special
+type of civilization upon another race must always prove a task of
+almost superhuman proportions. To compel the use of an alien tongue by
+a conquered folk necessitates racial tact as well as strength of
+purpose. But to secure the adoption of the racial _spirit_ by the
+conquered, and adherence to it for centuries, so that men of widely
+divergent origins shall all have the same point of view, the same mode
+of thought, manner of address, aye, even the same _facies_ or general
+racial appearance, as have Bretons, some Frenchmen, Cornishmen,
+Welshmen, and Highlanders--that surely would argue an indwelling
+racial strength such as not even the Roman or any other world-empire
+might pretend to.
+
+But this Celtic civilization was not one and undivided. In late
+prehistoric times it evolved from one mother tongue two dialects which
+afterward displayed all the differences of separate languages
+springing from a common stock. These are the Goidelic, the tongue
+spoken by the Celts of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, and the
+Brythonic, the language of the Welsh, the Cornish, and the people of
+Brittany.
+
+
+_The Breton Tongue_
+
+The Brezonek, the Brythonic tongue of Brittany, is undoubtedly the
+language of those Celtic immigrants who fled from Britain the Greater
+to Britain the Less to escape the rule of the Saxon invaders, and who
+gave the name of the country which they had left to that Armorica in
+which they settled. In the earliest stages of development it is
+difficult to distinguish Breton from Welsh. From the ninth to the
+eleventh centuries the Breton language is described as 'Old Breton.'
+'Middle Breton' flourished from the eleventh to the seventeenth
+centuries, since when 'Modern Breton' has been in use. These stages
+indicate changes in the language more or less profound, due chiefly to
+admixture with French. Various distinct dialects are indicated by
+writers on the subject, but the most marked difference in Breton
+speech seems to be that between the dialect of Vannes and that of the
+rest of Brittany. Such differences do not appear to be older than the
+sixteenth century.[1]
+
+
+_The Ancient Armoricans_
+
+The written history of Brittany opens with the account of Julius
+Cæsar. At that period (57 B.C.) Armorica was inhabited by five
+principal tribes: the Namnetes, the Veneti, the Osismii, the
+Curiosolitæ, and the Redones. These offered a desperate resistance to
+Roman encroachment, but were subdued, and in some cases their people
+were sold wholesale into slavery. In 56 B.C. the Veneti threw off the
+yoke and retained two of Cæsar's officers as hostages. Cæsar advanced
+upon Brittany in person, but found that he could make no headway while
+he was opposed by the powerful fleet of flat-bottomed boats, like
+floating castles, which the Veneti were so skilful in manœuvring.
+Ships were hastily constructed upon the waters of the Loire, and a
+desperate naval engagement ensued, probably in the Gulf of Morbihan,
+which resulted in the decisive defeat of the Veneti, the Romans
+resorting to the stratagem of cutting down the enemy's rigging with
+sickles bound upon long poles. The members of the Senate of the
+conquered people were put to death as a punishment for their
+defection, and thousands of the tribesmen went to swell the
+slave-markets of Europe.
+
+Between A.D. 450 and 500, when the Roman power and population were
+dwindling, many vessels brought fugitives from Britain to Armorica.
+These people, fleeing from the conquering barbarians, Saxons, Picts,
+and Scots, sought as asylum a land where a kindred race had not yet
+been disturbed by invasion. Says Thierry, in his _Norman Conquest_:
+"With the consent of the ancient inhabitants, who acknowledged them as
+brethren of the same origin, the new settlers distributed themselves
+over the whole northern coast, as far as the little river Coesoron,
+and southward as far as the territory of the city of the Veneti, now
+called Vannes. In this extent of country they founded a sort of
+separate state, comprising all the small places near the coast, but
+not including within its limits the great towns of Vannes, Nantes, and
+Rennes. The increase of the population of this western corner of the
+country, and the great number of people of the Celtic race and
+language thus assembled within a narrow space, preserved it from the
+irruption of the Roman tongue, which, under forms more or less
+corrupted, was gradually becoming prevalent in every other part of
+Gaul. The name of _Brittany_ was attached to these coasts, and the
+names of the various indigenous tribes disappeared; while the island
+which had borne this name for so many ages now lost it, and, taking
+the name of its conquerors, began to be called the land of the Saxons
+and Angles, or, in one word, _England_."
+
+
+_Samson_
+
+One of these British immigrants was the holy Samson, who laboured to
+convert pagan Brittany to Christianity. He hailed from Pembrokeshire,
+and the legend relates that his parents, being childless, constructed
+a menhir[2] of pure silver and gave it to the poor in the hope that a
+son might be born to them. Their desire was fulfilled, and Samson, the
+son in question, became a great missionary of the Church. Accompanied
+by forty monks, he crossed the Channel and landed on the shores of the
+Bay of Saint-Brieuc, a savage and deserted district.
+
+As the keel of his galley grated on the beach the Saint beheld a man
+on the shore seated at the door of a miserable hut, who endeavoured to
+attract his attention by signs. Samson approached the shore-dweller,
+who took him by the hand and, leading him into the wretched dwelling,
+showed him his wife and daughter, stricken with sickness. Samson
+relieved their pain, and the husband and father, who, despite his
+humble appearance, was chief of the neighbouring territory, gave him a
+grant of land hard by. Here, close to the celebrated menhir of Dol, he
+and his monks built their cells. Soon a chapel rose near the ancient
+seat of pagan worship--in later days the site of a great cathedral.
+
+Telio, a British monk, with the assistance of St Samson, planted near
+Dol an orchard three miles in length, and to him is attributed the
+introduction of the apple-tree into Brittany. Wherever the monks went
+they cultivated the soil; all had in their mouths the words of the
+Apostle: "If any would not work, neither should he eat." The people
+admired the industry of the new-comers, and from admiration they
+passed to imitation. The peasants joined the monks in tilling the
+ground, and even the brigands from the hills and forests became
+agriculturists. "The Cross and the plough, labour and prayer," was the
+motto of these early missionaries.
+
+
+_Wax for Wine_
+
+The monks of Dol were renowned bee-farmers, as we learn from an
+anecdote told by Count Montalembert in his _Moines d'Occident_. One
+day when St Samson of Dol, and St Germain, Bishop of Paris, were
+conversing on the respective merits of their monasteries, St Samson
+said that his monks were such good and careful preservers of their
+bees that, besides the honey which the bees yielded in abundance, they
+furnished more wax than was used in the churches for candles during
+the year, but that the climate not being suitable for the growth of
+vines, there was great scarcity of wine. Upon hearing this St Germain
+replied: "We, on the contrary, produce more wine than we can consume,
+but we have to buy wax; so, if you will furnish us with wax, we will
+give you a tenth of our wine." Samson accepted this offer, and the
+mutual arrangement was continued during the lives of the two saints.
+
+Two British kingdoms were formed in Armorica--Domnonia and Cornubia.
+The first embraced the Côtes-du-Nord and Finistère north of the river
+Élorn, Cornubia, or Cornouaille, as it is now known, being situated
+below that river, as far south as the river Ellé. At first these
+states paid a nominal homage to their native kings in Britain, but on
+the final fall of the British power they proclaimed a complete
+independence.
+
+
+_The Vision of Jud-Hael_
+
+A striking story relating to the migration period is told concerning a
+Cambrian chieftain of Brittany, one Jud-Hael, and the famous British
+bard Taliesin. Shortly after the arrival of Taliesin in Brittany
+Jud-Hael had a remarkable vision. He dreamt that he saw a high
+mountain, on the summit of which was placed a lofty column fixed
+deeply in the earth, with a base of ivory, and branches which reached
+to the heavens. The lower part was iron, brilliantly polished, and to
+it were attached rings of the same metal, from which were suspended
+cuirasses, casques, lances, javelins, bucklers, trumpets, and many
+other warlike trophies. The upper portion was of gold, and upon it
+hung candelabra, censers, stoles, chalices, and ecclesiastical symbols
+of every description. As the Prince stood admiring the spectacle the
+heavens opened and a maiden of marvellous beauty descended and
+approached him.
+
+"I salute you, O Jud-Hael," she said, "and I confide to your keeping
+for a season this column and all that it supports"; and with these
+words she vanished.
+
+On the following day Jud-Hael made public his dream, but, like
+Nebuchadnezzar of old, he could find no one to interpret it, so he
+turned to the bard Taliesin as to another Daniel. Taliesin, says the
+legend, then an exile from his native land of Britain, dwelt on the
+seashore. To him came the messenger of Jud-Hael and said: "O thou who
+so truly dost interpret all things ambiguous, hear and make clear the
+strange vision which my lord hath seen." He then recounted Jud-Hael's
+dream to the venerable bard.
+
+For a time the sage sat pondering deeply, and then replied: "Thy
+master reigneth well and wisely, O messenger, but he has a son who
+will reign still more happily even than himself, and who will become
+one of the greatest men in the Breton land. The sons of his loins will
+be the fathers of powerful counts and pious Churchmen, but he himself,
+the greatest man of that race, shall be first a valiant warrior and
+later a mighty champion of heaven. The earlier part of his life shall
+be given to the world; the latter portion shall be devoted to God."
+
+The prophecy of Taliesin was duly fulfilled. For Judik-Hael, the son
+of Jud-Hael, realized the bard's prediction, and entered the cloister
+after a glorious reign.
+
+
+_Taliesin_
+
+Taliesin ('Shining Forehead') was in the highest repute in the middle
+of the twelfth century, and he was then and afterward, unless we
+except Merlin, the bardic hero of the greatest number of romantic
+legends. He is said to have been the son of Henwg the bard, or St
+Henwg, of Caerleon-upon-Usk, and to have been educated in the school
+of Cattwg, at Llanvithin, in Glamorgan, where the historian Gildas was
+his fellow-pupil. Seized when a youth by Irish pirates, he is said,
+probably by rational interpretation of a later fable of his history,
+to have escaped by using a wooden buckler for a boat. Thus he came
+into the fishing weir of Elphin, one of the sons of Urien. Urien made
+him Elphin's instructor, and gave him an estate of land. But, once
+introduced into the Court of that great warrior-chief, Taliesin became
+his foremost bard, followed him in his wars, and sang his victories.
+He celebrates triumphs over Ida, the Anglian King of Bernicia (_d._
+559) at Argoed about the year 547, at Gwenn-Estrad between that year
+and 559, at Menao about the year 559. After the death of Urien,
+Taliesin was the bard of his son Owain, by whose hand Ida fell. After
+the death of all Urien's sons Taliesin retired to mourn the downfall
+of his race in Wales, dying, it is said, at Bangor Teivi, in
+Cardiganshire. He was buried under a cairn near Aberystwyth.
+
+
+_Hervé the Blind_
+
+There is nothing improbable in the statement that Taliesin dwelt in
+Brittany in the sixth century. Many other British bards found a refuge
+on the shores of Britain the Less. Among these was Kyvarnion, a
+Christian, who married a Breton Druidess and who had a son, Hervé.
+Hervé was blind from birth, and was led from place to place by a wolf
+which he had converted (!) and pressed into the service of Mother
+Church.
+
+One day, when a lad, Hervé had been left in charge of his uncle's
+farm, when a ploughman passed him in full flight, crying out that a
+savage wolf had appeared and had killed the ass with which he had been
+ploughing. The man entreated Hervé to fly, as the wolf was hard upon
+his heels; but the blind youth, undaunted, ordered the terrified
+labourer to seize the animal and harness it to the plough with the
+harness of the dead ass. From that time the wolf dwelt among the sheep
+and goats on the farm, and subsisted upon hay and grass.
+
+
+_Nomenoë_
+
+Swarms of Irish from Ossory and Wexford began to arrive about the
+close of the fifth century, settling along the west and north coasts.
+The immigrants from Britain the Greater formed by degrees the
+counties of Vannes, Cornouaille, Léon, and Domnonée, constituted a
+powerful aristocracy, and initiated a long and arduous struggle
+against the Frankish monarchs, who exercised a nominal suzerainty over
+Brittany. Louis the Pious placed a native chief, Nomenoë, at the head
+of the province, and a long period of peace ensued. But in A.D. 845
+Nomenoë revolted against Charles the Bald, defeated him, and forced
+him to recognize the independence of Brittany, and to forgo the annual
+tribute which he had exacted. A ballad by Villemarqué describes the
+incident. Like Macpherson, who in his enthusiasm for the fragments of
+Ossianic lore 'reconstructed' them only too well, Villemarqué
+unfortunately tampered very freely with such matter as he collected,
+and it may even be that the poem on Nomenoë, for which he claims
+authority, is altogether spurious, as some critics consider. But as it
+affords a spirited picture of the old Breton chief the story is at
+least worth relating.
+
+The poem describes how an aged chieftain waits on the hills of Retz
+for his son, who has gone over to Rennes to pay the Breton tribute to
+the Franks. Many chariots drawn by horses has he taken with him, but
+although a considerable time has elapsed there is no indication of his
+return. The chieftain climbs to an eminence in the hope of discerning
+his son in the far distance, but no sign of his appearance is to be
+seen on the long white road or on the bleak moors which fringe it.
+
+The anxious father espies a merchant wending slowly along the highway
+and hails him.
+
+"Ha, good merchant, you who travel the land from end to end, have you
+seen aught of my son Karo, who has gone to conduct the tribute
+chariots to Rennes?"
+
+[Illustration: NOMENOË]
+
+"Alas! chieftain, if your son has gone with the tribute it is in vain
+you wait for him, for the Franks found it not enough, and have weighed
+his head against it in the balance."
+
+The father gazes wildly at the speaker, sways, and falls heavily with
+a doleful cry.
+
+"Karo, my son! My lost Karo!"
+
+The scene changes to the fortress of Nomenoë, and we see its master
+returning from the chase, accompanied by his great hounds and laden
+with trophies. His bow is in his hand, and he carries the carcass of a
+boar upon his shoulder. The red blood drops from the dead beast's
+mouth and stains his hand. The aged chief, well-nigh demented, awaits
+his coming, and Nomenoë greets him courteously.
+
+"Hail, honest mountaineer!" he cries. "What is your news? What would
+you with Nomenoë?"
+
+"I come for justice, Lord Nomenoë," replies the aged man. "Is there a
+God in heaven and a chief in Brittany? There is a God above us, I
+know, and I believe there is a just Duke in the Breton land. Mighty
+ruler, make war upon the Frank, defend our country, and give us
+vengeance--vengeance for Karo my son, Karo, slain, decapitated by the
+Frankish barbarians, his beauteous head made into a balance-weight for
+their brutal sport."
+
+The old man weeps, and the tears flow down his grizzled beard.
+
+Then Nomenoë rises in anger and swears a great oath. "By the head of
+this boar, and by the arrow which slew him," cries he, "I will not
+wash this blood from off my hand until I free the country from mine
+enemies."
+
+Nomenoë has gone to the seashore and gathered pebbles, for these are
+the tribute he intends to offer the bald King.[3] Arrived at the gates
+of Rennes, he asks that they shall be opened to him so that he may pay
+the tribute of silver. He is asked to descend, to enter the castle,
+and to leave his chariot in the courtyard. He is requested to wash his
+hands to the sound of a horn before eating (an ancient custom), but he
+replies that he prefers to deliver the tribute-money there and then.
+The sacks are weighed, and the third is found light by several
+pounds.
+
+"Ha, what is this?" cries the Frankish castellan. "This sack is under
+weight, Sir Nomenoë."
+
+Out leaps Nomenoë's sword from the scabbard, and the Frank's head is
+smitten from his shoulders. Then, seizing it by its gory locks, the
+Breton chief with a laugh of triumph casts it into the balance. His
+warriors throng the courtyard, the town is taken; young Karo is
+avenged!
+
+
+_Alain Barbe-torte_
+
+The end of the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth were
+remarkable for the invasions of the Northmen. On several occasions
+they were driven back--by Salomon (_d._ 874), by Alain, Count of
+Vannes (_d._ 907)--but it was Alain Barbe-torte, 'Alain of the Twisted
+Beard,' or 'Alain the Fox' (_d._ 952), who gained the decisive victory
+over them, and concerning him an ancient ballad has much to say. It
+was taken down by Villemarqué from the lips of a peasant, an old
+soldier of the Chouan leader Georges Cadoudal.
+
+In his youth Alain was a mighty hunter of the bear and the boar in the
+forests of his native Brittany, and the courage gained in this manly
+sport stood him in good stead when he came to employ it against the
+enemies of his country, the hated Northmen. Rallying the Bretons who
+lurked in the forests or hid in the mountain fastnesses, he led them
+against the enemy, whom he surprised near Dol in the middle of the
+night, making a great carnage among them. After this battle the
+Scandinavian invaders were finally expelled from the Breton land and
+Alain was crowned King or Arch-chief in 937.
+
+A free translation of this ballad might run as follows:
+
+  Lurks the Fox within the wood,
+  His teeth and claws are red with blood.
+
+  Within his leafy, dark retreat
+  He chews the cud of vengeance sweet.
+
+  Oh, trenchant his avenging sword!
+  It falls not on the rock or sward,
+
+  But on the mail of Saxon foe:
+  Swift as the lightning falls the blow.
+
+  I've seen the Bretons wield the flail,
+  Scattering the bearded chaff like hail:
+
+  But iron is the flail they wield
+  Against the churlish Saxon's shield.
+
+  I heard the call of victory
+  From Michael's Mount to Élorn fly,
+
+  And Alain's glory flies as fast
+  From Gildas' church to every coast.
+
+  Ah, may his splendour never die,
+  May it live on eternally!
+
+  But woe that I may nevermore
+  Declaim this lay on Armor's shore,
+
+  For the base Saxon hand has torn
+  My tongue from out my mouth forlorn.
+
+  But if my lips no longer frame
+  The glories of our Alain's name,
+
+  My heart shall ever sing his praise,
+  Who won the fight and wears the bays![4]
+
+The Saxons of this lay are, of course, the Norsemen, who, speaking a
+Teutonic tongue, would seem to the Celtic-speaking Bretons to be
+allied to the Teuton Franks.
+
+
+_Bretons and Normans_
+
+During the latter half of the tenth and most of the eleventh century
+the Counts of Rennes gained an almost complete ascendancy in Brittany,
+which began to be broken up into counties and seigneuries in the
+French manner. In 992 Geoffrey, son of Conan, Count of Rennes, adopted
+the title of Duke of Brittany. He married a Norman lady of noble
+family, by whom he had two sons, Alain and Eudo, the younger of whom
+demanded a share of the duchy as his inheritance. His brother made
+over to him the counties of Penthièvre and Tréguier, part of the old
+kingdom of Domnonia in the north. It was a fatal transference, for he
+and his line became remorseless enemies of the ducal house, with whom
+they carried on a series of disastrous conflicts for centuries. Conan
+II, son of Alain, came under the regency of Eudo, his uncle, in
+infancy, but later turned his sword against him and his abettor,
+William of Normandy, the Conqueror.
+
+Notwithstanding the national enmity of the Normans and Bretons, there
+existed between the Dukes of Normandy and the Dukes of Brittany ties
+of affinity that rendered the relations between the two states
+somewhat complicated. At the time when Duke Robert, the father of
+William of Normandy, set out upon his pilgrimage, he had no nearer
+relative than Alain, Duke of Brittany, the father of Conan II,
+descended in the female line from Rollo, the great Norse leader, and
+to him he committed on his departure the care of his duchy and the
+guardianship of his son.
+
+Duke Alain declared the paternity of his ward doubtful, and favoured
+that party which desired to set him aside from the succession; but
+after the defeat of his faction at Val-ès-Dunes he died, apparently of
+poison, doubtless administered by the contrivance of the friends of
+William. His son, Conan II, succeeded, and reigned at the period when
+William was making his preparations for the conquest of England. He
+was a prince of ability, dreaded by his neighbours, and animated by a
+fierce desire to injure the Duke of Normandy, whom he regarded as a
+usurper and the murderer of his father Alain. Seeing William engaged
+in a hazardous enterprise, Conan thought it a favourable moment to
+declare war against him, and dispatched one of his chamberlains to him
+with the following message: "I hear that you are ready to pass the sea
+to make conquest of the kingdom of England. Now, Duke Robert, whose
+son you feign to consider yourself, on his departure for Jerusalem
+left all his inheritance to Duke Alain, my father, who was his cousin;
+but you and your abettors have poisoned my father, you have
+appropriated to yourself the domain of Normandy, and have kept
+possession of it until this day, contrary to all right, since you are
+not the legitimate heir. Restore to me, therefore, the duchy of
+Normandy, which belongs to me, or I shall levy war upon you, and shall
+wage it to extremity with all my forces."
+
+
+_The Poisoned Hunting-Horn_
+
+The Norman historians state that William was much startled by so
+hostile a message; for even a feeble diversion might render futile his
+ambitious hopes of conquest. But without hesitation he resolved to
+remove the Breton Duke. Immediately upon his return to Conan, the
+envoy, gained over, doubtless, by a bribe of gold, rubbed poison into
+the inside of the horn which his master sounded when hunting, and, to
+make his evil measures doubly sure, he poisoned in like manner the
+Duke's gloves and his horse's bridle. Conan died a few days after his
+envoy's return, and his successor, Eudo, took especial care not to
+imitate his relative in giving offence to William with regard to the
+validity of his right; on the contrary, he formed an alliance with
+him, a thing unheard of betwixt Breton and Norman, and sent his two
+sons to William's camp to serve against the English.
+
+These two youths, Brian and Alain, repaired to the rendezvous of the
+Norman forces, accompanied by a body of Breton knights, who styled
+them Mac-tierns.[5] Certain other wealthy Bretons, who were not of the
+pure Celtic race, and who bore French names, as Robert de Vitry,
+Bertrand de Dinan, and Raoul de Gael, resorted likewise to the Court
+of the Duke of Normandy with offers of service.
+
+Later Brittany became a bone of contention between France and
+Normandy. Hoel, the native Duke, claimed the protection of France
+against the Norman duchy. A long period of peace followed under Alain
+Fergant and Conan III, but on the death of the latter a fierce war of
+succession was waged (1148-56). Conan IV secured the ducal crown by
+Norman-English aid, and gave his daughter Constance in marriage to
+Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Henry II of England. Geoffrey was crowned
+Duke of Brittany in 1171, but after his death his son Arthur met with
+a dreadful fate at the hands of his uncle, John of England. Constance,
+his mother, the real heiress to the duchy, married again, her choice
+falling upon Guy de Thouars, and their daughter was wed to Pierre de
+Dreux, who became Duke, and who defeated John Lackland, the slayer of
+his wife's half-brother, under the walls of Nantes in 1214.
+
+
+_French Influence_
+
+The country now began to flourish apace because of the many
+innovations introduced into it by the wisdom of its French rulers. A
+new way of life was adopted by the governing classes, among whom
+French manners and fashions became the rule. But the people at large
+retained their ancient customs, language, and dress; nor have they
+ever abandoned them, at least in Lower Brittany. On the death of John
+III (1341) the peace of the duchy was once more broken by a war of
+succession. John had no love for his half-brother, John of Montfort,
+and bequeathed the ducal coronet to his niece, Joan of Penthièvre,
+wife of Charles of Blois, nephew of Philip VI of France. This
+precipitated a conflict between the rival parties which led to years
+of bitter strife.
+
+
+_The War of the Two Joans_
+
+Just as two women, Fredegonda and Brunhilda, swayed the fortunes of
+Neustria and Austrasia in Merovingian times, and Mary and Elizabeth
+those of England and Scotland at a later day, so did two heroines
+arise to uphold the banners of either party in the civil strife which
+now convulsed the Breton land. England took the side of Montfort and
+the French that of Charles. Almost at the outset (1342) John of
+Montfort was taken prisoner, but his heroic wife, Joan of Flanders,
+grasped the leadership of affairs, and carried on a relentless war
+against her husband's enemies. After five years of fighting, in 1347,
+and two years subsequent to the death of her lord, whose health had
+given way after his imprisonment, she captured her arch-foe, Charles
+of Blois himself, at the battle of La Roche-Derrien, on the Jaudy. In
+this encounter she had the assistance of a certain Sir Thomas Dagworth
+and an English force. Three times was Charles rescued, and thrice was
+he retaken, until, bleeding from eighteen wounds, he was compelled to
+surrender. He was sent to London, where he was confined in the Tower
+for nine years. Meanwhile his wife, Joan, imitating her rival and
+namesake, in turn threw her energies into the strife. But another
+victory for the Montfort party was gained at Mauron in 1352. On the
+release of Charles of Blois in 1356 he renewed hostilities with the
+help of the famous Bertrand Du Guesclin.
+
+
+_Bertrand Du Guesclin_
+
+Bertrand Du Guesclin (_c._ 1320-80), Constable of France, divides with
+Bayard the Fearless the crown of medieval French chivalry as a mighty
+leader of men, a great soldier, and a blameless knight. He was born of
+an ancient family who were in somewhat straitened circumstances, and
+in childhood was an object of aversion to his parents because of his
+ugliness.
+
+One night his mother dreamt that she was in possession of a casket
+containing portraits of herself and her lord, on one side of which
+were set nine precious stones of great beauty encircling a rough,
+unpolished pebble. In her dream she carried the casket to a lapidary,
+and asked him to take out the rough stone as unworthy of such goodly
+company; but he advised her to allow it to remain, and afterward it
+shone forth more brilliantly than the lustrous gems. The later
+superiority of Bertrand over her nine other children fulfilled the
+mother's dream.
+
+At the tournament which was held at Rennes in 1338 to celebrate the
+marriage of Charles of Blois with Joan of Penthièvre, young Bertrand,
+at that time only some eighteen years old, unhorsed the most famous
+competitors. During the war between Blois and Montfort he gathered
+round him a band of adventurers and fought on the side of Charles V,
+doing much despite to the forces of Montfort and his ally of England.
+
+Du Guesclin's name lives in Breton legend as Gwezklen, perhaps the
+original form, and approximating to that on his tomb at Saint-Denis,
+where he lies at the feet of Charles V of France. In this inscription
+it is spelt "Missire Bertram du Gueaquien," perhaps a French rendering
+of the Breton pronunciation. Not a few legendary ballads which recount
+the exploits of this manly and romantic figure remain in the Breton
+language, and I have made a free translation of the following, as it
+is perhaps the most interesting of the number:
+
+
+THE WARD OF DU GUESCLIN
+
+  Trogoff's strong tower in English hands
+  Has been this many a year,
+  Rising above its subject-lands
+  And held in hate and fear.
+  That rosy gleam upon the sward
+  Is not the sun's last kiss;
+  It is the blood of an English lord
+  Who ruled the land amiss.
+
+  "O sweetest daughter of my heart,
+  My little Marguerite,
+  Come, carry me the midday milk
+  To those who bind the wheat."
+  "O gentle mother, spare me this!
+  The castle I must pass
+  Where wicked Roger takes a kiss
+  From every country lass."
+
+  "Oh! fie, my daughter, fie on thee!
+  The Seigneur would not glance
+  On such a chit of low degree
+  When all the dames in France
+  Are for his choosing." "Mother mine,
+  I bow unto your word.
+  Mine eyes will ne'er behold you more.
+  God keep you in His guard."
+
+  Young Roger stood upon the tower
+  Of Trogoff's grey château;
+  Beneath his bent brows did he lower
+  Upon the scene below.
+  "Come hither quickly, little page,
+  Come hither to my knee.
+  Canst spy a maid of tender age?
+  Ha! she must pay my fee."
+
+  Fair Marguerite trips swiftly by
+  Beneath the castle shade,
+  When villain Roger, drawing nigh,
+  Steals softly on the maid.
+  He seizes on the milking-pail
+  She bears upon her head;
+  The snow-white flood she must bewail,
+  For all the milk is shed.
+
+  "Ah, cry not, pretty sister mine,
+  There's plenty and to spare
+  Of milk and eke of good red wine
+  Within my castle fair.
+  Ah, feast with me, or pluck a rose
+  Within my pleasant garth,
+  Or stroll beside yon brook which flows
+  In brawling, sylvan mirth."
+
+  "Nor feast nor flowers nor evening air
+  I wish; I do entreat,
+  Fair Seigneur, let me now repair
+  To those who bind the wheat."
+  "Nay, damsel, fill thy milking-pail:
+  The dairy stands but here.
+  Ah, foolish sweeting, wherefore quail,
+  For thou hast naught to fear?"
+
+  The castle gates behind her close,
+  And all is fair within;
+  Above her head the apple glows,
+  The symbol of our sin.
+  "O Seigneur, lend thy dagger keen,
+  That I may cut this fruit."
+  He smiles and with a courteous mien
+  He draws the bright blade out.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEATH OF MARGUERITE IN THE CASTLE OF TROGOFF]
+
+  She takes it, and in earnest prayer
+  Her childish accents rise:
+  "O mother, Virgin, ever fair,
+  Pray, pray, for her who dies
+  For honour!" Then the blade is drenched
+  With blood most innocent.
+  Vile Roger, now, thine ardour quenched,
+  Say, art thou then content?
+
+  "Ha, I will wash my dagger keen
+  In the clear-running brook.
+  No human eye hath ever seen,
+  No human eye shall look
+  Upon this gore." He takes the blade
+  From out that gentle heart,
+  And hurries to the river's shade.
+  False Roger, why dost start?
+
+  Beside the bank Du Guesclin stands,
+  Clad in his sombre mail.
+  "Ha, Roger, why so red thy hands,
+  And why art thou so pale?"
+  "A beast I've slain." "Thou liest, hound!
+  But I a beast will slay."
+  The woodland's leafy ways resound
+  To echoings of fray.
+
+  Roger is slain. Trogoff's château
+  Is level with the rock.
+  Who can withstand Du Guesclin's blow,
+  What towers can brave his shock?
+  The combat is his only joy,
+  The tournament his play.
+  Woe unto those who would destroy
+  The peace of Brittany!
+
+In the decisive battle of Auray (1364) Charles was killed and Du
+Guesclin taken prisoner. John of Montfort, son of the John who had
+died, became Duke of Brittany. But he had to face Oliver de Clisson,
+round whom the adherents of Blois rallied. From a war the strife
+degenerated into a vendetta. Oliver de Clisson seized the person of
+John V and imprisoned him. But in the end John was liberated and the
+line of Blois was finally crushed.
+
+
+_Anne of Brittany_
+
+The next event of importance in Breton history is the enforced
+marriage of Anne of Brittany, Duchess of that country in her own
+right, to Charles VIII of France, son of Louis XI, which event took
+place in 1491. Anne, whose father, Duke Francis II, had but recently
+died, had no option but to espouse Charles, and on his death she
+married Louis XII, his successor. Francis I, who succeeded Louis XII
+on the throne of France, and who married Claude, daughter of Louis XII
+and Anne, annexed the duchy in 1532, providing for its privileges. But
+beneath the cramping hand of French power the privileges of the
+province were greatly reduced. From this time the history of Brittany
+is merged in that of France, of which country it becomes one of the
+component parts in a political if not a racial sense.
+
+We shall not in this place deal with the people of modern Brittany,
+their manners and customs, reserving the subject for a later chapter,
+but shall ask the reader to accompany us while we traverse the
+enchanted ground of Breton story.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+   [1] Consult E. Ernault, _Petite Grammaire bretonne_ (Saint-Brieuc,
+       1897); L. Le Clerc, _Grammaire bretonne_ (Saint-Brieuc,
+       1908); J. P. Treasure, _An Introduction to Breton Grammar_
+       (Carmarthen, 1903). For the dialect of Vannes see A.
+       Guillevic and P. Le Goff, _Grammaire bretonne du Dialect de
+       Vannes_ (Vannes, 1902).
+
+   [2] Lit. 'long stone,' a megalithic monument. See Chapter II,
+       "Menhirs and Dolmens." Students of folk-lore will recognize the
+       symbolic significance of the offering. We seem to have here
+       some connexion with pillar-worship, as found in ancient Crete,
+       and the adoration of the Irminsul among the ancient Saxons.
+
+   [3] Charles the Bald.
+
+   [4] For the Breton original and the French translation from which the
+       above is adapted see Villemarqué, _Barzaz-Breiz_, p. 112.
+
+   [5] 'Sons of the Chief.' MacTier is a fairly common name in Scotland
+       to-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II: MENHIRS AND DOLMENS
+
+
+In the mind of the general reader Brittany is unalterably associated
+with the prehistoric stone monuments which are so closely identified
+with its folk-lore and national life. In other parts of the world
+similar monuments are encountered, in Great Britain and Ireland,
+Scandinavia, the Crimea, Algeria, and India, but nowhere are they
+found in such abundance as in Brittany, nor are these rivalled in
+other lands, either as regards their character or the space they
+occupy.
+
+To speculate as to the race which built the primitive stone monuments
+of Brittany is almost as futile as it would be to theorize upon the
+date of their erection.[6] A generation ago it was usual to refer all
+European megalithic monuments to a 'Celtic' origin, but European
+ethnological problems have become too complicated of late years to
+permit such a theory to pass unchallenged, especially now that the
+term 'Celt' is itself matter for fierce controversy. In the immediate
+neighbourhood of certain of these monuments objects of the Iron Age
+are recovered from the soil, while near others the finds are of Bronze
+Age character, so that it is probably correct to surmise that their
+construction continued throughout a prolonged period.
+
+
+_What Menhirs and Dolmens are_
+
+Regarding the nomenclature of the several species of megalithic
+monuments met with in Brittany some definitions are necessary. A
+menhir is a rude monolith set up on end, a great single stone, the
+base of which is buried deep in the soil. A dolmen is a large,
+table-shaped stone, supported by three, four, or even five other
+stones, the bases of which are sunk in the earth. In Britain the term
+'cromlech' is synonymous with that of 'dolmen,' but in France and on
+the Continent generally it is exclusively applied to that class of
+monument for which British scientists have no other name than 'stone
+circles.' The derivation of the words from Celtic and their precise
+meaning in that tongue may assist the reader to arrive at their exact
+significance. Thus 'menhir' seems to be derived from the Welsh or
+Brythonic _maen_, 'a stone,' and _hir_, 'long,' and 'dolmen' from
+Breton _taol_, 'table,' and _men_, 'a stone.'[7] 'Cromlech' is also of
+Welsh or Brythonic origin, and is derived from _crom_, 'bending' or
+'bowed' (hence 'laid across'), and _llech_, 'a flat stone.' The _allée
+couverte_ is a dolmen on a large scale.
+
+
+_The Nature of the Monuments_
+
+The nature of these monuments and the purpose for which they were
+erected were questions which powerfully exercised the minds of the
+antiquaries of a century ago, who fiercely contended for their use as
+altars, open-air temples, and places of rendezvous for the discussion
+of tribal affairs. The cooler archæologists of a later day have
+discarded the majority of such theories as untenable in the light of
+hard facts. The dolmens, they say, are highly unsuitable for the
+purpose of altars, and as it has been proved that this class of
+monument was invariably covered in prehistoric times by an earthen
+tumulus its ritualistic use is thereby rendered improbable. Moreover,
+if we chance upon any rude carving or incised work on dolmens we
+observe that it is invariably executed on the _lower_ surface of the
+table stone, the upper surface being nearly always rough, unhewn,
+often naturally rounded, and as unlike the surface of an altar as
+possible.
+
+Recent research has established the much more reasonable theory that
+these monuments are sepulchral in character, and that they mark the
+last resting-places of persons of tribal importance, chiefs, priests,
+or celebrated warriors. Occasionally legend assists us to prove the
+mortuary character of menhir and dolmen. But, without insisting any
+further for the present upon the purpose of these monuments, let us
+glance at the more widely known of Brittany's prehistoric structures,
+not so much in the manner of the archæologist as in that of the
+observant traveller who is satisfied to view them as interesting
+relics of human handiwork bequeathed from a darker age, rather than as
+objects to satisfy the archæological taste for discussion.
+
+For this purpose we shall select the best known groups of Breton
+prehistoric structures, and shall begin our excursion at the
+north-eastern extremity of Brittany, following the coast-line, on
+which most of the principal prehistoric centres are situated, and, as
+occasion offers, journeying into the interior in search of famous or
+interesting examples.
+
+
+_Dol_
+
+Dol is situated in the north of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine,
+not far from the sea-coast. Near it, in a field called the Champ
+Dolent ('Field of Woe'), stands a gigantic menhir, about thirty feet
+high and said to measure fifteen more underground. It is composed of
+grey granite, and is surmounted by a cross. The early Christian
+missionaries, finding it impossible to wean the people from
+frequenting pagan neighbourhoods, surmounted the standing stones
+with the symbol of their faith, and this in time brought about the
+result desired.[8]
+
+
+_The Legend of Dol_
+
+A strange legend is connected with this rude menhir. On a day in the
+dark, uncharted past of Brittany a fierce battle was fought in the
+Champ Dolent. Blood ran in streams, sufficient, says the tale, to turn
+a mill-wheel in the neighbourhood of the battlefield. When the combat
+was at its height two brothers met and grappled in fratricidal strife.
+But ere they could harm one another the great granite shaft which now
+looms above the field rose up between them and separated them.
+
+There appears to be some historical basis for the tale. Here, or in
+the neighbourhood, A.D. 560, met Clotaire, King of the Franks, and his
+son, the rebel Chramne. The rebellious son was signally defeated. He
+had placed his wife and two little daughters in a dwelling hard by,
+and as he made his way thence to convey them from the field he was
+captured. He was instantly strangled, by order of his brutal father,
+in the sight of his wife and little ones, who were then burned alive
+in the house where they had taken refuge. The Champ Dolent does not
+belie its name, and even thirteen centuries and a half have failed to
+obliterate the memory of a savage and unnatural crime, which, its
+remoteness notwithstanding, fills the soul with loathing against its
+perpetrators and with deep pity for the hapless and innocent victims.
+
+
+_A Subterranean Dolmen Chapel_
+
+At Plouaret, in the department of Côtes-du-Nord, is a curious
+subterranean chapel incorporating a dolmen. The dolmen was formerly
+partially embedded in a tumulus, and the chapel, erected in 1702, was
+so constructed that the great table-stone of the dolmen has become the
+chapel roof, and the supporting stones form two of its sides. The
+crypt is reached by a flight of steps, and here may be seen an altar
+to the Seven Sleepers, represented by seven dolls of varying size. The
+Bretons have a legend that this structure dates from the creation of
+the world, and they have embodied this belief in a ballad, in which it
+is piously affirmed that the shrine was built by the hand of the
+Almighty at the time when the world was in process of formation.
+
+
+_Camaret_
+
+Camaret, on the coast of Finistère, is the site of no less than
+forty-one standing stones of quartz, which outline a rectangular space
+600 yards in length at its base. Many stones have been removed, so
+that the remaining sides are incomplete. None of these monoliths is of
+any considerable size, however, and the site is not considered to be
+of much importance, save as regards its isolated character. At
+Penmarch, in the southern extremity of Finistère, there is an
+'alignment' of some two hundred small stones, and a dolmen of some
+importance is situated at Trégunc, but it is at Carnac, on the coast
+of Morbihan, that we arrive at the most important archæological
+district in Brittany.
+
+
+_Carnac_
+
+The Carnac district teems with prehistoric monuments, the most
+celebrated of which are those of Plouharnel, Concarneau, Concurrus,
+Locmariaquer, Kermario, Kerlescant, Erdeven, and Sainte-Barbe. All
+these places are situated within a few miles of one another, and a
+good centre from which excursions can be made to each is the little
+town of Auray, with its quaint medieval market-house and shrine of St
+Roch. Archæologists, both Breton and foreign, appear to be agreed that
+the groups of stones at Ménéac, Kermario, and Kerlescant are portions
+of one original and continuous series of alignments which extended for
+nearly two miles in one direction from south-west to north-east. The
+monolithic avenue commences quite near the village of Ménéac,
+stretching away in eleven rows, and here the large stones are
+situated, these at first rising to a height of from 10 to 13 feet, and
+becoming gradually smaller, until they attain only 3 or 4 feet. In all
+there are 116 menhirs at Ménéac. For more than three hundred yards
+there is a gap in the series, which passed, we come to the Kermario
+avenue, which consists of ten rows of monoliths of much the same size
+as those of Ménéac, and 1120 in number.
+
+Passing on to Kerlescant, with its thirteen rows of menhirs made up of
+570 individual stones, we come to the end of the avenue and gaze
+backward upon the plain covered with these indestructible symbols of a
+forgotten past.
+
+Carnac! There is something vast, Egyptian, in the name! There is,
+indeed, a Karnak in Egypt, celebrated for its Avenue of Sphinxes and
+its pillared temple raised to the goddess Mut by King Amenophis III.
+Here, in the Breton Carnac, are no evidences of architectural skill.
+These sombre stones, unworked, rude as they came from cliff or
+seashore, are not embellished by man's handiwork like the rich temples
+of the Nile. But there is about this stone-littered moor a mystery, an
+atmosphere no less intense than that surrounding the most solemn ruins
+of antiquity. Deeper even than the depths of Egypt must we sound if we
+are to discover the secret of Carnac. What mean these stones? What
+means faith? What signifies belief? What is the answer to the Riddle
+of Man? In the words of Cayot Délandre, a Breton poet:
+
+  Tout cela eut un sens, et traduisit
+  Une pensée; mais clé de ce mystère,
+  Où est elle? et qui pourrait dire aujourd'hui
+  Si jamais elle se retrouvera?[9]
+
+
+_A Vision_
+
+Over this wild, heathy track, covered with the blue flowers of the
+dwarf gentian, steals a subtle change. Nor air nor heath has altered.
+The lichen-covered grey stones are the same. Suddenly there arises the
+burden of a low, fierce chant. A swarm of skin-clad figures appears,
+clustering around a gigantic object which they are painfully dragging
+toward a deep pit situated at the end of one of the enormous alleys of
+monoliths. On rudely shaped rollers rests a huge stone some twenty
+feet in length, and this they drag across the rough moor by ropes of
+hide, lightening their labours by the chant, which relates the
+exploits of the warrior-chief who has lately been entombed in this
+vast pantheon of Carnac. The menhir shall serve for his headstone. It
+has been vowed to him by the warriors of his tribe, his henchmen, who
+have fought and hunted beside him, and who revere his memory. This
+stone shall render his fame immortal.
+
+And now the task of placing the huge monolith in position begins.
+Ropes are attached to one extremity, and while a line of brawny
+savages strains to raise this, others guide that end of the monolith
+destined for enclosure in the earth toward the pit which has been dug
+for its reception. Higher and higher rises the stone, until at last it
+sinks slowly into its earthy bed. It is held in an upright position
+while the soil is packed around it and it is made secure. Then the
+barbarians stand back a space and gaze at it from beneath their low
+brows, well pleased with their handiwork. He whom they honoured in
+life rests not unrecognized in death.
+
+[Illustration: RAISING A MENHIR]
+
+
+_The Legend of Carnac_
+
+The legend of Carnac which explains these avenues of monoliths bears a
+resemblance to the Cornish story of 'the Hurlers,' who were turned
+into stone for playing at hurling on the Lord's Day, or to that other
+English example from Cumberland of 'Long Meg' and her daughters. St
+Cornely, we are told, pursued by an army of pagans, fled toward the
+sea. Finding no boat at hand, and on the point of being taken, he
+transformed his pursuers into stones, the present monoliths.
+
+The Saint had made his flight to the coast in a bullock-cart, and
+perhaps for this reason he is now regarded as the patron of cattle.
+Should a bullock fall sick, his owner purchases an image of St Cornely
+and hangs it up in the stable until the animal recovers. The church at
+Carnac contains a series of fresco paintings which outline events in
+the life of the Saint, and in the churchyard there is a representation
+of the holy man between two bullocks. The head of St Cornely is said
+to be preserved within the edifice as a relic. On the 13th of
+September is held at Carnac the festival of the 'Benediction of the
+Beasts,' which is celebrated in honour of St Cornely. The cattle of
+the district are brought to the vicinity of the church and blessed by
+the priests--should sufficient monetary encouragement be forthcoming.
+
+
+_Mont-Saint-Michel_
+
+In the neighbourhood is Mont-Saint-Michel,[10] a great tumulus with a
+sepulchral dolmen, first excavated in 1862, when late Stone Age
+implements, jade celts, and burnt bones were unearthed. Later M.
+Zacharie Le Rouzic, the well-known Breton archæologist, tunnelled into
+the tumulus, and discovered a mortuary chamber, in which were the
+incinerated remains of two oxen. To this tumulus each pilgrim added a
+stone or small quantity of earth, as has been the custom in Celtic
+countries from time immemorial, and so the funerary mound in the
+course of countless generations grew into quite a respectable hill,
+on which a chapel was built, dedicated to St Michael, from the doorway
+of which a splendid prospect of the great stone alignments can be had,
+with, for background, the Morbihan and the long, dreary peninsula of
+Quiberon, bleak, treeless, and deserted.
+
+
+_Rocenaud_
+
+Near Carnac is the great dolmen of Rocenaud, the 'cup-and-ring'
+markings on which are thought by the surrounding peasantry to have
+been made by the knees and elbows of St Roch, who fell upon this stone
+when he landed from Ireland. When the natives desire a wind they knock
+upon the depressions with their knuckles, murmuring spells the while,
+just as in Scotland in the seventeenth century a tempest was raised by
+dipping a rag in water and beating it on a stone thrice in the name of
+Satan.
+
+
+_Cup-and-Ring Markings_
+
+What do these cup-and-ring markings so commonly discovered upon the
+monuments of Brittany portend? The question is one well worth
+examining at some length, as it appears to be almost at the
+foundations of Neolithic religion. Recent discoveries in New Caledonia
+have proved the existence in these far-off islands, as in Brittany,
+Scotland, and Ireland, of these strange symbols, coupled with the
+concentric and spiral designs which are usually associated with the
+genius of Celtic art. In the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and in the
+south-west of Scotland generally, stones inscribed with designs
+closely resembling those on the New Caledonian rocks have been found
+in abundance, as at Auchentorlie and Cockno, Shewalton Sands, and in
+the Milton of Colquhoun district, where the famous 'cup-and-ring
+altar' was discovered. At Shewalton Sands in particular, in 1904, a
+number of stones were found bearing crosses like those discovered in
+Portugal by Father José Brenha and Father Rodriguez. These symbols
+have a strong resemblance to certain markings on the Breton rocks, and
+are thought to possess an alphabetic or magical significance. In
+Scotland spirals are commonly found on stones marked with ogham
+inscriptions, and it is remarkable that they should occur in New
+Caledonia in connexion with a dot 'alphabet.' The New Caledonian
+crosses, however, approximate more to the later crosses of Celtic art,
+while the spirals resemble those met with in the earlier examples of
+Celtic work. But the closest parallel to the New Caledonian
+stone-markings to be found in Scotland is supplied by the examples at
+Cockno, in Dumbartonshire, where the wheel symbol is associated with
+the cup-and-ring markings.
+
+The cup-and-ring stones used to be considered the peculiar product of
+a race of 'Brythonic' or British origin, and it is likely that the
+stones so carved were utilized in the ritual of rain-worship or
+rain-making by sympathetic magic. The grooves in the stone were
+probably filled with water to typify a country partially covered with
+rain-water.[11]
+
+From these analogies, then, we can glean the purpose of the
+cup-and-ring markings upon the dolmens of Brittany, and may conclude,
+if our considerations are well founded, that they were magical in
+purpose and origin. Do the cup-shaped depressions represent water, or
+are they receptacles for rain, and do the spiral symbols typify the
+whirling winds?
+
+
+_The Gallery of Gavr'inis_
+
+Nowhere are these mysterious markings so well exemplified as in the
+wonderful tumulus of Gavr'inis. This ancient place of sepulture, the
+name of which means 'Goat Island,' lies in the Morbihan, or 'Little
+Sea,' an inland sea which gives its name to a department in the south
+of Brittany. The tumulus is 25 feet high, and covers a fine gallery 40
+feet long, the stones of which bear the markings alluded to. Whorls
+and circles abound in the ornamentation, serpent-like figures, and the
+representation of an axe, similar to those to be seen in some of the
+Grottes aux Fées, or on the Dol des Marchands. The sculptures appear
+to have been executed with metal tools. The passage ends in a square
+sepulchral chamber, the supports of which are eight menhirs of grained
+granite, a stone not found on the island. Such of the menhirs as are
+carved were obviously so treated before they were placed _in situ_, as
+the design passes round the edges.
+
+
+_The Ile aux Moines_
+
+The Ile aux Moines ('Monks' Island') is also situated in the Morbihan,
+and has many prehistoric monuments, the most extensive of which are
+the circle of stones at Kergonan and the dolmen of Penhapp. On the Ile
+d'Arz, too, are megalithic monuments, perhaps the best example of
+which is the cromlech or circle at Penraz.
+
+The folk-beliefs attached to the megalithic monuments of Brittany are
+numerous, but nearly all of them bear a strong resemblance to each
+other. Many of the monuments are called Grottes aux Fées or Roches aux
+Fées, in the belief that the fairies either built them or used them as
+dwelling-places, and variants of these names are to be found in the
+Maison des Follets ('House of the Goblins') at Cancoet, in Morbihan,
+and the Château des Paulpiquets, in Questembert, in the same district.
+Ty en Corygannt ('The House of the Korrigans') is situated in the same
+department, while near Penmarch, in Finistère, at the other end of the
+province, we find Ty C'harriquet ('The House of the Gorics' or
+'Nains'). Other mythical personages are also credited with their
+erection, most frequently either the devil or Gargantua being held
+responsible for their miraculous creation. The phenomenon, well known
+to students of folk-lore, that an unlettered people speedily forgets
+the origin of monuments that its predecessors may have raised in times
+past is well exemplified in Brittany, whose peasant-folk are usually
+surprised, if not amused, at the question "Who built the dolmens?"
+Close familiarity with and contiguity to uncommon objects not
+infrequently dulls the sense of wonder they should otherwise naturally
+excite. But lest we feel tempted to sneer at these poor folk for their
+incurious attitude toward the visible antiquities of their land, let
+us ask ourselves how many of us take that interest in the antiquities
+of our own country or our own especial locality that they demand.[12]
+
+
+_Fairy Builders_
+
+For the most part, then, the megaliths, in the opinion of the Breton
+peasant, are not the handiwork of man. He would rather refer their
+origin to spirits, giants, or fiends. If he makes any exception to
+this supernatural attribution, it is in favour of the saints he
+reverences so profoundly. The fairies, he says, harnessed their oxen
+to the mighty stones, selected a site, and dragged them thither to
+form a dwelling, or perhaps a cradle for the infant fays they were so
+fond of exchanging for human children. Thus the Roches aux Fées near
+Saint-Didier, in Ille-et-Vilaine, were raised by fairy hands, the
+elves collecting "all the big stones in the country" and carrying them
+thither in their aprons. These architectural sprites then mounted on
+each other's shoulders in order that they might reach high enough to
+place the mighty monoliths securely in position. This practice they
+also followed in building the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, on the
+road from Dinan to Dol, say the people of that country-side.
+
+But the actual purpose of the megaliths has not been neglected by
+tradition, for a venerable farmer at Rouvray stated that the fairies
+were wont to honour after their death those who had made good use of
+their lives and built the dolmens to contain their ashes. The presence
+of such a shrine in a country-side was a guarantee of abundance and
+prosperity therein, as a subtle and indefinable charm spread from the
+saintly remnants and communicated itself to everything in the
+neighbourhood.[13] The fairy builders, says tradition, went about
+their work in no haphazard manner. Those among them who possessed a
+talent for design drew the plans of the proposed structure, the less
+gifted acting as carriers, labourers, and masons. Apron-carrying was
+not their only method of porterage, for some bore the stones on their
+heads, or one under each arm, as when they raised the Roche aux Fées
+in Retiers, or the dolmen in La Lande Marie.[14] The space of a night
+was usually sufficient in which to raise a dolmen. But though 'run up'
+with more than Transatlantic dispatch, in view of the time these
+structures have endured for, any charge of jerry-building against
+their elfin architects must fall to the ground. Daylight, too,
+frequently surprised the fairy builders, so that they could not finish
+their task, as many a 'roofless' dolmen shows.
+
+There are many Celtic parallels to this belief. For example, it is
+said that the Picts, or perhaps the fairies, built the original church
+of Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, and stood in a row handing the stones
+on, one to another, from Ravelston Quarry, on the adjacent hill of
+Corstorphine. Such is the local folk-tale; and it has its congeners in
+Celtic and even in Hindu myth. Thus in the Highland tale of Kennedy
+and the _claistig_, or fairy, whom he captured, and whom he compelled
+to build him a house in one night, we read that she set her people to
+work speedily:
+
+  And they brought flags and stones
+  From the shores of Cliamig waterfall,
+  Reaching them from hand to hand.[15]
+
+Again, the Round Tower of Ardmore, in Ireland, was built with stones
+brought from Slieve Grian, a mountain some four or five miles distant,
+"without horse or wheel," the blocks being passed from hand to hand
+from the quarry to the site of the building. The same tradition
+applied to the Round Tower of Abernethy, in Perthshire, only it is in
+this case demonstrated that the stone of which the tower is composed
+was actually taken from the traditional quarry, even the very spot
+being geologically identified.[16] In like manner, too, was Rama's
+bridge built by the monkey host in Hindu myth, as recounted in the
+_Mahābhārata_ and the _Rāmāyana_.
+
+Tales, as apart from beliefs, are not often encountered in connexion
+with the monuments. Indeed, Sébillot, in the course of his researches,
+found only some dozen of these all told.[17] They are very brief,
+and appear for the most part to deal with fairies who have been shut
+up by the power of magic in a dolmen. Tales of spirits enclosed in
+trees, and even in pillars, are not uncommon, and lately I have
+heard a peculiarly fearsome ghost story which comes from Belgium, in
+which it is related how certain spirits had become enclosed in a
+pillar in an ancient abbey, for the saintly occupants of which they
+made it particularly uncomfortable. Mr George Henderson, in one of
+the most masterly and suggestive studies of Celtic survivals ever
+published, states that stones in the Highlands of Scotland were
+formerly believed to have souls, and that those too large to be moved
+"were held to be in intimate connexion with spirits." Pillared
+stones are not employed in building dwellings in the Highlands,
+ill luck, it is believed, being sure to follow their use in this
+manner, while to 'meddle' with stones which tradition connects with
+Druidism is to court fatality.[18]
+
+
+_Stones that Travel_
+
+M. Salomon Reinach tells us of the Breton belief that certain sacred
+stones go once a year or once a century to 'wash' themselves in the
+sea or in a river, returning to their ancient seats after their
+ablutions.[19] The stones in the dolmen of Essé are thought to change
+their places continually, like those of Callernish and Lewis, and,
+like the Roman Penates, to have the gift of coming and going if
+removed from their habitual site.
+
+The megalithic monuments of Brittany are undoubtedly the most
+remarkable relics of that epoch of prehistoric activity which is now
+regarded as the immediate forerunner of civilization. Can it be that
+they were miraculously preserved by isolation from the remote
+beginnings of that epoch, or is it more probable that they were
+constructed at a relatively late period? These are questions of
+profound difficulty, and it is likely that both theories contain a
+certain amount of truth. Whatever may have been the origin of her
+megaliths, Brittany must ever be regarded as a great prehistoric
+museum, a unique link with a past of hoary antiquity.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+   [6] That it was Neolithic seems undoubted, and in all probability
+       Alpine--_i.e._ the same race as presently inhabits Brittany.
+       See Dottin, _Anciens Peuples de l'Europe_ (Paris, 1916).
+
+   [7] But _tolmen_ in Cornish meant 'pole of stone.'
+
+   [8] Ostensibly, at least; but see the remarks upon modern pagan
+       survivals in Chapter IX, p. 246.
+
+   [9] Which might be rendered:
+
+         All here is symbol; these grey stones translate
+         A thought ineffable, but where the key?
+         Say, shall it be recovered soon or late,
+         To ope the temple of this mystery?
+
+  [10] Not to be confused, of course, with the well-known island mount
+       of the same name.
+
+  [11] A Scottish sixteenth-century magical verse was chanted over such
+       a stone:
+
+         "I knock this rag wpone this stone,
+         And ask the divell for rain thereon."
+
+  [12] The writer's experience is that unlettered British folk often
+       possess much better information concerning the antiquities of a
+       district than its 'educated' inhabitants. If this information
+       is not scientific it is full and displays deep personal
+       interest.
+
+  [13] _Collectionneur breton_, t. iii, p.55.
+
+  [14] See _Comptes rendus de la Société des Antiquaries de France_, pp.
+       95 ff. (1836).
+
+  [15] J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_.
+
+  [16] Small, _Antiquities of Fife_.
+
+  [17] _Traditions de la Haute-Bretagne_, t. i, p. 26.
+
+  [18] Henderson, _Survivals in Belief among the Celts_ (1911).
+
+  [19] _Cultes, Mythes, et Religiones_, t. iii, pp. 365-433.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III: THE FAIRIES OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Whatever the origin of the race which conceived the demonology
+of Brittany--and there are indications that it was not wholly
+Celtic--that weird province of Faëry bears unmistakable evidence
+of having been deeply impressed by the Celtic imagination, if it
+was not totally peopled by it, for its various inhabitants act in
+the Celtic spirit, are moved by Celtic springs of thought and
+fancy, and possess not a little of that irritability which has
+forced anthropologists to include the Celtic race among those
+peoples described as 'sanguine-bilious.' As a rule they are by
+no means friendly or even humane, these fays of Brittany, and if
+we find beneficent elves within the green forests of the duchy we
+may feel certain that they are French immigrants, and therefore
+more polished than the choleric native sprites.
+
+
+_Broceliande_
+
+Of all the many localities celebrated in the fairy lore of Brittany
+none is so famous as Broceliande. Broceliande! "The sound is like a
+bell," a far, faëry chime in a twilit forest. In the name Broceliande
+there seems to be gathered all the tender charm, the rich and haunting
+mystery, the remote magic of Brittany and Breton lore. It is, indeed,
+the title to the rarest book in the library of poetic and traditional
+romance.
+
+"I went to seek out marvels," said old Wace. "The forest I saw, the
+land I saw. I sought marvels, but I found none. A fool I came back, a
+fool I went; a fool I went, a fool I came back; foolishness I sought;
+a fool I hold myself."[20]
+
+Our age, even less sceptical than his, sees no folly in questing for
+the beautiful, and if we expect no marvels, nor any sleight of faëry,
+however desirous we are, we do not hold it time lost to plunge into
+the enchanted forest and in its magic half-gloom grope for, and
+perchance grasp, dryad draperies, or be trapped in the filmy webs of
+fancy which are spun in these shadows for unwary mortals.
+
+Standing in dream-girt Broceliande of a hundred legends, its shadows
+mirrored by dim meres that may never reflect the stars, one feels the
+lure of Brittany more keenly even than when walking by its fierce and
+jagged coasts menaced by savage grey seas, or when wandering on its
+vast moors where the monuments of its pagan past stand in gigantic
+disarray. For in the forest is the heart of Arthurian story, the
+shrine of that wonder which has drawn thousands to this land of
+legend, who, like old Wace, trusted to have found, if not elfin
+marvels, at least matter of phantasy conjured up by the legendary
+associations of Broceliande.
+
+But we must beware of each step in these twilit recesses, for the fays
+of Brittany are not as those of other lands. Harsh things are spoken
+of them. They are malignant, say the forest folk. The note of Brittany
+is scarce a joyous one. It is bitter-sweet as a sad chord struck on an
+ancient harp.
+
+The fays of Brittany are not the friends of man. They are not 'the
+good people,' 'the wee folk'; they have no endearing names, the gift
+of a grateful peasantry. Cold and hostile, they hold aloof from human
+converse, and, should they encounter man, vent their displeasure at
+the interruption in the most vindictive manner.
+
+Whether the fairies of Brittany be the late representatives of the
+gods of an elder day or merely animistic spirits who have haunted
+these glades since man first sheltered in them, certain it is that in
+no other region in Europe has Mother Church laid such a heavy ban upon
+all the things of faëry as in this strange and isolated peninsula. A
+more tolerant ecclesiastical rule might have weaned them to a timid
+friendship, but all overtures have been discouraged, and to-day they
+are enemies, active, malignant, swift to inflict evil upon the pious
+peasant because he is pious and on the energetic because of his
+industry.
+
+
+_The Korrigan_
+
+Among those forest-beings of whom legend speaks such malice none is
+more relentless than the Korrigan, who has power to enmesh the heart
+of the most constant swain and doom him to perish miserably for love
+of her. Beware of the fountains and of the wells of this forest of
+Broceliande, for there she is most commonly to be encountered, and you
+may know her by her bright hair--"like golden wire," as Spenser says
+of his lady's--her red, flashing eyes, and her laughing lips. But if
+you would dare her wiles you must come alone to her fountain by night,
+for she shuns even the half-gloom that is day in shadowy Broceliande.
+The peasants when they speak of her will assure you that she and her
+kind are pagan princesses of Brittany who would have none of
+Christianity when the holy Apostles brought it to Armorica, and who
+must dwell here under a ban, outcast and abhorred.
+
+
+_The Seigneur of Nann_[21]
+
+The Seigneur of Nann was high of heart, for that day his bride of a
+year had presented him with two beautiful children, a boy and a girl,
+both white as May-blossom. In his joy the happy father asked his wife
+her heart's desire, and she, pining for that which idle fancy urged
+upon her, begged him to bring her a dish of woodcock from the lake in
+the dale, or of venison from the greenwood. The Seigneur of Nann
+seized his lance and, vaulting on his jet-black steed, sought the
+borders of the forest, where he halted to survey the ground for track
+of roe or slot of the red deer. Of a sudden a white doe rose in front
+of him, and was lost in the forest like a silver shadow.
+
+At sight of this fair quarry the Seigneur followed into the greenwood.
+Ever his prey rustled among the leaves ahead, and in the hot chase he
+recked not of the forest depths into which he had plunged. But coming
+upon a narrow glade where the interlacing leaves above let in the sun
+to dapple the moss-ways below, he saw a strange lady sitting by the
+broken border of a well, braiding her fair hair and binding it with
+golden pins.
+
+The Seigneur louted low, begged that he might drink, and bending down
+set his lips to the water; but she, turning strange eyes upon
+him--eyes not blue like those of his bride, nor grey, nor brown, nor
+black, like those of other women, but red in their depths as the
+heart's blood of a dove--spoke to him discourteously.
+
+"Who are you who dare to trouble the waters of my fountain?" she
+asked. "Do you not know that your conduct merits death? This well is
+enchanted, and by drinking of it you are fated to die, unless you
+fulfil a certain condition."
+
+"And what is that?" asked the Seigneur.
+
+"You must marry me within the hour," replied the lady.
+
+"Demoiselle," replied the Seigneur, "it may not be as you desire, for
+I am already espoused to a fair bride who has borne me this very day a
+son and a daughter. Nor shall I die until it pleases the good God.
+Nevertheless, I wot well who you are. Rather would I die on the
+instant than wed with a Korrigan."
+
+Leaping upon his horse, he turned and rode from the woodland as a man
+possessed. As he drew homeward he was overshadowed by a sense of
+coming ill. At the gate of his château stood his mother, anxious to
+greet him with good news of his bride. But with averted eyes he
+addresses her in the refrain so familiar to the folk-poetry of all
+lands:
+
+  "My good mother, if you love me, make my bed. I am sick unto
+  death. Say not a word to my bride. For within three days I shall
+  be laid in the grave. A Korrigan has done me evil."
+
+Three days later the young spouse asks of her mother-in-law:
+
+"Tell me, mother, why do the bells sound? Wherefore do the priests
+chant so low?"
+
+"'Tis nothing, daughter," replies the elder woman. "A poor stranger
+who lodged here died this night."
+
+"Ah, where is gone the Seigneur of Nann? Mother, oh, where is he?"
+
+[Illustration: THE SEIGNEUR OF NANN AND THE KORRIGAN]
+
+"He has gone to the town, my child. In a little he will come to see
+you."
+
+"Ah, mother, let us speak of happy things. Must I wear my red or my
+blue robe at my churching?"
+
+"Neither, daughter. The mode is changed. You must wear black."
+
+Unconscious in its art, the stream of verse carries us to the church,
+whence the young wife has gone to offer up thanks for the gift of
+children. She sees that the ancestral tomb has been opened, and a
+great dread is at her heart. She asks her mother-in-law who has died,
+and the old woman at last confesses that the Seigneur of Nann has just
+been buried.
+
+That same night the young mother was interred beside her husband-lover.
+And the peasant folk say that from that tomb arose two saplings, the
+branches of which intertwined more closely as they grew.
+
+
+_A Goddess of Eld_
+
+In the depths of Lake Tegid in our own Wales dwelt Keridwen, a
+fertility goddess who possessed a magic cauldron--the sure symbol of a
+deity of abundance.[22] Like Demeter, she was strangely associated
+with the harmless necessary sow, badge of many earth-mothers, and
+itself typical of fertility. Like Keridwen, the Korrigan is associated
+with water, with the element which makes for vegetable growth.
+Christian belief would, of course, transform this discredited goddess
+into an evil being whose one function was the destruction of souls.
+May we see a relation of the Korrigan and Keridwen in Tridwan, or St
+Triduana, of Restalrig, near Edinburgh, who presided over a certain
+well there, and at whose well-shrine offerings were made by sightless
+pilgrims for many centuries?
+
+Many are the traditions which tell of human infants abducted by the
+Korrigan, who at times left an ugly changeling in place of the babe
+she had stolen. But it was more as an enchantress that she was
+dreaded. By a stroke of her magic wand she could transform the leafy
+fastnesses in which she dwelt into the semblance of a lordly hall,
+which the luckless traveller whom she lured thither would regard as a
+paradise after the dark thickets in which he had been wandering. This
+seeming castle or palace she furnished with everything that could
+delight the eye, and as the doomed wretch sat ravished by her beauty
+and that of her nine attendant maidens a fatal passion for her entered
+his heart, so that whatever he cherished most on earth--honour, wife,
+demoiselle, or affianced bride--became as naught to him, and he cast
+himself at the feet of this forest Circe in a frenzy of ardour. But
+with the first ray of daylight the charm was dissolved and the
+Korrigan became a hideous hag, as repulsive as before she had been
+lovely; the walls of her palace and the magnificence which had
+furnished it became once more tree and thicket, its carpets moss, its
+tapestries leaves, its silver cups wild roses, and its dazzling
+mirrors pools of stagnant water.
+
+
+_The Unbroken Vow_[23]
+
+Sir Roland of Brittany rides through gloomy Broceliande a league ahead
+of his troop, unattended by squire or by page. The red cross upon his
+shoulder is witness that he is vowed to service in Palestine, and as
+he passes through the leafy avenues on his way to the rendezvous he
+fears that he will be late, most tardy of all the knights of Brittany
+who have sworn to drive the paynim from the Holy Land. Fearful of such
+disgrace, he spurs his jaded charger on through the haunted forest,
+and with anxious eye watches the sun sink and the gay white moon sail
+high above the tree-tops, pouring light through their branches upon
+the mossy ways below.
+
+A high vow has Roland taken ere setting out upon the crusade--a vow
+that he will eschew the company of fair ladies, in which none had
+delighted more than he. No more must he mingle in the dance, no more
+must he press a maiden's lips with his. He has become a soldier of the
+Cross. He may not touch a lady's hand save with his mailed glove, he
+must not sit by her side. Also must he fast from dusk till dawn upon
+that night of his setting forth. "Small risk," he laughs a little
+sadly, as he spurs his charger onward, "small risk that I be mansworn
+ere morning light."
+
+But the setting of the moon tells him that he must rest in the forest
+until dawn, as without her beams he can no longer pursue his way. So
+he dismounts from his steed, tethers it to a tree, and looks about for
+a bed of moss on which to repose. As he does so his wandering gaze
+fixes upon a beam of light piercing the gloom of the forest. Well
+aware of the traditions of his country, he thinks at first that it is
+only the glimmer of a will-o'-the-wisp or a light carried by a
+wandering elf. But no, on moving nearer the gleam he is surprised to
+behold a row of windows brilliantly lit as if for a festival.
+
+"Now, by my vow," says Roland, "methought I knew well every château in
+this land of Brittany, nor wist I that seigneur or count held court
+in this forest of Broceliande."
+
+Resolved to view the château at still closer quarters, he draws near
+it. A great court fronts him where neither groom nor porter keeps
+guard, and within he can see a fair hall. This he enters, and
+immediately his ears are ravished by music which wanders through the
+chamber like a sighing zephyr. The murmur of rich viols and the call
+of flutes soft as distant bird-song speak to his very soul. Yet
+through the ecstasy comes, like a serpent gliding among flowers, the
+discord of evil thoughts. Grasping his rosary, he is about to retire
+when the doors at the end of the hall fly open, and he beholds a
+rapturous vision. Upon a couch of velvet sits a lady of such dazzling
+beauty that all other women compared with her would seem as
+kitchen-wenches. A mantle of rich golden hair falls about her, her
+eyes shine with the brightness of stars, her smile seems heavenly.
+Round her are grouped nine maidens only less beautiful than herself.
+
+As the moon moving among attendant stars, so the lady comes toward
+Roland, accompanied by her maidens. She welcomes him, and would
+remove his gauntlet, but he tells her of the vow he has made to wear
+it in lady's bower, and she is silent. Next she asks him to seat
+himself beside her on the couch, but he will not. In some confusion
+she orders a repast to be brought. A table is spread with fragrant
+viands, but as the knight will partake of none of them, in chagrin the
+lady takes a lute, which she touches with exquisite skill. He listens
+unmoved, till, casting away her instrument, she dances to him,
+circling round and round about him, flitting about his chair like a
+butterfly, until at length she sinks down near him and lays her head
+upon his mailed bosom. Upward she turns her face to him, all
+passion-flushed, her eyes brimming with love. Sir Roland falters.
+Fascinated by her unearthly beauty, he is about to stoop down to
+press his lips to hers. But as he bends his head she shrinks from
+him, for she sees the tender flush of morning above the eastern
+tree-tops. The living stars faint and fail, and the music of awakening
+life which accompanies the rising of the young sun falls upon the
+ear. Slowly the château undergoes transformation. The glittering roof
+merges into the blue vault of heaven, the tapestried walls become
+the ivied screens of great forest trees, the princely furnishings
+are transformed into mossy banks and mounds, and the rugs and carpets
+beneath Roland's mailed feet are now merged in the forest ways.
+
+But the lady? Sir Roland, glancing down, beholds a hag hideous as sin,
+whose malicious and distorted countenance betrays baffled hate and
+rage. At the sound of a bugle she hurries away with a discordant
+shriek. Into the glade ride Roland's men, to see their lord clasping
+his rosary and kneeling in thanksgiving for his deliverance from the
+evils which beset him. He had been saved from breaking his vow!
+
+The nine attendant maidens of the Korrigan bring to mind a passage in
+Pomponius Mela[24]: "Sena [the Ile de Sein, not far from Brest], in
+the British Sea, opposite the Ofismician coast, is remarkable for an
+oracle of the Gallic god. Its priestesses, holy in perpetual
+virginity, are said to be nine in number. They are called Gallicenæ,
+and are thought to be endowed with singular powers. By their charms
+they are able to raise the winds and seas, to turn themselves into
+what animals they will, to cure wounds and diseases incurable by
+others, to know and predict the future. But this they do only for
+navigators, who go thither purposely to consult them."
+
+Like the sylphs and salamanders so humorously described by the Abbé de
+Villars in _Le Comte de Gabalis_,[25] the Korrigans desired union with
+humanity in order that they might thus gain immortality. Such, at
+least, is the current peasant belief in Brittany. "For this end they
+violate all the laws of modesty." This belief is common to all lands,
+and is typical of the fay, the Lorelei, countless well and water
+sprites, and that enchantress who rode off with Thomas the Rhymer:
+
+  For if you dare to kiss my lips
+  Sure of your bodie I shall be.
+
+Unlike the colder Sir Roland, 'True Thomas' dared, and was wafted to a
+realm wondrously described by the old balladeer in the vivid phrase
+that marks the poetry of vision.
+
+
+_Merlin and Vivien_
+
+It was in this same verdant Broceliande that Vivien, another fairy,
+that crafty dame of the enchanted lake, the instructress of Lancelot,
+bound wise Merlin so that he might no more go to Camelot with oracular
+lips to counsel British Arthur.
+
+But what say the folk of Broceliande themselves of this? Let us hear
+their version of a tale which has been so battered by modern
+criticism, and which has been related in at least half a score of
+versions, prose and poetic. Let us have the Broceliande account of
+what happened in Broceliande.[26] Surely its folk, in the very forest
+in which he wandered with Vivien, must know more of Merlin's
+enchantment than we of that greater Britain which he left to find a
+paradise in Britain the Less, for, according to Breton story, Merlin
+was not imprisoned by magic art, but achieved bliss through his love
+for the fairy forest nymph.
+
+Disguised as a young student, Merlin was wandering one bright May
+morning through the leafy glades of Broceliande, when, like the
+Seigneur of Nann, he came to a beautiful fountain in the heart of the
+forest which tempted him to rest. As he sat there in reverie, Vivien,
+daughter of the lord of the manor of Broceliande, came to the water's
+edge. Her father had gained the affection of a fay of the valley, who
+had promised on behalf of their daughter that she should be loved by
+the wisest man in the world, who should grant all her wishes, but
+would never be able to compel her to consent to his.
+
+Vivien reclined upon the other side of the fountain, and the eyes of
+the sage and maiden met. At length Merlin rose to depart, and gave the
+damsel courteous good-day. But she, curious and not content with a
+mere salutation, wished him all happiness and honour. Her voice was
+beautiful, her eyes expressive, and Merlin, moved beyond anything in
+his experience, asked her name. She told him she was a daughter of a
+gentleman of that country, and in turn asked him who he might be.
+
+"A scholar returning to his master," was the reply.
+
+"Your master? And what may he teach you, young sir?"
+
+"He instructs me in the magic art, fair dame," replied Merlin, amused.
+"By aid of his teaching I can raise a castle ere a man could count a
+score, and garrison it with warriors of might. I can make a river flow
+past the spot on which you recline, I can raise spirits from the great
+deeps of ether in which this world rolls, and can peer far into the
+future--aye, to the extreme of human days."
+
+"Would that I shared your wisdom!" cried Vivien, her voice thrilling
+with the desire of hidden things which she had inherited from her
+fairy mother. "Teach me these secrets, I entreat of you, noble
+scholar, and accept in return for your instruction my most tender
+friendship."
+
+Merlin, willing to please her, arose, and traced certain mystical
+characters upon the greensward. Straightway the glade in which they
+sat was filled with knights, ladies, maidens, and esquires, who danced
+and disported themselves right joyously. A stately castle rose on the
+verge of the forest, and in the garden the spirits whom Merlin the
+enchanter had raised up in the semblance of knights and ladies held
+carnival. Vivien, delighted, asked of Merlin in what manner he had
+achieved this feat of faëry, and he told her that he would in time
+instruct her as to the manner of accomplishing it. He then dismissed
+the spirit attendants and dissipated the castle into thin air, but
+retained the garden at the request of Vivien, naming it 'Joyous
+Garden.'
+
+Then he made a tryst with Vivien to meet her in a year on the Vigil of
+St John.
+
+[Illustration: MERLIN AND VIVIEN]
+
+Now Merlin had to be present at the espousal of Arthur, his King,
+with Guinevere, at which he was to assist the archbishop, Dubric, as
+priest. The festivities over, he recalled his promise to Vivien, and
+on the appointed day he once more assumed the guise of a travelling
+scholar and set out to meet the maiden in the forest of Broceliande.
+She awaited him patiently in Joyous Garden, where they partook of a
+dainty repast. But the viands and the wines were wasted upon Merlin,
+for Vivien was beside him and she alone filled his thoughts. She was
+fair of colour, and fresh with the freshness of all in the forest, and
+her hazel eyes made such fire within his soul that he conceived a
+madness of love for her that all his wisdom, deep as it was, could not
+control.
+
+But Vivien was calm as a lake circled by trees, where no breath of the
+passion of tempest can come. Again and again she urged him to impart
+to her the secrets she so greatly longed to be acquainted with. And
+chiefly did she desire to know three things; these at all hazards must
+she have power over. How, she asked, could water be made to flow in a
+dry place? In what manner could any form be assumed at will? And,
+lastly, how could one be made to fall asleep at the pleasure of
+another?
+
+"Wherefore ask you this last question, demoiselle?" said Merlin,
+suspicious even in his great passion for her.
+
+"So that I may cast the spell of sleep over my father and my mother
+when I come to you, Merlin," she replied, with a beguiling glance,
+"for did they know that I loved you they would slay me."
+
+Merlin hesitated, and so was lost. He imparted to her that hidden
+knowledge which she desired. Then they dwelt together for eight days
+in the Joyous Garden, during which time the sage, to Vivien's delight
+and amaze, related to her the marvellous circumstances of his birth.
+
+Next day Merlin departed, but came again to Broceliande when the
+eglantine was flowering at the edge of the forest. Again he wore the
+scholar's garments. His aspect was youthful, his fair hair hung in
+ringlets on his shoulders, and he appeared so handsome that a tender
+flower of love sprang up in Vivien's heart, and she felt that she must
+keep him ever near her. But she knew full well that he whom she loved
+was in reality well stricken in years, and she was sorrowful. But she
+did not despair.
+
+"Beloved," she whispered, "will you grant me but one other boon? There
+is one secret more that I desire to learn."
+
+Now Merlin knew well ere she spoke what was in her mind, and he sighed
+and shook his head.
+
+"Wherefore do you sigh?" she asked innocently.
+
+"I sigh because my fate is strong upon me," replied the sage. "For it
+was foreseen in the long ago that a lady should lead me captive and
+that I should become her prisoner for all time. Neither have I the
+power to deny you what you ask of me."
+
+Vivien embraced him rapturously.
+
+"Ah, Merlin, beloved, is it not that you should always be with me?"
+she asked passionately. "For your sake have I not given up father and
+mother, and are not all my thoughts and desires toward you?"
+
+Merlin, carried away by her amorous eloquence, could only answer: "It
+is yours to ask what you will."
+
+Vivien then revealed to him her wish. She longed to learn from his
+lips an enchantment which would keep him ever near her, which would so
+bind him to her in the chains of love that nothing in the world could
+part him from her. Hearkening to her plea, he taught her such
+enchantment as would render him love's prisoner for ever.
+
+Evening was shrouding the forest in soft shadows when Merlin sank to
+rest. Vivien, waiting until his deep and regular breathing told her
+that he was asleep, walked nine times around him, waving her cloak
+over his head, and muttering the mysterious words he had taught her.
+When the sage awoke he found himself in the Joyous Garden with Vivien
+by his side.
+
+"You are mine for ever," she murmured. "You can never leave me now."
+
+"My delight will be ever to stay with you," he replied, enraptured.
+"And oh, beloved, never leave me, I pray you, for I am bespelled so as
+to love you throughout eternity!"
+
+"Never shall I leave you," she replied; and in such manner the wise
+Merlin withdrew from the world of men to remain ever in the Joyous
+Garden with Vivien. Love had triumphed over wisdom.
+
+The Arthurian version of the story does not, of course, represent
+Vivien as does the old Breton legend. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's book
+and in the _Morte d'Arthur_ she is drawn as the scheming enchantress
+who wishes to lure Merlin to his ruin for the joy of being able to
+boast of her conquest. In some romances she is alluded to as Nimue,
+and in others is described as the daughter of Dyonas, who perhaps is
+the same as Dylan, a Brythonic (British) sea-god. As the Lady of the
+Lake she is the foster-mother of Lancelot, and we should have no
+difficulty in classing her as a water deity or spirit very much like
+the Korrigan.
+
+
+_Merlin_
+
+But Merlin is a very different character, and it is probable that the
+story of his love for Vivien was composed at a comparatively late date
+for the purpose of rounding off his fate in Arthurian legend. A recent
+hypothesis concerning him is to the effect that "if he belongs to the
+pagan period [of Celtic lore] at all, he was probably an ideal
+magician or god of magicians."[27] Canon MacCulloch smiles at the late
+Sir John Rhys's belief that Merlin was "a Celtic Zeus," but his later
+suggestion seems equally debatable. We must remember that we draw our
+conception of Merlin as Arthurian archimagus chiefly from late
+Norman-French sources and Celtic tradition. Ancient Brythonic
+traditions concerning beings of much the same type as Merlin appear to
+have existed, however, and the character of Lailoken in the life of St
+Kentigern recalls his life-story. So far research on the subject seems
+to show that the legend of Merlin is a thing of complex growth,
+composed of traditions of independent and widely differing origin,
+most of which were told about Celtic bards and soothsayers. Merlin is,
+in fact, the typical Druid or wise man of Celtic tradition, and there
+is not the slightest reason for believing that he was ever paid divine
+honours. As a soothsayer of legend, he would assuredly belong to the
+pagan period, however much he is indebted to Geoffrey of Monmouth for
+his late popularity in pure romance.
+
+
+_The Fountain of Baranton_
+
+In the country of Broceliande lies the magic fountain of Baranton,
+sequestered among hills and surrounded by deep woods. Says a
+thirteenth-century writer of this fountain:
+
+"Oh, amazing wonder of the Fountain of Brecelien! If a drop be taken
+and poured on a certain rock beside the spring, immediately the water
+changes into vapour, forms itself into great clouds filled with hail;
+the air becomes thick with shadows, and resonant with the muttering of
+thunder. Those who have come through curiosity to behold the prodigy
+wish that they had never done so, so filled are their hearts with
+terror, and so does fear paralyse their limbs. Incredible as the
+marvel may seem, yet the proofs of its reality are too abundant to be
+doubted."
+
+Huon de Méry was more fortunate than Wace. He sprinkled the magic
+stone which lay behind the fountain with water from the golden basin
+that hung from the oak that shaded it, and beheld many marvels. And so
+may he who has the seeing eye to-day.
+
+
+BROCELIANDE
+
+  Ah, how remote, forlorn
+  Sounded the sad, sweet horn
+  In forest gloom enchanted!
+  I saw the shadows of kings go riding by,
+  But cerements mingled and paled with their panoply,
+  And the moss-ways deadened the steps of steeds that never panted.
+
+  Ah, what had phantasy
+  In that sad sound to say,
+  Sad as a spirit's wailing?
+  A call from over the seas of shadowland,
+  A call the soul of the soul might understand,
+  But never, ah, never the mind, the steeps of soul assailing.
+
+
+_Bruno of La Montagne_
+
+The old fragmentary romance of Bruno of La Montagne is eloquent of the
+faëry spirit which informs all Breton lore. Butor, Baron of La
+Montagne, had married a young lady when he was himself of mature
+years, and had a son, whom he resolved to take to a fountain where the
+fairies came to repose themselves. The Baron, describing this magic
+well to the child's mother, says (we roughly translate):
+
+  "Some believe 'tis in Champagne,
+  And others by the Rock Grifaigne;
+  Perchance it is in Alemaigne,
+  Or Bersillant de la Montagne;
+  Some even think that 'tis in Spain,
+  Or where sleeps Artus of Bretaigne."
+
+The Seigneur gave his infant son into the keeping of Bruyant, a trusty
+friend of his, and they set out for the fairy fountain with a troop of
+vassals. They left the infant in the forest of Broceliande. Here the
+fairies soon found him.
+
+"Ha, sisters," said one whose skin was as white as the robe of
+gossamer she wore, and whose golden crown betokened her the queen of
+the others, "come hither and see a new-born infant. How, I wonder,
+does he come to be here? I am sure I did not behold him in this spot
+yesterday. Well, at all events, he must be baptized and suitably
+endowed, as is our custom when we discover a mortal child. Now what
+will you give him?"
+
+"I will give him," said one, "beauty and grace."
+
+"I endow him," said a second, "with generosity."
+
+[Illustration: THE FAIRIES OF BROCELIANDE FIND THE LITTLE BRUNO]
+
+"And I," said a third, "with such valour that he will overthrow all
+his enemies at tourney and on the battlefield."
+
+The Queen listened to these promises. "Surely you have little sense,"
+she said. "For my part, I wish that in his youth he may love one who
+will be utterly insensible to him, and although he will be as you
+desire, noble, generous, beautiful, and valorous, he will yet, for his
+good, suffer keenly from the anguish of love."
+
+"O Queen," said one of the fairies, "what a cruel fate you have
+ordained for this unfortunate child! But I myself shall watch over him
+and nurse him until he comes to such an age as he may love, when I
+myself will try to engage his affections."
+
+"For all that," said the Queen, "I will not alter my design. You shall
+not nurse this infant."
+
+The fairies then disappeared. Shortly afterward Bruyant returned, and
+carried the child back to the castle of La Montagne, where presently a
+fairy presented herself as nurse.
+
+Unfortunately the manuscript from which this tale is taken breaks off
+at this point, and we do not know how the Fairy Queen succeeded with
+her plans for the amorous education of the little Bruno. But the
+fragment, although tantalizing in the extreme, gives us some insight
+into the nature of the fairies who inhabit the green fastnesses of
+Broceliande.
+
+
+_Fairies in Folk-lore_
+
+Nearly all fairy-folk have in time grown to mortal height. Whether
+fairies be the decayed poor relations of more successful deities, gods
+whose cult has been forgotten and neglected (as the Irish _Sidhe_, or
+fairy-folk), or diminutive animistic spirits, originating in the
+belief that every object, small or great, possessed a personality, it
+is noticeable that Celtic fairies are of human height, while those of
+the Teutonic peoples are usually dwarfish. Titania may come originally
+from the loins of Titans or she may be Diana come down in the world,
+and Oberon may hail from a very different and more dwarfish source,
+but in Shakespeare's England they have grown sufficiently to permit
+them to tread the boards of the Globe Theatre with normal humans.
+Scores of fairies mate with mortal men, and men, as a rule, do not
+care for dwarf-wives. Among Celts, at least, the fay, whatever her
+original stature, in later times had certainly achieved the height of
+mortal womanhood.
+
+In Upper Brittany, where French is the language in general use, the
+usual French ideas concerning fairies prevail. They are called _fées_
+or _fetes_ (Latin _fata_), and sometimes _fions_, which reminds us of
+the _fions_ of Scottish and Irish folk-lore.[28] There are old people
+still alive who claim to have seen the fairies, and who describe them
+variously, but the general belief seems to be that they disappeared
+from the land several generations ago. One old man described them as
+having teeth as long as one's hand, and as wearing garments of
+sea-weed or leaves. They were human in aspect, said another ancient
+whom Sébillot questioned; their clothes were seamless, and it was
+impossible to say by merely looking at them whether they were male or
+female. Their garments were of the most brilliant colours imaginable,
+but if one approached them too closely these gaudy hues disappeared.
+They wore a kind of bonnet shaped like a crown, which appeared to be
+part of their person.
+
+The people of the coast say that the fairies are an accursed race who
+are condemned to walk the earth for a certain space. Some even think
+them rebellious angels who have been sent to earth for a time to
+expiate their offences against heaven. For the most part they inhabit
+the dolmens and the grottos and caverns on the coast.[29]
+
+On the shores of the Channel are numerous grottos or caverns which the
+Bretons call _houles_, and these are supposed to harbour a distinct
+class of fairy. Some of these caverns are from twenty to thirty feet
+high, and so extensive that it is unwise to explore them too far.
+Others seem only large enough to hold a single person, but if one
+enters he will find himself in a spacious natural chamber. The
+inhabitants of these depths, like all their kind, prefer to sally
+forth by night rather than by day. In the day-time they are not seen
+because they smear themselves with a magic ointment which renders them
+invisible; but at night they are visible to everybody.
+
+
+_The Lost Daughter_
+
+There was once upon a time a labourer of Saint-Cast named Marc
+Bourdais, but, according to the usage of the country, he had a
+nickname and was called Maraud. One day he was returning home when he
+heard the sound of a horn beneath his feet, and asked a companion who
+chanced to be with him if he had heard it also.
+
+"Of course I did," replied the fellow; "it is a fairy horn."
+
+"Umph," said Maraud. "Ask the fairies, then, to bring us a slice of
+bread."
+
+His companion knelt down and shouted out the request, but nothing
+happened and they resumed their way.
+
+They had not gone far, however, when they beheld a slice of beautiful
+white bread lying on a snowy napkin by the roadside. Maraud picked it
+up and found that it was well buttered and as toothsome as a cake, and
+when they had divided and eaten it they felt their hunger completely
+satisfied. But he who has fed well is often thirsty, so Maraud,
+lowering his head, and speaking to the little folk beneath, cried:
+"Hullo, there! Bring us something to drink, if you please."
+
+He had hardly spoken when they beheld a pot of cider and a glass
+reposing on the ground in front of them. Maraud filled the glass, and,
+raising it to his lips, quaffed of the fairy cider. It was clear and
+of a rich colour, and he declared that it was by far the best that he
+had ever tasted. His friend drank likewise, and when they returned to
+the village that night they had a good story to tell of how they had
+eaten and drunk at the expense of the fairies. But their friends and
+neighbours shook their heads and regarded them sadly.
+
+"Alas! poor fellows," they said, "if you have eaten fairy food and
+drunk fairy liquor you are as good as dead men."
+
+Nothing happened to them within the next few days, however, and it was
+with light hearts that one morning they returned to work in the
+neighbourhood of the spot where they had met with such a strange
+adventure. When they arrived at the place they smelt the odour of
+cakes which had been baked with black corn, and a fierce hunger at
+once took possession of them.
+
+"Ha!" said Maraud, "the fairies are baking to-day. Suppose we ask them
+for a cake or two." "No, no!" replied his friend. "Ask them if you
+wish, but I will have none of them."
+
+"Pah!" cried Maraud, "what are you afraid of?" And he cried: "Below
+there! Bring me a cake, will you?"
+
+Two fine cakes at once appeared. Maraud seized upon one, but when he
+had cut it he perceived that it was made of hairs, and he threw it
+down in disgust.
+
+"You wicked old sorcerer!" he cried. "Do you mean to mock me?"
+
+But as he spoke the cakes disappeared.
+
+Now there lived in the village a widow with seven children, and a hard
+task she had to find bread for them all. She heard tell of Maraud's
+adventure with the fairies, and pondered on the chance of receiving a
+like hospitality from them, that the seven little mouths she had to
+provide for might be filled. So she made up her mind to go to a fairy
+grotto she knew of and ask for bread. "Surely," she thought, "what the
+good people give to others who do not require it they will give to me,
+whose need is so great." When she had come to the entrance of the
+grotto she knocked on the side of it as one knocks on a door, and
+there at once appeared a little old dame with a great bunch of keys
+hanging at her side. She appeared to be covered with limpets, and
+mould and moss clung to her as to a rock. To the widow she seemed at
+least a thousand years old.
+
+"What do you desire, my good woman?" she asked.
+
+"Alas! madame," said the widow, "might I have a little bread for my
+seven children? Give me some, I beseech you, and I will remember you
+in my prayers."
+
+"I am not the mistress here," replied the old woman. "I am only the
+porteress, and it is at least a hundred years since I have been out.
+But return to-morrow and I will promise to speak for you."
+
+Next day at the same time the widow returned to the cave, and found
+the old porteress waiting for her.
+
+"I have spoken for you," said she, "and here is a loaf of bread for
+you, and those who send it wish to speak to you."
+
+"Bring me to them," said the widow, "that I may thank them."
+
+"Not to-day," replied the porteress. "Return to-morrow at the same
+hour and I will do so."
+
+The widow returned to the village and told her neighbours of her
+success. Every one came to see the fairy loaf, and many begged a
+piece.
+
+Next day the poor woman returned to the grotto in the hope that she
+would once more benefit from the little folks' bounty. The porteress
+was there as usual.
+
+"Well, my good woman," said she, "did you find my bread to your taste?
+Here is the lady who has befriended you," and she indicated a
+beautiful lady, who came smilingly from the darkness of the cavern.
+
+"Ah, madame," said the widow, "I thank you with all my heart for your
+charity."
+
+"The loaf will last a long time," said the fairy, "and you will find
+that you and your family will not readily finish it."
+
+"Alas!" said the widow, "last night all my neighbours insisted on
+having a piece, so that it is now entirely eaten."
+
+"Well," replied the fay, "I will give you another loaf. So long as you
+or your children partake of it it will not grow smaller and will
+always remain fresh, but if you should give the least morsel to a
+stranger the loaf will disappear. But as I have helped you, so must
+you help me. I have four cows, and I wish to send them out to
+pasture. Promise me that one of your daughters will guard them for
+me."
+
+The widow promised, and next morning sent one of her daughters out to
+look for the cows, which were to be pastured in a field where there
+was but little herbage. A neighbour saw her there, and asked what she
+was doing in that deserted place.
+
+"Oh, I am watching the fairy cows," replied she. The woman looked at
+her and smiled, for there were no cows there and she thought the girl
+had become half-witted.
+
+With the evening the fairy of the grotto came herself to fetch the
+cows, and she said to the little cowherd:
+
+"How would you like to be godmother to my child?"
+
+"It would be a pleasure, madame," replied the girl.
+
+"Well, say nothing to any one, not even to your mother," replied the
+fairy, "for if you do I shall never bring you anything more to eat."
+
+A few days afterward a fairy came to tell the girl to prepare to come
+to the cavern on the morrow, as on that day the infant was to be
+named. Next day, according to the fairy's instructions, she presented
+herself at the mouth of the grotto, and in due course was made
+godmother to the little fairy. For two days she remained there, and
+when she left her godchild was already grown up. She had, as a matter
+of fact, unconsciously remained with the 'good people' for ten years,
+and her mother had long mourned her as dead. Meanwhile the fairies had
+requested the poor widow to send another of her daughters to watch
+their cows.
+
+When at last the absent one returned to the village she went straight
+home, and her mother on beholding her gave a great cry. The girl could
+not understand her agitation, believing as she did that she had been
+absent for two days only.
+
+"Two days!" echoed the mother. "You have been away ten years! Look how
+you have grown!"
+
+After she had overcome her surprise the girl resumed her household
+duties as if nothing particular had happened, and knitted a pair of
+stockings for her godchild. When they were finished she carried them
+to the fairy grotto, where, as she thought, she spent the afternoon.
+But in reality she had been away from home this time for five years.
+As she was leaving, her godchild gave her a purse, saying: "This purse
+is full of gold. Whenever you take a piece out another one will come
+in its place, but if any one else uses it it will lose all its
+virtue."
+
+When the girl returned to the village at last it was to find her
+mother dead, her brothers gone abroad, and her sisters married, so
+that she was the only one left at home. As she was pretty and a good
+housewife she did not want for lovers, and in due time she chose one
+for a husband. She did not tell her spouse about the purse she had had
+from the fairies, and if she wanted to give him a piece of gold she
+withdrew it from the magic purse in secret. She never went back to the
+fairy cavern, as she had no mind to return from it and find her
+husband an old man.
+
+
+_The Fisherman and the Fairies_
+
+A fisherman of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer, walking home to his cottage from
+his boat one evening along the wet sands, came, unawares, upon a
+number of fairies in a _houle_. They were talking and laughing gaily,
+and the fisherman observed that while they made merry they rubbed
+their bodies with a kind of ointment or pomade. All at once, to the
+old salt's surprise, they turned into ordinary women. Concealing
+himself behind a rock, the fisherman watched them until the now
+completely transformed immortals quitted their haunt and waddled away
+in the guise of old market-women.
+
+[Illustration: FAIRIES IN A BRETON 'HOULE']
+
+The fisherman waited until they were well out of sight, and then
+entered the cavern, where the first object that met his gaze was the
+pot of ointment which had effected the marvellous change he had
+witnessed. Taking some of the pomade on his forefinger, he smeared it
+around his left eye. He afterward found that he could penetrate the
+various disguises assumed by the fairies wherever he met them, and
+that these were for the most part adopted for the purposes of
+trickery. Thus he was able to see a fairy in the assumed shape of a
+beggar-woman going from door to door demanding alms, seeking an
+opportunity to steal or work mischief, and all the while casting
+spells upon those who were charitable enough to assist her. Again, he
+could distinguish real fish caught in his net at sea from merwomen
+disguised as fish, who were desirous of entangling the nets or
+otherwise distressing and annoying the fishermen.
+
+But nowhere was the disguised fairy race so much in evidence as at the
+fair of Ploubalay, where he recognized several of the elusive folk in
+the semblance of raree-showmen, fortune-tellers, and the like, who had
+taken these shapes in order to deceive. He was quietly smiling at
+their pranks, when some of the fairies who composed a troupe of
+performers in front of one of the booths regarded him very earnestly.
+He felt certain that they had penetrated his secret, but ere he could
+make off one of them threw a stick at him with such violence that it
+struck and burst the offending left eye.
+
+Fairies in all lands have a constitutional distaste for being
+recognized, but those of Brittany appear to visit their vengeance upon
+the members with which they are actually beheld. "See what thieves the
+fairies are!" cried a woman, on beholding one abstract apples from a
+countrywoman's pocket. The predatory elf at once turned round and tore
+out the eye that had marked his act.
+
+A Cornish woman who chanced to find herself the guardian of an
+elf-child was given certain water with which to wash its face. The
+liquid had the property of illuminating the infant's face with a
+supernatural brightness, and the woman ventured to try it upon
+herself, and in doing so splashed a little into one eye. This gave her
+the fairy sight. One day in the market-place she saw a fairy man
+stealing, and gave the alarm, when the enraged sprite cried:
+
+  "Water for elf, not water for self.
+  You've lost your eye, your child, and yourself."
+
+She was immediately stricken blind in the right eye, her fairy
+foster-child vanished, and she and her husband sank into poverty and
+want.
+
+Another Breton tale recounts how a mortal woman was given a polished
+stone in the form of an egg wherewith to rub a fairy child's eyes. She
+applied it to her own right eye, and became possessed of magic sight
+so far as elves were concerned. Still another case, alluded to in the
+_Revue Celtique_,[30] arose through 'the sacred bond' formed between a
+fairy man and a mortal woman where both stood as godparents to a
+child. The association enabled the woman to see magically. The fairy
+maiden Rockflower bestows a similar gift on her lover in a Breton tale
+from Saint-Cast, and speaks of "clearing his eyes like her own."[31]
+
+
+_Changelings_
+
+The Breton fairies, like others of their race, are fond of kidnapping
+mortal children and leaving in their places wizened elves who cause
+the greatest trouble to the distressed parents. The usual method of
+ridding a family of such a changeling is to surprise it in some
+manner so that it will betray its true character. Thus, on suspicion
+resting upon a certain Breton infant who showed every sign of
+changeling nature, milk was boiled on the fire in egg-shells,
+whereupon the impish youngster cried: "I shall soon be a hundred
+years old, but I never saw so many shells boiling! I was born in
+Pif and Paf, in the country where cats are made, but I never saw
+anything like it!" Thus self-revealed, the elf was expelled from
+the house. In most Northern tales where the changeling betrays itself
+it at once takes flight and a train of elves appears, bringing back
+the true infant. Again, if the wizened occupant of the cradle can be
+made to laugh that is accepted as proof of its fairy nature.
+"Something ridiculous," says Simrock, "must be done to cause him to
+laugh, for laughter brings deliverance."[32] The same stratagem
+appears to be used as the cure in English and Scots changeling tales.
+
+
+_The King of the Fishes_
+
+The Breton fays were prone, too, to take the shape of animals,
+birds, and even of fish. As we have seen, the sea-fairies of
+Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer were in the habit of taking the shape of fish
+for the purpose of annoying fishermen and damaging their gear.
+Another Breton tale from Saint-Cast illustrates their penchant for
+the fish shape. A fisherman of that town one day was lucky enough to
+catch the King of the Fishes disguised as a small golden fish. The
+fish begged hard to be released, and promised, if he were set free, to
+sacrifice as many of his subjects as would daily fill the fisherman's
+nets. On this understanding the finny monarch was given his liberty,
+and fulfilled his promise to the letter. Moreover, when the
+fisherman's boat was capsized in a gale the Fish King appeared, and,
+holding a flask to the drowning man's lips, made him drink a magic
+fluid which ensured his ability to exist under water. He conveyed the
+fisherman to his capital, a place of dazzling splendour, paved
+with gold and gems. The rude caster of nets instantly filled his
+pockets with the spoil of this marvellous causeway. Though probably
+rather disturbed by the incident, the Fish King, with true royal
+politeness, informed him that whenever he desired to return the way
+was open to him. The fisherman expressed his sorrow at having to
+leave such a delightful environment, but added that unless he
+returned to earth his wife and family would regard him as lost. The
+Fish King called a large tunny-fish, and as Arion mounted the dolphin
+in the old Argolian tale, so the fisherman approached the tunny,
+which
+
+  Hollowed his back and shaped it as a selle.[33]
+
+The fisherman at once
+
+  Seized the strange sea-steed by his bristling fin
+  And vaulted on his shoulders; the fleet fish
+  Swift sought the shallows and the friendly shore.[34]
+
+Before dismissing the fisherman, however, the Fish King presented him
+with an inexhaustible purse--probably as a hint that it would be
+unnecessary for him on a future visit to disturb his paving
+arrangements.
+
+
+_Fairy Origins_
+
+Two questions which early obtrude themselves in the consideration of
+Breton fairy-lore are: Are all the fays of Brittany malevolent? And,
+if so, whence proceeds this belief that fairy-folk are necessarily
+malign? Example treads upon example to prove that the Breton fairy is
+seldom beneficent, that he or she is prone to ill-nature and
+spitefulness, not to say fiendish malice on occasion. There appears to
+be a deep-rooted conviction that the elfish race devotes itself to the
+annoyance of mankind, practising a species of peculiarly irritating
+trickery, wanton and destructive. Only very rarely is a spirit of
+friendliness evinced, and then a motive is usually obvious. The
+'friendly' fairy invariably has an axe to grind.
+
+Two reasons may be advanced to account for this condition of things.
+First, the fairy-folk--in which are included house and field
+spirits--may be the traditional remnant of a race of real people,
+perhaps a prehistoric race, driven into the remote parts of the
+country by strange immigrant conquerors. Perhaps these primitive folk
+were elfish, dwarfish, or otherwise peculiar in appearance to the
+superior new-comers, who would in pride of race scorn the small,
+swarthy aborigines, and refuse all communion with them. We may be sure
+that the aborigines, on their part, would feel for their tall,
+handsome conquerors all the hatred of which a subject race is capable,
+never approaching them unless under compulsion or necessity, and
+revenging themselves upon them by every means of annoyance in their
+power. We may feel certain, too, that the magic of these conquered and
+discredited folk would be made full use of to plague the usurpers of
+the soil, and trickery, as irritating as any elf-pranks, would be
+brought to increase the discomfort of the new-comers.
+
+There are, however, several good objections to this view of the origin
+of the fairy idea. First and foremost, the smaller prehistoric
+aboriginal peoples of Europe themselves possessed tales of little
+people, of spirits of field and forest, flood and fell. It is unlikely
+that man was ever without these.
+
+  Yea, I sang, as now I sing, when the Prehistoric Spring
+  Made the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and shove,
+  And the troll, and gnome, and dwerg, and the gods of cliff and berg
+  Were about me and beneath me and above.[35]
+
+The idea of animism, the belief that everything had a personality of
+its own, certainly belonged to the later prehistoric period, for among
+the articles which fill the graves of aboriginal peoples, for use on
+the last journey, we find weapons to enable the deceased to drive off
+the evil spirits which would surround his own after death. Spirits, to
+early man, are always relatively smaller than himself. He beholds the
+"picture of a little man" in his comrade's eyes, and concludes it to
+be his 'soul.' Some primitive peoples, indeed, believe that several
+parts of the body have each their own resident soul. Again, the spirit
+of the corn or the spirit of the flower, the savage would argue, must
+in the nature of things be small. We can thus see how the belief in
+'the little folk' may have arisen, and how they remained little until
+a later day.
+
+A much more scientific theory of the origin of the belief in fairies
+is that which sees in them the deities of a discredited religion, the
+gods of an aboriginal people, rather than the people themselves. Such
+were the Irish _Daoine Sidhe_, and the Welsh _y Mamau_ ('the
+Mothers')--undoubtedly gods of the Celts. Again, although in many
+countries, especially in England, the fairies are regarded as small of
+stature, in Celtic countries the fay proper, as distinct from the
+brownie and such goblins, is of average mortal height, and this would
+seem to be the case in Brittany. Whether the gorics and courils of
+Brittany, who seem sufficiently small, are fairies or otherwise is a
+moot point. They seem to be more of the field spirit type, and are
+perhaps classed more correctly with the gnome race; we thus deal with
+them in our chapter on sprites and demons. It would seem, too, as if
+there might be ground for the belief that the normal-sized fairy race
+of Celtic countries had become confounded with the Teutonic idea of
+elves (Teut. _Elfen_) in Germany and England, from which, perhaps,
+they borrowed their diminutive size.
+
+But these are only considerations, not conclusions. Strange as it may
+seem, folk-lore has by no means solved the fairy problem, and much
+remains to be accomplished ere we can write 'Finis' to the study of
+fairy origins.
+
+
+_The Margots_
+
+Another Breton name for the fairies is _les Margots la fée_, a title
+which is chiefly employed in several districts of the Côtes-du-Nord,
+principally in the _arrondissements_ of Saint-Brieuc and Loudéac, to
+describe those fairies who have their abode in large rocks and on the
+wild and extensive moorlands which are so typical of the country.
+These, unlike the _fées houles_, are able to render themselves
+invisible at pleasure. Like human beings, they are subject to
+maladies, and are occasionally glad to accept mortal succour. They
+return kindness for kindness, but are vindictive enemies to those who
+attempt to harm them.
+
+But fairy vindictiveness is not lavished upon those unwitting mortals
+who do them harm alone. If one chances to succeed in a task set by the
+immortals of the forest, one is in danger of death, as the following
+story shows.
+
+
+_The Boy who Served the Fairies_
+
+A poor little fellow was one day gathering faggots in the forest when
+a gay, handsomely dressed gentleman passed him, and, noticing the
+lad's ragged and forlorn condition, said to him: "What are you doing
+there, my boy?"
+
+"I am looking for wood, sir," replied the boy. "If I did not do so we
+should have no fire at home."
+
+"You are very poor at home, then?" asked the gentleman.
+
+"So poor," said the lad, "that sometimes we only eat once a day, and
+often go supperless to bed."
+
+[Illustration: THE POOR BOY AND THE THREE FAIRY DAMSELS]
+
+"That is a sad tale," said the gentleman. "If you will promise to
+meet me here within a month I will give you some money, which will
+help your parents and feed and clothe your small brothers and
+sisters."
+
+Prompt to the day and the hour, the boy kept the tryst in the forest
+glade, at the very spot where he had met the gentleman. But though he
+looked anxiously on every side he could see no signs of his friend. In
+his anxiety he pushed farther into the forest, and came to the borders
+of a pond, where three damsels were preparing to bathe. One was
+dressed in white, another in grey, and the third in blue. The boy
+pulled off his cap, gave them good-day, and asked politely if they had
+not seen a gentleman in the neighbourhood. The maiden who was dressed
+in white told him where the gentleman was to be found, and pointed out
+a road by which he might arrive at his castle.
+
+"He will ask you," said she, "to become his servant, and if you accept
+he will wish you to eat. The first time that he presents the food to
+you, say: 'It is I who should serve you.' If he asks you a second time
+make the same reply; but if he should press you a third time refuse
+brusquely and thrust away the plate which he offers you."
+
+The boy was not long in finding the castle, and was at once shown into
+the gentleman's presence. As the maiden dressed in white had foretold,
+he requested the youth to enter his service, and when his offer was
+accepted placed before him a plate of viands. The lad bowed politely,
+but refused the food. A second time it was offered, but he persisted
+in his refusal, and when it was proffered to him a third time he
+thrust it away from him so roughly that it fell to the ground and the
+plate was broken.
+
+"Ah," said the gentleman, "you are just the kind of servant I require.
+You are now my lackey, and if you are able to do three things that I
+command you I will give you one of my daughters for your wife and you
+shall be my son-in-law."
+
+The next day he gave the boy a hatchet of lead, a saw of paper, and a
+wheelbarrow made of oak-leaves, bidding him fell, bind up, and measure
+all the wood in the forest within a radius of seven leagues. The new
+servant at once commenced his task, but the hatchet of lead broke at
+the first blow, the saw of paper buckled at the first stroke, and the
+wheelbarrow of oak-leaves was broken by the weight of the first little
+branch he placed on it. The lad in despair sat down, and could do
+nothing but gaze at the useless implements. At midday the damsel
+dressed in white whom he had seen at the pond came to bring him
+something to eat.
+
+"Alas!" she cried, "why do you sit thus idle? If my father should come
+and find that you have done nothing he would kill you."
+
+"I can do nothing with such wretched tools," grumbled the lad.
+
+"Do you see this wand?" said the damsel, producing a little rod. "Take
+it in your hand and walk round the forest, and the work will take care
+of itself. At the same time say these words: 'Let the wood fall, tie
+itself into bundles, and be measured.'"
+
+The boy did as the damsel advised him, and matters proceeded so
+satisfactorily that by a little after midday the work was completed.
+In the evening the gentleman said to him:
+
+"Have you accomplished your task?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Do you wish to see it? The wood is cut and tied into
+bundles of the proper weight and measurement."
+
+"It is well," said the gentleman. "To-morrow I will set you the second
+task."
+
+On the following morning he took the lad to a knoll some distance from
+the castle, and said to him:
+
+"You see this rising ground? By this evening you must have made it a
+garden well planted with fruit-trees and having a fish-pond in the
+middle, where ducks and other water-fowl may swim. Here are your
+tools."
+
+The tools were a pick of glass and a spade of earthenware. The boy
+commenced the work, but at the first stroke his fragile pick and spade
+broke into a thousand fragments. For the second time he sat down
+helplessly. Time passed slowly, and as before at midday the damsel in
+white brought him his dinner.
+
+"So I find you once more with your arms folded," she said.
+
+"I cannot work with a pick of glass and an earthenware spade,"
+complained the youth.
+
+"Here is another wand," said the damsel. "Take it and walk round this
+knoll, saying: 'Let the place be planted and become a beautiful garden
+with fruit-trees, in the middle of which is a fish-pond with ducks
+swimming upon it.'"
+
+The boy took the wand, did as he was bid, and the work was speedily
+accomplished. A beautiful garden arose as if by enchantment, well
+furnished with fruit-trees of all descriptions and ornamented with a
+small sheet of water.
+
+Once more his master was quite satisfied with the result, and on the
+third morning set him his third task. He took him beneath one of the
+towers of the castle.
+
+"Behold this tower," he said. "It is of polished marble. You must
+climb it, and at the top you will find a turtle-dove, which you must
+bring to me."
+
+The gentleman, who was of opinion that the damsel in white had helped
+his servant in the first two tasks, sent her to the town to buy
+provisions. When she received this order the maiden retired to her
+chamber and burst into tears. Her sisters asked her what was the
+matter, and she told them that she wished to remain at the castle, so
+they promised to go to the town in her stead. At midday she found the
+lad sitting at the foot of the tower bewailing the fact that he could
+not climb its smooth and glassy sides.
+
+"I have come to help you once more," said the damsel. "You must get a
+cauldron, then cut me into morsels and throw in all my bones, without
+missing a single one. It is the only way to succeed."
+
+"Never!" exclaimed the youth. "I would sooner die than harm such a
+beautiful lady as you."
+
+"Yet you must do as I say," she replied.
+
+For a long time the youth refused, but at last he gave way to the
+maiden's entreaties, cut her into little pieces, and placed the bones
+in a large cauldron, forgetting, however, the little toe of her left
+foot. Then he rose as if by magic to the top of the tower, found the
+turtle-dove, and came down again.[36] Having completed his task, he
+took a wand which lay beside the cauldron, and when he touched the
+bones they came together again and the damsel stepped out of the
+great pot none the worse for her experience.
+
+When the young fellow carried the dove to his master the gentleman
+said:
+
+"It is well. I shall carry out my promise and give you one of my
+daughters for your wife, but all three shall be veiled and you must
+pick the one you desire without seeing her face."
+
+The three damsels were then brought into his presence, but the lad
+easily recognized the one who had assisted him, because she lacked the
+small toe of the left foot. So he chose her without hesitation, and
+they were married.
+
+But the gentleman was not content with the marriage. On the day of the
+bridal he placed the bed of the young folks over a vault, and hung it
+from the roof by four cords. When they had gone to bed he came to the
+door of the chamber and said:
+
+"Son-in-law, are you asleep?"
+
+"No, not yet," replied the youth.
+
+Some time afterward he repeated his question, and met with a similar
+answer.
+
+"The next time he comes," said the bride, "pretend that you are
+sleeping."
+
+Shortly after that his father-in-law asked once more if he were
+asleep, and receiving no answer retired, evidently well satisfied.
+
+When he had gone the bride made her husband rise at once. "Go
+instantly to the stables," said she, "and take there the horse which
+is called Little Wind, mount him, and fly."
+
+The young fellow hastened to comply with her request, and he had
+scarcely left the chamber when the master of the castle returned and
+asked if his daughter were asleep. She answered "No," and, bidding her
+arise and come with him, he cut the cords, so that the bed fell into
+the vault beneath. The bride now heard the trampling of hoofs in the
+garden outside, and rushed out to find her husband in the act of
+mounting.
+
+"Stay!" she cried. "You have taken Great Wind instead of Little Wind,
+as I advised you, but there is no help for it," and she mounted behind
+him. Great Wind did not belie his name, and dashed into the night like
+a tempest.
+
+"Do you see anything?" asked the girl.
+
+"No, nothing," said her husband.
+
+"Look again," she said. "Do you see anything now?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I see a great flame of fire."
+
+The bride took her wand, struck it three times, and said: "I change
+thee, Great Wind, into a garden, myself into a pear-tree, and my
+husband into a gardener."
+
+The transformation had hardly been effected when the master of the
+castle and his wife came up with them.
+
+"Ha, my good man," cried he to the seeming gardener, "has any one on
+horseback passed this way?"
+
+"Three pears for a sou," said the gardener.
+
+"That is not an answer to my question," fumed the old wizard, for such
+he was. "I asked if you had seen any one on horseback in this
+direction."
+
+"Four for a sou, then, if you will," said the gardener.
+
+"Idiot!" foamed the enchanter, and dashed on in pursuit. The young
+wife then changed herself, her horse, and her husband into their
+natural forms, and, mounting once more, they rode onward.
+
+"Do you see anything now?" asked she.
+
+"Yes, I see a great flame of fire," he replied.
+
+Once more she took her wand. "I change this steed into a church," she
+said, "myself into an altar, and my husband into a priest."
+
+Very soon the wizard and his wife came to the doors of the church and
+asked the priest if a youth and a lady had passed that way on
+horseback.
+
+"Dominus vobiscum," said the priest, and nothing more could the wizard
+get from him.
+
+Pursued once more, the young wife changed the horse into a river,
+herself into a boat, and her husband into a boatman. When the wizard
+came up with them he asked to be ferried across the river. The boatman
+at once made room for them, but in the middle of the stream the boat
+capsized and the enchanter and his wife were drowned.
+
+The young lady and her husband returned to the castle, seized the
+treasure of its fairy lord, and, says tradition, lived happily ever
+afterward, as all young spouses do in fairy-tale.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [20] _Roman de Rou_, v. 6415 ff.
+
+  [21] Consult original ballad in Vicomte de la Villemarqué's _Chants
+       populaires de la Bretagne_.
+
+  [22] MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 116
+       (Edinburgh, 1911).
+
+  [23] See _Ballads and Metrical Tales, illustrating the Fairy Mythology
+       of Europe_ (anonymous, London, 1857) for a metrical version of
+       this tale.
+
+  [24] Lib. III, cap. vi.
+
+  [25] Paris, 1670. Strange that this book should have been seized upon
+       by students of the occult as a 'text-book' furnishing
+       longed-for details of the 'lost knowledge' concerning
+       elementary spirits, when it is, in effect, a very whole-hearted
+       satire upon belief in such beings!
+
+  [26] Villemarqué, _Myrdhinn, ou l'Enchanteur Merlin_ (1861).
+
+  [27] MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 122.
+
+  [28] Or subterranean dwellers. See D. MacRitchie's _Fians, Fairies,
+       and Picts_ (1893).
+
+  [29] See the chapter on "Menhirs and Dolmens."
+
+  [30] Vol. i, p. 231.
+
+  [31] _Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris, 1880).
+
+  [32] _Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie._
+
+  [33] Saddle.
+
+  [34] See the author's _Le Roi d'Ys and other Poems_ (London, 1910).
+
+  [35] Kipling, "Primum Tempus."
+
+  [36] In folk-tales of this nature a ladder is usually made of the
+       bones, but this circumstance seems to have been omitted in the
+       present instance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV: SPRITES AND DEMONS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+The idea of the evil spirit, malicious and revengeful, is common to
+all primitive peoples, and Brittany has its full share of demonology.
+Wherever, in fact, a primitive and illiterate peasantry is found the
+demon is its inevitable accompaniment. But we shall not find these
+Breton devils so very different from the fiends of other lands.
+
+
+_The Nain_
+
+The nain is a figure fearsomely Celtic in its hideousness, resembling
+the gargoyles which peer down upon the traveller from the carven
+'top-hamper' of so many Breton churches. Black and menacing of
+countenance, these demon-folk are armed with feline claws, and their
+feet end in hoofs like those of a satyr. Their dark elf-locks, small,
+gleaming eyes, red as carbuncles, and harsh, cracked voices are all
+dilated upon with fear by those who have met them upon lonely heaths
+or unfrequented roads. They haunt the ancient dolmens built by a
+vanished race, and at night, by the pale starlight, they dance around
+these ruined tombs to the music of a primitive refrain:
+
+  "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
+  Thursday and Friday."
+
+Saturday and Sunday they dare not mention as being days sacred from
+fairy influence. We all remember that in the old tale of Tom Thumb the
+elves among whom the hero fell sang such a refrain. But wherefore? It
+would indeed be difficult to say. Deities, credited and discredited,
+have often a connexion with the calendar, and we may have here some
+calendric reference, or again the chant may be merely a nonsense
+rhyme. Bad luck attached itself to the human who chanced to behold the
+midnight revels of the nains, and if he entered the charmed circle and
+danced along with them his death was certain to ensue before the year
+was out. Wednesday was the nains' high-day, or rather night, and their
+great _nuit festale_ was the first Wednesday in May. That they should
+have possessed a fixed festival at such a period, full of religious
+significance for most primitive peoples, would seem to show that they
+must at one time have been held in considerable esteem.
+
+But although the nains while away their time in such simple fashion as
+dancing to the repetition of the names of the days of the week, they
+have a less innocent side to their characters, for they are forgers of
+false money, which they fabricate in the recesses of caverns. We all
+recall stories of fairy gold and its perishable nature. A simple youth
+sells something on market day to a fairy, and later on turning over in
+his pocket the money he has received he finds that it has been
+transformed into beans. The housewife receives gold from a fairy for
+services rendered, and carefully places it in a drawer. A day when she
+requires it arrives, but, alas! when she opens the cabinet to take it
+out she finds nothing but a small heap of withered leaves. It is such
+money that the nains manufacture in their subterranean mints--coin
+which bears the fairy impress of glamourie for a space, but on later
+examination proves to be merely dross.
+
+The nains are also regarded as the originators of a cabalistic
+alphabet, the letters of which are engraved on several of the
+megalithic monuments of Morbihan, and especially those of Gavr'inis.
+He who is able to decipher this magic script, says tradition, will be
+able to tell where hidden treasure is to be found in any part of the
+country. Lest any needy folk be of a mind to fare to Brittany to try
+their luck in this respect it is only right to warn them that in all
+probability they will find the treasure formula in ogham characters or
+serpentine markings, and that as the first has long ago been
+deciphered and the second is pure symbolism they will waste their time
+and money in any event.
+
+Sorcery hangs about the nain like a garment. Here he is a prophet and
+a diviner as well as an enchanter, and as much of his magic power is
+employed for ill, small wonder that the Breton peasant shudders and
+frowns when the name of the fearsome tribe is spoken and gives the
+dolmens they are supposed to haunt the widest of wide berths _au clair
+de la lune_.
+
+
+_Crions, Courils, and Gorics_
+
+Brittany has a species of dwarfs or gnomes peculiar to itself which in
+various parts of the country are known as crions, courils, or
+gorics. It will at once be seen how greatly the last word resembles
+Korrigan, and as all of them perhaps proceed from a root meaning
+'spirit' the nominal resemblance is not surprising. Like the nains,
+these smaller beings inhabit abandoned Druidical monuments or dwell
+beneath the foundations of ancient castles. Carnac is sometimes
+alluded to in Breton as 'Ty C'harriquet,' 'the House of the Gorics,'
+the country-folk in this district holding the belief that its
+megalithic monuments were reared by these manikins, whom they
+describe as between two and three feet high, but exceedingly
+strong, just as the Scottish peasantry speak of the Picts of
+folk-lore--'wee fouk but unco' strang.' Every night the gorics
+dance in circles round the stones of Carnac, and should a mortal
+interrupt their frolic he is forced to join in the dance, until,
+breathless and exhausted, he falls prone to the earth amid peals of
+mocking laughter. Like the nains, the gorics are the guardians of
+hidden treasure, for the tale goes that beneath one of the menhirs of
+Carnac lies a golden hoard, and that all the other stones have been
+set up the better to conceal it, and so mystify those who would
+discover its resting-place. A calculation, the key to which is to
+be found in the Tower of London, will alone indicate the spot where
+the treasure lies. And here it may be of interest to state that
+the ancient national fortalice of England occurs frequently in Breton
+and in Celtic romance.[37] Some of the immigrant Britons into
+Armorica probably came from the settlement which was later to grow
+into London, and may have carried tales of its ancient British
+fortress into their new home.
+
+The courils are peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen. Like the gorics,
+they are fond of dancing, and they are quite as malignantly inclined
+toward the unhappy stranger who may stumble into their ring. The
+castle of Morlaix, too, is haunted by gorics not more than a foot
+high, who dwell beneath it in holes in the ground. They possess
+treasures as great as those of the gnomes of Norway or Germany, and
+these they will sometimes bestow on lucky mortals, who are permitted,
+however, to take but one handful. If a person should attempt to seize
+more the whole of the money vanishes, and the offender's ears are
+soundly boxed by invisible hands.
+
+The night-washers (_eur tunnerez noz_) are evil spirits who appear at
+night on the banks of streams and call on the passers-by to assist
+them to wash the linen of the dead. If they are refused, they seize
+upon the person who denies them, drag him into the water, and break
+his arms. These beings are obviously the same as the Bean Nighe, 'the
+Washing Woman' of the Scottish Highlands, who is seen in lonely places
+beside a pool or stream, washing the linen of those who will shortly
+die. In Skye she is said to be short of stature. If any one catches
+her she tells all that will befall him in after life. In Perthshire
+she is represented as "small and round and dressed in pretty green."
+
+
+_The Teurst_
+
+In the district of Morlaix the peasants are terribly afraid of beings
+they call teursts. These are large, black, and fearsome, like the
+Highland ourisk, who haunted desert moors and glens. The _teursta
+poulict_ appears in the likeness of some domestic animal. In the
+district of Vannes is encountered a colossal spirit called Teus or
+Bugelnoz, who appears clothed in white between midnight and two in the
+morning. His office is to rescue victims from the devil, and should he
+spread his mouth over them they are secure from the Father of Evil.
+The Dusii of Gaul are mentioned by St Augustine, who regarded them as
+_incubi_, and by Isidore of Seville, and in the name we may perhaps
+discover the origin of our expression 'the deuce!'
+
+
+_The Nicole_
+
+The Nicole is a spirit of modern creation who torments the honest
+fishermen of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Malo. Just as they are
+about to draw in their nets this mischievous spirit leaps around them,
+freeing the fish, or he will loosen a boat's anchor so that it will
+drift on to a sand-bank. He may divide the cable which holds the
+anchor to the vessel and cause endless trouble. This spirit received
+its name from an officer who commanded a battalion of fishermen
+conscripts, and who from his intense severity and general reputation
+as a martinet obtained a bad reputation among the seafaring
+population.
+
+
+_The Mourioche_
+
+The Mourioche is a malicious demon of bestial nature, able, it would
+seem, to transform himself into any animal shape he chooses. In
+general appearance he is like a year-old foal. He is especially
+dangerous to children, and Breton babies are often chided when noisy
+or mischievous with the words: "Be good, now, the Mourioche is
+coming!" Of one who appears to have received a shock, also, it is
+said: "He has seen the Mourioche." Unlucky is the person who gets in
+his way; but doubly so the unfortunate who attempts to mount him in
+the belief that he is an ordinary steed, for after a fiery gallop he
+will be precipitated into an abyss and break his neck.
+
+
+_The Ankou_
+
+Perhaps there is no spirit of evil which is so much dreaded by the
+Breton peasantry as the Ankou, who travels the duchy in a cart,
+picking up souls. In the dead of night a creaking axle-tree can be
+heard passing down the silent lanes. It halts at a door; the summons
+has been given, a soul quits the doomed house, and the wagon of the
+Ankou passes on. The Ankou herself--for the dread death-spirit of
+Brittany is probably female--is usually represented as a skeleton. M.
+Anatole le Braz has elaborated a study of the whole question in his
+book on the legend of death in Brittany,[38] and it is probable that
+the Ankou is a survival of the death-goddess of the prehistoric
+dolmen-builders of Brittany. MacCulloch[39] considers the Ankou to be
+a reminiscence of the Celtic god of death, who watches over all things
+beyond the grave and carries off the dead to his kingdom, but greatly
+influenced by medieval ideas of 'Death the skeleton.' In some Breton
+churches a little model or statuette of the Ankou is to be seen, and
+this is nothing more nor less than a cleverly fashioned skeleton. The
+peasant origin of the belief can be found in the substitution of a
+cart or wagon for the more ambitious coach and four of other lands.
+
+
+_The Youdic_
+
+Dark and gloomy are many of the Breton legends, of evil things, gloomy
+as the depths of the forests in which doubtless many of them were
+conceived. Most folk-tales are tinged with melancholy, and it is
+rarely in Breton story that we discover a vein of the joyous.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEMON-DOG]
+
+Among the peaks of the Montagnes d'Arrée lies a vast and dismal peat
+bog known as the Yeun, which has long been regarded by the Breton folk
+as the portal to the infernal regions. This Stygian locality has
+brought forth many legends. It is, indeed, a remarkable territory. In
+summer it seems a vast moor carpeted by glowing purple heather, which
+one can traverse up to a certain point, but woe betide him who would
+advance farther, for, surrounded by what seems solid ground, lies a
+treacherous quagmire declared by the people of the neighbourhood to be
+unfathomable. This part of the bog, whose victims have been many, is
+known as the Youdic. As one leans over it its waters may sometimes be
+seen to simmer and boil, and the peasants of the country-side devoutly
+believe that when this occurs infernal forces are working beneath,
+madly revelling, and that it is only the near presence of St Michael,
+whose mount is hard by, which restrains them from doing active harm to
+those who may have to cross the Yeun.
+
+Countless stories are afloat concerning this weird maelstrom of mud
+and bubbling water. At one time it was the custom to hurl animals
+suspected of being evil spirits into its black depths. Malevolent
+fiends, it was thought, were wont to materialize in the form of great
+black dogs, and unfortunate animals of this type, if they evinced such
+peculiarities as were likely to place them under suspicion, were taken
+forthwith to the Youdic by a member of the enlightened priesthood of
+the district, and were cast into its seething depths with all the
+ceremonies suitable to such an occasion.
+
+A story typical of those told about the place is that of one Job Ann
+Drez, who seems to have acted as sexton and assisted the parish priest
+in his dealings with the supernatural. Along with the priest, Job
+repaired one evening after sunset to the gloomy waters of the Youdic,
+dragging behind him a large black dog of the species most likely to
+excite distrust in the priestly mind. The priest showed considerable
+anxiety lest the animal should break loose.
+
+"If he should get away," he said nervously, "both of us are lost."
+
+"I will wager he does not," replied Job, tying the cord by which the
+brute was led securely to his wrist.
+
+"Forward, then," said the priest, and he walked boldly in front, until
+they came to the foot of the mountain on the summit of which lies the
+Youdic.
+
+The priest turned warningly to Job. "You must be circumspect in this
+place," he said very gravely. "Whatever you may hear, be sure not to
+turn your head. Your life in this world and your salvation in the next
+depend absolutely on this. You understand me?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I understand."
+
+A vast desolation surrounded them. So dark was the night that it
+seemed to envelop them like a velvet curtain. Beneath their feet they
+heard the hissing and moaning of the bog, awaiting its prey like a
+restless and voracious wild beast. Through the dense blackness they
+could see the iridescent waters writhing and gleaming below.
+
+"Surely," said Job half to himself, "this must be the gateway to
+hell!"
+
+At that word the dog uttered a frightful howl--such a howl as froze
+Job's blood in his veins. It tugged and strained at the cord which
+held it with the strength of a demon, striving to turn on Job and rend
+him.
+
+"Hold on!" cried the priest in mortal terror, keeping at a safe
+distance, however. "Hold on, I entreat you, or else we are undone!"
+
+Job held on to the demon-dog with all his strength. Indeed, it was
+necessary to exert every thew and sinew if the animal were to be
+prevented from tearing him to pieces. Its howls were sufficient to
+strike terror to the stoutest heart. "Iou! Iou!" it yelled again and
+again.
+
+But Job held on desperately, although the cord cut his hands and blood
+ran from the scarified palms. Inch by inch he dragged the brute toward
+the Youdic. The creature in a last desperate effort turned and was
+about to spring on him open-mouthed, when all at once the priest,
+darting forward, threw his cloak over its head. It uttered a shriek
+which sounded through the night like the cry of a lost soul.
+
+"Quick!" cried the priest. "Lie flat on the earth and put your face on
+the ground!"
+
+Scarcely had the two men done so than a frightful tumult ensued. First
+there was the sound of a body leaping into the morass, then such an
+uproar as could only proceed from the mouth of the infernal regions.
+Shrieks, cries, hissings, explosions followed in quick succession for
+upward of half an hour; then gradually they died away and a horrible
+stillness took their place. The two men rose trembling and unnerved,
+and slowly took their way through the darkness, groping and stumbling
+until they had left the awful vicinity of the Yeun behind them.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [37] See Nutt, _Celtic and Mediæval Romance_.
+
+  [38] _La Légende de la Mort._
+
+  [39] _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 345
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V: WORLD-TALES IN BRITTANY
+
+
+I have entitled this chapter 'World-Tales' to indicate that the
+stories it contains are in plot or _motif_ if not in substance common
+to the whole world--that, in short, although they are found in
+Brittany, they are no more Breton than Italian, Russian, American, or
+Australian. But although the story which tells of the search for the
+golden-haired princess on the magic horse is the possession of no one
+particular race, the tales recounted here have the Breton colouring
+and the Breton spirit, and in perusing them we encounter numerous
+little allusions to Breton customs or manners and obtain not a few
+sidelights upon the Breton character, its shrewdness and its goodwill,
+while we may note as well the narrowness of view and meanness so
+characteristic of peoples who have been isolated for a long period
+from contact with other races.
+
+The first two of these tales are striking ones built upon two
+world-_motifs_--those of the magic horse and the search for the
+golden-haired princess, who is, of course, the sun, two themes which
+have been amalgamated in not a few deathless stories.
+
+
+_The Youth who did not Know_
+
+One day the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou was returning from Morlaix, when
+he beheld lying on the road a little fellow of four or five years of
+age. He leapt from his horse, picked the child up, and asked him what
+he did there.
+
+"I do not know," replied the little boy.
+
+"Who is your father?" asked the Marquis.
+
+"I do not know," said the child for the second time.
+
+"And your mother?" asked the kindly nobleman.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Where are you now, my child?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Then what is your name?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+The Marquis told his serving-man to place the child on the crupper of
+his horse, as he had taken a fancy to him and would adopt him. He
+called him N'Oun Doare, which signifies in Breton, 'I do not know.' He
+educated him, and when his schooling was finished took him to Morlaix,
+where they put up at the best inn in the town. The Marquis could not
+help admiring his adopted son, who had now grown into a tall, handsome
+youth, and so pleased was he with him that he desired to signify his
+approval by making him a little present, which he resolved should take
+the form of a sword. So they went out into the town and visited the
+armourers' shops in search of a suitable weapon. They saw swords of
+all kinds, but N'Oun Doare would have none of them, until at last they
+passed the booth of a seller of scrap-metal, where hung a rusty old
+rapier which seemed fit for nothing.
+
+"Ha!" cried N'Oun Doare, "that is the sword for me. Please buy it, I
+beg of you."
+
+"Why, don't you see what a condition it is in?" said the Marquis. "It
+is not a fit weapon for a gentleman."
+
+"Nevertheless it is the only sword I wish for," said N'Oun Doare.
+
+"Well, well, you are a strange fellow," said the Marquis, but he
+bought the sword nevertheless, and they returned to Coat-Squiriou. The
+next day N'Oun Doare examined his sword and discovered that the blade
+had the words "I am invincible" engraved upon it.
+
+Some time afterward the Marquis said to him: "It is time that you had
+a horse. Come with me to Morlaix and we will purchase one." They
+accordingly set out for Morlaix. In the market-place they saw many
+fine animals, but with none of them was N'Oun Doare content. On
+returning to the inn, however, he espied what looked like a
+broken-down mare standing by the roadside, and to this sorry beast he
+immediately drew the attention of the Marquis.
+
+"That is the horse for me!" he cried. "I beg of you, purchase it for
+me."
+
+"What!" cried the Marquis, "that broken-down beast? Why, only look at
+it, my son." But N'Oun Doare persisted, and at last, despite his own
+better judgment, the Marquis bought the animal. The man who sold it
+was a cunning-looking fellow from Cornouaille, who, as he put the
+bridle into N'Oun Doare's hand, whispered:
+
+"You see the knots on the halter of this animal?"
+
+"Yes," replied N'Oun Doare; "what of them?"
+
+"Only this, that each time you loosen one the mare will immediately
+carry you five hundred leagues from where you are."
+
+The Marquis and his ward returned once more to the château, N'Oun
+Doare riding his new purchase, when it entered into his head to untie
+one of the knots on the halter. He did so, and immediately descended
+in the middle of Paris--which we must take the story-teller's word for
+it is five hundred leagues from Brittany!
+
+Several months afterward the Marquis had occasion to go to Paris, and
+one of the first people he met there was N'Oun Doare, who told him of
+his adventure. The Marquis was going to visit the King, and took his
+_protégé_ along with him to the palace, where he was well received.
+
+Some nights afterward the youth was walking with his old mare outside
+the walls of Paris, and noticed something which glittered very
+brightly at the foot of an ancient stone cross which stood where four
+roads met. He approached it and beheld a crown of gold, set with the
+most brilliant precious stones. He at once picked it up, when the old
+mare, turning its head, said to him: "Take care; you will repent
+this."
+
+Greatly surprised, N'Oun Doare thought that he had better replace the
+crown, but a longing to possess it overcame him, and although the mare
+warned him once more he finally resolved to take it, and, putting it
+under his mantle, rode away.
+
+Now the King had confided to his care part of the royal stables, and
+when N'Oun Doare entered them their darkness was immediately lit up by
+the radiance of the crown which he carried. So well had the Breton lad
+attended to the horses under his charge that the other squires had
+become jealous, and, observing the strange light in N'Oun Doare's part
+of the stable, they mentioned it to the King, who in turn spoke of it
+to the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou. The Marquis asked N'Oun Doare the
+meaning of the light, and the youth replied that it came from the
+ancient sword they had bought at Morlaix, which was an enchanted
+weapon and shone at intervals with strange brilliance. But one night
+his enemies resolved to examine into the matter more closely, and,
+looking through the keyhole of the stable, they saw that the wondrous
+light which had so puzzled them shone from a magnificent crown of
+gold. They ran at once to tell the King, and next night N'Oun Doare's
+stable was opened with a master-key and the crown removed to the
+King's quarters. It was then seen that an inscription was engraved
+upon the diadem, but in such strange characters that no one could read
+it. The magicians of the capital were called into consultation, but
+none of them could decipher the writing. At last a little boy of seven
+years of age was found who said that it was the crown of the Princess
+Golden Bell. The King then called upon N'Oun Doare to approach, and
+said to him:
+
+"You should not have hidden this thing from me, but as you are guilty
+of having done so I doom you to find the Princess Golden Bell, whom I
+desire shall become my wife. If you fail I shall put you to death."
+
+N'Oun Doare left the royal presence in a very perturbed state of mind.
+He went to seek his old mare with tears in his eyes.
+
+"I know," said the mare, "the cause of your sorrow. You should have
+left the golden crown alone, as I told you. But do not repine; go to
+the King and ask him for money for your journey."
+
+The lad received the money from the King, and set out on his journey.
+Arriving at the seashore, one of the first objects he beheld was a
+little fish cast up by the waves on the beach and almost at its last
+gasp.
+
+"Throw that fish back into the water," said the mare. N'Oun Doare did
+so, and the fish, lifting its head from the water, said:
+
+"You have saved my life, N'Oun Doare. I am the King of the Fishes, and
+if ever you require my help call my name by the seashore and I will
+come." With these words the Fish-King vanished beneath the water.
+
+A little later they came upon a bird struggling vainly to escape from
+a net in which it was caught.
+
+"Cut the net and set that poor bird free," said the wise mare.
+
+Upon N'Oun Doare doing so the bird paused before it flew away and
+said:
+
+"I am the King of the Birds, N'Oun Doare. I will never forget the
+service you have rendered me, and if ever you are in trouble and need
+my aid you have only to call me and I shall fly swiftly to help you."
+
+As they went on their way N'Oun Doare's wonderful mare crossed
+mountains, forests, vast seas, and streams with a swiftness and ease
+that was amazing. Soon they beheld the walls of the Château of the
+Golden Bell rising before them, and as they drew near they could hear
+a most confused and terrible noise coming from it, which shook N'Oun
+Doare's courage and made him rather fearful of entering it. Near the
+door a being of the most curious aspect was hung to a tree by a chain,
+and this peculiar individual had as many horns on his body as there
+are days in the year.
+
+"Cut that unfortunate man down," said the mare. "Will you not give him
+his freedom?"
+
+"I am too much afraid to approach him," said N'Oun Doare, alarmed at
+the man's appearance.
+
+"Do not fear," said the sagacious animal; "he will not harm you in any
+manner."
+
+N'Oun Doare did so, and the stranger thanked him most gratefully,
+bidding him, as the others whom he had rescued had done, if he ever
+required help to call upon Grifescorne, King of the Demons, for that
+was his name, and he would be with him immediately.
+
+"Enter the château boldly and without fear," said the mare, "and I
+will await you in the wood yonder. After the Princess Golden Bell has
+welcomed you she will show you all the curiosities and marvels of her
+dwelling. Tell her you have a horse without an equal, which can dance
+most beautifully the dances of every land. Say that your steed will
+perform them for her diversion if she will come and behold it in the
+forest."
+
+Everything fell out as the mare had said, and the Princess was
+delighted and amused by the mare's dancing.
+
+"If you were to mount her," said N'Oun Doare, "I vow she would dance
+even more wonderfully than before!"
+
+The Princess after a moment's hesitation did so. In an instant the
+adventurous youth was by her side, and the horse sped through the air,
+so that in a short space they found themselves flying over the sea.
+
+"You have tricked me!" cried the infuriated damsel. "But do not
+imagine that you are at the end of your troubles; and," she added
+viciously, "you will have cause to lament more than once ere I wed the
+old King of France."
+
+They arrived promptly at Paris, where N'Oun Doare presented the lovely
+Princess to the monarch, saying:
+
+"Sire, I have brought to you the Princess Golden Bell, whom you desire
+to make your wife."
+
+[Illustration: N'OUN DOARE AND THE PRINCESS GOLDEN BELL]
+
+The King was dazed by the wondrous beauty of the Princess, and was
+eager for the marriage to take place immediately, but this the royal
+maiden would not hear of, and declared petulantly that she would not
+be wed until she had a ring which she had left behind her at her
+château, in a cabinet of which she had lost the key.
+
+Summoning N'Oun Doare, the King charged him with the task of finding
+the ring. The unfortunate youth returned to his wise mare, feeling
+much cast down.
+
+"Why," said the mare, "foolish one! do you not remember the King of
+the Birds whom you rescued? Call upon him, and mayhap he will aid you
+as he promised to do."
+
+With a return of hope N'Oun Doare did as he was bid, and immediately
+the royal bird was with him, and asked him in what way he could help
+him. Upon N'Oun Doare explaining his difficulty, the Bird-King
+summoned all his subjects, calling each one by name. They came, but
+none of them appeared to be small enough to enter the cabinet by way
+of the keyhole, which was the only means of entrance. The wren was
+decided to be the only bird with any chance of success, and he set out
+for the château.
+
+Eventually, with much difficulty and the loss of the greater part of
+his feathers, the bird procured the ring, and flew back with it to
+Paris. N'Oun Doare hastened to present the ring to the Princess.
+
+"Now, fair one," said the impatient King, "why delay our wedding
+longer?"
+
+"Nay," said she, pouting discontentedly, "there is one thing that I
+wish, and without it I will do nothing."
+
+"What do you desire? You have only to speak and it shall be brought."
+
+"Well, transport my château with all it contains opposite to yours."
+
+"What!" cried the King, aghast. "Impossible!"
+
+"Well, then, it is just as impossible that I should marry you, for
+without my château I shall not consent."
+
+For a second time the King gave N'Oun Doare what seemed an insurmountable
+task.
+
+"Now indeed I am as good as lost!" lamented the youth as they came to
+the château and he saw its massive walls towering above him.
+
+"Call Grifescorne, King of the Demons, to your assistance," suggested
+the wise mare.
+
+With the aid of the Demon-King and his subjects N'Oun Doare's task was
+again accomplished, and he and his mare followed the demon army to
+Paris, where they arrived as soon as it did.
+
+In the morning the people of Paris were struck dumb to see a wonderful
+palace, its golden towers flashing in the sun, rising opposite to the
+royal residence.
+
+"We shall be married at last, shall we not?" asked the King.
+
+"Yes," replied the Princess, "but how shall I enter my château and
+show you its wonders without a key, for I dropped it in the sea when
+N'Oun Doare and his horse carried me over it."
+
+Once more was the youth charged with the task, and through the aid of
+the Fish-King was able to procure the key, which was cut from a single
+diamond. None of the fishes had seen it, but at last the oldest fish,
+who had not appeared when his name was pronounced, came forward and
+produced it from his mouth.
+
+With a glad heart the successful N'Oun Doare returned to Paris, and as
+the Princess had now no more excuses to make the day of the wedding
+was fixed and the ceremony was celebrated with much splendour. To the
+astonishment of all, when the King and his betrothed entered the
+church N'Oun Doare followed behind with his mare. At the conclusion of
+the ceremony the mare's skin suddenly fell to the ground, disclosing a
+maiden of the most wonderful beauty.
+
+Smiling upon the bewildered N'Oun Doare, the damsel gave him her hand
+and said: "Come with me to Tartary, for the king of that land is my
+father, and there we shall be wed amid great rejoicing."
+
+Leaving the amazed King and wedding guests, the pair quitted the
+church together. More might have been told of them, but Tartary is a
+far land and no news of them has of late years reached Brittany.
+
+
+_The Princess of Tronkolaine_
+
+There was once an old charcoal-burner who had twenty-six grandchildren.
+For twenty-five of them he had no great difficulty in procuring
+godparents, but for the twenty-sixth--that, alas! was a different
+story. Godmothers, indeed, were to be found in plenty, but he could
+not find anyone to act as godfather.
+
+As he wandered disconsolately along the high road, dwelling on his bad
+luck, he saw a fine carriage coming toward him, its occupant no less a
+personage than the King himself. The old man made an obeisance so low
+that the King was amused, and threw him a handful of silver.
+
+"My good man," he said, "here are alms for you."
+
+"Your Majesty," replied the charcoal-burner, "I do not desire alms. I
+am unhappy because I cannot find a godfather for my twenty-sixth
+grandchild."
+
+The King considered the matter.
+
+"I myself will be godfather to the child," he said at length. "Tell me
+when it is to be baptized and I will meet you at the church."
+
+The old man was delighted beyond measure, and in due time he and his
+relatives brought the child to be baptized. When they reached the
+church, sure enough, there was the King waiting to take part in the
+ceremony, and in his honour the child was named Charles. Before taking
+leave the King gave to the charcoal-burner the half of a coin which he
+had broken in two. This Charles on reaching his eighteenth birthday
+was to convey to the Court at Paris, as a token whereby his godfather
+should know him. His Majesty also left a thousand crowns, which were
+to be utilized in the education and general upbringing of the child.
+
+Time passed and Charles attained his eighteenth birthday. Taking the
+King's token, he set out for the royal abode. As he went he
+encountered an old man, who warned him on no account to drink from a
+certain well which he would pass on his way. The lad promised to
+regard the warning, but ere he reached the well he had forgotten it.
+
+A man sat by the side of the well.
+
+"You are hot and tired," he said, feigning courtesy, "will you not
+stop to drink?"
+
+The water was cool and inviting. Charles bent his head and drank
+thirstily. And while he drank the stranger robbed him of his token;
+but this he did not know till afterward.
+
+Gaily Charles resumed his way, while the thief went to Paris by a
+quicker route and got there before him.
+
+Boldly the thief demanded audience of the King, and produced the token
+so wickedly come by. The sovereign ordered the other half of the coin
+to be brought out, and lo! they fitted exactly. And because the thief
+had a plausible face the good King did not doubt that he was indeed
+his godson. He therefore had him treated with all honour and respect,
+and bestowed gifts upon him lavishly.
+
+Meanwhile Charles had arrived in Paris, and, finding that he had been
+deprived of his only means of proving his identity to the King, he
+accepted the situation philosophically and set about earning his
+living. He succeeded in obtaining a post as herdsman on the royal
+estates.
+
+One day the robber was greatly disconcerted to find the real Charles
+at the very gates of the palace. He determined to be rid of him once
+for all, so he straightway approached the King.
+
+"Your Majesty, there is a man among your retainers who has said that
+he will demand of the sun why it is so red at sunrise."
+
+"He is indeed a foolish fellow," said the King. "Our decree is that he
+shall carry out his rash boast to-morrow ere sunset, or, if it be but
+idle folly, lose his head on the following morning."
+
+The thief was delighted with the success of his plot. Poor Charles was
+summoned before the King and bidden to ask the sun why he was so red
+at sunrise. In vain he denied having uttered the speech. Had not the
+King the word of his godson?
+
+Next morning Charles set out on his journey. Ere he had gone very far
+he met an old man who asked him his errand, and afterward gave him a
+wooden horse on which to ride to the sun. Charles thought this but a
+sorry joke. However, no sooner had he mounted his wooden steed than it
+rose into the air and flew with him to where the sun's castle towered
+on the peak of a lofty mountain.
+
+To the sun, a resplendent warrior, Charles addressed his query.
+
+"In the morning," said the sun, "I pass the castle of the Princess of
+Tronkolaine, and she is so lovely that I must needs look my best."
+
+Charles, mounted on his wooden horse, flew with this answer to Paris.
+The King was satisfied, but the thief gnashed his teeth in secret
+rage, and plotted yet further against the youth.
+
+"Your Majesty," he said, "this herdsman who tends your herds has said
+that he will lead hither the Princess of Tronkolaine to be your
+bride."
+
+"If he has said so," replied the King, "he shall lead her hither or
+forfeit his life."
+
+"Alas!" thought Charles, when he learned of the plot, "I must bid
+farewell to my life--there is no hope for me!"
+
+All the same he set out boldly enough, and by and by encountered the
+old man who had helped him on his previous mission. To him Charles
+confided his troubles, begging for advice and assistance.
+
+The old man pondered.
+
+"Return to the Court," he said, "and ask the King to give you three
+ships, one laden with oatmeal, another with bacon, and the third with
+salt meat. Then sail on till you come to an island covered with ants.
+To their monarch, the Ant-King, make a present of the cargo of
+oatmeal. He will direct you to a second island, whereon dwell fierce
+lions. Fear them not. Present your cargo of bacon to their King and he
+will become your friend. Yet a third island you will touch, inhabited
+only by sparrow-hawks. Give to their King your cargo of salt meat and
+he will show you the abode of the Princess."
+
+Charles thanked the sage for his advice, which he promptly proceeded
+to follow. The King granted him the three ships, and he sailed away
+in search of the Princess.
+
+When he came to the first island, which was swarming with ants, he
+gave up his cargo of grain, and so won the friendship of the little
+creatures. At the second island he unloaded the bacon, which he
+presented to the King of the Lions; while at the third he gave up the
+salt beef to the King of the Sparrow-hawks, who directed him how to
+come at the object of his quest. Each monarch bade Charles summon him
+instantly if he had need of assistance.
+
+Setting sail from the island of the sparrow-hawks, the youth arrived
+at length at the abode of the Princess.
+
+She was seated under an orange-tree, and as Charles gazed upon her he
+thought her the most beautiful woman in the world, as indeed she was.
+
+The Princess, looking up, beheld a comely youth, beneath whose ardent
+gaze her eyes fell. Smiling graciously, she invited him into her
+castle, and he, nothing loath, followed her into the great hall, where
+tempting viands were spread before him.
+
+When he had supped he made known his errand to the Princess, and
+begged her to accompany him to Paris. She agreed only on condition
+that he would perform three tasks set him, and when Charles was
+curious to know what was required of him she led him into another room
+where was a large heap of every kind of seed--corn, barley, clover,
+flax--all mixed up anyhow.
+
+"This is the first task," said the Princess: "you must put each kind
+of seed into a different heap, so that no single seed shall be out of
+its place. This you must accomplish ere to-morrow at sunrise." With
+that she left the room.
+
+Charles was in despair, until he bethought him of his friend the King
+of the Ants, whom he begged to help him. Scarcely had he uttered the
+words when ants began to fill the room, coming from he knew not where.
+In less time than it takes to tell they had arranged the seeds into
+separate heaps, so that no single seed was out of its place.
+
+When the Princess arrived in the morning she was astonished to find
+the hero fast asleep and the work accomplished. All day she
+entertained him hospitably in her castle, and at nightfall she showed
+him the second task. An avenue of great oaks led down from the castle.
+Giving him a wooden axe and a wooden saw, the Princess bade him cut
+down all the trees ere morning.
+
+When she had left him Charles called upon the King of the Lions.
+Instantly a number of lions bounded upon the scene, and with teeth and
+claws soon performed the task.
+
+In the morning the Princess, finding Charles asleep and all the trees
+cut down, was more astonished than ever.
+
+The third task was the most difficult of all. A high mountain had to
+be levelled to the plain in a single night. Without the help of the
+sparrow-hawks, Charles would certainly have failed, but these faithful
+creatures worked with a will, and soon had the great mountain carried
+away piece by piece and dropped into the sea.
+
+When the Princess came for the third time and found the hero asleep by
+the finished task she fell in love with him straightway, and kissed
+him softly on the brow.
+
+There was now nothing further to hinder his return, and he begged the
+Princess to accompany him to Paris. In due time they arrived in that
+city, to be welcomed with great warmth by the people. The beauty of
+the lady won all hearts. But great was the general astonishment when
+she declared that she would marry, not the King, but the youth who had
+brought her to Paris! Charles thereupon declared himself the true
+godson of the King, and the monarch, far from being angry, gave the
+couple his blessing and great estates; and when in course of time he
+died they reigned in his stead.
+
+As for the thief, he was ordered to execution forthwith, and was
+roasted to death in a large oven.
+
+
+_The Princess Starbright_
+
+This is another tale which introduces the search for the sun-princess
+in a peculiar setting.
+
+In the long ago there lived near the Lake of Léguer a jolly miller who
+found recreation after his work in shooting the wild swans and ducks
+which frequented that stretch of water. One December day, when it was
+freezing hard and the earth was covered with snow, he observed a
+solitary duck near the edge of the lake. He shot at it, and went
+forward to pick it up, when he saw to his amazement that it had
+changed into a beautiful princess. He was ready to drop into the snow
+with fright, but the lady came graciously forward to him, saying:
+
+"Fear not, my brave fellow, for know that I have been enchanted these
+many years under the form of a wild duck, because of the enmity of
+three malicious demons. You can restore me permanently to my human
+shape if you choose to show only a little perseverance and courage."
+
+"Why, what do you desire me to do, madam?" stammered the miller,
+abashed by the lady's beauty and condescension.
+
+"What only a brave man could accomplish, my friend," she replied; "all
+that you have to do is to pass three consecutive nights in the old
+manor which you can see over there."
+
+The miller shuddered, for he had heard the most terrible stories in
+connexion with the ruined manor, which had an evil name in the
+district.
+
+"Alas! madam," he said, "whom might I not encounter there! Even the
+devil himself----"
+
+"My good friend," said the Princess, sadly, "if you do as I ask you
+will have to encounter not one but a dozen devils, who will torment
+you in every possible way. But fear nothing, for I can provide you
+with a magic ointment which will preserve you entirely from all the
+injuries they would attempt to inflict upon you. Even if you were dead
+I could resuscitate you. I assure you that if you will do as I ask you
+will never regret it. Beneath the hearthstone in the hall of the manor
+are three casks of gold and three of silver, and all these will belong
+to you and to me if you assist me; so put your courage to the proof, I
+pray you."
+
+The miller squared his shoulders. "Lady," he said, "I will obey you,
+even if I have to face a hundred devils instead of twelve."
+
+The Princess smiled encouragingly and disappeared. On the following
+night the miller set out for the old manor, carrying a bundle of
+faggots to make a fire, and some cider and tobacco to refresh him
+during his vigil. When he arrived in the dismal old place he sat
+himself down by the hearth, where he had built a good fire, and lit
+his pipe. But he had scarcely done so when he heard a most tremendous
+commotion in the chimney. Somewhat scared, he hid himself under an old
+bed which stood opposite the hearth, and, gazing anxiously from his
+place of concealment, beheld eleven grisly fiends descend from the
+flue. They seemed astonished to find a fire on the hearth, and did not
+appear to be in the best of tempers.
+
+"Where is Boiteux?" cried one. "Oh," growled another, who appeared to
+be the chief of the band, "he is always late."
+
+"Ah, behold him," said a third, as Boiteux arrived by the same road as
+his companions.
+
+"Well, comrades," cried Boiteux, "have you heard the news?" The others
+shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads sulkily.
+
+"Well," said Boiteux, "I am convinced that the miller of Léguer is
+here, and that he is trying to free the Princess from the enchantment
+which we have placed upon her."
+
+A hurried search at once took place, the demons scrambling from one
+part of the room to the other, tearing down the curtains and making
+every effort to discover the hiding-place of the intruder. At last
+Boiteux, peering under the bed, saw the miller crouching there, and
+cried out: "Here is the rogue beneath the bed."
+
+The unlucky miller was then seized by the foot and dragged into the
+shrieking and leaping circle. With a gesture of command the chief
+demon subdued the antics of his followers.
+
+"So, my jolly miller," said he, "our friend the Princess has found a
+champion in you, has she? Well, we are going to have some sport with
+you, which I fear will not be quite to your taste, but I can assure
+you that you will not again have the opportunity of assisting a
+princess in distress."
+
+With this he seized the miller and thrust him from him with great
+force. As he flew like a stone from a sling, another of the fiends
+seized him, and the unhappy man was thrown violently about from one to
+the other. At last they threw him out of the window into the
+courtyard, and as he did not move they thought that he was dead. But
+in the midst of their laughter and rejoicing at the easy manner in
+which they had got rid of him, cockcrow sounded, and the diabolic
+company swiftly disappeared. They had scarcely taken their departure
+when the Princess arrived. She tenderly anointed the miller's hurts
+from the little pot of magic ointment she had brought with her, and,
+nothing daunted, now that he was thoroughly revived, the bold fellow
+announced his intention of seeing the matter through and remaining in
+the manor for the two following nights.
+
+He had scarcely ensconced himself in his seat by the chimney-side on
+the second night when the twelve fiends came tumbling down the chimney
+as before. At one end of the room was a large heap of wood, behind
+which the miller quickly took refuge.
+
+"I smell the smell of a Christian!" cried Boiteux. A search followed,
+and once more the adventurous miller was dragged forth.
+
+"Oho!" cried the leader, "so you are not dead after all! Well, I can
+assure you that we shall not botch our work on this occasion."
+
+One of the grisly company placed a large cauldron of oil upon the
+fire, and when this was boiling they seized their victim and thrust
+him into it. The most dreadful agony seized the miller as the liquid
+seethed around his body, and he was just about to faint under the
+intensity of the torture when once again the cock crew and the
+fiendish band took themselves off. The Princess quickly appeared, and,
+drawing the miller from the cauldron, smeared him from head to foot
+with the ointment.
+
+On the third night the devils once more found the miller in the
+apartment. In dismay Boiteux suggested that he should be roasted on a
+spit and eaten, but unluckily for them they took a long time to come
+to this conclusion, and when they were about to impale their victim on
+the spit, the cock crew and they were forced to withdraw, howling in
+baffled rage. The Princess arrived as before, and was delighted to see
+that this time her champion did not require any assistance.
+
+"All is well now," she said. "You have freed me from my enchantment
+and the treasure is ours."
+
+They raised the hearthstone from its place, and, as she had said, the
+three casks of gold and the three casks of silver were found resting
+beneath it.
+
+"Take what you wish for yourself," said the Princess. "As for me, I
+cannot stay here; I must at once make a journey which will last a year
+and a day, after which we shall never part again."
+
+With these words she disappeared. The miller was grieved at her
+departure, but, consoling himself with the treasure, made over his
+mill to his apprentice and, apprising one of his companions of his
+good luck, resolved to go upon a journey with him, until such time as
+the Princess should return. He visited the neighbouring countries,
+and, with plenty of money at his disposal, found existence very
+pleasant indeed. After some eight months of this kind of life, he and
+his friend resolved to return to Brittany, and set out on their
+journey. One day they encountered on the road an old woman selling
+apples. She asked them to buy, but the miller was advised by his
+friend not to pay any heed to her. Ignoring the well-meant advice, the
+miller laughed and bought three apples. He had scarcely eaten one when
+he became unwell. Recalling how the fruit had disagreed with him, he
+did not touch the other apples until the day on which the Princess had
+declared she would return. When on the way to the manor to meet her,
+he ate the second apple. He began to feel sleepy, and, lying down at
+the foot of a tree, fell into a deep slumber.
+
+Soon after the Princess arrived in a beautiful star-coloured chariot
+drawn by ten horses. When she saw the miller lying sleeping she
+inquired of his friend what had chanced to him. The man acquainted her
+with the adventure of the apples, and the Princess told him that the
+old woman from whom he had purchased them was a sorceress.
+
+"Alas!" she said, "I am unable to take him with me in this condition,
+but I will come to this place to-morrow and again on the following
+day, and if he be awake I will transport him hence in my chariot. Here
+are a golden pear and a handkerchief; give him these and tell him that
+I will come again."
+
+She disappeared in her star-coloured equipage. Shortly afterward the
+miller wakened, and his friend told him what had occurred and gave him
+the pear and the kerchief. The next day the friends once more repaired
+to the spot where the Princess had vanished, but in thoughtlessness
+the miller had eaten of the third apple, and once more the Princess
+found him asleep. In sorrow she promised to return next day for the
+last time, once more leaving a golden pear and a handkerchief with his
+friend, to whom she said:
+
+"If he is not awake when I come to-morrow he will have to cross three
+powers and three seas in order to find me."
+
+Unluckily, however, the miller was still asleep when the Princess
+appeared on the following day. She repeated what she had said to his
+friend concerning the ordeal that the unfortunate miller would have to
+face before he might see her again, and ere she took her departure
+left a third pear and a third handkerchief behind her. When the miller
+awoke and found that she had gone he went nearly crazy with grief, but
+nevertheless he declared his unalterable intention of regaining the
+Princess, even if he should have to travel to the ends of the earth in
+search of her. Accordingly he set out to find her abode. He walked and
+walked innumerable miles, until at last he came to a great forest. As
+he arrived at its gloomy borders night fell, and he considered it
+safest to climb a tree, from which, to his great satisfaction, he
+beheld a light shining in the distance. Descending, he walked in the
+direction of the light, and found a tiny hut made of the branches of
+trees, in which sat a little old man with a long white beard.
+
+"Good evening, grandfather," said the miller.
+
+"Good evening, my child," replied the old man. "I behold you with
+pleasure, for it is eighty years since I have seen any human being."
+
+The miller entered the hut and sat down beside the old man, and after
+some conversation told him the object of his journey.
+
+"I will help you, my son," said the ancient. "Do you see these
+enchanted gaiters? Well, I wore them at your age. When you buckle them
+over your legs you will be able to travel seven leagues at a single
+step, and you will arrive without any difficulty at the castle of the
+Princess you desire so much to see again."
+
+The miller passed the night in the hut with the old hermit, and on the
+following morning, with the rising of the sun, buckled on the magic
+gaiters and stepped out briskly. All went well to begin with, nothing
+arrested his progress, and he sped over rivers, forests, and
+mountains. As the sun was setting he came to the borders of a second
+forest, where he observed a second hut, precisely similar to that in
+which he had passed the previous night. Going toward it, he found it
+occupied by an aged woman, of whom he demanded supper and lodging.
+
+"Alas! my son," said the old woman, "you do ill to come here, for I
+have three sons, terrible fellows, who will be here presently, and I
+am certain that if you remain they will devour you."
+
+The miller asked the names of the sons, and was informed by the old
+woman that they were January, February, and March. From this he
+concluded that the crone he was addressing was none other than the
+mother of the winds, and on asking her if this was so she admitted
+that he had judged correctly. While they were talking there was a
+terrible commotion in the chimney, from which descended an enormous
+giant with white hair and beard, breathing out clouds of frost.
+
+"Aha!" he cried, "I see, mother, that you have not neglected to
+provide for my supper!"
+
+"Softly, softly, good son," said the old dame; "this is little Yves,
+my nephew and your cousin; you must not eat him." The giant, who
+seemed greatly annoyed, retired into a corner, growling. Shortly
+afterward his brothers, February and March, arrived, and were told the
+same tale regarding the miller's relationship to them.
+
+Our hero, resolved to profit by the acquaintanceship, asked the
+gigantic February if he would carry him to the palace of the Princess,
+whom he described.
+
+"Ah," said February, "without doubt you speak of the Princess
+Starbright. If you wish I will give you a lift on my back part of the
+way."
+
+The miller gratefully accepted the offer, and in the morning mounted
+on the back of the mighty wind-giant, who carried him over a great
+sea. Then, after traversing much land and a second ocean, and while
+crossing a third spacious water, February expressed himself as quite
+fatigued and said that he could not carry his new cousin any farther.
+The miller glanced beneath him at the great waste of waters and begged
+him to make an effort to reach the land on the other side. Giving vent
+to a deep-throated grumble, February obeyed, and at last set him down
+outside the walls of the town where the castle of the Princess
+Starbright was situated. The miller entered the town and came to an
+inn, and, having dined, entered into conversation with the hostess,
+asking her the news of the place.
+
+"Why," said the woman, amazed, "where do you come from that you don't
+know that the Princess Starbright is to be married to-day, and to a
+husband that she does not love? The wedding procession will pass the
+door in a few moments on its way to the church."
+
+The miller was greatly downcast at these words, but plucking up
+courage he placed on a little table before the inn the first of the
+pears and handkerchiefs that the Princess had left with his friend.
+Shortly afterward the wedding procession passed, and the Princess
+immediately remarked the pear and the kerchief, and also recognized
+the miller standing close by. She halted, and, feigning illness,
+begged that the ceremony might be postponed until the morrow. Having
+returned to the palace, she sent one of her women to purchase the
+fruit and the handkerchief, and these the miller gave the maiden
+without question. On the following day the same thing happened, and on
+the third occasion of the Princess's passing the same series of events
+occurred. This time the Princess sent for the miller, and the pair
+embraced tenderly and wept with joy at having recovered each other.
+
+Now the Princess was as clever as she was beautiful, and she had a
+stratagem by which she hoped to marry the miller without undue
+opposition on the part of her friends. So she procured the marriage
+garments of the prince, her _fiancé_, and attiring the miller in them,
+took him to the marriage feast, which had been prepared for the fourth
+time at a late hour; but she hid her lover in a secluded corner from
+the public gaze. After a while she pretended to be looking for
+something, and upon being asked what she had lost, replied:
+
+"I have a beautiful coffer, but, alas! I have lost the key of it. I
+have found a new key, but it does not fit the casket; should I not
+search until I have recovered the old one?"
+
+"Without doubt!" cried every one. Then the Princess, going to the
+place where the miller was concealed, led him forth by the hand.
+
+"My lords and gentles," she said, "the coffer I spoke of is my heart;
+here is the one key that can fit it, the key that I had lost and have
+found again."
+
+The Princess and the miller were married amid universal rejoicings;
+and some time after the ceremony they did not fail to revisit the Lake
+of Léguer, the scene of their first meeting, the legend of which still
+clings like the mists of evening to its shores.
+
+This quaint and curious tale, in which the native folk-lore and French
+elements are so strangely mingled, deals, like its predecessor, with
+the theme of the search for the fairy princess. We turn now to another
+tale of quest with somewhat similar incidents, where the solar nature
+of one of the characters is perhaps more obvious--the quest for the
+mortal maiden who has been carried off by the sun-hero. We refrain in
+this place from indicating the mythological basis which underlies such
+a tale as this, as such a phenomenon is already amply illustrated in
+other works in this series.
+
+
+_The Castle of the Sun_
+
+There once lived a peasant who had seven children, six of them boys
+and the seventh a girl. They were very poor and all had to work hard
+for a living, but the drudges of the family were the youngest son,
+Yvon, and his sister, Yvonne. Because they were gentler and more
+delicate than the others, they were looked upon as poor, witless
+creatures, and all the hardest work was given them to do. But the
+children comforted each other, and became but the better favoured as
+they grew up.
+
+One day when Yvonne was taking the cattle to pasture she encountered a
+handsome youth, so splendidly garbed that her simple heart was filled
+with awe and admiration. To her astonishment he addressed her and
+courteously begged her hand in marriage. "To-morrow," he said, "I
+shall meet you here at this hour, and you shall give me an answer."
+
+Troubled, yet secretly happy, Yvonne made her way home, and told her
+parents all that had chanced. At first they laughed her to scorn, and
+refused to believe her story of the handsome prince, but when at
+length they were convinced they told her she was free to marry whom
+she would.
+
+On the following day Yvonne betook herself to the trysting-place,
+where her lover awaited her, even more gloriously resplendent than on
+the occasion of his first coming. The very trappings of his horse were
+of gleaming gold. At Yvonne's request he accompanied her to her home,
+and made arrangements with her kindred for the marriage. To all
+inquiries regarding his name and place of abode he returned that these
+should be made known on the wedding morning.
+
+Time passed, and on the day appointed the glittering stranger came to
+claim his wife. The ceremony over, he swept her into a carriage and
+was about to drive away, when her brothers reminded him of his promise
+to reveal his identity.
+
+"Where must we go to visit our sister?" they asked.
+
+"Eastward," he replied, "to a palace built of crystal, beyond the Sea
+of Darkness."
+
+And with that the pair were gone.
+
+A year elapsed, and the brothers neither saw nor heard anything of
+their sister, so that at length they decided to go in search of her.
+Yvon would have accompanied them, but they bade him stay at home.
+
+"You are so stupid," they said, "you would be of no use to us."
+
+Eastward they rode, and ever eastward, till at length they found
+themselves in the heart of a great forest. Then night came on and they
+lost the path. Twice a great noise, like the riot of a tempest, swept
+over their heads, leaving them trembling and stricken with panic.
+
+By and by they came upon an old woman tending a great fire, and of her
+they inquired how they might reach the abode of their brother-in-law.
+
+"I cannot tell," said the old woman, "but my son may be able to direct
+you."
+
+For the third time they heard the noise as of a great wind racing over
+the tree-tops.
+
+"Hush!" said the old woman, "it is my son approaching."
+
+He was a huge giant, this son of hers, and when he drew near the fire
+he said loudly:
+
+"Oh ho! I smell the blood of a Christian!"
+
+"What!" cried his mother sharply. "Would you eat your pretty cousins,
+who have come so far to visit us?"
+
+At that the giant became quite friendly toward his 'cousins,' and when
+he learned of their mission even offered to conduct them part of the
+way.
+
+Notwithstanding his amiability, however, the brothers spent an anxious
+night, and were up betimes on the following morning.
+
+The giant made ready for departure. First of all he bade the old woman
+pile fresh fuel on the fire. Then he spread a great black cloth, on
+which he made the brothers stand. Finally he strode into the fire, and
+when his clothes were consumed the black cloth rose into the air,
+bearing the brothers with it. Its going was marked by the sound of
+rushing wind which had terrified them on the preceding day. At length
+they alighted on a vast plain, half of which was rich and fertile,
+while the other half was bleak and arid as a desert. The plain was
+dotted with horses, and, curiously enough, those on the arid side were
+in splendid condition, whereas those on the fertile part were thin and
+miserable.
+
+The brothers had not the faintest idea of which direction they ought
+to take, and after a vain attempt to mount the horses on the plain
+they decided to return home. After many wanderings they arrived at
+their native place once more.
+
+When Yvon learned of the ill-success which had attended their mission
+he decided to go himself in search of his sister, and though his
+brothers laughed at him they gave him an old horse and bade him go.
+
+Eastward and eastward he rode, till at length he reached the forest
+where the old woman still tended the fire. Seeing that he was strong
+and fearless, she directed him by a difficult and dangerous road,
+which, however, he must pursue if he wished to see his sister.
+
+It was indeed a place of terrors. Poisonous serpents lay across his
+track; ugly thorns and briers sprang underfoot; at one point a lake
+barred his way.
+
+Finally a subterranean passage led him into his sister's country,
+where everything was of crystal, shining with the splendour of the sun
+itself. At the end of a gleaming pathway rose a castle built entirely
+of crystal, its innumerable domes and turrets reflecting the light in
+a thousand prismatic hues.
+
+Having gained access to the castle through a cave, Yvon wandered
+through its many beautiful chambers, till in one of these he came
+upon his sister asleep on a silken couch.
+
+Entranced with her beauty, and not daring to wake her, he slipped
+behind a curtain and watched her in silence; but as time went on he
+marvelled that she did not wake.
+
+At eventide a handsome youth--Yvon's brother-in-law--entered the
+chamber, struck Yvonne sharply three times, then flung himself down by
+her side and went to sleep. All night Yvon waited in his place of
+concealment. In the morning the young man rose from his couch, gave
+his wife three resounding blows, and went away. Only then did Yvon
+emerge and wake his sister.
+
+Brother and sister exchanged a tender greeting, and found much to talk
+of after their long separation. Yvon learned that the country to which
+he had come was a peculiar place, where meat and drink could be
+entirely dispensed with, while even sleep was not a necessity.
+
+"Tell me, Yvonne," he said, remembering what he had seen of his
+brother-in-law, "does your husband treat you well?"
+
+Yvonne assured him that her husband was all she could wish--that she
+was perfectly happy.
+
+"Is he always absent during the day?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Always."
+
+"Do you know where he goes?"
+
+"I do not, my brother."
+
+"I have a mind," said Yvon, "to ask him to let me accompany him on his
+journey. What say you, sister?"
+
+"It is a very good plan," said Yvonne.
+
+At sundown her husband returned home. He and Yvon became very good
+friends, and the latter begged to be allowed to accompany him on his
+journey the following day.
+
+"You may do so," was the response, "but only on one condition: if you
+touch or address anyone save me you must return home."
+
+Yvon readily agreed to accept the condition, and early next morning
+the two set off. Ere long they came to a wide plain, one half of which
+was green and fruitful, while the other half was barren and dry. On
+this plain cattle were feeding, and those on the arid part were fat
+and well-conditioned, while the others were mean and shrivelled to a
+degree. Yvon learned from his companion that the fat cattle
+represented those who were contented with their meagre lot, while the
+lean animals were those who, with a plentiful supply of worldly goods,
+were yet miserable and discontented.
+
+Many other strange things they saw as they went, but that which seemed
+strangest of all to Yvon was the sight of two trees lashing each other
+angrily with their branches, as though each would beat the other to
+the ground.
+
+Laying his hands on them, he forbade them to fight, and lo! in a
+moment they became two human beings, a man and wife, who thanked Yvon
+for releasing them from an enchantment under which they had been laid
+as a punishment for their perpetual bickering.
+
+Anon they reached a great cavern from which weird noises proceeded,
+and Yvon would fain have advanced farther; but his companion forbade
+him, reminding him that in disenchanting the trees he had failed to
+observe the one essential condition, and must return to the palace
+where his sister dwelt.
+
+There Yvon remained for a few days longer, after which his
+brother-in-law directed him by a speedy route to his home.
+
+"Go," said the prince, "but ere long you will return, and then it will
+be to remain with us for ever."
+
+On reaching his native village Yvon found all trace of his dwelling
+gone. Greatly bewildered, he inquired for his father by name. An old
+greybeard replied.
+
+"I have heard of him," he said. "He lived in the days when my
+grandfather's grandfather was but a boy, and now he sleeps in the
+churchyard yonder."
+
+Only then did Yvon realize that his visit to his sister had been one,
+not of days, but of generations!
+
+
+_The Seigneur with the Horse's Head_
+
+Famous among all peoples is the tale of the husband surrounded by
+mystery--bespelled in animal form, like the Prince in the story of
+Beauty and the Beast, nameless, as in that of Lohengrin, or unbeheld
+of his spouse, as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Among uncivilized
+peoples it is frequently forbidden to the wife to see her husband's
+face until some time after marriage, and the belief that ill-luck will
+befall one or both should this law be disregarded runs through
+primitive story, being perhaps reminiscent of a time when the man of
+an alien or unfriendly tribe crept to his wife's lodge or hut under
+cover of darkness and returned ere yet the first glimmer of dawn might
+betray him to the men of her people. The story which follows, however,
+deals with the theme of the enchanted husband whose wife must not
+speak to anyone until her first child receives the sacrament of
+baptism, and is, perhaps, unique of its kind.
+
+There lived at one time in the old château of Kerouez, in the commune
+of Loguivy-Plougras, a rich and powerful seigneur, whose only sorrow
+was the dreadful deformity of his son, who had come into the world
+with a horse's head. He was naturally kept out of sight as much as
+possible, but when he had attained the age of eighteen years he told
+his mother one day that he desired to marry, and requested her to
+interview a farmer in the vicinity who had three pretty young
+daughters, in order that she might arrange a match with one of them.
+
+The good lady did as she was requested, not without much embarrassment
+and many qualms of conscience, and after conversing upon every
+imaginable subject, at length gently broke the object of her visit to
+the astonished farmer. The poor man was at first horrified, but little
+by little the lady worked him into a good humour, so that at last he
+consented to ask his daughters if any one of them would agree to marry
+the afflicted young lord. The two elder girls indignantly refused the
+offer, but when it was made plain to them that she who espoused the
+seigneur would one day be châtelaine of the castle and become a fine
+lady, the eldest daughter somewhat reluctantly consented and the match
+was agreed upon.
+
+Some days afterward the bride-to-be happened to pass the castle and
+saw the servants washing the linen, when one cried to her:
+
+"How in the world can a fine girl like you be such a fool as to throw
+herself away on a man with a horse's head?"
+
+"Bah!" she replied, "he is rich, and, let me tell you, we won't be
+married for long, for on the bridal night I shall cut his throat."
+
+Just at that moment a gay cavalier passed and smiled at the farmer's
+daughter.
+
+"You are having a strange conversation, mademoiselle," he said. She
+coloured and looked somewhat confused.
+
+"Well, sir," she replied, "it is hateful to be mocked by these wenches
+because I have the bad luck to be espoused to a seigneur with a
+horse's head, and I assure you I feel so angry that I shall certainly
+carry out my threat."
+
+The unknown laughed shortly and went his way. In time the night of the
+nuptials arrived. A grand _fête_ was held at the château, and, the
+ceremony over, the bridesmaids conducted the young wife to her
+chamber. The bridegroom shortly followed, and to the surprise of his
+wife, no sooner had the hour of sunset come than his horse's head
+disappeared and he became exactly as other men. Approaching the bed
+where his bride lay, he suddenly seized her, and before she could cry
+out or make the least clamour he killed her in the manner in which she
+had threatened to kill him.
+
+In the morning his mother came to the chamber, and was horrified at
+the spectacle she saw.
+
+"Gracious heavens! my son, what have you done?" she cried.
+
+"I have done that, my mother," replied her son, "which was about to be
+done to me."
+
+Three months afterward the young seigneur asked his mother to repair
+once more to the farmer with the request that another of his daughters
+might be given him in marriage. The second daughter, ignorant of the
+manner of her sister's death, and mindful of the splendid wedding
+festivities, embraced the proposal with alacrity. Like her sister, she
+chanced to be passing the washing-green of the castle one day, and the
+laundresses, knowing of her espousal, taunted her upon it, so that at
+last she grew very angry and cried:
+
+"I won't be troubled long with the animal, I can assure you, for on
+the very night that I wed him I shall kill him like a pig!"
+
+At that very moment the same unknown gentleman who had overheard the
+fatal words of her sister passed, and said:
+
+"How now, young women, that's very strange talk of yours!"
+
+"Well, monseigneur," stammered the betrothed girl, "they are twitting
+me upon marrying a man with a horse's head; but I will cut his throat
+on the night of our wedding with as little conscience as I would cut
+the throat of a pig." The unknown gentleman laughed as he had done
+before and passed upon his way.
+
+As on the previous occasion, the wedding was celebrated with all the
+pomp and circumstance which usually attends a Breton ceremony of the
+kind, and in due time the bride was conducted to her chamber, only to
+be found in the morning weltering in her blood.
+
+At the end of another three months the seigneur dispatched his mother
+for the third time to the farmer, with the request that his younger
+daughter might be given him in marriage, but on this occasion her
+parents were by no means enraptured with the proposal. When the great
+lady, however, promised them that if they consented to the match they
+would be given the farm to have and to hold as their own property,
+they found the argument irresistible and reluctantly agreed. Strange
+to say, the girl herself was perfectly composed about the matter, and
+gave it as her opinion that if her sisters had met with a violent
+death they were entirely to blame themselves, for some reason which
+she could not explain, and she added that she thought that their loose
+and undisciplined way of talking had had much to do with their
+untimely fate. Just as her sisters had been, she too was taunted by
+the laundresses regarding her choice of a husband, but her answer to
+them was very different.
+
+"If they met with their deaths," she said, "it was because of their
+wicked utterances. I do not in the least fear that I shall have the
+same fate."
+
+As before the unknown seigneur passed, but this time, without saying
+anything, he hurried on his way and was soon lost to view.
+
+The wedding of the youngest sister was even more splendid than that of
+the two previous brides. On the following morning the young seigneur's
+mother hastened with fear and trembling to the marriage chamber, and
+to her intense relief found that her daughter-in-law was alive. For
+some months the bride lived happily with her husband, who every night
+at set of sun regained his natural appearance as a young and handsome
+man. In due time a son was born to them, who had not the least sign of
+his semi-equine parentage, and when they were about to have the infant
+baptized the father said to the young mother:
+
+"Hearken to what I have to say. I was condemned to suffer the horrible
+enchantment you know of until such time as a child should be born to
+me, and I shall be immediately delivered from the curse whenever this
+infant is baptized. But take care that you do not speak a word until
+the baptismal bells cease to sound, for if you utter a syllable, even
+to your mother, I shall disappear on the instant and you will never
+see me more."
+
+Full of the resolve not to utter a single sound, the young mother, who
+lay in bed, kept silent, until at last she heard the sound of bells,
+when, in her joy, forgetting the warning, she turned to her mother,
+who sat near, with words of congratulation on her lips. A few moments
+afterward her husband rushed into the room, the horse's head still
+upon his shoulders. He was covered with sweat, and panted fiercely.
+
+"Ah, miserable woman," he cried, "what have you done? I must leave
+you, and you shall never see me more!" and he made as if to quit the
+room. His wife rose from her bed, and strove to detain him, but he
+struck at her with his fist. The blood trickled out and made three
+spots on his shirt.
+
+"Behold these spots," cried the young wife; "they shall never
+disappear until I find you."
+
+"And I swear to you," cried her husband, "that you will never find me
+until you have worn out three pairs of iron shoes in doing so."
+
+With these words he ran off at such speed that the poor wife could not
+follow him, and, fainting, she sank to the ground.
+
+Some time after her husband had left her the young wife had three
+pairs of iron shoes made and went in search of him. After she had
+travelled about the world for nearly ten years the last pair of shoes
+began to show signs of wear, when she found herself one day at a
+castle where the servants were hanging out the clothes to dry, and she
+heard one of the laundresses say:
+
+"Do you see this shirt? I declare it is enchanted, for although I have
+washed it again and again I cannot rub out these three spots of blood
+which you see upon it."
+
+When the wanderer heard this she approached the laundress and said to
+her: "Let me try, I pray you. I think I can wash the shirt clean."
+
+They gave her the shirt, she washed it, and the spots disappeared. So
+grateful was the laundress that she bade the stranger go to the castle
+and ask for a meal and a bed. These were willingly granted her, and at
+night she was placed in a small apartment next to that occupied by the
+lord of the castle. From what she had seen she was sure that her
+husband was the lord himself, so when she heard the master of the
+house enter the room next door she knocked upon the boards which
+separated it from her own. Her husband, for he it was, replied from
+the other side; then, entering her room, he recognized his wife, and
+they were happily united after the years of painful separation. To the
+wife's great joy her husband was now completely restored to his proper
+form, and nothing occurred to mar their happiness for the rest of
+their lives.
+
+
+_The Bride of Satan_
+
+Weird and terrible as are many of the darksome legends of Brittany, it
+may be doubted if any are more awe-inspiring than that which we are
+now about to relate. "Those who are affianced three times without
+marrying shall burn in hell," says an old Breton proverb, and it is
+probably this aphorism which has given the Bretons such a strong
+belief in the sacred nature of a betrothal. The fantastic ballad from
+which this story is taken is written in the dialect of Léon, and the
+words are put into the mouth of a maiden of that country. Twice had
+she been betrothed. On the last occasion she had worn a robe of the
+finest stuff, embroidered with twelve brilliant stars and having the
+figures of the sun and moon painted upon it, like the lady in Madame
+d'Aulnoy's story of _Finette Cendron_ (_Cinderella_). On the occasion
+when she went to meet her third _fiancé_ in church she almost fainted
+as she turned with her maidens into the little road leading up to the
+building, for there before her was a great lord clad in steel
+_cap-à-pie_, wearing on his head a casque of gold, his shoulders
+covered by a blood-coloured mantle. Strange lights flashed from his
+eyes, which glittered under his casque like meteors. By his side stood
+a huge black steed, which ever and again struck the ground impatiently
+with his hoofs, throwing up sparks of fire.
+
+The priest was waiting in the church, the bridegroom arrived, but the
+bride did not come. Where had she gone? She had stepped on board a
+barque with the dark steel-clad lord, and the ship passed silently
+over the waters until it vanished among the shadows of night. Then the
+lady turned to her husband.
+
+"What gloomy waters are these through which we sail, my lord?" she
+asked.
+
+"This is the Lake of Anguish," he replied in hollow tones. "We sail to
+the Place of Skulls, at the mouth of Hell."
+
+At this the wretched bride wept bitterly. "Take back your wedding-ring!"
+she cried. "Take back your dowry and your bridal gifts!"
+
+But he answered not. Down they descended into horrid darkness, and as
+the unhappy maiden fell there rang in her ears the cries of the
+damned.
+
+[Illustration: THE BRIDE OF SATAN]
+
+This tale is common to many countries. The fickle maiden is everywhere
+regarded among primitive peoples with dislike and distrust. But
+perhaps the folk-ballad which most nearly resembles that just related
+is the Scottish ballad of _The Demon Lover_, which inspired the late
+Hamish MacCunn, the gifted Scottish composer, in the composition of
+his weird and striking orchestral piece, _The Ship o' the Fiend_.
+
+
+_The Baron of Jauioz_
+
+Another tradition which tells of the fate of an unhappy maiden is
+enshrined in the ballad of _The Baron of Jauioz_. Louis, Baron of
+Jauioz, in Languedoc, was a French warrior of considerable renown who
+flourished in the fourteenth century, and who took part in many of the
+principal events of that stirring epoch, fighting against the English
+in France and Flanders under the Duke of Berry, his overlord. Some
+years later he embarked for the Holy Land, but, if we may believe
+Breton tradition, he returned, and while passing through the duchy
+fell in love with and actually bought for a sum of money a young
+Breton girl, whom he carried away with him to France. The unfortunate
+maiden, so far from being attracted by the more splendid environment
+of his castle, languished and died.
+
+"I hear the note of the death-bird," the ballad begins sadly; "is it
+true, my mother, that I am sold to the Baron of Jauioz?"
+
+"Ask your father, little Tina, ask your father," is the callous reply,
+and the question is then put to her father, who requests the
+unfortunate damsel to ask her brother, a harsh rustic who does not
+scruple to tell her the brutal truth, and adds that she must depart
+immediately. The girl asks what dress she must wear, her red gown, or
+her gown of white delaine.
+
+"It matters little, my daughter," says the heartless mother. "Your
+lover waits at the door mounted on a great black horse. Go to him on
+the instant."
+
+As she leaves her native village the clocks are striking, and she
+weeps bitterly.
+
+"Adieu, Saint Anne!" she says. "Adieu, bells of my native land!"
+
+Passing the Lake of Anguish she sees a band of the dead, white and
+shadowy, crossing the watery expanse in their little boats. As she
+passes them she can hear their teeth chatter. At the Valley of Blood
+she espies other unfortunates. Their hearts are sunken in them and all
+memory has left them.
+
+After this terrible ride the Baron and Tina reach the castle of
+Jauioz. The old man seats himself near the fire. He is black and
+ill-favoured as a carrion crow. His beard and his hair are white, and
+his eyes are like firebrands.
+
+"Come hither to me, my child," says he, "come with me from chamber to
+chamber that I may show you my treasures."
+
+"Ah, seigneur," she replies, the tears falling fast, "I had rather be
+at home with my mother counting the chips which fall from the fire."
+
+"Let us descend, then, to the cellar, where I will show you the rich
+wines in the great bins."
+
+"Ah, sir, I would rather quaff the water of the fields that my
+father's horses drink."
+
+"Come with me, then, to the shops, and I will buy you a sumptuous
+gown."
+
+"Better that I were wearing the working dress that my mother made
+me."
+
+The seigneur turns from her in anger. She lingers at the window and
+watches the birds, begging them to take a message from her to her
+friends.
+
+At night a gentle voice whispers: "My father, my mother, for the love
+of God, pray for me!" Then all is silence.
+
+In this striking ballad we find strong traces of the Breton love of
+country and other national traits. The death-bird alluded to is a grey
+bird which sings during the winter in the Landes country in a voice
+soft and sad. It is probably a bird of the osprey species. It is
+thought that the girl who hears it sing is doomed to misfortune. The
+strange and ghostly journey of the unhappy Tina recalls the _mise en
+scène_ of such ballads as _The Bride of Satan_, and it would seem that
+she passes through the Celtic Tartarus. It is plain that the Seigneur
+of Jauioz by his purchase of their countrywoman became so unpopular
+among the freedom-loving Bretons that at length they magnified him
+into a species of demon--a traditionary fate which he thoroughly
+deserved, if the heartrending tale concerning his victim has any
+foundation in fact.
+
+
+_The Man of Honour_
+
+The tale of the man who is helped by the grateful dead is by no means
+confined to Brittany. Indeed, in folk-tale the dead are often jealous
+of the living and act toward them with fiendish malice. But in the
+following we have a story in which a dead man shows his gratitude to
+the living for receiving the boon of Christian burial at his hands.
+
+There was once a merchant-prince who had gained a great fortune by
+trading on land and sea. Many ships were his, and with these he traded
+to far countries, reaping a rich harvest. He had a son named Iouenn,
+and he was desirous that he too should embrace the career of a
+merchant and become rich. When, therefore, Iouenn declared his
+willingness to trade in distant lands his father was delighted and
+gave him a ship full of Breton merchandise, with instructions to sell
+it to the best advantage in a foreign country and return home with the
+gold thus gained.
+
+After a successful voyage the vessel arrived at a foreign port, and
+Iouenn presented his father's letters to the merchants there, and
+disposed of his cargo so well that he found himself in possession of a
+large sum of money. One day as he was walking on the outskirts of the
+city he saw a large number of dogs gathered round some object, barking
+at it and worrying it. Approaching them, he discovered that that which
+they were worrying was nothing less than the corpse of a man. Making
+inquiries, he found that the unfortunate wretch had died deeply in
+debt, and that his body had been thrown into the roadway to be eaten
+by the dogs. Iouenn was shocked to see such an indignity offered to
+the dead, and out of the kindness of his heart chased the dogs away,
+paid the debts of the deceased, and granted his body the last rites of
+sepulture.
+
+A few days afterward he left the port where these things had happened
+and set out on his homeward voyage. He had not sailed far when one of
+the mariners drew his attention to a strange ship a little distance
+away, which appeared to be draped entirely in black.
+
+"That is indeed a curious vessel," said Iouenn. "Wherefore is it
+draped in black? and for what reason do those on board bewail so
+loudly?"
+
+While he spoke the ship drew nearer, and Iouenn called to the people
+who thronged its decks, asking why they made such loud laments.
+
+"Alas! good sir," replied the captain of the strange ship, "not far
+from here is an island inhabited by an enormous serpent, which for
+seven years has demanded an annual tribute of a royal princess, and we
+are now bearing another victim to her doom."
+
+Iouenn laughed. "Where is the Princess?" he asked. At that moment the
+Princess came on deck, weeping and wringing her hands. Iouenn was so
+struck by her beauty that he there and then declared in the most
+emphatic manner that she should never become the prey of the serpent.
+On learning from the captain that he would hand over the maiden if a
+sufficient bribe were forthcoming, he paid over to him the last of the
+money he had gained from his trading, and taking the Princess on his
+own vessel sailed homeward.
+
+In due time Iouenn arrived home and was welcomed with delight by his
+father; but when the old man learned the story of what had been done
+with his money he was furious; nor would he believe for a moment that
+the lady his son had rescued was a veritable princess, but chased
+Iouenn from his presence with hard and bitter words. Nevertheless
+Iouenn married the royal lady he had rescued, and they started
+housekeeping in a tiny dwelling. Time went on, and the Princess
+presented her husband with a little son, but by this time fortune had
+smiled upon Iouenn, for an uncle of his, who was also a merchant, had
+entrusted him with a fine vessel to trade in Eastern lands; so, taking
+with him the portraits of his wife and child, he set out on his
+voyage. With a fresh wind and favourable conditions generally he was
+not long in coming to the city where his wife's father reigned. Now,
+some mariners of the port, having entered the ship out of curiosity,
+observed the portrait of the Princess, and informed the King of the
+circumstance. The King himself came to the ship and demanded to know
+what had become of his daughter. Iouenn did not, of course, realize
+that the monarch was his father-in-law, and assured him that he knew
+nothing of his daughter, whereupon the King, growing very angry, had
+him cast into prison and ordered his ship to be broken to pieces and
+burned. In prison Iouenn made friends with his gaoler, to whom he
+related his history, which the gaoler in turn told the King, with the
+result that the prisoner was brought before the monarch, who desired
+him to set out at once to bring his daughter back, and for this
+purpose fitted him out with a new vessel. But the old monarch took the
+precaution of sending two of his ministers along with the Breton
+sailor in case he should not return. The party soon came to Brittany,
+and found the Princess and her infant safe.
+
+Now one of the King's ministers had loved the Princess for a long
+time, and consequently did not regard her husband with any great
+degree of favour; so when they re-embarked on the return journey to
+her father's kingdom her suspicions were aroused, and, fully aware of
+the minister's crafty nature, she begged her husband to remain with
+her as much as possible. But Iouenn liked to be on the bridge, whence
+he could direct the operations of his mariners, and laughed at his
+wife's fears. One night as he leaned over the side of the vessel,
+gazing upon the calm of the star-strewn sea, his enemy approached very
+stealthily and, seizing him by the legs, cast him headlong into the
+waters. After this he waited for a few moments, and, hearing no
+sound, cried out that the captain had fallen overboard. A search was
+made, but with no avail. The Princess was distraught, and in the
+belief that her husband had perished remained in her cabin lamenting.
+But Iouenn was a capital swimmer and struck out lustily. He swam
+around for a long time, without, however, encountering any object upon
+which he could lay hold to support himself. Meanwhile the ship sailed
+on her course, and in due time arrived at the kingdom of the
+Princess's father, by whom she was received with every demonstration
+of joy. Great festivities were announced, and so pleased was the old
+King at his daughter's return that he willingly consented to her
+marriage with the treacherous minister, whom he regarded as the
+instrument of her deliverance. But the Princess put off the
+wedding-day by every possible artifice, for she felt in her heart that
+her husband was not really lost to her.
+
+Let us return now to Iouenn. After swimming for some time he came upon
+a barren rock in the middle of the ocean, and here, though beaten upon
+by tempests and without any manner of shelter save that afforded by a
+cleft in the rock, he succeeded in living for three years upon the
+shell-fish which he gathered on the shores of his little domain. In
+that time he had grown almost like a savage. His clothes had fallen
+off him and he was thickly covered with matted hair. The only mark of
+civilization he bore was a chain of gold encircling his neck, the gift
+of his wife. One night he was sitting in his small dwelling munching
+his wretched supper of shell-fish when an eerie sound broke the
+stillness. He started violently. Surely these were human accents that
+he heard--yet not altogether human, for their weird cadence held
+something of the supernatural, and cold as he was he felt himself
+grow still more chilly.
+
+"Cold, cold," cried the voice, and a dreadful chattering of teeth
+ended in a long-drawn wail of "Hou, hou, hou!"
+
+The sound died away and once more he was left amid the great silence
+of the sea.
+
+The next evening brought the same experience, but although Iouenn was
+brave he dared not question his midnight visitor. On the third
+occasion, however, he demanded: "Who is there?"
+
+Out of the darkness there crawled a man completely naked, his body
+covered with blood and horrible wounds, the eyes fixed and glassy.
+
+Iouenn trembled with horror. "In the name of God, who are you?" he
+cried.
+
+"Ha, so you do not remember me, Iouenn?" asked the phantom. "I am that
+unfortunate man whose body you gave decent burial, and now I have come
+to help you in turn. Without doubt you wish to leave this desert rock
+on which you have suffered so long."
+
+"I do, most devoutly," replied Iouenn.
+
+"Well, you will have to make haste," said the dead man, "for
+to-morrow your wife is going to be married to the minister of your
+father-in-law, the wretch who cast you into the sea. Now if you will
+promise to give me a share of all that belongs to yourself and your
+wife within a year and a day, I will carry you at once to the palace
+of your father-in-law."
+
+Iouenn promised to do as the phantom requested, and the dread being
+then asked him to mount upon his back. Iouenn did so, and the corpse
+then plunged into the sea, and, swimming swiftly, soon brought him to
+the port where his father-in-law reigned. When it had set him safely
+on shore it turned and with a wave of its gaunt white arm cried, "In a
+year and a day," then plunged back into the sea.
+
+When the door-keeper of the palace opened the gate in the morning he
+was astounded to see what appeared to be an animal crouching on the
+ground outside and crying for help. It was Iouenn. The palace lackeys
+crowded round him and threw him morsels of bread, which he devoured
+with avidity. One of the waiting-women told the Princess of the
+strange being who crouched outside. She descended in order to view
+him, and at once observed the golden chain she had given to her
+husband round his neck. Iouenn immediately rushed to embrace her. She
+took him to her chamber and clothed him suitably. By this time the
+bridal preparations had been completed, and, like the Princess in the
+story of the Miller of Léguer, the bride asked the advice of the
+company as to whether it were better to search for an old key that
+fitted a coffer in her possession or make use of a new key which did
+not fit; the coffer, of course, being her heart and the respective
+keys her husband and the minister. All the company advised searching
+for the old key, when she produced Iouenn and explained what she had
+meant. The crafty minister grew pale as death at sight of Iouenn, and
+the King stormed furiously.
+
+"Ho, there!" he cried, "build a great fire, varlets, and cast this
+slave into it." All the company thought at first that his words were
+intended to apply to Iouenn, but when they saw him point at the
+minister whose guilt the Princess had made plain, they applauded and
+the wretch was hurried away to his doom.
+
+Iouenn and the Princess lived happily at the Court, and in time a
+second little son was born to them. Their first child had died, and
+they were much rejoiced at its place being filled. Iouenn had entirely
+forgotten his indebtedness to the dead man, but one day in the month
+of November, when his wife was sitting quietly by the fire nursing her
+infant, with her husband opposite her, three loud knocks resounded
+upon the door, which flew open and revealed the horrible form of the
+corpse to which Iouenn owed his freedom. The Princess shrieked at
+sight of the phantom, which said in deep tones: "Iouenn, remember thy
+bargain."
+
+Trembling, Iouenn turned to his wife and asked her for the keys of
+their treasure-house, that he might give their terrible visitor a
+portion of their wealth, but with a disdainful wave of its arm the
+apparition bade him cease. "It is not your wealth I require, Iouenn,"
+it said in hollow tones. "Behold that which I desire," and it pointed
+to the infant slumbering in its mother's arms.
+
+Once more the Princess cried aloud, and clasped her little one to her
+bosom.
+
+"My infant!" cried Iouenn in despair. "Never!"
+
+"If you are a man of honour," said the corpse, "think of your promise
+made on the barren rock."
+
+"It is true," said Iouenn, wringing his hands, "but oh, remember how I
+saved your body from the dogs."
+
+"I only ask what is my due," said the ghost. "Besides, I do not desire
+all your infant, but a share of it only."
+
+"Wretch!" cried Iouenn, "are you without a heart? Have then your wish,
+for honour with me is above all." The infant was then undressed and
+laid between the two upon a table.
+
+"Take your sword," said the phantom, "and cut off a portion for me."
+
+"Ah, I would that I were on that desert rock in the middle of the
+ocean!" cried the unhappy father. He raised his weapon and was about
+to strike, when the phantom called upon him to hold.
+
+"Harm not your infant, Iouenn," it cried. "I see clearly that you are
+a man of honour and that you have not forgotten the service I rendered
+you; nor do I fail to remember what you did for me, and how it is
+through you that I am able to dwell in Paradise, which I would not
+have been permitted to enter had my debts not been paid and my body
+given burial. Farewell, until we meet above." And with these words the
+apparition vanished.
+
+Iouenn and the Princess lived long, respected by all, and when the old
+King died Iouenn, the man of his word, was made King in his place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI: BRETON FOLK-TALES
+
+
+The stories told here under the title of 'folk-tales' are such as do
+not partake so much of the universal element which enters so largely
+into Breton romance, but those which have a more national or even
+local tinge and are yet not legendary. The homely flavour attached to
+many stories of this kind is very apparent, and it is evident that
+they have been put together in oral form by unknown 'makers,' some of
+whom had either a natural or artistic aptitude for story-telling. In
+the first of the following tales it is curious to note how the ancient
+Breton theme has been put by its peasant narrator into almost a modern
+dress.
+
+
+_The Magic Rose_
+
+An aged Breton couple had two sons, the elder of whom went to Paris to
+seek his fortune, while the younger one was timid by nature and would
+not leave the paternal roof. His mother, who felt the burden of her
+age, wished the stay-at-home to marry. At first he would not hear of
+the idea, but at last, persuaded by her, he took a wife. He had only
+been married a few weeks, however, when his young bride sickened and
+died. La Rose, for such was his name, was inconsolable. Every evening
+he went to the cemetery where his wife was buried, and wept over her
+tomb.
+
+One night he was about to enter the graveyard on his sad errand when
+he beheld a terrible phantom standing before him, which asked him in
+awful tones what he did there.
+
+"I am going to pray at the tomb of my wife," replied the terrified La
+Rose.
+
+"Do you wish that she were alive again?" asked the spirit.
+
+"Ah, yes!" cried the sorrowing husband. "There is nothing that I would
+not do in order that she might be restored to me."
+
+"Hearken, then," said the phantom. "Return to this place to-morrow
+night at the same hour. Provide yourself with a pick and you will see
+what comes to pass."
+
+On the following night the young widower was punctually at the
+rendezvous. The phantom presented itself before him and said:
+
+"Go to the tomb of your wife and strike it with your pick; the earth
+will turn aside and you will behold her lying in her shroud. Take this
+little silver box, which contains a rose; open it and pass it before
+her nostrils three times, when she will awake as if from a deep
+sleep."
+
+La Rose hastened to the tomb of his wife, and everything happened as
+the phantom had predicted. He placed the box containing the rose to
+his wife's nostrils and she awoke with a sigh, saying: "Ah, I have
+been asleep for a long time." Her husband provided her with clothes
+which he had brought with him, and they returned to their house, much
+to the joy of his parents.
+
+Some time afterward La Rose's father died at a great age, and the
+grief-stricken mother was not long in following him to the grave. La
+Rose wrote to his brother in Paris to return to Brittany in order to
+receive his portion of the paternal inheritance, but he was unable to
+leave the capital, so La Rose had perforce to journey to Paris. He
+promised his wife before leaving that he would write to her every
+day, but on his arrival in the city he found his brother very ill, and
+in the anxiety of nursing him back to health he quite forgot to send
+his wife news of how he fared.
+
+The weeks passed and La Rose's wife, without word of her husband,
+began to dread that something untoward had happened to him. Day by day
+she sat at her window weeping and watching for the courier who brought
+letters from Paris. A regiment of dragoons chanced to be billeted in
+the town, and the captain, who lodged at the inn directly opposite La
+Rose's house, was greatly attracted by the young wife. He inquired of
+the landlady who was the beautiful dame who sat constantly weeping at
+her window, and learned the details of her history. He wrote a letter
+to her purporting to come from La Rose's brother in Paris, telling her
+that her husband had died in the capital, and some time after paid his
+addresses to the supposed widow, who accepted him. They were married,
+and when the regiment left the town the newly wedded pair accompanied
+it.
+
+Meanwhile La Rose's brother recovered from his illness, and the eager
+husband hastened back to Brittany. But when he arrived at his home he
+was surprised to find the doors closed, and was speedily informed of
+what had occurred during his absence. For a while he was too
+grief-stricken to act, but, recovering himself somewhat, he resolved
+to enlist in the regiment of dragoons in which the false captain held
+his commission. The beauty of his handwriting procured him the post of
+secretary to one of the lieutenants, but although he frequently
+attempted to gain sight of his wife he never succeeded in doing so.
+One day the captain entered the lieutenant's office, observed the
+writing of La Rose, and asked his brother officer if he would kindly
+lend him his secretary for a few days to assist him with some
+correspondence. While helping the captain La Rose beheld his wife, who
+did not, however, recognize him. Greatly pleased with his work, the
+captain invited him to dinner. During the repast a servant, who had
+stolen a silver dish, fearing that it was about to be missed, slid it
+into La Rose's pocket, and when it could not be found, accused the
+secretary of the theft. La Rose was brought before a court-martial,
+which condemned him to be shot.
+
+While in prison awaiting his execution La Rose struck up an
+acquaintance with an old veteran named Père La Chique, who brought him
+his meals and seemed kindly disposed to him.
+
+"Père La Chique," said La Rose one day, "I have two thousand francs;
+if you will do as I ask you they shall be yours."
+
+The veteran promised instantly, and La Rose requested that after he
+was shot La Chique should go to the cemetery where he was buried and
+resuscitate him with the magic rose, which he had carefully preserved.
+On the appointed day La Rose was duly executed, but Père La Chique,
+with his pockets full of money, went from inn to inn, drinking and
+making merry. Whenever the thought of La Rose crossed his mind, he
+muttered to himself in bibulous accents: "Poor fellow, poor fellow, he
+is better dead. This is a weary world; why should I bring him back to
+it?"
+
+When Père La Chique had caroused with his comrades for some days the
+two thousand francs had almost disappeared. Then remorse assailed him
+and he made up his mind to do as La Rose had wished. Taking a pick
+and an axe he went to the graveyard, but when he struck the grave with
+his tools and the earth rolled back, disclosing the body of La Rose,
+the old fellow was so terrified that he ran helter-skelter from the
+spot. A draught of good wine brought back his failing courage,
+however, and he returned and passed the rose three times under the
+nostrils of his late acquaintance. Instantly La Rose sat up.
+
+"By my faith, I've had a good sleep!" he said, rubbing his eyes.
+"Where are my clothes?"
+
+Père La Chique handed him his garments, and after he had donned them
+they quitted the graveyard with all haste.
+
+La Rose now found it necessary to cast about for a living. One day he
+heard the sound of a drum in the street, and, following it, found that
+it was beaten by a crier who promised in the King's name a large
+reward to those who would enlist as sentinels to guard a chapel where
+the King's daughter, who had been changed into a monster, was
+imprisoned. La Rose accepted the offer, and then learned to his dismay
+that the sentinel who guarded the place between the hours of eleven
+and midnight was never seen again. On the very first night that he
+took up his duties this perilous watch fell to his lot. He felt his
+courage deserting him, and he was about to fly when he heard a voice
+say: "La Rose, where are you?"
+
+La Rose trembled. "What do you wish with me?" he asked.
+
+"Hearken to me, and no evil will befall you," replied the voice. "Soon
+a great and grisly beast will appear. Leave your musket by the side of
+the sentry-box, climb on the top, and the beast will not touch you."
+
+As eleven o'clock struck La Rose heard a noise and hastened to climb
+on the top of the sentry-box. Soon a hideous monster came out of the
+chapel, breathing flames and crying: "Sentinel of my father, where art
+thou, that I may devour thee?" As it uttered these words, it fell
+against the musket, which it seized between its teeth. Then the
+creature disappeared into the chapel and La Rose descended from his
+perch. He found the musket broken into a thousand pieces.
+
+The old King was delighted to learn that his sentinel had not been
+devoured, for in order that his daughter should be delivered from her
+enchantment as a beast it was necessary that the same sentinel should
+mount guard for three consecutive nights between the hours of eleven
+and midnight.
+
+On the following night La Rose was pacing up and down on guard, when
+the same voice addressed him, telling him on this occasion to place
+his musket before the door of the chapel. The beast issued as before,
+seized the musket, broke it into small pieces, and returned to the
+chapel. On the third night the voice advised him to throw open the
+door of the chapel, and when the beast came out to run into the
+building himself, where he would see a leaden shrine, behind which he
+could take refuge, and where he would find a small bottle, with the
+contents of which he was to sprinkle the beast's head. With its usual
+dreadful roar the monster issued from the chapel. La Rose leapt past
+it and ran for the leaden shrine. It followed him with hideous howls,
+and he only reached the protective sanctuary in time. Seizing the
+little bottle which lay there, he fearlessly fronted the beast and
+sprinkled its contents over its head. Instantly it changed into a
+beautiful princess, whom La Rose escorted to her delighted parents. La
+Rose and the princess were betrothed and duly married, and shortly
+afterward the King gave up his throne to his son-in-law.
+
+One day the new King was inspecting the regiment of dragoons to which
+he had once belonged.
+
+"Colonel," he said, "I miss a man from your regiment."
+
+"It is true, sire," replied the Colonel. "It is an old fellow called
+Père La Chique, whom we have left at the barracks playing his violin,
+the old good-for-nothing!"
+
+"I wish to see him," said the King.
+
+Père La Chique was brought forward trembling, and the King, tearing
+the epaulettes from the shoulders of the captain who had stolen his
+wife, placed them on those of Père La Chique. He then gave orders for
+a great fire to be lit, in which were burned the wicked captain and
+the wife who had so soon forgotten her husband.
+
+La Rose and his Queen lived happily ever afterward--which is rather
+odd, is it not, when one thinks of the treatment meted out to his
+resuscitated spouse? But if the lights in folk-tale are bright, the
+shadows are correspondingly heavy, and rarely does justice go hand in
+hand with mercy in legend!
+
+
+_Norouas, the North-west Wind_
+
+Brittany has an entire cycle of folk-tales dealing with the subject of
+the winds--which, indeed, play an extraordinary part in Breton
+folk-lore. The fishermen of the north coast frequently address the
+winds as if they were living beings, hurling opprobrious epithets at
+them if the direction in which they blow does not suit their purpose,
+shaking their fists at them in a most menacing manner the while. The
+following story, the only wind-tale it is possible to give here, well
+illustrates this personalization of the winds by the Breton folk.
+
+There was once a goodman and his wife who had a little field on which
+they grew flax. One season their patch yielded a particularly fine
+crop, and after it had been cut they laid it out to dry. But Norouas,
+the North-west Wind, came along and with one sweep of his mighty wings
+tossed it as high as the tree-tops, so that it fell into the sea and
+was lost.
+
+When the goodman saw what had happened he began to swear at the Wind,
+and, taking his stick, he set out to follow and slay Norouas, who had
+spoiled his flax. So hasty had he been in setting forth that he had
+taken no food or money with him, and when evening came he arrived at
+an inn hungry and penniless. He explained his plight to the hostess,
+who gave him a morsel of bread and permitted him to sleep in a corner
+of the stable. In the morning he asked the dame the way to the abode
+of Norouas, and she conducted him to the foot of a mountain, where she
+said the Winds dwelt.
+
+The goodman climbed the mountain, and at the top met with Surouas, the
+South-west Wind.
+
+"Are you he whom they call Norouas?" he asked.
+
+"No, I am Surouas," said the South-west Wind.
+
+"Where then is that villain Norouas?" cried the goodman.
+
+"Hush!" said Surouas, "do not speak so loud, goodman, for if he hears
+you he will toss you into the air like a straw."
+
+At that moment Norouas arrived, whistling wildly and vigorously.
+
+"Ah, thief of a Norouas," cried the goodman, "it was you who stole my
+beautiful crop of flax!" But the Wind took no notice of him.
+Nevertheless he did not cease to cry: "Norouas, Norouas, give me back
+my flax!"
+
+"Hush, hush!" cried Norouas. "Here is a napkin that will perhaps make
+you keep quiet."
+
+"With my crop of flax," howled the goodman, "I could have made a
+hundred napkins such as this. Norouas, give me back my flax!"
+
+"Be silent, fellow," said Norouas. "This is no common napkin which I
+give you. You have only to say, 'Napkin, unfold thyself,' to have the
+best spread table in the world standing before you."
+
+The goodman took the napkin with a grumble, descended the mountain,
+and there, only half believing what Norouas had said, placed the
+napkin before him, saying, "Napkin, unfold thyself." Immediately a
+table appeared spread with a princely repast. The odour of cunningly
+cooked dishes arose, and rare wines sparkled in glittering vessels.
+After he had feasted the table vanished, and the goodman folded up his
+napkin and went back to the inn where he had slept the night before.
+
+"Well, did you get any satisfaction out of Norouas?" asked the
+hostess.
+
+"Indeed I did," replied the goodman, producing the napkin. "Behold
+this: Napkin, unfold thyself!" and as he spoke the magic table appeared
+before their eyes. The hostess, struck dumb with astonishment, at
+once became covetous and resolved to have the napkin for herself. So
+that night she placed the goodman in a handsome apartment where
+there was a beautiful bed with a soft feather mattress, on which he
+slept more soundly than ever he had done in his life. When he was fast
+asleep the cunning hostess entered the room and stole the napkin,
+leaving one of similar appearance in its place.
+
+In the morning the goodman set his face homeward, and duly arrived
+at his little farm. His wife eagerly asked him if Norouas had made
+good the damage done to the flax, to which her husband replied
+affirmatively and drew the substituted napkin from his pocket.
+
+"Why," quoth the dame, "we could have made two hundred napkins like
+this out of the flax that was destroyed."
+
+"Ah, but," said the goodman, "this napkin is not the same as others. I
+have only to say, 'Napkin, unfold thyself,' and a table covered with a
+most splendid feast appears. Napkin, unfold thyself--unfold thyself,
+dost thou hear?"
+
+"You are an old fool, goodman," said his wife when nothing happened.
+Her husband's jaw dropped and he seized his stick.
+
+"I have been sold by that rascal Norouas," he cried. "Well, I shall
+not spare him this time," and without more ado he rushed out of the
+house and took the road to the home of the Winds.
+
+He slept as before at the inn, and next morning climbed the mountain.
+He began at once to call loudly upon Norouas, who was whistling up
+aloft, demanding that he should return him his crop of flax.
+
+"Be quiet, down there!" cried Norouas.
+
+"I shall not be quiet!" screamed the goodman, brandishing his
+bludgeon. "You have made matters worse by cheating me with that napkin
+of yours!"
+
+"Well, well, then," replied Norouas, "here is an ass; you have only to
+say 'Ass, make me some gold,' and it will fall from his tail."
+
+The goodman, eager to test the value of the new gift, at once led the
+ass to the foot of the mountain and said: "Ass, make me some gold."
+The ass shook his tail, and a _rouleau_ of gold pieces fell to the
+ground. The goodman hastened to the inn, where, as before, he
+displayed the phenomenon to the hostess, who that night went into the
+stable and exchanged for the magical animal another similar in
+appearance to it. On the evening of the following day the goodman
+returned home and acquainted his wife with his good luck, but when he
+charged the ass to make gold and nothing happened, she railed at him
+once more for a fool, and in a towering passion he again set out to
+slay Norouas. Arrived at the mountain for the third time, he called
+loudly on the North-west Wind, and when he came heaped insults and
+reproaches upon him.
+
+"Softly," replied Norouas; "I am not to blame for your misfortune. You
+must know that it is the hostess at the inn where you slept who is the
+guilty party, for she stole your napkin and your ass. Take this
+cudgel. When you say to it, 'Strike, cudgel,' it will at once attack
+your enemies, and when you want it to stop you have only to cry, '_Ora
+pro nobis_.'"
+
+The goodman, eager to test the efficacy of the cudgel, at once said to
+it, "Strike, cudgel," whereupon it commenced to belabour him so
+soundly that he yelled, "_Ora pro nobis!_" when it ceased.
+
+Returning to the inn in a very stormy mood, he loudly demanded the
+return of his napkin and his ass, whereupon the hostess threatened to
+fetch the gendarmes.
+
+"Strike, cudgel!" cried the goodman, and the stick immediately set
+about the hostess in such vigorous style that she cried to the goodman
+to call it off and she would at once return his ass and his napkin.
+
+When his property had been returned to him the goodman lost no time in
+making his way homeward, where he rejoiced his wife by the sight of
+the treasures he brought with him. He rapidly grew rich, and his
+neighbours, becoming suspicious at the sight of so much wealth, had
+him arrested and brought before a magistrate on a charge of wholesale
+murder and robbery. He was sentenced to death, and on the day of his
+execution he was about to mount the scaffold, when he begged as a last
+request that his old cudgel might be brought him. The boon was
+granted, and no sooner had the stick been given into his hands than he
+cried, "Strike, cudgel!"
+
+And the cudgel _did_ strike. It belaboured judge, gendarmes, and
+spectators in such a manner that they fled howling from the scene. It
+demolished the scaffold and cracked the hangman's crown. A great cry
+for mercy arose. The goodman was instantly pardoned, and was never
+further molested in the enjoyment of the treasures the North-west Wind
+had given him as compensation for his crop of flax.
+
+
+_The Foster-Brother_
+
+The weird tale which follows has many parallels in world folk-lore, but
+is localized at Tréguier, an old cathedral town in the Côtes-du-Nord at
+the junction of the Jaudy and the Guindy, famous for the beautiful
+windows of its celebrated church, founded by St Tugdual.
+
+Gwennolaïk was the most noble and beautiful maiden in Tréguier, but,
+alas! she was almost friendless, for at an early age she had lost her
+father, her mother, and her two sisters, and her sole remaining
+relative was her stepmother. Pitiful it was to see her standing at the
+door of her manor, weeping as if her heart would break. But although
+she had none of her own blood to cherish she still nursed the hope
+that her foster-brother, who had journeyed abroad for some years,
+might one day return, and often would she stand gazing fixedly over
+the sea as if in search of the vessel that would bring him home. They
+had been playmates, and although six years had passed since he had
+left the country, the time had gone quickly, and when Gwennolaïk
+thought of the young man it was as the boy who had shared the games
+and little amusements of her childhood. From these day-dreams she
+would be rudely awakened by the harsh voice of her stepmother calling
+to her: "Come here, my girl, and attend to the animals. I don't feed
+you for loafing and doing nothing."
+
+Poor Gwennolaïk had a sad life with her stepmother. Noble as she was
+she was yet forced by the vindictive old woman to rise in the early
+hours of the morning, even two or three hours before daylight in
+winter, to light the fire and sweep the house and perform other menial
+work. One evening as she was breaking the ice in the well in order to
+draw water for the household she was interrupted by a cavalier
+returning to Nantes.
+
+"Good e'en to you, maiden. Are you affianced to anyone?"
+
+The girl did not reply, but hung her head.
+
+"Come, don't be afraid," said the handsome horseman, "but answer my
+question."
+
+She looked at him almost fearfully. "Saving your grace, I have never
+been affianced to anyone."
+
+"Good," replied the cavalier. "Take this gold ring and say to your
+stepmother that you are now affianced to a cavalier of Nantes who
+has been in a great battle and who has lost his squire in the
+combat; and you may also add that he has been wounded in the side
+by a sword-stroke. In three weeks and three days, when my wound is
+healed, I will return and will take you to my manor with joy and
+festival."
+
+The maiden returned to the house and looked at the ring. It was the
+same as her foster-brother used to wear on his left hand!
+
+Three weeks ran by, but the cavalier did not return. Then the
+stepmother said one morning: "It is time, daughter, that you should
+marry, and I may tell you that I have found you a husband after my own
+heart."
+
+"Saving your grace, good stepmother, I do not wish to marry anyone
+except my foster-brother, who has returned. He has given me a golden
+wedding-ring, and has promised to come for me within a few days."
+
+"A fig for your gold ring," cried the malignant hag. "_Bon gré, mal
+gré_, you shall marry Job the Witless, the stable boy."
+
+"Marry Job! Oh, horror! I should die of grief! Alas, my mother, were
+you but here now to protect me!"
+
+"If you must howl, pray do so in the courtyard. You may make as many
+grimaces as you please, but in three days you shall be married for all
+that."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The old gravedigger slowly patrolled the road, his bell in his hand,
+carrying the news of those who had died from village to village. In
+his doleful whine he cried: "Pray for the soul of a noble cavalier, a
+worthy gentleman of a good heart, who was mortally wounded in the side
+by the stroke of a sword in the battle near Nantes. He is to be buried
+to-day in the White Church."
+
+At the marriage feast the bride was all in tears. All the guests,
+young and old, wept with her, all except her stepmother. She was
+conducted to the place of honour at supper-time, but she only drank a
+sip of water and ate a morsel of bread. By and by the dancing
+commenced, but when it was proposed that the bride should join in the
+revels she was not to be found; she had, indeed, escaped from the
+house, her hair flying in disorder, and where she had gone no one
+knew.
+
+All the lights were out at the manor, every one slept profoundly. The
+poor young woman alone lay concealed in the garden in the throes of a
+fever. She heard a footstep close by. "Who is there?" she asked
+fearfully.
+
+"It is I, Nola, your foster-brother."
+
+"Ah, is it you? You are truly welcome, my dear brother," cried
+Gwennolaïk, rising in rapture.
+
+"Come with me," he whispered, and swinging her on to the crupper of
+his white horse he plunged madly into the night.
+
+"We fly fast," she cried. "We must have ridden a hundred leagues, I
+think. Ah, but I am happy with thee! I will never leave thee more."
+
+The owl hooted and night noises came to her ears.
+
+"Ah, but thy horse is swift," said she, "and thine armour, how
+brilliant it is! How happy I am to have found thee, my foster-brother!
+But are we near thy manor?"
+
+[Illustration: GWENNOLAÏK AND NOLA]
+
+"We shall arrive there in good time, my sister," he replied.
+
+"Thy heart is cold, thy hair is wet! Ah, how chill are thy hands!"
+
+"Listen, my sister; do you not hear the noise of the gay musicians who
+shall play at our wedding?" He had not finished speaking when his
+horse threw itself back on its haunches all at once, trembling and
+whinnying loudly.
+
+Gwennolaïk looked around, and found herself on an island where a crowd
+of people were dancing. Lads and lasses, they danced most bravely
+beneath the green trees heavy with apples, and the music to which they
+tripped was as that of heaven.
+
+Suddenly the sun rose above the eastern mountains and flooded this
+strange new world with rich light, and there Gwennolaïk found her
+mother and her two sisters, and there was nothing in her heart but
+beauty and joy.
+
+On the following morning, as the sun rose, the young women carried the
+body of Gwennolaïk and laid it in the tomb of her foster-brother in
+the White Church.
+
+In this ballad--for the original from which we take the tale is cast
+in ballad form--we are once more in touch with the Celtic Otherworld.
+It is a thousand pities that this interesting piece breaks off where
+it does, thus failing to provide us with a fuller account of that most
+elusive realm. The short glimpse we do get of it, however, reminds us
+very much of the descriptions of it we possess in Irish lore. We have
+also once more the phenomenon of the dead lover who comes to claim the
+living bride, the midnight gallop, and other circumstances
+characteristic of ballad literature. There was a tradition in Lower
+Brittany, however, that no soul might be admitted to the other world
+which had not first received burial, but here, of course, we must look
+for Christian influence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII: POPULAR LEGENDS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+"The legend," says Gomme, in a passage most memorable for students of
+folk-lore as containing his acute and precise definition of the
+several classes of tradition, "belongs to an historical personage,
+locality, or event,"[40] and it is in this general sense that the term
+is employed in regard to the contents of this chapter, unless where
+mythic or folk-lore matter is introduced for the sake of analogy or
+illustration. There is, however, a broad, popular reading of the term
+as indicating the fanciful-historical. When we read of the King of Ys,
+or Arthur, for example, we are not aware whether they ever existed or
+not, but they are alluded to by tradition as ancient rulers of
+Brittany and Britain, just as Cymbeline and Cole are spoken of as
+British monarchs of the distant past. They linger as personal figures
+in the folk-memory, but they scarcely seem as the personages of
+folk-tale. Let us say, then, for the purposes of our classification of
+Breton tradition, that we include in the term 'legend' all tales of
+great personal figures who are historical or over whom folk-tale has
+cast an historical _vraisemblance_, remembering at the same time that
+in the case of personages whose existence is doubtful we may be
+dealing with a folk-tale disguised or even a distorted myth.
+
+
+_The Dark Story of Gilles de Retz_
+
+Of the dark and terrible legends to which Brittany has given birth,
+one of the most gloomy and romantic is the story of Gilles de Retz,
+alchemist, magician, and arch-criminal. But the story is not
+altogether legendary, although it has undoubtedly been added to from
+the great stores of tradition. Gilles is none other than the Bluebeard
+of the nursery tale, for he appears to have actually worn a beard
+bluish-black in hue, and it is probable that his personality became
+mingled with that of the hero of the old Oriental story.
+
+Gilles de Laval, Lord of Retz and Marshal of France, was connected
+with some of the noblest families in Brittany, those of Montmorency,
+Rocey, and Craon, and at his father's death, about 1424, he found
+himself lord of many princely domains, and what, for those times, was
+almost unlimited power and wealth. He was a handsome youth, lithe and
+of fascinating address, courageous, and learned as any clerk. A
+splendid career lay before him, but from the first that distorted idea
+of the romantic which is typical of certain minds had seized upon him,
+and despite his rank and position he much preferred the dark courses
+which finally ended in his disgrace and ruin to the dignities of his
+seigneury.
+
+Gilles took his principal title from the barony of Retz or Rais, south
+of the Loire, on the marches of Brittany. As a youth he did nothing to
+justify an evil augury of his future, for he served with zeal and
+gallantry in the wars of Charles VI against the English and fought
+under Jeanne Darc at the siege of Orléans. In virtue of these
+services, and because of his shrewdness and skill in affairs, the King
+created him Marshal of France. But from that time onward the man who
+had been the able lieutenant of Jeanne Darc and had fought by her side
+at Jargeau and Patay began to deteriorate. Some years before he had
+married Catherine de Thouars, and with her had received a large dowry;
+but he had expended immense sums in the national cause, and his
+private life was as extravagant as that of a prince in a fairy tale.
+At his castle of Champtocé he dwelt in almost royal state; indeed, his
+train when he went hawking or hunting exceeded in magnificence that of
+the King himself. His retainers were tricked out in the most gorgeous
+liveries, and his table was spread with ruinous abundance. Oxen,
+sheep, and pigs were roasted whole, and viands were provided daily for
+five hundred persons. He had an insane love of pomp and display, and
+his private devotions were ministered to by a large body of
+ecclesiastics. His chapel was a marvel of splendour, and was furnished
+with gold and silver plate in the most lavish manner. His love of
+colour and movement made him fond of theatrical displays, and it is
+even said that the play or mystery of Orléans, dealing with the story
+of Jeanne Darc, was written with his own hand. He was munificent in
+his patronage of the arts, and was himself a skilled illuminator and
+bookbinder. In short, he was obviously one of those persons of
+abnormal character in whom genius is allied to madness and who can
+attempt and execute nothing except in a spirit of the wildest excess.
+
+The reduction of his fortune merely served his peculiar and abnormal
+personality with a new excuse for extravagance. At this time the art
+of alchemy flourished exceedingly and the works of Nicolas Flamel, the
+Arabian Geber, and Pierre d'Estaing enjoyed a great vogue. On an evil
+day it occurred to Gilles to turn alchemist, and thus repair his
+broken fortunes. In the first quarter of the fifteenth century alchemy
+stood for scientific achievement, and many persons in our own
+enlightened age still study its maxims. A society exists to-day the
+object of which is to further the knowledge of alchemical science. A
+common misapprehension is current to the effect that the object of the
+alchemists was the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, but in
+reality they were divided into two groups, those who sought eagerly
+the secret of manufacturing the precious metals, and those who dreamed
+of a higher aim, the transmutation of the gross, terrestrial nature of
+man into the pure gold of the spirit.
+
+The latter of these aims was beyond the fevered imagination of such a
+wild and disorderly mind as that of Gilles de Retz. He sent emissaries
+into Italy, Spain, and Germany to invite adepts in the science to his
+castle at Champtocé. From among these he selected two men to assist
+him in his plan--Prelati, an alchemist of Padua, and a certain
+physician of Poitou, whose name is not recorded. At their instigation
+he built a magnificent laboratory, and when it was completed commenced
+to experiment. A year passed, during which the necessities of the
+'science' gradually emptied many bags of gold, but none returned to
+the Marshal's coffers. The alchemists slept soft and fed sumptuously,
+and were quite content to pursue their labours so long as the Seigneur
+of Retz had occasion for their services. But as the time passed that
+august person became greatly impatient, and so irritable did he grow
+because of the lack of results that at length his assistants, in
+imminent fear of dismissal, communicated to him a dark and dreadful
+secret of their art, which, they assured him, would assist them at
+arriving speedily at the desired end.
+
+The nature of the experiment they proposed was so grotesque that its
+acceptance by Gilles proves that he was either insane or a victim of
+the superstition of his time. His wretched accomplices told him that
+the Evil One alone was capable of revealing the secret of the
+transmutation of the baser metals into gold, and they offered to
+summon him to their master's aid. They assured Gilles that Satan would
+require a recompense for his services, and the Marshal retorted that
+so long as he saved his soul intact he was quite willing to conclude
+any bargain that the Father of Evil might propose.
+
+It was arranged that the ceremony should take place within a gloomy
+wood in the neighbourhood. The nameless physician conducted the Lord
+of Retz to a small clearing in this plantation, where the magic circle
+was drawn and the usual conjurations made. For half an hour they
+waited in silence, and then a great trembling fell upon the physician.
+A deadly pallor overspread his countenance. His knees shook, he
+muttered wildly, and at last he sank to the ground. Gilles stood by
+unmoved. The insanity of egotism is of course productive of great if
+not lofty courage, and he feared neither man nor fiend. Suddenly the
+alchemist regained consciousness and told his master that the Devil
+had appeared to him in the shape of a leopard and had growled at him
+horribly. He ascribed Gilles' lack of supernatural vision to want of
+faith. He then declared that the Evil One had told him where certain
+herbs grew in Spain and Africa, the juices of which possessed the
+power to effect the transmutation, and these he obligingly offered to
+search for, provided the Lord of Retz furnished the means for his
+travels. This Gilles gladly did, and of course never beheld the
+Poitevin knave again.
+
+Days and months passed and the physician did not return. Gilles grew
+uneasy. It was imperative that gold should be forthcoming immediately,
+for not only was he being pressed on every side, but he was unable to
+support his usual magnificence. In this dilemma he turned to Prelati,
+his remaining alchemical assistant. This man appears to have believed
+in his art or he would not have made the terrible suggestion he did,
+which was that the Lord of Retz should sign with his own blood a
+compact with the Devil, and should offer up a young child in sacrifice
+to him. To this proposal the unhappy Gilles consented. On the
+following night Prelati quitted the castle, and returned shortly
+afterward with the story that the fiend had appeared to him in the
+likeness of a young man who desired to be called Barron, and had
+pointed out to him the resting-place of a hoard of ingots of pure
+gold, buried under an oak in the neighbouring wood. Certain
+conditions, however, must be observed before the treasure was dug up,
+the chief of which was that it must not be searched for until a period
+of seven times seven weeks had elapsed, or it would turn into slates.
+With these conditions de Retz would not comply, and, alarmed at his
+annoyance, the obliging Prelati curtailed the time of waiting to seven
+times seven days. At the end of that period the alchemist and his dupe
+repaired to the wood to dig up the treasure. They worked hard for some
+time, and at length came upon a load of slates, inscribed with magical
+characters. Prelati pretended great wrath, and upbraided the Evil One
+for his deceit, in which denunciation he was heartily joined by de
+Retz. But so credulous was the Seigneur that he allowed himself to be
+persuaded to afford Satan another trial, which meant, of course, that
+Prelati led him on from day to day with specious promises and
+ambiguous hints, until he had drained him of nearly all his remaining
+substance. He was then preparing to decamp with his plunder when a
+dramatic incident detained him.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEVIL IN THE FORM OF A LEOPARD APPEARS BEFORE THE
+ALCHEMIST]
+
+For some time a rumour had been circulating in the country-side that
+numerous children were missing and that they had been spirited away.
+Popular clamour ran high, and suspicion was directed toward the castle
+of Champtocé. So circumstantial was the evidence against de Retz that
+at length the Duke of Brittany ordered both the Seigneur and his
+accomplice to be arrested. Their trial took place before a commission
+which de Retz denounced, declaring that he would rather be hanged like
+a dog, without trial, than plead before its members. But the evidence
+against him was overwhelming. It was told how the wretched madman, in
+his insane quest for gold, had sacrificed his innocent victims on the
+altar of Satan, and how he had gloated over their sufferings. Finally
+he confessed his enormities and told how nearly a hundred children had
+been cruelly murdered by him and his relentless accomplice. Both he
+and Prelati were doomed to be burned alive, but in consideration of
+his rank he was strangled before being cast into the flames. Before
+the execution he expressed to Prelati a hope that they would meet in
+Paradise, and, it is said, met his end very devoutly.
+
+The castle of Champtocé still stands in its beautiful valley, and
+many romantic legends cluster about its grey old walls. "The
+hideous, half-burnt body of the monster himself," says Trollope,
+"circled with flames--pale, indeed, and faint in colour, but more
+lasting than those the hangman kindled around his mortal form in
+the meadow under the walls of Nantes--is seen, on bright moonlight
+nights, standing now on one topmost point of craggy wall, and now
+on another, and is heard mingling his moan with the sough of the
+night-wind. Pale, bloodless forms, too, of youthful growth and
+mien, the restless, unsepulchred ghosts of the unfortunates who
+perished in these dungeons unassoiled ... may at similar times be
+seen flitting backward and forward, in numerous groups, across the
+space enclosed by the ruined wall, with more than mortal speed, or
+glancing hurriedly from window to window of the fabric, as still
+seeking to escape from its hateful confinement."[41]
+
+
+_Comorre the Cursed_
+
+As has been said, the story of Gilles de Retz is connected by
+tradition with that of Bluebeard, but it is probable that this
+traditional connexion arises simply from the association of two famous
+tales. The other legend in question is that of Comorre the Cursed,
+whose story is told in the frescoes which cover the wall of the church
+of St Nicolas de Bieuzy, dedicated to St Triphyne, in which the tale
+of Bluebeard is depicted as the story of the saint, who in history was
+the wife of Comorre. Comorre was a chief who ruled at Carhaix, in
+Finistère, and his tale, which owes its modern dress to Émile
+Souvestre, himself a Breton, and author of _Derniers Bretons_ and the
+brilliant sketch _Un Philosophe sous les Toits_. The tale, translated,
+runs as follows:
+
+Guerech, Count of Vannes, 'the Country of White Corn,' had a daughter,
+Triphyna, whom he tenderly loved. One day ambassadors arrived from
+Comorre, a prince of Cornouaille, 'the Country of Black Corn,'
+demanding her in marriage. Now this caused great distress, for
+Comorre was a giant, and one of the wickedest of men, held in awe by
+every one for his cruelty. As a boy, when he went out, his mother used
+to ring a bell to warn people of his approach; and when unsuccessful
+in the chase he would set his dogs on the peasants to tear them to
+pieces. But most horrible of all, he had had four wives, who had all
+died one after the other, it was suspected either by the knife, fire,
+water, or poison. The Count of Vannes, therefore, dismissed the
+ambassadors, and advanced to meet Comorre, who was approaching with a
+powerful army; but St Gildas went into Triphyna's oratory and begged
+her to save bloodshed and consent to the marriage. He gave her a
+silver ring, which would warn her of any intended evil by turning as
+black as a crow's wing at the approach of danger.
+
+The marriage took place with great rejoicings. The first day six
+thousand guests were invited; on the next day as many poor were fed,
+the bride and the bridegroom themselves serving at the tables. For
+some time all went well. Comorre's nature seemed altered; his prisons
+were empty, his gibbets untenanted. But Triphyna felt no confidence,
+and every day went to pray at the tombs of his four wives. At this
+time there was an assembly of the Breton princes at Rennes, which
+Comorre was obliged to attend. Before his departure he gave Triphyna
+his keys, desiring her to amuse herself in his absence. After five
+months he unexpectedly returned, and found her occupied trimming an
+infant's cap with gold lace. On seeing the cap Comorre turned pale;
+and when Triphyna joyfully announced to him that soon he would be a
+father he drew back in a rage and rushed out of the apartment.
+Triphyna saw that her ring had turned black, which betokened danger,
+she knew not why. She descended into the chapel to pray. When she rose
+to depart the hour of midnight struck, and suddenly a sound of
+movement in the silent chapel chilled her at the heart; shrinking into
+a recess, she saw the four tombs of Comorre's wives open slowly, and
+the women all issued forth in their winding-sheets.
+
+Faint with terror, Triphyna tried to escape; but the spectres cried:
+"Take care, poor lost one! Comorre seeks to kill you."
+
+"Me," said the Countess. "What evil have I done?"
+
+"You have told him that you will soon become a mother; and, through
+the Spirit of Evil, he knows that his child will slay him. He murdered
+us when we told him what he has just learned from you."
+
+"What hope, then, of refuge remains for me?" cried Triphyna.
+
+"Go back to your father," answered the phantoms.
+
+"But how escape when Comorre's dog guards the court?"
+
+"Give him this poison which killed me," said the first wife.
+
+"But how can I descend yon high wall?"
+
+"By means of this cord which strangled me," answered the second wife.
+
+"But who will guide me through the dark?"
+
+"The fire that burnt me," replied the third wife.
+
+"And how can I make so long a journey?" returned Triphyna.
+
+"Take this stick which broke my skull," rejoined the fourth spectre.
+
+Armed with the poison, the rope, and the stick, Triphyna set out,
+silenced the dog, scaled the wall, and, miraculously guided on her
+way through the darkness by a glowing light, proceeded on her road to
+Vannes. On awaking next morning Comorre found that his wife had fled,
+and pursued her on horseback. The poor fugitive, seeing her ring turn
+black, turned off the road and hid herself till night in the cabin of
+a shepherd, where there was only an old magpie in a cage at the door,
+and here her baby was born. Comorre, who had given up the pursuit, was
+returning home by that road, when he heard the magpie trying to
+imitate her complaints and calling out "Poor Triphyna!" Guessing that
+his wife had passed that way, he set his dog on the track.
+
+Meanwhile Triphyna felt she could proceed no farther, and lay down on
+the ground with her baby boy. As she clasped the child in her arms she
+saw over her head a falcon with a golden collar, which she recognized
+as her father's. The bird came at her call, and giving it the warning
+ring of St Gildas she told it to fly with it to her father. The bird
+obeyed, and flew like lightning to Vannes; but almost at the same
+instant Comorre arrived. Having parted with her warning ring,
+Triphyna, who had no notice of his approach, had only time to conceal
+her babe in the cavity of a tree when Comorre threw himself upon her,
+and with one blow from his sword severed her head from her body.
+
+When the falcon arrived at Vannes he found the Count at dinner with St
+Gildas. He let the ring fall into the silver cup of his master, who,
+recognizing it, exclaimed:
+
+"My daughter is in danger! Saddle the horses, and let Saint Gildas
+accompany us." Following the falcon, they soon reached the spot where
+Triphyna lay dead. After they had all knelt in prayer, St Gildas said
+to the corpse: "Arise, take thy head and thy child, and follow us."
+The dead body obeyed, the bewildered troop followed; but, gallop as
+fast as they could, the headless body was always in front, carrying
+the babe in her left hand, and her pale head in the right. In this
+manner they reached the castle of Comorre.
+
+"Count," called St Gildas before the gates, "I bring back thy wife
+such as thy wickedness has made her, and thy child such as heaven has
+given it thee. Wilt thou receive them under thy roof?"
+
+Comorre was silent. The Saint three times repeated the question, but
+no voice returned an answer. Then St Gildas took the new-born infant
+from its mother and placed it on the ground. The child marched alone
+to the edge of the moat, picked up a handful of earth, and, throwing
+it against the castle, exclaimed: "Let the Trinity execute judgment."
+At the same instant the towers shook and fell with a crash, the walls
+yawned open, and the castle sunk, burying Comorre and all his partners
+in crime. St Gildas then replaced Triphyna's head upon her shoulders,
+laid his hands upon her, and restored her to life, to the great joy of
+her father. Such is the history of Triphyna and Comorre.
+
+
+_The Legend of Ys_
+
+The legend of the submerged city of Ys, or Is, is perhaps the most
+romantic and imaginative effort of Breton popular legend. Who has not
+heard of the submerged bells of Ys, and who has not heard them ring in
+the echoes of his own imagination?
+
+This picturesque legend[42] tells us that in the early days of the
+Christian epoch the city of Ys, or Ker-is, was ruled by a prince
+called Gradlon, surnamed Meur, which in Celtic means 'the Great.'
+Gradlon was a saintly and pious man, and acted as patron to Gwénnolé,
+founder and first abbé of the first monastery built in Armorica. But,
+besides being a religious man, Gradlon was a prudent prince, and
+defended his capital of Ys from the invasions of the sea by
+constructing an immense basin to receive the overflow of the water at
+high tide. This basin had a secret gate, of which the King alone
+possessed the key, and which he opened and closed at the necessary
+times.
+
+Gradlon, as is so often the case with pious men, had a wayward child,
+the princess Dahut, who on one occasion while her father was sleeping
+gave a secret banquet to her lover, in which the pair, excited with
+wine, committed folly after folly, until at last it occurred to the
+frivolous girl to open the sluice-gate. Stealing noiselessly into her
+sleeping father's chamber she detached from his girdle the key he
+guarded so jealously and opened the gate. The water immediately rushed
+in and submerged the entire city.
+
+But, as usual, there is more than one version of this interesting
+legend. The city of Ys, says another account, was a place rich in
+commerce and the arts, but so given over to luxury as to arouse the
+ire of St Gwénnolé, who, in the manner of Jeremiah, foretold its ruin.
+It was situated where now a piece of water, the Étang de Laval, washes
+the desolate shores of the Bay of Trépassés--though another version of
+the tale has it that it stood in the vast basin which now forms the
+Bay of Douarnenez. A strong dike protected it from the ocean, the
+sluices only admitting sufficient water for the needs of the town.
+Gradlon constantly bore round his neck a silver key which opened at
+the same time the vast sluices and the city gates. He lived in great
+state in a palace of marble, cedar, and gold, and his only grief was
+the conduct of his daughter Dahut, who, it is said, "had made a crown
+of her vices and taken for her pages the seven capital sins." But
+retribution was at hand, and the wicked city met with sudden
+destruction, for one night Dahut stole the silver key for the purpose
+of opening the city gates to admit her lover, and in the darkness by
+mistake opened the sluices. King Gradlon was awakened by St Gwénnolé,
+who commanded him to flee, as the torrent was reaching the palace. He
+mounted his horse, and, taking his worthless daughter behind him, set
+off at a gallop, the incoming flood seething and boiling at his
+steed's fetlocks. The torrent was about to overtake and submerge him
+when a voice from behind called out: "Throw the demon thou carriest
+into the sea, if thou dost not desire to perish." Dahut at that moment
+fell from the horse's back into the water, and the torrent immediately
+stopped its course. Gradlon reached Quimper safe and sound, but
+nothing is said as to his subsequent career.
+
+[Illustration: THE ESCAPE OF KING GRADLON FROM THE FLOODED CITY OF YS]
+
+An ancient ballad on the subject, which, however, bears marks of
+having been tampered with, states, on the other hand, that Gradlon led
+his people into extravagances of every kind, and that Dahut received
+the key from him, the misuse of which precipitated the catastrophe.
+Dahut, the ballad continues, became a mermaid and haunted the waters
+which roll over the site of the city where she loved and feasted.
+"Fisherman," ends the ballad, "have you seen the daughter of the sea
+combing her golden hair in the midday sun at the fringes of the
+beach?" "Yes," replies the fisherman, "I have seen the white daughter
+of the sea, and I have heard her sing, and her songs were plaintive as
+the sound of the waves."
+
+The legend of Ys, of the town swallowed up by the sea, is common to
+the several branches of the Celtic race. In Wales the site of the
+submerged city is in Cardigan Bay, and in Ireland it is Lough Neagh,
+as Tom Moore says:
+
+  On Lough Neagh's bank as the fisherman strays,
+    When the clear, cold eve's declining,
+  He sees the round towers of other days
+    In the wave beneath him shining.
+
+This legend had its rise in an extraordinary story which was given
+currency to by Giraldus Cambrensis in his _Topography of Ireland_, to
+the effect that a certain extremely wicked tribe were punished for
+their sins by the inundation of their territory.
+
+"Now there was a common proverb," says Gerald, "in the mouths of the
+tribe, that whenever the well-spring of that country was left
+uncovered (for out of reverence shown to it, from a barbarous
+superstition, the spring was kept covered and sealed), it would
+immediately overflow and inundate the whole province, drowning and
+destroying the whole population. It happened, however, on some
+occasion that a young woman, who had come to the spring to draw water,
+after filling her pitcher, but before she had closed the well, ran in
+great haste to her little boy, whom she had heard crying at a spot not
+far from the spring where she had left him. But the voice of the
+people is the voice of God; and on her way back she met such a flood
+of water from the spring that it swept off her and the boy, and the
+inundation was so violent that they both, and the whole tribe, with
+their cattle, were drowned in an hour in this partial and local
+deluge. The waters, having covered the whole surface of that fertile
+district, were converted into a permanent lake. A not improbable
+confirmation of this occurrence is found in the fact that the
+fishermen in that lake see distinctly under the water, in calm
+weather, ecclesiastical towers, which, according to the custom of the
+country, are slender and lofty, and moreover round; and they
+frequently point them out to strangers travelling through these parts,
+who wonder what could have caused such a catastrophe."
+
+In the Welsh version of this fascinating legend it is the bard
+Gwyddno, of the twelfth century, who tells of the downfall of the
+submerged city, and two of the strophes which occur in his poem are
+also found in the Breton poem. The Welsh bard may have received the
+story from Breton sources, or the converse may be the case.
+
+The legend that Cardigan Bay contains a submerged territory is widely
+known, and strangely enough seems to be corroborated by the shape of
+the coast-line, the contour of which suggests the subsidence of a
+large body of land. Like their brothers of Ireland, the fishermen of
+Wales assert that at low tide they can see the ruins of ancient
+edifices far down beneath the clear waters of the bay.[43]
+
+Before the days of the French Revolution there was still to be seen at
+Quimper, between the two towers of the cathedral, a figure of King
+Gradlon mounted on his faithful courser, but in the stormy year of
+1793 the name of king was in bad odour and the ignorant populace
+deprived the statue of its head. However, in 1859 it was restored.
+Legend attributes the introduction of the vine into Brittany to King
+Gradlon, and on St Cecilia's Day a regular ritual was gone through in
+Quimper in connexion with his counterfeit presentment. A company of
+singers mounted on a platform. While they sang a hymn in praise of
+King Gradlon, one of the choristers, provided with a flagon of wine, a
+napkin, and a golden hanap (or cup), mounted on the crupper of the
+King's horse, poured out a cup of wine, which he offered ceremoniously
+to the lips of the statue and then drank himself, carefully wiped with
+his napkin the moustache of the King, placed a branch of laurel in his
+hand, and then threw down the hanap in the midst of the crowd below,
+in honour of the first planter of the grape in Brittany. To whoever
+caught the cup before it fell, and presented it uninjured to the
+Chapter, was adjudged a prize of two hundred crowns.
+
+There is a distinct savour of myth about all this. Can it be that
+Gradlon was a Breton Bacchus? There are notices of Celtic goddesses in
+whose honour Bacchic rites were held, and the place of these was
+sometimes taken by a corn god. Later the festival in its memorial
+aspect appears to have been associated with different kings[44] in the
+various parts of the Celtic world, and it seems likely that Gradlon
+was such a monarch who had taken the place of a vanished deity. It
+must be left to Celtic scholars to determine whether the name Gradlon
+possesses any deific significance hidden in its etymology.
+
+
+_The Clerk of Rohan_
+
+Jeanne de Rohan, daughter of Alain, fifth of the name, Viscount of
+Rohan, married in the year 1236 Matthew, Seigneur of Beauvau, son of
+René, Constable of Naples. Breton popular poetry has in many ballads
+recounted the adventures of Jeanne and her husband, one of which is as
+follows[45]:
+
+At the age of thirteen Jeanne consented to be married, but she desired
+that she herself should be allowed to choose her husband. Accordingly
+the cavaliers and barons of the district were invited to pay their
+court to her, and she fixed her affections upon the Seigneur of
+Beauvau, a valiant noble with large possessions in Italy. He was loyal
+and courteous, and when the pair were wedded their happiness seemed
+perfect.
+
+At this period the war in Palestine against the infidels was agitating
+the whole of Europe. The Seigneur of Beauvau desired to join the
+Crusaders, but his wife was by no means anxious that he should leave
+his home. But his principle was _noblesse oblige_. "I am of the most
+noble blood," he said; "therefore it behoves me to be the first to
+lead the way."
+
+He confided the care of his estates and his affairs in general to his
+wife's cousin, who was known as the Clerk of Rohan, and begged him to
+look well after Jeanne and his little son. Then, having bid farewell
+to them all, he mounted his horse and rode away to the wars.
+
+Jeanne was inconsolable. For days she wandered about the château
+carrying her baby boy in her arms and sobbing. All the domestic circle
+seemed disturbed at the Seigneur's departure except the Clerk of
+Rohan, to whom Count Matthew had so trustingly confided the charge of
+his affairs.
+
+The Seigneur had declared that he would return within a year's time. A
+year passed, however, and no news of him had been received. Now the
+Clerk was a perfidious and wicked schemer, and one morning as he and
+Jeanne were in conversation he hinted that the year within which the
+Seigneur had promised to return was now gone by and that the war in
+which he had been engaged had come to an end. He made no secret of his
+passion for the lady, but she on her part turned upon him angrily,
+saying: "Is it the fashion nowadays for women to consider themselves
+widows, knowing well that their husbands are alive? Go to, miserable
+Clerk, thy heart is full of wickedness. If my husband were here he
+would break thee in little pieces!"
+
+When the Clerk heard this he went secretly to the kennels, and there
+he slew the Seigneur's favourite greyhound. Taking some of its blood,
+he wrote with it a letter to Count Matthew telling him that his wife
+was most unhappy because of an accident which had occurred; that she
+had been hunting the deer, and that in the chase his favourite
+greyhound had died from over-exertion. The Seigneur duly received the
+letter, and in his reply told the Clerk to comfort the lady, as he was
+quite able to replace the hound. At the same time he desired that
+hunting should cease for the present, as the huntsmen seemed unskilful
+in their conduct of the chase.
+
+The wicked Clerk once more sought the lady.
+
+"Alas!" said he, "you are losing your beauty by weeping night and
+day."
+
+"I will know how to recover my beauty when my husband returns," she
+replied coldly.
+
+"Do not cheat yourself," he said. "Surely you can see by this time
+that he is either dead or has taken another wife. In the East there
+are many beautiful girls who are far wealthier than you."
+
+"If he has taken another wife," said the lady, "I shall die; and if he
+be dead I ask for naught but death. Leave me, miserable wretch. Thy
+tongue is poisoned with deceit."
+
+When the Clerk had sufficiently recovered from this second rebuff, he
+betook himself to the stables, where the Seigneur's horse, the most
+beautiful in the country, stood champing in its stall. The wretch,
+drawing his poignard, thrust it into the noble steed's entrails, and,
+as he had done in the case of the greyhound, took some of the blood
+and wrote once more to the Count.
+
+"Another accident has occurred at the château," he said, "but, my dear
+Seigneur, pray do not trouble yourself on account of it. When your
+wife was returning from a feast in the night your favourite horse fell
+and broke two of his legs, and had to be destroyed."
+
+The Seigneur replied that he was grieved to hear of the circumstance,
+and that in order to avoid further mischances of the sort it would be
+better that his wife should frequent no more feasts.
+
+A third time the perfidious Clerk sought the lady. On this occasion he
+threatened her with death if she would not be his, but she replied in
+the most spirited manner that she loved death a thousand times better
+than him. At these words he could not contain his rage, and, drawing
+his dagger, thrust fiercely at her head. But the lady's guardian angel
+turned the stroke and the weapon struck harmlessly against the wall.
+She fled from the room, closing the door behind her as she went;
+whereupon the Clerk rushed downstairs to the nursery where her child
+was quietly sleeping in its cradle, and, seeing no one beside it,
+stabbed the slumbering infant to the heart.
+
+Then he wrote to the Seigneur: "Hasten your return, I beg of you, for
+it is necessary that you should be here to establish order. Your dog
+and your white courser have perished, but that is not the worst. Your
+little son, alas! is also dead. The great sow devoured him when your
+wife was at a ball with the miller for a gallant."
+
+When the Seigneur received this letter he returned at once from the
+wars, his anger rising higher and higher with every homeward league.
+When he arrived at the château he struck three times upon the door
+with his hand, and his summons was answered by the Clerk.
+
+"How now, evil Clerk," shouted the infuriated Count, "did I not leave
+my wife in your care?" and with these words he thrust his lance into
+the Clerk's open mouth, so that the point stood out at the nape of his
+neck. Then, mounting the stairs, he entered his wife's chamber, and
+without speaking a word stabbed her with his sword.
+
+The ballad then goes on to speak of the burial of the victims of the
+wicked Clerk. The lady, dressed all in white, was laid in her tomb by
+the light of the moon and the stars. On her breast lay her little son,
+on her right the favourite greyhound, and on her left the white
+courser, and it is said that in her grave she first caresses one and
+then the other, and the infant, as if jealous, nestles closer to his
+mother's heart.
+
+
+_The Lady of La Garaye_
+
+The château of La Garaye, near Dinan, is rendered famous by the
+virtues and boundless charity of its Count, Claude Toussaint Marot de
+La Garaye, and his wife. Their interesting story is told in the
+charming poem of Mrs Norton, _The Lady of La Garaye_:
+
+  Listen to the tale I tell,
+  Grave the story is--not sad;
+  And the peasant plodding by
+  Greets the place with kindly eye,
+  For the inmates that it had.
+
+Count Claude de La Garaye and his wife were young, beautiful, and
+endowed with friends, riches, and all that could make life bright and
+happy. They entertained generously and enjoyed the pleasures and
+amusements of the world. But one day misfortune overtook them, for the
+Countess was thrown from her horse, and she was left a cripple for
+life, while all expectations of an heir vanished. Both were
+inconsolable at their disappointment. One day a monk came to visit
+them, and tried to comfort them, seeking by his conversation to turn
+their thoughts from earthly afflictions to heavenly consolation.
+
+"Ah, my father," said the lady, "how happy are you, to love nothing on
+earth!"
+
+"You are mistaken," answered the monk; "I love all those who are in
+sorrow or suffering. But I submit myself to the will of the Almighty,
+and bend myself with resignation to every blow He strikes."
+
+He proceeded to show them that there was still a great deal of
+happiness in store for them in ministering to the needs of others.
+Following his counsel, they went to Paris, where for three years the
+Count studied medicine and surgery, and his wife became a skilful
+oculist. On their return to La Garaye they gave up all the amusements
+of society and devoted themselves to relieving the sufferings of their
+fellow-creatures. Their house was converted into a hospital for the
+sick and afflicted, under the ministering care of the Count and his
+benevolent wife:
+
+  Her home is made their home; her wealth their dole;
+  Her busy courtyard hears no more the roll
+  Of gilded vehicles, or pawing steeds,
+  But feeble steps of those whose bitter needs
+  Are their sole passport. Through that gateway press
+  All varying forms of sickness and distress,
+  And many a poor, worn face that hath not smiled
+  For years, and many a feeble crippled child,
+  Blesses the tall white portal where they stand,
+  And the dear Lady of the liberal hand.
+
+Nor was their philanthropy confined to their own province. In 1729
+they offered themselves to M. de Belsunce--"Marseilles' good
+bishop"--to assist him during the visitation of the plague. The fame
+of their virtues reached even the French Court, and Louis XV sent
+Count de La Garaye the Order of St Lazarus, with a donation of 50,000
+livres and a promise of 25,000 more. They both died at an advanced
+age, within two years of each other, and were buried among their poor
+at Taden. Their marble mausoleum in the church was destroyed during
+the French Revolution. The Count left a large sum to be distributed
+among the prisoners, principally English, pent up in the crowded gaols
+of Rennes and Dinan. He had attended the English prisoners at Dinan
+during a contagious fever called the 'peste blanche,' and in
+acknowledgment of his humanity Queen Caroline sent him two dogs with
+silver collars round their necks, and an English nobleman made him a
+present of six more.
+
+The ruined château is approached by an ivy-covered gateway, through an
+avenue of beeches. As Mrs Norton renders it:
+
+  And like a mourner's mantle, with sad grace,
+  Waves the dark ivy, hiding half the door
+  And threshold, where the weary traveller's foot
+  Shall never find a courteous welcome more.
+
+The ruin is fast falling to pieces. The principal part remaining is an
+octagonal turret of three stories, with elegant Renaissance decoration
+round the windows.
+
+
+_The Falcon_
+
+An interesting and picturesque ballad sung in the Black Mountains is
+that of _The Falcon_. Geoffrey, first Duke of Brittany, was departing
+for Rome in the year 1008, leaving the government of the country in
+the hands of his wife Ethwije, sister of Richard of Normandy. As he
+was about to set out on his pilgrimage the falcon which he carried on
+his wrist after the manner of the nobles of the period, swooped down
+on and killed the hen of a poor peasant woman. The woman in a rage
+seized a large stone and cast it at the bird with such violence that
+it slew not only the falcon but the Duke himself. The death of the
+Duke was followed by a most desperate insurrection among the people.
+History does not enlighten us as to the cause of this rising, but
+tradition attributes it to the invasion of Brittany by the Normans
+(whom the widow of Geoffrey at once brought into the country on the
+demise of her husband) and the exactions which were wrung from the
+peasants by these haughty aliens.
+
+[Illustration: A PEASANT INSURRECTION]
+
+The ballad, which was used as a war-song by the Bretons at a later
+day, begins in true ballad style: "The falcon has strangled the fowl,
+the peasant woman has slain the Count who oppressed the people, the
+poor people, like a brute-beast."
+
+The hate of the stranger so characteristic of the old Bretons then
+flashes forth. "The country has been polluted by the foreigner, by the
+men of the Gallic land, and because of the death of a hen and a falcon
+Brittany is on fire, blood flows, and there is great dole among the
+people."
+
+On the summit of the Black Mountain thirty stout peasants had gathered
+to celebrate the ancient feast of the good St John. Among them was
+Kado the Striver, who stood there gravely leaning on his iron
+pitchfork. For a while he looked upon his comrades; then he opened his
+lips:
+
+"What say you, fellow-peasants? Do you intend to pay this tax? As for
+me, I shall certainly not pay it. I had much rather be hanged.
+Nevermore shall I pay this unjust tax. My sons go naked because of it,
+my flocks grow less and less. No more shall I pay. I swear it by the
+red brands of this fire, by Saint Kado my patron, and by Saint John."
+
+"My fortunes are broken, I am completely ruined," growled one of his
+companions. "Before the year is out I shall be compelled to beg my
+bread."
+
+Then all rose at once as if by a common impulse.
+
+"None of us will pay this tax! We swear it by the Sun and by the Moon,
+and by the great sea which encircles this land of Brittany!"
+
+Kado, stepping out from the circle, seized a firebrand, and holding it
+aloft cried: "Let us march, comrades, and strike a blow for freedom!"
+
+The enthusiasm of his companions burst out afresh. Falling into loose
+ranks they followed him. His wife marched by his side in the first
+rank, carrying a reaping-hook on her shoulder and singing as she
+marched.
+
+"Quickly, quickly, my children! We go to strike a blow for liberty!
+Have I brought thirty sons into the world to beg their bread, to carry
+firewood or to break stones, or bear burdens like beasts? Are they to
+till the green land and the grey land with bare feet while the rich
+feed their horses, their hunting-dogs, and their falcons better than
+they are fed? No! It is to slay the oppressors that I have borne so
+many sons!"
+
+Quickly they descended the mountains, gathering numbers as they went.
+Now they were three thousand strong, five thousand strong, and when
+they arrived at Langoad nine thousand strong. When they came to
+Guérande they were thirty thousand strong. The houses of those who had
+ground them down were wrapped in flames, fiercely ends the old ballad,
+"and the bones of those who had oppressed them cracked, like those of
+the damned in Tartarus."
+
+History tells us nothing concerning Kado the Striver, but it is most
+unlikely that he is a mere figment of popular imagination. What
+history does record, however, is that the wicked Duchess and her host
+of mercenary Normans were forced to flee, and that her place was taken
+by a more just and righteous ruler.
+
+
+_The Marquis of Guérande_
+
+Breton tradition speaks of a wild young nobleman, Louis-François de
+Guérande, Seigneur of Locmaria, who flourished in the early part of
+the seventeenth century. He was wealthy, and lived a life of reckless
+abandon; indeed, he was the terror of the parish and the despair of
+his pious mother, who, whenever he sallied forth upon adventure bent,
+rang the bell of the château, to give the alarm to the surrounding
+peasantry. The ballad which tells of the infamous deeds of this titled
+ruffian, and which was composed by one Tugdual Salaün, a peasant of
+Plouber,[46] opens upon a scene of touching domestic happiness. The
+Clerk of Garlon was on a visit to the family of his betrothed.
+
+"Tell me, good mother," he asked, "where is Annaïk? I am anxious that
+she should come with me to dance on the green."
+
+"She is upstairs asleep, my son. Take care," added the old woman
+roguishly, "that you do not waken her."
+
+The Clerk of Garlon ran lightly up the staircase and knocked at
+Annaïk's door.
+
+"Come, Annaïk," he cried; "why are you asleep when all the others go
+to dance upon the village green?"
+
+"I do not wish to go to the dance, for I fear the Marquis of
+Guérande," replied the girl.
+
+The Clerk of Garlon laughed. "The Marquis of Guérande cannot harm you
+so long as I am with you," he said lightly. "Come, Annaïk; were there
+a hundred such as he I should protect you from them."
+
+Reassured by her lover's brave words, the girl rose and put on her
+dress of white delaine. They were a joyous and beautiful pair. The
+Clerk was gaily dressed, with a peacock's feather in his hat and a
+chain on his breast, while his betrothed wore a velvet corsage
+embroidered with silver.
+
+On that evening the Marquis of Guérande leaped on his great red steed
+and sallied forth from his château. Galloping along the road, he
+overtook the Clerk of Garlon and his betrothed on their way to the
+dance.
+
+"Ha!" he cried, "you go to the dance, I see. It is customary to
+wrestle there, is it not?"
+
+"It is, Seigneur," replied the Clerk, doffing his hat.
+
+"Then throw off your doublet and let us try a fall or two," said
+Guérande, with a wicked look at Annaïk which was not lost upon her
+lover.
+
+"Saving your grace, I may not wrestle with you," said the Clerk, "for
+you are a gentleman and I am nobody. You are the son of a lord and I
+am the son of a peasant."
+
+"Ha! what! The son of a peasant, say you, and you take your choice of
+the pretty girls of the village?"
+
+"Seigneur, pardon me. I did not choose this maiden; God gave her to
+me."
+
+During this parley Annaïk stood by, trembling violently. She had heard
+of the Marquis of Guérande, and was only too well aware of the evil
+and reckless character he bore. The Clerk tried to calm her fears by
+whispered words and pressures of the hand, but the wicked Marquis,
+observing the state of terror she was in, exulted in the alarm he was
+causing her.
+
+"Well, fellow," said he, "since you cannot wrestle with me perhaps you
+will try a bout of sword-play."
+
+At these words Annaïk's rosy cheeks became deathly white; but the
+Clerk of Garlon spoke up like a man.
+
+"My lord," he said, "I do not wear a sword. The club is my only
+weapon. Should you use your sword against me it would but stain it."
+
+The wicked Marquis uttered a fiendish laugh. "If I stain my sword, by
+the Saints, I shall wash it in your blood," he cried, and as he spoke
+he passed his rapier through the defenceless Clerk's body.
+
+At the sight of her slain lover the gentle heart of Annaïk broke, and
+a great madness came upon her. Like a tigress she leapt upon the
+Marquis and tore his sword from his hand. Without his rapier he was as
+a child in the grasp of the powerful Breton peasant woman. Exerting
+all her strength, in a frenzy of grief she dragged the wretch to the
+green where the dance was in progress, haling him round and round it
+until exhausted. At last she dropped his senseless body on the green
+turf and hastened homeward.
+
+And once again we encounter the haunting refrain: "My good mother, if
+you love me make my bed, for I am sick unto death."
+
+"Why, daughter, you have danced too much; it is that which has made
+you sick."
+
+"I have not danced at all, mother; but the wicked Marquis has slain my
+poor Clerk. Say to the sexton who buries him: 'Do not throw in much
+earth, for in a little while you will have to place my daughter beside
+him in this grave.' Since we may not share the same marriage-bed we
+shall at least sleep in the same tomb, and if we have not been married
+in this world we shall at least be joined in heaven."
+
+The reader will be relieved to learn that the hero of this ballad,
+the Clerk of Garlon, was not killed after all, and that for once fact
+is enabled to step in to correct the sadness of fiction; for, when one
+comes to think of it, there are few sadder things in the world than
+the genuine folk-ballad, which, although at the time it may arouse
+æsthetic emotions, may yet afterward give rise to haunting pain. We
+are glad to be able to chronicle, then, that the worthy Clerk did not
+die of his wound as stated by Tugdual Salaün of the parish of Plouber,
+author of the ballad, and that the wicked Marquis escaped the halter,
+which, according to Breton custom, he would not otherwise have done
+had the Clerk died. His good mother took upon herself the burden of an
+annual pension to the Clerk's aged parents, and adopted the second
+child of Annaïk, who had duly married her sweetheart, and this little
+one she educated, furthering its interests in every possible manner.
+As for the Marquis, he actually settled down, and one cannot help
+feeling chagrined that such a promising rogue should have turned
+talents so eminently suitable for the manufacture of legendary
+material into more humdrum courses. Conscious of the gravity of his
+early misdemeanours, he founded a hospital for the poor of the parish,
+and each evening in one of the windows of this place the peasants
+could see a light which burned steadily far into the night. If any
+asked the reason for this illumination he was told: "It is the Marquis
+of Guérande, who lies awake praying God to pardon his youth."
+
+
+_The Châteaux of Brittany_
+
+The châteaux of Brittany may truly be called the historical and
+legendary shrines of the province, for within their halls, keeps, and
+donjons Breton tradition and history were made. It is doubtful,
+indeed, if the castellated mansions of any other country, save,
+perhaps, those of the Rhine, harbour so many legends, arising either
+from the actual historical happenings connected with them or from
+those more picturesque yet terrible associations which they are
+popularly supposed to have with the powers of evil. The general
+appearance of such a building as the Breton château admirably lends
+itself to sombre tradition. The massy walls seem thick enough to
+retain all secrets, and the cry for vengeance for blood spilt within
+them cannot pass to the outer world through the narrow _meurtrières_
+or arrow-slits of the _avant-corps_. The broad yet lofty towers which
+flank the front rise into a _toiture_ or _coiffe_ like an enchanter's
+conical cap. The _lucarnes_, or attic casements, are guarded on either
+side by gargoyles grim of aspect, or perhaps by griffins holding the
+shield-borne arms of dead and gone seigneurs. Seek where you will,
+among the wizard-houses of old Prague, the witch-dens of ancient
+Edinburgh, the bat-haunted castles of Drachenfels or Rheinstein, you
+will come at nothing built of man more informed with the soul of the
+Middle Ages, more drenched with their peculiar savour of mystery, than
+these stark keeps whose crests and _girouettes_ rise above encircling
+woods or frown upon mirroring rivers over the length and breadth of
+the Breton land.
+
+
+_La Roche-Jagu_
+
+One of the most typical of the châteaux of Brittany is that of La
+Roche-Jagu, at one time the guardian of the mouth of the river Trieux.
+It is built on the top of a hill which overhangs the Trieux, and from
+one of its battlemented galleries a splendid view of the windings of
+the river can be obtained. The wall on this side of the fortress is so
+thick as to allow of a chapel being hewn out of its solidity. A most
+distinctive architectural note is struck by the fourteen wonderful
+chimney-shafts of cut stone ornamented with iron spikes.
+
+
+_Tonquédec_
+
+Some miles farther down the river, but on its opposite side, is the
+imposing castle of Tonquédec, perhaps the finest remnant of the
+medieval military architecture of Brittany. It has always remained in
+the family of the Viscounts of Coêtman, who ranked among the foremost
+of the Breton nobility, though one of them espoused the cause of the
+Constable Clisson against Duke John IV, and had the anguish of seeing
+his ancestral fortress razed to the ground. Under Henry IV, however,
+the castle was restored, only to be again demolished by order of
+Cardinal Richelieu, who strongly and forcibly disapproved of such
+powerful fortalices.
+
+It had an outer enclosure, and had to be entered by a drawbridge, and
+it was strengthened in every way conceivable to the military art of
+the times. It was surrounded by dwellings for the convenience of the
+seigneur's retainers, a fine _salle d'armes_ still remaining. To the
+keep, four stories high, a flying bridge led, in order to facilitate
+the withdrawal of the garrison in case of siege. Behind walls ten feet
+thick, so long as food and ammunition lasted, the inmates could hold
+the enemy in scorn.
+
+
+_Clisson_
+
+The château of Clisson, once the property of the great Constable
+Oliver de Clisson, whom the Viscount of Coêtman and the Bretons of
+Penthièvre had championed, is now only a grand old ruin, a touching
+monument of the architectural splendours of former days. By
+moonlight it makes a scene not easily forgotten, gaunt and still
+and ruggedly imposing, the silent reminder of events and people
+tales of whom will not readily die, the treasurer of secrets it
+will probably never yield. Its antithesis is the castle of Nantes,
+with the stamp of the Renaissance upon its delicately sculptured
+balconies and window-frames. It is now an arsenal, a fact which
+robs it of some of the romantic interest of Clisson, or, indeed, of
+ruins in general, yet within its walls are the prison chambers in
+which Gilles de Laval, the ambitious Finance Minister Fouquet, the
+Cardinal de Retz, and the Duchess of Berry once languished. For many
+years it served as one of the political prisons of France, though
+it is also associated with brighter and happier times; for here, on
+pleasure bent, lingered many of the Kings of France from Louis XI
+onward, and here in 1675 Madame de Sévigné sojourned, a circumstance
+which casts about it a literary as well as a romantic glamour. The
+great well in the courtyard, with its ornamental railing of wrought
+iron, is quite equal to the famous well of Quentin Matsys at Antwerp.
+
+
+_Josselin_
+
+The castle of Josselin, also associated with the history of the great
+Constable Clisson and his allies, as well as with the notorious League
+whose followers wrought such intolerable misery in Brittany, is built
+on a rocky foundation near the river Oust. With its imposing front and
+conically roofed towers it is one of the best examples of a
+twelfth-century fortress-château. Very different in tone is the
+architecture of the interior court, being that of the period when the
+lighter traceries and more imaginative lines of the Renaissance were
+in favour. The window-openings of the two first stories are beautiful
+enough to rival those of Chambord and equal those of Blois. Above the
+windows an open gallery runs, and in the space between each the device
+of the Rohans is carved, with their motto, _A Plus_, this celebrated
+family having built this part of the château. About the year 1400
+Clisson added a keep, walls, and parapets, but in 1629, when the
+fortress was no longer a stronghold of the League, these were
+permitted to fall into ruin. Through the courtesy of the family now in
+residence this wonderfully preserved castle may be visited, a
+circumstance for which the tourist in Brittany should indeed be
+grateful. Interest within these massy walls clings around the well,
+with its ornamental railings, the noble and lofty hall, the library,
+with its magnificent chimney-piece, repeating again, in stone, the
+Rohan motto, _A Plus_, and the equestrian statue of Clisson, by
+Frémiet, in the dining-room.
+
+
+_Hennebont and Largoet_
+
+Of the old château of Hennebont, where John of Montfort breathed his
+last after escaping from the Louvre of his day, only a heap of stones
+remains. The old fortress of Largoet is in much the same condition,
+nothing of the ancient structure having been conserved save the famous
+Tour d'Elven, considered to be the most beautiful castle keep in all
+Brittany, which has also a literary distinction as being the scene of
+some of the most touching episodes in Octave Feuillet's _Roman d'un
+jeune Homme pauvre_.
+
+
+_Châteaubriant_
+
+At Châteaubriant, which owes its name to the compounding of the
+word 'château' with that of 'Briant,' the family style of its
+original lord, the old feudal fortress is now a ruin, but the
+castle, built by Jean de Laval, Governor of Brittany under Francis
+I, is in good repair. An inscription giving the date of the completion
+of the new château as 1538 is above the portal of the colonnade.
+There is a gruesome legend associated with the old château, in which
+for some time dwelt the unfortunate Françoise de Foix, Countess of
+Châteaubriant and beloved of Francis I. Tiring or becoming suspicious
+of her royal lover, she decided to return to her husband, the old
+Count of Laval. The reunion, however, was not productive of
+happiness, owing to the fever of jealousy in which her elderly
+husband lived because of the love affair with the King. This
+jealousy eventually flared into mania when he heard that she had
+actually visited her former lover in prison after he had been
+captured at Pavia. Instantly he "shut his young wife up in a
+darkened and padded cell, and finally had her cut into pieces by two
+surgeons," so the story goes. Terrified at what he had done and of
+the consequences which were sure to follow when the King heard of
+his savagery, the Count fled the country immediately afterward.
+
+The château of Brodineuf (dating from the twelfth century) and that of
+Caradeuc are in good repair, but the latter is ancient only in parts.
+It shelters two Murillos within its walls. The picturesque château of
+Combourg was in early times a feudal fortress, and in it René
+Châteaubriand's infancy was passed. This place may be visited by
+interested sightseers, and there they may view the writing-table of
+the author of _Le Génie du Christianisme_, and, in the bedroom he
+occupied at Combourg, the bed on which he died in Paris. The château
+of Vitré is also in a state of preservation, and is considered one of
+the best specimens of military architecture in the province.
+Comparatively near is the château of Rochers, once the home of Mme de
+Sévigné, and in consequence one of the famous sights of the country.
+The many letters she dated from this castle paint a vivid and detailed
+picture of social life in the seventeenth century, and fortunately the
+atmosphere of the time has been happily retained in the building
+itself.
+
+Another twelfth-century structure is that of the château of Rustefan,
+near Quimperlé. It was built by Stephen, Count of Penthièvre, and
+belonged in the next century to Blanche of Castile, the mother of St
+Louis. The ruins now in existence are those of the château built in
+the fifteenth century, and its cylindrical tower, pinnacled doorway,
+and the stone mullions of the windows still remain fairly intact. The
+château of Kerjolet, in Concarneau, is one which has been saved from
+decay, restored as it was by Countess Chaveau-Narishkine and presented
+by her to the department. It contains a museum in which are specimens
+of all the costumes and _coiffes_ of Lower Brittany, and antiquities
+of prehistoric and medieval times, which all students of Breton and
+Celtic lore should see.
+
+
+_Palaces of the Past_
+
+The château of Tourlaville is situated among very beautiful
+surroundings, and is built in the classic style of the Renaissance,
+with an angular tower. On chimney-piece and fireplace throughout the
+castle there are numerous sentimental devices in which Cupids and
+flaming hearts and torches figure largely, with the occasional
+accompaniment of verses and mottoes of an equally amatory nature.
+These are all seventeenth-century examples and may be taken as
+expressions of the time. In a boudoir called the Blue Chamber, because
+of the colour of its draperies and decorations, many coats-of-arms are
+emblazoned; but all the greatness to which these testify has become a
+thing of the past, for the château has now been turned into a
+farmhouse.
+
+The château of Dinan may also be classed among the palaces of the
+past, for now, despite the fact that it was built by the Dukes of
+Brittany, it has become a prison. From the tourist as well as the
+romantic point of view this is somewhat of a tragedy. The Tower of
+Coëtquen, one of the ancient towers of the city wall, is practically
+part of the castle, and the keep, or Queen Anne's Tower, is the most
+distinctive feature remaining. This keep is of four stories, and is
+over a hundred feet high, the last story being reached by a spiral
+staircase. What was once the oratory of the Duchess Anne is now the
+guard-room. There are still several dungeons whose original
+gruesomeness has been left untouched, and whose use in bygone days can
+well be imagined.
+
+
+_Suscino_
+
+The château of Suscino is one of the chief sights of the neighbourhood
+of Vannes, because it is the ruin of what was once a marvellous
+structure of the thirteenth century, and follows the finest Gothic
+traditions of the time. All the roofing of the building has quite
+disappeared, but its battlemented towers and walls remain to give a
+good idea of the architectural perfection that must have belonged to
+it. At one time it fell into the hands of Charles of Blois, only to be
+retaken by his rival, Montfort, in 1364, and in 1373 it was occupied
+by an English garrison. Eventually it was bestowed upon John of
+Châlons, Prince of Orange, by Anne of Brittany, but in time Francis I
+relieved him of it in order to present it to Françoise de Foix, the
+celebrated Lady of Châteaubriant. The irregular pentagon formed by the
+château is possibly somewhat modified from the original plan of 1320,
+and of the seven towers which flanked its gates and walls in the
+beginning six have weathered the storms of the times through which
+they have passed. Its orchid-shaped machicolations have also survived,
+and even to-day they are noticeably beautiful. The new tower is a fine
+cylindrical keep, dating from the fourteenth century, and over the
+entrance this legend still remains:
+
+       Ici Est Né
+    Le Duc Arthur III
+    le 24 Août, 1393.
+
+We have already dealt with many of the stories connected with the
+ancient castles of Brittany, and these will be found in nearly
+every chapter of this book, so varied are they. But no tale, however
+vivid, can hope to capture and retain all the wonder and mystery of
+these grand old strongholds, which must be seen in order to leave
+upon the imagination and memory the full impress of their weird and
+extraordinary fascination.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [40] _Folk-lore as an Historical Science_, p. 129.
+
+  [41] _Western France_, vol. ii.
+
+  [42] See Le Braz, _La Légende de la Mort_, t. i, p. 39, t. ii, pp. 37
+       ff.; Albert Le Grand, _Vies des Saints de la Bretagne_, p. 63;
+       Villemarqué, _Chants populaires_, pp. 38 ff.
+
+  [43] See MacCulloch, _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 372 and
+       notes.
+
+  [44] MacCulloch, _op. cit._, p. 274.
+
+  [45] Villemarqué avouches that this version was taken down by his
+       mother from the lips of an old peasant woman of the parish of
+       Névez. It bears the stamp of ballad poetry, and as it has
+       parallels in the folk-verse of other countries I see no reason
+       to question its genuineness.
+
+  [46] See "Maro Markiz Gwerrand," in the _Bulletin de la Société
+       Académique de Brest_, 1865.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII: HERO-TALES OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Soon after the Vicomte Hersart de la Villemarqué published his
+_Barzaz-Breiz_, a collection of popular ballads from the Breton,
+critics who possessed a knowledge of the language and were acquainted
+with its literature exposed the true nature of the work, acting,
+indeed, as did British critics when Macpherson published his
+fragments of Ossian. Villemarqué was, in fact, a Breton Macpherson. He
+would hear a Breton ballad sung or recited, and would then either
+enlarge upon it and torture it out of all resemblance to its original
+shape, or he would instigate a literary friend to do so. We must
+remember that such a proceeding was fashionable at the time, as no
+less a personage than Sir Walter Scott had led the way, and he had
+been preceded by Burns in the practice. But whereas Burns made no
+secret of what he did and greatly enhanced the poetical value of the
+songs and ballads he altered, Scott and his friends, Kirkpatrick
+Sharpe, Leyden, and others, indulged in what they described as the
+"mystification" of their acquaintances by these semi-forgeries.
+Like theirs, Villemarqué's work had usually an historical or
+legendary basis, but it is impossible to say how much of it is
+original matter of folk-song and how much his own invention,
+unless we compare his versions with those furnished by M. Luzel in
+his _Guerziou Breiz-Izel_ (1868), which, however, only contains a few
+of the originals of the tales given in the _Barzaz-Breiz_, and those
+not the most interesting.
+
+I have cast the following tales into narrative form from the ballads
+published in the _Barzaz-Breiz_, where they obviously appear as
+traditional tales in a polished, modern dress.[47] They may be
+regarded, largely, as efforts of the modern imagination regarding the
+Breton past. In any case the author of a book on Breton romances would
+not be justified in omitting all mention of Villemarqué and refraining
+from affording the reader a specimen of his work, any more than he
+would be in founding solely upon the labours of the Vicomte.
+
+
+_Lez-Breiz, the Prop of Brittany_
+
+Morvan, chief of Léon, so celebrated in the history of the ninth
+century as one of the upholders of Breton independence, and known to
+tradition as 'the Prop of Brittany,' is the subject of a remarkable
+series of ballads or hero-tales in the _Barzaz-Breiz_ which together
+constitute what is almost an epic. These tell of his life, death,
+adventures, travels, and the marvellous feats of derring-do he
+accomplished. In some measure he is to Breton legend what Arthur is to
+British or Holger to that of Denmark. That he is familiar to Breton
+tradition there can be no question, and whether Villemarqué himself
+wove the following adventures around him or not they are certainly
+typical of the age in which the hero flourished.
+
+
+_Morvan's First Adventure_
+
+One day the child Morvan was sitting at the edge of the forest when a
+cavalier issued from its depths armed at all points and riding a
+great charger. The boy, excited by his martial appearance, ran from
+him in terror, calling out that here indeed was St Michael; but the
+cavalier rode so swiftly that he soon came up with the lad, who
+devoutly threw himself on his knees and made the sign of the Cross,
+calling out:
+
+"Seigneur Saint Michael, in the name of God I pray thee do me no
+harm!"
+
+The knight laughed loudly. "Why, lad," he said, "I am no more Saint
+Michael than I am a thief, but merely a belted knight, such as one may
+meet with by the score in this land of chivalry."
+
+"I have never seen a knight," replied Morvan; "and what may that be
+which you carry?"
+
+"That is called a lance, my boy."
+
+"And what are these that you wear on your head and breast?"
+
+"The one is a casque and the other a breast-plate. They are intended
+to protect me from the stroke of sword and spear. But tell me, lad,
+have you seen any one pass this way?"
+
+"Yes, Seigneur, a man went by this very road not half an hour agone."
+
+"Thank you, boy," replied the knight. "If you are asked who spoke to
+you, say the Count of Quimper," and with these words he spurred his
+horse and set off down the road in the direction which the little
+Morvan had indicated.
+
+Morvan returned to his mother, who had been sitting some distance
+away, and began to tell her of his meeting. He was so full of the
+gallantry of the knight he had met, his grace and martial bearing,
+that the good dame could not stem the torrent of words which flowed
+from him.
+
+"Oh, mother," he babbled on, "you never saw anyone so splendid as him
+whom I have seen to-day, a man more beautiful than the Lord Michael
+the Archangel, whose image is in our church."
+
+His mother smiled and patted him fondly on the cheek.
+
+"Come, my son," she said, "there is no man so beautiful as the
+Archangel Michael."
+
+But little Morvan shook his head.
+
+"Saving your grace, there are, my mother," he said gravely. "There are
+many men more splendid than Saint Michael, and they are called
+knights. How I wish that I might grow up and become a knight too!"
+
+At these words the poor lady, who had lost her husband in battle and
+who dreaded that her only son might be taken from her, was seized with
+such dismay that she sank to the ground unconscious. The little
+Morvan, without turning his head, entered the stables and led out a
+fresh horse. Jumping lightly on the steed's back, he turned its head
+in the direction in which the splendid cavalier had gone and rode
+hastily after him.
+
+
+_The Return of Morvan_
+
+Ten years passed--years full of martial achievement and adventure for
+young Morvan. Then a desire to return to the ancestral mansion seized
+upon the youth, and he made his way homeward. But great was his dismay
+when he entered the courtyard of the manor and looked about him, for
+the blackberry bushes and the nettles were growing round the threshold
+of the house and the walls were half ruined and covered with ivy. As
+he was about to enter he observed a poor old blind woman standing in
+the entrance.
+
+[Illustration: MORVAN RETURNS TO HIS RUINED HOME]
+
+"Pardon me, dame, but perhaps you can give me hospitality for the
+night," he said.
+
+"Alas! sir, we have but little," she replied. "This house has been
+allowed to go to ruin since its son and heir quitted it."
+
+As she ceased speaking a young damsel descended the broken stone
+steps, and after regarding Morvan for a moment burst into tears.
+
+"How now, maiden," said Morvan, "wherefore do you weep?"
+
+"Alas, Seigneur," replied the maiden, "I have a brother who left us
+ten years ago to lead the life of a warrior, and every time that I see
+a youth about his age I feel myself compelled to weep."
+
+"Tell me, my child," said Morvan, "have you no other brother?"
+
+"None in the world, Sir Knight."
+
+"And your mother, what of her?"
+
+"Alas! sir, she too is gone. There is no one but myself and my old
+nurse in the house. My poor mother died of grief when my brother rode
+off to become a knight."
+
+On hearing these words Morvan was deeply affected.
+
+"Alas!" he cried, "wretch that I am, I have slain her who gave me
+birth!"
+
+When he spoke thus the damsel turned deadly pale.
+
+"In the name of heaven, sir, who are you?" she cried. "How are you
+named?"
+
+"I am Morvan, son of Conan, and Lez-Breiz is my surname, my sister."
+
+The young girl stared for a moment, sighed, and then fell into his
+arms; but soon she opened her eyes and praised God that she had found
+her long-lost brother.
+
+
+_The King's Cavalier_
+
+But Lez-Breiz could not remain long at home. The tented field was his
+fireside, the battle his sport. Adventure followed adventure in his
+full and stirring life. One day he said to his young squire:
+
+"Arouse you, my squire, and furnish my sword, my casque, and my
+shield, that I may redden them in the blood of the Franks, for with
+the help of God and this right arm I shall carry slaughter into their
+ranks this day."
+
+"Tell me, my lord," asked the squire, "shall I not fight along with
+you to-day?"
+
+Morvan smiled at the lad's eagerness, perhaps because he remembered
+his own on the day he met the Count of Quimper, then a grave shadow
+crossed his face.
+
+"Think of your mother, lad," said he. "What if you never return to
+her? Think of her grief should you die this day."
+
+"Ah, Seigneur," entreated the stripling, "if you love me, grant my
+prayer; let me fight along with you."
+
+When Morvan rode out to battle an hour later his squire rode beside
+him, knee to knee. Passing near the church of St Anne of Armor they
+entered.
+
+"O Saint Anne, most holy dame," prayed Morvan, "I am not yet twenty
+years old and I have been in twenty battles. All those I have gained
+by your aid, and if I return again to this land I shall make you a
+rich gift. I shall give you enough candles to go three times round the
+walls of your church, and thrice round your churchyard--aye, thrice
+round your lands, when I come home again; and further I shall give you
+a banner of white satin with an ivory staff. Also shall I give you
+seven silver bells which will ring gaily night and day above your
+head. And three times on my knees will I draw water for your use."
+
+The enemy saw Morvan coming from afar. He was mounted on a small white
+ass with a halter of hemp, to signify his contempt for them. Lorgnez,
+his chief foe, came against him with a troop of warriors, while Morvan
+had only his little squire behind him. The foemen came on, ten by ten,
+until they reached the Wood of Chestnuts. For a moment the little
+squire was dismayed, but a word from his master rallied him, and,
+drawing his sword, he spurred forward. Soon they came front to front
+with Lorgnez and hailed him in knightly fashion.
+
+"Ho! Seigneur Lorgnez, good day to you."
+
+"Good morrow, Seigneur Morvan. Will you engage in single combat?"
+
+"No; I despise your offer. Go back to your King and tell him that I
+mock him; and as for yourself, I laugh at you and those with you.
+Return to Paris, stay among your women, take off your mail and put on
+the silken armour of fops."
+
+Lorgnez's face flamed with anger.
+
+"By heaven!" he cried, "the lowest varlet in my company shall hew your
+casque from your head for this!"
+
+At these words Morvan drew his great sword.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The old hermit of the wood heard some one knocking on the door of his
+cell. He opened it quickly and saw the young squire standing before
+him. He started back at the sight of the youth's blood-stained armour
+and death-pale countenance.
+
+"Ha, my son," he cried, "you are sorely hurt. Come and wash your
+wounds at the fountain and repose for a little."
+
+"I may not rest here, good father," replied the squire, shaking his
+head. "I have come to find water to take to my young master, who has
+fallen in the fight. Thirty warriors lie slain by his hand. Of these
+the Chevalier Lorgnez was the first."
+
+"Brave youth!" said the hermit. "Alas that he has fallen!"
+
+"Do not grieve, father. It is true that he has fallen, but it is only
+from fatigue. He is unwounded and will soon recover himself."
+
+When he was recovered Morvan betook him to the chapel of St Anne and
+rendered the gifts he had promised her.
+
+"Praise be to Saint Anne," cried he, "for she it is who has gained
+this victory."
+
+
+_The King's Blackamoor_
+
+One day the King of the Franks was sitting among his courtiers.
+
+"Would that some one would rid me of this pestilent Morvan, who
+constantly afflicts the Frankish land and slays my doughtiest
+warriors," he said, on hearing of a fresh exploit on the part of the
+Breton chief.
+
+Then the King's blackamoor, who heard these words, arose and stood
+before his master. He was tall and great of thew and sinew--a giant
+among men, towering head and shoulders even above the tall Frankish
+warriors.
+
+"Allow me to fulfil your wishes, sire," he said. "Sir Morvan has sent
+me his glove, and if to-morrow I do not bring you his head I will
+willingly part with my own."
+
+On the next morning Morvan's squire came to his master trembling
+violently.
+
+"Seigneur," he said, with ashy countenance, "the King's Moor is here
+and bids you defiance."
+
+Morvan rose and took his sword.
+
+"Alas! my dear master," said the squire, "take heed what you do, I
+pray you, for I assure you that this Moor is nothing but a demon who
+practises the most horrible enchantments."
+
+Morvan laughed. "Well, we shall see whether this demon can withstand
+cold steel or not," he said. "Go and saddle my black horse."
+
+"Saving your grace," said the page, "if you will hearken to my words
+you will not fight on the black charger. He has been bewitched.
+Moreover, you will notice that when you enter the lists to fight the
+Moor he will cast his mantle to the ground. But do not follow his
+example, for should your mantle fall beneath his the strength of the
+black giant will be doubled. When the Moor advances to the attack make
+the sign of the Cross with the shaft of your lance, and when he rushes
+upon you in his battle-fury receive him with the steel. If you do this
+you may be sure that your lance will not break."
+
+The heroes met within the lists. The King of France and his nobles had
+followed the giant Moor in order to witness the combat, and when all
+had been seated the trumpets sounded and the two champions rushed
+together with the utmost fury. They circled round one another like
+eagles seeking an opening to strike. Now one struck, then the other,
+and the blood flowed down their bright armour. The Frankish King in
+high excitement called out:
+
+"Ho! black crow of the sea, pierce me now this merle."
+
+At these words the giant assailed Morvan most furiously, as a great
+tempest assails a ship. The lances crossed, but that of the Moor broke
+like matchwood. Both leaped to earth, sword in hand, and rushed at
+each other like lions. Many lusty strokes were given and taken, and
+from their armour flew sparks like those from a smith's anvil. Then
+the Moor, grasping his sword with both hands, made ready to strike a
+mighty blow, when swift and trenchantly Morvan thrust his blade far
+into the arm-pit and the heart and the giant tumbled to the earth like
+a falling tree. Morvan placed his foot on the dead man's breast,
+withdrew his sword, and cut off the Moor's head. Then, attaching the
+bleeding trophy to the pommel of his saddle, he rode home with it and
+affixed it to the gate of his castle. All men praised him for his
+doughty deed, but he gave the grace of his victory entirely to St
+Anne, and declared that he would build a house of prayer in her honour
+on the heights between Léguer and the Guindy.
+
+
+_Morvan Fights the King_
+
+One day Morvan sallied forth to encounter the King of the Franks
+himself. The King brought no fewer than five thousand mounted
+men-at-arms. As this host was about to set out, a great clap of
+thunder resounded in the vault of heaven, and the King's nobles
+perforce regarded it as a bad omen.
+
+"For heaven's sake, sire, go not hence," said one of them, "since the
+day has begun with such an evil token."
+
+"Impossible," was the royal reply. "I have given the order; we must
+march."
+
+That morning, on the other hand, the sister of Morvan said to her
+brother: "My dear brother, if you love me seek not this combat, for if
+you do you will certainly go to your death, and what will become of me
+afterward? I see on the shore the white sea-horse, the symbol of
+Brittany. A monstrous serpent entwines him, seizing him round the hind
+legs and the body with his enormous coils. The sea-steed turns his
+head to seize the reptile. The combat is unequal. You are alone; the
+Franks are legion!"
+
+But Morvan was already beyond ear-shot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the hermit of the wood of Helléan[48] slept three knocks sounded on
+his door.
+
+"Good hermit," said some one, "open the door. I seek an asylum and
+help from you."
+
+The wind blew coldly from the country of the Franks. It was the hour
+when savage beasts wander here and there in search of their prey. The
+hermit did not rise with alacrity.
+
+"Who are you who knock at my door at this hour of night demanding an
+entrance?" he asked sulkily; "and by what sign shall I know whether
+you are a true man or otherwise?"
+
+"Priest, I am well known in this land. I am Morvan Lez-Breiz, the
+Hatchet of Brittany."
+
+"I will not open my door to you," said the hermit hastily. "You are a
+rebel; you are the enemy of the good King of the Franks."
+
+"How, priest!" cried Morvan angrily, "I am a Breton and no traitor or
+rebel. It is the King of the Franks who has been a traitor to this
+land."
+
+"Silence, recreant!" replied the hermit. "Rail not against the King of
+the Franks, for he is a man of God."
+
+"Of God, say you? Nay, rather of the devil! Has he not ravaged and
+wasted the Breton land? The gold that he wrings from the Breton folk
+is expended for the good of Satan. Open, hermit, open!"
+
+"Not so, my son, for should I do so the Franks would surely fix a
+quarrel upon me."
+
+"You refuse?" shouted Morvan in a voice of thunder. "Good; then I
+shall burst into your cell," and with these words he threw himself
+against the door, which creaked ominously.
+
+"Hold, my son, hold!" cried the old hermit in tremulous tones.
+"Forbear and I will open to you"; and seizing a torch he lit it at the
+remains of his fire and went to open the door.
+
+
+_The Severed Head_
+
+He unlocked it and drew it back, but as he did so he recoiled
+violently, for he saw advancing upon him a terrible spectre, holding
+its head in its two hands. Its eyes seemed full of blood and fire, and
+rolled round and round in a most horrible manner. The hermit was about
+to shriek in terror when the head of the apparition, after laughing
+grimly, addressed him:
+
+"Come now, old Christian, do not be afraid. God permits this thing to
+be. He has allowed the Franks to decapitate me, but for a time only,
+and as you see me now I am only a phantom. But He will permit you
+yourself to replace my head on my shoulders if you will."
+
+The hermit stammered and drew back. This was not his first encounter
+with the supernatural, which he had good reason to dread, but like all
+Bretons he had come under the magnetism of Morvan, even although he
+believed that the King of the Franks was his rightful overlord; so,
+steeling himself against his natural timidity, he said:
+
+"If God permits this thing I shall be very willing to replace your
+head on your shoulders."
+
+"Take it, then," said the decapitated Morvan, and with trembling hands
+the priest took the gory trophy and replaced it on the Breton chief's
+shoulders, saying at the same time: "I replace your head, my son, in
+the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit."
+
+And by virtue of this benediction the phantom once more became a man.
+
+"Morvan," said the hermit, "you must do penance, heavy penance, with
+me. You must carry about with you for seven years a robe of lead,
+padlocked to your neck, and each day at the hour of twelve you must go
+to fetch water from the well at the summit of the mountain yonder."
+
+"I will do as you desire," said Morvan; "I will follow your saintly
+wish."
+
+When the seven years of the penance had passed the robe had flayed
+Morvan's skin severely, and his beard, which had become grey, and the
+hair of his head, fell almost to his waist. Those who saw him did not
+recognize him; but a lady dressed in white, who passed through the
+greenwood, stopped and gazed earnestly at him and her eyes filled with
+tears.
+
+"Morvan, my dear son, it is indeed you," she said. "Come here, my
+beloved child, that I may free you of your burden," and she cut the
+chain which bound the shirt of lead to the shoulders of the penitent
+with a pair of golden scissors, saying:
+
+"I am your patron, Saint Anne of Armor."
+
+Now for seven years had the squire of Morvan sought his master, and
+one day he was riding through the greenwood of Helléan.
+
+"Alas!" he said, "what profits it that I have slain his murderer when
+I have lost my dear lord?"
+
+Then he heard at the other end of the wood the plaintive whinnying of
+a horse. His own steed sniffed the air and replied, and then he saw
+between the parted branches a great black charger, which he recognized
+as that of Lez-Breiz. Once more the beast whinnied mournfully. It
+almost seemed as if he wept. He was standing upon his master's grave!
+
+But, like Arthur and Barbarossa, Morvan Lez-Breiz will yet return.
+Yes, one day he will return to fight the Franks and drive them from
+the Breton land!
+
+We have sundry intimations here of the sources from which Villemarqué
+drew a part at least of his matter. There are resemblances to
+Arthurian and kindred romances. For example, the incident which
+describes the flight of young Morvan is identical with that in the
+Arthurian saga of _Percival le Gallois_, where the child Percival
+quits his mother's care in precisely the same fashion. The Frankish
+monarch and his Court, too, are distinctly drawn in the style of the
+_chansons de gestes_, which celebrated the deeds of Charlemagne and
+his peers. There are also hints that the paganism against which
+Charlemagne fought, that of the Moors of Spain, had attracted the
+attention of the author, and this is especially seen in his
+introduction of the Moorish giant, so common a figure in the
+Carlovingian stories.
+
+
+_The Ballad of Bran_
+
+A sorrowful and touching ballad, claimed by Villemarqué as being sung
+in the Breton dialect of Léon, tells of the warrior Bran, who was
+wounded in the great fight of Kerlouan, a village situated on the
+coast of Léon, in the tenth century. The coast was raided by the
+Norsemen, and the Bretons, led by their chief, Even the Great, marched
+against them and succeeded in repelling them. The Norsemen, however,
+carried off several prisoners, among them a warrior called Bran.
+Indeed, a village called Kervran, or 'the village of Bran,' still
+exists near the seashore, and here it was, tradition relates, that the
+warrior was wounded and taken by the Scandinavian pirates. In the
+church of Goulven is to be seen an ancient tablet representing the
+Norse vessels which raided the coast.
+
+The ballad recounts how Bran, on finding himself on the enemy's ship,
+wept bitterly. On arriving in the land of the Norsemen he was
+imprisoned in a tower, where he begged his gaolers to allow him to
+send a letter to his mother. Permission to do so was granted, and a
+messenger was found. The prisoner advised this man, for his better
+safety, to disguise himself in the habit of a beggar, and gave him his
+gold ring in order that his mother might know that the message came
+from her son in very truth. He added: "When you arrive in my country
+proceed at once to my mother, and if she is willing to ransom me show
+a white sail on your return, but if she refuses, hoist a black sail."
+
+When the messenger arrived at the warrior's home in the country of
+Léon the lady was at supper with her family and the bards were present
+playing on their harps.
+
+"Greeting, lady," said the messenger. "Behold the ring of your son,
+Bran, and here is news from him contained in this letter, which I pray
+you read quickly."
+
+The lady took the missive, and, turning to the harpers, told them to
+cease playing. Having perused the letter she became extremely
+agitated, and, rising with tears in her eyes, gave orders that a
+vessel should be equipped immediately so that she might sail to seek
+her son on the morrow.
+
+One morning Bran, the prisoner, called from his tower: "Sentinel,
+Sentinel, tell me, do you see a sail on the sea?"
+
+"No," replied the sentinel, "I see nothing but the sea and the sky."
+
+At midday Bran repeated the question, but was told that nothing but
+the birds and the billows were in sight. When the shadows of evening
+gathered he asked once more, and the perfidious sentinel replied with
+a lie:
+
+"Yes, lord, there is a ship close at hand, beaten by wind and sea."
+
+"And what colour of a sail does she show?" asked Bran. "Is it black or
+white?"
+
+"It is black, lord," replied the sentinel, in a spirit of petty
+spite.
+
+When the unhappy warrior heard these words he never spoke more.
+
+That night his mother arrived at the town where he had been
+imprisoned. She asked of the people: "Why do the bells sound?"
+
+"Alas! lady," said an ancient man, "a noble prisoner who lay in yonder
+tower died this night."
+
+With bent head the lady walked to the tower, her white hair falling
+upon her folded arms. When she arrived at its foot she said to the
+guard: "Open the door quickly; I have come to see my son."
+
+And when the great door was opened she threw herself upon the corpse
+of Bran and breathed her last.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the battlefield of Kerlouan there is an oak which overshadows the
+shore and which marks the place where the Norsemen fled before the
+face of Even the Great. On this oak, whose leaves shine in the moon,
+the birds gather each night, the birds of the sea and the land, both
+of white and black feather. Among them is an old grey rook and a young
+crow. The birds sing such a beautiful song that the great sea keeps
+silence to hear it. All of them sing except the rook and the crow. Now
+the crow says: "Sing, little birds, sing; sing, little birds of the
+land, for when you die you will at least end your days in Brittany."
+
+The crow is of course Bran in disguise, for the name Bran means 'crow'
+in the Breton tongue, and the rook is possibly his mother. In the most
+ancient Breton traditions the dead are represented as returning to
+earth in the form of birds. A number of the incidents in this piece
+are paralleled in the poem of _Sir Tristrem_, which also introduces a
+messenger who disguises himself for the purpose of travelling more
+safely in a foreign country, a ring of gold, which is used to show the
+messenger's _bona-fides_, a perfidious gaoler, and the idea of the
+black or white sail. The original poem of _Sir Tristrem_ was probably
+composed about the twelfth or thirteenth century, and it would seem
+that the above incidents at least have a Breton source behind them. A
+mother, however, has been substituted for a lover, and the ancient
+Breton dame takes the place of Ysonde. There is, indeed, little
+difference between the passage which relates the arrival of the mother
+in the Norsemen's country and that of Ysonde in Brittany when she
+sails on her last voyage with the intention of succouring Tristrem.
+Ysonde also asks the people of the place why the bells are ringing,
+one of the ancient inhabitants tells her of the death of her lover,
+and, like the Breton mother, she casts herself on the body of him she
+has lost.
+
+"This passage," says Villemarqué, with wonderful _sang-froid_, "duly
+attests the prior claim of the Armorican piece!" But even if he had
+been serious, he wrote without the possession of data for the precise
+fixing of the period in which the Breton ballad was composed; and in
+any case his contention cannot assist the Breton argument for
+Armorican priority in Arthurian literature, as borrowing in ballad and
+folk-tale is much more flagrant than he, writing as he did in 1867,
+could ever have guessed--more flagrant even than any adaptation he
+himself ever perpetrated!
+
+He adds, however, an antiquarian note to the poem which is of far
+greater interest and probably of more value than his supposition. He
+alludes to the passage contained in the ballad regarding the harpers
+who are represented as playing in the hall of Bran's mother while
+she sits at supper. The harp, he states, is no longer popular in
+Brittany, and he asks if this was always the case. There can be very
+little doubt that in Brittany, as in other Celtic countries--for
+example, Wales, Ireland and Scotland--the harp was in ancient times
+one of the national instruments. It is strange that it should have
+been replaced in that country by the _biniou_, or bagpipe, just as
+the _clairschach_, or Highland harp, was replaced by the same
+instrument in the Highlands of Scotland.
+
+
+_Fontenelle_
+
+Guy Eder de Fontenelle, a son of the house of Beaumanoir, was one of
+the most famous partisans of the Catholic League, and, according to
+one who saw him in 1587, had then begun to show tendencies to the wild
+life he was afterward to lead. He was sent as a scholar to Paris to
+the College of Boncotest, but in 1589, when about sixteen years of
+age, he became impatient of scholastic confinement, sold his books and
+his robe, and bought a sword and poignard. Leaving the college, he
+took the road to Orléans, with the object of attaching himself to the
+army of the Duke of Mayenne, chief of the Catholic party in France,
+but, returning to his native Brittany, he placed himself at the head
+of the populace, which had risen in arms on behalf of the Leaguers. As
+he was of good family and a Breton and displayed an active spirit,
+they obeyed him very willingly. Soon he translated his intentions into
+action, and commenced to pillage the smaller towns and to make captive
+those who differed from him politically. He threatened Guingamp, which
+was held for the King, and made a sally into Léon, carrying away the
+daughter of the Lady of Coadelan, a wealthy heiress, who was only
+about eight or nine years of age. This occurrence Villemarqué has
+related for us in Breton verse, assuring us that it was 'recovered' by
+the Comte de Kergariou, a friend of his. Fontenelle is supposed to
+have encountered the little heiress plucking flowers in a wayside
+ditch.
+
+"Tell me, little one," said he, "for whom do you pluck these
+flowers?"
+
+"For my foster-brother, whom I love. But I am afraid, for I know that
+Fontenelle is near."
+
+"Ha, then, so you know this terrible Fontenelle, my child?"
+
+"No, sir, I do not know him, but I have heard tell of him. I have
+heard folk say that he is a very wicked man and that he carries away
+young ladies."
+
+"Yes," replied Fontenelle, with a laugh, "and, above all, heiresses."
+
+He took the child in his arms and swung her on to the crupper of his
+saddle. Then, dashing the spurs into his charger's flanks, he set off
+at a gallop for Saint-Malo, where he placed the little heiress in a
+convent, with the object of marrying her when she had arrived at the
+age of fourteen.
+
+Years afterward Fontenelle and the heiress, who was now his wife, went
+to live at their manor of Coadelan. They had a little child beautiful
+as the day, who greatly resembled his father. One day a letter arrived
+for the Seigneur, calling upon him to betake himself to Paris at once.
+His wife was inconsolable.
+
+"Do not set forth alone for Paris, I pray you," she said, "for if you
+do I shall instantly follow you. Remain at home, I beg of you, and I
+will send a messenger in your stead. In the name of God, do not go,
+husband, for if you do you will never return."
+
+But Fontenelle disregarded his wife's entreaties, and, begging her to
+take good care of their son during his absence, set forth on his
+journey to the capital. In due time he arrived in Paris and stood
+before the King and Queen. He greeted them courteously, but they
+looked coldly on him, and the King told him bluntly that he should not
+return to Coadelan, adding: "There are sufficient chains in my palace
+to restrain you."
+
+On hearing this Fontenelle called his little page and begged him to
+return at once to his mistress and tell her to discard her finery,
+because she would soon be a widow, and to bring him back a coarse
+shirt and a white sheet, and, moreover, to bring a gold plate on which
+his enemies might expose his head after his death.
+
+"And, little page," he added, "take a lock of my hair and place it on
+the door of Coadelan, so that all men as they go to Mass may say, 'God
+have mercy on the soul of Fontenelle.'"
+
+The page did as he was bidden, but as for the plate of gold it was
+useless, for Fontenelle's head was thrown on the pavement to serve as
+a ball for the children of the gutter.
+
+All Paris was surprised when one day a lady from a distant country
+arrived and made great stir in its narrow streets. Every one asked his
+neighbour who this dame might be. It was the heiress of Coadelan,
+dressed in a flowing robe of green. "Alas!" said the pitiful
+burgesses, "if she knew what we know she would be dressed in black."
+Shortly she stood before the King. "Sire," said she, "give me back my
+husband, I beg of you."
+
+"Alas! madam," replied the King, with feigned sorrow, "what you ask is
+impossible, for but three days ago he was broken on the wheel."
+
+"Whoso goes to Coadelan to-day will turn away from it with grief, for
+the ashes are black upon the hearth and the nettles crowd around the
+doorway--and still," the ballad ends naïvely, "still the wicked world
+goes round and the poor folk weep with anguish, and say, 'Alas that
+she is dead, the mother of the poor.'"
+
+
+_The Return from England_
+
+There is a good deal of evidence to show that a considerable body of
+Bretons accompanied the invading army of William the Conqueror when he
+set forth with the idea of gaining the English crown. They were
+attached to his second battle corps, and many of them received land in
+England. A ballad which, says Villemarqué, bears every sign of
+antiquity deals with the fortunes of a young Breton, Silvestik, who
+followed in the train of the Conqueror. The piece is put into the
+mouth of the mother of Silvestik, who mourns her son's absence, and
+its tone is a tender and touching one.
+
+"One night as I lay on my bed," says the anxious mother, "I could not
+sleep. I heard the girls at Kerlaz singing the song of my son. O God,
+Silvestik, where are you now? Perhaps you are more than three hundred
+leagues from here, cast on the great sea, and the fishes feed upon
+your fair body. Perhaps you may be married now to some Saxon damsel.
+You were to have been wed to a lovely daughter of this land, Mannaïk
+de Pouldergat, and you might have been among us surrounded by
+beautiful children, dwelling happily in your own home.
+
+[Illustration: THE FINDING OF SILVESTIK]
+
+"I have taken to my door a little white dove which sits in a small
+hollow of the stone. I have tied to his neck a letter with the ribbon
+of my wedding-dress and have sent it to my son. Arise, my little dove,
+arise on your two wings, fly far, very far across the great sea, and
+discover if my son is still alive and well."
+
+Silvestik rested in the shade of an English wood, and as he did so a
+familiar note fell upon his ear.
+
+"That sound resembles the voice of my mother's little white dove," he
+said. The sound grew louder; it seemed to say, "Good luck to you,
+Silvestik, good luck to you. I have here a letter for you."
+
+Silvestik in high happiness read the letter, and resolved to return
+home to his sorrowing parent.
+
+Two years passed, three years passed, and the dove did not return to
+delight the heart of the longing mother, who day by day walked the
+dismal seashore waiting for the vessel that never came. One day of
+storm she was wandering on the beach as usual when she saw a vessel
+being driven with great force upon the iron coast. Even as she watched
+it it dashed upon the rocks. Soon there were cast upon the shore the
+forms of many dead, and when the gale abated and the heart-sick mother
+was able to search among them she found Silvestik!
+
+Several competent judges are of opinion that this ballad is
+contemporary with the events which it relates. Many of the Breton
+lords who sailed with William the Conqueror did not return for several
+years after the expedition had accomplished its object, and some not
+at all. Nothing is known regarding the hero. The bird is frequently
+the messenger between lovers in ballad literature, but it is seldom
+that it is found carrying letters between a mother and her
+son--indeed, this is perhaps the only instance known.
+
+
+_The Marriage-Girdle_
+
+This ballad has reference to the Breton expedition which sailed for
+Wales in 1405 to assist the Welsh under Owen Glendower to free their
+principality from the English yoke. The Bretons rendered material
+assistance to their Welsh brothers, and had the satisfaction on their
+return of knowing that they had accomplished that which no French king
+had ever been able to achieve--the invasion of English territory. The
+expedition was commanded by Jean de Rieux, Marshal of France, and
+numbered ten thousand men.
+
+The ballad tells how a young man on the morning after his betrothal
+received orders to join the standard of de Rieux "to help the Bretons
+oversea." It was with bitterness in his heart, says the lover, that he
+entered the house of his betrothed with the object of bidding her
+farewell. He told her that duty called him, and that he must go to
+serve in England. At this her tears gushed forth, and she begged him
+not to go, reminding him how changeful was the wind and how perfidious
+the sea.
+
+"Alas!" said she, "if you die what shall I do? In my impatience to
+have news of you my heart will break. I shall wander by the seashore,
+from one cottage to another, asking the sailors if they have heard
+tell of you."
+
+"Be comforted, Aloïda," said her lover, "and do not weep on my
+account. I will send you a girdle from over the sea, a girdle of
+purple set with rubies."
+
+They parted at daybreak, he to embark on the sea, she to weep, and as
+he sought his ship he could hear the magpies cackle: "If the sea is
+changeable women are even more so."
+
+When the autumn had arrived the young girl said: "I have looked far
+over the sea from the heights of the mountains of Arez. I have seen
+upon the waters a ship in danger, and I feel that upon it was him whom
+I love. He held a sword in his hand, he was engaged in a terrible
+combat, he was wounded to death and his garments were covered with
+blood. I am certain that he is dead."
+
+And before many weeks had passed she was affianced to another.
+
+Then good news arrived in the land. The war was finished and the
+cavalier returned to his home with a gay heart. No sooner had he
+refreshed himself than he went to seek his beloved. As he approached
+her dwelling he heard the sound of music, and observed that every
+window in the house was illuminated as if for a festival. He asked
+some revellers whom he met outside the cause of this merrymaking, and
+was told that a wedding was proceeding.
+
+It is the custom in Brittany to invite beggars to a wedding, and when
+these were now admitted one of them asked hospitality for the night.
+This was at once granted him, but he sat apart, sad and silent. The
+bride, observing this, approached him and asked him why he did not
+join in the feasting. He replied that he was weary with travel and
+that his heart was heavy with sorrow. Desirous that the marriage
+festivities should not flag, the bride asked him to join her in the
+dance, and he accepted the invitation, saying, however, that it was an
+honour he did not merit.
+
+Now while they danced he came close to her and murmured in her ear:
+
+"What have you done with the golden ring that you received from me at
+the door of this very house?"
+
+The bride stared at him in wild dismay. "Oh, heaven," she cried,
+"behold, I have now two husbands! I who thought I was a widow!"
+
+"You think wrongly, _ma belle_," hissed the beggar; "you will have no
+husband this side of the grave," and drawing a dagger from under his
+cloak he struck the lady to the heart.
+
+In the abbey of Daoulas there is a statue of the Virgin decorated with
+a splendid girdle of purple sparkling with rubies, which came from
+across the sea. If you desire to know who gave it to her, ask of a
+repentant monk who lies prostrate on the grass before the figure of
+the Mother of God.
+
+It is strange that the faithless damsel should have alleged that she
+saw her lover perish in a naval combat when in the very year to which
+the circumstances of the ballad refer (1405) a Breton fleet
+encountered and defeated an English flotilla several leagues from
+Brest. "The combat was terrible," says a historian of the Dukes of
+Burgundy, "and was animated by the ancient hate between the English
+and the Bretons." Perhaps it was in this sea-fight that the lady
+beheld her lover; and if, as she thought, he was slain, she scarcely
+deserves the odium which the balladeer has cast upon her memory.
+
+
+_The Combat of Saint-Cast_
+
+This ballad somewhat belies its name, for it has some relation to an
+extraordinary incident which was the means rather of preventing
+than precipitating a battle. In 1758 a British army was landed upon
+the shores of Brittany with the object of securing for British
+merchant ships safety in the navigation of the Channel and of creating
+a diversion in favour of the German forces, then our allies. A
+company of men from Lower Brittany, from the towns of Tréguier and
+Saint-Pol-de-Léon, says Villemarqué, were marching against a
+detachment of Scottish Highlanders. When at a distance of about a
+mile the Bretons could hear their enemies singing a national song. At
+once they halted stupefied, for the air was one well known to them,
+which they were accustomed to hear almost every day of their lives.
+Electrified by the music, which spoke to their hearts, they arose
+in their enthusiasm and themselves sang the patriotic refrain. It
+was the Highlanders' turn to be silent. All this time the two
+companies were nearing one another, and when at a suitable distance
+their respective officers commanded them to fire; but the orders
+were given, says the tradition, "in the same language," and the
+soldiers on both sides stood stock-still. Their inaction, however,
+lasted but a moment, for emotion carried away all discipline, the
+arms fell from their hands, and the descendants of the ancient Celts
+renewed on the field of battle those ties of brotherhood which had
+once united their fathers.
+
+However unlikely this incident may seem, it appears to be confirmed by
+tradition, if not by history. The air which the rival Celts sang is,
+says Villemarqué,[49] common to both Brittany and "the Highlands of
+Scotland." With the music before me, it seems to bear a marked
+resemblance to The _Garb of Old Gaul_, composed by General Reid
+(1721-1807). Perhaps Reid, who was a Highlander, based his stirring
+march on an older Celtic theme common to both lands.
+
+
+_The Song of the Pilot_
+
+One of the most famous of Breton nautical traditions tells of the
+chivalry displayed by a Breton crew toward the men of a British
+warship. During the American War of Independence much enthusiasm was
+excited in France in connexion with the valiant struggle for liberty
+in which the American colonies were engaged. A number of Breton ships
+received letters of marque enabling them to fight on the American side
+against Great Britain, and these attempted to blockade British
+commerce. The _Surveillante_, a Breton vessel commanded by Couédic de
+Kergoaler, encountered the British ship _Quebec_, commanded by Captain
+Farmer. In the course of the action the _Surveillante_ was nearly sunk
+by the British cannonade and the _Quebec_ went on fire. But Breton and
+Briton, laying aside their swords, worked together with such goodwill
+that most of the British crew were rescued and the _Surveillante_ was
+saved, although the _Quebec_ was lost, and this notwithstanding that
+nearly every man of both crews had been wounded in the fighting.
+
+I have here attempted a very free translation of the stirring ballad
+which relates this noteworthy incident, which cannot but be of
+interest at such a time as the present.
+
+
+THE SONG OF THE PILOT
+
+  Yo ho, ye men of Sulniac!
+  We ship to-day at Vannes,
+  We sail upon a glorious track
+  To seek an Englishman.
+  Our saucy sloop the _Surveillante_
+  Must keep the seaways clear
+  From Ushant in the north to Nantes:
+  Aboard her, timoneer!
+
+  See, yonder is the British craft
+  That seeks to break blockade;
+  St George's banner floats abaft
+  Her lowering carronade.
+  A flash! and lo, her thunder speaks,
+  Her iron tempest flies
+  Beneath her bows, and seaward breaks,
+  And hissing sinks and dies.
+
+  Thunder replied to thunder; then
+  The ships rasped side by side,
+  The battle-hungry Breton men
+  A boarding sally tried,
+  But the stern steel of Britain flashed,
+  And spite of Breton vaunt
+  The lads of Morbihan were dashed
+  Back on the _Surveillante_.
+
+  Then was a grim encounter seen
+  Upon the seas that day.
+  Who yields when there is strife between
+  Britain and Brittany?
+  Shall Lesser Britain rule the waves
+  And check Britannia's pride?
+  Not while her frigate's oaken staves
+  Still cleave unto her side!
+
+  But hold! hold! see, devouring fire
+  Has seized the stout _Quebec_.
+  The seething sea runs high and higher,
+  The _Surveillante's_ a wreck.
+  Their cannon-shot has breached our side,
+  Our bolts have fired the foe.
+  Quick, to the pumps! No longer bide!
+  Below, my lads! below!
+
+  The yawning leak is filled, the sea
+  Is cheated of its prey.
+  Now Bretons, let the Britons see
+  The heart of Brittany!
+  Brothers, we come to save, our swords
+  Are sheathed, our hands are free.
+  There is a fiercer fight toward,
+  A fiercer foe than we!
+
+  A long sea-day, till sank the sun,
+  Briton and Breton wrought,
+  And Great and Little Britain won
+  The noblest fight ere fought.
+  It was a sailors' victory
+  O'er pride and sordid gain.
+  God grant for ever peace at sea
+  Between the Britains twain!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [47] For the criticism on Villemarqué's work see H. Gaidoz and P.
+       Sébillot, "Bibliographie des Traditions et de la Littérature
+       populaire de la Bretagne" (in the _Revue Celtique_, t. v, pp.
+       277 ff.). The title _Barzaz-Breiz_ means "The Breton Bards,"
+       the author being under the delusion that the early forms of the
+       ballads he collected and altered had been composed by the
+       ancient bards of Brittany.
+
+  [48] Once a part of the forest of Broceliande. It has now
+       disappeared.
+
+  [49] _Barzaz-Breiz_, p. 335. Sébillot (_Traditions de la
+       Haute-Bretagne_, t. i, p. 346) says that he could gain nothing
+       regarding this incident at the village of Saint-Cast but "vague
+       details."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX: THE BLACK ART AND ITS MINISTERS
+
+
+Sorcery is a very present power in most isolated communities, and in
+the civilized portions of Brittany it is but a thing of yesterday,
+while in the more secluded departments it is very much a thing of
+to-day. The old folk can recall the time when the farm, the dairy, and
+the field were ever in peril of the spell, the enchantment, the
+noxious beam of the evil eye, and tales of many a "devilish cantrip
+sleight," as Burns happily characterized the activity of the witch and
+the wizard, were told in hushed voices at the Breton fireside when the
+winter wind blew cold from the cruel sea and the heaped faggots sent
+the red glow of fire-warmth athwart the thick shadows of the great
+farm kitchen, and old and young from grandsire to herd-boy made a
+great circle to hearken to the creepy tales so dear to the Breton
+heart.
+
+As in the East, where to refuse baksheesh is to lay oneself open to
+the curse of the evil eye, the beggar was regarded as the chief
+possessor of this bespelling member. The guild of tattered wanderers
+naturally nourished this superstition, and to permit one of its
+members to hobble off muttering threats or curses was looked upon as
+suicidal. Indeed, the mendicants were wont to boast of their feats of
+sorcery to the terrified peasants, who hastened to placate them by all
+the means in their power.
+
+Certain villages, too, appear to have possessed an evil reputation
+among the country-folk as the dwelling-places of magicians, centres of
+sorcery, which it was advisable to shun. Thus we read in Breton
+proverb of the sorcerers of Fougères, of Trèves, of Concoret, of
+Lézat.
+
+The strangest circumstances were connected with the phenomena of
+sorcery by the credulous Bretons. Thus, did a peasant join a dance of
+witches, the sabots he had on would be worn out in the course of the
+merrymaking. A churn of turned butter, a sour pail of milk, were
+certain to be accounted for by sorcery. In a certain village of
+Moncontour the cows, the dog, even the harmless, necessary cat, died
+off, and the farmer hastened to consult a diviner, who advised him to
+throw milk in the fire and recite certain prayers. The farmer obeyed
+and the spell was broken!
+
+In the town of Rennes about fifty years ago dwelt a knowing fellow
+called Robert, a very 'witch-doctor,' who investigated cases of
+sorcery and undertook the dissipation of enchantments. On a certain
+large farm the milk would yield no butter. An agricultural expert
+might have hinted at poor pasturage, but the farmer and his wife had
+other views as to the cause of the 'insufficiency of fats,' as an
+analyst would say, in the lacteal output of the establishment.
+Straightway they betook themselves to the mysterious Robert, who on
+arriving to investigate the affair was attired in a skin dyed in two
+colours. He held in leash a large black dog, evidently his familiar.
+He exorcized the dairy, and went through a number of strange
+ceremonies. Then, turning to the awestruck farm hands, he said:
+
+"You may now proceed with your work. The spell is raised. It has been
+a slow business. I must go now, but don't be afraid if you see
+anything odd."
+
+With these words he whistled, and a great black horse at once
+appeared as if from nowhere. Placing his hand on its crupper, he
+vaulted into the saddle, bade good-bye to the astonished rustics, and
+while they gazed at him open-mouthed, vanished 'like a flash.'
+
+Many kinds of amulets or talismans were used by the Breton peasantry
+to neutralize the power of sorcerers. Thus, if a person carried a
+snake with him the enchanters would be unable to harm his sight, and
+all objects would appear to him under their natural forms. Salt placed
+in various parts of a house guarded it against the entrance of wizards
+and rendered their spells void.
+
+But many consulted the witch and the sorcerer for their personal
+advantage, in affairs of the heart, to obtain a number in the casting
+of lots for conscription which would free them from military service,
+and so forth; and, as in other countries, there grew up a class of
+middlemen between the human and the supernatural who posed as
+fortune-tellers, astrologers, and quack mediciners.
+
+It was said that sorcerers were wont to meet at the many Roches aux
+Fées in Brittany at fixed periods in order to deliberate as to their
+actions and settle their affairs. If anyone, it was declared, wandered
+into their circle or was caught by them listening to their secret
+conclave he seldom lived long. Others, terrified at the sight
+presented by the gleaming eyes of the cat-sorcerers, blazing like live
+coals, fled incontinently from their presence, and found that in the
+morning the hair of their heads had turned white with the dread
+experience. Long afterward they would sit by the fireside trembling
+visibly at nothing, and when interrogated regarding their very evident
+fears would only groan and bury their faces in their hands.
+
+A story is told of one, Jean Foucault, who one moonlight night had,
+like Tam o' Shanter, sat overlong
+
+  Fast by an ingle bleezin' finely,
+  Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely,
+
+where the cider was as good as the company, and, issuing at midnight's
+weary hour from his favourite inn, was not in a mood to run away from
+anything, however fearsome. Walking, or rather rolling, across the
+moor singing the burden of the last catch he had trolled with his
+fellows at the ale-house, all on a sudden he stumbled into a circle of
+sorcerer-cats squatting around a cross of stone. They were of immense
+size and of all colours, black, grey, white, tortoise-shell, and when
+he beheld them seated round the crucifix, their eyes darting fire and
+the hair bristling on their backs, his song died upon his lips and all
+his bellicose feelings, like those of Bob Acres, leaked out at his
+finger-tips. On catching sight of him the animals set up a horrible
+caterwauling that made the blood freeze in his veins. For an awful
+moment the angry cats glared at him with death in their looks, and
+seemed as if about to spring upon him. Giving himself up for lost, he
+closed his eyes. But about his feet he could hear a strange purring,
+and, glancing downward, he beheld his own domestic puss fawning upon
+him with every sign of affection.
+
+"Pass my master, Jean Foucault," said the animal.
+
+"It is well," replied a great grey tom, whom Jean took to be the
+leader; "pass on, Jean Foucault."
+
+And Jean, the cider fumes in his head quite dissipated, staggered
+away, more dead than alive.
+
+
+_Druidic Magic_
+
+The more ancient sorcerers of Brittany deserve a word of notice. Magic
+among the Celtic peoples in olden times was so clearly identified with
+Druidism that its origin may be said to have been Druidic. Whether
+Druidism was of Celtic origin, however, is a question upon which much
+discussion has taken place, some authorities, among them Rhys,
+believing it to have been of non-Celtic and even non-Aryan origin, and
+holding that the earliest non-Aryan or so-called Iberian people of
+Britain introduced the Druidic religion to the immigrant Celts. An
+argument advanced in favour of this theory is that the Continental
+Celts sent their neophyte Druid priests to Britain to undergo a
+special training at the hands of the British Druids, and that this
+island seems to have been regarded as the headquarters of the cult.
+The people of Cisalpine Gaul, for instance, had no Druidic priesthood.
+Cæsar has told us that in Gaul Druidic seminaries were very numerous,
+and that within their walls severe study and discipline were entailed
+upon the neophytes, whose principal business was to commit to memory
+countless verses enshrining Druidic knowledge and tradition. That this
+instruction was astrological and magical we have the fullest
+proof.[50]
+
+The Druids were magi as they were priests in the same sense that the
+American Indian shaman is both magus and priest. That is, they were
+medicine-men on a higher scale, and had reached a loftier stage of
+transcendental knowledge than the priest-magicians of more barbarous
+races. Thus they may be said to be a link between the barbarian
+shaman and the magus of medieval times. Many of their practices were
+purely shamanistic, while others more closely resembled medieval
+magical rite. But they were not the only magicians of the Celts, for
+frequently among that people we find magic power the possession of
+women and of the poetic craft. The magic of Druidism had many points
+of comparison with most magical systems, and perhaps approximated more
+to that black magic which desires power for the sake of power alone
+than to any transcendental type. Thus it included the power to render
+the magician invisible, to change his bodily shape, to produce an
+enchanted sleep, to induce lunacy, and to inflict death from afar.
+
+The arts of rain-making, bringing down fire from heaven, and causing
+mists, snow-storms, and floods were also claimed for the Druids.
+Many of the spells probably in use among them survived until a
+comparatively late period, and are still employed in some remote
+Celtic localities, the names of saints being substituted for those
+of Celtic deities. Certain primitive ritual, too, is still carried
+out in the vicinity of some megalithic structures in Celtic areas,
+as at Dungiven, in Ireland, where pilgrims wash before a great stone
+in the river Roe and then walk round it, and in many parts of
+Brittany.[51]
+
+In pronouncing incantations the usual method employed was to stand
+upon one leg and to point with the forefinger to the person or object
+on which the spell was to be laid, at the same time closing one eye,
+as if to concentrate the force of the entire personality upon that
+which was to be placed under ban. A manuscript possessed by the
+monastery of St Gall, and dating from the eighth or ninth century,
+includes magical formulæ for the preservation of butter and the
+healing of certain diseases in the name of the Irish god Diancecht.
+These and others bear a close resemblance to Babylonian and Etruscan
+spells, and thus go to strengthen the hypothesis often put forward
+with more or less plausibility that Druidism had an Eastern origin. At
+all magical rites spells were uttered. Druids often accompanied an
+army, to assist by their magical arts in confounding the enemy.[52]
+
+There is some proof that in Celtic areas survivals of a Druidic
+priesthood have descended to our own time in a more or less debased
+condition. Thus the existence of guardians and keepers of wells said
+to possess magical properties, and the fact that in certain families
+magical spells and formulæ are handed down from one generation to
+another, are so many proofs of the survival of Druidic tradition,
+however feeble. Females are generally the conservators of these
+mysteries, and that there were Druid priestesses is fairly certain.
+
+The sea-snake's egg, or adder's stone, which is so frequently alluded
+to in Druidic magical tales, otherwise called _Glain Neidr_, was said
+to have been formed, about midsummer, by an assemblage of snakes. A
+bubble formed on the head of one of them was blown by others down the
+whole length of its back, and then, hardening, became a crystal ring.
+It was used as one of the insignia of the Archdruid, and was supposed
+to assist in augury.
+
+The _herbe d'or_, or 'golden herb,' was a medicinal plant much in
+favour among the Breton peasantry. It is the _selago_ of Pliny, which
+in Druidical times was gathered with the utmost veneration by a hand
+enveloped with a garment once worn by a sacred person. The owner of
+the hand was arrayed in white, with bare feet, washed in pure water.
+In after times the plant was thought to shine from a distance like
+gold, and to give to those who trod on it the power of understanding
+the language of dogs, wolves, and birds.
+
+These, with the mistletoe, the favourite Druidical plant, the sorcerer
+is entreated, in an old balled, to lay aside, to seek no more for vain
+enchantments, but to remember that he is a Christian.
+
+
+_Abélard and Héloïse_
+
+The touching story of the love of Abélard and Héloïse has found its
+way into Breton legend as a tale of sorcery. Abélard was a Breton. The
+Duke of Brittany, whose subject he was born, jealous of the glory of
+France, which then engrossed all the most famous scholars of Europe,
+and being, besides, acquainted with the persecution Abélard had
+suffered from his enemies, had nominated him to the Abbey of St
+Gildas, and, by this benefaction and mark of his esteem, engaged him
+to pass the rest of his days in his dominions. Abélard received this
+favour with great joy, imagining that by leaving France he would
+quench his passion for Héloïse and gain a new peace of mind upon
+entering into his new dignity.
+
+The Abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys was founded on the inaccessible coast
+near Vannes by St Gildas, a British saint, the schoolfellow and friend
+of St Samson of Dol and St Pol of Léon, and counted among its monks
+the Saxon St Dunstan, who, carried by pirates from his native isle,
+settled on the desolate shores of Brittany and became, under the name
+of St Goustan, the patron of mariners.
+
+St Gildas built his abbey on the edge of a high, rocky promontory,
+the site of an ancient Roman encampment, called Grand Mont, facing
+the shore, where the sea has formed numerous caverns in the rocks.
+The rocks are composed chiefly of quartz, and are covered to a
+considerable height with small mussels. Abélard, on his appointment
+to the Abbey of St Gildas, made over to Héloïse the celebrated
+abbey he had founded at Nogent, near Troyes, which he called the
+Paraclete, or Comforter, because he there found comfort and
+refreshment after his troubles. With Nogent he was to leave his
+peace. His gentle nature was unable to contend against the coarse
+and unruly Breton monks. As he writes in his well-known letter to
+Héloïse, setting forth his griefs: "I inhabit a barbarous country
+where the language is unknown to me. I have no dealings with the
+ferocious inhabitants. I walk the inaccessible borders of the
+stormy sea, and my monks have no other rule than their own. I wish
+that you could see my dwelling. You would not believe it an abbey. The
+doors are ornamented only with the feet of deer, of wolves and bears,
+boars, and the hideous skins of owls. I find each day new perils.
+I expect at every moment to see a sword suspended over my head."
+
+It is scarcely necessary to outline the history of Abélard. Suffice
+it to say that he was one of the most brilliant scholars and
+dialecticians of all time, possessing a European reputation in his
+day. Falling in love with Héloïse, niece of Fulbert, a canon of
+Paris, he awoke in her a similar absorbing passion, which resulted in
+their mutual disgrace and Abélard's mutilation by the incensed
+uncle. He and his Héloïse were buried in one tomb at the Paraclete.
+The story of their love has been immortalized by the world's great
+poets and painters.
+
+An ancient Breton ballad on the subject has been spoken of as a "naïf
+and horrible" production, in which one will find "a bizarre mixture of
+Druidic practice and Christian superstition." It describes Héloïse as
+a sorceress of ferocious and sanguinary temper. Thus can legend
+magnify and distort human failing! As its presentation is important in
+the study of Breton folk-lore, I give a very free translation of this
+ballad, in which, at the same time, I have endeavoured to preserve the
+atmosphere of the original.
+
+
+THE HYMN OF HÉLOÏSE
+
+  O Abélard, my Abélard,
+  Twelve summers have passed since first we kissed.
+  There is no love like that of a bard:
+  Who loves him lives in a golden mist!
+
+  Nor word of French nor Roman tongue,
+  But only Brezonek could I speak,
+  When round my lover's neck I hung
+  And heard the harmony of the Greek,
+
+  The march of Latin, the joy of French,
+  The valiance of the Hebrew speech,
+  The while its thirst my soul did quench
+  In the love-lore that he did teach.
+
+  The bossed and bound Evangel's tome
+  Is open to me as mine own soul,
+  But all the watered wine of Rome
+  Is weak beside the magic bowl.
+
+[Illustration: HÉLOÏSE AS SORCERESS]
+
+  The Mass I chant like any priest,
+  Can shrive the dying or bury the dead,
+  But dearer to me to raise the Beast
+  Or watch the gold in the furnace red.
+
+  The wolf, the serpent, the crow, the owl,
+  The demons of sea, of field, of flood,
+  I can run or fly in their forms so foul,
+  They come at my call from wave or wood.
+
+  I know a song that can raise the sea,
+  Can rouse the winds or shudder the earth,
+  Can darken the heavens terribly,
+  Can wake portents at a prince's birth.
+
+  The first dark drug that ever we sipped
+  Was brewed from toad and the eye of crow,
+  Slain in a mead when the moon had slipped
+  From heav'n to the fetid fogs below.
+
+  I know a well as deep as death,
+  A gloom where I cull the frondent fern,
+  Whose seed with that of the golden heath
+  I mingle when mystic lore I'd learn.
+
+  I gathered in dusk nine measures of rye,
+  Nine measures again, and brewed the twain
+  In a silver pot, while fitfully
+  The starlight struggled through the rain.
+
+  I sought the serpent's egg of power
+  In a dell hid low from the night and day:
+  It was shown to me in an awful hour
+  When the children of hell came out to play.
+
+  I have three spirits--seeming snakes;
+  The youngest is six score years young,
+  The second rose from the nether lakes,
+  And the third was once Duke Satan's tongue.
+
+  The wild bird's flesh is not their food,
+  No common umbles are their dole;
+  I nourish them well with infants' blood,
+  Those precious vipers of my soul.
+
+
+  O Satan! grant me three years still,
+  But three short years, my love and I,
+  To work thy fierce, mysterious will,
+  Then gladly shall we yield and die.
+
+  Héloïse, wicked heart, beware!
+  Think on the dreadful day of wrath,
+  Think on thy soul; forbear, forbear!
+  The way thou tak'st is that of death!
+
+  Thou craven priest, go, get thee hence!
+  No fear have I of fate so fell.
+  Go, suck the milk of innocence,
+  Leave me to quaff the wine of hell!
+
+It is difficult to over-estimate the folk-lore value of such a ballad
+as this. Its historical value is clearly _nil_. We have no proof that
+Héloïse was a Breton; but fantastic errors of this description are so
+well known to the student of ballad literature that he is able to
+discount them easily in gauging the value of a piece.
+
+In this weird composition the wretched abbess is described as an
+alchemist as well as a sorceress, and she descends to the depths of
+the lowest and most revolting witchcraft. She practises shape-shifting
+and similar arts. She has power over natural forces, and knows the
+past, the present, and the things to be. She possesses sufficient
+Druidic knowledge to permit her to gather the greatly prized serpent's
+egg, to acquire which was the grand aim of the Celtic magician. The
+circumstances of the ballad strongly recall those of the poem in which
+the Welsh bard Taliesin recounts his magical experiences, his
+metamorphoses, his knowledge of the darker mysteries of nature.
+
+
+_Nantes of the Magicians_
+
+The poet is in accord with probability in making the magical exploits
+of Abélard and Héloïse take place at Nantes--a circumstance not
+indicated in the translation owing to metrical exigencies. Nantes was,
+indeed, a classic neighbourhood of sorcery. An ancient college of
+Druidic priestesses was situated on one of the islands at the mouth of
+the Loire, and the traditions of its denizens had evidently been
+cherished by the inhabitants of the city even as late as the middle of
+the fourteenth century, for we find a bishop of the diocese at that
+period obtaining a bull of excommunication against the local
+sorcerers, and condemning them to the eternal fires with bell, book,
+and candle.[53]
+
+The poet, it is plain, has confounded poor Héloïse with the dark
+sisterhood of the island of the Loire. The learning she received from
+her gifted lover had been her undoing in Breton eyes, for the simple
+folk of the duchy at the period the ballad gained currency could
+scarcely be expected to discriminate between a training in rhetoric
+and philosophy and a schooling in the _grimoires_ and other
+accomplishments of the pit.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [50] Rice Holmes, _Cæsar's Conquest_, pp. 532-536.
+
+  [51] See Rolleston, _Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race_, p. 66.
+
+  [52] See Gomme, _Ethnology in Folk-lore_, p. 94.
+
+  [53] It is of interest to recall the fact that Abélard was born near
+       Nantes, in 1079.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X: ARTHURIAN ROMANCE IN BRITTANY
+
+
+Fierce and prolonged has been the debate as to the original birthplace
+of Arthurian legend, authorities of the first rank, the 'Senior
+Wranglers' of the study, as Nutt has called them, hotly advancing the
+several claims of Wales, England, Scotland, and Brittany. In this
+place it would be neither fitting nor necessary to traverse the whole
+ground of argument, and we must content ourselves with the examination
+of Brittany's claim to the invention of Arthurian story--and this we
+will do briefly, passing on to some of the tales which relate the
+deeds of the King or his knights on Breton soil.
+
+Confining ourselves, then, to the proof of the existence of a body of
+Arthurian legend in Brittany, we are, perhaps, a little alarmed at the
+outset to find that our manuscript sources are scanty. "It had to be
+acknowledged," says Professor Saintsbury, "that Brittany could supply
+_no ancient texts whatever_, and hardly any ancient traditions."[54]
+But are either of these conditions essential to a belief in the Breton
+origin of Arthurian romance?
+
+The two great hypotheses regarding Arthurian origins have been dubbed
+the 'Continental' and the 'Insular' theories. The first has as its
+leading protagonist Professor Wendelin Förster of Bonn, who believes
+that the immigrant Britons brought the Arthur legend with them to
+Brittany and that the Normans of Normandy received it from their
+descendants and gave it wider territorial scope. The second school,
+headed by the brilliant M. Gaston Paris, believes that it originated
+in Wales.
+
+If we consider the first theory, then, we can readily see that ancient
+_texts_ are not essential to its acceptance. In any case the entire
+body of Arthurian texts prior to the twelfth century is so small as to
+be almost negligible. The statement that "hardly any ancient
+traditions" of the Arthurian legend exist in Brittany is an
+extraordinary one. In view of the circumstances that in extended
+passages of Arthurian story the scene is laid in Brittany (as in the
+Merlin and Vivien incident and the episode of Yseult of the White Hand
+in the story of Tristrem), that Geoffrey of Monmouth speaks of "the
+Breton book" from which he took his matter, and that Marie de France
+states that her tales are drawn from old Breton sources, not to admit
+the possible existence of a body of Arthurian tradition in Brittany
+appears capricious. Thomas's _Sir Tristrem_ is professedly based on
+the poem of the Breton Bréri, and there is no reason why Brittany,
+drawing sap and fibre as it did from Britain, should not have produced
+Arthurian stories of its own.
+
+On the whole, however, that seems to represent the sum of its
+pretensions as a main source of Arthurian romance. The Arthurian story
+seems to be indigenous to British soil, and if we trace the origin of
+certain episodes to Brittany we may safely connect these with the
+early British immigrants to the peninsula. This is not to say,
+however, that Brittany did not influence Norman appreciation of the
+Arthurian saga. But that it did so more than did Wales is unlikely, in
+view of documentary evidence. Both Wales and Brittany, then, supplied
+matter which the Norman and French poets shaped into verse, and if
+Brittany was not the birthplace of the legend it was, in truth, one of
+its cradle-domains.
+
+
+_The Sword of Arthur_
+
+Let us collect, then, Arthurian incidents which take place in
+Brittany. First, Arthur's finding of the marvellous sword Excalibur
+would seem to happen there, as Vivien, or Nimue, the Lady of the Lake,
+was undoubtedly a fairy of Breton origin who does not appear in
+British myth.
+
+For the manner in which Arthur acquired the renowned Excalibur, or
+Caliburn, the _Morte d'Arthur_ is the authority. The King had broken
+his sword in two pieces in a combat with Sir Pellinore of Wales, and
+had been saved by Merlin, who threw Sir Pellinore into an enchanted
+sleep.
+
+"And so Merlin and Arthur departed, and as they rode along King Arthur
+said, 'I have no sword.' 'No force,'[55] said Merlin; 'here is a sword
+that shall be yours, an I may.' So they rode till they came to a lake,
+which was a fair water and a broad; and in the midst of the lake King
+Arthur was aware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair
+sword in the hand. 'Lo,' said Merlin unto the King, 'yonder is the
+sword that I spoke of.' With that they saw a damsel going upon the
+lake. 'What damsel is that?' said the King. 'That is the Lady of the
+Lake,' said Merlin; 'and within that lake is a rock, and therein is as
+fair a place as any on earth, and richly beseen; and this damsel will
+come to you anon, and then speak fair to her that she will give you
+that sword.' Therewith came the damsel to King Arthur and saluted him,
+and he her again. 'Damsel,' said the King, 'what sword is that which
+the arm holdeth yonder above the water? I would it were mine, for I
+have no sword.' 'Sir King,' said the damsel of the lake, 'that sword
+is mine, and if ye will give me a gift when I ask it you, ye shall
+have it.' 'By my faith,' said King Arthur, 'I will give you any gift
+that you will ask or desire.' 'Well,' said the damsel, 'go into yonder
+barge, and row yourself unto the sword, and take it and the scabbard
+with you; and I will ask my gift when I see my time.' So King Arthur
+and Merlin alighted, tied their horses to two trees, and so they went
+into the barge. And when they came to the sword that the hand held,
+King Arthur took it up by the handles, and took it with him, and the
+arm and the hand went under the water; and so came to the land and
+rode forth. King Arthur looked upon the sword, and liked it passing
+well. 'Whether liketh you better,' said Merlin, 'the sword or the
+scabbard?' 'Me liketh better the sword,' said King Arthur. 'Ye are
+more unwise,' said Merlin, 'for the scabbard is worth ten of the
+sword; for while ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall lose no
+blood, be ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the scabbard
+alway with you.'"
+
+[Illustration: KING ARTHUR AND MERLIN AT THE LAKE]
+
+Sir Lancelot du Lac, son of King Ban of Benwik, was stolen and brought
+up by the Lady of the Lake, from whose enchanted realm he took his
+name. But he does not appear at all in true Celtic legend, and is a
+mere Norman new-comer.
+
+
+_Tristrem and Ysonde_
+
+Following the Arthurian 'chronology' as set forth in the _Morte
+d'Arthur_, we reach the great episode of Sir Tristrem of Lyonesse, a
+legendary country off the coast of Cornwall. This most romantic yet
+most human tale must be accounted one of the world's supreme love
+stories. It has inspired some of our greatest poets, and moved Richard
+Wagner to the composition of a splendid opera.
+
+One of the first to bring this literary treasure to public notice was
+Sir Walter Scott, who felt a strong chord vibrate in his romantic soul
+when perusing that version of the tale of which Thomas of Ercildoune
+is the reputed author. Taking this as the best and most ancient
+version of _Tristrem_, we may detail its circumstances as follows:
+
+The Duke Morgan and Roland Rise, Lord of Ermonie, two Cymric
+chieftains, had long been at feud, and at length the smouldering
+embers of enmity burst into open flame. In the contest that ensued the
+doughty Roland prevailed, but he was a generous foe, and granted a
+seven years' truce to his defeated adversary. Some time after this
+event Roland journeyed into Cornwall to the Court of Mark, where he
+carried off the honours in a tourney. But he was to win a more
+precious prize in the love of the fair Princess Blancheflour, sister
+of King Mark, who grew to adore him passionately.
+
+Meanwhile Duke Morgan took foul advantage of the absence of Roland,
+and invaded his land. Rohand, a trusty vassal of Roland, repaired to
+Cornwall, where he sought out his master and told him of Morgan's
+broken faith. Then Roland told Blancheflour of his plight, how that he
+must return to his own realm, and she, fearing her brother Mark,
+because she had given her love to Roland without the King's knowledge,
+resolved to fly with her lover. The pair left Cornwall hurriedly, and,
+reaching one of Roland's castles, were wed there. Roland, however, had
+soon to don his armour, for news was brought to him that Duke Morgan
+was coming against him with a great army. A fierce battle ensued, in
+which Roland at first had the advantage, but the Duke, being
+reinforced, pressed him hotly, and in the end Roland was defeated and
+slain. Blancheflour received news of her lord's death immediately
+before the birth of her son, and, sore stricken by the woeful news,
+she named him Tristrem, or 'Child of Sorrow.' Then, recommending him
+to the care of Rohand, to whom she gave a ring which had belonged to
+King Mark, her brother, to prove Tristrem's relationship to that
+prince, she expired, to the intense grief of all her attendants. To
+secure the safety of his ward, Rohand passed him off as his own child,
+inverting the form of his name to 'Tremtris.' Duke Morgan now ruled
+over the land of Ermonie, and Rohand had perforce to pay him a
+constrained homage.
+
+When he arrived at a fitting age Tristrem was duly instructed in all
+knightly games and exercises by his foster-father, and grew apace in
+strength and skill. Once a Norwegian vessel arrived upon the coast of
+Ermonie laden with a freight of hawks and treasure (hawks at that
+period were often worth their weight in gold). The captain challenged
+anyone to a game of chess with him for a stake of twenty shillings,
+and Rohand and his sons, with Tristrem, went on board to play with
+him. Tristrem moved so skilfully that he overcame the captain, and won
+from him, in many games, six hawks and the sum of a hundred pounds.
+While the games were proceeding Rohand went on shore, leaving Tristrem
+in the care of his preceptor, and the false captain, to avoid paying
+what he had lost, forced the preceptor to go on shore alone and put to
+sea with the young noble.
+
+The ship had no sooner sailed away than a furious gale arose, and as
+it continued for some days the mariners became convinced that the
+tempest was due to the injustice of their captain, and being in sore
+dread, they paid Tristrem his winnings and set him ashore. Dressed in
+a robe of 'blihand brown' (blue-brown), Tristrem found himself alone
+on a rocky beach. First he knelt and requested Divine protection,
+after which he ate some food which had been left him by the
+Norwegians, and started to journey through a forest, in which he
+encountered two palmers, who told him that he was in Cornwall. He
+offered these men gold to guide him to the Court of the king of the
+country, which they willingly undertook to do. On their way the
+travellers fell in with a hunting party of nobles, and Tristrem was
+shocked to see the awkward manner in which the huntsmen cut up some
+stags they had slain. He could not restrain his feeling, and disputed
+with the nobles upon the laws of venerie. Then he proceeded to skin a
+buck for their instruction, like a right good forester, and ended by
+blowing the _mort_ or death-token on a horn.
+
+
+_Tristrem as Forester_
+
+The nobles who beheld his skill were amazed, and speedily carried the
+news to King Mark, who was highly interested. Tristrem was brought to
+his presence and told his story, but Mark did not recognize that he
+was speaking to his own nephew. The King's favourable impression was
+confirmed by Tristrem's skill in playing the harp, and soon the youth
+had endeared himself to the heart of the King, and was firmly settled
+at the Court.
+
+Meanwhile Rohand, distracted by the loss of his foster-son, searched
+for him from one land to another without even renewing his tattered
+garments. At last he encountered one of the palmers who had guided
+Tristrem to the Court of King Mark, and learned of the great honour
+accorded to his ward. At Rohand's request the palmer took him to
+Mark's hall; but when Rohand arrived thither his tattered and forlorn
+appearance aroused the contempt of the porter and usher and they
+refused him entrance. Upon bestowing liberal largess, however, he was
+at length brought to Tristrem, who presented him to King Mark as his
+father, acquainting him at the same time with the cause of their
+separation. When Rohand had been refreshed by a bath, and richly
+attired by order of King Mark, the whole Court marvelled at his
+majestic appearance.
+
+Rohand, seated by King Mark's side at the banquet, imparted to him the
+secret of Tristrem's birth, and in proof showed him the ring given him
+by Blancheflour, whereupon Mark at once joyfully recognized Tristrem
+as his nephew. Rohand further told of the tragic fate of Tristrem's
+parents through the treachery of Duke Morgan, and Tristrem, fired by
+the tale of wrong, vowed to return at once to Ermonie to avenge his
+father's death.
+
+
+_Tristrem Returns to Ermonie_
+
+Although applauding his pious intention, Mark attempted to dissuade
+his nephew from such an enterprise of peril, until, seeing that
+Tristrem would not be gainsaid, the King conferred upon him the honour
+of knighthood, and furnished him with a thousand men-at-arms. Thus
+equipped, Tristrem set sail for Ermonie, and, safely arrived in that
+kingdom, he garrisoned Rohand's castle with his Cornish forces.
+
+He had no intention of remaining inactive, however, and once his men
+were cared for, he repaired to the Court of the usurper, Duke Morgan,
+accompanied by fifteen knights, each bearing a boar's head as a gift.
+But Rohand, apprehending rashness on the part of his foster-son, took
+the precaution of following with the Cornish men-at-arms and his own
+vassals.
+
+When Tristrem arrived the Duke was at the feast-board, and he demanded
+Tristrem's name and business. Tristrem boldly declared himself, and at
+the end of an angry parley the Duke struck him a sore blow. A moment
+later swords were flashing, and it might have gone ill with Tristrem
+had not Rohand with his men come up in the nick of time. In the end
+Duke Morgan was slain and his followers routed. Having now recovered
+his paternal domains Sir Tristrem conferred them upon Rohand, to be
+held of himself as liege lord, and having done so he took leave of his
+foster-father and returned to Cornwall.
+
+
+_The Combat with Moraunt_
+
+On arriving at the palace of Mark, Tristrem found the Court in dismay,
+because of a demand for tribute made by the King of England. Moraunt,
+the Irish ambassador to England, was charged with the duty of claiming
+the tribute, which was no less than three hundred pounds of gold, as
+many of coined silver, as many of tin, and a levy every fourth year of
+three hundred Cornish children. Mark protested bitterly, and Tristrem
+urged him to bid defiance to the English, swearing that he would
+himself defend the freedom of Cornwall. His aid was reluctantly
+accepted by the Grand Council, and he delivered to Moraunt a
+declaration that no tribute was due. Moraunt retorted by giving
+Tristrem the lie, and the champions exchanged defiance. They sailed in
+separate boats to a small island to decide the issue in single combat,
+and when they had landed Tristrem turned his boat adrift, saying
+sternly that one vessel would suffice to take back the victor. The
+champions mounted their steeds at the outset, but after the first
+encounter Tristrem, leaping lightly from the saddle, engaged his
+adversary on foot. The Knight of Ermonie was desperately wounded in
+the thigh, but, rallying all his strength, he cleft Moraunt to the
+chine, and, his sword splintering, a piece of the blade remained in
+the wound.
+
+Tristrem now returned to the mainland, where so great was the joy over
+his return that he was appointed heir to Cornwall and successor to
+Mark the Good. But his wound, having been inflicted by a poisoned
+blade, grew more grievous day by day. No leech might cure it, and the
+evil odour arising from the gangrene drove every one from his presence
+save his faithful servitor Gouvernayl.
+
+
+_Fytte the Second_
+
+Fytte (or Part) the Second commences by telling how Tristrem, forsaken
+by all, begged King Mark for a ship that he might leave the land of
+Cornwall. Mark reluctantly granted his request, and the luckless
+Tristrem embarked with Gouvernayl, his one attendant, and his harp as
+his only solace. He steered for Caerleon, and remained nine weeks at
+sea, but meeting contrary winds he was driven out of his course, and
+at length came to the Irish coast, where he sought the haven of
+Dublin. On arriving there he feigned that he had been wounded by
+pirates, and learning that he was in Ireland, and recollecting that
+Moraunt, whom he had slain, was the brother to the Queen of that land,
+he thought it wise to assume once more the name of Tremtris.
+
+Soon his fame as a minstrel reached the ears of the Queen of Ireland,
+a lady deeply versed in the art of healing. She was, indeed, "the best
+Couthe of Medicine"[56] Tristrem had seen, and in order to heal his
+wound she applied to it "a plaster kene." Later she invited him to the
+Court, where his skill in chess and games astonished every one. So
+interested in him did the royal lady become at last that she undertook
+to cure him, and effected her object by means of a medicated bath and
+other medieval remedies. Then, on account of his fame as a minstrel,
+he was given the task of instructing the Princess Ysonde--as the name
+'Yseult' is written in this particular version.
+
+This princess was much attached to minstrelsy and poetry, and under
+the tuition of Tristrem she rapidly advanced in these arts, until at
+length she had no equal in Ireland save her preceptor. And now
+Tristrem, his health restored, and having completed Ysonde's
+instruction, felt a strong desire to return to the Court of King Mark.
+His request to be allowed to depart was most unwillingly granted by
+the Queen, who at the leave-taking loaded him with gifts. With the
+faithful Gouvernayl he arrived safely in Cornwall, where Mark received
+him joyfully. When the King inquired curiously how his wound had been
+cured, Tristrem told him of the great kindness of the Irish Queen, and
+praised Ysonde so highly that the ardour of his uncle was aroused and
+he requested Tristrem to procure him the hand of the damsel in
+marriage. He assured Tristrem that no marriage he, the King, might
+contract would annul the arrangement whereby Tristrem was to succeed
+to the throne of Cornwall. The nobles were opposed to the King's
+desires, which but strengthened Tristrem in his resolve to undertake
+the embassage, for he thought that otherwise it might appear that he
+desired the King to remain unmarried.
+
+
+_The Marriage Embassy_
+
+With a retinue of fifteen knights Tristrem sailed to Dublin in a ship
+richly laden with gifts. Arrived at the Irish capital, he sent
+magnificent presents to the King, Queen, and Princess, but did not
+announce the nature of his errand. Hardly had his messengers departed
+than he was informed that the people of Dublin were panic-stricken at
+the approach of a terrible dragon. This monster had so affrighted the
+neighbourhood that the hand of the Princess had been offered to anyone
+who would slay it. Tristrem dared his knights to attack the dragon,
+but one and all declined, so he himself rode out to give it battle. At
+the first shock his lance broke on the monster's impenetrable hide,
+his horse was slain, and he was forced to continue the fight on foot.
+At length, despite its fiery breath, he succeeded in slaying the
+dragon, and cut out its tongue as a trophy. But this exuded a subtle
+poison which deprived him of his senses.
+
+Thus overcome, Tristrem was discovered by the King's steward, who cut
+off the dragon's head and returned with it to Court to demand the hand
+of Ysonde. But the Queen and her daughter were dubious of the man's
+story, and upon visiting the place where the dragon had been slain,
+they came upon Tristrem himself. Their ministrations revived him, and
+he showed them the dragon's tongue as proof that he had slain the
+dread beast. He described himself as a merchant, and Ysonde, who did
+not at first recognize him, expressed her regret that he was not a
+knight. The Queen now caused him to be conveyed to the palace, where
+he was refreshed by a bath, and the false steward was cast into
+prison.
+
+Meanwhile the suspicions of the Princess had been aroused, and the
+belief grew that this 'merchant' who had slain the dragon was none
+other than Tremtris, her old instructor. In searching for evidence to
+confirm this conjecture she examined his sword, from which, she found,
+a piece had been broken. Now, she possessed a fragment of a
+sword-blade which had been taken out of the skull of Moraunt, her
+uncle, and she discovered that this fragment fitted into the broken
+place in Tristrem's sword, wherefore she concluded that the weapon
+must have been that which slew the Irish ambassador. She reproached
+Tristrem, and in her passion rushed upon him with his own sword. At
+this instant her mother returned, and upon learning the identity of
+Tristrem she was about to assist Ysonde to slay him in his bath when
+the King arrived and saved him from the infuriated women. Tristrem
+defended himself as having killed Moraunt in fair fight, and, smiling
+upon Ysonde, he told her that she had had many opportunities of
+slaying him while he was her preceptor Tremtris. He then proceeded to
+make known the object of his embassy. He engaged that his uncle, King
+Mark, should marry Ysonde, and it was agreed that she should be sent
+under his escort to Cornwall.
+
+It is clear that the Queen's knowledge of medicine was accompanied by
+an acquaintance with the black art, for on the eve of her daughter's
+departure she entrusted to Brengwain, a lady of Ysonde's suite, a
+powerful philtre or love potion, with directions that Mark and his
+bride should partake of it on the night of their marriage. While at
+sea the party met with contrary winds, and the mariners were forced to
+take to their oars. Tristrem exerted himself in rowing, and Ysonde,
+remarking that he seemed much fatigued, called for drink to refresh
+him. Brengwain, by a fateful error, presented the cup which held the
+love potion. Both Tristrem and Ysonde unwittingly partook of this, and
+a favourite dog, Hodain,
+
+  That many a forest day of fiery mirth
+  Had plied his craft before them,[57]
+
+licked the cup. The consequence of this mistake was, of course, the
+awakening of a consuming passion each for the other in Tristrem and
+Ysonde. A fortnight later the ship arrived at Cornwall. Ysonde was
+duly wed to King Mark, but her passion for Tristrem moved her to
+induce her attendant Brengwain to take her place on the first night of
+her nuptials.
+
+Afterward, terrified lest Brengwain should disclose the secret in her
+possession, Ysonde hired two ruffians to dispatch her. But the
+damsel's entreaties softened the hearts of the assassins and they
+spared her life. Subsequently Ysonde repented of her action and
+Brengwain was reinstated in full favour.
+
+
+_The Minstrel's Boon_
+
+An Irish earl, a former admirer of Ysonde, arrived one day at the
+Court of Cornwall disguised as a minstrel and bearing a harp of
+curious workmanship, the appearance of which excited the curiosity of
+King Mark, who requested him to perform upon it. The visitor demanded
+that the King should first promise to grant him a boon, and the King
+having pledged his royal word, the minstrel sang to the harp a lay in
+which he claimed Ysonde as the promised gift.[58] Mark, having pledged
+his honour, had no alternative but to become forsworn or to deliver
+his wife to the harper, and he reluctantly complied with the
+minstrel's demand. Tristrem, who had been away hunting, returned
+immediately after the adventurous earl had departed with his fair
+prize. He upbraided the King for his extravagant sense of honour, and,
+snatching up his rote, or harp, hastened to the seashore, where Ysonde
+had already embarked. There he sat down and played, and the sound so
+deeply affected Ysonde that she became seriously ill, so that the earl
+was induced to return with her to land. Ysonde pretended that
+Tristrem's music was necessary to her recovery, and the earl, to whom
+Tristrem was unknown, offered to take him in his train to Ireland. The
+earl had dismounted from the horse he was riding and was preparing to
+return on board, when Tristrem sprang into the saddle, and, seizing
+Ysonde's horse by the bridle, plunged into the forest. Here the lovers
+remained for a week, after which Tristrem restored Ysonde to her
+husband.
+
+[Illustration: TRISTREM AND YSONDE]
+
+Not unnaturally suspicion was aroused regarding the relations between
+Tristrem and Ysonde. Meriadok, a knight of Cornwall, and an intimate
+friend of Tristrem, was perhaps the most suspicious of all, and one
+snowy evening he traced his friend to Ysonde's bower, to which
+Tristrem gained entrance by a sliding panel. In this a piece of
+Tristrem's green kirtle was left, and Meriadok bore the fragment to
+the King, to whom he unfolded his suspicions. To test the truth of
+these Mark pretended that he was going on a pilgrimage to the Holy
+Land, and asked his wife to whose care she would wish to be committed.
+Ysonde at first named Tristrem, but on the advice of Brengwain resumed
+the subject later and feigned a mortal hatred for her lover, which she
+ascribed to the scandal she had suffered on his account. The fears of
+the simple Mark were thus lulled to sleep; but those of Meriadok were
+by no means laid at rest. On his advice Mark definitely separated the
+lovers, confining Ysonde to a bower and sending Tristrem to a
+neighbouring city. But Tristrem succeeded in communicating with Ysonde
+by means of leafy twigs thrown into the river which ran through her
+garden, and they continued to meet.
+
+Their interviews were, however, discovered by the aid of a dwarf who
+concealed himself in a tree. One night Mark took the dwarf's place,
+but the lovers were made aware of his presence by his shadow and
+pretended to be quarrelling, Tristrem saying that Ysonde had
+supplanted him in the King's affections. Mark's suspicions were thus
+soothed for the time being. On another occasion Tristrem was not so
+fortunate, and, being discovered, was forced to flee the country.
+
+
+_The Ordeal by Fire_
+
+Mark now resolved to test his wife's innocence by the dread ordeal by
+fire, and he journeyed with his Court to Westminster, where the trial
+was to take place. Tristrem, disguised as a peasant, joined the
+retinue, and when the party arrived in the Thames he carried Ysonde
+from the ship to the shore. When the moment for the ordeal came the
+Queen protested her innocence, saying that no man had ever laid hands
+upon her save the King and the peasant who had carried her from the
+ship. Mark, satisfied by her evident sincerity, refused to proceed
+further with the trial, and Ysonde thus escaped the awful test.
+
+Tristrem then betook him to Wales, and the fame of his prowess in that
+land came at length to Cornwall, so that at last his uncle grew heavy
+at heart for his absence and desired sight of him. Once more he
+returned, but his fatal passion for Ysonde was not abated, and became
+at length so grievous to the good King that he banished both of the
+lovers from his sight. The two fled to a forest, and there dwelt in a
+cavern, subsisting upon venison, the spoil of Tristrem's bow. One day,
+weary with the chase, Tristrem lay down to rest by the side of the
+sleeping Ysonde, placing his drawn sword between them. Mark, passing
+that way, espied them, and from the naked sword inferring their
+innocence, became reconciled to them once more. But again suspicion
+fell upon them, and again Tristrem was forced to flee.
+
+
+_Tristrem in Brittany_
+
+After many adventures in Spain Tristrem arrived in Brittany, where he
+aided the Duke of that country with his sword. The Duke's daughter,
+known as Ysonde of the White Hand, hearing him sing one night a song
+of the beauty of Ysonde, thought that Tristrem was in love with her.
+The Duke therefore offered Tristrem his daughter's hand, and, in
+despair of seeing Ysonde of Ireland again, he accepted the honour. But
+on the wedding-day the first Ysonde's ring dropped from his finger as
+if reproaching him with infidelity, and in deep remorse he vowed that
+Ysonde of Brittany should be his wife in name only.
+
+Now the Duke of Brittany bestowed on Tristrem a fair demesne divided
+by an arm of the sea from the land of a powerful and savage giant
+named Beliagog, and he warned his son-in-law not to incur the
+resentment of this dangerous neighbour. But one day Tristrem's hounds
+strayed into the forest land of Beliagog, and their master, following
+them, was confronted by the wrathful owner. A long and cruel combat
+ensued, and at last Tristrem lopped off one of the giant's feet.
+Thereupon the monster craved mercy, which was granted on the condition
+that he should build a hall in honour of Ysonde of Ireland and her
+maiden, Brengwain. This hall was duly raised, and upon its walls was
+portrayed to the life the whole history of Tristrem, with pictures of
+Ysonde of Ireland, Brengwain, Mark, and other characters in the tale.
+Tristrem, the Duke, Ysonde of Brittany, and Ganhardin, her brother,
+were riding to see this marvel when Ysonde confessed to Ganhardin that
+Tristrem did not regard her as his wife. Ganhardin, angered,
+questioned Tristrem, who concealed nothing from him and recounted to
+him the story of his love for the Queen of Cornwall. Ganhardin was
+deeply interested, and on beholding the picture of Brengwain in the
+newly erected hall he fell violently in love with her.
+
+
+_The Forest Lovers_
+
+Tristrem now returned to Cornwall with Ganhardin, and encountered
+Ysonde the Queen and the fair Brengwain. But one Canados, the King's
+Constable, discovered them and carried the ladies back to Court.
+Ganhardin made the best of his way home to Brittany, but Tristrem
+remained in Cornwall, disguised as a beggar.
+
+Our story now tells of a great tournament at the Cornish Court, and
+how Ganhardin hied him from Brittany and rejoined Tristrem. The two
+entered the lists and took up the challenge of Meriadok and Canados.
+Tristrem, tilting at his old enemy, wounded him desperately. The issue
+of the combat between Canados and Ganhardin hung in the balance when
+Tristrem, charging at the Constable, overthrew and slew him. Then,
+fired with the lust of conquest, Tristrem bore down upon his foes and
+exacted a heavy toll of lives. So great was the scathe done that day
+that Tristrem and Ganhardin were forced once more to fly to Brittany,
+where in an adventure Tristrem received an arrow in his old wound.
+
+
+_The French Manuscript_
+
+At this point the Auchinleck MS., from which this account is taken,
+breaks off, and the story is concluded, in language similar to that of
+the original, by Sir Walter Scott, who got his materials from an old
+French version of the tale.
+
+We read that Tristrem suffered sorely from his wound, in which, as
+before, gangrene set in. Aware that none but Ysonde of Ireland could
+cure him, the stricken knight called Ganhardin to his side and urged
+him to go with all speed to Cornwall and tell the Queen of his mortal
+extremity. He entrusted him with his ring, and finally requested the
+Breton knight to take with him two sails, one white and the other
+black, the first to be hoisted upon his return should Ysonde accompany
+him back to Brittany, the sable sail to be raised should his embassy
+fail of success. Now Ysonde of Brittany overheard all that was said,
+her jealous fears were confirmed, and she resolved to be revenged upon
+her husband.
+
+Ganhardin voyaged quickly to Cornwall, and arrived at the Court of
+King Mark disguised as a merchant. In order to speed his mission he
+presented rich gifts to the King, and also a cup to Ysonde, into which
+he dropped Tristrem's ring. This token procured him a private audience
+with the Queen, and when she learned the deadly peril of her lover,
+Ysonde hastily disguised herself and fled to the ship with Ganhardin.
+In due course the vessel arrived off the coast of Brittany, carrying
+the white sail which was to signify to Tristrem that Ysonde was
+hastening to his aid. But Ysonde of Brittany was watching, and
+perceiving from the signal that her rival was on board she hurried to
+her husband's couch. Tristrem begged her to tell him the colour of the
+sail, and in the madness of jealousy Ysonde said that it was black,
+upon which, believing himself forsaken by his old love, the knight
+sank back and expired.
+
+Tristrem had scarce breathed his last when Ysonde entered the castle.
+At the gate an old man was mourning Tristrem's death, and hearing the
+ominous words which he uttered she hastened to the chamber where the
+corpse of him she had loved so well was lying. With a moan she cast
+herself upon the body, covering the dead face with kisses and pleading
+upon the silent lips to speak. Realizing at last that the spirit had
+indeed quitted its mortal tenement, she raised herself to her feet and
+stood for a moment gazing wildly into the fixed and glassy eyes; then
+with a great cry she fell forward upon the breast of her lover and was
+united with him in death.
+
+Other versions of the story, with all the wealth of circumstance dear
+to the writer of romance, tell of the grievous mourning made at the
+death of the lovers, whom no fault of their own had doomed to the
+tyranny of a mutual passion, and it is recounted that even King Mark,
+wronged and shamed as he was, was unable to repress his grief at their
+pitiful end.
+
+Despite the clumsiness of much of its machinery, despite its tiresome
+repetitions and its minor blemishes, this tale of a grand passion must
+ever remain one of the world's priceless literary possessions. "Dull
+must he be of soul" who, even in these days when folk no longer expire
+from an excess of the tender passion, can fail to be moved by the sad
+fate of the fair Queen and of her gallant minstrel-knight.
+
+  Swiche lovers als thei
+  Never schal be moe.
+
+And so they take their place with Hero and Leander, with Abélard and
+Héloïse, with Romeo and Juliet.
+
+It would be unfitting here to tell how mythology has claimed the story
+of Tristrem and Ysonde and has attempted to show in what manner the
+circumstances of their lives and adventures have been adapted to the
+old world-wide myth of the progress of the sun from dawn to
+darkness.[59] The evidence seems very complete, and the theory is
+probably well founded. The circumstances of the great epic of the
+sun-god fits most hero-tales. And it is well to recollect that even if
+romance-makers seized upon the plot of the old myth they did so
+unconscious of its mythic significance, and probably because it may
+have been employed in the heroic literature of "Rome la grant."
+
+
+_The Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel_
+
+It was when he arrived in Brittany to ward off the projected invasion
+of England by the Roman Emperor Lucius that King Arthur encountered
+and slew a giant of "marvellous bigness" at St Michael's Mount, near
+Pontorson. This monster, who had come from Spain, had made his lair on
+the summit of the rocky island, whither he had carried off the Lady
+Helena, niece of Duke Hoel of Brittany. Many were the knights who
+surrounded the giant's fastness, but none might come at him, for when
+they attacked him he would sink their ships by hurling mighty boulders
+upon them, while those who succeeded in swimming to the island were
+slain by him ere they could get a proper footing. But Arthur,
+undismayed by what he had heard, waited until nightfall; then, when
+all were asleep, with Kay the seneschal and Bedivere the butler, he
+started on his way to the Mount.
+
+As the three approached the rugged height they beheld a fire blazing
+brightly on its summit, and saw also that upon a lesser eminence in
+the sea some distance away a smaller fire was burning. Bedivere was
+dispatched in a boat to discover who had lit the fire on the smaller
+island. Having landed there, he found an old woman lamenting loudly.
+
+"Good mother," said he, "wherefore do you mourn? What has befallen you
+in this place that you weep so sorely?"
+
+"Ah, young sir," replied the dame, drying her tears, "get thee back
+from this place, I beseech thee, for as thou livest the monster who
+inhabits yonder mount will rend thee limb from limb and sup on thy
+flesh. But yesterday I was the nurse of the fair Helena, niece to Duke
+Hoel, who lies buried here by me."
+
+"Alas! then, the lady is no more?" cried Bedivere, in distress.
+
+"So it is," replied the old woman, weeping more bitterly than ever,
+"for when that accursed giant did seize upon her terror did so
+overcome her that her spirit took flight. But tarry not on this dread
+spot, noble youth, for if her fierce slayer should encounter thee he
+will put thee to a shameful death, and afterward devour thee as is his
+wont with all those whom he kills."
+
+Bedivere comforted the old woman as best he might, and, returning to
+Arthur, told him what he had heard. Now on hearing of the damsel's
+death great anger took hold upon the King, so that he resolved to
+search out the giant forthwith and slay or be slain by him. Desiring
+Kay and Bedivere to follow, he dismounted and commenced to climb St
+Michael's Mount, closely attended by his companions.
+
+[Illustration: KING ARTHUR AND THE GIANT OF MONT-SAINT-MICHEL]
+
+On reaching the summit a gruesome spectacle awaited them. The great
+fire that they had seen in the distance was blazing fiercely, and
+bending over it was the giant, his cruel and contorted features
+besmeared with the blood of swine, portions of which he was toasting
+on spits. Startled at the sight of the knights, the monster rushed to
+where his club lay. This purpose Arthur deemed he might prevent, and,
+covering himself with his shield, he ran at him while yet he fumbled
+for the weapon. But with all his agility he was too late, for the
+giant seized the mighty sapling and, whirling it in the air, brought
+it down on the King's shield with such force that the sound of the
+stroke echoed afar. Nothing daunted, Arthur dealt a trenchant stroke
+with Excalibur, and gave the giant a cut on the forehead which made
+the blood gush forth over his eyes so as nearly to blind him. But
+shrewd as was the blow, the giant had warded his forehead with his
+club in such wise that he had not received a deadly wound, and,
+watching his chance with great cunning, he rushed in within the sweep
+of Arthur's sword, gripped him round the middle, and forced him to the
+ground.
+
+Iron indeed would have been the grasp which could have held a knight
+so doughty as Arthur. Slipping from the monster's clutches, the King
+hacked at his adversary now in one place, now in another, till at
+length he smote the giant so mightily that Excalibur was buried deep
+in his brain-pan. The giant fell like an oak torn up by the roots in
+the fury of the winds. Rushing up as he crashed to the earth, Sir
+Bedivere struck off the hideous head, grinning in death, to be a show
+to those in the tents below.
+
+"But let them behold it in silence and without laughter," the King
+charged Sir Bedivere, "for never since I slew the giant Ritho upon
+Mount Eryri have I encountered so mighty an adversary."
+
+And so they returned to their tents with daybreak.
+
+
+_A Doubting Thomas_
+
+It is strange to think that Brittany, one of the cradles of Arthurian
+legend, could have produced a disbeliever in that legend so early as
+the year of grace 1113. It is on record that some monks from Brittany
+journeyed to England in that year, and were shown by the men of Devon
+"the chair and the oven of that King Arthur renowned in the stories of
+the Britons." They passed on to Cornwall, and when, in the church at
+Bodmin, one of their servants dared to question the statement of a
+certain Cornishman that Arthur still lived, he received such a buffet
+for his temerity that a small riot ensued.[60] Does not this seem to
+be evidence that the legend was more whole-heartedly believed in in
+the Celtic parts of England, and was therefore more exclusively native
+to those parts than to Continental Brittany? The Cornish allegiance to
+the memory of Arthur seems to have left little to be desired.
+
+
+_Arthur and the Dragon_
+
+The manner in which Arthur slew a dragon at the Lieue de Grève, and at
+the same time made the acquaintance of St Efflam of Ireland, is told
+by Albert le Grand, monk of Morlaix. Arthur had been sojourning at the
+Court of Hoel, Duke of Armorica, and, having freed his own land of
+dragons and other monsters, was engaged in hunting down the great
+beasts with which Armorica abounded. But the monster which infested
+the Lieue de Grève was no ordinary dragon. Indeed, he was the most
+cunning saurian in Europe, and was wont to retire backward into the
+great cavern in which he lived so that when traced to it those who
+tracked him would believe that he had just quitted it.
+
+In this manner he succeeded in deceiving Arthur and his knights, who
+for days lingered in the vicinity of his cave in the hope of
+encountering him. One day as they stood on the seashore waiting for
+the dragon a sail hove in sight, and soon a large coracle made of
+wicker-work covered with skins appeared. The vessel grounded and its
+occupants leapt ashore, headed by a young man of princely mien, who
+advanced toward Arthur and saluted him courteously.
+
+"Fair sir," he said, "to what shore have I come? I am Efflam, the
+King's son, of Ireland. The winds have driven us out of our course,
+and full long have we laboured in the sea."
+
+Now when Arthur heard the young man's name he embraced him heartily.
+
+"Welcome, cousin," he said. "You are in the land of Brittany. I am
+Arthur of Britain, and I rejoice at this meeting, since it may chance
+from it that I can serve you."
+
+Then Efflam told Arthur the reason of his voyaging. He had been wed to
+the Princess Enora, daughter of a petty king of Britain, but on his
+wedding night a strong impulse had come upon him to leave all and make
+his penitence within some lonely wood, where he could be at peace from
+the world. Rising from beside his sleeping wife, he stole away, and
+rousing several trusty servitors he set sail from his native shores.
+Soon his frail craft was caught in a tempest, and after many days
+driven ashore as had been seen.
+
+Arthur marvelled at the impulse which had prompted Efflam to seek
+retirement, and was about to express his surprise when the youth
+startled him by telling him that as his vessel had approached the
+shore he and his men had caught sight of the dragon entering his
+cave.
+
+At these words Arthur armed himself without delay with his sword
+Excalibur and his lance Ron, and, followed by his knights and by
+Efflam, drew near the cavern. As he came before the entrance the
+dragon issued forth, roaring in so terrible a manner that all but the
+King were daunted and drew back. The creature's appearance was
+fearsome in the extreme. He had one red eye in the centre of his
+forehead, his shoulders were covered with green scales like plates of
+mail, his long, powerful tail was black and twisted, and his vast
+mouth was furnished with tusks like those of a wild boar.
+
+Grim and great was the combat. For three days did it rage, man and
+beast struggling through the long hours for the mastery which neither
+seemed able to obtain. At the end of that time the dragon retired for
+a space into his lair, and Arthur, worn out and well-nigh broken by
+the long-drawn strife, threw himself down beside Efflam in a state of
+exhaustion.
+
+"A draught of water, fair cousin," he cried in a choking voice. "I
+perish with thirst."
+
+But no water was to be found in that place save that of the salt sea
+which lapped the sands of Grève. Efflam, however, was possessed of a
+faith that could overcome all difficulties. Kneeling, he engaged in
+earnest prayer, and, arising, struck the hard rock three times with
+his rod. "Our blessed Lord will send us water," he exclaimed, and no
+sooner had he spoken than from the stone a fountain of pure crystal
+water gushed and bubbled.
+
+With a cry of ecstasy Arthur placed his lips to the stream and quaffed
+the much-needed refreshment. His vigour restored, he was about to
+return to the dragon's cavern to renew the combat when he was
+restrained by Efflam.
+
+"Cousin," said he of Ireland, "you have tried what can be done by
+force; now let us see what can be achieved by prayer."
+
+Arthur, marvelling and humbled, sat near the young man as he prayed.
+All night he was busied in devotions, and at sunrise he arose and
+walked boldly to the mouth of the cavern.
+
+"Thou spawn of Satan," he cried, "in the name of God I charge thee to
+come forth!"
+
+A noise as of a thousand serpents hissing in unison followed this
+challenge, and from out his lair trailed the great length of the
+dragon, howling and vomiting fire and blood. Mounting to the summit of
+a neighbouring rock, he vented a final bellow and then cast himself
+into the sea. The blue water was disturbed as by a maelstrom; then all
+was peace again.
+
+So perished the dragon of the Lieue de Grève, and so was proved the
+superiority of prayer over human strength and valour. St Efflam and
+his men settled on the spot as hermits, and were miraculously fed by
+angels. Efflam's wife, Enora, was borne to him by angels in that
+place, only to die when she had joined him. And when they came to tell
+Efflam that his new-found lady was no more and was lying cold in the
+cell he had provided for her, their news fell on deaf ears, for he too
+had passed away. He is buried in Plestin Church, and his effigy,
+standing triumphant above an open-mouthed dragon, graces one of its
+many niches.
+
+
+_The Isle of Avalon_
+
+The Bretons believe that an island off Trégastel, on the coast of the
+department of Côtes-du-Nord, is the fabled Isle of Avalon to which
+King Arthur, sore wounded after his last battle, was borne to be
+healed of his hurts. With straining eyes the fisherman watches the
+mist-wrapped islet, and, peering through the evening haze, cheats
+himself into the belief that giant forms are moving upon its shores
+and that spectral shapes flit across its sands--that the dark hours
+bring back the activities of the attendant knights and enchantresses
+of the mighty hero of Celtdom, who, refreshed by his long repose, will
+one day return to the world of men and right the great wrongs which
+afflict humanity.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [54] _The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory_, p. 135.
+
+  [55] No matter.
+
+  [56] _I.e._ had the best knowledge of medicine. _Couthe_, from A.S.
+       _cunnan_ to know.
+
+  [57] Swinburne, _Tristram of Lyonesse_.
+
+  [58] This incident is common in Celtic romance, and seems to have been
+       widely used in nearly all medieval literatures.
+
+  [59] See Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, _Introduction to Mythology_, p. 326 ff.
+
+  [60] See Zimmer, _Zeitschrift für Französische Sprache und Literatur_,
+       xii, pp. 106 ff.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI: THE BRETON LAYS OF MARIE DE FRANCE
+
+
+The wonderful _Lais_ of Marie de France must ever hold a deep interest
+for all students of Breton lore, for though cast in the literary mould
+of Norman-French and breathing the spirit of Norman chivalry those of
+them which deal with Brittany (as do most of them) exhibit such
+evident marks of having been drawn from native Breton sources that we
+may regard them as among the most valuable documents extant for the
+study and consideration of Armorican story.
+
+Of the personal history of Marie de France very little is known. The
+date and place of her birth are still matters for conjecture, and
+until comparatively recent times literary antiquaries were doubtful
+even as to which century she flourished in. In the epilogue to her
+_Fables_ she states that she is a native of the Ile-de-France, but
+despite this she is believed to have been of Norman origin, and also
+to have lived the greater part of her life in England. Her work, which
+holds few suggestions of Anglo-Norman forms of thought or expression,
+was written in a literary dialect that in all likelihood was widely
+estranged from the common Norman tongue, and from this (though the
+manuscripts in which they are preserved are dated later) we may judge
+her poems to have been composed in the second half of the twelfth
+century. The prologue of her _Lais_ contains a dedication to some
+unnamed king, and her _Fables_ are inscribed to a certain Count
+William, circumstances which are held by some to prove that she was of
+noble origin and not merely a _trouvère_ from necessity.
+
+Until M. Gaston Paris decided that this mysterious king was Henry II
+of England, and that the 'Count William' was Longsword, Earl of
+Salisbury, Henry's natural son by the 'Fair Rosamond,' the mysterious
+monarch was believed to be Henry III. It is highly probable that the
+_Lais_ were actually written at the Court of Henry II, though the
+'King' of the flowery prologue is hardly reconcilable with the stern
+ruler and law-maker of history. Be that as it may, Marie's poems
+achieved instant success. "Her rhyme is loved everywhere," says Denis
+Pyramus, the author of a life of St Edmund the King; "for counts,
+barons, and knights greatly admire it and hold it dear. And they love
+her writing so much, and take such pleasure in it, that they have it
+read, and often copied. These Lays are wont to please ladies, who
+listen to them with delight, for they are after their own hearts."
+This fame and its attendant adulation were very sweet to Marie, and
+she was justly proud of her work, which, inspired, as she herself
+distinctly states, by the lays she had heard Breton minstrels sing,
+has, because of its vivid colouring and human appeal, survived the
+passing of seven hundred years. The scenes of the tales are laid in
+Brittany, and we are probably correct in regarding them as culled from
+original traditional material. As we proceed with the telling of these
+ancient stories we shall endeavour to point out the essentially Breton
+elements they have retained.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Were-Wolf_
+
+In the long ago there dwelt in Brittany a worshipful baron, for whom
+the king of that land had a warm affection, and who was happy in the
+esteem of his peers and the love of his beautiful wife.
+
+One only grief had his wife in her married life, and that was the
+mysterious absence of her husband for three days in every week. Where
+he disappeared to neither she nor any member of her household knew.
+These excursions preyed upon her mind, so that at last she resolved to
+challenge him regarding them.
+
+"Husband," she said to him pleadingly one day after he had just
+returned from one of these absences, "I have something to ask of you,
+but I fear that my request may vex you, and for this reason I hesitate
+to make it."
+
+The baron took her in his arms and, kissing her tenderly, bade her
+state her request, which he assured her would by no means vex him.
+
+"It is this," she said, "that you will trust me sufficiently to tell
+me where you spend those days when you are absent from me. So fearful
+have I become regarding these withdrawals and all the mystery that
+enshrouds them that I know neither rest nor comfort; indeed, so
+distraught am I at times that I feel I shall die for very anxiety. Oh,
+husband, tell me where you go and why you tarry so long!"
+
+In great agitation the husband put his wife away from him, not daring
+to meet the glance of her imploring, anxious eyes.
+
+"For the mercy of God, do not ask this of me," he besought her. "No
+good could come of your knowing, only great and terrible evil.
+Knowledge would mean the death of your love for me, and my everlasting
+desolation."
+
+"You are jesting with me, husband," she replied; "but it is a cruel
+jest. I am all seriousness, I do assure you. Peace of mind can never
+be mine until my question is fully answered."
+
+But the baron, still greatly perturbed, remained firm. He could not
+tell her, and she must rest content with that. The lady, however,
+continued to plead, sometimes with tenderness, more often with tears
+and heart-piercing reproaches, until at length the baron, trusting to
+her love, decided to tell her his secret.
+
+"I have to leave you because periodically I become a bisclaveret," he
+said. ('Bisclaveret' is the Breton name for were-wolf.) "I hide myself
+in the depths of the forest, live on wild animals and roots, and go
+unclad as any beast of the field."
+
+When the lady had recovered from the horror of this disclosure and had
+rallied her senses to her aid, she turned to him again, determined at
+any cost to learn all the circumstances connected with this terrible
+transformation.
+
+"You know that I love you better than all the world, my husband," she
+began; "that never in our life together have I done aught to forfeit
+your love or your trust. So do, I beseech you, tell me all--tell me
+where you hide your clothing before you become a were-wolf?"
+
+"That I dare not do, dear wife," he replied, "for if I should lose my
+raiment or even be seen quitting it I must remain a were-wolf so long
+as I live. Never again could I become a man unless my garments were
+restored to me."
+
+"Then you no longer trust me, no longer love me?" she cried. "Alas,
+alas that I have forfeited your confidence! Oh that I should live to
+see such a day!"
+
+Her weeping broke out afresh, this time more piteously than before.
+The baron, deeply touched, and willing by any means to alleviate her
+distress, at last divulged the vital secret which he had held from her
+so long.
+
+But from that hour his wife cast about for ways and means to rid
+herself of her strange husband, of whom she now went in exceeding
+fear. In course of time she remembered a knight of that country who
+had long sought her love, but whom she had repulsed. To him she
+appealed, and right gladly and willingly he pledged himself to aid
+her. She showed him where her lord concealed his clothing, and begged
+him to spoil the were-wolf of his vesture on the next occasion on
+which he set out to assume his transformation. The fatal period soon
+returned. The baron disappeared as usual, but this time he did not
+return to his home. For days friends, neighbours, and menials sought
+him diligently, but no trace of him was to be found, and when a year
+had elapsed the search was at length abandoned, and the lady was
+wedded to her knight.
+
+Some months later the King was hunting in the great forest near the
+missing baron's castle. The hounds, unleashed, came upon the scent of
+a wolf, and pressed the animal hard. For many hours they pursued him,
+and when about to seize him, Bisclaveret--for it was he--turned with
+such a human gesture of despair to the King, who had ridden hard upon
+his track, that the royal huntsman was moved to pity. To the King's
+surprise the were-wolf placed its paws together as if in supplication,
+and its great jaws moved as if in speech.
+
+"Call off the hounds," cried the monarch to his attendants. "This
+quarry we will take alive to our palace. It is too marvellous a thing
+to be killed."
+
+Accordingly they returned to the Court, where the were-wolf became an
+object of the greatest curiosity to all. So frolicsome yet so gentle
+was he that he became a universal favourite. At night he slept in the
+King's room, and by day he followed him with all the dumb faithfulness
+of a dog. The King was extremely attached to him, and never permitted
+his shaggy favourite to be absent from his side for a moment.
+
+One day the monarch held a high Court, to which his great vassals and
+barons and all the lords of his broad demesnes were bidden. Among them
+came the knight who had wed the wife of Bisclaveret. Immediately upon
+sight of him the were-wolf flew at him with a savage joy that
+astonished those accustomed to his usual gentleness and docility. So
+fierce was the attack that the knight would have been killed had not
+the King intervened to save him. Later, in the royal hunting-lodge she
+who had been the wife of Bisclaveret came to offer the King a rich
+present. When he saw her the animal's rage knew no bounds, and despite
+all restraint he succeeded in mutilating her fair face in the most
+frightful manner. But for a certain wise counsellor this act would
+have cost Bisclaveret his life. This sagacious person, who knew of the
+animal's customary docility, insisted that some evil must have been
+done him.
+
+"There must be some reason why this beast holds these twain in such
+mortal hate," he said. "Let this woman and her husband be brought
+hither so that they may be straitly questioned. She was once the wife
+of one who was near to your heart, and many marvellous happenings have
+ere this come out of Brittany."
+
+[Illustration: THE WERE-WOLF]
+
+The King hearkened to this sage counsel, for he loved the were-wolf,
+and was loath to have him slain. Under pressure of examination
+Bisclaveret's treacherous wife confessed all that she had done, adding
+that in her heart she believed the King's favourite animal to be no
+other than her former husband.
+
+Instantly on learning this the King demanded the were-wolf's vesture
+from the treacherous knight her lover, and when this was brought to
+him he caused it to be spread before the wolf. But the animal behaved
+as though he did not see the garments.
+
+Then the wise counsellor again came to his aid.
+
+"You must take the beast to your own secret chamber, sire," he told
+the King; "for not without great shame and tribulation can he become a
+man once more, and this he dare not suffer in the sight of all."
+
+This advice the King promptly followed, and when after some little
+time he, with two lords of his fellowship in attendance, re-entered
+the secret chamber, he found the wolf gone, and the baron so well
+beloved asleep in his bed.
+
+With great joy and affection the King aroused his friend, and when the
+baron's feelings permitted him he related his adventures. As soon as
+his master had heard him out he not only restored to him all that had
+been taken from him, but added gifts the number and richness of which
+rendered him more wealthy and important than ever, while in just anger
+he banished from his realm the wife who had betrayed her lord,
+together with her lover.
+
+
+_The Were-Wolf Superstition_
+
+The were-wolf superstition is, or was, as prevalent in Brittany as in
+other parts of France and Europe. The term 'were-wolf' literally means
+'man-wolf,' and was applied to a man supposed to be temporarily or
+permanently transformed into a wolf. In its origins the belief may
+have been a phase of lycanthropy, a disease in which the sufferer
+imagines himself to have been transformed into an animal, and in
+ancient and medieval times of very frequent occurrence. It may, on the
+other hand, be a relic of early cannibalism. Communities of
+semi-civilized people would begin to shun those who devoured human
+flesh, and they would in time be ostracized and classed with wild
+beasts, the idea that they had something in common with these would
+grow, and the belief that they were able to transform themselves into
+veritable animals would be likely to arise therefrom.
+
+There were two kinds of were-wolf, voluntary and involuntary. The
+voluntary included those persons who because of their taste for human
+flesh had withdrawn from intercourse with their fellows, and who
+appeared to possess a certain amount of magical power, or at least
+sufficient to permit them to transform themselves into animal shape at
+will. This they effected by merely disrobing, by taking off a girdle
+made of human skin, or putting on a similar belt of wolf-skin
+(obviously a later substitute for an entire wolf-skin; in some cases
+we hear of their donning the skin entire). In other instances the body
+was rubbed with magic ointment, or rain-water was drunk out of a
+wolf's footprint. The brains of the animal were also eaten. Olaus
+Magnus says that the were-wolves of Livonia drained a cup of beer on
+initiation, and repeated certain magical words. In order to throw off
+the wolf-shape the animal girdle was removed, or else the magician
+merely muttered certain formulæ. In some instances the transformation
+was supposed to be the work of Satan.
+
+The superstition regarding were-wolves seems to have been exceedingly
+prevalent in France during the sixteenth century, and there is
+evidence of numerous trials of persons accused of were-wolfism, in
+some of which it was clearly shown that murder and cannibalism had
+taken place. Self-hallucination was accountable for many of the cases,
+the supposed were-wolves declaring that they had transformed
+themselves and had slain many people. But about the beginning of the
+seventeenth century native common sense came to the rescue, and such
+confessions were not credited. In Teutonic and Slavonic countries it
+was complained by men of learning that the were-wolves did more damage
+than real wild animals, and the existence of a regular 'college' or
+institution for the practice of the art of animal transformation among
+were-wolves was affirmed.
+
+Involuntary were-wolves, of which class Bisclaveret was evidently a
+member, were often persons transformed into animal shape because of
+the commission of sin, and condemned to pass a certain number of years
+in that form. Thus certain saints metamorphosed sinners into wolves.
+In Armenia it was thought that a sinful woman was condemned to pass
+seven years in the form of a wolf. To such a woman a demon appeared,
+bringing a wolf-skin. He commanded her to don it, and from that moment
+she became a wolf, with all the nature of the wild beast, devouring
+her own children and those of strangers, and wandering forth at night,
+undeterred by locks, bolts, or bars, returning only with the morning
+to resume her human form.
+
+In was, of course, in Europe, where the wolf was one of the largest
+carnivorous animals, that the were-wolf superstition chiefly gained
+currency. In Eastern countries, where similar beliefs prevailed,
+bears, tigers, and other beasts of prey were substituted for the
+lupine form of colder climes.
+
+
+_The Lay of Gugemar_
+
+Oridial was one of the chief barons of King Arthur, and dwelt in
+Brittany, where he held lands in fief of that monarch. So deeply was
+he attached to his liege lord that when his son Gugemar was yet a
+child he sent him to Arthur's Court to be trained as a page. In due
+time Arthur dubbed Gugemar knight and armed him in rich harness, and
+the youth, hearing of war in Flanders, set out for that realm in the
+hope of gaining distinction and knightly honour.
+
+After achieving many valorous deeds in Flanders Gugemar felt a strong
+desire to behold his parents once more, so, setting his face homeward,
+he journeyed back to Brittany and dwelt with them for some time,
+resting after his battles and telling his father, mother, and sister
+Nogent of the many enterprises in which he had been engaged. But he
+shortly grew weary of this inactive existence, and in order to break
+the monotony of it he planned a great hunt in the neighbouring
+forest.
+
+Early one morning he set out, and soon a tall stag was roused from its
+bed among the ferns by the noise of the hunters' horns. The hounds
+were unleashed and the entire hunt followed in pursuit, Gugemar the
+foremost of all. But, closely as he pursued, the quarry eluded the
+knight, and to his chagrin he was left alone in the forest spaces with
+nothing to show for his long chase. He was about to ride back in
+search of his companions when on a sudden he noticed a doe hiding in a
+thicket with her fawn. She was white from ear to hoof, without a
+spot. Gugemar's hounds, rushing at her, held her at bay, and their
+master, fitting an arrow to his bow, loosed the shaft at her so that
+she was wounded above the hoof and brought to earth. But the
+treacherous arrow, glancing, returned to Gugemar and wounded him
+grievously in the thigh.
+
+As he lay on the earth faint and with his senses almost deserting him,
+Gugemar heard the doe speak to him in human accents:
+
+"Wretch who hast slain me," said she, "think not to escape my
+vengeance. Never shall leech nor herb nor balm cure the wound which
+fate hath so justly inflicted upon thee. Only canst thou be healed by
+a woman who loves thee, and who for that love shall have to suffer
+such woe and sorrow as never woman had to endure before. Thou too
+shalt suffer equally with her, and the sorrows of ye twain shall be
+the wonder of lovers for all time. Leave me now to die in peace."
+
+Gugemar was in sore dismay at hearing these words, for never had he
+sought lady's love nor had he cared for the converse of women. Winding
+his horn, he succeeded in attracting one of his followers to the spot,
+and sent him in search of his companions. When he had gone Gugemar
+tore his linen shirt in pieces and bound up his wound as well as he
+might. Then, dragging himself most painfully into the saddle, he rode
+from the scene of his misadventure at as great a pace as his injury
+would permit of, for he had conceived a plan which he did not desire
+should be interfered with.
+
+Riding at a hand-gallop, he soon came in sight of tall cliffs which
+overlooked the sea, and which formed a natural harbour, wherein lay a
+vessel richly beseen. Its sails were of spun silk, and each plank and
+mast was fashioned of ebony. Dismounting, Gugemar made his way to the
+shore, and with much labour climbed upon the ship. Neither mariner nor
+merchant was therein. A large pavilion of silk covered part of the
+deck, and within this was a rich bed, the work of the cunning
+artificers of the days of King Solomon. It was fashioned of cypress
+wood and ivory, and much gold and many gems went to the making of it.
+The clothes with which it was provided were fair and white as snow,
+and so soft the pillow that he who laid his head upon it, sad as he
+might be, could not resist sleep. The pavilion was lit by two large
+waxen candles, set in candlesticks of gold.
+
+As the knight sat gazing at this splendid couch fit for a king he
+suddenly became aware that the ship was moving seaward. Already,
+indeed, he was far from land, and at the sight he grew more sorrowful
+than before, for his hurt made him helpless and he could not hope
+either to guide the vessel or manage her so that he might return to
+shore. Resigning himself to circumstances, he lay down upon the ornate
+bed and sank into a deep and dreamless slumber.
+
+[Illustration: GUGEMAR COMES UPON THE MAGIC SHIP]
+
+When he awoke he found to his intense surprise that the ship had come
+to the port of an ancient city. Now the king of this realm was an aged
+man who was wedded to a young, fair lady, of whom he was, after the
+manner of old men, intensely jealous. The castle of this monarch
+frowned upon a fair garden enclosed from the sea by a high wall of
+green marble, so that if one desired to come to the castle he must do
+so from the water. The place was straitly watched by vigilant
+warders, and within the wall so carefully defended lay the Queen's
+bower, a fairer chamber than any beneath the sun, and decorated with
+the most marvellous paintings. Here dwelt the young Queen with one of
+her ladies, her own sister's child, who was devoted to her service and
+who never quitted her side. The key of this bower was in the hands of
+an aged priest, who was also the Queen's servitor.
+
+One day on awaking from sleep the Queen walked in the garden and
+espied a ship drawing near the land. Suddenly, she knew not why, she
+grew very fearful, and would have fled at the sight, but her maiden
+encouraged her to remain. The vessel came to shore, and the Queen's
+maiden entered it. No one could she see on board except a knight
+sleeping soundly within the pavilion, and he was so pale that she
+thought he was dead. Returning to her mistress, she told her what she
+had seen, and together they entered the vessel.
+
+No sooner did the Queen behold Gugemar than she was deeply smitten
+with love for him. In a transport of fear lest he were dead she placed
+her hand upon his bosom, and was overjoyed to feel the warmth of life
+within him and that his heart beat strongly. At her touch he awoke and
+courteously saluted her. She asked him whence he came and to what
+nation he belonged.
+
+"Lady," he replied, "I am a knight of Brittany. But yesterday, or so
+it seems to me, for I may have slumbered more than a day, I wounded a
+deer in the forest, but the arrow with which I slew her rebounded and
+struck me sorely. Then the beast, being, I trow, a fairy deer, spake,
+saying that never would this wound be healed save by one damsel in the
+whole world, and her I know not where to find. Riding seaward, I came
+to where this ship lay moored, and, entering it, the vessel drifted
+oceanward. I know not to what land I have come, nor what name this
+city bears. I pray you, fair lady, give me your best counsel."
+
+The Queen listened to his tale with the deepest interest, and when
+Gugemar made his appeal for aid and counsel she replied: "Truly, fair
+sir, I shall counsel you as best I may. This city to which you have
+come belongs to my husband, who is its King. Of much worship is he,
+but stricken in years, and because of the jealousy he bears me he has
+shut me up between these high walls. If it please you you may tarry
+here awhile and we will tend your wound until it be healed."
+
+Gugemar, wearied and bewildered at the strange things which had
+happened to him in the space of a day, thanked the Queen, and accepted
+her kind offer of entertainment with alacrity. Between them the Queen
+and her lady assisted him to leave the ship and bore him to a chamber,
+where he was laid in a fair bed and had his wound carefully dressed.
+When the ladies had withdrawn and the knight was left to himself he
+knew that he loved the Queen. All memory of his home and even of his
+tormenting wound disappeared, and he could brood only upon the fair
+face of the royal lady who had so charmingly ministered to him.
+
+Meanwhile the Queen was in little better case. All night she could not
+sleep for pondering upon the handsome youth who had come so
+mysteriously into her life, and her maiden, seeing this, and marking
+how she suffered, went to Gugemar's chamber and told him in a frank
+and almost childlike manner how deeply her mistress had been smitten
+with love for him.
+
+"You are young," she said, "so is my lady. Her lord is old and their
+union is unseemly. Heaven intended you for one another and has brought
+you together in its own good time."
+
+Shortly, after she had heard Mass, the Queen summoned Gugemar into her
+presence. At first both were dumb with confusion. At last his passion
+urged Gugemar to speak, and his love-words came thick and fast. The
+Queen hearkened to them, and, feeling that they rang true, admitted
+that she loved him in return.
+
+For a year and a half Gugemar dwelt in the Queen's bower. Then the
+lovers met with misfortune.
+
+For some days before the blow fell the Queen had experienced a feeling
+of coming evil. So powerfully did this affect her that she begged
+Gugemar for a garment of his. The knight marvelled at the request, and
+asked her playfully for what reason she desired such a keepsake as a
+linen shift.
+
+"Friend," she replied, "if it chance that you leave me or that we are
+separated I shall fear that some other damsel may win your love. In
+this shift which you give me I shall make a knot, and shall ask you to
+vow that never will you give your love to dame or damsel who cannot
+untie this knot."
+
+The knight complied with her request, and she made such a cunning knot
+in the garment as only she could unravel. For his part Gugemar gave
+the Queen a wonderfully fashioned girdle which only he could unclasp,
+and he begged her that she would never grant her love to any man who
+could not free her from it. Each promised the other solemnly to
+respect the vows they had made.
+
+That same day their hidden love was discovered. A chamberlain of the
+King's observed them through a window of the Queen's bower, and,
+hastening to his master, told him what he had seen. In terrible wrath
+the King called for his guards, and, coming upon the lovers unaware,
+commanded them to slay Gugemar at once. But the knight seized upon a
+stout rod of fir-wood on which linen was wont to be dried, and faced
+those who would slay him so boldly that they fell back in dismay.
+
+The King questioned him as to his name and lineage, and Gugemar
+fearlessly related his story. The King was incredulous at first, but
+said that could the ship be found in which Gugemar had arrived he
+would place him upon it and send him once more out to sea. After
+search had been made the vessel was found, and Gugemar was placed on
+it, the ship began to move, and soon the knight was well at sea.
+
+Ere long the ship came to that harbour whence she had first sailed,
+and as Gugemar landed he saw to his surprise one of his own vassals
+holding a charger and accompanied by a knight. Mounting the steed,
+Gugemar swiftly rode home, where he was received with every
+demonstration of joy. But though his parents and friends did
+everything possible to make him happy, the memory of the fair Queen
+who had loved him was ever with him night and day, so that he might
+not be solaced by game or tilting, the chase or the dance. In vain
+those who wished him well urged him to take a wife. At first he
+roundly refused to consider such a step, but when eagerly pressed by
+his friends he announced that no wife should he wed who could not
+first unloose the knot within his shift. So sought after was Gugemar
+that all the damsels in Brittany essayed the feat, but none of them
+succeeded and each retired sorrowfully from the ordeal.
+
+Meanwhile the aged King had set his wife in a tower of grey marble,
+where she suffered agonies because of the absence of her lover. Ever
+she wondered what had happened to him, if he had regained his native
+shore or whether he had been swallowed up by the angry sea. Frequently
+she made loud moan, but there were none to hear her cries save
+stony-hearted gaolers, who were as dumb as the grey walls that
+enclosed her.
+
+One day she chanced in her dolour to lean heavily upon the door of her
+prison. To her amazement it opened, and she found herself in the
+corridor without. Hastening on impulse, and as if by instinct, to the
+harbour, she found there her lover's ship. Quickly she climbed upon
+its deck, and scarcely had she done so than the vessel began to move
+seaward. In great fear she sat still, and in time was wafted to a part
+of Brittany governed by one named Meriadus, who was on the point of
+going to war with a neighbouring chieftain.
+
+From his window Meriadus had seen the approach of the strange vessel,
+and, making his way to the seashore, entered the ship. Struck with the
+beauty of the Queen, he brought her to his castle, where he placed her
+in his sister's chamber. He strove in every way to dispel the sadness
+which seemed to envelop her like a mantle, but despite his efforts to
+please her she remained in sorrowful and doleful mood and would not be
+comforted. Sorely did Meriadus press her to wed him, but she would
+have none of him, and for answer showed him the girdle round her
+waist, saying that never would she give her love to any man who could
+not unloose its buckle. As she said this Meriadus seemed struck by her
+words.
+
+"Strange," he said, "a right worthy knight dwells in this land who
+will take no woman to his wife save she who can first untie a certain
+crafty knot in his shift. Well would I wager that it was you who tied
+this knot."
+
+When the Queen heard these words she well-nigh fainted. Meriadus
+rushed to succour her, and gradually she revived. Some days later
+Meriadus held a high tournament, at which all the knights who were to
+aid him in the war were to be present, among them Gugemar. A festival
+was held on the night preceding the tournament, at which Meriadus
+requested his sister and the stranger dame to be present. As the Queen
+entered the hall Gugemar rose from his place and stared at her as at a
+vision of the dead. In great doubt was he whether this lady was in
+truth his beloved.
+
+"Come, Gugemar," rallied Meriadus, "let this damsel try to unravel the
+knot in your shift which has puzzled so many fair dames."
+
+Gugemar called to his squire and bade him fetch the shift, and when it
+was brought the lady, without seeming effort, unravelled the knot. But
+even yet Gugemar remained uncertain.
+
+"Lady," he said, "tell me, I pray you, whether or not you wear a
+girdle with which I girt you in a realm across the sea," and placing
+his hands around her slender waist, he found there the secret belt.
+
+All his doubts dispelled, Gugemar asked his loved one how she had come
+to the tower of Meriadus. When he had heard, he then and there
+requested his ally to yield him the lady, but the chieftain roundly
+refused. Then the knight in great anger cast down his glove and took
+his departure, and, to the discomfiture of Meriadus, all those knights
+who had gathered for the tournament and had offered to assist Meriadus
+accompanied Gugemar.
+
+[Illustration: GUGEMAR'S ASSAULT ON THE CASTLE OF MERIADUS]
+
+In a body they rode to the castle of the prince who was at war with
+Meriadus, and next day they marched against the discourteous
+chieftain. Long did they besiege his castle, but at last when the
+defenders were weak with hunger Gugemar and his men assailed the place
+and took it, slaying Meriadus within the ruins of his own hall.
+Gugemar, rushing to that place where he knew his lady to be, called
+her forth, and in peace brought her back with him to his own demesne,
+where they were wed and dwelt long and happily.
+
+There are several circumstances connected with this beautiful old tale
+which deeply impress us with a belief in its antiquity. The incident
+of the killing of the deer and the incurable nature of Gugemar's wound
+are undoubtedly legacies from very ancient times, when it was believed
+to be unlucky under certain circumstances to kill a beast of the
+chase. Some savage races, such as the North American Indians, consider
+it to be most unlucky to slay a deer without first propitiating the
+great Deer God, the chief of the Deer Folk, and in fact they attribute
+most of the ills to which flesh is heir to the likelihood that they
+have omitted some of the very involved ritual of the chase. It will be
+remembered that Tristrem of Lyonesse also had an incurable wound, and
+there are other like instances in romance and myth.
+
+The vessel which carries Gugemar over the sea is undoubtedly of the
+same class as those magic self-propelled craft which we meet with very
+frequently in Celtic lore, and the introduction of this feature in
+itself is sufficient to convince us of the Celtic or Breton origin of
+Marie's tale. We have such a craft in the Grail legend in the _Morte
+d'Arthur_, in which Galahad finds precisely such a bed. The vessel in
+the Grail legend is described as "King Solomon's Ship," and it is
+obvious that Marie or her Breton original must have borrowed the idea
+from a Grail source.
+
+Lastly, the means adopted by the lovers to ensure one another's
+constancy seem very like the methods of taboo. The knot that may not
+or cannot be untied has many counterparts in ancient lore, and the
+girdle that no man but the accepted lover may loose is reminiscent of
+the days when a man placed such a girdle around his wife or sweetheart
+to signify his sole possession of her. If a man could succeed in
+purloining a mermaid's girdle she was completely in his power. So is
+it with fairies in an Algonquin Indian tale. Even so late as Crusading
+times many knights departing to fight in the Holy Land bound a girdle
+round their ladies' waists in the hope that the gift would ensure
+their faithfulness.
+
+
+_The Lay of Laustic_
+
+The Lay of Laustic, or the Nightingale, is purely of Breton origin,
+and indeed is proved to be so by its title. "Laustic, I deem, men name
+it in that country" (Brittany), says Marie in her preface to the lay,
+"which being interpreted means _rossignol_ in French and 'nightingale'
+in good plain English." She adds that the Breton harper has already
+made a lay concerning it--added evidence that the tale is of Celtic
+and not of French origin.
+
+In the ancient town of Saint-Malo, in Brittany, dwelt two knights
+whose valour and prowess brought much fame to the community. Their
+houses were close to one another, and one of them was married to a
+lady of surpassing loveliness, while the other was a bachelor. By
+insensible degrees the bachelor knight came to love his neighbour's
+wife, and so handsome and gallant was he that in time she returned his
+passion. He made every possible excuse for seeking her society, and on
+one pretext or another was constantly by her side. But he was
+exceedingly careful of her fair fame, and acted in such a way that not
+the slightest breath of scandal could touch her.
+
+Their houses were separated by an ancient stone wall of considerable
+height, but the lovers could speak together by leaning from their
+casements, and if this was impossible they could communicate by
+sending written messages. When the lady's husband was at home she was
+guarded carefully, as was the custom of the time, but nevertheless she
+contrived to greet her lover from the window as frequently as she
+desired.
+
+In due course the wondrous time of spring came round, with white drift
+of blossom and stir of life newly awakened. The short night hours grew
+warm, and often did the lady arise from bed to have speech with her
+lover at the casement. Her husband grew displeased by her frequent
+absences, which disturbed his rest, and wrathfully inquired the reason
+why she quitted his side so often.
+
+"Oh, husband," she replied, "I cannot rest because of the sweet song
+of the nightingale, whose music has cast a spell upon my heart. No
+tune of harp or viol can compare with it, and I may not close my eyes
+so long as his song continues in the night."
+
+Now the lady's husband, although a bold and hardy knight, was
+malicious and ungenerous, and, disliking to have his rest disturbed,
+resolved to deal summarily with the nightingale. So he gave orders to
+his servants to set traps in the garden and to smear every bough and
+branch with birdlime in order that the bird might speedily be taken.
+His orders were at once carried out, and the garden was filled with
+nets, while the cruel lime glittered upon every tree. So complete were
+the preparations of the serving-men that an unfortunate nightingale
+which had made the garden its haunt and had filled it with music for
+many a night while the lovers talked was taken and brought to the
+knight.
+
+Swiftly he bore the hapless bird to his wife's chamber, his eyes
+sparkling with malicious glee.
+
+"Here is your precious songster," he said, with bitter irony. "You
+will be happy to learn that you and I may now spend our sleeping hours
+in peace since he is taken."
+
+"Ah, slay him not, my lord!" she cried in anguish, for she had grown
+to associate the bird's sweet song with the sweeter converse of her
+lover--to regard it as in a measure an accompaniment to his
+love-words. For answer her husband seized the unhappy bird by the neck
+and wrung its head off. Then he cast the little body into the lap of
+the dame, soiling her with its blood, and departed in high anger.
+
+The lady pitifully raised what was left of the dead songster and
+bitterly lamented over it.
+
+"Woe is me!" she cried. "Never again can I meet with my lover at the
+casement, and he will believe that I am faithless to him. But I shall
+devise some means to let him know that this is not so."
+
+Having considered as to what she should do, the lady took a fine piece
+of white samite, broidered with gold, and worked upon it as on a
+tapestry the whole story of the nightingale, so that her knight might
+not be ignorant of the nature of the barrier that had arisen between
+them.
+
+In this silken shroud she wrapped the small, sad body of the slain
+bird and gave it in charge of a trusty servant to bear to her lover.
+The messenger told the knight what had occurred. The news was heavy to
+him, but now, having insight to the vengeful nature of her husband, he
+feared to jeopardize the lady's safety, so he remained silent. But he
+caused a rich coffer to be made in fine gold, set with precious
+stones, in which he laid the body of the nightingale, and this small
+funeral urn he carried about with him on all occasions, nor could any
+circumstance hinder him from keeping it constantly beside him.
+
+  Wrap me love's ashes in a golden cloth
+  To carry next my heart. Love's fire is out,
+  And these poor embers grey, but I am loath
+  To quench remembrance also: I shall put
+  His relics over that they did consume.
+  Ah, 'tis too bitter cold these cinders to relume!
+
+  Place me love's ashes in a golden cup,
+  To mingle with my wine. Ah, do not fear
+  The old flame in my soul shall flicker up
+  At the harsh taste of what was once so dear.
+  I quaff no fire: there is no fire to meet
+  This bitterness of death and turn it into sweet.
+
+
+_The Lay of Eliduc_
+
+In the tale of Eliduc we have in all probability a genuine product of
+native Breton romance. So at least avers Marie, who assures us that it
+is "a very ancient Breton lay," and we have no reason to doubt her
+word, seeing that, had she been prone to literary dishonesty, it would
+have been much easier for her to have passed off the tale as her own
+original conception. There is, of course, the probability that it was
+so widely known in its Breton version that to have done so would have
+been to have openly courted the charge of plagiarism--an impeachment
+which it is not possible to bring against this most charming and
+delightful poetess.
+
+Eliduc, a knight of Brittany, was happy in the confidence of his King,
+who, when affairs of State caused his absence from the realm, left his
+trusted adherent behind him as viceroy and regent. Such a man, staunch
+and loyal, could scarcely be without enemies, and the harmless
+pleasure he took in the chase during the King's absence was construed
+by evil counsellors on the monarch's return as an unwarranted licence
+with the royal rights of venery. The enemies of Eliduc so harped upon
+the knight's supposed lack of reverence for the royal authority that
+at length the King's patience gave way and in an outburst of wrath he
+gave orders for Eliduc's banishment, without vouchsafing his former
+friend and confidant the least explanation of this petulant action.
+
+Dismayed by the sudden change in his fortunes, Eliduc returned to his
+house, and there acquainted his friends and vassals with the King's
+unjust decree. He told them that it was his intention to cross the sea
+to the kingdom of Logres, to sojourn there for a space. He placed his
+estates in the hands of his wife and begged of his vassals that they
+would serve her loyally. Then, having settled his affairs, he took ten
+knights of his household and started upon his journey. His wife,
+Guildeluec, accompanied him for several miles, and on parting they
+pledged good faith to one another.
+
+In due time the cavalcade came to the seashore and took ship for the
+realm of Logres. Near Exeter, in this land, dwelt an aged king who
+had for his heir a daughter called Guillardun. This damsel had been
+asked in marriage by a neighbouring prince, and as her father had
+refused to listen to his proposals the disappointed suitor made war
+upon him, spoiling and wasting his land. The old King, fearful for his
+child's safety, had shut her up in a strong castle for her better
+security and his own peace of mind.
+
+Now Eliduc, coming to that land, heard the tale of the quarrel between
+the King and his neighbour, and considered as to which side he should
+take. After due deliberation he arranged to fight on the side of the
+King, with whom he offered to take service. His offer was gratefully
+accepted, and he had not been long in the royal host when he had an
+opportunity of distinguishing himself. The town wherein he was lodged
+with his knights was attacked by the enemy. He set his men in ambush
+in a forest track by which it was known the enemy would approach the
+town, and succeeded in routing them and in taking large numbers of
+prisoners and much booty. This feat of arms raised him high in the
+estimation of the King, who showed him much favour, and the Princess,
+hearing of his fame, became very desirous of beholding him. She sent
+her chamberlain to Eliduc saying that she wished to hear the story of
+his deeds, and he, quite as anxious to see the imprisoned Princess of
+whom he had heard so much, set out at once. On beholding each other
+they experienced deep agitation. Eliduc thought that never had he seen
+so beautiful and graceful a maiden, and Guillardun that this was the
+most handsome and comely knight she had ever met.
+
+For a long time they spoke together, and then Eliduc took his leave
+and departed. He counted all the time lost that he had remained in the
+kingdom without knowing this lady, but he promised himself that now he
+would frequently seek her society. Then, with a pang of remorse, he
+thought of his good and faithful wife and the sacred promise he had
+made her.
+
+Guillardun, on her part, was none the less ill at ease. She passed a
+restless night, and in the morning confided her case to her aged
+chamberlain, who was almost a second father to her, and he, all
+unwitting that Eliduc was already bound in wedlock to another,
+suggested that the Princess should send the knight a love-token to
+discover by the manner in which he received it whether or not her love
+was returned. Guillardun took this advice, and sent her lover a girdle
+and a ring by the hands of the chamberlain. On receiving the token
+Eliduc showed the greatest joy, girded the belt about his middle, and
+placed the ring on his finger. The chamberlain returned to the
+Princess and told her with what evident satisfaction Eliduc had
+received the gifts. But the Princess in her eagerness showered
+questions upon him, until at last the old man grew impatient.
+
+"Lady," he said, somewhat testily, "I have told you the knight's
+words; I cannot tell you his thoughts, for he is a prudent gentleman
+who knows well what to hide in his heart."
+
+Although he rejoiced at the gifts Eliduc had but little peace of mind.
+He could think of nothing save the vow he had made to his wife before
+he left her. But thoughts of the Princess would intrude themselves
+upon him. Often he saw Guillardun, and although he saluted her with a
+kiss, as was the custom of the time, he never spoke a single word of
+love to her, being fearful on the one hand of breaking his conjugal
+vow and on the other of offending the King.
+
+One evening when Eliduc was announced the King was in his daughter's
+chamber, playing at chess with a stranger lord. He welcomed the knight
+heartily, and much to the embarrassment of the lovers begged his
+daughter to cherish a closer friendship for Eliduc, whom he brought to
+her notice as a right worthy knight. The pair withdrew somewhat from
+the others, as if for the purpose of furthering the friendship which
+the old King so ardently seemed to desire, and Eliduc thanked the
+Princess for the gifts she had sent him by the chamberlain. Then the
+Princess, taking advantage of her rank, told Eliduc that she desired
+him for her husband, and that, did he refuse her, she would die
+unwed.
+
+"Lady," replied the knight, "I have great joy in your love, but have
+you thought that I may not always tarry in this land? I am your
+father's man until this war hath an end. Then shall I return unto mine
+own country." But Guillardun, in a transport of love, told him she
+would trust him entirely with her heart, and passing great was the
+affection that grew between them.
+
+Eliduc, in spite of his love for the Princess, had by no means
+permitted his conduct of the war to flag. Indeed, if anything, he
+redoubled his efforts, and pressed the foe so fiercely that at length
+he was forced to submit. And now news came to him that his old master,
+the King who had banished him from Brittany, was sore bestead by an
+enemy and was searching for his former vice-regent on every hand, who
+was so mighty a knight in the field and so sage at the council-board.
+Turning upon the false lords who had spoken evil of his favourite, he
+outlawed them from the land for ever. He sent messengers east and
+west and across the seas in search of Eliduc, who when he heard the
+news was much dismayed, so greatly did he love Guillardun. These twain
+had loved with a pure and tender passion, and never by word or deed
+had they sullied the affection they bore one another. Dearly did the
+Princess hope that Eliduc might remain in her land and become her
+lord, and little did she dream that he was wedded to a wife across the
+seas. For his part Eliduc took close counsel with himself. He knew by
+reason of the fealty he owed to his King that he must return to
+Brittany, but he was equally aware that if he parted from Guillardun
+one or other of them must die.
+
+Deep was the chagrin of the King of Logres when he learned that Eliduc
+must depart from his realm, but deeper far was his daughter's grief
+when the knight came to bid her farewell. In moving words she urged
+him to remain, and when she found that his loyalty was proof even
+against his love, she begged of him to take her with him to Brittany.
+But this request he turned aside, on the plea that as he had served
+her father he could not so offend him as by the theft of his daughter.
+He promised, however, by all he held most dear that he would return
+one day, and with much sorrow the two parted, exchanging rings for
+remembrance.
+
+Eliduc took ship and swiftly crossed the sea. He met with a joyous
+reception from his King, and none was so glad at his return as his
+wife. But gradually his lady began to see that he had turned cold to
+her. She charged him with it, and he replied that he had pledged his
+faith to the foreign lord whom he had served abroad.
+
+Very soon through his conduct the war was brought to a victorious
+close, and almost immediately thereafter Eliduc repaired across the
+sea to Logres, taking with him two of his nephews as his squires. On
+reaching Logres he at once went to visit Guillardun, who received him
+with great gladness. She returned with him to his ship, which
+commenced the return voyage at once, but when they neared the
+dangerous coast of Brittany a sudden tempest arose, and waxed so
+fierce that the mariners lost all hope of safety. One of them cried
+out that the presence of Guillardun on board the ship endangered all
+their lives and that the conduct of Eliduc, who had already a faithful
+wife, in seeking to wed this foreign woman had brought about their
+present dangerous position. Eliduc grew very wroth, and when
+Guillardun heard that her knight was already wedded she swooned and
+all regarded her as dead. In despair Eliduc fell upon his betrayer,
+slew him, and cast his body into the sea. Then, guiding the ship with
+a seaman's skill, he brought her into harbour.
+
+When they were safely anchored, Eliduc conceived the idea of taking
+Guillardun, whom he regarded as dead, to a certain chapel in a great
+forest quite near his own home. Setting her body before him on his
+palfrey, he soon came to the little shrine, and making a bier of the
+altar laid Guillardun upon it. He then betook him to his own house,
+but the next morning returned to the chapel in the forest. Mourning
+over the body of his lady-love, he was surprised to observe that the
+colour still remained in her cheeks and lips. Again and again he
+visited the chapel, and his wife, marvelling whither he went, bribed a
+varlet to discover the object of his repeated absences. The man
+watched Eliduc and saw him enter the chapel and mourn over the body
+of Guillardun, and, returning, acquainted his lady with what he had
+seen.
+
+Guildeluec--for such, we will remember, was the name of Eliduc's
+wife--set out for the shrine, and with astonishment beheld the
+lifelike form of Guillardun laid on the altar. So pitiful was the
+sight that she herself could not refrain from the deepest sorrow. As
+she sat weeping a weasel came from under the altar and ran across
+Guillardun's body, and the varlet who attended Guildeluec struck at it
+with his staff and killed it. Another weasel issued, and, beholding
+its dead comrade, went forth from the chapel and hastened to the wood,
+whence it returned, bearing in its mouth a red flower, which it placed
+on the mouth of its dead companion. The weasel which Guildeluec had
+believed to be dead at once stood up. Beholding this, the varlet cast
+his staff at the animals and they sped away, leaving the red flower
+behind them.
+
+[Illustration: ELIDUC CARRIES GUILLARDUN TO THE FOREST CHAPEL]
+
+Guildeluec immediately picked the flower up, and returning with it to
+the altar where Guillardun lay, placed it on the maiden's mouth. In a
+few moments she heard a sigh, and Guillardun sat up, and inquired if
+she had slept long. Guildeluec asked her name and degree, and
+Guillardun in reply acquainted her with her history and lineage,
+speaking very bitterly of Eliduc, who, she said, had betrayed her in a
+strange land. Guildeluec declared herself the wife of Eliduc, told
+Guillardun how deeply the knight had grieved for her, and declared her
+intention of taking the veil and releasing Eliduc from his marriage
+vow. She conducted Guillardun to her home, where they met Eliduc, who
+rejoiced greatly at the restoration of his lady-love. His wife
+founded a convent with the rich portion he bestowed upon her, and
+Eliduc, in thankfulness for Guillardun's recovery, built a fair church
+close by his castle and endowed it bountifully, and close beside it
+erected a great monastery. Later Guillardun entered the convent of
+which Guildeluec was the abbess, and Eliduc, himself feeling the call
+of the holy life, devoted himself to the service of God in the
+monastery. Messages passed between convent and monastery in which
+Eliduc and the holy women encouraged each other in the pious life
+which they had chosen, and by degrees the three who had suffered so
+greatly came to regard their seclusion as far preferable to the world
+and all its vanities.
+
+
+_The Lay of Equitan_
+
+The Lay of Equitan is one of Marie's most famous tales. Equitan was
+King of Nantes, in Brittany, and led the life of a pleasure-seeker. To
+win approval from the eyes of fair ladies was more to him than
+knightly fame or honour.
+
+Equitan had as seneschal a trusty and faithful knight, who was to the
+pleasure-loving seigneur as his right hand. This faithful servant was
+also captain of Equitan's army, and sat as a judge in his courts. To
+his undoing he had a wife, as fair a dame as any in the duchy of
+Brittany. "Her eyes," says the old lay, "were blue, her face was warm
+in colour, her mouth fragrant and her nose dainty." She was ever
+tastefully dressed and courtly in demeanour, and soon attracted the
+attention of such an admirer of the fair sex as Equitan, who desired
+to speak with her more intimately. He therefore, as a subterfuge,
+announced that a great hunt would take place in that part of his
+domains in which his seneschal's castle was situated, and this gave
+him the opportunity of sojourning at the castle and holding converse
+with the lady, with whom he became so charmed that in a few days he
+fell deeply in love with her. On the night of the day when he first
+became aware that he loved her Equitan lay tossing on his bed, in a
+torment of fiery emotion. He debated with himself in what manner he
+should convey to his seneschal's wife the fact that he loved her, and
+at length prepared a plot which he thought would be likely to
+succeed.
+
+Next day he rose as usual and made all arrangements to proceed with
+the chase. But shortly after setting out he returned, pleading that he
+had fallen sick, and took to his bed. The faithful seneschal could not
+divine what had occurred to render his lord so seriously indisposed as
+he appeared to be, and requested his wife to go to him to see if she
+could minister to him and cheer his drooping spirits.
+
+The lady went to Equitan, who received her dolefully enough. He told
+her without reserve that the malady from which he suffered was none
+other than love for herself, and that did she not consent to love him
+in return he would surely die. The dame at first dissented, but,
+carried away by the fiery eloquence of his words, she at last assured
+him of her love, and they exchanged rings as a token of troth and
+trust.
+
+The love of Equitan and the seneschal's wife was discovered by none,
+and when they desired to meet he arranged to go hunting in the
+neighbourhood of the seneschal's castle. Shortly after they had
+plighted their troth the great barons of the realm approached the
+King with a proposal that he should marry, but Equitan would have none
+of this, nor would he listen to even his most trusted advisers with
+regard to such a subject. The nobles were angered at his curt and even
+savage refusal to hearken to them, and the commons were also greatly
+disturbed because of the lack of a successor. The echoes of the
+disagreement reached the ears of the seneschal's wife, who was much
+perturbed thereby, being aware that the King had come to this decision
+for love of her.
+
+At their next meeting she broached the subject to her royal lover,
+lamenting that they had ever met.
+
+"Now are my good days gone," she said, weeping, "for you will wed some
+king's daughter as all men say, and I shall certainly die if I lose
+you thus."
+
+"Nay, that will not be," replied Equitan. "Never shall I wed except
+your husband die."
+
+The lady felt that he spoke truly, but in an evil moment she came to
+attach a sinister meaning to the words Equitan had employed regarding
+her husband. Day and night she brooded on them, for well she knew that
+did her husband die Equitan would surely wed her. By insensible
+degrees she came to regard her husband's death as a good rather than
+an evil thing, and little by little Equitan, who at first looked upon
+the idea with horror, became converted to her opinion. Between them
+they hatched a plot for the undoing of the seneschal. It was arranged
+that the King should go hunting as usual in the neighbourhood of his
+faithful servant's castle. While lodging in the castle, the King and
+the seneschal would be bled in the old surgical manner for their
+health's sake, and three days after would bathe before leaving the
+chamber they occupied, and the heartless wife suggested that she
+should make her husband's bath so fiercely hot that he would not
+survive after entering it. One would think that the seneschal would
+easily have been able to escape such a simple trap, but we must
+remember that the baths of Norman times were not shaped like our own,
+but were exceedingly deep, and indeed some of them were in form almost
+like those immense upright jars such as the forty thieves were
+concealed in in the story of Ali Baba, so that in many cases it was
+not easy for the bather to tell whether the water into which he was
+stepping was hot or otherwise.
+
+The plot was carried out as the lady had directed, but not without
+much misgiving on the part of Equitan. The King duly arrived at the
+castle, and announced his intention to be bled, requesting that the
+seneschal should undergo the same operation at the same time, and
+occupy the same chamber by way of companionship. Then after the leech
+had bled them the King asked that he might have a bath before leaving
+his apartment, and the seneschal requested that his too should be made
+ready. Accordingly on the third day the baths were brought to the
+chamber, and the lady occupied herself with filling them. While she
+was doing so her lord left the chamber for a space, and during his
+absence the King and the lady were clasped in each other's arms. So
+rapt were the pair in their amorous dalliance that they failed to
+notice the return of the seneschal, who, when he saw them thus
+engaged, uttered an exclamation of surprise and wrath. Equitan,
+turning quickly, saw him, and with a cry of despair leapt into the
+bath that the lady had prepared for the seneschal, and there perished
+miserably, while the enraged husband, seizing his faithless wife,
+thrust her headlong into the boiling water beside her lover, where she
+too was scalded to death.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Ash-Tree_
+
+In olden times there dwelt in Brittany two knights who were neighbours
+and close friends. Both were married, and one was the father of twin
+sons, one of whom he christened by the name of his friend. Now this
+friend had a wife who was envious of heart and rancorous of tongue,
+and on hearing that two sons had been born to her neighbour she spoke
+slightingly and cruelly about her, saying that to bear twins was ever
+a disgrace. Her evil words were spread abroad, and at last as a result
+of her malicious speech the good lady's husband himself began to doubt
+and suspect the wife who had never for a moment given him the least
+occasion to do so.
+
+Strangely enough, within the year two daughters were born to the lady
+of the slanderous tongue, who now deeply lamented the wrong she had
+done, but all to no purpose. Fearful of the gossip which she thought
+the event would occasion, she gave one of the children to a faithful
+handmaiden, with directions that it should be laid on the steps of a
+church, where it might be picked up as a foundling and nourished by
+some stranger. The babe was wrapped in a linen cloth, which again was
+covered with a beautiful piece of red silk that the lady's husband had
+purchased in the East, and a handsome ring engraved with the family
+insignia and set with garnets was bound to the infant's arm with
+silken lace. When the child had thus been attired the damsel took it
+and carried it for many miles into the country, until at last she came
+to a city where there was a large and fair abbey. Breathing a prayer
+that the child might have proper guardianship, the girl placed it on
+the abbey steps as her mistress had ordered her to do, but, afraid
+that it might catch cold on such a chilly bed, she looked around and
+saw an ash-tree, thick and leafy, with four strong branches, among the
+foliage of which she deposited the little one, commending it to the
+care of God, after which she returned to her mistress and acquainted
+her with what had passed.
+
+In the morning the abbey porter opened the great doors of the house of
+God so that the people might enter for early Mass. As he was thus
+engaged his eye caught the gleam of red silk among the leaves of the
+ash-tree, and going to it he discovered the deserted infant. Taking
+the babe from its resting-place, he returned with it to his house,
+and, awaking his daughter, who was a widow with a baby yet in the
+cradle, he asked her to cherish it and care for it. Both father and
+daughter could see from the crimson silk and the great signet ring
+that the child was of noble birth. The porter told the abbess of his
+discovery, and she requested him to bring the child to her, dressed
+precisely as it had been found. On beholding the infant a great
+compassion was aroused in the breast of the holy woman, who resolved
+to bring up the child herself, calling her her niece, and since she
+was taken from the ash giving her the name of Frêne.
+
+Frêne grew up one of the fairest damsels in Brittany. She was frank in
+manner, yet modest and discreet in bearing and speech. At Dol,
+where, as we have read, there is a great menhir and other prehistoric
+monuments, there lived a lord called Buron, who, hearing reports of
+Frêne's beauty and sweetness, greatly desired to behold her.
+Riding home from a tournament, he passed near the convent, and,
+alighting there, paid his respects to the abbess, and begged that he
+might see her niece. Buron at once fell in love with the maiden, and
+in order to gain favour with the abbess bestowed great riches upon the
+establishment over which she presided, requesting in return that he
+might be permitted to occupy a small apartment in the abbey should he
+chance to be in the neighbourhood.
+
+In this way he frequently saw and spoke with Frêne, who in turn fell
+in love with him. He persuaded her to fly with him to his castle,
+taking with her the silken cloth and ring with which she had been
+found.
+
+But the lord's tenants were desirous that he should marry, and had set
+their hearts upon his union with a rich lady named Coudre, daughter of
+a neighbouring baron. The marriage was arranged, greatly to the grief
+of Frêne, and duly took place. Going to Buron's bridal chamber, she
+considered it too mean, blinded with love as she was, for such as he,
+and placed the wondrous piece of crimson silk in which she had been
+wrapped as an infant over the coverlet. Presently the bride's mother
+entered the bridal chamber in order to see that all was fitting for
+her daughter's reception there. Gazing at the crimson coverlet, she
+recognized it as that in which she had wrapped her infant daughter.
+She anxiously inquired to whom it belonged, and was told that it was
+Frêne's. Going to the damsel, she questioned her as to where she had
+obtained the silk, and was told by Frêne that the abbess had given it
+to her along with a ring which had been found upon her when, as an
+infant, she had been discovered within the branches of the ash-tree.
+
+The mother asked anxiously to see the ring, and on beholding it told
+Frêne of their relationship, which at the same time she confessed to
+her husband, the baron. The father was overjoyed to meet with a
+daughter he had never known, and hastened to the bridegroom to
+acquaint him with Frêne's story. Great joy had Buron, and the
+archbishop who had joined him to Coudre gave counsel that they should
+be parted according to the rites of the Church and that Buron should
+marry Frêne. This was accordingly done, and when Frêne's parents
+returned to their own domain they found another husband for Coudre.
+
+
+_The Lay of Graelent_
+
+Graelent was a Breton knight dwelling at the Court of the King of
+Brittany, a very pillar to him in war, bearing himself valiantly in
+tourney and joust. So handsome and brave was he that the Queen fell
+madly in love with him, and asked her chamberlain to bring the knight
+into her presence. When he came she praised him greatly to his face,
+not only for his gallantry in battle, but also for his comeliness; but
+at her honeyed words the youth, quite abashed, sat silent, saying
+nothing. The Queen at last questioned him if his heart was set on any
+maid or dame, to which he replied that it was not, that love was a
+serious business and not to be taken in jest.
+
+"Many speak glibly of love," he said, "of whom not one can spell the
+first letter of its name. Love should be quiet and discreet or it is
+nothing worth, and without accord between the lovers love is but a
+bond and a constraint. Love is too high a matter for me to meddle
+with."
+
+The Queen listened greedily to Graelent's words, and when he had
+finished speaking she discovered her love for him; but he turned from
+her courteously but firmly.
+
+"Lady," he said, "I beg your forgiveness, but this may not be. I am
+the King's man, and to him I have pledged my faith and loyalty. Never
+shall he know shame through any conduct of mine."
+
+With these words he took his leave of the Queen. But his protestations
+had altered her mind not at all. She sent him messages daily, and
+costly gifts, but these he refused and returned, till at last the
+royal dame, stung to anger by his repulses, conceived a violent hatred
+for him, and resolved to be revenged upon him for the manner in which
+he had scorned her love.
+
+The King of Brittany went to war with a neighbouring monarch, and
+Graelent bore himself manfully in the conflict, leading his troops
+again and again to victory. Hearing of his repeated successes, the
+Queen was exceedingly mortified, and made up her mind to destroy his
+popularity with the troops. With this end in view she prevailed upon
+the King to withhold the soldiers' pay, which Graelent had to advance
+them out of his own means. In the end the unfortunate knight was
+reduced almost to beggary by this mean stratagem.
+
+One morning he was riding through the town where he was lodged, clad
+in garments so shabby that the wealthy burgesses in their fur-lined
+cloaks and rich apparel gibed and jeered at him, but Graelent, sure of
+his own worth, deigned not to take notice of such ill-breeding, and
+for his solace quitted the crowded streets of the place and took his
+way toward the great forest which skirted it. He rode into its gloom
+deep in thought, listening to the murmur of the river which flowed
+through the leafy ways.
+
+He had not gone far when he espied a white hart within a thicket. She
+fled before him into the thickest part of the forest, but the silvern
+glimmer of her body showed the track she had taken. On a sudden deer
+and horseman dashed into a clearing among the trees where there was a
+grassy lawn, in the midst of which sprang a fountain of clear water.
+In this fountain a lady was bathing, and two attendant maidens stood
+near. Now Graelent believed that the lady must be a fairy, and knowing
+well that the only way to capture such a being was to seize her
+garments, he looked around for these, and seeing them lying upon a
+bush he laid hands upon them.
+
+The attendant women at this set up a loud outcry, and the lady herself
+turned to where he sat his horse and called him by name.
+
+"Graelent, what do you hope to gain by the theft of my raiment?" she
+asked. "Have you, a knight, sunk so low as to behave like a common
+pilferer? Take my mantle if you must, but pray spare me my gown."
+
+Graelent laughed at the lady's angry words, and told her that he was
+no huckster. He then begged her to don her garments, as he desired to
+have speech with her. After her women had attired her, Graelent took
+her by the hand and, leading her a little space away from her
+attendants, told her that he had fallen deeply in love with her. But
+the lady frowned and seemed at first offended.
+
+"You do not know to whom you proffer your love," she said. "Are you
+aware that my birth and lineage render it an impertinence for a mere
+knight to seek to ally himself with me?"
+
+But Graelent had a most persuasive tongue, and the deep love he had
+conceived for the lady rendered him doubly eloquent on this occasion.
+At last the fairy-woman, for such she was, was quite carried away by
+his words, and granted him the boon he craved.
+
+"There is, however, one promise I must exact from you," she said, "and
+that is that never shall you mention me to mortal man. I on my part
+shall assist you in every possible manner. You shall never be without
+gold in your purse nor costly apparel to wear. Day and night shall I
+remain with you, and in war and in the chase will ride by your side,
+visible to you alone, unseen by your companions. For a year must you
+remain in this country. Now noon has passed and you must go. A
+messenger shall shortly come to you to tell you of my wishes."
+
+Graelent took leave of the lady and kissed her farewell. Returning to
+his lodgings in the town, he was leaning from the casement considering
+his strange adventure when he saw a varlet issuing from the forest
+riding upon a palfrey. The man rode up the cobbled street straight to
+Graelent's lodgings, where he dismounted and, entering, told the
+knight that his lady had sent him with the palfrey as a present, and
+begged that he would accept the services of her messenger to take
+charge of his lodgings and manage his affairs.
+
+The serving-man quickly altered the rather poor appearance of
+Graelent's apartment. He spread a rich coverlet upon his couch and
+produced a well-filled purse and rich apparel. Graelent at once sought
+out all the poor knights of the town and feasted them to their hearts'
+content. From this moment he fared sumptuously every day. His lady
+appeared whenever he desired her to, and great was the love between
+them. Nothing more had he to wish for in this life.
+
+A year passed in perfect happiness for the knight, and at its
+termination the King held a great feast on the occasion of Pentecost.
+To this feast Sir Graelent was bidden. All day the knights and barons
+and their ladies feasted, and the King, having drunk much wine, grew
+boastful. Requesting the Queen to stand forth on the daïs, he asked
+the assembled nobles if they had ever beheld so fair a dame as she.
+The lords were loud in their praise of the Queen, save Graelent only.
+He sat with bent head, smiling strangely, for he knew of a lady fairer
+by far than any lady in that Court. The Queen was quick to notice this
+seeming discourtesy, and pointed it out to the King, who summoned
+Graelent to the steps of the throne.
+
+"How now, Sir Knight," said the King; "wherefore did you sneer when
+all other men praised the Queen's beauty?"
+
+"Sire," replied Graelent, "you do yourself much dishonour by such a
+deed. You make your wife a show upon a stage and force your nobles to
+praise her with lies when in truth a fairer dame than she could very
+easily be found."
+
+Now when she heard this the Queen was greatly angered and prayed her
+husband to compel Graelent to bring to the Court her of whom he
+boasted so proudly.
+
+"Set us side by side," cried the infuriated Queen, "and if she be
+fairer than I before men's eyes, Graelent may go in peace, but if not
+let justice be done upon him."
+
+The King, stirred to anger at these words, ordered his guards to seize
+Graelent, swearing that he should never issue from prison till the
+lady of whom he had boasted should come to Court and pit herself
+against the Queen. Graelent was then cast into a dungeon, but he
+thought little of this indignity, fearing much more that his rashness
+had broken the bond betwixt him and his fairy bride. After a while he
+was set at liberty, on pledging his word that he would return bringing
+with him the lady whom he claimed as fairer than the Queen.
+
+Leaving the Court, he betook himself to his lodging, and called upon
+his lady, but received no answer. Again he called, but without result,
+and believing that his fairy bride had utterly abandoned him he gave
+way to despair. In a year's time Graelent returned to the Court and
+admitted his failure.
+
+"Sir Graelent," said the King, "wherefore should you not be punished?
+You have slandered the Queen in the most unknightly manner, and given
+the lie to those nobles who must now give judgment against you."
+
+The nobles retired to consider their judgment upon Graelent. For a
+long time they debated, for most of them were friendly to him and
+he had been extremely popular at Court. In the midst of their
+deliberations a page entered and prayed them to postpone judgment,
+as two damsels had arrived at the palace and were having speech with
+the King concerning Graelent. The damsels told the King that their
+mistress was at hand, and begged him to wait for her arrival, as she
+had come to uphold Graelent's challenge. Hearing this, the Queen
+quitted the hall, and shortly after she had gone a second pair of
+damsels appeared bearing a similar message for the King. Lastly
+Graelent's young bride herself entered the hall.
+
+At sight of her a cry of admiration arose from the assembled nobles,
+and all admitted that their eyes had never beheld a fairer lady. When
+she reached the King's side she dismounted from her palfrey.
+
+"Sire," she said, addressing the King, "hasty and foolish was
+Graelent's tongue when he spoke as he did, but at least he told the
+truth when he said that there is no lady so fair but a fairer may be
+found. Look upon me and judge in this quarrel between the Queen and
+me."
+
+When she had spoken every lord and noble with one voice agreed that
+she was fairer than her royal rival. Even the King himself admitted
+that it was so, and Sir Graelent was declared a free man.
+
+Turning round to seek his lady, the knight observed that she was
+already some distance away, so, mounting upon his white steed, he
+followed hotly after her. All day he followed, and all night, calling
+after her and pleading for pity and pardon, but neither she nor her
+attendant damsels paid the slightest attention to his cries. Day after
+day he followed her, but to no purpose.
+
+At last the lady and her maidens entered the forest and rode to the
+bank of a broad stream. They set their horses to the river, but when
+the lady saw that Graelent was about to follow them she turned and
+begged him to desist, telling him that it was death for him to cross
+that stream. Graelent did not heed her, but plunged into the torrent.
+The stream was deep and rapid, and presently he was torn from his
+saddle. Seeing this, the lady's attendants begged her to save him.
+Turning back, the lady clutched her lover by the belt and dragged him
+to the shore. He was well-nigh drowned, but under her care he speedily
+recovered, and, say the Breton folk, entered with her that realm of
+Fairyland into which penetrated Thomas the Rhymer, Ogier the Dane, and
+other heroes. His white steed when it escaped from the river grieved
+greatly for its master, rushing up and down the bank, neighing loudly,
+and pawing with its hoofs upon the ground. Many men coveted so noble
+a charger, and tried to capture him, but all in vain, so each year,
+"in its season," as the old romance says, the forest is filled with
+the sorrowful neighing of the good steed which may not find its
+master.
+
+The story of Graelent is one of those which deal with what is known to
+folk-lorists as the 'fairy-wife' subject. A taboo is always placed
+upon the mortal bridegroom. Sometimes he must not utter the name of
+his wife; in other tales, as in that of Melusine, he must not seek her
+on a certain day of the week. The essence of the story is, of course,
+that the taboo is broken, and in most cases the mortal husband loses
+his supernatural mate.
+
+Another incident in the general _motif_ is the stealing of the
+fairy-woman's clothes. The idea is the same as that found in stories
+where the fisherman steals the sea-woman's skin canoe as a prelude to
+making her his wife, or the feather cloak of the swan-maiden is seized
+by the hunter when he finds her asleep, thus placing the supernatural
+maiden in his power. Among savages it is quite a common and usual
+circumstance for the spouses not to mention each other's names for
+months after marriage, nor even to see one another's faces. In the
+story under consideration the taboo consists in the mortal bridegroom
+being forbidden to allude in any circumstances to his supernatural
+wife, who is undoubtedly the same type of being encountered by Thomas
+the Rhymer and Bonny Kilmeny in the ballads related of them. They are
+denizens of a country, a fairy realm, which figures partly as an abode
+of the dead, and which we are certainly justified in identifying with
+the Celtic Otherworld. The river which the fairy-woman crosses bears a
+certain resemblance to the Styx, or she tells Graelent plainly that
+should he reach its opposite bank he is as good as dead. Fairyland in
+early Celtic lore may be a place of delight, but it is none the less
+one of death and remoteness.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Dolorous Knight_
+
+Once more the scene is laid in Nantes, and "some harpers," says Marie,
+"call it the Lay of the Four Sorrows." In this city of Brittany dwelt
+a lady on whom four barons of great worship had set their love. They
+were not singular in this respect, as the damsel's bright eyes had set
+fire to the hearts of all the youths of the ancient town. She smiled
+upon them all, but favoured no one more than another. Out of this
+great company, however, the four noblemen in question had constituted
+themselves her particular squires. They vied with one another in the
+most earnest manner to gain her esteem; but she was equally gracious
+to all and it was impossible to say that she favoured any.
+
+It was not surprising, then, that each one of the four nobles believed
+that the lady preferred him to the others. Each of them had received
+gifts from her, and each cried her name at tournaments. On the
+occasion of a great jousting, held without the walls of Nantes, the
+four lovers held the lists, and from all the surrounding realms and
+duchies came hardy knights to break a spear for the sake of chivalry.
+
+From matins to vespers the friendly strife raged fiercely, and against
+the four champions of Nantes four foreign knights especially pitted
+themselves. Two of these were of Hainault, and the other two were
+Flemings. The two companies charged each other so desperately that the
+horses of all eight men were overthrown. The four knights of Nantes
+rose lightly from the ground, but the four stranger knights lay still.
+Their friends, however, rushed to their rescue, and soon the
+challengers were lost in a sea of steel.
+
+Now the lady in whose honour the lists were defended by these four
+brave brethren in arms sat beholding their prowess in the keenest
+anxiety. Soon the knights of Nantes were reinforced by their friends,
+and the strife waxed furiously, sword to sword and lance to lance.
+First one company and then the other gained the advantage, but, urged
+on by rashness, the four challenging champions charged boldly in front
+of their comrades and became separated from them, with the dire result
+that three of them were killed and the fourth was so grievously
+wounded that he was borne from the press in a condition hovering
+between life and death. So furious were the stranger knights because
+of the resistance that had been made by the four champions that they
+cast their opponents' shields outside the lists. But the knights of
+Nantes won the day, and, raising their three slain comrades and him
+who was wounded, carried all four to the house of their lady-love.
+
+When the sad procession reached her doors the lady was greatly grieved
+and cast down. To her three dead lovers she gave sumptuous burial in a
+fair abbey. As for the fourth, she tended him with such skill that ere
+long his wounds were healed and he was quite recovered. One summer day
+the knight and the lady sat together after meat, and a great sadness
+fell upon her because of the knights who had been slain in her cause.
+Her head sank upon her breast and she seemed lost in a reverie of
+sorrow. The knight, perceiving her distress, could not well understand
+what had wounded her so deeply.
+
+"Lady," said he, "a great sorrow seems to be yours. Reveal your grief
+to me, and perchance I can find you comfort."
+
+"Friend," replied the lady, "I grieve for your companions who are
+gone. Never was lady or damsel served by four such valiant knights,
+three of whom were slain in one single day. Pardon me if I call them
+to mind at this time, but it is my intention to make a lay in order
+that these champions and yourself may not be forgotten, and I will
+call it 'The Lay of the Four Sorrows.'"
+
+"Nay, lady," said the knight, "call it not 'The Lay of the Four
+Sorrows,' but rather 'The Lay of the Dolorous Knight.' My three
+comrades are dead. They have gone to their place; no more hope have
+they of life; all their sorrows are ended and their love for you is as
+dead as they. I alone am here in life, but what have I to hope for? I
+find my life more bitter than they could find the grave. I see you in
+your comings and goings, I may speak with you, but I may not have your
+love. For this reason I am full of sorrow and cast down, and thus I
+beg that you give your lay my name and call it 'The Lay of the
+Dolorous Knight.'"
+
+The lady looked earnestly upon him. "By my faith," she said, "you
+speak truly. The lay shall be known by the title you wish it to be."
+
+So the lay was written and entitled as the knight desired it should
+be. "I heard no more," says Marie, "and nothing more I know. Perforce
+I must bring my story to a close."
+
+The end of this lay is quite in the medieval manner, and fitly
+concludes this chapter. We are left absolutely in the dark as to
+whether the knight and the lady came together at last. I for one do
+not blame Marie for this, as with the subtle sense of the fitness of
+things that belongs to all great artists she saw how much more
+effective it would be to leave matters as they were between the
+lovers. There are those who will blame her for her inconclusiveness;
+but let them bear in mind that just because of what they consider her
+failing in this respect they will not be likely to forget her tale,
+whereas had it ended with wedding-bells they would probably have
+stored it away in some mental attic with a thousand other dusty
+memories.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII: THE SAINTS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+An important department in Breton folk-lore is the hagiology of the
+province--the legendary lore of its saints. This, indeed, holds almost
+as much of the marvellous as its folk-tales, ballads, and historical
+legends, and in perusing the tales of Brittany's saintly heroes we
+have an opportunity of observing how the _motifs_ of popular fiction
+and even of pagan belief reflect upon religious romance.
+
+Just as some mythology is not in itself religious, but very often mere
+fiction fortuitously connected with the names of the gods, so
+hagiology is not of sacerdotal but popular origin. For the most part
+it describes the origin of its heroes and accounts for their miracles
+and marvellous deeds by various means, just as mythology does. It must
+be remembered that the primitive saint was in close touch with
+paganism, that, indeed, he had frequently to fight the Druid and the
+magician with his own weapons, and therefore we must not be surprised
+if in some of these tales we find him somewhat of a magician himself.
+But he is invariably on the side of light, and the things of darkness
+and evil shrink from contact with him.
+
+
+_St Barbe_
+
+Overlooking the valley of the Ellé, near the beautiful and historic
+village of Le Faouet, is a ledge of rock, approached by an almost
+inaccessible pathway. On this ledge stands the chapel of St Barbe,
+one of the strangest and most 'pagan' of the Breton saints. She
+protects those who seek her aid from sudden death, especially death
+by lightning. Of recent years popular belief has extended her sphere
+of influence to cover those who travel by automobile! She is also
+regarded as the patroness of firemen, at whose annual dinner her
+statue, surrounded by flowers, presides. She is extremely popular in
+Brittany, and once a year, on the last Sunday of June, pilgrims arrive
+at Le Faouet to celebrate her festival. Each, as he passes the
+belfry which stands beside the path, pulls the bell-rope, and the
+young men make the tour of a small neighbouring chapel, dedicated to
+St Michel, Lord of Heights. Then they drink of a little fountain
+near at hand and purchase amulets, which are supposed to be a
+preservative against sudden death and which are known as 'Couronnes
+de Ste Barbe.' St Barbe is said to have been the daughter of a pagan
+father, and to have been so beautiful that he shut her up in a tower
+and permitted no one to go near her. She succeeded, however, in
+communicating with the outer world, and sent a letter to Origen of
+Alexandria, entreating him to instruct her in the Christian faith, as
+she had ceased to believe in the gods of her fathers. Origen
+dispatched one of his monks to her, and under his guidance she
+became a Christian. She was called upon to suffer for her faith, for
+she was brought before the Gallo-Roman proconsul, and, since she
+refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, was savagely maltreated, and
+sentenced to be beaten as she walked naked through the streets;
+but she raised her eyes to heaven and a cloud descended and hid her
+from the gaze of the impious mortals who would otherwise have
+witnessed her martyrdom. Subsequently she was spirited away to the
+top of a mountain, where, however, her presence was betrayed by a
+shepherd. Her pagan father, learning of her hiding-place, quickly
+ascended the height and beheaded her with his own hand. The legends
+of St Barbe abound in strange details, which are more intelligible
+if we regard the Saint as being the survival of some elemental
+goddess connected with fire. The vengeance of heaven descended upon
+her enemies, for both her father and the shepherd who betrayed her
+were destroyed, the former being struck by lightning on his
+descent from the mountain, and the latter being turned into marble.
+
+The legend of the foundation of the chapel at Le Faouet is illustrative
+of the strange powers of this saint. A Lord of Toulboudou, near
+Guémené, was overtaken by a severe thunderstorm while hunting. No
+shelter was available, and as the storm increased in fury the huntsmen
+trembled for their lives, and doubtless repeated with much fervour
+the old Breton charm:
+
+  Sainte Barbe et sainte Claire,
+  Preservez-moi du tonnerre,
+    Si le tonnerre tombe
+  Qu'il ne tombe pas sur moi!
+
+which may be roughly translated:
+
+  Saint Barbe the great and sainted Clair,
+  Preserve me from the lightning's glare.
+  When thunderbolts are flashing red
+  Let them not burst upon my head.
+
+The Lord of Toulboudou, however, was not content with praying to the
+Saint. He vowed that if by her intercession he was preserved from
+death he would raise a chapel to her honour on the narrow ledge of
+rock above. No sooner had he made this vow than the storm subsided,
+and safety was once more assured. In the ancient archives of Le
+Faouet we read that on the 6th of July, 1489, John of Toulboudou
+bought of John of Bouteville, Lord of Faouet, a piece of ground on the
+flank of the Roche-Marche-Bran, twenty-five feet by sixteen feet, on
+which to build a chapel to the honour of St Barbe, and there the
+chapel stands to this day.
+
+
+_How St Convoyon Stole the Relics_
+
+St Convoyon, first Abbot of Redon (or Rodon) and Bishop of Quimper,
+was of noble birth. He was born near Saint-Malo and educated at Vannes
+under Bishop Reginald, who ordained him as deacon and afterward as
+priest. Five clerks attached themselves to him, and the company went
+to dwell together in a forest near the river Vilaine, finally
+establishing themselves at Redon. The lord of that district was very
+favourably inclined toward the monastery and sent his son to be
+educated there, and when he himself fell sick and believed his last
+hours to be nigh he caused himself to be carried to this religious
+house, where his hair was shaven to the monastic pattern. Contrary to
+expectation, he recovered, and after settling his affairs at his
+castle he returned to Redon, where he died at a later date. St
+Convoyon had some difficulty in obtaining confirmation of the grants
+given to him by this seigneur. He set out with a disciple named
+Gwindeluc to seek the consent of Louis the Pious, taking with him a
+quantity of wax from his bees at Redon, intending to present it to the
+King, but he was refused admission to the royal presence. But Nomenoë,
+Governor of Brittany, visited Redon, and encouraged the Saint to
+endeavour once more to obtain the King's sanction, and this time Louis
+confirmed the grants.
+
+So the monastery of Redon was built and its church erected, but, as
+the chroniclers tell us, "there was no saintly corpse under its altar
+to act as palladium to the monastery and work miracles to attract
+pilgrims." Convoyon therefore set out for Angers, accompanied by two
+of his monks, and found lodging there with a pious man named Hildwall.
+The latter inquired as to the object of their visit to Angers, and
+with considerable hesitation, and only after extracting a promise of
+secrecy, Convoyon confessed that they had come on a body-snatching
+expedition. He asked his friend's advice as to what relics they should
+endeavour to secure. Hildwall told him that interred in the cathedral
+were the bones of St Apothemius, a bishop, of whom nothing was known
+save that he was a saint. His bones lay in a stone coffin which had a
+heavy lid. Hildwall added that several monks had attempted to steal
+the relics, but in vain. Convoyon and his monks bided their time for
+three days, and then on a dark night, armed with crowbars, they set
+out on their gruesome mission.
+
+They reached the cathedral, entered, and, after singing praises and
+hymns, raised the coffin lid. Securing the bones, they made off with
+them as quickly as possible, and in due course reached Redon with them
+in safety. The reception of the relics was celebrated by the monks
+with great pomp and ceremony. Miracles were at once performed, and the
+popularity of St Apothemius was firmly established.
+
+[Illustration: CONVOYON AND HIS MONKS CARRY OFF THE RELICS OF ST
+APOTHEMIUS]
+
+When the Bishop of Vannes died, in 837, the see was filled by
+Susannus, who obtained it by bribery. Convoyon, grieved and indignant
+at the prevalence of corruption in the Church, urged Nomenoë to summon
+a council of bishops and abbots and endeavour to put a stop to these
+deplorable practices. At this council the canons against simony were
+read; but the bishops retorted that they did not sell Holy Orders, and
+expected no fees--though they took presents! Susannus was, naturally
+enough, most emphatic about this. At length it was decided that a
+deputation should be sent to Rome to obtain an authoritative statement
+on the point, and that it should consist of Susannus of Vannes, Félix
+of Quimper, and Convoyon, who was to carry "gold crowns inlaid with
+jewels" as a gift from Nomenoë to the Pope. The decision given by Pope
+Leo on the matter is far from clear. The Nantes chronicle asserts that
+Leo made Convoyon a duke, and gave him permission to wear a gold
+coronet. He also presented him with a valuable gift--the bones of St
+Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome and martyr, which Convoyon took back with
+him to Redon and deposited in his church there.
+
+On a later day Nomenoë raised the standard of revolt against Charles
+the Bald of France--a circumstance alluded to in our historical
+sketch. He ravaged Poitou with sword and flame, but respected the
+abbey of Saint-Florent, though, to insult Charles, he forced the monks
+to place a statue of himself on their tower, with the face turned
+defiantly toward France. During Nomenoë's absence the monks sent news
+of his action to the hairless monarch, who tore down the statue and
+erected a white stone figure "of ludicrous appearance," its mocking
+face turned toward Brittany. In revenge Nomenoë burned Saint-Florent
+to the ground and carried off the spoils to enrich the abbey of Redon.
+The success of the Breton chief forced Charles to come to terms.
+Nomenoë and his son, it was agreed, should assume the insignia of
+royalty and hold Rennes, Nantes, and all Brittany.
+
+Convoyon, as we have seen, benefited by the spoils won by the Breton
+champion. Later, as his abbey at Redon was situated by a tidal river,
+and was thus exposed to the ravages of the Normans, he and his monks
+moved farther inland to Plélan. There he died and was buried, about
+A.D. 868, but his body was afterward removed to Redon, where he had
+lived and laboured so long. His relics were dispersed during the
+troublous times of the Revolution.
+
+
+_Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint_
+
+St Tivisiau, or, more correctly, Turiau, has a large parish, as,
+although he was Bishop of Dol, we find him venerated as patron saint
+as far west as Landivisiau. He belongs to the earlier half of the
+seventh century, and, unlike most other Armorican ascetics, was of
+Breton origin, his father, Lelian, and his mother, Mageen, being
+graziers on the borders of the romantic and beautiful forest of
+Broceliande. The young Tivisiau was set to watch the sheep, and as he
+did so he steeped his soul in the beauty of the wonderful forest land
+about him, and his thoughts formed themselves into lays, which he sang
+as he tended his flock, for, like that other shepherd of old, King
+David, his exquisite voice could clothe his beautiful thoughts. The
+monastery of Balon stood near the lad's home, and often he would leave
+his sheep in the wilderness and steal away to listen to the monks
+chanting. Sometimes he joined in the service, and one day the Bishop
+of Dol, paying a visit to this outlying portion of his diocese, heard
+the sweet, clear notes of the boy's voice soaring above the lower
+tones of the monks. Enthralled by its beauty, the Bishop made
+inquiries as to who the singer was, and Tivisiau being brought
+forward, the prelate asked him to sing to him.
+
+[Illustration: ST TIVISIAU, THE SHEPHERD SAINT]
+
+Again and again did he sing, till at last the Bishop, who had lingered
+as long as he might in the little out-of-the-world monastery to listen
+to the young songster, was obliged to take his departure. The boy's
+personality had, however, so won his affection that he arranged with
+the monks of Balon that he should take him to Dol, and so it came
+about that Tivisiau was educated at that ancient religious centre,
+where his voice was carefully trained. The Bishop made him his
+suffragan, and, later Abbot of Dol, and when at length he came to
+relinquish the burden of his office he named Tivisiau as his
+successor.
+
+The story provides a noteworthy example of the power exercised in
+early times by a beautiful voice. But this love of music and the
+susceptibility to the emotion it calls forth are not peculiar to any
+century of Celtdom. Love of music, and the temperament that can hear
+the voice of the world's beauty, in music, in poetry, in the wild sea
+that breaks on desolate shores, or in the hushed wonder of hills and
+valleys, is as much a part of the Celt as are the thews and the sinews
+that have helped to carry him through the hard days of toil and
+poverty that have been the lot of so many of his race in their
+struggle for existence--whether in the far-off Outer Isles of the
+mist-wreathed and mystic west coast of Scotland, or among the Welsh
+mountains, or in picturesque Brittany, or in the distressful,
+beautiful, sorrow-haunted Green Isle.
+
+At Landivisiau one finds much exquisite carving in the south porch,
+which is all that remains of the early building to show how beautiful
+must have been the church to which it belonged. There is also a very
+ancient and picturesque fountain, known to tradition as that of St
+Tivisiau.
+
+
+_St Nennocha_
+
+The legend of Nennocha is held to be pure fable, but is interesting
+nevertheless. It tells how a king in Wales, called Breochan, had
+fourteen sons, who all deserted him to preach the Gospel. Breochan
+then made a vow that if God would grant him another child he would
+give to the Church a tithe of all his gold and his lands, and later on
+his wife, Moneduc, bore him a daughter, whom they baptized Nennocha.
+Nennocha was sent away to a foster father and mother, returning home
+at the age of fourteen. A prince of Ireland sought her hand in
+marriage, but St Germain, who was then at her father's palace,
+persuaded her to embrace the religious life, and the disappointed King
+sadly gave his consent. A great multitude assembled to accompany the
+maiden in her renunciation of the world, "numbering in its midst four
+bishops and many priests and virgins." We are told how they all took
+ship together and sailed to Brittany. The Breton king gave the
+princess land at Ploermel, and there she founded a great monastery,
+where she lived till death claimed her.
+
+
+_St Enora_
+
+Several old Breton songs tell us the story of St Enora (or Honora),
+the wife of Efflam (already alluded to in the chapter on Arthurian
+legend), but these accounts vary very considerably in their
+details. One account giving us "stern facts" relates how St Efflam
+was betrothed for political reasons to Enora, a Saxon princess, and
+speaks of how impossible it was to expect that such a union could
+prove anything but disastrous when it was not a love match. So,
+whether partly to escape from a married life which jarred his
+susceptibilities, or entirely on account of his religious asceticism,
+Efflam left his wife and crossed to Brittany to lead the life of a
+religious hermit. One of the Breton songs gives the beginning of
+the story in a much more picturesque way. It relates how Enora,
+"beautiful as an angel," had many suitors, but would give her hand to
+none save the Prince Efflam, "son of a stranger King." But Efflam,
+torn by the desire to lead the religious life, far away from the
+world, rose "in the midst of the night, his wedding night," and
+crept softly away, no one seeing him save his faithful dog, which
+he loved. So he came to the seashore and crossed to Brittany. The
+story of his landing and his meeting with Arthur has already been
+told, and we have seen how his fate was once more, by divine
+agency, linked with that of Enora. The song tells us how the angels
+carried the princess over the sea and set her on the door-sill of
+her husband's cell. Presently she awoke, and, finding herself there,
+she knocked three times and cried out to her husband that she was
+"his sweetheart, his wife," whom God had sent. St Efflam, knowing her
+voice, came out, and "with many godly words he took her hand in
+his." One account says that he sent her to the south of Brittany to
+found a convent for nuns, as he wished to devote his life entirely to
+the service of God and the contemplation of nature. All versions
+agree on the point that he built a hut for her beside his own, and
+one story relates how he made her wear a veil over her face and
+only spoke to her through the door! But one Breton song with more of
+the matter of poetry in it than the rest tells how the little hut
+he built for her was shaded by green bushes and sheltered by a
+rock, and that there they lived, side by side, for a long and happy
+time, while the fame of the miracles they wrought spread through
+the land. Then one night some sailors on the sea "saw the sky open
+and heard a burst of heavenly music," and next day when a poor woman
+took her sick child to Enora to beg for her aid she could get no
+response, and looking in she beheld the royal lady lying dead. The
+humble place was alight with her radiance, and near her a little boy
+in white was kneeling. The woman then ran to tell St Efflam of her
+discovery, only to find that he too was lying dead in his cell.
+
+
+_Corseul the Accursed_
+
+The town of Corseul has sunk into insignificance, and its failure to
+achieve prosperity is said to be due to its covert hostility to St
+Malo--or, as he is more correctly called, Machutes. Coming to Brittany
+on missionary enterprise, the Saint found that Christianity had not
+penetrated to the district of Corseul, where the old pagan worship
+still obtained. He therefore decided that his work must lie chiefly
+among the Curiosolites of that land, and determined that his first
+celebration of Easter Mass there should take place in the very centre
+of the pagan worship, the temple of Haute-Bécherel. The people of the
+district received him coldly, but without open hostility, and he and
+his monks prepared for the Christian festival in the pagan shrine, to
+find to their dismay that they had omitted to bring either chalice or
+wine for the Eucharist. Several of the monks were sent into the town
+to buy these, but in all Corseul they could find no one willing to
+sell either cup or wine, because of the hostility of the idolatrous
+folk of the place. At last the Saint performed a miracle to provide
+these necessaries, but he never forgave the insult to his religion,
+and while he founded monasteries broadcast over his diocese he avoided
+Corseul, and as Christianity became more and more universal the pagan
+town gradually paid the penalty of its enmity to the cause of Christ.
+
+
+_St Keenan_
+
+St Keenan (sixth century) was surnamed Colodoc, or "He who loves to
+lose himself," a beautiful epitome of his character. As in so many
+instances in the chronicles of Breton hagiology, confusion regarding
+St Keenan has arisen among a multiplicity of chronicles. He seems to
+have been a native of Connaught, whence he crossed into Wales and
+became a disciple of Gildas.
+
+He was told to "go forward" carrying a little bell, until he reached a
+place called Ros-ynys, where the bell would ring of itself, and there
+he would find rest. He asked Gildas to provide him with a bell, but
+the abbot could only supply him with a small piece of metal. Keenan,
+however, blessed this, and it grew until it was large enough for a
+good bell to be cast from it. Thus equipped, the Saint set out, and
+journeyed until he reached an arm of the sea, where he sat down on the
+grass to rest. While lying at his ease he heard a herdsman call to his
+fellow: "Brother, have you seen my cows anywhere?" "Yes," replied the
+other, "I saw them at Ros-ynys." Rejoicing greatly at finding himself
+in the vicinity of the place he sought, Keenan descended to the shore,
+which has since been called by his name. Greatly athirst, he struck a
+rock with his staff, and water gushed forth in answer to the stroke.
+Taking ship, he crossed the firth and entered a little wood. All at
+once, to his extreme joy, the bell he carried commenced to tinkle, and
+he knew he had reached the end of his journey--the valley of Ros-ynys,
+afterward St David's.
+
+Later, deciding to cross to Brittany with his disciples, Keenan
+dispatched some of his company to beg for corn for their journey from
+a merchant at Landegu. They met with a gruff refusal, but the merchant
+mockingly informed them they could have the corn if they carried off
+the whole of his barge-load. When the Saint embarked the barge broke
+its moorings and floated after him all the way! He landed at Cléder,
+where he built a monastery, which he enriched with a copy of the
+Gospels transcribed by his own hand.
+
+The fatal contest between King Arthur and Modred, his nephew, caused
+Keenan to return to Britain, and he is said to have been present at
+the battle of Camelot and to have comforted Guinevere after the death
+of her royal husband, exhorting her to enter a convent. He afterward
+returned to Cléder, where he died. The monastery fell into ruin, and
+the place of his burial was forgotten, till one night an angel
+appeared in a vision to one of the inhabitants of Cléder and bade him
+exhume the bones of the Saint, which he would find at a certain spot.
+This the man did, and the relics were recovered. A fragment of them is
+preserved in the cathedral of Saint-Brieuc. St Keenan is popularly
+known in Brittany as St Ké, or St Quay.
+
+
+_St Nicholas_
+
+One very interesting and curious saint is St Nicholas, whose cult
+cannot be traced to any Christian source, and who is most probably the
+survival of some pagan divinity. He is specially the saint of
+seafaring men, and is believed to bring them good luck, asking nothing
+in return save that they shall visit his shrine whenever they happen
+to pass. This is a somewhat dilapidated chapel at Landévennec, of
+which the seamen seem to show their appreciation, if one may judge
+from the fact that the little path leading up to it is exceedingly
+well worn.
+
+
+_St Bieuzy_
+
+St Bieuzy was a friend and disciple of St Gildas. Flying from England
+at the coming of the Saxons, they crossed to Brittany and settled
+there, one of their favourite retreats being the exquisite La
+Roche-sur-Blavet, where they took up their abode in the shadow of the
+great rock and built a rough wooden shelter. The chapel there shows
+the 'bell' of St Gildas, and by the river is a great boulder hollowed
+like a chair, where Bieuzy was wont to sit and fish. St Bieuzy,
+however, possessed thaumaturgical resources of his own, having the
+gift of curing hydrophobia, and the hermitage of La Roche-sur-Blavet
+became so thronged by those seeking his aid that only by making a
+private way to the top of the great rock could he obtain respite to
+say his prayers. This gift of his was the cause of his tragic death.
+One day as he was celebrating Mass the servant of a pagan chief ran
+into the chapel, crying out that his master's dogs had gone mad, and
+demanding that Bieuzy should come immediately and cure them. Bieuzy
+was unwilling to interrupt the sacred service and displeased at the
+irreverence of the demand, and the servant returned to his master, who
+rushed into the chapel and in his savage frenzy struck the Saint such
+a blow with his sword that he cleft his head in twain. The heroic
+Saint completed the celebration of Mass--the sword still in the
+wound--and then, followed by the whole congregation, he walked to the
+monastery of Rhuys, where he received the blessing of his beloved St
+Gildas, and fell dead at his feet. He was buried in the church, and a
+fountain at Rhuys was dedicated to him. It is satisfactory to note
+that the entire establishment of the murderer of the Saint is said to
+have perished of hydrophobia!
+
+
+_St Leonorius_
+
+St Leonorius, or Léonore (sixth century), was a disciple of St Iltud,
+of Wales, and was ordained by St Dubricus; he crossed to Brittany in
+early life. The legend that most closely attaches to his name is one
+of the most beautiful of all the Breton beliefs, and is full of the
+poetry and romance that exist for the Celt in all the living things
+around him. The Saint and his monks had worked hard to till their
+ground--for the labours of holy men included many duties in addition
+to religious ministrations--but when they came to sow the seed they
+found that they had omitted to provide themselves with wheat! All
+their labour seemed in vain, and they were greatly distressed as to
+what they would do for food if they had no harvest to look forward to,
+when suddenly they saw, perched on a little wayside cross, a tiny
+robin redbreast holding in its beak an ear of wheat! The monks
+joyfully took the grain, and, sowing it, reaped an abundant harvest!
+Accounts vary somewhat in the details of this story. Some say that the
+bird led the monks to a store of grain, and others question the fact
+that the bird was a robin, but the popular idea is that the robin
+proffered the grain, and so universal and so strong is this belief
+that "Robin Redbreast's corn" is a byword in Brittany for "small
+beginnings that prosper."
+
+The Saint is said to have possessed the most marvellous attainments.
+We are told that he learnt the alphabet in one day, the "art of
+spelling" the following day, and calligraphy the next! He is also
+said to have been a bishop at the age of fifteen. Tradition avers
+that he ploughed the land with stags, and that an altar was
+brought to him from the depth of the sea by two wild pigeons to serve
+for his ministrations. The circumstance that animals or birds were
+employed--predominantly the latter--as the divine means of rendering
+aid to the Saint is common to many of these legends. We thus have
+saintly romance linked with the 'friendly animals' formula of
+folk-lore.
+
+
+_St Patern_
+
+Many quaint and pretty stories are told of the childhood and youth of
+St Patern, the patron saint of Vannes. His intense religious fervour
+was probably inherited from his father, Petranus, who, we are told,
+left his wife and infant son and crossed to Ireland to embrace the
+life religious. One day as his mother sat by the open window making a
+dress for her baby she was called away, and left the little garment
+lying on the sill. A bird flew past, and, attracted by the soft
+woollen stuff, carried it off to line its nest. A year later when the
+nest was destroyed the dress was discovered as fresh and clean as when
+it was stolen--a piece of symbolism foretelling the purity and
+holiness of the future saint.
+
+As soon as the child could speak his mother sent him to school. She
+hoped great things from the quiet, earnest boy, in whom she had
+observed signs of fervent piety. One day he came home and asked his
+mother where his father was. "All the other boys have fathers," he
+said; "where is mine?" His mother sadly told him that his father,
+wishing to serve God more perfectly than it was possible for him to do
+at home, had gone to Ireland to become a monk. "Thither shall I go
+too, when I'm a man," said Patern, and he made a resolve that when he
+grew up he would also enter a monastery. Accordingly, having finished
+his studies in the monastery of Rhuys, he set out for Britain, where
+he founded two religious houses, and then crossed to Ireland, where he
+met his father. Eventually he returned to Vannes, as one of the nine
+bishops of Brittany, but he did not agree with his brethren regarding
+certain ecclesiastical laws, and at last, not wishing to "lose his
+patience," he abandoned his diocese and went to France, where he ended
+his days as a simple monk.
+
+There is an interesting legend to account for the foundation of the
+church of St Patern at Vannes. We are told how for three years after
+Patern left Vannes the people were afflicted by a dreadful famine. No
+rain fell, and the distress was great. At length it was remembered
+that Patern had departed without giving the people his blessing, and
+at once "a pilgrimage set forth to bring back his sacred body, that it
+might rest in his own episcopal town." But the body of the blessed
+Patern "refused to be removed," until one of the pilgrims, who had
+before denied the bishop a certain piece of ground, promised to gift
+it to his memory and to build a church on it to the Saint's honour,
+whereupon the body became light enough to be lifted from the grave and
+conveyed to Vannes. No sooner had the sacred corpse entered Vannes
+than rain fell in torrents. Hagiology abounds in instances of this
+description, which in many respects bring it into line with
+mythology.
+
+
+_St Samson_
+
+We have already related the story of Samson's birth. Another legend
+regarding him tells how one day when the youths attached to the
+monastery where he dwelt were out winnowing corn one of the monks was
+bitten by an adder and fainted with fright. Samson ran to St Iltud to
+tell the news, with tears in his eyes, and begged to be allowed to
+attempt the cure of the monk. Iltud gave him permission, and Samson,
+full of faith and enthusiasm, rubbed the bite with oil, and by degrees
+the monk recovered. After this Samson's fame grew apace. Indeed, we
+are told that the monks grew jealous of him and attempted to poison
+him. He was ordained a bishop at York, and lived a most austere life,
+though his humanity was very apparent in his love for animals.
+
+He was made abbot of a monastery, and endeavoured to instil
+temperance into the monks, but at length gave up the attempt in
+despair and settled in a cave at the mouth of the Severn. Then one
+night "a tall man" appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to
+Armorica, saying to him--so the legend goes: "Thou goest by the sea,
+and where thou wilt disembark thou shalt find a well. Over this
+thou wilt build a church, and around it will group the houses forming
+the city of which thou wilt be a bishop." All of which came to
+pass, and for ages the town has been known as the episcopal city
+of Dol. Accompanied by forty monks, Samson crossed the Channel and
+landed in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc. One version of the story tells
+us that the Saint and numerous other monks fled from Britain to
+escape the Saxon tyranny, and that Samson and six of his suffragans
+who crossed the sea with him were known as the 'Seven Saints of
+Brittany.'
+
+
+_Brittany's Lawyer Saint_
+
+Few prosperous and wealthy countries produce saints in any great
+number, and in proof of the converse of this we find much hagiology in
+Brittany and Ireland. Let lawyers take note that while many saints
+spring from among the _bourgeoisie_ they include few legal men. An
+outstanding exception to this rule is St Yves (or Yvo), probably the
+best known, and almost certainly the most beloved, saint in Brittany.
+St Yves is the only regularly canonized Breton saint. He was born at
+Kermartin, near Tréguier, in 1253, his father being lord of that
+place. The house where he first saw the light was pulled down in 1834,
+but the bed in which he was born is still preserved and shown. His
+name is borne by the majority of the inhabitants of the districts of
+Tréguier and Saint-Brieuc, and one authority tells us how "in the
+Breton tongue his praises are sung as follows:
+
+  N'hen eus ket en Breiz, n'hen eus ket unan,
+  N'hen eus ket uer Zant evel Sant Erwan.
+
+This, in French, runs:
+
+  Il n'y a pas en Bretagne, il n'y en a pas un,
+  Il n'y a pas un saint comme saint Yves."
+
+He began his legal education when he was fourteen, and studied law in
+the schools of Paris, becoming an ecclesiastical judge, and later
+(1285) an ordained priest and incumbent of Tredrig. Subsequently he
+was made incumbent of Lohanec, which post he held till his death. As a
+judge he possessed a quality rare in those days--he was inaccessible
+to bribery! That this was appreciated we find in the following _bon
+mot_:
+
+  Saint Yves était Breton,
+  Avocat et pas larron:
+  Chose rare, se dit-on.
+
+He invariably endeavoured to induce disputants to settle their
+quarrels 'out of court' if possible, and applied his talents to
+defending the cause of the poor and oppressed, without fee. He was
+known as 'the poor man's advocate,' and to-day in the department of
+the Côtes-du-Nord, when a debtor repudiates his debt, the creditor
+will pay for a Mass to St Yves, in the hope that he will cause the
+defaulter to die within the year! St Yves de Vérité is the special
+patron of lawyers, and is represented in the _mortier_, or lawyer's
+cap, and robe.
+
+St Yves spent most of his income in charity, turning his house into an
+orphanage, and many are the stories told of his humanity and
+generosity. The depth of his sympathy, and its practical result, are
+shown in an incident told us of how one morning he found a poor,
+half-naked man lying on his doorstep shivering with cold, having spent
+the night there. Yves gave up his bed to the beggar the next night,
+and himself slept on the doorstep, desiring to learn by personal
+experience the sufferings of the poor. On another occasion, while
+being fitted with a new coat, he caught sight of a miserable man on
+the pavement outside who was clad in rags and tatters that showed his
+skin through many rents. Yves tore off the new coat and, rushing out,
+gave it to the beggar, saying to the astonished and horrified tailor:
+"There is plenty of wear still in my old coats. I will content myself
+with them." His pity and generosity led him to still further kindness
+when he was visiting a hospital and saw how ill-clad some of the
+patients were, for he actually gave them the clothes he was wearing at
+the time, wrapping himself in a coverlet till he had other garments
+sent to him from home. He was wont to walk beside the ploughmen in the
+fields and teach them prayers. He would sit on the moors beside the
+shepherd-boys and instruct them in the use of the rosary; and often he
+would stop little children in the street, and gain their interest and
+affection by his gentleness.
+
+[Illustration: ST YVES INSTRUCTING SHEPHERD-BOYS IN THE USE OF THE ROSARY]
+
+His shrewd legal mind was of service to the poor in other ways than in
+the giving of advice. A story is told of how two rogues brought a
+heavy chest to a widow, declaring it to contain twelve hundred pieces
+of gold and asking her to take charge of it. Some weeks later one of
+them returned, claimed the box, and removed it. A few days later the
+second of the men arrived and asked for the box, and when the poor
+woman could not produce it he took her to court and sued her for the
+gold it had contained. Yves, on hearing that the case was going
+against the woman, offered to defend her, and pleaded that his client
+was ready to restore the gold, but only to both the men who had
+committed it to her charge, and that therefore both must appear to
+claim it. This was a blow to the rogues, who attempted to escape, and,
+failing to do so, at length confessed that they had plotted to extort
+money from the widow, the chest containing nothing but pieces of old
+iron.
+
+Yves was so eloquent and earnest a preacher that he was continually
+receiving requests to attend other churches, which he never refused.
+On the Good Friday before his death he preached in seven different
+parishes. He died at the age of fifty, and was buried at Tréguier.
+Duke John V, who founded the Chapelle du Duc, had a special regard for
+Yves, and erected a magnificent tomb to his memory, which was for
+three centuries the object of veneration in Brittany.
+
+During the French Revolution the reliquary of St Yves was destroyed,
+but his bones were preserved and have been re-enshrined at Tréguier.
+His last will and testament--leaving all his goods to the poor--is
+preserved, together with his breviary, in the sacristy of the church
+at Minihy.
+
+The Saint is generally represented with a cat as his symbol--typifying
+the lawyer's watchful character--but this hardly seems a fitting
+emblem for such a beautiful character as St Yves.
+
+
+_St Budoc of Dol_
+
+The legend of St Budoc of Dol presents several peculiar features. It
+was first recited by professional minstrels, then "passed into the
+sanctuary, and was read in prose in cathedral and church choirs as a
+narrative of facts," although it seems curious that it could have been
+held to be other than fiction.
+
+A Count of Goelc, in Brittany, sought in marriage Azénor, "tall as a
+palm, bright as a star," but they had not been wedded a year when
+Azénor's father married again, and his new wife, jealous of her
+stepdaughter, hated her and determined to ruin her. Accordingly she
+set to work to implant suspicion as to Azénor's purity in the minds of
+her father and husband, and the Count shut his wife up in a tower and
+forbade her to speak to anyone. Here all the poor Countess could do
+was to pray to her patron saint, the Holy Bridget of Ireland.
+
+Her stepmother, however, was not content with the evil she had already
+wrought, and would not rest until she had brought about Azénor's
+death. She continued her calumnies, and at length the Count assembled
+all his barons and his court to judge his wife. The unfortunate and
+innocent Countess was brought into the hall for trial, and, seated on
+a little stool in the midst of the floor, the charges were read to her
+and she was called upon to give her reply. With tears she protested
+her innocence, but in spite of the fact that no proof could be brought
+against her she was sent in disgrace to her father in Brest. He in
+turn sat in judgment upon her, and condemned her to death, the
+sentence being that she should be placed in a barrel and cast into the
+sea, "to be carried where the winds and tides listed." We are told
+that the barrel floated five months, "tossing up and down"--during
+which time Azénor was supplied with food by an angel, who passed it to
+her through the bung-hole.
+
+During these five months, the legend continues, the poor Countess
+became a mother, the angel and St Bridget watching over her. As soon
+as the child was born his mother made the sign of the Cross upon him,
+made him kiss a crucifix, and patiently waited the coming of an
+opportunity to have him baptized. The child began to speak while in
+the cask. At last the barrel rolled ashore at Youghal Harbour, in the
+county of Cork. An Irish peasant, thinking he had found a barrel of
+wine, was proceeding to tap it with a gimlet when he heard a voice
+from within say: "Do not injure the cask." Greatly astonished, the man
+demanded who was inside, and the voice replied: "I am a child desiring
+baptism. Go at once to the abbot of the monastery to which this land
+belongs, and bid him come and baptize me." The Irishman ran to the
+abbot with the message, but he not unnaturally declined to believe the
+story, till, with a true Hibernian touch, the peasant asked him if it
+were likely that he would have told 'his reverence' anything about his
+find had there been "anything better than a baby" in the barrel!
+Accordingly the abbot hastened to the shore, opened the cask, and
+freed the long-suffering Countess of Goelc and her son, the latter of
+whom he christened by the name of Budoc, and took under his care.
+
+Meantime, the "wicked stepmother," falling ill and being at the point
+of death, became frightened when she thought of her sin against
+Azénor, and confessed the lies by which she had wrought the ruin of
+the Countess. The Count, overcome by remorse and grief, set out in
+quest of his wife. Good luck led him to Ireland, where he disembarked
+at Youghal and found his lost ones. With great rejoicing he had a
+stately ship made ready, and prepared to set out for Brittany with
+Azénor and Budoc, but died before he could embark. Azénor remained in
+Ireland and devoted herself to good works and to the training of her
+son, who from an early age resolved to embrace the religious life,
+and was in due course made a monk by the Abbot of Youghal. His mother
+died, and on the death of the Abbot of Youghal he was elected to rule
+the monastery. Later, upon the death of the King of Ireland, the
+natives raised Budoc to the temporal and spiritual thrones, making him
+King of Ireland and Bishop of Armagh.
+
+After two years he wished to retire from these honours, but the
+people were "wild with despair" at the tidings, and surrounded the
+palace lest he should escape. One night, while praying in his
+metropolitan church, an angel appeared to him, bidding him betake
+himself to Brittany. Going down to the seashore, it was indicated to
+him that he must make the voyage in a stone trough. On entering this
+it began to move, and he was borne across to Brittany, landing at
+Porspoder, in the diocese of Léon. The people of that district drew
+the stone coffer out of the water, and built a hermitage and a
+chapel for the Saint's convenience. Budoc dwelt for one year at
+Porspoder, but, "disliking the roar of the waves," he had his stone
+trough mounted on a cart, and yoking two oxen to it he set forth,
+resolved to follow them wherever they might go and establish
+himself at whatever place they might halt. The cart broke down at
+Plourin, and there Budoc settled for a short time; but trouble with
+disorderly nobles forced him to depart, and this time he went to
+Dol, where he was well received by St Malglorious, then its bishop,
+who soon after resigned his see to Budoc. The Saint ruled at Dol
+for twenty years, and died early in the seventh century.
+
+Another Celtic myth of the same type is to be found on the shores of
+the Firth of Forth. The story in question deals with the birth of St
+Mungo, or St Kentigern, the patron saint of Glasgow. His mother was
+Thenaw, the Christian daughter of the pagan King Lot of Lothian,
+brother-in-law of King Arthur, from his marriage with Arthur's sister
+Margawse. Thus the famous Gawaine would be Thenaw's brother. Thenaw
+met Ewen, the son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, and fell deeply in
+love with him, but her father discovered her disgrace and ordered her
+to be cast headlong from the summit of Traprain Law, once known as
+Dunpender, a mountain in East Lothian. A kindly fate watched over the
+princess, however, and she fell so softly from the eminence that she
+was uninjured. Such Christian subjects as Lot possessed begged her
+life. But if her father might have relented his Druids were
+inexorable. They branded her as a sorceress, and she was doomed to
+death by drowning. She was accordingly rowed out from Aberlady Bay to
+the vicinity of the Isle of May, where, seated in a skin boat, she was
+left to the mercy of the waves. In this terrible situation she cast
+herself upon the grace of Heaven, and her frail craft was wafted up
+the Forth, where it drifted ashore near Culross. At this spot
+Kentigern was born, and the mother and child were shortly afterward
+discovered by some shepherds, who placed them under the care of St
+Serf, Abbot of Culross. To these events the date A.D. 516 is
+assigned.
+
+
+_'Fatal Children' Legends_
+
+This legend is, of course, closely allied with those which recount the
+fate and adventures of the 'fatal children.' Like Œdipus, Romulus,
+Perseus, and others, Budoc and Kentigern are obviously 'fatal
+children,' as is evidenced by the circumstances of their birth. We
+are not told that King Lot or Azénor's father had been warned that if
+their daughters had a son they would be slain by that child, but it is
+probably only the saintly nature of the subject of the stories which
+caused this circumstance to be omitted. Danaë, the mother of Perseus,
+we remember, was, when disgraced, shut up in a chest with her child,
+and committed to the waves, which carried her to the island of
+Seriphos, where she was duly rescued. Romulus and his brother Remus
+were thrown into the Tiber, and escaped a similar fate. The Princess
+Desonelle and her twin sons, in the old English metrical romance of
+_Sir Torrent of Portugal_, are also cast into the sea, but succeed in
+making the shore of a far country. All these children grow up endowed
+with marvellous beauty and strength, but their doom is upon them, and
+after numerous adventures they slay their fathers or some other
+unfortunate relative. But the most characteristic part of what seems
+an almost universal legend is that these children are born in the most
+obscure circumstances, afterward rising to a height of splendour which
+makes up for all they previously suffered. It is not necessary to
+explain nowadays that this is characteristic of nearly all sun-myths.
+The sun is born in obscurity, and rises to a height of splendour at
+midday.
+
+Thus in the majority of these legends we find the sun personified. It
+is not sufficient to object that such an elucidation smacks too much
+of the tactics of Max Müller to be accepted by modern students of
+folk-lore. The student of comparative myth who does not make use of
+the best in all systems of mythological elucidation is undone, for no
+one system will serve for all examples.
+
+To those who may object, "Oh, but Kentigern was a _real_ person," I
+reply that I know many myths concerning 'real' people. For the matter
+of that, we assist in the manufacture of these every day of our lives,
+and it is quite a fallacy that legends cannot spring up concerning
+veritable historical personages, and even around living, breathing
+folk. And for the rest of it mythology and hagiology are hopelessly
+intermingled in their _motifs_.
+
+
+_Miraculous Crossings_
+
+Another Celtic saint besides Budoc possessed a stone boat. He is St
+Baldred, who, like Kentigern, hails from the Firth of Forth, and dwelt
+on the Bass Rock. He is said to have chosen this drear abode as a
+refuge from the eternal wars between the Picts and the Scots toward
+the close of the seventh century. From this point of vantage, and
+probably during seasons of truce, he rowed to the mainland to minister
+to the spiritual wants of the rude natives of Lothian. Inveresk seems
+to have been the eastern border of his 'parish.' Tradition says that
+he was the second Bishop of Glasgow, and thus the successor of
+Kentigern, but the lack of all reliable data concerning the western
+see subsequent to the death of Glasgow's patron saint makes it
+impossible to say whether this statement is authentic or otherwise.
+Many miracles are attributed to Baldred, not the least striking of
+which is that concerning a rock to the east of Tantallon Castle, known
+as 'St Baldred's Boat.' At one time this rock was situated between the
+Bass and the adjacent mainland, and was a fruitful source of
+shipwreck. Baldred, pitying the mariners who had to navigate the
+Firth, and risk this danger, rowed out to the rock and mounted upon
+it; whereupon, at his simple nod, it was lifted up, and, like a ship
+driven by the wind, was wafted to the nearest shore, where it
+thenceforth remained. This rock is sometimes called 'St Baldred's
+Coble,' or 'Cock-boat.' This species of miracle is more commonly
+discovered in the annals of hagiology than in those of pure myth,
+although in legend we occasionally find the landscape altered by order
+of supernatural or semi-supernatural beings.
+
+One rather striking instance of miraculous crossing is that of St
+Noyala, who is said to have crossed to Brittany on the leaf of a tree,
+accompanied by her nurse. She was beheaded at Beignon, but walked to
+Pontivy carrying her head in her hands. A chapel at Pontivy is
+dedicated to her, and was remarkable in the eighteenth century for
+several interesting paintings on a gold ground depicting this legend.
+
+We find this incident of miraculous crossing occurring in the stories
+of many of the Breton saints. A noteworthy instance is that of St
+Tugdual, who, with his followers, crossed in a ship which vanished
+when they disembarked. Still another example is found in the case of
+St Vougas, or Vie, who is specially venerated in Tréguennec. He is
+thought to have been an Irish bishop, and is believed to have mounted
+a stone and sailed across to Brittany upon it. This particular version
+of the popular belief may have sprung from the fact that there is a
+rock off the coast of Brittany called 'the Ship,' from a fancied
+resemblance to one. In course of time this rock was affirmed to have
+been the ship of St Vougas.
+
+
+_Azénor the Pale_
+
+There is a story of another Azénor, who, according to local history,
+married Yves, heritor of Kermorvan, in the year 1400. A popular
+ballad of Cornouaille tells how this Azénor, who was surnamed 'the
+Pale,' did not love her lord, but gave her heart to another, the Clerk
+of Mezléan.
+
+One day she sat musing by a forest fountain, dressed in a robe of
+yellow silk, wantonly plucking the flowers which grew on the mossy
+parapet of the spring and binding them into a bouquet for the Clerk of
+Mezléan.
+
+The Seigneur Yves, passing by on his white steed at a hand-gallop,
+observed her "with the corner of his eye," and conceived a violent
+love for her.
+
+The Clerk of Mezléan had been true to Azénor for many a day, but he
+was poor and her parents would have none of him.
+
+One morning as Azénor descended to the courtyard she observed great
+preparations on foot as if for a festival.
+
+"For what reason," she said, "has this great fire been kindled, and
+why have they placed two spits in front of it? What is happening in
+this house, and why have these fiddlers come?"
+
+Those whom she asked smiled meaningly.
+
+"To-morrow is your wedding-day," said they.
+
+At this Azénor the Pale grew still paler, and was long silent.
+
+"If that be so," she said, "it will be well that I seek my marriage
+chamber early, for from my bed I shall not be raised except for
+burial."
+
+That night her little page stole through the window.
+
+"Lady," he said, "a great and brilliant company come hither. The
+Seigneur Yves is at their head, and behind him ride cavaliers and a
+long train of gentlemen. He is mounted on a white horse, with
+trappings of gold."
+
+Azénor wept sorely.
+
+"Unhappy the hour that he comes!" she cried, wringing her hands.
+"Unhappy be my father and mother who have done this thing!"
+
+Sorely wept Azénor when going to the church that day. She set forth
+with her intended husband, riding on the crupper of his horse. Passing
+by Mezléan she said:
+
+"I pray you let me enter this house, Seigneur, for I am fatigued with
+the journey, and would rest for a space."
+
+"That may not be to-day," he replied; "to-morrow, if you wish it."
+
+At this Azénor wept afresh, but was comforted by her little page. At
+the church door one could see that her heart was breaking.
+
+"Approach, my daughter," said the aged priest. "Draw near, that I may
+place the ring upon your finger."
+
+"Father," replied Azénor, "I beg of you not to force me to wed him
+whom I do not love."
+
+"These are wicked words, my child. The Seigneur Yves is wealthy, he
+has gold and silver, châteaux and broad lands, but the Clerk of
+Mezléan is poor."
+
+"Poor he may be, Father," murmured Azénor, "yet had I rather beg my
+bread with him than dwell softly with this other."
+
+But her relentless parents would not hearken to her protestations, and
+she was wed to the Lord Yves. On arriving at her husband's house she
+was met by the Seigneur's mother, who received her graciously, but
+only one word did Azénor speak, that old refrain that runs through all
+ballad poetry.
+
+"Tell me, O my mother," she said, "is my bed made?"
+
+"It is, my child," replied the châtelaine. "It is next the Chamber of
+the Black Cavalier. Follow me and I will take you thither."
+
+Once within the chamber, Azénor, wounded to the soul, fell upon her
+knees, her fair hair falling about her.
+
+"My God," she cried, "have pity upon me!"
+
+The Seigneur Yves sought out his mother.
+
+"Mother of mine," said he, "where is my wife?"
+
+"She sleeps in her high chamber," replied his mother. "Go to her and
+console her, for she is sadly in need of comfort."
+
+The Seigneur entered. "Do you sleep?" he asked Azénor.
+
+She turned in her bed and looked fixedly at him. "Good morrow to you,
+widower," she said.
+
+"By the saints," cried he, "what mean you? Why do you call me
+widower?"
+
+"Seigneur," she said meaningly, "it is true that you are not a widower
+yet, but soon you will be."
+
+Then, her mind wandering, she continued: "Here is my wedding gown;
+give it, I pray you, to my little servant, who has been so good to me
+and who carried my letters to the Clerk of Mezléan. Here is a new
+cloak which my mother broidered; give it to the priests who will sing
+Masses for my soul. For yourself you may take my crown and chaplet.
+Keep them well, I pray, as a souvenir of our wedding."
+
+Who is that who arrives at the hamlet as the clocks are striking the
+hour? Is it the Clerk of Mezléan? Too late! Azénor is dead.
+
+"I have seen the fountain beside which Azénor plucked flowers to make
+a bouquet for her 'sweet Clerk of Mezléan,'" says the Vicomte Hersart
+de la Villemarqué, "when the Seigneur of Kermorvan passed and withered
+with his glance her happiness and these flowers of love. Mezléan is in
+ruins, no one remains within its gates, surmounted by a crenellated
+and machicolated gallery."
+
+There is a subscription at the end of the ballad to the effect that it
+was written on a round table in the Manor of Hénan, near Pont-Aven, by
+the "bard of the old Seigneur," who dictated it to a damsel. "How
+comes it," asks Villemarqué, "that in the Middle Ages we still find a
+seigneur of Brittany maintaining a domestic bard?" There is no good
+reason why a domestic bard should not have been found in the Brittany
+of medieval times, since such singers of the household were maintained
+in Ireland and Scotland until a relatively late date--up to the period
+of the '45 in the case of the latter country.
+
+
+_St Pol of Léon_
+
+St Pol (or Paul) of Léon (sixth century) was the son of a Welsh
+prince, and, like so many of the Breton saints, he was a disciple of
+St Iltud, being also a fellow-student of St Samson and St Gildas. At
+the age of sixteen he left his home and crossed the sea to Brittany.
+In the course of time other young men congregated round him, and he
+became their superior, receiving holy orders along with twelve
+companions. Near these young monks dwelt Mark, the King of Vannes, who
+invited Pol to visit his territory and instruct his people. The Saint
+went to Vannes and was well received, but after dwelling for some time
+in that part of the country he felt the need of solitude once more,
+and entreated the King that he might have permission to depart and
+that he might be given a bell; "for," as the chronicler tells us, "at
+that time it was customary for kings to have seven bells rung before
+they sat down to meat."
+
+The King, however, vexed that Pol should wish to leave him, refused to
+give him the bell, so the Saint went without it. Before leaving Vannes
+Pol visited his sister, who lived in solitude with other holy women on
+a little island, but when the time came for him to depart she wept and
+entreated him to stay, and the Saint remained with her for another
+three days. When he was finally taking leave of her, she begged him
+that as he was "powerful with God" he would grant her a request, and
+when Pol asked what it was she desired him to do, she explained that
+the island on which she dwelt was small "and incommodious for landing"
+and requested him to pray to God that it might be extended a little
+into the sea, with a "gentle shore." Pol said she had asked what was
+beyond his power, but suggested that they should pray that her desire
+might be granted. So they prayed, and the sea began to retreat,
+"leaving smooth, golden sand where before there had been only stormy
+waves." All the nuns came to see the miracle which had been wrought,
+and the sister of St Pol gathered pebbles and laid them round the land
+newly laid bare, and strewed them down the road that she and her
+brother had taken. These pebbles grew into tall pillars of rock, and
+the avenue thus formed is to this day called 'the Road of St Pol.'
+Thus do the peasants explain the Druidical circles and avenue on the
+islet.
+
+After this miracle Pol departed, and rowed to the island of Ouessant,
+and later he travelled through Brittany, finally settling in the
+island of Batz, near the small town encompassed by mud walls which has
+since borne his name. There he founded a monastery. The island was at
+that time infested by a dreadful monster, sixty feet long, and we are
+told how the Saint subdued this dragon. Accompanied by a warrior, he
+entered its den, tied his stole round its neck, and, giving it to his
+companion to lead, he followed them, beating the animal with his
+stick, until they came to the extremity of the island. There he took
+off the stole and commanded the dragon to fling itself into the
+sea--an order which the monster immediately obeyed. In the church on
+the island a stole is preserved which is said to be that of St Pol.
+Another story tells us how St Jaoua, nephew of St Pol, had to call in
+his uncle's aid in taming a wild bull which was devastating his cell.
+These incidents remind us of St Efflam's taming of the dragon. St Pol
+is one of the saints famous for his miraculous power over wild
+beasts.
+
+The Saint's renown became such that the Breton king made him
+Archbishop of Léon, giving him special care and control of the city
+bearing his name. We are told how the Saint found wild bees swarming
+in a hollow tree, and, gathering the swarm, set them in a hive and
+taught the people how to get honey. He also found a wild sow with her
+litter and tamed them. The descendants of this progeny remained at
+Léon for many generations, and were regarded as royal beasts. Both of
+these stories are, of course, a picturesque way of saying that St Pol
+taught the people to cultivate bees and to keep pigs.
+
+St Pol's early desire to possess a bell was curiously granted later,
+as one day when he was in the company of a Count who ruled the land
+under King Childebat a fisherman brought the Count a bell which he had
+picked up on the seashore. The Count gave it to St Pol, who smiled and
+told him how he had longed and waited for years for such a bell. In
+the cathedral at Saint-Pol-de-Léon is a tiny bell which is said to
+have belonged to St Pol, and on the days of pardon "its notes still
+ring out over the heads of the faithful," and are supposed to be
+efficacious in curing headache or earache.
+
+In the cathedral choir is the tomb of St Pol, where "his skull, an
+arm-bone, and a finger are encased in a little coffer, for the
+veneration of the devout." St Pol built the cathedral at Léon, and was
+its first bishop. Strategy had to be resorted to to secure the see for
+him. The Count gave Pol a letter to take in person to King Childebat,
+which stated that he had sent Pol to be ordained bishop and invested
+with the see of Léon. When the Saint discovered what the letter
+contained he wept, and implored the King to respect his great
+disinclination to become a bishop; but Childebat would not listen,
+and, calling for three bishops, he had him consecrated. The Saint was
+received with great joy by the people of Léon, and lived among them to
+a green old age.
+
+In art St Pol is most generally represented with a dragon, and
+sometimes with a bell, or a cruse of water and a loaf of bread,
+symbolical of his frugal habits.
+
+
+_St Ronan_
+
+Of St Ronan there is told a tale of solemn warning to wives addicted
+to neglecting their children and "seeking their pleasure elsewhere,"
+as it is succinctly expressed. St Ronan was an Irish bishop who came
+to Léon, where he retired into a hermitage in the forest of Névet.
+Grallo, the King of Brittany, was in the habit of visiting him in his
+cell, listening to his discourses, and putting theological questions
+to him. The domestic question must have been a problem even in those
+days, since we find Grallo's Queen, Queban, in charge of her
+five-year-old daughter. Family cares proving rather irksome, Queban
+solved the difficulty of her daughter by putting the child into a box,
+with bread and milk to keep her quiet, while she amused herself with
+frivolous matters. Unfortunately, this ingeniously improvized _crêche_
+proved singularly unsuccessful, for the poor little girl choked on a
+piece of crust, and when the Queen next visited the child she found to
+her horror that she was dead. Terrified at the fatal result of her
+neglect, and not daring to confess what had happened, the Queen, being
+a woman of resource, closed the box and raised a hue and cry to find
+the girl, who she declared must have strayed.
+
+She rushed in search of her husband to St Ronan's cell, and upbraided
+the hermit for being the cause of the King's absence. "But for you,"
+she declared, "my daughter would not have been lost!" But it was a
+fatal mistake to accuse the Saint, or to imagine that he could be
+deceived. Sternly rebuking her, he challenged her with the fact that
+the child lay dead in a box, with milk and bread beside her! Rising,
+he left his cell, and, followed by the agitated royal couple, he led
+the way to where the proof of the Queen's neglect and deceit was
+found. Small mercy was shown in those days to erring womanhood, and
+the guilty Queen was instantly "stoned with stones till she died." The
+Saint completed his share in the matter by casting himself on his
+knees beside the child, whereupon she was restored to life.
+
+
+_St Goezenou_
+
+St Goezenou (_circ._ A.D. 675) was a native of Britain whose parents
+crossed to Brittany and settled near Brest, where the Saint built an
+oratory and cabin for himself. The legend runs that the prince of the
+neighbourhood having offered to give him as much land as he could
+surround with a ditch in one day, the Saint took a fork and dragged it
+along the ground after him as he walked, in this way enclosing a
+league and a half of land, the fork as it trailed behind him making a
+furrow and throwing up an embankment, on a small scale. This story is
+quite probably a popular tradition, which grew up to explain the
+origin of old military earthworks in that part of the country, which
+were afterward utilized by the monks of St Goezenou.
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN QUEBAN STONED TO DEATH]
+
+It is also related of this worthy Saint that he had such a horror of
+women that he set up a huge menhir to mark the boundary beyond which
+no female was to pass under penalty of death. On one occasion a woman,
+either to test the extent of the Saint's power or from motives of
+enmity, pushed another woman who was with her past this landmark; but
+the innocent trespasser was unhurt and her assailant fell dead.
+
+On one occasion, we are told, Goezenou asked a farmer's wife for some
+cream cheeses, but the woman, not wishing to part with them, declared
+that she had none. "You speak the truth," said the Saint. "You had
+some, but if you will now look in your cupboard you will find they
+have been turned into stone," and when the ungenerous housewife ran to
+her cupboard she found that this was so! The petrified cheeses were
+long preserved in the church of Goezenou--being removed during the
+Revolution, and afterward preserved in the manor of Kergivas.
+
+Goezenou governed his church for twenty-four years, till he met with a
+violent death. Accompanied by his brother St Magan, he went to
+Quimperlé to see the monastery which St Corbasius was building there,
+but he began to praise the architecture of his own church, and this so
+enraged the master builder that he dropped his hammer on the critic's
+head. To add to the grief of St Magan, St Corbasius endeavoured to
+appropriate the body of the murdered Saint. He consented, however, to
+allow St Magan to have such bones as he was able to identify as
+belonging to his brother, whereupon St Magan prayed all night, and
+next morning spread a sheet for the bones, which miraculously arranged
+themselves into an entire skeleton, which the sorrowing Magan was thus
+enabled to remove.
+
+
+_St Winwaloe, or Gwenaloe_
+
+St Winwaloe, born about 455, was the son of Fragan, Governor of Léon,
+who had married a wealthy lady named Gwen. Their son was so beautiful
+that they named him Gwenaloe, or 'He that is white.' When the lad was
+about fifteen years old he was given to the care of a holy man, with
+whom he lived on the islet called Ile-Verte. One day a pirate fleet
+was sighted off the coast, near the harbour of Guic-sezne, and
+Winwaloe, who was with his father at the time, is said to have
+exclaimed, "I see a thousand sails," and to this day a cross which
+marks the spot is called 'the Cross of the Thousand Sails,' to
+commemorate the victory which Fragan and his son won over the pirates,
+who landed but were utterly defeated by the Governor and his
+retainers. During the fight Winwaloe, "like a second Moses," prayed
+for victory, and when the victory had been won he entreated his father
+to put the booty gained to a holy use and to build a monastery on the
+site of the battle. This was done, and the monastery was called
+Loc-Christ.
+
+Leaving his master after some years, Winwaloe settled on the island of
+Sein, but finding that it was exposed to the fury of every gale that
+blew from the Atlantic he left it and went to Landévennec, on the
+opposite side of the harbour at Brest. There he established a
+monastery, gathered round him many disciples, and dwelt there until
+his death, many years later. He died during the first week of Lent,
+"after bestowing a kiss of peace on his brethren," and his body is
+preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, his chasuble, alb, and bell being laid
+in the Jesuit church of St Charles at Antwerp.
+
+In art St Winwaloe is represented vested as an abbot, with staff in
+one hand and a bell in the other, standing beside the sea, from which
+fishes arise as if in answer to the sound of his bell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII: COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Distinctive national costume has to a great extent become a thing of
+the past in Europe, and for this relinquishment of the picturesque we
+have doubtless in a measure to thank the exploitation of remote
+districts as tourist and sporting centres. Brittany, however, has been
+remarkably faithful to her sartorial traditions, and even to-day in
+the remoter parts of the west and in distant sea-coast places her men
+and women have not ceased to express outwardly the strong national and
+personal individuality of their race. In these districts it is still
+possible for the traveller to take a sudden, bewildering, and wholly
+entrancing step back into the past.
+
+In Cornouaille the national costume is more jealously cherished than
+in any other part of the country, even to the smallest details, for
+here the men carry a _pen-bas_, or cudgel, which is as much a
+supplement to their attire and as characteristic of it as the Irish
+shillelagh is of the traditional Irish dress. Quimper is perhaps
+second to Cornouaille in fidelity to the old costume, for all the men
+wear the national habit. On gala days this consists of gaily
+embroidered and coloured waistcoats, which often bear the travelling
+tailor's name, and voluminous _bragou-bras_, or breeches of blue or
+brown, held at the waist with a broad leather belt with a metal buckle
+and caught in at the knee with ribbons of various hues, the whole set
+off with black leather leggings and shoes ornamented with silver
+buckles. A broad-brimmed hat, beneath which the hair falls down
+sometimes to below the shoulders, finishes a toilet which on weekdays
+or work-days has to give place to white _bragou-bras_ of tough
+material, something more sombre in waistcoats, and the ever
+serviceable sabot.
+
+
+_Hats and Hymen_
+
+In the vast stretch of the salt-pans of Escoublac, between Batz and Le
+Croisic, where the entire population of the district is employed, the
+workers, or _paludiers_, affect a smock-frock with pockets, linen
+breeches, gaiters, and shoes all of white, and with this dazzling
+costume they wear a huge, flapping black hat turned up on one side to
+form a horn-shaped peak. This peak is very important, as it indicates
+the state of the wearer, the young bachelor adjusting it with great
+nicety over the ear, the widower above his forehead, and the married
+man at the back of his head. On Sundays or gala-days, however, this
+uniform is discarded in favour of a multicoloured and more distinctive
+attire, the breeches being of fine cloth, exceedingly full and pleated
+and finished with ribbons at the knees, the gaiters and white shoes of
+everyday giving place to white woollen stockings with clocks
+embroidered on them and shoes of light yellow, while the smock is
+supplanted by several waistcoats of varying lengths and shades, which
+are worn one above the other in different coloured tiers, finished at
+the neck with a turnover muslin collar. The holiday hat is the same,
+save for a roll of brightly and many tinted chenille.
+
+Several petticoats of pleated cloth, big bibs or plastrons called
+_pièces_, of the same shade as their dresses, and a shawl with a
+fringed border, compose the costume of the women. The aprons of the
+girls are very plain and devoid of pockets, but the older women's are
+rich in texture and design, some of them being of silk and others
+even of costly brocade. The women's head-dress is almost grotesque in
+its originality, the hair being woven into two rolls, swathed round
+with tape, and wound into a coronet across the head. Over this is
+drawn tightly a kind of cap, which forms a peak behind and is crossed
+in front like a handkerchief. Should widowhood overtake a woman she
+relinquishes this _coiffe_ and shrouds her head and shoulders in a
+rough black triangular-shaped sheepskin mantle.
+
+The toilette of a bride is as magnificent as the widow's is depressing
+and dowdy. It consists of three different dresses, the first of white
+velvet with apron of moire-antique, the second of purple velvet, and
+the third of cloth of gold with embroidered sleeves, with a _pièce_ of
+the same material. A wide sash, embroidered with gold, is used for
+looping up all these resplendent skirts in order to reveal the gold
+clocks which adorn the stockings. These, and all gala costumes, are
+carefully stored away at the village inn, and may be seen by the
+traveller sufficiently interested to pay a small fee for the
+privilege.
+
+
+_Quaint Head-dresses_
+
+Though the dress of the Granville women does not attempt to equal or
+rival the magnificence just described, nevertheless it is as quaint
+and characteristic. They favour a long black or very dark coat, with
+bordering frills of the same material and shade, and their cap is a
+sort of _bandeau_, turning up sharply at the ears, and crested by a
+white handkerchief folded square and laid flat on top.
+
+In Ouessant the peasant women adopt an Italian style of costume, their
+head-dress, from under which their hair falls loosely, being exactly
+in almost every detail like that which one associates with the women
+of Italy. The costume of the man from St Pol is, like that of the
+Granville women, soberer than most others of Brittany. Save for his
+buttons, the buckle on his hat, and the clasps of white metal
+fastening his leather shoes, his dress, including spencer, waistcoat,
+trousers, and stockings, is of black, and his hair is worn falling on
+his shoulders, while he rarely carries the _pen-bas_--an indication,
+perhaps, of his rather meditative, pious temperament.
+
+At Villecheret the cap of the women is bewilderingly varied and very
+peculiar. At first sight it appears to consist of several large sheets
+of stiff white paper, in some cases a sheet of the apparent paper
+spreading out at either side of the head and having another roll
+placed across it; in other cases a ridged roof seems to rest upon the
+hair, a roof with the sides rolling upward and fastened at the top
+with a frail thread; while a third type of head-dress is of the
+skull-cap order, from which is suspended two ties quite twenty inches
+long and eight inches wide, which are doubled back midway and fastened
+again to the top of the skull-cap. The unmarried woman who adopts this
+_coiffe_ must wear the ties hanging over the shoulders.
+
+Originality in head-dress the male peasant leaves almost entirely to
+the woman, for nearly everywhere in Brittany one meets with the long,
+wide-brimmed, black hat, with a black band, the dullness of which is
+relieved by a white or blue metal buckle, as large as those usually
+found on belts. To this rule the Plougastel man is one of the
+exceptions, wearing a red cap with his trousers and coat of white
+flannel.
+
+At Muzillac, some miles distant from La Roche-Bernard, the women
+supplant the white _coiffe_ with a huge black cap resembling the cowl
+of a friar, while at Pont l'Abbé and along the Bay of Audierne the cap
+or _bigouden_ is formed of two pieces, the first a species of
+skull-cap fitting closely over the head and ears, the second a small
+circular piece of starched linen, shaped into a three-cornered peak,
+the centre point being embroidered and kept in position by a white
+tape tie which fastens under the chin. Over the skull-cap the hair is
+dressed _en chignon_. The dress accompanying this singular _coiffe_
+and _coiffure_ has a large yellow _pièce_, with sleeves to match. The
+men wear a number of short coats, one above the other, the shortest
+and last being trimmed with a fringe, and occasionally ornamented with
+sentences embroidered in coloured wools round the border, describing
+the patriotic or personal sentiments of the wearer.
+
+The women of Morlaix are also partial to the tight-fitting _coiffe_.
+This consists of five broad folds, forming a base from which a
+fan-like fall of stiffened calico spreads out from ear to ear,
+completely shading the nape of the neck and reaching down the back
+below the shoulders. Many of the women wear calico tippets, while the
+more elderly affect a sort of mob-cap with turned-up edges, from which
+to the middle of the head are stretched two wide straps of calico,
+joined together at the ends with a pin. Most of the youths of Morlaix
+wear the big, flapping hat, but very often a black cloth cap is also
+seen. This is ridiculous rather than picturesque, for so long is it
+that with almost every movement it tips over the wearer's nose. The
+tunic accompanying either hat or cap is of blue flannel, and over it
+is worn a black waistcoat. The porters of the market-places wear a
+sort of smock. The young boys of Morlaix dress very like their elders,
+and nearly all of them wear the long loose cap, with the difference
+that a tasselled end dangles down the back.
+
+[Illustration: MODERN BRITTANY]
+
+On religious festivals the gala dress is always donned in all
+vicinities of Brittany, and the costume informs the initiated at once
+in what capacity the Breton is present. For instance, the _porteuses_,
+or banner-bearers, of certain saints are dressed in white; others may
+be more gorgeously or vividly attired in gowns of bright-coloured silk
+trimmed with gold lace, scarves of silver thread, aprons of gold
+tissue or brocade, and lace _coiffes_ over caps of gold or silver
+tissue; while some, though in national gala dress, will have flags or
+crosses to distinguish them from the more commonplace worshipper.
+
+
+_Religious Festivals_
+
+This dressing for the part and the occasion is interwoven with the
+Breton's existence as unalterably as sacred and profane elements are
+into the occasions of his religious festivals. A feast day well and
+piously begun is interspersed and concluded with a gaiety and abandon
+which by contrast strikes a note of profanity. Yet Brittany is quite
+the most devotedly religious of all the French provinces, and one may
+see the great cathedrals filled to their uttermost with congregations
+including as many men as women. Nowhere else, perhaps, will one find
+such great masses of people so completely lost in religious fervour
+during the usual Church services and the grander and more impressive
+festivals so solemnly observed. This reverence is attributed by some
+to the power of superstition, by others to the Celtic temperament of
+the worshippers; but from whatever cause it arises no one who has
+lived among the Bretons can doubt the sincerity and childlike faith
+which lies at the base of it all, a faith of which a medieval
+simplicity and credence are the keynotes.
+
+
+_The Pardons_
+
+This pious punctiliousness is not confined to Church services and
+ceremonies alone, for rarely are wayside crosses or shrines
+unattended by some simple peasant or peasants telling beads or
+unfolding griefs to a God Who, they have been taught, takes the
+deepest interest in and compassionates all the troubles and trials
+which may befall them. Between May and October the religious
+ardour of the Breton may be witnessed at its strongest, for during
+these months the five great 'Pardons' or religious pilgrimage
+festivals are solemnized in the following sequence: the Pardon of the
+Poor, at Saint-Yves; the Pardon of the Singers, at Rumengol; the
+Pardon of the Fire, at Saint-Jean-du-Doigt; the Pardon of the
+Mountain, at Troménie-de-Saint-Renan; the Pardon of the Sea, at
+Sainte-Anne-la-Palud.
+
+The Pardon of the Poor, the Pardon of the Singers, and the Pardon of
+the Sea are especially rigorous and exacting, but the less celebrated
+Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clarté, in Morbihan, has an earthly as much
+as a celestial object, for while the pilgrimage does homage to the
+Virgin it is at the same time believed to facilitate marriage. Here,
+once the sacred side of the festival has been duly observed, the young
+man in search of a wife circles about the church, closely scrutinizing
+all the eligible demoiselles who come within range of his vision. As
+soon as he decides which maiden most appeals to him, he asks her
+politely if she will accept a gift from him, and at the same time
+presents a large round cake, with which he has armed himself for that
+occasion. "Will mademoiselle break the cake with me?" is the customary
+form of address, and in the adoption or rejection of this suggestion
+lies the young peasant's yea or nay.
+
+The Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt takes place on the 22nd of June, and
+is, perhaps, the most solemn of these festivals. During its
+celebration the relic of the Saint, the little finger of his right
+hand, is held before the high altar of the church by an _abbé_ clad in
+his surplice. The finger is wrapped in the finest of linen, and one by
+one the congregation files past the _abbé_ for the purpose of touching
+for one brief moment the relic he holds. At the same time another
+cleric stands near the choir, holding the skull of St Mériadec, and
+before this the pilgrims also promenade, reverently bowing their heads
+as they go. The devotees then repair to a side wall near which there
+is a fountain, the waters of which have been previously sanctified by
+bathing in them the finger of St Jean suspended from a gold chain, and
+into this the pilgrims plunge their palms and vigorously rub their
+eyes with them, as a protection against blindness. This concludes the
+religious side of the Pardon, and immediately after its less edifying
+ceremonies begin.
+
+The Pardon of the Mountain is held on Trinity Sunday at Troménie.
+Every sixth year there is the 'Grand Troménie,' an event which draws
+an immense concourse of people from all parts. The principal feature
+of this great day from the spectator's point of view is the afternoon
+procession. It is of the most imposing description, and all who have
+come to take part in the Pardon join it, as with banners flying and
+much hymn-singing it takes its way out of the town to wind round a
+mountain in the vicinity.
+
+
+_Barking Women_
+
+In the old days of religious enthusiasm a remarkable phenomenon often
+attended these festivals, when excitement began to run high, as it was
+certain to do among a Celtic people. This was the barking of certain
+highly strung hysterical women. In time it became quite a usual
+feature, but now, happily, it is a part of the ceremony which has
+almost entirely disappeared. There is a legend in connexion with this
+custom that the Virgin appeared before some women disguised as a
+beggar, and asked for a draught of water, and, when they refused it,
+caused them and their posterity to be afflicted with the mania.
+
+
+_The Sacring Bell_
+
+Another custom of earlier times was that of ringing the sacring bell.
+These bells are very tiny, and are attached at regular intervals to
+the outer rim of a wooden wheel, wrongly styled by some 'the Wheel of
+Fortune,' from which dangles a long string. In most places the sacring
+bell is kept as a curiosity, though in the church of St Bridget at
+Berhet the _Sant-e-roa_, or Holy Wheel, is still rung by pilgrims
+during Mass. The bells are set pealing through the medium of a long
+string by the impatient suppliant, to remind the saint to whom the
+_Sant-e-roa_ may be dedicated of the prayerful requests with which he
+or she has been assailed.
+
+There are in many of the churches of Brittany wide, old-fashioned
+fireplaces, a fact which testifies to a very sensible practice which
+prevailed in the latter half of the sixteenth century--that of
+warming the baptismal water before applying it to the defenceless head
+of the lately born. The most famous of these old fireplaces belong to
+the churches of St Bridget in Perguet, Le Moustoir-le-Juch, St Non at
+Penmarch, and Brévélenz. In the church at the latter place one of the
+pinnacles of the porch forms the chimney to its historic hearth.
+
+
+_The Venus of Quinipily_
+
+Childless people often pay a visit to some standing stone in their
+neighbourhood in the hope that they may thereby be blessed with
+offspring. Famous in this respect is the 'Venus,' or _Groabgoard_, of
+Quinipily, a rough-hewn stone in the likeness of a goddess. The
+letters ...LIT... still remain on it--part of a Latin inscription
+which has been thought to have originally read ILITHVIA, "a name in
+keeping with the rites still in use before the image," says
+MacCulloch.[61]
+
+
+_Holy Wells_
+
+The holy well is another institution dating from early days, and there
+is hardly a church in Brittany which does not boast one or more of
+these shrines, which are in most cases dedicated to the saint in whose
+honour the church has been raised. So numerous are these wells that to
+name them and dwell at any length on the curative powers claimed for
+their waters would fill a large volume. Worthy of mention, however, is
+the Holy Well of St Bieuzy, as typical of most of such sacred springs.
+It is close to the church of the same name in Bieuzy, and flows from a
+granite wall. Its waters are said to relieve and cure the mentally
+deranged. Some of the wells are large enough to permit the afflicted
+to bathe in their waters, and of these the well near the church of
+Goezenou is a good example. It is situated in an enclosure surrounded
+by stone seats for the convenience of the devotees who may desire to
+immerse themselves bodily in it. Several of these shrines bear dates,
+but whether they are genuine is a matter for conjecture.
+
+
+_Reliquaries_
+
+Every Breton churchyard worthy of the name has its reliquary or
+bone-house. There may be seen rows of small boxes like dog-kennels
+with heart-shaped openings. Round these openings, names, dates, and
+pious ejaculations are written. Looking through the aperture, a
+glimpse of a skull may startle one, for it is a gruesome custom of the
+country to dig up the bones of the dead and preserve the skulls in
+this way. The name upon the box is that once borne by the deceased,
+the date that of his death, and the charitable prayer is for the
+repose of his soul. Occasionally these boxes are set in conspicuous
+places in the church, but generally they remain in the reliquary. In
+the porch of the church of St Trémeur, the son of the notorious Breton
+Bluebeard, Comorre, there is one of the largest collections of these
+receptacles in Brittany. Rich people who may have endowed or founded
+sacred edifices are buried in an arched recess of the abbey or church
+they have benefited.
+
+
+_Feeding the Dead_
+
+In some parts of Brittany hollows are found in tombstones above
+graves, and these are annually filled with holy water or libations of
+milk. It would seem as if this custom linked prehistoric with modern
+practice and that the cup-hollows frequently met with on the top of
+dolmens may have been intended as receptacles for the food of the
+dead. The basins scooped in the soil of a barrow may have served the
+same purpose. On the night of All Souls' Day, when this libation is
+made, the supper is left spread on the table of each cottage and the
+fire burns brightly, so that the dead may return to refresh and warm
+themselves after the dolours of the grave.
+
+
+_The Passage de l'Enfer_
+
+How hard custom dies in Brittany is illustrated by the fact that it is
+still usual at Tréguier to convey the dead to the churchyard in a boat
+over a part of the river called the 'Passage de l'Enfer,' instead of
+taking the shorter way by land. This custom is reminiscent of what
+Procopius, a historian of the sixth century, says regarding Breton
+Celtic custom in his _De Bello Gothico_. Speaking of the island of
+Brittia, by which he means Britain, he states that it is divided by a
+wall. Thither fishermen from the Breton coast are compelled to ferry
+over at darkest night the shades of the dead, unseen by them, but
+marshalled by a mysterious leader. The fishermen who are to row the
+dead across to the British coast must go to bed early, for at midnight
+they are aroused by a tapping at the door, and they are called in a
+low voice. They rise and go down to the shore, attracted by some force
+which they cannot explain. Here they find their boats, apparently
+empty, yet the water rises to the bulwarks, as if they were crowded.
+Once they commence the voyage their vessels cleave the water speedily,
+making the passage, usually a day and a half's sailing, in an hour.
+When the British shore is reached the souls of the dead leave the
+boats, which at once rise in the sea as if unloaded. Then a loud voice
+on shore is heard calling out the name and style of those who have
+disembarked.
+
+Procopius had, of course, heard the old Celtic myth of an oversea
+Elysium, and had added to it some distorted reminiscence of the old
+Roman wall which divided Britain. The 'ship of souls' is evidently a
+feature of Celtic as well as of Latin and Greek belief.
+
+
+_Calvaries_
+
+Calvaries, or representations of the passion on the Cross, are most
+frequently encountered in Brittany, so much so, indeed, that it has
+been called 'the Land of the Calvaries.' Over the length and breadth
+of the country they are to be met at almost every turn, some of them
+no more than rude, simple crosses originating in local workshops, and
+others truly magnificent in carving and detail. Some of the most
+famous are those situated at Plougastel, Saint-Thégonnec, and
+Guimiliau.
+
+The Calvary of Plougastel dates from the early sixteenth century, and
+consists of an arcade beneath a platform filled with statues. The
+surrounding frieze has carvings in bas-relief representing incidents
+in the life of Christ. The Calvary of Saint-Thégonnec represents
+vividly the phases of the passion, being really a 'way of the Cross'
+in sculpture. It bears the unmistakable stamp of the sixteenth
+century. The Calvary of Guimiliau is dated 1580 and 1588. A platform
+supported by arches bears the three crosses, the four evangelists, and
+other figures connected with the principal incidents in the life and
+passion of our Lord. The principal figures, that of Christ and those
+of the attending Blessed Virgin and St John, are most beautifully and
+sympathetically portrayed. The figures in the representations from the
+life of Christ, which are from necessity much smaller than those of
+the Crucifixion, are dressed in the costume of the sixteenth century.
+The entire Calvary is sculptured in Kersanton stone.
+
+[Illustration: THE SOULS OF THE DEAD]
+
+Whether these and other similar groups are really works of art is
+perhaps a matter for discussion, but regarding their impressiveness
+there cannot be two opinions. By the bulk of the people they are
+held in great reverence, and rarely are they unattended by tiny
+congregations of two or three, while on the occasion of important
+religious festivals people flock to them in hundreds.
+
+
+_Weddings_
+
+In many of their religious observances the Bretons are prone to
+confuse the sacred with the profane, and chief among these is the
+wedding ceremony--the customs attendant on which in some ostensibly
+Christian countries are yet a disgrace to the intellect as well as the
+good feeling of man. In rural Brittany, however, the revelry which
+ensues as soon as the church door closes on the newly wedded pair is
+more like that associated with a children's party than the recreation
+of older people. Should the marriage be celebrated in the morning,
+tables laid out with cakes are ranged outside the church door, and
+when the bridal procession files out of the church the bride and
+bridegroom each take a cake from the table and leave a coin in its
+stead for the poor. The guests follow suit, and then the whole party
+repairs to the nearest meadow, where endless _ronds_ are begun.
+
+The _rond_ is a sort of dance in which the whole assembly joins
+hands and revolves slowly with a hop-skip-and-a-jump step to the
+accompaniment of a most wearisome and unvarying chant, the music for
+which is provided by the _biniou_, or bagpipe, and the flageolet
+or hautboy, both being occasionally augmented by the drum. Before
+the ceremony begins the musicians who are responsible for this
+primitive harmony are dispatched to summon the guests, who, of
+course, arrive in the full splendour of the national gala costume. As
+soon as the _ronds_ are completed to the satisfaction of everybody
+the custom common to so many countries of stealing the bride away
+is celebrated. At a given signal she speeds away from the party,
+hotly pursued by the young gallants present, and when she is
+overtaken she presents the successful swain with a cup of coffee at a
+public _café_. This interlude is followed by dinner, and after that
+the _ronds_ are resumed. These festivities, in the case of prosperous
+people, sometimes last three days, during which time the guests are
+entertained at their host's expense. If the wedding happens to be held
+in the evening, dancing is about the only amusement indulged in, and
+this follows an elaborate wedding supper. The _biniou_ and its
+companions are decidedly _en évidence_, while sometimes the monotony
+of the _ronds_ is varied by the _grand rond_, a much more graceful
+and intricate affair, containing many elaborate and difficult steps;
+but the more ordinary dance is the favourite, probably because of the
+difficulties attending the other.
+
+
+_Breton Burials_
+
+An ancient Breton funeral ceremony was replete with symbolic meaning
+and ritual, which have been carried down through the Middle Ages to
+the present time. As soon as the head of the family had ceased to
+breathe, a great fire was lit in the courtyard, and the mattress upon
+which he had expired was burned. Pitchers of water and milk were
+emptied, for fear, perhaps, that the soul of the defunct might be
+athirst. The dead man was then enveloped from head to foot in a great
+white sheet and placed in a description of funeral pavilion, the hands
+joined on the breast, the body turned toward the east. At his feet a
+little stool was placed, and two yellow candles were lit on each side
+of him. Then the beadle or gravedigger, who was usually a poor man,
+went round the country-side to carry the news of death, which he
+usually called out in a high, piping voice, ringing his little bell
+the while. At the hour of sunset people arrived from all parts for the
+purpose of viewing the body. Each one carried a branch, which he
+placed on the feet of the defunct.
+
+The evening prayer was recited by all, then the women sang the
+canticles. From time to time the widow and children of the deceased
+raised the corner of the shroud and kissed it solemnly. A repast was
+served in an adjoining room, where the beggar sat side by side with
+the wealthy, on the principle that all were equal before death. It is
+strange that the poor are always associated with the griefs as with
+the pleasures of Breton people; we find them at the feast of death and
+at the baptism as at the wedding rejoicing.
+
+In the morning the rector of the parish arrived and all retired, with
+the exception of the parents, if these chanced to be alive, in whose
+presence the beadle closed the coffin. No other member of the family
+was permitted to take part in this solemn farewell, which was regarded
+as a sacred duty. The coffin was then placed on a car drawn by oxen,
+and the funeral procession set out, preceded by the clergy and
+followed by the female relations of the deceased, wearing yellow
+head-dresses and black mantles. The men followed with bared heads. On
+arriving at the church the coffin was disposed on trestles, and the
+widow sat close by it throughout the ceremony. As it was lowered into
+the tomb the last words of the prayer for the dead were repeated by
+all, and as it touched the soil beneath a loud cry arose from the
+bereaved.
+
+The Breton funeral ceremony, like those prevalent among other Celtic
+peoples, is indeed a lugubrious affair, and somewhat recalls the Irish
+wake in its strange mixture of mourning and feasting; but curiously
+enough brightness reigns afterward, for the peasant is absolutely
+assured that at the moment his friend is placed in the tomb he
+commences a life of joy without end.
+
+
+_Tartarus and Paradise_
+
+Two very striking old Breton ballads give us very vivid pictures of
+the Breton idea of Heaven and its opposite. That dealing with the
+infernal regions hails from the district of Léon. It is attributed to
+a priest named Morin, who flourished in the fifteenth century, but
+others have claimed it for a Jesuit father called Maunoir, who lived
+and preached some two hundred years later. In any case it bears the
+ecclesiastical stamp. "Descend, Christians," it begins, "to see what
+unspeakable tortures the souls of the condemned suffer through the
+justice of God, Who has chained them in the midst of flames for
+having abused their gifts in this world. Hell is a profound abyss,
+full of shadow, where not the least gleam of light ever comes. The
+gates have been closed and bolted by God, and He will never open them
+more. The key is lost!
+
+"An oven heated to whiteness is this place, a fire which constantly
+devours the lost souls. There they will eternally burn, tormented by
+the intolerable heat. They gnash their teeth like mad dogs; they
+cannot escape the flames, which are over their heads, under their
+feet, and on all sides. The son rushes at his father, and the daughter
+at her mother. They drag them by the hair through the midst of flames,
+with a thousand maledictions, crying, 'Cursed be ye, lost woman, who
+brought us into the world! Cursed be ye, heedless man, who wert the
+cause of our damnation!'
+
+"For drink they have only their tears. Their skins are scorched, and
+bitten by the teeth of serpents and demons, and their flesh and their
+bones are nothing but fuel to the great fire of Hell!
+
+"After they have been for some time in this furnace, they are plunged
+by Satan into a lake of ice, and from this they are thrown once more
+into the flames, and from the flames into the water, like a bar of
+iron in a smithy. 'Have pity, my God, have pity on us!' they call; but
+they weep in vain, for God has closed His ears to their plaints.
+
+"The heat is so intense that their marrow burns within their bones.
+The more they crave for pity, the more they are tormented.
+
+"This fire is the anger of God which they have aroused; verily it may
+never be put out."
+
+One turns with loathing, with anger, and with contempt from this
+production of medieval ecclesiasticism. When one thinks of the
+thousands of simple and innocent people who must have been tortured
+and driven half wild with terror by such infamous utterances as this,
+one feels inclined to challenge the oft-repeated statement concerning
+the many virtues of the medieval Church. But Brittany is not the only
+place where this species of terrorism was in vogue, and that until
+comparatively recent times. The writer can recall such descriptions as
+this emanating from the pulpits of churches in Scottish villages only
+some thirty years ago, and the strange thing is that people of that
+generation were wont to look back with longing and admiration upon the
+old style of condemnatory sermon, and to criticize the efforts of the
+younger school of ministers as being wanting in force and lacking the
+spirit of menace so characteristic of their forerunners. There are no
+such sermons nowadays, they say. Let us thank God that to the credit
+of human intelligence and human pity there are not!
+
+The opposite to this picture is provided by the ballad on Heaven. It
+is generally attributed to Michel de Kerodern, a Breton missionary of
+the seventeenth century, but others claim its authorship for St Hervé,
+to whom we have already alluded. In any case it is as replete with
+superstitions as its darker fellow. The soul, it says, passes the
+moon, sun, and stars on its Heavenward way, and from that height turns
+its eyes on its native land of Brittany. "Adieu to thee, my country!
+Adieu to thee, world of suffering and dolorous burdens! Farewell,
+poverty, affliction, trouble, and sin! Like a lost vessel the body
+lies below, but wherever I turn my eyes my heart is filled with a
+thousand felicities. I behold the gates of Paradise open at my
+approach and the saints coming out to receive me. I am received in the
+Palace of the Trinity, in the midst of honours and heavenly harmonies.
+The Lord places on my head a beautiful crown and bids me enter into
+the treasures of Heaven. Legions of archangels chant the praise of
+God, each with a harp in his hand. I meet my father, my mother, my
+brothers, the men of my country. Choirs of little angels fly hither
+and thither over our heads like flocks of birds. Oh, happiness without
+equal! When I think of such bliss to be, it consoles my heart for the
+pains of this life."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [61] _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 289.
+
+
+
+
+GLOSSARY & INDEX
+
+  A
+
+  ABÉLARD. A Breton monk;
+    the story of Héloïse and, 248-253
+
+  ABERLADY BAY. A bay in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, 357
+
+  ABERNETHY. A town in Scotland;
+    the Round Tower at, 52
+
+  ABERYSTWYTH. A town in Wales;
+    Taliesin buried at, 22
+
+  ADDER'S STONE. A substance supposed to have magical properties,
+        employed in Druidic rites, 247;
+    Héloïse, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed,
+        252
+
+  ALAIN III. Count of Brittany (Count of Vannes);
+    drives back the Northmen, 25
+
+  ALAIN IV (BARBE-TORTE). Arch-chief of Brittany;
+    defeats the Northmen, 25-26
+
+  ALAIN V. Duke of Brittany, 27, 28
+
+  ALAIN FERGANT. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  ALAIN. Son of Eudo of Brittany, 29
+
+  ALBERT LE GRAND. Monk of Morlaix, 278
+
+  ALCHEMY. The art of;
+    the position of, in the fifteenth century, 175;
+    Gilles de Retz experiments in, 175-179
+
+  ALGONQUINS. A race of North American Indians;
+    mentioned, 302
+
+  ALI BABA. The story of;
+    mentioned, 316
+
+  ALL SOULS' DAY. The custom of leaving food for the dead on, 383
+
+  ALOÏDA. A maiden;
+    in the ballad of the Marriage-girdle, 234-236
+
+  'ALPINE' RACE. A European ethnological division;
+    the Bretons probably belong to, 14, 37 _n._
+
+  AMENOPHIS III. An Egyptian king;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  AMERICA. _See_ United States
+
+  ANGERS. A town in France;
+    St Convoyon goes to, to obtain holy relics from the cathedral,
+        336
+
+  ANIMALS. Frequently the bearers of divine aid, in legends of the
+        saints, 347;
+    St Pol noted for his miraculous power over wild beasts, 366
+
+  ANIMISM, 86-87
+
+  ANKOU, THE. The death-spirit of Brittany, 101-102
+
+  ANNAÏK. A maiden;
+    in a story of the Marquis of Guérande, 199-202
+
+  ANNE. Duchess of Brittany;
+    married to Charles VIII of France, and then to Louis XII, 36;
+    the oratory of, in the château of Dinan, 209;
+    gives the château of Suscino to John of Châlons, 210
+
+  ANTWERP. The city;
+    relics of St Winwaloe preserved in the Jesuit church of St Charles
+        at, 371;
+    mentioned, 205
+
+  APPLE, THE. Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Telio,
+        18
+
+  ARDMORE. A town in Ireland;
+    the Round Tower at, 51-52
+
+  AREZ, MOUNTAINS OF. Same as Montagnes d'Arrée, _which see_
+
+  ARGOED. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  ARMAGH. A city in Ireland;
+    Budoc made Bishop of, 356
+
+  ARMENIA. The country;
+    were-wolf superstition in, 291
+
+  ARMOR ('On the Sea'). The ancient Celtic name for Brittany, 13
+
+  ARMORICA. The Latin name for the country of Brittany, 13, 15;
+    Julius Cæsar in, 16;
+    two British kingdoms in, 19;
+    the first monastery in, founded by Gwénnolé, 185;
+    King Arthur hunts wild beasts in, 278;
+    St Samson bidden to go to, 349
+
+  ARTHUR, KING. British chieftain, of legendary fame;
+    his finding of Excalibur, 256-257;
+    his encounter with the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, 275-277;
+    his existence doubted by Bretons in the twelfth century, 278;
+    his fight with the dragon at the Lieue de Grève, 278-281;
+    carried to the Isle of Avalon after his last battle, 282;
+    Gugemar at the Court of, 292;
+    his contest with Modred, 344;
+    his sister Margawse the wife of King Lot of Lothian, 357;
+    mentioned, 64, 66, 173, 212, 224
+
+  ARTHUR. Duke of Brittany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet;
+    murdered by King John of England, 30
+
+  ARTHURIAN ROMANCE. Resemblances in Villemarqué's _Barzaz-Breiz_ to,
+        224;
+    the controversy as to the original birthplace of, 228,
+        254-255;
+    indigenous to British soil, 255
+
+  ARZ. _See_ Ile d'Arz
+
+  ASH-TREE, THE LAY OF THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        317-320
+
+  AUCHENTORLIE. An estate in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones at, 46
+
+  AUCHINLECK MS. A manuscript containing a version of the story of
+        Tristrem and Ysonde, 272
+
+  AUDIERNE, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    national costume in the district of, 376
+
+  AULNOY, COMTESSE D'. Noted seventeenth-century French authoress;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  AURAY. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, 35;
+    centre from which to visit the megaliths of Carnac, 42
+
+  AVALON, ISLE OF. A fabled island to which King Arthur was carried
+        after his last battle, 282
+
+  AVENUE OF SPHINXES. At Karnak, Egypt, 43
+
+  AZÉNOR. Mother of St Budoc of Dol, 354-356
+
+  AZÉNOR THE PALE. A maiden;
+    the legend of, 360-364
+
+  B
+
+  BACCHUS. The Greek god of wine;
+    mentioned, 189
+
+  BALON. Monastery of;
+    St Tivisiau and, 338-339
+
+  BAN. King of Benwik;
+    father of Sir Lancelot, 257
+
+  BANGOR TEIVI. A village in Wales;
+    Taliesin said to have died at, 22
+
+  BARANTON, THE FOUNTAIN OF. A magical fountain in Broceliande,
+        70-71
+
+  BARD. Singer or poet attached to noble households;
+    late survival of the custom of maintaining, 364
+
+  BARKING WOMEN. A phenomenon connected with religious festivals,
+        380
+
+  BARON OF JAUIOZ, THE. A ballad, 145-147
+
+  BARRON. A fictitious youth;
+    in a story of Gilles de Retz, 178
+
+  BARZAZ-BREIZ ("The Breton Bards"). A collection of Breton ballads
+        made by Villemarqué;
+    cited (under sub-title, _Chants populaires de la Bretagne_), 57
+        _n._;
+    criticism of, 211-212
+
+  BASS ROCK. An islet in the Firth of Forth, 359
+
+  BATZ.
+    I. An island off the coast of Brittany; St Pol settles on,
+        365-366
+    II. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  BAYARD, THE CHEVALIER DE. A famous French knight;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  BEAN NIGHE ('The Washing Woman'). An evil spirit of the Scottish
+        Highlands, 100
+
+  BEAUMANOIR. A Breton noble house, 229
+
+  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The story of;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  BEAUVAU. Matthew, Seigneur of;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 190-193
+
+  BEDIVERE, SIR. One of King Arthur's knights;
+    accompanies Arthur on his expedition against the giant of
+        Mont-Saint-Michel, 275-277
+
+  BEES. Cultivated by the monks of Dol, 19;
+    St Pol taught the people to cultivate, 366
+
+  BEIGNON. A town in Brittany, 360
+
+  BELGIUM. Mentioned, 52
+
+  BELIAGOG. A giant;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271
+
+  BELSUNCE DE CASTELMORON, HENRI-FRANÇOIS-XAVIER DE. Bishop of
+        Marseilles;
+    mentioned, 195
+
+  BENEDICTION OF THE BEASTS. A festival held at Carnac, 45
+
+  BERHET. A village in Brittany;
+    the custom of ringing the sacring bell still observed in the
+        church of St Bridget at, 380
+
+  BERRY. John, Duke of;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  BERRY. Caroline, Duchess of;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  BERTRAND DE DINAN. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  BIEUZY. A town in Brittany;
+    the Holy Well of St Bieuzy at, 381
+
+  BIGOUDEN. A cap worn by the women in some parts of Brittany, 376
+
+  BINIOU. A musical instrument resembling the bagpipe;
+    one of the national instruments of Brittany, 229;
+    played at weddings, 386
+
+  BIRDS. In Breton tradition, the dead supposed to return to earth in
+        the form of, 227;
+    frequently messengers in ballad literature, 233;
+    in the legends of the saints, commonly the bearers of divine aid,
+        347
+
+  BISCLAVERET. The Breton name for a were-wolf;
+    in the Lay of the Were-wolf, 287-289, 291
+
+  BLACK MOUNTAIN. The name of one of the peaks of the Black Mountains,
+        197
+
+  BLACK MOUNTAINS. A mountain chain in Brittany, 196
+
+  BLANCHE OF CASTILE. Mother of Louis IX, 208
+
+  BLANCHEFLOUR. Princess, sister of King Mark, mother of Tristrem;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261
+
+  BLOIS. A famous French château;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  BLOIS, CHARLES OF. Duke of Brittany;
+    contests the succession to the duchy, 30-32;
+    taken prisoner by Joan of Flanders, 31;
+    the marriage of, with Joan of Penthièvre, 32;
+    defeated at Auray, 35;
+    the château of Suscino taken by, 210
+
+  BLUEBEARD. The villain in the nursery-tale;
+    Gilles de Retz identified with, 174, 180;
+    the story of, identified with the story of Comorre and Triphyna,
+        180
+
+  BLUE CHAMBER. A boudoir in the château of Tourlaville, 209
+
+  BODMIN. A town in Cornwall;
+    mentioned, 278
+
+  BOITEUX. A fiend;
+    in the story of the Princess Starbright, 123, 124, 125
+
+  BONCOTEST, COLLEGE OF. One of the colleges of the old University of
+        Paris;
+    Fontenelle at, 229
+
+  BONNY KILMENY. A ballad by James Hogg;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  BOURDAIS, MARC. A peasant, nicknamed Maraud;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75-77
+
+  BOUTEVILLE. John of, Seigneur of Faouet;
+    mentioned, 335
+
+  BOY WHO SERVED THE FAIRIES, THE. The story of, 88-95
+
+  BRAN ('Crow'). A Breton warrior;
+    the story of, 225-227;
+    analogies between the story of, and the poem of _Sir Tristrem_,
+        227-228
+
+  BRENGWAIN. A lady of Ysonde's suite;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 267, 269, 271, 272
+
+  BRENHA, FATHER JOSÉ. A Portuguese antiquary;
+    mentioned, 47
+
+  BREOCHAN. A legendary Welsh king, father of St Nennocha, 340
+
+  BRÉRI. A Breton poet, 255
+
+  BREST. A town in Brittany, 354, 368, 371
+
+  BRETON. The language, 15-16
+
+  BRETONS. The race;
+    their origin and affinities, 13-15, 17, 37 _n._;
+    Bretons join William of Normandy in his expedition against
+        England, 29, 232, 233;
+    send an expedition to help Owen Glendower, 234;
+    defeat the English in a naval battle, 236
+
+  BREVELENZ. A village in Brittany;
+    a fireplace in the church of, 381
+
+  BREZONEK. The language spoken by the Bretons, 15-16
+
+  BRIAN. Son of Eudo of Brittany, 29
+
+  BRIDE OF SATAN, THE. The story of, 143-144;
+    mentioned, 147
+
+  BRITAIN. Celts flee from, to Brittany, before the Saxon invaders,
+        15, 17;
+    subject kingdoms of, in Brittany, 19;
+    immigrants from, in Brittany, form a confederacy and fight against
+        the Franks, 22-23;
+    the headquarters of the Druidic cult, 245;
+    Arthurian romance indigenous to, 255;
+    St Patern founds religious houses in, 348;
+    St Samson fled from, to Brittany, 350;
+    Procopius' story of the ferrying of the Breton dead over to,
+        383-384
+
+  BRITONS. The race;
+    members of, emigrate to Brittany, 15, 17, 22-23;
+    carried Arthurian romance to Brittany, 254, 255
+
+  BRITTANY. Divisions and character of the country, 13;
+    Julius Cæsar in, 16;
+    the Latin tongue did not spread over, 17;
+    the origin of the name, 17;
+    Nomenoë wins the independence of, 23;
+    invaded by Northmen, 25;
+    the Northmen expelled from, 26;
+    division of, into counties and seigneuries, 27;
+    relations with Normandy, 27-30;
+    French influences in, 30;
+    the War of the Two Joans, 30-31, 35-36;
+    annexed to France by Francis I, 36;
+    the prehistoric stone monuments of, 37-53;
+    the fairies of, 54-95;
+    the sprites and demons of, 96-105;
+    'world-tales' in, 106-155;
+    folk-tales of, 156-172;
+    popular legends of, 173-202;
+    the châteaux of, 202-210;
+    hero-tales of, 211-240;
+    sends help to Owen Glendower in his conflict with the English,
+        234;
+    a British army in, 237;
+    the black art in, 241-253;
+    Arthurian romance in, 254-282;
+    Arthur found Excalibur in, 256;
+    Tristrem in, 270-271, 272;
+    the scene of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 284;
+    the saints of, 332-371;
+    many saints in, 350;
+    costumes of, 372-377;
+    customs of, 378-388;
+    religious observance in, 377-378;
+    holy wells in, 381-382;
+    observances relating to the dead and interments, 382-384,
+        386-388;
+    Calvaries in, 384-385;
+    wedding ceremonies in, 385-386
+
+  BRITTANY, COUNTS AND DUKES OF. _See under_ Alain; Arthur; Blois,
+        Charles of; Conan; Dreux; Eudo; Francis; Geoffrey; Hoel; John;
+        _and_ Salomon
+
+  BRITTIA. Procopius' name for Britain, 383
+
+  BROCELIANDE. A forest in Brittany, 54-73;
+    the shrine of Arthurian story, 55;
+    the Korrigan a denizen of, 56;
+    the scene of the adventures of Merlin and Vivien, 64;
+    the fountain of Baranton in, 70-71;
+    lines on, 71;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72-73;
+    the wood of Helléan a part of, 221;
+    mentioned, 338
+
+  BRODINEUF. A Breton château, 207
+
+  BROWNIES. Elfish beings of small size;
+    distinct from fairies, 87
+
+  BRUNHILDA. Queen of Austrasia;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  BRUNO OF LA MONTAGNE. The story of, 72-73
+
+  BRUYANT. A friend of Butor of La Montagne;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72-73
+
+  BUGELNOZ, or TEUS. A beneficent spirit of the Vannes district,
+        100
+
+  BURIAL CUSTOMS. In Brittany, 382-384, 386-388
+
+  BURNS, ROBERT. The poet;
+    his use of old songs and ballads, 211;
+    mentioned, 241
+
+  BURON. A knight;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 318-320
+
+  BUTOR. Baron of La Montagne;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72
+
+  C
+
+  CADOUDAL, GEORGES. A Chouan leader;
+    mentioned, 25
+
+  CAERLEON-UPON-USK. A town in Wales;
+    Tristrem sails for, 263;
+    mentioned, 21
+
+  CÆSAR. _See_ Julius
+
+  CALENDAR, THE. Supernatural beings often associated with, 97
+
+  CALIBURN. A name for Excalibur. _See_ Excalibur
+
+  CALLERNISH. A district in the island of Lewis, Outer Hebrides;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  CALVARIES. Representations of the passion on the Cross;
+    common in Brittany, 384-385
+
+  CAMARET. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 41
+
+  CAMELOT. A legendary town in England, the scene of King Arthur's
+        Court;
+    the battle at, in which King Arthur was killed, 344;
+   mentioned, 64
+
+  CANADOS. King Mark's Constable, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde,
+        272
+
+  CANCOET. A village in Brittany;
+    the Maison des Follets at, 49
+
+  CARADEUC. A Breton château, 207
+
+  CARDIGAN BAY. A bay in Wales;
+    the site of a submerged city, according to Welsh legend, 187,
+        188
+
+  CARDIGANSHIRE. Welsh county;
+    mentioned, 22
+
+  CARHAIX. A town in Brittany;
+    Comorre the ruler of, 180
+
+  CARNAC. A town in Brittany;
+    the megaliths at, 42-45;
+    the legend of, 44-45;
+    the 'Benediction of the Beasts' at, 45;
+    sometimes called 'Ty C'harriquet,' 98;
+    its megaliths supposed to have been built by the gorics, 98;
+    the gorics' revels around the megaliths of, 99
+
+  CAROLINE. Queen of England, wife of George II;
+    mentioned, 196
+
+  CASTLE OF THE SUN, THE. The story of, 131-137
+
+  CATTWG. A town in Wales;
+    Taliesin and Gildas said to have been educated at the school of,
+        21
+
+  CAYOT DÉLANDRE, F. M. A Breton poet, 43
+
+  'CELTIC.' The term;
+    its disputed connotation, 37
+
+  CELTS. The race;
+    the Bretons a division of, 14-15;
+    Druidism may not have originated with, 245;
+    musical and poetic elements in the temperament of, 339
+
+  CHAMBER OF THE BLACK CAVALIER. In the ballad of Azénor the Pale,
+        362
+
+  CHAMBORD. A famous French château;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  CHAMP DOLENT ('Field of Woe'). The field in which the menhir of Dol
+        stands, 40;
+    the battle in, 40
+
+  CHAMPTOCÉ. A Breton château;
+    the home of Gilles de Retz, 175, 176, 179-180
+
+  CHANGELINGS. The Breton fairies and, 83
+
+  CHANSONS DE GESTES. Medieval French poems with an heroic theme;
+    Villemarqué's work marked by the style of, 224-225
+
+  CHANTS POPULAIRES DE LA BRETAGNE. The sub-title of Villemarqué's
+        _Barzaz-Breiz_. _See_ _Barzaz-Breiz_
+
+  CHAPELLE DU DUC. A chapel at Tréguier, built by Duke John V, 353
+
+  CHARLEMAGNE. The Emperor;
+    mentioned, 225
+
+  CHARLES I (THE BALD). King of France;
+    Nomenoë rises against, 23, 337-338
+
+  CHARLES V. King of France;
+    mentioned, 32
+
+  CHARLES VI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 174
+
+  CHARLES VIII. King of France;
+    Anne of Brittany married to, 36
+
+  CHARLES. A youth;
+    in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, 115-121
+
+  CHASE, THE. Superstitions of, 301
+
+  CHÂTEAU DES PAULPIQUETS. A name given to a megalithic structure in
+        Questembert, 49
+
+  CHÂTEAUX. Of Brittany;
+    their rich legendary and historical associations, 202-203;
+    stories of, 203-210
+
+  CHÂTEAUBRIAND. François-René-Auguste, Viscount of;
+    famous French writer and statesman;
+    associated with the château of Comburg, 207
+
+  CHÂTEAUBRIANT. A Breton château, 207
+
+  CHÂTEAUBRIANT. Françoise de Foix, Countess of;
+    a story of her relations with King Francis I and her fate, 207;
+    the château of Suscino given to, by Francis I, 210
+
+  CHAVEAU-NARISHKINE, COUNTESS. Restored the château of Kerjolet,
+        208
+
+  CHILDEBAT. A Breton king, 366;
+    and St Pol, 367
+
+  CHRAMNE. Son of Clotaire I, King of the Franks, 40
+
+  CHRISTIANITY. St Samson teaches, in Brittany, 17-19;
+    the Curiosolites refuse to receive the teachings of St Malo,
+        342
+
+  CHURCH. The early;
+    hostility of, to the fairies, 56
+
+  CINDERELLA. The story of;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  CISALPINE GAUL. Roman province;
+    had no Druidic priesthood, 245
+
+  CLAIRSCHACH. The Highland harp;
+    replaced as the national instrument by the bagpipe, 229
+
+  CLAUDE. Queen of Francis I of France, 36
+
+  CLÉDER. A town in Brittany;
+    St Keenan built a monastery at, 344
+
+  CLERK OF ROHAN, THE. The story of, 189-193
+
+  CLISSON. A Breton château, 204-205
+
+  CLISSON, OLIVER DE. A celebrated Breton soldier, Constable of
+        France;
+    fought in the War of the Two Joans, 35, 204;
+    and the château of Clisson, 204;
+    and the château of Josselin, 205, 206
+
+  CLOTAIRE I. King of the Franks, 40
+
+  COADELAN. The manor of;
+    occupied by Fontenelle, 230, 231;
+    has gone to decay, 232
+
+  COADELAN, THE LADY OF. Her daughter carried off by Fontenelle,
+        229-230
+
+  COAT-SQUIRIOU, MARQUIS OF. In the story of the Youth who did not
+        Know, 106-109
+
+  COCKNO. A place in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones at, 47
+
+  COESORON. A river in Brittany, 17
+
+  COÊTMAN. The house of, 204
+
+  COÊTMAN, VISCOUNT OF. A Breton nobleman;
+    mentioned, 204-205
+
+  COËTQUEN, TOWER OF. One of the towers in the city wall of Dinan,
+        209
+
+  COIFFES. Of Brittany;
+    specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, 208
+    _See_ Head-dress
+
+  COLE, KING. A half-legendary British king;
+    mentioned, 173
+
+  COLODOC. A name given to St Keenan. _See_ St Keenan
+
+  COMBAT OF SAINT-CAST, THE. The ballad of, 236-238
+
+  COMBOURG. A Breton château, 207-208;
+    Châteaubriand associated with, 208
+
+  COMORRE THE CURSED. The story of, 180-184;
+    mentioned, 382
+
+  COMTE DE GABALIS, LE. The Abbé de Villars' work;
+    mentioned, 64
+
+  CONAN I. Count of Brittany (Count of Rennes), 27
+
+  CONAN II. Duke of Brittany;
+    and Duke William of Normandy, 27-29
+
+  CONAN III. Duke of Brittany, 30;
+    patron of Abélard, 248
+
+  CONAN IV. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  CONAN. Father of Morvan, 215
+
+  CONCARNEAU. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42;
+    the château of Kerjolet in, 208
+
+  CONCORET. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  CONCURRUS. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  CONNAUGHT. An Irish province;
+    St Keenan a native of, 343
+
+  CONSTANCE. Daughter of Conan IV of Brittany;
+    married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, 30
+
+  CONTES POPULAIRES DE LA HAUTE-BRETAGNE. P. Sébillot's work;
+    cited, 83 _n._
+
+  CORK. A county of Ireland;
+    mentioned, 355
+
+  CORNOUAILLE. A district in Brittany;
+    the ancient Cornubia, 19;
+    formed by immigrants from Britain, 23;
+    Azénor the Pale, a ballad of, 360-364;
+    distinctive national costume in, 372;
+    mentioned, 108
+
+  CORNUBIA. A British kingdom in Armorica, the modern Cornouaille,
+        19
+
+  CORNWALL. An English county, anciently a kingdom;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 257-262;
+    mentioned, 278
+
+  CORSEUL. A town in Brittany;
+    the people of, refuse the teachings of St Malo, 342-343
+
+  CORSTORPHINE. A village near Edinburgh;
+    the legend of the building of the church at, 51
+
+  COSTUME. Breton;
+    specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, 208;
+    the faithfulness of the Bretons to their national costume, 372;
+    the varieties of, 372-377;
+    the costume of Cornouaille, 372;
+    of Quimper, 372-373;
+    of the workers of the Escoublac district, 373-374;
+    of the women of Granville, 374;
+    of the women of Ouessant, 374;
+    of the men of St Pol, 375;
+    of Pont l'Abbé and the Bay of Audierne, 376;
+    of Morlaix, 376-377;
+    gala dress in Brittany, 377
+
+  CÔTES-DU-NORD. One of the departments of Brittany, 13;
+    part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, 19;
+    mentioned, 41, 88, 167, 282, 351
+
+  COUDRE. A maiden;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 319-320
+
+  COURILS. A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, 87, 98-99
+
+  COURONNES DE STE BARBE. Amulets sold at the festival of St Barbe at
+        Le Faouet, 333
+
+  COX, REV. SIR G. W. Cited, 275 _n._
+
+  CRAON. The house of, 174
+
+  CRIONS. A race of gnomes peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen, 99
+
+  CROMLECH. The term;
+    its derivation and significance, 38
+
+  CROSS OF THE THOUSAND SAILS. A monument at Guic-sezne, 370
+
+  CRUSADES. Mentioned, 190
+
+  CULROSS. A town in Scotland;
+    St Kentigern born at, 357
+
+  CUP-AND-RING ALTAR. A monument discovered in the Milton of Colquhoun
+        district, Scotland, 47
+
+  CUP-AND-RING MARKINGS. Symbols inscribed on megaliths;
+    their meaning and purpose, 46-48
+
+  CUPID AND PSYCHE. The story of;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  CURIOSOLITÆ. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16;
+   the Curiosolites refuse to receive Christian teaching from St Malo,
+        342-343
+
+  CYMBELINE. A half-legendary British king;
+    mentioned, 173
+
+  D
+
+  DAGWORTH, SIR THOMAS. An English knight;
+    at the battle of La Roche-Derrien, 31
+
+  DAHUT. Princess, daughter of Gradlon;
+    in the legend of Ys, 185, 186
+
+  DANAË. A maiden, in Greek mythology, mother of Perseus;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  DAOINE SIDHE. Irish deities, 87
+
+  DAOULAS. A village in Brittany;
+    the statue of the Virgin in the abbey of, adorned with a girdle of
+        rubies, 236
+
+  DEAD, THE. In Breton tradition, supposed to return to earth in the
+        form of birds, 227;
+    food left for, 382-383, 387;
+    burial customs, 382-384, 386-388;
+    the Breton dead ferried over to Britain, 383-384
+
+  DEATH-BIRD. A bird whose note is supposed to portend misfortune to
+        the maiden who hears it, 145, 147
+
+  DEATH-SPIRIT. The Ankou, 101-102
+
+  DEER GOD. A deity of the North American Indians, 301
+
+  DÉLANDRE, CAYOT. _See_ Cayot
+
+  DEMETER. Greek corn goddess;
+    mentioned, 59
+
+  DEMON LOVER, THE. A Scottish ballad;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  DEMONS. Of Brittany, 96-105;
+    the invariable accompaniment of an illiterate peasantry, 96
+
+  DENIS PYRAMUS. An Anglo-Norman chronicler;
+    on the poems of Marie de France, 284
+
+  DESONELLE, PRINCESS. Heroine of _Sir Torrent of Portugal_;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  DEVIL, THE. The erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to,
+        49;
+    the Teus and, 100
+    _See also_ Satan
+
+  DIANA. Roman moon-goddess;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  DIANCECHT. An Irish god;
+    mentioned, 247
+
+  DINAN.
+    I. A town in Brittany, 194, 195, 209
+    II. The château of, 209
+
+  DOL. A town in Brittany;
+    the menhir near, 18, 39-40, 318;
+    St Samson settled near, 18;
+    the Northmen defeated by Alain Barbe-torte near, 26;
+    the legend of the menhir of, 40;
+    Buron lived at, 318;
+    St Turiau, or Tivisiau, associated with, 338-339;
+    the legend of the founding of, by St Samson, 350;
+    the legend of St Budoc of, 353-358
+
+  DOL, BISHOP OF. And St Tivisiau, 338-339
+
+  DOL DES MARCHANDS. The name given to a dolmen near Dol, 48
+
+  DOLMENS. Derivation and meaning of the term, 38;
+    purpose of the monuments, 38-39;
+    the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, 41;
+    the dolmen at Trégunc, 42;
+    the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46;
+    cup-and-ring markings upon, 46-48;
+    the dolmen at Penhapp, 48;
+    the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, 50;
+    the dolmen at La Lande-Marie, 51;
+    the dolmen of Essé, 53;
+    haunted by nains, 96;
+    cup-hollows on, may have been intended as receptacles for food for
+        the dead, 383
+
+  DOLOROUS KNIGHT, THE LAY OF THE, or THE LAY OF THE FOUR SORROWS. One
+        of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 328-331
+
+  DOMNONÉE. A county of Brittany, 23
+    _See also_ Domnonia
+
+  DOMNONIA. A British kingdom in Armorica, 19, 27
+    _See also_ Domnonée
+
+  DOTTIN, GEORGES. Cited, 37 _n._
+
+  DOUARNENEZ, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    the city of Ys said to have been situated there, 185
+
+  DRACHENFELS. A famous castle on the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  DREUX, PIERRE DE. Duke of Brittany;
+    defeats John of England at Nantes, 30
+
+  DREZ, JOB ANN. A sexton;
+    in a story of the Yeun, 103-105
+
+  DRUIDISM. In early times, sorcery identified with, 245;
+    the question whether Druidism was of Celtic or non-Celtic origin,
+        245;
+    the nature of the practices of, 245-248;
+    survival of Druidic spells and ritual, 246;
+    an Eastern origin claimed for, 247;
+    survivals of the Druidic priesthood, 247;
+    a college of Druidic priestesses situated near Nantes, 253;
+    mentioned, 53
+    _See also_ Druids
+
+  DRUIDS. Origin of the cult, 245;
+    the nature of their practices, 245-246;
+    in the legend of Kentigern's birth, condemn Thenaw, 357
+    _See also_ Druidism
+
+  DUBLIN. The city;
+    Tristrem comes to, 263;
+    Tristrem's second visit to, 265
+
+  DUBRIC. Archbishop who officiated at the marriage of King Arthur and
+        Guinevere, 67
+
+  DU GUESCLIN, BERTRAND. A famous knight, Constable of France;
+    helps Charles of Blois in the War of the Two Joans, 31-32;
+    a notable figure in Breton legend, 32;
+    buried at Saint-Denis, 32;
+    the legend of the Ward of, 33-35;
+    taken prisoner at the battle of Auray, 35
+
+  DUNGIVEN. A town in Ireland;
+    Druidic ritual still observed at, 246
+
+  DUNPENDER. A mountain in East Lothian, now called Traprain Law;
+    Thenaw cast from, 357
+
+  DUSII. Spirits inhabiting Gaul, 100
+
+  DYLAN. A British sea-god;
+    mentioned, 69
+
+  DYONAS. A god of the Britons;
+    Vivien sometimes represented as the daughter of, 69
+
+  E
+
+  EDINBURGH. The city;
+    mentioned, 51, 60, 203
+
+  EDMUND. King of East Anglia;
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  ELIDUC, THE LAY OF. One of the LAIS of Marie de France, 305-313
+
+  ELLÉ. A river in Brittany, 19, 332
+
+  ÉLORN. A river in Brittany, 19
+
+  ELPHIN. Son of the Welsh chieftain Urien;
+    taught by Taliesin, 21
+
+  ELVES. In Teutonic mythology, diminutive spirits;
+    the fairy race of Celtic countries may have been confused with,
+        87
+
+  EMERALD COAST, THE. A district in the southern portion of Brittany,
+        13
+
+  ENGLAND.
+    I. The country;
+      loses its ancient British name, which becomes that of Brittany,
+        17;
+      Bretons who accompanied William the Conqueror receive land in,
+        232;
+      Bretons invade, from Wales, 234;
+      claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+      King Arthur moves against the Emperor Lucius' threatened
+        invasion of, 275;
+      the existence of King Arthur credited in, in the twelfth
+        century, 278;
+      Marie de France lived in, 283
+    II. The State;
+      supports John of Montfort's claim to Brittany, 31
+
+  ENORA. _See_ St Enora
+
+  EQUITAN, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        313-317
+
+  ERDEVEN. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  ERMONIE. A mythical kingdom, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde;
+    Roland Rise, Lord of, 258;
+    Duke Morgan becomes Lord of, 259;
+    Tristrem returns to, 261
+
+  ERNAULT, E. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  ERYRI, MOUNT. King Arthur slew the giant Ritho upon, 277
+
+  ESCOUBLAC. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  ESSÉ. A village in Brittany;
+    the dolmen of, 53
+
+  ESTAING, PIERRE D'. A French alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  ÉTANG DE LAVAL. A lake, supposed to cover the site of the submerged
+        city of Ys, 185
+
+  ETHWIJE. Wife of Geoffrey I of Brittany, 196, 198
+
+  EUDO. Count of Brittany, son of Geoffrey I, 27, 29
+
+  EUFUERIEN. King of Cumbria, 357
+
+  EVEN THE GREAT. Breton leader;
+    defeats the Norsemen at the battle of Kerlouan, 225, 227
+
+  EWEN. Son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, 357
+
+  EXCALIBUR. King Arthur's miraculous sword;
+    given to Arthur in Brittany, 256-257;
+    Arthur kills the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel with, 277;
+    mentioned, 280
+
+  EXETER. The city;
+    mentioned, 307
+
+  F
+
+  FABLES. Of Marie de France, 283
+
+  FAIRIES. Credited with the erection of the megalithic monuments,
+        49-52;
+    magically imprisoned in dolmens, trees, and pillars, 52;
+    the fairy lore of Brittany bears evidence of Celtic influence,
+        54;
+    the fairies of Brittany hostile to man, 54, 55-56, 85;
+    the Church the enemy of, 56;
+    what derived from, in folk-lore, 73-74;
+    the varying conceptions of, 73;
+    the Bretons' ideas of, 74-75;
+    the fairies of the _houles_, 75, 88;
+    the fairies' distaste for being recognized, and stories
+        illustrating this, 82;
+    bestow magical sight, 82-83;
+    and changelings, 83;
+    prone to take animal, bird, and fish shapes, 83-84;
+    probable reasons for the fairies' malevolence, 85-86;
+    origin of the fairy idea, 85-87;
+    may have originally been deities, 87;
+    in Brittany, conceived as of average mortal height, 87;
+    the _Margots la fée_, a variety of, 88;
+    a story illustrating fairy malevolence, 88;
+    the fairy-woman in the Lay of Graelent, 322-328
+
+  FAIRYLAND. Graelent enters, 326;
+    identified with the Celtic Otherworld, 327;
+    a place of death and remoteness, 328
+
+  FAIRY-WIFE. A folk-lore _motif_, 327
+
+  FALCON, THE. A ballad, 196-198
+
+  FARMER, CAPTAIN GEORGE. Commander of the _Quebec_;
+    in a Breton ballad, 238
+
+  FAYS. _See_ Fairies
+
+  FEBRUARY. The month;
+    personified in the story of Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  FÉLIX. Bishop of Quimper, 337
+
+  FEUILLET, OCTAVE. A French novelist;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  FINETTE CENDRON ('Cinderella'). Mme d'Aulnoy's story of;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  FINISTÈRE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13;
+    part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, 19;
+    mentioned, 41, 49, 180
+
+  FIONS. A name sometimes given to the fairies in Brittany, occurring
+        also in Scottish and Irish folk-lore, 74
+
+  FIRE-GODDESS. St Barbe probably represents the survival of a, 334
+
+  FIREPLACES in Breton churches, 380-381
+
+  FISHERMAN AND THE FAIRIES, THE. The story of, 80-83
+
+  FLAMEL, NICOLAS. A French alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  FLANDERS. The country;
+    Gugemar in, 292;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  FOLK-TALES. Of Brittany, 156-172
+
+  FONTENELLE, GUY EDER DE. A Breton leader, associated with the
+        Catholic League, 229-232
+
+  FÖRSTER, PROFESSOR WENDELIN. And the origin of Arthurian romance,
+        254
+
+  FORTH. A river in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  FORTH, FIRTH OF. Mentioned, 356, 359
+
+  FOSTER-BROTHER, THE. The story of, 167-172
+
+  FOUCAULT, JEAN. A Breton peasant;
+    a story of, 244
+
+  FOUGÈRES. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the dwelling-place of sorcerers, 242
+
+  FOUQUET, NICOLAS. A French statesman;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  FOUR SORROWS, THE LAY OF THE, or THE LAY OF THE DOLOROUS KNIGHT. One
+        of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 328-331
+
+  FRAGAN. Governor of Léon, father of St Winwaloe, 370
+
+  FRANCE.
+    I. The country;
+      manners and fashions of, spread in Brittany, 30;
+      the were-wolf superstition prevalent in, 291
+    II. The State;
+      intervenes in the conflict between Brittany and Normandy, 30;
+      Brittany annexed by, under Francis I, 36
+
+  FRANCIS I. King of France;
+    annexes Brittany to France, 36;
+    and Françoise de Foix, the Countess of Châteaubriant, 207;
+    gives the château of Suscino to Françoise de Foix, 210
+
+  FRANCIS I. Duke of Brittany, 36
+
+  FRANKS. The people;
+    exercised a nominal suzerainty over Brittany, 23;
+    Morvan fights with, 216-221;
+    "Morvan will return to drive the Franks from the Breton land,"
+        224
+
+  FRANKS, KING OF THE. In Villemarqué's _Barzaz-Breiz_;
+    and Morvan's fight with the Moor, 218-220;
+    Morvan fights with, 220-221;
+    the character drawn in the style of the _chansons de gestes_,
+        224
+
+  FREDEGONDA. Queen of Neustria;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  FRÉMIET, EMMANUEL. A French sculptor;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  FRÊNE. A maiden;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 318-320
+
+  FULBERT. A canon of Notre-Dame, Paris, uncle of Héloïse, 249;
+    mutilated Abélard, 250
+
+  FUNERAL CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. In Brittany, 382-384, 386-388
+
+  G
+
+  GAIDOZ, H. Cited, 212 _n._
+
+  GANHARDIN. Brother of Ysonde of the White Hand;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271-272, 273
+
+  GARB OF OLD GAUL, THE. A song;
+    mentioned, 237
+
+  GARGANTUA. A mythical giant;
+    the erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to, 49
+
+  GARLON, THE CLERK OF. In a legend of the Marquis of Guérande,
+        199-202
+
+  GAVR'INIS ('Goat Island'). An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;
+    the tumulus at, 48;
+    nains' inscriptions on the megaliths of, 98
+
+  GAWAINE, SIR. One of King Arthur's knights;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  GEBER. An Arabian alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  GEOFFREY I. Duke of Brittany, 27;
+    in the legend of the Falcon, 196
+
+  GEOFFREY II (PLANTAGENET). Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. An English chronicler;
+    the presentation of Vivien in his work, 69;
+    and the presentation of Merlin, 70;
+    acknowledged a Breton source for his work, 255
+
+  GILDAS. A British chronicler;
+    fellow-pupil with Taliesin at the school of Cattwg, 21;
+    St Keenan associated with, 343;
+    St Bieuzy a friend and disciple of, 345;
+    the bell of, in the chapel at La Roche-sur-Blavet, 345;
+    St Bieuzy dies in the presence of, 346;
+    St Pol of Léon a fellow-student of, 364
+
+  GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. A Welsh chronicler;
+    and the legend of the submerged city, 187
+
+  GIRDLE. Superstition of the, 302
+
+  GLAIN NEIDR. The sea-snake's egg or adder's stone, used in Druidic
+        rites, 247;
+    Héloïse, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed,
+        252
+
+  GLASGOW. The city;
+    mentioned, 357, 359
+
+  GOELC. A seigneury of Brittany;
+    a Count of, the father of St Budoc of Dol, 354, 355
+
+  GOEZENOU. A village in Brittany;
+    the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the church of,
+        369;
+    holy well at, 382
+
+  GOIDELIC DIALECT. A Celtic tongue, 15
+
+  GOLDEN BELL, CHÂTEAU OF THE. In the story of the Youth who did not
+        Know, 111-114
+
+  GOLDEN BELL, PRINCESS. In the story of the Youth who did not Know,
+        110-115
+
+  GOLDEN HERB. A plant supposed in Druidical times to possess magical
+        properties, 247-248
+
+  GOMME, SIR G. L. Cited, 173, 247 _n._
+
+  GORICS. A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, 87, 98-99
+
+  GOULVEN. A village in Brittany;
+    historical tablet in the church of, 225
+
+  GOUVERNAYL. Servitor to Tristrem;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 263, 264
+
+  GRADLON MEUR. A ruler of Ys;
+    in the legend of the city, 185-186;
+    the statue of, at Quimper, 188-189;
+    supposed to have introduced the vine into Brittany, 189
+
+  GRAELENT, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        320-328
+
+  GRAIL. Legend of the;
+    a parallel incident in the Lay of Gugemar and, 301-302
+
+  GRALLO. King of Brittany;
+    and St Ronan, 367
+
+  GRAND MONT. An eminence upon which St Gildas built his abbey, 249
+
+  GRAND TROMÉNIE. The special celebration of the Pardon of the
+        Mountain held every sixth year, 379-380
+
+  GRANVILLE. A town in Brittany;
+    women's costume in, 374
+
+  GRIFESCORNE. King of the Demons;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 111, 114
+
+  GROABGOARD. An image at Quinipily, 381
+
+  GROTTES AUX FÉES. Name given to the megalithic monuments by the
+        Bretons, 48, 49
+
+  GUÉMENÉ. A town in Brittany, 334
+
+  GUÉRANDE. A town in Brittany, 198
+
+  GUÉRANDE. Louis-François, Marquis of;
+    the story of, 199-202
+
+  GUERECH. Count of Vannes;
+    in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 180-181, 183, 184
+
+  GUGEMAR, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        292-302
+
+  GUIC-SEZNE. A town in Brittany, 370
+
+  GUILDELUEC. Wife of Eliduc, 306-313
+
+  GUILLARDUN. A princess;
+    in the Lay of Eliduc, 307-313
+
+  GUILLEVIC, A. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  GUIMILIAU. A town in Brittany;
+    the Calvary at, 384-385
+
+  GUINDY. A river in Brittany, 167, 220
+
+  GUINEVERE. King Arthur's Queen;
+    mentioned, 67;
+    comforted by St Keenan after Arthur's death, 344
+
+  GUINGAMP. A town in Brittany, 229
+
+  GWEN. Mother of St Winwaloe, 370
+
+  GWENALOE ('He that is white'). The Breton name for St Winwaloe,
+        370
+
+  GWENN-ESTRAD. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  GWENNOLAÏK. A maiden of Tréguier;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 167-172
+
+  GWÉNNOLÉ. A holy man;
+    in the legend of the city of Ys, 185, 186
+
+  GWEZKLEN. The Breton name for Du Guesclin, 32
+    _See_ Du Guesclin
+
+  GWINDELUC. A monk, a disciple of St Convoyon, 335
+
+  GWYDDNO. Twelfth-century Welsh bard;
+    relates the story of the submerged city, 188
+
+  H
+
+  HAINAULT. A Belgian province;
+    mentioned, 328
+
+  HARP, THE. Not now popular in Brittany, but in ancient times one of
+        the national instruments, 228-229
+
+  HATCHET OF BRITTANY, THE. An appellation of Morvan, 221
+
+  HAUTE-BÉCHEREL. A town in Brittany;
+    pagan temple at, 342
+
+  HEAD-DRESS. Of the women of the Escoublac district, 374;
+    of the women of Ouessant, 374;
+    of the women of Villecheret, 375;
+    of the men of Brittany, does not vary much, 375;
+    headgear of the men of Plougastel, 375;
+    of the women of Muzillac, 376;
+    of the women of Pont l'Abbé and the Bay of Audierne, 376;
+    of the women of Morlaix, 376
+    _See also_ COIFFES
+
+  HEAVEN. An old Breton conception of, 388, 390-391
+
+  HELENA, LADY. Niece of Duke Hoel I of Brittany;
+    carried off by the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, 275, 276
+
+  HELL. In the story of the Bride of Satan, 144;
+    an old Breton conception of, 388-389
+
+  HELLÉAN, WOOD OF. A former part of the forest of Broceliande, 221,
+        224
+
+  HELOÏSE. An abbess, beloved of Abélard;
+    the story of Abélard and, 248-253;
+    in a Breton ballad represented as a sorceress, 250-253
+
+  HÉNAN. Manor of, in Brittany, 364
+
+  HENDERSON, GEORGE. Cited, 52
+
+  HENNEBONT. A Breton château, 206
+
+  HENRY II. King of England, 30;
+    identified as the king to whom Marie of France dedicated her
+        _Lais_, 284
+
+  HENRY III. King of England;
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  HENRY IV. King of France;
+    and Fontenelle, 231-232;
+    mentioned, 204
+
+  HENWG. A Welsh bard;
+    said to be the father of Taliesin, 21
+
+  HERSART DE LA VILLEMARQUÉ, VICOMTE. Writer on Breton legendary
+        lore;
+    his poem on Nomenoë, 23;
+    his ballad of Alain Barbe-torte, 25-27;
+    and a story of the Clerk of Rohan, 190 _n._;
+    his _Barzaz-Breiz_, 211-212;
+    stories from his _Barzaz-Breiz_, 212-237;
+    indications of the source of his matter, 224-225;
+    and the story of Fontenelle, 230;
+    and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237;
+    on the story of Azénor the Pale, 363, 364;
+    cited, 57 _n._, 65 _n._, 184 _n._, 247
+
+  HERVÉ. Son of Kyvarnion;
+    the story of the wolf and, 22;
+    mentioned, 390
+
+  HIGHLANDERS. Scottish;
+    in the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237
+
+  HIGHLANDS. Scottish;
+    beliefs in, respecting stones, 52-53;
+    the 'Washing Woman' of, 100
+
+  HILDWALL. A pious man of Angers;
+    St Convoyon lodges with, 336
+
+  HODAIN. A dog;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 267
+
+  HOEL I. Duke of Brittany, 275, 276, 278
+
+  HOEL V. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  HOLGER. A half-mythical Danish hero;
+    mentioned, 212
+
+  HOLMES, T. RICE. Cited, 245 _n._
+
+  HOLY LAND. _See_ Palestine
+
+  HOULES. Caverns;
+    the Bretons suppose fairies to inhabit, 75
+
+  HUON DE MÉRY. A thirteenth-century writer;
+    on the fountain of Baranton, 71
+
+  HURLERS, THE. A Cornish legend;
+    mentioned, 44
+
+  I
+
+  IBERIANS. A non-Aryan race, supposed to have inhabited Britain;
+    held by Rhys to be the originators of Druidism, 245
+
+  IDA. King of Bernicia;
+    mentioned, 21, 22
+
+  ILE D'ARZ. An island off the coast of Brittany;
+    megaliths in, 48
+
+  ILE-DE-FRANCE. A French province;
+    Marie of France said to have been a native of, 283
+
+  ILE AUX MOINES. An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;
+    megalithic monuments in, 48
+
+  ILE DE SEIN. An island off the Breton coast, 63;
+    St Winwaloe settled on, 371
+
+  ILE-VERTE. An island off the Breton coast;
+    St Winwaloe lived on, 370
+
+  ILLE-ET-VILAINE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13, 39,
+        50
+
+  INVERESK. A village in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 359
+
+  IOUENN. A young man;
+    in the story of the Man of Honour, 147-155
+
+  IRELAND. Markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46;
+    the legend of the submerged city in, 187;
+    the harp anciently the national instrument of, 229;
+    Tristrem in, 264, 265-267;
+    Petranus, father of St Patern, goes to, 347;
+    St Patern meets his father in, 348;
+    many saints in, 350;
+    Azénor and Budoc in, 355-356;
+    Budoc made King of, 356;
+    late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, 364
+
+  IRELAND, KING OF. In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 265, 266
+
+  IRELAND, QUEEN OF. In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 264-267
+
+  IRMINSUL. A Saxon idol;
+    probable connexion between the menhir and the worship of, 18
+        _n._
+
+  ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. A Spanish ecclesiastic and writer;
+    mentioned, 100
+
+  J
+
+  JANUARY. The month;
+    personified, in the story of the Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  JARGEAU. A town in France;
+    the battle of, 174
+
+  JAUDY. A river in Brittany, 31, 167
+
+  JAUIOZ. A seigneury in Languedoc;
+    the story of Louis, Baron of, 145-146
+
+  JEANNE DARC. The French heroine;
+    mentioned, 174;
+    the play or mystery of, 175
+
+  JOAN OF FLANDERS. Wife of John of Montfort;
+    in the War of the Two Joans, 31
+
+  JOAN OF PENTHIÈVRE. _See_ Penthièvre
+
+  JOB THE WITLESS. In the story of the Foster-brother, 169
+
+  JOHN (LACKLAND). King of England;
+    mentioned, 30
+
+  JOHN III. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  JOHN IV. Duke of Brittany
+    _See_ Montfort, John of
+
+  JOHN V. Duke of Brittany, son of the famous John of Montfort,
+        35-36;
+    and Gilles de Retz, 179;
+    built a magnificent tomb for St Yves, 353
+
+  JOHN. Duke of Châlons;
+    the château of Suscino given to, 210
+
+  JOSSELIN. A Breton château, 205-206
+
+  JOYOUS GARDEN. A garden raised by enchantment by Merlin to please
+        Vivien, 66;
+    mentioned, 67, 69
+
+  JUD-HAEL. A Breton chieftain;
+    the vision of, 20-21
+
+  JUDIK-HAEL. A Breton chieftain, son of Jud-Hael, 21
+
+  JULIUS CÆSAR. On the Druids of Gaul, 245
+
+  K
+
+  KADO THE STRIVER. A Breton peasant, leader of a revolt, 197-198
+
+  KARNAK. A village in Egypt;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  KARO. Son of a Breton chieftain;
+    in a story of Nomenoë, 23-25
+
+  KAY, SIR. King Arthur's seneschal, 275
+
+  KENNEDY. A character in a Highland tale, 51
+
+  KERGARIOU, COMTE DE. And the story of Fontenelle, 230
+
+  KERGIVAS. A place in Brittany;
+    the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the manor of,
+        369
+
+  KERGOALER, COUÉDIC DE. Captain of the _Surveillante_;
+    in a Breton ballad, 238
+
+  KERGONAN. A village in the Ile aux Moines;
+    megaliths at, 48
+
+  KERIDWEN. A fertility goddess who dwelt in Lake Tegid, Wales;
+    mentioned, 59
+
+  KER-IS. A name of the city of Ys, 185
+    _See_ Ys
+
+  KERJOLET. A Breton château, 208
+
+  KERLAZ. A village in Brittany, 232
+
+  KERLESCANT. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  KERLOUAN. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, between Norsemen and Bretons, 225;
+    the oak on the battlefield at, 227
+
+  KERMARIO. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  KERMARTIN. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves born at, 350
+
+  KERMORVAN. A place in Brittany;
+    Yves the Seigneur of, in the ballad of Azénor the Pale, 360-363
+
+  KERODERN, MICHEL DE. A Breton missionary, 390
+
+  KEROUEZ. An old château;
+    in the story of the Seigneur with the Horse's Head, 137
+
+  KERSANTON. A place in Brittany;
+    stone from, forms the Calvary of Guimiliau, 385
+
+  KERVRAN. A village in Brittany;
+    the warrior Bran taken prisoner at, 225
+
+  KING OF THE ANTS. In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        118, 119, 120
+
+  KING OF THE BIRDS. In the story of the Youth who did not Know,
+        111, 113
+
+  KING OF THE FISHES. In a tale from Saint-Cast, 84-85;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 110, 114
+
+  KING OF THE LIONS. In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        118, 119, 120
+
+  KING OF THE SPARROW-HAWKS. In the story of the Princess of
+        Tronkolaine, 118, 119
+
+  KIPLING, RUDYARD. Quoted, 86
+
+  KORRIGAN, THE. A forest fairy;
+    a denizen of Broceliande, 56;
+    in the story of the Seigneur of Nann, 57-58;
+    associated with water, an element of fertility, 59;
+    an enchantress, 60;
+    in the story of the Unbroken Vow, 62-63;
+    desired union with humanity, 64;
+    mentioned, 69, 98
+
+  KYVARNION. A British bard, father of Hervé, 22
+
+  L
+
+  LADY OF LA GARAYE, THE. Poem by Mrs Norton;
+    quoted, 194, 195, 196
+
+  LADY OF THE LAKE. In Arthurian legend, Vivien;
+    foster-mother of Lancelot, 69, 257;
+    of Breton origin, 256;
+    gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, 256-257
+    _See also_ Vivien
+
+  LA GARAYE. A Breton château, near Dinan;
+    the story of the Lady of, 195
+
+  LAILOKEN. A character in early British legend;
+    mentioned, 70
+
+  LAIS. Of Marie de France;
+    their value in the study of Breton lore, 283;
+    date and other circumstances of their composition, 283-284;
+    stories from, 284-289, 292-331
+
+  LAKE OF ANGUISH, THE. A lake in Hell;
+    in the story of the Bride of Satan, 144;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 146
+
+  LA LANDE MARIE. A place in Brittany;
+    the dolmen at, 51
+
+  LANCELOT, SIR. One of the Knights of the Round Table, son of King
+        Ban of Benwik;
+    stolen and brought up by Vivien, 257;
+    does not appear in Celtic legend, 257;
+    mentioned, 64, 69
+
+  LANDÉVENNEC. A town in Brittany;
+    a chapel of St Nicholas at, 345;
+    a monastery built at, by St Winwaloe, 371
+
+  LANDIVISIAU. A town in Brittany, 338;
+    fine carvings in the church of, 339-340
+
+  LANDEGU. A village in Cornwall;
+    St Keenan at, 344
+
+  LANGOAD. A town in Brittany, 198
+
+  LANGUAGE. Brezonek, the tongue of the Bretons, 15;
+    the old Breton tongue closely similar to Welsh, 15;
+    the Latin tongue did not spread over Brittany, 17
+
+  LARGOET. A Breton château, 206
+
+  LA ROCHE-BERNARD. A town in Brittany, 376
+
+  LA ROCHE-SUR-BLAVET. A place in Brittany;
+    a retreat of Gildas and St Bieuzy, 345
+
+  LA ROCHE-DERRIEN. A place in Brittany;
+    battle at, 31
+
+  LA ROCHE-JAGU. A Breton château, 203-204
+
+  LA ROSE. A young man;
+    in the story of the Magic Rose, 156-162
+
+  LATIN. The language;
+    did not spread over Brittany, 17
+
+  LAUSTIC, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        302-305
+
+  LAVAL, GILLES DE. _See_ Retz
+
+  LAVAL, JEAN DE. Governor of Brittany, 207;
+    married to Françoise de Foix, Countess of Châteaubriant, 207
+
+  LAY OF THE WERE-WOLF, THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        284-289
+
+  LEAGUE, THE. A Catholic organization formed against the Huguenots,
+        205, 206;
+    Fontenelle associated with, 229
+
+  LE BRAZ, ANATOLE. Cited, 102, 184 _n._
+
+  LE CLERC, L. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  LE CROISIC. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  LE FAOUET. A village in Brittany;
+    the chapel of St Barbe near, 332-333, 334-335
+
+  LEGEND. The meaning of the term, 173
+
+  LE GOFF, P. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  LE GRAND, A. Cited, 184 _n._
+
+  LÉGUER. A town in Brittany, 220
+
+  LÉGUER, LAKE OF. In the story of the Princess Starbright, 121,
+        131
+
+  LELIAN. Father of St Tivisiau, 338
+
+  LE MOUSTOIR-LE-JUCH. A village in Brittany;
+    fireplace in the church of, 381
+
+  LEO IV. Pope;
+    Nomenoë sends gifts to, 337;
+    and St Convoyon, 337
+
+  LÉON.
+    I. A county of Brittany, 23, 143, 212, 225, 226, 229,
+        356, 367, 388
+    II. The see of;
+      given to St Pol, 367
+
+  LE ROUZIC, ZACHARIE. A Breton archæologist;
+    mentioned, 45
+
+  LEWIS. An island in the Outer Hebrides;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  LEYDEN, JOHN. A Scottish poet and Orientalist;
+    his treatment of legendary material, 211
+
+  LÉZAT. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  LEZ-BREIZ, MORVAN. _See_ Morvan
+
+  LIEUE DE GRÈVE. A place in Brittany;
+    Arthur's fight with the dragon of, 278-281
+
+  LIVONIA. The country;
+    were-wolf superstition in, 290
+
+  LLANVITHIN. A village in Wales;
+    mentioned, 21
+
+  LOC-CHRIST. Monastery of, built under the persuasion of St Winwaloe,
+        370-371
+
+  LOCMARIA. A place in Brittany, 199
+
+  LOCMARIAQUER. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  LOGRES. An ancient British kingdom;
+    in the Lay of Eliduc, 306-311
+
+  LOGUIVY-PLOUGRAS. A town in Brittany, 137
+
+  LOHANEC. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves incumbent of, 351
+
+  LOHENGRIN. A knight, in German legend;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  LOIRE. The river;
+    mentioned, 16, 174, 253
+
+  LOIRE-INFÉRIEURE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13
+
+  LONDON. The city;
+    mentioned, 31, 99
+
+  LONG MEG. A Cumberland legend;
+    mentioned, 44
+
+  LONGSWORD, WILLIAM. Earl of Salisbury;
+    identified as the nobleman to whom Marie of France dedicated her
+        _Fables_, 284
+
+  LORELEI. A water-spirit of the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 64
+
+  LORGNEZ. A Frankish chieftain;
+    Morvan fights with, and slays, 217-218
+
+  LOST DAUGHTER, THE. The story of, 75-80
+
+  LOT. King of Lothian, grandfather of St Kentigern, 357
+
+  LOTHIAN. A district in Scotland, formerly a kingdom;
+    mentioned, 357, 359
+
+  LOTHIAN, EAST. A county of Scotland;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  LOUDÉAC. An _arrondissement_ of Brittany, 88
+
+  LOUGH NEAGH. A lake in Ireland;
+    according to Irish legend, the site of submerged city, 187
+
+  LOUIS I (THE PIOUS). King of France;
+    places the native chieftain Nomenoë over Brittany, 23;
+    St Convoyon visits, to obtain confirmation of grants, 335
+
+  LOUIS IX. King of France;
+    mentioned, 208
+
+  LOUIS XI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 36, 205
+
+  LOUIS XII. King of France;
+    Anne of Brittany married to, 36
+
+  LOUIS XV. King of France;
+    honours the Count of La Garaye, 195
+
+  LOUIS. Baron of Jauioz;
+    the story of, 145-147
+
+  LOUVRE, THE. A palace in Paris;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  LUCIUS. Roman consul, sometimes referred to as Emperor;
+    King Arthur moves against, 275
+
+  LUZEL, F. M. His _Guerziou Breiz-Izel_, mentioned, 211
+
+  LYONESSE. A legendary kingdom near Cornwall, 257
+
+  M
+
+  MACCULLOCH, J. R. Cited, 59 _n._, 70, 102, 188 _n._, 189
+        _n._, 381
+
+  MACCUNN, HAMISH. Composer;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  MACHUTES. _See_ St Malo
+
+  MACPHERSON, JAMES. A Scottish poet;
+    mentioned, 23, 211
+
+  MACRITCHIE, D. Cited, 74
+
+  MAC-TIERNS ('Sons of the Chief'). A name given to Brian and Alain,
+        sons of Count Eudo, 29
+
+  MAGEEN. Mother of St Tivisiau, 338
+
+  MAGIC. _See_ Sorcery
+
+  MAGIC ROSE, THE. The story of, 156-162
+
+  MAHĀBHĀRATA. A Hindu epic;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  MAISON DES FOLLETS. A name given to a megalithic structure at
+        Cancoet, 49
+
+  MAMAU, Y. Welsh deities, 87
+
+  MAN OF HONOUR, THE. The story of, 147-155
+
+  MARAUD. A peasant;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75-77
+
+  MARCH. The month;
+    personified in the story of Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  MARGAWSE. Sister of King Arthur, wife of King Lot of Lothian, 357
+
+  MARGOTS LA FÉE, LES. Fairies which inhabit large rocks and the
+        moorlands, 88
+
+  MARGUERITE. A maiden, avenged by Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  MARIE DE FRANCE. A twelfth-century French poetess;
+    acknowledged Breton sources for her work, 255, 283;
+    the _Lais_ and _Fables_ of, 283-284;
+    personal history, 283;
+    stories from the _Lais_, 284-331;
+    and the Lay of Laustic, 302;
+    and the Lay of Eliduc, 305-306;
+    and the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, 328, 330-331
+
+  MARK. King of Cornwall;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-274
+
+  MARK. King of Vannes;
+    and St Pol of Léon, 364
+
+  MAROT, CLAUDE TOUSSAINT. Count of La Garaye;
+    the story of, 194-196
+
+  MARRIAGE. Costume of the bride in the Escoublac district, 374;
+    the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clarté made the occasion of
+        betrothals, 378;
+    wedding customs, 385-386
+
+  MARRIAGE-GIRDLE, THE. The ballad of, 234-236
+
+  MARSEILLES. The city;
+    mentioned, 195
+
+  MATSYS, QUENTIN. A Flemish painter;
+    the well of, at Antwerp, 205
+
+  MATTHEW. Seigneur of Beauvau;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 189-193
+
+  MAUNOIR. A Jesuit Father, 388
+
+  MAURON. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, 31
+
+  MAY, ISLE OF. An island in the Firth of Forth, 357
+
+  MAYENNE. Charles de Lorraine, Duke of;
+    one of the leaders of the Catholic League, 229
+
+  MEGALITHS. The derivation and meaning of the terms 'menhir' and
+        'dolmen,' 37-38;
+    nature and purpose of the monuments, 38-39;
+    the menhir of Dol, and its legend, 39-41;
+    the chapel-dolmen at Plouaret, 41;
+    the megaliths at Camaret, 41;
+    at Penmarch, 41;
+    at Carnac, 42-45;
+    the tumulus at Mont-Saint-Michel, 45;
+    the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46;
+    'cup-and-ring' markings, 46-48;
+    the gallery of Gavr'inis, 48;
+    the megaliths of the Ile aux Moines and the Ile d'Arz, 48;
+    folk-beliefs associated with the monuments, 48-53;
+    tales connected with them, 52;
+    the question of the date of their erection, 53;
+    the nains' inscriptions upon, 97-98;
+    the megaliths of Carnac supposed to have been built by the gorics,
+        98
+    _See also_ Menhir _and_ Dolmens
+
+  MELUSINE. A fairy, in French folk-lore;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  MENAO. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  MÉNÉAC. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  MENHIR. A megalithic monument, 18;
+    the menhir of Dol, 18, 39-40;
+    probably connected with pillar-worship and Irminsul-worship, 18
+        _n._;
+    derivation and meaning of the term, 38;
+    purpose of the monuments, 38-39
+
+  MERIADOK. A Cornish knight;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 269, 272
+
+  MERIADUS. A Breton chieftain;
+    in the Lay of Gugemar, 299-301
+
+  MERLIN. An enchanter, in Arthurian legend;
+    meets Vivien in Broceliande, and is afterward enchanted by her
+        there, 65-69;
+    his relationship with Vivien as presented in Arthurian legend,
+        69;
+    the varying conceptions of, 70;
+    the typical Druid or wise man of Celtic tradition, 70;
+    protects Arthur in his combat with Sir Pellinore, 256;
+    and Arthur's finding of Excalibur, 256-257
+
+  MEZLÉAN. A place in Brittany, 362, 363;
+    the Clerk of, in the ballad of Azénor the Pale, 361-363
+
+  MILTON OF COLQUHOUN. A district in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones found in, 47
+
+  MINIHY. A town in Brittany;
+    St Yves' will and breviary preserved in the church of, 353
+
+  MODRED, SIR. Nephew of King Arthur;
+    his contest with the King, 344
+
+  MONCONTOUR. A village in Brittany, 242
+
+  MONEDUC. Mother of St Nennocha, 340
+
+  MONTAGNES D'ARRÉE, or AREZ. A mountain chain in Brittany;
+    the Yeun in, 102;
+    mentioned, 235
+
+  MONTALEMBERT, COMTE DE. His _Moines d'Occident_, cited, 19
+
+  MONTFORT, JOHN OF. Duke of Brittany (John IV);
+    disputes the succession to the Dukedom, 30-32, 35-36;
+    captures the château of Suscino, 210;
+    mentioned, 204
+
+  MONTMORENCY. The house of;
+    mentioned, 174
+
+  MONTREUIL-SUR-MER. A town in the Pas-de-Calais, France;
+    St Winwaloe's body preserved at, 371
+
+  MONT-SAINT-MICHEL.
+    I. A tumulus, 45-46
+    II. An island off the coast of Brittany, 45 _n._;
+      King Arthur's fight with the giant of, 275;
+      mentioned, 103
+
+  MOOR, THE. In a story of Morvan;
+    Morvan's fight with, 218-220;
+    the character of, probably drawn from Carlovingian legend, 225
+
+  MOORS, THE. Mentioned, 225
+
+  MOORE, THOMAS. The poet;
+    quoted, 187
+
+  MORAUNT. An Irish ambassador at the English Court;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 262-263, 264, 266
+
+  MORBIHAN.
+    I. One of the departments of Brittany, 13, 48, 49;
+      the nains' inscriptions on the megaliths of, 98;
+      the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clarté held in, 378
+    II. An inland sea or gulf in the south of Brittany, (Gulf of
+        Morbihan);
+    naval battle between the Romans and Veneti probably took place in,
+        16;
+    mentioned, 48
+
+  MORGAN, DUKE. A Cymric chieftain;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261-262
+
+  MORIN. A priest, 388
+
+  MORLAIX. A town in Brittany;
+    the castle of, haunted by gorics, 99;
+    the teursts of the district of, 100;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 106, 107, 108,
+        109;
+    national costume in, 376-377
+
+  MORTE D'ARTHUR. Malory's romance;
+    the presentation of Vivien in, 69;
+    Arthur's finding of Excalibur related in, 256;
+    incident in, paralleled in the Lay of Gugemar, 301-302;
+    mentioned, 257
+
+  MORVAN LEZ-BREIZ. A famous Breton hero of the ninth century, 212;
+    stories of, 212-224;
+    tradition that he will return to "drive the Franks from the Breton
+        land," 224
+
+  MOURIOCHE, THE. A malicious demon, 101
+
+  MÜLLER, W. MAX. Mentioned, 358
+
+  MURILLO. A celebrated Spanish painter;
+    paintings by, in the château of Caradeuc, 207
+
+  MUT. An Egyptian goddess;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  MUZILLAC. A town in Brittany;
+    head-dress of the women of, 376
+
+  N
+
+  NAINS. A race of demons;
+    their character, 96-98;
+    guardians of hidden treasure, 99
+
+  NAMNETES. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  NANN, THE SEIGNEUR OF. The story of, 57-59
+
+  NANTES. A city in Brittany;
+    in a ballad, represented as the scene of magical exploits of
+        Abélard and Héloïse, 253;
+    traditionally associated with sorcery, 253;
+    Equitan the King of, 313;
+    the scene of the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, 328;
+    Nomenoë obtains possession of, 338;
+    mentioned, 17, 30, 168, 169, 170, 180, 337
+
+  NANTES. The castle of, 205
+
+  NEOLITHIC AGE. The race which built the stone monuments of Brittany
+        probably belonged to, 37 _n._
+
+  NÉVET. Forest of, in Léon, 367
+
+  NÉVEZ. A town in Brittany, 190
+
+  NEW CALEDONIA. An island in the Pacific;
+    markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46-47
+
+  NICOLE, THE. A mischievous spirit, 100-101
+
+  NIGHTINGALE, THE LAY OF THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        302
+
+  NIGHT-WASHERS. A race of supernatural beings, 100
+
+  NIMUE. A name under which Vivien, the Lady of the Lake, appears in
+        some romances, 69;
+    mentioned, 256
+    _See_ Vivien
+
+  NOGENT. Sister of Gugemar, 292
+
+  NOGENT-SUR-SEINE. A town in France;
+    the abbey at, founded by Abélard, and made over by him to Héloïse,
+        249;
+    Abélard and Héloïse buried at, 250
+
+  NOLA. A youth;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 170-171
+
+  NOMENOË. A Breton chieftain, afterward King of Brittany;
+    rises against Charles the Bald and defeats him, 23, 337-338;
+    a story of, 23-25;
+    and St Convoyon, 335, 336, 337;
+    sends gifts to Pope Leo IV, 337;
+    burns the abbey of Saint-Florent, 337
+
+  NORMANDY. The duchy;
+    early relations of Brittany with, 27-30
+
+  NORMANS. The Bretons rise against, 196-198;
+    spread the Arthur legend, 254, 255;
+    mentioned, 338
+
+  NOROUAS. Personification of the north-west wind;
+    a story of, 163-167
+
+  NORTHMEN, NORSEMEN. Invade Brittany, 25;
+    defeated by Alain Barbe-torte and expelled from Brittany,
+        25-27;
+    the battle of Kerlouan between the Bretons and, 225
+
+  NORTH-WEST WIND, THE. Personification of;
+    a story of, 163-167
+
+  NORTON, MRS. An English poetess;
+    her _Lady of La Garaye_, quoted, 194, 195, 196
+
+  N'OUN DOARE. A youth;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 106-115
+
+  NUTT, A. Cited, 99 _n._, 254
+
+  O
+
+  OBERON. King of the fairies;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  ŒDIPUS. King of Thebes;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  OGIER THE DANE. One of the paladins of Charlemagne;
+    entered Fairyland, 326
+
+  OLAUS MAGNUS. A sixteenth-century Swedish ecclesiastic and writer;
+    mentioned, 290
+
+  ORIDIAL. Father of Gugemar, 292
+
+  ORIGEN. One of the Fathers of the early Church;
+    and St Barbe, 333
+
+  ORLÉANS. The city;
+    the siege of (1428-29), 174;
+    the play or mystery of, on Jeanne Darc, 175;
+    mentioned, 229
+
+  OSISMII. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  OSSIAN. A semi-legendary Celtic bard and warrior;
+    mentioned, 211
+
+  OSSORY. A district in Ireland;
+    emigration from, to Brittany, 22
+
+  OTHERWORLD. The Celtic, 171-172;
+    Fairyland identified with, 327
+
+  OUESSANT. An island off the coast of Brittany;
+    St Pol in, 365;
+    the costume of the women of, 374-375
+
+  OUST. A river in Brittany, 205
+
+  OWAIN. A Welsh chieftain, son of Urien;
+    Taliesin the bard of, 22
+
+  OWEN GLENDOWER. A Welsh chieftain;
+    the Bretons send an expedition to help, in his conflict with the
+        English, 234
+
+  P
+
+  PALESTINE. Mentioned, 145, 190, 269, 302
+
+  PARACLETE ('Comforter'). Name given by Abélard to his abbey at
+        Nogent, 249;
+    Abélard and Héloïse buried at, 250
+
+  PARDONS. Religious pilgrimage festivals of the Bretons, 378-380
+
+  PARIS. The city;
+    mentioned, 108, 109, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118,
+        119, 120-121, 156, 157, 158, 195, 208, 229,
+        230-231, 351
+
+  PARIS, GASTON. A noted French philologist;
+    claims that Arthurian romance originated in Wales, 254;
+    identifies the persons to whom Marie de France dedicated her
+        _Lais_ and _Fables_, 284
+
+  PASSAGE DE L'ENFER. An arm of the sea over which the Breton dead
+        were supposed to be ferried, 383
+
+  PATAY. A village in Loiret, France;
+    the battle of, 174
+
+  PAVIA. A city in Italy;
+    Francis I of France taken prisoner at, 207
+
+  PELLINORE, SIR. One of the Knights of the Round Table;
+    Arthur broke his sword in combat with, 256
+
+  PEMBROKESHIRE. Welsh county;
+    St Samson a native of, 17
+
+  PENATES. Household gods of the Romans;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  PEN-BAS. A cudgel carried by the men of Cornouaille, 372;
+    rarely carried by the men of St Pol, 375
+
+  PENHAPP. A village in the Ile aux Moines;
+    dolmen at, 48
+
+  PENMARCH. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 41;
+    Ty C'harriquet near, 49;
+    a fireplace in the church of St Non at, 381
+
+  PENRAZ. A village in the Isle of Arz;
+    megaliths at, 48
+
+  PENTECOST. A Jewish festival;
+    mentioned, 324
+
+  PENTHIÈVRE. A former county of Brittany, 27, 205
+
+  PENTHIÈVRE. Joan of;
+    wife of Charles of Blois, 30;
+    in the War of the Two Joans, 31;
+    her marriage to Charles, 32
+
+  PENTHIÈVRE. Stephen, Count of, 208
+
+  PERCIVAL. Hero of _Percival le Gallois_;
+    analogy between his flight and that of Morvan, 224
+
+  PERCIVAL LE GALLOIS. Arthurian saga;
+    mentioned, 224
+
+  PÈRE LA CHIQUE. An old man;
+    in the story of the Magic Rose, 159-160, 162
+
+  PERGUET. A village in Brittany;
+    the fireplace in the church of St Bridget at, 381
+
+  PERSEUS. A mythical Greek hero;
+    mentioned, 357, 358
+
+  PERTHSHIRE. Scottish county;
+    the 'Washing Woman' in, 100
+
+  PETRANUS. Father of St Patern, 347
+
+  PHILIP VI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 30
+
+  PICTS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany, to escape, 17;
+    the legend that they built the original church of Corstorphine,
+        near Edinburgh, 51;
+    "wee fouk but unco' strang," 99
+
+  PIGS. St Pol taught the people to keep, 366
+
+  PILLAR-WORSHIP. Probable connexion of the menhir with, 18 _n._
+
+  PILLARS. Tales of spirits enclosed in, 52
+
+  PLACE OF SKULLS, THE. In the story of the Bride of Satan, 144
+
+  PLÉLAN. A town in Brittany;
+    St Convoyon removes to, from Redon, 338
+
+  PLESTIN-LES-GRÈVES. A town in Brittany;
+    St Efflam buried in the church of, 281
+
+  PLOERMEL. A town in Brittany;
+    St Nennocha founded her monastery at, 340
+
+  PLOUARET. A town in Brittany;
+    the dolmen-chapel at, 41
+
+  PLOUBALAY. A town in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, 81
+
+  PLOUBER. A town in Brittany, 199, 202
+
+  PLOUGASTEL. A town in Brittany;
+    the costume of the men of, 375;
+    the Calvary of, 384
+
+  PLOUHARNEL. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  PLOURIN. A village in Brittany;
+    St Budoc lived at, 356
+
+  POITOU. A former county of France;
+    ravaged by Nomenoë, 337;
+    mentioned, 176
+
+  POMPONIUS MELA. A Roman geographer;
+    quoted, 63
+
+  PONT L'ABBÉ. A town in Brittany;
+    national costume in, 376
+
+  PONT-AVEN. A village in Brittany, 364
+
+  PONTIVY. A town in Brittany;
+    chapel to St Noyola at, 360
+
+  PONTORSON. A town in Brittany, 275
+
+  POOR, THE. Regard paid to, at Breton festivals and ceremonies,
+        387
+
+  PORSPODER. A town in Brittany;
+    St Budoc lands at, and dwells in, 356
+
+  POULDERGAT, MANNAÏK DE. The bride-to-be of Silvestik, 232
+
+  PRAGUE. Capital of Bohemia;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  PRELATI. An alchemist of Padua, employed by Gilles de Retz, 176,
+        178-179
+
+  PRINCESS STARBRIGHT, THE. The story of, 121-131;
+    mentioned, 153
+
+  PRINCESS OF TRONKOLAINE, THE. The story of, 115-121
+
+  PROCOPIUS. A Byzantine historian;
+    on a Breton burial custom, 383-384
+
+  PROP OF BRITTANY, THE. Name given to Morvan, chieftain of Léon,
+        212;
+    stories of, 212-224
+
+  Q
+
+  QUEBAN. Wife of King Grallo;
+    St Ronan discovers her fault, 368
+
+  QUEBEC, THE. A British vessel;
+    her fight with the _Surveillante_, 238-240
+
+  QUEEN ANNE'S TOWER. Name of the keep of the château of Dinan, 209
+
+  QUESTEMBERT. A town in Brittany;
+    the Château des Paulpiquets at, 49
+
+  QUIBERON. A town in Brittany, 46
+
+  QUIMPER. A city in Brittany;
+    St Convoyon Bishop of, 335;
+    national costume in, 372-373;
+    mentioned, 186, 188
+
+  QUIMPER, COUNT OF. In a story of Morvan, 213, 216
+
+  Quimperlé. A town in Brittany;
+    the château of Rustefan near, 208;
+    St Goezenou killed at the building of the monastery at, 370
+
+  R
+
+  RAMA. A hero in Hindu mythology;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  RĀMĀYANA. A Hindu epic;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  RAOUL LE GAEL. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  RAVELSTON QUARRY. A quarry near Edinburgh;
+    mentioned, 51
+
+  REDON or RODON. A town in Brittany;
+    the abbey of: founded by St Convoyon, 335-336;
+    the bones of St Apothemius carried to, 336;
+    the bones of St Marcellinus carried to, 337;
+    Nomenoë takes spoil from the Abbey of Saint-Florent to, 337;
+    St Convoyon removes from, 338;
+    St Convoyon buried at, 338
+
+  REDONES. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  REGINALD. Bishop of Vannes, 335, 336
+
+  REID, GENERAL JOHN. The composer of _The Garb of Old Gaul_, 238
+
+  REINACH, SALOMON. Cited, 53
+
+  RELIGION. Brittany the most religious of the French provinces,
+        377;
+    the religious element in the Breton character, 377-378
+
+  RELIQUARIES. In Brittany, 382
+
+  REMUS. In Roman legend, brother of Romulus;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE. References to, 205, 206, 209
+
+  RENÉ. Constable of Naples, 190
+
+  RENNES. A city in Brittany;
+    the scene of Nomenoë's vengeance, 23-25;
+    the Counts of, gain ascendancy in Brittany, 27;
+    the marriage of Charles of Blois and Joan of Penthièvre at, 32;
+    Robert the sorcerer dwelt in, 242;
+    Nomenoë obtains possession of, 338;
+    mentioned, 17, 181, 195
+
+  RESTALRIG. A village near Edinburgh;
+    the well of St Triduana at, 59-60
+
+  RETIERS. A town in Brittany the Roches aux Fées at, 51
+
+  RETZ, or RAIS. A district in Brittany, 23, 174
+
+  RETZ, CARDINAL DE. A French politician and writer;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  RETZ, GILLES DE. A Breton nobleman;
+    a story of, 173-180;
+    the identification of, with Bluebeard, 174, 180
+
+  REVOLUTION, FRENCH. Of 1789;
+    mentioned, 188, 195, 338, 353, 369
+
+  REVUE CELTIQUE. Cited, 212 _n._
+
+  RHEINSTEIN. A famous castle on the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  RHINE. The river;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  RHUYS. _See_ St Gildas de Rhuys
+
+  RHYS, SIR JOHN. And the origin of Druidism, 245;
+    mentioned, 70
+
+  RICHARD II. Duke of Normandy;
+    mentioned, 196
+
+  RICHELIEU, CARDINAL. A famous French statesman;
+    the château of Tonquédec demolished by order of, 204
+
+  RIEUX, JEAN DE. Marshal of Brittany;
+    leader of the expedition to help Owen Glendower, 234
+
+  RITHO. A giant whom King Arthur slew, 277
+
+  ROAD OF ST POL, THE. Name given by Breton peasants to a megalithic
+        avenue, 365
+
+  ROBERT I. Duke of Normandy, 28
+
+  ROBERT. A sorcerer who dwelt in Rennes, 242-243
+
+  ROBERT DE VITRY. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  ROCENAUD. A village in Brittany;
+    dolmen at, 46
+
+  ROCEY. The house of, 174
+
+  ROCHE-MARCHE-BRAN. A rocky hill;
+    the chapel of St Barbe built on, 335
+
+  ROCHER, THE WOOD OF. The dolmen near, 50
+
+  ROCHERS. A Breton château;
+    Mme Sévigné associated with, 208
+
+  ROCHES AUX FÉES. Name given to the megalithic monuments by the
+        Bretons, 49;
+    near Saint-Didier-et-Marpire, 50;
+    in Rhetiers, 51;
+    supposed to be the meeting-place of sorcerers, 243
+
+  ROCKFLOWER. A fairy maiden;
+    in a tale from Saint-Cast, 83
+
+  RODRIGUEZ, FATHER. Mentioned, 47
+
+  ROE. A river in Ireland;
+    Druidic ritual associated with, 246
+
+  ROGER. An English knight;
+    in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  ROHAN. The house of, 206
+
+  ROHAN. Alain, Viscount of, 189
+
+  ROHAN. Jeanne de, daughter of Alain de Rohan;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 189-193
+
+  ROHAND. A vassal of Roland;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 260-261, 262
+
+  ROLAND, SIR. A knight;
+    in the story of the Unbroken Vow, 60-63
+
+  ROLAND RISE. A Cymric chieftain, Lord of Ermonie;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261
+
+  ROLLESTON, T. W. Cited, 246
+
+  ROLLO. A famous Norse leader, first Duke of Normandy;
+    mentioned, 28
+
+  ROMANS, THE. In Brittany, 16
+
+  ROME. The city;
+    mentioned, 196, 337
+
+  ROMULUS. In Roman legend, the founder of Rome;
+    mentioned, 357, 358
+
+  RON. The name of King Arthur's lance, 280
+
+  ROND. A dance performed at weddings, 385-386
+
+  ROSAMOND. Mistress of Henry II of England (Rosamond Clifford, 'the
+        Fair Rosamond');
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  ROS-YNYS. A place in Wales, afterward St David's;
+    a story of St Keenan and, 343-344
+
+  ROUND TOWER. At Ardmore, Ireland, 51;
+    at Abernethy, Perthshire, 52
+
+  RUMENGOL. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Singers held at, 378
+
+  S
+
+  SACRING BELLS. The use of, an old Breton custom, 380
+
+  ST ANNE. A Breton saint;
+    Morvan prays to, 216-217;
+    Morvan rewards with gifts, 218;
+    Morvan gives praise to, for his victory over the Moor, 220;
+    frees Morvan from his burden, 224;
+    mentioned, 146
+
+  SAINTE-ANNE-LA-PALUD. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Sea held at, 378
+
+  ST APOTHEMIUS. St Convoyon steals the bones of, from Angers
+        Cathedral, and takes them to Redon, 336
+
+  ST AUGUSTINE. Archbishop of Canterbury;
+    mentioned, 100
+
+  ST BALDRED. A Celtic saint, 359-360
+
+  ST BALDRED'S BOAT. A rock in the Firth of Forth;
+    the legend of, 359
+
+  ST BARBE. A Breton saint, 332-335
+
+  SAINTE-BARBE. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  ST BIEUZY. A Breton saint, 345-346;
+    the Holy Well of, at Bieuzy, 381
+
+  ST BRIDGET. An Irish saint;
+    Azénor prays to, and is helped by, 354;
+    church of, at Berhet, the custom of ringing the sacring bell
+        survives in, 380;
+    church of, at Perguet, the fireplace in, 381
+
+  SAINT-BRIEUC.
+    I. An _arrondissement_ of Brittany, 88, 350
+    II. A town in Brittany;
+      a relic of St Keenan preserved in the cathedral of, 344
+
+  SAINT-BRIEUC, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    the Nicole of, 100;
+    mentioned, 18, 350
+
+  ST BUDOC. A Breton saint;
+    the legend of, 353-356
+
+  SAINT-CAST. A village in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75;
+    a story from, 84;
+    the story of the Combat of, 236-237;
+    mentioned, 83
+
+  ST CECILIA'S DAY. Ceremonies in honour of King Gradlon on, 189
+
+  ST CHARLES. Jesuit church of, at Antwerp;
+    relics of St Winwaloe preserved at, 371
+
+  ST CONVOYON. A Breton saint, 335-338
+
+  ST CORBASIUS. A Breton saint;
+    kills St Goezenou, 370
+
+  ST CORNELY. A Breton saint, the patron of cattle;
+    in a legend of Carnac, 44-45
+
+  ST DAVID'S. A city in Wales, originally called Ros-ynys;
+    in a story of St Keenan, 344
+
+  SAINT-DENIS. A famous abbey, in the city of Saint-Denis, in France;
+    Du Guesclin buried in, 32
+
+  SAINT-DIDIER. A village in Brittany;
+    the Roches aux Fées near, 50
+
+  ST DUBRICUS. A British saint;
+    mentioned, 346
+
+  ST DUNSTAN. A British saint, called St Goustan in Brittany,
+        248-249
+
+  ST EFFLAM. A Breton saint;
+    and King Arthur's encounter with the dragon of the Lieue de Grève,
+        278-281;
+    the story of St Enora and, 340-342;
+    mentioned, 366
+
+  ST ENORA, or HONORA. A Breton saint;
+    the story of Efflam and, 279, 281, 340-342
+
+  SAINT-FLORENT. A town in France;
+    Nomenoë and the abbey of, 337
+
+  ST GALL. A famous monastery in Switzerland;
+    mentioned, 247
+
+  ST GERMAIN. A French saint, Bishop of Paris;
+    the exchange of wax for wine between St Samson and, 19;
+    persuades Nennocha to embrace the religious life, 340
+
+  ST GILDAS. A British saint;
+    in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 181, 183-184;
+    founded the abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys, near Vannes, 248-249
+
+  ST GILDAS DE RHUYS. An abbey near Vannes;
+    founded by St Gildas, 248-249;
+    Abélard appointed abbot of, 248;
+    St Bieuzy died and was buried at, 346;
+    St Patern educated at, 348
+
+  ST GOEZENOU. A Breton saint, 368-370
+
+  ST GOUSTAN. The Breton name of St Dunstan, 249
+
+  ST HENWG. _See_ Henwg
+
+  ST HONORA, or ENORA. _See_ St Enora
+
+  ST ILTUD. A Welsh saint;
+    in a legend of St Samson, 349;
+    St Pol a disciple of, 364;
+    mentioned, 346
+
+  ST IVES. _See_ St Yves
+
+  SAINT-JACUT-DE-LA-MER. A village in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, 80, 84
+
+  ST JAOUA. A Breton saint, 366
+
+  SAINT-JEAN-DU-DOIGT. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Fire held at, 378, 379
+
+  ST JOHN. A Breton saint, 197
+
+  ST KADO. A Breton saint;
+    mentioned, 197
+
+  ST KÉ, or ST QUAY. Popular name in Brittany for St Keenan, 344
+
+  ST KEENAN. A Breton saint, 343-344
+
+  ST KENTIGERN, or ST MUNGO. Patron saint of Glasgow;
+    the legend of, 356-357;
+    mentioned, 70, 359
+
+  ST LAZARUS. The Order of;
+    Louis XV sends to the Count of La Garaye, 195
+
+  ST LEONORIUS, or LÉONORE. A Breton saint, 346-347
+
+  ST LOUIS. _See_ Louis IX
+
+  ST MAGAN. A Breton saint, brother of St Goezenou, 370
+
+  ST MALGLORIOUS. A Breton saint, 356
+
+  ST MALO, or MACHUTES. A Breton saint;
+    the people of Corseul hostile to the teachings of, 343
+
+  SAINT-MALO. A town in Brittany;
+    the scene of the Lay of Laustic, 302;
+    St Convoyon born near, 335;
+    mentioned, 230
+
+  SAINT-MALO, BAY OF. The Nicole of, 100-101
+
+  ST MARCELLINUS. Bishop of Rome;
+    the bones of, given to St Convoyon by Pope Leo IV, and taken by
+        him to Redon, 337
+
+  ST MÉRIADEC. A Breton saint;
+    his skull used in the ritual of the Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt,
+        379
+
+  ST MICHAEL. The archangel;
+    chapel of, on the tumulus of Mont-Saint-Michel, 46;
+    the child Morvan thinks he has seen, 213;
+    Morvan thinks a knight more splendid than, 214
+
+  ST MICHEL. A Breton saint, 'Lord of Heights';
+    a chapel of, near Le Faouet, 333
+
+  ST MUNGO. _See_ St Kentigern
+
+  ST NENNOCHA. A Breton saint, 340
+
+  ST NICHOLAS. A Breton saint;
+    probably the survival of a pagan divinity, 345
+
+  ST NICOLAS DE BIEUZY. Church of, in Bieuzy, 180
+
+  ST NON. A Breton saint;
+    a fireplace in the church of, at Penmarch, 381
+
+  ST NOYALA. A Breton saint, 360
+
+  ST PATERN. A Breton saint, 347-349
+
+  ST POL, or PAUL. Of Léon;
+    a Breton saint, 248, 364-367
+
+  SAINT-POL-DE-LÉON. A town in Brittany;
+    the bell of St Pol in the cathedral of, 367;
+    St Pol buried in the cathedral of, 367;
+    the cathedral of, built by St Pol, 367;
+    costume of the men of, 375;
+    mentioned, 237, 365, 366
+
+  ST ROCH. A Breton saint;
+    shrine of, at Auray, 42;
+    and the markings on the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46
+
+  ST RONAN. A Breton saint, 367
+
+  ST SAMSON. A British saint;
+    settles in Brittany, 17-19;
+    St Gildas the friend of, 248;
+    stories of, 349-350;
+    St Pol of Léon a fellow-student of, 364
+
+  ST SERF. A Scottish saint, abbot of Culross, 357
+
+  SAINT-THÉGONNEC. A town in Brittany;
+    the Calvary at, 384
+
+  ST TIVISIAU, or TURIAU. A Breton saint, 338-339;
+    the fountain of, at Landivisiau, 340
+
+  ST TREMEUR. A Breton saint, son of Comorre;
+    the reliquary in the church of, 382
+
+  ST TRIDUANA. Guardian of a well at Restalrig, near Edinburgh,
+        59-60
+
+  ST TRIPHYNE. A Breton saint;
+    wife of Comorre, 180
+    _See_ Triphyna
+
+  ST TUGDUAL. A Breton saint;
+    founded the church of Tréguier, 167;
+    made a miraculous crossing to Brittany, 360
+
+  ST TURIAU. _See_ St Tivisiau
+
+  ST VOUGAS, or VIE. A Breton saint, 360
+
+  ST WINWALOE. A Breton saint, 370-371
+
+  ST YVES, or YVO. Brittany's favourite saint, 350-353
+
+  SAINT-YVES. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Poor held at, 378
+
+  SAINTS. Stories of, an important element in Breton folk-lore,
+        332;
+    the primitive saint driven to use methods similar to those of the
+        pagan priests around him, 332;
+    tales of the Breton saints, 332-371;
+    the product of poor countries rather than of prosperous ones,
+        350
+
+  SAINTSBURY, G. E. B. Cited, 254
+
+  SALOMON III. Count of Brittany;
+    drives back the Northmen, 25
+
+  SANT-E-ROA ('Holy Wheel'). Apparatus of the sacring bell;
+    at the church of St Bridget, Berhet, 380
+
+  SATAN. A story of, 143-144;
+    Gilles de Retz seeks association with, 177-179;
+    in an old Breton conception of Hell, 389
+    _See also_ Devil
+
+  SAXONS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, 15, 17
+
+  SCOTLAND. Markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46-47;
+    the harp formerly the national instrument of, 229;
+    claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+    late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, 364;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  SCOTS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, 17
+
+  SCOTT, SIR WALTER. The novelist;
+    his treatment of legendary matter, 211;
+    one of the first to bring the story of Tristrem to public notice,
+        258;
+    continued the story of Tristrem beyond the point at which the
+        Auchinleck MS. breaks off, 272
+
+  SEA OF DARKNESS, THE. In the story of the Castle of the Sun, 132
+
+  SEA-SNAKE'S EGG. _See_ Adder's Stone
+
+  SÉBILLOT, PAUL. Cited, 52, 212 _n._;
+    mentioned, 74;
+    and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237 _n._
+
+  SEIGNEUR WITH THE HORSE'S HEAD, THE. The story of, 137-143
+
+  SEIGNEUR OF NANN, THE. The story of, 57-59
+
+  SEIN. _See_ Ile de Sein
+
+  SERIPHOS. An island in the Ægean Sea to which Danaë was carried;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  SEVEN SAINTS OF BRITTANY. St Samson and six others who fled with him
+        from Britain, 350
+
+  SEVEN SLEEPERS, THE. Seven Christian youths of Ephesus who hid to
+        escape persecution and slept for several hundreds of years;
+    an altar to, in the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, 41
+
+  SEVERN. The river;
+    mentioned, 349
+
+  SÉVIGNÉ, MME DE. A famous French epistolary writer;
+    sojourned in the castle of Nantes, 205;
+    wrote many of her letters from the château of Rochers, 208
+
+  SHARPE, CHARLES KIRKPATRICK. An antiquary and writer, friend of Sir
+        Walter Scott;
+    his treatment of legendary material, 211
+
+  SHEWALTON SANDS. A place in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones found at, 47
+
+  SHIP, THE. A rock off the coast of Brittany, said to have been the
+        vessel of St Vougas, 360
+
+  SHIP O' THE FIEND, THE. Orchestral work by Hamish MacCunn;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  SHIP OF SOULS. A feature in Breton folk-belief, 384
+
+  SIGHT, MAGICAL. Bestowed by fairies, 82-83
+
+  SILVESTIK. A young Breton who followed in the train of William the
+        Conqueror to England;
+    the story of, 232-233
+
+  SIMROCK, C. J. Cited, 83
+
+  SKYE. An island off the west coast of Scotland;
+    the 'Washing Woman' in, 100
+
+  SLIEVE GRIAN. A mountain in Ireland;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  SMALL, A. Cited, 52
+
+  SOCIÉTÉ ACADÉMIQUE DE BREST, BULLETIN DE. Cited, 199 _n._
+
+  SONG OF THE PILOT, THE. A Breton ballad, 238-240
+
+  SORCERY. Belief in, prevalent in Brittany, 241-243;
+    in ancient times, identified with Druidism, 245
+
+  SOUTH-WEST WIND, THE. Personification of, in a wind-tale, 163
+
+  SOUVESTRE, ÉMILE. A French novelist and dramatist;
+    mentioned, 180
+
+  SPAIN. Tristrem in, 270;
+    the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel came from, 275
+
+  SPENSER, EDMUND. The poet;
+    mentioned, 56
+
+  STONES. Folk-tales and beliefs connected with, 52-53
+
+  STYX. In Greek mythology, a river of the underworld;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  SUN, THE. Personified in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        117-118;
+   the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275;
+   personified in the 'fatal children' stories, 358
+
+  SUN-PRINCESS. A story of the search for, 121-131
+
+  SUROUAS. Name of the south-west wind;
+    in a wind-tale, 163
+
+  SURVEILLANTE, LE. A Breton vessel;
+    her fight with the British ship _Quebec_, 238-240
+
+  SUSANNUS. Bishop of Vannes, 336-337
+
+  SUSCINO. A Breton château, 209-210
+
+  SWINBURNE, Algernon. The poet;
+    quoted, 267
+
+  T
+
+  TADEN. A village in Brittany;
+    the Count and Countess of La Garaye buried at, 195
+
+  TALIESIN ('Shining Forehead'). A British bard;
+    and the vision of Jud-Hael, 20-21;
+    early years, 21;
+    the bard of Urien and Owain-ap-Urien, 22;
+    death of, 22;
+    probably sojourned in Brittany, 22;
+    acquainted with black art, 252
+
+  TAM O' SHANTER. The character in Burns's poem;
+    mentioned, 244
+
+  TANTALLON CASTLE. A famous ruin in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 359
+
+  TARTARY. The country;
+    mentioned, 115
+
+  TEGID, LLYN. A lake in Wales (Lake Bala);
+    the dwelling-place of Keridwen, a fertility goddess, 59
+
+  TELIO. A British monk, associated with St Samson;
+    said to have introduced the apple into Brittany, 18
+
+  TEURSTA POULICT. A variety of the teursts taking animal shape,
+        100
+
+  TEURSTS. A race of evil spirits, 100
+
+  TEUS, or BUGELNOZ. A beneficent spirit of the district of Vannes,
+        100
+
+  THENAW. Mother of St Kentigern, 357
+
+  THIERRY, J. N. A. A French historian;
+    quoted, 17
+
+  THOMAS THE RHYMER, or THOMAS OF ERCILDOUNE. Thirteenth-century
+        Scottish poet;
+    his version of the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258 _et seq._;
+    visited Fairyland, 326;
+    mentioned, 64, 255, 327
+
+  THOUARS, CATHERINE DE. Wife of Gilles de Retz, 174
+
+  THOUARS, GUY DE. A French knight;
+    married to Constance of Brittany, 30
+
+  TIBER. The river;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  TINA. A maiden;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 145-147
+
+  TITANIA. Queen of the fairies;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  TONQUÉDEC. A Breton château, 204
+
+  TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND. A work by Giraldus Cambrensis;
+    cited, 187
+
+  TORRENT OF PORTUGAL, SIR. A fifteenth-century English metrical
+        romance;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  TOULBOUDOU. A seigneury near Guémené, 334
+
+  TOULBOUDOU, John, Lord of;
+    builds the chapel of St Barbe at Le Faouet, 334-335
+
+  TOUR D'ELVEN. A keep of the château of Largoet, 206
+
+  TOURLAVILLE. A Breton château, 208-209
+
+  TOWER OF LONDON, THE. Charles of Blois confined in, 31;
+    the name of, occurs frequently in Celtic and Breton romance, 99
+
+  TRAPRAIN LAW. A mountain in East Lothian, formerly called
+        Dunpender;
+    Thenaw cast from, 357
+
+  TREASURE, J. P. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  TREDRIG. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves the incumbent of, 351
+
+  TREES. Tales of spirits enclosed in, 52
+
+  TRÉGASTEL. A town on the Breton coast;
+    an island near believed by the Bretons to be the fabled Isle of
+        Avalon, 282
+
+  TRÉGUENNEC. A village in Brittany;
+    St Vougas associated with, 360
+
+  TRÉGUIER.
+    I. A former county of Brittany, 27, 350
+    II. A town in Brittany;
+      St Yves buried at, 353;
+      a burial custom of, 383;
+      mentioned, 167, 168, 237, 350
+
+  TRÉGUNC. A town in Brittany;
+    dolmen at 42
+
+  TREMALOUEN. A hamlet in Brittany;
+    ruins at, haunted by courils, 99
+
+  TREMTRIS. Inverted form of Tristrem's name given him by Rohand to
+        secure his safety, 259;
+    Tristrem assumes the name in Ireland, 264, 266
+
+  TRÉPASSÉS, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast, 185
+
+  TRÈVES. A village in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  TRIDWAN. _See_ St Triduana
+
+  TRIEUX. A river in Brittany, 203, 204
+
+  TRIPHYNA (ST TRIPHYNE). A maiden, married to Comorre, 180-184
+
+  TRISTREM, SIR ('Child of Sorrow'). One of the Knights of the Round
+        Table, son of Blancheflour;
+    the story of, and Ysonde, 257-275;
+    mentioned, 301
+
+  TRISTREM, SIR. An ancient metrical romance;
+    incidents in, paralleled in the story of Bran, 227-228;
+    date of composition of, 228;
+    had a Breton source, 255;
+    Sir Walter Scott one of the first to bring Thomas the Rhymer's
+        version of, to public notice, 258;
+    Thomas the Rhymer's version of, recounted, 258-272;
+    Scott's continuation of the Auchinleck MS., 272-274;
+    the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275
+
+  TROGOFF. The château of;
+    in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  TROLLOPE, T. ADOLPHUS. Quoted, 179-180
+
+  TROMÉNIE-DE-SAINT-RENAN. A town in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Mountain held at, 378, 379
+
+  TROYES. A city in France;
+    Abélard's abbey of Nogent near, 249
+
+  TUGDUAL SALAÜN. A peasant of Plouber, composer of a ballad on the
+        Marquis of Guérande, 199, 202
+
+  TY C'HARRIQUET ('The House of the Gorics')
+    I. A name given to a megalithic structure near Penmarch, 49
+    II. A name applied to Carnac, 98
+
+  TY EN CORYGANNT. A name given to a megalithic structure in Morbihan,
+        49
+
+  U
+
+  UNBROKEN VOW, THE. A story of Broceliande, 60-63
+
+  UNITED STATES, THE. The Bretons aid, in the War of Independence,
+        238
+
+  URIEN. A Welsh chieftain;
+    Taliesin the bard of, 21, 22
+
+  V
+
+  VAL-ÈS-DUNES. A place in Brittany;
+    Alain, Count of Brittany, defeated in battle at, 28
+
+  VALLEY OF BLOOD. A place in hell;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 146
+
+  VANNES.
+    I. A former county of Brittany;
+      mentioned, 23, 180
+    II. The city;
+      the dialect of, 16 _and n._;
+      the ancient city of the Veneti, 17;
+      the Teus or Bugelnoz of, 100;
+      in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 183;
+      the château of Suscino near, 209;
+      the abbey of St Gildas near, 248;
+      St Convoyon educated at, 335;
+      St Patern the patron saint of, 347;
+      St Patern Bishop of, 348;
+      the legend of the founding of the church of St Patern at,
+        348;
+      St Pol of Léon in, 364
+
+  VENETI. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16, 17
+
+  'VENUS, THE.' An image at Quinipily, 381
+
+  VILAINE. A river in Brittany, 335
+
+  VILLARS, ABBÉ DE. A French priest and writer;
+    cited, 64
+
+  VILLECHERET. A village in Brittany;
+    the head-dress of the women of, 375
+
+  VILLEMARQUÉ. _See_ Hersart de la Villemarqué
+
+  VINE, THE. Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Gradlon,
+        189
+
+  VIRGIN MARY, THE. In a Breton legend, 380
+
+  VITRÉ. A Breton château, 208
+
+  VIVIEN. An enchantress, in Arthurian legend;
+    meets Merlin in Broceliande, and afterward enchants him there,
+        65-69;
+    as presented in Arthurian legend and in other romances, 69;
+    may be classed as a water-spirit, 69;
+    the probable purpose of the story of Merlin and, in Arthurian
+        legend, 70;
+    of Breton origin, and does not appear in British myth, 256;
+    gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, 256-257;
+    Sir Lancelot stolen and brought up by, 257
+
+  W
+
+  WACE. A twelfth-century Anglo-Norman poet;
+    quoted, 54;
+    and the fountain of Baranton, 71
+
+  WAGNER, RICHARD. The composer;
+    mentioned, 258
+
+  WALES. Legend of the submerged city in, 187, 188;
+    the harp anciently the national instrument of, 229;
+    Bretons send an expedition to, to help Glendower, 234;
+    claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+    helped the development of Arthurian romance, 255;
+    Tristrem sojourns in, and wins fame there, 270;
+    mentioned, 59, 343
+
+  WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, AMERICAN. Bretons take part in, against
+        England, 238
+
+  WAR OF THE TWO JOANS, THE. A war waged for the succession to the
+        Dukedom of Brittany, 31-32, 35-36
+
+  WARD OF DU GUESCLIN, THE. A Du Guesclin legend, 33-35
+
+  WASHING WOMAN, THE. An evil spirit of the Scottish Highlands, 100
+
+  WEDDING CUSTOMS. In Brittany, 385-386
+    _See also_ Marriage
+
+  WELLS, HOLY. In Brittany, 381-382
+
+  WELSH. The language;
+    the Breton tongue akin to, 15
+
+  WERE-WOLF. A man transformed into a wolf;
+    the prevalence, origin, and forms of the superstition, 289-292;
+    a were-wolf story, 284-289
+
+  WESTMINSTER. The city;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, Ysonde carried to, for trial,
+        270
+
+  WEXFORD. A county of Ireland;
+    emigration from, to Brittany, 22
+
+  WHEEL OF FORTUNE, THE. A name wrongly given to part of the apparatus
+        of the sacring bell, 380
+
+  WHITE CHURCH. A church in Tréguier;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 170, 171
+
+  WILLIAM II. Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror);
+    Conan II of Brittany and, 27, 28-29;
+    Bretons accompany, on his expedition against England, 232,
+        233
+
+  WILLIAM, COUNT. The name of the nobleman to whom Marie of France
+        dedicated her Fables, identified with Longsword, Earl of
+        Salisbury, 283-284
+
+  WINDS, THE. Play a large part in Breton folk-lore, 162;
+    a wind-tale, 163-167
+
+  WINE. St Germain exchanges for wax from the monks of Dol, 19;
+    a wine festival in honour of King Gradlon, 189
+
+  WOMEN. In early communities, magical power often the possession of,
+        246;
+    generally the conservators of surviving Druidic tradition, 247;
+    St Goezenou's antipathy to, 369;
+    costume of the women of Brittany--_see_ Costume _and_ Head-dress
+
+  WOOD OF CHESTNUTS. Mentioned in a story of Morvan, 217
+
+  Y
+
+  YEUN, THE. A morass of evil repute, 102-103;
+    a story of, 103-105
+
+  YORK. The city, in England;
+    St Samson ordained at, 349
+
+  YOUDIC, THE. A part of the Yeun peat-bog, 103;
+    a story of, 103-105
+
+  YOUGHAL. A town in Ireland;
+    Azénor and the infant Budoc washed ashore at, 355;
+    Budoc becomes abbot of the monastery at, 356
+
+  YOUGHAL, ABBOT OF. In the legend of St Budoc, 355, 356
+
+  YOUTH WHO DID NOT KNOW. The story of, 106-115
+
+  YS, or IS. A submerged city of legend;
+    the legend of, 184-188;
+    such a legend common to several Celtic races, 187;
+    Giraldus Cambrensis and the legend of, 187-188
+
+  YSEULT. _See_ Ysonde
+
+  YSONDE, or YSEULT. Daughter of the King of Ireland;
+    some incidents in her story paralleled in the ballad of Bran,
+        228;
+    the story of Tristrem and, 257-274;
+    the story of Tristrem and, claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275
+
+  YSONDE OF THE WHITE HAND. Daughter of Hoel I, Duke of Brittany;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271, 273
+
+  YVES. Husband of Azénor the Pale, 361-363
+
+  YVON. A youth;
+    in the story of the Castle of the Sun, 131-137
+
+  YVONNE. A maiden;
+    in the story of the Castle of the Sun, 131-137
+
+
+  ZIMMER, H. Cited, 278
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber Notes
+
+Typographical inconsistencies have been changed and are listed below.
+
+Hyphenation has been standardized.
+
+Otherwise, archaic spelling and the author's punctuation style have
+been preserved.
+
+Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+
+Transcriber Changes
+
+The following changes were made to the original text:
+
+  Page 113: Added quote ("What do you desire? You have only to speak
+            and it shall be =brought."=)
+
+  Page 121: Was 'litle' (You can restore me permanently to my human
+            shape if you choose to show only a =little= perseverance
+            and courage.)
+
+  Page 206: Added apostrophe (in Octave =Feuillet's= _Roman d'un jeune
+            Homme pauvre_)
+
+  Page 227: Added quote (for when you die you will at least end your
+            days in =Brittany."=)
+
+  Page 267: Was 'attendent' (her passion for Tristrem moved her to
+            induce her =attendant= Brengwain to take her place)
+
+  Page 357: Was 'Eufeurien' (Thenaw met Ewen, the son of =Eufuerien=,
+            King of Cumbria, and fell deeply in love with him)
+
+  Footnote 38: Was 'Legende' (_La =Légende= de la Mort_)
+
+  Index: Was 'bulit' (the chapel of St Barbe =built= on, 335)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Legends & Romances of Brittany
+
+Author: Lewis Spence
+
+Illustrator: W. Otway Cannell
+
+Release Date: January 6, 2010 [EBook #30871]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS & ROMANCES OF BRITTANY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Katherine Ward, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+LEGENDS & ROMANCES OF BRITTANY
+
+[Illustration: GRAELENT AND THE FAIRY-WOMAN _Fr._]
+
+
+  LEGENDS & ROMANCES
+  OF BRITTANY
+
+
+  _BY_
+  LEWIS SPENCE F.R.A.I.
+
+  AUTHOR OF "HERO TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE RHINE"
+  "A DICTIONARY OF MEDIEVAL ROMANCE AND ROMANCE WRITERS"
+  "THE MYTHS OF MEXICO AND PERU"
+  ETC. ETC.
+
+
+  _WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS BY_
+  W. OTWAY CANNELL A.R.C.A.(Lond.)
+
+  NEW YORK
+  FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+  THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH
+  GREAT BRITAIN
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Although the folk-tales and legends of Brittany have received
+ample attention from native scholars and collectors, they have not as
+yet been presented in a popular manner to English-speaking readers.
+The probable reasons for what would appear to be an otherwise
+incomprehensible omission on the part of those British writers who
+make a popular use of legendary material are that many Breton
+folk-tales strikingly resemble those of other countries, that from
+a variety of considerations some of them are unsuitable for
+presentation in an English dress, and that most of the folk-tales
+proper certainly possess a strong family likeness to one another.
+
+But it is not the folk-tale alone which goes to make up the
+romantic literary output of a people; their ballads, the heroic
+tales which they have woven around passages in their national
+history, their legends (employing the term in its proper sense),
+along with the more literary attempts of their romance-weavers,
+their beliefs regarding the supernatural, the tales which cluster
+around their ancient homes and castles--all of these, although
+capable of separate classification, are akin to folk-lore, and I
+have not, therefore, hesitated to use what in my discretion I
+consider the best out of immense stores of material as being much
+more suited to supply British readers with a comprehensive view of
+Breton story. Thus, I have included chapters on the lore which
+cleaves to the ancient stone monuments of the country, along with
+some account of the monuments themselves. The Arthurian matter
+especially connected with Brittany I have relegated to a separate
+chapter, and I have considered it only fitting to include such of
+the _lais_ of that rare and human songstress Marie de France as deal
+with the Breton land. The legends of those sainted men to whom
+Brittany owes so much will be found in a separate chapter, in
+collecting the matter for which I have obtained the kindest
+assistance from Miss Helen Macleod Scott, who has the preservation of
+the Celtic spirit so much at heart. I have also included chapters on
+the interesting theme of the black art in Brittany, as well as on
+the several species of fays and demons which haunt its moors and
+forests; nor will the heroic tales of its great warriors and
+champions be found wanting. To assist the reader to obtain the
+atmosphere of Brittany and in order that he may read these tales
+without feeling that he is perusing matter relating to a race of
+which he is otherwise ignorant, I have afforded him a slight
+sketch of the Breton environment and historical development, and in
+an attempt to lighten his passage through the volume I have here and
+there told a tale in verse, sometimes translated, sometimes original.
+
+As regards the folk-tales proper, by which I mean stories collected
+from the peasantry, I have made a selection from the works of Gaidoz,
+S�billot, and Luzel. In no sense are these translations; they are
+rather adaptations. The profound inequality between Breton folk-tales
+is, of course, very marked in a collection of any magnitude, but as
+this volume is not intended to be exhaustive I have had no difficulty
+in selecting material of real interest. Most of these tales were
+collected by Breton folk-lorists in the eighties of the last century,
+and the native shrewdness and common sense which characterize much of
+the editors' comments upon the stories so carefully gathered from
+peasants and fishermen make them deeply interesting.
+
+It is with a sense of shortcoming that I offer the reader this volume
+on a great subject, but should it succeed in stimulating interest in
+Breton story, and in directing students to a field in which their
+research is certain to be richly rewarded, I shall not regret the
+labour and time which I have devoted to my task.
+
+  L. S.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+        I The Land, the People and their Story                      13
+       II Menhirs And Dolmens                                       37
+      III The Fairies of Brittany                                   54
+       IV Sprites And Demons of Brittany                            96
+        V World-Tales in Brittany                                  106
+       VI Breton Folk-Tales                                        156
+      VII Popular Legends of Brittany                              173
+     VIII Hero-Tales of Brittany                                   211
+       IX The Black Art and Its Ministers                          241
+        X Arthurian Romance in Brittany                            254
+       XI The Breton Lays of Marie De France                       283
+      XII The Saints of Brittany                                   332
+     XIII Costumes and Customs of Brittany                         372
+          Glossary and Index                                       392
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  Graelent and the Fairy-Woman                          _Frontispiece_
+  Nomeno�                                                           23
+  The Death of Marguerite in the Castle of Trogoff                  34
+  Raising a Menhir                                                  44
+  The Seigneur of Nann And the Korrigan                             58
+  Merlin And Vivien                                                 66
+  The Fairies of Broceliande Find the Little Bruno                  72
+  Fairies in a Breton 'Houle'                                       81
+  The Poor Boy And the Three Fairy Damsels                          88
+  The Demon-Dog                                                    102
+  N'Oun Doare And the Princess Golden Bell                         112
+  The Bride of Satan                                               144
+  Gwennola�k and Nola                                              170
+  The Devil in the Form of a Leopard appears before
+      the Alchemist                                                179
+  The Escape of King Gradlon from the Flooded City of
+      Ys                                                           186
+  A Peasant Insurrection                                           197
+  Morvan returns to his Ruined Home                                214
+  The Finding of Silvestik                                         232
+  H�lo�se as Sorceress                                             250
+  King Arthur and Merlin at the Lake                               257
+  Tristrem and Ysonde                                              268
+  King Arthur and the Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel                   276
+  The Were-Wolf                                                    288
+  Gugemar comes upon the Magic Ship                                294
+  Gugemar's Assault on the Castle of Meriadus                      300
+  Eliduc carries Guillardun to the Forest Chapel                   312
+  Convoyon and his Monks carry off the Relics of St
+      Apothemius                                                   336
+  St Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint                                  339
+  St Yves instructing Shepherd-boys in the Use of the
+      Rosary                                                       352
+  Queen Queban stoned to Death                                     369
+  Modern Brittany                                                  377
+  The Souls of the Dead                                            385
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THEIR STORY
+
+
+The romantic region which we are about to traverse in search of the
+treasures of legend was in ancient times known as Armorica, a
+Latinized form of the Celtic name, Armor ('On the Sea'). The Brittany
+of to-day corresponds to the departments of Finist�re, C�tes-du-Nord,
+Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Inf�rieure. A popular division of
+the country is that which partitions it into Upper, or Eastern, and
+Lower, or Western, Brittany, and these tracts together have an area of
+some 13,130 square miles.
+
+Such parts of Brittany as are near to the sea-coast present marked
+differences to the inland regions, where raised plateaux are covered
+with dreary and unproductive moorland. These plateaux, again, rise
+into small ranges of hills, not of any great height, but, from their
+wild and rugged appearance, giving the impression of an altitude much
+loftier than they possess. The coast-line is ragged, indented, and
+inhospitable, lined with deep reefs and broken by the estuaries of
+brawling rivers. In the southern portion the district known as 'the
+Emerald Coast' presents an almost subtropical appearance; the air is
+mild and the whole region pleasant and fruitful. But with this
+exception Brittany is a country of bleak shores and grey seas, barren
+moorland and dreary horizons, such a land as legend loves, such a
+region, cut off and isolated from the highways of humanity, as the
+discarded genii of ancient faiths might seek as a last stronghold.
+
+Regarding the origin of the race which peoples this secluded
+peninsula there are no wide differences of opinion. If we take the
+word 'Celt' as describing any branch of the many divergent races which
+came under the influence of one particular type of culture, the true
+originators of which were absorbed among the folk they governed and
+instructed before the historic era, then the Bretons are 'Celts'
+indeed, speaking the tongue known as 'Celtic' for want of a more
+specific name, exhibiting marked signs of the possession of 'Celtic'
+customs, and having those racial characteristics which the science of
+anthropology until recently laid down as certain indications of
+'Celtic' relationship--the short, round skull, swarthy complexion, and
+blue or grey eyes.
+
+It is to be borne in mind, however, that the title 'Celtic' is shared
+by the Bretons with the fair or rufous Highlander of Scotland, the
+dark Welshman, and the long-headed Irishman. But the Bretons exhibit
+such special characteristics as would warrant the new anthropology in
+labelling them the descendants of that 'Alpine' race which existed in
+Central Europe in Neolithic times, and which, perhaps, possessed
+distant Mongoloid affinities. This people spread into nearly all parts
+of Europe, and later in some regions acquired Celtic speech and custom
+from a Celtic aristocracy.
+
+It is remarkable how completely this Celtic leaven--the true history
+of which is lost in the depths of prehistoric darkness--succeeded in
+impressing not only its language but its culture and spirit upon the
+various peoples with whom it came into contact. To impose a special
+type of civilization upon another race must always prove a task of
+almost superhuman proportions. To compel the use of an alien tongue by
+a conquered folk necessitates racial tact as well as strength of
+purpose. But to secure the adoption of the racial _spirit_ by the
+conquered, and adherence to it for centuries, so that men of widely
+divergent origins shall all have the same point of view, the same mode
+of thought, manner of address, aye, even the same _facies_ or general
+racial appearance, as have Bretons, some Frenchmen, Cornishmen,
+Welshmen, and Highlanders--that surely would argue an indwelling
+racial strength such as not even the Roman or any other world-empire
+might pretend to.
+
+But this Celtic civilization was not one and undivided. In late
+prehistoric times it evolved from one mother tongue two dialects which
+afterward displayed all the differences of separate languages
+springing from a common stock. These are the Goidelic, the tongue
+spoken by the Celts of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, and the
+Brythonic, the language of the Welsh, the Cornish, and the people of
+Brittany.
+
+
+_The Breton Tongue_
+
+The Brezonek, the Brythonic tongue of Brittany, is undoubtedly the
+language of those Celtic immigrants who fled from Britain the Greater
+to Britain the Less to escape the rule of the Saxon invaders, and who
+gave the name of the country which they had left to that Armorica in
+which they settled. In the earliest stages of development it is
+difficult to distinguish Breton from Welsh. From the ninth to the
+eleventh centuries the Breton language is described as 'Old Breton.'
+'Middle Breton' flourished from the eleventh to the seventeenth
+centuries, since when 'Modern Breton' has been in use. These stages
+indicate changes in the language more or less profound, due chiefly to
+admixture with French. Various distinct dialects are indicated by
+writers on the subject, but the most marked difference in Breton
+speech seems to be that between the dialect of Vannes and that of the
+rest of Brittany. Such differences do not appear to be older than the
+sixteenth century.[1]
+
+
+_The Ancient Armoricans_
+
+The written history of Brittany opens with the account of Julius
+C�sar. At that period (57 B.C.) Armorica was inhabited by five
+principal tribes: the Namnetes, the Veneti, the Osismii, the
+Curiosolit�, and the Redones. These offered a desperate resistance to
+Roman encroachment, but were subdued, and in some cases their people
+were sold wholesale into slavery. In 56 B.C. the Veneti threw off the
+yoke and retained two of C�sar's officers as hostages. C�sar advanced
+upon Brittany in person, but found that he could make no headway while
+he was opposed by the powerful fleet of flat-bottomed boats, like
+floating castles, which the Veneti were so skilful in manoeuvring.
+Ships were hastily constructed upon the waters of the Loire, and a
+desperate naval engagement ensued, probably in the Gulf of Morbihan,
+which resulted in the decisive defeat of the Veneti, the Romans
+resorting to the stratagem of cutting down the enemy's rigging with
+sickles bound upon long poles. The members of the Senate of the
+conquered people were put to death as a punishment for their
+defection, and thousands of the tribesmen went to swell the
+slave-markets of Europe.
+
+Between A.D. 450 and 500, when the Roman power and population were
+dwindling, many vessels brought fugitives from Britain to Armorica.
+These people, fleeing from the conquering barbarians, Saxons, Picts,
+and Scots, sought as asylum a land where a kindred race had not yet
+been disturbed by invasion. Says Thierry, in his _Norman Conquest_:
+"With the consent of the ancient inhabitants, who acknowledged them as
+brethren of the same origin, the new settlers distributed themselves
+over the whole northern coast, as far as the little river Coesoron,
+and southward as far as the territory of the city of the Veneti, now
+called Vannes. In this extent of country they founded a sort of
+separate state, comprising all the small places near the coast, but
+not including within its limits the great towns of Vannes, Nantes, and
+Rennes. The increase of the population of this western corner of the
+country, and the great number of people of the Celtic race and
+language thus assembled within a narrow space, preserved it from the
+irruption of the Roman tongue, which, under forms more or less
+corrupted, was gradually becoming prevalent in every other part of
+Gaul. The name of _Brittany_ was attached to these coasts, and the
+names of the various indigenous tribes disappeared; while the island
+which had borne this name for so many ages now lost it, and, taking
+the name of its conquerors, began to be called the land of the Saxons
+and Angles, or, in one word, _England_."
+
+
+_Samson_
+
+One of these British immigrants was the holy Samson, who laboured to
+convert pagan Brittany to Christianity. He hailed from Pembrokeshire,
+and the legend relates that his parents, being childless, constructed
+a menhir[2] of pure silver and gave it to the poor in the hope that a
+son might be born to them. Their desire was fulfilled, and Samson, the
+son in question, became a great missionary of the Church. Accompanied
+by forty monks, he crossed the Channel and landed on the shores of the
+Bay of Saint-Brieuc, a savage and deserted district.
+
+As the keel of his galley grated on the beach the Saint beheld a man
+on the shore seated at the door of a miserable hut, who endeavoured to
+attract his attention by signs. Samson approached the shore-dweller,
+who took him by the hand and, leading him into the wretched dwelling,
+showed him his wife and daughter, stricken with sickness. Samson
+relieved their pain, and the husband and father, who, despite his
+humble appearance, was chief of the neighbouring territory, gave him a
+grant of land hard by. Here, close to the celebrated menhir of Dol, he
+and his monks built their cells. Soon a chapel rose near the ancient
+seat of pagan worship--in later days the site of a great cathedral.
+
+Telio, a British monk, with the assistance of St Samson, planted near
+Dol an orchard three miles in length, and to him is attributed the
+introduction of the apple-tree into Brittany. Wherever the monks went
+they cultivated the soil; all had in their mouths the words of the
+Apostle: "If any would not work, neither should he eat." The people
+admired the industry of the new-comers, and from admiration they
+passed to imitation. The peasants joined the monks in tilling the
+ground, and even the brigands from the hills and forests became
+agriculturists. "The Cross and the plough, labour and prayer," was the
+motto of these early missionaries.
+
+
+_Wax for Wine_
+
+The monks of Dol were renowned bee-farmers, as we learn from an
+anecdote told by Count Montalembert in his _Moines d'Occident_. One
+day when St Samson of Dol, and St Germain, Bishop of Paris, were
+conversing on the respective merits of their monasteries, St Samson
+said that his monks were such good and careful preservers of their
+bees that, besides the honey which the bees yielded in abundance, they
+furnished more wax than was used in the churches for candles during
+the year, but that the climate not being suitable for the growth of
+vines, there was great scarcity of wine. Upon hearing this St Germain
+replied: "We, on the contrary, produce more wine than we can consume,
+but we have to buy wax; so, if you will furnish us with wax, we will
+give you a tenth of our wine." Samson accepted this offer, and the
+mutual arrangement was continued during the lives of the two saints.
+
+Two British kingdoms were formed in Armorica--Domnonia and Cornubia.
+The first embraced the C�tes-du-Nord and Finist�re north of the river
+�lorn, Cornubia, or Cornouaille, as it is now known, being situated
+below that river, as far south as the river Ell�. At first these
+states paid a nominal homage to their native kings in Britain, but on
+the final fall of the British power they proclaimed a complete
+independence.
+
+
+_The Vision of Jud-Hael_
+
+A striking story relating to the migration period is told concerning a
+Cambrian chieftain of Brittany, one Jud-Hael, and the famous British
+bard Taliesin. Shortly after the arrival of Taliesin in Brittany
+Jud-Hael had a remarkable vision. He dreamt that he saw a high
+mountain, on the summit of which was placed a lofty column fixed
+deeply in the earth, with a base of ivory, and branches which reached
+to the heavens. The lower part was iron, brilliantly polished, and to
+it were attached rings of the same metal, from which were suspended
+cuirasses, casques, lances, javelins, bucklers, trumpets, and many
+other warlike trophies. The upper portion was of gold, and upon it
+hung candelabra, censers, stoles, chalices, and ecclesiastical symbols
+of every description. As the Prince stood admiring the spectacle the
+heavens opened and a maiden of marvellous beauty descended and
+approached him.
+
+"I salute you, O Jud-Hael," she said, "and I confide to your keeping
+for a season this column and all that it supports"; and with these
+words she vanished.
+
+On the following day Jud-Hael made public his dream, but, like
+Nebuchadnezzar of old, he could find no one to interpret it, so he
+turned to the bard Taliesin as to another Daniel. Taliesin, says the
+legend, then an exile from his native land of Britain, dwelt on the
+seashore. To him came the messenger of Jud-Hael and said: "O thou who
+so truly dost interpret all things ambiguous, hear and make clear the
+strange vision which my lord hath seen." He then recounted Jud-Hael's
+dream to the venerable bard.
+
+For a time the sage sat pondering deeply, and then replied: "Thy
+master reigneth well and wisely, O messenger, but he has a son who
+will reign still more happily even than himself, and who will become
+one of the greatest men in the Breton land. The sons of his loins will
+be the fathers of powerful counts and pious Churchmen, but he himself,
+the greatest man of that race, shall be first a valiant warrior and
+later a mighty champion of heaven. The earlier part of his life shall
+be given to the world; the latter portion shall be devoted to God."
+
+The prophecy of Taliesin was duly fulfilled. For Judik-Hael, the son
+of Jud-Hael, realized the bard's prediction, and entered the cloister
+after a glorious reign.
+
+
+_Taliesin_
+
+Taliesin ('Shining Forehead') was in the highest repute in the middle
+of the twelfth century, and he was then and afterward, unless we
+except Merlin, the bardic hero of the greatest number of romantic
+legends. He is said to have been the son of Henwg the bard, or St
+Henwg, of Caerleon-upon-Usk, and to have been educated in the school
+of Cattwg, at Llanvithin, in Glamorgan, where the historian Gildas was
+his fellow-pupil. Seized when a youth by Irish pirates, he is said,
+probably by rational interpretation of a later fable of his history,
+to have escaped by using a wooden buckler for a boat. Thus he came
+into the fishing weir of Elphin, one of the sons of Urien. Urien made
+him Elphin's instructor, and gave him an estate of land. But, once
+introduced into the Court of that great warrior-chief, Taliesin became
+his foremost bard, followed him in his wars, and sang his victories.
+He celebrates triumphs over Ida, the Anglian King of Bernicia (_d._
+559) at Argoed about the year 547, at Gwenn-Estrad between that year
+and 559, at Menao about the year 559. After the death of Urien,
+Taliesin was the bard of his son Owain, by whose hand Ida fell. After
+the death of all Urien's sons Taliesin retired to mourn the downfall
+of his race in Wales, dying, it is said, at Bangor Teivi, in
+Cardiganshire. He was buried under a cairn near Aberystwyth.
+
+
+_Herv� the Blind_
+
+There is nothing improbable in the statement that Taliesin dwelt in
+Brittany in the sixth century. Many other British bards found a refuge
+on the shores of Britain the Less. Among these was Kyvarnion, a
+Christian, who married a Breton Druidess and who had a son, Herv�.
+Herv� was blind from birth, and was led from place to place by a wolf
+which he had converted (!) and pressed into the service of Mother
+Church.
+
+One day, when a lad, Herv� had been left in charge of his uncle's
+farm, when a ploughman passed him in full flight, crying out that a
+savage wolf had appeared and had killed the ass with which he had been
+ploughing. The man entreated Herv� to fly, as the wolf was hard upon
+his heels; but the blind youth, undaunted, ordered the terrified
+labourer to seize the animal and harness it to the plough with the
+harness of the dead ass. From that time the wolf dwelt among the sheep
+and goats on the farm, and subsisted upon hay and grass.
+
+
+_Nomeno�_
+
+Swarms of Irish from Ossory and Wexford began to arrive about the
+close of the fifth century, settling along the west and north coasts.
+The immigrants from Britain the Greater formed by degrees the
+counties of Vannes, Cornouaille, L�on, and Domnon�e, constituted a
+powerful aristocracy, and initiated a long and arduous struggle
+against the Frankish monarchs, who exercised a nominal suzerainty over
+Brittany. Louis the Pious placed a native chief, Nomeno�, at the head
+of the province, and a long period of peace ensued. But in A.D. 845
+Nomeno� revolted against Charles the Bald, defeated him, and forced
+him to recognize the independence of Brittany, and to forgo the annual
+tribute which he had exacted. A ballad by Villemarqu� describes the
+incident. Like Macpherson, who in his enthusiasm for the fragments of
+Ossianic lore 'reconstructed' them only too well, Villemarqu�
+unfortunately tampered very freely with such matter as he collected,
+and it may even be that the poem on Nomeno�, for which he claims
+authority, is altogether spurious, as some critics consider. But as it
+affords a spirited picture of the old Breton chief the story is at
+least worth relating.
+
+The poem describes how an aged chieftain waits on the hills of Retz
+for his son, who has gone over to Rennes to pay the Breton tribute to
+the Franks. Many chariots drawn by horses has he taken with him, but
+although a considerable time has elapsed there is no indication of his
+return. The chieftain climbs to an eminence in the hope of discerning
+his son in the far distance, but no sign of his appearance is to be
+seen on the long white road or on the bleak moors which fringe it.
+
+The anxious father espies a merchant wending slowly along the highway
+and hails him.
+
+"Ha, good merchant, you who travel the land from end to end, have you
+seen aught of my son Karo, who has gone to conduct the tribute
+chariots to Rennes?"
+
+[Illustration: NOMENO�]
+
+"Alas! chieftain, if your son has gone with the tribute it is in vain
+you wait for him, for the Franks found it not enough, and have weighed
+his head against it in the balance."
+
+The father gazes wildly at the speaker, sways, and falls heavily with
+a doleful cry.
+
+"Karo, my son! My lost Karo!"
+
+The scene changes to the fortress of Nomeno�, and we see its master
+returning from the chase, accompanied by his great hounds and laden
+with trophies. His bow is in his hand, and he carries the carcass of a
+boar upon his shoulder. The red blood drops from the dead beast's
+mouth and stains his hand. The aged chief, well-nigh demented, awaits
+his coming, and Nomeno� greets him courteously.
+
+"Hail, honest mountaineer!" he cries. "What is your news? What would
+you with Nomeno�?"
+
+"I come for justice, Lord Nomeno�," replies the aged man. "Is there a
+God in heaven and a chief in Brittany? There is a God above us, I
+know, and I believe there is a just Duke in the Breton land. Mighty
+ruler, make war upon the Frank, defend our country, and give us
+vengeance--vengeance for Karo my son, Karo, slain, decapitated by the
+Frankish barbarians, his beauteous head made into a balance-weight for
+their brutal sport."
+
+The old man weeps, and the tears flow down his grizzled beard.
+
+Then Nomeno� rises in anger and swears a great oath. "By the head of
+this boar, and by the arrow which slew him," cries he, "I will not
+wash this blood from off my hand until I free the country from mine
+enemies."
+
+Nomeno� has gone to the seashore and gathered pebbles, for these are
+the tribute he intends to offer the bald King.[3] Arrived at the gates
+of Rennes, he asks that they shall be opened to him so that he may pay
+the tribute of silver. He is asked to descend, to enter the castle,
+and to leave his chariot in the courtyard. He is requested to wash his
+hands to the sound of a horn before eating (an ancient custom), but he
+replies that he prefers to deliver the tribute-money there and then.
+The sacks are weighed, and the third is found light by several
+pounds.
+
+"Ha, what is this?" cries the Frankish castellan. "This sack is under
+weight, Sir Nomeno�."
+
+Out leaps Nomeno�'s sword from the scabbard, and the Frank's head is
+smitten from his shoulders. Then, seizing it by its gory locks, the
+Breton chief with a laugh of triumph casts it into the balance. His
+warriors throng the courtyard, the town is taken; young Karo is
+avenged!
+
+
+_Alain Barbe-torte_
+
+The end of the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth were
+remarkable for the invasions of the Northmen. On several occasions
+they were driven back--by Salomon (_d._ 874), by Alain, Count of
+Vannes (_d._ 907)--but it was Alain Barbe-torte, 'Alain of the Twisted
+Beard,' or 'Alain the Fox' (_d._ 952), who gained the decisive victory
+over them, and concerning him an ancient ballad has much to say. It
+was taken down by Villemarqu� from the lips of a peasant, an old
+soldier of the Chouan leader Georges Cadoudal.
+
+In his youth Alain was a mighty hunter of the bear and the boar in the
+forests of his native Brittany, and the courage gained in this manly
+sport stood him in good stead when he came to employ it against the
+enemies of his country, the hated Northmen. Rallying the Bretons who
+lurked in the forests or hid in the mountain fastnesses, he led them
+against the enemy, whom he surprised near Dol in the middle of the
+night, making a great carnage among them. After this battle the
+Scandinavian invaders were finally expelled from the Breton land and
+Alain was crowned King or Arch-chief in 937.
+
+A free translation of this ballad might run as follows:
+
+  Lurks the Fox within the wood,
+  His teeth and claws are red with blood.
+
+  Within his leafy, dark retreat
+  He chews the cud of vengeance sweet.
+
+  Oh, trenchant his avenging sword!
+  It falls not on the rock or sward,
+
+  But on the mail of Saxon foe:
+  Swift as the lightning falls the blow.
+
+  I've seen the Bretons wield the flail,
+  Scattering the bearded chaff like hail:
+
+  But iron is the flail they wield
+  Against the churlish Saxon's shield.
+
+  I heard the call of victory
+  From Michael's Mount to �lorn fly,
+
+  And Alain's glory flies as fast
+  From Gildas' church to every coast.
+
+  Ah, may his splendour never die,
+  May it live on eternally!
+
+  But woe that I may nevermore
+  Declaim this lay on Armor's shore,
+
+  For the base Saxon hand has torn
+  My tongue from out my mouth forlorn.
+
+  But if my lips no longer frame
+  The glories of our Alain's name,
+
+  My heart shall ever sing his praise,
+  Who won the fight and wears the bays![4]
+
+The Saxons of this lay are, of course, the Norsemen, who, speaking a
+Teutonic tongue, would seem to the Celtic-speaking Bretons to be
+allied to the Teuton Franks.
+
+
+_Bretons and Normans_
+
+During the latter half of the tenth and most of the eleventh century
+the Counts of Rennes gained an almost complete ascendancy in Brittany,
+which began to be broken up into counties and seigneuries in the
+French manner. In 992 Geoffrey, son of Conan, Count of Rennes, adopted
+the title of Duke of Brittany. He married a Norman lady of noble
+family, by whom he had two sons, Alain and Eudo, the younger of whom
+demanded a share of the duchy as his inheritance. His brother made
+over to him the counties of Penthi�vre and Tr�guier, part of the old
+kingdom of Domnonia in the north. It was a fatal transference, for he
+and his line became remorseless enemies of the ducal house, with whom
+they carried on a series of disastrous conflicts for centuries. Conan
+II, son of Alain, came under the regency of Eudo, his uncle, in
+infancy, but later turned his sword against him and his abettor,
+William of Normandy, the Conqueror.
+
+Notwithstanding the national enmity of the Normans and Bretons, there
+existed between the Dukes of Normandy and the Dukes of Brittany ties
+of affinity that rendered the relations between the two states
+somewhat complicated. At the time when Duke Robert, the father of
+William of Normandy, set out upon his pilgrimage, he had no nearer
+relative than Alain, Duke of Brittany, the father of Conan II,
+descended in the female line from Rollo, the great Norse leader, and
+to him he committed on his departure the care of his duchy and the
+guardianship of his son.
+
+Duke Alain declared the paternity of his ward doubtful, and favoured
+that party which desired to set him aside from the succession; but
+after the defeat of his faction at Val-�s-Dunes he died, apparently of
+poison, doubtless administered by the contrivance of the friends of
+William. His son, Conan II, succeeded, and reigned at the period when
+William was making his preparations for the conquest of England. He
+was a prince of ability, dreaded by his neighbours, and animated by a
+fierce desire to injure the Duke of Normandy, whom he regarded as a
+usurper and the murderer of his father Alain. Seeing William engaged
+in a hazardous enterprise, Conan thought it a favourable moment to
+declare war against him, and dispatched one of his chamberlains to him
+with the following message: "I hear that you are ready to pass the sea
+to make conquest of the kingdom of England. Now, Duke Robert, whose
+son you feign to consider yourself, on his departure for Jerusalem
+left all his inheritance to Duke Alain, my father, who was his cousin;
+but you and your abettors have poisoned my father, you have
+appropriated to yourself the domain of Normandy, and have kept
+possession of it until this day, contrary to all right, since you are
+not the legitimate heir. Restore to me, therefore, the duchy of
+Normandy, which belongs to me, or I shall levy war upon you, and shall
+wage it to extremity with all my forces."
+
+
+_The Poisoned Hunting-Horn_
+
+The Norman historians state that William was much startled by so
+hostile a message; for even a feeble diversion might render futile his
+ambitious hopes of conquest. But without hesitation he resolved to
+remove the Breton Duke. Immediately upon his return to Conan, the
+envoy, gained over, doubtless, by a bribe of gold, rubbed poison into
+the inside of the horn which his master sounded when hunting, and, to
+make his evil measures doubly sure, he poisoned in like manner the
+Duke's gloves and his horse's bridle. Conan died a few days after his
+envoy's return, and his successor, Eudo, took especial care not to
+imitate his relative in giving offence to William with regard to the
+validity of his right; on the contrary, he formed an alliance with
+him, a thing unheard of betwixt Breton and Norman, and sent his two
+sons to William's camp to serve against the English.
+
+These two youths, Brian and Alain, repaired to the rendezvous of the
+Norman forces, accompanied by a body of Breton knights, who styled
+them Mac-tierns.[5] Certain other wealthy Bretons, who were not of the
+pure Celtic race, and who bore French names, as Robert de Vitry,
+Bertrand de Dinan, and Raoul de Gael, resorted likewise to the Court
+of the Duke of Normandy with offers of service.
+
+Later Brittany became a bone of contention between France and
+Normandy. Hoel, the native Duke, claimed the protection of France
+against the Norman duchy. A long period of peace followed under Alain
+Fergant and Conan III, but on the death of the latter a fierce war of
+succession was waged (1148-56). Conan IV secured the ducal crown by
+Norman-English aid, and gave his daughter Constance in marriage to
+Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Henry II of England. Geoffrey was crowned
+Duke of Brittany in 1171, but after his death his son Arthur met with
+a dreadful fate at the hands of his uncle, John of England. Constance,
+his mother, the real heiress to the duchy, married again, her choice
+falling upon Guy de Thouars, and their daughter was wed to Pierre de
+Dreux, who became Duke, and who defeated John Lackland, the slayer of
+his wife's half-brother, under the walls of Nantes in 1214.
+
+
+_French Influence_
+
+The country now began to flourish apace because of the many
+innovations introduced into it by the wisdom of its French rulers. A
+new way of life was adopted by the governing classes, among whom
+French manners and fashions became the rule. But the people at large
+retained their ancient customs, language, and dress; nor have they
+ever abandoned them, at least in Lower Brittany. On the death of John
+III (1341) the peace of the duchy was once more broken by a war of
+succession. John had no love for his half-brother, John of Montfort,
+and bequeathed the ducal coronet to his niece, Joan of Penthi�vre,
+wife of Charles of Blois, nephew of Philip VI of France. This
+precipitated a conflict between the rival parties which led to years
+of bitter strife.
+
+
+_The War of the Two Joans_
+
+Just as two women, Fredegonda and Brunhilda, swayed the fortunes of
+Neustria and Austrasia in Merovingian times, and Mary and Elizabeth
+those of England and Scotland at a later day, so did two heroines
+arise to uphold the banners of either party in the civil strife which
+now convulsed the Breton land. England took the side of Montfort and
+the French that of Charles. Almost at the outset (1342) John of
+Montfort was taken prisoner, but his heroic wife, Joan of Flanders,
+grasped the leadership of affairs, and carried on a relentless war
+against her husband's enemies. After five years of fighting, in 1347,
+and two years subsequent to the death of her lord, whose health had
+given way after his imprisonment, she captured her arch-foe, Charles
+of Blois himself, at the battle of La Roche-Derrien, on the Jaudy. In
+this encounter she had the assistance of a certain Sir Thomas Dagworth
+and an English force. Three times was Charles rescued, and thrice was
+he retaken, until, bleeding from eighteen wounds, he was compelled to
+surrender. He was sent to London, where he was confined in the Tower
+for nine years. Meanwhile his wife, Joan, imitating her rival and
+namesake, in turn threw her energies into the strife. But another
+victory for the Montfort party was gained at Mauron in 1352. On the
+release of Charles of Blois in 1356 he renewed hostilities with the
+help of the famous Bertrand Du Guesclin.
+
+
+_Bertrand Du Guesclin_
+
+Bertrand Du Guesclin (_c._ 1320-80), Constable of France, divides with
+Bayard the Fearless the crown of medieval French chivalry as a mighty
+leader of men, a great soldier, and a blameless knight. He was born of
+an ancient family who were in somewhat straitened circumstances, and
+in childhood was an object of aversion to his parents because of his
+ugliness.
+
+One night his mother dreamt that she was in possession of a casket
+containing portraits of herself and her lord, on one side of which
+were set nine precious stones of great beauty encircling a rough,
+unpolished pebble. In her dream she carried the casket to a lapidary,
+and asked him to take out the rough stone as unworthy of such goodly
+company; but he advised her to allow it to remain, and afterward it
+shone forth more brilliantly than the lustrous gems. The later
+superiority of Bertrand over her nine other children fulfilled the
+mother's dream.
+
+At the tournament which was held at Rennes in 1338 to celebrate the
+marriage of Charles of Blois with Joan of Penthi�vre, young Bertrand,
+at that time only some eighteen years old, unhorsed the most famous
+competitors. During the war between Blois and Montfort he gathered
+round him a band of adventurers and fought on the side of Charles V,
+doing much despite to the forces of Montfort and his ally of England.
+
+Du Guesclin's name lives in Breton legend as Gwezklen, perhaps the
+original form, and approximating to that on his tomb at Saint-Denis,
+where he lies at the feet of Charles V of France. In this inscription
+it is spelt "Missire Bertram du Gueaquien," perhaps a French rendering
+of the Breton pronunciation. Not a few legendary ballads which recount
+the exploits of this manly and romantic figure remain in the Breton
+language, and I have made a free translation of the following, as it
+is perhaps the most interesting of the number:
+
+
+THE WARD OF DU GUESCLIN
+
+  Trogoff's strong tower in English hands
+  Has been this many a year,
+  Rising above its subject-lands
+  And held in hate and fear.
+  That rosy gleam upon the sward
+  Is not the sun's last kiss;
+  It is the blood of an English lord
+  Who ruled the land amiss.
+
+  "O sweetest daughter of my heart,
+  My little Marguerite,
+  Come, carry me the midday milk
+  To those who bind the wheat."
+  "O gentle mother, spare me this!
+  The castle I must pass
+  Where wicked Roger takes a kiss
+  From every country lass."
+
+  "Oh! fie, my daughter, fie on thee!
+  The Seigneur would not glance
+  On such a chit of low degree
+  When all the dames in France
+  Are for his choosing." "Mother mine,
+  I bow unto your word.
+  Mine eyes will ne'er behold you more.
+  God keep you in His guard."
+
+  Young Roger stood upon the tower
+  Of Trogoff's grey ch�teau;
+  Beneath his bent brows did he lower
+  Upon the scene below.
+  "Come hither quickly, little page,
+  Come hither to my knee.
+  Canst spy a maid of tender age?
+  Ha! she must pay my fee."
+
+  Fair Marguerite trips swiftly by
+  Beneath the castle shade,
+  When villain Roger, drawing nigh,
+  Steals softly on the maid.
+  He seizes on the milking-pail
+  She bears upon her head;
+  The snow-white flood she must bewail,
+  For all the milk is shed.
+
+  "Ah, cry not, pretty sister mine,
+  There's plenty and to spare
+  Of milk and eke of good red wine
+  Within my castle fair.
+  Ah, feast with me, or pluck a rose
+  Within my pleasant garth,
+  Or stroll beside yon brook which flows
+  In brawling, sylvan mirth."
+
+  "Nor feast nor flowers nor evening air
+  I wish; I do entreat,
+  Fair Seigneur, let me now repair
+  To those who bind the wheat."
+  "Nay, damsel, fill thy milking-pail:
+  The dairy stands but here.
+  Ah, foolish sweeting, wherefore quail,
+  For thou hast naught to fear?"
+
+  The castle gates behind her close,
+  And all is fair within;
+  Above her head the apple glows,
+  The symbol of our sin.
+  "O Seigneur, lend thy dagger keen,
+  That I may cut this fruit."
+  He smiles and with a courteous mien
+  He draws the bright blade out.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEATH OF MARGUERITE IN THE CASTLE OF TROGOFF]
+
+  She takes it, and in earnest prayer
+  Her childish accents rise:
+  "O mother, Virgin, ever fair,
+  Pray, pray, for her who dies
+  For honour!" Then the blade is drenched
+  With blood most innocent.
+  Vile Roger, now, thine ardour quenched,
+  Say, art thou then content?
+
+  "Ha, I will wash my dagger keen
+  In the clear-running brook.
+  No human eye hath ever seen,
+  No human eye shall look
+  Upon this gore." He takes the blade
+  From out that gentle heart,
+  And hurries to the river's shade.
+  False Roger, why dost start?
+
+  Beside the bank Du Guesclin stands,
+  Clad in his sombre mail.
+  "Ha, Roger, why so red thy hands,
+  And why art thou so pale?"
+  "A beast I've slain." "Thou liest, hound!
+  But I a beast will slay."
+  The woodland's leafy ways resound
+  To echoings of fray.
+
+  Roger is slain. Trogoff's ch�teau
+  Is level with the rock.
+  Who can withstand Du Guesclin's blow,
+  What towers can brave his shock?
+  The combat is his only joy,
+  The tournament his play.
+  Woe unto those who would destroy
+  The peace of Brittany!
+
+In the decisive battle of Auray (1364) Charles was killed and Du
+Guesclin taken prisoner. John of Montfort, son of the John who had
+died, became Duke of Brittany. But he had to face Oliver de Clisson,
+round whom the adherents of Blois rallied. From a war the strife
+degenerated into a vendetta. Oliver de Clisson seized the person of
+John V and imprisoned him. But in the end John was liberated and the
+line of Blois was finally crushed.
+
+
+_Anne of Brittany_
+
+The next event of importance in Breton history is the enforced
+marriage of Anne of Brittany, Duchess of that country in her own
+right, to Charles VIII of France, son of Louis XI, which event took
+place in 1491. Anne, whose father, Duke Francis II, had but recently
+died, had no option but to espouse Charles, and on his death she
+married Louis XII, his successor. Francis I, who succeeded Louis XII
+on the throne of France, and who married Claude, daughter of Louis XII
+and Anne, annexed the duchy in 1532, providing for its privileges. But
+beneath the cramping hand of French power the privileges of the
+province were greatly reduced. From this time the history of Brittany
+is merged in that of France, of which country it becomes one of the
+component parts in a political if not a racial sense.
+
+We shall not in this place deal with the people of modern Brittany,
+their manners and customs, reserving the subject for a later chapter,
+but shall ask the reader to accompany us while we traverse the
+enchanted ground of Breton story.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+   [1] Consult E. Ernault, _Petite Grammaire bretonne_ (Saint-Brieuc,
+       1897); L. Le Clerc, _Grammaire bretonne_ (Saint-Brieuc,
+       1908); J. P. Treasure, _An Introduction to Breton Grammar_
+       (Carmarthen, 1903). For the dialect of Vannes see A.
+       Guillevic and P. Le Goff, _Grammaire bretonne du Dialect de
+       Vannes_ (Vannes, 1902).
+
+   [2] Lit. 'long stone,' a megalithic monument. See Chapter II,
+       "Menhirs and Dolmens." Students of folk-lore will recognize the
+       symbolic significance of the offering. We seem to have here
+       some connexion with pillar-worship, as found in ancient Crete,
+       and the adoration of the Irminsul among the ancient Saxons.
+
+   [3] Charles the Bald.
+
+   [4] For the Breton original and the French translation from which the
+       above is adapted see Villemarqu�, _Barzaz-Breiz_, p. 112.
+
+   [5] 'Sons of the Chief.' MacTier is a fairly common name in Scotland
+       to-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II: MENHIRS AND DOLMENS
+
+
+In the mind of the general reader Brittany is unalterably associated
+with the prehistoric stone monuments which are so closely identified
+with its folk-lore and national life. In other parts of the world
+similar monuments are encountered, in Great Britain and Ireland,
+Scandinavia, the Crimea, Algeria, and India, but nowhere are they
+found in such abundance as in Brittany, nor are these rivalled in
+other lands, either as regards their character or the space they
+occupy.
+
+To speculate as to the race which built the primitive stone monuments
+of Brittany is almost as futile as it would be to theorize upon the
+date of their erection.[6] A generation ago it was usual to refer all
+European megalithic monuments to a 'Celtic' origin, but European
+ethnological problems have become too complicated of late years to
+permit such a theory to pass unchallenged, especially now that the
+term 'Celt' is itself matter for fierce controversy. In the immediate
+neighbourhood of certain of these monuments objects of the Iron Age
+are recovered from the soil, while near others the finds are of Bronze
+Age character, so that it is probably correct to surmise that their
+construction continued throughout a prolonged period.
+
+
+_What Menhirs and Dolmens are_
+
+Regarding the nomenclature of the several species of megalithic
+monuments met with in Brittany some definitions are necessary. A
+menhir is a rude monolith set up on end, a great single stone, the
+base of which is buried deep in the soil. A dolmen is a large,
+table-shaped stone, supported by three, four, or even five other
+stones, the bases of which are sunk in the earth. In Britain the term
+'cromlech' is synonymous with that of 'dolmen,' but in France and on
+the Continent generally it is exclusively applied to that class of
+monument for which British scientists have no other name than 'stone
+circles.' The derivation of the words from Celtic and their precise
+meaning in that tongue may assist the reader to arrive at their exact
+significance. Thus 'menhir' seems to be derived from the Welsh or
+Brythonic _maen_, 'a stone,' and _hir_, 'long,' and 'dolmen' from
+Breton _taol_, 'table,' and _men_, 'a stone.'[7] 'Cromlech' is also of
+Welsh or Brythonic origin, and is derived from _crom_, 'bending' or
+'bowed' (hence 'laid across'), and _llech_, 'a flat stone.' The _all�e
+couverte_ is a dolmen on a large scale.
+
+
+_The Nature of the Monuments_
+
+The nature of these monuments and the purpose for which they were
+erected were questions which powerfully exercised the minds of the
+antiquaries of a century ago, who fiercely contended for their use as
+altars, open-air temples, and places of rendezvous for the discussion
+of tribal affairs. The cooler arch�ologists of a later day have
+discarded the majority of such theories as untenable in the light of
+hard facts. The dolmens, they say, are highly unsuitable for the
+purpose of altars, and as it has been proved that this class of
+monument was invariably covered in prehistoric times by an earthen
+tumulus its ritualistic use is thereby rendered improbable. Moreover,
+if we chance upon any rude carving or incised work on dolmens we
+observe that it is invariably executed on the _lower_ surface of the
+table stone, the upper surface being nearly always rough, unhewn,
+often naturally rounded, and as unlike the surface of an altar as
+possible.
+
+Recent research has established the much more reasonable theory that
+these monuments are sepulchral in character, and that they mark the
+last resting-places of persons of tribal importance, chiefs, priests,
+or celebrated warriors. Occasionally legend assists us to prove the
+mortuary character of menhir and dolmen. But, without insisting any
+further for the present upon the purpose of these monuments, let us
+glance at the more widely known of Brittany's prehistoric structures,
+not so much in the manner of the arch�ologist as in that of the
+observant traveller who is satisfied to view them as interesting
+relics of human handiwork bequeathed from a darker age, rather than as
+objects to satisfy the arch�ological taste for discussion.
+
+For this purpose we shall select the best known groups of Breton
+prehistoric structures, and shall begin our excursion at the
+north-eastern extremity of Brittany, following the coast-line, on
+which most of the principal prehistoric centres are situated, and, as
+occasion offers, journeying into the interior in search of famous or
+interesting examples.
+
+
+_Dol_
+
+Dol is situated in the north of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine,
+not far from the sea-coast. Near it, in a field called the Champ
+Dolent ('Field of Woe'), stands a gigantic menhir, about thirty feet
+high and said to measure fifteen more underground. It is composed of
+grey granite, and is surmounted by a cross. The early Christian
+missionaries, finding it impossible to wean the people from
+frequenting pagan neighbourhoods, surmounted the standing stones
+with the symbol of their faith, and this in time brought about the
+result desired.[8]
+
+
+_The Legend of Dol_
+
+A strange legend is connected with this rude menhir. On a day in the
+dark, uncharted past of Brittany a fierce battle was fought in the
+Champ Dolent. Blood ran in streams, sufficient, says the tale, to turn
+a mill-wheel in the neighbourhood of the battlefield. When the combat
+was at its height two brothers met and grappled in fratricidal strife.
+But ere they could harm one another the great granite shaft which now
+looms above the field rose up between them and separated them.
+
+There appears to be some historical basis for the tale. Here, or in
+the neighbourhood, A.D. 560, met Clotaire, King of the Franks, and his
+son, the rebel Chramne. The rebellious son was signally defeated. He
+had placed his wife and two little daughters in a dwelling hard by,
+and as he made his way thence to convey them from the field he was
+captured. He was instantly strangled, by order of his brutal father,
+in the sight of his wife and little ones, who were then burned alive
+in the house where they had taken refuge. The Champ Dolent does not
+belie its name, and even thirteen centuries and a half have failed to
+obliterate the memory of a savage and unnatural crime, which, its
+remoteness notwithstanding, fills the soul with loathing against its
+perpetrators and with deep pity for the hapless and innocent victims.
+
+
+_A Subterranean Dolmen Chapel_
+
+At Plouaret, in the department of C�tes-du-Nord, is a curious
+subterranean chapel incorporating a dolmen. The dolmen was formerly
+partially embedded in a tumulus, and the chapel, erected in 1702, was
+so constructed that the great table-stone of the dolmen has become the
+chapel roof, and the supporting stones form two of its sides. The
+crypt is reached by a flight of steps, and here may be seen an altar
+to the Seven Sleepers, represented by seven dolls of varying size. The
+Bretons have a legend that this structure dates from the creation of
+the world, and they have embodied this belief in a ballad, in which it
+is piously affirmed that the shrine was built by the hand of the
+Almighty at the time when the world was in process of formation.
+
+
+_Camaret_
+
+Camaret, on the coast of Finist�re, is the site of no less than
+forty-one standing stones of quartz, which outline a rectangular space
+600 yards in length at its base. Many stones have been removed, so
+that the remaining sides are incomplete. None of these monoliths is of
+any considerable size, however, and the site is not considered to be
+of much importance, save as regards its isolated character. At
+Penmarch, in the southern extremity of Finist�re, there is an
+'alignment' of some two hundred small stones, and a dolmen of some
+importance is situated at Tr�gunc, but it is at Carnac, on the coast
+of Morbihan, that we arrive at the most important arch�ological
+district in Brittany.
+
+
+_Carnac_
+
+The Carnac district teems with prehistoric monuments, the most
+celebrated of which are those of Plouharnel, Concarneau, Concurrus,
+Locmariaquer, Kermario, Kerlescant, Erdeven, and Sainte-Barbe. All
+these places are situated within a few miles of one another, and a
+good centre from which excursions can be made to each is the little
+town of Auray, with its quaint medieval market-house and shrine of St
+Roch. Arch�ologists, both Breton and foreign, appear to be agreed that
+the groups of stones at M�n�ac, Kermario, and Kerlescant are portions
+of one original and continuous series of alignments which extended for
+nearly two miles in one direction from south-west to north-east. The
+monolithic avenue commences quite near the village of M�n�ac,
+stretching away in eleven rows, and here the large stones are
+situated, these at first rising to a height of from 10 to 13 feet, and
+becoming gradually smaller, until they attain only 3 or 4 feet. In all
+there are 116 menhirs at M�n�ac. For more than three hundred yards
+there is a gap in the series, which passed, we come to the Kermario
+avenue, which consists of ten rows of monoliths of much the same size
+as those of M�n�ac, and 1120 in number.
+
+Passing on to Kerlescant, with its thirteen rows of menhirs made up of
+570 individual stones, we come to the end of the avenue and gaze
+backward upon the plain covered with these indestructible symbols of a
+forgotten past.
+
+Carnac! There is something vast, Egyptian, in the name! There is,
+indeed, a Karnak in Egypt, celebrated for its Avenue of Sphinxes and
+its pillared temple raised to the goddess Mut by King Amenophis III.
+Here, in the Breton Carnac, are no evidences of architectural skill.
+These sombre stones, unworked, rude as they came from cliff or
+seashore, are not embellished by man's handiwork like the rich temples
+of the Nile. But there is about this stone-littered moor a mystery, an
+atmosphere no less intense than that surrounding the most solemn ruins
+of antiquity. Deeper even than the depths of Egypt must we sound if we
+are to discover the secret of Carnac. What mean these stones? What
+means faith? What signifies belief? What is the answer to the Riddle
+of Man? In the words of Cayot D�landre, a Breton poet:
+
+  Tout cela eut un sens, et traduisit
+  Une pens�e; mais cl� de ce myst�re,
+  O� est elle? et qui pourrait dire aujourd'hui
+  Si jamais elle se retrouvera?[9]
+
+
+_A Vision_
+
+Over this wild, heathy track, covered with the blue flowers of the
+dwarf gentian, steals a subtle change. Nor air nor heath has altered.
+The lichen-covered grey stones are the same. Suddenly there arises the
+burden of a low, fierce chant. A swarm of skin-clad figures appears,
+clustering around a gigantic object which they are painfully dragging
+toward a deep pit situated at the end of one of the enormous alleys of
+monoliths. On rudely shaped rollers rests a huge stone some twenty
+feet in length, and this they drag across the rough moor by ropes of
+hide, lightening their labours by the chant, which relates the
+exploits of the warrior-chief who has lately been entombed in this
+vast pantheon of Carnac. The menhir shall serve for his headstone. It
+has been vowed to him by the warriors of his tribe, his henchmen, who
+have fought and hunted beside him, and who revere his memory. This
+stone shall render his fame immortal.
+
+And now the task of placing the huge monolith in position begins.
+Ropes are attached to one extremity, and while a line of brawny
+savages strains to raise this, others guide that end of the monolith
+destined for enclosure in the earth toward the pit which has been dug
+for its reception. Higher and higher rises the stone, until at last it
+sinks slowly into its earthy bed. It is held in an upright position
+while the soil is packed around it and it is made secure. Then the
+barbarians stand back a space and gaze at it from beneath their low
+brows, well pleased with their handiwork. He whom they honoured in
+life rests not unrecognized in death.
+
+[Illustration: RAISING A MENHIR]
+
+
+_The Legend of Carnac_
+
+The legend of Carnac which explains these avenues of monoliths bears a
+resemblance to the Cornish story of 'the Hurlers,' who were turned
+into stone for playing at hurling on the Lord's Day, or to that other
+English example from Cumberland of 'Long Meg' and her daughters. St
+Cornely, we are told, pursued by an army of pagans, fled toward the
+sea. Finding no boat at hand, and on the point of being taken, he
+transformed his pursuers into stones, the present monoliths.
+
+The Saint had made his flight to the coast in a bullock-cart, and
+perhaps for this reason he is now regarded as the patron of cattle.
+Should a bullock fall sick, his owner purchases an image of St Cornely
+and hangs it up in the stable until the animal recovers. The church at
+Carnac contains a series of fresco paintings which outline events in
+the life of the Saint, and in the churchyard there is a representation
+of the holy man between two bullocks. The head of St Cornely is said
+to be preserved within the edifice as a relic. On the 13th of
+September is held at Carnac the festival of the 'Benediction of the
+Beasts,' which is celebrated in honour of St Cornely. The cattle of
+the district are brought to the vicinity of the church and blessed by
+the priests--should sufficient monetary encouragement be forthcoming.
+
+
+_Mont-Saint-Michel_
+
+In the neighbourhood is Mont-Saint-Michel,[10] a great tumulus with a
+sepulchral dolmen, first excavated in 1862, when late Stone Age
+implements, jade celts, and burnt bones were unearthed. Later M.
+Zacharie Le Rouzic, the well-known Breton arch�ologist, tunnelled into
+the tumulus, and discovered a mortuary chamber, in which were the
+incinerated remains of two oxen. To this tumulus each pilgrim added a
+stone or small quantity of earth, as has been the custom in Celtic
+countries from time immemorial, and so the funerary mound in the
+course of countless generations grew into quite a respectable hill,
+on which a chapel was built, dedicated to St Michael, from the doorway
+of which a splendid prospect of the great stone alignments can be had,
+with, for background, the Morbihan and the long, dreary peninsula of
+Quiberon, bleak, treeless, and deserted.
+
+
+_Rocenaud_
+
+Near Carnac is the great dolmen of Rocenaud, the 'cup-and-ring'
+markings on which are thought by the surrounding peasantry to have
+been made by the knees and elbows of St Roch, who fell upon this stone
+when he landed from Ireland. When the natives desire a wind they knock
+upon the depressions with their knuckles, murmuring spells the while,
+just as in Scotland in the seventeenth century a tempest was raised by
+dipping a rag in water and beating it on a stone thrice in the name of
+Satan.
+
+
+_Cup-and-Ring Markings_
+
+What do these cup-and-ring markings so commonly discovered upon the
+monuments of Brittany portend? The question is one well worth
+examining at some length, as it appears to be almost at the
+foundations of Neolithic religion. Recent discoveries in New Caledonia
+have proved the existence in these far-off islands, as in Brittany,
+Scotland, and Ireland, of these strange symbols, coupled with the
+concentric and spiral designs which are usually associated with the
+genius of Celtic art. In the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and in the
+south-west of Scotland generally, stones inscribed with designs
+closely resembling those on the New Caledonian rocks have been found
+in abundance, as at Auchentorlie and Cockno, Shewalton Sands, and in
+the Milton of Colquhoun district, where the famous 'cup-and-ring
+altar' was discovered. At Shewalton Sands in particular, in 1904, a
+number of stones were found bearing crosses like those discovered in
+Portugal by Father Jos� Brenha and Father Rodriguez. These symbols
+have a strong resemblance to certain markings on the Breton rocks, and
+are thought to possess an alphabetic or magical significance. In
+Scotland spirals are commonly found on stones marked with ogham
+inscriptions, and it is remarkable that they should occur in New
+Caledonia in connexion with a dot 'alphabet.' The New Caledonian
+crosses, however, approximate more to the later crosses of Celtic art,
+while the spirals resemble those met with in the earlier examples of
+Celtic work. But the closest parallel to the New Caledonian
+stone-markings to be found in Scotland is supplied by the examples at
+Cockno, in Dumbartonshire, where the wheel symbol is associated with
+the cup-and-ring markings.
+
+The cup-and-ring stones used to be considered the peculiar product of
+a race of 'Brythonic' or British origin, and it is likely that the
+stones so carved were utilized in the ritual of rain-worship or
+rain-making by sympathetic magic. The grooves in the stone were
+probably filled with water to typify a country partially covered with
+rain-water.[11]
+
+From these analogies, then, we can glean the purpose of the
+cup-and-ring markings upon the dolmens of Brittany, and may conclude,
+if our considerations are well founded, that they were magical in
+purpose and origin. Do the cup-shaped depressions represent water, or
+are they receptacles for rain, and do the spiral symbols typify the
+whirling winds?
+
+
+_The Gallery of Gavr'inis_
+
+Nowhere are these mysterious markings so well exemplified as in the
+wonderful tumulus of Gavr'inis. This ancient place of sepulture, the
+name of which means 'Goat Island,' lies in the Morbihan, or 'Little
+Sea,' an inland sea which gives its name to a department in the south
+of Brittany. The tumulus is 25 feet high, and covers a fine gallery 40
+feet long, the stones of which bear the markings alluded to. Whorls
+and circles abound in the ornamentation, serpent-like figures, and the
+representation of an axe, similar to those to be seen in some of the
+Grottes aux F�es, or on the Dol des Marchands. The sculptures appear
+to have been executed with metal tools. The passage ends in a square
+sepulchral chamber, the supports of which are eight menhirs of grained
+granite, a stone not found on the island. Such of the menhirs as are
+carved were obviously so treated before they were placed _in situ_, as
+the design passes round the edges.
+
+
+_The Ile aux Moines_
+
+The Ile aux Moines ('Monks' Island') is also situated in the Morbihan,
+and has many prehistoric monuments, the most extensive of which are
+the circle of stones at Kergonan and the dolmen of Penhapp. On the Ile
+d'Arz, too, are megalithic monuments, perhaps the best example of
+which is the cromlech or circle at Penraz.
+
+The folk-beliefs attached to the megalithic monuments of Brittany are
+numerous, but nearly all of them bear a strong resemblance to each
+other. Many of the monuments are called Grottes aux F�es or Roches aux
+F�es, in the belief that the fairies either built them or used them as
+dwelling-places, and variants of these names are to be found in the
+Maison des Follets ('House of the Goblins') at Cancoet, in Morbihan,
+and the Ch�teau des Paulpiquets, in Questembert, in the same district.
+Ty en Corygannt ('The House of the Korrigans') is situated in the same
+department, while near Penmarch, in Finist�re, at the other end of the
+province, we find Ty C'harriquet ('The House of the Gorics' or
+'Nains'). Other mythical personages are also credited with their
+erection, most frequently either the devil or Gargantua being held
+responsible for their miraculous creation. The phenomenon, well known
+to students of folk-lore, that an unlettered people speedily forgets
+the origin of monuments that its predecessors may have raised in times
+past is well exemplified in Brittany, whose peasant-folk are usually
+surprised, if not amused, at the question "Who built the dolmens?"
+Close familiarity with and contiguity to uncommon objects not
+infrequently dulls the sense of wonder they should otherwise naturally
+excite. But lest we feel tempted to sneer at these poor folk for their
+incurious attitude toward the visible antiquities of their land, let
+us ask ourselves how many of us take that interest in the antiquities
+of our own country or our own especial locality that they demand.[12]
+
+
+_Fairy Builders_
+
+For the most part, then, the megaliths, in the opinion of the Breton
+peasant, are not the handiwork of man. He would rather refer their
+origin to spirits, giants, or fiends. If he makes any exception to
+this supernatural attribution, it is in favour of the saints he
+reverences so profoundly. The fairies, he says, harnessed their oxen
+to the mighty stones, selected a site, and dragged them thither to
+form a dwelling, or perhaps a cradle for the infant fays they were so
+fond of exchanging for human children. Thus the Roches aux F�es near
+Saint-Didier, in Ille-et-Vilaine, were raised by fairy hands, the
+elves collecting "all the big stones in the country" and carrying them
+thither in their aprons. These architectural sprites then mounted on
+each other's shoulders in order that they might reach high enough to
+place the mighty monoliths securely in position. This practice they
+also followed in building the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, on the
+road from Dinan to Dol, say the people of that country-side.
+
+But the actual purpose of the megaliths has not been neglected by
+tradition, for a venerable farmer at Rouvray stated that the fairies
+were wont to honour after their death those who had made good use of
+their lives and built the dolmens to contain their ashes. The presence
+of such a shrine in a country-side was a guarantee of abundance and
+prosperity therein, as a subtle and indefinable charm spread from the
+saintly remnants and communicated itself to everything in the
+neighbourhood.[13] The fairy builders, says tradition, went about
+their work in no haphazard manner. Those among them who possessed a
+talent for design drew the plans of the proposed structure, the less
+gifted acting as carriers, labourers, and masons. Apron-carrying was
+not their only method of porterage, for some bore the stones on their
+heads, or one under each arm, as when they raised the Roche aux F�es
+in Retiers, or the dolmen in La Lande Marie.[14] The space of a night
+was usually sufficient in which to raise a dolmen. But though 'run up'
+with more than Transatlantic dispatch, in view of the time these
+structures have endured for, any charge of jerry-building against
+their elfin architects must fall to the ground. Daylight, too,
+frequently surprised the fairy builders, so that they could not finish
+their task, as many a 'roofless' dolmen shows.
+
+There are many Celtic parallels to this belief. For example, it is
+said that the Picts, or perhaps the fairies, built the original church
+of Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, and stood in a row handing the stones
+on, one to another, from Ravelston Quarry, on the adjacent hill of
+Corstorphine. Such is the local folk-tale; and it has its congeners in
+Celtic and even in Hindu myth. Thus in the Highland tale of Kennedy
+and the _claistig_, or fairy, whom he captured, and whom he compelled
+to build him a house in one night, we read that she set her people to
+work speedily:
+
+  And they brought flags and stones
+  From the shores of Cliamig waterfall,
+  Reaching them from hand to hand.[15]
+
+Again, the Round Tower of Ardmore, in Ireland, was built with stones
+brought from Slieve Grian, a mountain some four or five miles distant,
+"without horse or wheel," the blocks being passed from hand to hand
+from the quarry to the site of the building. The same tradition
+applied to the Round Tower of Abernethy, in Perthshire, only it is in
+this case demonstrated that the stone of which the tower is composed
+was actually taken from the traditional quarry, even the very spot
+being geologically identified.[16] In like manner, too, was Rama's
+bridge built by the monkey host in Hindu myth, as recounted in the
+_Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata_ and the _R[=a]m[=a]yana_.
+
+Tales, as apart from beliefs, are not often encountered in connexion
+with the monuments. Indeed, S�billot, in the course of his researches,
+found only some dozen of these all told.[17] They are very brief,
+and appear for the most part to deal with fairies who have been shut
+up by the power of magic in a dolmen. Tales of spirits enclosed in
+trees, and even in pillars, are not uncommon, and lately I have
+heard a peculiarly fearsome ghost story which comes from Belgium, in
+which it is related how certain spirits had become enclosed in a
+pillar in an ancient abbey, for the saintly occupants of which they
+made it particularly uncomfortable. Mr George Henderson, in one of
+the most masterly and suggestive studies of Celtic survivals ever
+published, states that stones in the Highlands of Scotland were
+formerly believed to have souls, and that those too large to be moved
+"were held to be in intimate connexion with spirits." Pillared
+stones are not employed in building dwellings in the Highlands,
+ill luck, it is believed, being sure to follow their use in this
+manner, while to 'meddle' with stones which tradition connects with
+Druidism is to court fatality.[18]
+
+
+_Stones that Travel_
+
+M. Salomon Reinach tells us of the Breton belief that certain sacred
+stones go once a year or once a century to 'wash' themselves in the
+sea or in a river, returning to their ancient seats after their
+ablutions.[19] The stones in the dolmen of Ess� are thought to change
+their places continually, like those of Callernish and Lewis, and,
+like the Roman Penates, to have the gift of coming and going if
+removed from their habitual site.
+
+The megalithic monuments of Brittany are undoubtedly the most
+remarkable relics of that epoch of prehistoric activity which is now
+regarded as the immediate forerunner of civilization. Can it be that
+they were miraculously preserved by isolation from the remote
+beginnings of that epoch, or is it more probable that they were
+constructed at a relatively late period? These are questions of
+profound difficulty, and it is likely that both theories contain a
+certain amount of truth. Whatever may have been the origin of her
+megaliths, Brittany must ever be regarded as a great prehistoric
+museum, a unique link with a past of hoary antiquity.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+   [6] That it was Neolithic seems undoubted, and in all probability
+       Alpine--_i.e._ the same race as presently inhabits Brittany.
+       See Dottin, _Anciens Peuples de l'Europe_ (Paris, 1916).
+
+   [7] But _tolmen_ in Cornish meant 'pole of stone.'
+
+   [8] Ostensibly, at least; but see the remarks upon modern pagan
+       survivals in Chapter IX, p. 246.
+
+   [9] Which might be rendered:
+
+         All here is symbol; these grey stones translate
+         A thought ineffable, but where the key?
+         Say, shall it be recovered soon or late,
+         To ope the temple of this mystery?
+
+  [10] Not to be confused, of course, with the well-known island mount
+       of the same name.
+
+  [11] A Scottish sixteenth-century magical verse was chanted over such
+       a stone:
+
+         "I knock this rag wpone this stone,
+         And ask the divell for rain thereon."
+
+  [12] The writer's experience is that unlettered British folk often
+       possess much better information concerning the antiquities of a
+       district than its 'educated' inhabitants. If this information
+       is not scientific it is full and displays deep personal
+       interest.
+
+  [13] _Collectionneur breton_, t. iii, p.55.
+
+  [14] See _Comptes rendus de la Soci�t� des Antiquaries de France_, pp.
+       95 ff. (1836).
+
+  [15] J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_.
+
+  [16] Small, _Antiquities of Fife_.
+
+  [17] _Traditions de la Haute-Bretagne_, t. i, p. 26.
+
+  [18] Henderson, _Survivals in Belief among the Celts_ (1911).
+
+  [19] _Cultes, Mythes, et Religiones_, t. iii, pp. 365-433.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III: THE FAIRIES OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Whatever the origin of the race which conceived the demonology
+of Brittany--and there are indications that it was not wholly
+Celtic--that weird province of Fa�ry bears unmistakable evidence
+of having been deeply impressed by the Celtic imagination, if it
+was not totally peopled by it, for its various inhabitants act in
+the Celtic spirit, are moved by Celtic springs of thought and
+fancy, and possess not a little of that irritability which has
+forced anthropologists to include the Celtic race among those
+peoples described as 'sanguine-bilious.' As a rule they are by
+no means friendly or even humane, these fays of Brittany, and if
+we find beneficent elves within the green forests of the duchy we
+may feel certain that they are French immigrants, and therefore
+more polished than the choleric native sprites.
+
+
+_Broceliande_
+
+Of all the many localities celebrated in the fairy lore of Brittany
+none is so famous as Broceliande. Broceliande! "The sound is like a
+bell," a far, fa�ry chime in a twilit forest. In the name Broceliande
+there seems to be gathered all the tender charm, the rich and haunting
+mystery, the remote magic of Brittany and Breton lore. It is, indeed,
+the title to the rarest book in the library of poetic and traditional
+romance.
+
+"I went to seek out marvels," said old Wace. "The forest I saw, the
+land I saw. I sought marvels, but I found none. A fool I came back, a
+fool I went; a fool I went, a fool I came back; foolishness I sought;
+a fool I hold myself."[20]
+
+Our age, even less sceptical than his, sees no folly in questing for
+the beautiful, and if we expect no marvels, nor any sleight of fa�ry,
+however desirous we are, we do not hold it time lost to plunge into
+the enchanted forest and in its magic half-gloom grope for, and
+perchance grasp, dryad draperies, or be trapped in the filmy webs of
+fancy which are spun in these shadows for unwary mortals.
+
+Standing in dream-girt Broceliande of a hundred legends, its shadows
+mirrored by dim meres that may never reflect the stars, one feels the
+lure of Brittany more keenly even than when walking by its fierce and
+jagged coasts menaced by savage grey seas, or when wandering on its
+vast moors where the monuments of its pagan past stand in gigantic
+disarray. For in the forest is the heart of Arthurian story, the
+shrine of that wonder which has drawn thousands to this land of
+legend, who, like old Wace, trusted to have found, if not elfin
+marvels, at least matter of phantasy conjured up by the legendary
+associations of Broceliande.
+
+But we must beware of each step in these twilit recesses, for the fays
+of Brittany are not as those of other lands. Harsh things are spoken
+of them. They are malignant, say the forest folk. The note of Brittany
+is scarce a joyous one. It is bitter-sweet as a sad chord struck on an
+ancient harp.
+
+The fays of Brittany are not the friends of man. They are not 'the
+good people,' 'the wee folk'; they have no endearing names, the gift
+of a grateful peasantry. Cold and hostile, they hold aloof from human
+converse, and, should they encounter man, vent their displeasure at
+the interruption in the most vindictive manner.
+
+Whether the fairies of Brittany be the late representatives of the
+gods of an elder day or merely animistic spirits who have haunted
+these glades since man first sheltered in them, certain it is that in
+no other region in Europe has Mother Church laid such a heavy ban upon
+all the things of fa�ry as in this strange and isolated peninsula. A
+more tolerant ecclesiastical rule might have weaned them to a timid
+friendship, but all overtures have been discouraged, and to-day they
+are enemies, active, malignant, swift to inflict evil upon the pious
+peasant because he is pious and on the energetic because of his
+industry.
+
+
+_The Korrigan_
+
+Among those forest-beings of whom legend speaks such malice none is
+more relentless than the Korrigan, who has power to enmesh the heart
+of the most constant swain and doom him to perish miserably for love
+of her. Beware of the fountains and of the wells of this forest of
+Broceliande, for there she is most commonly to be encountered, and you
+may know her by her bright hair--"like golden wire," as Spenser says
+of his lady's--her red, flashing eyes, and her laughing lips. But if
+you would dare her wiles you must come alone to her fountain by night,
+for she shuns even the half-gloom that is day in shadowy Broceliande.
+The peasants when they speak of her will assure you that she and her
+kind are pagan princesses of Brittany who would have none of
+Christianity when the holy Apostles brought it to Armorica, and who
+must dwell here under a ban, outcast and abhorred.
+
+
+_The Seigneur of Nann_[21]
+
+The Seigneur of Nann was high of heart, for that day his bride of a
+year had presented him with two beautiful children, a boy and a girl,
+both white as May-blossom. In his joy the happy father asked his wife
+her heart's desire, and she, pining for that which idle fancy urged
+upon her, begged him to bring her a dish of woodcock from the lake in
+the dale, or of venison from the greenwood. The Seigneur of Nann
+seized his lance and, vaulting on his jet-black steed, sought the
+borders of the forest, where he halted to survey the ground for track
+of roe or slot of the red deer. Of a sudden a white doe rose in front
+of him, and was lost in the forest like a silver shadow.
+
+At sight of this fair quarry the Seigneur followed into the greenwood.
+Ever his prey rustled among the leaves ahead, and in the hot chase he
+recked not of the forest depths into which he had plunged. But coming
+upon a narrow glade where the interlacing leaves above let in the sun
+to dapple the moss-ways below, he saw a strange lady sitting by the
+broken border of a well, braiding her fair hair and binding it with
+golden pins.
+
+The Seigneur louted low, begged that he might drink, and bending down
+set his lips to the water; but she, turning strange eyes upon
+him--eyes not blue like those of his bride, nor grey, nor brown, nor
+black, like those of other women, but red in their depths as the
+heart's blood of a dove--spoke to him discourteously.
+
+"Who are you who dare to trouble the waters of my fountain?" she
+asked. "Do you not know that your conduct merits death? This well is
+enchanted, and by drinking of it you are fated to die, unless you
+fulfil a certain condition."
+
+"And what is that?" asked the Seigneur.
+
+"You must marry me within the hour," replied the lady.
+
+"Demoiselle," replied the Seigneur, "it may not be as you desire, for
+I am already espoused to a fair bride who has borne me this very day a
+son and a daughter. Nor shall I die until it pleases the good God.
+Nevertheless, I wot well who you are. Rather would I die on the
+instant than wed with a Korrigan."
+
+Leaping upon his horse, he turned and rode from the woodland as a man
+possessed. As he drew homeward he was overshadowed by a sense of
+coming ill. At the gate of his ch�teau stood his mother, anxious to
+greet him with good news of his bride. But with averted eyes he
+addresses her in the refrain so familiar to the folk-poetry of all
+lands:
+
+  "My good mother, if you love me, make my bed. I am sick unto
+  death. Say not a word to my bride. For within three days I shall
+  be laid in the grave. A Korrigan has done me evil."
+
+Three days later the young spouse asks of her mother-in-law:
+
+"Tell me, mother, why do the bells sound? Wherefore do the priests
+chant so low?"
+
+"'Tis nothing, daughter," replies the elder woman. "A poor stranger
+who lodged here died this night."
+
+"Ah, where is gone the Seigneur of Nann? Mother, oh, where is he?"
+
+[Illustration: THE SEIGNEUR OF NANN AND THE KORRIGAN]
+
+"He has gone to the town, my child. In a little he will come to see
+you."
+
+"Ah, mother, let us speak of happy things. Must I wear my red or my
+blue robe at my churching?"
+
+"Neither, daughter. The mode is changed. You must wear black."
+
+Unconscious in its art, the stream of verse carries us to the church,
+whence the young wife has gone to offer up thanks for the gift of
+children. She sees that the ancestral tomb has been opened, and a
+great dread is at her heart. She asks her mother-in-law who has died,
+and the old woman at last confesses that the Seigneur of Nann has just
+been buried.
+
+That same night the young mother was interred beside her husband-lover.
+And the peasant folk say that from that tomb arose two saplings, the
+branches of which intertwined more closely as they grew.
+
+
+_A Goddess of Eld_
+
+In the depths of Lake Tegid in our own Wales dwelt Keridwen, a
+fertility goddess who possessed a magic cauldron--the sure symbol of a
+deity of abundance.[22] Like Demeter, she was strangely associated
+with the harmless necessary sow, badge of many earth-mothers, and
+itself typical of fertility. Like Keridwen, the Korrigan is associated
+with water, with the element which makes for vegetable growth.
+Christian belief would, of course, transform this discredited goddess
+into an evil being whose one function was the destruction of souls.
+May we see a relation of the Korrigan and Keridwen in Tridwan, or St
+Triduana, of Restalrig, near Edinburgh, who presided over a certain
+well there, and at whose well-shrine offerings were made by sightless
+pilgrims for many centuries?
+
+Many are the traditions which tell of human infants abducted by the
+Korrigan, who at times left an ugly changeling in place of the babe
+she had stolen. But it was more as an enchantress that she was
+dreaded. By a stroke of her magic wand she could transform the leafy
+fastnesses in which she dwelt into the semblance of a lordly hall,
+which the luckless traveller whom she lured thither would regard as a
+paradise after the dark thickets in which he had been wandering. This
+seeming castle or palace she furnished with everything that could
+delight the eye, and as the doomed wretch sat ravished by her beauty
+and that of her nine attendant maidens a fatal passion for her entered
+his heart, so that whatever he cherished most on earth--honour, wife,
+demoiselle, or affianced bride--became as naught to him, and he cast
+himself at the feet of this forest Circe in a frenzy of ardour. But
+with the first ray of daylight the charm was dissolved and the
+Korrigan became a hideous hag, as repulsive as before she had been
+lovely; the walls of her palace and the magnificence which had
+furnished it became once more tree and thicket, its carpets moss, its
+tapestries leaves, its silver cups wild roses, and its dazzling
+mirrors pools of stagnant water.
+
+
+_The Unbroken Vow_[23]
+
+Sir Roland of Brittany rides through gloomy Broceliande a league ahead
+of his troop, unattended by squire or by page. The red cross upon his
+shoulder is witness that he is vowed to service in Palestine, and as
+he passes through the leafy avenues on his way to the rendezvous he
+fears that he will be late, most tardy of all the knights of Brittany
+who have sworn to drive the paynim from the Holy Land. Fearful of such
+disgrace, he spurs his jaded charger on through the haunted forest,
+and with anxious eye watches the sun sink and the gay white moon sail
+high above the tree-tops, pouring light through their branches upon
+the mossy ways below.
+
+A high vow has Roland taken ere setting out upon the crusade--a vow
+that he will eschew the company of fair ladies, in which none had
+delighted more than he. No more must he mingle in the dance, no more
+must he press a maiden's lips with his. He has become a soldier of the
+Cross. He may not touch a lady's hand save with his mailed glove, he
+must not sit by her side. Also must he fast from dusk till dawn upon
+that night of his setting forth. "Small risk," he laughs a little
+sadly, as he spurs his charger onward, "small risk that I be mansworn
+ere morning light."
+
+But the setting of the moon tells him that he must rest in the forest
+until dawn, as without her beams he can no longer pursue his way. So
+he dismounts from his steed, tethers it to a tree, and looks about for
+a bed of moss on which to repose. As he does so his wandering gaze
+fixes upon a beam of light piercing the gloom of the forest. Well
+aware of the traditions of his country, he thinks at first that it is
+only the glimmer of a will-o'-the-wisp or a light carried by a
+wandering elf. But no, on moving nearer the gleam he is surprised to
+behold a row of windows brilliantly lit as if for a festival.
+
+"Now, by my vow," says Roland, "methought I knew well every ch�teau in
+this land of Brittany, nor wist I that seigneur or count held court
+in this forest of Broceliande."
+
+Resolved to view the ch�teau at still closer quarters, he draws near
+it. A great court fronts him where neither groom nor porter keeps
+guard, and within he can see a fair hall. This he enters, and
+immediately his ears are ravished by music which wanders through the
+chamber like a sighing zephyr. The murmur of rich viols and the call
+of flutes soft as distant bird-song speak to his very soul. Yet
+through the ecstasy comes, like a serpent gliding among flowers, the
+discord of evil thoughts. Grasping his rosary, he is about to retire
+when the doors at the end of the hall fly open, and he beholds a
+rapturous vision. Upon a couch of velvet sits a lady of such dazzling
+beauty that all other women compared with her would seem as
+kitchen-wenches. A mantle of rich golden hair falls about her, her
+eyes shine with the brightness of stars, her smile seems heavenly.
+Round her are grouped nine maidens only less beautiful than herself.
+
+As the moon moving among attendant stars, so the lady comes toward
+Roland, accompanied by her maidens. She welcomes him, and would
+remove his gauntlet, but he tells her of the vow he has made to wear
+it in lady's bower, and she is silent. Next she asks him to seat
+himself beside her on the couch, but he will not. In some confusion
+she orders a repast to be brought. A table is spread with fragrant
+viands, but as the knight will partake of none of them, in chagrin the
+lady takes a lute, which she touches with exquisite skill. He listens
+unmoved, till, casting away her instrument, she dances to him,
+circling round and round about him, flitting about his chair like a
+butterfly, until at length she sinks down near him and lays her head
+upon his mailed bosom. Upward she turns her face to him, all
+passion-flushed, her eyes brimming with love. Sir Roland falters.
+Fascinated by her unearthly beauty, he is about to stoop down to
+press his lips to hers. But as he bends his head she shrinks from
+him, for she sees the tender flush of morning above the eastern
+tree-tops. The living stars faint and fail, and the music of awakening
+life which accompanies the rising of the young sun falls upon the
+ear. Slowly the ch�teau undergoes transformation. The glittering roof
+merges into the blue vault of heaven, the tapestried walls become
+the ivied screens of great forest trees, the princely furnishings
+are transformed into mossy banks and mounds, and the rugs and carpets
+beneath Roland's mailed feet are now merged in the forest ways.
+
+But the lady? Sir Roland, glancing down, beholds a hag hideous as sin,
+whose malicious and distorted countenance betrays baffled hate and
+rage. At the sound of a bugle she hurries away with a discordant
+shriek. Into the glade ride Roland's men, to see their lord clasping
+his rosary and kneeling in thanksgiving for his deliverance from the
+evils which beset him. He had been saved from breaking his vow!
+
+The nine attendant maidens of the Korrigan bring to mind a passage in
+Pomponius Mela[24]: "Sena [the Ile de Sein, not far from Brest], in
+the British Sea, opposite the Ofismician coast, is remarkable for an
+oracle of the Gallic god. Its priestesses, holy in perpetual
+virginity, are said to be nine in number. They are called Gallicen�,
+and are thought to be endowed with singular powers. By their charms
+they are able to raise the winds and seas, to turn themselves into
+what animals they will, to cure wounds and diseases incurable by
+others, to know and predict the future. But this they do only for
+navigators, who go thither purposely to consult them."
+
+Like the sylphs and salamanders so humorously described by the Abb� de
+Villars in _Le Comte de Gabalis_,[25] the Korrigans desired union with
+humanity in order that they might thus gain immortality. Such, at
+least, is the current peasant belief in Brittany. "For this end they
+violate all the laws of modesty." This belief is common to all lands,
+and is typical of the fay, the Lorelei, countless well and water
+sprites, and that enchantress who rode off with Thomas the Rhymer:
+
+  For if you dare to kiss my lips
+  Sure of your bodie I shall be.
+
+Unlike the colder Sir Roland, 'True Thomas' dared, and was wafted to a
+realm wondrously described by the old balladeer in the vivid phrase
+that marks the poetry of vision.
+
+
+_Merlin and Vivien_
+
+It was in this same verdant Broceliande that Vivien, another fairy,
+that crafty dame of the enchanted lake, the instructress of Lancelot,
+bound wise Merlin so that he might no more go to Camelot with oracular
+lips to counsel British Arthur.
+
+But what say the folk of Broceliande themselves of this? Let us hear
+their version of a tale which has been so battered by modern
+criticism, and which has been related in at least half a score of
+versions, prose and poetic. Let us have the Broceliande account of
+what happened in Broceliande.[26] Surely its folk, in the very forest
+in which he wandered with Vivien, must know more of Merlin's
+enchantment than we of that greater Britain which he left to find a
+paradise in Britain the Less, for, according to Breton story, Merlin
+was not imprisoned by magic art, but achieved bliss through his love
+for the fairy forest nymph.
+
+Disguised as a young student, Merlin was wandering one bright May
+morning through the leafy glades of Broceliande, when, like the
+Seigneur of Nann, he came to a beautiful fountain in the heart of the
+forest which tempted him to rest. As he sat there in reverie, Vivien,
+daughter of the lord of the manor of Broceliande, came to the water's
+edge. Her father had gained the affection of a fay of the valley, who
+had promised on behalf of their daughter that she should be loved by
+the wisest man in the world, who should grant all her wishes, but
+would never be able to compel her to consent to his.
+
+Vivien reclined upon the other side of the fountain, and the eyes of
+the sage and maiden met. At length Merlin rose to depart, and gave the
+damsel courteous good-day. But she, curious and not content with a
+mere salutation, wished him all happiness and honour. Her voice was
+beautiful, her eyes expressive, and Merlin, moved beyond anything in
+his experience, asked her name. She told him she was a daughter of a
+gentleman of that country, and in turn asked him who he might be.
+
+"A scholar returning to his master," was the reply.
+
+"Your master? And what may he teach you, young sir?"
+
+"He instructs me in the magic art, fair dame," replied Merlin, amused.
+"By aid of his teaching I can raise a castle ere a man could count a
+score, and garrison it with warriors of might. I can make a river flow
+past the spot on which you recline, I can raise spirits from the great
+deeps of ether in which this world rolls, and can peer far into the
+future--aye, to the extreme of human days."
+
+"Would that I shared your wisdom!" cried Vivien, her voice thrilling
+with the desire of hidden things which she had inherited from her
+fairy mother. "Teach me these secrets, I entreat of you, noble
+scholar, and accept in return for your instruction my most tender
+friendship."
+
+Merlin, willing to please her, arose, and traced certain mystical
+characters upon the greensward. Straightway the glade in which they
+sat was filled with knights, ladies, maidens, and esquires, who danced
+and disported themselves right joyously. A stately castle rose on the
+verge of the forest, and in the garden the spirits whom Merlin the
+enchanter had raised up in the semblance of knights and ladies held
+carnival. Vivien, delighted, asked of Merlin in what manner he had
+achieved this feat of fa�ry, and he told her that he would in time
+instruct her as to the manner of accomplishing it. He then dismissed
+the spirit attendants and dissipated the castle into thin air, but
+retained the garden at the request of Vivien, naming it 'Joyous
+Garden.'
+
+Then he made a tryst with Vivien to meet her in a year on the Vigil of
+St John.
+
+[Illustration: MERLIN AND VIVIEN]
+
+Now Merlin had to be present at the espousal of Arthur, his King,
+with Guinevere, at which he was to assist the archbishop, Dubric, as
+priest. The festivities over, he recalled his promise to Vivien, and
+on the appointed day he once more assumed the guise of a travelling
+scholar and set out to meet the maiden in the forest of Broceliande.
+She awaited him patiently in Joyous Garden, where they partook of a
+dainty repast. But the viands and the wines were wasted upon Merlin,
+for Vivien was beside him and she alone filled his thoughts. She was
+fair of colour, and fresh with the freshness of all in the forest, and
+her hazel eyes made such fire within his soul that he conceived a
+madness of love for her that all his wisdom, deep as it was, could not
+control.
+
+But Vivien was calm as a lake circled by trees, where no breath of the
+passion of tempest can come. Again and again she urged him to impart
+to her the secrets she so greatly longed to be acquainted with. And
+chiefly did she desire to know three things; these at all hazards must
+she have power over. How, she asked, could water be made to flow in a
+dry place? In what manner could any form be assumed at will? And,
+lastly, how could one be made to fall asleep at the pleasure of
+another?
+
+"Wherefore ask you this last question, demoiselle?" said Merlin,
+suspicious even in his great passion for her.
+
+"So that I may cast the spell of sleep over my father and my mother
+when I come to you, Merlin," she replied, with a beguiling glance,
+"for did they know that I loved you they would slay me."
+
+Merlin hesitated, and so was lost. He imparted to her that hidden
+knowledge which she desired. Then they dwelt together for eight days
+in the Joyous Garden, during which time the sage, to Vivien's delight
+and amaze, related to her the marvellous circumstances of his birth.
+
+Next day Merlin departed, but came again to Broceliande when the
+eglantine was flowering at the edge of the forest. Again he wore the
+scholar's garments. His aspect was youthful, his fair hair hung in
+ringlets on his shoulders, and he appeared so handsome that a tender
+flower of love sprang up in Vivien's heart, and she felt that she must
+keep him ever near her. But she knew full well that he whom she loved
+was in reality well stricken in years, and she was sorrowful. But she
+did not despair.
+
+"Beloved," she whispered, "will you grant me but one other boon? There
+is one secret more that I desire to learn."
+
+Now Merlin knew well ere she spoke what was in her mind, and he sighed
+and shook his head.
+
+"Wherefore do you sigh?" she asked innocently.
+
+"I sigh because my fate is strong upon me," replied the sage. "For it
+was foreseen in the long ago that a lady should lead me captive and
+that I should become her prisoner for all time. Neither have I the
+power to deny you what you ask of me."
+
+Vivien embraced him rapturously.
+
+"Ah, Merlin, beloved, is it not that you should always be with me?"
+she asked passionately. "For your sake have I not given up father and
+mother, and are not all my thoughts and desires toward you?"
+
+Merlin, carried away by her amorous eloquence, could only answer: "It
+is yours to ask what you will."
+
+Vivien then revealed to him her wish. She longed to learn from his
+lips an enchantment which would keep him ever near her, which would so
+bind him to her in the chains of love that nothing in the world could
+part him from her. Hearkening to her plea, he taught her such
+enchantment as would render him love's prisoner for ever.
+
+Evening was shrouding the forest in soft shadows when Merlin sank to
+rest. Vivien, waiting until his deep and regular breathing told her
+that he was asleep, walked nine times around him, waving her cloak
+over his head, and muttering the mysterious words he had taught her.
+When the sage awoke he found himself in the Joyous Garden with Vivien
+by his side.
+
+"You are mine for ever," she murmured. "You can never leave me now."
+
+"My delight will be ever to stay with you," he replied, enraptured.
+"And oh, beloved, never leave me, I pray you, for I am bespelled so as
+to love you throughout eternity!"
+
+"Never shall I leave you," she replied; and in such manner the wise
+Merlin withdrew from the world of men to remain ever in the Joyous
+Garden with Vivien. Love had triumphed over wisdom.
+
+The Arthurian version of the story does not, of course, represent
+Vivien as does the old Breton legend. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's book
+and in the _Morte d'Arthur_ she is drawn as the scheming enchantress
+who wishes to lure Merlin to his ruin for the joy of being able to
+boast of her conquest. In some romances she is alluded to as Nimue,
+and in others is described as the daughter of Dyonas, who perhaps is
+the same as Dylan, a Brythonic (British) sea-god. As the Lady of the
+Lake she is the foster-mother of Lancelot, and we should have no
+difficulty in classing her as a water deity or spirit very much like
+the Korrigan.
+
+
+_Merlin_
+
+But Merlin is a very different character, and it is probable that the
+story of his love for Vivien was composed at a comparatively late date
+for the purpose of rounding off his fate in Arthurian legend. A recent
+hypothesis concerning him is to the effect that "if he belongs to the
+pagan period [of Celtic lore] at all, he was probably an ideal
+magician or god of magicians."[27] Canon MacCulloch smiles at the late
+Sir John Rhys's belief that Merlin was "a Celtic Zeus," but his later
+suggestion seems equally debatable. We must remember that we draw our
+conception of Merlin as Arthurian archimagus chiefly from late
+Norman-French sources and Celtic tradition. Ancient Brythonic
+traditions concerning beings of much the same type as Merlin appear to
+have existed, however, and the character of Lailoken in the life of St
+Kentigern recalls his life-story. So far research on the subject seems
+to show that the legend of Merlin is a thing of complex growth,
+composed of traditions of independent and widely differing origin,
+most of which were told about Celtic bards and soothsayers. Merlin is,
+in fact, the typical Druid or wise man of Celtic tradition, and there
+is not the slightest reason for believing that he was ever paid divine
+honours. As a soothsayer of legend, he would assuredly belong to the
+pagan period, however much he is indebted to Geoffrey of Monmouth for
+his late popularity in pure romance.
+
+
+_The Fountain of Baranton_
+
+In the country of Broceliande lies the magic fountain of Baranton,
+sequestered among hills and surrounded by deep woods. Says a
+thirteenth-century writer of this fountain:
+
+"Oh, amazing wonder of the Fountain of Brecelien! If a drop be taken
+and poured on a certain rock beside the spring, immediately the water
+changes into vapour, forms itself into great clouds filled with hail;
+the air becomes thick with shadows, and resonant with the muttering of
+thunder. Those who have come through curiosity to behold the prodigy
+wish that they had never done so, so filled are their hearts with
+terror, and so does fear paralyse their limbs. Incredible as the
+marvel may seem, yet the proofs of its reality are too abundant to be
+doubted."
+
+Huon de M�ry was more fortunate than Wace. He sprinkled the magic
+stone which lay behind the fountain with water from the golden basin
+that hung from the oak that shaded it, and beheld many marvels. And so
+may he who has the seeing eye to-day.
+
+
+BROCELIANDE
+
+  Ah, how remote, forlorn
+  Sounded the sad, sweet horn
+  In forest gloom enchanted!
+  I saw the shadows of kings go riding by,
+  But cerements mingled and paled with their panoply,
+  And the moss-ways deadened the steps of steeds that never panted.
+
+  Ah, what had phantasy
+  In that sad sound to say,
+  Sad as a spirit's wailing?
+  A call from over the seas of shadowland,
+  A call the soul of the soul might understand,
+  But never, ah, never the mind, the steeps of soul assailing.
+
+
+_Bruno of La Montagne_
+
+The old fragmentary romance of Bruno of La Montagne is eloquent of the
+fa�ry spirit which informs all Breton lore. Butor, Baron of La
+Montagne, had married a young lady when he was himself of mature
+years, and had a son, whom he resolved to take to a fountain where the
+fairies came to repose themselves. The Baron, describing this magic
+well to the child's mother, says (we roughly translate):
+
+  "Some believe 'tis in Champagne,
+  And others by the Rock Grifaigne;
+  Perchance it is in Alemaigne,
+  Or Bersillant de la Montagne;
+  Some even think that 'tis in Spain,
+  Or where sleeps Artus of Bretaigne."
+
+The Seigneur gave his infant son into the keeping of Bruyant, a trusty
+friend of his, and they set out for the fairy fountain with a troop of
+vassals. They left the infant in the forest of Broceliande. Here the
+fairies soon found him.
+
+"Ha, sisters," said one whose skin was as white as the robe of
+gossamer she wore, and whose golden crown betokened her the queen of
+the others, "come hither and see a new-born infant. How, I wonder,
+does he come to be here? I am sure I did not behold him in this spot
+yesterday. Well, at all events, he must be baptized and suitably
+endowed, as is our custom when we discover a mortal child. Now what
+will you give him?"
+
+"I will give him," said one, "beauty and grace."
+
+"I endow him," said a second, "with generosity."
+
+[Illustration: THE FAIRIES OF BROCELIANDE FIND THE LITTLE BRUNO]
+
+"And I," said a third, "with such valour that he will overthrow all
+his enemies at tourney and on the battlefield."
+
+The Queen listened to these promises. "Surely you have little sense,"
+she said. "For my part, I wish that in his youth he may love one who
+will be utterly insensible to him, and although he will be as you
+desire, noble, generous, beautiful, and valorous, he will yet, for his
+good, suffer keenly from the anguish of love."
+
+"O Queen," said one of the fairies, "what a cruel fate you have
+ordained for this unfortunate child! But I myself shall watch over him
+and nurse him until he comes to such an age as he may love, when I
+myself will try to engage his affections."
+
+"For all that," said the Queen, "I will not alter my design. You shall
+not nurse this infant."
+
+The fairies then disappeared. Shortly afterward Bruyant returned, and
+carried the child back to the castle of La Montagne, where presently a
+fairy presented herself as nurse.
+
+Unfortunately the manuscript from which this tale is taken breaks off
+at this point, and we do not know how the Fairy Queen succeeded with
+her plans for the amorous education of the little Bruno. But the
+fragment, although tantalizing in the extreme, gives us some insight
+into the nature of the fairies who inhabit the green fastnesses of
+Broceliande.
+
+
+_Fairies in Folk-lore_
+
+Nearly all fairy-folk have in time grown to mortal height. Whether
+fairies be the decayed poor relations of more successful deities, gods
+whose cult has been forgotten and neglected (as the Irish _Sidhe_, or
+fairy-folk), or diminutive animistic spirits, originating in the
+belief that every object, small or great, possessed a personality, it
+is noticeable that Celtic fairies are of human height, while those of
+the Teutonic peoples are usually dwarfish. Titania may come originally
+from the loins of Titans or she may be Diana come down in the world,
+and Oberon may hail from a very different and more dwarfish source,
+but in Shakespeare's England they have grown sufficiently to permit
+them to tread the boards of the Globe Theatre with normal humans.
+Scores of fairies mate with mortal men, and men, as a rule, do not
+care for dwarf-wives. Among Celts, at least, the fay, whatever her
+original stature, in later times had certainly achieved the height of
+mortal womanhood.
+
+In Upper Brittany, where French is the language in general use, the
+usual French ideas concerning fairies prevail. They are called _f�es_
+or _fetes_ (Latin _fata_), and sometimes _fions_, which reminds us of
+the _fions_ of Scottish and Irish folk-lore.[28] There are old people
+still alive who claim to have seen the fairies, and who describe them
+variously, but the general belief seems to be that they disappeared
+from the land several generations ago. One old man described them as
+having teeth as long as one's hand, and as wearing garments of
+sea-weed or leaves. They were human in aspect, said another ancient
+whom S�billot questioned; their clothes were seamless, and it was
+impossible to say by merely looking at them whether they were male or
+female. Their garments were of the most brilliant colours imaginable,
+but if one approached them too closely these gaudy hues disappeared.
+They wore a kind of bonnet shaped like a crown, which appeared to be
+part of their person.
+
+The people of the coast say that the fairies are an accursed race who
+are condemned to walk the earth for a certain space. Some even think
+them rebellious angels who have been sent to earth for a time to
+expiate their offences against heaven. For the most part they inhabit
+the dolmens and the grottos and caverns on the coast.[29]
+
+On the shores of the Channel are numerous grottos or caverns which the
+Bretons call _houles_, and these are supposed to harbour a distinct
+class of fairy. Some of these caverns are from twenty to thirty feet
+high, and so extensive that it is unwise to explore them too far.
+Others seem only large enough to hold a single person, but if one
+enters he will find himself in a spacious natural chamber. The
+inhabitants of these depths, like all their kind, prefer to sally
+forth by night rather than by day. In the day-time they are not seen
+because they smear themselves with a magic ointment which renders them
+invisible; but at night they are visible to everybody.
+
+
+_The Lost Daughter_
+
+There was once upon a time a labourer of Saint-Cast named Marc
+Bourdais, but, according to the usage of the country, he had a
+nickname and was called Maraud. One day he was returning home when he
+heard the sound of a horn beneath his feet, and asked a companion who
+chanced to be with him if he had heard it also.
+
+"Of course I did," replied the fellow; "it is a fairy horn."
+
+"Umph," said Maraud. "Ask the fairies, then, to bring us a slice of
+bread."
+
+His companion knelt down and shouted out the request, but nothing
+happened and they resumed their way.
+
+They had not gone far, however, when they beheld a slice of beautiful
+white bread lying on a snowy napkin by the roadside. Maraud picked it
+up and found that it was well buttered and as toothsome as a cake, and
+when they had divided and eaten it they felt their hunger completely
+satisfied. But he who has fed well is often thirsty, so Maraud,
+lowering his head, and speaking to the little folk beneath, cried:
+"Hullo, there! Bring us something to drink, if you please."
+
+He had hardly spoken when they beheld a pot of cider and a glass
+reposing on the ground in front of them. Maraud filled the glass, and,
+raising it to his lips, quaffed of the fairy cider. It was clear and
+of a rich colour, and he declared that it was by far the best that he
+had ever tasted. His friend drank likewise, and when they returned to
+the village that night they had a good story to tell of how they had
+eaten and drunk at the expense of the fairies. But their friends and
+neighbours shook their heads and regarded them sadly.
+
+"Alas! poor fellows," they said, "if you have eaten fairy food and
+drunk fairy liquor you are as good as dead men."
+
+Nothing happened to them within the next few days, however, and it was
+with light hearts that one morning they returned to work in the
+neighbourhood of the spot where they had met with such a strange
+adventure. When they arrived at the place they smelt the odour of
+cakes which had been baked with black corn, and a fierce hunger at
+once took possession of them.
+
+"Ha!" said Maraud, "the fairies are baking to-day. Suppose we ask them
+for a cake or two." "No, no!" replied his friend. "Ask them if you
+wish, but I will have none of them."
+
+"Pah!" cried Maraud, "what are you afraid of?" And he cried: "Below
+there! Bring me a cake, will you?"
+
+Two fine cakes at once appeared. Maraud seized upon one, but when he
+had cut it he perceived that it was made of hairs, and he threw it
+down in disgust.
+
+"You wicked old sorcerer!" he cried. "Do you mean to mock me?"
+
+But as he spoke the cakes disappeared.
+
+Now there lived in the village a widow with seven children, and a hard
+task she had to find bread for them all. She heard tell of Maraud's
+adventure with the fairies, and pondered on the chance of receiving a
+like hospitality from them, that the seven little mouths she had to
+provide for might be filled. So she made up her mind to go to a fairy
+grotto she knew of and ask for bread. "Surely," she thought, "what the
+good people give to others who do not require it they will give to me,
+whose need is so great." When she had come to the entrance of the
+grotto she knocked on the side of it as one knocks on a door, and
+there at once appeared a little old dame with a great bunch of keys
+hanging at her side. She appeared to be covered with limpets, and
+mould and moss clung to her as to a rock. To the widow she seemed at
+least a thousand years old.
+
+"What do you desire, my good woman?" she asked.
+
+"Alas! madame," said the widow, "might I have a little bread for my
+seven children? Give me some, I beseech you, and I will remember you
+in my prayers."
+
+"I am not the mistress here," replied the old woman. "I am only the
+porteress, and it is at least a hundred years since I have been out.
+But return to-morrow and I will promise to speak for you."
+
+Next day at the same time the widow returned to the cave, and found
+the old porteress waiting for her.
+
+"I have spoken for you," said she, "and here is a loaf of bread for
+you, and those who send it wish to speak to you."
+
+"Bring me to them," said the widow, "that I may thank them."
+
+"Not to-day," replied the porteress. "Return to-morrow at the same
+hour and I will do so."
+
+The widow returned to the village and told her neighbours of her
+success. Every one came to see the fairy loaf, and many begged a
+piece.
+
+Next day the poor woman returned to the grotto in the hope that she
+would once more benefit from the little folks' bounty. The porteress
+was there as usual.
+
+"Well, my good woman," said she, "did you find my bread to your taste?
+Here is the lady who has befriended you," and she indicated a
+beautiful lady, who came smilingly from the darkness of the cavern.
+
+"Ah, madame," said the widow, "I thank you with all my heart for your
+charity."
+
+"The loaf will last a long time," said the fairy, "and you will find
+that you and your family will not readily finish it."
+
+"Alas!" said the widow, "last night all my neighbours insisted on
+having a piece, so that it is now entirely eaten."
+
+"Well," replied the fay, "I will give you another loaf. So long as you
+or your children partake of it it will not grow smaller and will
+always remain fresh, but if you should give the least morsel to a
+stranger the loaf will disappear. But as I have helped you, so must
+you help me. I have four cows, and I wish to send them out to
+pasture. Promise me that one of your daughters will guard them for
+me."
+
+The widow promised, and next morning sent one of her daughters out to
+look for the cows, which were to be pastured in a field where there
+was but little herbage. A neighbour saw her there, and asked what she
+was doing in that deserted place.
+
+"Oh, I am watching the fairy cows," replied she. The woman looked at
+her and smiled, for there were no cows there and she thought the girl
+had become half-witted.
+
+With the evening the fairy of the grotto came herself to fetch the
+cows, and she said to the little cowherd:
+
+"How would you like to be godmother to my child?"
+
+"It would be a pleasure, madame," replied the girl.
+
+"Well, say nothing to any one, not even to your mother," replied the
+fairy, "for if you do I shall never bring you anything more to eat."
+
+A few days afterward a fairy came to tell the girl to prepare to come
+to the cavern on the morrow, as on that day the infant was to be
+named. Next day, according to the fairy's instructions, she presented
+herself at the mouth of the grotto, and in due course was made
+godmother to the little fairy. For two days she remained there, and
+when she left her godchild was already grown up. She had, as a matter
+of fact, unconsciously remained with the 'good people' for ten years,
+and her mother had long mourned her as dead. Meanwhile the fairies had
+requested the poor widow to send another of her daughters to watch
+their cows.
+
+When at last the absent one returned to the village she went straight
+home, and her mother on beholding her gave a great cry. The girl could
+not understand her agitation, believing as she did that she had been
+absent for two days only.
+
+"Two days!" echoed the mother. "You have been away ten years! Look how
+you have grown!"
+
+After she had overcome her surprise the girl resumed her household
+duties as if nothing particular had happened, and knitted a pair of
+stockings for her godchild. When they were finished she carried them
+to the fairy grotto, where, as she thought, she spent the afternoon.
+But in reality she had been away from home this time for five years.
+As she was leaving, her godchild gave her a purse, saying: "This purse
+is full of gold. Whenever you take a piece out another one will come
+in its place, but if any one else uses it it will lose all its
+virtue."
+
+When the girl returned to the village at last it was to find her
+mother dead, her brothers gone abroad, and her sisters married, so
+that she was the only one left at home. As she was pretty and a good
+housewife she did not want for lovers, and in due time she chose one
+for a husband. She did not tell her spouse about the purse she had had
+from the fairies, and if she wanted to give him a piece of gold she
+withdrew it from the magic purse in secret. She never went back to the
+fairy cavern, as she had no mind to return from it and find her
+husband an old man.
+
+
+_The Fisherman and the Fairies_
+
+A fisherman of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer, walking home to his cottage from
+his boat one evening along the wet sands, came, unawares, upon a
+number of fairies in a _houle_. They were talking and laughing gaily,
+and the fisherman observed that while they made merry they rubbed
+their bodies with a kind of ointment or pomade. All at once, to the
+old salt's surprise, they turned into ordinary women. Concealing
+himself behind a rock, the fisherman watched them until the now
+completely transformed immortals quitted their haunt and waddled away
+in the guise of old market-women.
+
+[Illustration: FAIRIES IN A BRETON 'HOULE']
+
+The fisherman waited until they were well out of sight, and then
+entered the cavern, where the first object that met his gaze was the
+pot of ointment which had effected the marvellous change he had
+witnessed. Taking some of the pomade on his forefinger, he smeared it
+around his left eye. He afterward found that he could penetrate the
+various disguises assumed by the fairies wherever he met them, and
+that these were for the most part adopted for the purposes of
+trickery. Thus he was able to see a fairy in the assumed shape of a
+beggar-woman going from door to door demanding alms, seeking an
+opportunity to steal or work mischief, and all the while casting
+spells upon those who were charitable enough to assist her. Again, he
+could distinguish real fish caught in his net at sea from merwomen
+disguised as fish, who were desirous of entangling the nets or
+otherwise distressing and annoying the fishermen.
+
+But nowhere was the disguised fairy race so much in evidence as at the
+fair of Ploubalay, where he recognized several of the elusive folk in
+the semblance of raree-showmen, fortune-tellers, and the like, who had
+taken these shapes in order to deceive. He was quietly smiling at
+their pranks, when some of the fairies who composed a troupe of
+performers in front of one of the booths regarded him very earnestly.
+He felt certain that they had penetrated his secret, but ere he could
+make off one of them threw a stick at him with such violence that it
+struck and burst the offending left eye.
+
+Fairies in all lands have a constitutional distaste for being
+recognized, but those of Brittany appear to visit their vengeance upon
+the members with which they are actually beheld. "See what thieves the
+fairies are!" cried a woman, on beholding one abstract apples from a
+countrywoman's pocket. The predatory elf at once turned round and tore
+out the eye that had marked his act.
+
+A Cornish woman who chanced to find herself the guardian of an
+elf-child was given certain water with which to wash its face. The
+liquid had the property of illuminating the infant's face with a
+supernatural brightness, and the woman ventured to try it upon
+herself, and in doing so splashed a little into one eye. This gave her
+the fairy sight. One day in the market-place she saw a fairy man
+stealing, and gave the alarm, when the enraged sprite cried:
+
+  "Water for elf, not water for self.
+  You've lost your eye, your child, and yourself."
+
+She was immediately stricken blind in the right eye, her fairy
+foster-child vanished, and she and her husband sank into poverty and
+want.
+
+Another Breton tale recounts how a mortal woman was given a polished
+stone in the form of an egg wherewith to rub a fairy child's eyes. She
+applied it to her own right eye, and became possessed of magic sight
+so far as elves were concerned. Still another case, alluded to in the
+_Revue Celtique_,[30] arose through 'the sacred bond' formed between a
+fairy man and a mortal woman where both stood as godparents to a
+child. The association enabled the woman to see magically. The fairy
+maiden Rockflower bestows a similar gift on her lover in a Breton tale
+from Saint-Cast, and speaks of "clearing his eyes like her own."[31]
+
+
+_Changelings_
+
+The Breton fairies, like others of their race, are fond of kidnapping
+mortal children and leaving in their places wizened elves who cause
+the greatest trouble to the distressed parents. The usual method of
+ridding a family of such a changeling is to surprise it in some
+manner so that it will betray its true character. Thus, on suspicion
+resting upon a certain Breton infant who showed every sign of
+changeling nature, milk was boiled on the fire in egg-shells,
+whereupon the impish youngster cried: "I shall soon be a hundred
+years old, but I never saw so many shells boiling! I was born in
+Pif and Paf, in the country where cats are made, but I never saw
+anything like it!" Thus self-revealed, the elf was expelled from
+the house. In most Northern tales where the changeling betrays itself
+it at once takes flight and a train of elves appears, bringing back
+the true infant. Again, if the wizened occupant of the cradle can be
+made to laugh that is accepted as proof of its fairy nature.
+"Something ridiculous," says Simrock, "must be done to cause him to
+laugh, for laughter brings deliverance."[32] The same stratagem
+appears to be used as the cure in English and Scots changeling tales.
+
+
+_The King of the Fishes_
+
+The Breton fays were prone, too, to take the shape of animals,
+birds, and even of fish. As we have seen, the sea-fairies of
+Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer were in the habit of taking the shape of fish
+for the purpose of annoying fishermen and damaging their gear.
+Another Breton tale from Saint-Cast illustrates their penchant for
+the fish shape. A fisherman of that town one day was lucky enough to
+catch the King of the Fishes disguised as a small golden fish. The
+fish begged hard to be released, and promised, if he were set free, to
+sacrifice as many of his subjects as would daily fill the fisherman's
+nets. On this understanding the finny monarch was given his liberty,
+and fulfilled his promise to the letter. Moreover, when the
+fisherman's boat was capsized in a gale the Fish King appeared, and,
+holding a flask to the drowning man's lips, made him drink a magic
+fluid which ensured his ability to exist under water. He conveyed the
+fisherman to his capital, a place of dazzling splendour, paved
+with gold and gems. The rude caster of nets instantly filled his
+pockets with the spoil of this marvellous causeway. Though probably
+rather disturbed by the incident, the Fish King, with true royal
+politeness, informed him that whenever he desired to return the way
+was open to him. The fisherman expressed his sorrow at having to
+leave such a delightful environment, but added that unless he
+returned to earth his wife and family would regard him as lost. The
+Fish King called a large tunny-fish, and as Arion mounted the dolphin
+in the old Argolian tale, so the fisherman approached the tunny,
+which
+
+  Hollowed his back and shaped it as a selle.[33]
+
+The fisherman at once
+
+  Seized the strange sea-steed by his bristling fin
+  And vaulted on his shoulders; the fleet fish
+  Swift sought the shallows and the friendly shore.[34]
+
+Before dismissing the fisherman, however, the Fish King presented him
+with an inexhaustible purse--probably as a hint that it would be
+unnecessary for him on a future visit to disturb his paving
+arrangements.
+
+
+_Fairy Origins_
+
+Two questions which early obtrude themselves in the consideration of
+Breton fairy-lore are: Are all the fays of Brittany malevolent? And,
+if so, whence proceeds this belief that fairy-folk are necessarily
+malign? Example treads upon example to prove that the Breton fairy is
+seldom beneficent, that he or she is prone to ill-nature and
+spitefulness, not to say fiendish malice on occasion. There appears to
+be a deep-rooted conviction that the elfish race devotes itself to the
+annoyance of mankind, practising a species of peculiarly irritating
+trickery, wanton and destructive. Only very rarely is a spirit of
+friendliness evinced, and then a motive is usually obvious. The
+'friendly' fairy invariably has an axe to grind.
+
+Two reasons may be advanced to account for this condition of things.
+First, the fairy-folk--in which are included house and field
+spirits--may be the traditional remnant of a race of real people,
+perhaps a prehistoric race, driven into the remote parts of the
+country by strange immigrant conquerors. Perhaps these primitive folk
+were elfish, dwarfish, or otherwise peculiar in appearance to the
+superior new-comers, who would in pride of race scorn the small,
+swarthy aborigines, and refuse all communion with them. We may be sure
+that the aborigines, on their part, would feel for their tall,
+handsome conquerors all the hatred of which a subject race is capable,
+never approaching them unless under compulsion or necessity, and
+revenging themselves upon them by every means of annoyance in their
+power. We may feel certain, too, that the magic of these conquered and
+discredited folk would be made full use of to plague the usurpers of
+the soil, and trickery, as irritating as any elf-pranks, would be
+brought to increase the discomfort of the new-comers.
+
+There are, however, several good objections to this view of the origin
+of the fairy idea. First and foremost, the smaller prehistoric
+aboriginal peoples of Europe themselves possessed tales of little
+people, of spirits of field and forest, flood and fell. It is unlikely
+that man was ever without these.
+
+  Yea, I sang, as now I sing, when the Prehistoric Spring
+  Made the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and shove,
+  And the troll, and gnome, and dwerg, and the gods of cliff and berg
+  Were about me and beneath me and above.[35]
+
+The idea of animism, the belief that everything had a personality of
+its own, certainly belonged to the later prehistoric period, for among
+the articles which fill the graves of aboriginal peoples, for use on
+the last journey, we find weapons to enable the deceased to drive off
+the evil spirits which would surround his own after death. Spirits, to
+early man, are always relatively smaller than himself. He beholds the
+"picture of a little man" in his comrade's eyes, and concludes it to
+be his 'soul.' Some primitive peoples, indeed, believe that several
+parts of the body have each their own resident soul. Again, the spirit
+of the corn or the spirit of the flower, the savage would argue, must
+in the nature of things be small. We can thus see how the belief in
+'the little folk' may have arisen, and how they remained little until
+a later day.
+
+A much more scientific theory of the origin of the belief in fairies
+is that which sees in them the deities of a discredited religion, the
+gods of an aboriginal people, rather than the people themselves. Such
+were the Irish _Daoine Sidhe_, and the Welsh _y Mamau_ ('the
+Mothers')--undoubtedly gods of the Celts. Again, although in many
+countries, especially in England, the fairies are regarded as small of
+stature, in Celtic countries the fay proper, as distinct from the
+brownie and such goblins, is of average mortal height, and this would
+seem to be the case in Brittany. Whether the gorics and courils of
+Brittany, who seem sufficiently small, are fairies or otherwise is a
+moot point. They seem to be more of the field spirit type, and are
+perhaps classed more correctly with the gnome race; we thus deal with
+them in our chapter on sprites and demons. It would seem, too, as if
+there might be ground for the belief that the normal-sized fairy race
+of Celtic countries had become confounded with the Teutonic idea of
+elves (Teut. _Elfen_) in Germany and England, from which, perhaps,
+they borrowed their diminutive size.
+
+But these are only considerations, not conclusions. Strange as it may
+seem, folk-lore has by no means solved the fairy problem, and much
+remains to be accomplished ere we can write 'Finis' to the study of
+fairy origins.
+
+
+_The Margots_
+
+Another Breton name for the fairies is _les Margots la f�e_, a title
+which is chiefly employed in several districts of the C�tes-du-Nord,
+principally in the _arrondissements_ of Saint-Brieuc and Loud�ac, to
+describe those fairies who have their abode in large rocks and on the
+wild and extensive moorlands which are so typical of the country.
+These, unlike the _f�es houles_, are able to render themselves
+invisible at pleasure. Like human beings, they are subject to
+maladies, and are occasionally glad to accept mortal succour. They
+return kindness for kindness, but are vindictive enemies to those who
+attempt to harm them.
+
+But fairy vindictiveness is not lavished upon those unwitting mortals
+who do them harm alone. If one chances to succeed in a task set by the
+immortals of the forest, one is in danger of death, as the following
+story shows.
+
+
+_The Boy who Served the Fairies_
+
+A poor little fellow was one day gathering faggots in the forest when
+a gay, handsomely dressed gentleman passed him, and, noticing the
+lad's ragged and forlorn condition, said to him: "What are you doing
+there, my boy?"
+
+"I am looking for wood, sir," replied the boy. "If I did not do so we
+should have no fire at home."
+
+"You are very poor at home, then?" asked the gentleman.
+
+"So poor," said the lad, "that sometimes we only eat once a day, and
+often go supperless to bed."
+
+[Illustration: THE POOR BOY AND THE THREE FAIRY DAMSELS]
+
+"That is a sad tale," said the gentleman. "If you will promise to
+meet me here within a month I will give you some money, which will
+help your parents and feed and clothe your small brothers and
+sisters."
+
+Prompt to the day and the hour, the boy kept the tryst in the forest
+glade, at the very spot where he had met the gentleman. But though he
+looked anxiously on every side he could see no signs of his friend. In
+his anxiety he pushed farther into the forest, and came to the borders
+of a pond, where three damsels were preparing to bathe. One was
+dressed in white, another in grey, and the third in blue. The boy
+pulled off his cap, gave them good-day, and asked politely if they had
+not seen a gentleman in the neighbourhood. The maiden who was dressed
+in white told him where the gentleman was to be found, and pointed out
+a road by which he might arrive at his castle.
+
+"He will ask you," said she, "to become his servant, and if you accept
+he will wish you to eat. The first time that he presents the food to
+you, say: 'It is I who should serve you.' If he asks you a second time
+make the same reply; but if he should press you a third time refuse
+brusquely and thrust away the plate which he offers you."
+
+The boy was not long in finding the castle, and was at once shown into
+the gentleman's presence. As the maiden dressed in white had foretold,
+he requested the youth to enter his service, and when his offer was
+accepted placed before him a plate of viands. The lad bowed politely,
+but refused the food. A second time it was offered, but he persisted
+in his refusal, and when it was proffered to him a third time he
+thrust it away from him so roughly that it fell to the ground and the
+plate was broken.
+
+"Ah," said the gentleman, "you are just the kind of servant I require.
+You are now my lackey, and if you are able to do three things that I
+command you I will give you one of my daughters for your wife and you
+shall be my son-in-law."
+
+The next day he gave the boy a hatchet of lead, a saw of paper, and a
+wheelbarrow made of oak-leaves, bidding him fell, bind up, and measure
+all the wood in the forest within a radius of seven leagues. The new
+servant at once commenced his task, but the hatchet of lead broke at
+the first blow, the saw of paper buckled at the first stroke, and the
+wheelbarrow of oak-leaves was broken by the weight of the first little
+branch he placed on it. The lad in despair sat down, and could do
+nothing but gaze at the useless implements. At midday the damsel
+dressed in white whom he had seen at the pond came to bring him
+something to eat.
+
+"Alas!" she cried, "why do you sit thus idle? If my father should come
+and find that you have done nothing he would kill you."
+
+"I can do nothing with such wretched tools," grumbled the lad.
+
+"Do you see this wand?" said the damsel, producing a little rod. "Take
+it in your hand and walk round the forest, and the work will take care
+of itself. At the same time say these words: 'Let the wood fall, tie
+itself into bundles, and be measured.'"
+
+The boy did as the damsel advised him, and matters proceeded so
+satisfactorily that by a little after midday the work was completed.
+In the evening the gentleman said to him:
+
+"Have you accomplished your task?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Do you wish to see it? The wood is cut and tied into
+bundles of the proper weight and measurement."
+
+"It is well," said the gentleman. "To-morrow I will set you the second
+task."
+
+On the following morning he took the lad to a knoll some distance from
+the castle, and said to him:
+
+"You see this rising ground? By this evening you must have made it a
+garden well planted with fruit-trees and having a fish-pond in the
+middle, where ducks and other water-fowl may swim. Here are your
+tools."
+
+The tools were a pick of glass and a spade of earthenware. The boy
+commenced the work, but at the first stroke his fragile pick and spade
+broke into a thousand fragments. For the second time he sat down
+helplessly. Time passed slowly, and as before at midday the damsel in
+white brought him his dinner.
+
+"So I find you once more with your arms folded," she said.
+
+"I cannot work with a pick of glass and an earthenware spade,"
+complained the youth.
+
+"Here is another wand," said the damsel. "Take it and walk round this
+knoll, saying: 'Let the place be planted and become a beautiful garden
+with fruit-trees, in the middle of which is a fish-pond with ducks
+swimming upon it.'"
+
+The boy took the wand, did as he was bid, and the work was speedily
+accomplished. A beautiful garden arose as if by enchantment, well
+furnished with fruit-trees of all descriptions and ornamented with a
+small sheet of water.
+
+Once more his master was quite satisfied with the result, and on the
+third morning set him his third task. He took him beneath one of the
+towers of the castle.
+
+"Behold this tower," he said. "It is of polished marble. You must
+climb it, and at the top you will find a turtle-dove, which you must
+bring to me."
+
+The gentleman, who was of opinion that the damsel in white had helped
+his servant in the first two tasks, sent her to the town to buy
+provisions. When she received this order the maiden retired to her
+chamber and burst into tears. Her sisters asked her what was the
+matter, and she told them that she wished to remain at the castle, so
+they promised to go to the town in her stead. At midday she found the
+lad sitting at the foot of the tower bewailing the fact that he could
+not climb its smooth and glassy sides.
+
+"I have come to help you once more," said the damsel. "You must get a
+cauldron, then cut me into morsels and throw in all my bones, without
+missing a single one. It is the only way to succeed."
+
+"Never!" exclaimed the youth. "I would sooner die than harm such a
+beautiful lady as you."
+
+"Yet you must do as I say," she replied.
+
+For a long time the youth refused, but at last he gave way to the
+maiden's entreaties, cut her into little pieces, and placed the bones
+in a large cauldron, forgetting, however, the little toe of her left
+foot. Then he rose as if by magic to the top of the tower, found the
+turtle-dove, and came down again.[36] Having completed his task, he
+took a wand which lay beside the cauldron, and when he touched the
+bones they came together again and the damsel stepped out of the
+great pot none the worse for her experience.
+
+When the young fellow carried the dove to his master the gentleman
+said:
+
+"It is well. I shall carry out my promise and give you one of my
+daughters for your wife, but all three shall be veiled and you must
+pick the one you desire without seeing her face."
+
+The three damsels were then brought into his presence, but the lad
+easily recognized the one who had assisted him, because she lacked the
+small toe of the left foot. So he chose her without hesitation, and
+they were married.
+
+But the gentleman was not content with the marriage. On the day of the
+bridal he placed the bed of the young folks over a vault, and hung it
+from the roof by four cords. When they had gone to bed he came to the
+door of the chamber and said:
+
+"Son-in-law, are you asleep?"
+
+"No, not yet," replied the youth.
+
+Some time afterward he repeated his question, and met with a similar
+answer.
+
+"The next time he comes," said the bride, "pretend that you are
+sleeping."
+
+Shortly after that his father-in-law asked once more if he were
+asleep, and receiving no answer retired, evidently well satisfied.
+
+When he had gone the bride made her husband rise at once. "Go
+instantly to the stables," said she, "and take there the horse which
+is called Little Wind, mount him, and fly."
+
+The young fellow hastened to comply with her request, and he had
+scarcely left the chamber when the master of the castle returned and
+asked if his daughter were asleep. She answered "No," and, bidding her
+arise and come with him, he cut the cords, so that the bed fell into
+the vault beneath. The bride now heard the trampling of hoofs in the
+garden outside, and rushed out to find her husband in the act of
+mounting.
+
+"Stay!" she cried. "You have taken Great Wind instead of Little Wind,
+as I advised you, but there is no help for it," and she mounted behind
+him. Great Wind did not belie his name, and dashed into the night like
+a tempest.
+
+"Do you see anything?" asked the girl.
+
+"No, nothing," said her husband.
+
+"Look again," she said. "Do you see anything now?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I see a great flame of fire."
+
+The bride took her wand, struck it three times, and said: "I change
+thee, Great Wind, into a garden, myself into a pear-tree, and my
+husband into a gardener."
+
+The transformation had hardly been effected when the master of the
+castle and his wife came up with them.
+
+"Ha, my good man," cried he to the seeming gardener, "has any one on
+horseback passed this way?"
+
+"Three pears for a sou," said the gardener.
+
+"That is not an answer to my question," fumed the old wizard, for such
+he was. "I asked if you had seen any one on horseback in this
+direction."
+
+"Four for a sou, then, if you will," said the gardener.
+
+"Idiot!" foamed the enchanter, and dashed on in pursuit. The young
+wife then changed herself, her horse, and her husband into their
+natural forms, and, mounting once more, they rode onward.
+
+"Do you see anything now?" asked she.
+
+"Yes, I see a great flame of fire," he replied.
+
+Once more she took her wand. "I change this steed into a church," she
+said, "myself into an altar, and my husband into a priest."
+
+Very soon the wizard and his wife came to the doors of the church and
+asked the priest if a youth and a lady had passed that way on
+horseback.
+
+"Dominus vobiscum," said the priest, and nothing more could the wizard
+get from him.
+
+Pursued once more, the young wife changed the horse into a river,
+herself into a boat, and her husband into a boatman. When the wizard
+came up with them he asked to be ferried across the river. The boatman
+at once made room for them, but in the middle of the stream the boat
+capsized and the enchanter and his wife were drowned.
+
+The young lady and her husband returned to the castle, seized the
+treasure of its fairy lord, and, says tradition, lived happily ever
+afterward, as all young spouses do in fairy-tale.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [20] _Roman de Rou_, v. 6415 ff.
+
+  [21] Consult original ballad in Vicomte de la Villemarqu�'s _Chants
+       populaires de la Bretagne_.
+
+  [22] MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 116
+       (Edinburgh, 1911).
+
+  [23] See _Ballads and Metrical Tales, illustrating the Fairy Mythology
+       of Europe_ (anonymous, London, 1857) for a metrical version of
+       this tale.
+
+  [24] Lib. III, cap. vi.
+
+  [25] Paris, 1670. Strange that this book should have been seized upon
+       by students of the occult as a 'text-book' furnishing
+       longed-for details of the 'lost knowledge' concerning
+       elementary spirits, when it is, in effect, a very whole-hearted
+       satire upon belief in such beings!
+
+  [26] Villemarqu�, _Myrdhinn, ou l'Enchanteur Merlin_ (1861).
+
+  [27] MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 122.
+
+  [28] Or subterranean dwellers. See D. MacRitchie's _Fians, Fairies,
+       and Picts_ (1893).
+
+  [29] See the chapter on "Menhirs and Dolmens."
+
+  [30] Vol. i, p. 231.
+
+  [31] _Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris, 1880).
+
+  [32] _Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie._
+
+  [33] Saddle.
+
+  [34] See the author's _Le Roi d'Ys and other Poems_ (London, 1910).
+
+  [35] Kipling, "Primum Tempus."
+
+  [36] In folk-tales of this nature a ladder is usually made of the
+       bones, but this circumstance seems to have been omitted in the
+       present instance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV: SPRITES AND DEMONS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+The idea of the evil spirit, malicious and revengeful, is common to
+all primitive peoples, and Brittany has its full share of demonology.
+Wherever, in fact, a primitive and illiterate peasantry is found the
+demon is its inevitable accompaniment. But we shall not find these
+Breton devils so very different from the fiends of other lands.
+
+
+_The Nain_
+
+The nain is a figure fearsomely Celtic in its hideousness, resembling
+the gargoyles which peer down upon the traveller from the carven
+'top-hamper' of so many Breton churches. Black and menacing of
+countenance, these demon-folk are armed with feline claws, and their
+feet end in hoofs like those of a satyr. Their dark elf-locks, small,
+gleaming eyes, red as carbuncles, and harsh, cracked voices are all
+dilated upon with fear by those who have met them upon lonely heaths
+or unfrequented roads. They haunt the ancient dolmens built by a
+vanished race, and at night, by the pale starlight, they dance around
+these ruined tombs to the music of a primitive refrain:
+
+  "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
+  Thursday and Friday."
+
+Saturday and Sunday they dare not mention as being days sacred from
+fairy influence. We all remember that in the old tale of Tom Thumb the
+elves among whom the hero fell sang such a refrain. But wherefore? It
+would indeed be difficult to say. Deities, credited and discredited,
+have often a connexion with the calendar, and we may have here some
+calendric reference, or again the chant may be merely a nonsense
+rhyme. Bad luck attached itself to the human who chanced to behold the
+midnight revels of the nains, and if he entered the charmed circle and
+danced along with them his death was certain to ensue before the year
+was out. Wednesday was the nains' high-day, or rather night, and their
+great _nuit festale_ was the first Wednesday in May. That they should
+have possessed a fixed festival at such a period, full of religious
+significance for most primitive peoples, would seem to show that they
+must at one time have been held in considerable esteem.
+
+But although the nains while away their time in such simple fashion as
+dancing to the repetition of the names of the days of the week, they
+have a less innocent side to their characters, for they are forgers of
+false money, which they fabricate in the recesses of caverns. We all
+recall stories of fairy gold and its perishable nature. A simple youth
+sells something on market day to a fairy, and later on turning over in
+his pocket the money he has received he finds that it has been
+transformed into beans. The housewife receives gold from a fairy for
+services rendered, and carefully places it in a drawer. A day when she
+requires it arrives, but, alas! when she opens the cabinet to take it
+out she finds nothing but a small heap of withered leaves. It is such
+money that the nains manufacture in their subterranean mints--coin
+which bears the fairy impress of glamourie for a space, but on later
+examination proves to be merely dross.
+
+The nains are also regarded as the originators of a cabalistic
+alphabet, the letters of which are engraved on several of the
+megalithic monuments of Morbihan, and especially those of Gavr'inis.
+He who is able to decipher this magic script, says tradition, will be
+able to tell where hidden treasure is to be found in any part of the
+country. Lest any needy folk be of a mind to fare to Brittany to try
+their luck in this respect it is only right to warn them that in all
+probability they will find the treasure formula in ogham characters or
+serpentine markings, and that as the first has long ago been
+deciphered and the second is pure symbolism they will waste their time
+and money in any event.
+
+Sorcery hangs about the nain like a garment. Here he is a prophet and
+a diviner as well as an enchanter, and as much of his magic power is
+employed for ill, small wonder that the Breton peasant shudders and
+frowns when the name of the fearsome tribe is spoken and gives the
+dolmens they are supposed to haunt the widest of wide berths _au clair
+de la lune_.
+
+
+_Crions, Courils, and Gorics_
+
+Brittany has a species of dwarfs or gnomes peculiar to itself which in
+various parts of the country are known as crions, courils, or
+gorics. It will at once be seen how greatly the last word resembles
+Korrigan, and as all of them perhaps proceed from a root meaning
+'spirit' the nominal resemblance is not surprising. Like the nains,
+these smaller beings inhabit abandoned Druidical monuments or dwell
+beneath the foundations of ancient castles. Carnac is sometimes
+alluded to in Breton as 'Ty C'harriquet,' 'the House of the Gorics,'
+the country-folk in this district holding the belief that its
+megalithic monuments were reared by these manikins, whom they
+describe as between two and three feet high, but exceedingly
+strong, just as the Scottish peasantry speak of the Picts of
+folk-lore--'wee fouk but unco' strang.' Every night the gorics
+dance in circles round the stones of Carnac, and should a mortal
+interrupt their frolic he is forced to join in the dance, until,
+breathless and exhausted, he falls prone to the earth amid peals of
+mocking laughter. Like the nains, the gorics are the guardians of
+hidden treasure, for the tale goes that beneath one of the menhirs of
+Carnac lies a golden hoard, and that all the other stones have been
+set up the better to conceal it, and so mystify those who would
+discover its resting-place. A calculation, the key to which is to
+be found in the Tower of London, will alone indicate the spot where
+the treasure lies. And here it may be of interest to state that
+the ancient national fortalice of England occurs frequently in Breton
+and in Celtic romance.[37] Some of the immigrant Britons into
+Armorica probably came from the settlement which was later to grow
+into London, and may have carried tales of its ancient British
+fortress into their new home.
+
+The courils are peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen. Like the gorics,
+they are fond of dancing, and they are quite as malignantly inclined
+toward the unhappy stranger who may stumble into their ring. The
+castle of Morlaix, too, is haunted by gorics not more than a foot
+high, who dwell beneath it in holes in the ground. They possess
+treasures as great as those of the gnomes of Norway or Germany, and
+these they will sometimes bestow on lucky mortals, who are permitted,
+however, to take but one handful. If a person should attempt to seize
+more the whole of the money vanishes, and the offender's ears are
+soundly boxed by invisible hands.
+
+The night-washers (_eur tunnerez noz_) are evil spirits who appear at
+night on the banks of streams and call on the passers-by to assist
+them to wash the linen of the dead. If they are refused, they seize
+upon the person who denies them, drag him into the water, and break
+his arms. These beings are obviously the same as the Bean Nighe, 'the
+Washing Woman' of the Scottish Highlands, who is seen in lonely places
+beside a pool or stream, washing the linen of those who will shortly
+die. In Skye she is said to be short of stature. If any one catches
+her she tells all that will befall him in after life. In Perthshire
+she is represented as "small and round and dressed in pretty green."
+
+
+_The Teurst_
+
+In the district of Morlaix the peasants are terribly afraid of beings
+they call teursts. These are large, black, and fearsome, like the
+Highland ourisk, who haunted desert moors and glens. The _teursta
+poulict_ appears in the likeness of some domestic animal. In the
+district of Vannes is encountered a colossal spirit called Teus or
+Bugelnoz, who appears clothed in white between midnight and two in the
+morning. His office is to rescue victims from the devil, and should he
+spread his mouth over them they are secure from the Father of Evil.
+The Dusii of Gaul are mentioned by St Augustine, who regarded them as
+_incubi_, and by Isidore of Seville, and in the name we may perhaps
+discover the origin of our expression 'the deuce!'
+
+
+_The Nicole_
+
+The Nicole is a spirit of modern creation who torments the honest
+fishermen of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Malo. Just as they are
+about to draw in their nets this mischievous spirit leaps around them,
+freeing the fish, or he will loosen a boat's anchor so that it will
+drift on to a sand-bank. He may divide the cable which holds the
+anchor to the vessel and cause endless trouble. This spirit received
+its name from an officer who commanded a battalion of fishermen
+conscripts, and who from his intense severity and general reputation
+as a martinet obtained a bad reputation among the seafaring
+population.
+
+
+_The Mourioche_
+
+The Mourioche is a malicious demon of bestial nature, able, it would
+seem, to transform himself into any animal shape he chooses. In
+general appearance he is like a year-old foal. He is especially
+dangerous to children, and Breton babies are often chided when noisy
+or mischievous with the words: "Be good, now, the Mourioche is
+coming!" Of one who appears to have received a shock, also, it is
+said: "He has seen the Mourioche." Unlucky is the person who gets in
+his way; but doubly so the unfortunate who attempts to mount him in
+the belief that he is an ordinary steed, for after a fiery gallop he
+will be precipitated into an abyss and break his neck.
+
+
+_The Ankou_
+
+Perhaps there is no spirit of evil which is so much dreaded by the
+Breton peasantry as the Ankou, who travels the duchy in a cart,
+picking up souls. In the dead of night a creaking axle-tree can be
+heard passing down the silent lanes. It halts at a door; the summons
+has been given, a soul quits the doomed house, and the wagon of the
+Ankou passes on. The Ankou herself--for the dread death-spirit of
+Brittany is probably female--is usually represented as a skeleton. M.
+Anatole le Braz has elaborated a study of the whole question in his
+book on the legend of death in Brittany,[38] and it is probable that
+the Ankou is a survival of the death-goddess of the prehistoric
+dolmen-builders of Brittany. MacCulloch[39] considers the Ankou to be
+a reminiscence of the Celtic god of death, who watches over all things
+beyond the grave and carries off the dead to his kingdom, but greatly
+influenced by medieval ideas of 'Death the skeleton.' In some Breton
+churches a little model or statuette of the Ankou is to be seen, and
+this is nothing more nor less than a cleverly fashioned skeleton. The
+peasant origin of the belief can be found in the substitution of a
+cart or wagon for the more ambitious coach and four of other lands.
+
+
+_The Youdic_
+
+Dark and gloomy are many of the Breton legends, of evil things, gloomy
+as the depths of the forests in which doubtless many of them were
+conceived. Most folk-tales are tinged with melancholy, and it is
+rarely in Breton story that we discover a vein of the joyous.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEMON-DOG]
+
+Among the peaks of the Montagnes d'Arr�e lies a vast and dismal peat
+bog known as the Yeun, which has long been regarded by the Breton folk
+as the portal to the infernal regions. This Stygian locality has
+brought forth many legends. It is, indeed, a remarkable territory. In
+summer it seems a vast moor carpeted by glowing purple heather, which
+one can traverse up to a certain point, but woe betide him who would
+advance farther, for, surrounded by what seems solid ground, lies a
+treacherous quagmire declared by the people of the neighbourhood to be
+unfathomable. This part of the bog, whose victims have been many, is
+known as the Youdic. As one leans over it its waters may sometimes be
+seen to simmer and boil, and the peasants of the country-side devoutly
+believe that when this occurs infernal forces are working beneath,
+madly revelling, and that it is only the near presence of St Michael,
+whose mount is hard by, which restrains them from doing active harm to
+those who may have to cross the Yeun.
+
+Countless stories are afloat concerning this weird maelstrom of mud
+and bubbling water. At one time it was the custom to hurl animals
+suspected of being evil spirits into its black depths. Malevolent
+fiends, it was thought, were wont to materialize in the form of great
+black dogs, and unfortunate animals of this type, if they evinced such
+peculiarities as were likely to place them under suspicion, were taken
+forthwith to the Youdic by a member of the enlightened priesthood of
+the district, and were cast into its seething depths with all the
+ceremonies suitable to such an occasion.
+
+A story typical of those told about the place is that of one Job Ann
+Drez, who seems to have acted as sexton and assisted the parish priest
+in his dealings with the supernatural. Along with the priest, Job
+repaired one evening after sunset to the gloomy waters of the Youdic,
+dragging behind him a large black dog of the species most likely to
+excite distrust in the priestly mind. The priest showed considerable
+anxiety lest the animal should break loose.
+
+"If he should get away," he said nervously, "both of us are lost."
+
+"I will wager he does not," replied Job, tying the cord by which the
+brute was led securely to his wrist.
+
+"Forward, then," said the priest, and he walked boldly in front, until
+they came to the foot of the mountain on the summit of which lies the
+Youdic.
+
+The priest turned warningly to Job. "You must be circumspect in this
+place," he said very gravely. "Whatever you may hear, be sure not to
+turn your head. Your life in this world and your salvation in the next
+depend absolutely on this. You understand me?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I understand."
+
+A vast desolation surrounded them. So dark was the night that it
+seemed to envelop them like a velvet curtain. Beneath their feet they
+heard the hissing and moaning of the bog, awaiting its prey like a
+restless and voracious wild beast. Through the dense blackness they
+could see the iridescent waters writhing and gleaming below.
+
+"Surely," said Job half to himself, "this must be the gateway to
+hell!"
+
+At that word the dog uttered a frightful howl--such a howl as froze
+Job's blood in his veins. It tugged and strained at the cord which
+held it with the strength of a demon, striving to turn on Job and rend
+him.
+
+"Hold on!" cried the priest in mortal terror, keeping at a safe
+distance, however. "Hold on, I entreat you, or else we are undone!"
+
+Job held on to the demon-dog with all his strength. Indeed, it was
+necessary to exert every thew and sinew if the animal were to be
+prevented from tearing him to pieces. Its howls were sufficient to
+strike terror to the stoutest heart. "Iou! Iou!" it yelled again and
+again.
+
+But Job held on desperately, although the cord cut his hands and blood
+ran from the scarified palms. Inch by inch he dragged the brute toward
+the Youdic. The creature in a last desperate effort turned and was
+about to spring on him open-mouthed, when all at once the priest,
+darting forward, threw his cloak over its head. It uttered a shriek
+which sounded through the night like the cry of a lost soul.
+
+"Quick!" cried the priest. "Lie flat on the earth and put your face on
+the ground!"
+
+Scarcely had the two men done so than a frightful tumult ensued. First
+there was the sound of a body leaping into the morass, then such an
+uproar as could only proceed from the mouth of the infernal regions.
+Shrieks, cries, hissings, explosions followed in quick succession for
+upward of half an hour; then gradually they died away and a horrible
+stillness took their place. The two men rose trembling and unnerved,
+and slowly took their way through the darkness, groping and stumbling
+until they had left the awful vicinity of the Yeun behind them.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [37] See Nutt, _Celtic and Medi�val Romance_.
+
+  [38] _La L�gende de la Mort._
+
+  [39] _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 345
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V: WORLD-TALES IN BRITTANY
+
+
+I have entitled this chapter 'World-Tales' to indicate that the
+stories it contains are in plot or _motif_ if not in substance common
+to the whole world--that, in short, although they are found in
+Brittany, they are no more Breton than Italian, Russian, American, or
+Australian. But although the story which tells of the search for the
+golden-haired princess on the magic horse is the possession of no one
+particular race, the tales recounted here have the Breton colouring
+and the Breton spirit, and in perusing them we encounter numerous
+little allusions to Breton customs or manners and obtain not a few
+sidelights upon the Breton character, its shrewdness and its goodwill,
+while we may note as well the narrowness of view and meanness so
+characteristic of peoples who have been isolated for a long period
+from contact with other races.
+
+The first two of these tales are striking ones built upon two
+world-_motifs_--those of the magic horse and the search for the
+golden-haired princess, who is, of course, the sun, two themes which
+have been amalgamated in not a few deathless stories.
+
+
+_The Youth who did not Know_
+
+One day the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou was returning from Morlaix, when
+he beheld lying on the road a little fellow of four or five years of
+age. He leapt from his horse, picked the child up, and asked him what
+he did there.
+
+"I do not know," replied the little boy.
+
+"Who is your father?" asked the Marquis.
+
+"I do not know," said the child for the second time.
+
+"And your mother?" asked the kindly nobleman.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Where are you now, my child?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Then what is your name?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+The Marquis told his serving-man to place the child on the crupper of
+his horse, as he had taken a fancy to him and would adopt him. He
+called him N'Oun Doare, which signifies in Breton, 'I do not know.' He
+educated him, and when his schooling was finished took him to Morlaix,
+where they put up at the best inn in the town. The Marquis could not
+help admiring his adopted son, who had now grown into a tall, handsome
+youth, and so pleased was he with him that he desired to signify his
+approval by making him a little present, which he resolved should take
+the form of a sword. So they went out into the town and visited the
+armourers' shops in search of a suitable weapon. They saw swords of
+all kinds, but N'Oun Doare would have none of them, until at last they
+passed the booth of a seller of scrap-metal, where hung a rusty old
+rapier which seemed fit for nothing.
+
+"Ha!" cried N'Oun Doare, "that is the sword for me. Please buy it, I
+beg of you."
+
+"Why, don't you see what a condition it is in?" said the Marquis. "It
+is not a fit weapon for a gentleman."
+
+"Nevertheless it is the only sword I wish for," said N'Oun Doare.
+
+"Well, well, you are a strange fellow," said the Marquis, but he
+bought the sword nevertheless, and they returned to Coat-Squiriou. The
+next day N'Oun Doare examined his sword and discovered that the blade
+had the words "I am invincible" engraved upon it.
+
+Some time afterward the Marquis said to him: "It is time that you had
+a horse. Come with me to Morlaix and we will purchase one." They
+accordingly set out for Morlaix. In the market-place they saw many
+fine animals, but with none of them was N'Oun Doare content. On
+returning to the inn, however, he espied what looked like a
+broken-down mare standing by the roadside, and to this sorry beast he
+immediately drew the attention of the Marquis.
+
+"That is the horse for me!" he cried. "I beg of you, purchase it for
+me."
+
+"What!" cried the Marquis, "that broken-down beast? Why, only look at
+it, my son." But N'Oun Doare persisted, and at last, despite his own
+better judgment, the Marquis bought the animal. The man who sold it
+was a cunning-looking fellow from Cornouaille, who, as he put the
+bridle into N'Oun Doare's hand, whispered:
+
+"You see the knots on the halter of this animal?"
+
+"Yes," replied N'Oun Doare; "what of them?"
+
+"Only this, that each time you loosen one the mare will immediately
+carry you five hundred leagues from where you are."
+
+The Marquis and his ward returned once more to the ch�teau, N'Oun
+Doare riding his new purchase, when it entered into his head to untie
+one of the knots on the halter. He did so, and immediately descended
+in the middle of Paris--which we must take the story-teller's word for
+it is five hundred leagues from Brittany!
+
+Several months afterward the Marquis had occasion to go to Paris, and
+one of the first people he met there was N'Oun Doare, who told him of
+his adventure. The Marquis was going to visit the King, and took his
+_prot�g�_ along with him to the palace, where he was well received.
+
+Some nights afterward the youth was walking with his old mare outside
+the walls of Paris, and noticed something which glittered very
+brightly at the foot of an ancient stone cross which stood where four
+roads met. He approached it and beheld a crown of gold, set with the
+most brilliant precious stones. He at once picked it up, when the old
+mare, turning its head, said to him: "Take care; you will repent
+this."
+
+Greatly surprised, N'Oun Doare thought that he had better replace the
+crown, but a longing to possess it overcame him, and although the mare
+warned him once more he finally resolved to take it, and, putting it
+under his mantle, rode away.
+
+Now the King had confided to his care part of the royal stables, and
+when N'Oun Doare entered them their darkness was immediately lit up by
+the radiance of the crown which he carried. So well had the Breton lad
+attended to the horses under his charge that the other squires had
+become jealous, and, observing the strange light in N'Oun Doare's part
+of the stable, they mentioned it to the King, who in turn spoke of it
+to the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou. The Marquis asked N'Oun Doare the
+meaning of the light, and the youth replied that it came from the
+ancient sword they had bought at Morlaix, which was an enchanted
+weapon and shone at intervals with strange brilliance. But one night
+his enemies resolved to examine into the matter more closely, and,
+looking through the keyhole of the stable, they saw that the wondrous
+light which had so puzzled them shone from a magnificent crown of
+gold. They ran at once to tell the King, and next night N'Oun Doare's
+stable was opened with a master-key and the crown removed to the
+King's quarters. It was then seen that an inscription was engraved
+upon the diadem, but in such strange characters that no one could read
+it. The magicians of the capital were called into consultation, but
+none of them could decipher the writing. At last a little boy of seven
+years of age was found who said that it was the crown of the Princess
+Golden Bell. The King then called upon N'Oun Doare to approach, and
+said to him:
+
+"You should not have hidden this thing from me, but as you are guilty
+of having done so I doom you to find the Princess Golden Bell, whom I
+desire shall become my wife. If you fail I shall put you to death."
+
+N'Oun Doare left the royal presence in a very perturbed state of mind.
+He went to seek his old mare with tears in his eyes.
+
+"I know," said the mare, "the cause of your sorrow. You should have
+left the golden crown alone, as I told you. But do not repine; go to
+the King and ask him for money for your journey."
+
+The lad received the money from the King, and set out on his journey.
+Arriving at the seashore, one of the first objects he beheld was a
+little fish cast up by the waves on the beach and almost at its last
+gasp.
+
+"Throw that fish back into the water," said the mare. N'Oun Doare did
+so, and the fish, lifting its head from the water, said:
+
+"You have saved my life, N'Oun Doare. I am the King of the Fishes, and
+if ever you require my help call my name by the seashore and I will
+come." With these words the Fish-King vanished beneath the water.
+
+A little later they came upon a bird struggling vainly to escape from
+a net in which it was caught.
+
+"Cut the net and set that poor bird free," said the wise mare.
+
+Upon N'Oun Doare doing so the bird paused before it flew away and
+said:
+
+"I am the King of the Birds, N'Oun Doare. I will never forget the
+service you have rendered me, and if ever you are in trouble and need
+my aid you have only to call me and I shall fly swiftly to help you."
+
+As they went on their way N'Oun Doare's wonderful mare crossed
+mountains, forests, vast seas, and streams with a swiftness and ease
+that was amazing. Soon they beheld the walls of the Ch�teau of the
+Golden Bell rising before them, and as they drew near they could hear
+a most confused and terrible noise coming from it, which shook N'Oun
+Doare's courage and made him rather fearful of entering it. Near the
+door a being of the most curious aspect was hung to a tree by a chain,
+and this peculiar individual had as many horns on his body as there
+are days in the year.
+
+"Cut that unfortunate man down," said the mare. "Will you not give him
+his freedom?"
+
+"I am too much afraid to approach him," said N'Oun Doare, alarmed at
+the man's appearance.
+
+"Do not fear," said the sagacious animal; "he will not harm you in any
+manner."
+
+N'Oun Doare did so, and the stranger thanked him most gratefully,
+bidding him, as the others whom he had rescued had done, if he ever
+required help to call upon Grifescorne, King of the Demons, for that
+was his name, and he would be with him immediately.
+
+"Enter the ch�teau boldly and without fear," said the mare, "and I
+will await you in the wood yonder. After the Princess Golden Bell has
+welcomed you she will show you all the curiosities and marvels of her
+dwelling. Tell her you have a horse without an equal, which can dance
+most beautifully the dances of every land. Say that your steed will
+perform them for her diversion if she will come and behold it in the
+forest."
+
+Everything fell out as the mare had said, and the Princess was
+delighted and amused by the mare's dancing.
+
+"If you were to mount her," said N'Oun Doare, "I vow she would dance
+even more wonderfully than before!"
+
+The Princess after a moment's hesitation did so. In an instant the
+adventurous youth was by her side, and the horse sped through the air,
+so that in a short space they found themselves flying over the sea.
+
+"You have tricked me!" cried the infuriated damsel. "But do not
+imagine that you are at the end of your troubles; and," she added
+viciously, "you will have cause to lament more than once ere I wed the
+old King of France."
+
+They arrived promptly at Paris, where N'Oun Doare presented the lovely
+Princess to the monarch, saying:
+
+"Sire, I have brought to you the Princess Golden Bell, whom you desire
+to make your wife."
+
+[Illustration: N'OUN DOARE AND THE PRINCESS GOLDEN BELL]
+
+The King was dazed by the wondrous beauty of the Princess, and was
+eager for the marriage to take place immediately, but this the royal
+maiden would not hear of, and declared petulantly that she would not
+be wed until she had a ring which she had left behind her at her
+ch�teau, in a cabinet of which she had lost the key.
+
+Summoning N'Oun Doare, the King charged him with the task of finding
+the ring. The unfortunate youth returned to his wise mare, feeling
+much cast down.
+
+"Why," said the mare, "foolish one! do you not remember the King of
+the Birds whom you rescued? Call upon him, and mayhap he will aid you
+as he promised to do."
+
+With a return of hope N'Oun Doare did as he was bid, and immediately
+the royal bird was with him, and asked him in what way he could help
+him. Upon N'Oun Doare explaining his difficulty, the Bird-King
+summoned all his subjects, calling each one by name. They came, but
+none of them appeared to be small enough to enter the cabinet by way
+of the keyhole, which was the only means of entrance. The wren was
+decided to be the only bird with any chance of success, and he set out
+for the ch�teau.
+
+Eventually, with much difficulty and the loss of the greater part of
+his feathers, the bird procured the ring, and flew back with it to
+Paris. N'Oun Doare hastened to present the ring to the Princess.
+
+"Now, fair one," said the impatient King, "why delay our wedding
+longer?"
+
+"Nay," said she, pouting discontentedly, "there is one thing that I
+wish, and without it I will do nothing."
+
+"What do you desire? You have only to speak and it shall be brought."
+
+"Well, transport my ch�teau with all it contains opposite to yours."
+
+"What!" cried the King, aghast. "Impossible!"
+
+"Well, then, it is just as impossible that I should marry you, for
+without my ch�teau I shall not consent."
+
+For a second time the King gave N'Oun Doare what seemed an insurmountable
+task.
+
+"Now indeed I am as good as lost!" lamented the youth as they came to
+the ch�teau and he saw its massive walls towering above him.
+
+"Call Grifescorne, King of the Demons, to your assistance," suggested
+the wise mare.
+
+With the aid of the Demon-King and his subjects N'Oun Doare's task was
+again accomplished, and he and his mare followed the demon army to
+Paris, where they arrived as soon as it did.
+
+In the morning the people of Paris were struck dumb to see a wonderful
+palace, its golden towers flashing in the sun, rising opposite to the
+royal residence.
+
+"We shall be married at last, shall we not?" asked the King.
+
+"Yes," replied the Princess, "but how shall I enter my ch�teau and
+show you its wonders without a key, for I dropped it in the sea when
+N'Oun Doare and his horse carried me over it."
+
+Once more was the youth charged with the task, and through the aid of
+the Fish-King was able to procure the key, which was cut from a single
+diamond. None of the fishes had seen it, but at last the oldest fish,
+who had not appeared when his name was pronounced, came forward and
+produced it from his mouth.
+
+With a glad heart the successful N'Oun Doare returned to Paris, and as
+the Princess had now no more excuses to make the day of the wedding
+was fixed and the ceremony was celebrated with much splendour. To the
+astonishment of all, when the King and his betrothed entered the
+church N'Oun Doare followed behind with his mare. At the conclusion of
+the ceremony the mare's skin suddenly fell to the ground, disclosing a
+maiden of the most wonderful beauty.
+
+Smiling upon the bewildered N'Oun Doare, the damsel gave him her hand
+and said: "Come with me to Tartary, for the king of that land is my
+father, and there we shall be wed amid great rejoicing."
+
+Leaving the amazed King and wedding guests, the pair quitted the
+church together. More might have been told of them, but Tartary is a
+far land and no news of them has of late years reached Brittany.
+
+
+_The Princess of Tronkolaine_
+
+There was once an old charcoal-burner who had twenty-six grandchildren.
+For twenty-five of them he had no great difficulty in procuring
+godparents, but for the twenty-sixth--that, alas! was a different
+story. Godmothers, indeed, were to be found in plenty, but he could
+not find anyone to act as godfather.
+
+As he wandered disconsolately along the high road, dwelling on his bad
+luck, he saw a fine carriage coming toward him, its occupant no less a
+personage than the King himself. The old man made an obeisance so low
+that the King was amused, and threw him a handful of silver.
+
+"My good man," he said, "here are alms for you."
+
+"Your Majesty," replied the charcoal-burner, "I do not desire alms. I
+am unhappy because I cannot find a godfather for my twenty-sixth
+grandchild."
+
+The King considered the matter.
+
+"I myself will be godfather to the child," he said at length. "Tell me
+when it is to be baptized and I will meet you at the church."
+
+The old man was delighted beyond measure, and in due time he and his
+relatives brought the child to be baptized. When they reached the
+church, sure enough, there was the King waiting to take part in the
+ceremony, and in his honour the child was named Charles. Before taking
+leave the King gave to the charcoal-burner the half of a coin which he
+had broken in two. This Charles on reaching his eighteenth birthday
+was to convey to the Court at Paris, as a token whereby his godfather
+should know him. His Majesty also left a thousand crowns, which were
+to be utilized in the education and general upbringing of the child.
+
+Time passed and Charles attained his eighteenth birthday. Taking the
+King's token, he set out for the royal abode. As he went he
+encountered an old man, who warned him on no account to drink from a
+certain well which he would pass on his way. The lad promised to
+regard the warning, but ere he reached the well he had forgotten it.
+
+A man sat by the side of the well.
+
+"You are hot and tired," he said, feigning courtesy, "will you not
+stop to drink?"
+
+The water was cool and inviting. Charles bent his head and drank
+thirstily. And while he drank the stranger robbed him of his token;
+but this he did not know till afterward.
+
+Gaily Charles resumed his way, while the thief went to Paris by a
+quicker route and got there before him.
+
+Boldly the thief demanded audience of the King, and produced the token
+so wickedly come by. The sovereign ordered the other half of the coin
+to be brought out, and lo! they fitted exactly. And because the thief
+had a plausible face the good King did not doubt that he was indeed
+his godson. He therefore had him treated with all honour and respect,
+and bestowed gifts upon him lavishly.
+
+Meanwhile Charles had arrived in Paris, and, finding that he had been
+deprived of his only means of proving his identity to the King, he
+accepted the situation philosophically and set about earning his
+living. He succeeded in obtaining a post as herdsman on the royal
+estates.
+
+One day the robber was greatly disconcerted to find the real Charles
+at the very gates of the palace. He determined to be rid of him once
+for all, so he straightway approached the King.
+
+"Your Majesty, there is a man among your retainers who has said that
+he will demand of the sun why it is so red at sunrise."
+
+"He is indeed a foolish fellow," said the King. "Our decree is that he
+shall carry out his rash boast to-morrow ere sunset, or, if it be but
+idle folly, lose his head on the following morning."
+
+The thief was delighted with the success of his plot. Poor Charles was
+summoned before the King and bidden to ask the sun why he was so red
+at sunrise. In vain he denied having uttered the speech. Had not the
+King the word of his godson?
+
+Next morning Charles set out on his journey. Ere he had gone very far
+he met an old man who asked him his errand, and afterward gave him a
+wooden horse on which to ride to the sun. Charles thought this but a
+sorry joke. However, no sooner had he mounted his wooden steed than it
+rose into the air and flew with him to where the sun's castle towered
+on the peak of a lofty mountain.
+
+To the sun, a resplendent warrior, Charles addressed his query.
+
+"In the morning," said the sun, "I pass the castle of the Princess of
+Tronkolaine, and she is so lovely that I must needs look my best."
+
+Charles, mounted on his wooden horse, flew with this answer to Paris.
+The King was satisfied, but the thief gnashed his teeth in secret
+rage, and plotted yet further against the youth.
+
+"Your Majesty," he said, "this herdsman who tends your herds has said
+that he will lead hither the Princess of Tronkolaine to be your
+bride."
+
+"If he has said so," replied the King, "he shall lead her hither or
+forfeit his life."
+
+"Alas!" thought Charles, when he learned of the plot, "I must bid
+farewell to my life--there is no hope for me!"
+
+All the same he set out boldly enough, and by and by encountered the
+old man who had helped him on his previous mission. To him Charles
+confided his troubles, begging for advice and assistance.
+
+The old man pondered.
+
+"Return to the Court," he said, "and ask the King to give you three
+ships, one laden with oatmeal, another with bacon, and the third with
+salt meat. Then sail on till you come to an island covered with ants.
+To their monarch, the Ant-King, make a present of the cargo of
+oatmeal. He will direct you to a second island, whereon dwell fierce
+lions. Fear them not. Present your cargo of bacon to their King and he
+will become your friend. Yet a third island you will touch, inhabited
+only by sparrow-hawks. Give to their King your cargo of salt meat and
+he will show you the abode of the Princess."
+
+Charles thanked the sage for his advice, which he promptly proceeded
+to follow. The King granted him the three ships, and he sailed away
+in search of the Princess.
+
+When he came to the first island, which was swarming with ants, he
+gave up his cargo of grain, and so won the friendship of the little
+creatures. At the second island he unloaded the bacon, which he
+presented to the King of the Lions; while at the third he gave up the
+salt beef to the King of the Sparrow-hawks, who directed him how to
+come at the object of his quest. Each monarch bade Charles summon him
+instantly if he had need of assistance.
+
+Setting sail from the island of the sparrow-hawks, the youth arrived
+at length at the abode of the Princess.
+
+She was seated under an orange-tree, and as Charles gazed upon her he
+thought her the most beautiful woman in the world, as indeed she was.
+
+The Princess, looking up, beheld a comely youth, beneath whose ardent
+gaze her eyes fell. Smiling graciously, she invited him into her
+castle, and he, nothing loath, followed her into the great hall, where
+tempting viands were spread before him.
+
+When he had supped he made known his errand to the Princess, and
+begged her to accompany him to Paris. She agreed only on condition
+that he would perform three tasks set him, and when Charles was
+curious to know what was required of him she led him into another room
+where was a large heap of every kind of seed--corn, barley, clover,
+flax--all mixed up anyhow.
+
+"This is the first task," said the Princess: "you must put each kind
+of seed into a different heap, so that no single seed shall be out of
+its place. This you must accomplish ere to-morrow at sunrise." With
+that she left the room.
+
+Charles was in despair, until he bethought him of his friend the King
+of the Ants, whom he begged to help him. Scarcely had he uttered the
+words when ants began to fill the room, coming from he knew not where.
+In less time than it takes to tell they had arranged the seeds into
+separate heaps, so that no single seed was out of its place.
+
+When the Princess arrived in the morning she was astonished to find
+the hero fast asleep and the work accomplished. All day she
+entertained him hospitably in her castle, and at nightfall she showed
+him the second task. An avenue of great oaks led down from the castle.
+Giving him a wooden axe and a wooden saw, the Princess bade him cut
+down all the trees ere morning.
+
+When she had left him Charles called upon the King of the Lions.
+Instantly a number of lions bounded upon the scene, and with teeth and
+claws soon performed the task.
+
+In the morning the Princess, finding Charles asleep and all the trees
+cut down, was more astonished than ever.
+
+The third task was the most difficult of all. A high mountain had to
+be levelled to the plain in a single night. Without the help of the
+sparrow-hawks, Charles would certainly have failed, but these faithful
+creatures worked with a will, and soon had the great mountain carried
+away piece by piece and dropped into the sea.
+
+When the Princess came for the third time and found the hero asleep by
+the finished task she fell in love with him straightway, and kissed
+him softly on the brow.
+
+There was now nothing further to hinder his return, and he begged the
+Princess to accompany him to Paris. In due time they arrived in that
+city, to be welcomed with great warmth by the people. The beauty of
+the lady won all hearts. But great was the general astonishment when
+she declared that she would marry, not the King, but the youth who had
+brought her to Paris! Charles thereupon declared himself the true
+godson of the King, and the monarch, far from being angry, gave the
+couple his blessing and great estates; and when in course of time he
+died they reigned in his stead.
+
+As for the thief, he was ordered to execution forthwith, and was
+roasted to death in a large oven.
+
+
+_The Princess Starbright_
+
+This is another tale which introduces the search for the sun-princess
+in a peculiar setting.
+
+In the long ago there lived near the Lake of L�guer a jolly miller who
+found recreation after his work in shooting the wild swans and ducks
+which frequented that stretch of water. One December day, when it was
+freezing hard and the earth was covered with snow, he observed a
+solitary duck near the edge of the lake. He shot at it, and went
+forward to pick it up, when he saw to his amazement that it had
+changed into a beautiful princess. He was ready to drop into the snow
+with fright, but the lady came graciously forward to him, saying:
+
+"Fear not, my brave fellow, for know that I have been enchanted these
+many years under the form of a wild duck, because of the enmity of
+three malicious demons. You can restore me permanently to my human
+shape if you choose to show only a little perseverance and courage."
+
+"Why, what do you desire me to do, madam?" stammered the miller,
+abashed by the lady's beauty and condescension.
+
+"What only a brave man could accomplish, my friend," she replied; "all
+that you have to do is to pass three consecutive nights in the old
+manor which you can see over there."
+
+The miller shuddered, for he had heard the most terrible stories in
+connexion with the ruined manor, which had an evil name in the
+district.
+
+"Alas! madam," he said, "whom might I not encounter there! Even the
+devil himself----"
+
+"My good friend," said the Princess, sadly, "if you do as I ask you
+will have to encounter not one but a dozen devils, who will torment
+you in every possible way. But fear nothing, for I can provide you
+with a magic ointment which will preserve you entirely from all the
+injuries they would attempt to inflict upon you. Even if you were dead
+I could resuscitate you. I assure you that if you will do as I ask you
+will never regret it. Beneath the hearthstone in the hall of the manor
+are three casks of gold and three of silver, and all these will belong
+to you and to me if you assist me; so put your courage to the proof, I
+pray you."
+
+The miller squared his shoulders. "Lady," he said, "I will obey you,
+even if I have to face a hundred devils instead of twelve."
+
+The Princess smiled encouragingly and disappeared. On the following
+night the miller set out for the old manor, carrying a bundle of
+faggots to make a fire, and some cider and tobacco to refresh him
+during his vigil. When he arrived in the dismal old place he sat
+himself down by the hearth, where he had built a good fire, and lit
+his pipe. But he had scarcely done so when he heard a most tremendous
+commotion in the chimney. Somewhat scared, he hid himself under an old
+bed which stood opposite the hearth, and, gazing anxiously from his
+place of concealment, beheld eleven grisly fiends descend from the
+flue. They seemed astonished to find a fire on the hearth, and did not
+appear to be in the best of tempers.
+
+"Where is Boiteux?" cried one. "Oh," growled another, who appeared to
+be the chief of the band, "he is always late."
+
+"Ah, behold him," said a third, as Boiteux arrived by the same road as
+his companions.
+
+"Well, comrades," cried Boiteux, "have you heard the news?" The others
+shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads sulkily.
+
+"Well," said Boiteux, "I am convinced that the miller of L�guer is
+here, and that he is trying to free the Princess from the enchantment
+which we have placed upon her."
+
+A hurried search at once took place, the demons scrambling from one
+part of the room to the other, tearing down the curtains and making
+every effort to discover the hiding-place of the intruder. At last
+Boiteux, peering under the bed, saw the miller crouching there, and
+cried out: "Here is the rogue beneath the bed."
+
+The unlucky miller was then seized by the foot and dragged into the
+shrieking and leaping circle. With a gesture of command the chief
+demon subdued the antics of his followers.
+
+"So, my jolly miller," said he, "our friend the Princess has found a
+champion in you, has she? Well, we are going to have some sport with
+you, which I fear will not be quite to your taste, but I can assure
+you that you will not again have the opportunity of assisting a
+princess in distress."
+
+With this he seized the miller and thrust him from him with great
+force. As he flew like a stone from a sling, another of the fiends
+seized him, and the unhappy man was thrown violently about from one to
+the other. At last they threw him out of the window into the
+courtyard, and as he did not move they thought that he was dead. But
+in the midst of their laughter and rejoicing at the easy manner in
+which they had got rid of him, cockcrow sounded, and the diabolic
+company swiftly disappeared. They had scarcely taken their departure
+when the Princess arrived. She tenderly anointed the miller's hurts
+from the little pot of magic ointment she had brought with her, and,
+nothing daunted, now that he was thoroughly revived, the bold fellow
+announced his intention of seeing the matter through and remaining in
+the manor for the two following nights.
+
+He had scarcely ensconced himself in his seat by the chimney-side on
+the second night when the twelve fiends came tumbling down the chimney
+as before. At one end of the room was a large heap of wood, behind
+which the miller quickly took refuge.
+
+"I smell the smell of a Christian!" cried Boiteux. A search followed,
+and once more the adventurous miller was dragged forth.
+
+"Oho!" cried the leader, "so you are not dead after all! Well, I can
+assure you that we shall not botch our work on this occasion."
+
+One of the grisly company placed a large cauldron of oil upon the
+fire, and when this was boiling they seized their victim and thrust
+him into it. The most dreadful agony seized the miller as the liquid
+seethed around his body, and he was just about to faint under the
+intensity of the torture when once again the cock crew and the
+fiendish band took themselves off. The Princess quickly appeared, and,
+drawing the miller from the cauldron, smeared him from head to foot
+with the ointment.
+
+On the third night the devils once more found the miller in the
+apartment. In dismay Boiteux suggested that he should be roasted on a
+spit and eaten, but unluckily for them they took a long time to come
+to this conclusion, and when they were about to impale their victim on
+the spit, the cock crew and they were forced to withdraw, howling in
+baffled rage. The Princess arrived as before, and was delighted to see
+that this time her champion did not require any assistance.
+
+"All is well now," she said. "You have freed me from my enchantment
+and the treasure is ours."
+
+They raised the hearthstone from its place, and, as she had said, the
+three casks of gold and the three casks of silver were found resting
+beneath it.
+
+"Take what you wish for yourself," said the Princess. "As for me, I
+cannot stay here; I must at once make a journey which will last a year
+and a day, after which we shall never part again."
+
+With these words she disappeared. The miller was grieved at her
+departure, but, consoling himself with the treasure, made over his
+mill to his apprentice and, apprising one of his companions of his
+good luck, resolved to go upon a journey with him, until such time as
+the Princess should return. He visited the neighbouring countries,
+and, with plenty of money at his disposal, found existence very
+pleasant indeed. After some eight months of this kind of life, he and
+his friend resolved to return to Brittany, and set out on their
+journey. One day they encountered on the road an old woman selling
+apples. She asked them to buy, but the miller was advised by his
+friend not to pay any heed to her. Ignoring the well-meant advice, the
+miller laughed and bought three apples. He had scarcely eaten one when
+he became unwell. Recalling how the fruit had disagreed with him, he
+did not touch the other apples until the day on which the Princess had
+declared she would return. When on the way to the manor to meet her,
+he ate the second apple. He began to feel sleepy, and, lying down at
+the foot of a tree, fell into a deep slumber.
+
+Soon after the Princess arrived in a beautiful star-coloured chariot
+drawn by ten horses. When she saw the miller lying sleeping she
+inquired of his friend what had chanced to him. The man acquainted her
+with the adventure of the apples, and the Princess told him that the
+old woman from whom he had purchased them was a sorceress.
+
+"Alas!" she said, "I am unable to take him with me in this condition,
+but I will come to this place to-morrow and again on the following
+day, and if he be awake I will transport him hence in my chariot. Here
+are a golden pear and a handkerchief; give him these and tell him that
+I will come again."
+
+She disappeared in her star-coloured equipage. Shortly afterward the
+miller wakened, and his friend told him what had occurred and gave him
+the pear and the kerchief. The next day the friends once more repaired
+to the spot where the Princess had vanished, but in thoughtlessness
+the miller had eaten of the third apple, and once more the Princess
+found him asleep. In sorrow she promised to return next day for the
+last time, once more leaving a golden pear and a handkerchief with his
+friend, to whom she said:
+
+"If he is not awake when I come to-morrow he will have to cross three
+powers and three seas in order to find me."
+
+Unluckily, however, the miller was still asleep when the Princess
+appeared on the following day. She repeated what she had said to his
+friend concerning the ordeal that the unfortunate miller would have to
+face before he might see her again, and ere she took her departure
+left a third pear and a third handkerchief behind her. When the miller
+awoke and found that she had gone he went nearly crazy with grief, but
+nevertheless he declared his unalterable intention of regaining the
+Princess, even if he should have to travel to the ends of the earth in
+search of her. Accordingly he set out to find her abode. He walked and
+walked innumerable miles, until at last he came to a great forest. As
+he arrived at its gloomy borders night fell, and he considered it
+safest to climb a tree, from which, to his great satisfaction, he
+beheld a light shining in the distance. Descending, he walked in the
+direction of the light, and found a tiny hut made of the branches of
+trees, in which sat a little old man with a long white beard.
+
+"Good evening, grandfather," said the miller.
+
+"Good evening, my child," replied the old man. "I behold you with
+pleasure, for it is eighty years since I have seen any human being."
+
+The miller entered the hut and sat down beside the old man, and after
+some conversation told him the object of his journey.
+
+"I will help you, my son," said the ancient. "Do you see these
+enchanted gaiters? Well, I wore them at your age. When you buckle them
+over your legs you will be able to travel seven leagues at a single
+step, and you will arrive without any difficulty at the castle of the
+Princess you desire so much to see again."
+
+The miller passed the night in the hut with the old hermit, and on the
+following morning, with the rising of the sun, buckled on the magic
+gaiters and stepped out briskly. All went well to begin with, nothing
+arrested his progress, and he sped over rivers, forests, and
+mountains. As the sun was setting he came to the borders of a second
+forest, where he observed a second hut, precisely similar to that in
+which he had passed the previous night. Going toward it, he found it
+occupied by an aged woman, of whom he demanded supper and lodging.
+
+"Alas! my son," said the old woman, "you do ill to come here, for I
+have three sons, terrible fellows, who will be here presently, and I
+am certain that if you remain they will devour you."
+
+The miller asked the names of the sons, and was informed by the old
+woman that they were January, February, and March. From this he
+concluded that the crone he was addressing was none other than the
+mother of the winds, and on asking her if this was so she admitted
+that he had judged correctly. While they were talking there was a
+terrible commotion in the chimney, from which descended an enormous
+giant with white hair and beard, breathing out clouds of frost.
+
+"Aha!" he cried, "I see, mother, that you have not neglected to
+provide for my supper!"
+
+"Softly, softly, good son," said the old dame; "this is little Yves,
+my nephew and your cousin; you must not eat him." The giant, who
+seemed greatly annoyed, retired into a corner, growling. Shortly
+afterward his brothers, February and March, arrived, and were told the
+same tale regarding the miller's relationship to them.
+
+Our hero, resolved to profit by the acquaintanceship, asked the
+gigantic February if he would carry him to the palace of the Princess,
+whom he described.
+
+"Ah," said February, "without doubt you speak of the Princess
+Starbright. If you wish I will give you a lift on my back part of the
+way."
+
+The miller gratefully accepted the offer, and in the morning mounted
+on the back of the mighty wind-giant, who carried him over a great
+sea. Then, after traversing much land and a second ocean, and while
+crossing a third spacious water, February expressed himself as quite
+fatigued and said that he could not carry his new cousin any farther.
+The miller glanced beneath him at the great waste of waters and begged
+him to make an effort to reach the land on the other side. Giving vent
+to a deep-throated grumble, February obeyed, and at last set him down
+outside the walls of the town where the castle of the Princess
+Starbright was situated. The miller entered the town and came to an
+inn, and, having dined, entered into conversation with the hostess,
+asking her the news of the place.
+
+"Why," said the woman, amazed, "where do you come from that you don't
+know that the Princess Starbright is to be married to-day, and to a
+husband that she does not love? The wedding procession will pass the
+door in a few moments on its way to the church."
+
+The miller was greatly downcast at these words, but plucking up
+courage he placed on a little table before the inn the first of the
+pears and handkerchiefs that the Princess had left with his friend.
+Shortly afterward the wedding procession passed, and the Princess
+immediately remarked the pear and the kerchief, and also recognized
+the miller standing close by. She halted, and, feigning illness,
+begged that the ceremony might be postponed until the morrow. Having
+returned to the palace, she sent one of her women to purchase the
+fruit and the handkerchief, and these the miller gave the maiden
+without question. On the following day the same thing happened, and on
+the third occasion of the Princess's passing the same series of events
+occurred. This time the Princess sent for the miller, and the pair
+embraced tenderly and wept with joy at having recovered each other.
+
+Now the Princess was as clever as she was beautiful, and she had a
+stratagem by which she hoped to marry the miller without undue
+opposition on the part of her friends. So she procured the marriage
+garments of the prince, her _fianc�_, and attiring the miller in them,
+took him to the marriage feast, which had been prepared for the fourth
+time at a late hour; but she hid her lover in a secluded corner from
+the public gaze. After a while she pretended to be looking for
+something, and upon being asked what she had lost, replied:
+
+"I have a beautiful coffer, but, alas! I have lost the key of it. I
+have found a new key, but it does not fit the casket; should I not
+search until I have recovered the old one?"
+
+"Without doubt!" cried every one. Then the Princess, going to the
+place where the miller was concealed, led him forth by the hand.
+
+"My lords and gentles," she said, "the coffer I spoke of is my heart;
+here is the one key that can fit it, the key that I had lost and have
+found again."
+
+The Princess and the miller were married amid universal rejoicings;
+and some time after the ceremony they did not fail to revisit the Lake
+of L�guer, the scene of their first meeting, the legend of which still
+clings like the mists of evening to its shores.
+
+This quaint and curious tale, in which the native folk-lore and French
+elements are so strangely mingled, deals, like its predecessor, with
+the theme of the search for the fairy princess. We turn now to another
+tale of quest with somewhat similar incidents, where the solar nature
+of one of the characters is perhaps more obvious--the quest for the
+mortal maiden who has been carried off by the sun-hero. We refrain in
+this place from indicating the mythological basis which underlies such
+a tale as this, as such a phenomenon is already amply illustrated in
+other works in this series.
+
+
+_The Castle of the Sun_
+
+There once lived a peasant who had seven children, six of them boys
+and the seventh a girl. They were very poor and all had to work hard
+for a living, but the drudges of the family were the youngest son,
+Yvon, and his sister, Yvonne. Because they were gentler and more
+delicate than the others, they were looked upon as poor, witless
+creatures, and all the hardest work was given them to do. But the
+children comforted each other, and became but the better favoured as
+they grew up.
+
+One day when Yvonne was taking the cattle to pasture she encountered a
+handsome youth, so splendidly garbed that her simple heart was filled
+with awe and admiration. To her astonishment he addressed her and
+courteously begged her hand in marriage. "To-morrow," he said, "I
+shall meet you here at this hour, and you shall give me an answer."
+
+Troubled, yet secretly happy, Yvonne made her way home, and told her
+parents all that had chanced. At first they laughed her to scorn, and
+refused to believe her story of the handsome prince, but when at
+length they were convinced they told her she was free to marry whom
+she would.
+
+On the following day Yvonne betook herself to the trysting-place,
+where her lover awaited her, even more gloriously resplendent than on
+the occasion of his first coming. The very trappings of his horse were
+of gleaming gold. At Yvonne's request he accompanied her to her home,
+and made arrangements with her kindred for the marriage. To all
+inquiries regarding his name and place of abode he returned that these
+should be made known on the wedding morning.
+
+Time passed, and on the day appointed the glittering stranger came to
+claim his wife. The ceremony over, he swept her into a carriage and
+was about to drive away, when her brothers reminded him of his promise
+to reveal his identity.
+
+"Where must we go to visit our sister?" they asked.
+
+"Eastward," he replied, "to a palace built of crystal, beyond the Sea
+of Darkness."
+
+And with that the pair were gone.
+
+A year elapsed, and the brothers neither saw nor heard anything of
+their sister, so that at length they decided to go in search of her.
+Yvon would have accompanied them, but they bade him stay at home.
+
+"You are so stupid," they said, "you would be of no use to us."
+
+Eastward they rode, and ever eastward, till at length they found
+themselves in the heart of a great forest. Then night came on and they
+lost the path. Twice a great noise, like the riot of a tempest, swept
+over their heads, leaving them trembling and stricken with panic.
+
+By and by they came upon an old woman tending a great fire, and of her
+they inquired how they might reach the abode of their brother-in-law.
+
+"I cannot tell," said the old woman, "but my son may be able to direct
+you."
+
+For the third time they heard the noise as of a great wind racing over
+the tree-tops.
+
+"Hush!" said the old woman, "it is my son approaching."
+
+He was a huge giant, this son of hers, and when he drew near the fire
+he said loudly:
+
+"Oh ho! I smell the blood of a Christian!"
+
+"What!" cried his mother sharply. "Would you eat your pretty cousins,
+who have come so far to visit us?"
+
+At that the giant became quite friendly toward his 'cousins,' and when
+he learned of their mission even offered to conduct them part of the
+way.
+
+Notwithstanding his amiability, however, the brothers spent an anxious
+night, and were up betimes on the following morning.
+
+The giant made ready for departure. First of all he bade the old woman
+pile fresh fuel on the fire. Then he spread a great black cloth, on
+which he made the brothers stand. Finally he strode into the fire, and
+when his clothes were consumed the black cloth rose into the air,
+bearing the brothers with it. Its going was marked by the sound of
+rushing wind which had terrified them on the preceding day. At length
+they alighted on a vast plain, half of which was rich and fertile,
+while the other half was bleak and arid as a desert. The plain was
+dotted with horses, and, curiously enough, those on the arid side were
+in splendid condition, whereas those on the fertile part were thin and
+miserable.
+
+The brothers had not the faintest idea of which direction they ought
+to take, and after a vain attempt to mount the horses on the plain
+they decided to return home. After many wanderings they arrived at
+their native place once more.
+
+When Yvon learned of the ill-success which had attended their mission
+he decided to go himself in search of his sister, and though his
+brothers laughed at him they gave him an old horse and bade him go.
+
+Eastward and eastward he rode, till at length he reached the forest
+where the old woman still tended the fire. Seeing that he was strong
+and fearless, she directed him by a difficult and dangerous road,
+which, however, he must pursue if he wished to see his sister.
+
+It was indeed a place of terrors. Poisonous serpents lay across his
+track; ugly thorns and briers sprang underfoot; at one point a lake
+barred his way.
+
+Finally a subterranean passage led him into his sister's country,
+where everything was of crystal, shining with the splendour of the sun
+itself. At the end of a gleaming pathway rose a castle built entirely
+of crystal, its innumerable domes and turrets reflecting the light in
+a thousand prismatic hues.
+
+Having gained access to the castle through a cave, Yvon wandered
+through its many beautiful chambers, till in one of these he came
+upon his sister asleep on a silken couch.
+
+Entranced with her beauty, and not daring to wake her, he slipped
+behind a curtain and watched her in silence; but as time went on he
+marvelled that she did not wake.
+
+At eventide a handsome youth--Yvon's brother-in-law--entered the
+chamber, struck Yvonne sharply three times, then flung himself down by
+her side and went to sleep. All night Yvon waited in his place of
+concealment. In the morning the young man rose from his couch, gave
+his wife three resounding blows, and went away. Only then did Yvon
+emerge and wake his sister.
+
+Brother and sister exchanged a tender greeting, and found much to talk
+of after their long separation. Yvon learned that the country to which
+he had come was a peculiar place, where meat and drink could be
+entirely dispensed with, while even sleep was not a necessity.
+
+"Tell me, Yvonne," he said, remembering what he had seen of his
+brother-in-law, "does your husband treat you well?"
+
+Yvonne assured him that her husband was all she could wish--that she
+was perfectly happy.
+
+"Is he always absent during the day?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Always."
+
+"Do you know where he goes?"
+
+"I do not, my brother."
+
+"I have a mind," said Yvon, "to ask him to let me accompany him on his
+journey. What say you, sister?"
+
+"It is a very good plan," said Yvonne.
+
+At sundown her husband returned home. He and Yvon became very good
+friends, and the latter begged to be allowed to accompany him on his
+journey the following day.
+
+"You may do so," was the response, "but only on one condition: if you
+touch or address anyone save me you must return home."
+
+Yvon readily agreed to accept the condition, and early next morning
+the two set off. Ere long they came to a wide plain, one half of which
+was green and fruitful, while the other half was barren and dry. On
+this plain cattle were feeding, and those on the arid part were fat
+and well-conditioned, while the others were mean and shrivelled to a
+degree. Yvon learned from his companion that the fat cattle
+represented those who were contented with their meagre lot, while the
+lean animals were those who, with a plentiful supply of worldly goods,
+were yet miserable and discontented.
+
+Many other strange things they saw as they went, but that which seemed
+strangest of all to Yvon was the sight of two trees lashing each other
+angrily with their branches, as though each would beat the other to
+the ground.
+
+Laying his hands on them, he forbade them to fight, and lo! in a
+moment they became two human beings, a man and wife, who thanked Yvon
+for releasing them from an enchantment under which they had been laid
+as a punishment for their perpetual bickering.
+
+Anon they reached a great cavern from which weird noises proceeded,
+and Yvon would fain have advanced farther; but his companion forbade
+him, reminding him that in disenchanting the trees he had failed to
+observe the one essential condition, and must return to the palace
+where his sister dwelt.
+
+There Yvon remained for a few days longer, after which his
+brother-in-law directed him by a speedy route to his home.
+
+"Go," said the prince, "but ere long you will return, and then it will
+be to remain with us for ever."
+
+On reaching his native village Yvon found all trace of his dwelling
+gone. Greatly bewildered, he inquired for his father by name. An old
+greybeard replied.
+
+"I have heard of him," he said. "He lived in the days when my
+grandfather's grandfather was but a boy, and now he sleeps in the
+churchyard yonder."
+
+Only then did Yvon realize that his visit to his sister had been one,
+not of days, but of generations!
+
+
+_The Seigneur with the Horse's Head_
+
+Famous among all peoples is the tale of the husband surrounded by
+mystery--bespelled in animal form, like the Prince in the story of
+Beauty and the Beast, nameless, as in that of Lohengrin, or unbeheld
+of his spouse, as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Among uncivilized
+peoples it is frequently forbidden to the wife to see her husband's
+face until some time after marriage, and the belief that ill-luck will
+befall one or both should this law be disregarded runs through
+primitive story, being perhaps reminiscent of a time when the man of
+an alien or unfriendly tribe crept to his wife's lodge or hut under
+cover of darkness and returned ere yet the first glimmer of dawn might
+betray him to the men of her people. The story which follows, however,
+deals with the theme of the enchanted husband whose wife must not
+speak to anyone until her first child receives the sacrament of
+baptism, and is, perhaps, unique of its kind.
+
+There lived at one time in the old ch�teau of Kerouez, in the commune
+of Loguivy-Plougras, a rich and powerful seigneur, whose only sorrow
+was the dreadful deformity of his son, who had come into the world
+with a horse's head. He was naturally kept out of sight as much as
+possible, but when he had attained the age of eighteen years he told
+his mother one day that he desired to marry, and requested her to
+interview a farmer in the vicinity who had three pretty young
+daughters, in order that she might arrange a match with one of them.
+
+The good lady did as she was requested, not without much embarrassment
+and many qualms of conscience, and after conversing upon every
+imaginable subject, at length gently broke the object of her visit to
+the astonished farmer. The poor man was at first horrified, but little
+by little the lady worked him into a good humour, so that at last he
+consented to ask his daughters if any one of them would agree to marry
+the afflicted young lord. The two elder girls indignantly refused the
+offer, but when it was made plain to them that she who espoused the
+seigneur would one day be ch�telaine of the castle and become a fine
+lady, the eldest daughter somewhat reluctantly consented and the match
+was agreed upon.
+
+Some days afterward the bride-to-be happened to pass the castle and
+saw the servants washing the linen, when one cried to her:
+
+"How in the world can a fine girl like you be such a fool as to throw
+herself away on a man with a horse's head?"
+
+"Bah!" she replied, "he is rich, and, let me tell you, we won't be
+married for long, for on the bridal night I shall cut his throat."
+
+Just at that moment a gay cavalier passed and smiled at the farmer's
+daughter.
+
+"You are having a strange conversation, mademoiselle," he said. She
+coloured and looked somewhat confused.
+
+"Well, sir," she replied, "it is hateful to be mocked by these wenches
+because I have the bad luck to be espoused to a seigneur with a
+horse's head, and I assure you I feel so angry that I shall certainly
+carry out my threat."
+
+The unknown laughed shortly and went his way. In time the night of the
+nuptials arrived. A grand _f�te_ was held at the ch�teau, and, the
+ceremony over, the bridesmaids conducted the young wife to her
+chamber. The bridegroom shortly followed, and to the surprise of his
+wife, no sooner had the hour of sunset come than his horse's head
+disappeared and he became exactly as other men. Approaching the bed
+where his bride lay, he suddenly seized her, and before she could cry
+out or make the least clamour he killed her in the manner in which she
+had threatened to kill him.
+
+In the morning his mother came to the chamber, and was horrified at
+the spectacle she saw.
+
+"Gracious heavens! my son, what have you done?" she cried.
+
+"I have done that, my mother," replied her son, "which was about to be
+done to me."
+
+Three months afterward the young seigneur asked his mother to repair
+once more to the farmer with the request that another of his daughters
+might be given him in marriage. The second daughter, ignorant of the
+manner of her sister's death, and mindful of the splendid wedding
+festivities, embraced the proposal with alacrity. Like her sister, she
+chanced to be passing the washing-green of the castle one day, and the
+laundresses, knowing of her espousal, taunted her upon it, so that at
+last she grew very angry and cried:
+
+"I won't be troubled long with the animal, I can assure you, for on
+the very night that I wed him I shall kill him like a pig!"
+
+At that very moment the same unknown gentleman who had overheard the
+fatal words of her sister passed, and said:
+
+"How now, young women, that's very strange talk of yours!"
+
+"Well, monseigneur," stammered the betrothed girl, "they are twitting
+me upon marrying a man with a horse's head; but I will cut his throat
+on the night of our wedding with as little conscience as I would cut
+the throat of a pig." The unknown gentleman laughed as he had done
+before and passed upon his way.
+
+As on the previous occasion, the wedding was celebrated with all the
+pomp and circumstance which usually attends a Breton ceremony of the
+kind, and in due time the bride was conducted to her chamber, only to
+be found in the morning weltering in her blood.
+
+At the end of another three months the seigneur dispatched his mother
+for the third time to the farmer, with the request that his younger
+daughter might be given him in marriage, but on this occasion her
+parents were by no means enraptured with the proposal. When the great
+lady, however, promised them that if they consented to the match they
+would be given the farm to have and to hold as their own property,
+they found the argument irresistible and reluctantly agreed. Strange
+to say, the girl herself was perfectly composed about the matter, and
+gave it as her opinion that if her sisters had met with a violent
+death they were entirely to blame themselves, for some reason which
+she could not explain, and she added that she thought that their loose
+and undisciplined way of talking had had much to do with their
+untimely fate. Just as her sisters had been, she too was taunted by
+the laundresses regarding her choice of a husband, but her answer to
+them was very different.
+
+"If they met with their deaths," she said, "it was because of their
+wicked utterances. I do not in the least fear that I shall have the
+same fate."
+
+As before the unknown seigneur passed, but this time, without saying
+anything, he hurried on his way and was soon lost to view.
+
+The wedding of the youngest sister was even more splendid than that of
+the two previous brides. On the following morning the young seigneur's
+mother hastened with fear and trembling to the marriage chamber, and
+to her intense relief found that her daughter-in-law was alive. For
+some months the bride lived happily with her husband, who every night
+at set of sun regained his natural appearance as a young and handsome
+man. In due time a son was born to them, who had not the least sign of
+his semi-equine parentage, and when they were about to have the infant
+baptized the father said to the young mother:
+
+"Hearken to what I have to say. I was condemned to suffer the horrible
+enchantment you know of until such time as a child should be born to
+me, and I shall be immediately delivered from the curse whenever this
+infant is baptized. But take care that you do not speak a word until
+the baptismal bells cease to sound, for if you utter a syllable, even
+to your mother, I shall disappear on the instant and you will never
+see me more."
+
+Full of the resolve not to utter a single sound, the young mother, who
+lay in bed, kept silent, until at last she heard the sound of bells,
+when, in her joy, forgetting the warning, she turned to her mother,
+who sat near, with words of congratulation on her lips. A few moments
+afterward her husband rushed into the room, the horse's head still
+upon his shoulders. He was covered with sweat, and panted fiercely.
+
+"Ah, miserable woman," he cried, "what have you done? I must leave
+you, and you shall never see me more!" and he made as if to quit the
+room. His wife rose from her bed, and strove to detain him, but he
+struck at her with his fist. The blood trickled out and made three
+spots on his shirt.
+
+"Behold these spots," cried the young wife; "they shall never
+disappear until I find you."
+
+"And I swear to you," cried her husband, "that you will never find me
+until you have worn out three pairs of iron shoes in doing so."
+
+With these words he ran off at such speed that the poor wife could not
+follow him, and, fainting, she sank to the ground.
+
+Some time after her husband had left her the young wife had three
+pairs of iron shoes made and went in search of him. After she had
+travelled about the world for nearly ten years the last pair of shoes
+began to show signs of wear, when she found herself one day at a
+castle where the servants were hanging out the clothes to dry, and she
+heard one of the laundresses say:
+
+"Do you see this shirt? I declare it is enchanted, for although I have
+washed it again and again I cannot rub out these three spots of blood
+which you see upon it."
+
+When the wanderer heard this she approached the laundress and said to
+her: "Let me try, I pray you. I think I can wash the shirt clean."
+
+They gave her the shirt, she washed it, and the spots disappeared. So
+grateful was the laundress that she bade the stranger go to the castle
+and ask for a meal and a bed. These were willingly granted her, and at
+night she was placed in a small apartment next to that occupied by the
+lord of the castle. From what she had seen she was sure that her
+husband was the lord himself, so when she heard the master of the
+house enter the room next door she knocked upon the boards which
+separated it from her own. Her husband, for he it was, replied from
+the other side; then, entering her room, he recognized his wife, and
+they were happily united after the years of painful separation. To the
+wife's great joy her husband was now completely restored to his proper
+form, and nothing occurred to mar their happiness for the rest of
+their lives.
+
+
+_The Bride of Satan_
+
+Weird and terrible as are many of the darksome legends of Brittany, it
+may be doubted if any are more awe-inspiring than that which we are
+now about to relate. "Those who are affianced three times without
+marrying shall burn in hell," says an old Breton proverb, and it is
+probably this aphorism which has given the Bretons such a strong
+belief in the sacred nature of a betrothal. The fantastic ballad from
+which this story is taken is written in the dialect of L�on, and the
+words are put into the mouth of a maiden of that country. Twice had
+she been betrothed. On the last occasion she had worn a robe of the
+finest stuff, embroidered with twelve brilliant stars and having the
+figures of the sun and moon painted upon it, like the lady in Madame
+d'Aulnoy's story of _Finette Cendron_ (_Cinderella_). On the occasion
+when she went to meet her third _fianc�_ in church she almost fainted
+as she turned with her maidens into the little road leading up to the
+building, for there before her was a great lord clad in steel
+_cap-�-pie_, wearing on his head a casque of gold, his shoulders
+covered by a blood-coloured mantle. Strange lights flashed from his
+eyes, which glittered under his casque like meteors. By his side stood
+a huge black steed, which ever and again struck the ground impatiently
+with his hoofs, throwing up sparks of fire.
+
+The priest was waiting in the church, the bridegroom arrived, but the
+bride did not come. Where had she gone? She had stepped on board a
+barque with the dark steel-clad lord, and the ship passed silently
+over the waters until it vanished among the shadows of night. Then the
+lady turned to her husband.
+
+"What gloomy waters are these through which we sail, my lord?" she
+asked.
+
+"This is the Lake of Anguish," he replied in hollow tones. "We sail to
+the Place of Skulls, at the mouth of Hell."
+
+At this the wretched bride wept bitterly. "Take back your wedding-ring!"
+she cried. "Take back your dowry and your bridal gifts!"
+
+But he answered not. Down they descended into horrid darkness, and as
+the unhappy maiden fell there rang in her ears the cries of the
+damned.
+
+[Illustration: THE BRIDE OF SATAN]
+
+This tale is common to many countries. The fickle maiden is everywhere
+regarded among primitive peoples with dislike and distrust. But
+perhaps the folk-ballad which most nearly resembles that just related
+is the Scottish ballad of _The Demon Lover_, which inspired the late
+Hamish MacCunn, the gifted Scottish composer, in the composition of
+his weird and striking orchestral piece, _The Ship o' the Fiend_.
+
+
+_The Baron of Jauioz_
+
+Another tradition which tells of the fate of an unhappy maiden is
+enshrined in the ballad of _The Baron of Jauioz_. Louis, Baron of
+Jauioz, in Languedoc, was a French warrior of considerable renown who
+flourished in the fourteenth century, and who took part in many of the
+principal events of that stirring epoch, fighting against the English
+in France and Flanders under the Duke of Berry, his overlord. Some
+years later he embarked for the Holy Land, but, if we may believe
+Breton tradition, he returned, and while passing through the duchy
+fell in love with and actually bought for a sum of money a young
+Breton girl, whom he carried away with him to France. The unfortunate
+maiden, so far from being attracted by the more splendid environment
+of his castle, languished and died.
+
+"I hear the note of the death-bird," the ballad begins sadly; "is it
+true, my mother, that I am sold to the Baron of Jauioz?"
+
+"Ask your father, little Tina, ask your father," is the callous reply,
+and the question is then put to her father, who requests the
+unfortunate damsel to ask her brother, a harsh rustic who does not
+scruple to tell her the brutal truth, and adds that she must depart
+immediately. The girl asks what dress she must wear, her red gown, or
+her gown of white delaine.
+
+"It matters little, my daughter," says the heartless mother. "Your
+lover waits at the door mounted on a great black horse. Go to him on
+the instant."
+
+As she leaves her native village the clocks are striking, and she
+weeps bitterly.
+
+"Adieu, Saint Anne!" she says. "Adieu, bells of my native land!"
+
+Passing the Lake of Anguish she sees a band of the dead, white and
+shadowy, crossing the watery expanse in their little boats. As she
+passes them she can hear their teeth chatter. At the Valley of Blood
+she espies other unfortunates. Their hearts are sunken in them and all
+memory has left them.
+
+After this terrible ride the Baron and Tina reach the castle of
+Jauioz. The old man seats himself near the fire. He is black and
+ill-favoured as a carrion crow. His beard and his hair are white, and
+his eyes are like firebrands.
+
+"Come hither to me, my child," says he, "come with me from chamber to
+chamber that I may show you my treasures."
+
+"Ah, seigneur," she replies, the tears falling fast, "I had rather be
+at home with my mother counting the chips which fall from the fire."
+
+"Let us descend, then, to the cellar, where I will show you the rich
+wines in the great bins."
+
+"Ah, sir, I would rather quaff the water of the fields that my
+father's horses drink."
+
+"Come with me, then, to the shops, and I will buy you a sumptuous
+gown."
+
+"Better that I were wearing the working dress that my mother made
+me."
+
+The seigneur turns from her in anger. She lingers at the window and
+watches the birds, begging them to take a message from her to her
+friends.
+
+At night a gentle voice whispers: "My father, my mother, for the love
+of God, pray for me!" Then all is silence.
+
+In this striking ballad we find strong traces of the Breton love of
+country and other national traits. The death-bird alluded to is a grey
+bird which sings during the winter in the Landes country in a voice
+soft and sad. It is probably a bird of the osprey species. It is
+thought that the girl who hears it sing is doomed to misfortune. The
+strange and ghostly journey of the unhappy Tina recalls the _mise en
+sc�ne_ of such ballads as _The Bride of Satan_, and it would seem that
+she passes through the Celtic Tartarus. It is plain that the Seigneur
+of Jauioz by his purchase of their countrywoman became so unpopular
+among the freedom-loving Bretons that at length they magnified him
+into a species of demon--a traditionary fate which he thoroughly
+deserved, if the heartrending tale concerning his victim has any
+foundation in fact.
+
+
+_The Man of Honour_
+
+The tale of the man who is helped by the grateful dead is by no means
+confined to Brittany. Indeed, in folk-tale the dead are often jealous
+of the living and act toward them with fiendish malice. But in the
+following we have a story in which a dead man shows his gratitude to
+the living for receiving the boon of Christian burial at his hands.
+
+There was once a merchant-prince who had gained a great fortune by
+trading on land and sea. Many ships were his, and with these he traded
+to far countries, reaping a rich harvest. He had a son named Iouenn,
+and he was desirous that he too should embrace the career of a
+merchant and become rich. When, therefore, Iouenn declared his
+willingness to trade in distant lands his father was delighted and
+gave him a ship full of Breton merchandise, with instructions to sell
+it to the best advantage in a foreign country and return home with the
+gold thus gained.
+
+After a successful voyage the vessel arrived at a foreign port, and
+Iouenn presented his father's letters to the merchants there, and
+disposed of his cargo so well that he found himself in possession of a
+large sum of money. One day as he was walking on the outskirts of the
+city he saw a large number of dogs gathered round some object, barking
+at it and worrying it. Approaching them, he discovered that that which
+they were worrying was nothing less than the corpse of a man. Making
+inquiries, he found that the unfortunate wretch had died deeply in
+debt, and that his body had been thrown into the roadway to be eaten
+by the dogs. Iouenn was shocked to see such an indignity offered to
+the dead, and out of the kindness of his heart chased the dogs away,
+paid the debts of the deceased, and granted his body the last rites of
+sepulture.
+
+A few days afterward he left the port where these things had happened
+and set out on his homeward voyage. He had not sailed far when one of
+the mariners drew his attention to a strange ship a little distance
+away, which appeared to be draped entirely in black.
+
+"That is indeed a curious vessel," said Iouenn. "Wherefore is it
+draped in black? and for what reason do those on board bewail so
+loudly?"
+
+While he spoke the ship drew nearer, and Iouenn called to the people
+who thronged its decks, asking why they made such loud laments.
+
+"Alas! good sir," replied the captain of the strange ship, "not far
+from here is an island inhabited by an enormous serpent, which for
+seven years has demanded an annual tribute of a royal princess, and we
+are now bearing another victim to her doom."
+
+Iouenn laughed. "Where is the Princess?" he asked. At that moment the
+Princess came on deck, weeping and wringing her hands. Iouenn was so
+struck by her beauty that he there and then declared in the most
+emphatic manner that she should never become the prey of the serpent.
+On learning from the captain that he would hand over the maiden if a
+sufficient bribe were forthcoming, he paid over to him the last of the
+money he had gained from his trading, and taking the Princess on his
+own vessel sailed homeward.
+
+In due time Iouenn arrived home and was welcomed with delight by his
+father; but when the old man learned the story of what had been done
+with his money he was furious; nor would he believe for a moment that
+the lady his son had rescued was a veritable princess, but chased
+Iouenn from his presence with hard and bitter words. Nevertheless
+Iouenn married the royal lady he had rescued, and they started
+housekeeping in a tiny dwelling. Time went on, and the Princess
+presented her husband with a little son, but by this time fortune had
+smiled upon Iouenn, for an uncle of his, who was also a merchant, had
+entrusted him with a fine vessel to trade in Eastern lands; so, taking
+with him the portraits of his wife and child, he set out on his
+voyage. With a fresh wind and favourable conditions generally he was
+not long in coming to the city where his wife's father reigned. Now,
+some mariners of the port, having entered the ship out of curiosity,
+observed the portrait of the Princess, and informed the King of the
+circumstance. The King himself came to the ship and demanded to know
+what had become of his daughter. Iouenn did not, of course, realize
+that the monarch was his father-in-law, and assured him that he knew
+nothing of his daughter, whereupon the King, growing very angry, had
+him cast into prison and ordered his ship to be broken to pieces and
+burned. In prison Iouenn made friends with his gaoler, to whom he
+related his history, which the gaoler in turn told the King, with the
+result that the prisoner was brought before the monarch, who desired
+him to set out at once to bring his daughter back, and for this
+purpose fitted him out with a new vessel. But the old monarch took the
+precaution of sending two of his ministers along with the Breton
+sailor in case he should not return. The party soon came to Brittany,
+and found the Princess and her infant safe.
+
+Now one of the King's ministers had loved the Princess for a long
+time, and consequently did not regard her husband with any great
+degree of favour; so when they re-embarked on the return journey to
+her father's kingdom her suspicions were aroused, and, fully aware of
+the minister's crafty nature, she begged her husband to remain with
+her as much as possible. But Iouenn liked to be on the bridge, whence
+he could direct the operations of his mariners, and laughed at his
+wife's fears. One night as he leaned over the side of the vessel,
+gazing upon the calm of the star-strewn sea, his enemy approached very
+stealthily and, seizing him by the legs, cast him headlong into the
+waters. After this he waited for a few moments, and, hearing no
+sound, cried out that the captain had fallen overboard. A search was
+made, but with no avail. The Princess was distraught, and in the
+belief that her husband had perished remained in her cabin lamenting.
+But Iouenn was a capital swimmer and struck out lustily. He swam
+around for a long time, without, however, encountering any object upon
+which he could lay hold to support himself. Meanwhile the ship sailed
+on her course, and in due time arrived at the kingdom of the
+Princess's father, by whom she was received with every demonstration
+of joy. Great festivities were announced, and so pleased was the old
+King at his daughter's return that he willingly consented to her
+marriage with the treacherous minister, whom he regarded as the
+instrument of her deliverance. But the Princess put off the
+wedding-day by every possible artifice, for she felt in her heart that
+her husband was not really lost to her.
+
+Let us return now to Iouenn. After swimming for some time he came upon
+a barren rock in the middle of the ocean, and here, though beaten upon
+by tempests and without any manner of shelter save that afforded by a
+cleft in the rock, he succeeded in living for three years upon the
+shell-fish which he gathered on the shores of his little domain. In
+that time he had grown almost like a savage. His clothes had fallen
+off him and he was thickly covered with matted hair. The only mark of
+civilization he bore was a chain of gold encircling his neck, the gift
+of his wife. One night he was sitting in his small dwelling munching
+his wretched supper of shell-fish when an eerie sound broke the
+stillness. He started violently. Surely these were human accents that
+he heard--yet not altogether human, for their weird cadence held
+something of the supernatural, and cold as he was he felt himself
+grow still more chilly.
+
+"Cold, cold," cried the voice, and a dreadful chattering of teeth
+ended in a long-drawn wail of "Hou, hou, hou!"
+
+The sound died away and once more he was left amid the great silence
+of the sea.
+
+The next evening brought the same experience, but although Iouenn was
+brave he dared not question his midnight visitor. On the third
+occasion, however, he demanded: "Who is there?"
+
+Out of the darkness there crawled a man completely naked, his body
+covered with blood and horrible wounds, the eyes fixed and glassy.
+
+Iouenn trembled with horror. "In the name of God, who are you?" he
+cried.
+
+"Ha, so you do not remember me, Iouenn?" asked the phantom. "I am that
+unfortunate man whose body you gave decent burial, and now I have come
+to help you in turn. Without doubt you wish to leave this desert rock
+on which you have suffered so long."
+
+"I do, most devoutly," replied Iouenn.
+
+"Well, you will have to make haste," said the dead man, "for
+to-morrow your wife is going to be married to the minister of your
+father-in-law, the wretch who cast you into the sea. Now if you will
+promise to give me a share of all that belongs to yourself and your
+wife within a year and a day, I will carry you at once to the palace
+of your father-in-law."
+
+Iouenn promised to do as the phantom requested, and the dread being
+then asked him to mount upon his back. Iouenn did so, and the corpse
+then plunged into the sea, and, swimming swiftly, soon brought him to
+the port where his father-in-law reigned. When it had set him safely
+on shore it turned and with a wave of its gaunt white arm cried, "In a
+year and a day," then plunged back into the sea.
+
+When the door-keeper of the palace opened the gate in the morning he
+was astounded to see what appeared to be an animal crouching on the
+ground outside and crying for help. It was Iouenn. The palace lackeys
+crowded round him and threw him morsels of bread, which he devoured
+with avidity. One of the waiting-women told the Princess of the
+strange being who crouched outside. She descended in order to view
+him, and at once observed the golden chain she had given to her
+husband round his neck. Iouenn immediately rushed to embrace her. She
+took him to her chamber and clothed him suitably. By this time the
+bridal preparations had been completed, and, like the Princess in the
+story of the Miller of L�guer, the bride asked the advice of the
+company as to whether it were better to search for an old key that
+fitted a coffer in her possession or make use of a new key which did
+not fit; the coffer, of course, being her heart and the respective
+keys her husband and the minister. All the company advised searching
+for the old key, when she produced Iouenn and explained what she had
+meant. The crafty minister grew pale as death at sight of Iouenn, and
+the King stormed furiously.
+
+"Ho, there!" he cried, "build a great fire, varlets, and cast this
+slave into it." All the company thought at first that his words were
+intended to apply to Iouenn, but when they saw him point at the
+minister whose guilt the Princess had made plain, they applauded and
+the wretch was hurried away to his doom.
+
+Iouenn and the Princess lived happily at the Court, and in time a
+second little son was born to them. Their first child had died, and
+they were much rejoiced at its place being filled. Iouenn had entirely
+forgotten his indebtedness to the dead man, but one day in the month
+of November, when his wife was sitting quietly by the fire nursing her
+infant, with her husband opposite her, three loud knocks resounded
+upon the door, which flew open and revealed the horrible form of the
+corpse to which Iouenn owed his freedom. The Princess shrieked at
+sight of the phantom, which said in deep tones: "Iouenn, remember thy
+bargain."
+
+Trembling, Iouenn turned to his wife and asked her for the keys of
+their treasure-house, that he might give their terrible visitor a
+portion of their wealth, but with a disdainful wave of its arm the
+apparition bade him cease. "It is not your wealth I require, Iouenn,"
+it said in hollow tones. "Behold that which I desire," and it pointed
+to the infant slumbering in its mother's arms.
+
+Once more the Princess cried aloud, and clasped her little one to her
+bosom.
+
+"My infant!" cried Iouenn in despair. "Never!"
+
+"If you are a man of honour," said the corpse, "think of your promise
+made on the barren rock."
+
+"It is true," said Iouenn, wringing his hands, "but oh, remember how I
+saved your body from the dogs."
+
+"I only ask what is my due," said the ghost. "Besides, I do not desire
+all your infant, but a share of it only."
+
+"Wretch!" cried Iouenn, "are you without a heart? Have then your wish,
+for honour with me is above all." The infant was then undressed and
+laid between the two upon a table.
+
+"Take your sword," said the phantom, "and cut off a portion for me."
+
+"Ah, I would that I were on that desert rock in the middle of the
+ocean!" cried the unhappy father. He raised his weapon and was about
+to strike, when the phantom called upon him to hold.
+
+"Harm not your infant, Iouenn," it cried. "I see clearly that you are
+a man of honour and that you have not forgotten the service I rendered
+you; nor do I fail to remember what you did for me, and how it is
+through you that I am able to dwell in Paradise, which I would not
+have been permitted to enter had my debts not been paid and my body
+given burial. Farewell, until we meet above." And with these words the
+apparition vanished.
+
+Iouenn and the Princess lived long, respected by all, and when the old
+King died Iouenn, the man of his word, was made King in his place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI: BRETON FOLK-TALES
+
+
+The stories told here under the title of 'folk-tales' are such as do
+not partake so much of the universal element which enters so largely
+into Breton romance, but those which have a more national or even
+local tinge and are yet not legendary. The homely flavour attached to
+many stories of this kind is very apparent, and it is evident that
+they have been put together in oral form by unknown 'makers,' some of
+whom had either a natural or artistic aptitude for story-telling. In
+the first of the following tales it is curious to note how the ancient
+Breton theme has been put by its peasant narrator into almost a modern
+dress.
+
+
+_The Magic Rose_
+
+An aged Breton couple had two sons, the elder of whom went to Paris to
+seek his fortune, while the younger one was timid by nature and would
+not leave the paternal roof. His mother, who felt the burden of her
+age, wished the stay-at-home to marry. At first he would not hear of
+the idea, but at last, persuaded by her, he took a wife. He had only
+been married a few weeks, however, when his young bride sickened and
+died. La Rose, for such was his name, was inconsolable. Every evening
+he went to the cemetery where his wife was buried, and wept over her
+tomb.
+
+One night he was about to enter the graveyard on his sad errand when
+he beheld a terrible phantom standing before him, which asked him in
+awful tones what he did there.
+
+"I am going to pray at the tomb of my wife," replied the terrified La
+Rose.
+
+"Do you wish that she were alive again?" asked the spirit.
+
+"Ah, yes!" cried the sorrowing husband. "There is nothing that I would
+not do in order that she might be restored to me."
+
+"Hearken, then," said the phantom. "Return to this place to-morrow
+night at the same hour. Provide yourself with a pick and you will see
+what comes to pass."
+
+On the following night the young widower was punctually at the
+rendezvous. The phantom presented itself before him and said:
+
+"Go to the tomb of your wife and strike it with your pick; the earth
+will turn aside and you will behold her lying in her shroud. Take this
+little silver box, which contains a rose; open it and pass it before
+her nostrils three times, when she will awake as if from a deep
+sleep."
+
+La Rose hastened to the tomb of his wife, and everything happened as
+the phantom had predicted. He placed the box containing the rose to
+his wife's nostrils and she awoke with a sigh, saying: "Ah, I have
+been asleep for a long time." Her husband provided her with clothes
+which he had brought with him, and they returned to their house, much
+to the joy of his parents.
+
+Some time afterward La Rose's father died at a great age, and the
+grief-stricken mother was not long in following him to the grave. La
+Rose wrote to his brother in Paris to return to Brittany in order to
+receive his portion of the paternal inheritance, but he was unable to
+leave the capital, so La Rose had perforce to journey to Paris. He
+promised his wife before leaving that he would write to her every
+day, but on his arrival in the city he found his brother very ill, and
+in the anxiety of nursing him back to health he quite forgot to send
+his wife news of how he fared.
+
+The weeks passed and La Rose's wife, without word of her husband,
+began to dread that something untoward had happened to him. Day by day
+she sat at her window weeping and watching for the courier who brought
+letters from Paris. A regiment of dragoons chanced to be billeted in
+the town, and the captain, who lodged at the inn directly opposite La
+Rose's house, was greatly attracted by the young wife. He inquired of
+the landlady who was the beautiful dame who sat constantly weeping at
+her window, and learned the details of her history. He wrote a letter
+to her purporting to come from La Rose's brother in Paris, telling her
+that her husband had died in the capital, and some time after paid his
+addresses to the supposed widow, who accepted him. They were married,
+and when the regiment left the town the newly wedded pair accompanied
+it.
+
+Meanwhile La Rose's brother recovered from his illness, and the eager
+husband hastened back to Brittany. But when he arrived at his home he
+was surprised to find the doors closed, and was speedily informed of
+what had occurred during his absence. For a while he was too
+grief-stricken to act, but, recovering himself somewhat, he resolved
+to enlist in the regiment of dragoons in which the false captain held
+his commission. The beauty of his handwriting procured him the post of
+secretary to one of the lieutenants, but although he frequently
+attempted to gain sight of his wife he never succeeded in doing so.
+One day the captain entered the lieutenant's office, observed the
+writing of La Rose, and asked his brother officer if he would kindly
+lend him his secretary for a few days to assist him with some
+correspondence. While helping the captain La Rose beheld his wife, who
+did not, however, recognize him. Greatly pleased with his work, the
+captain invited him to dinner. During the repast a servant, who had
+stolen a silver dish, fearing that it was about to be missed, slid it
+into La Rose's pocket, and when it could not be found, accused the
+secretary of the theft. La Rose was brought before a court-martial,
+which condemned him to be shot.
+
+While in prison awaiting his execution La Rose struck up an
+acquaintance with an old veteran named P�re La Chique, who brought him
+his meals and seemed kindly disposed to him.
+
+"P�re La Chique," said La Rose one day, "I have two thousand francs;
+if you will do as I ask you they shall be yours."
+
+The veteran promised instantly, and La Rose requested that after he
+was shot La Chique should go to the cemetery where he was buried and
+resuscitate him with the magic rose, which he had carefully preserved.
+On the appointed day La Rose was duly executed, but P�re La Chique,
+with his pockets full of money, went from inn to inn, drinking and
+making merry. Whenever the thought of La Rose crossed his mind, he
+muttered to himself in bibulous accents: "Poor fellow, poor fellow, he
+is better dead. This is a weary world; why should I bring him back to
+it?"
+
+When P�re La Chique had caroused with his comrades for some days the
+two thousand francs had almost disappeared. Then remorse assailed him
+and he made up his mind to do as La Rose had wished. Taking a pick
+and an axe he went to the graveyard, but when he struck the grave with
+his tools and the earth rolled back, disclosing the body of La Rose,
+the old fellow was so terrified that he ran helter-skelter from the
+spot. A draught of good wine brought back his failing courage,
+however, and he returned and passed the rose three times under the
+nostrils of his late acquaintance. Instantly La Rose sat up.
+
+"By my faith, I've had a good sleep!" he said, rubbing his eyes.
+"Where are my clothes?"
+
+P�re La Chique handed him his garments, and after he had donned them
+they quitted the graveyard with all haste.
+
+La Rose now found it necessary to cast about for a living. One day he
+heard the sound of a drum in the street, and, following it, found that
+it was beaten by a crier who promised in the King's name a large
+reward to those who would enlist as sentinels to guard a chapel where
+the King's daughter, who had been changed into a monster, was
+imprisoned. La Rose accepted the offer, and then learned to his dismay
+that the sentinel who guarded the place between the hours of eleven
+and midnight was never seen again. On the very first night that he
+took up his duties this perilous watch fell to his lot. He felt his
+courage deserting him, and he was about to fly when he heard a voice
+say: "La Rose, where are you?"
+
+La Rose trembled. "What do you wish with me?" he asked.
+
+"Hearken to me, and no evil will befall you," replied the voice. "Soon
+a great and grisly beast will appear. Leave your musket by the side of
+the sentry-box, climb on the top, and the beast will not touch you."
+
+As eleven o'clock struck La Rose heard a noise and hastened to climb
+on the top of the sentry-box. Soon a hideous monster came out of the
+chapel, breathing flames and crying: "Sentinel of my father, where art
+thou, that I may devour thee?" As it uttered these words, it fell
+against the musket, which it seized between its teeth. Then the
+creature disappeared into the chapel and La Rose descended from his
+perch. He found the musket broken into a thousand pieces.
+
+The old King was delighted to learn that his sentinel had not been
+devoured, for in order that his daughter should be delivered from her
+enchantment as a beast it was necessary that the same sentinel should
+mount guard for three consecutive nights between the hours of eleven
+and midnight.
+
+On the following night La Rose was pacing up and down on guard, when
+the same voice addressed him, telling him on this occasion to place
+his musket before the door of the chapel. The beast issued as before,
+seized the musket, broke it into small pieces, and returned to the
+chapel. On the third night the voice advised him to throw open the
+door of the chapel, and when the beast came out to run into the
+building himself, where he would see a leaden shrine, behind which he
+could take refuge, and where he would find a small bottle, with the
+contents of which he was to sprinkle the beast's head. With its usual
+dreadful roar the monster issued from the chapel. La Rose leapt past
+it and ran for the leaden shrine. It followed him with hideous howls,
+and he only reached the protective sanctuary in time. Seizing the
+little bottle which lay there, he fearlessly fronted the beast and
+sprinkled its contents over its head. Instantly it changed into a
+beautiful princess, whom La Rose escorted to her delighted parents. La
+Rose and the princess were betrothed and duly married, and shortly
+afterward the King gave up his throne to his son-in-law.
+
+One day the new King was inspecting the regiment of dragoons to which
+he had once belonged.
+
+"Colonel," he said, "I miss a man from your regiment."
+
+"It is true, sire," replied the Colonel. "It is an old fellow called
+P�re La Chique, whom we have left at the barracks playing his violin,
+the old good-for-nothing!"
+
+"I wish to see him," said the King.
+
+P�re La Chique was brought forward trembling, and the King, tearing
+the epaulettes from the shoulders of the captain who had stolen his
+wife, placed them on those of P�re La Chique. He then gave orders for
+a great fire to be lit, in which were burned the wicked captain and
+the wife who had so soon forgotten her husband.
+
+La Rose and his Queen lived happily ever afterward--which is rather
+odd, is it not, when one thinks of the treatment meted out to his
+resuscitated spouse? But if the lights in folk-tale are bright, the
+shadows are correspondingly heavy, and rarely does justice go hand in
+hand with mercy in legend!
+
+
+_Norouas, the North-west Wind_
+
+Brittany has an entire cycle of folk-tales dealing with the subject of
+the winds--which, indeed, play an extraordinary part in Breton
+folk-lore. The fishermen of the north coast frequently address the
+winds as if they were living beings, hurling opprobrious epithets at
+them if the direction in which they blow does not suit their purpose,
+shaking their fists at them in a most menacing manner the while. The
+following story, the only wind-tale it is possible to give here, well
+illustrates this personalization of the winds by the Breton folk.
+
+There was once a goodman and his wife who had a little field on which
+they grew flax. One season their patch yielded a particularly fine
+crop, and after it had been cut they laid it out to dry. But Norouas,
+the North-west Wind, came along and with one sweep of his mighty wings
+tossed it as high as the tree-tops, so that it fell into the sea and
+was lost.
+
+When the goodman saw what had happened he began to swear at the Wind,
+and, taking his stick, he set out to follow and slay Norouas, who had
+spoiled his flax. So hasty had he been in setting forth that he had
+taken no food or money with him, and when evening came he arrived at
+an inn hungry and penniless. He explained his plight to the hostess,
+who gave him a morsel of bread and permitted him to sleep in a corner
+of the stable. In the morning he asked the dame the way to the abode
+of Norouas, and she conducted him to the foot of a mountain, where she
+said the Winds dwelt.
+
+The goodman climbed the mountain, and at the top met with Surouas, the
+South-west Wind.
+
+"Are you he whom they call Norouas?" he asked.
+
+"No, I am Surouas," said the South-west Wind.
+
+"Where then is that villain Norouas?" cried the goodman.
+
+"Hush!" said Surouas, "do not speak so loud, goodman, for if he hears
+you he will toss you into the air like a straw."
+
+At that moment Norouas arrived, whistling wildly and vigorously.
+
+"Ah, thief of a Norouas," cried the goodman, "it was you who stole my
+beautiful crop of flax!" But the Wind took no notice of him.
+Nevertheless he did not cease to cry: "Norouas, Norouas, give me back
+my flax!"
+
+"Hush, hush!" cried Norouas. "Here is a napkin that will perhaps make
+you keep quiet."
+
+"With my crop of flax," howled the goodman, "I could have made a
+hundred napkins such as this. Norouas, give me back my flax!"
+
+"Be silent, fellow," said Norouas. "This is no common napkin which I
+give you. You have only to say, 'Napkin, unfold thyself,' to have the
+best spread table in the world standing before you."
+
+The goodman took the napkin with a grumble, descended the mountain,
+and there, only half believing what Norouas had said, placed the
+napkin before him, saying, "Napkin, unfold thyself." Immediately a
+table appeared spread with a princely repast. The odour of cunningly
+cooked dishes arose, and rare wines sparkled in glittering vessels.
+After he had feasted the table vanished, and the goodman folded up his
+napkin and went back to the inn where he had slept the night before.
+
+"Well, did you get any satisfaction out of Norouas?" asked the
+hostess.
+
+"Indeed I did," replied the goodman, producing the napkin. "Behold
+this: Napkin, unfold thyself!" and as he spoke the magic table appeared
+before their eyes. The hostess, struck dumb with astonishment, at
+once became covetous and resolved to have the napkin for herself. So
+that night she placed the goodman in a handsome apartment where
+there was a beautiful bed with a soft feather mattress, on which he
+slept more soundly than ever he had done in his life. When he was fast
+asleep the cunning hostess entered the room and stole the napkin,
+leaving one of similar appearance in its place.
+
+In the morning the goodman set his face homeward, and duly arrived
+at his little farm. His wife eagerly asked him if Norouas had made
+good the damage done to the flax, to which her husband replied
+affirmatively and drew the substituted napkin from his pocket.
+
+"Why," quoth the dame, "we could have made two hundred napkins like
+this out of the flax that was destroyed."
+
+"Ah, but," said the goodman, "this napkin is not the same as others. I
+have only to say, 'Napkin, unfold thyself,' and a table covered with a
+most splendid feast appears. Napkin, unfold thyself--unfold thyself,
+dost thou hear?"
+
+"You are an old fool, goodman," said his wife when nothing happened.
+Her husband's jaw dropped and he seized his stick.
+
+"I have been sold by that rascal Norouas," he cried. "Well, I shall
+not spare him this time," and without more ado he rushed out of the
+house and took the road to the home of the Winds.
+
+He slept as before at the inn, and next morning climbed the mountain.
+He began at once to call loudly upon Norouas, who was whistling up
+aloft, demanding that he should return him his crop of flax.
+
+"Be quiet, down there!" cried Norouas.
+
+"I shall not be quiet!" screamed the goodman, brandishing his
+bludgeon. "You have made matters worse by cheating me with that napkin
+of yours!"
+
+"Well, well, then," replied Norouas, "here is an ass; you have only to
+say 'Ass, make me some gold,' and it will fall from his tail."
+
+The goodman, eager to test the value of the new gift, at once led the
+ass to the foot of the mountain and said: "Ass, make me some gold."
+The ass shook his tail, and a _rouleau_ of gold pieces fell to the
+ground. The goodman hastened to the inn, where, as before, he
+displayed the phenomenon to the hostess, who that night went into the
+stable and exchanged for the magical animal another similar in
+appearance to it. On the evening of the following day the goodman
+returned home and acquainted his wife with his good luck, but when he
+charged the ass to make gold and nothing happened, she railed at him
+once more for a fool, and in a towering passion he again set out to
+slay Norouas. Arrived at the mountain for the third time, he called
+loudly on the North-west Wind, and when he came heaped insults and
+reproaches upon him.
+
+"Softly," replied Norouas; "I am not to blame for your misfortune. You
+must know that it is the hostess at the inn where you slept who is the
+guilty party, for she stole your napkin and your ass. Take this
+cudgel. When you say to it, 'Strike, cudgel,' it will at once attack
+your enemies, and when you want it to stop you have only to cry, '_Ora
+pro nobis_.'"
+
+The goodman, eager to test the efficacy of the cudgel, at once said to
+it, "Strike, cudgel," whereupon it commenced to belabour him so
+soundly that he yelled, "_Ora pro nobis!_" when it ceased.
+
+Returning to the inn in a very stormy mood, he loudly demanded the
+return of his napkin and his ass, whereupon the hostess threatened to
+fetch the gendarmes.
+
+"Strike, cudgel!" cried the goodman, and the stick immediately set
+about the hostess in such vigorous style that she cried to the goodman
+to call it off and she would at once return his ass and his napkin.
+
+When his property had been returned to him the goodman lost no time in
+making his way homeward, where he rejoiced his wife by the sight of
+the treasures he brought with him. He rapidly grew rich, and his
+neighbours, becoming suspicious at the sight of so much wealth, had
+him arrested and brought before a magistrate on a charge of wholesale
+murder and robbery. He was sentenced to death, and on the day of his
+execution he was about to mount the scaffold, when he begged as a last
+request that his old cudgel might be brought him. The boon was
+granted, and no sooner had the stick been given into his hands than he
+cried, "Strike, cudgel!"
+
+And the cudgel _did_ strike. It belaboured judge, gendarmes, and
+spectators in such a manner that they fled howling from the scene. It
+demolished the scaffold and cracked the hangman's crown. A great cry
+for mercy arose. The goodman was instantly pardoned, and was never
+further molested in the enjoyment of the treasures the North-west Wind
+had given him as compensation for his crop of flax.
+
+
+_The Foster-Brother_
+
+The weird tale which follows has many parallels in world folk-lore, but
+is localized at Tr�guier, an old cathedral town in the C�tes-du-Nord at
+the junction of the Jaudy and the Guindy, famous for the beautiful
+windows of its celebrated church, founded by St Tugdual.
+
+Gwennola�k was the most noble and beautiful maiden in Tr�guier, but,
+alas! she was almost friendless, for at an early age she had lost her
+father, her mother, and her two sisters, and her sole remaining
+relative was her stepmother. Pitiful it was to see her standing at the
+door of her manor, weeping as if her heart would break. But although
+she had none of her own blood to cherish she still nursed the hope
+that her foster-brother, who had journeyed abroad for some years,
+might one day return, and often would she stand gazing fixedly over
+the sea as if in search of the vessel that would bring him home. They
+had been playmates, and although six years had passed since he had
+left the country, the time had gone quickly, and when Gwennola�k
+thought of the young man it was as the boy who had shared the games
+and little amusements of her childhood. From these day-dreams she
+would be rudely awakened by the harsh voice of her stepmother calling
+to her: "Come here, my girl, and attend to the animals. I don't feed
+you for loafing and doing nothing."
+
+Poor Gwennola�k had a sad life with her stepmother. Noble as she was
+she was yet forced by the vindictive old woman to rise in the early
+hours of the morning, even two or three hours before daylight in
+winter, to light the fire and sweep the house and perform other menial
+work. One evening as she was breaking the ice in the well in order to
+draw water for the household she was interrupted by a cavalier
+returning to Nantes.
+
+"Good e'en to you, maiden. Are you affianced to anyone?"
+
+The girl did not reply, but hung her head.
+
+"Come, don't be afraid," said the handsome horseman, "but answer my
+question."
+
+She looked at him almost fearfully. "Saving your grace, I have never
+been affianced to anyone."
+
+"Good," replied the cavalier. "Take this gold ring and say to your
+stepmother that you are now affianced to a cavalier of Nantes who
+has been in a great battle and who has lost his squire in the
+combat; and you may also add that he has been wounded in the side
+by a sword-stroke. In three weeks and three days, when my wound is
+healed, I will return and will take you to my manor with joy and
+festival."
+
+The maiden returned to the house and looked at the ring. It was the
+same as her foster-brother used to wear on his left hand!
+
+Three weeks ran by, but the cavalier did not return. Then the
+stepmother said one morning: "It is time, daughter, that you should
+marry, and I may tell you that I have found you a husband after my own
+heart."
+
+"Saving your grace, good stepmother, I do not wish to marry anyone
+except my foster-brother, who has returned. He has given me a golden
+wedding-ring, and has promised to come for me within a few days."
+
+"A fig for your gold ring," cried the malignant hag. "_Bon gr�, mal
+gr�_, you shall marry Job the Witless, the stable boy."
+
+"Marry Job! Oh, horror! I should die of grief! Alas, my mother, were
+you but here now to protect me!"
+
+"If you must howl, pray do so in the courtyard. You may make as many
+grimaces as you please, but in three days you shall be married for all
+that."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The old gravedigger slowly patrolled the road, his bell in his hand,
+carrying the news of those who had died from village to village. In
+his doleful whine he cried: "Pray for the soul of a noble cavalier, a
+worthy gentleman of a good heart, who was mortally wounded in the side
+by the stroke of a sword in the battle near Nantes. He is to be buried
+to-day in the White Church."
+
+At the marriage feast the bride was all in tears. All the guests,
+young and old, wept with her, all except her stepmother. She was
+conducted to the place of honour at supper-time, but she only drank a
+sip of water and ate a morsel of bread. By and by the dancing
+commenced, but when it was proposed that the bride should join in the
+revels she was not to be found; she had, indeed, escaped from the
+house, her hair flying in disorder, and where she had gone no one
+knew.
+
+All the lights were out at the manor, every one slept profoundly. The
+poor young woman alone lay concealed in the garden in the throes of a
+fever. She heard a footstep close by. "Who is there?" she asked
+fearfully.
+
+"It is I, Nola, your foster-brother."
+
+"Ah, is it you? You are truly welcome, my dear brother," cried
+Gwennola�k, rising in rapture.
+
+"Come with me," he whispered, and swinging her on to the crupper of
+his white horse he plunged madly into the night.
+
+"We fly fast," she cried. "We must have ridden a hundred leagues, I
+think. Ah, but I am happy with thee! I will never leave thee more."
+
+The owl hooted and night noises came to her ears.
+
+"Ah, but thy horse is swift," said she, "and thine armour, how
+brilliant it is! How happy I am to have found thee, my foster-brother!
+But are we near thy manor?"
+
+[Illustration: GWENNOLA�K AND NOLA]
+
+"We shall arrive there in good time, my sister," he replied.
+
+"Thy heart is cold, thy hair is wet! Ah, how chill are thy hands!"
+
+"Listen, my sister; do you not hear the noise of the gay musicians who
+shall play at our wedding?" He had not finished speaking when his
+horse threw itself back on its haunches all at once, trembling and
+whinnying loudly.
+
+Gwennola�k looked around, and found herself on an island where a crowd
+of people were dancing. Lads and lasses, they danced most bravely
+beneath the green trees heavy with apples, and the music to which they
+tripped was as that of heaven.
+
+Suddenly the sun rose above the eastern mountains and flooded this
+strange new world with rich light, and there Gwennola�k found her
+mother and her two sisters, and there was nothing in her heart but
+beauty and joy.
+
+On the following morning, as the sun rose, the young women carried the
+body of Gwennola�k and laid it in the tomb of her foster-brother in
+the White Church.
+
+In this ballad--for the original from which we take the tale is cast
+in ballad form--we are once more in touch with the Celtic Otherworld.
+It is a thousand pities that this interesting piece breaks off where
+it does, thus failing to provide us with a fuller account of that most
+elusive realm. The short glimpse we do get of it, however, reminds us
+very much of the descriptions of it we possess in Irish lore. We have
+also once more the phenomenon of the dead lover who comes to claim the
+living bride, the midnight gallop, and other circumstances
+characteristic of ballad literature. There was a tradition in Lower
+Brittany, however, that no soul might be admitted to the other world
+which had not first received burial, but here, of course, we must look
+for Christian influence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII: POPULAR LEGENDS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+"The legend," says Gomme, in a passage most memorable for students of
+folk-lore as containing his acute and precise definition of the
+several classes of tradition, "belongs to an historical personage,
+locality, or event,"[40] and it is in this general sense that the term
+is employed in regard to the contents of this chapter, unless where
+mythic or folk-lore matter is introduced for the sake of analogy or
+illustration. There is, however, a broad, popular reading of the term
+as indicating the fanciful-historical. When we read of the King of Ys,
+or Arthur, for example, we are not aware whether they ever existed or
+not, but they are alluded to by tradition as ancient rulers of
+Brittany and Britain, just as Cymbeline and Cole are spoken of as
+British monarchs of the distant past. They linger as personal figures
+in the folk-memory, but they scarcely seem as the personages of
+folk-tale. Let us say, then, for the purposes of our classification of
+Breton tradition, that we include in the term 'legend' all tales of
+great personal figures who are historical or over whom folk-tale has
+cast an historical _vraisemblance_, remembering at the same time that
+in the case of personages whose existence is doubtful we may be
+dealing with a folk-tale disguised or even a distorted myth.
+
+
+_The Dark Story of Gilles de Retz_
+
+Of the dark and terrible legends to which Brittany has given birth,
+one of the most gloomy and romantic is the story of Gilles de Retz,
+alchemist, magician, and arch-criminal. But the story is not
+altogether legendary, although it has undoubtedly been added to from
+the great stores of tradition. Gilles is none other than the Bluebeard
+of the nursery tale, for he appears to have actually worn a beard
+bluish-black in hue, and it is probable that his personality became
+mingled with that of the hero of the old Oriental story.
+
+Gilles de Laval, Lord of Retz and Marshal of France, was connected
+with some of the noblest families in Brittany, those of Montmorency,
+Rocey, and Craon, and at his father's death, about 1424, he found
+himself lord of many princely domains, and what, for those times, was
+almost unlimited power and wealth. He was a handsome youth, lithe and
+of fascinating address, courageous, and learned as any clerk. A
+splendid career lay before him, but from the first that distorted idea
+of the romantic which is typical of certain minds had seized upon him,
+and despite his rank and position he much preferred the dark courses
+which finally ended in his disgrace and ruin to the dignities of his
+seigneury.
+
+Gilles took his principal title from the barony of Retz or Rais, south
+of the Loire, on the marches of Brittany. As a youth he did nothing to
+justify an evil augury of his future, for he served with zeal and
+gallantry in the wars of Charles VI against the English and fought
+under Jeanne Darc at the siege of Orl�ans. In virtue of these
+services, and because of his shrewdness and skill in affairs, the King
+created him Marshal of France. But from that time onward the man who
+had been the able lieutenant of Jeanne Darc and had fought by her side
+at Jargeau and Patay began to deteriorate. Some years before he had
+married Catherine de Thouars, and with her had received a large dowry;
+but he had expended immense sums in the national cause, and his
+private life was as extravagant as that of a prince in a fairy tale.
+At his castle of Champtoc� he dwelt in almost royal state; indeed, his
+train when he went hawking or hunting exceeded in magnificence that of
+the King himself. His retainers were tricked out in the most gorgeous
+liveries, and his table was spread with ruinous abundance. Oxen,
+sheep, and pigs were roasted whole, and viands were provided daily for
+five hundred persons. He had an insane love of pomp and display, and
+his private devotions were ministered to by a large body of
+ecclesiastics. His chapel was a marvel of splendour, and was furnished
+with gold and silver plate in the most lavish manner. His love of
+colour and movement made him fond of theatrical displays, and it is
+even said that the play or mystery of Orl�ans, dealing with the story
+of Jeanne Darc, was written with his own hand. He was munificent in
+his patronage of the arts, and was himself a skilled illuminator and
+bookbinder. In short, he was obviously one of those persons of
+abnormal character in whom genius is allied to madness and who can
+attempt and execute nothing except in a spirit of the wildest excess.
+
+The reduction of his fortune merely served his peculiar and abnormal
+personality with a new excuse for extravagance. At this time the art
+of alchemy flourished exceedingly and the works of Nicolas Flamel, the
+Arabian Geber, and Pierre d'Estaing enjoyed a great vogue. On an evil
+day it occurred to Gilles to turn alchemist, and thus repair his
+broken fortunes. In the first quarter of the fifteenth century alchemy
+stood for scientific achievement, and many persons in our own
+enlightened age still study its maxims. A society exists to-day the
+object of which is to further the knowledge of alchemical science. A
+common misapprehension is current to the effect that the object of the
+alchemists was the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, but in
+reality they were divided into two groups, those who sought eagerly
+the secret of manufacturing the precious metals, and those who dreamed
+of a higher aim, the transmutation of the gross, terrestrial nature of
+man into the pure gold of the spirit.
+
+The latter of these aims was beyond the fevered imagination of such a
+wild and disorderly mind as that of Gilles de Retz. He sent emissaries
+into Italy, Spain, and Germany to invite adepts in the science to his
+castle at Champtoc�. From among these he selected two men to assist
+him in his plan--Prelati, an alchemist of Padua, and a certain
+physician of Poitou, whose name is not recorded. At their instigation
+he built a magnificent laboratory, and when it was completed commenced
+to experiment. A year passed, during which the necessities of the
+'science' gradually emptied many bags of gold, but none returned to
+the Marshal's coffers. The alchemists slept soft and fed sumptuously,
+and were quite content to pursue their labours so long as the Seigneur
+of Retz had occasion for their services. But as the time passed that
+august person became greatly impatient, and so irritable did he grow
+because of the lack of results that at length his assistants, in
+imminent fear of dismissal, communicated to him a dark and dreadful
+secret of their art, which, they assured him, would assist them at
+arriving speedily at the desired end.
+
+The nature of the experiment they proposed was so grotesque that its
+acceptance by Gilles proves that he was either insane or a victim of
+the superstition of his time. His wretched accomplices told him that
+the Evil One alone was capable of revealing the secret of the
+transmutation of the baser metals into gold, and they offered to
+summon him to their master's aid. They assured Gilles that Satan would
+require a recompense for his services, and the Marshal retorted that
+so long as he saved his soul intact he was quite willing to conclude
+any bargain that the Father of Evil might propose.
+
+It was arranged that the ceremony should take place within a gloomy
+wood in the neighbourhood. The nameless physician conducted the Lord
+of Retz to a small clearing in this plantation, where the magic circle
+was drawn and the usual conjurations made. For half an hour they
+waited in silence, and then a great trembling fell upon the physician.
+A deadly pallor overspread his countenance. His knees shook, he
+muttered wildly, and at last he sank to the ground. Gilles stood by
+unmoved. The insanity of egotism is of course productive of great if
+not lofty courage, and he feared neither man nor fiend. Suddenly the
+alchemist regained consciousness and told his master that the Devil
+had appeared to him in the shape of a leopard and had growled at him
+horribly. He ascribed Gilles' lack of supernatural vision to want of
+faith. He then declared that the Evil One had told him where certain
+herbs grew in Spain and Africa, the juices of which possessed the
+power to effect the transmutation, and these he obligingly offered to
+search for, provided the Lord of Retz furnished the means for his
+travels. This Gilles gladly did, and of course never beheld the
+Poitevin knave again.
+
+Days and months passed and the physician did not return. Gilles grew
+uneasy. It was imperative that gold should be forthcoming immediately,
+for not only was he being pressed on every side, but he was unable to
+support his usual magnificence. In this dilemma he turned to Prelati,
+his remaining alchemical assistant. This man appears to have believed
+in his art or he would not have made the terrible suggestion he did,
+which was that the Lord of Retz should sign with his own blood a
+compact with the Devil, and should offer up a young child in sacrifice
+to him. To this proposal the unhappy Gilles consented. On the
+following night Prelati quitted the castle, and returned shortly
+afterward with the story that the fiend had appeared to him in the
+likeness of a young man who desired to be called Barron, and had
+pointed out to him the resting-place of a hoard of ingots of pure
+gold, buried under an oak in the neighbouring wood. Certain
+conditions, however, must be observed before the treasure was dug up,
+the chief of which was that it must not be searched for until a period
+of seven times seven weeks had elapsed, or it would turn into slates.
+With these conditions de Retz would not comply, and, alarmed at his
+annoyance, the obliging Prelati curtailed the time of waiting to seven
+times seven days. At the end of that period the alchemist and his dupe
+repaired to the wood to dig up the treasure. They worked hard for some
+time, and at length came upon a load of slates, inscribed with magical
+characters. Prelati pretended great wrath, and upbraided the Evil One
+for his deceit, in which denunciation he was heartily joined by de
+Retz. But so credulous was the Seigneur that he allowed himself to be
+persuaded to afford Satan another trial, which meant, of course, that
+Prelati led him on from day to day with specious promises and
+ambiguous hints, until he had drained him of nearly all his remaining
+substance. He was then preparing to decamp with his plunder when a
+dramatic incident detained him.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEVIL IN THE FORM OF A LEOPARD APPEARS BEFORE THE
+ALCHEMIST]
+
+For some time a rumour had been circulating in the country-side that
+numerous children were missing and that they had been spirited away.
+Popular clamour ran high, and suspicion was directed toward the castle
+of Champtoc�. So circumstantial was the evidence against de Retz that
+at length the Duke of Brittany ordered both the Seigneur and his
+accomplice to be arrested. Their trial took place before a commission
+which de Retz denounced, declaring that he would rather be hanged like
+a dog, without trial, than plead before its members. But the evidence
+against him was overwhelming. It was told how the wretched madman, in
+his insane quest for gold, had sacrificed his innocent victims on the
+altar of Satan, and how he had gloated over their sufferings. Finally
+he confessed his enormities and told how nearly a hundred children had
+been cruelly murdered by him and his relentless accomplice. Both he
+and Prelati were doomed to be burned alive, but in consideration of
+his rank he was strangled before being cast into the flames. Before
+the execution he expressed to Prelati a hope that they would meet in
+Paradise, and, it is said, met his end very devoutly.
+
+The castle of Champtoc� still stands in its beautiful valley, and
+many romantic legends cluster about its grey old walls. "The
+hideous, half-burnt body of the monster himself," says Trollope,
+"circled with flames--pale, indeed, and faint in colour, but more
+lasting than those the hangman kindled around his mortal form in
+the meadow under the walls of Nantes--is seen, on bright moonlight
+nights, standing now on one topmost point of craggy wall, and now
+on another, and is heard mingling his moan with the sough of the
+night-wind. Pale, bloodless forms, too, of youthful growth and
+mien, the restless, unsepulchred ghosts of the unfortunates who
+perished in these dungeons unassoiled ... may at similar times be
+seen flitting backward and forward, in numerous groups, across the
+space enclosed by the ruined wall, with more than mortal speed, or
+glancing hurriedly from window to window of the fabric, as still
+seeking to escape from its hateful confinement."[41]
+
+
+_Comorre the Cursed_
+
+As has been said, the story of Gilles de Retz is connected by
+tradition with that of Bluebeard, but it is probable that this
+traditional connexion arises simply from the association of two famous
+tales. The other legend in question is that of Comorre the Cursed,
+whose story is told in the frescoes which cover the wall of the church
+of St Nicolas de Bieuzy, dedicated to St Triphyne, in which the tale
+of Bluebeard is depicted as the story of the saint, who in history was
+the wife of Comorre. Comorre was a chief who ruled at Carhaix, in
+Finist�re, and his tale, which owes its modern dress to �mile
+Souvestre, himself a Breton, and author of _Derniers Bretons_ and the
+brilliant sketch _Un Philosophe sous les Toits_. The tale, translated,
+runs as follows:
+
+Guerech, Count of Vannes, 'the Country of White Corn,' had a daughter,
+Triphyna, whom he tenderly loved. One day ambassadors arrived from
+Comorre, a prince of Cornouaille, 'the Country of Black Corn,'
+demanding her in marriage. Now this caused great distress, for
+Comorre was a giant, and one of the wickedest of men, held in awe by
+every one for his cruelty. As a boy, when he went out, his mother used
+to ring a bell to warn people of his approach; and when unsuccessful
+in the chase he would set his dogs on the peasants to tear them to
+pieces. But most horrible of all, he had had four wives, who had all
+died one after the other, it was suspected either by the knife, fire,
+water, or poison. The Count of Vannes, therefore, dismissed the
+ambassadors, and advanced to meet Comorre, who was approaching with a
+powerful army; but St Gildas went into Triphyna's oratory and begged
+her to save bloodshed and consent to the marriage. He gave her a
+silver ring, which would warn her of any intended evil by turning as
+black as a crow's wing at the approach of danger.
+
+The marriage took place with great rejoicings. The first day six
+thousand guests were invited; on the next day as many poor were fed,
+the bride and the bridegroom themselves serving at the tables. For
+some time all went well. Comorre's nature seemed altered; his prisons
+were empty, his gibbets untenanted. But Triphyna felt no confidence,
+and every day went to pray at the tombs of his four wives. At this
+time there was an assembly of the Breton princes at Rennes, which
+Comorre was obliged to attend. Before his departure he gave Triphyna
+his keys, desiring her to amuse herself in his absence. After five
+months he unexpectedly returned, and found her occupied trimming an
+infant's cap with gold lace. On seeing the cap Comorre turned pale;
+and when Triphyna joyfully announced to him that soon he would be a
+father he drew back in a rage and rushed out of the apartment.
+Triphyna saw that her ring had turned black, which betokened danger,
+she knew not why. She descended into the chapel to pray. When she rose
+to depart the hour of midnight struck, and suddenly a sound of
+movement in the silent chapel chilled her at the heart; shrinking into
+a recess, she saw the four tombs of Comorre's wives open slowly, and
+the women all issued forth in their winding-sheets.
+
+Faint with terror, Triphyna tried to escape; but the spectres cried:
+"Take care, poor lost one! Comorre seeks to kill you."
+
+"Me," said the Countess. "What evil have I done?"
+
+"You have told him that you will soon become a mother; and, through
+the Spirit of Evil, he knows that his child will slay him. He murdered
+us when we told him what he has just learned from you."
+
+"What hope, then, of refuge remains for me?" cried Triphyna.
+
+"Go back to your father," answered the phantoms.
+
+"But how escape when Comorre's dog guards the court?"
+
+"Give him this poison which killed me," said the first wife.
+
+"But how can I descend yon high wall?"
+
+"By means of this cord which strangled me," answered the second wife.
+
+"But who will guide me through the dark?"
+
+"The fire that burnt me," replied the third wife.
+
+"And how can I make so long a journey?" returned Triphyna.
+
+"Take this stick which broke my skull," rejoined the fourth spectre.
+
+Armed with the poison, the rope, and the stick, Triphyna set out,
+silenced the dog, scaled the wall, and, miraculously guided on her
+way through the darkness by a glowing light, proceeded on her road to
+Vannes. On awaking next morning Comorre found that his wife had fled,
+and pursued her on horseback. The poor fugitive, seeing her ring turn
+black, turned off the road and hid herself till night in the cabin of
+a shepherd, where there was only an old magpie in a cage at the door,
+and here her baby was born. Comorre, who had given up the pursuit, was
+returning home by that road, when he heard the magpie trying to
+imitate her complaints and calling out "Poor Triphyna!" Guessing that
+his wife had passed that way, he set his dog on the track.
+
+Meanwhile Triphyna felt she could proceed no farther, and lay down on
+the ground with her baby boy. As she clasped the child in her arms she
+saw over her head a falcon with a golden collar, which she recognized
+as her father's. The bird came at her call, and giving it the warning
+ring of St Gildas she told it to fly with it to her father. The bird
+obeyed, and flew like lightning to Vannes; but almost at the same
+instant Comorre arrived. Having parted with her warning ring,
+Triphyna, who had no notice of his approach, had only time to conceal
+her babe in the cavity of a tree when Comorre threw himself upon her,
+and with one blow from his sword severed her head from her body.
+
+When the falcon arrived at Vannes he found the Count at dinner with St
+Gildas. He let the ring fall into the silver cup of his master, who,
+recognizing it, exclaimed:
+
+"My daughter is in danger! Saddle the horses, and let Saint Gildas
+accompany us." Following the falcon, they soon reached the spot where
+Triphyna lay dead. After they had all knelt in prayer, St Gildas said
+to the corpse: "Arise, take thy head and thy child, and follow us."
+The dead body obeyed, the bewildered troop followed; but, gallop as
+fast as they could, the headless body was always in front, carrying
+the babe in her left hand, and her pale head in the right. In this
+manner they reached the castle of Comorre.
+
+"Count," called St Gildas before the gates, "I bring back thy wife
+such as thy wickedness has made her, and thy child such as heaven has
+given it thee. Wilt thou receive them under thy roof?"
+
+Comorre was silent. The Saint three times repeated the question, but
+no voice returned an answer. Then St Gildas took the new-born infant
+from its mother and placed it on the ground. The child marched alone
+to the edge of the moat, picked up a handful of earth, and, throwing
+it against the castle, exclaimed: "Let the Trinity execute judgment."
+At the same instant the towers shook and fell with a crash, the walls
+yawned open, and the castle sunk, burying Comorre and all his partners
+in crime. St Gildas then replaced Triphyna's head upon her shoulders,
+laid his hands upon her, and restored her to life, to the great joy of
+her father. Such is the history of Triphyna and Comorre.
+
+
+_The Legend of Ys_
+
+The legend of the submerged city of Ys, or Is, is perhaps the most
+romantic and imaginative effort of Breton popular legend. Who has not
+heard of the submerged bells of Ys, and who has not heard them ring in
+the echoes of his own imagination?
+
+This picturesque legend[42] tells us that in the early days of the
+Christian epoch the city of Ys, or Ker-is, was ruled by a prince
+called Gradlon, surnamed Meur, which in Celtic means 'the Great.'
+Gradlon was a saintly and pious man, and acted as patron to Gw�nnol�,
+founder and first abb� of the first monastery built in Armorica. But,
+besides being a religious man, Gradlon was a prudent prince, and
+defended his capital of Ys from the invasions of the sea by
+constructing an immense basin to receive the overflow of the water at
+high tide. This basin had a secret gate, of which the King alone
+possessed the key, and which he opened and closed at the necessary
+times.
+
+Gradlon, as is so often the case with pious men, had a wayward child,
+the princess Dahut, who on one occasion while her father was sleeping
+gave a secret banquet to her lover, in which the pair, excited with
+wine, committed folly after folly, until at last it occurred to the
+frivolous girl to open the sluice-gate. Stealing noiselessly into her
+sleeping father's chamber she detached from his girdle the key he
+guarded so jealously and opened the gate. The water immediately rushed
+in and submerged the entire city.
+
+But, as usual, there is more than one version of this interesting
+legend. The city of Ys, says another account, was a place rich in
+commerce and the arts, but so given over to luxury as to arouse the
+ire of St Gw�nnol�, who, in the manner of Jeremiah, foretold its ruin.
+It was situated where now a piece of water, the �tang de Laval, washes
+the desolate shores of the Bay of Tr�pass�s--though another version of
+the tale has it that it stood in the vast basin which now forms the
+Bay of Douarnenez. A strong dike protected it from the ocean, the
+sluices only admitting sufficient water for the needs of the town.
+Gradlon constantly bore round his neck a silver key which opened at
+the same time the vast sluices and the city gates. He lived in great
+state in a palace of marble, cedar, and gold, and his only grief was
+the conduct of his daughter Dahut, who, it is said, "had made a crown
+of her vices and taken for her pages the seven capital sins." But
+retribution was at hand, and the wicked city met with sudden
+destruction, for one night Dahut stole the silver key for the purpose
+of opening the city gates to admit her lover, and in the darkness by
+mistake opened the sluices. King Gradlon was awakened by St Gw�nnol�,
+who commanded him to flee, as the torrent was reaching the palace. He
+mounted his horse, and, taking his worthless daughter behind him, set
+off at a gallop, the incoming flood seething and boiling at his
+steed's fetlocks. The torrent was about to overtake and submerge him
+when a voice from behind called out: "Throw the demon thou carriest
+into the sea, if thou dost not desire to perish." Dahut at that moment
+fell from the horse's back into the water, and the torrent immediately
+stopped its course. Gradlon reached Quimper safe and sound, but
+nothing is said as to his subsequent career.
+
+[Illustration: THE ESCAPE OF KING GRADLON FROM THE FLOODED CITY OF YS]
+
+An ancient ballad on the subject, which, however, bears marks of
+having been tampered with, states, on the other hand, that Gradlon led
+his people into extravagances of every kind, and that Dahut received
+the key from him, the misuse of which precipitated the catastrophe.
+Dahut, the ballad continues, became a mermaid and haunted the waters
+which roll over the site of the city where she loved and feasted.
+"Fisherman," ends the ballad, "have you seen the daughter of the sea
+combing her golden hair in the midday sun at the fringes of the
+beach?" "Yes," replies the fisherman, "I have seen the white daughter
+of the sea, and I have heard her sing, and her songs were plaintive as
+the sound of the waves."
+
+The legend of Ys, of the town swallowed up by the sea, is common to
+the several branches of the Celtic race. In Wales the site of the
+submerged city is in Cardigan Bay, and in Ireland it is Lough Neagh,
+as Tom Moore says:
+
+  On Lough Neagh's bank as the fisherman strays,
+    When the clear, cold eve's declining,
+  He sees the round towers of other days
+    In the wave beneath him shining.
+
+This legend had its rise in an extraordinary story which was given
+currency to by Giraldus Cambrensis in his _Topography of Ireland_, to
+the effect that a certain extremely wicked tribe were punished for
+their sins by the inundation of their territory.
+
+"Now there was a common proverb," says Gerald, "in the mouths of the
+tribe, that whenever the well-spring of that country was left
+uncovered (for out of reverence shown to it, from a barbarous
+superstition, the spring was kept covered and sealed), it would
+immediately overflow and inundate the whole province, drowning and
+destroying the whole population. It happened, however, on some
+occasion that a young woman, who had come to the spring to draw water,
+after filling her pitcher, but before she had closed the well, ran in
+great haste to her little boy, whom she had heard crying at a spot not
+far from the spring where she had left him. But the voice of the
+people is the voice of God; and on her way back she met such a flood
+of water from the spring that it swept off her and the boy, and the
+inundation was so violent that they both, and the whole tribe, with
+their cattle, were drowned in an hour in this partial and local
+deluge. The waters, having covered the whole surface of that fertile
+district, were converted into a permanent lake. A not improbable
+confirmation of this occurrence is found in the fact that the
+fishermen in that lake see distinctly under the water, in calm
+weather, ecclesiastical towers, which, according to the custom of the
+country, are slender and lofty, and moreover round; and they
+frequently point them out to strangers travelling through these parts,
+who wonder what could have caused such a catastrophe."
+
+In the Welsh version of this fascinating legend it is the bard
+Gwyddno, of the twelfth century, who tells of the downfall of the
+submerged city, and two of the strophes which occur in his poem are
+also found in the Breton poem. The Welsh bard may have received the
+story from Breton sources, or the converse may be the case.
+
+The legend that Cardigan Bay contains a submerged territory is widely
+known, and strangely enough seems to be corroborated by the shape of
+the coast-line, the contour of which suggests the subsidence of a
+large body of land. Like their brothers of Ireland, the fishermen of
+Wales assert that at low tide they can see the ruins of ancient
+edifices far down beneath the clear waters of the bay.[43]
+
+Before the days of the French Revolution there was still to be seen at
+Quimper, between the two towers of the cathedral, a figure of King
+Gradlon mounted on his faithful courser, but in the stormy year of
+1793 the name of king was in bad odour and the ignorant populace
+deprived the statue of its head. However, in 1859 it was restored.
+Legend attributes the introduction of the vine into Brittany to King
+Gradlon, and on St Cecilia's Day a regular ritual was gone through in
+Quimper in connexion with his counterfeit presentment. A company of
+singers mounted on a platform. While they sang a hymn in praise of
+King Gradlon, one of the choristers, provided with a flagon of wine, a
+napkin, and a golden hanap (or cup), mounted on the crupper of the
+King's horse, poured out a cup of wine, which he offered ceremoniously
+to the lips of the statue and then drank himself, carefully wiped with
+his napkin the moustache of the King, placed a branch of laurel in his
+hand, and then threw down the hanap in the midst of the crowd below,
+in honour of the first planter of the grape in Brittany. To whoever
+caught the cup before it fell, and presented it uninjured to the
+Chapter, was adjudged a prize of two hundred crowns.
+
+There is a distinct savour of myth about all this. Can it be that
+Gradlon was a Breton Bacchus? There are notices of Celtic goddesses in
+whose honour Bacchic rites were held, and the place of these was
+sometimes taken by a corn god. Later the festival in its memorial
+aspect appears to have been associated with different kings[44] in the
+various parts of the Celtic world, and it seems likely that Gradlon
+was such a monarch who had taken the place of a vanished deity. It
+must be left to Celtic scholars to determine whether the name Gradlon
+possesses any deific significance hidden in its etymology.
+
+
+_The Clerk of Rohan_
+
+Jeanne de Rohan, daughter of Alain, fifth of the name, Viscount of
+Rohan, married in the year 1236 Matthew, Seigneur of Beauvau, son of
+Ren�, Constable of Naples. Breton popular poetry has in many ballads
+recounted the adventures of Jeanne and her husband, one of which is as
+follows[45]:
+
+At the age of thirteen Jeanne consented to be married, but she desired
+that she herself should be allowed to choose her husband. Accordingly
+the cavaliers and barons of the district were invited to pay their
+court to her, and she fixed her affections upon the Seigneur of
+Beauvau, a valiant noble with large possessions in Italy. He was loyal
+and courteous, and when the pair were wedded their happiness seemed
+perfect.
+
+At this period the war in Palestine against the infidels was agitating
+the whole of Europe. The Seigneur of Beauvau desired to join the
+Crusaders, but his wife was by no means anxious that he should leave
+his home. But his principle was _noblesse oblige_. "I am of the most
+noble blood," he said; "therefore it behoves me to be the first to
+lead the way."
+
+He confided the care of his estates and his affairs in general to his
+wife's cousin, who was known as the Clerk of Rohan, and begged him to
+look well after Jeanne and his little son. Then, having bid farewell
+to them all, he mounted his horse and rode away to the wars.
+
+Jeanne was inconsolable. For days she wandered about the ch�teau
+carrying her baby boy in her arms and sobbing. All the domestic circle
+seemed disturbed at the Seigneur's departure except the Clerk of
+Rohan, to whom Count Matthew had so trustingly confided the charge of
+his affairs.
+
+The Seigneur had declared that he would return within a year's time. A
+year passed, however, and no news of him had been received. Now the
+Clerk was a perfidious and wicked schemer, and one morning as he and
+Jeanne were in conversation he hinted that the year within which the
+Seigneur had promised to return was now gone by and that the war in
+which he had been engaged had come to an end. He made no secret of his
+passion for the lady, but she on her part turned upon him angrily,
+saying: "Is it the fashion nowadays for women to consider themselves
+widows, knowing well that their husbands are alive? Go to, miserable
+Clerk, thy heart is full of wickedness. If my husband were here he
+would break thee in little pieces!"
+
+When the Clerk heard this he went secretly to the kennels, and there
+he slew the Seigneur's favourite greyhound. Taking some of its blood,
+he wrote with it a letter to Count Matthew telling him that his wife
+was most unhappy because of an accident which had occurred; that she
+had been hunting the deer, and that in the chase his favourite
+greyhound had died from over-exertion. The Seigneur duly received the
+letter, and in his reply told the Clerk to comfort the lady, as he was
+quite able to replace the hound. At the same time he desired that
+hunting should cease for the present, as the huntsmen seemed unskilful
+in their conduct of the chase.
+
+The wicked Clerk once more sought the lady.
+
+"Alas!" said he, "you are losing your beauty by weeping night and
+day."
+
+"I will know how to recover my beauty when my husband returns," she
+replied coldly.
+
+"Do not cheat yourself," he said. "Surely you can see by this time
+that he is either dead or has taken another wife. In the East there
+are many beautiful girls who are far wealthier than you."
+
+"If he has taken another wife," said the lady, "I shall die; and if he
+be dead I ask for naught but death. Leave me, miserable wretch. Thy
+tongue is poisoned with deceit."
+
+When the Clerk had sufficiently recovered from this second rebuff, he
+betook himself to the stables, where the Seigneur's horse, the most
+beautiful in the country, stood champing in its stall. The wretch,
+drawing his poignard, thrust it into the noble steed's entrails, and,
+as he had done in the case of the greyhound, took some of the blood
+and wrote once more to the Count.
+
+"Another accident has occurred at the ch�teau," he said, "but, my dear
+Seigneur, pray do not trouble yourself on account of it. When your
+wife was returning from a feast in the night your favourite horse fell
+and broke two of his legs, and had to be destroyed."
+
+The Seigneur replied that he was grieved to hear of the circumstance,
+and that in order to avoid further mischances of the sort it would be
+better that his wife should frequent no more feasts.
+
+A third time the perfidious Clerk sought the lady. On this occasion he
+threatened her with death if she would not be his, but she replied in
+the most spirited manner that she loved death a thousand times better
+than him. At these words he could not contain his rage, and, drawing
+his dagger, thrust fiercely at her head. But the lady's guardian angel
+turned the stroke and the weapon struck harmlessly against the wall.
+She fled from the room, closing the door behind her as she went;
+whereupon the Clerk rushed downstairs to the nursery where her child
+was quietly sleeping in its cradle, and, seeing no one beside it,
+stabbed the slumbering infant to the heart.
+
+Then he wrote to the Seigneur: "Hasten your return, I beg of you, for
+it is necessary that you should be here to establish order. Your dog
+and your white courser have perished, but that is not the worst. Your
+little son, alas! is also dead. The great sow devoured him when your
+wife was at a ball with the miller for a gallant."
+
+When the Seigneur received this letter he returned at once from the
+wars, his anger rising higher and higher with every homeward league.
+When he arrived at the ch�teau he struck three times upon the door
+with his hand, and his summons was answered by the Clerk.
+
+"How now, evil Clerk," shouted the infuriated Count, "did I not leave
+my wife in your care?" and with these words he thrust his lance into
+the Clerk's open mouth, so that the point stood out at the nape of his
+neck. Then, mounting the stairs, he entered his wife's chamber, and
+without speaking a word stabbed her with his sword.
+
+The ballad then goes on to speak of the burial of the victims of the
+wicked Clerk. The lady, dressed all in white, was laid in her tomb by
+the light of the moon and the stars. On her breast lay her little son,
+on her right the favourite greyhound, and on her left the white
+courser, and it is said that in her grave she first caresses one and
+then the other, and the infant, as if jealous, nestles closer to his
+mother's heart.
+
+
+_The Lady of La Garaye_
+
+The ch�teau of La Garaye, near Dinan, is rendered famous by the
+virtues and boundless charity of its Count, Claude Toussaint Marot de
+La Garaye, and his wife. Their interesting story is told in the
+charming poem of Mrs Norton, _The Lady of La Garaye_:
+
+  Listen to the tale I tell,
+  Grave the story is--not sad;
+  And the peasant plodding by
+  Greets the place with kindly eye,
+  For the inmates that it had.
+
+Count Claude de La Garaye and his wife were young, beautiful, and
+endowed with friends, riches, and all that could make life bright and
+happy. They entertained generously and enjoyed the pleasures and
+amusements of the world. But one day misfortune overtook them, for the
+Countess was thrown from her horse, and she was left a cripple for
+life, while all expectations of an heir vanished. Both were
+inconsolable at their disappointment. One day a monk came to visit
+them, and tried to comfort them, seeking by his conversation to turn
+their thoughts from earthly afflictions to heavenly consolation.
+
+"Ah, my father," said the lady, "how happy are you, to love nothing on
+earth!"
+
+"You are mistaken," answered the monk; "I love all those who are in
+sorrow or suffering. But I submit myself to the will of the Almighty,
+and bend myself with resignation to every blow He strikes."
+
+He proceeded to show them that there was still a great deal of
+happiness in store for them in ministering to the needs of others.
+Following his counsel, they went to Paris, where for three years the
+Count studied medicine and surgery, and his wife became a skilful
+oculist. On their return to La Garaye they gave up all the amusements
+of society and devoted themselves to relieving the sufferings of their
+fellow-creatures. Their house was converted into a hospital for the
+sick and afflicted, under the ministering care of the Count and his
+benevolent wife:
+
+  Her home is made their home; her wealth their dole;
+  Her busy courtyard hears no more the roll
+  Of gilded vehicles, or pawing steeds,
+  But feeble steps of those whose bitter needs
+  Are their sole passport. Through that gateway press
+  All varying forms of sickness and distress,
+  And many a poor, worn face that hath not smiled
+  For years, and many a feeble crippled child,
+  Blesses the tall white portal where they stand,
+  And the dear Lady of the liberal hand.
+
+Nor was their philanthropy confined to their own province. In 1729
+they offered themselves to M. de Belsunce--"Marseilles' good
+bishop"--to assist him during the visitation of the plague. The fame
+of their virtues reached even the French Court, and Louis XV sent
+Count de La Garaye the Order of St Lazarus, with a donation of 50,000
+livres and a promise of 25,000 more. They both died at an advanced
+age, within two years of each other, and were buried among their poor
+at Taden. Their marble mausoleum in the church was destroyed during
+the French Revolution. The Count left a large sum to be distributed
+among the prisoners, principally English, pent up in the crowded gaols
+of Rennes and Dinan. He had attended the English prisoners at Dinan
+during a contagious fever called the 'peste blanche,' and in
+acknowledgment of his humanity Queen Caroline sent him two dogs with
+silver collars round their necks, and an English nobleman made him a
+present of six more.
+
+The ruined ch�teau is approached by an ivy-covered gateway, through an
+avenue of beeches. As Mrs Norton renders it:
+
+  And like a mourner's mantle, with sad grace,
+  Waves the dark ivy, hiding half the door
+  And threshold, where the weary traveller's foot
+  Shall never find a courteous welcome more.
+
+The ruin is fast falling to pieces. The principal part remaining is an
+octagonal turret of three stories, with elegant Renaissance decoration
+round the windows.
+
+
+_The Falcon_
+
+An interesting and picturesque ballad sung in the Black Mountains is
+that of _The Falcon_. Geoffrey, first Duke of Brittany, was departing
+for Rome in the year 1008, leaving the government of the country in
+the hands of his wife Ethwije, sister of Richard of Normandy. As he
+was about to set out on his pilgrimage the falcon which he carried on
+his wrist after the manner of the nobles of the period, swooped down
+on and killed the hen of a poor peasant woman. The woman in a rage
+seized a large stone and cast it at the bird with such violence that
+it slew not only the falcon but the Duke himself. The death of the
+Duke was followed by a most desperate insurrection among the people.
+History does not enlighten us as to the cause of this rising, but
+tradition attributes it to the invasion of Brittany by the Normans
+(whom the widow of Geoffrey at once brought into the country on the
+demise of her husband) and the exactions which were wrung from the
+peasants by these haughty aliens.
+
+[Illustration: A PEASANT INSURRECTION]
+
+The ballad, which was used as a war-song by the Bretons at a later
+day, begins in true ballad style: "The falcon has strangled the fowl,
+the peasant woman has slain the Count who oppressed the people, the
+poor people, like a brute-beast."
+
+The hate of the stranger so characteristic of the old Bretons then
+flashes forth. "The country has been polluted by the foreigner, by the
+men of the Gallic land, and because of the death of a hen and a falcon
+Brittany is on fire, blood flows, and there is great dole among the
+people."
+
+On the summit of the Black Mountain thirty stout peasants had gathered
+to celebrate the ancient feast of the good St John. Among them was
+Kado the Striver, who stood there gravely leaning on his iron
+pitchfork. For a while he looked upon his comrades; then he opened his
+lips:
+
+"What say you, fellow-peasants? Do you intend to pay this tax? As for
+me, I shall certainly not pay it. I had much rather be hanged.
+Nevermore shall I pay this unjust tax. My sons go naked because of it,
+my flocks grow less and less. No more shall I pay. I swear it by the
+red brands of this fire, by Saint Kado my patron, and by Saint John."
+
+"My fortunes are broken, I am completely ruined," growled one of his
+companions. "Before the year is out I shall be compelled to beg my
+bread."
+
+Then all rose at once as if by a common impulse.
+
+"None of us will pay this tax! We swear it by the Sun and by the Moon,
+and by the great sea which encircles this land of Brittany!"
+
+Kado, stepping out from the circle, seized a firebrand, and holding it
+aloft cried: "Let us march, comrades, and strike a blow for freedom!"
+
+The enthusiasm of his companions burst out afresh. Falling into loose
+ranks they followed him. His wife marched by his side in the first
+rank, carrying a reaping-hook on her shoulder and singing as she
+marched.
+
+"Quickly, quickly, my children! We go to strike a blow for liberty!
+Have I brought thirty sons into the world to beg their bread, to carry
+firewood or to break stones, or bear burdens like beasts? Are they to
+till the green land and the grey land with bare feet while the rich
+feed their horses, their hunting-dogs, and their falcons better than
+they are fed? No! It is to slay the oppressors that I have borne so
+many sons!"
+
+Quickly they descended the mountains, gathering numbers as they went.
+Now they were three thousand strong, five thousand strong, and when
+they arrived at Langoad nine thousand strong. When they came to
+Gu�rande they were thirty thousand strong. The houses of those who had
+ground them down were wrapped in flames, fiercely ends the old ballad,
+"and the bones of those who had oppressed them cracked, like those of
+the damned in Tartarus."
+
+History tells us nothing concerning Kado the Striver, but it is most
+unlikely that he is a mere figment of popular imagination. What
+history does record, however, is that the wicked Duchess and her host
+of mercenary Normans were forced to flee, and that her place was taken
+by a more just and righteous ruler.
+
+
+_The Marquis of Gu�rande_
+
+Breton tradition speaks of a wild young nobleman, Louis-Fran�ois de
+Gu�rande, Seigneur of Locmaria, who flourished in the early part of
+the seventeenth century. He was wealthy, and lived a life of reckless
+abandon; indeed, he was the terror of the parish and the despair of
+his pious mother, who, whenever he sallied forth upon adventure bent,
+rang the bell of the ch�teau, to give the alarm to the surrounding
+peasantry. The ballad which tells of the infamous deeds of this titled
+ruffian, and which was composed by one Tugdual Sala�n, a peasant of
+Plouber,[46] opens upon a scene of touching domestic happiness. The
+Clerk of Garlon was on a visit to the family of his betrothed.
+
+"Tell me, good mother," he asked, "where is Anna�k? I am anxious that
+she should come with me to dance on the green."
+
+"She is upstairs asleep, my son. Take care," added the old woman
+roguishly, "that you do not waken her."
+
+The Clerk of Garlon ran lightly up the staircase and knocked at
+Anna�k's door.
+
+"Come, Anna�k," he cried; "why are you asleep when all the others go
+to dance upon the village green?"
+
+"I do not wish to go to the dance, for I fear the Marquis of
+Gu�rande," replied the girl.
+
+The Clerk of Garlon laughed. "The Marquis of Gu�rande cannot harm you
+so long as I am with you," he said lightly. "Come, Anna�k; were there
+a hundred such as he I should protect you from them."
+
+Reassured by her lover's brave words, the girl rose and put on her
+dress of white delaine. They were a joyous and beautiful pair. The
+Clerk was gaily dressed, with a peacock's feather in his hat and a
+chain on his breast, while his betrothed wore a velvet corsage
+embroidered with silver.
+
+On that evening the Marquis of Gu�rande leaped on his great red steed
+and sallied forth from his ch�teau. Galloping along the road, he
+overtook the Clerk of Garlon and his betrothed on their way to the
+dance.
+
+"Ha!" he cried, "you go to the dance, I see. It is customary to
+wrestle there, is it not?"
+
+"It is, Seigneur," replied the Clerk, doffing his hat.
+
+"Then throw off your doublet and let us try a fall or two," said
+Gu�rande, with a wicked look at Anna�k which was not lost upon her
+lover.
+
+"Saving your grace, I may not wrestle with you," said the Clerk, "for
+you are a gentleman and I am nobody. You are the son of a lord and I
+am the son of a peasant."
+
+"Ha! what! The son of a peasant, say you, and you take your choice of
+the pretty girls of the village?"
+
+"Seigneur, pardon me. I did not choose this maiden; God gave her to
+me."
+
+During this parley Anna�k stood by, trembling violently. She had heard
+of the Marquis of Gu�rande, and was only too well aware of the evil
+and reckless character he bore. The Clerk tried to calm her fears by
+whispered words and pressures of the hand, but the wicked Marquis,
+observing the state of terror she was in, exulted in the alarm he was
+causing her.
+
+"Well, fellow," said he, "since you cannot wrestle with me perhaps you
+will try a bout of sword-play."
+
+At these words Anna�k's rosy cheeks became deathly white; but the
+Clerk of Garlon spoke up like a man.
+
+"My lord," he said, "I do not wear a sword. The club is my only
+weapon. Should you use your sword against me it would but stain it."
+
+The wicked Marquis uttered a fiendish laugh. "If I stain my sword, by
+the Saints, I shall wash it in your blood," he cried, and as he spoke
+he passed his rapier through the defenceless Clerk's body.
+
+At the sight of her slain lover the gentle heart of Anna�k broke, and
+a great madness came upon her. Like a tigress she leapt upon the
+Marquis and tore his sword from his hand. Without his rapier he was as
+a child in the grasp of the powerful Breton peasant woman. Exerting
+all her strength, in a frenzy of grief she dragged the wretch to the
+green where the dance was in progress, haling him round and round it
+until exhausted. At last she dropped his senseless body on the green
+turf and hastened homeward.
+
+And once again we encounter the haunting refrain: "My good mother, if
+you love me make my bed, for I am sick unto death."
+
+"Why, daughter, you have danced too much; it is that which has made
+you sick."
+
+"I have not danced at all, mother; but the wicked Marquis has slain my
+poor Clerk. Say to the sexton who buries him: 'Do not throw in much
+earth, for in a little while you will have to place my daughter beside
+him in this grave.' Since we may not share the same marriage-bed we
+shall at least sleep in the same tomb, and if we have not been married
+in this world we shall at least be joined in heaven."
+
+The reader will be relieved to learn that the hero of this ballad,
+the Clerk of Garlon, was not killed after all, and that for once fact
+is enabled to step in to correct the sadness of fiction; for, when one
+comes to think of it, there are few sadder things in the world than
+the genuine folk-ballad, which, although at the time it may arouse
+�sthetic emotions, may yet afterward give rise to haunting pain. We
+are glad to be able to chronicle, then, that the worthy Clerk did not
+die of his wound as stated by Tugdual Sala�n of the parish of Plouber,
+author of the ballad, and that the wicked Marquis escaped the halter,
+which, according to Breton custom, he would not otherwise have done
+had the Clerk died. His good mother took upon herself the burden of an
+annual pension to the Clerk's aged parents, and adopted the second
+child of Anna�k, who had duly married her sweetheart, and this little
+one she educated, furthering its interests in every possible manner.
+As for the Marquis, he actually settled down, and one cannot help
+feeling chagrined that such a promising rogue should have turned
+talents so eminently suitable for the manufacture of legendary
+material into more humdrum courses. Conscious of the gravity of his
+early misdemeanours, he founded a hospital for the poor of the parish,
+and each evening in one of the windows of this place the peasants
+could see a light which burned steadily far into the night. If any
+asked the reason for this illumination he was told: "It is the Marquis
+of Gu�rande, who lies awake praying God to pardon his youth."
+
+
+_The Ch�teaux of Brittany_
+
+The ch�teaux of Brittany may truly be called the historical and
+legendary shrines of the province, for within their halls, keeps, and
+donjons Breton tradition and history were made. It is doubtful,
+indeed, if the castellated mansions of any other country, save,
+perhaps, those of the Rhine, harbour so many legends, arising either
+from the actual historical happenings connected with them or from
+those more picturesque yet terrible associations which they are
+popularly supposed to have with the powers of evil. The general
+appearance of such a building as the Breton ch�teau admirably lends
+itself to sombre tradition. The massy walls seem thick enough to
+retain all secrets, and the cry for vengeance for blood spilt within
+them cannot pass to the outer world through the narrow _meurtri�res_
+or arrow-slits of the _avant-corps_. The broad yet lofty towers which
+flank the front rise into a _toiture_ or _coiffe_ like an enchanter's
+conical cap. The _lucarnes_, or attic casements, are guarded on either
+side by gargoyles grim of aspect, or perhaps by griffins holding the
+shield-borne arms of dead and gone seigneurs. Seek where you will,
+among the wizard-houses of old Prague, the witch-dens of ancient
+Edinburgh, the bat-haunted castles of Drachenfels or Rheinstein, you
+will come at nothing built of man more informed with the soul of the
+Middle Ages, more drenched with their peculiar savour of mystery, than
+these stark keeps whose crests and _girouettes_ rise above encircling
+woods or frown upon mirroring rivers over the length and breadth of
+the Breton land.
+
+
+_La Roche-Jagu_
+
+One of the most typical of the ch�teaux of Brittany is that of La
+Roche-Jagu, at one time the guardian of the mouth of the river Trieux.
+It is built on the top of a hill which overhangs the Trieux, and from
+one of its battlemented galleries a splendid view of the windings of
+the river can be obtained. The wall on this side of the fortress is so
+thick as to allow of a chapel being hewn out of its solidity. A most
+distinctive architectural note is struck by the fourteen wonderful
+chimney-shafts of cut stone ornamented with iron spikes.
+
+
+_Tonqu�dec_
+
+Some miles farther down the river, but on its opposite side, is the
+imposing castle of Tonqu�dec, perhaps the finest remnant of the
+medieval military architecture of Brittany. It has always remained in
+the family of the Viscounts of Co�tman, who ranked among the foremost
+of the Breton nobility, though one of them espoused the cause of the
+Constable Clisson against Duke John IV, and had the anguish of seeing
+his ancestral fortress razed to the ground. Under Henry IV, however,
+the castle was restored, only to be again demolished by order of
+Cardinal Richelieu, who strongly and forcibly disapproved of such
+powerful fortalices.
+
+It had an outer enclosure, and had to be entered by a drawbridge, and
+it was strengthened in every way conceivable to the military art of
+the times. It was surrounded by dwellings for the convenience of the
+seigneur's retainers, a fine _salle d'armes_ still remaining. To the
+keep, four stories high, a flying bridge led, in order to facilitate
+the withdrawal of the garrison in case of siege. Behind walls ten feet
+thick, so long as food and ammunition lasted, the inmates could hold
+the enemy in scorn.
+
+
+_Clisson_
+
+The ch�teau of Clisson, once the property of the great Constable
+Oliver de Clisson, whom the Viscount of Co�tman and the Bretons of
+Penthi�vre had championed, is now only a grand old ruin, a touching
+monument of the architectural splendours of former days. By
+moonlight it makes a scene not easily forgotten, gaunt and still
+and ruggedly imposing, the silent reminder of events and people
+tales of whom will not readily die, the treasurer of secrets it
+will probably never yield. Its antithesis is the castle of Nantes,
+with the stamp of the Renaissance upon its delicately sculptured
+balconies and window-frames. It is now an arsenal, a fact which
+robs it of some of the romantic interest of Clisson, or, indeed, of
+ruins in general, yet within its walls are the prison chambers in
+which Gilles de Laval, the ambitious Finance Minister Fouquet, the
+Cardinal de Retz, and the Duchess of Berry once languished. For many
+years it served as one of the political prisons of France, though
+it is also associated with brighter and happier times; for here, on
+pleasure bent, lingered many of the Kings of France from Louis XI
+onward, and here in 1675 Madame de S�vign� sojourned, a circumstance
+which casts about it a literary as well as a romantic glamour. The
+great well in the courtyard, with its ornamental railing of wrought
+iron, is quite equal to the famous well of Quentin Matsys at Antwerp.
+
+
+_Josselin_
+
+The castle of Josselin, also associated with the history of the great
+Constable Clisson and his allies, as well as with the notorious League
+whose followers wrought such intolerable misery in Brittany, is built
+on a rocky foundation near the river Oust. With its imposing front and
+conically roofed towers it is one of the best examples of a
+twelfth-century fortress-ch�teau. Very different in tone is the
+architecture of the interior court, being that of the period when the
+lighter traceries and more imaginative lines of the Renaissance were
+in favour. The window-openings of the two first stories are beautiful
+enough to rival those of Chambord and equal those of Blois. Above the
+windows an open gallery runs, and in the space between each the device
+of the Rohans is carved, with their motto, _A Plus_, this celebrated
+family having built this part of the ch�teau. About the year 1400
+Clisson added a keep, walls, and parapets, but in 1629, when the
+fortress was no longer a stronghold of the League, these were
+permitted to fall into ruin. Through the courtesy of the family now in
+residence this wonderfully preserved castle may be visited, a
+circumstance for which the tourist in Brittany should indeed be
+grateful. Interest within these massy walls clings around the well,
+with its ornamental railings, the noble and lofty hall, the library,
+with its magnificent chimney-piece, repeating again, in stone, the
+Rohan motto, _A Plus_, and the equestrian statue of Clisson, by
+Fr�miet, in the dining-room.
+
+
+_Hennebont and Largoet_
+
+Of the old ch�teau of Hennebont, where John of Montfort breathed his
+last after escaping from the Louvre of his day, only a heap of stones
+remains. The old fortress of Largoet is in much the same condition,
+nothing of the ancient structure having been conserved save the famous
+Tour d'Elven, considered to be the most beautiful castle keep in all
+Brittany, which has also a literary distinction as being the scene of
+some of the most touching episodes in Octave Feuillet's _Roman d'un
+jeune Homme pauvre_.
+
+
+_Ch�teaubriant_
+
+At Ch�teaubriant, which owes its name to the compounding of the
+word 'ch�teau' with that of 'Briant,' the family style of its
+original lord, the old feudal fortress is now a ruin, but the
+castle, built by Jean de Laval, Governor of Brittany under Francis
+I, is in good repair. An inscription giving the date of the completion
+of the new ch�teau as 1538 is above the portal of the colonnade.
+There is a gruesome legend associated with the old ch�teau, in which
+for some time dwelt the unfortunate Fran�oise de Foix, Countess of
+Ch�teaubriant and beloved of Francis I. Tiring or becoming suspicious
+of her royal lover, she decided to return to her husband, the old
+Count of Laval. The reunion, however, was not productive of
+happiness, owing to the fever of jealousy in which her elderly
+husband lived because of the love affair with the King. This
+jealousy eventually flared into mania when he heard that she had
+actually visited her former lover in prison after he had been
+captured at Pavia. Instantly he "shut his young wife up in a
+darkened and padded cell, and finally had her cut into pieces by two
+surgeons," so the story goes. Terrified at what he had done and of
+the consequences which were sure to follow when the King heard of
+his savagery, the Count fled the country immediately afterward.
+
+The ch�teau of Brodineuf (dating from the twelfth century) and that of
+Caradeuc are in good repair, but the latter is ancient only in parts.
+It shelters two Murillos within its walls. The picturesque ch�teau of
+Combourg was in early times a feudal fortress, and in it Ren�
+Ch�teaubriand's infancy was passed. This place may be visited by
+interested sightseers, and there they may view the writing-table of
+the author of _Le G�nie du Christianisme_, and, in the bedroom he
+occupied at Combourg, the bed on which he died in Paris. The ch�teau
+of Vitr� is also in a state of preservation, and is considered one of
+the best specimens of military architecture in the province.
+Comparatively near is the ch�teau of Rochers, once the home of Mme de
+S�vign�, and in consequence one of the famous sights of the country.
+The many letters she dated from this castle paint a vivid and detailed
+picture of social life in the seventeenth century, and fortunately the
+atmosphere of the time has been happily retained in the building
+itself.
+
+Another twelfth-century structure is that of the ch�teau of Rustefan,
+near Quimperl�. It was built by Stephen, Count of Penthi�vre, and
+belonged in the next century to Blanche of Castile, the mother of St
+Louis. The ruins now in existence are those of the ch�teau built in
+the fifteenth century, and its cylindrical tower, pinnacled doorway,
+and the stone mullions of the windows still remain fairly intact. The
+ch�teau of Kerjolet, in Concarneau, is one which has been saved from
+decay, restored as it was by Countess Chaveau-Narishkine and presented
+by her to the department. It contains a museum in which are specimens
+of all the costumes and _coiffes_ of Lower Brittany, and antiquities
+of prehistoric and medieval times, which all students of Breton and
+Celtic lore should see.
+
+
+_Palaces of the Past_
+
+The ch�teau of Tourlaville is situated among very beautiful
+surroundings, and is built in the classic style of the Renaissance,
+with an angular tower. On chimney-piece and fireplace throughout the
+castle there are numerous sentimental devices in which Cupids and
+flaming hearts and torches figure largely, with the occasional
+accompaniment of verses and mottoes of an equally amatory nature.
+These are all seventeenth-century examples and may be taken as
+expressions of the time. In a boudoir called the Blue Chamber, because
+of the colour of its draperies and decorations, many coats-of-arms are
+emblazoned; but all the greatness to which these testify has become a
+thing of the past, for the ch�teau has now been turned into a
+farmhouse.
+
+The ch�teau of Dinan may also be classed among the palaces of the
+past, for now, despite the fact that it was built by the Dukes of
+Brittany, it has become a prison. From the tourist as well as the
+romantic point of view this is somewhat of a tragedy. The Tower of
+Co�tquen, one of the ancient towers of the city wall, is practically
+part of the castle, and the keep, or Queen Anne's Tower, is the most
+distinctive feature remaining. This keep is of four stories, and is
+over a hundred feet high, the last story being reached by a spiral
+staircase. What was once the oratory of the Duchess Anne is now the
+guard-room. There are still several dungeons whose original
+gruesomeness has been left untouched, and whose use in bygone days can
+well be imagined.
+
+
+_Suscino_
+
+The ch�teau of Suscino is one of the chief sights of the neighbourhood
+of Vannes, because it is the ruin of what was once a marvellous
+structure of the thirteenth century, and follows the finest Gothic
+traditions of the time. All the roofing of the building has quite
+disappeared, but its battlemented towers and walls remain to give a
+good idea of the architectural perfection that must have belonged to
+it. At one time it fell into the hands of Charles of Blois, only to be
+retaken by his rival, Montfort, in 1364, and in 1373 it was occupied
+by an English garrison. Eventually it was bestowed upon John of
+Ch�lons, Prince of Orange, by Anne of Brittany, but in time Francis I
+relieved him of it in order to present it to Fran�oise de Foix, the
+celebrated Lady of Ch�teaubriant. The irregular pentagon formed by the
+ch�teau is possibly somewhat modified from the original plan of 1320,
+and of the seven towers which flanked its gates and walls in the
+beginning six have weathered the storms of the times through which
+they have passed. Its orchid-shaped machicolations have also survived,
+and even to-day they are noticeably beautiful. The new tower is a fine
+cylindrical keep, dating from the fourteenth century, and over the
+entrance this legend still remains:
+
+       Ici Est N�
+    Le Duc Arthur III
+    le 24 Ao�t, 1393.
+
+We have already dealt with many of the stories connected with the
+ancient castles of Brittany, and these will be found in nearly
+every chapter of this book, so varied are they. But no tale, however
+vivid, can hope to capture and retain all the wonder and mystery of
+these grand old strongholds, which must be seen in order to leave
+upon the imagination and memory the full impress of their weird and
+extraordinary fascination.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [40] _Folk-lore as an Historical Science_, p. 129.
+
+  [41] _Western France_, vol. ii.
+
+  [42] See Le Braz, _La L�gende de la Mort_, t. i, p. 39, t. ii, pp. 37
+       ff.; Albert Le Grand, _Vies des Saints de la Bretagne_, p. 63;
+       Villemarqu�, _Chants populaires_, pp. 38 ff.
+
+  [43] See MacCulloch, _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 372 and
+       notes.
+
+  [44] MacCulloch, _op. cit._, p. 274.
+
+  [45] Villemarqu� avouches that this version was taken down by his
+       mother from the lips of an old peasant woman of the parish of
+       N�vez. It bears the stamp of ballad poetry, and as it has
+       parallels in the folk-verse of other countries I see no reason
+       to question its genuineness.
+
+  [46] See "Maro Markiz Gwerrand," in the _Bulletin de la Soci�t�
+       Acad�mique de Brest_, 1865.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII: HERO-TALES OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Soon after the Vicomte Hersart de la Villemarqu� published his
+_Barzaz-Breiz_, a collection of popular ballads from the Breton,
+critics who possessed a knowledge of the language and were acquainted
+with its literature exposed the true nature of the work, acting,
+indeed, as did British critics when Macpherson published his
+fragments of Ossian. Villemarqu� was, in fact, a Breton Macpherson. He
+would hear a Breton ballad sung or recited, and would then either
+enlarge upon it and torture it out of all resemblance to its original
+shape, or he would instigate a literary friend to do so. We must
+remember that such a proceeding was fashionable at the time, as no
+less a personage than Sir Walter Scott had led the way, and he had
+been preceded by Burns in the practice. But whereas Burns made no
+secret of what he did and greatly enhanced the poetical value of the
+songs and ballads he altered, Scott and his friends, Kirkpatrick
+Sharpe, Leyden, and others, indulged in what they described as the
+"mystification" of their acquaintances by these semi-forgeries.
+Like theirs, Villemarqu�'s work had usually an historical or
+legendary basis, but it is impossible to say how much of it is
+original matter of folk-song and how much his own invention,
+unless we compare his versions with those furnished by M. Luzel in
+his _Guerziou Breiz-Izel_ (1868), which, however, only contains a few
+of the originals of the tales given in the _Barzaz-Breiz_, and those
+not the most interesting.
+
+I have cast the following tales into narrative form from the ballads
+published in the _Barzaz-Breiz_, where they obviously appear as
+traditional tales in a polished, modern dress.[47] They may be
+regarded, largely, as efforts of the modern imagination regarding the
+Breton past. In any case the author of a book on Breton romances would
+not be justified in omitting all mention of Villemarqu� and refraining
+from affording the reader a specimen of his work, any more than he
+would be in founding solely upon the labours of the Vicomte.
+
+
+_Lez-Breiz, the Prop of Brittany_
+
+Morvan, chief of L�on, so celebrated in the history of the ninth
+century as one of the upholders of Breton independence, and known to
+tradition as 'the Prop of Brittany,' is the subject of a remarkable
+series of ballads or hero-tales in the _Barzaz-Breiz_ which together
+constitute what is almost an epic. These tell of his life, death,
+adventures, travels, and the marvellous feats of derring-do he
+accomplished. In some measure he is to Breton legend what Arthur is to
+British or Holger to that of Denmark. That he is familiar to Breton
+tradition there can be no question, and whether Villemarqu� himself
+wove the following adventures around him or not they are certainly
+typical of the age in which the hero flourished.
+
+
+_Morvan's First Adventure_
+
+One day the child Morvan was sitting at the edge of the forest when a
+cavalier issued from its depths armed at all points and riding a
+great charger. The boy, excited by his martial appearance, ran from
+him in terror, calling out that here indeed was St Michael; but the
+cavalier rode so swiftly that he soon came up with the lad, who
+devoutly threw himself on his knees and made the sign of the Cross,
+calling out:
+
+"Seigneur Saint Michael, in the name of God I pray thee do me no
+harm!"
+
+The knight laughed loudly. "Why, lad," he said, "I am no more Saint
+Michael than I am a thief, but merely a belted knight, such as one may
+meet with by the score in this land of chivalry."
+
+"I have never seen a knight," replied Morvan; "and what may that be
+which you carry?"
+
+"That is called a lance, my boy."
+
+"And what are these that you wear on your head and breast?"
+
+"The one is a casque and the other a breast-plate. They are intended
+to protect me from the stroke of sword and spear. But tell me, lad,
+have you seen any one pass this way?"
+
+"Yes, Seigneur, a man went by this very road not half an hour agone."
+
+"Thank you, boy," replied the knight. "If you are asked who spoke to
+you, say the Count of Quimper," and with these words he spurred his
+horse and set off down the road in the direction which the little
+Morvan had indicated.
+
+Morvan returned to his mother, who had been sitting some distance
+away, and began to tell her of his meeting. He was so full of the
+gallantry of the knight he had met, his grace and martial bearing,
+that the good dame could not stem the torrent of words which flowed
+from him.
+
+"Oh, mother," he babbled on, "you never saw anyone so splendid as him
+whom I have seen to-day, a man more beautiful than the Lord Michael
+the Archangel, whose image is in our church."
+
+His mother smiled and patted him fondly on the cheek.
+
+"Come, my son," she said, "there is no man so beautiful as the
+Archangel Michael."
+
+But little Morvan shook his head.
+
+"Saving your grace, there are, my mother," he said gravely. "There are
+many men more splendid than Saint Michael, and they are called
+knights. How I wish that I might grow up and become a knight too!"
+
+At these words the poor lady, who had lost her husband in battle and
+who dreaded that her only son might be taken from her, was seized with
+such dismay that she sank to the ground unconscious. The little
+Morvan, without turning his head, entered the stables and led out a
+fresh horse. Jumping lightly on the steed's back, he turned its head
+in the direction in which the splendid cavalier had gone and rode
+hastily after him.
+
+
+_The Return of Morvan_
+
+Ten years passed--years full of martial achievement and adventure for
+young Morvan. Then a desire to return to the ancestral mansion seized
+upon the youth, and he made his way homeward. But great was his dismay
+when he entered the courtyard of the manor and looked about him, for
+the blackberry bushes and the nettles were growing round the threshold
+of the house and the walls were half ruined and covered with ivy. As
+he was about to enter he observed a poor old blind woman standing in
+the entrance.
+
+[Illustration: MORVAN RETURNS TO HIS RUINED HOME]
+
+"Pardon me, dame, but perhaps you can give me hospitality for the
+night," he said.
+
+"Alas! sir, we have but little," she replied. "This house has been
+allowed to go to ruin since its son and heir quitted it."
+
+As she ceased speaking a young damsel descended the broken stone
+steps, and after regarding Morvan for a moment burst into tears.
+
+"How now, maiden," said Morvan, "wherefore do you weep?"
+
+"Alas, Seigneur," replied the maiden, "I have a brother who left us
+ten years ago to lead the life of a warrior, and every time that I see
+a youth about his age I feel myself compelled to weep."
+
+"Tell me, my child," said Morvan, "have you no other brother?"
+
+"None in the world, Sir Knight."
+
+"And your mother, what of her?"
+
+"Alas! sir, she too is gone. There is no one but myself and my old
+nurse in the house. My poor mother died of grief when my brother rode
+off to become a knight."
+
+On hearing these words Morvan was deeply affected.
+
+"Alas!" he cried, "wretch that I am, I have slain her who gave me
+birth!"
+
+When he spoke thus the damsel turned deadly pale.
+
+"In the name of heaven, sir, who are you?" she cried. "How are you
+named?"
+
+"I am Morvan, son of Conan, and Lez-Breiz is my surname, my sister."
+
+The young girl stared for a moment, sighed, and then fell into his
+arms; but soon she opened her eyes and praised God that she had found
+her long-lost brother.
+
+
+_The King's Cavalier_
+
+But Lez-Breiz could not remain long at home. The tented field was his
+fireside, the battle his sport. Adventure followed adventure in his
+full and stirring life. One day he said to his young squire:
+
+"Arouse you, my squire, and furnish my sword, my casque, and my
+shield, that I may redden them in the blood of the Franks, for with
+the help of God and this right arm I shall carry slaughter into their
+ranks this day."
+
+"Tell me, my lord," asked the squire, "shall I not fight along with
+you to-day?"
+
+Morvan smiled at the lad's eagerness, perhaps because he remembered
+his own on the day he met the Count of Quimper, then a grave shadow
+crossed his face.
+
+"Think of your mother, lad," said he. "What if you never return to
+her? Think of her grief should you die this day."
+
+"Ah, Seigneur," entreated the stripling, "if you love me, grant my
+prayer; let me fight along with you."
+
+When Morvan rode out to battle an hour later his squire rode beside
+him, knee to knee. Passing near the church of St Anne of Armor they
+entered.
+
+"O Saint Anne, most holy dame," prayed Morvan, "I am not yet twenty
+years old and I have been in twenty battles. All those I have gained
+by your aid, and if I return again to this land I shall make you a
+rich gift. I shall give you enough candles to go three times round the
+walls of your church, and thrice round your churchyard--aye, thrice
+round your lands, when I come home again; and further I shall give you
+a banner of white satin with an ivory staff. Also shall I give you
+seven silver bells which will ring gaily night and day above your
+head. And three times on my knees will I draw water for your use."
+
+The enemy saw Morvan coming from afar. He was mounted on a small white
+ass with a halter of hemp, to signify his contempt for them. Lorgnez,
+his chief foe, came against him with a troop of warriors, while Morvan
+had only his little squire behind him. The foemen came on, ten by ten,
+until they reached the Wood of Chestnuts. For a moment the little
+squire was dismayed, but a word from his master rallied him, and,
+drawing his sword, he spurred forward. Soon they came front to front
+with Lorgnez and hailed him in knightly fashion.
+
+"Ho! Seigneur Lorgnez, good day to you."
+
+"Good morrow, Seigneur Morvan. Will you engage in single combat?"
+
+"No; I despise your offer. Go back to your King and tell him that I
+mock him; and as for yourself, I laugh at you and those with you.
+Return to Paris, stay among your women, take off your mail and put on
+the silken armour of fops."
+
+Lorgnez's face flamed with anger.
+
+"By heaven!" he cried, "the lowest varlet in my company shall hew your
+casque from your head for this!"
+
+At these words Morvan drew his great sword.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The old hermit of the wood heard some one knocking on the door of his
+cell. He opened it quickly and saw the young squire standing before
+him. He started back at the sight of the youth's blood-stained armour
+and death-pale countenance.
+
+"Ha, my son," he cried, "you are sorely hurt. Come and wash your
+wounds at the fountain and repose for a little."
+
+"I may not rest here, good father," replied the squire, shaking his
+head. "I have come to find water to take to my young master, who has
+fallen in the fight. Thirty warriors lie slain by his hand. Of these
+the Chevalier Lorgnez was the first."
+
+"Brave youth!" said the hermit. "Alas that he has fallen!"
+
+"Do not grieve, father. It is true that he has fallen, but it is only
+from fatigue. He is unwounded and will soon recover himself."
+
+When he was recovered Morvan betook him to the chapel of St Anne and
+rendered the gifts he had promised her.
+
+"Praise be to Saint Anne," cried he, "for she it is who has gained
+this victory."
+
+
+_The King's Blackamoor_
+
+One day the King of the Franks was sitting among his courtiers.
+
+"Would that some one would rid me of this pestilent Morvan, who
+constantly afflicts the Frankish land and slays my doughtiest
+warriors," he said, on hearing of a fresh exploit on the part of the
+Breton chief.
+
+Then the King's blackamoor, who heard these words, arose and stood
+before his master. He was tall and great of thew and sinew--a giant
+among men, towering head and shoulders even above the tall Frankish
+warriors.
+
+"Allow me to fulfil your wishes, sire," he said. "Sir Morvan has sent
+me his glove, and if to-morrow I do not bring you his head I will
+willingly part with my own."
+
+On the next morning Morvan's squire came to his master trembling
+violently.
+
+"Seigneur," he said, with ashy countenance, "the King's Moor is here
+and bids you defiance."
+
+Morvan rose and took his sword.
+
+"Alas! my dear master," said the squire, "take heed what you do, I
+pray you, for I assure you that this Moor is nothing but a demon who
+practises the most horrible enchantments."
+
+Morvan laughed. "Well, we shall see whether this demon can withstand
+cold steel or not," he said. "Go and saddle my black horse."
+
+"Saving your grace," said the page, "if you will hearken to my words
+you will not fight on the black charger. He has been bewitched.
+Moreover, you will notice that when you enter the lists to fight the
+Moor he will cast his mantle to the ground. But do not follow his
+example, for should your mantle fall beneath his the strength of the
+black giant will be doubled. When the Moor advances to the attack make
+the sign of the Cross with the shaft of your lance, and when he rushes
+upon you in his battle-fury receive him with the steel. If you do this
+you may be sure that your lance will not break."
+
+The heroes met within the lists. The King of France and his nobles had
+followed the giant Moor in order to witness the combat, and when all
+had been seated the trumpets sounded and the two champions rushed
+together with the utmost fury. They circled round one another like
+eagles seeking an opening to strike. Now one struck, then the other,
+and the blood flowed down their bright armour. The Frankish King in
+high excitement called out:
+
+"Ho! black crow of the sea, pierce me now this merle."
+
+At these words the giant assailed Morvan most furiously, as a great
+tempest assails a ship. The lances crossed, but that of the Moor broke
+like matchwood. Both leaped to earth, sword in hand, and rushed at
+each other like lions. Many lusty strokes were given and taken, and
+from their armour flew sparks like those from a smith's anvil. Then
+the Moor, grasping his sword with both hands, made ready to strike a
+mighty blow, when swift and trenchantly Morvan thrust his blade far
+into the arm-pit and the heart and the giant tumbled to the earth like
+a falling tree. Morvan placed his foot on the dead man's breast,
+withdrew his sword, and cut off the Moor's head. Then, attaching the
+bleeding trophy to the pommel of his saddle, he rode home with it and
+affixed it to the gate of his castle. All men praised him for his
+doughty deed, but he gave the grace of his victory entirely to St
+Anne, and declared that he would build a house of prayer in her honour
+on the heights between L�guer and the Guindy.
+
+
+_Morvan Fights the King_
+
+One day Morvan sallied forth to encounter the King of the Franks
+himself. The King brought no fewer than five thousand mounted
+men-at-arms. As this host was about to set out, a great clap of
+thunder resounded in the vault of heaven, and the King's nobles
+perforce regarded it as a bad omen.
+
+"For heaven's sake, sire, go not hence," said one of them, "since the
+day has begun with such an evil token."
+
+"Impossible," was the royal reply. "I have given the order; we must
+march."
+
+That morning, on the other hand, the sister of Morvan said to her
+brother: "My dear brother, if you love me seek not this combat, for if
+you do you will certainly go to your death, and what will become of me
+afterward? I see on the shore the white sea-horse, the symbol of
+Brittany. A monstrous serpent entwines him, seizing him round the hind
+legs and the body with his enormous coils. The sea-steed turns his
+head to seize the reptile. The combat is unequal. You are alone; the
+Franks are legion!"
+
+But Morvan was already beyond ear-shot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the hermit of the wood of Hell�an[48] slept three knocks sounded on
+his door.
+
+"Good hermit," said some one, "open the door. I seek an asylum and
+help from you."
+
+The wind blew coldly from the country of the Franks. It was the hour
+when savage beasts wander here and there in search of their prey. The
+hermit did not rise with alacrity.
+
+"Who are you who knock at my door at this hour of night demanding an
+entrance?" he asked sulkily; "and by what sign shall I know whether
+you are a true man or otherwise?"
+
+"Priest, I am well known in this land. I am Morvan Lez-Breiz, the
+Hatchet of Brittany."
+
+"I will not open my door to you," said the hermit hastily. "You are a
+rebel; you are the enemy of the good King of the Franks."
+
+"How, priest!" cried Morvan angrily, "I am a Breton and no traitor or
+rebel. It is the King of the Franks who has been a traitor to this
+land."
+
+"Silence, recreant!" replied the hermit. "Rail not against the King of
+the Franks, for he is a man of God."
+
+"Of God, say you? Nay, rather of the devil! Has he not ravaged and
+wasted the Breton land? The gold that he wrings from the Breton folk
+is expended for the good of Satan. Open, hermit, open!"
+
+"Not so, my son, for should I do so the Franks would surely fix a
+quarrel upon me."
+
+"You refuse?" shouted Morvan in a voice of thunder. "Good; then I
+shall burst into your cell," and with these words he threw himself
+against the door, which creaked ominously.
+
+"Hold, my son, hold!" cried the old hermit in tremulous tones.
+"Forbear and I will open to you"; and seizing a torch he lit it at the
+remains of his fire and went to open the door.
+
+
+_The Severed Head_
+
+He unlocked it and drew it back, but as he did so he recoiled
+violently, for he saw advancing upon him a terrible spectre, holding
+its head in its two hands. Its eyes seemed full of blood and fire, and
+rolled round and round in a most horrible manner. The hermit was about
+to shriek in terror when the head of the apparition, after laughing
+grimly, addressed him:
+
+"Come now, old Christian, do not be afraid. God permits this thing to
+be. He has allowed the Franks to decapitate me, but for a time only,
+and as you see me now I am only a phantom. But He will permit you
+yourself to replace my head on my shoulders if you will."
+
+The hermit stammered and drew back. This was not his first encounter
+with the supernatural, which he had good reason to dread, but like all
+Bretons he had come under the magnetism of Morvan, even although he
+believed that the King of the Franks was his rightful overlord; so,
+steeling himself against his natural timidity, he said:
+
+"If God permits this thing I shall be very willing to replace your
+head on your shoulders."
+
+"Take it, then," said the decapitated Morvan, and with trembling hands
+the priest took the gory trophy and replaced it on the Breton chief's
+shoulders, saying at the same time: "I replace your head, my son, in
+the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit."
+
+And by virtue of this benediction the phantom once more became a man.
+
+"Morvan," said the hermit, "you must do penance, heavy penance, with
+me. You must carry about with you for seven years a robe of lead,
+padlocked to your neck, and each day at the hour of twelve you must go
+to fetch water from the well at the summit of the mountain yonder."
+
+"I will do as you desire," said Morvan; "I will follow your saintly
+wish."
+
+When the seven years of the penance had passed the robe had flayed
+Morvan's skin severely, and his beard, which had become grey, and the
+hair of his head, fell almost to his waist. Those who saw him did not
+recognize him; but a lady dressed in white, who passed through the
+greenwood, stopped and gazed earnestly at him and her eyes filled with
+tears.
+
+"Morvan, my dear son, it is indeed you," she said. "Come here, my
+beloved child, that I may free you of your burden," and she cut the
+chain which bound the shirt of lead to the shoulders of the penitent
+with a pair of golden scissors, saying:
+
+"I am your patron, Saint Anne of Armor."
+
+Now for seven years had the squire of Morvan sought his master, and
+one day he was riding through the greenwood of Hell�an.
+
+"Alas!" he said, "what profits it that I have slain his murderer when
+I have lost my dear lord?"
+
+Then he heard at the other end of the wood the plaintive whinnying of
+a horse. His own steed sniffed the air and replied, and then he saw
+between the parted branches a great black charger, which he recognized
+as that of Lez-Breiz. Once more the beast whinnied mournfully. It
+almost seemed as if he wept. He was standing upon his master's grave!
+
+But, like Arthur and Barbarossa, Morvan Lez-Breiz will yet return.
+Yes, one day he will return to fight the Franks and drive them from
+the Breton land!
+
+We have sundry intimations here of the sources from which Villemarqu�
+drew a part at least of his matter. There are resemblances to
+Arthurian and kindred romances. For example, the incident which
+describes the flight of young Morvan is identical with that in the
+Arthurian saga of _Percival le Gallois_, where the child Percival
+quits his mother's care in precisely the same fashion. The Frankish
+monarch and his Court, too, are distinctly drawn in the style of the
+_chansons de gestes_, which celebrated the deeds of Charlemagne and
+his peers. There are also hints that the paganism against which
+Charlemagne fought, that of the Moors of Spain, had attracted the
+attention of the author, and this is especially seen in his
+introduction of the Moorish giant, so common a figure in the
+Carlovingian stories.
+
+
+_The Ballad of Bran_
+
+A sorrowful and touching ballad, claimed by Villemarqu� as being sung
+in the Breton dialect of L�on, tells of the warrior Bran, who was
+wounded in the great fight of Kerlouan, a village situated on the
+coast of L�on, in the tenth century. The coast was raided by the
+Norsemen, and the Bretons, led by their chief, Even the Great, marched
+against them and succeeded in repelling them. The Norsemen, however,
+carried off several prisoners, among them a warrior called Bran.
+Indeed, a village called Kervran, or 'the village of Bran,' still
+exists near the seashore, and here it was, tradition relates, that the
+warrior was wounded and taken by the Scandinavian pirates. In the
+church of Goulven is to be seen an ancient tablet representing the
+Norse vessels which raided the coast.
+
+The ballad recounts how Bran, on finding himself on the enemy's ship,
+wept bitterly. On arriving in the land of the Norsemen he was
+imprisoned in a tower, where he begged his gaolers to allow him to
+send a letter to his mother. Permission to do so was granted, and a
+messenger was found. The prisoner advised this man, for his better
+safety, to disguise himself in the habit of a beggar, and gave him his
+gold ring in order that his mother might know that the message came
+from her son in very truth. He added: "When you arrive in my country
+proceed at once to my mother, and if she is willing to ransom me show
+a white sail on your return, but if she refuses, hoist a black sail."
+
+When the messenger arrived at the warrior's home in the country of
+L�on the lady was at supper with her family and the bards were present
+playing on their harps.
+
+"Greeting, lady," said the messenger. "Behold the ring of your son,
+Bran, and here is news from him contained in this letter, which I pray
+you read quickly."
+
+The lady took the missive, and, turning to the harpers, told them to
+cease playing. Having perused the letter she became extremely
+agitated, and, rising with tears in her eyes, gave orders that a
+vessel should be equipped immediately so that she might sail to seek
+her son on the morrow.
+
+One morning Bran, the prisoner, called from his tower: "Sentinel,
+Sentinel, tell me, do you see a sail on the sea?"
+
+"No," replied the sentinel, "I see nothing but the sea and the sky."
+
+At midday Bran repeated the question, but was told that nothing but
+the birds and the billows were in sight. When the shadows of evening
+gathered he asked once more, and the perfidious sentinel replied with
+a lie:
+
+"Yes, lord, there is a ship close at hand, beaten by wind and sea."
+
+"And what colour of a sail does she show?" asked Bran. "Is it black or
+white?"
+
+"It is black, lord," replied the sentinel, in a spirit of petty
+spite.
+
+When the unhappy warrior heard these words he never spoke more.
+
+That night his mother arrived at the town where he had been
+imprisoned. She asked of the people: "Why do the bells sound?"
+
+"Alas! lady," said an ancient man, "a noble prisoner who lay in yonder
+tower died this night."
+
+With bent head the lady walked to the tower, her white hair falling
+upon her folded arms. When she arrived at its foot she said to the
+guard: "Open the door quickly; I have come to see my son."
+
+And when the great door was opened she threw herself upon the corpse
+of Bran and breathed her last.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the battlefield of Kerlouan there is an oak which overshadows the
+shore and which marks the place where the Norsemen fled before the
+face of Even the Great. On this oak, whose leaves shine in the moon,
+the birds gather each night, the birds of the sea and the land, both
+of white and black feather. Among them is an old grey rook and a young
+crow. The birds sing such a beautiful song that the great sea keeps
+silence to hear it. All of them sing except the rook and the crow. Now
+the crow says: "Sing, little birds, sing; sing, little birds of the
+land, for when you die you will at least end your days in Brittany."
+
+The crow is of course Bran in disguise, for the name Bran means 'crow'
+in the Breton tongue, and the rook is possibly his mother. In the most
+ancient Breton traditions the dead are represented as returning to
+earth in the form of birds. A number of the incidents in this piece
+are paralleled in the poem of _Sir Tristrem_, which also introduces a
+messenger who disguises himself for the purpose of travelling more
+safely in a foreign country, a ring of gold, which is used to show the
+messenger's _bona-fides_, a perfidious gaoler, and the idea of the
+black or white sail. The original poem of _Sir Tristrem_ was probably
+composed about the twelfth or thirteenth century, and it would seem
+that the above incidents at least have a Breton source behind them. A
+mother, however, has been substituted for a lover, and the ancient
+Breton dame takes the place of Ysonde. There is, indeed, little
+difference between the passage which relates the arrival of the mother
+in the Norsemen's country and that of Ysonde in Brittany when she
+sails on her last voyage with the intention of succouring Tristrem.
+Ysonde also asks the people of the place why the bells are ringing,
+one of the ancient inhabitants tells her of the death of her lover,
+and, like the Breton mother, she casts herself on the body of him she
+has lost.
+
+"This passage," says Villemarqu�, with wonderful _sang-froid_, "duly
+attests the prior claim of the Armorican piece!" But even if he had
+been serious, he wrote without the possession of data for the precise
+fixing of the period in which the Breton ballad was composed; and in
+any case his contention cannot assist the Breton argument for
+Armorican priority in Arthurian literature, as borrowing in ballad and
+folk-tale is much more flagrant than he, writing as he did in 1867,
+could ever have guessed--more flagrant even than any adaptation he
+himself ever perpetrated!
+
+He adds, however, an antiquarian note to the poem which is of far
+greater interest and probably of more value than his supposition. He
+alludes to the passage contained in the ballad regarding the harpers
+who are represented as playing in the hall of Bran's mother while
+she sits at supper. The harp, he states, is no longer popular in
+Brittany, and he asks if this was always the case. There can be very
+little doubt that in Brittany, as in other Celtic countries--for
+example, Wales, Ireland and Scotland--the harp was in ancient times
+one of the national instruments. It is strange that it should have
+been replaced in that country by the _biniou_, or bagpipe, just as
+the _clairschach_, or Highland harp, was replaced by the same
+instrument in the Highlands of Scotland.
+
+
+_Fontenelle_
+
+Guy Eder de Fontenelle, a son of the house of Beaumanoir, was one of
+the most famous partisans of the Catholic League, and, according to
+one who saw him in 1587, had then begun to show tendencies to the wild
+life he was afterward to lead. He was sent as a scholar to Paris to
+the College of Boncotest, but in 1589, when about sixteen years of
+age, he became impatient of scholastic confinement, sold his books and
+his robe, and bought a sword and poignard. Leaving the college, he
+took the road to Orl�ans, with the object of attaching himself to the
+army of the Duke of Mayenne, chief of the Catholic party in France,
+but, returning to his native Brittany, he placed himself at the head
+of the populace, which had risen in arms on behalf of the Leaguers. As
+he was of good family and a Breton and displayed an active spirit,
+they obeyed him very willingly. Soon he translated his intentions into
+action, and commenced to pillage the smaller towns and to make captive
+those who differed from him politically. He threatened Guingamp, which
+was held for the King, and made a sally into L�on, carrying away the
+daughter of the Lady of Coadelan, a wealthy heiress, who was only
+about eight or nine years of age. This occurrence Villemarqu� has
+related for us in Breton verse, assuring us that it was 'recovered' by
+the Comte de Kergariou, a friend of his. Fontenelle is supposed to
+have encountered the little heiress plucking flowers in a wayside
+ditch.
+
+"Tell me, little one," said he, "for whom do you pluck these
+flowers?"
+
+"For my foster-brother, whom I love. But I am afraid, for I know that
+Fontenelle is near."
+
+"Ha, then, so you know this terrible Fontenelle, my child?"
+
+"No, sir, I do not know him, but I have heard tell of him. I have
+heard folk say that he is a very wicked man and that he carries away
+young ladies."
+
+"Yes," replied Fontenelle, with a laugh, "and, above all, heiresses."
+
+He took the child in his arms and swung her on to the crupper of his
+saddle. Then, dashing the spurs into his charger's flanks, he set off
+at a gallop for Saint-Malo, where he placed the little heiress in a
+convent, with the object of marrying her when she had arrived at the
+age of fourteen.
+
+Years afterward Fontenelle and the heiress, who was now his wife, went
+to live at their manor of Coadelan. They had a little child beautiful
+as the day, who greatly resembled his father. One day a letter arrived
+for the Seigneur, calling upon him to betake himself to Paris at once.
+His wife was inconsolable.
+
+"Do not set forth alone for Paris, I pray you," she said, "for if you
+do I shall instantly follow you. Remain at home, I beg of you, and I
+will send a messenger in your stead. In the name of God, do not go,
+husband, for if you do you will never return."
+
+But Fontenelle disregarded his wife's entreaties, and, begging her to
+take good care of their son during his absence, set forth on his
+journey to the capital. In due time he arrived in Paris and stood
+before the King and Queen. He greeted them courteously, but they
+looked coldly on him, and the King told him bluntly that he should not
+return to Coadelan, adding: "There are sufficient chains in my palace
+to restrain you."
+
+On hearing this Fontenelle called his little page and begged him to
+return at once to his mistress and tell her to discard her finery,
+because she would soon be a widow, and to bring him back a coarse
+shirt and a white sheet, and, moreover, to bring a gold plate on which
+his enemies might expose his head after his death.
+
+"And, little page," he added, "take a lock of my hair and place it on
+the door of Coadelan, so that all men as they go to Mass may say, 'God
+have mercy on the soul of Fontenelle.'"
+
+The page did as he was bidden, but as for the plate of gold it was
+useless, for Fontenelle's head was thrown on the pavement to serve as
+a ball for the children of the gutter.
+
+All Paris was surprised when one day a lady from a distant country
+arrived and made great stir in its narrow streets. Every one asked his
+neighbour who this dame might be. It was the heiress of Coadelan,
+dressed in a flowing robe of green. "Alas!" said the pitiful
+burgesses, "if she knew what we know she would be dressed in black."
+Shortly she stood before the King. "Sire," said she, "give me back my
+husband, I beg of you."
+
+"Alas! madam," replied the King, with feigned sorrow, "what you ask is
+impossible, for but three days ago he was broken on the wheel."
+
+"Whoso goes to Coadelan to-day will turn away from it with grief, for
+the ashes are black upon the hearth and the nettles crowd around the
+doorway--and still," the ballad ends na�vely, "still the wicked world
+goes round and the poor folk weep with anguish, and say, 'Alas that
+she is dead, the mother of the poor.'"
+
+
+_The Return from England_
+
+There is a good deal of evidence to show that a considerable body of
+Bretons accompanied the invading army of William the Conqueror when he
+set forth with the idea of gaining the English crown. They were
+attached to his second battle corps, and many of them received land in
+England. A ballad which, says Villemarqu�, bears every sign of
+antiquity deals with the fortunes of a young Breton, Silvestik, who
+followed in the train of the Conqueror. The piece is put into the
+mouth of the mother of Silvestik, who mourns her son's absence, and
+its tone is a tender and touching one.
+
+"One night as I lay on my bed," says the anxious mother, "I could not
+sleep. I heard the girls at Kerlaz singing the song of my son. O God,
+Silvestik, where are you now? Perhaps you are more than three hundred
+leagues from here, cast on the great sea, and the fishes feed upon
+your fair body. Perhaps you may be married now to some Saxon damsel.
+You were to have been wed to a lovely daughter of this land, Manna�k
+de Pouldergat, and you might have been among us surrounded by
+beautiful children, dwelling happily in your own home.
+
+[Illustration: THE FINDING OF SILVESTIK]
+
+"I have taken to my door a little white dove which sits in a small
+hollow of the stone. I have tied to his neck a letter with the ribbon
+of my wedding-dress and have sent it to my son. Arise, my little dove,
+arise on your two wings, fly far, very far across the great sea, and
+discover if my son is still alive and well."
+
+Silvestik rested in the shade of an English wood, and as he did so a
+familiar note fell upon his ear.
+
+"That sound resembles the voice of my mother's little white dove," he
+said. The sound grew louder; it seemed to say, "Good luck to you,
+Silvestik, good luck to you. I have here a letter for you."
+
+Silvestik in high happiness read the letter, and resolved to return
+home to his sorrowing parent.
+
+Two years passed, three years passed, and the dove did not return to
+delight the heart of the longing mother, who day by day walked the
+dismal seashore waiting for the vessel that never came. One day of
+storm she was wandering on the beach as usual when she saw a vessel
+being driven with great force upon the iron coast. Even as she watched
+it it dashed upon the rocks. Soon there were cast upon the shore the
+forms of many dead, and when the gale abated and the heart-sick mother
+was able to search among them she found Silvestik!
+
+Several competent judges are of opinion that this ballad is
+contemporary with the events which it relates. Many of the Breton
+lords who sailed with William the Conqueror did not return for several
+years after the expedition had accomplished its object, and some not
+at all. Nothing is known regarding the hero. The bird is frequently
+the messenger between lovers in ballad literature, but it is seldom
+that it is found carrying letters between a mother and her
+son--indeed, this is perhaps the only instance known.
+
+
+_The Marriage-Girdle_
+
+This ballad has reference to the Breton expedition which sailed for
+Wales in 1405 to assist the Welsh under Owen Glendower to free their
+principality from the English yoke. The Bretons rendered material
+assistance to their Welsh brothers, and had the satisfaction on their
+return of knowing that they had accomplished that which no French king
+had ever been able to achieve--the invasion of English territory. The
+expedition was commanded by Jean de Rieux, Marshal of France, and
+numbered ten thousand men.
+
+The ballad tells how a young man on the morning after his betrothal
+received orders to join the standard of de Rieux "to help the Bretons
+oversea." It was with bitterness in his heart, says the lover, that he
+entered the house of his betrothed with the object of bidding her
+farewell. He told her that duty called him, and that he must go to
+serve in England. At this her tears gushed forth, and she begged him
+not to go, reminding him how changeful was the wind and how perfidious
+the sea.
+
+"Alas!" said she, "if you die what shall I do? In my impatience to
+have news of you my heart will break. I shall wander by the seashore,
+from one cottage to another, asking the sailors if they have heard
+tell of you."
+
+"Be comforted, Alo�da," said her lover, "and do not weep on my
+account. I will send you a girdle from over the sea, a girdle of
+purple set with rubies."
+
+They parted at daybreak, he to embark on the sea, she to weep, and as
+he sought his ship he could hear the magpies cackle: "If the sea is
+changeable women are even more so."
+
+When the autumn had arrived the young girl said: "I have looked far
+over the sea from the heights of the mountains of Arez. I have seen
+upon the waters a ship in danger, and I feel that upon it was him whom
+I love. He held a sword in his hand, he was engaged in a terrible
+combat, he was wounded to death and his garments were covered with
+blood. I am certain that he is dead."
+
+And before many weeks had passed she was affianced to another.
+
+Then good news arrived in the land. The war was finished and the
+cavalier returned to his home with a gay heart. No sooner had he
+refreshed himself than he went to seek his beloved. As he approached
+her dwelling he heard the sound of music, and observed that every
+window in the house was illuminated as if for a festival. He asked
+some revellers whom he met outside the cause of this merrymaking, and
+was told that a wedding was proceeding.
+
+It is the custom in Brittany to invite beggars to a wedding, and when
+these were now admitted one of them asked hospitality for the night.
+This was at once granted him, but he sat apart, sad and silent. The
+bride, observing this, approached him and asked him why he did not
+join in the feasting. He replied that he was weary with travel and
+that his heart was heavy with sorrow. Desirous that the marriage
+festivities should not flag, the bride asked him to join her in the
+dance, and he accepted the invitation, saying, however, that it was an
+honour he did not merit.
+
+Now while they danced he came close to her and murmured in her ear:
+
+"What have you done with the golden ring that you received from me at
+the door of this very house?"
+
+The bride stared at him in wild dismay. "Oh, heaven," she cried,
+"behold, I have now two husbands! I who thought I was a widow!"
+
+"You think wrongly, _ma belle_," hissed the beggar; "you will have no
+husband this side of the grave," and drawing a dagger from under his
+cloak he struck the lady to the heart.
+
+In the abbey of Daoulas there is a statue of the Virgin decorated with
+a splendid girdle of purple sparkling with rubies, which came from
+across the sea. If you desire to know who gave it to her, ask of a
+repentant monk who lies prostrate on the grass before the figure of
+the Mother of God.
+
+It is strange that the faithless damsel should have alleged that she
+saw her lover perish in a naval combat when in the very year to which
+the circumstances of the ballad refer (1405) a Breton fleet
+encountered and defeated an English flotilla several leagues from
+Brest. "The combat was terrible," says a historian of the Dukes of
+Burgundy, "and was animated by the ancient hate between the English
+and the Bretons." Perhaps it was in this sea-fight that the lady
+beheld her lover; and if, as she thought, he was slain, she scarcely
+deserves the odium which the balladeer has cast upon her memory.
+
+
+_The Combat of Saint-Cast_
+
+This ballad somewhat belies its name, for it has some relation to an
+extraordinary incident which was the means rather of preventing
+than precipitating a battle. In 1758 a British army was landed upon
+the shores of Brittany with the object of securing for British
+merchant ships safety in the navigation of the Channel and of creating
+a diversion in favour of the German forces, then our allies. A
+company of men from Lower Brittany, from the towns of Tr�guier and
+Saint-Pol-de-L�on, says Villemarqu�, were marching against a
+detachment of Scottish Highlanders. When at a distance of about a
+mile the Bretons could hear their enemies singing a national song. At
+once they halted stupefied, for the air was one well known to them,
+which they were accustomed to hear almost every day of their lives.
+Electrified by the music, which spoke to their hearts, they arose
+in their enthusiasm and themselves sang the patriotic refrain. It
+was the Highlanders' turn to be silent. All this time the two
+companies were nearing one another, and when at a suitable distance
+their respective officers commanded them to fire; but the orders
+were given, says the tradition, "in the same language," and the
+soldiers on both sides stood stock-still. Their inaction, however,
+lasted but a moment, for emotion carried away all discipline, the
+arms fell from their hands, and the descendants of the ancient Celts
+renewed on the field of battle those ties of brotherhood which had
+once united their fathers.
+
+However unlikely this incident may seem, it appears to be confirmed by
+tradition, if not by history. The air which the rival Celts sang is,
+says Villemarqu�,[49] common to both Brittany and "the Highlands of
+Scotland." With the music before me, it seems to bear a marked
+resemblance to The _Garb of Old Gaul_, composed by General Reid
+(1721-1807). Perhaps Reid, who was a Highlander, based his stirring
+march on an older Celtic theme common to both lands.
+
+
+_The Song of the Pilot_
+
+One of the most famous of Breton nautical traditions tells of the
+chivalry displayed by a Breton crew toward the men of a British
+warship. During the American War of Independence much enthusiasm was
+excited in France in connexion with the valiant struggle for liberty
+in which the American colonies were engaged. A number of Breton ships
+received letters of marque enabling them to fight on the American side
+against Great Britain, and these attempted to blockade British
+commerce. The _Surveillante_, a Breton vessel commanded by Cou�dic de
+Kergoaler, encountered the British ship _Quebec_, commanded by Captain
+Farmer. In the course of the action the _Surveillante_ was nearly sunk
+by the British cannonade and the _Quebec_ went on fire. But Breton and
+Briton, laying aside their swords, worked together with such goodwill
+that most of the British crew were rescued and the _Surveillante_ was
+saved, although the _Quebec_ was lost, and this notwithstanding that
+nearly every man of both crews had been wounded in the fighting.
+
+I have here attempted a very free translation of the stirring ballad
+which relates this noteworthy incident, which cannot but be of
+interest at such a time as the present.
+
+
+THE SONG OF THE PILOT
+
+  Yo ho, ye men of Sulniac!
+  We ship to-day at Vannes,
+  We sail upon a glorious track
+  To seek an Englishman.
+  Our saucy sloop the _Surveillante_
+  Must keep the seaways clear
+  From Ushant in the north to Nantes:
+  Aboard her, timoneer!
+
+  See, yonder is the British craft
+  That seeks to break blockade;
+  St George's banner floats abaft
+  Her lowering carronade.
+  A flash! and lo, her thunder speaks,
+  Her iron tempest flies
+  Beneath her bows, and seaward breaks,
+  And hissing sinks and dies.
+
+  Thunder replied to thunder; then
+  The ships rasped side by side,
+  The battle-hungry Breton men
+  A boarding sally tried,
+  But the stern steel of Britain flashed,
+  And spite of Breton vaunt
+  The lads of Morbihan were dashed
+  Back on the _Surveillante_.
+
+  Then was a grim encounter seen
+  Upon the seas that day.
+  Who yields when there is strife between
+  Britain and Brittany?
+  Shall Lesser Britain rule the waves
+  And check Britannia's pride?
+  Not while her frigate's oaken staves
+  Still cleave unto her side!
+
+  But hold! hold! see, devouring fire
+  Has seized the stout _Quebec_.
+  The seething sea runs high and higher,
+  The _Surveillante's_ a wreck.
+  Their cannon-shot has breached our side,
+  Our bolts have fired the foe.
+  Quick, to the pumps! No longer bide!
+  Below, my lads! below!
+
+  The yawning leak is filled, the sea
+  Is cheated of its prey.
+  Now Bretons, let the Britons see
+  The heart of Brittany!
+  Brothers, we come to save, our swords
+  Are sheathed, our hands are free.
+  There is a fiercer fight toward,
+  A fiercer foe than we!
+
+  A long sea-day, till sank the sun,
+  Briton and Breton wrought,
+  And Great and Little Britain won
+  The noblest fight ere fought.
+  It was a sailors' victory
+  O'er pride and sordid gain.
+  God grant for ever peace at sea
+  Between the Britains twain!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [47] For the criticism on Villemarqu�'s work see H. Gaidoz and P.
+       S�billot, "Bibliographie des Traditions et de la Litt�rature
+       populaire de la Bretagne" (in the _Revue Celtique_, t. v, pp.
+       277 ff.). The title _Barzaz-Breiz_ means "The Breton Bards,"
+       the author being under the delusion that the early forms of the
+       ballads he collected and altered had been composed by the
+       ancient bards of Brittany.
+
+  [48] Once a part of the forest of Broceliande. It has now
+       disappeared.
+
+  [49] _Barzaz-Breiz_, p. 335. S�billot (_Traditions de la
+       Haute-Bretagne_, t. i, p. 346) says that he could gain nothing
+       regarding this incident at the village of Saint-Cast but "vague
+       details."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX: THE BLACK ART AND ITS MINISTERS
+
+
+Sorcery is a very present power in most isolated communities, and in
+the civilized portions of Brittany it is but a thing of yesterday,
+while in the more secluded departments it is very much a thing of
+to-day. The old folk can recall the time when the farm, the dairy, and
+the field were ever in peril of the spell, the enchantment, the
+noxious beam of the evil eye, and tales of many a "devilish cantrip
+sleight," as Burns happily characterized the activity of the witch and
+the wizard, were told in hushed voices at the Breton fireside when the
+winter wind blew cold from the cruel sea and the heaped faggots sent
+the red glow of fire-warmth athwart the thick shadows of the great
+farm kitchen, and old and young from grandsire to herd-boy made a
+great circle to hearken to the creepy tales so dear to the Breton
+heart.
+
+As in the East, where to refuse baksheesh is to lay oneself open to
+the curse of the evil eye, the beggar was regarded as the chief
+possessor of this bespelling member. The guild of tattered wanderers
+naturally nourished this superstition, and to permit one of its
+members to hobble off muttering threats or curses was looked upon as
+suicidal. Indeed, the mendicants were wont to boast of their feats of
+sorcery to the terrified peasants, who hastened to placate them by all
+the means in their power.
+
+Certain villages, too, appear to have possessed an evil reputation
+among the country-folk as the dwelling-places of magicians, centres of
+sorcery, which it was advisable to shun. Thus we read in Breton
+proverb of the sorcerers of Foug�res, of Tr�ves, of Concoret, of
+L�zat.
+
+The strangest circumstances were connected with the phenomena of
+sorcery by the credulous Bretons. Thus, did a peasant join a dance of
+witches, the sabots he had on would be worn out in the course of the
+merrymaking. A churn of turned butter, a sour pail of milk, were
+certain to be accounted for by sorcery. In a certain village of
+Moncontour the cows, the dog, even the harmless, necessary cat, died
+off, and the farmer hastened to consult a diviner, who advised him to
+throw milk in the fire and recite certain prayers. The farmer obeyed
+and the spell was broken!
+
+In the town of Rennes about fifty years ago dwelt a knowing fellow
+called Robert, a very 'witch-doctor,' who investigated cases of
+sorcery and undertook the dissipation of enchantments. On a certain
+large farm the milk would yield no butter. An agricultural expert
+might have hinted at poor pasturage, but the farmer and his wife had
+other views as to the cause of the 'insufficiency of fats,' as an
+analyst would say, in the lacteal output of the establishment.
+Straightway they betook themselves to the mysterious Robert, who on
+arriving to investigate the affair was attired in a skin dyed in two
+colours. He held in leash a large black dog, evidently his familiar.
+He exorcized the dairy, and went through a number of strange
+ceremonies. Then, turning to the awestruck farm hands, he said:
+
+"You may now proceed with your work. The spell is raised. It has been
+a slow business. I must go now, but don't be afraid if you see
+anything odd."
+
+With these words he whistled, and a great black horse at once
+appeared as if from nowhere. Placing his hand on its crupper, he
+vaulted into the saddle, bade good-bye to the astonished rustics, and
+while they gazed at him open-mouthed, vanished 'like a flash.'
+
+Many kinds of amulets or talismans were used by the Breton peasantry
+to neutralize the power of sorcerers. Thus, if a person carried a
+snake with him the enchanters would be unable to harm his sight, and
+all objects would appear to him under their natural forms. Salt placed
+in various parts of a house guarded it against the entrance of wizards
+and rendered their spells void.
+
+But many consulted the witch and the sorcerer for their personal
+advantage, in affairs of the heart, to obtain a number in the casting
+of lots for conscription which would free them from military service,
+and so forth; and, as in other countries, there grew up a class of
+middlemen between the human and the supernatural who posed as
+fortune-tellers, astrologers, and quack mediciners.
+
+It was said that sorcerers were wont to meet at the many Roches aux
+F�es in Brittany at fixed periods in order to deliberate as to their
+actions and settle their affairs. If anyone, it was declared, wandered
+into their circle or was caught by them listening to their secret
+conclave he seldom lived long. Others, terrified at the sight
+presented by the gleaming eyes of the cat-sorcerers, blazing like live
+coals, fled incontinently from their presence, and found that in the
+morning the hair of their heads had turned white with the dread
+experience. Long afterward they would sit by the fireside trembling
+visibly at nothing, and when interrogated regarding their very evident
+fears would only groan and bury their faces in their hands.
+
+A story is told of one, Jean Foucault, who one moonlight night had,
+like Tam o' Shanter, sat overlong
+
+  Fast by an ingle bleezin' finely,
+  Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely,
+
+where the cider was as good as the company, and, issuing at midnight's
+weary hour from his favourite inn, was not in a mood to run away from
+anything, however fearsome. Walking, or rather rolling, across the
+moor singing the burden of the last catch he had trolled with his
+fellows at the ale-house, all on a sudden he stumbled into a circle of
+sorcerer-cats squatting around a cross of stone. They were of immense
+size and of all colours, black, grey, white, tortoise-shell, and when
+he beheld them seated round the crucifix, their eyes darting fire and
+the hair bristling on their backs, his song died upon his lips and all
+his bellicose feelings, like those of Bob Acres, leaked out at his
+finger-tips. On catching sight of him the animals set up a horrible
+caterwauling that made the blood freeze in his veins. For an awful
+moment the angry cats glared at him with death in their looks, and
+seemed as if about to spring upon him. Giving himself up for lost, he
+closed his eyes. But about his feet he could hear a strange purring,
+and, glancing downward, he beheld his own domestic puss fawning upon
+him with every sign of affection.
+
+"Pass my master, Jean Foucault," said the animal.
+
+"It is well," replied a great grey tom, whom Jean took to be the
+leader; "pass on, Jean Foucault."
+
+And Jean, the cider fumes in his head quite dissipated, staggered
+away, more dead than alive.
+
+
+_Druidic Magic_
+
+The more ancient sorcerers of Brittany deserve a word of notice. Magic
+among the Celtic peoples in olden times was so clearly identified with
+Druidism that its origin may be said to have been Druidic. Whether
+Druidism was of Celtic origin, however, is a question upon which much
+discussion has taken place, some authorities, among them Rhys,
+believing it to have been of non-Celtic and even non-Aryan origin, and
+holding that the earliest non-Aryan or so-called Iberian people of
+Britain introduced the Druidic religion to the immigrant Celts. An
+argument advanced in favour of this theory is that the Continental
+Celts sent their neophyte Druid priests to Britain to undergo a
+special training at the hands of the British Druids, and that this
+island seems to have been regarded as the headquarters of the cult.
+The people of Cisalpine Gaul, for instance, had no Druidic priesthood.
+C�sar has told us that in Gaul Druidic seminaries were very numerous,
+and that within their walls severe study and discipline were entailed
+upon the neophytes, whose principal business was to commit to memory
+countless verses enshrining Druidic knowledge and tradition. That this
+instruction was astrological and magical we have the fullest
+proof.[50]
+
+The Druids were magi as they were priests in the same sense that the
+American Indian shaman is both magus and priest. That is, they were
+medicine-men on a higher scale, and had reached a loftier stage of
+transcendental knowledge than the priest-magicians of more barbarous
+races. Thus they may be said to be a link between the barbarian
+shaman and the magus of medieval times. Many of their practices were
+purely shamanistic, while others more closely resembled medieval
+magical rite. But they were not the only magicians of the Celts, for
+frequently among that people we find magic power the possession of
+women and of the poetic craft. The magic of Druidism had many points
+of comparison with most magical systems, and perhaps approximated more
+to that black magic which desires power for the sake of power alone
+than to any transcendental type. Thus it included the power to render
+the magician invisible, to change his bodily shape, to produce an
+enchanted sleep, to induce lunacy, and to inflict death from afar.
+
+The arts of rain-making, bringing down fire from heaven, and causing
+mists, snow-storms, and floods were also claimed for the Druids.
+Many of the spells probably in use among them survived until a
+comparatively late period, and are still employed in some remote
+Celtic localities, the names of saints being substituted for those
+of Celtic deities. Certain primitive ritual, too, is still carried
+out in the vicinity of some megalithic structures in Celtic areas,
+as at Dungiven, in Ireland, where pilgrims wash before a great stone
+in the river Roe and then walk round it, and in many parts of
+Brittany.[51]
+
+In pronouncing incantations the usual method employed was to stand
+upon one leg and to point with the forefinger to the person or object
+on which the spell was to be laid, at the same time closing one eye,
+as if to concentrate the force of the entire personality upon that
+which was to be placed under ban. A manuscript possessed by the
+monastery of St Gall, and dating from the eighth or ninth century,
+includes magical formul� for the preservation of butter and the
+healing of certain diseases in the name of the Irish god Diancecht.
+These and others bear a close resemblance to Babylonian and Etruscan
+spells, and thus go to strengthen the hypothesis often put forward
+with more or less plausibility that Druidism had an Eastern origin. At
+all magical rites spells were uttered. Druids often accompanied an
+army, to assist by their magical arts in confounding the enemy.[52]
+
+There is some proof that in Celtic areas survivals of a Druidic
+priesthood have descended to our own time in a more or less debased
+condition. Thus the existence of guardians and keepers of wells said
+to possess magical properties, and the fact that in certain families
+magical spells and formul� are handed down from one generation to
+another, are so many proofs of the survival of Druidic tradition,
+however feeble. Females are generally the conservators of these
+mysteries, and that there were Druid priestesses is fairly certain.
+
+The sea-snake's egg, or adder's stone, which is so frequently alluded
+to in Druidic magical tales, otherwise called _Glain Neidr_, was said
+to have been formed, about midsummer, by an assemblage of snakes. A
+bubble formed on the head of one of them was blown by others down the
+whole length of its back, and then, hardening, became a crystal ring.
+It was used as one of the insignia of the Archdruid, and was supposed
+to assist in augury.
+
+The _herbe d'or_, or 'golden herb,' was a medicinal plant much in
+favour among the Breton peasantry. It is the _selago_ of Pliny, which
+in Druidical times was gathered with the utmost veneration by a hand
+enveloped with a garment once worn by a sacred person. The owner of
+the hand was arrayed in white, with bare feet, washed in pure water.
+In after times the plant was thought to shine from a distance like
+gold, and to give to those who trod on it the power of understanding
+the language of dogs, wolves, and birds.
+
+These, with the mistletoe, the favourite Druidical plant, the sorcerer
+is entreated, in an old balled, to lay aside, to seek no more for vain
+enchantments, but to remember that he is a Christian.
+
+
+_Ab�lard and H�lo�se_
+
+The touching story of the love of Ab�lard and H�lo�se has found its
+way into Breton legend as a tale of sorcery. Ab�lard was a Breton. The
+Duke of Brittany, whose subject he was born, jealous of the glory of
+France, which then engrossed all the most famous scholars of Europe,
+and being, besides, acquainted with the persecution Ab�lard had
+suffered from his enemies, had nominated him to the Abbey of St
+Gildas, and, by this benefaction and mark of his esteem, engaged him
+to pass the rest of his days in his dominions. Ab�lard received this
+favour with great joy, imagining that by leaving France he would
+quench his passion for H�lo�se and gain a new peace of mind upon
+entering into his new dignity.
+
+The Abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys was founded on the inaccessible coast
+near Vannes by St Gildas, a British saint, the schoolfellow and friend
+of St Samson of Dol and St Pol of L�on, and counted among its monks
+the Saxon St Dunstan, who, carried by pirates from his native isle,
+settled on the desolate shores of Brittany and became, under the name
+of St Goustan, the patron of mariners.
+
+St Gildas built his abbey on the edge of a high, rocky promontory,
+the site of an ancient Roman encampment, called Grand Mont, facing
+the shore, where the sea has formed numerous caverns in the rocks.
+The rocks are composed chiefly of quartz, and are covered to a
+considerable height with small mussels. Ab�lard, on his appointment
+to the Abbey of St Gildas, made over to H�lo�se the celebrated
+abbey he had founded at Nogent, near Troyes, which he called the
+Paraclete, or Comforter, because he there found comfort and
+refreshment after his troubles. With Nogent he was to leave his
+peace. His gentle nature was unable to contend against the coarse
+and unruly Breton monks. As he writes in his well-known letter to
+H�lo�se, setting forth his griefs: "I inhabit a barbarous country
+where the language is unknown to me. I have no dealings with the
+ferocious inhabitants. I walk the inaccessible borders of the
+stormy sea, and my monks have no other rule than their own. I wish
+that you could see my dwelling. You would not believe it an abbey. The
+doors are ornamented only with the feet of deer, of wolves and bears,
+boars, and the hideous skins of owls. I find each day new perils.
+I expect at every moment to see a sword suspended over my head."
+
+It is scarcely necessary to outline the history of Ab�lard. Suffice
+it to say that he was one of the most brilliant scholars and
+dialecticians of all time, possessing a European reputation in his
+day. Falling in love with H�lo�se, niece of Fulbert, a canon of
+Paris, he awoke in her a similar absorbing passion, which resulted in
+their mutual disgrace and Ab�lard's mutilation by the incensed
+uncle. He and his H�lo�se were buried in one tomb at the Paraclete.
+The story of their love has been immortalized by the world's great
+poets and painters.
+
+An ancient Breton ballad on the subject has been spoken of as a "na�f
+and horrible" production, in which one will find "a bizarre mixture of
+Druidic practice and Christian superstition." It describes H�lo�se as
+a sorceress of ferocious and sanguinary temper. Thus can legend
+magnify and distort human failing! As its presentation is important in
+the study of Breton folk-lore, I give a very free translation of this
+ballad, in which, at the same time, I have endeavoured to preserve the
+atmosphere of the original.
+
+
+THE HYMN OF H�LO�SE
+
+  O Ab�lard, my Ab�lard,
+  Twelve summers have passed since first we kissed.
+  There is no love like that of a bard:
+  Who loves him lives in a golden mist!
+
+  Nor word of French nor Roman tongue,
+  But only Brezonek could I speak,
+  When round my lover's neck I hung
+  And heard the harmony of the Greek,
+
+  The march of Latin, the joy of French,
+  The valiance of the Hebrew speech,
+  The while its thirst my soul did quench
+  In the love-lore that he did teach.
+
+  The bossed and bound Evangel's tome
+  Is open to me as mine own soul,
+  But all the watered wine of Rome
+  Is weak beside the magic bowl.
+
+[Illustration: H�LO�SE AS SORCERESS]
+
+  The Mass I chant like any priest,
+  Can shrive the dying or bury the dead,
+  But dearer to me to raise the Beast
+  Or watch the gold in the furnace red.
+
+  The wolf, the serpent, the crow, the owl,
+  The demons of sea, of field, of flood,
+  I can run or fly in their forms so foul,
+  They come at my call from wave or wood.
+
+  I know a song that can raise the sea,
+  Can rouse the winds or shudder the earth,
+  Can darken the heavens terribly,
+  Can wake portents at a prince's birth.
+
+  The first dark drug that ever we sipped
+  Was brewed from toad and the eye of crow,
+  Slain in a mead when the moon had slipped
+  From heav'n to the fetid fogs below.
+
+  I know a well as deep as death,
+  A gloom where I cull the frondent fern,
+  Whose seed with that of the golden heath
+  I mingle when mystic lore I'd learn.
+
+  I gathered in dusk nine measures of rye,
+  Nine measures again, and brewed the twain
+  In a silver pot, while fitfully
+  The starlight struggled through the rain.
+
+  I sought the serpent's egg of power
+  In a dell hid low from the night and day:
+  It was shown to me in an awful hour
+  When the children of hell came out to play.
+
+  I have three spirits--seeming snakes;
+  The youngest is six score years young,
+  The second rose from the nether lakes,
+  And the third was once Duke Satan's tongue.
+
+  The wild bird's flesh is not their food,
+  No common umbles are their dole;
+  I nourish them well with infants' blood,
+  Those precious vipers of my soul.
+
+
+  O Satan! grant me three years still,
+  But three short years, my love and I,
+  To work thy fierce, mysterious will,
+  Then gladly shall we yield and die.
+
+  H�lo�se, wicked heart, beware!
+  Think on the dreadful day of wrath,
+  Think on thy soul; forbear, forbear!
+  The way thou tak'st is that of death!
+
+  Thou craven priest, go, get thee hence!
+  No fear have I of fate so fell.
+  Go, suck the milk of innocence,
+  Leave me to quaff the wine of hell!
+
+It is difficult to over-estimate the folk-lore value of such a ballad
+as this. Its historical value is clearly _nil_. We have no proof that
+H�lo�se was a Breton; but fantastic errors of this description are so
+well known to the student of ballad literature that he is able to
+discount them easily in gauging the value of a piece.
+
+In this weird composition the wretched abbess is described as an
+alchemist as well as a sorceress, and she descends to the depths of
+the lowest and most revolting witchcraft. She practises shape-shifting
+and similar arts. She has power over natural forces, and knows the
+past, the present, and the things to be. She possesses sufficient
+Druidic knowledge to permit her to gather the greatly prized serpent's
+egg, to acquire which was the grand aim of the Celtic magician. The
+circumstances of the ballad strongly recall those of the poem in which
+the Welsh bard Taliesin recounts his magical experiences, his
+metamorphoses, his knowledge of the darker mysteries of nature.
+
+
+_Nantes of the Magicians_
+
+The poet is in accord with probability in making the magical exploits
+of Ab�lard and H�lo�se take place at Nantes--a circumstance not
+indicated in the translation owing to metrical exigencies. Nantes was,
+indeed, a classic neighbourhood of sorcery. An ancient college of
+Druidic priestesses was situated on one of the islands at the mouth of
+the Loire, and the traditions of its denizens had evidently been
+cherished by the inhabitants of the city even as late as the middle of
+the fourteenth century, for we find a bishop of the diocese at that
+period obtaining a bull of excommunication against the local
+sorcerers, and condemning them to the eternal fires with bell, book,
+and candle.[53]
+
+The poet, it is plain, has confounded poor H�lo�se with the dark
+sisterhood of the island of the Loire. The learning she received from
+her gifted lover had been her undoing in Breton eyes, for the simple
+folk of the duchy at the period the ballad gained currency could
+scarcely be expected to discriminate between a training in rhetoric
+and philosophy and a schooling in the _grimoires_ and other
+accomplishments of the pit.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [50] Rice Holmes, _C�sar's Conquest_, pp. 532-536.
+
+  [51] See Rolleston, _Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race_, p. 66.
+
+  [52] See Gomme, _Ethnology in Folk-lore_, p. 94.
+
+  [53] It is of interest to recall the fact that Ab�lard was born near
+       Nantes, in 1079.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X: ARTHURIAN ROMANCE IN BRITTANY
+
+
+Fierce and prolonged has been the debate as to the original birthplace
+of Arthurian legend, authorities of the first rank, the 'Senior
+Wranglers' of the study, as Nutt has called them, hotly advancing the
+several claims of Wales, England, Scotland, and Brittany. In this
+place it would be neither fitting nor necessary to traverse the whole
+ground of argument, and we must content ourselves with the examination
+of Brittany's claim to the invention of Arthurian story--and this we
+will do briefly, passing on to some of the tales which relate the
+deeds of the King or his knights on Breton soil.
+
+Confining ourselves, then, to the proof of the existence of a body of
+Arthurian legend in Brittany, we are, perhaps, a little alarmed at the
+outset to find that our manuscript sources are scanty. "It had to be
+acknowledged," says Professor Saintsbury, "that Brittany could supply
+_no ancient texts whatever_, and hardly any ancient traditions."[54]
+But are either of these conditions essential to a belief in the Breton
+origin of Arthurian romance?
+
+The two great hypotheses regarding Arthurian origins have been dubbed
+the 'Continental' and the 'Insular' theories. The first has as its
+leading protagonist Professor Wendelin F�rster of Bonn, who believes
+that the immigrant Britons brought the Arthur legend with them to
+Brittany and that the Normans of Normandy received it from their
+descendants and gave it wider territorial scope. The second school,
+headed by the brilliant M. Gaston Paris, believes that it originated
+in Wales.
+
+If we consider the first theory, then, we can readily see that ancient
+_texts_ are not essential to its acceptance. In any case the entire
+body of Arthurian texts prior to the twelfth century is so small as to
+be almost negligible. The statement that "hardly any ancient
+traditions" of the Arthurian legend exist in Brittany is an
+extraordinary one. In view of the circumstances that in extended
+passages of Arthurian story the scene is laid in Brittany (as in the
+Merlin and Vivien incident and the episode of Yseult of the White Hand
+in the story of Tristrem), that Geoffrey of Monmouth speaks of "the
+Breton book" from which he took his matter, and that Marie de France
+states that her tales are drawn from old Breton sources, not to admit
+the possible existence of a body of Arthurian tradition in Brittany
+appears capricious. Thomas's _Sir Tristrem_ is professedly based on
+the poem of the Breton Br�ri, and there is no reason why Brittany,
+drawing sap and fibre as it did from Britain, should not have produced
+Arthurian stories of its own.
+
+On the whole, however, that seems to represent the sum of its
+pretensions as a main source of Arthurian romance. The Arthurian story
+seems to be indigenous to British soil, and if we trace the origin of
+certain episodes to Brittany we may safely connect these with the
+early British immigrants to the peninsula. This is not to say,
+however, that Brittany did not influence Norman appreciation of the
+Arthurian saga. But that it did so more than did Wales is unlikely, in
+view of documentary evidence. Both Wales and Brittany, then, supplied
+matter which the Norman and French poets shaped into verse, and if
+Brittany was not the birthplace of the legend it was, in truth, one of
+its cradle-domains.
+
+
+_The Sword of Arthur_
+
+Let us collect, then, Arthurian incidents which take place in
+Brittany. First, Arthur's finding of the marvellous sword Excalibur
+would seem to happen there, as Vivien, or Nimue, the Lady of the Lake,
+was undoubtedly a fairy of Breton origin who does not appear in
+British myth.
+
+For the manner in which Arthur acquired the renowned Excalibur, or
+Caliburn, the _Morte d'Arthur_ is the authority. The King had broken
+his sword in two pieces in a combat with Sir Pellinore of Wales, and
+had been saved by Merlin, who threw Sir Pellinore into an enchanted
+sleep.
+
+"And so Merlin and Arthur departed, and as they rode along King Arthur
+said, 'I have no sword.' 'No force,'[55] said Merlin; 'here is a sword
+that shall be yours, an I may.' So they rode till they came to a lake,
+which was a fair water and a broad; and in the midst of the lake King
+Arthur was aware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair
+sword in the hand. 'Lo,' said Merlin unto the King, 'yonder is the
+sword that I spoke of.' With that they saw a damsel going upon the
+lake. 'What damsel is that?' said the King. 'That is the Lady of the
+Lake,' said Merlin; 'and within that lake is a rock, and therein is as
+fair a place as any on earth, and richly beseen; and this damsel will
+come to you anon, and then speak fair to her that she will give you
+that sword.' Therewith came the damsel to King Arthur and saluted him,
+and he her again. 'Damsel,' said the King, 'what sword is that which
+the arm holdeth yonder above the water? I would it were mine, for I
+have no sword.' 'Sir King,' said the damsel of the lake, 'that sword
+is mine, and if ye will give me a gift when I ask it you, ye shall
+have it.' 'By my faith,' said King Arthur, 'I will give you any gift
+that you will ask or desire.' 'Well,' said the damsel, 'go into yonder
+barge, and row yourself unto the sword, and take it and the scabbard
+with you; and I will ask my gift when I see my time.' So King Arthur
+and Merlin alighted, tied their horses to two trees, and so they went
+into the barge. And when they came to the sword that the hand held,
+King Arthur took it up by the handles, and took it with him, and the
+arm and the hand went under the water; and so came to the land and
+rode forth. King Arthur looked upon the sword, and liked it passing
+well. 'Whether liketh you better,' said Merlin, 'the sword or the
+scabbard?' 'Me liketh better the sword,' said King Arthur. 'Ye are
+more unwise,' said Merlin, 'for the scabbard is worth ten of the
+sword; for while ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall lose no
+blood, be ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the scabbard
+alway with you.'"
+
+[Illustration: KING ARTHUR AND MERLIN AT THE LAKE]
+
+Sir Lancelot du Lac, son of King Ban of Benwik, was stolen and brought
+up by the Lady of the Lake, from whose enchanted realm he took his
+name. But he does not appear at all in true Celtic legend, and is a
+mere Norman new-comer.
+
+
+_Tristrem and Ysonde_
+
+Following the Arthurian 'chronology' as set forth in the _Morte
+d'Arthur_, we reach the great episode of Sir Tristrem of Lyonesse, a
+legendary country off the coast of Cornwall. This most romantic yet
+most human tale must be accounted one of the world's supreme love
+stories. It has inspired some of our greatest poets, and moved Richard
+Wagner to the composition of a splendid opera.
+
+One of the first to bring this literary treasure to public notice was
+Sir Walter Scott, who felt a strong chord vibrate in his romantic soul
+when perusing that version of the tale of which Thomas of Ercildoune
+is the reputed author. Taking this as the best and most ancient
+version of _Tristrem_, we may detail its circumstances as follows:
+
+The Duke Morgan and Roland Rise, Lord of Ermonie, two Cymric
+chieftains, had long been at feud, and at length the smouldering
+embers of enmity burst into open flame. In the contest that ensued the
+doughty Roland prevailed, but he was a generous foe, and granted a
+seven years' truce to his defeated adversary. Some time after this
+event Roland journeyed into Cornwall to the Court of Mark, where he
+carried off the honours in a tourney. But he was to win a more
+precious prize in the love of the fair Princess Blancheflour, sister
+of King Mark, who grew to adore him passionately.
+
+Meanwhile Duke Morgan took foul advantage of the absence of Roland,
+and invaded his land. Rohand, a trusty vassal of Roland, repaired to
+Cornwall, where he sought out his master and told him of Morgan's
+broken faith. Then Roland told Blancheflour of his plight, how that he
+must return to his own realm, and she, fearing her brother Mark,
+because she had given her love to Roland without the King's knowledge,
+resolved to fly with her lover. The pair left Cornwall hurriedly, and,
+reaching one of Roland's castles, were wed there. Roland, however, had
+soon to don his armour, for news was brought to him that Duke Morgan
+was coming against him with a great army. A fierce battle ensued, in
+which Roland at first had the advantage, but the Duke, being
+reinforced, pressed him hotly, and in the end Roland was defeated and
+slain. Blancheflour received news of her lord's death immediately
+before the birth of her son, and, sore stricken by the woeful news,
+she named him Tristrem, or 'Child of Sorrow.' Then, recommending him
+to the care of Rohand, to whom she gave a ring which had belonged to
+King Mark, her brother, to prove Tristrem's relationship to that
+prince, she expired, to the intense grief of all her attendants. To
+secure the safety of his ward, Rohand passed him off as his own child,
+inverting the form of his name to 'Tremtris.' Duke Morgan now ruled
+over the land of Ermonie, and Rohand had perforce to pay him a
+constrained homage.
+
+When he arrived at a fitting age Tristrem was duly instructed in all
+knightly games and exercises by his foster-father, and grew apace in
+strength and skill. Once a Norwegian vessel arrived upon the coast of
+Ermonie laden with a freight of hawks and treasure (hawks at that
+period were often worth their weight in gold). The captain challenged
+anyone to a game of chess with him for a stake of twenty shillings,
+and Rohand and his sons, with Tristrem, went on board to play with
+him. Tristrem moved so skilfully that he overcame the captain, and won
+from him, in many games, six hawks and the sum of a hundred pounds.
+While the games were proceeding Rohand went on shore, leaving Tristrem
+in the care of his preceptor, and the false captain, to avoid paying
+what he had lost, forced the preceptor to go on shore alone and put to
+sea with the young noble.
+
+The ship had no sooner sailed away than a furious gale arose, and as
+it continued for some days the mariners became convinced that the
+tempest was due to the injustice of their captain, and being in sore
+dread, they paid Tristrem his winnings and set him ashore. Dressed in
+a robe of 'blihand brown' (blue-brown), Tristrem found himself alone
+on a rocky beach. First he knelt and requested Divine protection,
+after which he ate some food which had been left him by the
+Norwegians, and started to journey through a forest, in which he
+encountered two palmers, who told him that he was in Cornwall. He
+offered these men gold to guide him to the Court of the king of the
+country, which they willingly undertook to do. On their way the
+travellers fell in with a hunting party of nobles, and Tristrem was
+shocked to see the awkward manner in which the huntsmen cut up some
+stags they had slain. He could not restrain his feeling, and disputed
+with the nobles upon the laws of venerie. Then he proceeded to skin a
+buck for their instruction, like a right good forester, and ended by
+blowing the _mort_ or death-token on a horn.
+
+
+_Tristrem as Forester_
+
+The nobles who beheld his skill were amazed, and speedily carried the
+news to King Mark, who was highly interested. Tristrem was brought to
+his presence and told his story, but Mark did not recognize that he
+was speaking to his own nephew. The King's favourable impression was
+confirmed by Tristrem's skill in playing the harp, and soon the youth
+had endeared himself to the heart of the King, and was firmly settled
+at the Court.
+
+Meanwhile Rohand, distracted by the loss of his foster-son, searched
+for him from one land to another without even renewing his tattered
+garments. At last he encountered one of the palmers who had guided
+Tristrem to the Court of King Mark, and learned of the great honour
+accorded to his ward. At Rohand's request the palmer took him to
+Mark's hall; but when Rohand arrived thither his tattered and forlorn
+appearance aroused the contempt of the porter and usher and they
+refused him entrance. Upon bestowing liberal largess, however, he was
+at length brought to Tristrem, who presented him to King Mark as his
+father, acquainting him at the same time with the cause of their
+separation. When Rohand had been refreshed by a bath, and richly
+attired by order of King Mark, the whole Court marvelled at his
+majestic appearance.
+
+Rohand, seated by King Mark's side at the banquet, imparted to him the
+secret of Tristrem's birth, and in proof showed him the ring given him
+by Blancheflour, whereupon Mark at once joyfully recognized Tristrem
+as his nephew. Rohand further told of the tragic fate of Tristrem's
+parents through the treachery of Duke Morgan, and Tristrem, fired by
+the tale of wrong, vowed to return at once to Ermonie to avenge his
+father's death.
+
+
+_Tristrem Returns to Ermonie_
+
+Although applauding his pious intention, Mark attempted to dissuade
+his nephew from such an enterprise of peril, until, seeing that
+Tristrem would not be gainsaid, the King conferred upon him the honour
+of knighthood, and furnished him with a thousand men-at-arms. Thus
+equipped, Tristrem set sail for Ermonie, and, safely arrived in that
+kingdom, he garrisoned Rohand's castle with his Cornish forces.
+
+He had no intention of remaining inactive, however, and once his men
+were cared for, he repaired to the Court of the usurper, Duke Morgan,
+accompanied by fifteen knights, each bearing a boar's head as a gift.
+But Rohand, apprehending rashness on the part of his foster-son, took
+the precaution of following with the Cornish men-at-arms and his own
+vassals.
+
+When Tristrem arrived the Duke was at the feast-board, and he demanded
+Tristrem's name and business. Tristrem boldly declared himself, and at
+the end of an angry parley the Duke struck him a sore blow. A moment
+later swords were flashing, and it might have gone ill with Tristrem
+had not Rohand with his men come up in the nick of time. In the end
+Duke Morgan was slain and his followers routed. Having now recovered
+his paternal domains Sir Tristrem conferred them upon Rohand, to be
+held of himself as liege lord, and having done so he took leave of his
+foster-father and returned to Cornwall.
+
+
+_The Combat with Moraunt_
+
+On arriving at the palace of Mark, Tristrem found the Court in dismay,
+because of a demand for tribute made by the King of England. Moraunt,
+the Irish ambassador to England, was charged with the duty of claiming
+the tribute, which was no less than three hundred pounds of gold, as
+many of coined silver, as many of tin, and a levy every fourth year of
+three hundred Cornish children. Mark protested bitterly, and Tristrem
+urged him to bid defiance to the English, swearing that he would
+himself defend the freedom of Cornwall. His aid was reluctantly
+accepted by the Grand Council, and he delivered to Moraunt a
+declaration that no tribute was due. Moraunt retorted by giving
+Tristrem the lie, and the champions exchanged defiance. They sailed in
+separate boats to a small island to decide the issue in single combat,
+and when they had landed Tristrem turned his boat adrift, saying
+sternly that one vessel would suffice to take back the victor. The
+champions mounted their steeds at the outset, but after the first
+encounter Tristrem, leaping lightly from the saddle, engaged his
+adversary on foot. The Knight of Ermonie was desperately wounded in
+the thigh, but, rallying all his strength, he cleft Moraunt to the
+chine, and, his sword splintering, a piece of the blade remained in
+the wound.
+
+Tristrem now returned to the mainland, where so great was the joy over
+his return that he was appointed heir to Cornwall and successor to
+Mark the Good. But his wound, having been inflicted by a poisoned
+blade, grew more grievous day by day. No leech might cure it, and the
+evil odour arising from the gangrene drove every one from his presence
+save his faithful servitor Gouvernayl.
+
+
+_Fytte the Second_
+
+Fytte (or Part) the Second commences by telling how Tristrem, forsaken
+by all, begged King Mark for a ship that he might leave the land of
+Cornwall. Mark reluctantly granted his request, and the luckless
+Tristrem embarked with Gouvernayl, his one attendant, and his harp as
+his only solace. He steered for Caerleon, and remained nine weeks at
+sea, but meeting contrary winds he was driven out of his course, and
+at length came to the Irish coast, where he sought the haven of
+Dublin. On arriving there he feigned that he had been wounded by
+pirates, and learning that he was in Ireland, and recollecting that
+Moraunt, whom he had slain, was the brother to the Queen of that land,
+he thought it wise to assume once more the name of Tremtris.
+
+Soon his fame as a minstrel reached the ears of the Queen of Ireland,
+a lady deeply versed in the art of healing. She was, indeed, "the best
+Couthe of Medicine"[56] Tristrem had seen, and in order to heal his
+wound she applied to it "a plaster kene." Later she invited him to the
+Court, where his skill in chess and games astonished every one. So
+interested in him did the royal lady become at last that she undertook
+to cure him, and effected her object by means of a medicated bath and
+other medieval remedies. Then, on account of his fame as a minstrel,
+he was given the task of instructing the Princess Ysonde--as the name
+'Yseult' is written in this particular version.
+
+This princess was much attached to minstrelsy and poetry, and under
+the tuition of Tristrem she rapidly advanced in these arts, until at
+length she had no equal in Ireland save her preceptor. And now
+Tristrem, his health restored, and having completed Ysonde's
+instruction, felt a strong desire to return to the Court of King Mark.
+His request to be allowed to depart was most unwillingly granted by
+the Queen, who at the leave-taking loaded him with gifts. With the
+faithful Gouvernayl he arrived safely in Cornwall, where Mark received
+him joyfully. When the King inquired curiously how his wound had been
+cured, Tristrem told him of the great kindness of the Irish Queen, and
+praised Ysonde so highly that the ardour of his uncle was aroused and
+he requested Tristrem to procure him the hand of the damsel in
+marriage. He assured Tristrem that no marriage he, the King, might
+contract would annul the arrangement whereby Tristrem was to succeed
+to the throne of Cornwall. The nobles were opposed to the King's
+desires, which but strengthened Tristrem in his resolve to undertake
+the embassage, for he thought that otherwise it might appear that he
+desired the King to remain unmarried.
+
+
+_The Marriage Embassy_
+
+With a retinue of fifteen knights Tristrem sailed to Dublin in a ship
+richly laden with gifts. Arrived at the Irish capital, he sent
+magnificent presents to the King, Queen, and Princess, but did not
+announce the nature of his errand. Hardly had his messengers departed
+than he was informed that the people of Dublin were panic-stricken at
+the approach of a terrible dragon. This monster had so affrighted the
+neighbourhood that the hand of the Princess had been offered to anyone
+who would slay it. Tristrem dared his knights to attack the dragon,
+but one and all declined, so he himself rode out to give it battle. At
+the first shock his lance broke on the monster's impenetrable hide,
+his horse was slain, and he was forced to continue the fight on foot.
+At length, despite its fiery breath, he succeeded in slaying the
+dragon, and cut out its tongue as a trophy. But this exuded a subtle
+poison which deprived him of his senses.
+
+Thus overcome, Tristrem was discovered by the King's steward, who cut
+off the dragon's head and returned with it to Court to demand the hand
+of Ysonde. But the Queen and her daughter were dubious of the man's
+story, and upon visiting the place where the dragon had been slain,
+they came upon Tristrem himself. Their ministrations revived him, and
+he showed them the dragon's tongue as proof that he had slain the
+dread beast. He described himself as a merchant, and Ysonde, who did
+not at first recognize him, expressed her regret that he was not a
+knight. The Queen now caused him to be conveyed to the palace, where
+he was refreshed by a bath, and the false steward was cast into
+prison.
+
+Meanwhile the suspicions of the Princess had been aroused, and the
+belief grew that this 'merchant' who had slain the dragon was none
+other than Tremtris, her old instructor. In searching for evidence to
+confirm this conjecture she examined his sword, from which, she found,
+a piece had been broken. Now, she possessed a fragment of a
+sword-blade which had been taken out of the skull of Moraunt, her
+uncle, and she discovered that this fragment fitted into the broken
+place in Tristrem's sword, wherefore she concluded that the weapon
+must have been that which slew the Irish ambassador. She reproached
+Tristrem, and in her passion rushed upon him with his own sword. At
+this instant her mother returned, and upon learning the identity of
+Tristrem she was about to assist Ysonde to slay him in his bath when
+the King arrived and saved him from the infuriated women. Tristrem
+defended himself as having killed Moraunt in fair fight, and, smiling
+upon Ysonde, he told her that she had had many opportunities of
+slaying him while he was her preceptor Tremtris. He then proceeded to
+make known the object of his embassy. He engaged that his uncle, King
+Mark, should marry Ysonde, and it was agreed that she should be sent
+under his escort to Cornwall.
+
+It is clear that the Queen's knowledge of medicine was accompanied by
+an acquaintance with the black art, for on the eve of her daughter's
+departure she entrusted to Brengwain, a lady of Ysonde's suite, a
+powerful philtre or love potion, with directions that Mark and his
+bride should partake of it on the night of their marriage. While at
+sea the party met with contrary winds, and the mariners were forced to
+take to their oars. Tristrem exerted himself in rowing, and Ysonde,
+remarking that he seemed much fatigued, called for drink to refresh
+him. Brengwain, by a fateful error, presented the cup which held the
+love potion. Both Tristrem and Ysonde unwittingly partook of this, and
+a favourite dog, Hodain,
+
+  That many a forest day of fiery mirth
+  Had plied his craft before them,[57]
+
+licked the cup. The consequence of this mistake was, of course, the
+awakening of a consuming passion each for the other in Tristrem and
+Ysonde. A fortnight later the ship arrived at Cornwall. Ysonde was
+duly wed to King Mark, but her passion for Tristrem moved her to
+induce her attendant Brengwain to take her place on the first night of
+her nuptials.
+
+Afterward, terrified lest Brengwain should disclose the secret in her
+possession, Ysonde hired two ruffians to dispatch her. But the
+damsel's entreaties softened the hearts of the assassins and they
+spared her life. Subsequently Ysonde repented of her action and
+Brengwain was reinstated in full favour.
+
+
+_The Minstrel's Boon_
+
+An Irish earl, a former admirer of Ysonde, arrived one day at the
+Court of Cornwall disguised as a minstrel and bearing a harp of
+curious workmanship, the appearance of which excited the curiosity of
+King Mark, who requested him to perform upon it. The visitor demanded
+that the King should first promise to grant him a boon, and the King
+having pledged his royal word, the minstrel sang to the harp a lay in
+which he claimed Ysonde as the promised gift.[58] Mark, having pledged
+his honour, had no alternative but to become forsworn or to deliver
+his wife to the harper, and he reluctantly complied with the
+minstrel's demand. Tristrem, who had been away hunting, returned
+immediately after the adventurous earl had departed with his fair
+prize. He upbraided the King for his extravagant sense of honour, and,
+snatching up his rote, or harp, hastened to the seashore, where Ysonde
+had already embarked. There he sat down and played, and the sound so
+deeply affected Ysonde that she became seriously ill, so that the earl
+was induced to return with her to land. Ysonde pretended that
+Tristrem's music was necessary to her recovery, and the earl, to whom
+Tristrem was unknown, offered to take him in his train to Ireland. The
+earl had dismounted from the horse he was riding and was preparing to
+return on board, when Tristrem sprang into the saddle, and, seizing
+Ysonde's horse by the bridle, plunged into the forest. Here the lovers
+remained for a week, after which Tristrem restored Ysonde to her
+husband.
+
+[Illustration: TRISTREM AND YSONDE]
+
+Not unnaturally suspicion was aroused regarding the relations between
+Tristrem and Ysonde. Meriadok, a knight of Cornwall, and an intimate
+friend of Tristrem, was perhaps the most suspicious of all, and one
+snowy evening he traced his friend to Ysonde's bower, to which
+Tristrem gained entrance by a sliding panel. In this a piece of
+Tristrem's green kirtle was left, and Meriadok bore the fragment to
+the King, to whom he unfolded his suspicions. To test the truth of
+these Mark pretended that he was going on a pilgrimage to the Holy
+Land, and asked his wife to whose care she would wish to be committed.
+Ysonde at first named Tristrem, but on the advice of Brengwain resumed
+the subject later and feigned a mortal hatred for her lover, which she
+ascribed to the scandal she had suffered on his account. The fears of
+the simple Mark were thus lulled to sleep; but those of Meriadok were
+by no means laid at rest. On his advice Mark definitely separated the
+lovers, confining Ysonde to a bower and sending Tristrem to a
+neighbouring city. But Tristrem succeeded in communicating with Ysonde
+by means of leafy twigs thrown into the river which ran through her
+garden, and they continued to meet.
+
+Their interviews were, however, discovered by the aid of a dwarf who
+concealed himself in a tree. One night Mark took the dwarf's place,
+but the lovers were made aware of his presence by his shadow and
+pretended to be quarrelling, Tristrem saying that Ysonde had
+supplanted him in the King's affections. Mark's suspicions were thus
+soothed for the time being. On another occasion Tristrem was not so
+fortunate, and, being discovered, was forced to flee the country.
+
+
+_The Ordeal by Fire_
+
+Mark now resolved to test his wife's innocence by the dread ordeal by
+fire, and he journeyed with his Court to Westminster, where the trial
+was to take place. Tristrem, disguised as a peasant, joined the
+retinue, and when the party arrived in the Thames he carried Ysonde
+from the ship to the shore. When the moment for the ordeal came the
+Queen protested her innocence, saying that no man had ever laid hands
+upon her save the King and the peasant who had carried her from the
+ship. Mark, satisfied by her evident sincerity, refused to proceed
+further with the trial, and Ysonde thus escaped the awful test.
+
+Tristrem then betook him to Wales, and the fame of his prowess in that
+land came at length to Cornwall, so that at last his uncle grew heavy
+at heart for his absence and desired sight of him. Once more he
+returned, but his fatal passion for Ysonde was not abated, and became
+at length so grievous to the good King that he banished both of the
+lovers from his sight. The two fled to a forest, and there dwelt in a
+cavern, subsisting upon venison, the spoil of Tristrem's bow. One day,
+weary with the chase, Tristrem lay down to rest by the side of the
+sleeping Ysonde, placing his drawn sword between them. Mark, passing
+that way, espied them, and from the naked sword inferring their
+innocence, became reconciled to them once more. But again suspicion
+fell upon them, and again Tristrem was forced to flee.
+
+
+_Tristrem in Brittany_
+
+After many adventures in Spain Tristrem arrived in Brittany, where he
+aided the Duke of that country with his sword. The Duke's daughter,
+known as Ysonde of the White Hand, hearing him sing one night a song
+of the beauty of Ysonde, thought that Tristrem was in love with her.
+The Duke therefore offered Tristrem his daughter's hand, and, in
+despair of seeing Ysonde of Ireland again, he accepted the honour. But
+on the wedding-day the first Ysonde's ring dropped from his finger as
+if reproaching him with infidelity, and in deep remorse he vowed that
+Ysonde of Brittany should be his wife in name only.
+
+Now the Duke of Brittany bestowed on Tristrem a fair demesne divided
+by an arm of the sea from the land of a powerful and savage giant
+named Beliagog, and he warned his son-in-law not to incur the
+resentment of this dangerous neighbour. But one day Tristrem's hounds
+strayed into the forest land of Beliagog, and their master, following
+them, was confronted by the wrathful owner. A long and cruel combat
+ensued, and at last Tristrem lopped off one of the giant's feet.
+Thereupon the monster craved mercy, which was granted on the condition
+that he should build a hall in honour of Ysonde of Ireland and her
+maiden, Brengwain. This hall was duly raised, and upon its walls was
+portrayed to the life the whole history of Tristrem, with pictures of
+Ysonde of Ireland, Brengwain, Mark, and other characters in the tale.
+Tristrem, the Duke, Ysonde of Brittany, and Ganhardin, her brother,
+were riding to see this marvel when Ysonde confessed to Ganhardin that
+Tristrem did not regard her as his wife. Ganhardin, angered,
+questioned Tristrem, who concealed nothing from him and recounted to
+him the story of his love for the Queen of Cornwall. Ganhardin was
+deeply interested, and on beholding the picture of Brengwain in the
+newly erected hall he fell violently in love with her.
+
+
+_The Forest Lovers_
+
+Tristrem now returned to Cornwall with Ganhardin, and encountered
+Ysonde the Queen and the fair Brengwain. But one Canados, the King's
+Constable, discovered them and carried the ladies back to Court.
+Ganhardin made the best of his way home to Brittany, but Tristrem
+remained in Cornwall, disguised as a beggar.
+
+Our story now tells of a great tournament at the Cornish Court, and
+how Ganhardin hied him from Brittany and rejoined Tristrem. The two
+entered the lists and took up the challenge of Meriadok and Canados.
+Tristrem, tilting at his old enemy, wounded him desperately. The issue
+of the combat between Canados and Ganhardin hung in the balance when
+Tristrem, charging at the Constable, overthrew and slew him. Then,
+fired with the lust of conquest, Tristrem bore down upon his foes and
+exacted a heavy toll of lives. So great was the scathe done that day
+that Tristrem and Ganhardin were forced once more to fly to Brittany,
+where in an adventure Tristrem received an arrow in his old wound.
+
+
+_The French Manuscript_
+
+At this point the Auchinleck MS., from which this account is taken,
+breaks off, and the story is concluded, in language similar to that of
+the original, by Sir Walter Scott, who got his materials from an old
+French version of the tale.
+
+We read that Tristrem suffered sorely from his wound, in which, as
+before, gangrene set in. Aware that none but Ysonde of Ireland could
+cure him, the stricken knight called Ganhardin to his side and urged
+him to go with all speed to Cornwall and tell the Queen of his mortal
+extremity. He entrusted him with his ring, and finally requested the
+Breton knight to take with him two sails, one white and the other
+black, the first to be hoisted upon his return should Ysonde accompany
+him back to Brittany, the sable sail to be raised should his embassy
+fail of success. Now Ysonde of Brittany overheard all that was said,
+her jealous fears were confirmed, and she resolved to be revenged upon
+her husband.
+
+Ganhardin voyaged quickly to Cornwall, and arrived at the Court of
+King Mark disguised as a merchant. In order to speed his mission he
+presented rich gifts to the King, and also a cup to Ysonde, into which
+he dropped Tristrem's ring. This token procured him a private audience
+with the Queen, and when she learned the deadly peril of her lover,
+Ysonde hastily disguised herself and fled to the ship with Ganhardin.
+In due course the vessel arrived off the coast of Brittany, carrying
+the white sail which was to signify to Tristrem that Ysonde was
+hastening to his aid. But Ysonde of Brittany was watching, and
+perceiving from the signal that her rival was on board she hurried to
+her husband's couch. Tristrem begged her to tell him the colour of the
+sail, and in the madness of jealousy Ysonde said that it was black,
+upon which, believing himself forsaken by his old love, the knight
+sank back and expired.
+
+Tristrem had scarce breathed his last when Ysonde entered the castle.
+At the gate an old man was mourning Tristrem's death, and hearing the
+ominous words which he uttered she hastened to the chamber where the
+corpse of him she had loved so well was lying. With a moan she cast
+herself upon the body, covering the dead face with kisses and pleading
+upon the silent lips to speak. Realizing at last that the spirit had
+indeed quitted its mortal tenement, she raised herself to her feet and
+stood for a moment gazing wildly into the fixed and glassy eyes; then
+with a great cry she fell forward upon the breast of her lover and was
+united with him in death.
+
+Other versions of the story, with all the wealth of circumstance dear
+to the writer of romance, tell of the grievous mourning made at the
+death of the lovers, whom no fault of their own had doomed to the
+tyranny of a mutual passion, and it is recounted that even King Mark,
+wronged and shamed as he was, was unable to repress his grief at their
+pitiful end.
+
+Despite the clumsiness of much of its machinery, despite its tiresome
+repetitions and its minor blemishes, this tale of a grand passion must
+ever remain one of the world's priceless literary possessions. "Dull
+must he be of soul" who, even in these days when folk no longer expire
+from an excess of the tender passion, can fail to be moved by the sad
+fate of the fair Queen and of her gallant minstrel-knight.
+
+  Swiche lovers als thei
+  Never schal be moe.
+
+And so they take their place with Hero and Leander, with Ab�lard and
+H�lo�se, with Romeo and Juliet.
+
+It would be unfitting here to tell how mythology has claimed the story
+of Tristrem and Ysonde and has attempted to show in what manner the
+circumstances of their lives and adventures have been adapted to the
+old world-wide myth of the progress of the sun from dawn to
+darkness.[59] The evidence seems very complete, and the theory is
+probably well founded. The circumstances of the great epic of the
+sun-god fits most hero-tales. And it is well to recollect that even if
+romance-makers seized upon the plot of the old myth they did so
+unconscious of its mythic significance, and probably because it may
+have been employed in the heroic literature of "Rome la grant."
+
+
+_The Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel_
+
+It was when he arrived in Brittany to ward off the projected invasion
+of England by the Roman Emperor Lucius that King Arthur encountered
+and slew a giant of "marvellous bigness" at St Michael's Mount, near
+Pontorson. This monster, who had come from Spain, had made his lair on
+the summit of the rocky island, whither he had carried off the Lady
+Helena, niece of Duke Hoel of Brittany. Many were the knights who
+surrounded the giant's fastness, but none might come at him, for when
+they attacked him he would sink their ships by hurling mighty boulders
+upon them, while those who succeeded in swimming to the island were
+slain by him ere they could get a proper footing. But Arthur,
+undismayed by what he had heard, waited until nightfall; then, when
+all were asleep, with Kay the seneschal and Bedivere the butler, he
+started on his way to the Mount.
+
+As the three approached the rugged height they beheld a fire blazing
+brightly on its summit, and saw also that upon a lesser eminence in
+the sea some distance away a smaller fire was burning. Bedivere was
+dispatched in a boat to discover who had lit the fire on the smaller
+island. Having landed there, he found an old woman lamenting loudly.
+
+"Good mother," said he, "wherefore do you mourn? What has befallen you
+in this place that you weep so sorely?"
+
+"Ah, young sir," replied the dame, drying her tears, "get thee back
+from this place, I beseech thee, for as thou livest the monster who
+inhabits yonder mount will rend thee limb from limb and sup on thy
+flesh. But yesterday I was the nurse of the fair Helena, niece to Duke
+Hoel, who lies buried here by me."
+
+"Alas! then, the lady is no more?" cried Bedivere, in distress.
+
+"So it is," replied the old woman, weeping more bitterly than ever,
+"for when that accursed giant did seize upon her terror did so
+overcome her that her spirit took flight. But tarry not on this dread
+spot, noble youth, for if her fierce slayer should encounter thee he
+will put thee to a shameful death, and afterward devour thee as is his
+wont with all those whom he kills."
+
+Bedivere comforted the old woman as best he might, and, returning to
+Arthur, told him what he had heard. Now on hearing of the damsel's
+death great anger took hold upon the King, so that he resolved to
+search out the giant forthwith and slay or be slain by him. Desiring
+Kay and Bedivere to follow, he dismounted and commenced to climb St
+Michael's Mount, closely attended by his companions.
+
+[Illustration: KING ARTHUR AND THE GIANT OF MONT-SAINT-MICHEL]
+
+On reaching the summit a gruesome spectacle awaited them. The great
+fire that they had seen in the distance was blazing fiercely, and
+bending over it was the giant, his cruel and contorted features
+besmeared with the blood of swine, portions of which he was toasting
+on spits. Startled at the sight of the knights, the monster rushed to
+where his club lay. This purpose Arthur deemed he might prevent, and,
+covering himself with his shield, he ran at him while yet he fumbled
+for the weapon. But with all his agility he was too late, for the
+giant seized the mighty sapling and, whirling it in the air, brought
+it down on the King's shield with such force that the sound of the
+stroke echoed afar. Nothing daunted, Arthur dealt a trenchant stroke
+with Excalibur, and gave the giant a cut on the forehead which made
+the blood gush forth over his eyes so as nearly to blind him. But
+shrewd as was the blow, the giant had warded his forehead with his
+club in such wise that he had not received a deadly wound, and,
+watching his chance with great cunning, he rushed in within the sweep
+of Arthur's sword, gripped him round the middle, and forced him to the
+ground.
+
+Iron indeed would have been the grasp which could have held a knight
+so doughty as Arthur. Slipping from the monster's clutches, the King
+hacked at his adversary now in one place, now in another, till at
+length he smote the giant so mightily that Excalibur was buried deep
+in his brain-pan. The giant fell like an oak torn up by the roots in
+the fury of the winds. Rushing up as he crashed to the earth, Sir
+Bedivere struck off the hideous head, grinning in death, to be a show
+to those in the tents below.
+
+"But let them behold it in silence and without laughter," the King
+charged Sir Bedivere, "for never since I slew the giant Ritho upon
+Mount Eryri have I encountered so mighty an adversary."
+
+And so they returned to their tents with daybreak.
+
+
+_A Doubting Thomas_
+
+It is strange to think that Brittany, one of the cradles of Arthurian
+legend, could have produced a disbeliever in that legend so early as
+the year of grace 1113. It is on record that some monks from Brittany
+journeyed to England in that year, and were shown by the men of Devon
+"the chair and the oven of that King Arthur renowned in the stories of
+the Britons." They passed on to Cornwall, and when, in the church at
+Bodmin, one of their servants dared to question the statement of a
+certain Cornishman that Arthur still lived, he received such a buffet
+for his temerity that a small riot ensued.[60] Does not this seem to
+be evidence that the legend was more whole-heartedly believed in in
+the Celtic parts of England, and was therefore more exclusively native
+to those parts than to Continental Brittany? The Cornish allegiance to
+the memory of Arthur seems to have left little to be desired.
+
+
+_Arthur and the Dragon_
+
+The manner in which Arthur slew a dragon at the Lieue de Gr�ve, and at
+the same time made the acquaintance of St Efflam of Ireland, is told
+by Albert le Grand, monk of Morlaix. Arthur had been sojourning at the
+Court of Hoel, Duke of Armorica, and, having freed his own land of
+dragons and other monsters, was engaged in hunting down the great
+beasts with which Armorica abounded. But the monster which infested
+the Lieue de Gr�ve was no ordinary dragon. Indeed, he was the most
+cunning saurian in Europe, and was wont to retire backward into the
+great cavern in which he lived so that when traced to it those who
+tracked him would believe that he had just quitted it.
+
+In this manner he succeeded in deceiving Arthur and his knights, who
+for days lingered in the vicinity of his cave in the hope of
+encountering him. One day as they stood on the seashore waiting for
+the dragon a sail hove in sight, and soon a large coracle made of
+wicker-work covered with skins appeared. The vessel grounded and its
+occupants leapt ashore, headed by a young man of princely mien, who
+advanced toward Arthur and saluted him courteously.
+
+"Fair sir," he said, "to what shore have I come? I am Efflam, the
+King's son, of Ireland. The winds have driven us out of our course,
+and full long have we laboured in the sea."
+
+Now when Arthur heard the young man's name he embraced him heartily.
+
+"Welcome, cousin," he said. "You are in the land of Brittany. I am
+Arthur of Britain, and I rejoice at this meeting, since it may chance
+from it that I can serve you."
+
+Then Efflam told Arthur the reason of his voyaging. He had been wed to
+the Princess Enora, daughter of a petty king of Britain, but on his
+wedding night a strong impulse had come upon him to leave all and make
+his penitence within some lonely wood, where he could be at peace from
+the world. Rising from beside his sleeping wife, he stole away, and
+rousing several trusty servitors he set sail from his native shores.
+Soon his frail craft was caught in a tempest, and after many days
+driven ashore as had been seen.
+
+Arthur marvelled at the impulse which had prompted Efflam to seek
+retirement, and was about to express his surprise when the youth
+startled him by telling him that as his vessel had approached the
+shore he and his men had caught sight of the dragon entering his
+cave.
+
+At these words Arthur armed himself without delay with his sword
+Excalibur and his lance Ron, and, followed by his knights and by
+Efflam, drew near the cavern. As he came before the entrance the
+dragon issued forth, roaring in so terrible a manner that all but the
+King were daunted and drew back. The creature's appearance was
+fearsome in the extreme. He had one red eye in the centre of his
+forehead, his shoulders were covered with green scales like plates of
+mail, his long, powerful tail was black and twisted, and his vast
+mouth was furnished with tusks like those of a wild boar.
+
+Grim and great was the combat. For three days did it rage, man and
+beast struggling through the long hours for the mastery which neither
+seemed able to obtain. At the end of that time the dragon retired for
+a space into his lair, and Arthur, worn out and well-nigh broken by
+the long-drawn strife, threw himself down beside Efflam in a state of
+exhaustion.
+
+"A draught of water, fair cousin," he cried in a choking voice. "I
+perish with thirst."
+
+But no water was to be found in that place save that of the salt sea
+which lapped the sands of Gr�ve. Efflam, however, was possessed of a
+faith that could overcome all difficulties. Kneeling, he engaged in
+earnest prayer, and, arising, struck the hard rock three times with
+his rod. "Our blessed Lord will send us water," he exclaimed, and no
+sooner had he spoken than from the stone a fountain of pure crystal
+water gushed and bubbled.
+
+With a cry of ecstasy Arthur placed his lips to the stream and quaffed
+the much-needed refreshment. His vigour restored, he was about to
+return to the dragon's cavern to renew the combat when he was
+restrained by Efflam.
+
+"Cousin," said he of Ireland, "you have tried what can be done by
+force; now let us see what can be achieved by prayer."
+
+Arthur, marvelling and humbled, sat near the young man as he prayed.
+All night he was busied in devotions, and at sunrise he arose and
+walked boldly to the mouth of the cavern.
+
+"Thou spawn of Satan," he cried, "in the name of God I charge thee to
+come forth!"
+
+A noise as of a thousand serpents hissing in unison followed this
+challenge, and from out his lair trailed the great length of the
+dragon, howling and vomiting fire and blood. Mounting to the summit of
+a neighbouring rock, he vented a final bellow and then cast himself
+into the sea. The blue water was disturbed as by a maelstrom; then all
+was peace again.
+
+So perished the dragon of the Lieue de Gr�ve, and so was proved the
+superiority of prayer over human strength and valour. St Efflam and
+his men settled on the spot as hermits, and were miraculously fed by
+angels. Efflam's wife, Enora, was borne to him by angels in that
+place, only to die when she had joined him. And when they came to tell
+Efflam that his new-found lady was no more and was lying cold in the
+cell he had provided for her, their news fell on deaf ears, for he too
+had passed away. He is buried in Plestin Church, and his effigy,
+standing triumphant above an open-mouthed dragon, graces one of its
+many niches.
+
+
+_The Isle of Avalon_
+
+The Bretons believe that an island off Tr�gastel, on the coast of the
+department of C�tes-du-Nord, is the fabled Isle of Avalon to which
+King Arthur, sore wounded after his last battle, was borne to be
+healed of his hurts. With straining eyes the fisherman watches the
+mist-wrapped islet, and, peering through the evening haze, cheats
+himself into the belief that giant forms are moving upon its shores
+and that spectral shapes flit across its sands--that the dark hours
+bring back the activities of the attendant knights and enchantresses
+of the mighty hero of Celtdom, who, refreshed by his long repose, will
+one day return to the world of men and right the great wrongs which
+afflict humanity.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [54] _The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory_, p. 135.
+
+  [55] No matter.
+
+  [56] _I.e._ had the best knowledge of medicine. _Couthe_, from A.S.
+       _cunnan_ to know.
+
+  [57] Swinburne, _Tristram of Lyonesse_.
+
+  [58] This incident is common in Celtic romance, and seems to have been
+       widely used in nearly all medieval literatures.
+
+  [59] See Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, _Introduction to Mythology_, p. 326 ff.
+
+  [60] See Zimmer, _Zeitschrift f�r Franz�sische Sprache und Literatur_,
+       xii, pp. 106 ff.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI: THE BRETON LAYS OF MARIE DE FRANCE
+
+
+The wonderful _Lais_ of Marie de France must ever hold a deep interest
+for all students of Breton lore, for though cast in the literary mould
+of Norman-French and breathing the spirit of Norman chivalry those of
+them which deal with Brittany (as do most of them) exhibit such
+evident marks of having been drawn from native Breton sources that we
+may regard them as among the most valuable documents extant for the
+study and consideration of Armorican story.
+
+Of the personal history of Marie de France very little is known. The
+date and place of her birth are still matters for conjecture, and
+until comparatively recent times literary antiquaries were doubtful
+even as to which century she flourished in. In the epilogue to her
+_Fables_ she states that she is a native of the Ile-de-France, but
+despite this she is believed to have been of Norman origin, and also
+to have lived the greater part of her life in England. Her work, which
+holds few suggestions of Anglo-Norman forms of thought or expression,
+was written in a literary dialect that in all likelihood was widely
+estranged from the common Norman tongue, and from this (though the
+manuscripts in which they are preserved are dated later) we may judge
+her poems to have been composed in the second half of the twelfth
+century. The prologue of her _Lais_ contains a dedication to some
+unnamed king, and her _Fables_ are inscribed to a certain Count
+William, circumstances which are held by some to prove that she was of
+noble origin and not merely a _trouv�re_ from necessity.
+
+Until M. Gaston Paris decided that this mysterious king was Henry II
+of England, and that the 'Count William' was Longsword, Earl of
+Salisbury, Henry's natural son by the 'Fair Rosamond,' the mysterious
+monarch was believed to be Henry III. It is highly probable that the
+_Lais_ were actually written at the Court of Henry II, though the
+'King' of the flowery prologue is hardly reconcilable with the stern
+ruler and law-maker of history. Be that as it may, Marie's poems
+achieved instant success. "Her rhyme is loved everywhere," says Denis
+Pyramus, the author of a life of St Edmund the King; "for counts,
+barons, and knights greatly admire it and hold it dear. And they love
+her writing so much, and take such pleasure in it, that they have it
+read, and often copied. These Lays are wont to please ladies, who
+listen to them with delight, for they are after their own hearts."
+This fame and its attendant adulation were very sweet to Marie, and
+she was justly proud of her work, which, inspired, as she herself
+distinctly states, by the lays she had heard Breton minstrels sing,
+has, because of its vivid colouring and human appeal, survived the
+passing of seven hundred years. The scenes of the tales are laid in
+Brittany, and we are probably correct in regarding them as culled from
+original traditional material. As we proceed with the telling of these
+ancient stories we shall endeavour to point out the essentially Breton
+elements they have retained.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Were-Wolf_
+
+In the long ago there dwelt in Brittany a worshipful baron, for whom
+the king of that land had a warm affection, and who was happy in the
+esteem of his peers and the love of his beautiful wife.
+
+One only grief had his wife in her married life, and that was the
+mysterious absence of her husband for three days in every week. Where
+he disappeared to neither she nor any member of her household knew.
+These excursions preyed upon her mind, so that at last she resolved to
+challenge him regarding them.
+
+"Husband," she said to him pleadingly one day after he had just
+returned from one of these absences, "I have something to ask of you,
+but I fear that my request may vex you, and for this reason I hesitate
+to make it."
+
+The baron took her in his arms and, kissing her tenderly, bade her
+state her request, which he assured her would by no means vex him.
+
+"It is this," she said, "that you will trust me sufficiently to tell
+me where you spend those days when you are absent from me. So fearful
+have I become regarding these withdrawals and all the mystery that
+enshrouds them that I know neither rest nor comfort; indeed, so
+distraught am I at times that I feel I shall die for very anxiety. Oh,
+husband, tell me where you go and why you tarry so long!"
+
+In great agitation the husband put his wife away from him, not daring
+to meet the glance of her imploring, anxious eyes.
+
+"For the mercy of God, do not ask this of me," he besought her. "No
+good could come of your knowing, only great and terrible evil.
+Knowledge would mean the death of your love for me, and my everlasting
+desolation."
+
+"You are jesting with me, husband," she replied; "but it is a cruel
+jest. I am all seriousness, I do assure you. Peace of mind can never
+be mine until my question is fully answered."
+
+But the baron, still greatly perturbed, remained firm. He could not
+tell her, and she must rest content with that. The lady, however,
+continued to plead, sometimes with tenderness, more often with tears
+and heart-piercing reproaches, until at length the baron, trusting to
+her love, decided to tell her his secret.
+
+"I have to leave you because periodically I become a bisclaveret," he
+said. ('Bisclaveret' is the Breton name for were-wolf.) "I hide myself
+in the depths of the forest, live on wild animals and roots, and go
+unclad as any beast of the field."
+
+When the lady had recovered from the horror of this disclosure and had
+rallied her senses to her aid, she turned to him again, determined at
+any cost to learn all the circumstances connected with this terrible
+transformation.
+
+"You know that I love you better than all the world, my husband," she
+began; "that never in our life together have I done aught to forfeit
+your love or your trust. So do, I beseech you, tell me all--tell me
+where you hide your clothing before you become a were-wolf?"
+
+"That I dare not do, dear wife," he replied, "for if I should lose my
+raiment or even be seen quitting it I must remain a were-wolf so long
+as I live. Never again could I become a man unless my garments were
+restored to me."
+
+"Then you no longer trust me, no longer love me?" she cried. "Alas,
+alas that I have forfeited your confidence! Oh that I should live to
+see such a day!"
+
+Her weeping broke out afresh, this time more piteously than before.
+The baron, deeply touched, and willing by any means to alleviate her
+distress, at last divulged the vital secret which he had held from her
+so long.
+
+But from that hour his wife cast about for ways and means to rid
+herself of her strange husband, of whom she now went in exceeding
+fear. In course of time she remembered a knight of that country who
+had long sought her love, but whom she had repulsed. To him she
+appealed, and right gladly and willingly he pledged himself to aid
+her. She showed him where her lord concealed his clothing, and begged
+him to spoil the were-wolf of his vesture on the next occasion on
+which he set out to assume his transformation. The fatal period soon
+returned. The baron disappeared as usual, but this time he did not
+return to his home. For days friends, neighbours, and menials sought
+him diligently, but no trace of him was to be found, and when a year
+had elapsed the search was at length abandoned, and the lady was
+wedded to her knight.
+
+Some months later the King was hunting in the great forest near the
+missing baron's castle. The hounds, unleashed, came upon the scent of
+a wolf, and pressed the animal hard. For many hours they pursued him,
+and when about to seize him, Bisclaveret--for it was he--turned with
+such a human gesture of despair to the King, who had ridden hard upon
+his track, that the royal huntsman was moved to pity. To the King's
+surprise the were-wolf placed its paws together as if in supplication,
+and its great jaws moved as if in speech.
+
+"Call off the hounds," cried the monarch to his attendants. "This
+quarry we will take alive to our palace. It is too marvellous a thing
+to be killed."
+
+Accordingly they returned to the Court, where the were-wolf became an
+object of the greatest curiosity to all. So frolicsome yet so gentle
+was he that he became a universal favourite. At night he slept in the
+King's room, and by day he followed him with all the dumb faithfulness
+of a dog. The King was extremely attached to him, and never permitted
+his shaggy favourite to be absent from his side for a moment.
+
+One day the monarch held a high Court, to which his great vassals and
+barons and all the lords of his broad demesnes were bidden. Among them
+came the knight who had wed the wife of Bisclaveret. Immediately upon
+sight of him the were-wolf flew at him with a savage joy that
+astonished those accustomed to his usual gentleness and docility. So
+fierce was the attack that the knight would have been killed had not
+the King intervened to save him. Later, in the royal hunting-lodge she
+who had been the wife of Bisclaveret came to offer the King a rich
+present. When he saw her the animal's rage knew no bounds, and despite
+all restraint he succeeded in mutilating her fair face in the most
+frightful manner. But for a certain wise counsellor this act would
+have cost Bisclaveret his life. This sagacious person, who knew of the
+animal's customary docility, insisted that some evil must have been
+done him.
+
+"There must be some reason why this beast holds these twain in such
+mortal hate," he said. "Let this woman and her husband be brought
+hither so that they may be straitly questioned. She was once the wife
+of one who was near to your heart, and many marvellous happenings have
+ere this come out of Brittany."
+
+[Illustration: THE WERE-WOLF]
+
+The King hearkened to this sage counsel, for he loved the were-wolf,
+and was loath to have him slain. Under pressure of examination
+Bisclaveret's treacherous wife confessed all that she had done, adding
+that in her heart she believed the King's favourite animal to be no
+other than her former husband.
+
+Instantly on learning this the King demanded the were-wolf's vesture
+from the treacherous knight her lover, and when this was brought to
+him he caused it to be spread before the wolf. But the animal behaved
+as though he did not see the garments.
+
+Then the wise counsellor again came to his aid.
+
+"You must take the beast to your own secret chamber, sire," he told
+the King; "for not without great shame and tribulation can he become a
+man once more, and this he dare not suffer in the sight of all."
+
+This advice the King promptly followed, and when after some little
+time he, with two lords of his fellowship in attendance, re-entered
+the secret chamber, he found the wolf gone, and the baron so well
+beloved asleep in his bed.
+
+With great joy and affection the King aroused his friend, and when the
+baron's feelings permitted him he related his adventures. As soon as
+his master had heard him out he not only restored to him all that had
+been taken from him, but added gifts the number and richness of which
+rendered him more wealthy and important than ever, while in just anger
+he banished from his realm the wife who had betrayed her lord,
+together with her lover.
+
+
+_The Were-Wolf Superstition_
+
+The were-wolf superstition is, or was, as prevalent in Brittany as in
+other parts of France and Europe. The term 'were-wolf' literally means
+'man-wolf,' and was applied to a man supposed to be temporarily or
+permanently transformed into a wolf. In its origins the belief may
+have been a phase of lycanthropy, a disease in which the sufferer
+imagines himself to have been transformed into an animal, and in
+ancient and medieval times of very frequent occurrence. It may, on the
+other hand, be a relic of early cannibalism. Communities of
+semi-civilized people would begin to shun those who devoured human
+flesh, and they would in time be ostracized and classed with wild
+beasts, the idea that they had something in common with these would
+grow, and the belief that they were able to transform themselves into
+veritable animals would be likely to arise therefrom.
+
+There were two kinds of were-wolf, voluntary and involuntary. The
+voluntary included those persons who because of their taste for human
+flesh had withdrawn from intercourse with their fellows, and who
+appeared to possess a certain amount of magical power, or at least
+sufficient to permit them to transform themselves into animal shape at
+will. This they effected by merely disrobing, by taking off a girdle
+made of human skin, or putting on a similar belt of wolf-skin
+(obviously a later substitute for an entire wolf-skin; in some cases
+we hear of their donning the skin entire). In other instances the body
+was rubbed with magic ointment, or rain-water was drunk out of a
+wolf's footprint. The brains of the animal were also eaten. Olaus
+Magnus says that the were-wolves of Livonia drained a cup of beer on
+initiation, and repeated certain magical words. In order to throw off
+the wolf-shape the animal girdle was removed, or else the magician
+merely muttered certain formul�. In some instances the transformation
+was supposed to be the work of Satan.
+
+The superstition regarding were-wolves seems to have been exceedingly
+prevalent in France during the sixteenth century, and there is
+evidence of numerous trials of persons accused of were-wolfism, in
+some of which it was clearly shown that murder and cannibalism had
+taken place. Self-hallucination was accountable for many of the cases,
+the supposed were-wolves declaring that they had transformed
+themselves and had slain many people. But about the beginning of the
+seventeenth century native common sense came to the rescue, and such
+confessions were not credited. In Teutonic and Slavonic countries it
+was complained by men of learning that the were-wolves did more damage
+than real wild animals, and the existence of a regular 'college' or
+institution for the practice of the art of animal transformation among
+were-wolves was affirmed.
+
+Involuntary were-wolves, of which class Bisclaveret was evidently a
+member, were often persons transformed into animal shape because of
+the commission of sin, and condemned to pass a certain number of years
+in that form. Thus certain saints metamorphosed sinners into wolves.
+In Armenia it was thought that a sinful woman was condemned to pass
+seven years in the form of a wolf. To such a woman a demon appeared,
+bringing a wolf-skin. He commanded her to don it, and from that moment
+she became a wolf, with all the nature of the wild beast, devouring
+her own children and those of strangers, and wandering forth at night,
+undeterred by locks, bolts, or bars, returning only with the morning
+to resume her human form.
+
+In was, of course, in Europe, where the wolf was one of the largest
+carnivorous animals, that the were-wolf superstition chiefly gained
+currency. In Eastern countries, where similar beliefs prevailed,
+bears, tigers, and other beasts of prey were substituted for the
+lupine form of colder climes.
+
+
+_The Lay of Gugemar_
+
+Oridial was one of the chief barons of King Arthur, and dwelt in
+Brittany, where he held lands in fief of that monarch. So deeply was
+he attached to his liege lord that when his son Gugemar was yet a
+child he sent him to Arthur's Court to be trained as a page. In due
+time Arthur dubbed Gugemar knight and armed him in rich harness, and
+the youth, hearing of war in Flanders, set out for that realm in the
+hope of gaining distinction and knightly honour.
+
+After achieving many valorous deeds in Flanders Gugemar felt a strong
+desire to behold his parents once more, so, setting his face homeward,
+he journeyed back to Brittany and dwelt with them for some time,
+resting after his battles and telling his father, mother, and sister
+Nogent of the many enterprises in which he had been engaged. But he
+shortly grew weary of this inactive existence, and in order to break
+the monotony of it he planned a great hunt in the neighbouring
+forest.
+
+Early one morning he set out, and soon a tall stag was roused from its
+bed among the ferns by the noise of the hunters' horns. The hounds
+were unleashed and the entire hunt followed in pursuit, Gugemar the
+foremost of all. But, closely as he pursued, the quarry eluded the
+knight, and to his chagrin he was left alone in the forest spaces with
+nothing to show for his long chase. He was about to ride back in
+search of his companions when on a sudden he noticed a doe hiding in a
+thicket with her fawn. She was white from ear to hoof, without a
+spot. Gugemar's hounds, rushing at her, held her at bay, and their
+master, fitting an arrow to his bow, loosed the shaft at her so that
+she was wounded above the hoof and brought to earth. But the
+treacherous arrow, glancing, returned to Gugemar and wounded him
+grievously in the thigh.
+
+As he lay on the earth faint and with his senses almost deserting him,
+Gugemar heard the doe speak to him in human accents:
+
+"Wretch who hast slain me," said she, "think not to escape my
+vengeance. Never shall leech nor herb nor balm cure the wound which
+fate hath so justly inflicted upon thee. Only canst thou be healed by
+a woman who loves thee, and who for that love shall have to suffer
+such woe and sorrow as never woman had to endure before. Thou too
+shalt suffer equally with her, and the sorrows of ye twain shall be
+the wonder of lovers for all time. Leave me now to die in peace."
+
+Gugemar was in sore dismay at hearing these words, for never had he
+sought lady's love nor had he cared for the converse of women. Winding
+his horn, he succeeded in attracting one of his followers to the spot,
+and sent him in search of his companions. When he had gone Gugemar
+tore his linen shirt in pieces and bound up his wound as well as he
+might. Then, dragging himself most painfully into the saddle, he rode
+from the scene of his misadventure at as great a pace as his injury
+would permit of, for he had conceived a plan which he did not desire
+should be interfered with.
+
+Riding at a hand-gallop, he soon came in sight of tall cliffs which
+overlooked the sea, and which formed a natural harbour, wherein lay a
+vessel richly beseen. Its sails were of spun silk, and each plank and
+mast was fashioned of ebony. Dismounting, Gugemar made his way to the
+shore, and with much labour climbed upon the ship. Neither mariner nor
+merchant was therein. A large pavilion of silk covered part of the
+deck, and within this was a rich bed, the work of the cunning
+artificers of the days of King Solomon. It was fashioned of cypress
+wood and ivory, and much gold and many gems went to the making of it.
+The clothes with which it was provided were fair and white as snow,
+and so soft the pillow that he who laid his head upon it, sad as he
+might be, could not resist sleep. The pavilion was lit by two large
+waxen candles, set in candlesticks of gold.
+
+As the knight sat gazing at this splendid couch fit for a king he
+suddenly became aware that the ship was moving seaward. Already,
+indeed, he was far from land, and at the sight he grew more sorrowful
+than before, for his hurt made him helpless and he could not hope
+either to guide the vessel or manage her so that he might return to
+shore. Resigning himself to circumstances, he lay down upon the ornate
+bed and sank into a deep and dreamless slumber.
+
+[Illustration: GUGEMAR COMES UPON THE MAGIC SHIP]
+
+When he awoke he found to his intense surprise that the ship had come
+to the port of an ancient city. Now the king of this realm was an aged
+man who was wedded to a young, fair lady, of whom he was, after the
+manner of old men, intensely jealous. The castle of this monarch
+frowned upon a fair garden enclosed from the sea by a high wall of
+green marble, so that if one desired to come to the castle he must do
+so from the water. The place was straitly watched by vigilant
+warders, and within the wall so carefully defended lay the Queen's
+bower, a fairer chamber than any beneath the sun, and decorated with
+the most marvellous paintings. Here dwelt the young Queen with one of
+her ladies, her own sister's child, who was devoted to her service and
+who never quitted her side. The key of this bower was in the hands of
+an aged priest, who was also the Queen's servitor.
+
+One day on awaking from sleep the Queen walked in the garden and
+espied a ship drawing near the land. Suddenly, she knew not why, she
+grew very fearful, and would have fled at the sight, but her maiden
+encouraged her to remain. The vessel came to shore, and the Queen's
+maiden entered it. No one could she see on board except a knight
+sleeping soundly within the pavilion, and he was so pale that she
+thought he was dead. Returning to her mistress, she told her what she
+had seen, and together they entered the vessel.
+
+No sooner did the Queen behold Gugemar than she was deeply smitten
+with love for him. In a transport of fear lest he were dead she placed
+her hand upon his bosom, and was overjoyed to feel the warmth of life
+within him and that his heart beat strongly. At her touch he awoke and
+courteously saluted her. She asked him whence he came and to what
+nation he belonged.
+
+"Lady," he replied, "I am a knight of Brittany. But yesterday, or so
+it seems to me, for I may have slumbered more than a day, I wounded a
+deer in the forest, but the arrow with which I slew her rebounded and
+struck me sorely. Then the beast, being, I trow, a fairy deer, spake,
+saying that never would this wound be healed save by one damsel in the
+whole world, and her I know not where to find. Riding seaward, I came
+to where this ship lay moored, and, entering it, the vessel drifted
+oceanward. I know not to what land I have come, nor what name this
+city bears. I pray you, fair lady, give me your best counsel."
+
+The Queen listened to his tale with the deepest interest, and when
+Gugemar made his appeal for aid and counsel she replied: "Truly, fair
+sir, I shall counsel you as best I may. This city to which you have
+come belongs to my husband, who is its King. Of much worship is he,
+but stricken in years, and because of the jealousy he bears me he has
+shut me up between these high walls. If it please you you may tarry
+here awhile and we will tend your wound until it be healed."
+
+Gugemar, wearied and bewildered at the strange things which had
+happened to him in the space of a day, thanked the Queen, and accepted
+her kind offer of entertainment with alacrity. Between them the Queen
+and her lady assisted him to leave the ship and bore him to a chamber,
+where he was laid in a fair bed and had his wound carefully dressed.
+When the ladies had withdrawn and the knight was left to himself he
+knew that he loved the Queen. All memory of his home and even of his
+tormenting wound disappeared, and he could brood only upon the fair
+face of the royal lady who had so charmingly ministered to him.
+
+Meanwhile the Queen was in little better case. All night she could not
+sleep for pondering upon the handsome youth who had come so
+mysteriously into her life, and her maiden, seeing this, and marking
+how she suffered, went to Gugemar's chamber and told him in a frank
+and almost childlike manner how deeply her mistress had been smitten
+with love for him.
+
+"You are young," she said, "so is my lady. Her lord is old and their
+union is unseemly. Heaven intended you for one another and has brought
+you together in its own good time."
+
+Shortly, after she had heard Mass, the Queen summoned Gugemar into her
+presence. At first both were dumb with confusion. At last his passion
+urged Gugemar to speak, and his love-words came thick and fast. The
+Queen hearkened to them, and, feeling that they rang true, admitted
+that she loved him in return.
+
+For a year and a half Gugemar dwelt in the Queen's bower. Then the
+lovers met with misfortune.
+
+For some days before the blow fell the Queen had experienced a feeling
+of coming evil. So powerfully did this affect her that she begged
+Gugemar for a garment of his. The knight marvelled at the request, and
+asked her playfully for what reason she desired such a keepsake as a
+linen shift.
+
+"Friend," she replied, "if it chance that you leave me or that we are
+separated I shall fear that some other damsel may win your love. In
+this shift which you give me I shall make a knot, and shall ask you to
+vow that never will you give your love to dame or damsel who cannot
+untie this knot."
+
+The knight complied with her request, and she made such a cunning knot
+in the garment as only she could unravel. For his part Gugemar gave
+the Queen a wonderfully fashioned girdle which only he could unclasp,
+and he begged her that she would never grant her love to any man who
+could not free her from it. Each promised the other solemnly to
+respect the vows they had made.
+
+That same day their hidden love was discovered. A chamberlain of the
+King's observed them through a window of the Queen's bower, and,
+hastening to his master, told him what he had seen. In terrible wrath
+the King called for his guards, and, coming upon the lovers unaware,
+commanded them to slay Gugemar at once. But the knight seized upon a
+stout rod of fir-wood on which linen was wont to be dried, and faced
+those who would slay him so boldly that they fell back in dismay.
+
+The King questioned him as to his name and lineage, and Gugemar
+fearlessly related his story. The King was incredulous at first, but
+said that could the ship be found in which Gugemar had arrived he
+would place him upon it and send him once more out to sea. After
+search had been made the vessel was found, and Gugemar was placed on
+it, the ship began to move, and soon the knight was well at sea.
+
+Ere long the ship came to that harbour whence she had first sailed,
+and as Gugemar landed he saw to his surprise one of his own vassals
+holding a charger and accompanied by a knight. Mounting the steed,
+Gugemar swiftly rode home, where he was received with every
+demonstration of joy. But though his parents and friends did
+everything possible to make him happy, the memory of the fair Queen
+who had loved him was ever with him night and day, so that he might
+not be solaced by game or tilting, the chase or the dance. In vain
+those who wished him well urged him to take a wife. At first he
+roundly refused to consider such a step, but when eagerly pressed by
+his friends he announced that no wife should he wed who could not
+first unloose the knot within his shift. So sought after was Gugemar
+that all the damsels in Brittany essayed the feat, but none of them
+succeeded and each retired sorrowfully from the ordeal.
+
+Meanwhile the aged King had set his wife in a tower of grey marble,
+where she suffered agonies because of the absence of her lover. Ever
+she wondered what had happened to him, if he had regained his native
+shore or whether he had been swallowed up by the angry sea. Frequently
+she made loud moan, but there were none to hear her cries save
+stony-hearted gaolers, who were as dumb as the grey walls that
+enclosed her.
+
+One day she chanced in her dolour to lean heavily upon the door of her
+prison. To her amazement it opened, and she found herself in the
+corridor without. Hastening on impulse, and as if by instinct, to the
+harbour, she found there her lover's ship. Quickly she climbed upon
+its deck, and scarcely had she done so than the vessel began to move
+seaward. In great fear she sat still, and in time was wafted to a part
+of Brittany governed by one named Meriadus, who was on the point of
+going to war with a neighbouring chieftain.
+
+From his window Meriadus had seen the approach of the strange vessel,
+and, making his way to the seashore, entered the ship. Struck with the
+beauty of the Queen, he brought her to his castle, where he placed her
+in his sister's chamber. He strove in every way to dispel the sadness
+which seemed to envelop her like a mantle, but despite his efforts to
+please her she remained in sorrowful and doleful mood and would not be
+comforted. Sorely did Meriadus press her to wed him, but she would
+have none of him, and for answer showed him the girdle round her
+waist, saying that never would she give her love to any man who could
+not unloose its buckle. As she said this Meriadus seemed struck by her
+words.
+
+"Strange," he said, "a right worthy knight dwells in this land who
+will take no woman to his wife save she who can first untie a certain
+crafty knot in his shift. Well would I wager that it was you who tied
+this knot."
+
+When the Queen heard these words she well-nigh fainted. Meriadus
+rushed to succour her, and gradually she revived. Some days later
+Meriadus held a high tournament, at which all the knights who were to
+aid him in the war were to be present, among them Gugemar. A festival
+was held on the night preceding the tournament, at which Meriadus
+requested his sister and the stranger dame to be present. As the Queen
+entered the hall Gugemar rose from his place and stared at her as at a
+vision of the dead. In great doubt was he whether this lady was in
+truth his beloved.
+
+"Come, Gugemar," rallied Meriadus, "let this damsel try to unravel the
+knot in your shift which has puzzled so many fair dames."
+
+Gugemar called to his squire and bade him fetch the shift, and when it
+was brought the lady, without seeming effort, unravelled the knot. But
+even yet Gugemar remained uncertain.
+
+"Lady," he said, "tell me, I pray you, whether or not you wear a
+girdle with which I girt you in a realm across the sea," and placing
+his hands around her slender waist, he found there the secret belt.
+
+All his doubts dispelled, Gugemar asked his loved one how she had come
+to the tower of Meriadus. When he had heard, he then and there
+requested his ally to yield him the lady, but the chieftain roundly
+refused. Then the knight in great anger cast down his glove and took
+his departure, and, to the discomfiture of Meriadus, all those knights
+who had gathered for the tournament and had offered to assist Meriadus
+accompanied Gugemar.
+
+[Illustration: GUGEMAR'S ASSAULT ON THE CASTLE OF MERIADUS]
+
+In a body they rode to the castle of the prince who was at war with
+Meriadus, and next day they marched against the discourteous
+chieftain. Long did they besiege his castle, but at last when the
+defenders were weak with hunger Gugemar and his men assailed the place
+and took it, slaying Meriadus within the ruins of his own hall.
+Gugemar, rushing to that place where he knew his lady to be, called
+her forth, and in peace brought her back with him to his own demesne,
+where they were wed and dwelt long and happily.
+
+There are several circumstances connected with this beautiful old tale
+which deeply impress us with a belief in its antiquity. The incident
+of the killing of the deer and the incurable nature of Gugemar's wound
+are undoubtedly legacies from very ancient times, when it was believed
+to be unlucky under certain circumstances to kill a beast of the
+chase. Some savage races, such as the North American Indians, consider
+it to be most unlucky to slay a deer without first propitiating the
+great Deer God, the chief of the Deer Folk, and in fact they attribute
+most of the ills to which flesh is heir to the likelihood that they
+have omitted some of the very involved ritual of the chase. It will be
+remembered that Tristrem of Lyonesse also had an incurable wound, and
+there are other like instances in romance and myth.
+
+The vessel which carries Gugemar over the sea is undoubtedly of the
+same class as those magic self-propelled craft which we meet with very
+frequently in Celtic lore, and the introduction of this feature in
+itself is sufficient to convince us of the Celtic or Breton origin of
+Marie's tale. We have such a craft in the Grail legend in the _Morte
+d'Arthur_, in which Galahad finds precisely such a bed. The vessel in
+the Grail legend is described as "King Solomon's Ship," and it is
+obvious that Marie or her Breton original must have borrowed the idea
+from a Grail source.
+
+Lastly, the means adopted by the lovers to ensure one another's
+constancy seem very like the methods of taboo. The knot that may not
+or cannot be untied has many counterparts in ancient lore, and the
+girdle that no man but the accepted lover may loose is reminiscent of
+the days when a man placed such a girdle around his wife or sweetheart
+to signify his sole possession of her. If a man could succeed in
+purloining a mermaid's girdle she was completely in his power. So is
+it with fairies in an Algonquin Indian tale. Even so late as Crusading
+times many knights departing to fight in the Holy Land bound a girdle
+round their ladies' waists in the hope that the gift would ensure
+their faithfulness.
+
+
+_The Lay of Laustic_
+
+The Lay of Laustic, or the Nightingale, is purely of Breton origin,
+and indeed is proved to be so by its title. "Laustic, I deem, men name
+it in that country" (Brittany), says Marie in her preface to the lay,
+"which being interpreted means _rossignol_ in French and 'nightingale'
+in good plain English." She adds that the Breton harper has already
+made a lay concerning it--added evidence that the tale is of Celtic
+and not of French origin.
+
+In the ancient town of Saint-Malo, in Brittany, dwelt two knights
+whose valour and prowess brought much fame to the community. Their
+houses were close to one another, and one of them was married to a
+lady of surpassing loveliness, while the other was a bachelor. By
+insensible degrees the bachelor knight came to love his neighbour's
+wife, and so handsome and gallant was he that in time she returned his
+passion. He made every possible excuse for seeking her society, and on
+one pretext or another was constantly by her side. But he was
+exceedingly careful of her fair fame, and acted in such a way that not
+the slightest breath of scandal could touch her.
+
+Their houses were separated by an ancient stone wall of considerable
+height, but the lovers could speak together by leaning from their
+casements, and if this was impossible they could communicate by
+sending written messages. When the lady's husband was at home she was
+guarded carefully, as was the custom of the time, but nevertheless she
+contrived to greet her lover from the window as frequently as she
+desired.
+
+In due course the wondrous time of spring came round, with white drift
+of blossom and stir of life newly awakened. The short night hours grew
+warm, and often did the lady arise from bed to have speech with her
+lover at the casement. Her husband grew displeased by her frequent
+absences, which disturbed his rest, and wrathfully inquired the reason
+why she quitted his side so often.
+
+"Oh, husband," she replied, "I cannot rest because of the sweet song
+of the nightingale, whose music has cast a spell upon my heart. No
+tune of harp or viol can compare with it, and I may not close my eyes
+so long as his song continues in the night."
+
+Now the lady's husband, although a bold and hardy knight, was
+malicious and ungenerous, and, disliking to have his rest disturbed,
+resolved to deal summarily with the nightingale. So he gave orders to
+his servants to set traps in the garden and to smear every bough and
+branch with birdlime in order that the bird might speedily be taken.
+His orders were at once carried out, and the garden was filled with
+nets, while the cruel lime glittered upon every tree. So complete were
+the preparations of the serving-men that an unfortunate nightingale
+which had made the garden its haunt and had filled it with music for
+many a night while the lovers talked was taken and brought to the
+knight.
+
+Swiftly he bore the hapless bird to his wife's chamber, his eyes
+sparkling with malicious glee.
+
+"Here is your precious songster," he said, with bitter irony. "You
+will be happy to learn that you and I may now spend our sleeping hours
+in peace since he is taken."
+
+"Ah, slay him not, my lord!" she cried in anguish, for she had grown
+to associate the bird's sweet song with the sweeter converse of her
+lover--to regard it as in a measure an accompaniment to his
+love-words. For answer her husband seized the unhappy bird by the neck
+and wrung its head off. Then he cast the little body into the lap of
+the dame, soiling her with its blood, and departed in high anger.
+
+The lady pitifully raised what was left of the dead songster and
+bitterly lamented over it.
+
+"Woe is me!" she cried. "Never again can I meet with my lover at the
+casement, and he will believe that I am faithless to him. But I shall
+devise some means to let him know that this is not so."
+
+Having considered as to what she should do, the lady took a fine piece
+of white samite, broidered with gold, and worked upon it as on a
+tapestry the whole story of the nightingale, so that her knight might
+not be ignorant of the nature of the barrier that had arisen between
+them.
+
+In this silken shroud she wrapped the small, sad body of the slain
+bird and gave it in charge of a trusty servant to bear to her lover.
+The messenger told the knight what had occurred. The news was heavy to
+him, but now, having insight to the vengeful nature of her husband, he
+feared to jeopardize the lady's safety, so he remained silent. But he
+caused a rich coffer to be made in fine gold, set with precious
+stones, in which he laid the body of the nightingale, and this small
+funeral urn he carried about with him on all occasions, nor could any
+circumstance hinder him from keeping it constantly beside him.
+
+  Wrap me love's ashes in a golden cloth
+  To carry next my heart. Love's fire is out,
+  And these poor embers grey, but I am loath
+  To quench remembrance also: I shall put
+  His relics over that they did consume.
+  Ah, 'tis too bitter cold these cinders to relume!
+
+  Place me love's ashes in a golden cup,
+  To mingle with my wine. Ah, do not fear
+  The old flame in my soul shall flicker up
+  At the harsh taste of what was once so dear.
+  I quaff no fire: there is no fire to meet
+  This bitterness of death and turn it into sweet.
+
+
+_The Lay of Eliduc_
+
+In the tale of Eliduc we have in all probability a genuine product of
+native Breton romance. So at least avers Marie, who assures us that it
+is "a very ancient Breton lay," and we have no reason to doubt her
+word, seeing that, had she been prone to literary dishonesty, it would
+have been much easier for her to have passed off the tale as her own
+original conception. There is, of course, the probability that it was
+so widely known in its Breton version that to have done so would have
+been to have openly courted the charge of plagiarism--an impeachment
+which it is not possible to bring against this most charming and
+delightful poetess.
+
+Eliduc, a knight of Brittany, was happy in the confidence of his King,
+who, when affairs of State caused his absence from the realm, left his
+trusted adherent behind him as viceroy and regent. Such a man, staunch
+and loyal, could scarcely be without enemies, and the harmless
+pleasure he took in the chase during the King's absence was construed
+by evil counsellors on the monarch's return as an unwarranted licence
+with the royal rights of venery. The enemies of Eliduc so harped upon
+the knight's supposed lack of reverence for the royal authority that
+at length the King's patience gave way and in an outburst of wrath he
+gave orders for Eliduc's banishment, without vouchsafing his former
+friend and confidant the least explanation of this petulant action.
+
+Dismayed by the sudden change in his fortunes, Eliduc returned to his
+house, and there acquainted his friends and vassals with the King's
+unjust decree. He told them that it was his intention to cross the sea
+to the kingdom of Logres, to sojourn there for a space. He placed his
+estates in the hands of his wife and begged of his vassals that they
+would serve her loyally. Then, having settled his affairs, he took ten
+knights of his household and started upon his journey. His wife,
+Guildeluec, accompanied him for several miles, and on parting they
+pledged good faith to one another.
+
+In due time the cavalcade came to the seashore and took ship for the
+realm of Logres. Near Exeter, in this land, dwelt an aged king who
+had for his heir a daughter called Guillardun. This damsel had been
+asked in marriage by a neighbouring prince, and as her father had
+refused to listen to his proposals the disappointed suitor made war
+upon him, spoiling and wasting his land. The old King, fearful for his
+child's safety, had shut her up in a strong castle for her better
+security and his own peace of mind.
+
+Now Eliduc, coming to that land, heard the tale of the quarrel between
+the King and his neighbour, and considered as to which side he should
+take. After due deliberation he arranged to fight on the side of the
+King, with whom he offered to take service. His offer was gratefully
+accepted, and he had not been long in the royal host when he had an
+opportunity of distinguishing himself. The town wherein he was lodged
+with his knights was attacked by the enemy. He set his men in ambush
+in a forest track by which it was known the enemy would approach the
+town, and succeeded in routing them and in taking large numbers of
+prisoners and much booty. This feat of arms raised him high in the
+estimation of the King, who showed him much favour, and the Princess,
+hearing of his fame, became very desirous of beholding him. She sent
+her chamberlain to Eliduc saying that she wished to hear the story of
+his deeds, and he, quite as anxious to see the imprisoned Princess of
+whom he had heard so much, set out at once. On beholding each other
+they experienced deep agitation. Eliduc thought that never had he seen
+so beautiful and graceful a maiden, and Guillardun that this was the
+most handsome and comely knight she had ever met.
+
+For a long time they spoke together, and then Eliduc took his leave
+and departed. He counted all the time lost that he had remained in the
+kingdom without knowing this lady, but he promised himself that now he
+would frequently seek her society. Then, with a pang of remorse, he
+thought of his good and faithful wife and the sacred promise he had
+made her.
+
+Guillardun, on her part, was none the less ill at ease. She passed a
+restless night, and in the morning confided her case to her aged
+chamberlain, who was almost a second father to her, and he, all
+unwitting that Eliduc was already bound in wedlock to another,
+suggested that the Princess should send the knight a love-token to
+discover by the manner in which he received it whether or not her love
+was returned. Guillardun took this advice, and sent her lover a girdle
+and a ring by the hands of the chamberlain. On receiving the token
+Eliduc showed the greatest joy, girded the belt about his middle, and
+placed the ring on his finger. The chamberlain returned to the
+Princess and told her with what evident satisfaction Eliduc had
+received the gifts. But the Princess in her eagerness showered
+questions upon him, until at last the old man grew impatient.
+
+"Lady," he said, somewhat testily, "I have told you the knight's
+words; I cannot tell you his thoughts, for he is a prudent gentleman
+who knows well what to hide in his heart."
+
+Although he rejoiced at the gifts Eliduc had but little peace of mind.
+He could think of nothing save the vow he had made to his wife before
+he left her. But thoughts of the Princess would intrude themselves
+upon him. Often he saw Guillardun, and although he saluted her with a
+kiss, as was the custom of the time, he never spoke a single word of
+love to her, being fearful on the one hand of breaking his conjugal
+vow and on the other of offending the King.
+
+One evening when Eliduc was announced the King was in his daughter's
+chamber, playing at chess with a stranger lord. He welcomed the knight
+heartily, and much to the embarrassment of the lovers begged his
+daughter to cherish a closer friendship for Eliduc, whom he brought to
+her notice as a right worthy knight. The pair withdrew somewhat from
+the others, as if for the purpose of furthering the friendship which
+the old King so ardently seemed to desire, and Eliduc thanked the
+Princess for the gifts she had sent him by the chamberlain. Then the
+Princess, taking advantage of her rank, told Eliduc that she desired
+him for her husband, and that, did he refuse her, she would die
+unwed.
+
+"Lady," replied the knight, "I have great joy in your love, but have
+you thought that I may not always tarry in this land? I am your
+father's man until this war hath an end. Then shall I return unto mine
+own country." But Guillardun, in a transport of love, told him she
+would trust him entirely with her heart, and passing great was the
+affection that grew between them.
+
+Eliduc, in spite of his love for the Princess, had by no means
+permitted his conduct of the war to flag. Indeed, if anything, he
+redoubled his efforts, and pressed the foe so fiercely that at length
+he was forced to submit. And now news came to him that his old master,
+the King who had banished him from Brittany, was sore bestead by an
+enemy and was searching for his former vice-regent on every hand, who
+was so mighty a knight in the field and so sage at the council-board.
+Turning upon the false lords who had spoken evil of his favourite, he
+outlawed them from the land for ever. He sent messengers east and
+west and across the seas in search of Eliduc, who when he heard the
+news was much dismayed, so greatly did he love Guillardun. These twain
+had loved with a pure and tender passion, and never by word or deed
+had they sullied the affection they bore one another. Dearly did the
+Princess hope that Eliduc might remain in her land and become her
+lord, and little did she dream that he was wedded to a wife across the
+seas. For his part Eliduc took close counsel with himself. He knew by
+reason of the fealty he owed to his King that he must return to
+Brittany, but he was equally aware that if he parted from Guillardun
+one or other of them must die.
+
+Deep was the chagrin of the King of Logres when he learned that Eliduc
+must depart from his realm, but deeper far was his daughter's grief
+when the knight came to bid her farewell. In moving words she urged
+him to remain, and when she found that his loyalty was proof even
+against his love, she begged of him to take her with him to Brittany.
+But this request he turned aside, on the plea that as he had served
+her father he could not so offend him as by the theft of his daughter.
+He promised, however, by all he held most dear that he would return
+one day, and with much sorrow the two parted, exchanging rings for
+remembrance.
+
+Eliduc took ship and swiftly crossed the sea. He met with a joyous
+reception from his King, and none was so glad at his return as his
+wife. But gradually his lady began to see that he had turned cold to
+her. She charged him with it, and he replied that he had pledged his
+faith to the foreign lord whom he had served abroad.
+
+Very soon through his conduct the war was brought to a victorious
+close, and almost immediately thereafter Eliduc repaired across the
+sea to Logres, taking with him two of his nephews as his squires. On
+reaching Logres he at once went to visit Guillardun, who received him
+with great gladness. She returned with him to his ship, which
+commenced the return voyage at once, but when they neared the
+dangerous coast of Brittany a sudden tempest arose, and waxed so
+fierce that the mariners lost all hope of safety. One of them cried
+out that the presence of Guillardun on board the ship endangered all
+their lives and that the conduct of Eliduc, who had already a faithful
+wife, in seeking to wed this foreign woman had brought about their
+present dangerous position. Eliduc grew very wroth, and when
+Guillardun heard that her knight was already wedded she swooned and
+all regarded her as dead. In despair Eliduc fell upon his betrayer,
+slew him, and cast his body into the sea. Then, guiding the ship with
+a seaman's skill, he brought her into harbour.
+
+When they were safely anchored, Eliduc conceived the idea of taking
+Guillardun, whom he regarded as dead, to a certain chapel in a great
+forest quite near his own home. Setting her body before him on his
+palfrey, he soon came to the little shrine, and making a bier of the
+altar laid Guillardun upon it. He then betook him to his own house,
+but the next morning returned to the chapel in the forest. Mourning
+over the body of his lady-love, he was surprised to observe that the
+colour still remained in her cheeks and lips. Again and again he
+visited the chapel, and his wife, marvelling whither he went, bribed a
+varlet to discover the object of his repeated absences. The man
+watched Eliduc and saw him enter the chapel and mourn over the body
+of Guillardun, and, returning, acquainted his lady with what he had
+seen.
+
+Guildeluec--for such, we will remember, was the name of Eliduc's
+wife--set out for the shrine, and with astonishment beheld the
+lifelike form of Guillardun laid on the altar. So pitiful was the
+sight that she herself could not refrain from the deepest sorrow. As
+she sat weeping a weasel came from under the altar and ran across
+Guillardun's body, and the varlet who attended Guildeluec struck at it
+with his staff and killed it. Another weasel issued, and, beholding
+its dead comrade, went forth from the chapel and hastened to the wood,
+whence it returned, bearing in its mouth a red flower, which it placed
+on the mouth of its dead companion. The weasel which Guildeluec had
+believed to be dead at once stood up. Beholding this, the varlet cast
+his staff at the animals and they sped away, leaving the red flower
+behind them.
+
+[Illustration: ELIDUC CARRIES GUILLARDUN TO THE FOREST CHAPEL]
+
+Guildeluec immediately picked the flower up, and returning with it to
+the altar where Guillardun lay, placed it on the maiden's mouth. In a
+few moments she heard a sigh, and Guillardun sat up, and inquired if
+she had slept long. Guildeluec asked her name and degree, and
+Guillardun in reply acquainted her with her history and lineage,
+speaking very bitterly of Eliduc, who, she said, had betrayed her in a
+strange land. Guildeluec declared herself the wife of Eliduc, told
+Guillardun how deeply the knight had grieved for her, and declared her
+intention of taking the veil and releasing Eliduc from his marriage
+vow. She conducted Guillardun to her home, where they met Eliduc, who
+rejoiced greatly at the restoration of his lady-love. His wife
+founded a convent with the rich portion he bestowed upon her, and
+Eliduc, in thankfulness for Guillardun's recovery, built a fair church
+close by his castle and endowed it bountifully, and close beside it
+erected a great monastery. Later Guillardun entered the convent of
+which Guildeluec was the abbess, and Eliduc, himself feeling the call
+of the holy life, devoted himself to the service of God in the
+monastery. Messages passed between convent and monastery in which
+Eliduc and the holy women encouraged each other in the pious life
+which they had chosen, and by degrees the three who had suffered so
+greatly came to regard their seclusion as far preferable to the world
+and all its vanities.
+
+
+_The Lay of Equitan_
+
+The Lay of Equitan is one of Marie's most famous tales. Equitan was
+King of Nantes, in Brittany, and led the life of a pleasure-seeker. To
+win approval from the eyes of fair ladies was more to him than
+knightly fame or honour.
+
+Equitan had as seneschal a trusty and faithful knight, who was to the
+pleasure-loving seigneur as his right hand. This faithful servant was
+also captain of Equitan's army, and sat as a judge in his courts. To
+his undoing he had a wife, as fair a dame as any in the duchy of
+Brittany. "Her eyes," says the old lay, "were blue, her face was warm
+in colour, her mouth fragrant and her nose dainty." She was ever
+tastefully dressed and courtly in demeanour, and soon attracted the
+attention of such an admirer of the fair sex as Equitan, who desired
+to speak with her more intimately. He therefore, as a subterfuge,
+announced that a great hunt would take place in that part of his
+domains in which his seneschal's castle was situated, and this gave
+him the opportunity of sojourning at the castle and holding converse
+with the lady, with whom he became so charmed that in a few days he
+fell deeply in love with her. On the night of the day when he first
+became aware that he loved her Equitan lay tossing on his bed, in a
+torment of fiery emotion. He debated with himself in what manner he
+should convey to his seneschal's wife the fact that he loved her, and
+at length prepared a plot which he thought would be likely to
+succeed.
+
+Next day he rose as usual and made all arrangements to proceed with
+the chase. But shortly after setting out he returned, pleading that he
+had fallen sick, and took to his bed. The faithful seneschal could not
+divine what had occurred to render his lord so seriously indisposed as
+he appeared to be, and requested his wife to go to him to see if she
+could minister to him and cheer his drooping spirits.
+
+The lady went to Equitan, who received her dolefully enough. He told
+her without reserve that the malady from which he suffered was none
+other than love for herself, and that did she not consent to love him
+in return he would surely die. The dame at first dissented, but,
+carried away by the fiery eloquence of his words, she at last assured
+him of her love, and they exchanged rings as a token of troth and
+trust.
+
+The love of Equitan and the seneschal's wife was discovered by none,
+and when they desired to meet he arranged to go hunting in the
+neighbourhood of the seneschal's castle. Shortly after they had
+plighted their troth the great barons of the realm approached the
+King with a proposal that he should marry, but Equitan would have none
+of this, nor would he listen to even his most trusted advisers with
+regard to such a subject. The nobles were angered at his curt and even
+savage refusal to hearken to them, and the commons were also greatly
+disturbed because of the lack of a successor. The echoes of the
+disagreement reached the ears of the seneschal's wife, who was much
+perturbed thereby, being aware that the King had come to this decision
+for love of her.
+
+At their next meeting she broached the subject to her royal lover,
+lamenting that they had ever met.
+
+"Now are my good days gone," she said, weeping, "for you will wed some
+king's daughter as all men say, and I shall certainly die if I lose
+you thus."
+
+"Nay, that will not be," replied Equitan. "Never shall I wed except
+your husband die."
+
+The lady felt that he spoke truly, but in an evil moment she came to
+attach a sinister meaning to the words Equitan had employed regarding
+her husband. Day and night she brooded on them, for well she knew that
+did her husband die Equitan would surely wed her. By insensible
+degrees she came to regard her husband's death as a good rather than
+an evil thing, and little by little Equitan, who at first looked upon
+the idea with horror, became converted to her opinion. Between them
+they hatched a plot for the undoing of the seneschal. It was arranged
+that the King should go hunting as usual in the neighbourhood of his
+faithful servant's castle. While lodging in the castle, the King and
+the seneschal would be bled in the old surgical manner for their
+health's sake, and three days after would bathe before leaving the
+chamber they occupied, and the heartless wife suggested that she
+should make her husband's bath so fiercely hot that he would not
+survive after entering it. One would think that the seneschal would
+easily have been able to escape such a simple trap, but we must
+remember that the baths of Norman times were not shaped like our own,
+but were exceedingly deep, and indeed some of them were in form almost
+like those immense upright jars such as the forty thieves were
+concealed in in the story of Ali Baba, so that in many cases it was
+not easy for the bather to tell whether the water into which he was
+stepping was hot or otherwise.
+
+The plot was carried out as the lady had directed, but not without
+much misgiving on the part of Equitan. The King duly arrived at the
+castle, and announced his intention to be bled, requesting that the
+seneschal should undergo the same operation at the same time, and
+occupy the same chamber by way of companionship. Then after the leech
+had bled them the King asked that he might have a bath before leaving
+his apartment, and the seneschal requested that his too should be made
+ready. Accordingly on the third day the baths were brought to the
+chamber, and the lady occupied herself with filling them. While she
+was doing so her lord left the chamber for a space, and during his
+absence the King and the lady were clasped in each other's arms. So
+rapt were the pair in their amorous dalliance that they failed to
+notice the return of the seneschal, who, when he saw them thus
+engaged, uttered an exclamation of surprise and wrath. Equitan,
+turning quickly, saw him, and with a cry of despair leapt into the
+bath that the lady had prepared for the seneschal, and there perished
+miserably, while the enraged husband, seizing his faithless wife,
+thrust her headlong into the boiling water beside her lover, where she
+too was scalded to death.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Ash-Tree_
+
+In olden times there dwelt in Brittany two knights who were neighbours
+and close friends. Both were married, and one was the father of twin
+sons, one of whom he christened by the name of his friend. Now this
+friend had a wife who was envious of heart and rancorous of tongue,
+and on hearing that two sons had been born to her neighbour she spoke
+slightingly and cruelly about her, saying that to bear twins was ever
+a disgrace. Her evil words were spread abroad, and at last as a result
+of her malicious speech the good lady's husband himself began to doubt
+and suspect the wife who had never for a moment given him the least
+occasion to do so.
+
+Strangely enough, within the year two daughters were born to the lady
+of the slanderous tongue, who now deeply lamented the wrong she had
+done, but all to no purpose. Fearful of the gossip which she thought
+the event would occasion, she gave one of the children to a faithful
+handmaiden, with directions that it should be laid on the steps of a
+church, where it might be picked up as a foundling and nourished by
+some stranger. The babe was wrapped in a linen cloth, which again was
+covered with a beautiful piece of red silk that the lady's husband had
+purchased in the East, and a handsome ring engraved with the family
+insignia and set with garnets was bound to the infant's arm with
+silken lace. When the child had thus been attired the damsel took it
+and carried it for many miles into the country, until at last she came
+to a city where there was a large and fair abbey. Breathing a prayer
+that the child might have proper guardianship, the girl placed it on
+the abbey steps as her mistress had ordered her to do, but, afraid
+that it might catch cold on such a chilly bed, she looked around and
+saw an ash-tree, thick and leafy, with four strong branches, among the
+foliage of which she deposited the little one, commending it to the
+care of God, after which she returned to her mistress and acquainted
+her with what had passed.
+
+In the morning the abbey porter opened the great doors of the house of
+God so that the people might enter for early Mass. As he was thus
+engaged his eye caught the gleam of red silk among the leaves of the
+ash-tree, and going to it he discovered the deserted infant. Taking
+the babe from its resting-place, he returned with it to his house,
+and, awaking his daughter, who was a widow with a baby yet in the
+cradle, he asked her to cherish it and care for it. Both father and
+daughter could see from the crimson silk and the great signet ring
+that the child was of noble birth. The porter told the abbess of his
+discovery, and she requested him to bring the child to her, dressed
+precisely as it had been found. On beholding the infant a great
+compassion was aroused in the breast of the holy woman, who resolved
+to bring up the child herself, calling her her niece, and since she
+was taken from the ash giving her the name of Fr�ne.
+
+Fr�ne grew up one of the fairest damsels in Brittany. She was frank in
+manner, yet modest and discreet in bearing and speech. At Dol,
+where, as we have read, there is a great menhir and other prehistoric
+monuments, there lived a lord called Buron, who, hearing reports of
+Fr�ne's beauty and sweetness, greatly desired to behold her.
+Riding home from a tournament, he passed near the convent, and,
+alighting there, paid his respects to the abbess, and begged that he
+might see her niece. Buron at once fell in love with the maiden, and
+in order to gain favour with the abbess bestowed great riches upon the
+establishment over which she presided, requesting in return that he
+might be permitted to occupy a small apartment in the abbey should he
+chance to be in the neighbourhood.
+
+In this way he frequently saw and spoke with Fr�ne, who in turn fell
+in love with him. He persuaded her to fly with him to his castle,
+taking with her the silken cloth and ring with which she had been
+found.
+
+But the lord's tenants were desirous that he should marry, and had set
+their hearts upon his union with a rich lady named Coudre, daughter of
+a neighbouring baron. The marriage was arranged, greatly to the grief
+of Fr�ne, and duly took place. Going to Buron's bridal chamber, she
+considered it too mean, blinded with love as she was, for such as he,
+and placed the wondrous piece of crimson silk in which she had been
+wrapped as an infant over the coverlet. Presently the bride's mother
+entered the bridal chamber in order to see that all was fitting for
+her daughter's reception there. Gazing at the crimson coverlet, she
+recognized it as that in which she had wrapped her infant daughter.
+She anxiously inquired to whom it belonged, and was told that it was
+Fr�ne's. Going to the damsel, she questioned her as to where she had
+obtained the silk, and was told by Fr�ne that the abbess had given it
+to her along with a ring which had been found upon her when, as an
+infant, she had been discovered within the branches of the ash-tree.
+
+The mother asked anxiously to see the ring, and on beholding it told
+Fr�ne of their relationship, which at the same time she confessed to
+her husband, the baron. The father was overjoyed to meet with a
+daughter he had never known, and hastened to the bridegroom to
+acquaint him with Fr�ne's story. Great joy had Buron, and the
+archbishop who had joined him to Coudre gave counsel that they should
+be parted according to the rites of the Church and that Buron should
+marry Fr�ne. This was accordingly done, and when Fr�ne's parents
+returned to their own domain they found another husband for Coudre.
+
+
+_The Lay of Graelent_
+
+Graelent was a Breton knight dwelling at the Court of the King of
+Brittany, a very pillar to him in war, bearing himself valiantly in
+tourney and joust. So handsome and brave was he that the Queen fell
+madly in love with him, and asked her chamberlain to bring the knight
+into her presence. When he came she praised him greatly to his face,
+not only for his gallantry in battle, but also for his comeliness; but
+at her honeyed words the youth, quite abashed, sat silent, saying
+nothing. The Queen at last questioned him if his heart was set on any
+maid or dame, to which he replied that it was not, that love was a
+serious business and not to be taken in jest.
+
+"Many speak glibly of love," he said, "of whom not one can spell the
+first letter of its name. Love should be quiet and discreet or it is
+nothing worth, and without accord between the lovers love is but a
+bond and a constraint. Love is too high a matter for me to meddle
+with."
+
+The Queen listened greedily to Graelent's words, and when he had
+finished speaking she discovered her love for him; but he turned from
+her courteously but firmly.
+
+"Lady," he said, "I beg your forgiveness, but this may not be. I am
+the King's man, and to him I have pledged my faith and loyalty. Never
+shall he know shame through any conduct of mine."
+
+With these words he took his leave of the Queen. But his protestations
+had altered her mind not at all. She sent him messages daily, and
+costly gifts, but these he refused and returned, till at last the
+royal dame, stung to anger by his repulses, conceived a violent hatred
+for him, and resolved to be revenged upon him for the manner in which
+he had scorned her love.
+
+The King of Brittany went to war with a neighbouring monarch, and
+Graelent bore himself manfully in the conflict, leading his troops
+again and again to victory. Hearing of his repeated successes, the
+Queen was exceedingly mortified, and made up her mind to destroy his
+popularity with the troops. With this end in view she prevailed upon
+the King to withhold the soldiers' pay, which Graelent had to advance
+them out of his own means. In the end the unfortunate knight was
+reduced almost to beggary by this mean stratagem.
+
+One morning he was riding through the town where he was lodged, clad
+in garments so shabby that the wealthy burgesses in their fur-lined
+cloaks and rich apparel gibed and jeered at him, but Graelent, sure of
+his own worth, deigned not to take notice of such ill-breeding, and
+for his solace quitted the crowded streets of the place and took his
+way toward the great forest which skirted it. He rode into its gloom
+deep in thought, listening to the murmur of the river which flowed
+through the leafy ways.
+
+He had not gone far when he espied a white hart within a thicket. She
+fled before him into the thickest part of the forest, but the silvern
+glimmer of her body showed the track she had taken. On a sudden deer
+and horseman dashed into a clearing among the trees where there was a
+grassy lawn, in the midst of which sprang a fountain of clear water.
+In this fountain a lady was bathing, and two attendant maidens stood
+near. Now Graelent believed that the lady must be a fairy, and knowing
+well that the only way to capture such a being was to seize her
+garments, he looked around for these, and seeing them lying upon a
+bush he laid hands upon them.
+
+The attendant women at this set up a loud outcry, and the lady herself
+turned to where he sat his horse and called him by name.
+
+"Graelent, what do you hope to gain by the theft of my raiment?" she
+asked. "Have you, a knight, sunk so low as to behave like a common
+pilferer? Take my mantle if you must, but pray spare me my gown."
+
+Graelent laughed at the lady's angry words, and told her that he was
+no huckster. He then begged her to don her garments, as he desired to
+have speech with her. After her women had attired her, Graelent took
+her by the hand and, leading her a little space away from her
+attendants, told her that he had fallen deeply in love with her. But
+the lady frowned and seemed at first offended.
+
+"You do not know to whom you proffer your love," she said. "Are you
+aware that my birth and lineage render it an impertinence for a mere
+knight to seek to ally himself with me?"
+
+But Graelent had a most persuasive tongue, and the deep love he had
+conceived for the lady rendered him doubly eloquent on this occasion.
+At last the fairy-woman, for such she was, was quite carried away by
+his words, and granted him the boon he craved.
+
+"There is, however, one promise I must exact from you," she said, "and
+that is that never shall you mention me to mortal man. I on my part
+shall assist you in every possible manner. You shall never be without
+gold in your purse nor costly apparel to wear. Day and night shall I
+remain with you, and in war and in the chase will ride by your side,
+visible to you alone, unseen by your companions. For a year must you
+remain in this country. Now noon has passed and you must go. A
+messenger shall shortly come to you to tell you of my wishes."
+
+Graelent took leave of the lady and kissed her farewell. Returning to
+his lodgings in the town, he was leaning from the casement considering
+his strange adventure when he saw a varlet issuing from the forest
+riding upon a palfrey. The man rode up the cobbled street straight to
+Graelent's lodgings, where he dismounted and, entering, told the
+knight that his lady had sent him with the palfrey as a present, and
+begged that he would accept the services of her messenger to take
+charge of his lodgings and manage his affairs.
+
+The serving-man quickly altered the rather poor appearance of
+Graelent's apartment. He spread a rich coverlet upon his couch and
+produced a well-filled purse and rich apparel. Graelent at once sought
+out all the poor knights of the town and feasted them to their hearts'
+content. From this moment he fared sumptuously every day. His lady
+appeared whenever he desired her to, and great was the love between
+them. Nothing more had he to wish for in this life.
+
+A year passed in perfect happiness for the knight, and at its
+termination the King held a great feast on the occasion of Pentecost.
+To this feast Sir Graelent was bidden. All day the knights and barons
+and their ladies feasted, and the King, having drunk much wine, grew
+boastful. Requesting the Queen to stand forth on the da�s, he asked
+the assembled nobles if they had ever beheld so fair a dame as she.
+The lords were loud in their praise of the Queen, save Graelent only.
+He sat with bent head, smiling strangely, for he knew of a lady fairer
+by far than any lady in that Court. The Queen was quick to notice this
+seeming discourtesy, and pointed it out to the King, who summoned
+Graelent to the steps of the throne.
+
+"How now, Sir Knight," said the King; "wherefore did you sneer when
+all other men praised the Queen's beauty?"
+
+"Sire," replied Graelent, "you do yourself much dishonour by such a
+deed. You make your wife a show upon a stage and force your nobles to
+praise her with lies when in truth a fairer dame than she could very
+easily be found."
+
+Now when she heard this the Queen was greatly angered and prayed her
+husband to compel Graelent to bring to the Court her of whom he
+boasted so proudly.
+
+"Set us side by side," cried the infuriated Queen, "and if she be
+fairer than I before men's eyes, Graelent may go in peace, but if not
+let justice be done upon him."
+
+The King, stirred to anger at these words, ordered his guards to seize
+Graelent, swearing that he should never issue from prison till the
+lady of whom he had boasted should come to Court and pit herself
+against the Queen. Graelent was then cast into a dungeon, but he
+thought little of this indignity, fearing much more that his rashness
+had broken the bond betwixt him and his fairy bride. After a while he
+was set at liberty, on pledging his word that he would return bringing
+with him the lady whom he claimed as fairer than the Queen.
+
+Leaving the Court, he betook himself to his lodging, and called upon
+his lady, but received no answer. Again he called, but without result,
+and believing that his fairy bride had utterly abandoned him he gave
+way to despair. In a year's time Graelent returned to the Court and
+admitted his failure.
+
+"Sir Graelent," said the King, "wherefore should you not be punished?
+You have slandered the Queen in the most unknightly manner, and given
+the lie to those nobles who must now give judgment against you."
+
+The nobles retired to consider their judgment upon Graelent. For a
+long time they debated, for most of them were friendly to him and
+he had been extremely popular at Court. In the midst of their
+deliberations a page entered and prayed them to postpone judgment,
+as two damsels had arrived at the palace and were having speech with
+the King concerning Graelent. The damsels told the King that their
+mistress was at hand, and begged him to wait for her arrival, as she
+had come to uphold Graelent's challenge. Hearing this, the Queen
+quitted the hall, and shortly after she had gone a second pair of
+damsels appeared bearing a similar message for the King. Lastly
+Graelent's young bride herself entered the hall.
+
+At sight of her a cry of admiration arose from the assembled nobles,
+and all admitted that their eyes had never beheld a fairer lady. When
+she reached the King's side she dismounted from her palfrey.
+
+"Sire," she said, addressing the King, "hasty and foolish was
+Graelent's tongue when he spoke as he did, but at least he told the
+truth when he said that there is no lady so fair but a fairer may be
+found. Look upon me and judge in this quarrel between the Queen and
+me."
+
+When she had spoken every lord and noble with one voice agreed that
+she was fairer than her royal rival. Even the King himself admitted
+that it was so, and Sir Graelent was declared a free man.
+
+Turning round to seek his lady, the knight observed that she was
+already some distance away, so, mounting upon his white steed, he
+followed hotly after her. All day he followed, and all night, calling
+after her and pleading for pity and pardon, but neither she nor her
+attendant damsels paid the slightest attention to his cries. Day after
+day he followed her, but to no purpose.
+
+At last the lady and her maidens entered the forest and rode to the
+bank of a broad stream. They set their horses to the river, but when
+the lady saw that Graelent was about to follow them she turned and
+begged him to desist, telling him that it was death for him to cross
+that stream. Graelent did not heed her, but plunged into the torrent.
+The stream was deep and rapid, and presently he was torn from his
+saddle. Seeing this, the lady's attendants begged her to save him.
+Turning back, the lady clutched her lover by the belt and dragged him
+to the shore. He was well-nigh drowned, but under her care he speedily
+recovered, and, say the Breton folk, entered with her that realm of
+Fairyland into which penetrated Thomas the Rhymer, Ogier the Dane, and
+other heroes. His white steed when it escaped from the river grieved
+greatly for its master, rushing up and down the bank, neighing loudly,
+and pawing with its hoofs upon the ground. Many men coveted so noble
+a charger, and tried to capture him, but all in vain, so each year,
+"in its season," as the old romance says, the forest is filled with
+the sorrowful neighing of the good steed which may not find its
+master.
+
+The story of Graelent is one of those which deal with what is known to
+folk-lorists as the 'fairy-wife' subject. A taboo is always placed
+upon the mortal bridegroom. Sometimes he must not utter the name of
+his wife; in other tales, as in that of Melusine, he must not seek her
+on a certain day of the week. The essence of the story is, of course,
+that the taboo is broken, and in most cases the mortal husband loses
+his supernatural mate.
+
+Another incident in the general _motif_ is the stealing of the
+fairy-woman's clothes. The idea is the same as that found in stories
+where the fisherman steals the sea-woman's skin canoe as a prelude to
+making her his wife, or the feather cloak of the swan-maiden is seized
+by the hunter when he finds her asleep, thus placing the supernatural
+maiden in his power. Among savages it is quite a common and usual
+circumstance for the spouses not to mention each other's names for
+months after marriage, nor even to see one another's faces. In the
+story under consideration the taboo consists in the mortal bridegroom
+being forbidden to allude in any circumstances to his supernatural
+wife, who is undoubtedly the same type of being encountered by Thomas
+the Rhymer and Bonny Kilmeny in the ballads related of them. They are
+denizens of a country, a fairy realm, which figures partly as an abode
+of the dead, and which we are certainly justified in identifying with
+the Celtic Otherworld. The river which the fairy-woman crosses bears a
+certain resemblance to the Styx, or she tells Graelent plainly that
+should he reach its opposite bank he is as good as dead. Fairyland in
+early Celtic lore may be a place of delight, but it is none the less
+one of death and remoteness.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Dolorous Knight_
+
+Once more the scene is laid in Nantes, and "some harpers," says Marie,
+"call it the Lay of the Four Sorrows." In this city of Brittany dwelt
+a lady on whom four barons of great worship had set their love. They
+were not singular in this respect, as the damsel's bright eyes had set
+fire to the hearts of all the youths of the ancient town. She smiled
+upon them all, but favoured no one more than another. Out of this
+great company, however, the four noblemen in question had constituted
+themselves her particular squires. They vied with one another in the
+most earnest manner to gain her esteem; but she was equally gracious
+to all and it was impossible to say that she favoured any.
+
+It was not surprising, then, that each one of the four nobles believed
+that the lady preferred him to the others. Each of them had received
+gifts from her, and each cried her name at tournaments. On the
+occasion of a great jousting, held without the walls of Nantes, the
+four lovers held the lists, and from all the surrounding realms and
+duchies came hardy knights to break a spear for the sake of chivalry.
+
+From matins to vespers the friendly strife raged fiercely, and against
+the four champions of Nantes four foreign knights especially pitted
+themselves. Two of these were of Hainault, and the other two were
+Flemings. The two companies charged each other so desperately that the
+horses of all eight men were overthrown. The four knights of Nantes
+rose lightly from the ground, but the four stranger knights lay still.
+Their friends, however, rushed to their rescue, and soon the
+challengers were lost in a sea of steel.
+
+Now the lady in whose honour the lists were defended by these four
+brave brethren in arms sat beholding their prowess in the keenest
+anxiety. Soon the knights of Nantes were reinforced by their friends,
+and the strife waxed furiously, sword to sword and lance to lance.
+First one company and then the other gained the advantage, but, urged
+on by rashness, the four challenging champions charged boldly in front
+of their comrades and became separated from them, with the dire result
+that three of them were killed and the fourth was so grievously
+wounded that he was borne from the press in a condition hovering
+between life and death. So furious were the stranger knights because
+of the resistance that had been made by the four champions that they
+cast their opponents' shields outside the lists. But the knights of
+Nantes won the day, and, raising their three slain comrades and him
+who was wounded, carried all four to the house of their lady-love.
+
+When the sad procession reached her doors the lady was greatly grieved
+and cast down. To her three dead lovers she gave sumptuous burial in a
+fair abbey. As for the fourth, she tended him with such skill that ere
+long his wounds were healed and he was quite recovered. One summer day
+the knight and the lady sat together after meat, and a great sadness
+fell upon her because of the knights who had been slain in her cause.
+Her head sank upon her breast and she seemed lost in a reverie of
+sorrow. The knight, perceiving her distress, could not well understand
+what had wounded her so deeply.
+
+"Lady," said he, "a great sorrow seems to be yours. Reveal your grief
+to me, and perchance I can find you comfort."
+
+"Friend," replied the lady, "I grieve for your companions who are
+gone. Never was lady or damsel served by four such valiant knights,
+three of whom were slain in one single day. Pardon me if I call them
+to mind at this time, but it is my intention to make a lay in order
+that these champions and yourself may not be forgotten, and I will
+call it 'The Lay of the Four Sorrows.'"
+
+"Nay, lady," said the knight, "call it not 'The Lay of the Four
+Sorrows,' but rather 'The Lay of the Dolorous Knight.' My three
+comrades are dead. They have gone to their place; no more hope have
+they of life; all their sorrows are ended and their love for you is as
+dead as they. I alone am here in life, but what have I to hope for? I
+find my life more bitter than they could find the grave. I see you in
+your comings and goings, I may speak with you, but I may not have your
+love. For this reason I am full of sorrow and cast down, and thus I
+beg that you give your lay my name and call it 'The Lay of the
+Dolorous Knight.'"
+
+The lady looked earnestly upon him. "By my faith," she said, "you
+speak truly. The lay shall be known by the title you wish it to be."
+
+So the lay was written and entitled as the knight desired it should
+be. "I heard no more," says Marie, "and nothing more I know. Perforce
+I must bring my story to a close."
+
+The end of this lay is quite in the medieval manner, and fitly
+concludes this chapter. We are left absolutely in the dark as to
+whether the knight and the lady came together at last. I for one do
+not blame Marie for this, as with the subtle sense of the fitness of
+things that belongs to all great artists she saw how much more
+effective it would be to leave matters as they were between the
+lovers. There are those who will blame her for her inconclusiveness;
+but let them bear in mind that just because of what they consider her
+failing in this respect they will not be likely to forget her tale,
+whereas had it ended with wedding-bells they would probably have
+stored it away in some mental attic with a thousand other dusty
+memories.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII: THE SAINTS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+An important department in Breton folk-lore is the hagiology of the
+province--the legendary lore of its saints. This, indeed, holds almost
+as much of the marvellous as its folk-tales, ballads, and historical
+legends, and in perusing the tales of Brittany's saintly heroes we
+have an opportunity of observing how the _motifs_ of popular fiction
+and even of pagan belief reflect upon religious romance.
+
+Just as some mythology is not in itself religious, but very often mere
+fiction fortuitously connected with the names of the gods, so
+hagiology is not of sacerdotal but popular origin. For the most part
+it describes the origin of its heroes and accounts for their miracles
+and marvellous deeds by various means, just as mythology does. It must
+be remembered that the primitive saint was in close touch with
+paganism, that, indeed, he had frequently to fight the Druid and the
+magician with his own weapons, and therefore we must not be surprised
+if in some of these tales we find him somewhat of a magician himself.
+But he is invariably on the side of light, and the things of darkness
+and evil shrink from contact with him.
+
+
+_St Barbe_
+
+Overlooking the valley of the Ell�, near the beautiful and historic
+village of Le Faouet, is a ledge of rock, approached by an almost
+inaccessible pathway. On this ledge stands the chapel of St Barbe,
+one of the strangest and most 'pagan' of the Breton saints. She
+protects those who seek her aid from sudden death, especially death
+by lightning. Of recent years popular belief has extended her sphere
+of influence to cover those who travel by automobile! She is also
+regarded as the patroness of firemen, at whose annual dinner her
+statue, surrounded by flowers, presides. She is extremely popular in
+Brittany, and once a year, on the last Sunday of June, pilgrims arrive
+at Le Faouet to celebrate her festival. Each, as he passes the
+belfry which stands beside the path, pulls the bell-rope, and the
+young men make the tour of a small neighbouring chapel, dedicated to
+St Michel, Lord of Heights. Then they drink of a little fountain
+near at hand and purchase amulets, which are supposed to be a
+preservative against sudden death and which are known as 'Couronnes
+de Ste Barbe.' St Barbe is said to have been the daughter of a pagan
+father, and to have been so beautiful that he shut her up in a tower
+and permitted no one to go near her. She succeeded, however, in
+communicating with the outer world, and sent a letter to Origen of
+Alexandria, entreating him to instruct her in the Christian faith, as
+she had ceased to believe in the gods of her fathers. Origen
+dispatched one of his monks to her, and under his guidance she
+became a Christian. She was called upon to suffer for her faith, for
+she was brought before the Gallo-Roman proconsul, and, since she
+refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, was savagely maltreated, and
+sentenced to be beaten as she walked naked through the streets;
+but she raised her eyes to heaven and a cloud descended and hid her
+from the gaze of the impious mortals who would otherwise have
+witnessed her martyrdom. Subsequently she was spirited away to the
+top of a mountain, where, however, her presence was betrayed by a
+shepherd. Her pagan father, learning of her hiding-place, quickly
+ascended the height and beheaded her with his own hand. The legends
+of St Barbe abound in strange details, which are more intelligible
+if we regard the Saint as being the survival of some elemental
+goddess connected with fire. The vengeance of heaven descended upon
+her enemies, for both her father and the shepherd who betrayed her
+were destroyed, the former being struck by lightning on his
+descent from the mountain, and the latter being turned into marble.
+
+The legend of the foundation of the chapel at Le Faouet is illustrative
+of the strange powers of this saint. A Lord of Toulboudou, near
+Gu�men�, was overtaken by a severe thunderstorm while hunting. No
+shelter was available, and as the storm increased in fury the huntsmen
+trembled for their lives, and doubtless repeated with much fervour
+the old Breton charm:
+
+  Sainte Barbe et sainte Claire,
+  Preservez-moi du tonnerre,
+    Si le tonnerre tombe
+  Qu'il ne tombe pas sur moi!
+
+which may be roughly translated:
+
+  Saint Barbe the great and sainted Clair,
+  Preserve me from the lightning's glare.
+  When thunderbolts are flashing red
+  Let them not burst upon my head.
+
+The Lord of Toulboudou, however, was not content with praying to the
+Saint. He vowed that if by her intercession he was preserved from
+death he would raise a chapel to her honour on the narrow ledge of
+rock above. No sooner had he made this vow than the storm subsided,
+and safety was once more assured. In the ancient archives of Le
+Faouet we read that on the 6th of July, 1489, John of Toulboudou
+bought of John of Bouteville, Lord of Faouet, a piece of ground on the
+flank of the Roche-Marche-Bran, twenty-five feet by sixteen feet, on
+which to build a chapel to the honour of St Barbe, and there the
+chapel stands to this day.
+
+
+_How St Convoyon Stole the Relics_
+
+St Convoyon, first Abbot of Redon (or Rodon) and Bishop of Quimper,
+was of noble birth. He was born near Saint-Malo and educated at Vannes
+under Bishop Reginald, who ordained him as deacon and afterward as
+priest. Five clerks attached themselves to him, and the company went
+to dwell together in a forest near the river Vilaine, finally
+establishing themselves at Redon. The lord of that district was very
+favourably inclined toward the monastery and sent his son to be
+educated there, and when he himself fell sick and believed his last
+hours to be nigh he caused himself to be carried to this religious
+house, where his hair was shaven to the monastic pattern. Contrary to
+expectation, he recovered, and after settling his affairs at his
+castle he returned to Redon, where he died at a later date. St
+Convoyon had some difficulty in obtaining confirmation of the grants
+given to him by this seigneur. He set out with a disciple named
+Gwindeluc to seek the consent of Louis the Pious, taking with him a
+quantity of wax from his bees at Redon, intending to present it to the
+King, but he was refused admission to the royal presence. But Nomeno�,
+Governor of Brittany, visited Redon, and encouraged the Saint to
+endeavour once more to obtain the King's sanction, and this time Louis
+confirmed the grants.
+
+So the monastery of Redon was built and its church erected, but, as
+the chroniclers tell us, "there was no saintly corpse under its altar
+to act as palladium to the monastery and work miracles to attract
+pilgrims." Convoyon therefore set out for Angers, accompanied by two
+of his monks, and found lodging there with a pious man named Hildwall.
+The latter inquired as to the object of their visit to Angers, and
+with considerable hesitation, and only after extracting a promise of
+secrecy, Convoyon confessed that they had come on a body-snatching
+expedition. He asked his friend's advice as to what relics they should
+endeavour to secure. Hildwall told him that interred in the cathedral
+were the bones of St Apothemius, a bishop, of whom nothing was known
+save that he was a saint. His bones lay in a stone coffin which had a
+heavy lid. Hildwall added that several monks had attempted to steal
+the relics, but in vain. Convoyon and his monks bided their time for
+three days, and then on a dark night, armed with crowbars, they set
+out on their gruesome mission.
+
+They reached the cathedral, entered, and, after singing praises and
+hymns, raised the coffin lid. Securing the bones, they made off with
+them as quickly as possible, and in due course reached Redon with them
+in safety. The reception of the relics was celebrated by the monks
+with great pomp and ceremony. Miracles were at once performed, and the
+popularity of St Apothemius was firmly established.
+
+[Illustration: CONVOYON AND HIS MONKS CARRY OFF THE RELICS OF ST
+APOTHEMIUS]
+
+When the Bishop of Vannes died, in 837, the see was filled by
+Susannus, who obtained it by bribery. Convoyon, grieved and indignant
+at the prevalence of corruption in the Church, urged Nomeno� to summon
+a council of bishops and abbots and endeavour to put a stop to these
+deplorable practices. At this council the canons against simony were
+read; but the bishops retorted that they did not sell Holy Orders, and
+expected no fees--though they took presents! Susannus was, naturally
+enough, most emphatic about this. At length it was decided that a
+deputation should be sent to Rome to obtain an authoritative statement
+on the point, and that it should consist of Susannus of Vannes, F�lix
+of Quimper, and Convoyon, who was to carry "gold crowns inlaid with
+jewels" as a gift from Nomeno� to the Pope. The decision given by Pope
+Leo on the matter is far from clear. The Nantes chronicle asserts that
+Leo made Convoyon a duke, and gave him permission to wear a gold
+coronet. He also presented him with a valuable gift--the bones of St
+Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome and martyr, which Convoyon took back with
+him to Redon and deposited in his church there.
+
+On a later day Nomeno� raised the standard of revolt against Charles
+the Bald of France--a circumstance alluded to in our historical
+sketch. He ravaged Poitou with sword and flame, but respected the
+abbey of Saint-Florent, though, to insult Charles, he forced the monks
+to place a statue of himself on their tower, with the face turned
+defiantly toward France. During Nomeno�'s absence the monks sent news
+of his action to the hairless monarch, who tore down the statue and
+erected a white stone figure "of ludicrous appearance," its mocking
+face turned toward Brittany. In revenge Nomeno� burned Saint-Florent
+to the ground and carried off the spoils to enrich the abbey of Redon.
+The success of the Breton chief forced Charles to come to terms.
+Nomeno� and his son, it was agreed, should assume the insignia of
+royalty and hold Rennes, Nantes, and all Brittany.
+
+Convoyon, as we have seen, benefited by the spoils won by the Breton
+champion. Later, as his abbey at Redon was situated by a tidal river,
+and was thus exposed to the ravages of the Normans, he and his monks
+moved farther inland to Pl�lan. There he died and was buried, about
+A.D. 868, but his body was afterward removed to Redon, where he had
+lived and laboured so long. His relics were dispersed during the
+troublous times of the Revolution.
+
+
+_Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint_
+
+St Tivisiau, or, more correctly, Turiau, has a large parish, as,
+although he was Bishop of Dol, we find him venerated as patron saint
+as far west as Landivisiau. He belongs to the earlier half of the
+seventh century, and, unlike most other Armorican ascetics, was of
+Breton origin, his father, Lelian, and his mother, Mageen, being
+graziers on the borders of the romantic and beautiful forest of
+Broceliande. The young Tivisiau was set to watch the sheep, and as he
+did so he steeped his soul in the beauty of the wonderful forest land
+about him, and his thoughts formed themselves into lays, which he sang
+as he tended his flock, for, like that other shepherd of old, King
+David, his exquisite voice could clothe his beautiful thoughts. The
+monastery of Balon stood near the lad's home, and often he would leave
+his sheep in the wilderness and steal away to listen to the monks
+chanting. Sometimes he joined in the service, and one day the Bishop
+of Dol, paying a visit to this outlying portion of his diocese, heard
+the sweet, clear notes of the boy's voice soaring above the lower
+tones of the monks. Enthralled by its beauty, the Bishop made
+inquiries as to who the singer was, and Tivisiau being brought
+forward, the prelate asked him to sing to him.
+
+[Illustration: ST TIVISIAU, THE SHEPHERD SAINT]
+
+Again and again did he sing, till at last the Bishop, who had lingered
+as long as he might in the little out-of-the-world monastery to listen
+to the young songster, was obliged to take his departure. The boy's
+personality had, however, so won his affection that he arranged with
+the monks of Balon that he should take him to Dol, and so it came
+about that Tivisiau was educated at that ancient religious centre,
+where his voice was carefully trained. The Bishop made him his
+suffragan, and, later Abbot of Dol, and when at length he came to
+relinquish the burden of his office he named Tivisiau as his
+successor.
+
+The story provides a noteworthy example of the power exercised in
+early times by a beautiful voice. But this love of music and the
+susceptibility to the emotion it calls forth are not peculiar to any
+century of Celtdom. Love of music, and the temperament that can hear
+the voice of the world's beauty, in music, in poetry, in the wild sea
+that breaks on desolate shores, or in the hushed wonder of hills and
+valleys, is as much a part of the Celt as are the thews and the sinews
+that have helped to carry him through the hard days of toil and
+poverty that have been the lot of so many of his race in their
+struggle for existence--whether in the far-off Outer Isles of the
+mist-wreathed and mystic west coast of Scotland, or among the Welsh
+mountains, or in picturesque Brittany, or in the distressful,
+beautiful, sorrow-haunted Green Isle.
+
+At Landivisiau one finds much exquisite carving in the south porch,
+which is all that remains of the early building to show how beautiful
+must have been the church to which it belonged. There is also a very
+ancient and picturesque fountain, known to tradition as that of St
+Tivisiau.
+
+
+_St Nennocha_
+
+The legend of Nennocha is held to be pure fable, but is interesting
+nevertheless. It tells how a king in Wales, called Breochan, had
+fourteen sons, who all deserted him to preach the Gospel. Breochan
+then made a vow that if God would grant him another child he would
+give to the Church a tithe of all his gold and his lands, and later on
+his wife, Moneduc, bore him a daughter, whom they baptized Nennocha.
+Nennocha was sent away to a foster father and mother, returning home
+at the age of fourteen. A prince of Ireland sought her hand in
+marriage, but St Germain, who was then at her father's palace,
+persuaded her to embrace the religious life, and the disappointed King
+sadly gave his consent. A great multitude assembled to accompany the
+maiden in her renunciation of the world, "numbering in its midst four
+bishops and many priests and virgins." We are told how they all took
+ship together and sailed to Brittany. The Breton king gave the
+princess land at Ploermel, and there she founded a great monastery,
+where she lived till death claimed her.
+
+
+_St Enora_
+
+Several old Breton songs tell us the story of St Enora (or Honora),
+the wife of Efflam (already alluded to in the chapter on Arthurian
+legend), but these accounts vary very considerably in their
+details. One account giving us "stern facts" relates how St Efflam
+was betrothed for political reasons to Enora, a Saxon princess, and
+speaks of how impossible it was to expect that such a union could
+prove anything but disastrous when it was not a love match. So,
+whether partly to escape from a married life which jarred his
+susceptibilities, or entirely on account of his religious asceticism,
+Efflam left his wife and crossed to Brittany to lead the life of a
+religious hermit. One of the Breton songs gives the beginning of
+the story in a much more picturesque way. It relates how Enora,
+"beautiful as an angel," had many suitors, but would give her hand to
+none save the Prince Efflam, "son of a stranger King." But Efflam,
+torn by the desire to lead the religious life, far away from the
+world, rose "in the midst of the night, his wedding night," and
+crept softly away, no one seeing him save his faithful dog, which
+he loved. So he came to the seashore and crossed to Brittany. The
+story of his landing and his meeting with Arthur has already been
+told, and we have seen how his fate was once more, by divine
+agency, linked with that of Enora. The song tells us how the angels
+carried the princess over the sea and set her on the door-sill of
+her husband's cell. Presently she awoke, and, finding herself there,
+she knocked three times and cried out to her husband that she was
+"his sweetheart, his wife," whom God had sent. St Efflam, knowing her
+voice, came out, and "with many godly words he took her hand in
+his." One account says that he sent her to the south of Brittany to
+found a convent for nuns, as he wished to devote his life entirely to
+the service of God and the contemplation of nature. All versions
+agree on the point that he built a hut for her beside his own, and
+one story relates how he made her wear a veil over her face and
+only spoke to her through the door! But one Breton song with more of
+the matter of poetry in it than the rest tells how the little hut
+he built for her was shaded by green bushes and sheltered by a
+rock, and that there they lived, side by side, for a long and happy
+time, while the fame of the miracles they wrought spread through
+the land. Then one night some sailors on the sea "saw the sky open
+and heard a burst of heavenly music," and next day when a poor woman
+took her sick child to Enora to beg for her aid she could get no
+response, and looking in she beheld the royal lady lying dead. The
+humble place was alight with her radiance, and near her a little boy
+in white was kneeling. The woman then ran to tell St Efflam of her
+discovery, only to find that he too was lying dead in his cell.
+
+
+_Corseul the Accursed_
+
+The town of Corseul has sunk into insignificance, and its failure to
+achieve prosperity is said to be due to its covert hostility to St
+Malo--or, as he is more correctly called, Machutes. Coming to Brittany
+on missionary enterprise, the Saint found that Christianity had not
+penetrated to the district of Corseul, where the old pagan worship
+still obtained. He therefore decided that his work must lie chiefly
+among the Curiosolites of that land, and determined that his first
+celebration of Easter Mass there should take place in the very centre
+of the pagan worship, the temple of Haute-B�cherel. The people of the
+district received him coldly, but without open hostility, and he and
+his monks prepared for the Christian festival in the pagan shrine, to
+find to their dismay that they had omitted to bring either chalice or
+wine for the Eucharist. Several of the monks were sent into the town
+to buy these, but in all Corseul they could find no one willing to
+sell either cup or wine, because of the hostility of the idolatrous
+folk of the place. At last the Saint performed a miracle to provide
+these necessaries, but he never forgave the insult to his religion,
+and while he founded monasteries broadcast over his diocese he avoided
+Corseul, and as Christianity became more and more universal the pagan
+town gradually paid the penalty of its enmity to the cause of Christ.
+
+
+_St Keenan_
+
+St Keenan (sixth century) was surnamed Colodoc, or "He who loves to
+lose himself," a beautiful epitome of his character. As in so many
+instances in the chronicles of Breton hagiology, confusion regarding
+St Keenan has arisen among a multiplicity of chronicles. He seems to
+have been a native of Connaught, whence he crossed into Wales and
+became a disciple of Gildas.
+
+He was told to "go forward" carrying a little bell, until he reached a
+place called Ros-ynys, where the bell would ring of itself, and there
+he would find rest. He asked Gildas to provide him with a bell, but
+the abbot could only supply him with a small piece of metal. Keenan,
+however, blessed this, and it grew until it was large enough for a
+good bell to be cast from it. Thus equipped, the Saint set out, and
+journeyed until he reached an arm of the sea, where he sat down on the
+grass to rest. While lying at his ease he heard a herdsman call to his
+fellow: "Brother, have you seen my cows anywhere?" "Yes," replied the
+other, "I saw them at Ros-ynys." Rejoicing greatly at finding himself
+in the vicinity of the place he sought, Keenan descended to the shore,
+which has since been called by his name. Greatly athirst, he struck a
+rock with his staff, and water gushed forth in answer to the stroke.
+Taking ship, he crossed the firth and entered a little wood. All at
+once, to his extreme joy, the bell he carried commenced to tinkle, and
+he knew he had reached the end of his journey--the valley of Ros-ynys,
+afterward St David's.
+
+Later, deciding to cross to Brittany with his disciples, Keenan
+dispatched some of his company to beg for corn for their journey from
+a merchant at Landegu. They met with a gruff refusal, but the merchant
+mockingly informed them they could have the corn if they carried off
+the whole of his barge-load. When the Saint embarked the barge broke
+its moorings and floated after him all the way! He landed at Cl�der,
+where he built a monastery, which he enriched with a copy of the
+Gospels transcribed by his own hand.
+
+The fatal contest between King Arthur and Modred, his nephew, caused
+Keenan to return to Britain, and he is said to have been present at
+the battle of Camelot and to have comforted Guinevere after the death
+of her royal husband, exhorting her to enter a convent. He afterward
+returned to Cl�der, where he died. The monastery fell into ruin, and
+the place of his burial was forgotten, till one night an angel
+appeared in a vision to one of the inhabitants of Cl�der and bade him
+exhume the bones of the Saint, which he would find at a certain spot.
+This the man did, and the relics were recovered. A fragment of them is
+preserved in the cathedral of Saint-Brieuc. St Keenan is popularly
+known in Brittany as St K�, or St Quay.
+
+
+_St Nicholas_
+
+One very interesting and curious saint is St Nicholas, whose cult
+cannot be traced to any Christian source, and who is most probably the
+survival of some pagan divinity. He is specially the saint of
+seafaring men, and is believed to bring them good luck, asking nothing
+in return save that they shall visit his shrine whenever they happen
+to pass. This is a somewhat dilapidated chapel at Land�vennec, of
+which the seamen seem to show their appreciation, if one may judge
+from the fact that the little path leading up to it is exceedingly
+well worn.
+
+
+_St Bieuzy_
+
+St Bieuzy was a friend and disciple of St Gildas. Flying from England
+at the coming of the Saxons, they crossed to Brittany and settled
+there, one of their favourite retreats being the exquisite La
+Roche-sur-Blavet, where they took up their abode in the shadow of the
+great rock and built a rough wooden shelter. The chapel there shows
+the 'bell' of St Gildas, and by the river is a great boulder hollowed
+like a chair, where Bieuzy was wont to sit and fish. St Bieuzy,
+however, possessed thaumaturgical resources of his own, having the
+gift of curing hydrophobia, and the hermitage of La Roche-sur-Blavet
+became so thronged by those seeking his aid that only by making a
+private way to the top of the great rock could he obtain respite to
+say his prayers. This gift of his was the cause of his tragic death.
+One day as he was celebrating Mass the servant of a pagan chief ran
+into the chapel, crying out that his master's dogs had gone mad, and
+demanding that Bieuzy should come immediately and cure them. Bieuzy
+was unwilling to interrupt the sacred service and displeased at the
+irreverence of the demand, and the servant returned to his master, who
+rushed into the chapel and in his savage frenzy struck the Saint such
+a blow with his sword that he cleft his head in twain. The heroic
+Saint completed the celebration of Mass--the sword still in the
+wound--and then, followed by the whole congregation, he walked to the
+monastery of Rhuys, where he received the blessing of his beloved St
+Gildas, and fell dead at his feet. He was buried in the church, and a
+fountain at Rhuys was dedicated to him. It is satisfactory to note
+that the entire establishment of the murderer of the Saint is said to
+have perished of hydrophobia!
+
+
+_St Leonorius_
+
+St Leonorius, or L�onore (sixth century), was a disciple of St Iltud,
+of Wales, and was ordained by St Dubricus; he crossed to Brittany in
+early life. The legend that most closely attaches to his name is one
+of the most beautiful of all the Breton beliefs, and is full of the
+poetry and romance that exist for the Celt in all the living things
+around him. The Saint and his monks had worked hard to till their
+ground--for the labours of holy men included many duties in addition
+to religious ministrations--but when they came to sow the seed they
+found that they had omitted to provide themselves with wheat! All
+their labour seemed in vain, and they were greatly distressed as to
+what they would do for food if they had no harvest to look forward to,
+when suddenly they saw, perched on a little wayside cross, a tiny
+robin redbreast holding in its beak an ear of wheat! The monks
+joyfully took the grain, and, sowing it, reaped an abundant harvest!
+Accounts vary somewhat in the details of this story. Some say that the
+bird led the monks to a store of grain, and others question the fact
+that the bird was a robin, but the popular idea is that the robin
+proffered the grain, and so universal and so strong is this belief
+that "Robin Redbreast's corn" is a byword in Brittany for "small
+beginnings that prosper."
+
+The Saint is said to have possessed the most marvellous attainments.
+We are told that he learnt the alphabet in one day, the "art of
+spelling" the following day, and calligraphy the next! He is also
+said to have been a bishop at the age of fifteen. Tradition avers
+that he ploughed the land with stags, and that an altar was
+brought to him from the depth of the sea by two wild pigeons to serve
+for his ministrations. The circumstance that animals or birds were
+employed--predominantly the latter--as the divine means of rendering
+aid to the Saint is common to many of these legends. We thus have
+saintly romance linked with the 'friendly animals' formula of
+folk-lore.
+
+
+_St Patern_
+
+Many quaint and pretty stories are told of the childhood and youth of
+St Patern, the patron saint of Vannes. His intense religious fervour
+was probably inherited from his father, Petranus, who, we are told,
+left his wife and infant son and crossed to Ireland to embrace the
+life religious. One day as his mother sat by the open window making a
+dress for her baby she was called away, and left the little garment
+lying on the sill. A bird flew past, and, attracted by the soft
+woollen stuff, carried it off to line its nest. A year later when the
+nest was destroyed the dress was discovered as fresh and clean as when
+it was stolen--a piece of symbolism foretelling the purity and
+holiness of the future saint.
+
+As soon as the child could speak his mother sent him to school. She
+hoped great things from the quiet, earnest boy, in whom she had
+observed signs of fervent piety. One day he came home and asked his
+mother where his father was. "All the other boys have fathers," he
+said; "where is mine?" His mother sadly told him that his father,
+wishing to serve God more perfectly than it was possible for him to do
+at home, had gone to Ireland to become a monk. "Thither shall I go
+too, when I'm a man," said Patern, and he made a resolve that when he
+grew up he would also enter a monastery. Accordingly, having finished
+his studies in the monastery of Rhuys, he set out for Britain, where
+he founded two religious houses, and then crossed to Ireland, where he
+met his father. Eventually he returned to Vannes, as one of the nine
+bishops of Brittany, but he did not agree with his brethren regarding
+certain ecclesiastical laws, and at last, not wishing to "lose his
+patience," he abandoned his diocese and went to France, where he ended
+his days as a simple monk.
+
+There is an interesting legend to account for the foundation of the
+church of St Patern at Vannes. We are told how for three years after
+Patern left Vannes the people were afflicted by a dreadful famine. No
+rain fell, and the distress was great. At length it was remembered
+that Patern had departed without giving the people his blessing, and
+at once "a pilgrimage set forth to bring back his sacred body, that it
+might rest in his own episcopal town." But the body of the blessed
+Patern "refused to be removed," until one of the pilgrims, who had
+before denied the bishop a certain piece of ground, promised to gift
+it to his memory and to build a church on it to the Saint's honour,
+whereupon the body became light enough to be lifted from the grave and
+conveyed to Vannes. No sooner had the sacred corpse entered Vannes
+than rain fell in torrents. Hagiology abounds in instances of this
+description, which in many respects bring it into line with
+mythology.
+
+
+_St Samson_
+
+We have already related the story of Samson's birth. Another legend
+regarding him tells how one day when the youths attached to the
+monastery where he dwelt were out winnowing corn one of the monks was
+bitten by an adder and fainted with fright. Samson ran to St Iltud to
+tell the news, with tears in his eyes, and begged to be allowed to
+attempt the cure of the monk. Iltud gave him permission, and Samson,
+full of faith and enthusiasm, rubbed the bite with oil, and by degrees
+the monk recovered. After this Samson's fame grew apace. Indeed, we
+are told that the monks grew jealous of him and attempted to poison
+him. He was ordained a bishop at York, and lived a most austere life,
+though his humanity was very apparent in his love for animals.
+
+He was made abbot of a monastery, and endeavoured to instil
+temperance into the monks, but at length gave up the attempt in
+despair and settled in a cave at the mouth of the Severn. Then one
+night "a tall man" appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to
+Armorica, saying to him--so the legend goes: "Thou goest by the sea,
+and where thou wilt disembark thou shalt find a well. Over this
+thou wilt build a church, and around it will group the houses forming
+the city of which thou wilt be a bishop." All of which came to
+pass, and for ages the town has been known as the episcopal city
+of Dol. Accompanied by forty monks, Samson crossed the Channel and
+landed in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc. One version of the story tells
+us that the Saint and numerous other monks fled from Britain to
+escape the Saxon tyranny, and that Samson and six of his suffragans
+who crossed the sea with him were known as the 'Seven Saints of
+Brittany.'
+
+
+_Brittany's Lawyer Saint_
+
+Few prosperous and wealthy countries produce saints in any great
+number, and in proof of the converse of this we find much hagiology in
+Brittany and Ireland. Let lawyers take note that while many saints
+spring from among the _bourgeoisie_ they include few legal men. An
+outstanding exception to this rule is St Yves (or Yvo), probably the
+best known, and almost certainly the most beloved, saint in Brittany.
+St Yves is the only regularly canonized Breton saint. He was born at
+Kermartin, near Tr�guier, in 1253, his father being lord of that
+place. The house where he first saw the light was pulled down in 1834,
+but the bed in which he was born is still preserved and shown. His
+name is borne by the majority of the inhabitants of the districts of
+Tr�guier and Saint-Brieuc, and one authority tells us how "in the
+Breton tongue his praises are sung as follows:
+
+  N'hen eus ket en Breiz, n'hen eus ket unan,
+  N'hen eus ket uer Zant evel Sant Erwan.
+
+This, in French, runs:
+
+  Il n'y a pas en Bretagne, il n'y en a pas un,
+  Il n'y a pas un saint comme saint Yves."
+
+He began his legal education when he was fourteen, and studied law in
+the schools of Paris, becoming an ecclesiastical judge, and later
+(1285) an ordained priest and incumbent of Tredrig. Subsequently he
+was made incumbent of Lohanec, which post he held till his death. As a
+judge he possessed a quality rare in those days--he was inaccessible
+to bribery! That this was appreciated we find in the following _bon
+mot_:
+
+  Saint Yves �tait Breton,
+  Avocat et pas larron:
+  Chose rare, se dit-on.
+
+He invariably endeavoured to induce disputants to settle their
+quarrels 'out of court' if possible, and applied his talents to
+defending the cause of the poor and oppressed, without fee. He was
+known as 'the poor man's advocate,' and to-day in the department of
+the C�tes-du-Nord, when a debtor repudiates his debt, the creditor
+will pay for a Mass to St Yves, in the hope that he will cause the
+defaulter to die within the year! St Yves de V�rit� is the special
+patron of lawyers, and is represented in the _mortier_, or lawyer's
+cap, and robe.
+
+St Yves spent most of his income in charity, turning his house into an
+orphanage, and many are the stories told of his humanity and
+generosity. The depth of his sympathy, and its practical result, are
+shown in an incident told us of how one morning he found a poor,
+half-naked man lying on his doorstep shivering with cold, having spent
+the night there. Yves gave up his bed to the beggar the next night,
+and himself slept on the doorstep, desiring to learn by personal
+experience the sufferings of the poor. On another occasion, while
+being fitted with a new coat, he caught sight of a miserable man on
+the pavement outside who was clad in rags and tatters that showed his
+skin through many rents. Yves tore off the new coat and, rushing out,
+gave it to the beggar, saying to the astonished and horrified tailor:
+"There is plenty of wear still in my old coats. I will content myself
+with them." His pity and generosity led him to still further kindness
+when he was visiting a hospital and saw how ill-clad some of the
+patients were, for he actually gave them the clothes he was wearing at
+the time, wrapping himself in a coverlet till he had other garments
+sent to him from home. He was wont to walk beside the ploughmen in the
+fields and teach them prayers. He would sit on the moors beside the
+shepherd-boys and instruct them in the use of the rosary; and often he
+would stop little children in the street, and gain their interest and
+affection by his gentleness.
+
+[Illustration: ST YVES INSTRUCTING SHEPHERD-BOYS IN THE USE OF THE ROSARY]
+
+His shrewd legal mind was of service to the poor in other ways than in
+the giving of advice. A story is told of how two rogues brought a
+heavy chest to a widow, declaring it to contain twelve hundred pieces
+of gold and asking her to take charge of it. Some weeks later one of
+them returned, claimed the box, and removed it. A few days later the
+second of the men arrived and asked for the box, and when the poor
+woman could not produce it he took her to court and sued her for the
+gold it had contained. Yves, on hearing that the case was going
+against the woman, offered to defend her, and pleaded that his client
+was ready to restore the gold, but only to both the men who had
+committed it to her charge, and that therefore both must appear to
+claim it. This was a blow to the rogues, who attempted to escape, and,
+failing to do so, at length confessed that they had plotted to extort
+money from the widow, the chest containing nothing but pieces of old
+iron.
+
+Yves was so eloquent and earnest a preacher that he was continually
+receiving requests to attend other churches, which he never refused.
+On the Good Friday before his death he preached in seven different
+parishes. He died at the age of fifty, and was buried at Tr�guier.
+Duke John V, who founded the Chapelle du Duc, had a special regard for
+Yves, and erected a magnificent tomb to his memory, which was for
+three centuries the object of veneration in Brittany.
+
+During the French Revolution the reliquary of St Yves was destroyed,
+but his bones were preserved and have been re-enshrined at Tr�guier.
+His last will and testament--leaving all his goods to the poor--is
+preserved, together with his breviary, in the sacristy of the church
+at Minihy.
+
+The Saint is generally represented with a cat as his symbol--typifying
+the lawyer's watchful character--but this hardly seems a fitting
+emblem for such a beautiful character as St Yves.
+
+
+_St Budoc of Dol_
+
+The legend of St Budoc of Dol presents several peculiar features. It
+was first recited by professional minstrels, then "passed into the
+sanctuary, and was read in prose in cathedral and church choirs as a
+narrative of facts," although it seems curious that it could have been
+held to be other than fiction.
+
+A Count of Goelc, in Brittany, sought in marriage Az�nor, "tall as a
+palm, bright as a star," but they had not been wedded a year when
+Az�nor's father married again, and his new wife, jealous of her
+stepdaughter, hated her and determined to ruin her. Accordingly she
+set to work to implant suspicion as to Az�nor's purity in the minds of
+her father and husband, and the Count shut his wife up in a tower and
+forbade her to speak to anyone. Here all the poor Countess could do
+was to pray to her patron saint, the Holy Bridget of Ireland.
+
+Her stepmother, however, was not content with the evil she had already
+wrought, and would not rest until she had brought about Az�nor's
+death. She continued her calumnies, and at length the Count assembled
+all his barons and his court to judge his wife. The unfortunate and
+innocent Countess was brought into the hall for trial, and, seated on
+a little stool in the midst of the floor, the charges were read to her
+and she was called upon to give her reply. With tears she protested
+her innocence, but in spite of the fact that no proof could be brought
+against her she was sent in disgrace to her father in Brest. He in
+turn sat in judgment upon her, and condemned her to death, the
+sentence being that she should be placed in a barrel and cast into the
+sea, "to be carried where the winds and tides listed." We are told
+that the barrel floated five months, "tossing up and down"--during
+which time Az�nor was supplied with food by an angel, who passed it to
+her through the bung-hole.
+
+During these five months, the legend continues, the poor Countess
+became a mother, the angel and St Bridget watching over her. As soon
+as the child was born his mother made the sign of the Cross upon him,
+made him kiss a crucifix, and patiently waited the coming of an
+opportunity to have him baptized. The child began to speak while in
+the cask. At last the barrel rolled ashore at Youghal Harbour, in the
+county of Cork. An Irish peasant, thinking he had found a barrel of
+wine, was proceeding to tap it with a gimlet when he heard a voice
+from within say: "Do not injure the cask." Greatly astonished, the man
+demanded who was inside, and the voice replied: "I am a child desiring
+baptism. Go at once to the abbot of the monastery to which this land
+belongs, and bid him come and baptize me." The Irishman ran to the
+abbot with the message, but he not unnaturally declined to believe the
+story, till, with a true Hibernian touch, the peasant asked him if it
+were likely that he would have told 'his reverence' anything about his
+find had there been "anything better than a baby" in the barrel!
+Accordingly the abbot hastened to the shore, opened the cask, and
+freed the long-suffering Countess of Goelc and her son, the latter of
+whom he christened by the name of Budoc, and took under his care.
+
+Meantime, the "wicked stepmother," falling ill and being at the point
+of death, became frightened when she thought of her sin against
+Az�nor, and confessed the lies by which she had wrought the ruin of
+the Countess. The Count, overcome by remorse and grief, set out in
+quest of his wife. Good luck led him to Ireland, where he disembarked
+at Youghal and found his lost ones. With great rejoicing he had a
+stately ship made ready, and prepared to set out for Brittany with
+Az�nor and Budoc, but died before he could embark. Az�nor remained in
+Ireland and devoted herself to good works and to the training of her
+son, who from an early age resolved to embrace the religious life,
+and was in due course made a monk by the Abbot of Youghal. His mother
+died, and on the death of the Abbot of Youghal he was elected to rule
+the monastery. Later, upon the death of the King of Ireland, the
+natives raised Budoc to the temporal and spiritual thrones, making him
+King of Ireland and Bishop of Armagh.
+
+After two years he wished to retire from these honours, but the
+people were "wild with despair" at the tidings, and surrounded the
+palace lest he should escape. One night, while praying in his
+metropolitan church, an angel appeared to him, bidding him betake
+himself to Brittany. Going down to the seashore, it was indicated to
+him that he must make the voyage in a stone trough. On entering this
+it began to move, and he was borne across to Brittany, landing at
+Porspoder, in the diocese of L�on. The people of that district drew
+the stone coffer out of the water, and built a hermitage and a
+chapel for the Saint's convenience. Budoc dwelt for one year at
+Porspoder, but, "disliking the roar of the waves," he had his stone
+trough mounted on a cart, and yoking two oxen to it he set forth,
+resolved to follow them wherever they might go and establish
+himself at whatever place they might halt. The cart broke down at
+Plourin, and there Budoc settled for a short time; but trouble with
+disorderly nobles forced him to depart, and this time he went to
+Dol, where he was well received by St Malglorious, then its bishop,
+who soon after resigned his see to Budoc. The Saint ruled at Dol
+for twenty years, and died early in the seventh century.
+
+Another Celtic myth of the same type is to be found on the shores of
+the Firth of Forth. The story in question deals with the birth of St
+Mungo, or St Kentigern, the patron saint of Glasgow. His mother was
+Thenaw, the Christian daughter of the pagan King Lot of Lothian,
+brother-in-law of King Arthur, from his marriage with Arthur's sister
+Margawse. Thus the famous Gawaine would be Thenaw's brother. Thenaw
+met Ewen, the son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, and fell deeply in
+love with him, but her father discovered her disgrace and ordered her
+to be cast headlong from the summit of Traprain Law, once known as
+Dunpender, a mountain in East Lothian. A kindly fate watched over the
+princess, however, and she fell so softly from the eminence that she
+was uninjured. Such Christian subjects as Lot possessed begged her
+life. But if her father might have relented his Druids were
+inexorable. They branded her as a sorceress, and she was doomed to
+death by drowning. She was accordingly rowed out from Aberlady Bay to
+the vicinity of the Isle of May, where, seated in a skin boat, she was
+left to the mercy of the waves. In this terrible situation she cast
+herself upon the grace of Heaven, and her frail craft was wafted up
+the Forth, where it drifted ashore near Culross. At this spot
+Kentigern was born, and the mother and child were shortly afterward
+discovered by some shepherds, who placed them under the care of St
+Serf, Abbot of Culross. To these events the date A.D. 516 is
+assigned.
+
+
+_'Fatal Children' Legends_
+
+This legend is, of course, closely allied with those which recount the
+fate and adventures of the 'fatal children.' Like OEdipus, Romulus,
+Perseus, and others, Budoc and Kentigern are obviously 'fatal
+children,' as is evidenced by the circumstances of their birth. We
+are not told that King Lot or Az�nor's father had been warned that if
+their daughters had a son they would be slain by that child, but it is
+probably only the saintly nature of the subject of the stories which
+caused this circumstance to be omitted. Dana�, the mother of Perseus,
+we remember, was, when disgraced, shut up in a chest with her child,
+and committed to the waves, which carried her to the island of
+Seriphos, where she was duly rescued. Romulus and his brother Remus
+were thrown into the Tiber, and escaped a similar fate. The Princess
+Desonelle and her twin sons, in the old English metrical romance of
+_Sir Torrent of Portugal_, are also cast into the sea, but succeed in
+making the shore of a far country. All these children grow up endowed
+with marvellous beauty and strength, but their doom is upon them, and
+after numerous adventures they slay their fathers or some other
+unfortunate relative. But the most characteristic part of what seems
+an almost universal legend is that these children are born in the most
+obscure circumstances, afterward rising to a height of splendour which
+makes up for all they previously suffered. It is not necessary to
+explain nowadays that this is characteristic of nearly all sun-myths.
+The sun is born in obscurity, and rises to a height of splendour at
+midday.
+
+Thus in the majority of these legends we find the sun personified. It
+is not sufficient to object that such an elucidation smacks too much
+of the tactics of Max M�ller to be accepted by modern students of
+folk-lore. The student of comparative myth who does not make use of
+the best in all systems of mythological elucidation is undone, for no
+one system will serve for all examples.
+
+To those who may object, "Oh, but Kentigern was a _real_ person," I
+reply that I know many myths concerning 'real' people. For the matter
+of that, we assist in the manufacture of these every day of our lives,
+and it is quite a fallacy that legends cannot spring up concerning
+veritable historical personages, and even around living, breathing
+folk. And for the rest of it mythology and hagiology are hopelessly
+intermingled in their _motifs_.
+
+
+_Miraculous Crossings_
+
+Another Celtic saint besides Budoc possessed a stone boat. He is St
+Baldred, who, like Kentigern, hails from the Firth of Forth, and dwelt
+on the Bass Rock. He is said to have chosen this drear abode as a
+refuge from the eternal wars between the Picts and the Scots toward
+the close of the seventh century. From this point of vantage, and
+probably during seasons of truce, he rowed to the mainland to minister
+to the spiritual wants of the rude natives of Lothian. Inveresk seems
+to have been the eastern border of his 'parish.' Tradition says that
+he was the second Bishop of Glasgow, and thus the successor of
+Kentigern, but the lack of all reliable data concerning the western
+see subsequent to the death of Glasgow's patron saint makes it
+impossible to say whether this statement is authentic or otherwise.
+Many miracles are attributed to Baldred, not the least striking of
+which is that concerning a rock to the east of Tantallon Castle, known
+as 'St Baldred's Boat.' At one time this rock was situated between the
+Bass and the adjacent mainland, and was a fruitful source of
+shipwreck. Baldred, pitying the mariners who had to navigate the
+Firth, and risk this danger, rowed out to the rock and mounted upon
+it; whereupon, at his simple nod, it was lifted up, and, like a ship
+driven by the wind, was wafted to the nearest shore, where it
+thenceforth remained. This rock is sometimes called 'St Baldred's
+Coble,' or 'Cock-boat.' This species of miracle is more commonly
+discovered in the annals of hagiology than in those of pure myth,
+although in legend we occasionally find the landscape altered by order
+of supernatural or semi-supernatural beings.
+
+One rather striking instance of miraculous crossing is that of St
+Noyala, who is said to have crossed to Brittany on the leaf of a tree,
+accompanied by her nurse. She was beheaded at Beignon, but walked to
+Pontivy carrying her head in her hands. A chapel at Pontivy is
+dedicated to her, and was remarkable in the eighteenth century for
+several interesting paintings on a gold ground depicting this legend.
+
+We find this incident of miraculous crossing occurring in the stories
+of many of the Breton saints. A noteworthy instance is that of St
+Tugdual, who, with his followers, crossed in a ship which vanished
+when they disembarked. Still another example is found in the case of
+St Vougas, or Vie, who is specially venerated in Tr�guennec. He is
+thought to have been an Irish bishop, and is believed to have mounted
+a stone and sailed across to Brittany upon it. This particular version
+of the popular belief may have sprung from the fact that there is a
+rock off the coast of Brittany called 'the Ship,' from a fancied
+resemblance to one. In course of time this rock was affirmed to have
+been the ship of St Vougas.
+
+
+_Az�nor the Pale_
+
+There is a story of another Az�nor, who, according to local history,
+married Yves, heritor of Kermorvan, in the year 1400. A popular
+ballad of Cornouaille tells how this Az�nor, who was surnamed 'the
+Pale,' did not love her lord, but gave her heart to another, the Clerk
+of Mezl�an.
+
+One day she sat musing by a forest fountain, dressed in a robe of
+yellow silk, wantonly plucking the flowers which grew on the mossy
+parapet of the spring and binding them into a bouquet for the Clerk of
+Mezl�an.
+
+The Seigneur Yves, passing by on his white steed at a hand-gallop,
+observed her "with the corner of his eye," and conceived a violent
+love for her.
+
+The Clerk of Mezl�an had been true to Az�nor for many a day, but he
+was poor and her parents would have none of him.
+
+One morning as Az�nor descended to the courtyard she observed great
+preparations on foot as if for a festival.
+
+"For what reason," she said, "has this great fire been kindled, and
+why have they placed two spits in front of it? What is happening in
+this house, and why have these fiddlers come?"
+
+Those whom she asked smiled meaningly.
+
+"To-morrow is your wedding-day," said they.
+
+At this Az�nor the Pale grew still paler, and was long silent.
+
+"If that be so," she said, "it will be well that I seek my marriage
+chamber early, for from my bed I shall not be raised except for
+burial."
+
+That night her little page stole through the window.
+
+"Lady," he said, "a great and brilliant company come hither. The
+Seigneur Yves is at their head, and behind him ride cavaliers and a
+long train of gentlemen. He is mounted on a white horse, with
+trappings of gold."
+
+Az�nor wept sorely.
+
+"Unhappy the hour that he comes!" she cried, wringing her hands.
+"Unhappy be my father and mother who have done this thing!"
+
+Sorely wept Az�nor when going to the church that day. She set forth
+with her intended husband, riding on the crupper of his horse. Passing
+by Mezl�an she said:
+
+"I pray you let me enter this house, Seigneur, for I am fatigued with
+the journey, and would rest for a space."
+
+"That may not be to-day," he replied; "to-morrow, if you wish it."
+
+At this Az�nor wept afresh, but was comforted by her little page. At
+the church door one could see that her heart was breaking.
+
+"Approach, my daughter," said the aged priest. "Draw near, that I may
+place the ring upon your finger."
+
+"Father," replied Az�nor, "I beg of you not to force me to wed him
+whom I do not love."
+
+"These are wicked words, my child. The Seigneur Yves is wealthy, he
+has gold and silver, ch�teaux and broad lands, but the Clerk of
+Mezl�an is poor."
+
+"Poor he may be, Father," murmured Az�nor, "yet had I rather beg my
+bread with him than dwell softly with this other."
+
+But her relentless parents would not hearken to her protestations, and
+she was wed to the Lord Yves. On arriving at her husband's house she
+was met by the Seigneur's mother, who received her graciously, but
+only one word did Az�nor speak, that old refrain that runs through all
+ballad poetry.
+
+"Tell me, O my mother," she said, "is my bed made?"
+
+"It is, my child," replied the ch�telaine. "It is next the Chamber of
+the Black Cavalier. Follow me and I will take you thither."
+
+Once within the chamber, Az�nor, wounded to the soul, fell upon her
+knees, her fair hair falling about her.
+
+"My God," she cried, "have pity upon me!"
+
+The Seigneur Yves sought out his mother.
+
+"Mother of mine," said he, "where is my wife?"
+
+"She sleeps in her high chamber," replied his mother. "Go to her and
+console her, for she is sadly in need of comfort."
+
+The Seigneur entered. "Do you sleep?" he asked Az�nor.
+
+She turned in her bed and looked fixedly at him. "Good morrow to you,
+widower," she said.
+
+"By the saints," cried he, "what mean you? Why do you call me
+widower?"
+
+"Seigneur," she said meaningly, "it is true that you are not a widower
+yet, but soon you will be."
+
+Then, her mind wandering, she continued: "Here is my wedding gown;
+give it, I pray you, to my little servant, who has been so good to me
+and who carried my letters to the Clerk of Mezl�an. Here is a new
+cloak which my mother broidered; give it to the priests who will sing
+Masses for my soul. For yourself you may take my crown and chaplet.
+Keep them well, I pray, as a souvenir of our wedding."
+
+Who is that who arrives at the hamlet as the clocks are striking the
+hour? Is it the Clerk of Mezl�an? Too late! Az�nor is dead.
+
+"I have seen the fountain beside which Az�nor plucked flowers to make
+a bouquet for her 'sweet Clerk of Mezl�an,'" says the Vicomte Hersart
+de la Villemarqu�, "when the Seigneur of Kermorvan passed and withered
+with his glance her happiness and these flowers of love. Mezl�an is in
+ruins, no one remains within its gates, surmounted by a crenellated
+and machicolated gallery."
+
+There is a subscription at the end of the ballad to the effect that it
+was written on a round table in the Manor of H�nan, near Pont-Aven, by
+the "bard of the old Seigneur," who dictated it to a damsel. "How
+comes it," asks Villemarqu�, "that in the Middle Ages we still find a
+seigneur of Brittany maintaining a domestic bard?" There is no good
+reason why a domestic bard should not have been found in the Brittany
+of medieval times, since such singers of the household were maintained
+in Ireland and Scotland until a relatively late date--up to the period
+of the '45 in the case of the latter country.
+
+
+_St Pol of L�on_
+
+St Pol (or Paul) of L�on (sixth century) was the son of a Welsh
+prince, and, like so many of the Breton saints, he was a disciple of
+St Iltud, being also a fellow-student of St Samson and St Gildas. At
+the age of sixteen he left his home and crossed the sea to Brittany.
+In the course of time other young men congregated round him, and he
+became their superior, receiving holy orders along with twelve
+companions. Near these young monks dwelt Mark, the King of Vannes, who
+invited Pol to visit his territory and instruct his people. The Saint
+went to Vannes and was well received, but after dwelling for some time
+in that part of the country he felt the need of solitude once more,
+and entreated the King that he might have permission to depart and
+that he might be given a bell; "for," as the chronicler tells us, "at
+that time it was customary for kings to have seven bells rung before
+they sat down to meat."
+
+The King, however, vexed that Pol should wish to leave him, refused to
+give him the bell, so the Saint went without it. Before leaving Vannes
+Pol visited his sister, who lived in solitude with other holy women on
+a little island, but when the time came for him to depart she wept and
+entreated him to stay, and the Saint remained with her for another
+three days. When he was finally taking leave of her, she begged him
+that as he was "powerful with God" he would grant her a request, and
+when Pol asked what it was she desired him to do, she explained that
+the island on which she dwelt was small "and incommodious for landing"
+and requested him to pray to God that it might be extended a little
+into the sea, with a "gentle shore." Pol said she had asked what was
+beyond his power, but suggested that they should pray that her desire
+might be granted. So they prayed, and the sea began to retreat,
+"leaving smooth, golden sand where before there had been only stormy
+waves." All the nuns came to see the miracle which had been wrought,
+and the sister of St Pol gathered pebbles and laid them round the land
+newly laid bare, and strewed them down the road that she and her
+brother had taken. These pebbles grew into tall pillars of rock, and
+the avenue thus formed is to this day called 'the Road of St Pol.'
+Thus do the peasants explain the Druidical circles and avenue on the
+islet.
+
+After this miracle Pol departed, and rowed to the island of Ouessant,
+and later he travelled through Brittany, finally settling in the
+island of Batz, near the small town encompassed by mud walls which has
+since borne his name. There he founded a monastery. The island was at
+that time infested by a dreadful monster, sixty feet long, and we are
+told how the Saint subdued this dragon. Accompanied by a warrior, he
+entered its den, tied his stole round its neck, and, giving it to his
+companion to lead, he followed them, beating the animal with his
+stick, until they came to the extremity of the island. There he took
+off the stole and commanded the dragon to fling itself into the
+sea--an order which the monster immediately obeyed. In the church on
+the island a stole is preserved which is said to be that of St Pol.
+Another story tells us how St Jaoua, nephew of St Pol, had to call in
+his uncle's aid in taming a wild bull which was devastating his cell.
+These incidents remind us of St Efflam's taming of the dragon. St Pol
+is one of the saints famous for his miraculous power over wild
+beasts.
+
+The Saint's renown became such that the Breton king made him
+Archbishop of L�on, giving him special care and control of the city
+bearing his name. We are told how the Saint found wild bees swarming
+in a hollow tree, and, gathering the swarm, set them in a hive and
+taught the people how to get honey. He also found a wild sow with her
+litter and tamed them. The descendants of this progeny remained at
+L�on for many generations, and were regarded as royal beasts. Both of
+these stories are, of course, a picturesque way of saying that St Pol
+taught the people to cultivate bees and to keep pigs.
+
+St Pol's early desire to possess a bell was curiously granted later,
+as one day when he was in the company of a Count who ruled the land
+under King Childebat a fisherman brought the Count a bell which he had
+picked up on the seashore. The Count gave it to St Pol, who smiled and
+told him how he had longed and waited for years for such a bell. In
+the cathedral at Saint-Pol-de-L�on is a tiny bell which is said to
+have belonged to St Pol, and on the days of pardon "its notes still
+ring out over the heads of the faithful," and are supposed to be
+efficacious in curing headache or earache.
+
+In the cathedral choir is the tomb of St Pol, where "his skull, an
+arm-bone, and a finger are encased in a little coffer, for the
+veneration of the devout." St Pol built the cathedral at L�on, and was
+its first bishop. Strategy had to be resorted to to secure the see for
+him. The Count gave Pol a letter to take in person to King Childebat,
+which stated that he had sent Pol to be ordained bishop and invested
+with the see of L�on. When the Saint discovered what the letter
+contained he wept, and implored the King to respect his great
+disinclination to become a bishop; but Childebat would not listen,
+and, calling for three bishops, he had him consecrated. The Saint was
+received with great joy by the people of L�on, and lived among them to
+a green old age.
+
+In art St Pol is most generally represented with a dragon, and
+sometimes with a bell, or a cruse of water and a loaf of bread,
+symbolical of his frugal habits.
+
+
+_St Ronan_
+
+Of St Ronan there is told a tale of solemn warning to wives addicted
+to neglecting their children and "seeking their pleasure elsewhere,"
+as it is succinctly expressed. St Ronan was an Irish bishop who came
+to L�on, where he retired into a hermitage in the forest of N�vet.
+Grallo, the King of Brittany, was in the habit of visiting him in his
+cell, listening to his discourses, and putting theological questions
+to him. The domestic question must have been a problem even in those
+days, since we find Grallo's Queen, Queban, in charge of her
+five-year-old daughter. Family cares proving rather irksome, Queban
+solved the difficulty of her daughter by putting the child into a box,
+with bread and milk to keep her quiet, while she amused herself with
+frivolous matters. Unfortunately, this ingeniously improvized _cr�che_
+proved singularly unsuccessful, for the poor little girl choked on a
+piece of crust, and when the Queen next visited the child she found to
+her horror that she was dead. Terrified at the fatal result of her
+neglect, and not daring to confess what had happened, the Queen, being
+a woman of resource, closed the box and raised a hue and cry to find
+the girl, who she declared must have strayed.
+
+She rushed in search of her husband to St Ronan's cell, and upbraided
+the hermit for being the cause of the King's absence. "But for you,"
+she declared, "my daughter would not have been lost!" But it was a
+fatal mistake to accuse the Saint, or to imagine that he could be
+deceived. Sternly rebuking her, he challenged her with the fact that
+the child lay dead in a box, with milk and bread beside her! Rising,
+he left his cell, and, followed by the agitated royal couple, he led
+the way to where the proof of the Queen's neglect and deceit was
+found. Small mercy was shown in those days to erring womanhood, and
+the guilty Queen was instantly "stoned with stones till she died." The
+Saint completed his share in the matter by casting himself on his
+knees beside the child, whereupon she was restored to life.
+
+
+_St Goezenou_
+
+St Goezenou (_circ._ A.D. 675) was a native of Britain whose parents
+crossed to Brittany and settled near Brest, where the Saint built an
+oratory and cabin for himself. The legend runs that the prince of the
+neighbourhood having offered to give him as much land as he could
+surround with a ditch in one day, the Saint took a fork and dragged it
+along the ground after him as he walked, in this way enclosing a
+league and a half of land, the fork as it trailed behind him making a
+furrow and throwing up an embankment, on a small scale. This story is
+quite probably a popular tradition, which grew up to explain the
+origin of old military earthworks in that part of the country, which
+were afterward utilized by the monks of St Goezenou.
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN QUEBAN STONED TO DEATH]
+
+It is also related of this worthy Saint that he had such a horror of
+women that he set up a huge menhir to mark the boundary beyond which
+no female was to pass under penalty of death. On one occasion a woman,
+either to test the extent of the Saint's power or from motives of
+enmity, pushed another woman who was with her past this landmark; but
+the innocent trespasser was unhurt and her assailant fell dead.
+
+On one occasion, we are told, Goezenou asked a farmer's wife for some
+cream cheeses, but the woman, not wishing to part with them, declared
+that she had none. "You speak the truth," said the Saint. "You had
+some, but if you will now look in your cupboard you will find they
+have been turned into stone," and when the ungenerous housewife ran to
+her cupboard she found that this was so! The petrified cheeses were
+long preserved in the church of Goezenou--being removed during the
+Revolution, and afterward preserved in the manor of Kergivas.
+
+Goezenou governed his church for twenty-four years, till he met with a
+violent death. Accompanied by his brother St Magan, he went to
+Quimperl� to see the monastery which St Corbasius was building there,
+but he began to praise the architecture of his own church, and this so
+enraged the master builder that he dropped his hammer on the critic's
+head. To add to the grief of St Magan, St Corbasius endeavoured to
+appropriate the body of the murdered Saint. He consented, however, to
+allow St Magan to have such bones as he was able to identify as
+belonging to his brother, whereupon St Magan prayed all night, and
+next morning spread a sheet for the bones, which miraculously arranged
+themselves into an entire skeleton, which the sorrowing Magan was thus
+enabled to remove.
+
+
+_St Winwaloe, or Gwenaloe_
+
+St Winwaloe, born about 455, was the son of Fragan, Governor of L�on,
+who had married a wealthy lady named Gwen. Their son was so beautiful
+that they named him Gwenaloe, or 'He that is white.' When the lad was
+about fifteen years old he was given to the care of a holy man, with
+whom he lived on the islet called Ile-Verte. One day a pirate fleet
+was sighted off the coast, near the harbour of Guic-sezne, and
+Winwaloe, who was with his father at the time, is said to have
+exclaimed, "I see a thousand sails," and to this day a cross which
+marks the spot is called 'the Cross of the Thousand Sails,' to
+commemorate the victory which Fragan and his son won over the pirates,
+who landed but were utterly defeated by the Governor and his
+retainers. During the fight Winwaloe, "like a second Moses," prayed
+for victory, and when the victory had been won he entreated his father
+to put the booty gained to a holy use and to build a monastery on the
+site of the battle. This was done, and the monastery was called
+Loc-Christ.
+
+Leaving his master after some years, Winwaloe settled on the island of
+Sein, but finding that it was exposed to the fury of every gale that
+blew from the Atlantic he left it and went to Land�vennec, on the
+opposite side of the harbour at Brest. There he established a
+monastery, gathered round him many disciples, and dwelt there until
+his death, many years later. He died during the first week of Lent,
+"after bestowing a kiss of peace on his brethren," and his body is
+preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, his chasuble, alb, and bell being laid
+in the Jesuit church of St Charles at Antwerp.
+
+In art St Winwaloe is represented vested as an abbot, with staff in
+one hand and a bell in the other, standing beside the sea, from which
+fishes arise as if in answer to the sound of his bell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII: COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Distinctive national costume has to a great extent become a thing of
+the past in Europe, and for this relinquishment of the picturesque we
+have doubtless in a measure to thank the exploitation of remote
+districts as tourist and sporting centres. Brittany, however, has been
+remarkably faithful to her sartorial traditions, and even to-day in
+the remoter parts of the west and in distant sea-coast places her men
+and women have not ceased to express outwardly the strong national and
+personal individuality of their race. In these districts it is still
+possible for the traveller to take a sudden, bewildering, and wholly
+entrancing step back into the past.
+
+In Cornouaille the national costume is more jealously cherished than
+in any other part of the country, even to the smallest details, for
+here the men carry a _pen-bas_, or cudgel, which is as much a
+supplement to their attire and as characteristic of it as the Irish
+shillelagh is of the traditional Irish dress. Quimper is perhaps
+second to Cornouaille in fidelity to the old costume, for all the men
+wear the national habit. On gala days this consists of gaily
+embroidered and coloured waistcoats, which often bear the travelling
+tailor's name, and voluminous _bragou-bras_, or breeches of blue or
+brown, held at the waist with a broad leather belt with a metal buckle
+and caught in at the knee with ribbons of various hues, the whole set
+off with black leather leggings and shoes ornamented with silver
+buckles. A broad-brimmed hat, beneath which the hair falls down
+sometimes to below the shoulders, finishes a toilet which on weekdays
+or work-days has to give place to white _bragou-bras_ of tough
+material, something more sombre in waistcoats, and the ever
+serviceable sabot.
+
+
+_Hats and Hymen_
+
+In the vast stretch of the salt-pans of Escoublac, between Batz and Le
+Croisic, where the entire population of the district is employed, the
+workers, or _paludiers_, affect a smock-frock with pockets, linen
+breeches, gaiters, and shoes all of white, and with this dazzling
+costume they wear a huge, flapping black hat turned up on one side to
+form a horn-shaped peak. This peak is very important, as it indicates
+the state of the wearer, the young bachelor adjusting it with great
+nicety over the ear, the widower above his forehead, and the married
+man at the back of his head. On Sundays or gala-days, however, this
+uniform is discarded in favour of a multicoloured and more distinctive
+attire, the breeches being of fine cloth, exceedingly full and pleated
+and finished with ribbons at the knees, the gaiters and white shoes of
+everyday giving place to white woollen stockings with clocks
+embroidered on them and shoes of light yellow, while the smock is
+supplanted by several waistcoats of varying lengths and shades, which
+are worn one above the other in different coloured tiers, finished at
+the neck with a turnover muslin collar. The holiday hat is the same,
+save for a roll of brightly and many tinted chenille.
+
+Several petticoats of pleated cloth, big bibs or plastrons called
+_pi�ces_, of the same shade as their dresses, and a shawl with a
+fringed border, compose the costume of the women. The aprons of the
+girls are very plain and devoid of pockets, but the older women's are
+rich in texture and design, some of them being of silk and others
+even of costly brocade. The women's head-dress is almost grotesque in
+its originality, the hair being woven into two rolls, swathed round
+with tape, and wound into a coronet across the head. Over this is
+drawn tightly a kind of cap, which forms a peak behind and is crossed
+in front like a handkerchief. Should widowhood overtake a woman she
+relinquishes this _coiffe_ and shrouds her head and shoulders in a
+rough black triangular-shaped sheepskin mantle.
+
+The toilette of a bride is as magnificent as the widow's is depressing
+and dowdy. It consists of three different dresses, the first of white
+velvet with apron of moire-antique, the second of purple velvet, and
+the third of cloth of gold with embroidered sleeves, with a _pi�ce_ of
+the same material. A wide sash, embroidered with gold, is used for
+looping up all these resplendent skirts in order to reveal the gold
+clocks which adorn the stockings. These, and all gala costumes, are
+carefully stored away at the village inn, and may be seen by the
+traveller sufficiently interested to pay a small fee for the
+privilege.
+
+
+_Quaint Head-dresses_
+
+Though the dress of the Granville women does not attempt to equal or
+rival the magnificence just described, nevertheless it is as quaint
+and characteristic. They favour a long black or very dark coat, with
+bordering frills of the same material and shade, and their cap is a
+sort of _bandeau_, turning up sharply at the ears, and crested by a
+white handkerchief folded square and laid flat on top.
+
+In Ouessant the peasant women adopt an Italian style of costume, their
+head-dress, from under which their hair falls loosely, being exactly
+in almost every detail like that which one associates with the women
+of Italy. The costume of the man from St Pol is, like that of the
+Granville women, soberer than most others of Brittany. Save for his
+buttons, the buckle on his hat, and the clasps of white metal
+fastening his leather shoes, his dress, including spencer, waistcoat,
+trousers, and stockings, is of black, and his hair is worn falling on
+his shoulders, while he rarely carries the _pen-bas_--an indication,
+perhaps, of his rather meditative, pious temperament.
+
+At Villecheret the cap of the women is bewilderingly varied and very
+peculiar. At first sight it appears to consist of several large sheets
+of stiff white paper, in some cases a sheet of the apparent paper
+spreading out at either side of the head and having another roll
+placed across it; in other cases a ridged roof seems to rest upon the
+hair, a roof with the sides rolling upward and fastened at the top
+with a frail thread; while a third type of head-dress is of the
+skull-cap order, from which is suspended two ties quite twenty inches
+long and eight inches wide, which are doubled back midway and fastened
+again to the top of the skull-cap. The unmarried woman who adopts this
+_coiffe_ must wear the ties hanging over the shoulders.
+
+Originality in head-dress the male peasant leaves almost entirely to
+the woman, for nearly everywhere in Brittany one meets with the long,
+wide-brimmed, black hat, with a black band, the dullness of which is
+relieved by a white or blue metal buckle, as large as those usually
+found on belts. To this rule the Plougastel man is one of the
+exceptions, wearing a red cap with his trousers and coat of white
+flannel.
+
+At Muzillac, some miles distant from La Roche-Bernard, the women
+supplant the white _coiffe_ with a huge black cap resembling the cowl
+of a friar, while at Pont l'Abb� and along the Bay of Audierne the cap
+or _bigouden_ is formed of two pieces, the first a species of
+skull-cap fitting closely over the head and ears, the second a small
+circular piece of starched linen, shaped into a three-cornered peak,
+the centre point being embroidered and kept in position by a white
+tape tie which fastens under the chin. Over the skull-cap the hair is
+dressed _en chignon_. The dress accompanying this singular _coiffe_
+and _coiffure_ has a large yellow _pi�ce_, with sleeves to match. The
+men wear a number of short coats, one above the other, the shortest
+and last being trimmed with a fringe, and occasionally ornamented with
+sentences embroidered in coloured wools round the border, describing
+the patriotic or personal sentiments of the wearer.
+
+The women of Morlaix are also partial to the tight-fitting _coiffe_.
+This consists of five broad folds, forming a base from which a
+fan-like fall of stiffened calico spreads out from ear to ear,
+completely shading the nape of the neck and reaching down the back
+below the shoulders. Many of the women wear calico tippets, while the
+more elderly affect a sort of mob-cap with turned-up edges, from which
+to the middle of the head are stretched two wide straps of calico,
+joined together at the ends with a pin. Most of the youths of Morlaix
+wear the big, flapping hat, but very often a black cloth cap is also
+seen. This is ridiculous rather than picturesque, for so long is it
+that with almost every movement it tips over the wearer's nose. The
+tunic accompanying either hat or cap is of blue flannel, and over it
+is worn a black waistcoat. The porters of the market-places wear a
+sort of smock. The young boys of Morlaix dress very like their elders,
+and nearly all of them wear the long loose cap, with the difference
+that a tasselled end dangles down the back.
+
+[Illustration: MODERN BRITTANY]
+
+On religious festivals the gala dress is always donned in all
+vicinities of Brittany, and the costume informs the initiated at once
+in what capacity the Breton is present. For instance, the _porteuses_,
+or banner-bearers, of certain saints are dressed in white; others may
+be more gorgeously or vividly attired in gowns of bright-coloured silk
+trimmed with gold lace, scarves of silver thread, aprons of gold
+tissue or brocade, and lace _coiffes_ over caps of gold or silver
+tissue; while some, though in national gala dress, will have flags or
+crosses to distinguish them from the more commonplace worshipper.
+
+
+_Religious Festivals_
+
+This dressing for the part and the occasion is interwoven with the
+Breton's existence as unalterably as sacred and profane elements are
+into the occasions of his religious festivals. A feast day well and
+piously begun is interspersed and concluded with a gaiety and abandon
+which by contrast strikes a note of profanity. Yet Brittany is quite
+the most devotedly religious of all the French provinces, and one may
+see the great cathedrals filled to their uttermost with congregations
+including as many men as women. Nowhere else, perhaps, will one find
+such great masses of people so completely lost in religious fervour
+during the usual Church services and the grander and more impressive
+festivals so solemnly observed. This reverence is attributed by some
+to the power of superstition, by others to the Celtic temperament of
+the worshippers; but from whatever cause it arises no one who has
+lived among the Bretons can doubt the sincerity and childlike faith
+which lies at the base of it all, a faith of which a medieval
+simplicity and credence are the keynotes.
+
+
+_The Pardons_
+
+This pious punctiliousness is not confined to Church services and
+ceremonies alone, for rarely are wayside crosses or shrines
+unattended by some simple peasant or peasants telling beads or
+unfolding griefs to a God Who, they have been taught, takes the
+deepest interest in and compassionates all the troubles and trials
+which may befall them. Between May and October the religious
+ardour of the Breton may be witnessed at its strongest, for during
+these months the five great 'Pardons' or religious pilgrimage
+festivals are solemnized in the following sequence: the Pardon of the
+Poor, at Saint-Yves; the Pardon of the Singers, at Rumengol; the
+Pardon of the Fire, at Saint-Jean-du-Doigt; the Pardon of the
+Mountain, at Trom�nie-de-Saint-Renan; the Pardon of the Sea, at
+Sainte-Anne-la-Palud.
+
+The Pardon of the Poor, the Pardon of the Singers, and the Pardon of
+the Sea are especially rigorous and exacting, but the less celebrated
+Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clart�, in Morbihan, has an earthly as much
+as a celestial object, for while the pilgrimage does homage to the
+Virgin it is at the same time believed to facilitate marriage. Here,
+once the sacred side of the festival has been duly observed, the young
+man in search of a wife circles about the church, closely scrutinizing
+all the eligible demoiselles who come within range of his vision. As
+soon as he decides which maiden most appeals to him, he asks her
+politely if she will accept a gift from him, and at the same time
+presents a large round cake, with which he has armed himself for that
+occasion. "Will mademoiselle break the cake with me?" is the customary
+form of address, and in the adoption or rejection of this suggestion
+lies the young peasant's yea or nay.
+
+The Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt takes place on the 22nd of June, and
+is, perhaps, the most solemn of these festivals. During its
+celebration the relic of the Saint, the little finger of his right
+hand, is held before the high altar of the church by an _abb�_ clad in
+his surplice. The finger is wrapped in the finest of linen, and one by
+one the congregation files past the _abb�_ for the purpose of touching
+for one brief moment the relic he holds. At the same time another
+cleric stands near the choir, holding the skull of St M�riadec, and
+before this the pilgrims also promenade, reverently bowing their heads
+as they go. The devotees then repair to a side wall near which there
+is a fountain, the waters of which have been previously sanctified by
+bathing in them the finger of St Jean suspended from a gold chain, and
+into this the pilgrims plunge their palms and vigorously rub their
+eyes with them, as a protection against blindness. This concludes the
+religious side of the Pardon, and immediately after its less edifying
+ceremonies begin.
+
+The Pardon of the Mountain is held on Trinity Sunday at Trom�nie.
+Every sixth year there is the 'Grand Trom�nie,' an event which draws
+an immense concourse of people from all parts. The principal feature
+of this great day from the spectator's point of view is the afternoon
+procession. It is of the most imposing description, and all who have
+come to take part in the Pardon join it, as with banners flying and
+much hymn-singing it takes its way out of the town to wind round a
+mountain in the vicinity.
+
+
+_Barking Women_
+
+In the old days of religious enthusiasm a remarkable phenomenon often
+attended these festivals, when excitement began to run high, as it was
+certain to do among a Celtic people. This was the barking of certain
+highly strung hysterical women. In time it became quite a usual
+feature, but now, happily, it is a part of the ceremony which has
+almost entirely disappeared. There is a legend in connexion with this
+custom that the Virgin appeared before some women disguised as a
+beggar, and asked for a draught of water, and, when they refused it,
+caused them and their posterity to be afflicted with the mania.
+
+
+_The Sacring Bell_
+
+Another custom of earlier times was that of ringing the sacring bell.
+These bells are very tiny, and are attached at regular intervals to
+the outer rim of a wooden wheel, wrongly styled by some 'the Wheel of
+Fortune,' from which dangles a long string. In most places the sacring
+bell is kept as a curiosity, though in the church of St Bridget at
+Berhet the _Sant-e-roa_, or Holy Wheel, is still rung by pilgrims
+during Mass. The bells are set pealing through the medium of a long
+string by the impatient suppliant, to remind the saint to whom the
+_Sant-e-roa_ may be dedicated of the prayerful requests with which he
+or she has been assailed.
+
+There are in many of the churches of Brittany wide, old-fashioned
+fireplaces, a fact which testifies to a very sensible practice which
+prevailed in the latter half of the sixteenth century--that of
+warming the baptismal water before applying it to the defenceless head
+of the lately born. The most famous of these old fireplaces belong to
+the churches of St Bridget in Perguet, Le Moustoir-le-Juch, St Non at
+Penmarch, and Br�v�lenz. In the church at the latter place one of the
+pinnacles of the porch forms the chimney to its historic hearth.
+
+
+_The Venus of Quinipily_
+
+Childless people often pay a visit to some standing stone in their
+neighbourhood in the hope that they may thereby be blessed with
+offspring. Famous in this respect is the 'Venus,' or _Groabgoard_, of
+Quinipily, a rough-hewn stone in the likeness of a goddess. The
+letters ...LIT... still remain on it--part of a Latin inscription
+which has been thought to have originally read ILITHVIA, "a name in
+keeping with the rites still in use before the image," says
+MacCulloch.[61]
+
+
+_Holy Wells_
+
+The holy well is another institution dating from early days, and there
+is hardly a church in Brittany which does not boast one or more of
+these shrines, which are in most cases dedicated to the saint in whose
+honour the church has been raised. So numerous are these wells that to
+name them and dwell at any length on the curative powers claimed for
+their waters would fill a large volume. Worthy of mention, however, is
+the Holy Well of St Bieuzy, as typical of most of such sacred springs.
+It is close to the church of the same name in Bieuzy, and flows from a
+granite wall. Its waters are said to relieve and cure the mentally
+deranged. Some of the wells are large enough to permit the afflicted
+to bathe in their waters, and of these the well near the church of
+Goezenou is a good example. It is situated in an enclosure surrounded
+by stone seats for the convenience of the devotees who may desire to
+immerse themselves bodily in it. Several of these shrines bear dates,
+but whether they are genuine is a matter for conjecture.
+
+
+_Reliquaries_
+
+Every Breton churchyard worthy of the name has its reliquary or
+bone-house. There may be seen rows of small boxes like dog-kennels
+with heart-shaped openings. Round these openings, names, dates, and
+pious ejaculations are written. Looking through the aperture, a
+glimpse of a skull may startle one, for it is a gruesome custom of the
+country to dig up the bones of the dead and preserve the skulls in
+this way. The name upon the box is that once borne by the deceased,
+the date that of his death, and the charitable prayer is for the
+repose of his soul. Occasionally these boxes are set in conspicuous
+places in the church, but generally they remain in the reliquary. In
+the porch of the church of St Tr�meur, the son of the notorious Breton
+Bluebeard, Comorre, there is one of the largest collections of these
+receptacles in Brittany. Rich people who may have endowed or founded
+sacred edifices are buried in an arched recess of the abbey or church
+they have benefited.
+
+
+_Feeding the Dead_
+
+In some parts of Brittany hollows are found in tombstones above
+graves, and these are annually filled with holy water or libations of
+milk. It would seem as if this custom linked prehistoric with modern
+practice and that the cup-hollows frequently met with on the top of
+dolmens may have been intended as receptacles for the food of the
+dead. The basins scooped in the soil of a barrow may have served the
+same purpose. On the night of All Souls' Day, when this libation is
+made, the supper is left spread on the table of each cottage and the
+fire burns brightly, so that the dead may return to refresh and warm
+themselves after the dolours of the grave.
+
+
+_The Passage de l'Enfer_
+
+How hard custom dies in Brittany is illustrated by the fact that it is
+still usual at Tr�guier to convey the dead to the churchyard in a boat
+over a part of the river called the 'Passage de l'Enfer,' instead of
+taking the shorter way by land. This custom is reminiscent of what
+Procopius, a historian of the sixth century, says regarding Breton
+Celtic custom in his _De Bello Gothico_. Speaking of the island of
+Brittia, by which he means Britain, he states that it is divided by a
+wall. Thither fishermen from the Breton coast are compelled to ferry
+over at darkest night the shades of the dead, unseen by them, but
+marshalled by a mysterious leader. The fishermen who are to row the
+dead across to the British coast must go to bed early, for at midnight
+they are aroused by a tapping at the door, and they are called in a
+low voice. They rise and go down to the shore, attracted by some force
+which they cannot explain. Here they find their boats, apparently
+empty, yet the water rises to the bulwarks, as if they were crowded.
+Once they commence the voyage their vessels cleave the water speedily,
+making the passage, usually a day and a half's sailing, in an hour.
+When the British shore is reached the souls of the dead leave the
+boats, which at once rise in the sea as if unloaded. Then a loud voice
+on shore is heard calling out the name and style of those who have
+disembarked.
+
+Procopius had, of course, heard the old Celtic myth of an oversea
+Elysium, and had added to it some distorted reminiscence of the old
+Roman wall which divided Britain. The 'ship of souls' is evidently a
+feature of Celtic as well as of Latin and Greek belief.
+
+
+_Calvaries_
+
+Calvaries, or representations of the passion on the Cross, are most
+frequently encountered in Brittany, so much so, indeed, that it has
+been called 'the Land of the Calvaries.' Over the length and breadth
+of the country they are to be met at almost every turn, some of them
+no more than rude, simple crosses originating in local workshops, and
+others truly magnificent in carving and detail. Some of the most
+famous are those situated at Plougastel, Saint-Th�gonnec, and
+Guimiliau.
+
+The Calvary of Plougastel dates from the early sixteenth century, and
+consists of an arcade beneath a platform filled with statues. The
+surrounding frieze has carvings in bas-relief representing incidents
+in the life of Christ. The Calvary of Saint-Th�gonnec represents
+vividly the phases of the passion, being really a 'way of the Cross'
+in sculpture. It bears the unmistakable stamp of the sixteenth
+century. The Calvary of Guimiliau is dated 1580 and 1588. A platform
+supported by arches bears the three crosses, the four evangelists, and
+other figures connected with the principal incidents in the life and
+passion of our Lord. The principal figures, that of Christ and those
+of the attending Blessed Virgin and St John, are most beautifully and
+sympathetically portrayed. The figures in the representations from the
+life of Christ, which are from necessity much smaller than those of
+the Crucifixion, are dressed in the costume of the sixteenth century.
+The entire Calvary is sculptured in Kersanton stone.
+
+[Illustration: THE SOULS OF THE DEAD]
+
+Whether these and other similar groups are really works of art is
+perhaps a matter for discussion, but regarding their impressiveness
+there cannot be two opinions. By the bulk of the people they are
+held in great reverence, and rarely are they unattended by tiny
+congregations of two or three, while on the occasion of important
+religious festivals people flock to them in hundreds.
+
+
+_Weddings_
+
+In many of their religious observances the Bretons are prone to
+confuse the sacred with the profane, and chief among these is the
+wedding ceremony--the customs attendant on which in some ostensibly
+Christian countries are yet a disgrace to the intellect as well as the
+good feeling of man. In rural Brittany, however, the revelry which
+ensues as soon as the church door closes on the newly wedded pair is
+more like that associated with a children's party than the recreation
+of older people. Should the marriage be celebrated in the morning,
+tables laid out with cakes are ranged outside the church door, and
+when the bridal procession files out of the church the bride and
+bridegroom each take a cake from the table and leave a coin in its
+stead for the poor. The guests follow suit, and then the whole party
+repairs to the nearest meadow, where endless _ronds_ are begun.
+
+The _rond_ is a sort of dance in which the whole assembly joins
+hands and revolves slowly with a hop-skip-and-a-jump step to the
+accompaniment of a most wearisome and unvarying chant, the music for
+which is provided by the _biniou_, or bagpipe, and the flageolet
+or hautboy, both being occasionally augmented by the drum. Before
+the ceremony begins the musicians who are responsible for this
+primitive harmony are dispatched to summon the guests, who, of
+course, arrive in the full splendour of the national gala costume. As
+soon as the _ronds_ are completed to the satisfaction of everybody
+the custom common to so many countries of stealing the bride away
+is celebrated. At a given signal she speeds away from the party,
+hotly pursued by the young gallants present, and when she is
+overtaken she presents the successful swain with a cup of coffee at a
+public _caf�_. This interlude is followed by dinner, and after that
+the _ronds_ are resumed. These festivities, in the case of prosperous
+people, sometimes last three days, during which time the guests are
+entertained at their host's expense. If the wedding happens to be held
+in the evening, dancing is about the only amusement indulged in, and
+this follows an elaborate wedding supper. The _biniou_ and its
+companions are decidedly _en �vidence_, while sometimes the monotony
+of the _ronds_ is varied by the _grand rond_, a much more graceful
+and intricate affair, containing many elaborate and difficult steps;
+but the more ordinary dance is the favourite, probably because of the
+difficulties attending the other.
+
+
+_Breton Burials_
+
+An ancient Breton funeral ceremony was replete with symbolic meaning
+and ritual, which have been carried down through the Middle Ages to
+the present time. As soon as the head of the family had ceased to
+breathe, a great fire was lit in the courtyard, and the mattress upon
+which he had expired was burned. Pitchers of water and milk were
+emptied, for fear, perhaps, that the soul of the defunct might be
+athirst. The dead man was then enveloped from head to foot in a great
+white sheet and placed in a description of funeral pavilion, the hands
+joined on the breast, the body turned toward the east. At his feet a
+little stool was placed, and two yellow candles were lit on each side
+of him. Then the beadle or gravedigger, who was usually a poor man,
+went round the country-side to carry the news of death, which he
+usually called out in a high, piping voice, ringing his little bell
+the while. At the hour of sunset people arrived from all parts for the
+purpose of viewing the body. Each one carried a branch, which he
+placed on the feet of the defunct.
+
+The evening prayer was recited by all, then the women sang the
+canticles. From time to time the widow and children of the deceased
+raised the corner of the shroud and kissed it solemnly. A repast was
+served in an adjoining room, where the beggar sat side by side with
+the wealthy, on the principle that all were equal before death. It is
+strange that the poor are always associated with the griefs as with
+the pleasures of Breton people; we find them at the feast of death and
+at the baptism as at the wedding rejoicing.
+
+In the morning the rector of the parish arrived and all retired, with
+the exception of the parents, if these chanced to be alive, in whose
+presence the beadle closed the coffin. No other member of the family
+was permitted to take part in this solemn farewell, which was regarded
+as a sacred duty. The coffin was then placed on a car drawn by oxen,
+and the funeral procession set out, preceded by the clergy and
+followed by the female relations of the deceased, wearing yellow
+head-dresses and black mantles. The men followed with bared heads. On
+arriving at the church the coffin was disposed on trestles, and the
+widow sat close by it throughout the ceremony. As it was lowered into
+the tomb the last words of the prayer for the dead were repeated by
+all, and as it touched the soil beneath a loud cry arose from the
+bereaved.
+
+The Breton funeral ceremony, like those prevalent among other Celtic
+peoples, is indeed a lugubrious affair, and somewhat recalls the Irish
+wake in its strange mixture of mourning and feasting; but curiously
+enough brightness reigns afterward, for the peasant is absolutely
+assured that at the moment his friend is placed in the tomb he
+commences a life of joy without end.
+
+
+_Tartarus and Paradise_
+
+Two very striking old Breton ballads give us very vivid pictures of
+the Breton idea of Heaven and its opposite. That dealing with the
+infernal regions hails from the district of L�on. It is attributed to
+a priest named Morin, who flourished in the fifteenth century, but
+others have claimed it for a Jesuit father called Maunoir, who lived
+and preached some two hundred years later. In any case it bears the
+ecclesiastical stamp. "Descend, Christians," it begins, "to see what
+unspeakable tortures the souls of the condemned suffer through the
+justice of God, Who has chained them in the midst of flames for
+having abused their gifts in this world. Hell is a profound abyss,
+full of shadow, where not the least gleam of light ever comes. The
+gates have been closed and bolted by God, and He will never open them
+more. The key is lost!
+
+"An oven heated to whiteness is this place, a fire which constantly
+devours the lost souls. There they will eternally burn, tormented by
+the intolerable heat. They gnash their teeth like mad dogs; they
+cannot escape the flames, which are over their heads, under their
+feet, and on all sides. The son rushes at his father, and the daughter
+at her mother. They drag them by the hair through the midst of flames,
+with a thousand maledictions, crying, 'Cursed be ye, lost woman, who
+brought us into the world! Cursed be ye, heedless man, who wert the
+cause of our damnation!'
+
+"For drink they have only their tears. Their skins are scorched, and
+bitten by the teeth of serpents and demons, and their flesh and their
+bones are nothing but fuel to the great fire of Hell!
+
+"After they have been for some time in this furnace, they are plunged
+by Satan into a lake of ice, and from this they are thrown once more
+into the flames, and from the flames into the water, like a bar of
+iron in a smithy. 'Have pity, my God, have pity on us!' they call; but
+they weep in vain, for God has closed His ears to their plaints.
+
+"The heat is so intense that their marrow burns within their bones.
+The more they crave for pity, the more they are tormented.
+
+"This fire is the anger of God which they have aroused; verily it may
+never be put out."
+
+One turns with loathing, with anger, and with contempt from this
+production of medieval ecclesiasticism. When one thinks of the
+thousands of simple and innocent people who must have been tortured
+and driven half wild with terror by such infamous utterances as this,
+one feels inclined to challenge the oft-repeated statement concerning
+the many virtues of the medieval Church. But Brittany is not the only
+place where this species of terrorism was in vogue, and that until
+comparatively recent times. The writer can recall such descriptions as
+this emanating from the pulpits of churches in Scottish villages only
+some thirty years ago, and the strange thing is that people of that
+generation were wont to look back with longing and admiration upon the
+old style of condemnatory sermon, and to criticize the efforts of the
+younger school of ministers as being wanting in force and lacking the
+spirit of menace so characteristic of their forerunners. There are no
+such sermons nowadays, they say. Let us thank God that to the credit
+of human intelligence and human pity there are not!
+
+The opposite to this picture is provided by the ballad on Heaven. It
+is generally attributed to Michel de Kerodern, a Breton missionary of
+the seventeenth century, but others claim its authorship for St Herv�,
+to whom we have already alluded. In any case it is as replete with
+superstitions as its darker fellow. The soul, it says, passes the
+moon, sun, and stars on its Heavenward way, and from that height turns
+its eyes on its native land of Brittany. "Adieu to thee, my country!
+Adieu to thee, world of suffering and dolorous burdens! Farewell,
+poverty, affliction, trouble, and sin! Like a lost vessel the body
+lies below, but wherever I turn my eyes my heart is filled with a
+thousand felicities. I behold the gates of Paradise open at my
+approach and the saints coming out to receive me. I am received in the
+Palace of the Trinity, in the midst of honours and heavenly harmonies.
+The Lord places on my head a beautiful crown and bids me enter into
+the treasures of Heaven. Legions of archangels chant the praise of
+God, each with a harp in his hand. I meet my father, my mother, my
+brothers, the men of my country. Choirs of little angels fly hither
+and thither over our heads like flocks of birds. Oh, happiness without
+equal! When I think of such bliss to be, it consoles my heart for the
+pains of this life."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [61] _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 289.
+
+
+
+
+GLOSSARY & INDEX
+
+  A
+
+  AB�LARD. A Breton monk;
+    the story of H�lo�se and, 248-253
+
+  ABERLADY BAY. A bay in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, 357
+
+  ABERNETHY. A town in Scotland;
+    the Round Tower at, 52
+
+  ABERYSTWYTH. A town in Wales;
+    Taliesin buried at, 22
+
+  ADDER'S STONE. A substance supposed to have magical properties,
+        employed in Druidic rites, 247;
+    H�lo�se, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed,
+        252
+
+  ALAIN III. Count of Brittany (Count of Vannes);
+    drives back the Northmen, 25
+
+  ALAIN IV (BARBE-TORTE). Arch-chief of Brittany;
+    defeats the Northmen, 25-26
+
+  ALAIN V. Duke of Brittany, 27, 28
+
+  ALAIN FERGANT. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  ALAIN. Son of Eudo of Brittany, 29
+
+  ALBERT LE GRAND. Monk of Morlaix, 278
+
+  ALCHEMY. The art of;
+    the position of, in the fifteenth century, 175;
+    Gilles de Retz experiments in, 175-179
+
+  ALGONQUINS. A race of North American Indians;
+    mentioned, 302
+
+  ALI BABA. The story of;
+    mentioned, 316
+
+  ALL SOULS' DAY. The custom of leaving food for the dead on, 383
+
+  ALO�DA. A maiden;
+    in the ballad of the Marriage-girdle, 234-236
+
+  'ALPINE' RACE. A European ethnological division;
+    the Bretons probably belong to, 14, 37 _n._
+
+  AMENOPHIS III. An Egyptian king;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  AMERICA. _See_ United States
+
+  ANGERS. A town in France;
+    St Convoyon goes to, to obtain holy relics from the cathedral,
+        336
+
+  ANIMALS. Frequently the bearers of divine aid, in legends of the
+        saints, 347;
+    St Pol noted for his miraculous power over wild beasts, 366
+
+  ANIMISM, 86-87
+
+  ANKOU, THE. The death-spirit of Brittany, 101-102
+
+  ANNA�K. A maiden;
+    in a story of the Marquis of Gu�rande, 199-202
+
+  ANNE. Duchess of Brittany;
+    married to Charles VIII of France, and then to Louis XII, 36;
+    the oratory of, in the ch�teau of Dinan, 209;
+    gives the ch�teau of Suscino to John of Ch�lons, 210
+
+  ANTWERP. The city;
+    relics of St Winwaloe preserved in the Jesuit church of St Charles
+        at, 371;
+    mentioned, 205
+
+  APPLE, THE. Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Telio,
+        18
+
+  ARDMORE. A town in Ireland;
+    the Round Tower at, 51-52
+
+  AREZ, MOUNTAINS OF. Same as Montagnes d'Arr�e, _which see_
+
+  ARGOED. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  ARMAGH. A city in Ireland;
+    Budoc made Bishop of, 356
+
+  ARMENIA. The country;
+    were-wolf superstition in, 291
+
+  ARMOR ('On the Sea'). The ancient Celtic name for Brittany, 13
+
+  ARMORICA. The Latin name for the country of Brittany, 13, 15;
+    Julius C�sar in, 16;
+    two British kingdoms in, 19;
+    the first monastery in, founded by Gw�nnol�, 185;
+    King Arthur hunts wild beasts in, 278;
+    St Samson bidden to go to, 349
+
+  ARTHUR, KING. British chieftain, of legendary fame;
+    his finding of Excalibur, 256-257;
+    his encounter with the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, 275-277;
+    his existence doubted by Bretons in the twelfth century, 278;
+    his fight with the dragon at the Lieue de Gr�ve, 278-281;
+    carried to the Isle of Avalon after his last battle, 282;
+    Gugemar at the Court of, 292;
+    his contest with Modred, 344;
+    his sister Margawse the wife of King Lot of Lothian, 357;
+    mentioned, 64, 66, 173, 212, 224
+
+  ARTHUR. Duke of Brittany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet;
+    murdered by King John of England, 30
+
+  ARTHURIAN ROMANCE. Resemblances in Villemarqu�'s _Barzaz-Breiz_ to,
+        224;
+    the controversy as to the original birthplace of, 228,
+        254-255;
+    indigenous to British soil, 255
+
+  ARZ. _See_ Ile d'Arz
+
+  ASH-TREE, THE LAY OF THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        317-320
+
+  AUCHENTORLIE. An estate in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones at, 46
+
+  AUCHINLECK MS. A manuscript containing a version of the story of
+        Tristrem and Ysonde, 272
+
+  AUDIERNE, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    national costume in the district of, 376
+
+  AULNOY, COMTESSE D'. Noted seventeenth-century French authoress;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  AURAY. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, 35;
+    centre from which to visit the megaliths of Carnac, 42
+
+  AVALON, ISLE OF. A fabled island to which King Arthur was carried
+        after his last battle, 282
+
+  AVENUE OF SPHINXES. At Karnak, Egypt, 43
+
+  AZ�NOR. Mother of St Budoc of Dol, 354-356
+
+  AZ�NOR THE PALE. A maiden;
+    the legend of, 360-364
+
+  B
+
+  BACCHUS. The Greek god of wine;
+    mentioned, 189
+
+  BALON. Monastery of;
+    St Tivisiau and, 338-339
+
+  BAN. King of Benwik;
+    father of Sir Lancelot, 257
+
+  BANGOR TEIVI. A village in Wales;
+    Taliesin said to have died at, 22
+
+  BARANTON, THE FOUNTAIN OF. A magical fountain in Broceliande,
+        70-71
+
+  BARD. Singer or poet attached to noble households;
+    late survival of the custom of maintaining, 364
+
+  BARKING WOMEN. A phenomenon connected with religious festivals,
+        380
+
+  BARON OF JAUIOZ, THE. A ballad, 145-147
+
+  BARRON. A fictitious youth;
+    in a story of Gilles de Retz, 178
+
+  BARZAZ-BREIZ ("The Breton Bards"). A collection of Breton ballads
+        made by Villemarqu�;
+    cited (under sub-title, _Chants populaires de la Bretagne_), 57
+        _n._;
+    criticism of, 211-212
+
+  BASS ROCK. An islet in the Firth of Forth, 359
+
+  BATZ.
+    I. An island off the coast of Brittany; St Pol settles on,
+        365-366
+    II. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  BAYARD, THE CHEVALIER DE. A famous French knight;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  BEAN NIGHE ('The Washing Woman'). An evil spirit of the Scottish
+        Highlands, 100
+
+  BEAUMANOIR. A Breton noble house, 229
+
+  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The story of;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  BEAUVAU. Matthew, Seigneur of;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 190-193
+
+  BEDIVERE, SIR. One of King Arthur's knights;
+    accompanies Arthur on his expedition against the giant of
+        Mont-Saint-Michel, 275-277
+
+  BEES. Cultivated by the monks of Dol, 19;
+    St Pol taught the people to cultivate, 366
+
+  BEIGNON. A town in Brittany, 360
+
+  BELGIUM. Mentioned, 52
+
+  BELIAGOG. A giant;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271
+
+  BELSUNCE DE CASTELMORON, HENRI-FRAN�OIS-XAVIER DE. Bishop of
+        Marseilles;
+    mentioned, 195
+
+  BENEDICTION OF THE BEASTS. A festival held at Carnac, 45
+
+  BERHET. A village in Brittany;
+    the custom of ringing the sacring bell still observed in the
+        church of St Bridget at, 380
+
+  BERRY. John, Duke of;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  BERRY. Caroline, Duchess of;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  BERTRAND DE DINAN. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  BIEUZY. A town in Brittany;
+    the Holy Well of St Bieuzy at, 381
+
+  BIGOUDEN. A cap worn by the women in some parts of Brittany, 376
+
+  BINIOU. A musical instrument resembling the bagpipe;
+    one of the national instruments of Brittany, 229;
+    played at weddings, 386
+
+  BIRDS. In Breton tradition, the dead supposed to return to earth in
+        the form of, 227;
+    frequently messengers in ballad literature, 233;
+    in the legends of the saints, commonly the bearers of divine aid,
+        347
+
+  BISCLAVERET. The Breton name for a were-wolf;
+    in the Lay of the Were-wolf, 287-289, 291
+
+  BLACK MOUNTAIN. The name of one of the peaks of the Black Mountains,
+        197
+
+  BLACK MOUNTAINS. A mountain chain in Brittany, 196
+
+  BLANCHE OF CASTILE. Mother of Louis IX, 208
+
+  BLANCHEFLOUR. Princess, sister of King Mark, mother of Tristrem;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261
+
+  BLOIS. A famous French ch�teau;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  BLOIS, CHARLES OF. Duke of Brittany;
+    contests the succession to the duchy, 30-32;
+    taken prisoner by Joan of Flanders, 31;
+    the marriage of, with Joan of Penthi�vre, 32;
+    defeated at Auray, 35;
+    the ch�teau of Suscino taken by, 210
+
+  BLUEBEARD. The villain in the nursery-tale;
+    Gilles de Retz identified with, 174, 180;
+    the story of, identified with the story of Comorre and Triphyna,
+        180
+
+  BLUE CHAMBER. A boudoir in the ch�teau of Tourlaville, 209
+
+  BODMIN. A town in Cornwall;
+    mentioned, 278
+
+  BOITEUX. A fiend;
+    in the story of the Princess Starbright, 123, 124, 125
+
+  BONCOTEST, COLLEGE OF. One of the colleges of the old University of
+        Paris;
+    Fontenelle at, 229
+
+  BONNY KILMENY. A ballad by James Hogg;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  BOURDAIS, MARC. A peasant, nicknamed Maraud;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75-77
+
+  BOUTEVILLE. John of, Seigneur of Faouet;
+    mentioned, 335
+
+  BOY WHO SERVED THE FAIRIES, THE. The story of, 88-95
+
+  BRAN ('Crow'). A Breton warrior;
+    the story of, 225-227;
+    analogies between the story of, and the poem of _Sir Tristrem_,
+        227-228
+
+  BRENGWAIN. A lady of Ysonde's suite;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 267, 269, 271, 272
+
+  BRENHA, FATHER JOS�. A Portuguese antiquary;
+    mentioned, 47
+
+  BREOCHAN. A legendary Welsh king, father of St Nennocha, 340
+
+  BR�RI. A Breton poet, 255
+
+  BREST. A town in Brittany, 354, 368, 371
+
+  BRETON. The language, 15-16
+
+  BRETONS. The race;
+    their origin and affinities, 13-15, 17, 37 _n._;
+    Bretons join William of Normandy in his expedition against
+        England, 29, 232, 233;
+    send an expedition to help Owen Glendower, 234;
+    defeat the English in a naval battle, 236
+
+  BREVELENZ. A village in Brittany;
+    a fireplace in the church of, 381
+
+  BREZONEK. The language spoken by the Bretons, 15-16
+
+  BRIAN. Son of Eudo of Brittany, 29
+
+  BRIDE OF SATAN, THE. The story of, 143-144;
+    mentioned, 147
+
+  BRITAIN. Celts flee from, to Brittany, before the Saxon invaders,
+        15, 17;
+    subject kingdoms of, in Brittany, 19;
+    immigrants from, in Brittany, form a confederacy and fight against
+        the Franks, 22-23;
+    the headquarters of the Druidic cult, 245;
+    Arthurian romance indigenous to, 255;
+    St Patern founds religious houses in, 348;
+    St Samson fled from, to Brittany, 350;
+    Procopius' story of the ferrying of the Breton dead over to,
+        383-384
+
+  BRITONS. The race;
+    members of, emigrate to Brittany, 15, 17, 22-23;
+    carried Arthurian romance to Brittany, 254, 255
+
+  BRITTANY. Divisions and character of the country, 13;
+    Julius C�sar in, 16;
+    the Latin tongue did not spread over, 17;
+    the origin of the name, 17;
+    Nomeno� wins the independence of, 23;
+    invaded by Northmen, 25;
+    the Northmen expelled from, 26;
+    division of, into counties and seigneuries, 27;
+    relations with Normandy, 27-30;
+    French influences in, 30;
+    the War of the Two Joans, 30-31, 35-36;
+    annexed to France by Francis I, 36;
+    the prehistoric stone monuments of, 37-53;
+    the fairies of, 54-95;
+    the sprites and demons of, 96-105;
+    'world-tales' in, 106-155;
+    folk-tales of, 156-172;
+    popular legends of, 173-202;
+    the ch�teaux of, 202-210;
+    hero-tales of, 211-240;
+    sends help to Owen Glendower in his conflict with the English,
+        234;
+    a British army in, 237;
+    the black art in, 241-253;
+    Arthurian romance in, 254-282;
+    Arthur found Excalibur in, 256;
+    Tristrem in, 270-271, 272;
+    the scene of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 284;
+    the saints of, 332-371;
+    many saints in, 350;
+    costumes of, 372-377;
+    customs of, 378-388;
+    religious observance in, 377-378;
+    holy wells in, 381-382;
+    observances relating to the dead and interments, 382-384,
+        386-388;
+    Calvaries in, 384-385;
+    wedding ceremonies in, 385-386
+
+  BRITTANY, COUNTS AND DUKES OF. _See under_ Alain; Arthur; Blois,
+        Charles of; Conan; Dreux; Eudo; Francis; Geoffrey; Hoel; John;
+        _and_ Salomon
+
+  BRITTIA. Procopius' name for Britain, 383
+
+  BROCELIANDE. A forest in Brittany, 54-73;
+    the shrine of Arthurian story, 55;
+    the Korrigan a denizen of, 56;
+    the scene of the adventures of Merlin and Vivien, 64;
+    the fountain of Baranton in, 70-71;
+    lines on, 71;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72-73;
+    the wood of Hell�an a part of, 221;
+    mentioned, 338
+
+  BRODINEUF. A Breton ch�teau, 207
+
+  BROWNIES. Elfish beings of small size;
+    distinct from fairies, 87
+
+  BRUNHILDA. Queen of Austrasia;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  BRUNO OF LA MONTAGNE. The story of, 72-73
+
+  BRUYANT. A friend of Butor of La Montagne;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72-73
+
+  BUGELNOZ, or TEUS. A beneficent spirit of the Vannes district,
+        100
+
+  BURIAL CUSTOMS. In Brittany, 382-384, 386-388
+
+  BURNS, ROBERT. The poet;
+    his use of old songs and ballads, 211;
+    mentioned, 241
+
+  BURON. A knight;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 318-320
+
+  BUTOR. Baron of La Montagne;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72
+
+  C
+
+  CADOUDAL, GEORGES. A Chouan leader;
+    mentioned, 25
+
+  CAERLEON-UPON-USK. A town in Wales;
+    Tristrem sails for, 263;
+    mentioned, 21
+
+  C�SAR. _See_ Julius
+
+  CALENDAR, THE. Supernatural beings often associated with, 97
+
+  CALIBURN. A name for Excalibur. _See_ Excalibur
+
+  CALLERNISH. A district in the island of Lewis, Outer Hebrides;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  CALVARIES. Representations of the passion on the Cross;
+    common in Brittany, 384-385
+
+  CAMARET. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 41
+
+  CAMELOT. A legendary town in England, the scene of King Arthur's
+        Court;
+    the battle at, in which King Arthur was killed, 344;
+   mentioned, 64
+
+  CANADOS. King Mark's Constable, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde,
+        272
+
+  CANCOET. A village in Brittany;
+    the Maison des Follets at, 49
+
+  CARADEUC. A Breton ch�teau, 207
+
+  CARDIGAN BAY. A bay in Wales;
+    the site of a submerged city, according to Welsh legend, 187,
+        188
+
+  CARDIGANSHIRE. Welsh county;
+    mentioned, 22
+
+  CARHAIX. A town in Brittany;
+    Comorre the ruler of, 180
+
+  CARNAC. A town in Brittany;
+    the megaliths at, 42-45;
+    the legend of, 44-45;
+    the 'Benediction of the Beasts' at, 45;
+    sometimes called 'Ty C'harriquet,' 98;
+    its megaliths supposed to have been built by the gorics, 98;
+    the gorics' revels around the megaliths of, 99
+
+  CAROLINE. Queen of England, wife of George II;
+    mentioned, 196
+
+  CASTLE OF THE SUN, THE. The story of, 131-137
+
+  CATTWG. A town in Wales;
+    Taliesin and Gildas said to have been educated at the school of,
+        21
+
+  CAYOT D�LANDRE, F. M. A Breton poet, 43
+
+  'CELTIC.' The term;
+    its disputed connotation, 37
+
+  CELTS. The race;
+    the Bretons a division of, 14-15;
+    Druidism may not have originated with, 245;
+    musical and poetic elements in the temperament of, 339
+
+  CHAMBER OF THE BLACK CAVALIER. In the ballad of Az�nor the Pale,
+        362
+
+  CHAMBORD. A famous French ch�teau;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  CHAMP DOLENT ('Field of Woe'). The field in which the menhir of Dol
+        stands, 40;
+    the battle in, 40
+
+  CHAMPTOC�. A Breton ch�teau;
+    the home of Gilles de Retz, 175, 176, 179-180
+
+  CHANGELINGS. The Breton fairies and, 83
+
+  CHANSONS DE GESTES. Medieval French poems with an heroic theme;
+    Villemarqu�'s work marked by the style of, 224-225
+
+  CHANTS POPULAIRES DE LA BRETAGNE. The sub-title of Villemarqu�'s
+        _Barzaz-Breiz_. _See_ _Barzaz-Breiz_
+
+  CHAPELLE DU DUC. A chapel at Tr�guier, built by Duke John V, 353
+
+  CHARLEMAGNE. The Emperor;
+    mentioned, 225
+
+  CHARLES I (THE BALD). King of France;
+    Nomeno� rises against, 23, 337-338
+
+  CHARLES V. King of France;
+    mentioned, 32
+
+  CHARLES VI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 174
+
+  CHARLES VIII. King of France;
+    Anne of Brittany married to, 36
+
+  CHARLES. A youth;
+    in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, 115-121
+
+  CHASE, THE. Superstitions of, 301
+
+  CH�TEAU DES PAULPIQUETS. A name given to a megalithic structure in
+        Questembert, 49
+
+  CH�TEAUX. Of Brittany;
+    their rich legendary and historical associations, 202-203;
+    stories of, 203-210
+
+  CH�TEAUBRIAND. Fran�ois-Ren�-Auguste, Viscount of;
+    famous French writer and statesman;
+    associated with the ch�teau of Comburg, 207
+
+  CH�TEAUBRIANT. A Breton ch�teau, 207
+
+  CH�TEAUBRIANT. Fran�oise de Foix, Countess of;
+    a story of her relations with King Francis I and her fate, 207;
+    the ch�teau of Suscino given to, by Francis I, 210
+
+  CHAVEAU-NARISHKINE, COUNTESS. Restored the ch�teau of Kerjolet,
+        208
+
+  CHILDEBAT. A Breton king, 366;
+    and St Pol, 367
+
+  CHRAMNE. Son of Clotaire I, King of the Franks, 40
+
+  CHRISTIANITY. St Samson teaches, in Brittany, 17-19;
+    the Curiosolites refuse to receive the teachings of St Malo,
+        342
+
+  CHURCH. The early;
+    hostility of, to the fairies, 56
+
+  CINDERELLA. The story of;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  CISALPINE GAUL. Roman province;
+    had no Druidic priesthood, 245
+
+  CLAIRSCHACH. The Highland harp;
+    replaced as the national instrument by the bagpipe, 229
+
+  CLAUDE. Queen of Francis I of France, 36
+
+  CL�DER. A town in Brittany;
+    St Keenan built a monastery at, 344
+
+  CLERK OF ROHAN, THE. The story of, 189-193
+
+  CLISSON. A Breton ch�teau, 204-205
+
+  CLISSON, OLIVER DE. A celebrated Breton soldier, Constable of
+        France;
+    fought in the War of the Two Joans, 35, 204;
+    and the ch�teau of Clisson, 204;
+    and the ch�teau of Josselin, 205, 206
+
+  CLOTAIRE I. King of the Franks, 40
+
+  COADELAN. The manor of;
+    occupied by Fontenelle, 230, 231;
+    has gone to decay, 232
+
+  COADELAN, THE LADY OF. Her daughter carried off by Fontenelle,
+        229-230
+
+  COAT-SQUIRIOU, MARQUIS OF. In the story of the Youth who did not
+        Know, 106-109
+
+  COCKNO. A place in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones at, 47
+
+  COESORON. A river in Brittany, 17
+
+  CO�TMAN. The house of, 204
+
+  CO�TMAN, VISCOUNT OF. A Breton nobleman;
+    mentioned, 204-205
+
+  CO�TQUEN, TOWER OF. One of the towers in the city wall of Dinan,
+        209
+
+  COIFFES. Of Brittany;
+    specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, 208
+    _See_ Head-dress
+
+  COLE, KING. A half-legendary British king;
+    mentioned, 173
+
+  COLODOC. A name given to St Keenan. _See_ St Keenan
+
+  COMBAT OF SAINT-CAST, THE. The ballad of, 236-238
+
+  COMBOURG. A Breton ch�teau, 207-208;
+    Ch�teaubriand associated with, 208
+
+  COMORRE THE CURSED. The story of, 180-184;
+    mentioned, 382
+
+  COMTE DE GABALIS, LE. The Abb� de Villars' work;
+    mentioned, 64
+
+  CONAN I. Count of Brittany (Count of Rennes), 27
+
+  CONAN II. Duke of Brittany;
+    and Duke William of Normandy, 27-29
+
+  CONAN III. Duke of Brittany, 30;
+    patron of Ab�lard, 248
+
+  CONAN IV. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  CONAN. Father of Morvan, 215
+
+  CONCARNEAU. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42;
+    the ch�teau of Kerjolet in, 208
+
+  CONCORET. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  CONCURRUS. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  CONNAUGHT. An Irish province;
+    St Keenan a native of, 343
+
+  CONSTANCE. Daughter of Conan IV of Brittany;
+    married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, 30
+
+  CONTES POPULAIRES DE LA HAUTE-BRETAGNE. P. S�billot's work;
+    cited, 83 _n._
+
+  CORK. A county of Ireland;
+    mentioned, 355
+
+  CORNOUAILLE. A district in Brittany;
+    the ancient Cornubia, 19;
+    formed by immigrants from Britain, 23;
+    Az�nor the Pale, a ballad of, 360-364;
+    distinctive national costume in, 372;
+    mentioned, 108
+
+  CORNUBIA. A British kingdom in Armorica, the modern Cornouaille,
+        19
+
+  CORNWALL. An English county, anciently a kingdom;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 257-262;
+    mentioned, 278
+
+  CORSEUL. A town in Brittany;
+    the people of, refuse the teachings of St Malo, 342-343
+
+  CORSTORPHINE. A village near Edinburgh;
+    the legend of the building of the church at, 51
+
+  COSTUME. Breton;
+    specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, 208;
+    the faithfulness of the Bretons to their national costume, 372;
+    the varieties of, 372-377;
+    the costume of Cornouaille, 372;
+    of Quimper, 372-373;
+    of the workers of the Escoublac district, 373-374;
+    of the women of Granville, 374;
+    of the women of Ouessant, 374;
+    of the men of St Pol, 375;
+    of Pont l'Abb� and the Bay of Audierne, 376;
+    of Morlaix, 376-377;
+    gala dress in Brittany, 377
+
+  C�TES-DU-NORD. One of the departments of Brittany, 13;
+    part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, 19;
+    mentioned, 41, 88, 167, 282, 351
+
+  COUDRE. A maiden;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 319-320
+
+  COURILS. A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, 87, 98-99
+
+  COURONNES DE STE BARBE. Amulets sold at the festival of St Barbe at
+        Le Faouet, 333
+
+  COX, REV. SIR G. W. Cited, 275 _n._
+
+  CRAON. The house of, 174
+
+  CRIONS. A race of gnomes peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen, 99
+
+  CROMLECH. The term;
+    its derivation and significance, 38
+
+  CROSS OF THE THOUSAND SAILS. A monument at Guic-sezne, 370
+
+  CRUSADES. Mentioned, 190
+
+  CULROSS. A town in Scotland;
+    St Kentigern born at, 357
+
+  CUP-AND-RING ALTAR. A monument discovered in the Milton of Colquhoun
+        district, Scotland, 47
+
+  CUP-AND-RING MARKINGS. Symbols inscribed on megaliths;
+    their meaning and purpose, 46-48
+
+  CUPID AND PSYCHE. The story of;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  CURIOSOLIT�. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16;
+   the Curiosolites refuse to receive Christian teaching from St Malo,
+        342-343
+
+  CYMBELINE. A half-legendary British king;
+    mentioned, 173
+
+  D
+
+  DAGWORTH, SIR THOMAS. An English knight;
+    at the battle of La Roche-Derrien, 31
+
+  DAHUT. Princess, daughter of Gradlon;
+    in the legend of Ys, 185, 186
+
+  DANA�. A maiden, in Greek mythology, mother of Perseus;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  DAOINE SIDHE. Irish deities, 87
+
+  DAOULAS. A village in Brittany;
+    the statue of the Virgin in the abbey of, adorned with a girdle of
+        rubies, 236
+
+  DEAD, THE. In Breton tradition, supposed to return to earth in the
+        form of birds, 227;
+    food left for, 382-383, 387;
+    burial customs, 382-384, 386-388;
+    the Breton dead ferried over to Britain, 383-384
+
+  DEATH-BIRD. A bird whose note is supposed to portend misfortune to
+        the maiden who hears it, 145, 147
+
+  DEATH-SPIRIT. The Ankou, 101-102
+
+  DEER GOD. A deity of the North American Indians, 301
+
+  D�LANDRE, CAYOT. _See_ Cayot
+
+  DEMETER. Greek corn goddess;
+    mentioned, 59
+
+  DEMON LOVER, THE. A Scottish ballad;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  DEMONS. Of Brittany, 96-105;
+    the invariable accompaniment of an illiterate peasantry, 96
+
+  DENIS PYRAMUS. An Anglo-Norman chronicler;
+    on the poems of Marie de France, 284
+
+  DESONELLE, PRINCESS. Heroine of _Sir Torrent of Portugal_;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  DEVIL, THE. The erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to,
+        49;
+    the Teus and, 100
+    _See also_ Satan
+
+  DIANA. Roman moon-goddess;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  DIANCECHT. An Irish god;
+    mentioned, 247
+
+  DINAN.
+    I. A town in Brittany, 194, 195, 209
+    II. The ch�teau of, 209
+
+  DOL. A town in Brittany;
+    the menhir near, 18, 39-40, 318;
+    St Samson settled near, 18;
+    the Northmen defeated by Alain Barbe-torte near, 26;
+    the legend of the menhir of, 40;
+    Buron lived at, 318;
+    St Turiau, or Tivisiau, associated with, 338-339;
+    the legend of the founding of, by St Samson, 350;
+    the legend of St Budoc of, 353-358
+
+  DOL, BISHOP OF. And St Tivisiau, 338-339
+
+  DOL DES MARCHANDS. The name given to a dolmen near Dol, 48
+
+  DOLMENS. Derivation and meaning of the term, 38;
+    purpose of the monuments, 38-39;
+    the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, 41;
+    the dolmen at Tr�gunc, 42;
+    the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46;
+    cup-and-ring markings upon, 46-48;
+    the dolmen at Penhapp, 48;
+    the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, 50;
+    the dolmen at La Lande-Marie, 51;
+    the dolmen of Ess�, 53;
+    haunted by nains, 96;
+    cup-hollows on, may have been intended as receptacles for food for
+        the dead, 383
+
+  DOLOROUS KNIGHT, THE LAY OF THE, or THE LAY OF THE FOUR SORROWS. One
+        of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 328-331
+
+  DOMNON�E. A county of Brittany, 23
+    _See also_ Domnonia
+
+  DOMNONIA. A British kingdom in Armorica, 19, 27
+    _See also_ Domnon�e
+
+  DOTTIN, GEORGES. Cited, 37 _n._
+
+  DOUARNENEZ, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    the city of Ys said to have been situated there, 185
+
+  DRACHENFELS. A famous castle on the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  DREUX, PIERRE DE. Duke of Brittany;
+    defeats John of England at Nantes, 30
+
+  DREZ, JOB ANN. A sexton;
+    in a story of the Yeun, 103-105
+
+  DRUIDISM. In early times, sorcery identified with, 245;
+    the question whether Druidism was of Celtic or non-Celtic origin,
+        245;
+    the nature of the practices of, 245-248;
+    survival of Druidic spells and ritual, 246;
+    an Eastern origin claimed for, 247;
+    survivals of the Druidic priesthood, 247;
+    a college of Druidic priestesses situated near Nantes, 253;
+    mentioned, 53
+    _See also_ Druids
+
+  DRUIDS. Origin of the cult, 245;
+    the nature of their practices, 245-246;
+    in the legend of Kentigern's birth, condemn Thenaw, 357
+    _See also_ Druidism
+
+  DUBLIN. The city;
+    Tristrem comes to, 263;
+    Tristrem's second visit to, 265
+
+  DUBRIC. Archbishop who officiated at the marriage of King Arthur and
+        Guinevere, 67
+
+  DU GUESCLIN, BERTRAND. A famous knight, Constable of France;
+    helps Charles of Blois in the War of the Two Joans, 31-32;
+    a notable figure in Breton legend, 32;
+    buried at Saint-Denis, 32;
+    the legend of the Ward of, 33-35;
+    taken prisoner at the battle of Auray, 35
+
+  DUNGIVEN. A town in Ireland;
+    Druidic ritual still observed at, 246
+
+  DUNPENDER. A mountain in East Lothian, now called Traprain Law;
+    Thenaw cast from, 357
+
+  DUSII. Spirits inhabiting Gaul, 100
+
+  DYLAN. A British sea-god;
+    mentioned, 69
+
+  DYONAS. A god of the Britons;
+    Vivien sometimes represented as the daughter of, 69
+
+  E
+
+  EDINBURGH. The city;
+    mentioned, 51, 60, 203
+
+  EDMUND. King of East Anglia;
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  ELIDUC, THE LAY OF. One of the LAIS of Marie de France, 305-313
+
+  ELL�. A river in Brittany, 19, 332
+
+  �LORN. A river in Brittany, 19
+
+  ELPHIN. Son of the Welsh chieftain Urien;
+    taught by Taliesin, 21
+
+  ELVES. In Teutonic mythology, diminutive spirits;
+    the fairy race of Celtic countries may have been confused with,
+        87
+
+  EMERALD COAST, THE. A district in the southern portion of Brittany,
+        13
+
+  ENGLAND.
+    I. The country;
+      loses its ancient British name, which becomes that of Brittany,
+        17;
+      Bretons who accompanied William the Conqueror receive land in,
+        232;
+      Bretons invade, from Wales, 234;
+      claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+      King Arthur moves against the Emperor Lucius' threatened
+        invasion of, 275;
+      the existence of King Arthur credited in, in the twelfth
+        century, 278;
+      Marie de France lived in, 283
+    II. The State;
+      supports John of Montfort's claim to Brittany, 31
+
+  ENORA. _See_ St Enora
+
+  EQUITAN, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        313-317
+
+  ERDEVEN. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  ERMONIE. A mythical kingdom, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde;
+    Roland Rise, Lord of, 258;
+    Duke Morgan becomes Lord of, 259;
+    Tristrem returns to, 261
+
+  ERNAULT, E. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  ERYRI, MOUNT. King Arthur slew the giant Ritho upon, 277
+
+  ESCOUBLAC. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  ESS�. A village in Brittany;
+    the dolmen of, 53
+
+  ESTAING, PIERRE D'. A French alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  �TANG DE LAVAL. A lake, supposed to cover the site of the submerged
+        city of Ys, 185
+
+  ETHWIJE. Wife of Geoffrey I of Brittany, 196, 198
+
+  EUDO. Count of Brittany, son of Geoffrey I, 27, 29
+
+  EUFUERIEN. King of Cumbria, 357
+
+  EVEN THE GREAT. Breton leader;
+    defeats the Norsemen at the battle of Kerlouan, 225, 227
+
+  EWEN. Son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, 357
+
+  EXCALIBUR. King Arthur's miraculous sword;
+    given to Arthur in Brittany, 256-257;
+    Arthur kills the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel with, 277;
+    mentioned, 280
+
+  EXETER. The city;
+    mentioned, 307
+
+  F
+
+  FABLES. Of Marie de France, 283
+
+  FAIRIES. Credited with the erection of the megalithic monuments,
+        49-52;
+    magically imprisoned in dolmens, trees, and pillars, 52;
+    the fairy lore of Brittany bears evidence of Celtic influence,
+        54;
+    the fairies of Brittany hostile to man, 54, 55-56, 85;
+    the Church the enemy of, 56;
+    what derived from, in folk-lore, 73-74;
+    the varying conceptions of, 73;
+    the Bretons' ideas of, 74-75;
+    the fairies of the _houles_, 75, 88;
+    the fairies' distaste for being recognized, and stories
+        illustrating this, 82;
+    bestow magical sight, 82-83;
+    and changelings, 83;
+    prone to take animal, bird, and fish shapes, 83-84;
+    probable reasons for the fairies' malevolence, 85-86;
+    origin of the fairy idea, 85-87;
+    may have originally been deities, 87;
+    in Brittany, conceived as of average mortal height, 87;
+    the _Margots la f�e_, a variety of, 88;
+    a story illustrating fairy malevolence, 88;
+    the fairy-woman in the Lay of Graelent, 322-328
+
+  FAIRYLAND. Graelent enters, 326;
+    identified with the Celtic Otherworld, 327;
+    a place of death and remoteness, 328
+
+  FAIRY-WIFE. A folk-lore _motif_, 327
+
+  FALCON, THE. A ballad, 196-198
+
+  FARMER, CAPTAIN GEORGE. Commander of the _Quebec_;
+    in a Breton ballad, 238
+
+  FAYS. _See_ Fairies
+
+  FEBRUARY. The month;
+    personified in the story of Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  F�LIX. Bishop of Quimper, 337
+
+  FEUILLET, OCTAVE. A French novelist;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  FINETTE CENDRON ('Cinderella'). Mme d'Aulnoy's story of;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  FINIST�RE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13;
+    part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, 19;
+    mentioned, 41, 49, 180
+
+  FIONS. A name sometimes given to the fairies in Brittany, occurring
+        also in Scottish and Irish folk-lore, 74
+
+  FIRE-GODDESS. St Barbe probably represents the survival of a, 334
+
+  FIREPLACES in Breton churches, 380-381
+
+  FISHERMAN AND THE FAIRIES, THE. The story of, 80-83
+
+  FLAMEL, NICOLAS. A French alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  FLANDERS. The country;
+    Gugemar in, 292;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  FOLK-TALES. Of Brittany, 156-172
+
+  FONTENELLE, GUY EDER DE. A Breton leader, associated with the
+        Catholic League, 229-232
+
+  F�RSTER, PROFESSOR WENDELIN. And the origin of Arthurian romance,
+        254
+
+  FORTH. A river in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  FORTH, FIRTH OF. Mentioned, 356, 359
+
+  FOSTER-BROTHER, THE. The story of, 167-172
+
+  FOUCAULT, JEAN. A Breton peasant;
+    a story of, 244
+
+  FOUG�RES. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the dwelling-place of sorcerers, 242
+
+  FOUQUET, NICOLAS. A French statesman;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  FOUR SORROWS, THE LAY OF THE, or THE LAY OF THE DOLOROUS KNIGHT. One
+        of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 328-331
+
+  FRAGAN. Governor of L�on, father of St Winwaloe, 370
+
+  FRANCE.
+    I. The country;
+      manners and fashions of, spread in Brittany, 30;
+      the were-wolf superstition prevalent in, 291
+    II. The State;
+      intervenes in the conflict between Brittany and Normandy, 30;
+      Brittany annexed by, under Francis I, 36
+
+  FRANCIS I. King of France;
+    annexes Brittany to France, 36;
+    and Fran�oise de Foix, the Countess of Ch�teaubriant, 207;
+    gives the ch�teau of Suscino to Fran�oise de Foix, 210
+
+  FRANCIS I. Duke of Brittany, 36
+
+  FRANKS. The people;
+    exercised a nominal suzerainty over Brittany, 23;
+    Morvan fights with, 216-221;
+    "Morvan will return to drive the Franks from the Breton land,"
+        224
+
+  FRANKS, KING OF THE. In Villemarqu�'s _Barzaz-Breiz_;
+    and Morvan's fight with the Moor, 218-220;
+    Morvan fights with, 220-221;
+    the character drawn in the style of the _chansons de gestes_,
+        224
+
+  FREDEGONDA. Queen of Neustria;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  FR�MIET, EMMANUEL. A French sculptor;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  FR�NE. A maiden;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 318-320
+
+  FULBERT. A canon of Notre-Dame, Paris, uncle of H�lo�se, 249;
+    mutilated Ab�lard, 250
+
+  FUNERAL CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. In Brittany, 382-384, 386-388
+
+  G
+
+  GAIDOZ, H. Cited, 212 _n._
+
+  GANHARDIN. Brother of Ysonde of the White Hand;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271-272, 273
+
+  GARB OF OLD GAUL, THE. A song;
+    mentioned, 237
+
+  GARGANTUA. A mythical giant;
+    the erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to, 49
+
+  GARLON, THE CLERK OF. In a legend of the Marquis of Gu�rande,
+        199-202
+
+  GAVR'INIS ('Goat Island'). An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;
+    the tumulus at, 48;
+    nains' inscriptions on the megaliths of, 98
+
+  GAWAINE, SIR. One of King Arthur's knights;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  GEBER. An Arabian alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  GEOFFREY I. Duke of Brittany, 27;
+    in the legend of the Falcon, 196
+
+  GEOFFREY II (PLANTAGENET). Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. An English chronicler;
+    the presentation of Vivien in his work, 69;
+    and the presentation of Merlin, 70;
+    acknowledged a Breton source for his work, 255
+
+  GILDAS. A British chronicler;
+    fellow-pupil with Taliesin at the school of Cattwg, 21;
+    St Keenan associated with, 343;
+    St Bieuzy a friend and disciple of, 345;
+    the bell of, in the chapel at La Roche-sur-Blavet, 345;
+    St Bieuzy dies in the presence of, 346;
+    St Pol of L�on a fellow-student of, 364
+
+  GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. A Welsh chronicler;
+    and the legend of the submerged city, 187
+
+  GIRDLE. Superstition of the, 302
+
+  GLAIN NEIDR. The sea-snake's egg or adder's stone, used in Druidic
+        rites, 247;
+    H�lo�se, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed,
+        252
+
+  GLASGOW. The city;
+    mentioned, 357, 359
+
+  GOELC. A seigneury of Brittany;
+    a Count of, the father of St Budoc of Dol, 354, 355
+
+  GOEZENOU. A village in Brittany;
+    the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the church of,
+        369;
+    holy well at, 382
+
+  GOIDELIC DIALECT. A Celtic tongue, 15
+
+  GOLDEN BELL, CH�TEAU OF THE. In the story of the Youth who did not
+        Know, 111-114
+
+  GOLDEN BELL, PRINCESS. In the story of the Youth who did not Know,
+        110-115
+
+  GOLDEN HERB. A plant supposed in Druidical times to possess magical
+        properties, 247-248
+
+  GOMME, SIR G. L. Cited, 173, 247 _n._
+
+  GORICS. A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, 87, 98-99
+
+  GOULVEN. A village in Brittany;
+    historical tablet in the church of, 225
+
+  GOUVERNAYL. Servitor to Tristrem;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 263, 264
+
+  GRADLON MEUR. A ruler of Ys;
+    in the legend of the city, 185-186;
+    the statue of, at Quimper, 188-189;
+    supposed to have introduced the vine into Brittany, 189
+
+  GRAELENT, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        320-328
+
+  GRAIL. Legend of the;
+    a parallel incident in the Lay of Gugemar and, 301-302
+
+  GRALLO. King of Brittany;
+    and St Ronan, 367
+
+  GRAND MONT. An eminence upon which St Gildas built his abbey, 249
+
+  GRAND TROM�NIE. The special celebration of the Pardon of the
+        Mountain held every sixth year, 379-380
+
+  GRANVILLE. A town in Brittany;
+    women's costume in, 374
+
+  GRIFESCORNE. King of the Demons;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 111, 114
+
+  GROABGOARD. An image at Quinipily, 381
+
+  GROTTES AUX F�ES. Name given to the megalithic monuments by the
+        Bretons, 48, 49
+
+  GU�MEN�. A town in Brittany, 334
+
+  GU�RANDE. A town in Brittany, 198
+
+  GU�RANDE. Louis-Fran�ois, Marquis of;
+    the story of, 199-202
+
+  GUERECH. Count of Vannes;
+    in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 180-181, 183, 184
+
+  GUGEMAR, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        292-302
+
+  GUIC-SEZNE. A town in Brittany, 370
+
+  GUILDELUEC. Wife of Eliduc, 306-313
+
+  GUILLARDUN. A princess;
+    in the Lay of Eliduc, 307-313
+
+  GUILLEVIC, A. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  GUIMILIAU. A town in Brittany;
+    the Calvary at, 384-385
+
+  GUINDY. A river in Brittany, 167, 220
+
+  GUINEVERE. King Arthur's Queen;
+    mentioned, 67;
+    comforted by St Keenan after Arthur's death, 344
+
+  GUINGAMP. A town in Brittany, 229
+
+  GWEN. Mother of St Winwaloe, 370
+
+  GWENALOE ('He that is white'). The Breton name for St Winwaloe,
+        370
+
+  GWENN-ESTRAD. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  GWENNOLA�K. A maiden of Tr�guier;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 167-172
+
+  GW�NNOL�. A holy man;
+    in the legend of the city of Ys, 185, 186
+
+  GWEZKLEN. The Breton name for Du Guesclin, 32
+    _See_ Du Guesclin
+
+  GWINDELUC. A monk, a disciple of St Convoyon, 335
+
+  GWYDDNO. Twelfth-century Welsh bard;
+    relates the story of the submerged city, 188
+
+  H
+
+  HAINAULT. A Belgian province;
+    mentioned, 328
+
+  HARP, THE. Not now popular in Brittany, but in ancient times one of
+        the national instruments, 228-229
+
+  HATCHET OF BRITTANY, THE. An appellation of Morvan, 221
+
+  HAUTE-B�CHEREL. A town in Brittany;
+    pagan temple at, 342
+
+  HEAD-DRESS. Of the women of the Escoublac district, 374;
+    of the women of Ouessant, 374;
+    of the women of Villecheret, 375;
+    of the men of Brittany, does not vary much, 375;
+    headgear of the men of Plougastel, 375;
+    of the women of Muzillac, 376;
+    of the women of Pont l'Abb� and the Bay of Audierne, 376;
+    of the women of Morlaix, 376
+    _See also_ COIFFES
+
+  HEAVEN. An old Breton conception of, 388, 390-391
+
+  HELENA, LADY. Niece of Duke Hoel I of Brittany;
+    carried off by the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, 275, 276
+
+  HELL. In the story of the Bride of Satan, 144;
+    an old Breton conception of, 388-389
+
+  HELL�AN, WOOD OF. A former part of the forest of Broceliande, 221,
+        224
+
+  HELO�SE. An abbess, beloved of Ab�lard;
+    the story of Ab�lard and, 248-253;
+    in a Breton ballad represented as a sorceress, 250-253
+
+  H�NAN. Manor of, in Brittany, 364
+
+  HENDERSON, GEORGE. Cited, 52
+
+  HENNEBONT. A Breton ch�teau, 206
+
+  HENRY II. King of England, 30;
+    identified as the king to whom Marie of France dedicated her
+        _Lais_, 284
+
+  HENRY III. King of England;
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  HENRY IV. King of France;
+    and Fontenelle, 231-232;
+    mentioned, 204
+
+  HENWG. A Welsh bard;
+    said to be the father of Taliesin, 21
+
+  HERSART DE LA VILLEMARQU�, VICOMTE. Writer on Breton legendary
+        lore;
+    his poem on Nomeno�, 23;
+    his ballad of Alain Barbe-torte, 25-27;
+    and a story of the Clerk of Rohan, 190 _n._;
+    his _Barzaz-Breiz_, 211-212;
+    stories from his _Barzaz-Breiz_, 212-237;
+    indications of the source of his matter, 224-225;
+    and the story of Fontenelle, 230;
+    and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237;
+    on the story of Az�nor the Pale, 363, 364;
+    cited, 57 _n._, 65 _n._, 184 _n._, 247
+
+  HERV�. Son of Kyvarnion;
+    the story of the wolf and, 22;
+    mentioned, 390
+
+  HIGHLANDERS. Scottish;
+    in the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237
+
+  HIGHLANDS. Scottish;
+    beliefs in, respecting stones, 52-53;
+    the 'Washing Woman' of, 100
+
+  HILDWALL. A pious man of Angers;
+    St Convoyon lodges with, 336
+
+  HODAIN. A dog;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 267
+
+  HOEL I. Duke of Brittany, 275, 276, 278
+
+  HOEL V. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  HOLGER. A half-mythical Danish hero;
+    mentioned, 212
+
+  HOLMES, T. RICE. Cited, 245 _n._
+
+  HOLY LAND. _See_ Palestine
+
+  HOULES. Caverns;
+    the Bretons suppose fairies to inhabit, 75
+
+  HUON DE M�RY. A thirteenth-century writer;
+    on the fountain of Baranton, 71
+
+  HURLERS, THE. A Cornish legend;
+    mentioned, 44
+
+  I
+
+  IBERIANS. A non-Aryan race, supposed to have inhabited Britain;
+    held by Rhys to be the originators of Druidism, 245
+
+  IDA. King of Bernicia;
+    mentioned, 21, 22
+
+  ILE D'ARZ. An island off the coast of Brittany;
+    megaliths in, 48
+
+  ILE-DE-FRANCE. A French province;
+    Marie of France said to have been a native of, 283
+
+  ILE AUX MOINES. An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;
+    megalithic monuments in, 48
+
+  ILE DE SEIN. An island off the Breton coast, 63;
+    St Winwaloe settled on, 371
+
+  ILE-VERTE. An island off the Breton coast;
+    St Winwaloe lived on, 370
+
+  ILLE-ET-VILAINE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13, 39,
+        50
+
+  INVERESK. A village in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 359
+
+  IOUENN. A young man;
+    in the story of the Man of Honour, 147-155
+
+  IRELAND. Markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46;
+    the legend of the submerged city in, 187;
+    the harp anciently the national instrument of, 229;
+    Tristrem in, 264, 265-267;
+    Petranus, father of St Patern, goes to, 347;
+    St Patern meets his father in, 348;
+    many saints in, 350;
+    Az�nor and Budoc in, 355-356;
+    Budoc made King of, 356;
+    late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, 364
+
+  IRELAND, KING OF. In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 265, 266
+
+  IRELAND, QUEEN OF. In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 264-267
+
+  IRMINSUL. A Saxon idol;
+    probable connexion between the menhir and the worship of, 18
+        _n._
+
+  ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. A Spanish ecclesiastic and writer;
+    mentioned, 100
+
+  J
+
+  JANUARY. The month;
+    personified, in the story of the Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  JARGEAU. A town in France;
+    the battle of, 174
+
+  JAUDY. A river in Brittany, 31, 167
+
+  JAUIOZ. A seigneury in Languedoc;
+    the story of Louis, Baron of, 145-146
+
+  JEANNE DARC. The French heroine;
+    mentioned, 174;
+    the play or mystery of, 175
+
+  JOAN OF FLANDERS. Wife of John of Montfort;
+    in the War of the Two Joans, 31
+
+  JOAN OF PENTHI�VRE. _See_ Penthi�vre
+
+  JOB THE WITLESS. In the story of the Foster-brother, 169
+
+  JOHN (LACKLAND). King of England;
+    mentioned, 30
+
+  JOHN III. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  JOHN IV. Duke of Brittany
+    _See_ Montfort, John of
+
+  JOHN V. Duke of Brittany, son of the famous John of Montfort,
+        35-36;
+    and Gilles de Retz, 179;
+    built a magnificent tomb for St Yves, 353
+
+  JOHN. Duke of Ch�lons;
+    the ch�teau of Suscino given to, 210
+
+  JOSSELIN. A Breton ch�teau, 205-206
+
+  JOYOUS GARDEN. A garden raised by enchantment by Merlin to please
+        Vivien, 66;
+    mentioned, 67, 69
+
+  JUD-HAEL. A Breton chieftain;
+    the vision of, 20-21
+
+  JUDIK-HAEL. A Breton chieftain, son of Jud-Hael, 21
+
+  JULIUS C�SAR. On the Druids of Gaul, 245
+
+  K
+
+  KADO THE STRIVER. A Breton peasant, leader of a revolt, 197-198
+
+  KARNAK. A village in Egypt;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  KARO. Son of a Breton chieftain;
+    in a story of Nomeno�, 23-25
+
+  KAY, SIR. King Arthur's seneschal, 275
+
+  KENNEDY. A character in a Highland tale, 51
+
+  KERGARIOU, COMTE DE. And the story of Fontenelle, 230
+
+  KERGIVAS. A place in Brittany;
+    the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the manor of,
+        369
+
+  KERGOALER, COU�DIC DE. Captain of the _Surveillante_;
+    in a Breton ballad, 238
+
+  KERGONAN. A village in the Ile aux Moines;
+    megaliths at, 48
+
+  KERIDWEN. A fertility goddess who dwelt in Lake Tegid, Wales;
+    mentioned, 59
+
+  KER-IS. A name of the city of Ys, 185
+    _See_ Ys
+
+  KERJOLET. A Breton ch�teau, 208
+
+  KERLAZ. A village in Brittany, 232
+
+  KERLESCANT. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  KERLOUAN. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, between Norsemen and Bretons, 225;
+    the oak on the battlefield at, 227
+
+  KERMARIO. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  KERMARTIN. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves born at, 350
+
+  KERMORVAN. A place in Brittany;
+    Yves the Seigneur of, in the ballad of Az�nor the Pale, 360-363
+
+  KERODERN, MICHEL DE. A Breton missionary, 390
+
+  KEROUEZ. An old ch�teau;
+    in the story of the Seigneur with the Horse's Head, 137
+
+  KERSANTON. A place in Brittany;
+    stone from, forms the Calvary of Guimiliau, 385
+
+  KERVRAN. A village in Brittany;
+    the warrior Bran taken prisoner at, 225
+
+  KING OF THE ANTS. In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        118, 119, 120
+
+  KING OF THE BIRDS. In the story of the Youth who did not Know,
+        111, 113
+
+  KING OF THE FISHES. In a tale from Saint-Cast, 84-85;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 110, 114
+
+  KING OF THE LIONS. In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        118, 119, 120
+
+  KING OF THE SPARROW-HAWKS. In the story of the Princess of
+        Tronkolaine, 118, 119
+
+  KIPLING, RUDYARD. Quoted, 86
+
+  KORRIGAN, THE. A forest fairy;
+    a denizen of Broceliande, 56;
+    in the story of the Seigneur of Nann, 57-58;
+    associated with water, an element of fertility, 59;
+    an enchantress, 60;
+    in the story of the Unbroken Vow, 62-63;
+    desired union with humanity, 64;
+    mentioned, 69, 98
+
+  KYVARNION. A British bard, father of Herv�, 22
+
+  L
+
+  LADY OF LA GARAYE, THE. Poem by Mrs Norton;
+    quoted, 194, 195, 196
+
+  LADY OF THE LAKE. In Arthurian legend, Vivien;
+    foster-mother of Lancelot, 69, 257;
+    of Breton origin, 256;
+    gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, 256-257
+    _See also_ Vivien
+
+  LA GARAYE. A Breton ch�teau, near Dinan;
+    the story of the Lady of, 195
+
+  LAILOKEN. A character in early British legend;
+    mentioned, 70
+
+  LAIS. Of Marie de France;
+    their value in the study of Breton lore, 283;
+    date and other circumstances of their composition, 283-284;
+    stories from, 284-289, 292-331
+
+  LAKE OF ANGUISH, THE. A lake in Hell;
+    in the story of the Bride of Satan, 144;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 146
+
+  LA LANDE MARIE. A place in Brittany;
+    the dolmen at, 51
+
+  LANCELOT, SIR. One of the Knights of the Round Table, son of King
+        Ban of Benwik;
+    stolen and brought up by Vivien, 257;
+    does not appear in Celtic legend, 257;
+    mentioned, 64, 69
+
+  LAND�VENNEC. A town in Brittany;
+    a chapel of St Nicholas at, 345;
+    a monastery built at, by St Winwaloe, 371
+
+  LANDIVISIAU. A town in Brittany, 338;
+    fine carvings in the church of, 339-340
+
+  LANDEGU. A village in Cornwall;
+    St Keenan at, 344
+
+  LANGOAD. A town in Brittany, 198
+
+  LANGUAGE. Brezonek, the tongue of the Bretons, 15;
+    the old Breton tongue closely similar to Welsh, 15;
+    the Latin tongue did not spread over Brittany, 17
+
+  LARGOET. A Breton ch�teau, 206
+
+  LA ROCHE-BERNARD. A town in Brittany, 376
+
+  LA ROCHE-SUR-BLAVET. A place in Brittany;
+    a retreat of Gildas and St Bieuzy, 345
+
+  LA ROCHE-DERRIEN. A place in Brittany;
+    battle at, 31
+
+  LA ROCHE-JAGU. A Breton ch�teau, 203-204
+
+  LA ROSE. A young man;
+    in the story of the Magic Rose, 156-162
+
+  LATIN. The language;
+    did not spread over Brittany, 17
+
+  LAUSTIC, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        302-305
+
+  LAVAL, GILLES DE. _See_ Retz
+
+  LAVAL, JEAN DE. Governor of Brittany, 207;
+    married to Fran�oise de Foix, Countess of Ch�teaubriant, 207
+
+  LAY OF THE WERE-WOLF, THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        284-289
+
+  LEAGUE, THE. A Catholic organization formed against the Huguenots,
+        205, 206;
+    Fontenelle associated with, 229
+
+  LE BRAZ, ANATOLE. Cited, 102, 184 _n._
+
+  LE CLERC, L. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  LE CROISIC. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  LE FAOUET. A village in Brittany;
+    the chapel of St Barbe near, 332-333, 334-335
+
+  LEGEND. The meaning of the term, 173
+
+  LE GOFF, P. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  LE GRAND, A. Cited, 184 _n._
+
+  L�GUER. A town in Brittany, 220
+
+  L�GUER, LAKE OF. In the story of the Princess Starbright, 121,
+        131
+
+  LELIAN. Father of St Tivisiau, 338
+
+  LE MOUSTOIR-LE-JUCH. A village in Brittany;
+    fireplace in the church of, 381
+
+  LEO IV. Pope;
+    Nomeno� sends gifts to, 337;
+    and St Convoyon, 337
+
+  L�ON.
+    I. A county of Brittany, 23, 143, 212, 225, 226, 229,
+        356, 367, 388
+    II. The see of;
+      given to St Pol, 367
+
+  LE ROUZIC, ZACHARIE. A Breton arch�ologist;
+    mentioned, 45
+
+  LEWIS. An island in the Outer Hebrides;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  LEYDEN, JOHN. A Scottish poet and Orientalist;
+    his treatment of legendary material, 211
+
+  L�ZAT. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  LEZ-BREIZ, MORVAN. _See_ Morvan
+
+  LIEUE DE GR�VE. A place in Brittany;
+    Arthur's fight with the dragon of, 278-281
+
+  LIVONIA. The country;
+    were-wolf superstition in, 290
+
+  LLANVITHIN. A village in Wales;
+    mentioned, 21
+
+  LOC-CHRIST. Monastery of, built under the persuasion of St Winwaloe,
+        370-371
+
+  LOCMARIA. A place in Brittany, 199
+
+  LOCMARIAQUER. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  LOGRES. An ancient British kingdom;
+    in the Lay of Eliduc, 306-311
+
+  LOGUIVY-PLOUGRAS. A town in Brittany, 137
+
+  LOHANEC. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves incumbent of, 351
+
+  LOHENGRIN. A knight, in German legend;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  LOIRE. The river;
+    mentioned, 16, 174, 253
+
+  LOIRE-INF�RIEURE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13
+
+  LONDON. The city;
+    mentioned, 31, 99
+
+  LONG MEG. A Cumberland legend;
+    mentioned, 44
+
+  LONGSWORD, WILLIAM. Earl of Salisbury;
+    identified as the nobleman to whom Marie of France dedicated her
+        _Fables_, 284
+
+  LORELEI. A water-spirit of the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 64
+
+  LORGNEZ. A Frankish chieftain;
+    Morvan fights with, and slays, 217-218
+
+  LOST DAUGHTER, THE. The story of, 75-80
+
+  LOT. King of Lothian, grandfather of St Kentigern, 357
+
+  LOTHIAN. A district in Scotland, formerly a kingdom;
+    mentioned, 357, 359
+
+  LOTHIAN, EAST. A county of Scotland;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  LOUD�AC. An _arrondissement_ of Brittany, 88
+
+  LOUGH NEAGH. A lake in Ireland;
+    according to Irish legend, the site of submerged city, 187
+
+  LOUIS I (THE PIOUS). King of France;
+    places the native chieftain Nomeno� over Brittany, 23;
+    St Convoyon visits, to obtain confirmation of grants, 335
+
+  LOUIS IX. King of France;
+    mentioned, 208
+
+  LOUIS XI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 36, 205
+
+  LOUIS XII. King of France;
+    Anne of Brittany married to, 36
+
+  LOUIS XV. King of France;
+    honours the Count of La Garaye, 195
+
+  LOUIS. Baron of Jauioz;
+    the story of, 145-147
+
+  LOUVRE, THE. A palace in Paris;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  LUCIUS. Roman consul, sometimes referred to as Emperor;
+    King Arthur moves against, 275
+
+  LUZEL, F. M. His _Guerziou Breiz-Izel_, mentioned, 211
+
+  LYONESSE. A legendary kingdom near Cornwall, 257
+
+  M
+
+  MACCULLOCH, J. R. Cited, 59 _n._, 70, 102, 188 _n._, 189
+        _n._, 381
+
+  MACCUNN, HAMISH. Composer;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  MACHUTES. _See_ St Malo
+
+  MACPHERSON, JAMES. A Scottish poet;
+    mentioned, 23, 211
+
+  MACRITCHIE, D. Cited, 74
+
+  MAC-TIERNS ('Sons of the Chief'). A name given to Brian and Alain,
+        sons of Count Eudo, 29
+
+  MAGEEN. Mother of St Tivisiau, 338
+
+  MAGIC. _See_ Sorcery
+
+  MAGIC ROSE, THE. The story of, 156-162
+
+  MAH[=A]BH[=A]RATA. A Hindu epic;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  MAISON DES FOLLETS. A name given to a megalithic structure at
+        Cancoet, 49
+
+  MAMAU, Y. Welsh deities, 87
+
+  MAN OF HONOUR, THE. The story of, 147-155
+
+  MARAUD. A peasant;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75-77
+
+  MARCH. The month;
+    personified in the story of Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  MARGAWSE. Sister of King Arthur, wife of King Lot of Lothian, 357
+
+  MARGOTS LA F�E, LES. Fairies which inhabit large rocks and the
+        moorlands, 88
+
+  MARGUERITE. A maiden, avenged by Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  MARIE DE FRANCE. A twelfth-century French poetess;
+    acknowledged Breton sources for her work, 255, 283;
+    the _Lais_ and _Fables_ of, 283-284;
+    personal history, 283;
+    stories from the _Lais_, 284-331;
+    and the Lay of Laustic, 302;
+    and the Lay of Eliduc, 305-306;
+    and the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, 328, 330-331
+
+  MARK. King of Cornwall;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-274
+
+  MARK. King of Vannes;
+    and St Pol of L�on, 364
+
+  MAROT, CLAUDE TOUSSAINT. Count of La Garaye;
+    the story of, 194-196
+
+  MARRIAGE. Costume of the bride in the Escoublac district, 374;
+    the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clart� made the occasion of
+        betrothals, 378;
+    wedding customs, 385-386
+
+  MARRIAGE-GIRDLE, THE. The ballad of, 234-236
+
+  MARSEILLES. The city;
+    mentioned, 195
+
+  MATSYS, QUENTIN. A Flemish painter;
+    the well of, at Antwerp, 205
+
+  MATTHEW. Seigneur of Beauvau;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 189-193
+
+  MAUNOIR. A Jesuit Father, 388
+
+  MAURON. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, 31
+
+  MAY, ISLE OF. An island in the Firth of Forth, 357
+
+  MAYENNE. Charles de Lorraine, Duke of;
+    one of the leaders of the Catholic League, 229
+
+  MEGALITHS. The derivation and meaning of the terms 'menhir' and
+        'dolmen,' 37-38;
+    nature and purpose of the monuments, 38-39;
+    the menhir of Dol, and its legend, 39-41;
+    the chapel-dolmen at Plouaret, 41;
+    the megaliths at Camaret, 41;
+    at Penmarch, 41;
+    at Carnac, 42-45;
+    the tumulus at Mont-Saint-Michel, 45;
+    the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46;
+    'cup-and-ring' markings, 46-48;
+    the gallery of Gavr'inis, 48;
+    the megaliths of the Ile aux Moines and the Ile d'Arz, 48;
+    folk-beliefs associated with the monuments, 48-53;
+    tales connected with them, 52;
+    the question of the date of their erection, 53;
+    the nains' inscriptions upon, 97-98;
+    the megaliths of Carnac supposed to have been built by the gorics,
+        98
+    _See also_ Menhir _and_ Dolmens
+
+  MELUSINE. A fairy, in French folk-lore;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  MENAO. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  M�N�AC. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  MENHIR. A megalithic monument, 18;
+    the menhir of Dol, 18, 39-40;
+    probably connected with pillar-worship and Irminsul-worship, 18
+        _n._;
+    derivation and meaning of the term, 38;
+    purpose of the monuments, 38-39
+
+  MERIADOK. A Cornish knight;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 269, 272
+
+  MERIADUS. A Breton chieftain;
+    in the Lay of Gugemar, 299-301
+
+  MERLIN. An enchanter, in Arthurian legend;
+    meets Vivien in Broceliande, and is afterward enchanted by her
+        there, 65-69;
+    his relationship with Vivien as presented in Arthurian legend,
+        69;
+    the varying conceptions of, 70;
+    the typical Druid or wise man of Celtic tradition, 70;
+    protects Arthur in his combat with Sir Pellinore, 256;
+    and Arthur's finding of Excalibur, 256-257
+
+  MEZL�AN. A place in Brittany, 362, 363;
+    the Clerk of, in the ballad of Az�nor the Pale, 361-363
+
+  MILTON OF COLQUHOUN. A district in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones found in, 47
+
+  MINIHY. A town in Brittany;
+    St Yves' will and breviary preserved in the church of, 353
+
+  MODRED, SIR. Nephew of King Arthur;
+    his contest with the King, 344
+
+  MONCONTOUR. A village in Brittany, 242
+
+  MONEDUC. Mother of St Nennocha, 340
+
+  MONTAGNES D'ARR�E, or AREZ. A mountain chain in Brittany;
+    the Yeun in, 102;
+    mentioned, 235
+
+  MONTALEMBERT, COMTE DE. His _Moines d'Occident_, cited, 19
+
+  MONTFORT, JOHN OF. Duke of Brittany (John IV);
+    disputes the succession to the Dukedom, 30-32, 35-36;
+    captures the ch�teau of Suscino, 210;
+    mentioned, 204
+
+  MONTMORENCY. The house of;
+    mentioned, 174
+
+  MONTREUIL-SUR-MER. A town in the Pas-de-Calais, France;
+    St Winwaloe's body preserved at, 371
+
+  MONT-SAINT-MICHEL.
+    I. A tumulus, 45-46
+    II. An island off the coast of Brittany, 45 _n._;
+      King Arthur's fight with the giant of, 275;
+      mentioned, 103
+
+  MOOR, THE. In a story of Morvan;
+    Morvan's fight with, 218-220;
+    the character of, probably drawn from Carlovingian legend, 225
+
+  MOORS, THE. Mentioned, 225
+
+  MOORE, THOMAS. The poet;
+    quoted, 187
+
+  MORAUNT. An Irish ambassador at the English Court;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 262-263, 264, 266
+
+  MORBIHAN.
+    I. One of the departments of Brittany, 13, 48, 49;
+      the nains' inscriptions on the megaliths of, 98;
+      the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clart� held in, 378
+    II. An inland sea or gulf in the south of Brittany, (Gulf of
+        Morbihan);
+    naval battle between the Romans and Veneti probably took place in,
+        16;
+    mentioned, 48
+
+  MORGAN, DUKE. A Cymric chieftain;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261-262
+
+  MORIN. A priest, 388
+
+  MORLAIX. A town in Brittany;
+    the castle of, haunted by gorics, 99;
+    the teursts of the district of, 100;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 106, 107, 108,
+        109;
+    national costume in, 376-377
+
+  MORTE D'ARTHUR. Malory's romance;
+    the presentation of Vivien in, 69;
+    Arthur's finding of Excalibur related in, 256;
+    incident in, paralleled in the Lay of Gugemar, 301-302;
+    mentioned, 257
+
+  MORVAN LEZ-BREIZ. A famous Breton hero of the ninth century, 212;
+    stories of, 212-224;
+    tradition that he will return to "drive the Franks from the Breton
+        land," 224
+
+  MOURIOCHE, THE. A malicious demon, 101
+
+  M�LLER, W. MAX. Mentioned, 358
+
+  MURILLO. A celebrated Spanish painter;
+    paintings by, in the ch�teau of Caradeuc, 207
+
+  MUT. An Egyptian goddess;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  MUZILLAC. A town in Brittany;
+    head-dress of the women of, 376
+
+  N
+
+  NAINS. A race of demons;
+    their character, 96-98;
+    guardians of hidden treasure, 99
+
+  NAMNETES. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  NANN, THE SEIGNEUR OF. The story of, 57-59
+
+  NANTES. A city in Brittany;
+    in a ballad, represented as the scene of magical exploits of
+        Ab�lard and H�lo�se, 253;
+    traditionally associated with sorcery, 253;
+    Equitan the King of, 313;
+    the scene of the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, 328;
+    Nomeno� obtains possession of, 338;
+    mentioned, 17, 30, 168, 169, 170, 180, 337
+
+  NANTES. The castle of, 205
+
+  NEOLITHIC AGE. The race which built the stone monuments of Brittany
+        probably belonged to, 37 _n._
+
+  N�VET. Forest of, in L�on, 367
+
+  N�VEZ. A town in Brittany, 190
+
+  NEW CALEDONIA. An island in the Pacific;
+    markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46-47
+
+  NICOLE, THE. A mischievous spirit, 100-101
+
+  NIGHTINGALE, THE LAY OF THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        302
+
+  NIGHT-WASHERS. A race of supernatural beings, 100
+
+  NIMUE. A name under which Vivien, the Lady of the Lake, appears in
+        some romances, 69;
+    mentioned, 256
+    _See_ Vivien
+
+  NOGENT. Sister of Gugemar, 292
+
+  NOGENT-SUR-SEINE. A town in France;
+    the abbey at, founded by Ab�lard, and made over by him to H�lo�se,
+        249;
+    Ab�lard and H�lo�se buried at, 250
+
+  NOLA. A youth;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 170-171
+
+  NOMENO�. A Breton chieftain, afterward King of Brittany;
+    rises against Charles the Bald and defeats him, 23, 337-338;
+    a story of, 23-25;
+    and St Convoyon, 335, 336, 337;
+    sends gifts to Pope Leo IV, 337;
+    burns the abbey of Saint-Florent, 337
+
+  NORMANDY. The duchy;
+    early relations of Brittany with, 27-30
+
+  NORMANS. The Bretons rise against, 196-198;
+    spread the Arthur legend, 254, 255;
+    mentioned, 338
+
+  NOROUAS. Personification of the north-west wind;
+    a story of, 163-167
+
+  NORTHMEN, NORSEMEN. Invade Brittany, 25;
+    defeated by Alain Barbe-torte and expelled from Brittany,
+        25-27;
+    the battle of Kerlouan between the Bretons and, 225
+
+  NORTH-WEST WIND, THE. Personification of;
+    a story of, 163-167
+
+  NORTON, MRS. An English poetess;
+    her _Lady of La Garaye_, quoted, 194, 195, 196
+
+  N'OUN DOARE. A youth;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 106-115
+
+  NUTT, A. Cited, 99 _n._, 254
+
+  O
+
+  OBERON. King of the fairies;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  OEDIPUS. King of Thebes;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  OGIER THE DANE. One of the paladins of Charlemagne;
+    entered Fairyland, 326
+
+  OLAUS MAGNUS. A sixteenth-century Swedish ecclesiastic and writer;
+    mentioned, 290
+
+  ORIDIAL. Father of Gugemar, 292
+
+  ORIGEN. One of the Fathers of the early Church;
+    and St Barbe, 333
+
+  ORL�ANS. The city;
+    the siege of (1428-29), 174;
+    the play or mystery of, on Jeanne Darc, 175;
+    mentioned, 229
+
+  OSISMII. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  OSSIAN. A semi-legendary Celtic bard and warrior;
+    mentioned, 211
+
+  OSSORY. A district in Ireland;
+    emigration from, to Brittany, 22
+
+  OTHERWORLD. The Celtic, 171-172;
+    Fairyland identified with, 327
+
+  OUESSANT. An island off the coast of Brittany;
+    St Pol in, 365;
+    the costume of the women of, 374-375
+
+  OUST. A river in Brittany, 205
+
+  OWAIN. A Welsh chieftain, son of Urien;
+    Taliesin the bard of, 22
+
+  OWEN GLENDOWER. A Welsh chieftain;
+    the Bretons send an expedition to help, in his conflict with the
+        English, 234
+
+  P
+
+  PALESTINE. Mentioned, 145, 190, 269, 302
+
+  PARACLETE ('Comforter'). Name given by Ab�lard to his abbey at
+        Nogent, 249;
+    Ab�lard and H�lo�se buried at, 250
+
+  PARDONS. Religious pilgrimage festivals of the Bretons, 378-380
+
+  PARIS. The city;
+    mentioned, 108, 109, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118,
+        119, 120-121, 156, 157, 158, 195, 208, 229,
+        230-231, 351
+
+  PARIS, GASTON. A noted French philologist;
+    claims that Arthurian romance originated in Wales, 254;
+    identifies the persons to whom Marie de France dedicated her
+        _Lais_ and _Fables_, 284
+
+  PASSAGE DE L'ENFER. An arm of the sea over which the Breton dead
+        were supposed to be ferried, 383
+
+  PATAY. A village in Loiret, France;
+    the battle of, 174
+
+  PAVIA. A city in Italy;
+    Francis I of France taken prisoner at, 207
+
+  PELLINORE, SIR. One of the Knights of the Round Table;
+    Arthur broke his sword in combat with, 256
+
+  PEMBROKESHIRE. Welsh county;
+    St Samson a native of, 17
+
+  PENATES. Household gods of the Romans;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  PEN-BAS. A cudgel carried by the men of Cornouaille, 372;
+    rarely carried by the men of St Pol, 375
+
+  PENHAPP. A village in the Ile aux Moines;
+    dolmen at, 48
+
+  PENMARCH. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 41;
+    Ty C'harriquet near, 49;
+    a fireplace in the church of St Non at, 381
+
+  PENRAZ. A village in the Isle of Arz;
+    megaliths at, 48
+
+  PENTECOST. A Jewish festival;
+    mentioned, 324
+
+  PENTHI�VRE. A former county of Brittany, 27, 205
+
+  PENTHI�VRE. Joan of;
+    wife of Charles of Blois, 30;
+    in the War of the Two Joans, 31;
+    her marriage to Charles, 32
+
+  PENTHI�VRE. Stephen, Count of, 208
+
+  PERCIVAL. Hero of _Percival le Gallois_;
+    analogy between his flight and that of Morvan, 224
+
+  PERCIVAL LE GALLOIS. Arthurian saga;
+    mentioned, 224
+
+  P�RE LA CHIQUE. An old man;
+    in the story of the Magic Rose, 159-160, 162
+
+  PERGUET. A village in Brittany;
+    the fireplace in the church of St Bridget at, 381
+
+  PERSEUS. A mythical Greek hero;
+    mentioned, 357, 358
+
+  PERTHSHIRE. Scottish county;
+    the 'Washing Woman' in, 100
+
+  PETRANUS. Father of St Patern, 347
+
+  PHILIP VI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 30
+
+  PICTS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany, to escape, 17;
+    the legend that they built the original church of Corstorphine,
+        near Edinburgh, 51;
+    "wee fouk but unco' strang," 99
+
+  PIGS. St Pol taught the people to keep, 366
+
+  PILLAR-WORSHIP. Probable connexion of the menhir with, 18 _n._
+
+  PILLARS. Tales of spirits enclosed in, 52
+
+  PLACE OF SKULLS, THE. In the story of the Bride of Satan, 144
+
+  PL�LAN. A town in Brittany;
+    St Convoyon removes to, from Redon, 338
+
+  PLESTIN-LES-GR�VES. A town in Brittany;
+    St Efflam buried in the church of, 281
+
+  PLOERMEL. A town in Brittany;
+    St Nennocha founded her monastery at, 340
+
+  PLOUARET. A town in Brittany;
+    the dolmen-chapel at, 41
+
+  PLOUBALAY. A town in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, 81
+
+  PLOUBER. A town in Brittany, 199, 202
+
+  PLOUGASTEL. A town in Brittany;
+    the costume of the men of, 375;
+    the Calvary of, 384
+
+  PLOUHARNEL. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  PLOURIN. A village in Brittany;
+    St Budoc lived at, 356
+
+  POITOU. A former county of France;
+    ravaged by Nomeno�, 337;
+    mentioned, 176
+
+  POMPONIUS MELA. A Roman geographer;
+    quoted, 63
+
+  PONT L'ABB�. A town in Brittany;
+    national costume in, 376
+
+  PONT-AVEN. A village in Brittany, 364
+
+  PONTIVY. A town in Brittany;
+    chapel to St Noyola at, 360
+
+  PONTORSON. A town in Brittany, 275
+
+  POOR, THE. Regard paid to, at Breton festivals and ceremonies,
+        387
+
+  PORSPODER. A town in Brittany;
+    St Budoc lands at, and dwells in, 356
+
+  POULDERGAT, MANNA�K DE. The bride-to-be of Silvestik, 232
+
+  PRAGUE. Capital of Bohemia;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  PRELATI. An alchemist of Padua, employed by Gilles de Retz, 176,
+        178-179
+
+  PRINCESS STARBRIGHT, THE. The story of, 121-131;
+    mentioned, 153
+
+  PRINCESS OF TRONKOLAINE, THE. The story of, 115-121
+
+  PROCOPIUS. A Byzantine historian;
+    on a Breton burial custom, 383-384
+
+  PROP OF BRITTANY, THE. Name given to Morvan, chieftain of L�on,
+        212;
+    stories of, 212-224
+
+  Q
+
+  QUEBAN. Wife of King Grallo;
+    St Ronan discovers her fault, 368
+
+  QUEBEC, THE. A British vessel;
+    her fight with the _Surveillante_, 238-240
+
+  QUEEN ANNE'S TOWER. Name of the keep of the ch�teau of Dinan, 209
+
+  QUESTEMBERT. A town in Brittany;
+    the Ch�teau des Paulpiquets at, 49
+
+  QUIBERON. A town in Brittany, 46
+
+  QUIMPER. A city in Brittany;
+    St Convoyon Bishop of, 335;
+    national costume in, 372-373;
+    mentioned, 186, 188
+
+  QUIMPER, COUNT OF. In a story of Morvan, 213, 216
+
+  Quimperl�. A town in Brittany;
+    the ch�teau of Rustefan near, 208;
+    St Goezenou killed at the building of the monastery at, 370
+
+  R
+
+  RAMA. A hero in Hindu mythology;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  R[=A]M[=A]YANA. A Hindu epic;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  RAOUL LE GAEL. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  RAVELSTON QUARRY. A quarry near Edinburgh;
+    mentioned, 51
+
+  REDON or RODON. A town in Brittany;
+    the abbey of: founded by St Convoyon, 335-336;
+    the bones of St Apothemius carried to, 336;
+    the bones of St Marcellinus carried to, 337;
+    Nomeno� takes spoil from the Abbey of Saint-Florent to, 337;
+    St Convoyon removes from, 338;
+    St Convoyon buried at, 338
+
+  REDONES. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  REGINALD. Bishop of Vannes, 335, 336
+
+  REID, GENERAL JOHN. The composer of _The Garb of Old Gaul_, 238
+
+  REINACH, SALOMON. Cited, 53
+
+  RELIGION. Brittany the most religious of the French provinces,
+        377;
+    the religious element in the Breton character, 377-378
+
+  RELIQUARIES. In Brittany, 382
+
+  REMUS. In Roman legend, brother of Romulus;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE. References to, 205, 206, 209
+
+  REN�. Constable of Naples, 190
+
+  RENNES. A city in Brittany;
+    the scene of Nomeno�'s vengeance, 23-25;
+    the Counts of, gain ascendancy in Brittany, 27;
+    the marriage of Charles of Blois and Joan of Penthi�vre at, 32;
+    Robert the sorcerer dwelt in, 242;
+    Nomeno� obtains possession of, 338;
+    mentioned, 17, 181, 195
+
+  RESTALRIG. A village near Edinburgh;
+    the well of St Triduana at, 59-60
+
+  RETIERS. A town in Brittany the Roches aux F�es at, 51
+
+  RETZ, or RAIS. A district in Brittany, 23, 174
+
+  RETZ, CARDINAL DE. A French politician and writer;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  RETZ, GILLES DE. A Breton nobleman;
+    a story of, 173-180;
+    the identification of, with Bluebeard, 174, 180
+
+  REVOLUTION, FRENCH. Of 1789;
+    mentioned, 188, 195, 338, 353, 369
+
+  REVUE CELTIQUE. Cited, 212 _n._
+
+  RHEINSTEIN. A famous castle on the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  RHINE. The river;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  RHUYS. _See_ St Gildas de Rhuys
+
+  RHYS, SIR JOHN. And the origin of Druidism, 245;
+    mentioned, 70
+
+  RICHARD II. Duke of Normandy;
+    mentioned, 196
+
+  RICHELIEU, CARDINAL. A famous French statesman;
+    the ch�teau of Tonqu�dec demolished by order of, 204
+
+  RIEUX, JEAN DE. Marshal of Brittany;
+    leader of the expedition to help Owen Glendower, 234
+
+  RITHO. A giant whom King Arthur slew, 277
+
+  ROAD OF ST POL, THE. Name given by Breton peasants to a megalithic
+        avenue, 365
+
+  ROBERT I. Duke of Normandy, 28
+
+  ROBERT. A sorcerer who dwelt in Rennes, 242-243
+
+  ROBERT DE VITRY. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  ROCENAUD. A village in Brittany;
+    dolmen at, 46
+
+  ROCEY. The house of, 174
+
+  ROCHE-MARCHE-BRAN. A rocky hill;
+    the chapel of St Barbe built on, 335
+
+  ROCHER, THE WOOD OF. The dolmen near, 50
+
+  ROCHERS. A Breton ch�teau;
+    Mme S�vign� associated with, 208
+
+  ROCHES AUX F�ES. Name given to the megalithic monuments by the
+        Bretons, 49;
+    near Saint-Didier-et-Marpire, 50;
+    in Rhetiers, 51;
+    supposed to be the meeting-place of sorcerers, 243
+
+  ROCKFLOWER. A fairy maiden;
+    in a tale from Saint-Cast, 83
+
+  RODRIGUEZ, FATHER. Mentioned, 47
+
+  ROE. A river in Ireland;
+    Druidic ritual associated with, 246
+
+  ROGER. An English knight;
+    in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  ROHAN. The house of, 206
+
+  ROHAN. Alain, Viscount of, 189
+
+  ROHAN. Jeanne de, daughter of Alain de Rohan;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 189-193
+
+  ROHAND. A vassal of Roland;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 260-261, 262
+
+  ROLAND, SIR. A knight;
+    in the story of the Unbroken Vow, 60-63
+
+  ROLAND RISE. A Cymric chieftain, Lord of Ermonie;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261
+
+  ROLLESTON, T. W. Cited, 246
+
+  ROLLO. A famous Norse leader, first Duke of Normandy;
+    mentioned, 28
+
+  ROMANS, THE. In Brittany, 16
+
+  ROME. The city;
+    mentioned, 196, 337
+
+  ROMULUS. In Roman legend, the founder of Rome;
+    mentioned, 357, 358
+
+  RON. The name of King Arthur's lance, 280
+
+  ROND. A dance performed at weddings, 385-386
+
+  ROSAMOND. Mistress of Henry II of England (Rosamond Clifford, 'the
+        Fair Rosamond');
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  ROS-YNYS. A place in Wales, afterward St David's;
+    a story of St Keenan and, 343-344
+
+  ROUND TOWER. At Ardmore, Ireland, 51;
+    at Abernethy, Perthshire, 52
+
+  RUMENGOL. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Singers held at, 378
+
+  S
+
+  SACRING BELLS. The use of, an old Breton custom, 380
+
+  ST ANNE. A Breton saint;
+    Morvan prays to, 216-217;
+    Morvan rewards with gifts, 218;
+    Morvan gives praise to, for his victory over the Moor, 220;
+    frees Morvan from his burden, 224;
+    mentioned, 146
+
+  SAINTE-ANNE-LA-PALUD. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Sea held at, 378
+
+  ST APOTHEMIUS. St Convoyon steals the bones of, from Angers
+        Cathedral, and takes them to Redon, 336
+
+  ST AUGUSTINE. Archbishop of Canterbury;
+    mentioned, 100
+
+  ST BALDRED. A Celtic saint, 359-360
+
+  ST BALDRED'S BOAT. A rock in the Firth of Forth;
+    the legend of, 359
+
+  ST BARBE. A Breton saint, 332-335
+
+  SAINTE-BARBE. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  ST BIEUZY. A Breton saint, 345-346;
+    the Holy Well of, at Bieuzy, 381
+
+  ST BRIDGET. An Irish saint;
+    Az�nor prays to, and is helped by, 354;
+    church of, at Berhet, the custom of ringing the sacring bell
+        survives in, 380;
+    church of, at Perguet, the fireplace in, 381
+
+  SAINT-BRIEUC.
+    I. An _arrondissement_ of Brittany, 88, 350
+    II. A town in Brittany;
+      a relic of St Keenan preserved in the cathedral of, 344
+
+  SAINT-BRIEUC, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    the Nicole of, 100;
+    mentioned, 18, 350
+
+  ST BUDOC. A Breton saint;
+    the legend of, 353-356
+
+  SAINT-CAST. A village in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75;
+    a story from, 84;
+    the story of the Combat of, 236-237;
+    mentioned, 83
+
+  ST CECILIA'S DAY. Ceremonies in honour of King Gradlon on, 189
+
+  ST CHARLES. Jesuit church of, at Antwerp;
+    relics of St Winwaloe preserved at, 371
+
+  ST CONVOYON. A Breton saint, 335-338
+
+  ST CORBASIUS. A Breton saint;
+    kills St Goezenou, 370
+
+  ST CORNELY. A Breton saint, the patron of cattle;
+    in a legend of Carnac, 44-45
+
+  ST DAVID'S. A city in Wales, originally called Ros-ynys;
+    in a story of St Keenan, 344
+
+  SAINT-DENIS. A famous abbey, in the city of Saint-Denis, in France;
+    Du Guesclin buried in, 32
+
+  SAINT-DIDIER. A village in Brittany;
+    the Roches aux F�es near, 50
+
+  ST DUBRICUS. A British saint;
+    mentioned, 346
+
+  ST DUNSTAN. A British saint, called St Goustan in Brittany,
+        248-249
+
+  ST EFFLAM. A Breton saint;
+    and King Arthur's encounter with the dragon of the Lieue de Gr�ve,
+        278-281;
+    the story of St Enora and, 340-342;
+    mentioned, 366
+
+  ST ENORA, or HONORA. A Breton saint;
+    the story of Efflam and, 279, 281, 340-342
+
+  SAINT-FLORENT. A town in France;
+    Nomeno� and the abbey of, 337
+
+  ST GALL. A famous monastery in Switzerland;
+    mentioned, 247
+
+  ST GERMAIN. A French saint, Bishop of Paris;
+    the exchange of wax for wine between St Samson and, 19;
+    persuades Nennocha to embrace the religious life, 340
+
+  ST GILDAS. A British saint;
+    in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 181, 183-184;
+    founded the abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys, near Vannes, 248-249
+
+  ST GILDAS DE RHUYS. An abbey near Vannes;
+    founded by St Gildas, 248-249;
+    Ab�lard appointed abbot of, 248;
+    St Bieuzy died and was buried at, 346;
+    St Patern educated at, 348
+
+  ST GOEZENOU. A Breton saint, 368-370
+
+  ST GOUSTAN. The Breton name of St Dunstan, 249
+
+  ST HENWG. _See_ Henwg
+
+  ST HONORA, or ENORA. _See_ St Enora
+
+  ST ILTUD. A Welsh saint;
+    in a legend of St Samson, 349;
+    St Pol a disciple of, 364;
+    mentioned, 346
+
+  ST IVES. _See_ St Yves
+
+  SAINT-JACUT-DE-LA-MER. A village in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, 80, 84
+
+  ST JAOUA. A Breton saint, 366
+
+  SAINT-JEAN-DU-DOIGT. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Fire held at, 378, 379
+
+  ST JOHN. A Breton saint, 197
+
+  ST KADO. A Breton saint;
+    mentioned, 197
+
+  ST K�, or ST QUAY. Popular name in Brittany for St Keenan, 344
+
+  ST KEENAN. A Breton saint, 343-344
+
+  ST KENTIGERN, or ST MUNGO. Patron saint of Glasgow;
+    the legend of, 356-357;
+    mentioned, 70, 359
+
+  ST LAZARUS. The Order of;
+    Louis XV sends to the Count of La Garaye, 195
+
+  ST LEONORIUS, or L�ONORE. A Breton saint, 346-347
+
+  ST LOUIS. _See_ Louis IX
+
+  ST MAGAN. A Breton saint, brother of St Goezenou, 370
+
+  ST MALGLORIOUS. A Breton saint, 356
+
+  ST MALO, or MACHUTES. A Breton saint;
+    the people of Corseul hostile to the teachings of, 343
+
+  SAINT-MALO. A town in Brittany;
+    the scene of the Lay of Laustic, 302;
+    St Convoyon born near, 335;
+    mentioned, 230
+
+  SAINT-MALO, BAY OF. The Nicole of, 100-101
+
+  ST MARCELLINUS. Bishop of Rome;
+    the bones of, given to St Convoyon by Pope Leo IV, and taken by
+        him to Redon, 337
+
+  ST M�RIADEC. A Breton saint;
+    his skull used in the ritual of the Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt,
+        379
+
+  ST MICHAEL. The archangel;
+    chapel of, on the tumulus of Mont-Saint-Michel, 46;
+    the child Morvan thinks he has seen, 213;
+    Morvan thinks a knight more splendid than, 214
+
+  ST MICHEL. A Breton saint, 'Lord of Heights';
+    a chapel of, near Le Faouet, 333
+
+  ST MUNGO. _See_ St Kentigern
+
+  ST NENNOCHA. A Breton saint, 340
+
+  ST NICHOLAS. A Breton saint;
+    probably the survival of a pagan divinity, 345
+
+  ST NICOLAS DE BIEUZY. Church of, in Bieuzy, 180
+
+  ST NON. A Breton saint;
+    a fireplace in the church of, at Penmarch, 381
+
+  ST NOYALA. A Breton saint, 360
+
+  ST PATERN. A Breton saint, 347-349
+
+  ST POL, or PAUL. Of L�on;
+    a Breton saint, 248, 364-367
+
+  SAINT-POL-DE-L�ON. A town in Brittany;
+    the bell of St Pol in the cathedral of, 367;
+    St Pol buried in the cathedral of, 367;
+    the cathedral of, built by St Pol, 367;
+    costume of the men of, 375;
+    mentioned, 237, 365, 366
+
+  ST ROCH. A Breton saint;
+    shrine of, at Auray, 42;
+    and the markings on the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46
+
+  ST RONAN. A Breton saint, 367
+
+  ST SAMSON. A British saint;
+    settles in Brittany, 17-19;
+    St Gildas the friend of, 248;
+    stories of, 349-350;
+    St Pol of L�on a fellow-student of, 364
+
+  ST SERF. A Scottish saint, abbot of Culross, 357
+
+  SAINT-TH�GONNEC. A town in Brittany;
+    the Calvary at, 384
+
+  ST TIVISIAU, or TURIAU. A Breton saint, 338-339;
+    the fountain of, at Landivisiau, 340
+
+  ST TREMEUR. A Breton saint, son of Comorre;
+    the reliquary in the church of, 382
+
+  ST TRIDUANA. Guardian of a well at Restalrig, near Edinburgh,
+        59-60
+
+  ST TRIPHYNE. A Breton saint;
+    wife of Comorre, 180
+    _See_ Triphyna
+
+  ST TUGDUAL. A Breton saint;
+    founded the church of Tr�guier, 167;
+    made a miraculous crossing to Brittany, 360
+
+  ST TURIAU. _See_ St Tivisiau
+
+  ST VOUGAS, or VIE. A Breton saint, 360
+
+  ST WINWALOE. A Breton saint, 370-371
+
+  ST YVES, or YVO. Brittany's favourite saint, 350-353
+
+  SAINT-YVES. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Poor held at, 378
+
+  SAINTS. Stories of, an important element in Breton folk-lore,
+        332;
+    the primitive saint driven to use methods similar to those of the
+        pagan priests around him, 332;
+    tales of the Breton saints, 332-371;
+    the product of poor countries rather than of prosperous ones,
+        350
+
+  SAINTSBURY, G. E. B. Cited, 254
+
+  SALOMON III. Count of Brittany;
+    drives back the Northmen, 25
+
+  SANT-E-ROA ('Holy Wheel'). Apparatus of the sacring bell;
+    at the church of St Bridget, Berhet, 380
+
+  SATAN. A story of, 143-144;
+    Gilles de Retz seeks association with, 177-179;
+    in an old Breton conception of Hell, 389
+    _See also_ Devil
+
+  SAXONS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, 15, 17
+
+  SCOTLAND. Markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46-47;
+    the harp formerly the national instrument of, 229;
+    claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+    late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, 364;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  SCOTS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, 17
+
+  SCOTT, SIR WALTER. The novelist;
+    his treatment of legendary matter, 211;
+    one of the first to bring the story of Tristrem to public notice,
+        258;
+    continued the story of Tristrem beyond the point at which the
+        Auchinleck MS. breaks off, 272
+
+  SEA OF DARKNESS, THE. In the story of the Castle of the Sun, 132
+
+  SEA-SNAKE'S EGG. _See_ Adder's Stone
+
+  S�BILLOT, PAUL. Cited, 52, 212 _n._;
+    mentioned, 74;
+    and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237 _n._
+
+  SEIGNEUR WITH THE HORSE'S HEAD, THE. The story of, 137-143
+
+  SEIGNEUR OF NANN, THE. The story of, 57-59
+
+  SEIN. _See_ Ile de Sein
+
+  SERIPHOS. An island in the �gean Sea to which Dana� was carried;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  SEVEN SAINTS OF BRITTANY. St Samson and six others who fled with him
+        from Britain, 350
+
+  SEVEN SLEEPERS, THE. Seven Christian youths of Ephesus who hid to
+        escape persecution and slept for several hundreds of years;
+    an altar to, in the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, 41
+
+  SEVERN. The river;
+    mentioned, 349
+
+  S�VIGN�, MME DE. A famous French epistolary writer;
+    sojourned in the castle of Nantes, 205;
+    wrote many of her letters from the ch�teau of Rochers, 208
+
+  SHARPE, CHARLES KIRKPATRICK. An antiquary and writer, friend of Sir
+        Walter Scott;
+    his treatment of legendary material, 211
+
+  SHEWALTON SANDS. A place in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones found at, 47
+
+  SHIP, THE. A rock off the coast of Brittany, said to have been the
+        vessel of St Vougas, 360
+
+  SHIP O' THE FIEND, THE. Orchestral work by Hamish MacCunn;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  SHIP OF SOULS. A feature in Breton folk-belief, 384
+
+  SIGHT, MAGICAL. Bestowed by fairies, 82-83
+
+  SILVESTIK. A young Breton who followed in the train of William the
+        Conqueror to England;
+    the story of, 232-233
+
+  SIMROCK, C. J. Cited, 83
+
+  SKYE. An island off the west coast of Scotland;
+    the 'Washing Woman' in, 100
+
+  SLIEVE GRIAN. A mountain in Ireland;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  SMALL, A. Cited, 52
+
+  SOCI�T� ACAD�MIQUE DE BREST, BULLETIN DE. Cited, 199 _n._
+
+  SONG OF THE PILOT, THE. A Breton ballad, 238-240
+
+  SORCERY. Belief in, prevalent in Brittany, 241-243;
+    in ancient times, identified with Druidism, 245
+
+  SOUTH-WEST WIND, THE. Personification of, in a wind-tale, 163
+
+  SOUVESTRE, �MILE. A French novelist and dramatist;
+    mentioned, 180
+
+  SPAIN. Tristrem in, 270;
+    the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel came from, 275
+
+  SPENSER, EDMUND. The poet;
+    mentioned, 56
+
+  STONES. Folk-tales and beliefs connected with, 52-53
+
+  STYX. In Greek mythology, a river of the underworld;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  SUN, THE. Personified in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        117-118;
+   the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275;
+   personified in the 'fatal children' stories, 358
+
+  SUN-PRINCESS. A story of the search for, 121-131
+
+  SUROUAS. Name of the south-west wind;
+    in a wind-tale, 163
+
+  SURVEILLANTE, LE. A Breton vessel;
+    her fight with the British ship _Quebec_, 238-240
+
+  SUSANNUS. Bishop of Vannes, 336-337
+
+  SUSCINO. A Breton ch�teau, 209-210
+
+  SWINBURNE, Algernon. The poet;
+    quoted, 267
+
+  T
+
+  TADEN. A village in Brittany;
+    the Count and Countess of La Garaye buried at, 195
+
+  TALIESIN ('Shining Forehead'). A British bard;
+    and the vision of Jud-Hael, 20-21;
+    early years, 21;
+    the bard of Urien and Owain-ap-Urien, 22;
+    death of, 22;
+    probably sojourned in Brittany, 22;
+    acquainted with black art, 252
+
+  TAM O' SHANTER. The character in Burns's poem;
+    mentioned, 244
+
+  TANTALLON CASTLE. A famous ruin in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 359
+
+  TARTARY. The country;
+    mentioned, 115
+
+  TEGID, LLYN. A lake in Wales (Lake Bala);
+    the dwelling-place of Keridwen, a fertility goddess, 59
+
+  TELIO. A British monk, associated with St Samson;
+    said to have introduced the apple into Brittany, 18
+
+  TEURSTA POULICT. A variety of the teursts taking animal shape,
+        100
+
+  TEURSTS. A race of evil spirits, 100
+
+  TEUS, or BUGELNOZ. A beneficent spirit of the district of Vannes,
+        100
+
+  THENAW. Mother of St Kentigern, 357
+
+  THIERRY, J. N. A. A French historian;
+    quoted, 17
+
+  THOMAS THE RHYMER, or THOMAS OF ERCILDOUNE. Thirteenth-century
+        Scottish poet;
+    his version of the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258 _et seq._;
+    visited Fairyland, 326;
+    mentioned, 64, 255, 327
+
+  THOUARS, CATHERINE DE. Wife of Gilles de Retz, 174
+
+  THOUARS, GUY DE. A French knight;
+    married to Constance of Brittany, 30
+
+  TIBER. The river;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  TINA. A maiden;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 145-147
+
+  TITANIA. Queen of the fairies;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  TONQU�DEC. A Breton ch�teau, 204
+
+  TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND. A work by Giraldus Cambrensis;
+    cited, 187
+
+  TORRENT OF PORTUGAL, SIR. A fifteenth-century English metrical
+        romance;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  TOULBOUDOU. A seigneury near Gu�men�, 334
+
+  TOULBOUDOU, John, Lord of;
+    builds the chapel of St Barbe at Le Faouet, 334-335
+
+  TOUR D'ELVEN. A keep of the ch�teau of Largoet, 206
+
+  TOURLAVILLE. A Breton ch�teau, 208-209
+
+  TOWER OF LONDON, THE. Charles of Blois confined in, 31;
+    the name of, occurs frequently in Celtic and Breton romance, 99
+
+  TRAPRAIN LAW. A mountain in East Lothian, formerly called
+        Dunpender;
+    Thenaw cast from, 357
+
+  TREASURE, J. P. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  TREDRIG. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves the incumbent of, 351
+
+  TREES. Tales of spirits enclosed in, 52
+
+  TR�GASTEL. A town on the Breton coast;
+    an island near believed by the Bretons to be the fabled Isle of
+        Avalon, 282
+
+  TR�GUENNEC. A village in Brittany;
+    St Vougas associated with, 360
+
+  TR�GUIER.
+    I. A former county of Brittany, 27, 350
+    II. A town in Brittany;
+      St Yves buried at, 353;
+      a burial custom of, 383;
+      mentioned, 167, 168, 237, 350
+
+  TR�GUNC. A town in Brittany;
+    dolmen at 42
+
+  TREMALOUEN. A hamlet in Brittany;
+    ruins at, haunted by courils, 99
+
+  TREMTRIS. Inverted form of Tristrem's name given him by Rohand to
+        secure his safety, 259;
+    Tristrem assumes the name in Ireland, 264, 266
+
+  TR�PASS�S, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast, 185
+
+  TR�VES. A village in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  TRIDWAN. _See_ St Triduana
+
+  TRIEUX. A river in Brittany, 203, 204
+
+  TRIPHYNA (ST TRIPHYNE). A maiden, married to Comorre, 180-184
+
+  TRISTREM, SIR ('Child of Sorrow'). One of the Knights of the Round
+        Table, son of Blancheflour;
+    the story of, and Ysonde, 257-275;
+    mentioned, 301
+
+  TRISTREM, SIR. An ancient metrical romance;
+    incidents in, paralleled in the story of Bran, 227-228;
+    date of composition of, 228;
+    had a Breton source, 255;
+    Sir Walter Scott one of the first to bring Thomas the Rhymer's
+        version of, to public notice, 258;
+    Thomas the Rhymer's version of, recounted, 258-272;
+    Scott's continuation of the Auchinleck MS., 272-274;
+    the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275
+
+  TROGOFF. The ch�teau of;
+    in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  TROLLOPE, T. ADOLPHUS. Quoted, 179-180
+
+  TROM�NIE-DE-SAINT-RENAN. A town in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Mountain held at, 378, 379
+
+  TROYES. A city in France;
+    Ab�lard's abbey of Nogent near, 249
+
+  TUGDUAL SALA�N. A peasant of Plouber, composer of a ballad on the
+        Marquis of Gu�rande, 199, 202
+
+  TY C'HARRIQUET ('The House of the Gorics')
+    I. A name given to a megalithic structure near Penmarch, 49
+    II. A name applied to Carnac, 98
+
+  TY EN CORYGANNT. A name given to a megalithic structure in Morbihan,
+        49
+
+  U
+
+  UNBROKEN VOW, THE. A story of Broceliande, 60-63
+
+  UNITED STATES, THE. The Bretons aid, in the War of Independence,
+        238
+
+  URIEN. A Welsh chieftain;
+    Taliesin the bard of, 21, 22
+
+  V
+
+  VAL-�S-DUNES. A place in Brittany;
+    Alain, Count of Brittany, defeated in battle at, 28
+
+  VALLEY OF BLOOD. A place in hell;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 146
+
+  VANNES.
+    I. A former county of Brittany;
+      mentioned, 23, 180
+    II. The city;
+      the dialect of, 16 _and n._;
+      the ancient city of the Veneti, 17;
+      the Teus or Bugelnoz of, 100;
+      in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 183;
+      the ch�teau of Suscino near, 209;
+      the abbey of St Gildas near, 248;
+      St Convoyon educated at, 335;
+      St Patern the patron saint of, 347;
+      St Patern Bishop of, 348;
+      the legend of the founding of the church of St Patern at,
+        348;
+      St Pol of L�on in, 364
+
+  VENETI. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16, 17
+
+  'VENUS, THE.' An image at Quinipily, 381
+
+  VILAINE. A river in Brittany, 335
+
+  VILLARS, ABB� DE. A French priest and writer;
+    cited, 64
+
+  VILLECHERET. A village in Brittany;
+    the head-dress of the women of, 375
+
+  VILLEMARQU�. _See_ Hersart de la Villemarqu�
+
+  VINE, THE. Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Gradlon,
+        189
+
+  VIRGIN MARY, THE. In a Breton legend, 380
+
+  VITR�. A Breton ch�teau, 208
+
+  VIVIEN. An enchantress, in Arthurian legend;
+    meets Merlin in Broceliande, and afterward enchants him there,
+        65-69;
+    as presented in Arthurian legend and in other romances, 69;
+    may be classed as a water-spirit, 69;
+    the probable purpose of the story of Merlin and, in Arthurian
+        legend, 70;
+    of Breton origin, and does not appear in British myth, 256;
+    gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, 256-257;
+    Sir Lancelot stolen and brought up by, 257
+
+  W
+
+  WACE. A twelfth-century Anglo-Norman poet;
+    quoted, 54;
+    and the fountain of Baranton, 71
+
+  WAGNER, RICHARD. The composer;
+    mentioned, 258
+
+  WALES. Legend of the submerged city in, 187, 188;
+    the harp anciently the national instrument of, 229;
+    Bretons send an expedition to, to help Glendower, 234;
+    claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+    helped the development of Arthurian romance, 255;
+    Tristrem sojourns in, and wins fame there, 270;
+    mentioned, 59, 343
+
+  WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, AMERICAN. Bretons take part in, against
+        England, 238
+
+  WAR OF THE TWO JOANS, THE. A war waged for the succession to the
+        Dukedom of Brittany, 31-32, 35-36
+
+  WARD OF DU GUESCLIN, THE. A Du Guesclin legend, 33-35
+
+  WASHING WOMAN, THE. An evil spirit of the Scottish Highlands, 100
+
+  WEDDING CUSTOMS. In Brittany, 385-386
+    _See also_ Marriage
+
+  WELLS, HOLY. In Brittany, 381-382
+
+  WELSH. The language;
+    the Breton tongue akin to, 15
+
+  WERE-WOLF. A man transformed into a wolf;
+    the prevalence, origin, and forms of the superstition, 289-292;
+    a were-wolf story, 284-289
+
+  WESTMINSTER. The city;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, Ysonde carried to, for trial,
+        270
+
+  WEXFORD. A county of Ireland;
+    emigration from, to Brittany, 22
+
+  WHEEL OF FORTUNE, THE. A name wrongly given to part of the apparatus
+        of the sacring bell, 380
+
+  WHITE CHURCH. A church in Tr�guier;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 170, 171
+
+  WILLIAM II. Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror);
+    Conan II of Brittany and, 27, 28-29;
+    Bretons accompany, on his expedition against England, 232,
+        233
+
+  WILLIAM, COUNT. The name of the nobleman to whom Marie of France
+        dedicated her Fables, identified with Longsword, Earl of
+        Salisbury, 283-284
+
+  WINDS, THE. Play a large part in Breton folk-lore, 162;
+    a wind-tale, 163-167
+
+  WINE. St Germain exchanges for wax from the monks of Dol, 19;
+    a wine festival in honour of King Gradlon, 189
+
+  WOMEN. In early communities, magical power often the possession of,
+        246;
+    generally the conservators of surviving Druidic tradition, 247;
+    St Goezenou's antipathy to, 369;
+    costume of the women of Brittany--_see_ Costume _and_ Head-dress
+
+  WOOD OF CHESTNUTS. Mentioned in a story of Morvan, 217
+
+  Y
+
+  YEUN, THE. A morass of evil repute, 102-103;
+    a story of, 103-105
+
+  YORK. The city, in England;
+    St Samson ordained at, 349
+
+  YOUDIC, THE. A part of the Yeun peat-bog, 103;
+    a story of, 103-105
+
+  YOUGHAL. A town in Ireland;
+    Az�nor and the infant Budoc washed ashore at, 355;
+    Budoc becomes abbot of the monastery at, 356
+
+  YOUGHAL, ABBOT OF. In the legend of St Budoc, 355, 356
+
+  YOUTH WHO DID NOT KNOW. The story of, 106-115
+
+  YS, or IS. A submerged city of legend;
+    the legend of, 184-188;
+    such a legend common to several Celtic races, 187;
+    Giraldus Cambrensis and the legend of, 187-188
+
+  YSEULT. _See_ Ysonde
+
+  YSONDE, or YSEULT. Daughter of the King of Ireland;
+    some incidents in her story paralleled in the ballad of Bran,
+        228;
+    the story of Tristrem and, 257-274;
+    the story of Tristrem and, claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275
+
+  YSONDE OF THE WHITE HAND. Daughter of Hoel I, Duke of Brittany;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271, 273
+
+  YVES. Husband of Az�nor the Pale, 361-363
+
+  YVON. A youth;
+    in the story of the Castle of the Sun, 131-137
+
+  YVONNE. A maiden;
+    in the story of the Castle of the Sun, 131-137
+
+
+  ZIMMER, H. Cited, 278
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber Notes
+
+Typographical inconsistencies have been changed and are listed below.
+
+Hyphenation has been standardized.
+
+Otherwise, archaic spelling and the author's punctuation style have
+been preserved.
+
+Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+The macrons over the a's in Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]yana are
+indicated by [=a].
+
+
+Transcriber Changes
+
+The following changes were made to the original text:
+
+  Page 113: Added quote ("What do you desire? You have only to speak
+            and it shall be =brought."=)
+
+  Page 121: Was 'litle' (You can restore me permanently to my human
+            shape if you choose to show only a =little= perseverance
+            and courage.)
+
+  Page 206: Added apostrophe (in Octave =Feuillet's= _Roman d'un jeune
+            Homme pauvre_)
+
+  Page 227: Added quote (for when you die you will at least end your
+            days in =Brittany."=)
+
+  Page 267: Was 'attendent' (her passion for Tristrem moved her to
+            induce her =attendant= Brengwain to take her place)
+
+  Page 357: Was 'Eufeurien' (Thenaw met Ewen, the son of =Eufuerien=,
+            King of Cumbria, and fell deeply in love with him)
+
+  Footnote 38: Was 'Legende' (_La =L�gende= de la Mort_)
+
+  Index: Was 'bulit' (the chapel of St Barbe =built= on, 335)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Legends & Romances of Brittany
+
+Author: Lewis Spence
+
+Illustrator: W. Otway Cannell
+
+Release Date: January 6, 2010 [EBook #30871]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS & ROMANCES OF BRITTANY ***
+
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+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Katherine Ward, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
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+</pre>
+
+
+<p class='center larger'>LEGENDS &amp; ROMANCES<br />
+<span class="muchlarger">OF BRITTANY</span></p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col01.jpg' alt='' title='' width='402' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+GRAELENT AND THE FAIRY-WOMAN <br /><span class="smaller ralign"><i>Fr.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<div class="center">
+<h1>LEGENDS &amp; ROMANCES<br />
+OF BRITTANY</h1>
+<p><i>BY</i><br />
+<span class="larger">LEWIS SPENCE F.R.A.I.</span></p>
+<p class='smaller padtop center'>AUTHOR OF &ldquo;HERO TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE RHINE&rdquo;<br />
+&ldquo;A DICTIONARY OF MEDIEVAL ROMANCE AND<br />
+ROMANCE WRITERS&rdquo; &ldquo;THE MYTHS<br />
+OF MEXICO AND PERU&rdquo;<br />
+ETC. ETC.</p>
+<p class='smaller padtop'><i>WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS BY</i><br />
+<span class='smcap'>W. OTWAY CANNELL A.R.C.A.(Lond.)</span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p><span class='smcaplc'>NEW YORK</span><br />
+FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY<br />
+<span class='smcaplc'>PUBLISHERS</span></p>
+<p class='smaller padtop'>THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH<br />
+GREAT BRITAIN</p>
+</div>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span>
+<a name='PREFACE' id='PREFACE'></a>
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Although</span> the folk-tales and legends of
+Brittany have received ample attention from
+native scholars and collectors, they have not
+as yet been presented in a popular manner to English-speaking
+readers. The probable reasons for what
+would appear to be an otherwise incomprehensible
+omission on the part of those British writers who
+make a popular use of legendary material are that
+many Breton folk-tales strikingly resemble those of
+other countries, that from a variety of considerations
+some of them are unsuitable for presentation in an
+English dress, and that most of the folk-tales proper
+certainly possess a strong family likeness to one
+another.</p>
+<p>But it is not the folk-tale alone which goes to make up
+the romantic literary output of a people; their ballads,
+the heroic tales which they have woven around passages
+in their national history, their legends (employing
+the term in its proper sense), along with the more
+literary attempts of their romance-weavers, their beliefs
+regarding the supernatural, the tales which cluster
+around their ancient homes and castles&mdash;all of these,
+although capable of separate classification, are akin to
+folk-lore, and I have not, therefore, hesitated to use
+what in my discretion I consider the best out of immense
+stores of material as being much more suited to
+supply British readers with a comprehensive view of
+Breton story. Thus, I have included chapters on the
+lore which cleaves to the ancient stone monuments
+of the country, along with some account of the monuments
+themselves. The Arthurian matter especially
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span>
+connected with Brittany I have relegated to a separate
+chapter, and I have considered it only fitting to include
+such of the <i>lais</i> of that rare and human songstress
+Marie de France as deal with the Breton land. The
+legends of those sainted men to whom Brittany owes
+so much will be found in a separate chapter, in collecting
+the matter for which I have obtained the kindest
+assistance from Miss Helen Macleod Scott, who has
+the preservation of the Celtic spirit so much at heart.
+I have also included chapters on the interesting theme
+of the black art in Brittany, as well as on the several
+species of fays and demons which haunt its moors and
+forests; nor will the heroic tales of its great warriors
+and champions be found wanting. To assist the reader
+to obtain the atmosphere of Brittany and in order
+that he may read these tales without feeling that he is
+perusing matter relating to a race of which he is otherwise
+ignorant, I have afforded him a slight sketch of
+the Breton environment and historical development,
+and in an attempt to lighten his passage through the
+volume I have here and there told a tale in verse,
+sometimes translated, sometimes original.</p>
+<p>As regards the folk-tales proper, by which I mean
+stories collected from the peasantry, I have made a
+selection from the works of Gaidoz, S�billot, and Luzel.
+In no sense are these translations; they are rather
+adaptations. The profound inequality between Breton
+folk-tales is, of course, very marked in a collection of
+any magnitude, but as this volume is not intended to be
+exhaustive I have had no difficulty in selecting material
+of real interest. Most of these tales were collected by
+Breton folk-lorists in the eighties of the last century,
+and the native shrewdness and common sense which
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span>
+characterize much of the editors&rsquo; comments upon the
+stories so carefully gathered from peasants and fishermen
+make them deeply interesting.</p>
+<p>It is with a sense of shortcoming that I offer the reader
+this volume on a great subject, but should it succeed
+in stimulating interest in Breton story, and in directing
+students to a field in which their research is certain to be
+richly rewarded, I shall not regret the labour and time
+which I have devoted to my task.</p>
+<p class='ralign'>L. S.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span>
+<a name='CONTENTS' id='CONTENTS'></a>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+</div>
+<table border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'><p class="smaller" style='text-align:right;'>CHAPTER</p></td>
+  <td />
+  <td valign='top' align='right'><p class="smaller" style='text-align:right;'>PAGE</p></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>I</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Land, the People and their Story</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_I_THE_LAND_THE_PEOPLE_AND_THEIR_STORY'>13</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>II</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Menhirs And Dolmens</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_II_MENHIRS_AND_DOLMENS'>37</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>III</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Fairies of Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_III_THE_FAIRIES_OF_BRITTANY'>54</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>IV</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Sprites And Demons of Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IV_SPRITES_AND_DEMONS_OF_BRITTANY'>96</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>V</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>World-Tales in Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_V_WORLDTALES_IN_BRITTANY'>106</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VI</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Breton Folk-Tales</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VI_BRETON_FOLKTALES'>156</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Popular Legends of Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VII_POPULAR_LEGENDS_OF_BRITTANY'>173</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VIII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Hero-Tales of Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VIII_HEROTALES_OF_BRITTANY'>211</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>IX</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Black Art and Its Ministers</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IX_THE_BLACK_ART_AND_ITS_MINISTERS'>241</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>X</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Arthurian Romance in Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_X_ARTHURIAN_ROMANCE_IN_BRITTANY'>254</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XI</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Breton Lays of Marie De France</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XI_THE_BRETON_LAYS_OF_MARIE_DE_FRANCE'>283</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Saints of Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XII_THE_SAINTS_OF_BRITTANY'>332</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XIII</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Costumes and Customs of Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XIII_COSTUMES_AND_CUSTOMS_OF_BRITTANY'>372</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td />
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Footnotes</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#FOOTNOTES'>391</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td />
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Glossary and Index</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#GLOSSARY__INDEX'>392</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
+<a name='ILLUSTRATIONS' id='ILLUSTRATIONS'></a>
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+</div>
+<table border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto;'>
+<col style='width:75%;' />
+<col style='width:25%;' />
+<tr>
+  <td />
+  <td valign='top' align='right'><p class="smaller" style='text-align:right;'>PAGE</p></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Graelent and the Fairy-Woman</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_1'><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Nomeno�</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'>23</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Death of Marguerite in the Castle of Trogoff</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>34</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Raising a Menhir</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>44</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Seigneur of Nann And the Korrigan</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_5'>58</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Merlin And Vivien</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_6'>66</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Fairies of Broceliande Find the Little Bruno</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_7'>72</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Fairies in a Breton &lsquo;Houle&rsquo;</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_8'>81</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Poor Boy And the Three Fairy Damsels</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_9'>88</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Demon-Dog</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_10'>102</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>N&rsquo;Oun Doare And the Princess Golden Bell</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_11'>112</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Bride of Satan</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_12'>144</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Gwennola�k and Nola</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_13'>170</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Devil in the Form of a Leopard appears before the Alchemist</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_14'>179</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Escape of King Gradlon from the Flooded City of Ys</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_15'>186</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>A Peasant Insurrection</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_16'>197</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Morvan returns to his Ruined Home</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_17'>214</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Finding of Silvestik</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_18'>232</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>H�lo�se as Sorceress</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_19'>250</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>King Arthur and Merlin at the Lake</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_20'>257</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Tristrem and Ysonde</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_21'>268</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>King Arthur and the Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_22'>276</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Were-Wolf</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_23'>288</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Gugemar comes upon the Magic Ship</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_24'>294</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Gugemar&rsquo;s Assault on the Castle of Meriadus</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_25'>300</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Eliduc carries Guillardun to the Forest Chapel</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_26'>312</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Convoyon and his Monks carry off the Relics of St Apothemius</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_27'>336</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>St Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_28'>339</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>St Yves instructing Shepherd-boys in the Use of the Rosary</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_29'>352</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Queen Queban stoned to Death</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_30'>369</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>Modern Brittany</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_31'>377</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span class='smcap'>The Souls of the Dead</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_32'>385</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_I_THE_LAND_THE_PEOPLE_AND_THEIR_STORY' id='CHAPTER_I_THE_LAND_THE_PEOPLE_AND_THEIR_STORY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THEIR STORY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> romantic region which we are about to
+traverse in search of the treasures of legend
+was in ancient times known as Armorica, a
+Latinized form of the Celtic name, Armor (&lsquo;On the
+Sea&rsquo;). The Brittany of to-day corresponds to the
+departments of Finist�re, C�tes-du-Nord, Morbihan,
+Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Inf�rieure. A popular division
+of the country is that which partitions it into
+Upper, or Eastern, and Lower, or Western, Brittany,
+and these tracts together have an area of some 13,130
+square miles.</p>
+<p>Such parts of Brittany as are near to the sea-coast
+present marked differences to the inland regions, where
+raised plateaux are covered with dreary and unproductive
+moorland. These plateaux, again, rise into small
+ranges of hills, not of any great height, but, from
+their wild and rugged appearance, giving the impression
+of an altitude much loftier than they possess.
+The coast-line is ragged, indented, and inhospitable,
+lined with deep reefs and broken by the estuaries of
+brawling rivers. In the southern portion the district
+known as &lsquo;the Emerald Coast&rsquo; presents an almost subtropical
+appearance; the air is mild and the whole region
+pleasant and fruitful. But with this exception Brittany
+is a country of bleak shores and grey seas, barren moorland
+and dreary horizons, such a land as legend loves,
+such a region, cut off and isolated from the highways
+of humanity, as the discarded genii of ancient faiths
+might seek as a last stronghold.</p>
+<p>Regarding the origin of the race which peoples this
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span>
+secluded peninsula there are no wide differences of
+opinion. If we take the word &lsquo;Celt&rsquo; as describing any
+branch of the many divergent races which came under
+the influence of one particular type of culture, the true
+originators of which were absorbed among the folk they
+governed and instructed before the historic era, then
+the Bretons are &lsquo;Celts&rsquo; indeed, speaking the tongue
+known as &lsquo;Celtic&rsquo; for want of a more specific name,
+exhibiting marked signs of the possession of &lsquo;Celtic&rsquo;
+customs, and having those racial characteristics which
+the science of anthropology until recently laid down as
+certain indications of &lsquo;Celtic&rsquo; relationship&mdash;the short,
+round skull, swarthy complexion, and blue or grey eyes.</p>
+<p>It is to be borne in mind, however, that the title
+&lsquo;Celtic&rsquo; is shared by the Bretons with the fair or
+rufous Highlander of Scotland, the dark Welshman, and
+the long-headed Irishman. But the Bretons exhibit
+such special characteristics as would warrant the new
+anthropology in labelling them the descendants of that
+&lsquo;Alpine&rsquo; race which existed in Central Europe in
+Neolithic times, and which, perhaps, possessed distant
+Mongoloid affinities. This people spread into nearly
+all parts of Europe, and later in some regions acquired
+Celtic speech and custom from a Celtic aristocracy.</p>
+<p>It is remarkable how completely this Celtic leaven&mdash;the
+true history of which is lost in the depths of
+prehistoric darkness&mdash;succeeded in impressing not
+only its language but its culture and spirit upon the
+various peoples with whom it came into contact. To
+impose a special type of civilization upon another
+race must always prove a task of almost superhuman
+proportions. To compel the use of an alien tongue
+by a conquered folk necessitates racial tact as well as
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span>
+strength of purpose. But to secure the adoption of
+the racial <i>spirit</i> by the conquered, and adherence
+to it for centuries, so that men of widely divergent
+origins shall all have the same point of view,
+the same mode of thought, manner of address, aye,
+even the same <i>facies</i> or general racial appearance, as
+have Bretons, some Frenchmen, Cornishmen, Welshmen,
+and Highlanders&mdash;that surely would argue an
+indwelling racial strength such as not even the Roman
+or any other world-empire might pretend to.</p>
+<p>But this Celtic civilization was not one and undivided.
+In late prehistoric times it evolved from one mother
+tongue two dialects which afterward displayed all the
+differences of separate languages springing from a
+common stock. These are the Goidelic, the tongue
+spoken by the Celts of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle
+of Man, and the Brythonic, the language of the Welsh,
+the Cornish, and the people of Brittany.</p>
+<h3><i>The Breton Tongue</i></h3>
+<p>The Brezonek, the Brythonic tongue of Brittany, is
+undoubtedly the language of those Celtic immigrants
+who fled from Britain the Greater to Britain the Less
+to escape the rule of the Saxon invaders, and who gave
+the name of the country which they had left to that
+Armorica in which they settled. In the earliest stages
+of development it is difficult to distinguish Breton from
+Welsh. From the ninth to the eleventh centuries the
+Breton language is described as &lsquo;Old Breton.&rsquo; &lsquo;Middle
+Breton&rsquo; flourished from the eleventh to the seventeenth
+centuries, since when &lsquo;Modern Breton&rsquo; has been in
+use. These stages indicate changes in the language
+more or less profound, due chiefly to admixture with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span>
+French. Various distinct dialects are indicated by writers
+on the subject, but the most marked difference in Breton
+speech seems to be that between the dialect of Vannes
+and that of the rest of Brittany. Such differences do
+not appear to be older than the sixteenth century.<a name='FNanchor_0001' id='FNanchor_0001'></a><a href='#Footnote_0001' class='fnanchor'>[1]</a></p>
+<h3><i>The Ancient Armoricans</i></h3>
+<p>The written history of Brittany opens with the account
+of Julius C&aelig;sar. At that period (57 <span class='smcaplc'>B.C.</span>) Armorica was
+inhabited by five principal tribes: the Namnetes, the
+Veneti, the Osismii, the Curiosolit&aelig;, and the Redones.
+These offered a desperate resistance to Roman encroachment,
+but were subdued, and in some cases their
+people were sold wholesale into slavery. In 56 <span class='smcaplc'>B.C.</span>
+the Veneti threw off the yoke and retained two of
+C&aelig;sar&rsquo;s officers as hostages. C&aelig;sar advanced upon
+Brittany in person, but found that he could make no
+headway while he was opposed by the powerful fleet
+of flat-bottomed boats, like floating castles, which the
+Veneti were so skilful in man&oelig;uvring. Ships were
+hastily constructed upon the waters of the Loire, and
+a desperate naval engagement ensued, probably in the
+Gulf of Morbihan, which resulted in the decisive defeat
+of the Veneti, the Romans resorting to the stratagem
+of cutting down the enemy&rsquo;s rigging with sickles bound
+upon long poles. The members of the Senate of the
+conquered people were put to death as a punishment
+for their defection, and thousands of the tribesmen
+went to swell the slave-markets of Europe.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span></div>
+<p>Between <span class='smcaplc'>A.D.</span> 450 and 500, when the Roman power
+and population were dwindling, many vessels brought
+fugitives from Britain to Armorica. These people, fleeing
+from the conquering barbarians, Saxons, Picts,
+and Scots, sought as asylum a land where a kindred
+race had not yet been disturbed by invasion. Says
+Thierry, in his <i>Norman Conquest</i>: &ldquo;With the consent
+of the ancient inhabitants, who acknowledged them as
+brethren of the same origin, the new settlers distributed
+themselves over the whole northern coast, as far as
+the little river Coesoron, and southward as far as the
+territory of the city of the Veneti, now called Vannes.
+In this extent of country they founded a sort of separate
+state, comprising all the small places near the coast,
+but not including within its limits the great towns of
+Vannes, Nantes, and Rennes. The increase of the population
+of this western corner of the country, and the
+great number of people of the Celtic race and language
+thus assembled within a narrow space, preserved it from
+the irruption of the Roman tongue, which, under forms
+more or less corrupted, was gradually becoming prevalent
+in every other part of Gaul. The name of <i>Brittany</i>
+was attached to these coasts, and the names of the
+various indigenous tribes disappeared; while the island
+which had borne this name for so many ages now lost
+it, and, taking the name of its conquerors, began to be
+called the land of the Saxons and Angles, or, in one
+word, <i>England</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>Samson</i></h3>
+<p>One of these British immigrants was the holy Samson,
+who laboured to convert pagan Brittany to Christianity.
+He hailed from Pembrokeshire, and the legend relates
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+that his parents, being childless, constructed a menhir<a name='FNanchor_0002' id='FNanchor_0002'></a><a href='#Footnote_0002' class='fnanchor'>[2]</a>
+of pure silver and gave it to the poor in the hope
+that a son might be born to them. Their desire was
+fulfilled, and Samson, the son in question, became a
+great missionary of the Church. Accompanied by forty
+monks, he crossed the Channel and landed on the
+shores of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, a savage and
+deserted district.</p>
+<p>As the keel of his galley grated on the beach the Saint
+beheld a man on the shore seated at the door of a
+miserable hut, who endeavoured to attract his attention
+by signs. Samson approached the shore-dweller, who
+took him by the hand and, leading him into the
+wretched dwelling, showed him his wife and daughter,
+stricken with sickness. Samson relieved their pain,
+and the husband and father, who, despite his humble
+appearance, was chief of the neighbouring territory,
+gave him a grant of land hard by. Here, close to the
+celebrated menhir of Dol, he and his monks built their
+cells. Soon a chapel rose near the ancient seat of pagan
+worship&mdash;in later days the site of a great cathedral.</p>
+<p>Telio, a British monk, with the assistance of St
+Samson, planted near Dol an orchard three miles in
+length, and to him is attributed the introduction of the
+apple-tree into Brittany. Wherever the monks went
+they cultivated the soil; all had in their mouths the
+words of the Apostle: &ldquo;If any would not work, neither
+should he eat.&rdquo; The people admired the industry of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span>
+the new-comers, and from admiration they passed to
+imitation. The peasants joined the monks in tilling
+the ground, and even the brigands from the hills and
+forests became agriculturists. &ldquo;The Cross and the
+plough, labour and prayer,&rdquo; was the motto of these
+early missionaries.</p>
+<h3><i>Wax for Wine</i></h3>
+<p>The monks of Dol were renowned bee-farmers, as we
+learn from an anecdote told by Count Montalembert
+in his <i>Moines d&rsquo;Occident</i>. One day when St Samson
+of Dol, and St Germain, Bishop of Paris, were conversing
+on the respective merits of their monasteries, St
+Samson said that his monks were such good and careful
+preservers of their bees that, besides the honey
+which the bees yielded in abundance, they furnished
+more wax than was used in the churches for candles
+during the year, but that the climate not being suitable
+for the growth of vines, there was great scarcity of
+wine. Upon hearing this St Germain replied: &ldquo;We,
+on the contrary, produce more wine than we can consume,
+but we have to buy wax; so, if you will furnish
+us with wax, we will give you a tenth of our wine.&rdquo;
+Samson accepted this offer, and the mutual arrangement
+was continued during the lives of the two saints.</p>
+<p>Two British kingdoms were formed in Armorica&mdash;Domnonia
+and Cornubia. The first embraced the
+C�tes-du-Nord and Finist�re north of the river �lorn,
+Cornubia, or Cornouaille, as it is now known, being
+situated below that river, as far south as the river Ell�.
+At first these states paid a nominal homage to their
+native kings in Britain, but on the final fall of the
+British power they proclaimed a complete independence.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Vision of Jud-Hael</i></h3>
+<p>A striking story relating to the migration period is told
+concerning a Cambrian chieftain of Brittany, one Jud-Hael,
+and the famous British bard Taliesin. Shortly
+after the arrival of Taliesin in Brittany Jud-Hael had
+a remarkable vision. He dreamt that he saw a high
+mountain, on the summit of which was placed a lofty
+column fixed deeply in the earth, with a base of ivory,
+and branches which reached to the heavens. The
+lower part was iron, brilliantly polished, and to it were
+attached rings of the same metal, from which were
+suspended cuirasses, casques, lances, javelins, bucklers,
+trumpets, and many other warlike trophies. The upper
+portion was of gold, and upon it hung candelabra,
+censers, stoles, chalices, and ecclesiastical symbols of
+every description. As the Prince stood admiring the
+spectacle the heavens opened and a maiden of marvellous
+beauty descended and approached him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I salute you, O Jud-Hael,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and I confide
+to your keeping for a season this column and all that it
+supports&rdquo;; and with these words she vanished.</p>
+<p>On the following day Jud-Hael made public his dream,
+but, like Nebuchadnezzar of old, he could find no one
+to interpret it, so he turned to the bard Taliesin as to
+another Daniel. Taliesin, says the legend, then an
+exile from his native land of Britain, dwelt on the seashore.
+To him came the messenger of Jud-Hael and
+said: &ldquo;O thou who so truly dost interpret all things
+ambiguous, hear and make clear the strange vision
+which my lord hath seen.&rdquo; He then recounted Jud-Hael&rsquo;s
+dream to the venerable bard.</p>
+<p>For a time the sage sat pondering deeply, and then
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span>
+replied: &ldquo;Thy master reigneth well and wisely, O
+messenger, but he has a son who will reign still more
+happily even than himself, and who will become one of
+the greatest men in the Breton land. The sons of his
+loins will be the fathers of powerful counts and pious
+Churchmen, but he himself, the greatest man of that
+race, shall be first a valiant warrior and later a mighty
+champion of heaven. The earlier part of his life
+shall be given to the world; the latter portion shall
+be devoted to God.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The prophecy of Taliesin was duly fulfilled. For Judik-Hael,
+the son of Jud-Hael, realized the bard&rsquo;s prediction,
+and entered the cloister after a glorious reign.</p>
+<h3><i>Taliesin</i></h3>
+<p>Taliesin (&lsquo;Shining Forehead&rsquo;) was in the highest
+repute in the middle of the twelfth century, and he was
+then and afterward, unless we except Merlin, the bardic
+hero of the greatest number of romantic legends. He
+is said to have been the son of Henwg the bard, or
+St Henwg, of Caerleon-upon-Usk, and to have been
+educated in the school of Cattwg, at Llanvithin, in
+Glamorgan, where the historian Gildas was his fellow-pupil.
+Seized when a youth by Irish pirates, he is
+said, probably by rational interpretation of a later fable
+of his history, to have escaped by using a wooden
+buckler for a boat. Thus he came into the fishing weir
+of Elphin, one of the sons of Urien. Urien made him
+Elphin&rsquo;s instructor, and gave him an estate of land.
+But, once introduced into the Court of that great warrior-chief,
+Taliesin became his foremost bard, followed him
+in his wars, and sang his victories. He celebrates triumphs
+over Ida, the Anglian King of Bernicia (<i>d.</i> 559)
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span>
+at Argoed about the year 547, at Gwenn-Estrad between
+that year and 559, at Menao about the year 559.
+After the death of Urien, Taliesin was the bard of his
+son Owain, by whose hand Ida fell. After the death of
+all Urien&rsquo;s sons Taliesin retired to mourn the downfall
+of his race in Wales, dying, it is said, at Bangor Teivi,
+in Cardiganshire. He was buried under a cairn near
+Aberystwyth.</p>
+<h3><i>Herv� the Blind</i></h3>
+<p>There is nothing improbable in the statement that
+Taliesin dwelt in Brittany in the sixth century. Many
+other British bards found a refuge on the shores of
+Britain the Less. Among these was Kyvarnion, a
+Christian, who married a Breton Druidess and who had
+a son, Herv�. Herv� was blind from birth, and was
+led from place to place by a wolf which he had converted
+(!) and pressed into the service of Mother Church.</p>
+<p>One day, when a lad, Herv� had been left in charge of
+his uncle&rsquo;s farm, when a ploughman passed him in full
+flight, crying out that a savage wolf had appeared and
+had killed the ass with which he had been ploughing.
+The man entreated Herv� to fly, as the wolf was hard
+upon his heels; but the blind youth, undaunted, ordered
+the terrified labourer to seize the animal and harness it
+to the plough with the harness of the dead ass. From
+that time the wolf dwelt among the sheep and goats on
+the farm, and subsisted upon hay and grass.</p>
+<h3><i>Nomeno�</i></h3>
+<p>Swarms of Irish from Ossory and Wexford began to
+arrive about the close of the fifth century, settling along
+the west and north coasts. The immigrants from
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+Britain the Greater formed by degrees the counties
+of Vannes, Cornouaille, L�on, and Domnon�e, constituted
+a powerful aristocracy, and initiated a long and
+arduous struggle against the Frankish monarchs, who
+exercised a nominal suzerainty over Brittany. Louis
+the Pious placed a native chief, Nomeno�, at the head
+of the province, and a long period of peace ensued.
+But in <span class='smcaplc'>A.D.</span> 845 Nomeno� revolted against Charles the
+Bald, defeated him, and forced him to recognize the
+independence of Brittany, and to forgo the annual
+tribute which he had exacted. A ballad by Villemarqu�
+describes the incident. Like Macpherson, who in his
+enthusiasm for the fragments of Ossianic lore &lsquo;reconstructed&rsquo;
+them only too well, Villemarqu� unfortunately
+tampered very freely with such matter as he collected,
+and it may even be that the poem on Nomeno�, for
+which he claims authority, is altogether spurious, as
+some critics consider. But as it affords a spirited picture
+of the old Breton chief the story is at least worth relating.</p>
+<p>The poem describes how an aged chieftain waits on the
+hills of Retz for his son, who has gone over to Rennes
+to pay the Breton tribute to the Franks. Many chariots
+drawn by horses has he taken with him, but although
+a considerable time has elapsed there is no indication
+of his return. The chieftain climbs to an eminence in
+the hope of discerning his son in the far distance, but
+no sign of his appearance is to be seen on the long white
+road or on the bleak moors which fringe it.</p>
+<p>The anxious father espies a merchant wending slowly
+along the highway and hails him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, good merchant, you who travel the land from end
+to end, have you seen aught of my son Karo, who
+has gone to conduct the tribute chariots to Rennes?&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs02.jpg' alt='' title='' width='406' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+NOMENO�<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! chieftain, if your son has gone with the tribute
+it is in vain you wait for him, for the Franks found
+it not enough, and have weighed his head against it
+in the balance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The father gazes wildly at the speaker, sways, and
+falls heavily with a doleful cry.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Karo, my son! My lost Karo!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The scene changes to the fortress of Nomeno�, and
+we see its master returning from the chase, accompanied
+by his great hounds and laden with trophies. His bow
+is in his hand, and he carries the carcass of a boar
+upon his shoulder. The red blood drops from the
+dead beast&rsquo;s mouth and stains his hand. The aged
+chief, well-nigh demented, awaits his coming, and
+Nomeno� greets him courteously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hail, honest mountaineer!&rdquo; he cries. &ldquo;What is your
+news? What would you with Nomeno�?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I come for justice, Lord Nomeno�,&rdquo; replies the aged
+man. &ldquo;Is there a God in heaven and a chief in
+Brittany? There is a God above us, I know, and I
+believe there is a just Duke in the Breton land. Mighty
+ruler, make war upon the Frank, defend our country,
+and give us vengeance&mdash;vengeance for Karo my son,
+Karo, slain, decapitated by the Frankish barbarians,
+his beauteous head made into a balance-weight for
+their brutal sport.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The old man weeps, and the tears flow down his grizzled
+beard.</p>
+<p>Then Nomeno� rises in anger and swears a great oath.
+&ldquo;By the head of this boar, and by the arrow which
+slew him,&rdquo; cries he, &ldquo;I will not wash this blood from
+off my hand until I free the country from mine enemies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Nomeno� has gone to the seashore and gathered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span>
+pebbles, for these are the tribute he intends to offer
+the bald King.<a name='FNanchor_0003' id='FNanchor_0003'></a><a href='#Footnote_0003' class='fnanchor'>[3]</a> Arrived at the gates of Rennes, he
+asks that they shall be opened to him so that he
+may pay the tribute of silver. He is asked to descend,
+to enter the castle, and to leave his chariot in the
+courtyard. He is requested to wash his hands to the
+sound of a horn before eating (an ancient custom), but
+he replies that he prefers to deliver the tribute-money
+there and then. The sacks are weighed, and the third
+is found light by several pounds.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, what is this?&rdquo; cries the Frankish castellan. &ldquo;This
+sack is under weight, Sir Nomeno�.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Out leaps Nomeno�&rsquo;s sword from the scabbard, and
+the Frank&rsquo;s head is smitten from his shoulders. Then,
+seizing it by its gory locks, the Breton chief with a
+laugh of triumph casts it into the balance. His warriors
+throng the courtyard, the town is taken; young Karo
+is avenged!</p>
+<h3><i>Alain Barbe-torte</i></h3>
+<p>The end of the ninth century and the beginning of the
+tenth were remarkable for the invasions of the Northmen.
+On several occasions they were driven back&mdash;by
+Salomon (<i>d.</i> 874), by Alain, Count of Vannes
+(<i>d.</i> 907)&mdash;but it was Alain Barbe-torte, &lsquo;Alain of the
+Twisted Beard,&rsquo; or &lsquo;Alain the Fox&rsquo; (<i>d.</i> 952), who
+gained the decisive victory over them, and concerning
+him an ancient ballad has much to say. It was taken
+down by Villemarqu� from the lips of a peasant, an
+old soldier of the Chouan leader Georges Cadoudal.</p>
+<p>In his youth Alain was a mighty hunter of the bear
+and the boar in the forests of his native Brittany, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span>
+the courage gained in this manly sport stood him in
+good stead when he came to employ it against the
+enemies of his country, the hated Northmen. Rallying
+the Bretons who lurked in the forests or hid in the
+mountain fastnesses, he led them against the enemy,
+whom he surprised near Dol in the middle of the night,
+making a great carnage among them. After this battle
+the Scandinavian invaders were finally expelled from
+the Breton land and Alain was crowned King or Arch-chief
+in 937.</p>
+<p>A free translation of this ballad might run as follows:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Lurks the Fox within the wood,</p>
+<p>His teeth and claws are red with blood.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Within his leafy, dark retreat</p>
+<p>He chews the cud of vengeance sweet.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Oh, trenchant his avenging sword!</p>
+<p>It falls not on the rock or sward,</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>But on the mail of Saxon foe:</p>
+<p>Swift as the lightning falls the blow.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>I&rsquo;ve seen the Bretons wield the flail,</p>
+<p>Scattering the bearded chaff like hail:</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>But iron is the flail they wield</p>
+<p>Against the churlish Saxon&rsquo;s shield.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>I heard the call of victory</p>
+<p>From Michael&rsquo;s Mount to �lorn fly,</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>And Alain&rsquo;s glory flies as fast</p>
+<p>From Gildas&rsquo; church to every coast.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Ah, may his splendour never die,</p>
+<p>May it live on eternally!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>But woe that I may nevermore</p>
+<p>Declaim this lay on Armor&rsquo;s shore,</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span></p>
+<p>For the base Saxon hand has torn</p>
+<p>My tongue from out my mouth forlorn.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>But if my lips no longer frame</p>
+<p>The glories of our Alain&rsquo;s name,</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>My heart shall ever sing his praise,</p>
+<p>Who won the fight and wears the bays!<a name='FNanchor_0004' id='FNanchor_0004'></a><a href='#Footnote_0004' class='fnanchor'>[4]</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<p>The Saxons of this lay are, of course, the Norsemen,
+who, speaking a Teutonic tongue, would seem to the
+Celtic-speaking Bretons to be allied to the Teuton
+Franks.</p>
+<h3><i>Bretons and Normans</i></h3>
+<p>During the latter half of the tenth and most of the
+eleventh century the Counts of Rennes gained an
+almost complete ascendancy in Brittany, which began
+to be broken up into counties and seigneuries in the
+French manner. In 992 Geoffrey, son of Conan, Count
+of Rennes, adopted the title of Duke of Brittany. He
+married a Norman lady of noble family, by whom he
+had two sons, Alain and Eudo, the younger of whom
+demanded a share of the duchy as his inheritance. His
+brother made over to him the counties of Penthi�vre
+and Tr�guier, part of the old kingdom of Domnonia in
+the north. It was a fatal transference, for he and his
+line became remorseless enemies of the ducal house,
+with whom they carried on a series of disastrous conflicts
+for centuries. Conan II, son of Alain, came
+under the regency of Eudo, his uncle, in infancy, but
+later turned his sword against him and his abettor,
+William of Normandy, the Conqueror.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span></div>
+<p>Notwithstanding the national enmity of the Normans
+and Bretons, there existed between the Dukes of
+Normandy and the Dukes of Brittany ties of affinity
+that rendered the relations between the two states
+somewhat complicated. At the time when Duke
+Robert, the father of William of Normandy, set out
+upon his pilgrimage, he had no nearer relative than
+Alain, Duke of Brittany, the father of Conan II,
+descended in the female line from Rollo, the great
+Norse leader, and to him he committed on his departure
+the care of his duchy and the guardianship of his son.</p>
+<p>Duke Alain declared the paternity of his ward doubtful,
+and favoured that party which desired to set him aside
+from the succession; but after the defeat of his faction
+at Val-�s-Dunes he died, apparently of poison, doubtless
+administered by the contrivance of the friends of
+William. His son, Conan II, succeeded, and reigned
+at the period when William was making his preparations
+for the conquest of England. He was a prince of ability,
+dreaded by his neighbours, and animated by a fierce
+desire to injure the Duke of Normandy, whom he
+regarded as a usurper and the murderer of his father
+Alain. Seeing William engaged in a hazardous enterprise,
+Conan thought it a favourable moment to declare
+war against him, and dispatched one of his chamberlains
+to him with the following message: &ldquo;I hear that you
+are ready to pass the sea to make conquest of the
+kingdom of England. Now, Duke Robert, whose son
+you feign to consider yourself, on his departure for
+Jerusalem left all his inheritance to Duke Alain, my
+father, who was his cousin; but you and your abettors
+have poisoned my father, you have appropriated to
+yourself the domain of Normandy, and have kept
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span>
+possession of it until this day, contrary to all right,
+since you are not the legitimate heir. Restore to me,
+therefore, the duchy of Normandy, which belongs to
+me, or I shall levy war upon you, and shall wage it to
+extremity with all my forces.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>The Poisoned Hunting-Horn</i></h3>
+<p>The Norman historians state that William was much
+startled by so hostile a message; for even a feeble
+diversion might render futile his ambitious hopes of
+conquest. But without hesitation he resolved to
+remove the Breton Duke. Immediately upon his return
+to Conan, the envoy, gained over, doubtless, by a bribe
+of gold, rubbed poison into the inside of the horn which
+his master sounded when hunting, and, to make his evil
+measures doubly sure, he poisoned in like manner the
+Duke&rsquo;s gloves and his horse&rsquo;s bridle. Conan died a few
+days after his envoy&rsquo;s return, and his successor, Eudo,
+took especial care not to imitate his relative in giving
+offence to William with regard to the validity of his right;
+on the contrary, he formed an alliance with him, a thing
+unheard of betwixt Breton and Norman, and sent his
+two sons to William&rsquo;s camp to serve against the English.</p>
+<p>These two youths, Brian and Alain, repaired to the
+rendezvous of the Norman forces, accompanied by a
+body of Breton knights, who styled them Mac-tierns.<a name='FNanchor_0005' id='FNanchor_0005'></a><a href='#Footnote_0005' class='fnanchor'>[5]</a>
+Certain other wealthy Bretons, who were not of the
+pure Celtic race, and who bore French names, as Robert
+de Vitry, Bertrand de Dinan, and Raoul de Gael, resorted
+likewise to the Court of the Duke of Normandy
+with offers of service.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span></div>
+<p>Later Brittany became a bone of contention between
+France and Normandy. Hoel, the native Duke, claimed
+the protection of France against the Norman duchy.
+A long period of peace followed under Alain Fergant
+and Conan III, but on the death of the latter a fierce
+war of succession was waged (1148-56). Conan IV
+secured the ducal crown by Norman-English aid, and
+gave his daughter Constance in marriage to Geoffrey
+Plantagenet, son of Henry II of England. Geoffrey
+was crowned Duke of Brittany in 1171, but after his
+death his son Arthur met with a dreadful fate at the
+hands of his uncle, John of England. Constance, his
+mother, the real heiress to the duchy, married again,
+her choice falling upon Guy de Thouars, and their
+daughter was wed to Pierre de Dreux, who became
+Duke, and who defeated John Lackland, the slayer of his
+wife&rsquo;s half-brother, under the walls of Nantes in 1214.</p>
+<h3><i>French Influence</i></h3>
+<p>The country now began to flourish apace because of
+the many innovations introduced into it by the wisdom
+of its French rulers. A new way of life was adopted
+by the governing classes, among whom French manners
+and fashions became the rule. But the people at large
+retained their ancient customs, language, and dress;
+nor have they ever abandoned them, at least in Lower
+Brittany. On the death of John III (1341) the peace of
+the duchy was once more broken by a war of succession.
+John had no love for his half-brother, John of Montfort,
+and bequeathed the ducal coronet to his niece, Joan
+of Penthi�vre, wife of Charles of Blois, nephew of Philip
+VI of France. This precipitated a conflict between the
+rival parties which led to years of bitter strife.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span></div>
+<h3><i>The War of the Two Joans</i></h3>
+<p>Just as two women, Fredegonda and Brunhilda, swayed
+the fortunes of Neustria and Austrasia in Merovingian
+times, and Mary and Elizabeth those of England and
+Scotland at a later day, so did two heroines arise to
+uphold the banners of either party in the civil strife
+which now convulsed the Breton land. England took
+the side of Montfort and the French that of Charles.
+Almost at the outset (1342) John of Montfort was
+taken prisoner, but his heroic wife, Joan of Flanders,
+grasped the leadership of affairs, and carried on a
+relentless war against her husband&rsquo;s enemies. After
+five years of fighting, in 1347, and two years subsequent
+to the death of her lord, whose health had given way
+after his imprisonment, she captured her arch-foe,
+Charles of Blois himself, at the battle of La Roche-Derrien,
+on the Jaudy. In this encounter she had the
+assistance of a certain Sir Thomas Dagworth and an
+English force. Three times was Charles rescued, and
+thrice was he retaken, until, bleeding from eighteen
+wounds, he was compelled to surrender. He was sent
+to London, where he was confined in the Tower for nine
+years. Meanwhile his wife, Joan, imitating her rival
+and namesake, in turn threw her energies into the
+strife. But another victory for the Montfort party was
+gained at Mauron in 1352. On the release of Charles
+of Blois in 1356 he renewed hostilities with the help
+of the famous Bertrand Du Guesclin.</p>
+<h3><i>Bertrand Du Guesclin</i></h3>
+<p>Bertrand Du Guesclin (<i>c.</i> 1320-80), Constable of France,
+divides with Bayard the Fearless the crown of medieval
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span>
+French chivalry as a mighty leader of men, a great
+soldier, and a blameless knight. He was born of an
+ancient family who were in somewhat straitened
+circumstances, and in childhood was an object of
+aversion to his parents because of his ugliness.</p>
+<p>One night his mother dreamt that she was in possession
+of a casket containing portraits of herself and her
+lord, on one side of which were set nine precious stones
+of great beauty encircling a rough, unpolished pebble.
+In her dream she carried the casket to a lapidary,
+and asked him to take out the rough stone as unworthy
+of such goodly company; but he advised her to
+allow it to remain, and afterward it shone forth more
+brilliantly than the lustrous gems. The later superiority
+of Bertrand over her nine other children fulfilled the
+mother&rsquo;s dream.</p>
+<p>At the tournament which was held at Rennes in 1338
+to celebrate the marriage of Charles of Blois with
+Joan of Penthi�vre, young Bertrand, at that time only
+some eighteen years old, unhorsed the most famous
+competitors. During the war between Blois and
+Montfort he gathered round him a band of adventurers
+and fought on the side of Charles V, doing much despite
+to the forces of Montfort and his ally of England.</p>
+<p>Du Guesclin&rsquo;s name lives in Breton legend as Gwezklen,
+perhaps the original form, and approximating to that
+on his tomb at Saint-Denis, where he lies at the feet
+of Charles V of France. In this inscription it is spelt
+&ldquo;Missire Bertram du Gueaquien,&rdquo; perhaps a French
+rendering of the Breton pronunciation. Not a few
+legendary ballads which recount the exploits of this
+manly and romantic figure remain in the Breton
+language, and I have made a free translation of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+following, as it is perhaps the most interesting of the
+number:</p>
+<h4>THE WARD OF DU GUESCLIN</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Trogoff&rsquo;s strong tower in English hands</p>
+<p>Has been this many a year,</p>
+<p>Rising above its subject-lands</p>
+<p>And held in hate and fear.</p>
+<p>That rosy gleam upon the sward</p>
+<p>Is not the sun&rsquo;s last kiss;</p>
+<p>It is the blood of an English lord</p>
+<p>Who ruled the land amiss.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;O sweetest daughter of my heart,</p>
+<p>My little Marguerite,</p>
+<p>Come, carry me the midday milk</p>
+<p>To those who bind the wheat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O gentle mother, spare me this!</p>
+<p>The castle I must pass</p>
+<p>Where wicked Roger takes a kiss</p>
+<p>From every country lass.&rdquo;</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh! fie, my daughter, fie on thee!</p>
+<p>The Seigneur would not glance</p>
+<p>On such a chit of low degree</p>
+<p>When all the dames in France</p>
+<p>Are for his choosing.&rdquo; &ldquo;Mother mine,</p>
+<p>I bow unto your word.</p>
+<p>Mine eyes will ne&rsquo;er behold you more.</p>
+<p>God keep you in His guard.&rdquo;</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Young Roger stood upon the tower</p>
+<p>Of Trogoff&rsquo;s grey ch�teau;</p>
+<p>Beneath his bent brows did he lower</p>
+<p>Upon the scene below.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come hither quickly, little page,</p>
+<p>Come hither to my knee.</p>
+<p>Canst spy a maid of tender age?</p>
+<p>Ha! she must pay my fee.&rdquo;</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span></p>
+<p>Fair Marguerite trips swiftly by</p>
+<p>Beneath the castle shade,</p>
+<p>When villain Roger, drawing nigh,</p>
+<p>Steals softly on the maid.</p>
+<p>He seizes on the milking-pail</p>
+<p>She bears upon her head;</p>
+<p>The snow-white flood she must bewail,</p>
+<p>For all the milk is shed.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, cry not, pretty sister mine,</p>
+<p>There&rsquo;s plenty and to spare</p>
+<p>Of milk and eke of good red wine</p>
+<p>Within my castle fair.</p>
+<p>Ah, feast with me, or pluck a rose</p>
+<p>Within my pleasant garth,</p>
+<p>Or stroll beside yon brook which flows</p>
+<p>In brawling, sylvan mirth.&rdquo;</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;Nor feast nor flowers nor evening air</p>
+<p>I wish; I do entreat,</p>
+<p>Fair Seigneur, let me now repair</p>
+<p>To those who bind the wheat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, damsel, fill thy milking-pail:</p>
+<p>The dairy stands but here.</p>
+<p>Ah, foolish sweeting, wherefore quail,</p>
+<p>For thou hast naught to fear?&rdquo;</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The castle gates behind her close,</p>
+<p>And all is fair within;</p>
+<p>Above her head the apple glows,</p>
+<p>The symbol of our sin.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O Seigneur, lend thy dagger keen,</p>
+<p>That I may cut this fruit.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He smiles and with a courteous mien</p>
+<p>He draws the bright blade out.</p>
+</div></div>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs03.jpg' alt='' title='' width='414' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE DEATH OF MARGUERITE IN THE CASTLE OF TROGOFF<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>She takes it, and in earnest prayer</p>
+<p>Her childish accents rise:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O mother, Virgin, ever fair,</p>
+<p>Pray, pray, for her who dies</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span></p>
+<p>For honour!&rdquo; Then the blade is drenched</p>
+<p>With blood most innocent.</p>
+<p>Vile Roger, now, thine ardour quenched,</p>
+<p>Say, art thou then content?</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, I will wash my dagger keen</p>
+<p>In the clear-running brook.</p>
+<p>No human eye hath ever seen,</p>
+<p>No human eye shall look</p>
+<p>Upon this gore.&rdquo; He takes the blade</p>
+<p>From out that gentle heart,</p>
+<p>And hurries to the river&rsquo;s shade.</p>
+<p>False Roger, why dost start?</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Beside the bank Du Guesclin stands,</p>
+<p>Clad in his sombre mail.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, Roger, why so red thy hands,</p>
+<p>And why art thou so pale?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A beast I&rsquo;ve slain.&rdquo; &ldquo;Thou liest, hound!</p>
+<p>But I a beast will slay.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The woodland&rsquo;s leafy ways resound</p>
+<p>To echoings of fray.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Roger is slain. Trogoff&rsquo;s ch�teau</p>
+<p>Is level with the rock.</p>
+<p>Who can withstand Du Guesclin&rsquo;s blow,</p>
+<p>What towers can brave his shock?</p>
+<p>The combat is his only joy,</p>
+<p>The tournament his play.</p>
+<p>Woe unto those who would destroy</p>
+<p>The peace of Brittany!</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>In the decisive battle of Auray (1364) Charles was
+killed and Du Guesclin taken prisoner. John of
+Montfort, son of the John who had died, became Duke
+of Brittany. But he had to face Oliver de Clisson,
+round whom the adherents of Blois rallied. From a
+war the strife degenerated into a vendetta. Oliver
+de Clisson seized the person of John V and imprisoned
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+him. But in the end John was liberated and the line of
+Blois was finally crushed.</p>
+<h3><i>Anne of Brittany</i></h3>
+<p>The next event of importance in Breton history is the
+enforced marriage of Anne of Brittany, Duchess of that
+country in her own right, to Charles VIII of France,
+son of Louis XI, which event took place in 1491.
+Anne, whose father, Duke Francis II, had but recently
+died, had no option but to espouse Charles, and on his
+death she married Louis XII, his successor. Francis I,
+who succeeded Louis XII on the throne of France, and
+who married Claude, daughter of Louis XII and Anne,
+annexed the duchy in 1532, providing for its privileges.
+But beneath the cramping hand of French power the
+privileges of the province were greatly reduced. From
+this time the history of Brittany is merged in that of
+France, of which country it becomes one of the component
+parts in a political if not a racial sense.</p>
+<p>We shall not in this place deal with the people of
+modern Brittany, their manners and customs, reserving
+the subject for a later chapter, but shall ask the reader
+to accompany us while we traverse the enchanted ground
+of Breton story.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_II_MENHIRS_AND_DOLMENS' id='CHAPTER_II_MENHIRS_AND_DOLMENS'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER II: MENHIRS AND DOLMENS</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">In</span> the mind of the general reader Brittany is unalterably
+associated with the prehistoric stone
+monuments which are so closely identified with
+its folk-lore and national life. In other parts of the
+world similar monuments are encountered, in Great
+Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia, the Crimea, Algeria, and
+India, but nowhere are they found in such abundance as
+in Brittany, nor are these rivalled in other lands, either
+as regards their character or the space they occupy.</p>
+<p>To speculate as to the race which built the primitive
+stone monuments of Brittany is almost as futile as it
+would be to theorize upon the date of their erection.<a name='FNanchor_0006' id='FNanchor_0006'></a><a href='#Footnote_0006' class='fnanchor'>[6]</a>
+A generation ago it was usual to refer all European
+megalithic monuments to a &lsquo;Celtic&rsquo; origin, but European
+ethnological problems have become too complicated of
+late years to permit such a theory to pass unchallenged,
+especially now that the term &lsquo;Celt&rsquo; is itself matter for
+fierce controversy. In the immediate neighbourhood
+of certain of these monuments objects of the Iron Age
+are recovered from the soil, while near others the finds
+are of Bronze Age character, so that it is probably
+correct to surmise that their construction continued
+throughout a prolonged period.</p>
+<h3><i>What Menhirs and Dolmens are</i></h3>
+<p>Regarding the nomenclature of the several species of
+megalithic monuments met with in Brittany some
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span>
+definitions are necessary. A menhir is a rude monolith
+set up on end, a great single stone, the base of which
+is buried deep in the soil. A dolmen is a large, table-shaped
+stone, supported by three, four, or even five
+other stones, the bases of which are sunk in the earth.
+In Britain the term &lsquo;cromlech&rsquo; is synonymous with that
+of &lsquo;dolmen,&rsquo; but in France and on the Continent generally
+it is exclusively applied to that class of monument
+for which British scientists have no other name than
+&lsquo;stone circles.&rsquo; The derivation of the words from
+Celtic and their precise meaning in that tongue may
+assist the reader to arrive at their exact significance.
+Thus &lsquo;menhir&rsquo; seems to be derived from the Welsh
+or Brythonic <i>maen</i>, &lsquo;a stone,&rsquo; and <i>hir</i>, &lsquo;long,&rsquo; and
+&lsquo;dolmen&rsquo; from Breton <i>taol</i>, &lsquo;table,&rsquo; and <i>men</i>, &lsquo;a stone.&rsquo;<a name='FNanchor_0007' id='FNanchor_0007'></a><a href='#Footnote_0007' class='fnanchor'>[7]</a>
+&lsquo;Cromlech&rsquo; is also of Welsh or Brythonic origin, and
+is derived from <i>crom</i>, &lsquo;bending&rsquo; or &lsquo;bowed&rsquo; (hence
+&lsquo;laid across&rsquo;), and <i>llech</i>, &lsquo;a flat stone.&rsquo; The <i>all�e
+couverte</i> is a dolmen on a large scale.</p>
+<h3><i>The Nature of the Monuments</i></h3>
+<p>The nature of these monuments and the purpose for
+which they were erected were questions which powerfully
+exercised the minds of the antiquaries of a century
+ago, who fiercely contended for their use as altars, open-air
+temples, and places of rendezvous for the discussion
+of tribal affairs. The cooler arch&aelig;ologists of a later
+day have discarded the majority of such theories as
+untenable in the light of hard facts. The dolmens,
+they say, are highly unsuitable for the purpose of altars,
+and as it has been proved that this class of monument
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span>
+was invariably covered in prehistoric times by an
+earthen tumulus its ritualistic use is thereby rendered
+improbable. Moreover, if we chance upon any rude
+carving or incised work on dolmens we observe that it
+is invariably executed on the <i>lower</i> surface of the table
+stone, the upper surface being nearly always rough,
+unhewn, often naturally rounded, and as unlike the
+surface of an altar as possible.</p>
+<p>Recent research has established the much more reasonable
+theory that these monuments are sepulchral in
+character, and that they mark the last resting-places of
+persons of tribal importance, chiefs, priests, or celebrated
+warriors. Occasionally legend assists us to prove the
+mortuary character of menhir and dolmen. But, without
+insisting any further for the present upon the
+purpose of these monuments, let us glance at the more
+widely known of Brittany&rsquo;s prehistoric structures, not
+so much in the manner of the arch&aelig;ologist as in that
+of the observant traveller who is satisfied to view them
+as interesting relics of human handiwork bequeathed
+from a darker age, rather than as objects to satisfy the
+arch&aelig;ological taste for discussion.</p>
+<p>For this purpose we shall select the best known groups
+of Breton prehistoric structures, and shall begin our
+excursion at the north-eastern extremity of Brittany,
+following the coast-line, on which most of the principal
+prehistoric centres are situated, and, as occasion offers,
+journeying into the interior in search of famous or
+interesting examples.</p>
+<h3><i>Dol</i></h3>
+<p>Dol is situated in the north of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine,
+not far from the sea-coast. Near it, in a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span>
+field called the Champ Dolent (&lsquo;Field of Woe&rsquo;), stands
+a gigantic menhir, about thirty feet high and said to
+measure fifteen more underground. It is composed of
+grey granite, and is surmounted by a cross. The early
+Christian missionaries, finding it impossible to wean the
+people from frequenting pagan neighbourhoods, surmounted
+the standing stones with the symbol of their
+faith, and this in time brought about the result desired.<a name='FNanchor_0008' id='FNanchor_0008'></a><a href='#Footnote_0008' class='fnanchor'>[8]</a></p>
+<h3><i>The Legend of Dol</i></h3>
+<p>A strange legend is connected with this rude menhir.
+On a day in the dark, uncharted past of Brittany a
+fierce battle was fought in the Champ Dolent. Blood
+ran in streams, sufficient, says the tale, to turn a mill-wheel
+in the neighbourhood of the battlefield. When
+the combat was at its height two brothers met and
+grappled in fratricidal strife. But ere they could harm
+one another the great granite shaft which now looms
+above the field rose up between them and separated
+them.</p>
+<p>There appears to be some historical basis for the tale.
+Here, or in the neighbourhood, <span class='smcaplc'>A.D.</span> 560, met Clotaire,
+King of the Franks, and his son, the rebel Chramne.
+The rebellious son was signally defeated. He had
+placed his wife and two little daughters in a dwelling
+hard by, and as he made his way thence to convey
+them from the field he was captured. He was instantly
+strangled, by order of his brutal father, in the sight
+of his wife and little ones, who were then burned alive
+in the house where they had taken refuge. The Champ
+Dolent does not belie its name, and even thirteen
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
+centuries and a half have failed to obliterate the memory
+of a savage and unnatural crime, which, its remoteness
+notwithstanding, fills the soul with loathing against its
+perpetrators and with deep pity for the hapless and
+innocent victims.</p>
+<h3><i>A Subterranean Dolmen Chapel</i></h3>
+<p>At Plouaret, in the department of C�tes-du-Nord, is
+a curious subterranean chapel incorporating a dolmen.
+The dolmen was formerly partially embedded in a
+tumulus, and the chapel, erected in 1702, was so constructed
+that the great table-stone of the dolmen has
+become the chapel roof, and the supporting stones form
+two of its sides. The crypt is reached by a flight of
+steps, and here may be seen an altar to the Seven
+Sleepers, represented by seven dolls of varying size.
+The Bretons have a legend that this structure dates from
+the creation of the world, and they have embodied this
+belief in a ballad, in which it is piously affirmed that
+the shrine was built by the hand of the Almighty at
+the time when the world was in process of formation.</p>
+<h3><i>Camaret</i></h3>
+<p>Camaret, on the coast of Finist�re, is the site of no
+less than forty-one standing stones of quartz, which
+outline a rectangular space 600 yards in length at its
+base. Many stones have been removed, so that the
+remaining sides are incomplete. None of these monoliths
+is of any considerable size, however, and the site
+is not considered to be of much importance, save as
+regards its isolated character. At Penmarch, in the
+southern extremity of Finist�re, there is an &lsquo;alignment&rsquo;
+of some two hundred small stones, and a dolmen
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span>
+of some importance is situated at Tr�gunc, but it is
+at Carnac, on the coast of Morbihan, that we arrive at
+the most important arch&aelig;ological district in Brittany.</p>
+<h3><i>Carnac</i></h3>
+<p>The Carnac district teems with prehistoric monuments,
+the most celebrated of which are those of Plouharnel,
+Concarneau, Concurrus, Locmariaquer, Kermario, Kerlescant,
+Erdeven, and Sainte-Barbe. All these places
+are situated within a few miles of one another, and
+a good centre from which excursions can be made to
+each is the little town of Auray, with its quaint
+medieval market-house and shrine of St Roch. Arch&aelig;ologists,
+both Breton and foreign, appear to be agreed
+that the groups of stones at M�n�ac, Kermario, and
+Kerlescant are portions of one original and continuous
+series of alignments which extended for nearly two
+miles in one direction from south-west to north-east.
+The monolithic avenue commences quite near the
+village of M�n�ac, stretching away in eleven rows, and
+here the large stones are situated, these at first rising
+to a height of from 10 to 13 feet, and becoming
+gradually smaller, until they attain only 3 or 4 feet.
+In all there are 116 menhirs at M�n�ac. For more than
+three hundred yards there is a gap in the series, which
+passed, we come to the Kermario avenue, which consists
+of ten rows of monoliths of much the same size
+as those of M�n�ac, and 1120 in number.</p>
+<p>Passing on to Kerlescant, with its thirteen rows of
+menhirs made up of 570 individual stones, we come
+to the end of the avenue and gaze backward upon
+the plain covered with these indestructible symbols of
+a forgotten past.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span></div>
+<p>Carnac! There is something vast, Egyptian, in the
+name! There is, indeed, a Karnak in Egypt, celebrated
+for its Avenue of Sphinxes and its pillared temple
+raised to the goddess Mut by King Amenophis III.
+Here, in the Breton Carnac, are no evidences of
+architectural skill. These sombre stones, unworked,
+rude as they came from cliff or seashore, are not
+embellished by man&rsquo;s handiwork like the rich temples
+of the Nile. But there is about this stone-littered moor
+a mystery, an atmosphere no less intense than that
+surrounding the most solemn ruins of antiquity. Deeper
+even than the depths of Egypt must we sound if we are
+to discover the secret of Carnac. What mean these
+stones? What means faith? What signifies belief?
+What is the answer to the Riddle of Man? In the
+words of Cayot D�landre, a Breton poet:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Tout cela eut un sens, et traduisit</p>
+<p>Une pens�e; mais cl� de ce myst�re,</p>
+<p>O� est elle? et qui pourrait dire aujourd&rsquo;hui</p>
+<p>Si jamais elle se retrouvera?<a name='FNanchor_0009' id='FNanchor_0009'></a><a href='#Footnote_0009' class='fnanchor'>[9]</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h3><i>A Vision</i></h3>
+<p>Over this wild, heathy track, covered with the blue
+flowers of the dwarf gentian, steals a subtle change.
+Nor air nor heath has altered. The lichen-covered
+grey stones are the same. Suddenly there arises the
+burden of a low, fierce chant. A swarm of skin-clad
+figures appears, clustering around a gigantic object
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+which they are painfully dragging toward a deep pit
+situated at the end of one of the enormous alleys of
+monoliths. On rudely shaped rollers rests a huge stone
+some twenty feet in length, and this they drag across
+the rough moor by ropes of hide, lightening their
+labours by the chant, which relates the exploits of the
+warrior-chief who has lately been entombed in this
+vast pantheon of Carnac. The menhir shall serve for
+his headstone. It has been vowed to him by the
+warriors of his tribe, his henchmen, who have fought
+and hunted beside him, and who revere his memory.
+This stone shall render his fame immortal.</p>
+<p>And now the task of placing the huge monolith in
+position begins. Ropes are attached to one extremity,
+and while a line of brawny savages strains to raise this,
+others guide that end of the monolith destined for
+enclosure in the earth toward the pit which has been
+dug for its reception. Higher and higher rises the
+stone, until at last it sinks slowly into its earthy bed.
+It is held in an upright position while the soil is packed
+around it and it is made secure. Then the barbarians
+stand back a space and gaze at it from beneath their
+low brows, well pleased with their handiwork. He
+whom they honoured in life rests not unrecognized in
+death.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs04.jpg' alt='' title='' width='417' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+RAISING A MENHIR<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<h3><i>The Legend of Carnac</i></h3>
+<p>The legend of Carnac which explains these avenues of
+monoliths bears a resemblance to the Cornish story of
+&lsquo;the Hurlers,&rsquo; who were turned into stone for playing
+at hurling on the Lord&rsquo;s Day, or to that other English
+example from Cumberland of &lsquo;Long Meg&rsquo; and her
+daughters. St Cornely, we are told, pursued by an
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+army of pagans, fled toward the sea. Finding no boat
+at hand, and on the point of being taken, he transformed
+his pursuers into stones, the present monoliths.</p>
+<p>The Saint had made his flight to the coast in a bullock-cart,
+and perhaps for this reason he is now regarded as
+the patron of cattle. Should a bullock fall sick, his
+owner purchases an image of St Cornely and hangs it
+up in the stable until the animal recovers. The church
+at Carnac contains a series of fresco paintings which
+outline events in the life of the Saint, and in the churchyard
+there is a representation of the holy man between
+two bullocks. The head of St Cornely is said to be
+preserved within the edifice as a relic. On the 13th of
+September is held at Carnac the festival of the &lsquo;Benediction
+of the Beasts,&rsquo; which is celebrated in honour of
+St Cornely. The cattle of the district are brought to the
+vicinity of the church and blessed by the priests&mdash;should
+sufficient monetary encouragement be forthcoming.</p>
+<h3><i>Mont-Saint-Michel</i></h3>
+<p>In the neighbourhood is Mont-Saint-Michel,<a name='FNanchor_0010' id='FNanchor_0010'></a><a href='#Footnote_0010' class='fnanchor'>[10]</a> a great
+tumulus with a sepulchral dolmen, first excavated in
+1862, when late Stone Age implements, jade celts, and
+burnt bones were unearthed. Later M. Zacharie Le
+Rouzic, the well-known Breton arch&aelig;ologist, tunnelled
+into the tumulus, and discovered a mortuary chamber,
+in which were the incinerated remains of two oxen.
+To this tumulus each pilgrim added a stone or small
+quantity of earth, as has been the custom in Celtic
+countries from time immemorial, and so the funerary
+mound in the course of countless generations grew into
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
+quite a respectable hill, on which a chapel was built,
+dedicated to St Michael, from the doorway of which
+a splendid prospect of the great stone alignments can
+be had, with, for background, the Morbihan and the
+long, dreary peninsula of Quiberon, bleak, treeless, and
+deserted.</p>
+<h3><i>Rocenaud</i></h3>
+<p>Near Carnac is the great dolmen of Rocenaud, the
+&lsquo;cup-and-ring&rsquo; markings on which are thought by the
+surrounding peasantry to have been made by the knees
+and elbows of St Roch, who fell upon this stone when
+he landed from Ireland. When the natives desire a
+wind they knock upon the depressions with their
+knuckles, murmuring spells the while, just as in Scotland
+in the seventeenth century a tempest was raised by
+dipping a rag in water and beating it on a stone thrice
+in the name of Satan.</p>
+<h3><i>Cup-and-Ring Markings</i></h3>
+<p>What do these cup-and-ring markings so commonly discovered
+upon the monuments of Brittany portend? The
+question is one well worth examining at some length,
+as it appears to be almost at the foundations of Neolithic
+religion. Recent discoveries in New Caledonia have
+proved the existence in these far-off islands, as in
+Brittany, Scotland, and Ireland, of these strange
+symbols, coupled with the concentric and spiral designs
+which are usually associated with the genius of Celtic
+art. In the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and in the
+south-west of Scotland generally, stones inscribed with
+designs closely resembling those on the New Caledonian
+rocks have been found in abundance, as at Auchentorlie
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+and Cockno, Shewalton Sands, and in the Milton of
+Colquhoun district, where the famous &lsquo;cup-and-ring
+altar&rsquo; was discovered. At Shewalton Sands in particular,
+in 1904, a number of stones were found bearing
+crosses like those discovered in Portugal by Father
+Jos� Brenha and Father Rodriguez. These symbols
+have a strong resemblance to certain markings on the
+Breton rocks, and are thought to possess an alphabetic
+or magical significance. In Scotland spirals are commonly
+found on stones marked with ogham inscriptions,
+and it is remarkable that they should occur in New
+Caledonia in connexion with a dot &lsquo;alphabet.&rsquo; The
+New Caledonian crosses, however, approximate more to
+the later crosses of Celtic art, while the spirals resemble
+those met with in the earlier examples of Celtic work.
+But the closest parallel to the New Caledonian stone-markings
+to be found in Scotland is supplied by the examples
+at Cockno, in Dumbartonshire, where the wheel
+symbol is associated with the cup-and-ring markings.</p>
+<p>The cup-and-ring stones used to be considered the
+peculiar product of a race of &lsquo;Brythonic&rsquo; or British
+origin, and it is likely that the stones so carved were
+utilized in the ritual of rain-worship or rain-making by
+sympathetic magic. The grooves in the stone were
+probably filled with water to typify a country partially
+covered with rain-water.<a name='FNanchor_0011' id='FNanchor_0011'></a><a href='#Footnote_0011' class='fnanchor'>[11]</a></p>
+<p>From these analogies, then, we can glean the purpose
+of the cup-and-ring markings upon the dolmens of
+Brittany, and may conclude, if our considerations are
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+well founded, that they were magical in purpose and
+origin. Do the cup-shaped depressions represent water,
+or are they receptacles for rain, and do the spiral
+symbols typify the whirling winds?</p>
+<h3><i>The Gallery of Gavr&rsquo;inis</i></h3>
+<p>Nowhere are these mysterious markings so well exemplified
+as in the wonderful tumulus of Gavr&rsquo;inis.
+This ancient place of sepulture, the name of which
+means &lsquo;Goat Island,&rsquo; lies in the Morbihan, or &lsquo;Little
+Sea,&rsquo; an inland sea which gives its name to a department
+in the south of Brittany. The tumulus is 25 feet
+high, and covers a fine gallery 40 feet long, the stones of
+which bear the markings alluded to. Whorls and circles
+abound in the ornamentation, serpent-like figures, and the
+representation of an axe, similar to those to be seen in
+some of the Grottes aux F�es, or on the Dol des Marchands.
+The sculptures appear to have been executed
+with metal tools. The passage ends in a square sepulchral
+chamber, the supports of which are eight menhirs of
+grained granite, a stone not found on the island. Such
+of the menhirs as are carved were obviously so treated
+before they were placed <i>in situ</i>, as the design passes
+round the edges.</p>
+<h3><i>The Ile aux Moines</i></h3>
+<p>The Ile aux Moines (&lsquo;Monks&rsquo; Island&rsquo;) is also situated
+in the Morbihan, and has many prehistoric monuments,
+the most extensive of which are the circle of stones at
+Kergonan and the dolmen of Penhapp. On the Ile
+d&rsquo;Arz, too, are megalithic monuments, perhaps the best
+example of which is the cromlech or circle at Penraz.</p>
+<p>The folk-beliefs attached to the megalithic monuments
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span>
+of Brittany are numerous, but nearly all of them bear a
+strong resemblance to each other. Many of the monuments
+are called Grottes aux F�es or Roches aux F�es,
+in the belief that the fairies either built them or used
+them as dwelling-places, and variants of these names
+are to be found in the Maison des Follets (&lsquo;House of
+the Goblins&rsquo;) at Cancoet, in Morbihan, and the Ch�teau
+des Paulpiquets, in Questembert, in the same district.
+Ty en Corygannt (&lsquo;The House of the Korrigans&rsquo;)
+is situated in the same department, while near Penmarch,
+in Finist�re, at the other end of the province,
+we find Ty C&rsquo;harriquet (&lsquo;The House of the Gorics&rsquo;
+or &lsquo;Nains&rsquo;). Other mythical personages are also
+credited with their erection, most frequently either the
+devil or Gargantua being held responsible for their
+miraculous creation. The phenomenon, well known to
+students of folk-lore, that an unlettered people speedily
+forgets the origin of monuments that its predecessors
+may have raised in times past is well exemplified in
+Brittany, whose peasant-folk are usually surprised, if
+not amused, at the question &ldquo;Who built the dolmens?&rdquo;
+Close familiarity with and contiguity to uncommon
+objects not infrequently dulls the sense of wonder they
+should otherwise naturally excite. But lest we feel
+tempted to sneer at these poor folk for their incurious
+attitude toward the visible antiquities of their land,
+let us ask ourselves how many of us take that interest
+in the antiquities of our own country or our own
+especial locality that they demand.<a name='FNanchor_0012' id='FNanchor_0012'></a><a href='#Footnote_0012' class='fnanchor'>[12]</a></p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span></div>
+<h3><i>Fairy Builders</i></h3>
+<p>For the most part, then, the megaliths, in the opinion
+of the Breton peasant, are not the handiwork of man.
+He would rather refer their origin to spirits, giants, or
+fiends. If he makes any exception to this supernatural
+attribution, it is in favour of the saints he reverences
+so profoundly. The fairies, he says, harnessed their
+oxen to the mighty stones, selected a site, and dragged
+them thither to form a dwelling, or perhaps a cradle
+for the infant fays they were so fond of exchanging
+for human children. Thus the Roches aux F�es near
+Saint-Didier, in Ille-et-Vilaine, were raised by fairy
+hands, the elves collecting &ldquo;all the big stones in the
+country&rdquo; and carrying them thither in their aprons.
+These architectural sprites then mounted on each
+other&rsquo;s shoulders in order that they might reach high
+enough to place the mighty monoliths securely in
+position. This practice they also followed in building
+the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, on the road from
+Dinan to Dol, say the people of that country-side.</p>
+<p>But the actual purpose of the megaliths has not been
+neglected by tradition, for a venerable farmer at Rouvray
+stated that the fairies were wont to honour after
+their death those who had made good use of their lives
+and built the dolmens to contain their ashes. The
+presence of such a shrine in a country-side was a
+guarantee of abundance and prosperity therein, as a
+subtle and indefinable charm spread from the saintly
+remnants and communicated itself to everything in
+the neighbourhood.<a name='FNanchor_0013' id='FNanchor_0013'></a><a href='#Footnote_0013' class='fnanchor'>[13]</a> The fairy builders, says tradition,
+went about their work in no haphazard manner. Those
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+among them who possessed a talent for design drew
+the plans of the proposed structure, the less gifted
+acting as carriers, labourers, and masons. Apron-carrying
+was not their only method of porterage, for
+some bore the stones on their heads, or one under
+each arm, as when they raised the Roche aux F�es
+in Retiers, or the dolmen in La Lande Marie.<a name='FNanchor_0014' id='FNanchor_0014'></a><a href='#Footnote_0014' class='fnanchor'>[14]</a> The
+space of a night was usually sufficient in which to raise
+a dolmen. But though &lsquo;run up&rsquo; with more than Transatlantic
+dispatch, in view of the time these structures
+have endured for, any charge of jerry-building against
+their elfin architects must fall to the ground. Daylight,
+too, frequently surprised the fairy builders, so that they
+could not finish their task, as many a &lsquo;roofless&rsquo; dolmen
+shows.</p>
+<p>There are many Celtic parallels to this belief. For
+example, it is said that the Picts, or perhaps the
+fairies, built the original church of Corstorphine, near
+Edinburgh, and stood in a row handing the stones
+on, one to another, from Ravelston Quarry, on the
+adjacent hill of Corstorphine. Such is the local folk-tale;
+and it has its congeners in Celtic and even in
+Hindu myth. Thus in the Highland tale of Kennedy
+and the <i>claistig</i>, or fairy, whom he captured, and
+whom he compelled to build him a house in one night,
+we read that she set her people to work speedily:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>And they brought flags and stones</p>
+<p>From the shores of Cliamig waterfall,</p>
+<p>Reaching them from hand to hand.<a name='FNanchor_0015' id='FNanchor_0015'></a><a href='#Footnote_0015' class='fnanchor'>[15]</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<p>Again, the Round Tower of Ardmore, in Ireland, was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span>
+built with stones brought from Slieve Grian, a mountain
+some four or five miles distant, &ldquo;without horse or
+wheel,&rdquo; the blocks being passed from hand to hand
+from the quarry to the site of the building. The same
+tradition applied to the Round Tower of Abernethy,
+in Perthshire, only it is in this case demonstrated that
+the stone of which the tower is composed was actually
+taken from the traditional quarry, even the very spot
+being geologically identified.<a name='FNanchor_0016' id='FNanchor_0016'></a><a href='#Footnote_0016' class='fnanchor'>[16]</a> In like manner, too,
+was Rama&rsquo;s bridge built by the monkey host in Hindu
+myth, as recounted in the
+<i>Mah&#257;bh&#257;rata</i> and the <i>R&#257;m&#257;yana</i>.</p>
+<p>Tales, as apart from beliefs, are not often encountered
+in connexion with the monuments. Indeed, S�billot, in
+the course of his researches, found only some dozen of
+these all told.<a name='FNanchor_0017' id='FNanchor_0017'></a><a href='#Footnote_0017' class='fnanchor'>[17]</a> They are very brief, and appear for the
+most part to deal with fairies who have been shut up
+by the power of magic in a dolmen. Tales of spirits
+enclosed in trees, and even in pillars, are not uncommon,
+and lately I have heard a peculiarly fearsome ghost
+story which comes from Belgium, in which it is related
+how certain spirits had become enclosed in a pillar in
+an ancient abbey, for the saintly occupants of which
+they made it particularly uncomfortable. Mr George
+Henderson, in one of the most masterly and suggestive
+studies of Celtic survivals ever published, states that
+stones in the Highlands of Scotland were formerly
+believed to have souls, and that those too large to be
+moved &ldquo;were held to be in intimate connexion with
+spirits.&rdquo; Pillared stones are not employed in building
+dwellings in the Highlands, ill luck, it is believed, being
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span>
+sure to follow their use in this manner, while to
+&lsquo;meddle&rsquo; with stones which tradition connects with
+Druidism is to court fatality.<a name='FNanchor_0018' id='FNanchor_0018'></a><a href='#Footnote_0018' class='fnanchor'>[18]</a></p>
+<h3><i>Stones that Travel</i></h3>
+<p>M. Salomon Reinach tells us of the Breton belief that
+certain sacred stones go once a year or once a century
+to &lsquo;wash&rsquo; themselves in the sea or in a river, returning
+to their ancient seats after their ablutions.<a name='FNanchor_0019' id='FNanchor_0019'></a><a href='#Footnote_0019' class='fnanchor'>[19]</a> The stones
+in the dolmen of Ess� are thought to change their places
+continually, like those of Callernish and Lewis, and,
+like the Roman Penates, to have the gift of coming and
+going if removed from their habitual site.</p>
+<p>The megalithic monuments of Brittany are undoubtedly
+the most remarkable relics of that epoch of prehistoric
+activity which is now regarded as the immediate forerunner
+of civilization. Can it be that they were
+miraculously preserved by isolation from the remote
+beginnings of that epoch, or is it more probable that
+they were constructed at a relatively late period? These
+are questions of profound difficulty, and it is likely that
+both theories contain a certain amount of truth.
+Whatever may have been the origin of her megaliths,
+Brittany must ever be regarded as a great prehistoric
+museum, a unique link with a past of hoary antiquity.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_III_THE_FAIRIES_OF_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_III_THE_FAIRIES_OF_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III: THE FAIRIES OF BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Whatever</span> the origin of the race which
+conceived the demonology of Brittany&mdash;and
+there are indications that it was not
+wholly Celtic&mdash;that weird province of Fa�ry bears
+unmistakable evidence of having been deeply impressed
+by the Celtic imagination, if it was not totally peopled
+by it, for its various inhabitants act in the Celtic spirit,
+are moved by Celtic springs of thought and fancy, and
+possess not a little of that irritability which has forced
+anthropologists to include the Celtic race among those
+peoples described as &lsquo;sanguine-bilious.&rsquo; As a rule they
+are by no means friendly or even humane, these fays
+of Brittany, and if we find beneficent elves within the
+green forests of the duchy we may feel certain that they
+are French immigrants, and therefore more polished
+than the choleric native sprites.</p>
+<h3><i>Broceliande</i></h3>
+<p>Of all the many localities celebrated in the fairy
+lore of Brittany none is so famous as Broceliande.
+Broceliande! &ldquo;The sound is like a bell,&rdquo; a far, fa�ry
+chime in a twilit forest. In the name Broceliande
+there seems to be gathered all the tender charm, the
+rich and haunting mystery, the remote magic of
+Brittany and Breton lore. It is, indeed, the title to
+the rarest book in the library of poetic and traditional
+romance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I went to seek out marvels,&rdquo; said old Wace. &ldquo;The
+forest I saw, the land I saw. I sought marvels, but I
+found none. A fool I came back, a fool I went; a fool
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
+I went, a fool I came back; foolishness I sought; a fool
+I hold myself.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0020' id='FNanchor_0020'></a><a href='#Footnote_0020' class='fnanchor'>[20]</a></p>
+<p>Our age, even less sceptical than his, sees no folly in
+questing for the beautiful, and if we expect no marvels,
+nor any sleight of fa�ry, however desirous we are, we
+do not hold it time lost to plunge into the enchanted
+forest and in its magic half-gloom grope for, and
+perchance grasp, dryad draperies, or be trapped in the
+filmy webs of fancy which are spun in these shadows for
+unwary mortals.</p>
+<p>Standing in dream-girt Broceliande of a hundred
+legends, its shadows mirrored by dim meres that may
+never reflect the stars, one feels the lure of Brittany
+more keenly even than when walking by its fierce and
+jagged coasts menaced by savage grey seas, or when
+wandering on its vast moors where the monuments
+of its pagan past stand in gigantic disarray. For in
+the forest is the heart of Arthurian story, the shrine
+of that wonder which has drawn thousands to this land
+of legend, who, like old Wace, trusted to have found, if
+not elfin marvels, at least matter of phantasy conjured
+up by the legendary associations of Broceliande.</p>
+<p>But we must beware of each step in these twilit
+recesses, for the fays of Brittany are not as those of
+other lands. Harsh things are spoken of them. They
+are malignant, say the forest folk. The note of Brittany
+is scarce a joyous one. It is bitter-sweet as a sad chord
+struck on an ancient harp.</p>
+<p>The fays of Brittany are not the friends of man. They
+are not &lsquo;the good people,&rsquo; &lsquo;the wee folk&rsquo;; they have no
+endearing names, the gift of a grateful peasantry. Cold
+and hostile, they hold aloof from human converse, and,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
+should they encounter man, vent their displeasure at the
+interruption in the most vindictive manner.</p>
+<p>Whether the fairies of Brittany be the late representatives
+of the gods of an elder day or merely
+animistic spirits who have haunted these glades since
+man first sheltered in them, certain it is that in no other
+region in Europe has Mother Church laid such a heavy
+ban upon all the things of fa�ry as in this strange and
+isolated peninsula. A more tolerant ecclesiastical rule
+might have weaned them to a timid friendship, but
+all overtures have been discouraged, and to-day they
+are enemies, active, malignant, swift to inflict evil upon
+the pious peasant because he is pious and on the
+energetic because of his industry.</p>
+<h3><i>The Korrigan</i></h3>
+<p>Among those forest-beings of whom legend speaks such
+malice none is more relentless than the Korrigan, who
+has power to enmesh the heart of the most constant
+swain and doom him to perish miserably for love of her.
+Beware of the fountains and of the wells of this forest
+of Broceliande, for there she is most commonly to be encountered,
+and you may know her by her bright hair&mdash;&ldquo;like
+golden wire,&rdquo; as Spenser says of his lady&rsquo;s&mdash;her red,
+flashing eyes, and her laughing lips. But if you would
+dare her wiles you must come alone to her fountain by
+night, for she shuns even the half-gloom that is day in
+shadowy Broceliande. The peasants when they speak
+of her will assure you that she and her kind are pagan
+princesses of Brittany who would have none of Christianity
+when the holy Apostles brought it to Armorica,
+and who must dwell here under a ban, outcast and
+abhorred.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Seigneur of Nann</i><a name='FNanchor_0021' id='FNanchor_0021'></a><a href='#Footnote_0021' class='fnanchor'>[21]</a></h3>
+<p>The Seigneur of Nann was high of heart, for that day
+his bride of a year had presented him with two beautiful
+children, a boy and a girl, both white as May-blossom.
+In his joy the happy father asked his wife her heart&rsquo;s
+desire, and she, pining for that which idle fancy urged
+upon her, begged him to bring her a dish of woodcock
+from the lake in the dale, or of venison from the
+greenwood. The Seigneur of Nann seized his lance
+and, vaulting on his jet-black steed, sought the borders
+of the forest, where he halted to survey the ground
+for track of roe or slot of the red deer. Of a sudden
+a white doe rose in front of him, and was lost in the
+forest like a silver shadow.</p>
+<p>At sight of this fair quarry the Seigneur followed into
+the greenwood. Ever his prey rustled among the
+leaves ahead, and in the hot chase he recked not of the
+forest depths into which he had plunged. But coming
+upon a narrow glade where the interlacing leaves above
+let in the sun to dapple the moss-ways below, he saw
+a strange lady sitting by the broken border of a well,
+braiding her fair hair and binding it with golden pins.</p>
+<p>The Seigneur louted low, begged that he might
+drink, and bending down set his lips to the water;
+but she, turning strange eyes upon him&mdash;eyes not
+blue like those of his bride, nor grey, nor brown, nor
+black, like those of other women, but red in their
+depths as the heart&rsquo;s blood of a dove&mdash;spoke to him
+discourteously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who are you who dare to trouble the waters of my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+fountain?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Do you not know that your
+conduct merits death? This well is enchanted, and by
+drinking of it you are fated to die, unless you fulfil a
+certain condition.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And what is that?&rdquo; asked the Seigneur.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must marry me within the hour,&rdquo; replied the lady.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Demoiselle,&rdquo; replied the Seigneur, &ldquo;it may not be
+as you desire, for I am already espoused to a
+fair bride who has borne me this very day a son
+and a daughter. Nor shall I die until it pleases the
+good God. Nevertheless, I wot well who you are.
+Rather would I die on the instant than wed with a
+Korrigan.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Leaping upon his horse, he turned and rode from the
+woodland as a man possessed. As he drew homeward
+he was overshadowed by a sense of coming ill. At the
+gate of his ch�teau stood his mother, anxious to greet
+him with good news of his bride. But with averted
+eyes he addresses her in the refrain so familiar to the
+folk-poetry of all lands:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;My good mother, if you love me, make my bed. I am sick
+unto death. Say not a word to my bride. For within three
+days I shall be laid in the grave. A Korrigan has done
+me evil.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Three days later the young spouse asks of her mother-in-law:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, mother, why do the bells sound? Wherefore
+do the priests chant so low?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis nothing, daughter,&rdquo; replies the elder woman. &ldquo;A
+poor stranger who lodged here died this night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, where is gone the Seigneur of Nann? Mother,
+oh, where is he?&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_5' id='linki_5'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs05.jpg' alt='' title='' width='405' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE SEIGNEUR OF NANN AND THE KORRIGAN<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;He has gone to the town, my child. In a little he
+will come to see you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, mother, let us speak of happy things. Must I
+wear my red or my blue robe at my churching?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Neither, daughter. The mode is changed. You
+must wear black.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Unconscious in its art, the stream of verse carries us
+to the church, whence the young wife has gone to
+offer up thanks for the gift of children. She sees
+that the ancestral tomb has been opened, and a great
+dread is at her heart. She asks her mother-in-law
+who has died, and the old woman at last confesses
+that the Seigneur of Nann has just been buried.</p>
+<p>That same night the young mother was interred beside
+her husband-lover. And the peasant folk say that from
+that tomb arose two saplings, the branches of which
+intertwined more closely as they grew.</p>
+<h3><i>A Goddess of Eld</i></h3>
+<p>In the depths of Lake Tegid in our own Wales dwelt
+Keridwen, a fertility goddess who possessed a magic
+cauldron&mdash;the sure symbol of a deity of abundance.<a name='FNanchor_0022' id='FNanchor_0022'></a><a href='#Footnote_0022' class='fnanchor'>[22]</a>
+Like Demeter, she was strangely associated with the
+harmless necessary sow, badge of many earth-mothers,
+and itself typical of fertility. Like Keridwen, the
+Korrigan is associated with water, with the element
+which makes for vegetable growth. Christian belief
+would, of course, transform this discredited goddess into
+an evil being whose one function was the destruction
+of souls. May we see a relation of the Korrigan and
+Keridwen in Tridwan, or St Triduana, of Restalrig,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
+near Edinburgh, who presided over a certain well
+there, and at whose well-shrine offerings were made
+by sightless pilgrims for many centuries?</p>
+<p>Many are the traditions which tell of human infants
+abducted by the Korrigan, who at times left an ugly
+changeling in place of the babe she had stolen. But it
+was more as an enchantress that she was dreaded. By
+a stroke of her magic wand she could transform the
+leafy fastnesses in which she dwelt into the semblance
+of a lordly hall, which the luckless traveller whom she
+lured thither would regard as a paradise after the dark
+thickets in which he had been wandering. This seeming
+castle or palace she furnished with everything that could
+delight the eye, and as the doomed wretch sat ravished
+by her beauty and that of her nine attendant maidens a
+fatal passion for her entered his heart, so that whatever
+he cherished most on earth&mdash;honour, wife, demoiselle,
+or affianced bride&mdash;became as naught to him, and he
+cast himself at the feet of this forest Circe in a frenzy
+of ardour. But with the first ray of daylight the charm
+was dissolved and the Korrigan became a hideous hag,
+as repulsive as before she had been lovely; the walls of
+her palace and the magnificence which had furnished it
+became once more tree and thicket, its carpets moss,
+its tapestries leaves, its silver cups wild roses, and its
+dazzling mirrors pools of stagnant water.</p>
+<h3><i>The Unbroken Vow</i><a name='FNanchor_0023' id='FNanchor_0023'></a><a href='#Footnote_0023' class='fnanchor'>[23]</a></h3>
+<p>Sir Roland of Brittany rides through gloomy Broceliande
+a league ahead of his troop, unattended by squire or by
+page. The red cross upon his shoulder is witness that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span>
+he is vowed to service in Palestine, and as he passes
+through the leafy avenues on his way to the rendezvous
+he fears that he will be late, most tardy of all the knights
+of Brittany who have sworn to drive the paynim from
+the Holy Land. Fearful of such disgrace, he spurs his
+jaded charger on through the haunted forest, and with
+anxious eye watches the sun sink and the gay white
+moon sail high above the tree-tops, pouring light
+through their branches upon the mossy ways below.</p>
+<p>A high vow has Roland taken ere setting out upon the
+crusade&mdash;a vow that he will eschew the company of
+fair ladies, in which none had delighted more than he.
+No more must he mingle in the dance, no more must he
+press a maiden&rsquo;s lips with his. He has become a soldier
+of the Cross. He may not touch a lady&rsquo;s hand save
+with his mailed glove, he must not sit by her side. Also
+must he fast from dusk till dawn upon that night of his
+setting forth. &ldquo;Small risk,&rdquo; he laughs a little sadly,
+as he spurs his charger onward, &ldquo;small risk that I be
+mansworn ere morning light.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the setting of the moon tells him that he must
+rest in the forest until dawn, as without her beams he
+can no longer pursue his way. So he dismounts from
+his steed, tethers it to a tree, and looks about for a
+bed of moss on which to repose. As he does so his
+wandering gaze fixes upon a beam of light piercing the
+gloom of the forest. Well aware of the traditions of his
+country, he thinks at first that it is only the glimmer of
+a will-o&rsquo;-the-wisp or a light carried by a wandering elf.
+But no, on moving nearer the gleam he is surprised to
+behold a row of windows brilliantly lit as if for a festival.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, by my vow,&rdquo; says Roland, &ldquo;methought I knew
+well every ch�teau in this land of Brittany, nor wist
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+I that seigneur or count held court in this forest of
+Broceliande.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Resolved to view the ch�teau at still closer quarters,
+he draws near it. A great court fronts him where neither
+groom nor porter keeps guard, and within he can see a
+fair hall. This he enters, and immediately his ears are
+ravished by music which wanders through the chamber
+like a sighing zephyr. The murmur of rich viols and
+the call of flutes soft as distant bird-song speak to his
+very soul. Yet through the ecstasy comes, like a
+serpent gliding among flowers, the discord of evil
+thoughts. Grasping his rosary, he is about to retire
+when the doors at the end of the hall fly open, and he
+beholds a rapturous vision. Upon a couch of velvet sits
+a lady of such dazzling beauty that all other women
+compared with her would seem as kitchen-wenches. A
+mantle of rich golden hair falls about her, her eyes shine
+with the brightness of stars, her smile seems heavenly.
+Round her are grouped nine maidens only less beautiful
+than herself.</p>
+<p>As the moon moving among attendant stars, so the
+lady comes toward Roland, accompanied by her maidens.
+She welcomes him, and would remove his gauntlet, but
+he tells her of the vow he has made to wear it in lady&rsquo;s
+bower, and she is silent. Next she asks him to seat
+himself beside her on the couch, but he will not. In
+some confusion she orders a repast to be brought. A
+table is spread with fragrant viands, but as the knight
+will partake of none of them, in chagrin the lady takes
+a lute, which she touches with exquisite skill. He listens
+unmoved, till, casting away her instrument, she dances
+to him, circling round and round about him, flitting
+about his chair like a butterfly, until at length she sinks
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span>
+down near him and lays her head upon his mailed
+bosom. Upward she turns her face to him, all passion-flushed,
+her eyes brimming with love. Sir Roland
+falters. Fascinated by her unearthly beauty, he is about
+to stoop down to press his lips to hers. But as he bends
+his head she shrinks from him, for she sees the tender
+flush of morning above the eastern tree-tops. The
+living stars faint and fail, and the music of awakening
+life which accompanies the rising of the young sun falls
+upon the ear. Slowly the ch�teau undergoes transformation.
+The glittering roof merges into the blue
+vault of heaven, the tapestried walls become the ivied
+screens of great forest trees, the princely furnishings are
+transformed into mossy banks and mounds, and the
+rugs and carpets beneath Roland&rsquo;s mailed feet are now
+merged in the forest ways.</p>
+<p>But the lady? Sir Roland, glancing down, beholds
+a hag hideous as sin, whose malicious and distorted
+countenance betrays baffled hate and rage. At the
+sound of a bugle she hurries away with a discordant
+shriek. Into the glade ride Roland&rsquo;s men, to see their
+lord clasping his rosary and kneeling in thanksgiving
+for his deliverance from the evils which beset him. He
+had been saved from breaking his vow!</p>
+<p>The nine attendant maidens of the Korrigan bring to
+mind a passage in Pomponius Mela<a name='FNanchor_0024' id='FNanchor_0024'></a><a href='#Footnote_0024' class='fnanchor'>[24]</a>: &ldquo;Sena [the Ile
+de Sein, not far from Brest], in the British Sea, opposite
+the Ofismician coast, is remarkable for an oracle of the
+Gallic god. Its priestesses, holy in perpetual virginity,
+are said to be nine in number. They are called
+Gallicen&aelig;, and are thought to be endowed with singular
+powers. By their charms they are able to raise the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span>
+winds and seas, to turn themselves into what animals
+they will, to cure wounds and diseases incurable by
+others, to know and predict the future. But this they
+do only for navigators, who go thither purposely to
+consult them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Like the sylphs and salamanders so humorously
+described by the Abb� de Villars in <i>Le Comte de
+Gabalis</i>,<a name='FNanchor_0025' id='FNanchor_0025'></a><a href='#Footnote_0025' class='fnanchor'>[25]</a> the Korrigans desired union with humanity in
+order that they might thus gain immortality. Such, at
+least, is the current peasant belief in Brittany. &ldquo;For
+this end they violate all the laws of modesty.&rdquo; This
+belief is common to all lands, and is typical of the fay,
+the Lorelei, countless well and water sprites, and that
+enchantress who rode off with Thomas the Rhymer:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>For if you dare to kiss my lips</p>
+<p>Sure of your bodie I shall be.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>Unlike the colder Sir Roland, &lsquo;True Thomas&rsquo; dared,
+and was wafted to a realm wondrously described by
+the old balladeer in the vivid phrase that marks the
+poetry of vision.</p>
+<h3><i>Merlin and Vivien</i></h3>
+<p>It was in this same verdant Broceliande that Vivien,
+another fairy, that crafty dame of the enchanted lake,
+the instructress of Lancelot, bound wise Merlin so that
+he might no more go to Camelot with oracular lips to
+counsel British Arthur.</p>
+<p>But what say the folk of Broceliande themselves of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
+this? Let us hear their version of a tale which has
+been so battered by modern criticism, and which has
+been related in at least half a score of versions, prose
+and poetic. Let us have the Broceliande account of
+what happened in Broceliande.<a name='FNanchor_0026' id='FNanchor_0026'></a><a href='#Footnote_0026' class='fnanchor'>[26]</a> Surely its folk, in the
+very forest in which he wandered with Vivien, must
+know more of Merlin&rsquo;s enchantment than we of that
+greater Britain which he left to find a paradise in Britain
+the Less, for, according to Breton story, Merlin was
+not imprisoned by magic art, but achieved bliss through
+his love for the fairy forest nymph.</p>
+<p>Disguised as a young student, Merlin was wandering
+one bright May morning through the leafy glades of
+Broceliande, when, like the Seigneur of Nann, he came
+to a beautiful fountain in the heart of the forest which
+tempted him to rest. As he sat there in reverie, Vivien,
+daughter of the lord of the manor of Broceliande, came
+to the water&rsquo;s edge. Her father had gained the affection
+of a fay of the valley, who had promised on behalf of
+their daughter that she should be loved by the wisest
+man in the world, who should grant all her wishes, but
+would never be able to compel her to consent to his.</p>
+<p>Vivien reclined upon the other side of the fountain, and
+the eyes of the sage and maiden met. At length Merlin
+rose to depart, and gave the damsel courteous good-day.
+But she, curious and not content with a mere salutation,
+wished him all happiness and honour. Her voice
+was beautiful, her eyes expressive, and Merlin, moved
+beyond anything in his experience, asked her name.
+She told him she was a daughter of a gentleman of
+that country, and in turn asked him who he might be.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A scholar returning to his master,&rdquo; was the reply.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Your master? And what may he teach you, young
+sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He instructs me in the magic art, fair dame,&rdquo; replied
+Merlin, amused. &ldquo;By aid of his teaching I can raise a
+castle ere a man could count a score, and garrison it
+with warriors of might. I can make a river flow past
+the spot on which you recline, I can raise spirits from
+the great deeps of ether in which this world rolls, and
+can peer far into the future&mdash;aye, to the extreme of
+human days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Would that I shared your wisdom!&rdquo; cried Vivien, her
+voice thrilling with the desire of hidden things which
+she had inherited from her fairy mother. &ldquo;Teach me
+these secrets, I entreat of you, noble scholar, and accept
+in return for your instruction my most tender friendship.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Merlin, willing to please her, arose, and traced certain
+mystical characters upon the greensward. Straightway
+the glade in which they sat was filled with knights,
+ladies, maidens, and esquires, who danced and disported
+themselves right joyously. A stately castle rose on the
+verge of the forest, and in the garden the spirits whom
+Merlin the enchanter had raised up in the semblance
+of knights and ladies held carnival. Vivien, delighted,
+asked of Merlin in what manner he had achieved this
+feat of fa�ry, and he told her that he would in time
+instruct her as to the manner of accomplishing it. He
+then dismissed the spirit attendants and dissipated the
+castle into thin air, but retained the garden at the
+request of Vivien, naming it &lsquo;Joyous Garden.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Then he made a tryst with Vivien to meet her in a year
+on the Vigil of St John.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_6' id='linki_6'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col06.jpg' alt='' title='' width='424' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+MERLIN AND VIVIEN<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Now Merlin had to be present at the espousal of Arthur,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span>
+his King, with Guinevere, at which he was to assist the
+archbishop, Dubric, as priest. The festivities over, he
+recalled his promise to Vivien, and on the appointed day
+he once more assumed the guise of a travelling scholar
+and set out to meet the maiden in the forest of
+Broceliande. She awaited him patiently in Joyous
+Garden, where they partook of a dainty repast. But
+the viands and the wines were wasted upon Merlin, for
+Vivien was beside him and she alone filled his thoughts.
+She was fair of colour, and fresh with the freshness of
+all in the forest, and her hazel eyes made such fire
+within his soul that he conceived a madness of love for
+her that all his wisdom, deep as it was, could not
+control.</p>
+<p>But Vivien was calm as a lake circled by trees, where
+no breath of the passion of tempest can come. Again
+and again she urged him to impart to her the secrets she
+so greatly longed to be acquainted with. And chiefly
+did she desire to know three things; these at all hazards
+must she have power over. How, she asked, could water
+be made to flow in a dry place? In what manner could
+any form be assumed at will? And, lastly, how could
+one be made to fall asleep at the pleasure of another?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wherefore ask you this last question, demoiselle?&rdquo;
+said Merlin, suspicious even in his great passion for her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So that I may cast the spell of sleep over my father
+and my mother when I come to you, Merlin,&rdquo; she replied,
+with a beguiling glance, &ldquo;for did they know that I loved
+you they would slay me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Merlin hesitated, and so was lost. He imparted to her
+that hidden knowledge which she desired. Then they
+dwelt together for eight days in the Joyous Garden,
+during which time the sage, to Vivien&rsquo;s delight and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span>
+amaze, related to her the marvellous circumstances of
+his birth.</p>
+<p>Next day Merlin departed, but came again to Broceliande
+when the eglantine was flowering at the edge of the
+forest. Again he wore the scholar&rsquo;s garments. His
+aspect was youthful, his fair hair hung in ringlets on his
+shoulders, and he appeared so handsome that a tender
+flower of love sprang up in Vivien&rsquo;s heart, and she
+felt that she must keep him ever near her. But she
+knew full well that he whom she loved was in reality
+well stricken in years, and she was sorrowful. But
+she did not despair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beloved,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;will you grant me but one
+other boon? There is one secret more that I desire to
+learn.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Now Merlin knew well ere she spoke what was in her
+mind, and he sighed and shook his head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wherefore do you sigh?&rdquo; she asked innocently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I sigh because my fate is strong upon me,&rdquo; replied the
+sage. &ldquo;For it was foreseen in the long ago that a lady
+should lead me captive and that I should become her
+prisoner for all time. Neither have I the power to deny
+you what you ask of me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Vivien embraced him rapturously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, Merlin, beloved, is it not that you should always
+be with me?&rdquo; she asked passionately. &ldquo;For your sake
+have I not given up father and mother, and are not all
+my thoughts and desires toward you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Merlin, carried away by her amorous eloquence, could
+only answer: &ldquo;It is yours to ask what you will.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Vivien then revealed to him her wish. She longed to
+learn from his lips an enchantment which would keep
+him ever near her, which would so bind him to her in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+the chains of love that nothing in the world could part
+him from her. Hearkening to her plea, he taught her
+such enchantment as would render him love&rsquo;s prisoner
+for ever.</p>
+<p>Evening was shrouding the forest in soft shadows
+when Merlin sank to rest. Vivien, waiting until his
+deep and regular breathing told her that he was asleep,
+walked nine times around him, waving her cloak over
+his head, and muttering the mysterious words he had
+taught her. When the sage awoke he found himself
+in the Joyous Garden with Vivien by his side.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are mine for ever,&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;You can
+never leave me now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My delight will be ever to stay with you,&rdquo; he replied,
+enraptured. &ldquo;And oh, beloved, never leave me, I pray
+you, for I am bespelled so as to love you throughout
+eternity!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never shall I leave you,&rdquo; she replied; and in such
+manner the wise Merlin withdrew from the world of
+men to remain ever in the Joyous Garden with Vivien.
+Love had triumphed over wisdom.</p>
+<p>The Arthurian version of the story does not, of course,
+represent Vivien as does the old Breton legend. In
+Geoffrey of Monmouth&rsquo;s book and in the <i>Morte d&rsquo;Arthur</i>
+she is drawn as the scheming enchantress who wishes to
+lure Merlin to his ruin for the joy of being able to boast
+of her conquest. In some romances she is alluded to
+as Nimue, and in others is described as the daughter of
+Dyonas, who perhaps is the same as Dylan, a Brythonic
+(British) sea-god. As the Lady of the Lake she is the
+foster-mother of Lancelot, and we should have no difficulty
+in classing her as a water deity or spirit very much
+like the Korrigan.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span></div>
+<h3><i>Merlin</i></h3>
+<p>But Merlin is a very different character, and it is probable
+that the story of his love for Vivien was composed
+at a comparatively late date for the purpose of rounding
+off his fate in Arthurian legend. A recent hypothesis
+concerning him is to the effect that &ldquo;if he belongs to
+the pagan period [of Celtic lore] at all, he was probably
+an ideal magician or god of magicians.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0027' id='FNanchor_0027'></a><a href='#Footnote_0027' class='fnanchor'>[27]</a> Canon
+MacCulloch smiles at the late Sir John Rhys&rsquo;s belief
+that Merlin was &ldquo;a Celtic Zeus,&rdquo; but his later suggestion
+seems equally debatable. We must remember that we
+draw our conception of Merlin as Arthurian archimagus
+chiefly from late Norman-French sources and Celtic
+tradition. Ancient Brythonic traditions concerning
+beings of much the same type as Merlin appear to have
+existed, however, and the character of Lailoken in
+the life of St Kentigern recalls his life-story. So far
+research on the subject seems to show that the legend
+of Merlin is a thing of complex growth, composed of
+traditions of independent and widely differing origin,
+most of which were told about Celtic bards and soothsayers.
+Merlin is, in fact, the typical Druid or wise
+man of Celtic tradition, and there is not the slightest
+reason for believing that he was ever paid divine
+honours. As a soothsayer of legend, he would assuredly
+belong to the pagan period, however much
+he is indebted to Geoffrey of Monmouth for his late
+popularity in pure romance.</p>
+<h3><i>The Fountain of Baranton</i></h3>
+<p>In the country of Broceliande lies the magic fountain of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
+Baranton, sequestered among hills and surrounded by
+deep woods. Says a thirteenth-century writer of this
+fountain:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, amazing wonder of the Fountain of Brecelien!
+If a drop be taken and poured on a certain rock beside
+the spring, immediately the water changes into vapour,
+forms itself into great clouds filled with hail; the air
+becomes thick with shadows, and resonant with the
+muttering of thunder. Those who have come through
+curiosity to behold the prodigy wish that they had never
+done so, so filled are their hearts with terror, and so
+does fear paralyse their limbs. Incredible as the marvel
+may seem, yet the proofs of its reality are too abundant
+to be doubted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Huon de M�ry was more fortunate than Wace. He
+sprinkled the magic stone which lay behind the fountain
+with water from the golden basin that hung from the
+oak that shaded it, and beheld many marvels. And so
+may he who has the seeing eye to-day.</p>
+<h4>BROCELIANDE</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Ah, how remote, forlorn</p>
+<p>Sounded the sad, sweet horn</p>
+<p>In forest gloom enchanted!</p>
+<p>I saw the shadows of kings go riding by,</p>
+<p>But cerements mingled and paled with their panoply,</p>
+<p>And the moss-ways deadened the steps of steeds that never panted.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Ah, what had phantasy</p>
+<p>In that sad sound to say,</p>
+<p>Sad as a spirit&rsquo;s wailing?</p>
+<p>A call from over the seas of shadowland,</p>
+<p>A call the soul of the soul might understand,</p>
+<p>But never, ah, never the mind, the steeps of soul assailing.</p>
+</div></div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span></div>
+<h3><i>Bruno of La Montagne</i></h3>
+<p>The old fragmentary romance of Bruno of La Montagne
+is eloquent of the fa�ry spirit which informs all Breton
+lore. Butor, Baron of La Montagne, had married a
+young lady when he was himself of mature years, and
+had a son, whom he resolved to take to a fountain
+where the fairies came to repose themselves. The
+Baron, describing this magic well to the child&rsquo;s mother,
+says (we roughly translate):</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;Some believe &rsquo;tis in Champagne,</p>
+<p>And others by the Rock Grifaigne;</p>
+<p>Perchance it is in Alemaigne,</p>
+<p>Or Bersillant de la Montagne;</p>
+<p>Some even think that &rsquo;tis in Spain,</p>
+<p>Or where sleeps Artus of Bretaigne.&rdquo;</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>The Seigneur gave his infant son into the keeping of
+Bruyant, a trusty friend of his, and they set out for
+the fairy fountain with a troop of vassals. They left
+the infant in the forest of Broceliande. Here the fairies
+soon found him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, sisters,&rdquo; said one whose skin was as white as
+the robe of gossamer she wore, and whose golden
+crown betokened her the queen of the others, &ldquo;come
+hither and see a new-born infant. How, I wonder,
+does he come to be here? I am sure I did not behold
+him in this spot yesterday. Well, at all events, he
+must be baptized and suitably endowed, as is our
+custom when we discover a mortal child. Now what
+will you give him?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I will give him,&rdquo; said one, &ldquo;beauty and grace.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I endow him,&rdquo; said a second, &ldquo;with generosity.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_7' id='linki_7'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col07.jpg' alt='' title='' width='412' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE FAIRIES OF BROCELIANDE FIND THE LITTLE BRUNO<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;And I,&rdquo; said a third, &ldquo;with such valour that he will
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span>
+overthrow all his enemies at tourney and on the battlefield.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Queen listened to these promises. &ldquo;Surely you
+have little sense,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;For my part, I wish
+that in his youth he may love one who will be utterly
+insensible to him, and although he will be as you desire,
+noble, generous, beautiful, and valorous, he will yet, for
+his good, suffer keenly from the anguish of love.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O Queen,&rdquo; said one of the fairies, &ldquo;what a cruel fate
+you have ordained for this unfortunate child! But I
+myself shall watch over him and nurse him until he
+comes to such an age as he may love, when I myself
+will try to engage his affections.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For all that,&rdquo; said the Queen, &ldquo;I will not alter my
+design. You shall not nurse this infant.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The fairies then disappeared. Shortly afterward
+Bruyant returned, and carried the child back to the
+castle of La Montagne, where presently a fairy presented
+herself as nurse.</p>
+<p>Unfortunately the manuscript from which this tale is
+taken breaks off at this point, and we do not know
+how the Fairy Queen succeeded with her plans for
+the amorous education of the little Bruno. But the
+fragment, although tantalizing in the extreme, gives
+us some insight into the nature of the fairies who
+inhabit the green fastnesses of Broceliande.</p>
+<h3><i>Fairies in Folk-lore</i></h3>
+<p>Nearly all fairy-folk have in time grown to mortal
+height. Whether fairies be the decayed poor relations
+of more successful deities, gods whose cult has been forgotten
+and neglected (as the Irish <i>Sidhe</i>, or fairy-folk),
+or diminutive animistic spirits, originating in the belief
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span>
+that every object, small or great, possessed a personality,
+it is noticeable that Celtic fairies are of human height,
+while those of the Teutonic peoples are usually dwarfish.
+Titania may come originally from the loins of Titans
+or she may be Diana come down in the world, and
+Oberon may hail from a very different and more dwarfish
+source, but in Shakespeare&rsquo;s England they have grown
+sufficiently to permit them to tread the boards of the
+Globe Theatre with normal humans. Scores of fairies
+mate with mortal men, and men, as a rule, do not care
+for dwarf-wives. Among Celts, at least, the fay, whatever
+her original stature, in later times had certainly
+achieved the height of mortal womanhood.</p>
+<p>In Upper Brittany, where French is the language in
+general use, the usual French ideas concerning fairies
+prevail. They are called <i>f�es</i> or <i>fetes</i> (Latin <i>fata</i>), and
+sometimes <i>fions</i>, which reminds us of the <i>fions</i> of Scottish
+and Irish folk-lore.<a name='FNanchor_0028' id='FNanchor_0028'></a><a href='#Footnote_0028' class='fnanchor'>[28]</a> There are old people still alive who
+claim to have seen the fairies, and who describe them
+variously, but the general belief seems to be that they
+disappeared from the land several generations ago. One
+old man described them as having teeth as long as one&rsquo;s
+hand, and as wearing garments of sea-weed or leaves.
+They were human in aspect, said another ancient whom
+S�billot questioned; their clothes were seamless, and it
+was impossible to say by merely looking at them whether
+they were male or female. Their garments were of the
+most brilliant colours imaginable, but if one approached
+them too closely these gaudy hues disappeared. They
+wore a kind of bonnet shaped like a crown, which
+appeared to be part of their person.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span></div>
+<p>The people of the coast say that the fairies are an
+accursed race who are condemned to walk the earth for
+a certain space. Some even think them rebellious angels
+who have been sent to earth for a time to expiate their
+offences against heaven. For the most part they inhabit
+the dolmens and the grottos and caverns on the coast.<a name='FNanchor_0029' id='FNanchor_0029'></a><a href='#Footnote_0029' class='fnanchor'>[29]</a></p>
+<p>On the shores of the Channel are numerous grottos or
+caverns which the Bretons call <i>houles</i>, and these are
+supposed to harbour a distinct class of fairy. Some of
+these caverns are from twenty to thirty feet high, and
+so extensive that it is unwise to explore them too far.
+Others seem only large enough to hold a single person,
+but if one enters he will find himself in a spacious natural
+chamber. The inhabitants of these depths, like all their
+kind, prefer to sally forth by night rather than by day.
+In the day-time they are not seen because they smear
+themselves with a magic ointment which renders them
+invisible; but at night they are visible to everybody.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lost Daughter</i></h3>
+<p>There was once upon a time a labourer of Saint-Cast
+named Marc Bourdais, but, according to the usage of
+the country, he had a nickname and was called Maraud.
+One day he was returning home when he heard the
+sound of a horn beneath his feet, and asked a companion
+who chanced to be with him if he had heard it also.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I did,&rdquo; replied the fellow; &ldquo;it is a fairy
+horn.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Umph,&rdquo; said Maraud. &ldquo;Ask the fairies, then, to
+bring us a slice of bread.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His companion knelt down and shouted out the request,
+but nothing happened and they resumed their way.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span></div>
+<p>They had not gone far, however, when they beheld a
+slice of beautiful white bread lying on a snowy napkin
+by the roadside. Maraud picked it up and found that it
+was well buttered and as toothsome as a cake, and when
+they had divided and eaten it they felt their hunger
+completely satisfied. But he who has fed well is often
+thirsty, so Maraud, lowering his head, and speaking to
+the little folk beneath, cried: &ldquo;Hullo, there! Bring us
+something to drink, if you please.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He had hardly spoken when they beheld a pot of cider
+and a glass reposing on the ground in front of them.
+Maraud filled the glass, and, raising it to his lips, quaffed
+of the fairy cider. It was clear and of a rich colour, and
+he declared that it was by far the best that he had
+ever tasted. His friend drank likewise, and when they
+returned to the village that night they had a good story
+to tell of how they had eaten and drunk at the expense
+of the fairies. But their friends and neighbours shook
+their heads and regarded them sadly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! poor fellows,&rdquo; they said, &ldquo;if you have eaten
+fairy food and drunk fairy liquor you are as good as
+dead men.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Nothing happened to them within the next few days,
+however, and it was with light hearts that one morning
+they returned to work in the neighbourhood of the
+spot where they had met with such a strange adventure.
+When they arrived at the place they smelt the odour
+of cakes which had been baked with black corn, and a
+fierce hunger at once took possession of them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; said Maraud, &ldquo;the fairies are baking to-day.
+Suppose we ask them for a cake or two.&rdquo; &ldquo;No, no!&rdquo;
+replied his friend. &ldquo;Ask them if you wish, but I will
+have none of them.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Pah!&rdquo; cried Maraud, &ldquo;what are you afraid of?&rdquo; And
+he cried: &ldquo;Below there! Bring me a cake, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Two fine cakes at once appeared. Maraud seized upon
+one, but when he had cut it he perceived that it was
+made of hairs, and he threw it down in disgust.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You wicked old sorcerer!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Do you mean
+to mock me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But as he spoke the cakes disappeared.</p>
+<p>Now there lived in the village a widow with seven
+children, and a hard task she had to find bread for them
+all. She heard tell of Maraud&rsquo;s adventure with the
+fairies, and pondered on the chance of receiving a like
+hospitality from them, that the seven little mouths she
+had to provide for might be filled. So she made up her
+mind to go to a fairy grotto she knew of and ask for
+bread. &ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; she thought, &ldquo;what the good people
+give to others who do not require it they will give to
+me, whose need is so great.&rdquo; When she had come to
+the entrance of the grotto she knocked on the side
+of it as one knocks on a door, and there at once
+appeared a little old dame with a great bunch of keys
+hanging at her side. She appeared to be covered with
+limpets, and mould and moss clung to her as to a rock.
+To the widow she seemed at least a thousand years
+old.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you desire, my good woman?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! madame,&rdquo; said the widow, &ldquo;might I have a little
+bread for my seven children? Give me some, I beseech
+you, and I will remember you in my prayers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am not the mistress here,&rdquo; replied the old woman.
+&ldquo;I am only the porteress, and it is at least a hundred
+years since I have been out. But return to-morrow
+and I will promise to speak for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span></div>
+<p>Next day at the same time the widow returned to the
+cave, and found the old porteress waiting for her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have spoken for you,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and here is a loaf
+of bread for you, and those who send it wish to speak
+to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bring me to them,&rdquo; said the widow, &ldquo;that I may
+thank them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not to-day,&rdquo; replied the porteress. &ldquo;Return to-morrow
+at the same hour and I will do so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The widow returned to the village and told her neighbours
+of her success. Every one came to see the fairy
+loaf, and many begged a piece.</p>
+<p>Next day the poor woman returned to the grotto in the
+hope that she would once more benefit from the little
+folks&rsquo; bounty. The porteress was there as usual.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, my good woman,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;did you find my
+bread to your taste? Here is the lady who has befriended
+you,&rdquo; and she indicated a beautiful lady, who
+came smilingly from the darkness of the cavern.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, madame,&rdquo; said the widow, &ldquo;I thank you with all
+my heart for your charity.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The loaf will last a long time,&rdquo; said the fairy, &ldquo;and
+you will find that you and your family will not readily
+finish it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said the widow, &ldquo;last night all my neighbours
+insisted on having a piece, so that it is now entirely
+eaten.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; replied the fay, &ldquo;I will give you another loaf.
+So long as you or your children partake of it it will not
+grow smaller and will always remain fresh, but if you
+should give the least morsel to a stranger the loaf will
+disappear. But as I have helped you, so must you help
+me. I have four cows, and I wish to send them out to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span>
+pasture. Promise me that one of your daughters will
+guard them for me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The widow promised, and next morning sent one of
+her daughters out to look for the cows, which were to be
+pastured in a field where there was but little herbage.
+A neighbour saw her there, and asked what she was
+doing in that deserted place.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I am watching the fairy cows,&rdquo; replied she. The
+woman looked at her and smiled, for there were no
+cows there and she thought the girl had become half-witted.</p>
+<p>With the evening the fairy of the grotto came herself
+to fetch the cows, and she said to the little cowherd:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How would you like to be godmother to my child?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It would be a pleasure, madame,&rdquo; replied the girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, say nothing to any one, not even to your
+mother,&rdquo; replied the fairy, &ldquo;for if you do I shall never
+bring you anything more to eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A few days afterward a fairy came to tell the girl to
+prepare to come to the cavern on the morrow, as on
+that day the infant was to be named. Next day,
+according to the fairy&rsquo;s instructions, she presented herself
+at the mouth of the grotto, and in due course was
+made godmother to the little fairy. For two days she
+remained there, and when she left her godchild was
+already grown up. She had, as a matter of fact, unconsciously
+remained with the &lsquo;good people&rsquo; for ten
+years, and her mother had long mourned her as dead.
+Meanwhile the fairies had requested the poor widow to
+send another of her daughters to watch their cows.</p>
+<p>When at last the absent one returned to the village she
+went straight home, and her mother on beholding her
+gave a great cry. The girl could not understand her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span>
+agitation, believing as she did that she had been absent
+for two days only.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Two days!&rdquo; echoed the mother. &ldquo;You have been
+away ten years! Look how you have grown!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>After she had overcome her surprise the girl resumed
+her household duties as if nothing particular had
+happened, and knitted a pair of stockings for her
+godchild. When they were finished she carried
+them to the fairy grotto, where, as she thought, she
+spent the afternoon. But in reality she had been away
+from home this time for five years. As she was leaving,
+her godchild gave her a purse, saying: &ldquo;This purse is
+full of gold. Whenever you take a piece out another
+one will come in its place, but if any one else uses it
+it will lose all its virtue.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the girl returned to the village at last it was to
+find her mother dead, her brothers gone abroad, and
+her sisters married, so that she was the only one left
+at home. As she was pretty and a good housewife she
+did not want for lovers, and in due time she chose one
+for a husband. She did not tell her spouse about the
+purse she had had from the fairies, and if she wanted
+to give him a piece of gold she withdrew it from the
+magic purse in secret. She never went back to the
+fairy cavern, as she had no mind to return from it and
+find her husband an old man.</p>
+<h3><i>The Fisherman and the Fairies</i></h3>
+<p>A fisherman of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer, walking home to
+his cottage from his boat one evening along the wet
+sands, came, unawares, upon a number of fairies in a
+<i>houle</i>. They were talking and laughing gaily, and the
+fisherman observed that while they made merry they
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
+rubbed their bodies with a kind of ointment or pomade.
+All at once, to the old salt&rsquo;s surprise, they turned into
+ordinary women. Concealing himself behind a rock,
+the fisherman watched them until the now completely
+transformed immortals quitted their haunt and waddled
+away in the guise of old market-women.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_8' id='linki_8'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col08.jpg' alt='' title='' width='415' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+FAIRIES IN A BRETON &lsquo;HOULE&rsquo;<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>The fisherman waited until they were well out of sight,
+and then entered the cavern, where the first object that
+met his gaze was the pot of ointment which had effected
+the marvellous change he had witnessed. Taking some
+of the pomade on his forefinger, he smeared it around
+his left eye. He afterward found that he could penetrate
+the various disguises assumed by the fairies
+wherever he met them, and that these were for the
+most part adopted for the purposes of trickery. Thus
+he was able to see a fairy in the assumed shape of a
+beggar-woman going from door to door demanding alms,
+seeking an opportunity to steal or work mischief, and
+all the while casting spells upon those who were charitable
+enough to assist her. Again, he could distinguish real
+fish caught in his net at sea from merwomen disguised
+as fish, who were desirous of entangling the nets or
+otherwise distressing and annoying the fishermen.</p>
+<p>But nowhere was the disguised fairy race so much in
+evidence as at the fair of Ploubalay, where he recognized
+several of the elusive folk in the semblance of raree-showmen,
+fortune-tellers, and the like, who had taken
+these shapes in order to deceive. He was quietly
+smiling at their pranks, when some of the fairies who
+composed a troupe of performers in front of one of the
+booths regarded him very earnestly. He felt certain
+that they had penetrated his secret, but ere he could
+make off one of them threw a stick at him with such
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+violence that it struck and burst the offending left
+eye.</p>
+<p>Fairies in all lands have a constitutional distaste for being
+recognized, but those of Brittany appear to visit their
+vengeance upon the members with which they are actually
+beheld. &ldquo;See what thieves the fairies are!&rdquo; cried a
+woman, on beholding one abstract apples from a countrywoman&rsquo;s
+pocket. The predatory elf at once turned
+round and tore out the eye that had marked his act.</p>
+<p>A Cornish woman who chanced to find herself the
+guardian of an elf-child was given certain water with
+which to wash its face. The liquid had the property
+of illuminating the infant&rsquo;s face with a supernatural
+brightness, and the woman ventured to try it upon
+herself, and in doing so splashed a little into one eye.
+This gave her the fairy sight. One day in the market-place
+she saw a fairy man stealing, and gave the alarm,
+when the enraged sprite cried:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;Water for elf, not water for self.</p>
+<p>You&rsquo;ve lost your eye, your child, and yourself.&rdquo;</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>She was immediately stricken blind in the right eye,
+her fairy foster-child vanished, and she and her husband
+sank into poverty and want.</p>
+<p>Another Breton tale recounts how a mortal woman was
+given a polished stone in the form of an egg wherewith
+to rub a fairy child&rsquo;s eyes. She applied it to her own
+right eye, and became possessed of magic sight so far
+as elves were concerned. Still another case, alluded to
+in the <i>Revue Celtique</i>,<a name='FNanchor_0030' id='FNanchor_0030'></a><a href='#Footnote_0030' class='fnanchor'>[30]</a> arose through &lsquo;the sacred bond&rsquo;
+formed between a fairy man and a mortal woman where
+both stood as godparents to a child. The association
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span>
+enabled the woman to see magically. The fairy maiden
+Rockflower bestows a similar gift on her lover in a
+Breton tale from Saint-Cast, and speaks of &ldquo;clearing
+his eyes like her own.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0031' id='FNanchor_0031'></a><a href='#Footnote_0031' class='fnanchor'>[31]</a></p>
+<h3><i>Changelings</i></h3>
+<p>The Breton fairies, like others of their race, are fond of
+kidnapping mortal children and leaving in their places
+wizened elves who cause the greatest trouble to the
+distressed parents. The usual method of ridding a
+family of such a changeling is to surprise it in some
+manner so that it will betray its true character. Thus,
+on suspicion resting upon a certain Breton infant who
+showed every sign of changeling nature, milk was boiled
+on the fire in egg-shells, whereupon the impish youngster
+cried: &ldquo;I shall soon be a hundred years old, but I never
+saw so many shells boiling! I was born in Pif and Paf,
+in the country where cats are made, but I never saw
+anything like it!&rdquo; Thus self-revealed, the elf was
+expelled from the house. In most Northern tales where
+the changeling betrays itself it at once takes flight and
+a train of elves appears, bringing back the true infant.
+Again, if the wizened occupant of the cradle can be
+made to laugh that is accepted as proof of its fairy
+nature. &ldquo;Something ridiculous,&rdquo; says Simrock, &ldquo;must
+be done to cause him to laugh, for laughter brings
+deliverance.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0032' id='FNanchor_0032'></a><a href='#Footnote_0032' class='fnanchor'>[32]</a> The same stratagem appears to be used
+as the cure in English and Scots changeling tales.</p>
+<h3><i>The King of the Fishes</i></h3>
+<p>The Breton fays were prone, too, to take the shape of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span>
+animals, birds, and even of fish. As we have seen, the
+sea-fairies of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer were in the habit of
+taking the shape of fish for the purpose of annoying
+fishermen and damaging their gear. Another Breton
+tale from Saint-Cast illustrates their penchant for the
+fish shape. A fisherman of that town one day was
+lucky enough to catch the King of the Fishes disguised
+as a small golden fish. The fish begged hard to be
+released, and promised, if he were set free, to sacrifice
+as many of his subjects as would daily fill the fisherman&rsquo;s
+nets. On this understanding the finny monarch
+was given his liberty, and fulfilled his promise to the
+letter. Moreover, when the fisherman&rsquo;s boat was
+capsized in a gale the Fish King appeared, and, holding
+a flask to the drowning man&rsquo;s lips, made him drink a
+magic fluid which ensured his ability to exist under
+water. He conveyed the fisherman to his capital, a
+place of dazzling splendour, paved with gold and gems.
+The rude caster of nets instantly filled his pockets with
+the spoil of this marvellous causeway. Though probably
+rather disturbed by the incident, the Fish King, with
+true royal politeness, informed him that whenever
+he desired to return the way was open to him. The
+fisherman expressed his sorrow at having to leave such
+a delightful environment, but added that unless he
+returned to earth his wife and family would regard
+him as lost. The Fish King called a large tunny-fish,
+and as Arion mounted the dolphin in the old
+Argolian tale, so the fisherman approached the tunny,
+which</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Hollowed his back and shaped it as a selle.<a name='FNanchor_0033' id='FNanchor_0033'></a><a href='#Footnote_0033' class='fnanchor'>[33]</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span></div>
+<p>The fisherman at once</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Seized the strange sea-steed by his bristling fin</p>
+<p>And vaulted on his shoulders; the fleet fish</p>
+<p>Swift sought the shallows and the friendly shore.<a name='FNanchor_0034' id='FNanchor_0034'></a><a href='#Footnote_0034' class='fnanchor'>[34]</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<p>Before dismissing the fisherman, however, the Fish
+King presented him with an inexhaustible purse&mdash;probably
+as a hint that it would be unnecessary for him
+on a future visit to disturb his paving arrangements.</p>
+<h3><i>Fairy Origins</i></h3>
+<p>Two questions which early obtrude themselves in the
+consideration of Breton fairy-lore are: Are all the
+fays of Brittany malevolent? And, if so, whence proceeds
+this belief that fairy-folk are necessarily malign?
+Example treads upon example to prove that the Breton
+fairy is seldom beneficent, that he or she is prone to
+ill-nature and spitefulness, not to say fiendish malice on
+occasion. There appears to be a deep-rooted conviction
+that the elfish race devotes itself to the annoyance
+of mankind, practising a species of peculiarly irritating
+trickery, wanton and destructive. Only very rarely is
+a spirit of friendliness evinced, and then a motive
+is usually obvious. The &lsquo;friendly&rsquo; fairy invariably has
+an axe to grind.</p>
+<p>Two reasons may be advanced to account for this
+condition of things. First, the fairy-folk&mdash;in which are
+included house and field spirits&mdash;may be the traditional
+remnant of a race of real people, perhaps a prehistoric
+race, driven into the remote parts of the country by
+strange immigrant conquerors. Perhaps these primitive
+folk were elfish, dwarfish, or otherwise peculiar in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+appearance to the superior new-comers, who would in
+pride of race scorn the small, swarthy aborigines, and
+refuse all communion with them. We may be sure that
+the aborigines, on their part, would feel for their tall,
+handsome conquerors all the hatred of which a subject
+race is capable, never approaching them unless under
+compulsion or necessity, and revenging themselves
+upon them by every means of annoyance in their power.
+We may feel certain, too, that the magic of these conquered
+and discredited folk would be made full use of
+to plague the usurpers of the soil, and trickery, as irritating
+as any elf-pranks, would be brought to increase
+the discomfort of the new-comers.</p>
+<p>There are, however, several good objections to this
+view of the origin of the fairy idea. First and foremost,
+the smaller prehistoric aboriginal peoples of
+Europe themselves possessed tales of little people, of
+spirits of field and forest, flood and fell. It is unlikely
+that man was ever without these.</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Yea, I sang, as now I sing, when the Prehistoric Spring</p>
+<p>Made the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and shove,</p>
+<p>And the troll, and gnome, and dwerg, and the gods of cliff and berg</p>
+<p>Were about me and beneath me and above.<a name='FNanchor_0035' id='FNanchor_0035'></a><a href='#Footnote_0035' class='fnanchor'>[35]</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<p>The idea of animism, the belief that everything had a
+personality of its own, certainly belonged to the later
+prehistoric period, for among the articles which fill
+the graves of aboriginal peoples, for use on the last
+journey, we find weapons to enable the deceased
+to drive off the evil spirits which would surround his
+own after death. Spirits, to early man, are always relatively
+smaller than himself. He beholds the &ldquo;picture
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
+of a little man&rdquo; in his comrade&rsquo;s eyes, and concludes
+it to be his &lsquo;soul.&rsquo; Some primitive peoples, indeed,
+believe that several parts of the body have each their
+own resident soul. Again, the spirit of the corn or the
+spirit of the flower, the savage would argue, must in the
+nature of things be small. We can thus see how the
+belief in &lsquo;the little folk&rsquo; may have arisen, and how they
+remained little until a later day.</p>
+<p>A much more scientific theory of the origin of the belief
+in fairies is that which sees in them the deities of a
+discredited religion, the gods of an aboriginal people,
+rather than the people themselves. Such were the
+Irish <i>Daoine Sidhe</i>, and the Welsh <i>y Mamau</i> (&lsquo;the
+Mothers&rsquo;)&mdash;undoubtedly gods of the Celts. Again,
+although in many countries, especially in England, the
+fairies are regarded as small of stature, in Celtic countries
+the fay proper, as distinct from the brownie and such
+goblins, is of average mortal height, and this would
+seem to be the case in Brittany. Whether the gorics
+and courils of Brittany, who seem sufficiently small, are
+fairies or otherwise is a moot point. They seem
+to be more of the field spirit type, and are perhaps
+classed more correctly with the gnome race; we thus
+deal with them in our chapter on sprites and demons.
+It would seem, too, as if there might be ground for
+the belief that the normal-sized fairy race of Celtic
+countries had become confounded with the Teutonic idea
+of elves (Teut. <i>Elfen</i>) in Germany and England, from
+which, perhaps, they borrowed their diminutive size.</p>
+<p>But these are only considerations, not conclusions.
+Strange as it may seem, folk-lore has by no means solved
+the fairy problem, and much remains to be accomplished
+ere we can write &lsquo;Finis&rsquo; to the study of fairy origins.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Margots</i></h3>
+<p>Another Breton name for the fairies is <i>les Margots la
+f�e</i>, a title which is chiefly employed in several districts
+of the C�tes-du-Nord, principally in the <i>arrondissements</i>
+of Saint-Brieuc and Loud�ac, to describe those fairies
+who have their abode in large rocks and on the wild
+and extensive moorlands which are so typical of the
+country. These, unlike the <i>f�es houles</i>, are able to
+render themselves invisible at pleasure. Like human
+beings, they are subject to maladies, and are occasionally
+glad to accept mortal succour. They return kindness
+for kindness, but are vindictive enemies to those
+who attempt to harm them.</p>
+<p>But fairy vindictiveness is not lavished upon those
+unwitting mortals who do them harm alone. If one
+chances to succeed in a task set by the immortals of
+the forest, one is in danger of death, as the following
+story shows.</p>
+<h3><i>The Boy who Served the Fairies</i></h3>
+<p>A poor little fellow was one day gathering faggots in
+the forest when a gay, handsomely dressed gentleman
+passed him, and, noticing the lad&rsquo;s ragged and forlorn
+condition, said to him: &ldquo;What are you doing there,
+my boy?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am looking for wood, sir,&rdquo; replied the boy. &ldquo;If I
+did not do so we should have no fire at home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are very poor at home, then?&rdquo; asked the
+gentleman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So poor,&rdquo; said the lad, &ldquo;that sometimes we only eat
+once a day, and often go supperless to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_9' id='linki_9'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs09.jpg' alt='' title='' width='412' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE POOR BOY AND THE THREE FAIRY DAMSELS<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;That is a sad tale,&rdquo; said the gentleman. &ldquo;If you
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
+will promise to meet me here within a month I will
+give you some money, which will help your parents
+and feed and clothe your small brothers and sisters.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Prompt to the day and the hour, the boy kept the
+tryst in the forest glade, at the very spot where he had
+met the gentleman. But though he looked anxiously
+on every side he could see no signs of his friend. In
+his anxiety he pushed farther into the forest, and came
+to the borders of a pond, where three damsels were
+preparing to bathe. One was dressed in white, another
+in grey, and the third in blue. The boy pulled off his
+cap, gave them good-day, and asked politely if they
+had not seen a gentleman in the neighbourhood. The
+maiden who was dressed in white told him where the
+gentleman was to be found, and pointed out a road by
+which he might arrive at his castle.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He will ask you,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;to become his servant,
+and if you accept he will wish you to eat. The first
+time that he presents the food to you, say: &lsquo;It is I who
+should serve you.&rsquo; If he asks you a second time make
+the same reply; but if he should press you a third
+time refuse brusquely and thrust away the plate which
+he offers you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The boy was not long in finding the castle, and was
+at once shown into the gentleman&rsquo;s presence. As the
+maiden dressed in white had foretold, he requested
+the youth to enter his service, and when his offer was
+accepted placed before him a plate of viands. The
+lad bowed politely, but refused the food. A second
+time it was offered, but he persisted in his refusal,
+and when it was proffered to him a third time he thrust
+it away from him so roughly that it fell to the ground
+and the plate was broken.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the gentleman, &ldquo;you are just the kind of
+servant I require. You are now my lackey, and if you
+are able to do three things that I command you I will
+give you one of my daughters for your wife and you
+shall be my son-in-law.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The next day he gave the boy a hatchet of lead, a
+saw of paper, and a wheelbarrow made of oak-leaves,
+bidding him fell, bind up, and measure all the wood
+in the forest within a radius of seven leagues. The
+new servant at once commenced his task, but the
+hatchet of lead broke at the first blow, the saw of
+paper buckled at the first stroke, and the wheelbarrow
+of oak-leaves was broken by the weight of the first
+little branch he placed on it. The lad in despair sat
+down, and could do nothing but gaze at the useless
+implements. At midday the damsel dressed in white
+whom he had seen at the pond came to bring him
+something to eat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;why do you sit thus idle? If my
+father should come and find that you have done nothing
+he would kill you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can do nothing with such wretched tools,&rdquo; grumbled
+the lad.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you see this wand?&rdquo; said the damsel, producing
+a little rod. &ldquo;Take it in your hand and walk round
+the forest, and the work will take care of itself. At
+the same time say these words: &lsquo;Let the wood fall,
+tie itself into bundles, and be measured.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The boy did as the damsel advised him, and matters
+proceeded so satisfactorily that by a little after midday
+the work was completed. In the evening the gentleman
+said to him:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you accomplished your task?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir. Do you wish to see it? The wood is
+cut and tied into bundles of the proper weight and
+measurement.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; said the gentleman. &ldquo;To-morrow I will
+set you the second task.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On the following morning he took the lad to a knoll
+some distance from the castle, and said to him:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You see this rising ground? By this evening you
+must have made it a garden well planted with fruit-trees
+and having a fish-pond in the middle, where
+ducks and other water-fowl may swim. Here are your
+tools.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The tools were a pick of glass and a spade of earthenware.
+The boy commenced the work, but at the first
+stroke his fragile pick and spade broke into a thousand
+fragments. For the second time he sat down helplessly.
+Time passed slowly, and as before at midday the damsel
+in white brought him his dinner.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I find you once more with your arms folded,&rdquo; she
+said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I cannot work with a pick of glass and an earthenware
+spade,&rdquo; complained the youth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here is another wand,&rdquo; said the damsel. &ldquo;Take it
+and walk round this knoll, saying: &lsquo;Let the place be
+planted and become a beautiful garden with fruit-trees,
+in the middle of which is a fish-pond with ducks swimming
+upon it.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The boy took the wand, did as he was bid, and the work
+was speedily accomplished. A beautiful garden arose
+as if by enchantment, well furnished with fruit-trees of
+all descriptions and ornamented with a small sheet of
+water.</p>
+<p>Once more his master was quite satisfied with the result,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span>
+and on the third morning set him his third task. He
+took him beneath one of the towers of the castle.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Behold this tower,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is of polished
+marble. You must climb it, and at the top you will
+find a turtle-dove, which you must bring to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The gentleman, who was of opinion that the damsel
+in white had helped his servant in the first two tasks,
+sent her to the town to buy provisions. When she
+received this order the maiden retired to her chamber
+and burst into tears. Her sisters asked her what was
+the matter, and she told them that she wished to remain
+at the castle, so they promised to go to the town in her
+stead. At midday she found the lad sitting at the foot
+of the tower bewailing the fact that he could not climb
+its smooth and glassy sides.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have come to help you once more,&rdquo; said the damsel.
+&ldquo;You must get a cauldron, then cut me into morsels and
+throw in all my bones, without missing a single one.
+It is the only way to succeed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never!&rdquo; exclaimed the youth. &ldquo;I would sooner die
+than harm such a beautiful lady as you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yet you must do as I say,&rdquo; she replied.</p>
+<p>For a long time the youth refused, but at last he gave
+way to the maiden&rsquo;s entreaties, cut her into little pieces,
+and placed the bones in a large cauldron, forgetting,
+however, the little toe of her left foot. Then he rose as
+if by magic to the top of the tower, found the turtle-dove,
+and came down again.<a name='FNanchor_0036' id='FNanchor_0036'></a><a href='#Footnote_0036' class='fnanchor'>[36]</a> Having completed his task, he
+took a wand which lay beside the cauldron, and when
+he touched the bones they came together again and the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span>
+damsel stepped out of the great pot none the worse for
+her experience.</p>
+<p>When the young fellow carried the dove to his master
+the gentleman said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is well. I shall carry out my promise and give you
+one of my daughters for your wife, but all three shall be
+veiled and you must pick the one you desire without
+seeing her face.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The three damsels were then brought into his presence,
+but the lad easily recognized the one who had assisted
+him, because she lacked the small toe of the left foot.
+So he chose her without hesitation, and they were
+married.</p>
+<p>But the gentleman was not content with the marriage.
+On the day of the bridal he placed the bed of the young
+folks over a vault, and hung it from the roof by four
+cords. When they had gone to bed he came to the
+door of the chamber and said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Son-in-law, are you asleep?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, not yet,&rdquo; replied the youth.</p>
+<p>Some time afterward he repeated his question, and met
+with a similar answer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The next time he comes,&rdquo; said the bride, &ldquo;pretend
+that you are sleeping.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Shortly after that his father-in-law asked once more if he
+were asleep, and receiving no answer retired, evidently
+well satisfied.</p>
+<p>When he had gone the bride made her husband rise at
+once. &ldquo;Go instantly to the stables,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and
+take there the horse which is called Little Wind, mount
+him, and fly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The young fellow hastened to comply with her request,
+and he had scarcely left the chamber when the master
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+of the castle returned and asked if his daughter were
+asleep. She answered &ldquo;No,&rdquo; and, bidding her arise
+and come with him, he cut the cords, so that the bed
+fell into the vault beneath. The bride now heard the
+trampling of hoofs in the garden outside, and rushed out
+to find her husband in the act of mounting.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Stay!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;You have taken Great Wind
+instead of Little Wind, as I advised you, but there is no
+help for it,&rdquo; and she mounted behind him. Great Wind
+did not belie his name, and dashed into the night like a
+tempest.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you see anything?&rdquo; asked the girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, nothing,&rdquo; said her husband.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Look again,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you see anything now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I see a great flame of fire.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The bride took her wand, struck it three times, and said:
+&ldquo;I change thee, Great Wind, into a garden, myself into
+a pear-tree, and my husband into a gardener.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The transformation had hardly been effected when the
+master of the castle and his wife came up with them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, my good man,&rdquo; cried he to the seeming gardener,
+&ldquo;has any one on horseback passed this way?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Three pears for a sou,&rdquo; said the gardener.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is not an answer to my question,&rdquo; fumed the old
+wizard, for such he was. &ldquo;I asked if you had seen any
+one on horseback in this direction.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Four for a sou, then, if you will,&rdquo; said the gardener.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Idiot!&rdquo; foamed the enchanter, and dashed on in
+pursuit. The young wife then changed herself, her
+horse, and her husband into their natural forms, and,
+mounting once more, they rode onward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you see anything now?&rdquo; asked she.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I see a great flame of fire,&rdquo; he replied.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span></div>
+<p>Once more she took her wand. &ldquo;I change this steed
+into a church,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;myself into an altar, and my
+husband into a priest.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Very soon the wizard and his wife came to the doors of
+the church and asked the priest if a youth and a lady
+had passed that way on horseback.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dominus vobiscum,&rdquo; said the priest, and nothing more
+could the wizard get from him.</p>
+<p>Pursued once more, the young wife changed the horse
+into a river, herself into a boat, and her husband
+into a boatman. When the wizard came up with them
+he asked to be ferried across the river. The boatman
+at once made room for them, but in the middle of the
+stream the boat capsized and the enchanter and his wife
+were drowned.</p>
+<p>The young lady and her husband returned to the castle,
+seized the treasure of its fairy lord, and, says tradition,
+lived happily ever afterward, as all young spouses do in
+fairy-tale.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IV_SPRITES_AND_DEMONS_OF_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_IV_SPRITES_AND_DEMONS_OF_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV: SPRITES AND DEMONS OF BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> idea of the evil spirit, malicious and revengeful,
+is common to all primitive peoples, and
+Brittany has its full share of demonology.
+Wherever, in fact, a primitive and illiterate peasantry is
+found the demon is its inevitable accompaniment. But
+we shall not find these Breton devils so very different
+from the fiends of other lands.</p>
+<h3><i>The Nain</i></h3>
+<p>The nain is a figure fearsomely Celtic in its hideousness,
+resembling the gargoyles which peer down upon the
+traveller from the carven &lsquo;top-hamper&rsquo; of so many
+Breton churches. Black and menacing of countenance,
+these demon-folk are armed with feline claws, and their
+feet end in hoofs like those of a satyr. Their dark elf-locks,
+small, gleaming eyes, red as carbuncles, and harsh,
+cracked voices are all dilated upon with fear by those
+who have met them upon lonely heaths or unfrequented
+roads. They haunt the ancient dolmens built by a
+vanished race, and at night, by the pale starlight, they
+dance around these ruined tombs to the music of a
+primitive refrain:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,</p>
+<p>Thursday and Friday.&rdquo;</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>Saturday and Sunday they dare not mention as being
+days sacred from fairy influence. We all remember
+that in the old tale of Tom Thumb the elves among
+whom the hero fell sang such a refrain. But wherefore?
+It would indeed be difficult to say. Deities, credited and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
+discredited, have often a connexion with the calendar,
+and we may have here some calendric reference, or
+again the chant may be merely a nonsense rhyme.
+Bad luck attached itself to the human who chanced
+to behold the midnight revels of the nains, and if he
+entered the charmed circle and danced along with them
+his death was certain to ensue before the year was out.
+Wednesday was the nains&rsquo; high-day, or rather night,
+and their great <i>nuit festale</i> was the first Wednesday in
+May. That they should have possessed a fixed festival
+at such a period, full of religious significance for most
+primitive peoples, would seem to show that they must at
+one time have been held in considerable esteem.</p>
+<p>But although the nains while away their time in such
+simple fashion as dancing to the repetition of the names
+of the days of the week, they have a less innocent side
+to their characters, for they are forgers of false money,
+which they fabricate in the recesses of caverns. We
+all recall stories of fairy gold and its perishable nature.
+A simple youth sells something on market day to a
+fairy, and later on turning over in his pocket the money
+he has received he finds that it has been transformed
+into beans. The housewife receives gold from a fairy
+for services rendered, and carefully places it in a
+drawer. A day when she requires it arrives, but, alas!
+when she opens the cabinet to take it out she finds
+nothing but a small heap of withered leaves. It is such
+money that the nains manufacture in their subterranean
+mints&mdash;coin which bears the fairy impress of glamourie
+for a space, but on later examination proves to be
+merely dross.</p>
+<p>The nains are also regarded as the originators of a
+cabalistic alphabet, the letters of which are engraved
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
+on several of the megalithic monuments of Morbihan,
+and especially those of Gavr&rsquo;inis. He who is able to
+decipher this magic script, says tradition, will be able
+to tell where hidden treasure is to be found in any part
+of the country. Lest any needy folk be of a mind to
+fare to Brittany to try their luck in this respect it is
+only right to warn them that in all probability they will
+find the treasure formula in ogham characters or
+serpentine markings, and that as the first has long
+ago been deciphered and the second is pure symbolism
+they will waste their time and money in any event.</p>
+<p>Sorcery hangs about the nain like a garment. Here he
+is a prophet and a diviner as well as an enchanter, and
+as much of his magic power is employed for ill, small
+wonder that the Breton peasant shudders and frowns
+when the name of the fearsome tribe is spoken and
+gives the dolmens they are supposed to haunt the
+widest of wide berths <i>au clair de la lune</i>.</p>
+<h3><i>Crions, Courils, and Gorics</i></h3>
+<p>Brittany has a species of dwarfs or gnomes peculiar to
+itself which in various parts of the country are known
+as crions, courils, or gorics. It will at once be seen
+how greatly the last word resembles Korrigan, and as
+all of them perhaps proceed from a root meaning &lsquo;spirit&rsquo;
+the nominal resemblance is not surprising. Like the
+nains, these smaller beings inhabit abandoned Druidical
+monuments or dwell beneath the foundations of ancient
+castles. Carnac is sometimes alluded to in Breton as
+&lsquo;Ty C&rsquo;harriquet,&rsquo; &lsquo;the House of the Gorics,&rsquo; the country-folk
+in this district holding the belief that its megalithic
+monuments were reared by these manikins, whom
+they describe as between two and three feet high, but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+exceedingly strong, just as the Scottish peasantry speak
+of the Picts of folk-lore&mdash;&lsquo;wee fouk but unco&rsquo; strang.&rsquo;
+Every night the gorics dance in circles round the stones
+of Carnac, and should a mortal interrupt their frolic he
+is forced to join in the dance, until, breathless and
+exhausted, he falls prone to the earth amid peals of
+mocking laughter. Like the nains, the gorics are the
+guardians of hidden treasure, for the tale goes that
+beneath one of the menhirs of Carnac lies a golden
+hoard, and that all the other stones have been set up
+the better to conceal it, and so mystify those who would
+discover its resting-place. A calculation, the key to
+which is to be found in the Tower of London, will alone
+indicate the spot where the treasure lies. And here it
+may be of interest to state that the ancient national
+fortalice of England occurs frequently in Breton and
+in Celtic romance.<a name='FNanchor_0037' id='FNanchor_0037'></a><a href='#Footnote_0037' class='fnanchor'>[37]</a> Some of the immigrant Britons
+into Armorica probably came from the settlement which
+was later to grow into London, and may have carried
+tales of its ancient British fortress into their new home.</p>
+<p>The courils are peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen.
+Like the gorics, they are fond of dancing, and they
+are quite as malignantly inclined toward the unhappy
+stranger who may stumble into their ring. The castle
+of Morlaix, too, is haunted by gorics not more than a
+foot high, who dwell beneath it in holes in the ground.
+They possess treasures as great as those of the gnomes
+of Norway or Germany, and these they will sometimes
+bestow on lucky mortals, who are permitted, however,
+to take but one handful. If a person should attempt to
+seize more the whole of the money vanishes, and the
+offender&rsquo;s ears are soundly boxed by invisible hands.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span></div>
+<p>The night-washers (<i>eur tunnerez noz</i>) are evil spirits
+who appear at night on the banks of streams and call
+on the passers-by to assist them to wash the linen of the
+dead. If they are refused, they seize upon the person
+who denies them, drag him into the water, and break
+his arms. These beings are obviously the same as the
+Bean Nighe, &lsquo;the Washing Woman&rsquo; of the Scottish
+Highlands, who is seen in lonely places beside a pool
+or stream, washing the linen of those who will shortly
+die. In Skye she is said to be short of stature. If
+any one catches her she tells all that will befall him in
+after life. In Perthshire she is represented as &ldquo;small
+and round and dressed in pretty green.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>The Teurst</i></h3>
+<p>In the district of Morlaix the peasants are terribly afraid
+of beings they call teursts. These are large, black, and
+fearsome, like the Highland ourisk, who haunted desert
+moors and glens. The <i>teursta poulict</i> appears in the
+likeness of some domestic animal. In the district of
+Vannes is encountered a colossal spirit called Teus or
+Bugelnoz, who appears clothed in white between midnight
+and two in the morning. His office is to rescue
+victims from the devil, and should he spread his mouth
+over them they are secure from the Father of Evil.
+The Dusii of Gaul are mentioned by St Augustine, who
+regarded them as <i>incubi</i>, and by Isidore of Seville, and
+in the name we may perhaps discover the origin of our
+expression &lsquo;the deuce!&rsquo;</p>
+<h3><i>The Nicole</i></h3>
+<p>The Nicole is a spirit of modern creation who torments
+the honest fishermen of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+Saint-Malo. Just as they are about to draw in their
+nets this mischievous spirit leaps around them, freeing
+the fish, or he will loosen a boat&rsquo;s anchor so that it will
+drift on to a sand-bank. He may divide the cable
+which holds the anchor to the vessel and cause endless
+trouble. This spirit received its name from an officer
+who commanded a battalion of fishermen conscripts,
+and who from his intense severity and general reputation
+as a martinet obtained a bad reputation among the seafaring
+population.</p>
+<h3><i>The Mourioche</i></h3>
+<p>The Mourioche is a malicious demon of bestial nature,
+able, it would seem, to transform himself into any
+animal shape he chooses. In general appearance he
+is like a year-old foal. He is especially dangerous to
+children, and Breton babies are often chided when noisy
+or mischievous with the words: &ldquo;Be good, now, the
+Mourioche is coming!&rdquo; Of one who appears to have
+received a shock, also, it is said: &ldquo;He has seen the
+Mourioche.&rdquo; Unlucky is the person who gets in his
+way; but doubly so the unfortunate who attempts to
+mount him in the belief that he is an ordinary steed,
+for after a fiery gallop he will be precipitated into an
+abyss and break his neck.</p>
+<h3><i>The Ankou</i></h3>
+<p>Perhaps there is no spirit of evil which is so much
+dreaded by the Breton peasantry as the Ankou, who
+travels the duchy in a cart, picking up souls. In the
+dead of night a creaking axle-tree can be heard passing
+down the silent lanes. It halts at a door; the summons
+has been given, a soul quits the doomed house, and the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+wagon of the Ankou passes on. The Ankou herself&mdash;for
+the dread death-spirit of Brittany is probably female&mdash;is
+usually represented as a skeleton. M. Anatole
+le Braz has elaborated a study of the whole question
+in his book on the legend of death in Brittany,<a name='FNanchor_0038' id='FNanchor_0038'></a><a href='#Footnote_0038' class='fnanchor'>[38]</a>
+and it is probable that the Ankou is a survival of the
+death-goddess of the prehistoric dolmen-builders of
+Brittany. MacCulloch<a name='FNanchor_0039' id='FNanchor_0039'></a><a href='#Footnote_0039' class='fnanchor'>[39]</a> considers the Ankou to be a
+reminiscence of the Celtic god of death, who watches
+over all things beyond the grave and carries off the dead
+to his kingdom, but greatly influenced by medieval ideas
+of &lsquo;Death the skeleton.&rsquo; In some Breton churches a
+little model or statuette of the Ankou is to be seen, and
+this is nothing more nor less than a cleverly fashioned
+skeleton. The peasant origin of the belief can be found
+in the substitution of a cart or wagon for the more
+ambitious coach and four of other lands.</p>
+<h3><i>The Youdic</i></h3>
+<p>Dark and gloomy are many of the Breton legends, of
+evil things, gloomy as the depths of the forests in which
+doubtless many of them were conceived. Most folk-tales
+are tinged with melancholy, and it is rarely in
+Breton story that we discover a vein of the joyous.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_10' id='linki_10'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs10.jpg' alt='' title='' width='419' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE DEMON-DOG<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Among the peaks of the Montagnes d&rsquo;Arr�e lies a vast
+and dismal peat bog known as the Yeun, which has
+long been regarded by the Breton folk as the portal to
+the infernal regions. This Stygian locality has brought
+forth many legends. It is, indeed, a remarkable territory.
+In summer it seems a vast moor carpeted by
+glowing purple heather, which one can traverse up to a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span>
+certain point, but woe betide him who would advance
+farther, for, surrounded by what seems solid ground,
+lies a treacherous quagmire declared by the people
+of the neighbourhood to be unfathomable. This part of
+the bog, whose victims have been many, is known as
+the Youdic. As one leans over it its waters may sometimes
+be seen to simmer and boil, and the peasants of
+the country-side devoutly believe that when this occurs
+infernal forces are working beneath, madly revelling,
+and that it is only the near presence of St Michael,
+whose mount is hard by, which restrains them from
+doing active harm to those who may have to cross the
+Yeun.</p>
+<p>Countless stories are afloat concerning this weird maelstrom
+of mud and bubbling water. At one time it was
+the custom to hurl animals suspected of being evil spirits
+into its black depths. Malevolent fiends, it was thought,
+were wont to materialize in the form of great black dogs,
+and unfortunate animals of this type, if they evinced
+such peculiarities as were likely to place them under
+suspicion, were taken forthwith to the Youdic by a
+member of the enlightened priesthood of the district,
+and were cast into its seething depths with all the
+ceremonies suitable to such an occasion.</p>
+<p>A story typical of those told about the place is that of
+one Job Ann Drez, who seems to have acted as sexton
+and assisted the parish priest in his dealings with the
+supernatural. Along with the priest, Job repaired one
+evening after sunset to the gloomy waters of the Youdic,
+dragging behind him a large black dog of the species
+most likely to excite distrust in the priestly mind. The
+priest showed considerable anxiety lest the animal should
+break loose.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;If he should get away,&rdquo; he said nervously, &ldquo;both of
+us are lost.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I will wager he does not,&rdquo; replied Job, tying the cord
+by which the brute was led securely to his wrist.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Forward, then,&rdquo; said the priest, and he walked boldly
+in front, until they came to the foot of the mountain on
+the summit of which lies the Youdic.</p>
+<p>The priest turned warningly to Job. &ldquo;You must be
+circumspect in this place,&rdquo; he said very gravely.
+&ldquo;Whatever you may hear, be sure not to turn your
+head. Your life in this world and your salvation in the
+next depend absolutely on this. You understand me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, I understand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A vast desolation surrounded them. So dark was the
+night that it seemed to envelop them like a velvet
+curtain. Beneath their feet they heard the hissing and
+moaning of the bog, awaiting its prey like a restless
+and voracious wild beast. Through the dense blackness
+they could see the iridescent waters writhing and
+gleaming below.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; said Job half to himself, &ldquo;this must be the
+gateway to hell!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At that word the dog uttered a frightful howl&mdash;such a
+howl as froze Job&rsquo;s blood in his veins. It tugged and
+strained at the cord which held it with the strength of
+a demon, striving to turn on Job and rend him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hold on!&rdquo; cried the priest in mortal terror, keeping
+at a safe distance, however. &ldquo;Hold on, I entreat you,
+or else we are undone!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Job held on to the demon-dog with all his strength.
+Indeed, it was necessary to exert every thew and sinew
+if the animal were to be prevented from tearing him to
+pieces. Its howls were sufficient to strike terror to the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+stoutest heart. &ldquo;Iou! Iou!&rdquo; it yelled again and again.</p>
+<p>But Job held on desperately, although the cord cut his
+hands and blood ran from the scarified palms. Inch
+by inch he dragged the brute toward the Youdic. The
+creature in a last desperate effort turned and was about
+to spring on him open-mouthed, when all at once the
+priest, darting forward, threw his cloak over its head.
+It uttered a shriek which sounded through the night
+like the cry of a lost soul.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quick!&rdquo; cried the priest. &ldquo;Lie flat on the earth and
+put your face on the ground!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Scarcely had the two men done so than a frightful
+tumult ensued. First there was the sound of a body
+leaping into the morass, then such an uproar as could
+only proceed from the mouth of the infernal regions.
+Shrieks, cries, hissings, explosions followed in quick
+succession for upward of half an hour; then gradually
+they died away and a horrible stillness took their place.
+The two men rose trembling and unnerved, and slowly
+took their way through the darkness, groping and
+stumbling until they had left the awful vicinity of the
+Yeun behind them.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_V_WORLDTALES_IN_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_V_WORLDTALES_IN_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER V: WORLD-TALES IN BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">I have</span> entitled this chapter &lsquo;World-Tales&rsquo; to
+indicate that the stories it contains are in plot or
+<i>motif</i> if not in substance common to the whole
+world&mdash;that, in short, although they are found in
+Brittany, they are no more Breton than Italian, Russian,
+American, or Australian. But although the story which
+tells of the search for the golden-haired princess on the
+magic horse is the possession of no one particular race,
+the tales recounted here have the Breton colouring and
+the Breton spirit, and in perusing them we encounter
+numerous little allusions to Breton customs or manners
+and obtain not a few sidelights upon the Breton character,
+its shrewdness and its goodwill, while we may note as
+well the narrowness of view and meanness so characteristic
+of peoples who have been isolated for a long period
+from contact with other races.</p>
+<p>The first two of these tales are striking ones built upon
+two world-<i>motifs</i>&mdash;those of the magic horse and the
+search for the golden-haired princess, who is, of course,
+the sun, two themes which have been amalgamated in
+not a few deathless stories.</p>
+<h3><i>The Youth who did not Know</i></h3>
+<p>One day the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou was returning
+from Morlaix, when he beheld lying on the road a little
+fellow of four or five years of age. He leapt from his
+horse, picked the child up, and asked him what he did
+there.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; replied the little boy.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who is your father?&rdquo; asked the Marquis.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; said the child for the second time.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And your mother?&rdquo; asked the kindly nobleman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where are you now, my child?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then what is your name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Marquis told his serving-man to place the child on
+the crupper of his horse, as he had taken a fancy to him
+and would adopt him. He called him N&rsquo;Oun Doare,
+which signifies in Breton, &lsquo;I do not know.&rsquo; He educated
+him, and when his schooling was finished took him to
+Morlaix, where they put up at the best inn in the town.
+The Marquis could not help admiring his adopted son,
+who had now grown into a tall, handsome youth, and so
+pleased was he with him that he desired to signify his
+approval by making him a little present, which he
+resolved should take the form of a sword. So they
+went out into the town and visited the armourers&rsquo; shops
+in search of a suitable weapon. They saw swords of all
+kinds, but N&rsquo;Oun Doare would have none of them,
+until at last they passed the booth of a seller of scrap-metal,
+where hung a rusty old rapier which seemed fit
+for nothing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; cried N&rsquo;Oun Doare, &ldquo;that is the sword for me.
+Please buy it, I beg of you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, don&rsquo;t you see what a condition it is in?&rdquo; said
+the Marquis. &ldquo;It is not a fit weapon for a gentleman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nevertheless it is the only sword I wish for,&rdquo; said
+N&rsquo;Oun Doare.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, well, you are a strange fellow,&rdquo; said the Marquis,
+but he bought the sword nevertheless, and they returned
+to Coat-Squiriou. The next day N&rsquo;Oun Doare examined
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span>
+his sword and discovered that the blade had the words
+&ldquo;I am invincible&rdquo; engraved upon it.</p>
+<p>Some time afterward the Marquis said to him: &ldquo;It is
+time that you had a horse. Come with me to Morlaix
+and we will purchase one.&rdquo; They accordingly set out
+for Morlaix. In the market-place they saw many fine
+animals, but with none of them was N&rsquo;Oun Doare
+content. On returning to the inn, however, he espied
+what looked like a broken-down mare standing by the
+roadside, and to this sorry beast he immediately drew
+the attention of the Marquis.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is the horse for me!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;I beg of you,
+purchase it for me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried the Marquis, &ldquo;that broken-down beast?
+Why, only look at it, my son.&rdquo; But N&rsquo;Oun Doare
+persisted, and at last, despite his own better judgment,
+the Marquis bought the animal. The man who sold it
+was a cunning-looking fellow from Cornouaille, who, as
+he put the bridle into N&rsquo;Oun Doare&rsquo;s hand, whispered:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You see the knots on the halter of this animal?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied N&rsquo;Oun Doare; &ldquo;what of them?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Only this, that each time you loosen one the mare will
+immediately carry you five hundred leagues from where
+you are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Marquis and his ward returned once more to the
+ch�teau, N&rsquo;Oun Doare riding his new purchase, when it
+entered into his head to untie one of the knots on the
+halter. He did so, and immediately descended in the
+middle of Paris&mdash;which we must take the story-teller&rsquo;s
+word for it is five hundred leagues from Brittany!</p>
+<p>Several months afterward the Marquis had occasion
+to go to Paris, and one of the first people he met there
+was N&rsquo;Oun Doare, who told him of his adventure.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
+The Marquis was going to visit the King, and took his
+<i>prot�g�</i> along with him to the palace, where he was well
+received.</p>
+<p>Some nights afterward the youth was walking with his
+old mare outside the walls of Paris, and noticed something
+which glittered very brightly at the foot of an
+ancient stone cross which stood where four roads met.
+He approached it and beheld a crown of gold, set with
+the most brilliant precious stones. He at once picked
+it up, when the old mare, turning its head, said to
+him: &ldquo;Take care; you will repent this.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Greatly surprised, N&rsquo;Oun Doare thought that he had
+better replace the crown, but a longing to possess it
+overcame him, and although the mare warned him once
+more he finally resolved to take it, and, putting it under
+his mantle, rode away.</p>
+<p>Now the King had confided to his care part of the royal
+stables, and when N&rsquo;Oun Doare entered them their
+darkness was immediately lit up by the radiance of the
+crown which he carried. So well had the Breton lad
+attended to the horses under his charge that the other
+squires had become jealous, and, observing the strange
+light in N&rsquo;Oun Doare&rsquo;s part of the stable, they mentioned
+it to the King, who in turn spoke of it to the Marquis of
+Coat-Squiriou. The Marquis asked N&rsquo;Oun Doare the
+meaning of the light, and the youth replied that it came
+from the ancient sword they had bought at Morlaix,
+which was an enchanted weapon and shone at intervals
+with strange brilliance. But one night his enemies
+resolved to examine into the matter more closely, and,
+looking through the keyhole of the stable, they saw that
+the wondrous light which had so puzzled them shone
+from a magnificent crown of gold. They ran at once to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span>
+tell the King, and next night N&rsquo;Oun Doare&rsquo;s stable was
+opened with a master-key and the crown removed to the
+King&rsquo;s quarters. It was then seen that an inscription
+was engraved upon the diadem, but in such strange
+characters that no one could read it. The magicians
+of the capital were called into consultation, but none of
+them could decipher the writing. At last a little boy
+of seven years of age was found who said that it was
+the crown of the Princess Golden Bell. The King then
+called upon N&rsquo;Oun Doare to approach, and said to him:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You should not have hidden this thing from me, but
+as you are guilty of having done so I doom you to find
+the Princess Golden Bell, whom I desire shall become
+my wife. If you fail I shall put you to death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>N&rsquo;Oun Doare left the royal presence in a very perturbed
+state of mind. He went to seek his old mare with tears
+in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said the mare, &ldquo;the cause of your sorrow.
+You should have left the golden crown alone, as I told
+you. But do not repine; go to the King and ask him
+for money for your journey.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The lad received the money from the King, and set
+out on his journey. Arriving at the seashore, one
+of the first objects he beheld was a little fish cast
+up by the waves on the beach and almost at its last
+gasp.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Throw that fish back into the water,&rdquo; said the mare.
+N&rsquo;Oun Doare did so, and the fish, lifting its head from
+the water, said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have saved my life, N&rsquo;Oun Doare. I am the
+King of the Fishes, and if ever you require my help call
+my name by the seashore and I will come.&rdquo; With
+these words the Fish-King vanished beneath the water.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span></div>
+<p>A little later they came upon a bird struggling vainly
+to escape from a net in which it was caught.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Cut the net and set that poor bird free,&rdquo; said the wise
+mare.</p>
+<p>Upon N&rsquo;Oun Doare doing so the bird paused before
+it flew away and said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am the King of the Birds, N&rsquo;Oun Doare. I will
+never forget the service you have rendered me, and if
+ever you are in trouble and need my aid you have only
+to call me and I shall fly swiftly to help you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>As they went on their way N&rsquo;Oun Doare&rsquo;s wonderful
+mare crossed mountains, forests, vast seas, and streams
+with a swiftness and ease that was amazing. Soon they
+beheld the walls of the Ch�teau of the Golden Bell rising
+before them, and as they drew near they could hear a
+most confused and terrible noise coming from it, which
+shook N&rsquo;Oun Doare&rsquo;s courage and made him rather
+fearful of entering it. Near the door a being of the
+most curious aspect was hung to a tree by a chain, and
+this peculiar individual had as many horns on his body
+as there are days in the year.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Cut that unfortunate man down,&rdquo; said the mare.
+&ldquo;Will you not give him his freedom?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am too much afraid to approach him,&rdquo; said N&rsquo;Oun
+Doare, alarmed at the man&rsquo;s appearance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do not fear,&rdquo; said the sagacious animal; &ldquo;he will not
+harm you in any manner.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>N&rsquo;Oun Doare did so, and the stranger thanked him most
+gratefully, bidding him, as the others whom he had
+rescued had done, if he ever required help to call upon
+Grifescorne, King of the Demons, for that was his name,
+and he would be with him immediately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Enter the ch�teau boldly and without fear,&rdquo; said the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span>
+mare, &ldquo;and I will await you in the wood yonder. After
+the Princess Golden Bell has welcomed you she will
+show you all the curiosities and marvels of her dwelling.
+Tell her you have a horse without an equal, which
+can dance most beautifully the dances of every land.
+Say that your steed will perform them for her diversion
+if she will come and behold it in the forest.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Everything fell out as the mare had said, and the
+Princess was delighted and amused by the mare&rsquo;s
+dancing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you were to mount her,&rdquo; said N&rsquo;Oun Doare, &ldquo;I
+vow she would dance even more wonderfully than
+before!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Princess after a moment&rsquo;s hesitation did so. In
+an instant the adventurous youth was by her side, and
+the horse sped through the air, so that in a short space
+they found themselves flying over the sea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have tricked me!&rdquo; cried the infuriated damsel.
+&ldquo;But do not imagine that you are at the end of your
+troubles; and,&rdquo; she added viciously, &ldquo;you will have
+cause to lament more than once ere I wed the old King
+of France.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They arrived promptly at Paris, where N&rsquo;Oun Doare
+presented the lovely Princess to the monarch, saying:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sire, I have brought to you the Princess Golden Bell,
+whom you desire to make your wife.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_11' id='linki_11'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs11.jpg' alt='' title='' width='415' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+N&rsquo;OUN DOARE AND THE PRINCESS GOLDEN BELL<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>The King was dazed by the wondrous beauty of the
+Princess, and was eager for the marriage to take place
+immediately, but this the royal maiden would not hear
+of, and declared petulantly that she would not be wed
+until she had a ring which she had left behind her at
+her ch�teau, in a cabinet of which she had lost the key.</p>
+<p>Summoning N&rsquo;Oun Doare, the King charged him with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span>
+the task of finding the ring. The unfortunate youth
+returned to his wise mare, feeling much cast down.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said the mare, &ldquo;foolish one! do you not
+remember the King of the Birds whom you rescued?
+Call upon him, and mayhap he will aid you as he
+promised to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>With a return of hope N&rsquo;Oun Doare did as he was
+bid, and immediately the royal bird was with him, and
+asked him in what way he could help him. Upon
+N&rsquo;Oun Doare explaining his difficulty, the Bird-King
+summoned all his subjects, calling each one by name.
+They came, but none of them appeared to be small
+enough to enter the cabinet by way of the keyhole,
+which was the only means of entrance. The wren was
+decided to be the only bird with any chance of success,
+and he set out for the ch�teau.</p>
+<p>Eventually, with much difficulty and the loss of the
+greater part of his feathers, the bird procured the ring,
+and flew back with it to Paris. N&rsquo;Oun Doare hastened
+to present the ring to the Princess.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, fair one,&rdquo; said the impatient King, &ldquo;why delay
+our wedding longer?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; said she, pouting discontentedly, &ldquo;there is one
+thing that I wish, and without it I will do nothing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you desire? You have only to speak and
+it shall be <a name='TC_1'></a><ins title="Added quote">brought.&rdquo;</ins></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, transport my ch�teau with all it contains opposite
+to yours.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried the King, aghast. &ldquo;Impossible!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then, it is just as impossible that I should marry
+you, for without my ch�teau I shall not consent.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a second time the King gave N&rsquo;Oun Doare what
+seemed an insurmountable task.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Now indeed I am as good as lost!&rdquo; lamented the
+youth as they came to the ch�teau and he saw its
+massive walls towering above him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Call Grifescorne, King of the Demons, to your assistance,&rdquo;
+suggested the wise mare.</p>
+<p>With the aid of the Demon-King and his subjects
+N&rsquo;Oun Doare&rsquo;s task was again accomplished, and he
+and his mare followed the demon army to Paris, where
+they arrived as soon as it did.</p>
+<p>In the morning the people of Paris were struck dumb
+to see a wonderful palace, its golden towers flashing
+in the sun, rising opposite to the royal residence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall be married at last, shall we not?&rdquo; asked
+the King.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied the Princess, &ldquo;but how shall I enter my
+ch�teau and show you its wonders without a key, for
+I dropped it in the sea when N&rsquo;Oun Doare and his
+horse carried me over it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Once more was the youth charged with the task, and
+through the aid of the Fish-King was able to procure
+the key, which was cut from a single diamond. None
+of the fishes had seen it, but at last the oldest fish,
+who had not appeared when his name was pronounced,
+came forward and produced it from his mouth.</p>
+<p>With a glad heart the successful N&rsquo;Oun Doare returned
+to Paris, and as the Princess had now no more excuses
+to make the day of the wedding was fixed and the
+ceremony was celebrated with much splendour. To the
+astonishment of all, when the King and his betrothed
+entered the church N&rsquo;Oun Doare followed behind with
+his mare. At the conclusion of the ceremony the
+mare&rsquo;s skin suddenly fell to the ground, disclosing a
+maiden of the most wonderful beauty.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span></div>
+<p>Smiling upon the bewildered N&rsquo;Oun Doare, the damsel
+gave him her hand and said: &ldquo;Come with me to
+Tartary, for the king of that land is my father, and
+there we shall be wed amid great rejoicing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Leaving the amazed King and wedding guests, the
+pair quitted the church together. More might have
+been told of them, but Tartary is a far land and no
+news of them has of late years reached Brittany.</p>
+<h3><i>The Princess of Tronkolaine</i></h3>
+<p>There was once an old charcoal-burner who had twenty-six
+grandchildren. For twenty-five of them he had no
+great difficulty in procuring godparents, but for the
+twenty-sixth&mdash;that, alas! was a different story. Godmothers,
+indeed, were to be found in plenty, but he could
+not find anyone to act as godfather.</p>
+<p>As he wandered disconsolately along the high road,
+dwelling on his bad luck, he saw a fine carriage coming
+toward him, its occupant no less a personage than the
+King himself. The old man made an obeisance so low
+that the King was amused, and threw him a handful of
+silver.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My good man,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;here are alms for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your Majesty,&rdquo; replied the charcoal-burner, &ldquo;I do not
+desire alms. I am unhappy because I cannot find a
+godfather for my twenty-sixth grandchild.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The King considered the matter.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I myself will be godfather to the child,&rdquo; he said at
+length. &ldquo;Tell me when it is to be baptized and I will
+meet you at the church.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The old man was delighted beyond measure, and in
+due time he and his relatives brought the child to be
+baptized. When they reached the church, sure enough,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span>
+there was the King waiting to take part in the ceremony,
+and in his honour the child was named Charles. Before
+taking leave the King gave to the charcoal-burner the
+half of a coin which he had broken in two. This
+Charles on reaching his eighteenth birthday was to
+convey to the Court at Paris, as a token whereby his
+godfather should know him. His Majesty also left a
+thousand crowns, which were to be utilized in the
+education and general upbringing of the child.</p>
+<p>Time passed and Charles attained his eighteenth birthday.
+Taking the King&rsquo;s token, he set out for the royal
+abode. As he went he encountered an old man, who
+warned him on no account to drink from a certain well
+which he would pass on his way. The lad promised to
+regard the warning, but ere he reached the well he had
+forgotten it.</p>
+<p>A man sat by the side of the well.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are hot and tired,&rdquo; he said, feigning courtesy,
+&ldquo;will you not stop to drink?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The water was cool and inviting. Charles bent his head
+and drank thirstily. And while he drank the stranger
+robbed him of his token; but this he did not know till
+afterward.</p>
+<p>Gaily Charles resumed his way, while the thief went to
+Paris by a quicker route and got there before him.</p>
+<p>Boldly the thief demanded audience of the King, and
+produced the token so wickedly come by. The sovereign
+ordered the other half of the coin to be brought out,
+and lo! they fitted exactly. And because the thief had
+a plausible face the good King did not doubt that he
+was indeed his godson. He therefore had him treated
+with all honour and respect, and bestowed gifts upon
+him lavishly.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span></div>
+<p>Meanwhile Charles had arrived in Paris, and, finding
+that he had been deprived of his only means of proving
+his identity to the King, he accepted the situation
+philosophically and set about earning his living. He
+succeeded in obtaining a post as herdsman on the royal
+estates.</p>
+<p>One day the robber was greatly disconcerted to find the
+real Charles at the very gates of the palace. He determined
+to be rid of him once for all, so he straightway
+approached the King.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your Majesty, there is a man among your retainers
+who has said that he will demand of the sun why it is so
+red at sunrise.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He is indeed a foolish fellow,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Our
+decree is that he shall carry out his rash boast to-morrow
+ere sunset, or, if it be but idle folly, lose his head on
+the following morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The thief was delighted with the success of his plot.
+Poor Charles was summoned before the King and bidden
+to ask the sun why he was so red at sunrise. In vain he
+denied having uttered the speech. Had not the King
+the word of his godson?</p>
+<p>Next morning Charles set out on his journey. Ere he
+had gone very far he met an old man who asked him his
+errand, and afterward gave him a wooden horse on
+which to ride to the sun. Charles thought this but a
+sorry joke. However, no sooner had he mounted his
+wooden steed than it rose into the air and flew with him
+to where the sun&rsquo;s castle towered on the peak of a lofty
+mountain.</p>
+<p>To the sun, a resplendent warrior, Charles addressed
+his query.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In the morning,&rdquo; said the sun, &ldquo;I pass the castle of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+Princess of Tronkolaine, and she is so lovely that I must
+needs look my best.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Charles, mounted on his wooden horse, flew with this
+answer to Paris. The King was satisfied, but the thief
+gnashed his teeth in secret rage, and plotted yet further
+against the youth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your Majesty,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this herdsman who tends
+your herds has said that he will lead hither the Princess
+of Tronkolaine to be your bride.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If he has said so,&rdquo; replied the King, &ldquo;he shall lead her
+hither or forfeit his life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; thought Charles, when he learned of the plot,
+&ldquo;I must bid farewell to my life&mdash;there is no hope
+for me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>All the same he set out boldly enough, and by and by
+encountered the old man who had helped him on his
+previous mission. To him Charles confided his troubles,
+begging for advice and assistance.</p>
+<p>The old man pondered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Return to the Court,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and ask the King to
+give you three ships, one laden with oatmeal, another
+with bacon, and the third with salt meat. Then sail on
+till you come to an island covered with ants. To their
+monarch, the Ant-King, make a present of the cargo of
+oatmeal. He will direct you to a second island, whereon
+dwell fierce lions. Fear them not. Present your cargo
+of bacon to their King and he will become your friend.
+Yet a third island you will touch, inhabited only by
+sparrow-hawks. Give to their King your cargo of
+salt meat and he will show you the abode of the
+Princess.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Charles thanked the sage for his advice, which he
+promptly proceeded to follow. The King granted him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
+the three ships, and he sailed away in search of the
+Princess.</p>
+<p>When he came to the first island, which was swarming
+with ants, he gave up his cargo of grain, and so won
+the friendship of the little creatures. At the second
+island he unloaded the bacon, which he presented to
+the King of the Lions; while at the third he gave up
+the salt beef to the King of the Sparrow-hawks, who
+directed him how to come at the object of his quest.
+Each monarch bade Charles summon him instantly if
+he had need of assistance.</p>
+<p>Setting sail from the island of the sparrow-hawks, the
+youth arrived at length at the abode of the Princess.</p>
+<p>She was seated under an orange-tree, and as Charles
+gazed upon her he thought her the most beautiful
+woman in the world, as indeed she was.</p>
+<p>The Princess, looking up, beheld a comely youth,
+beneath whose ardent gaze her eyes fell. Smiling
+graciously, she invited him into her castle, and he,
+nothing loath, followed her into the great hall, where
+tempting viands were spread before him.</p>
+<p>When he had supped he made known his errand to the
+Princess, and begged her to accompany him to Paris.
+She agreed only on condition that he would perform
+three tasks set him, and when Charles was curious to
+know what was required of him she led him into another
+room where was a large heap of every kind of seed&mdash;corn,
+barley, clover, flax&mdash;all mixed up anyhow.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is the first task,&rdquo; said the Princess: &ldquo;you must
+put each kind of seed into a different heap, so that no
+single seed shall be out of its place. This you must
+accomplish ere to-morrow at sunrise.&rdquo; With that she
+left the room.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span></div>
+<p>Charles was in despair, until he bethought him of his
+friend the King of the Ants, whom he begged to help
+him. Scarcely had he uttered the words when ants
+began to fill the room, coming from he knew not where.
+In less time than it takes to tell they had arranged the
+seeds into separate heaps, so that no single seed was
+out of its place.</p>
+<p>When the Princess arrived in the morning she was
+astonished to find the hero fast asleep and the work
+accomplished. All day she entertained him hospitably
+in her castle, and at nightfall she showed him the second
+task. An avenue of great oaks led down from the
+castle. Giving him a wooden axe and a wooden saw,
+the Princess bade him cut down all the trees ere
+morning.</p>
+<p>When she had left him Charles called upon the King
+of the Lions. Instantly a number of lions bounded upon
+the scene, and with teeth and claws soon performed
+the task.</p>
+<p>In the morning the Princess, finding Charles asleep and
+all the trees cut down, was more astonished than ever.</p>
+<p>The third task was the most difficult of all. A high
+mountain had to be levelled to the plain in a single
+night. Without the help of the sparrow-hawks, Charles
+would certainly have failed, but these faithful creatures
+worked with a will, and soon had the great mountain
+carried away piece by piece and dropped into the sea.</p>
+<p>When the Princess came for the third time and found
+the hero asleep by the finished task she fell in love with
+him straightway, and kissed him softly on the brow.</p>
+<p>There was now nothing further to hinder his return,
+and he begged the Princess to accompany him to Paris.
+In due time they arrived in that city, to be welcomed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+with great warmth by the people. The beauty of the
+lady won all hearts. But great was the general
+astonishment when she declared that she would marry,
+not the King, but the youth who had brought her to
+Paris! Charles thereupon declared himself the true
+godson of the King, and the monarch, far from being
+angry, gave the couple his blessing and great estates;
+and when in course of time he died they reigned in his
+stead.</p>
+<p>As for the thief, he was ordered to execution forthwith,
+and was roasted to death in a large oven.</p>
+<h3><i>The Princess Starbright</i></h3>
+<p>This is another tale which introduces the search for the
+sun-princess in a peculiar setting.</p>
+<p>In the long ago there lived near the Lake of L�guer
+a jolly miller who found recreation after his work in
+shooting the wild swans and ducks which frequented
+that stretch of water. One December day, when it was
+freezing hard and the earth was covered with snow, he
+observed a solitary duck near the edge of the lake.
+He shot at it, and went forward to pick it up, when he
+saw to his amazement that it had changed into a beautiful
+princess. He was ready to drop into the snow with
+fright, but the lady came graciously forward to him,
+saying:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Fear not, my brave fellow, for know that I have
+been enchanted these many years under the form of
+a wild duck, because of the enmity of three malicious
+demons. You can restore me permanently to my
+human shape if you choose to show only a <a name='TC_2'></a><ins title="Was 'litle'">little</ins> perseverance
+and courage.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, what do you desire me to do, madam?&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
+stammered the miller, abashed by the lady&rsquo;s beauty
+and condescension.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What only a brave man could accomplish, my friend,&rdquo;
+she replied; &ldquo;all that you have to do is to pass three
+consecutive nights in the old manor which you can see
+over there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The miller shuddered, for he had heard the most terrible
+stories in connexion with the ruined manor, which had
+an evil name in the district.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! madam,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;whom might I not encounter
+there! Even the devil himself&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My good friend,&rdquo; said the Princess, sadly, &ldquo;if you do
+as I ask you will have to encounter not one but a dozen
+devils, who will torment you in every possible way.
+But fear nothing, for I can provide you with a magic
+ointment which will preserve you entirely from all the
+injuries they would attempt to inflict upon you. Even
+if you were dead I could resuscitate you. I assure you
+that if you will do as I ask you will never regret it.
+Beneath the hearthstone in the hall of the manor are
+three casks of gold and three of silver, and all these will
+belong to you and to me if you assist me; so put your
+courage to the proof, I pray you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The miller squared his shoulders. &ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I
+will obey you, even if I have to face a hundred devils
+instead of twelve.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Princess smiled encouragingly and disappeared.
+On the following night the miller set out for the old
+manor, carrying a bundle of faggots to make a fire, and
+some cider and tobacco to refresh him during his vigil.
+When he arrived in the dismal old place he sat himself
+down by the hearth, where he had built a good fire, and
+lit his pipe. But he had scarcely done so when he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span>
+heard a most tremendous commotion in the chimney.
+Somewhat scared, he hid himself under an old bed
+which stood opposite the hearth, and, gazing anxiously
+from his place of concealment, beheld eleven grisly
+fiends descend from the flue. They seemed astonished
+to find a fire on the hearth, and did not appear to be in
+the best of tempers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where is Boiteux?&rdquo; cried one. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; growled
+another, who appeared to be the chief of the band, &ldquo;he
+is always late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, behold him,&rdquo; said a third, as Boiteux arrived by
+the same road as his companions.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, comrades,&rdquo; cried Boiteux, &ldquo;have you heard the
+news?&rdquo; The others shrugged their shoulders and shook
+their heads sulkily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Boiteux, &ldquo;I am convinced that the miller
+of L�guer is here, and that he is trying to free the
+Princess from the enchantment which we have placed
+upon her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A hurried search at once took place, the demons
+scrambling from one part of the room to the other,
+tearing down the curtains and making every effort to
+discover the hiding-place of the intruder. At last
+Boiteux, peering under the bed, saw the miller crouching
+there, and cried out: &ldquo;Here is the rogue beneath
+the bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The unlucky miller was then seized by the foot and
+dragged into the shrieking and leaping circle. With
+a gesture of command the chief demon subdued the
+antics of his followers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So, my jolly miller,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;our friend the Princess
+has found a champion in you, has she? Well, we are
+going to have some sport with you, which I fear will
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span>
+not be quite to your taste, but I can assure you that
+you will not again have the opportunity of assisting a
+princess in distress.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>With this he seized the miller and thrust him from him
+with great force. As he flew like a stone from a sling,
+another of the fiends seized him, and the unhappy
+man was thrown violently about from one to the other.
+At last they threw him out of the window into the courtyard,
+and as he did not move they thought that he was
+dead. But in the midst of their laughter and rejoicing
+at the easy manner in which they had got rid of him,
+cockcrow sounded, and the diabolic company swiftly
+disappeared. They had scarcely taken their departure
+when the Princess arrived. She tenderly anointed the
+miller&rsquo;s hurts from the little pot of magic ointment she
+had brought with her, and, nothing daunted, now that
+he was thoroughly revived, the bold fellow announced
+his intention of seeing the matter through and remaining
+in the manor for the two following nights.</p>
+<p>He had scarcely ensconced himself in his seat by the
+chimney-side on the second night when the twelve fiends
+came tumbling down the chimney as before. At one
+end of the room was a large heap of wood, behind which
+the miller quickly took refuge.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I smell the smell of a Christian!&rdquo; cried Boiteux. A
+search followed, and once more the adventurous miller
+was dragged forth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oho!&rdquo; cried the leader, &ldquo;so you are not dead after
+all! Well, I can assure you that we shall not botch our
+work on this occasion.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>One of the grisly company placed a large cauldron of
+oil upon the fire, and when this was boiling they seized
+their victim and thrust him into it. The most dreadful
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span>
+agony seized the miller as the liquid seethed around his
+body, and he was just about to faint under the intensity
+of the torture when once again the cock crew and the
+fiendish band took themselves off. The Princess
+quickly appeared, and, drawing the miller from the
+cauldron, smeared him from head to foot with the
+ointment.</p>
+<p>On the third night the devils once more found the miller
+in the apartment. In dismay Boiteux suggested that
+he should be roasted on a spit and eaten, but unluckily
+for them they took a long time to come to this conclusion,
+and when they were about to impale their
+victim on the spit, the cock crew and they were forced
+to withdraw, howling in baffled rage. The Princess
+arrived as before, and was delighted to see that this time
+her champion did not require any assistance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All is well now,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You have freed me from
+my enchantment and the treasure is ours.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They raised the hearthstone from its place, and, as she
+had said, the three casks of gold and the three casks of
+silver were found resting beneath it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take what you wish for yourself,&rdquo; said the Princess.
+&ldquo;As for me, I cannot stay here; I must at once make
+a journey which will last a year and a day, after which
+we shall never part again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>With these words she disappeared. The miller was
+grieved at her departure, but, consoling himself with
+the treasure, made over his mill to his apprentice and,
+apprising one of his companions of his good luck,
+resolved to go upon a journey with him, until such time
+as the Princess should return. He visited the neighbouring
+countries, and, with plenty of money at his
+disposal, found existence very pleasant indeed. After
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
+some eight months of this kind of life, he and his friend
+resolved to return to Brittany, and set out on their
+journey. One day they encountered on the road an old
+woman selling apples. She asked them to buy, but the
+miller was advised by his friend not to pay any heed to
+her. Ignoring the well-meant advice, the miller laughed
+and bought three apples. He had scarcely eaten one
+when he became unwell. Recalling how the fruit had
+disagreed with him, he did not touch the other apples
+until the day on which the Princess had declared she
+would return. When on the way to the manor to meet
+her, he ate the second apple. He began to feel sleepy,
+and, lying down at the foot of a tree, fell into a deep
+slumber.</p>
+<p>Soon after the Princess arrived in a beautiful star-coloured
+chariot drawn by ten horses. When she saw
+the miller lying sleeping she inquired of his friend what
+had chanced to him. The man acquainted her with the
+adventure of the apples, and the Princess told him that
+the old woman from whom he had purchased them was
+a sorceress.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I am unable to take him with me
+in this condition, but I will come to this place to-morrow
+and again on the following day, and if he be awake I
+will transport him hence in my chariot. Here are a
+golden pear and a handkerchief; give him these and tell
+him that I will come again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She disappeared in her star-coloured equipage. Shortly
+afterward the miller wakened, and his friend told him
+what had occurred and gave him the pear and the
+kerchief. The next day the friends once more repaired
+to the spot where the Princess had vanished, but in
+thoughtlessness the miller had eaten of the third apple,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span>
+and once more the Princess found him asleep. In
+sorrow she promised to return next day for the last time,
+once more leaving a golden pear and a handkerchief
+with his friend, to whom she said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If he is not awake when I come to-morrow he will
+have to cross three powers and three seas in order to
+find me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Unluckily, however, the miller was still asleep when
+the Princess appeared on the following day. She
+repeated what she had said to his friend concerning the
+ordeal that the unfortunate miller would have to face
+before he might see her again, and ere she took her
+departure left a third pear and a third handkerchief
+behind her. When the miller awoke and found that she
+had gone he went nearly crazy with grief, but nevertheless
+he declared his unalterable intention of regaining the
+Princess, even if he should have to travel to the ends of
+the earth in search of her. Accordingly he set out to
+find her abode. He walked and walked innumerable
+miles, until at last he came to a great forest. As he
+arrived at its gloomy borders night fell, and he considered
+it safest to climb a tree, from which, to his great
+satisfaction, he beheld a light shining in the distance.
+Descending, he walked in the direction of the light, and
+found a tiny hut made of the branches of trees, in which
+sat a little old man with a long white beard.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good evening, grandfather,&rdquo; said the miller.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good evening, my child,&rdquo; replied the old man. &ldquo;I
+behold you with pleasure, for it is eighty years since I
+have seen any human being.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The miller entered the hut and sat down beside the old
+man, and after some conversation told him the object
+of his journey.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I will help you, my son,&rdquo; said the ancient. &ldquo;Do you
+see these enchanted gaiters? Well, I wore them at your
+age. When you buckle them over your legs you will
+be able to travel seven leagues at a single step, and you
+will arrive without any difficulty at the castle of the
+Princess you desire so much to see again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The miller passed the night in the hut with the old
+hermit, and on the following morning, with the rising
+of the sun, buckled on the magic gaiters and stepped
+out briskly. All went well to begin with, nothing
+arrested his progress, and he sped over rivers, forests,
+and mountains. As the sun was setting he came to the
+borders of a second forest, where he observed a second
+hut, precisely similar to that in which he had passed
+the previous night. Going toward it, he found it
+occupied by an aged woman, of whom he demanded
+supper and lodging.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! my son,&rdquo; said the old woman, &ldquo;you do ill to
+come here, for I have three sons, terrible fellows, who
+will be here presently, and I am certain that if you
+remain they will devour you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The miller asked the names of the sons, and was
+informed by the old woman that they were January,
+February, and March. From this he concluded that
+the crone he was addressing was none other than the
+mother of the winds, and on asking her if this was so
+she admitted that he had judged correctly. While they
+were talking there was a terrible commotion in the
+chimney, from which descended an enormous giant with
+white hair and beard, breathing out clouds of frost.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aha!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;I see, mother, that you have not
+neglected to provide for my supper!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Softly, softly, good son,&rdquo; said the old dame; &ldquo;this is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span>
+little Yves, my nephew and your cousin; you must not
+eat him.&rdquo; The giant, who seemed greatly annoyed,
+retired into a corner, growling. Shortly afterward his
+brothers, February and March, arrived, and were
+told the same tale regarding the miller&rsquo;s relationship
+to them.</p>
+<p>Our hero, resolved to profit by the acquaintanceship,
+asked the gigantic February if he would carry him to
+the palace of the Princess, whom he described.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said February, &ldquo;without doubt you speak of the
+Princess Starbright. If you wish I will give you a lift
+on my back part of the way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The miller gratefully accepted the offer, and in the
+morning mounted on the back of the mighty wind-giant,
+who carried him over a great sea. Then, after
+traversing much land and a second ocean, and while
+crossing a third spacious water, February expressed
+himself as quite fatigued and said that he could not
+carry his new cousin any farther. The miller glanced
+beneath him at the great waste of waters and begged
+him to make an effort to reach the land on the other
+side. Giving vent to a deep-throated grumble, February
+obeyed, and at last set him down outside the walls of
+the town where the castle of the Princess Starbright was
+situated. The miller entered the town and came to an
+inn, and, having dined, entered into conversation with
+the hostess, asking her the news of the place.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said the woman, amazed, &ldquo;where do you come
+from that you don&rsquo;t know that the Princess Starbright
+is to be married to-day, and to a husband that she does
+not love? The wedding procession will pass the door
+in a few moments on its way to the church.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The miller was greatly downcast at these words, but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span>
+plucking up courage he placed on a little table before
+the inn the first of the pears and handkerchiefs that the
+Princess had left with his friend. Shortly afterward
+the wedding procession passed, and the Princess
+immediately remarked the pear and the kerchief, and
+also recognized the miller standing close by. She
+halted, and, feigning illness, begged that the ceremony
+might be postponed until the morrow. Having returned
+to the palace, she sent one of her women to
+purchase the fruit and the handkerchief, and these
+the miller gave the maiden without question. On the
+following day the same thing happened, and on the
+third occasion of the Princess&rsquo;s passing the same series
+of events occurred. This time the Princess sent for
+the miller, and the pair embraced tenderly and wept
+with joy at having recovered each other.</p>
+<p>Now the Princess was as clever as she was beautiful,
+and she had a stratagem by which she hoped to marry
+the miller without undue opposition on the part of her
+friends. So she procured the marriage garments of the
+prince, her <i>fianc�</i>, and attiring the miller in them, took
+him to the marriage feast, which had been prepared for
+the fourth time at a late hour; but she hid her lover in
+a secluded corner from the public gaze. After a while
+she pretended to be looking for something, and upon
+being asked what she had lost, replied:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have a beautiful coffer, but, alas! I have lost the
+key of it. I have found a new key, but it does not fit
+the casket; should I not search until I have recovered
+the old one?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Without doubt!&rdquo; cried every one. Then the Princess,
+going to the place where the miller was concealed, led
+him forth by the hand.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;My lords and gentles,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;the coffer I spoke
+of is my heart; here is the one key that can fit it, the
+key that I had lost and have found again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Princess and the miller were married amid universal
+rejoicings; and some time after the ceremony they did
+not fail to revisit the Lake of L�guer, the scene of their
+first meeting, the legend of which still clings like the
+mists of evening to its shores.</p>
+<p>This quaint and curious tale, in which the native folk-lore
+and French elements are so strangely mingled,
+deals, like its predecessor, with the theme of the search
+for the fairy princess. We turn now to another tale of
+quest with somewhat similar incidents, where the solar
+nature of one of the characters is perhaps more obvious&mdash;the
+quest for the mortal maiden who has been carried
+off by the sun-hero. We refrain in this place from
+indicating the mythological basis which underlies such
+a tale as this, as such a phenomenon is already amply
+illustrated in other works in this series.</p>
+<h3><i>The Castle of the Sun</i></h3>
+<p>There once lived a peasant who had seven children, six
+of them boys and the seventh a girl. They were very
+poor and all had to work hard for a living, but the
+drudges of the family were the youngest son, Yvon,
+and his sister, Yvonne. Because they were gentler and
+more delicate than the others, they were looked upon
+as poor, witless creatures, and all the hardest work was
+given them to do. But the children comforted each
+other, and became but the better favoured as they
+grew up.</p>
+<p>One day when Yvonne was taking the cattle to pasture
+she encountered a handsome youth, so splendidly garbed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span>
+that her simple heart was filled with awe and admiration.
+To her astonishment he addressed her and courteously
+begged her hand in marriage. &ldquo;To-morrow,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;I shall meet you here at this hour, and you shall give
+me an answer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Troubled, yet secretly happy, Yvonne made her way
+home, and told her parents all that had chanced. At
+first they laughed her to scorn, and refused to believe
+her story of the handsome prince, but when at length
+they were convinced they told her she was free to marry
+whom she would.</p>
+<p>On the following day Yvonne betook herself to the
+trysting-place, where her lover awaited her, even more
+gloriously resplendent than on the occasion of his first
+coming. The very trappings of his horse were of
+gleaming gold. At Yvonne&rsquo;s request he accompanied
+her to her home, and made arrangements with her
+kindred for the marriage. To all inquiries regarding
+his name and place of abode he returned that these
+should be made known on the wedding morning.</p>
+<p>Time passed, and on the day appointed the glittering
+stranger came to claim his wife. The ceremony over,
+he swept her into a carriage and was about to drive
+away, when her brothers reminded him of his promise
+to reveal his identity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where must we go to visit our sister?&rdquo; they asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eastward,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;to a palace built of crystal,
+beyond the Sea of Darkness.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And with that the pair were gone.</p>
+<p>A year elapsed, and the brothers neither saw nor heard
+anything of their sister, so that at length they decided
+to go in search of her. Yvon would have accompanied
+them, but they bade him stay at home.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You are so stupid,&rdquo; they said, &ldquo;you would be of no use
+to us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Eastward they rode, and ever eastward, till at length
+they found themselves in the heart of a great forest.
+Then night came on and they lost the path. Twice
+a great noise, like the riot of a tempest, swept over
+their heads, leaving them trembling and stricken with
+panic.</p>
+<p>By and by they came upon an old woman tending a
+great fire, and of her they inquired how they might
+reach the abode of their brother-in-law.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I cannot tell,&rdquo; said the old woman, &ldquo;but my son may
+be able to direct you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For the third time they heard the noise as of a great
+wind racing over the tree-tops.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; said the old woman, &ldquo;it is my son approaching.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was a huge giant, this son of hers, and when he
+drew near the fire he said loudly:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh ho! I smell the blood of a Christian!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried his mother sharply. &ldquo;Would you eat
+your pretty cousins, who have come so far to visit us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At that the giant became quite friendly toward his
+&lsquo;cousins,&rsquo; and when he learned of their mission even
+offered to conduct them part of the way.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding his amiability, however, the brothers
+spent an anxious night, and were up betimes on the
+following morning.</p>
+<p>The giant made ready for departure. First of all he
+bade the old woman pile fresh fuel on the fire. Then
+he spread a great black cloth, on which he made the
+brothers stand. Finally he strode into the fire, and
+when his clothes were consumed the black cloth rose
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+into the air, bearing the brothers with it. Its going was
+marked by the sound of rushing wind which had terrified
+them on the preceding day. At length they alighted on
+a vast plain, half of which was rich and fertile, while the
+other half was bleak and arid as a desert. The plain
+was dotted with horses, and, curiously enough, those on
+the arid side were in splendid condition, whereas those
+on the fertile part were thin and miserable.</p>
+<p>The brothers had not the faintest idea of which direction
+they ought to take, and after a vain attempt to mount
+the horses on the plain they decided to return home.
+After many wanderings they arrived at their native
+place once more.</p>
+<p>When Yvon learned of the ill-success which had attended
+their mission he decided to go himself in search of his
+sister, and though his brothers laughed at him they gave
+him an old horse and bade him go.</p>
+<p>Eastward and eastward he rode, till at length he reached
+the forest where the old woman still tended the fire.
+Seeing that he was strong and fearless, she directed
+him by a difficult and dangerous road, which, however,
+he must pursue if he wished to see his sister.</p>
+<p>It was indeed a place of terrors. Poisonous serpents
+lay across his track; ugly thorns and briers sprang
+underfoot; at one point a lake barred his way.</p>
+<p>Finally a subterranean passage led him into his sister&rsquo;s
+country, where everything was of crystal, shining with
+the splendour of the sun itself. At the end of a gleaming
+pathway rose a castle built entirely of crystal, its
+innumerable domes and turrets reflecting the light in
+a thousand prismatic hues.</p>
+<p>Having gained access to the castle through a cave,
+Yvon wandered through its many beautiful chambers,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span>
+till in one of these he came upon his sister asleep on
+a silken couch.</p>
+<p>Entranced with her beauty, and not daring to wake
+her, he slipped behind a curtain and watched her in
+silence; but as time went on he marvelled that she
+did not wake.</p>
+<p>At eventide a handsome youth&mdash;Yvon&rsquo;s brother-in-law&mdash;entered
+the chamber, struck Yvonne sharply three times,
+then flung himself down by her side and went to sleep.
+All night Yvon waited in his place of concealment. In
+the morning the young man rose from his couch, gave
+his wife three resounding blows, and went away. Only
+then did Yvon emerge and wake his sister.</p>
+<p>Brother and sister exchanged a tender greeting, and
+found much to talk of after their long separation. Yvon
+learned that the country to which he had come was
+a peculiar place, where meat and drink could be entirely
+dispensed with, while even sleep was not a necessity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, Yvonne,&rdquo; he said, remembering what he had
+seen of his brother-in-law, &ldquo;does your husband treat
+you well?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Yvonne assured him that her husband was all she could
+wish&mdash;that she was perfectly happy.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is he always absent during the day?&rdquo; he asked
+anxiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Always.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know where he goes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not, my brother.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have a mind,&rdquo; said Yvon, &ldquo;to ask him to let me
+accompany him on his journey. What say you, sister?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is a very good plan,&rdquo; said Yvonne.</p>
+<p>At sundown her husband returned home. He and
+Yvon became very good friends, and the latter begged
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span>
+to be allowed to accompany him on his journey the
+following day.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You may do so,&rdquo; was the response, &ldquo;but only on
+one condition: if you touch or address anyone save
+me you must return home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Yvon readily agreed to accept the condition, and early
+next morning the two set off. Ere long they came
+to a wide plain, one half of which was green and fruitful,
+while the other half was barren and dry. On this
+plain cattle were feeding, and those on the arid part
+were fat and well-conditioned, while the others were
+mean and shrivelled to a degree. Yvon learned from
+his companion that the fat cattle represented those
+who were contented with their meagre lot, while the
+lean animals were those who, with a plentiful supply of
+worldly goods, were yet miserable and discontented.</p>
+<p>Many other strange things they saw as they went, but
+that which seemed strangest of all to Yvon was the
+sight of two trees lashing each other angrily with their
+branches, as though each would beat the other to the
+ground.</p>
+<p>Laying his hands on them, he forbade them to fight,
+and lo! in a moment they became two human beings,
+a man and wife, who thanked Yvon for releasing them
+from an enchantment under which they had been laid
+as a punishment for their perpetual bickering.</p>
+<p>Anon they reached a great cavern from which weird
+noises proceeded, and Yvon would fain have advanced
+farther; but his companion forbade him, reminding him
+that in disenchanting the trees he had failed to observe
+the one essential condition, and must return to the
+palace where his sister dwelt.</p>
+<p>There Yvon remained for a few days longer, after which
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span>
+his brother-in-law directed him by a speedy route to
+his home.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Go,&rdquo; said the prince, &ldquo;but ere long you will return,
+and then it will be to remain with us for ever.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On reaching his native village Yvon found all trace
+of his dwelling gone. Greatly bewildered, he inquired
+for his father by name. An old greybeard replied.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have heard of him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He lived in the
+days when my grandfather&rsquo;s grandfather was but a boy,
+and now he sleeps in the churchyard yonder.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Only then did Yvon realize that his visit to his sister
+had been one, not of days, but of generations!</p>
+<h3><i>The Seigneur with the Horse&rsquo;s Head</i></h3>
+<p>Famous among all peoples is the tale of the husband
+surrounded by mystery&mdash;bespelled in animal form, like
+the Prince in the story of Beauty and the Beast,
+nameless, as in that of Lohengrin, or unbeheld of his
+spouse, as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Among
+uncivilized peoples it is frequently forbidden to the wife
+to see her husband&rsquo;s face until some time after marriage,
+and the belief that ill-luck will befall one or both
+should this law be disregarded runs through primitive
+story, being perhaps reminiscent of a time when the
+man of an alien or unfriendly tribe crept to his wife&rsquo;s
+lodge or hut under cover of darkness and returned ere
+yet the first glimmer of dawn might betray him to the men
+of her people. The story which follows, however, deals
+with the theme of the enchanted husband whose wife must
+not speak to anyone until her first child receives the sacrament
+of baptism, and is, perhaps, unique of its kind.</p>
+<p>There lived at one time in the old ch�teau of Kerouez,
+in the commune of Loguivy-Plougras, a rich and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
+powerful seigneur, whose only sorrow was the dreadful
+deformity of his son, who had come into the world with
+a horse&rsquo;s head. He was naturally kept out of sight as
+much as possible, but when he had attained the age
+of eighteen years he told his mother one day that he
+desired to marry, and requested her to interview a
+farmer in the vicinity who had three pretty young
+daughters, in order that she might arrange a match
+with one of them.</p>
+<p>The good lady did as she was requested, not without
+much embarrassment and many qualms of conscience,
+and after conversing upon every imaginable subject,
+at length gently broke the object of her visit to the
+astonished farmer. The poor man was at first horrified,
+but little by little the lady worked him into a good
+humour, so that at last he consented to ask his daughters
+if any one of them would agree to marry the afflicted
+young lord. The two elder girls indignantly refused
+the offer, but when it was made plain to them that
+she who espoused the seigneur would one day be
+ch�telaine of the castle and become a fine lady, the
+eldest daughter somewhat reluctantly consented and
+the match was agreed upon.</p>
+<p>Some days afterward the bride-to-be happened to pass
+the castle and saw the servants washing the linen, when
+one cried to her:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How in the world can a fine girl like you be such a fool
+as to throw herself away on a man with a horse&rsquo;s head?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bah!&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;he is rich, and, let me tell you,
+we won&rsquo;t be married for long, for on the bridal night
+I shall cut his throat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Just at that moment a gay cavalier passed and smiled
+at the farmer&rsquo;s daughter.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You are having a strange conversation, mademoiselle,&rdquo;
+he said. She coloured and looked somewhat confused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;it is hateful to be mocked by
+these wenches because I have the bad luck to be
+espoused to a seigneur with a horse&rsquo;s head, and I assure
+you I feel so angry that I shall certainly carry out my
+threat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The unknown laughed shortly and went his way. In
+time the night of the nuptials arrived. A grand <i>f�te</i>
+was held at the ch�teau, and, the ceremony over, the
+bridesmaids conducted the young wife to her chamber.
+The bridegroom shortly followed, and to the surprise of
+his wife, no sooner had the hour of sunset come than
+his horse&rsquo;s head disappeared and he became exactly as
+other men. Approaching the bed where his bride lay,
+he suddenly seized her, and before she could cry out or
+make the least clamour he killed her in the manner in
+which she had threatened to kill him.</p>
+<p>In the morning his mother came to the chamber, and
+was horrified at the spectacle she saw.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Gracious heavens! my son, what have you done?&rdquo;
+she cried.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have done that, my mother,&rdquo; replied her son, &ldquo;which
+was about to be done to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Three months afterward the young seigneur asked his
+mother to repair once more to the farmer with the
+request that another of his daughters might be given
+him in marriage. The second daughter, ignorant of
+the manner of her sister&rsquo;s death, and mindful of the
+splendid wedding festivities, embraced the proposal
+with alacrity. Like her sister, she chanced to be
+passing the washing-green of the castle one day, and
+the laundresses, knowing of her espousal, taunted her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span>
+upon it, so that at last she grew very angry and
+cried:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t be troubled long with the animal, I can assure
+you, for on the very night that I wed him I shall kill
+him like a pig!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At that very moment the same unknown gentleman
+who had overheard the fatal words of her sister passed,
+and said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How now, young women, that&rsquo;s very strange talk of
+yours!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, monseigneur,&rdquo; stammered the betrothed girl,
+&ldquo;they are twitting me upon marrying a man with a
+horse&rsquo;s head; but I will cut his throat on the night
+of our wedding with as little conscience as I would cut
+the throat of a pig.&rdquo; The unknown gentleman laughed
+as he had done before and passed upon his way.</p>
+<p>As on the previous occasion, the wedding was celebrated
+with all the pomp and circumstance which usually
+attends a Breton ceremony of the kind, and in due time
+the bride was conducted to her chamber, only to be
+found in the morning weltering in her blood.</p>
+<p>At the end of another three months the seigneur dispatched
+his mother for the third time to the farmer, with
+the request that his younger daughter might be given
+him in marriage, but on this occasion her parents were
+by no means enraptured with the proposal. When
+the great lady, however, promised them that if they
+consented to the match they would be given the
+farm to have and to hold as their own property, they
+found the argument irresistible and reluctantly agreed.
+Strange to say, the girl herself was perfectly composed
+about the matter, and gave it as her opinion that if her
+sisters had met with a violent death they were entirely
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span>
+to blame themselves, for some reason which she could
+not explain, and she added that she thought that their
+loose and undisciplined way of talking had had much
+to do with their untimely fate. Just as her sisters had
+been, she too was taunted by the laundresses regarding
+her choice of a husband, but her answer to them was
+very different.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If they met with their deaths,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;it was
+because of their wicked utterances. I do not in the
+least fear that I shall have the same fate.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>As before the unknown seigneur passed, but this time,
+without saying anything, he hurried on his way and was
+soon lost to view.</p>
+<p>The wedding of the youngest sister was even more
+splendid than that of the two previous brides. On the
+following morning the young seigneur&rsquo;s mother hastened
+with fear and trembling to the marriage chamber, and
+to her intense relief found that her daughter-in-law was
+alive. For some months the bride lived happily with
+her husband, who every night at set of sun regained his
+natural appearance as a young and handsome man. In
+due time a son was born to them, who had not the least
+sign of his semi-equine parentage, and when they were
+about to have the infant baptized the father said to the
+young mother:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hearken to what I have to say. I was condemned to
+suffer the horrible enchantment you know of until such
+time as a child should be born to me, and I shall be
+immediately delivered from the curse whenever this
+infant is baptized. But take care that you do not speak
+a word until the baptismal bells cease to sound, for if
+you utter a syllable, even to your mother, I shall disappear
+on the instant and you will never see me more.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span></div>
+<p>Full of the resolve not to utter a single sound, the young
+mother, who lay in bed, kept silent, until at last she
+heard the sound of bells, when, in her joy, forgetting
+the warning, she turned to her mother, who sat near,
+with words of congratulation on her lips. A few
+moments afterward her husband rushed into the room,
+the horse&rsquo;s head still upon his shoulders. He was
+covered with sweat, and panted fiercely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, miserable woman,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;what have you done?
+I must leave you, and you shall never see me more!&rdquo;
+and he made as if to quit the room. His wife rose from
+her bed, and strove to detain him, but he struck at her
+with his fist. The blood trickled out and made three
+spots on his shirt.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Behold these spots,&rdquo; cried the young wife; &ldquo;they
+shall never disappear until I find you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I swear to you,&rdquo; cried her husband, &ldquo;that you
+will never find me until you have worn out three pairs
+of iron shoes in doing so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>With these words he ran off at such speed that the
+poor wife could not follow him, and, fainting, she sank
+to the ground.</p>
+<p>Some time after her husband had left her the young
+wife had three pairs of iron shoes made and went in
+search of him. After she had travelled about the world
+for nearly ten years the last pair of shoes began to show
+signs of wear, when she found herself one day at a castle
+where the servants were hanging out the clothes to dry,
+and she heard one of the laundresses say:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you see this shirt? I declare it is enchanted, for
+although I have washed it again and again I cannot rub
+out these three spots of blood which you see upon it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the wanderer heard this she approached the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span>
+laundress and said to her: &ldquo;Let me try, I pray you. I
+think I can wash the shirt clean.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They gave her the shirt, she washed it, and the spots
+disappeared. So grateful was the laundress that she
+bade the stranger go to the castle and ask for a meal and
+a bed. These were willingly granted her, and at night
+she was placed in a small apartment next to that occupied
+by the lord of the castle. From what she had seen she
+was sure that her husband was the lord himself, so when
+she heard the master of the house enter the room next
+door she knocked upon the boards which separated it
+from her own. Her husband, for he it was, replied
+from the other side; then, entering her room, he
+recognized his wife, and they were happily united after
+the years of painful separation. To the wife&rsquo;s great joy
+her husband was now completely restored to his proper
+form, and nothing occurred to mar their happiness for
+the rest of their lives.</p>
+<h3><i>The Bride of Satan</i></h3>
+<p>Weird and terrible as are many of the darksome legends of
+Brittany, it may be doubted if any are more awe-inspiring
+than that which we are now about to relate. &ldquo;Those
+who are affianced three times without marrying shall
+burn in hell,&rdquo; says an old Breton proverb, and it is
+probably this aphorism which has given the Bretons
+such a strong belief in the sacred nature of a betrothal.
+The fantastic ballad from which this story is taken is
+written in the dialect of L�on, and the words are put
+into the mouth of a maiden of that country. Twice
+had she been betrothed. On the last occasion she had
+worn a robe of the finest stuff, embroidered with twelve
+brilliant stars and having the figures of the sun and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span>
+moon painted upon it, like the lady in Madame
+d&rsquo;Aulnoy&rsquo;s story of <i>Finette Cendron</i> (<i>Cinderella</i>). On
+the occasion when she went to meet her third <i>fianc�</i>
+in church she almost fainted as she turned with her
+maidens into the little road leading up to the building,
+for there before her was a great lord clad in steel
+<i>cap-�-pie</i>, wearing on his head a casque of gold, his
+shoulders covered by a blood-coloured mantle. Strange
+lights flashed from his eyes, which glittered under his
+casque like meteors. By his side stood a huge black
+steed, which ever and again struck the ground impatiently
+with his hoofs, throwing up sparks of fire.</p>
+<p>The priest was waiting in the church, the bridegroom
+arrived, but the bride did not come. Where had she
+gone? She had stepped on board a barque with the
+dark steel-clad lord, and the ship passed silently over
+the waters until it vanished among the shadows of
+night. Then the lady turned to her husband.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What gloomy waters are these through which we sail,
+my lord?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is the Lake of Anguish,&rdquo; he replied in hollow tones.
+&ldquo;We sail to the Place of Skulls, at the mouth of Hell.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At this the wretched bride wept bitterly. &ldquo;Take back
+your wedding-ring!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;Take back your
+dowry and your bridal gifts!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But he answered not. Down they descended into
+horrid darkness, and as the unhappy maiden fell there
+rang in her ears the cries of the damned.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_12' id='linki_12'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs12.jpg' alt='' title='' width='409' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE BRIDE OF SATAN<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>This tale is common to many countries. The fickle
+maiden is everywhere regarded among primitive peoples
+with dislike and distrust. But perhaps the folk-ballad
+which most nearly resembles that just related is the
+Scottish ballad of <i>The Demon Lover</i>, which inspired
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span>
+the late Hamish MacCunn, the gifted Scottish composer,
+in the composition of his weird and striking
+orchestral piece, <i>The Ship o&rsquo; the Fiend</i>.</p>
+<h3><i>The Baron of Jauioz</i></h3>
+<p>Another tradition which tells of the fate of an unhappy
+maiden is enshrined in the ballad of <i>The Baron of
+Jauioz</i>. Louis, Baron of Jauioz, in Languedoc, was
+a French warrior of considerable renown who flourished
+in the fourteenth century, and who took part in many
+of the principal events of that stirring epoch, fighting
+against the English in France and Flanders under the
+Duke of Berry, his overlord. Some years later he
+embarked for the Holy Land, but, if we may believe
+Breton tradition, he returned, and while passing through
+the duchy fell in love with and actually bought for a sum
+of money a young Breton girl, whom he carried away
+with him to France. The unfortunate maiden, so far
+from being attracted by the more splendid environment
+of his castle, languished and died.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hear the note of the death-bird,&rdquo; the ballad begins
+sadly; &ldquo;is it true, my mother, that I am sold to the
+Baron of Jauioz?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ask your father, little Tina, ask your father,&rdquo; is the
+callous reply, and the question is then put to her father,
+who requests the unfortunate damsel to ask her brother,
+a harsh rustic who does not scruple to tell her the
+brutal truth, and adds that she must depart immediately.
+The girl asks what dress she must wear, her red gown,
+or her gown of white delaine.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It matters little, my daughter,&rdquo; says the heartless
+mother. &ldquo;Your lover waits at the door mounted on
+a great black horse. Go to him on the instant.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span></div>
+<p>As she leaves her native village the clocks are striking,
+and she weeps bitterly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Adieu, Saint Anne!&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Adieu, bells of my
+native land!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Passing the Lake of Anguish she sees a band of the
+dead, white and shadowy, crossing the watery expanse
+in their little boats. As she passes them she can hear
+their teeth chatter. At the Valley of Blood she espies
+other unfortunates. Their hearts are sunken in them
+and all memory has left them.</p>
+<p>After this terrible ride the Baron and Tina reach the
+castle of Jauioz. The old man seats himself near the
+fire. He is black and ill-favoured as a carrion crow.
+His beard and his hair are white, and his eyes are like
+firebrands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come hither to me, my child,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;come with
+me from chamber to chamber that I may show you my
+treasures.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, seigneur,&rdquo; she replies, the tears falling fast, &ldquo;I
+had rather be at home with my mother counting the
+chips which fall from the fire.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let us descend, then, to the cellar, where I will show
+you the rich wines in the great bins.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, sir, I would rather quaff the water of the fields
+that my father&rsquo;s horses drink.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come with me, then, to the shops, and I will buy you
+a sumptuous gown.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Better that I were wearing the working dress that
+my mother made me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The seigneur turns from her in anger. She lingers at
+the window and watches the birds, begging them to
+take a message from her to her friends.</p>
+<p>At night a gentle voice whispers: &ldquo;My father, my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span>
+mother, for the love of God, pray for me!&rdquo; Then all
+is silence.</p>
+<p>In this striking ballad we find strong traces of the
+Breton love of country and other national traits. The
+death-bird alluded to is a grey bird which sings during
+the winter in the Landes country in a voice soft and
+sad. It is probably a bird of the osprey species. It
+is thought that the girl who hears it sing is doomed to
+misfortune. The strange and ghostly journey of the
+unhappy Tina recalls the <i>mise en sc�ne</i> of such ballads
+as <i>The Bride of Satan</i>, and it would seem that she
+passes through the Celtic Tartarus. It is plain that
+the Seigneur of Jauioz by his purchase of their countrywoman
+became so unpopular among the freedom-loving
+Bretons that at length they magnified him into a species
+of demon&mdash;a traditionary fate which he thoroughly deserved,
+if the heartrending tale concerning his victim
+has any foundation in fact.</p>
+<h3><i>The Man of Honour</i></h3>
+<p>The tale of the man who is helped by the grateful dead
+is by no means confined to Brittany. Indeed, in folk-tale
+the dead are often jealous of the living and act
+toward them with fiendish malice. But in the following
+we have a story in which a dead man shows his gratitude
+to the living for receiving the boon of Christian
+burial at his hands.</p>
+<p>There was once a merchant-prince who had gained a
+great fortune by trading on land and sea. Many ships
+were his, and with these he traded to far countries,
+reaping a rich harvest. He had a son named Iouenn,
+and he was desirous that he too should embrace the
+career of a merchant and become rich. When, therefore,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
+Iouenn declared his willingness to trade in distant
+lands his father was delighted and gave him a ship
+full of Breton merchandise, with instructions to sell it
+to the best advantage in a foreign country and return
+home with the gold thus gained.</p>
+<p>After a successful voyage the vessel arrived at a
+foreign port, and Iouenn presented his father&rsquo;s letters
+to the merchants there, and disposed of his cargo so
+well that he found himself in possession of a large sum
+of money. One day as he was walking on the outskirts
+of the city he saw a large number of dogs gathered
+round some object, barking at it and worrying it.
+Approaching them, he discovered that that which they
+were worrying was nothing less than the corpse of a
+man. Making inquiries, he found that the unfortunate
+wretch had died deeply in debt, and that his body had
+been thrown into the roadway to be eaten by the dogs.
+Iouenn was shocked to see such an indignity offered to
+the dead, and out of the kindness of his heart chased
+the dogs away, paid the debts of the deceased, and
+granted his body the last rites of sepulture.</p>
+<p>A few days afterward he left the port where these
+things had happened and set out on his homeward
+voyage. He had not sailed far when one of the
+mariners drew his attention to a strange ship a little
+distance away, which appeared to be draped entirely
+in black.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is indeed a curious vessel,&rdquo; said Iouenn.
+&ldquo;Wherefore is it draped in black? and for what reason
+do those on board bewail so loudly?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>While he spoke the ship drew nearer, and Iouenn
+called to the people who thronged its decks, asking
+why they made such loud laments.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! good sir,&rdquo; replied the captain of the strange
+ship, &ldquo;not far from here is an island inhabited by an
+enormous serpent, which for seven years has demanded
+an annual tribute of a royal princess, and we are now
+bearing another victim to her doom.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Iouenn laughed. &ldquo;Where is the Princess?&rdquo; he asked.
+At that moment the Princess came on deck, weeping
+and wringing her hands. Iouenn was so struck by
+her beauty that he there and then declared in the most
+emphatic manner that she should never become the
+prey of the serpent. On learning from the captain
+that he would hand over the maiden if a sufficient bribe
+were forthcoming, he paid over to him the last of the
+money he had gained from his trading, and taking the
+Princess on his own vessel sailed homeward.</p>
+<p>In due time Iouenn arrived home and was welcomed
+with delight by his father; but when the old man
+learned the story of what had been done with his
+money he was furious; nor would he believe for a
+moment that the lady his son had rescued was a veritable
+princess, but chased Iouenn from his presence with
+hard and bitter words. Nevertheless Iouenn married
+the royal lady he had rescued, and they started housekeeping
+in a tiny dwelling. Time went on, and the
+Princess presented her husband with a little son, but
+by this time fortune had smiled upon Iouenn, for an
+uncle of his, who was also a merchant, had entrusted
+him with a fine vessel to trade in Eastern lands; so,
+taking with him the portraits of his wife and child, he
+set out on his voyage. With a fresh wind and favourable
+conditions generally he was not long in coming to
+the city where his wife&rsquo;s father reigned. Now, some
+mariners of the port, having entered the ship out of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span>
+curiosity, observed the portrait of the Princess, and
+informed the King of the circumstance. The King
+himself came to the ship and demanded to know what
+had become of his daughter. Iouenn did not, of course,
+realize that the monarch was his father-in-law, and
+assured him that he knew nothing of his daughter,
+whereupon the King, growing very angry, had him
+cast into prison and ordered his ship to be broken to
+pieces and burned. In prison Iouenn made friends
+with his gaoler, to whom he related his history, which
+the gaoler in turn told the King, with the result that
+the prisoner was brought before the monarch, who
+desired him to set out at once to bring his daughter
+back, and for this purpose fitted him out with a new
+vessel. But the old monarch took the precaution of
+sending two of his ministers along with the Breton
+sailor in case he should not return. The party soon
+came to Brittany, and found the Princess and her
+infant safe.</p>
+<p>Now one of the King&rsquo;s ministers had loved the Princess
+for a long time, and consequently did not regard her
+husband with any great degree of favour; so when they
+re-embarked on the return journey to her father&rsquo;s
+kingdom her suspicions were aroused, and, fully aware
+of the minister&rsquo;s crafty nature, she begged her husband
+to remain with her as much as possible. But Iouenn
+liked to be on the bridge, whence he could direct the
+operations of his mariners, and laughed at his wife&rsquo;s
+fears. One night as he leaned over the side of the
+vessel, gazing upon the calm of the star-strewn sea, his
+enemy approached very stealthily and, seizing him by
+the legs, cast him headlong into the waters. After this
+he waited for a few moments, and, hearing no sound,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
+cried out that the captain had fallen overboard. A
+search was made, but with no avail. The Princess was
+distraught, and in the belief that her husband had
+perished remained in her cabin lamenting. But Iouenn
+was a capital swimmer and struck out lustily. He swam
+around for a long time, without, however, encountering
+any object upon which he could lay hold to support
+himself. Meanwhile the ship sailed on her course, and
+in due time arrived at the kingdom of the Princess&rsquo;s
+father, by whom she was received with every demonstration
+of joy. Great festivities were announced, and
+so pleased was the old King at his daughter&rsquo;s return
+that he willingly consented to her marriage with the
+treacherous minister, whom he regarded as the instrument
+of her deliverance. But the Princess put off the
+wedding-day by every possible artifice, for she felt in
+her heart that her husband was not really lost to her.</p>
+<p>Let us return now to Iouenn. After swimming for
+some time he came upon a barren rock in the middle
+of the ocean, and here, though beaten upon by
+tempests and without any manner of shelter save that
+afforded by a cleft in the rock, he succeeded in living
+for three years upon the shell-fish which he gathered on
+the shores of his little domain. In that time he had
+grown almost like a savage. His clothes had fallen off
+him and he was thickly covered with matted hair. The
+only mark of civilization he bore was a chain of gold encircling
+his neck, the gift of his wife. One night he was
+sitting in his small dwelling munching his wretched
+supper of shell-fish when an eerie sound broke the
+stillness. He started violently. Surely these were
+human accents that he heard&mdash;yet not altogether human,
+for their weird cadence held something of the supernatural,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span>
+and cold as he was he felt himself grow still
+more chilly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Cold, cold,&rdquo; cried the voice, and a dreadful chattering
+of teeth ended in a long-drawn wail of &ldquo;Hou, hou, hou!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The sound died away and once more he was left amid
+the great silence of the sea.</p>
+<p>The next evening brought the same experience, but
+although Iouenn was brave he dared not question his
+midnight visitor. On the third occasion, however, he
+demanded: &ldquo;Who is there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Out of the darkness there crawled a man completely
+naked, his body covered with blood and horrible
+wounds, the eyes fixed and glassy.</p>
+<p>Iouenn trembled with horror. &ldquo;In the name of God,
+who are you?&rdquo; he cried.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, so you do not remember me, Iouenn?&rdquo; asked the
+phantom. &ldquo;I am that unfortunate man whose body
+you gave decent burial, and now I have come to help
+you in turn. Without doubt you wish to leave this
+desert rock on which you have suffered so long.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do, most devoutly,&rdquo; replied Iouenn.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, you will have to make haste,&rdquo; said the dead
+man, &ldquo;for to-morrow your wife is going to be married
+to the minister of your father-in-law, the wretch who
+cast you into the sea. Now if you will promise to give
+me a share of all that belongs to yourself and your
+wife within a year and a day, I will carry you at once
+to the palace of your father-in-law.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Iouenn promised to do as the phantom requested, and
+the dread being then asked him to mount upon his
+back. Iouenn did so, and the corpse then plunged into
+the sea, and, swimming swiftly, soon brought him to
+the port where his father-in-law reigned. When it had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span>
+set him safely on shore it turned and with a wave of its
+gaunt white arm cried, &ldquo;In a year and a day,&rdquo; then
+plunged back into the sea.</p>
+<p>When the door-keeper of the palace opened the gate in
+the morning he was astounded to see what appeared to
+be an animal crouching on the ground outside and crying
+for help. It was Iouenn. The palace lackeys crowded
+round him and threw him morsels of bread, which he
+devoured with avidity. One of the waiting-women told
+the Princess of the strange being who crouched outside.
+She descended in order to view him, and at once observed
+the golden chain she had given to her husband
+round his neck. Iouenn immediately rushed to embrace
+her. She took him to her chamber and clothed him
+suitably. By this time the bridal preparations had
+been completed, and, like the Princess in the story of
+the Miller of L�guer, the bride asked the advice of the
+company as to whether it were better to search for an
+old key that fitted a coffer in her possession or make
+use of a new key which did not fit; the coffer, of course,
+being her heart and the respective keys her husband
+and the minister. All the company advised searching
+for the old key, when she produced Iouenn and explained
+what she had meant. The crafty minister grew
+pale as death at sight of Iouenn, and the King stormed
+furiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ho, there!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;build a great fire, varlets,
+and cast this slave into it.&rdquo; All the company thought
+at first that his words were intended to apply to Iouenn,
+but when they saw him point at the minister whose guilt
+the Princess had made plain, they applauded and the
+wretch was hurried away to his doom.</p>
+<p>Iouenn and the Princess lived happily at the Court, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
+in time a second little son was born to them. Their
+first child had died, and they were much rejoiced at
+its place being filled. Iouenn had entirely forgotten
+his indebtedness to the dead man, but one day in the
+month of November, when his wife was sitting quietly
+by the fire nursing her infant, with her husband
+opposite her, three loud knocks resounded upon the
+door, which flew open and revealed the horrible form
+of the corpse to which Iouenn owed his freedom. The
+Princess shrieked at sight of the phantom, which said
+in deep tones: &ldquo;Iouenn, remember thy bargain.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Trembling, Iouenn turned to his wife and asked her
+for the keys of their treasure-house, that he might give
+their terrible visitor a portion of their wealth, but with a
+disdainful wave of its arm the apparition bade him cease.
+&ldquo;It is not your wealth I require, Iouenn,&rdquo; it said in
+hollow tones. &ldquo;Behold that which I desire,&rdquo; and it
+pointed to the infant slumbering in its mother&rsquo;s arms.</p>
+<p>Once more the Princess cried aloud, and clasped her
+little one to her bosom.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My infant!&rdquo; cried Iouenn in despair. &ldquo;Never!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you are a man of honour,&rdquo; said the corpse, &ldquo;think
+of your promise made on the barren rock.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said Iouenn, wringing his hands, &ldquo;but oh,
+remember how I saved your body from the dogs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I only ask what is my due,&rdquo; said the ghost. &ldquo;Besides,
+I do not desire all your infant, but a share of it only.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wretch!&rdquo; cried Iouenn, &ldquo;are you without a heart?
+Have then your wish, for honour with me is above all.&rdquo;
+The infant was then undressed and laid between the
+two upon a table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take your sword,&rdquo; said the phantom, &ldquo;and cut off a
+portion for me.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, I would that I were on that desert rock in the
+middle of the ocean!&rdquo; cried the unhappy father. He
+raised his weapon and was about to strike, when the
+phantom called upon him to hold.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Harm not your infant, Iouenn,&rdquo; it cried. &ldquo;I see
+clearly that you are a man of honour and that you have
+not forgotten the service I rendered you; nor do I fail
+to remember what you did for me, and how it is through
+you that I am able to dwell in Paradise, which I would
+not have been permitted to enter had my debts not
+been paid and my body given burial. Farewell, until
+we meet above.&rdquo; And with these words the apparition
+vanished.</p>
+<p>Iouenn and the Princess lived long, respected by all,
+and when the old King died Iouenn, the man of his
+word, was made King in his place.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VI_BRETON_FOLKTALES' id='CHAPTER_VI_BRETON_FOLKTALES'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI: BRETON FOLK-TALES</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> stories told here under the title of &lsquo;folk-tales&rsquo;
+are such as do not partake so much of
+the universal element which enters so largely
+into Breton romance, but those which have a more
+national or even local tinge and are yet not legendary.
+The homely flavour attached to many stories of this
+kind is very apparent, and it is evident that they have
+been put together in oral form by unknown &lsquo;makers,&rsquo;
+some of whom had either a natural or artistic aptitude
+for story-telling. In the first of the following tales it
+is curious to note how the ancient Breton theme has
+been put by its peasant narrator into almost a modern
+dress.</p>
+<h3><i>The Magic Rose</i></h3>
+<p>An aged Breton couple had two sons, the elder of
+whom went to Paris to seek his fortune, while the
+younger one was timid by nature and would not leave
+the paternal roof. His mother, who felt the burden of
+her age, wished the stay-at-home to marry. At first he
+would not hear of the idea, but at last, persuaded by
+her, he took a wife. He had only been married a few
+weeks, however, when his young bride sickened and
+died. La Rose, for such was his name, was inconsolable.
+Every evening he went to the cemetery where
+his wife was buried, and wept over her tomb.</p>
+<p>One night he was about to enter the graveyard on his
+sad errand when he beheld a terrible phantom standing
+before him, which asked him in awful tones what he did
+there.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I am going to pray at the tomb of my wife,&rdquo; replied
+the terrified La Rose.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you wish that she were alive again?&rdquo; asked the
+spirit.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, yes!&rdquo; cried the sorrowing husband. &ldquo;There is
+nothing that I would not do in order that she might be
+restored to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hearken, then,&rdquo; said the phantom. &ldquo;Return to this
+place to-morrow night at the same hour. Provide yourself
+with a pick and you will see what comes to pass.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On the following night the young widower was punctually
+at the rendezvous. The phantom presented itself
+before him and said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Go to the tomb of your wife and strike it with your
+pick; the earth will turn aside and you will behold her
+lying in her shroud. Take this little silver box, which
+contains a rose; open it and pass it before her nostrils
+three times, when she will awake as if from a deep
+sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>La Rose hastened to the tomb of his wife, and everything
+happened as the phantom had predicted. He
+placed the box containing the rose to his wife&rsquo;s nostrils
+and she awoke with a sigh, saying: &ldquo;Ah, I have been
+asleep for a long time.&rdquo; Her husband provided her
+with clothes which he had brought with him, and they
+returned to their house, much to the joy of his parents.</p>
+<p>Some time afterward La Rose&rsquo;s father died at a great
+age, and the grief-stricken mother was not long in
+following him to the grave. La Rose wrote to his
+brother in Paris to return to Brittany in order to receive
+his portion of the paternal inheritance, but he was
+unable to leave the capital, so La Rose had perforce
+to journey to Paris. He promised his wife before
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span>
+leaving that he would write to her every day, but on
+his arrival in the city he found his brother very ill, and
+in the anxiety of nursing him back to health he quite
+forgot to send his wife news of how he fared.</p>
+<p>The weeks passed and La Rose&rsquo;s wife, without word of
+her husband, began to dread that something untoward
+had happened to him. Day by day she sat at her
+window weeping and watching for the courier who
+brought letters from Paris. A regiment of dragoons
+chanced to be billeted in the town, and the captain,
+who lodged at the inn directly opposite La Rose&rsquo;s
+house, was greatly attracted by the young wife. He
+inquired of the landlady who was the beautiful dame
+who sat constantly weeping at her window, and learned
+the details of her history. He wrote a letter to her
+purporting to come from La Rose&rsquo;s brother in Paris,
+telling her that her husband had died in the capital,
+and some time after paid his addresses to the supposed
+widow, who accepted him. They were married, and
+when the regiment left the town the newly wedded pair
+accompanied it.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile La Rose&rsquo;s brother recovered from his illness,
+and the eager husband hastened back to Brittany. But
+when he arrived at his home he was surprised to find
+the doors closed, and was speedily informed of what
+had occurred during his absence. For a while he was
+too grief-stricken to act, but, recovering himself somewhat,
+he resolved to enlist in the regiment of dragoons
+in which the false captain held his commission. The
+beauty of his handwriting procured him the post of
+secretary to one of the lieutenants, but although he
+frequently attempted to gain sight of his wife he never
+succeeded in doing so. One day the captain entered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+the lieutenant&rsquo;s office, observed the writing of La Rose,
+and asked his brother officer if he would kindly lend
+him his secretary for a few days to assist him with some
+correspondence. While helping the captain La Rose
+beheld his wife, who did not, however, recognize him.
+Greatly pleased with his work, the captain invited him to
+dinner. During the repast a servant, who had stolen a
+silver dish, fearing that it was about to be missed, slid
+it into La Rose&rsquo;s pocket, and when it could not be
+found, accused the secretary of the theft. La Rose was
+brought before a court-martial, which condemned him
+to be shot.</p>
+<p>While in prison awaiting his execution La Rose struck
+up an acquaintance with an old veteran named P�re La
+Chique, who brought him his meals and seemed kindly
+disposed to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;P�re La Chique,&rdquo; said La Rose one day, &ldquo;I have two
+thousand francs; if you will do as I ask you they shall
+be yours.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The veteran promised instantly, and La Rose requested
+that after he was shot La Chique should go to the
+cemetery where he was buried and resuscitate him with
+the magic rose, which he had carefully preserved. On
+the appointed day La Rose was duly executed, but
+P�re La Chique, with his pockets full of money, went
+from inn to inn, drinking and making merry. Whenever
+the thought of La Rose crossed his mind, he muttered
+to himself in bibulous accents: &ldquo;Poor fellow, poor
+fellow, he is better dead. This is a weary world; why
+should I bring him back to it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When P�re La Chique had caroused with his comrades
+for some days the two thousand francs had almost disappeared.
+Then remorse assailed him and he made up
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span>
+his mind to do as La Rose had wished. Taking a pick
+and an axe he went to the graveyard, but when he
+struck the grave with his tools and the earth rolled
+back, disclosing the body of La Rose, the old fellow
+was so terrified that he ran helter-skelter from the spot.
+A draught of good wine brought back his failing courage,
+however, and he returned and passed the rose three
+times under the nostrils of his late acquaintance.
+Instantly La Rose sat up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By my faith, I&rsquo;ve had a good sleep!&rdquo; he said, rubbing
+his eyes. &ldquo;Where are my clothes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>P�re La Chique handed him his garments, and after he
+had donned them they quitted the graveyard with all
+haste.</p>
+<p>La Rose now found it necessary to cast about for a
+living. One day he heard the sound of a drum in the
+street, and, following it, found that it was beaten by a
+crier who promised in the King&rsquo;s name a large reward
+to those who would enlist as sentinels to guard a chapel
+where the King&rsquo;s daughter, who had been changed into
+a monster, was imprisoned. La Rose accepted the offer,
+and then learned to his dismay that the sentinel who
+guarded the place between the hours of eleven and
+midnight was never seen again. On the very first night
+that he took up his duties this perilous watch fell to his
+lot. He felt his courage deserting him, and he was
+about to fly when he heard a voice say: &ldquo;La Rose,
+where are you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>La Rose trembled. &ldquo;What do you wish with me?&rdquo;
+he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hearken to me, and no evil will befall you,&rdquo; replied
+the voice. &ldquo;Soon a great and grisly beast will appear.
+Leave your musket by the side of the sentry-box,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span>
+climb on the top, and the beast will not touch
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>As eleven o&rsquo;clock struck La Rose heard a noise and
+hastened to climb on the top of the sentry-box. Soon
+a hideous monster came out of the chapel, breathing
+flames and crying: &ldquo;Sentinel of my father, where art
+thou, that I may devour thee?&rdquo; As it uttered these
+words, it fell against the musket, which it seized between
+its teeth. Then the creature disappeared into the
+chapel and La Rose descended from his perch. He
+found the musket broken into a thousand pieces.</p>
+<p>The old King was delighted to learn that his sentinel
+had not been devoured, for in order that his daughter
+should be delivered from her enchantment as a beast
+it was necessary that the same sentinel should mount
+guard for three consecutive nights between the hours of
+eleven and midnight.</p>
+<p>On the following night La Rose was pacing up and
+down on guard, when the same voice addressed him,
+telling him on this occasion to place his musket before
+the door of the chapel. The beast issued as before,
+seized the musket, broke it into small pieces, and
+returned to the chapel. On the third night the voice
+advised him to throw open the door of the chapel, and
+when the beast came out to run into the building himself,
+where he would see a leaden shrine, behind which he
+could take refuge, and where he would find a small bottle,
+with the contents of which he was to sprinkle the beast&rsquo;s
+head. With its usual dreadful roar the monster issued
+from the chapel. La Rose leapt past it and ran for the
+leaden shrine. It followed him with hideous howls, and
+he only reached the protective sanctuary in time.
+Seizing the little bottle which lay there, he fearlessly
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+fronted the beast and sprinkled its contents over its
+head. Instantly it changed into a beautiful princess,
+whom La Rose escorted to her delighted parents.
+La Rose and the princess were betrothed and duly
+married, and shortly afterward the King gave up his
+throne to his son-in-law.</p>
+<p>One day the new King was inspecting the regiment of
+dragoons to which he had once belonged.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Colonel,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I miss a man from your regiment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is true, sire,&rdquo; replied the Colonel. &ldquo;It is an old
+fellow called P�re La Chique, whom we have left at the
+barracks playing his violin, the old good-for-nothing!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wish to see him,&rdquo; said the King.</p>
+<p>P�re La Chique was brought forward trembling, and
+the King, tearing the epaulettes from the shoulders of
+the captain who had stolen his wife, placed them on
+those of P�re La Chique. He then gave orders for a
+great fire to be lit, in which were burned the wicked
+captain and the wife who had so soon forgotten her
+husband.</p>
+<p>La Rose and his Queen lived happily ever afterward&mdash;which
+is rather odd, is it not, when one thinks of the
+treatment meted out to his resuscitated spouse? But
+if the lights in folk-tale are bright, the shadows are
+correspondingly heavy, and rarely does justice go hand
+in hand with mercy in legend!</p>
+<h3><i>Norouas, the North-west Wind</i></h3>
+<p>Brittany has an entire cycle of folk-tales dealing with
+the subject of the winds&mdash;which, indeed, play an
+extraordinary part in Breton folk-lore. The fishermen
+of the north coast frequently address the winds as
+if they were living beings, hurling opprobrious epithets
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+at them if the direction in which they blow does not
+suit their purpose, shaking their fists at them in a most
+menacing manner the while. The following story, the
+only wind-tale it is possible to give here, well illustrates
+this personalization of the winds by the Breton folk.</p>
+<p>There was once a goodman and his wife who had a
+little field on which they grew flax. One season their
+patch yielded a particularly fine crop, and after it had
+been cut they laid it out to dry. But Norouas, the
+North-west Wind, came along and with one sweep of
+his mighty wings tossed it as high as the tree-tops, so
+that it fell into the sea and was lost.</p>
+<p>When the goodman saw what had happened he began
+to swear at the Wind, and, taking his stick, he set out
+to follow and slay Norouas, who had spoiled his flax.
+So hasty had he been in setting forth that he had
+taken no food or money with him, and when evening
+came he arrived at an inn hungry and penniless. He
+explained his plight to the hostess, who gave him a
+morsel of bread and permitted him to sleep in a corner
+of the stable. In the morning he asked the dame the
+way to the abode of Norouas, and she conducted him
+to the foot of a mountain, where she said the Winds
+dwelt.</p>
+<p>The goodman climbed the mountain, and at the top
+met with Surouas, the South-west Wind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you he whom they call Norouas?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I am Surouas,&rdquo; said the South-west Wind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where then is that villain Norouas?&rdquo; cried the goodman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; said Surouas, &ldquo;do not speak so loud, goodman,
+for if he hears you he will toss you into the air
+like a straw.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span></div>
+<p>At that moment Norouas arrived, whistling wildly and
+vigorously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, thief of a Norouas,&rdquo; cried the goodman, &ldquo;it was
+you who stole my beautiful crop of flax!&rdquo; But the Wind
+took no notice of him. Nevertheless he did not cease
+to cry: &ldquo;Norouas, Norouas, give me back my flax!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hush, hush!&rdquo; cried Norouas. &ldquo;Here is a napkin that
+will perhaps make you keep quiet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;With my crop of flax,&rdquo; howled the goodman, &ldquo;I could
+have made a hundred napkins such as this. Norouas,
+give me back my flax!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Be silent, fellow,&rdquo; said Norouas. &ldquo;This is no common
+napkin which I give you. You have only to say,
+&lsquo;Napkin, unfold thyself,&rsquo; to have the best spread table
+in the world standing before you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The goodman took the napkin with a grumble, descended
+the mountain, and there, only half believing what
+Norouas had said, placed the napkin before him, saying,
+&ldquo;Napkin, unfold thyself.&rdquo; Immediately a table appeared
+spread with a princely repast. The odour of cunningly
+cooked dishes arose, and rare wines sparkled in glittering
+vessels. After he had feasted the table vanished,
+and the goodman folded up his napkin and went back
+to the inn where he had slept the night before.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, did you get any satisfaction out of Norouas?&rdquo;
+asked the hostess.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed I did,&rdquo; replied the goodman, producing the
+napkin. &ldquo;Behold this: Napkin, unfold thyself!&rdquo; and
+as he spoke the magic table appeared before their eyes.
+The hostess, struck dumb with astonishment, at once
+became covetous and resolved to have the napkin for
+herself. So that night she placed the goodman in a
+handsome apartment where there was a beautiful bed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span>
+with a soft feather mattress, on which he slept more
+soundly than ever he had done in his life. When he
+was fast asleep the cunning hostess entered the room
+and stole the napkin, leaving one of similar appearance
+in its place.</p>
+<p>In the morning the goodman set his face homeward,
+and duly arrived at his little farm. His wife eagerly
+asked him if Norouas had made good the damage done
+to the flax, to which her husband replied affirmatively
+and drew the substituted napkin from his pocket.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; quoth the dame, &ldquo;we could have made two
+hundred napkins like this out of the flax that was
+destroyed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, but,&rdquo; said the goodman, &ldquo;this napkin is not the
+same as others. I have only to say, &lsquo;Napkin, unfold
+thyself,&rsquo; and a table covered with a most splendid feast
+appears. Napkin, unfold thyself&mdash;unfold thyself, dost
+thou hear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are an old fool, goodman,&rdquo; said his wife when
+nothing happened. Her husband&rsquo;s jaw dropped and
+he seized his stick.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have been sold by that rascal Norouas,&rdquo; he cried.
+&ldquo;Well, I shall not spare him this time,&rdquo; and without
+more ado he rushed out of the house and took the road
+to the home of the Winds.</p>
+<p>He slept as before at the inn, and next morning climbed
+the mountain. He began at once to call loudly upon
+Norouas, who was whistling up aloft, demanding that
+he should return him his crop of flax.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Be quiet, down there!&rdquo; cried Norouas.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall not be quiet!&rdquo; screamed the goodman, brandishing
+his bludgeon. &ldquo;You have made matters worse
+by cheating me with that napkin of yours!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, well, then,&rdquo; replied Norouas, &ldquo;here is an ass;
+you have only to say &lsquo;Ass, make me some gold,&rsquo; and
+it will fall from his tail.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The goodman, eager to test the value of the new gift,
+at once led the ass to the foot of the mountain and
+said: &ldquo;Ass, make me some gold.&rdquo; The ass shook his
+tail, and a <i>rouleau</i> of gold pieces fell to the ground.
+The goodman hastened to the inn, where, as before,
+he displayed the phenomenon to the hostess, who that
+night went into the stable and exchanged for the
+magical animal another similar in appearance to it. On
+the evening of the following day the goodman returned
+home and acquainted his wife with his good luck, but
+when he charged the ass to make gold and nothing
+happened, she railed at him once more for a fool, and
+in a towering passion he again set out to slay Norouas.
+Arrived at the mountain for the third time, he called
+loudly on the North-west Wind, and when he came
+heaped insults and reproaches upon him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Softly,&rdquo; replied Norouas; &ldquo;I am not to blame for your
+misfortune. You must know that it is the hostess at
+the inn where you slept who is the guilty party, for
+she stole your napkin and your ass. Take this cudgel.
+When you say to it, &lsquo;Strike, cudgel,&rsquo; it will at once
+attack your enemies, and when you want it to stop you
+have only to cry, &lsquo;<i>Ora pro nobis</i>.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The goodman, eager to test the efficacy of the cudgel,
+at once said to it, &ldquo;Strike, cudgel,&rdquo; whereupon it commenced
+to belabour him so soundly that he yelled,
+&ldquo;<i>Ora pro nobis!</i>&rdquo; when it ceased.</p>
+<p>Returning to the inn in a very stormy mood, he loudly
+demanded the return of his napkin and his ass, whereupon
+the hostess threatened to fetch the gendarmes.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Strike, cudgel!&rdquo; cried the goodman, and the stick
+immediately set about the hostess in such vigorous style
+that she cried to the goodman to call it off and she
+would at once return his ass and his napkin.</p>
+<p>When his property had been returned to him the
+goodman lost no time in making his way homeward,
+where he rejoiced his wife by the sight of the treasures
+he brought with him. He rapidly grew rich, and his
+neighbours, becoming suspicious at the sight of so
+much wealth, had him arrested and brought before a
+magistrate on a charge of wholesale murder and
+robbery. He was sentenced to death, and on the day
+of his execution he was about to mount the scaffold,
+when he begged as a last request that his old cudgel
+might be brought him. The boon was granted, and no
+sooner had the stick been given into his hands than he
+cried, &ldquo;Strike, cudgel!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And the cudgel <i>did</i> strike. It belaboured judge,
+gendarmes, and spectators in such a manner that they
+fled howling from the scene. It demolished the scaffold
+and cracked the hangman&rsquo;s crown. A great cry for
+mercy arose. The goodman was instantly pardoned,
+and was never further molested in the enjoyment of
+the treasures the North-west Wind had given him as
+compensation for his crop of flax.</p>
+<h3><i>The Foster-Brother</i></h3>
+<p>The weird tale which follows has many parallels in
+world folk-lore, but is localized at Tr�guier, an old
+cathedral town in the C�tes-du-Nord at the junction
+of the Jaudy and the Guindy, famous for the beautiful
+windows of its celebrated church, founded by St Tugdual.</p>
+<p>Gwennola�k was the most noble and beautiful maiden in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span>
+Tr�guier, but, alas! she was almost friendless, for at an
+early age she had lost her father, her mother, and her
+two sisters, and her sole remaining relative was her
+stepmother. Pitiful it was to see her standing at the
+door of her manor, weeping as if her heart would break.
+But although she had none of her own blood to cherish
+she still nursed the hope that her foster-brother, who
+had journeyed abroad for some years, might one day
+return, and often would she stand gazing fixedly over
+the sea as if in search of the vessel that would bring him
+home. They had been playmates, and although six
+years had passed since he had left the country, the time
+had gone quickly, and when Gwennola�k thought of the
+young man it was as the boy who had shared the
+games and little amusements of her childhood. From
+these day-dreams she would be rudely awakened by the
+harsh voice of her stepmother calling to her: &ldquo;Come
+here, my girl, and attend to the animals. I don&rsquo;t feed
+you for loafing and doing nothing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Poor Gwennola�k had a sad life with her stepmother.
+Noble as she was she was yet forced by the vindictive
+old woman to rise in the early hours of the morning,
+even two or three hours before daylight in winter,
+to light the fire and sweep the house and perform
+other menial work. One evening as she was breaking
+the ice in the well in order to draw water for the
+household she was interrupted by a cavalier returning
+to Nantes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good e&rsquo;en to you, maiden. Are you affianced to
+anyone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The girl did not reply, but hung her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come, don&rsquo;t be afraid,&rdquo; said the handsome horseman,
+&ldquo;but answer my question.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span></div>
+<p>She looked at him almost fearfully. &ldquo;Saving your
+grace, I have never been affianced to anyone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good,&rdquo; replied the cavalier. &ldquo;Take this gold ring
+and say to your stepmother that you are now affianced
+to a cavalier of Nantes who has been in a great battle
+and who has lost his squire in the combat; and you
+may also add that he has been wounded in the side by
+a sword-stroke. In three weeks and three days, when
+my wound is healed, I will return and will take you to
+my manor with joy and festival.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The maiden returned to the house and looked at the
+ring. It was the same as her foster-brother used to
+wear on his left hand!</p>
+<p>Three weeks ran by, but the cavalier did not return.
+Then the stepmother said one morning: &ldquo;It is time,
+daughter, that you should marry, and I may tell you
+that I have found you a husband after my own heart.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Saving your grace, good stepmother, I do not wish
+to marry anyone except my foster-brother, who has returned.
+He has given me a golden wedding-ring, and
+has promised to come for me within a few days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A fig for your gold ring,&rdquo; cried the malignant hag.
+&ldquo;<i>Bon gr�, mal gr�</i>, you shall marry Job the Witless,
+the stable boy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Marry Job! Oh, horror! I should die of grief! Alas,
+my mother, were you but here now to protect me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you must howl, pray do so in the courtyard. You
+may make as many grimaces as you please, but in
+three days you shall be married for all that.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>The old gravedigger slowly patrolled the road, his
+bell in his hand, carrying the news of those who had
+died from village to village. In his doleful whine he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span>
+cried: &ldquo;Pray for the soul of a noble cavalier, a worthy
+gentleman of a good heart, who was mortally wounded
+in the side by the stroke of a sword in the battle near
+Nantes. He is to be buried to-day in the White
+Church.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At the marriage feast the bride was all in tears. All
+the guests, young and old, wept with her, all except
+her stepmother. She was conducted to the place of
+honour at supper-time, but she only drank a sip of water
+and ate a morsel of bread. By and by the dancing
+commenced, but when it was proposed that the bride
+should join in the revels she was not to be found; she
+had, indeed, escaped from the house, her hair flying in
+disorder, and where she had gone no one knew.</p>
+<p>All the lights were out at the manor, every one slept
+profoundly. The poor young woman alone lay concealed
+in the garden in the throes of a fever. She
+heard a footstep close by. &ldquo;Who is there?&rdquo; she asked
+fearfully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is I, Nola, your foster-brother.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, is it you? You are truly welcome, my dear
+brother,&rdquo; cried Gwennola�k, rising in rapture.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come with me,&rdquo; he whispered, and swinging her on
+to the crupper of his white horse he plunged madly
+into the night.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We fly fast,&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;We must have ridden a
+hundred leagues, I think. Ah, but I am happy with
+thee! I will never leave thee more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The owl hooted and night noises came to her ears.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, but thy horse is swift,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and thine
+armour, how brilliant it is! How happy I am to have
+found thee, my foster-brother! But are we near thy
+manor?&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_13' id='linki_13'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col13.jpg' alt='' title='' width='409' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+GWENNOLA�K AND NOLA<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall arrive there in good time, my sister,&rdquo; he
+replied.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thy heart is cold, thy hair is wet! Ah, how chill are
+thy hands!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Listen, my sister; do you not hear the noise of the
+gay musicians who shall play at our wedding?&rdquo; He
+had not finished speaking when his horse threw itself
+back on its haunches all at once, trembling and whinnying
+loudly.</p>
+<p>Gwennola�k looked around, and found herself on an
+island where a crowd of people were dancing. Lads
+and lasses, they danced most bravely beneath the green
+trees heavy with apples, and the music to which they
+tripped was as that of heaven.</p>
+<p>Suddenly the sun rose above the eastern mountains
+and flooded this strange new world with rich light, and
+there Gwennola�k found her mother and her two sisters,
+and there was nothing in her heart but beauty and
+joy.</p>
+<p>On the following morning, as the sun rose, the young
+women carried the body of Gwennola�k and laid it
+in the tomb of her foster-brother in the White
+Church.</p>
+<p>In this ballad&mdash;for the original from which we take the
+tale is cast in ballad form&mdash;we are once more in touch
+with the Celtic Otherworld. It is a thousand pities
+that this interesting piece breaks off where it does, thus
+failing to provide us with a fuller account of that most
+elusive realm. The short glimpse we do get of it,
+however, reminds us very much of the descriptions of
+it we possess in Irish lore. We have also once more
+the phenomenon of the dead lover who comes to claim
+the living bride, the midnight gallop, and other circumstances
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span>
+characteristic of ballad literature. There was
+a tradition in Lower Brittany, however, that no soul
+might be admitted to the other world which had not
+first received burial, but here, of course, we must look
+for Christian influence.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VII_POPULAR_LEGENDS_OF_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_VII_POPULAR_LEGENDS_OF_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII: POPULAR LEGENDS OF BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcapq'><small>&ldquo;</small><span class='drop'>T</span><span class="dcap">he</span> legend,&rdquo; says Gomme, in a passage most
+memorable for students of folk-lore as containing
+his acute and precise definition of the
+several classes of tradition, &ldquo;belongs to an historical
+personage, locality, or event,&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0040' id='FNanchor_0040'></a><a href='#Footnote_0040' class='fnanchor'>[40]</a> and it is in this general
+sense that the term is employed in regard to the
+contents of this chapter, unless where mythic or folk-lore
+matter is introduced for the sake of analogy or
+illustration. There is, however, a broad, popular reading
+of the term as indicating the fanciful-historical.
+When we read of the King of Ys, or Arthur, for example,
+we are not aware whether they ever existed or not, but
+they are alluded to by tradition as ancient rulers of
+Brittany and Britain, just as Cymbeline and Cole are
+spoken of as British monarchs of the distant past.
+They linger as personal figures in the folk-memory, but
+they scarcely seem as the personages of folk-tale. Let
+us say, then, for the purposes of our classification of
+Breton tradition, that we include in the term &lsquo;legend&rsquo;
+all tales of great personal figures who are historical or
+over whom folk-tale has cast an historical <i>vraisemblance</i>,
+remembering at the same time that in the case of personages
+whose existence is doubtful we may be dealing
+with a folk-tale disguised or even a distorted myth.</p>
+<h3><i>The Dark Story of Gilles de Retz</i></h3>
+<p>Of the dark and terrible legends to which Brittany has
+given birth, one of the most gloomy and romantic is the
+story of Gilles de Retz, alchemist, magician, and arch-criminal.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span>
+But the story is not altogether legendary,
+although it has undoubtedly been added to from the
+great stores of tradition. Gilles is none other than the
+Bluebeard of the nursery tale, for he appears to have
+actually worn a beard bluish-black in hue, and it is
+probable that his personality became mingled with that
+of the hero of the old Oriental story.</p>
+<p>Gilles de Laval, Lord of Retz and Marshal of France,
+was connected with some of the noblest families in
+Brittany, those of Montmorency, Rocey, and Craon,
+and at his father&rsquo;s death, about 1424, he found himself
+lord of many princely domains, and what, for those
+times, was almost unlimited power and wealth. He
+was a handsome youth, lithe and of fascinating address,
+courageous, and learned as any clerk. A splendid
+career lay before him, but from the first that distorted
+idea of the romantic which is typical of certain minds
+had seized upon him, and despite his rank and position
+he much preferred the dark courses which finally ended
+in his disgrace and ruin to the dignities of his seigneury.</p>
+<p>Gilles took his principal title from the barony of Retz
+or Rais, south of the Loire, on the marches of Brittany.
+As a youth he did nothing to justify an evil augury
+of his future, for he served with zeal and gallantry in
+the wars of Charles VI against the English and fought
+under Jeanne Darc at the siege of Orl�ans. In virtue
+of these services, and because of his shrewdness and
+skill in affairs, the King created him Marshal of France.
+But from that time onward the man who had been the
+able lieutenant of Jeanne Darc and had fought by her
+side at Jargeau and Patay began to deteriorate. Some
+years before he had married Catherine de Thouars, and
+with her had received a large dowry; but he had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
+expended immense sums in the national cause, and his
+private life was as extravagant as that of a prince in a
+fairy tale. At his castle of Champtoc� he dwelt in
+almost royal state; indeed, his train when he went
+hawking or hunting exceeded in magnificence that of
+the King himself. His retainers were tricked out in the
+most gorgeous liveries, and his table was spread with
+ruinous abundance. Oxen, sheep, and pigs were roasted
+whole, and viands were provided daily for five hundred
+persons. He had an insane love of pomp and display,
+and his private devotions were ministered to by a
+large body of ecclesiastics. His chapel was a marvel
+of splendour, and was furnished with gold and
+silver plate in the most lavish manner. His love of
+colour and movement made him fond of theatrical
+displays, and it is even said that the play or mystery
+of Orl�ans, dealing with the story of Jeanne Darc, was
+written with his own hand. He was munificent in his
+patronage of the arts, and was himself a skilled illuminator
+and bookbinder. In short, he was obviously one
+of those persons of abnormal character in whom genius
+is allied to madness and who can attempt and execute
+nothing except in a spirit of the wildest excess.</p>
+<p>The reduction of his fortune merely served his peculiar
+and abnormal personality with a new excuse for extravagance.
+At this time the art of alchemy flourished
+exceedingly and the works of Nicolas Flamel, the
+Arabian Geber, and Pierre d&rsquo;Estaing enjoyed a great
+vogue. On an evil day it occurred to Gilles to turn
+alchemist, and thus repair his broken fortunes. In the
+first quarter of the fifteenth century alchemy stood for
+scientific achievement, and many persons in our own
+enlightened age still study its maxims. A society
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
+exists to-day the object of which is to further the
+knowledge of alchemical science. A common misapprehension
+is current to the effect that the object of the
+alchemists was the transmutation of the baser metals
+into gold, but in reality they were divided into two
+groups, those who sought eagerly the secret of manufacturing
+the precious metals, and those who dreamed
+of a higher aim, the transmutation of the gross, terrestrial
+nature of man into the pure gold of the spirit.</p>
+<p>The latter of these aims was beyond the fevered imagination
+of such a wild and disorderly mind as that of Gilles
+de Retz. He sent emissaries into Italy, Spain, and
+Germany to invite adepts in the science to his castle at
+Champtoc�. From among these he selected two men
+to assist him in his plan&mdash;Prelati, an alchemist of Padua,
+and a certain physician of Poitou, whose name is not
+recorded. At their instigation he built a magnificent
+laboratory, and when it was completed commenced to
+experiment. A year passed, during which the necessities
+of the &lsquo;science&rsquo; gradually emptied many bags of gold,
+but none returned to the Marshal&rsquo;s coffers. The
+alchemists slept soft and fed sumptuously, and were
+quite content to pursue their labours so long as the
+Seigneur of Retz had occasion for their services. But
+as the time passed that august person became greatly
+impatient, and so irritable did he grow because of the
+lack of results that at length his assistants, in imminent
+fear of dismissal, communicated to him a dark and
+dreadful secret of their art, which, they assured him,
+would assist them at arriving speedily at the desired end.</p>
+<p>The nature of the experiment they proposed was so
+grotesque that its acceptance by Gilles proves that he
+was either insane or a victim of the superstition of his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+time. His wretched accomplices told him that the Evil
+One alone was capable of revealing the secret of the
+transmutation of the baser metals into gold, and they
+offered to summon him to their master&rsquo;s aid. They
+assured Gilles that Satan would require a recompense
+for his services, and the Marshal retorted that so long
+as he saved his soul intact he was quite willing to
+conclude any bargain that the Father of Evil might
+propose.</p>
+<p>It was arranged that the ceremony should take place
+within a gloomy wood in the neighbourhood. The
+nameless physician conducted the Lord of Retz to a
+small clearing in this plantation, where the magic circle
+was drawn and the usual conjurations made. For half
+an hour they waited in silence, and then a great
+trembling fell upon the physician. A deadly pallor
+overspread his countenance. His knees shook, he
+muttered wildly, and at last he sank to the ground.
+Gilles stood by unmoved. The insanity of egotism
+is of course productive of great if not lofty courage,
+and he feared neither man nor fiend. Suddenly the
+alchemist regained consciousness and told his master
+that the Devil had appeared to him in the shape of
+a leopard and had growled at him horribly. He
+ascribed Gilles&rsquo; lack of supernatural vision to want of
+faith. He then declared that the Evil One had told
+him where certain herbs grew in Spain and Africa, the
+juices of which possessed the power to effect the transmutation,
+and these he obligingly offered to search for,
+provided the Lord of Retz furnished the means for his
+travels. This Gilles gladly did, and of course never
+beheld the Poitevin knave again.</p>
+<p>Days and months passed and the physician did not
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span>
+return. Gilles grew uneasy. It was imperative that
+gold should be forthcoming immediately, for not only
+was he being pressed on every side, but he was unable
+to support his usual magnificence. In this dilemma he
+turned to Prelati, his remaining alchemical assistant.
+This man appears to have believed in his art or he
+would not have made the terrible suggestion he did,
+which was that the Lord of Retz should sign with his
+own blood a compact with the Devil, and should offer
+up a young child in sacrifice to him. To this proposal
+the unhappy Gilles consented. On the following night
+Prelati quitted the castle, and returned shortly afterward
+with the story that the fiend had appeared to him in the
+likeness of a young man who desired to be called Barron,
+and had pointed out to him the resting-place of a hoard
+of ingots of pure gold, buried under an oak in the
+neighbouring wood. Certain conditions, however, must
+be observed before the treasure was dug up, the chief
+of which was that it must not be searched for until a
+period of seven times seven weeks had elapsed, or it
+would turn into slates. With these conditions de Retz
+would not comply, and, alarmed at his annoyance, the
+obliging Prelati curtailed the time of waiting to seven
+times seven days. At the end of that period the
+alchemist and his dupe repaired to the wood to dig up
+the treasure. They worked hard for some time, and at
+length came upon a load of slates, inscribed with magical
+characters. Prelati pretended great wrath, and upbraided
+the Evil One for his deceit, in which denunciation
+he was heartily joined by de Retz. But so
+credulous was the Seigneur that he allowed himself to
+be persuaded to afford Satan another trial, which meant,
+of course, that Prelati led him on from day to day with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span>
+specious promises and ambiguous hints, until he had
+drained him of nearly all his remaining substance. He
+was then preparing to decamp with his plunder when a
+dramatic incident detained him.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_14' id='linki_14'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs14.jpg' alt='' title='' width='410' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE DEVIL IN THE FORM OF A LEOPARD APPEARS BEFORE THE ALCHEMIST<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>For some time a rumour had been circulating in the
+country-side that numerous children were missing and
+that they had been spirited away. Popular clamour ran
+high, and suspicion was directed toward the castle of
+Champtoc�. So circumstantial was the evidence against
+de Retz that at length the Duke of Brittany ordered
+both the Seigneur and his accomplice to be arrested.
+Their trial took place before a commission which de
+Retz denounced, declaring that he would rather be
+hanged like a dog, without trial, than plead before its
+members. But the evidence against him was overwhelming.
+It was told how the wretched madman, in
+his insane quest for gold, had sacrificed his innocent
+victims on the altar of Satan, and how he had gloated
+over their sufferings. Finally he confessed his enormities
+and told how nearly a hundred children had
+been cruelly murdered by him and his relentless accomplice.
+Both he and Prelati were doomed to be
+burned alive, but in consideration of his rank he was
+strangled before being cast into the flames. Before
+the execution he expressed to Prelati a hope that they
+would meet in Paradise, and, it is said, met his end very
+devoutly.</p>
+<p>The castle of Champtoc� still stands in its beautiful
+valley, and many romantic legends cluster about its
+grey old walls. &ldquo;The hideous, half-burnt body of the
+monster himself,&rdquo; says Trollope, &ldquo;circled with flames&mdash;pale,
+indeed, and faint in colour, but more lasting than
+those the hangman kindled around his mortal form in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+the meadow under the walls of Nantes&mdash;is seen, on
+bright moonlight nights, standing now on one topmost
+point of craggy wall, and now on another, and is heard
+mingling his moan with the sough of the night-wind.
+Pale, bloodless forms, too, of youthful growth and mien,
+the restless, unsepulchred ghosts of the unfortunates
+who perished in these dungeons unassoiled ... may at
+similar times be seen flitting backward and forward, in
+numerous groups, across the space enclosed by the ruined
+wall, with more than mortal speed, or glancing hurriedly
+from window to window of the fabric, as still seeking to
+escape from its hateful confinement.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0041' id='FNanchor_0041'></a><a href='#Footnote_0041' class='fnanchor'>[41]</a></p>
+<h3><i>Comorre the Cursed</i></h3>
+<p>As has been said, the story of Gilles de Retz is connected
+by tradition with that of Bluebeard, but it is probable that
+this traditional connexion arises simply from the association
+of two famous tales. The other legend in question
+is that of Comorre the Cursed, whose story is told in
+the frescoes which cover the wall of the church of St
+Nicolas de Bieuzy, dedicated to St Triphyne, in which
+the tale of Bluebeard is depicted as the story of the
+saint, who in history was the wife of Comorre. Comorre
+was a chief who ruled at Carhaix, in Finist�re, and his
+tale, which owes its modern dress to �mile Souvestre,
+himself a Breton, and author of <i>Derniers Bretons</i> and
+the brilliant sketch <i>Un Philosophe sous les Toits</i>. The
+tale, translated, runs as follows:</p>
+<p>Guerech, Count of Vannes, &lsquo;the Country of White Corn,&rsquo;
+had a daughter, Triphyna, whom he tenderly loved.
+One day ambassadors arrived from Comorre, a prince
+of Cornouaille, &lsquo;the Country of Black Corn,&rsquo; demanding
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span>
+her in marriage. Now this caused great distress, for
+Comorre was a giant, and one of the wickedest of men,
+held in awe by every one for his cruelty. As a boy,
+when he went out, his mother used to ring a bell to
+warn people of his approach; and when unsuccessful
+in the chase he would set his dogs on the peasants to
+tear them to pieces. But most horrible of all, he had
+had four wives, who had all died one after the other,
+it was suspected either by the knife, fire, water, or
+poison. The Count of Vannes, therefore, dismissed
+the ambassadors, and advanced to meet Comorre, who
+was approaching with a powerful army; but St Gildas
+went into Triphyna&rsquo;s oratory and begged her to save
+bloodshed and consent to the marriage. He gave her
+a silver ring, which would warn her of any intended evil
+by turning as black as a crow&rsquo;s wing at the approach of
+danger.</p>
+<p>The marriage took place with great rejoicings. The
+first day six thousand guests were invited; on the next
+day as many poor were fed, the bride and the bridegroom
+themselves serving at the tables. For some time all
+went well. Comorre&rsquo;s nature seemed altered; his
+prisons were empty, his gibbets untenanted. But
+Triphyna felt no confidence, and every day went to
+pray at the tombs of his four wives. At this time
+there was an assembly of the Breton princes at Rennes,
+which Comorre was obliged to attend. Before his
+departure he gave Triphyna his keys, desiring her
+to amuse herself in his absence. After five months
+he unexpectedly returned, and found her occupied
+trimming an infant&rsquo;s cap with gold lace. On seeing
+the cap Comorre turned pale; and when Triphyna
+joyfully announced to him that soon he would be a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span>
+father he drew back in a rage and rushed out of the
+apartment. Triphyna saw that her ring had turned
+black, which betokened danger, she knew not why.
+She descended into the chapel to pray. When she
+rose to depart the hour of midnight struck, and suddenly
+a sound of movement in the silent chapel chilled her at
+the heart; shrinking into a recess, she saw the four
+tombs of Comorre&rsquo;s wives open slowly, and the women
+all issued forth in their winding-sheets.</p>
+<p>Faint with terror, Triphyna tried to escape; but the
+spectres cried: &ldquo;Take care, poor lost one! Comorre
+seeks to kill you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Me,&rdquo; said the Countess. &ldquo;What evil have I done?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have told him that you will soon become a
+mother; and, through the Spirit of Evil, he knows
+that his child will slay him. He murdered us when we
+told him what he has just learned from you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What hope, then, of refuge remains for me?&rdquo; cried
+Triphyna.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Go back to your father,&rdquo; answered the phantoms.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But how escape when Comorre&rsquo;s dog guards the court?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Give him this poison which killed me,&rdquo; said the first wife.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But how can I descend yon high wall?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By means of this cord which strangled me,&rdquo; answered
+the second wife.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But who will guide me through the dark?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The fire that burnt me,&rdquo; replied the third wife.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And how can I make so long a journey?&rdquo; returned
+Triphyna.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take this stick which broke my skull,&rdquo; rejoined the
+fourth spectre.</p>
+<p>Armed with the poison, the rope, and the stick, Triphyna
+set out, silenced the dog, scaled the wall, and, miraculously
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span>
+guided on her way through the darkness by a
+glowing light, proceeded on her road to Vannes. On
+awaking next morning Comorre found that his wife had
+fled, and pursued her on horseback. The poor fugitive,
+seeing her ring turn black, turned off the road and hid
+herself till night in the cabin of a shepherd, where there
+was only an old magpie in a cage at the door, and here
+her baby was born. Comorre, who had given up the
+pursuit, was returning home by that road, when he
+heard the magpie trying to imitate her complaints and
+calling out &ldquo;Poor Triphyna!&rdquo; Guessing that his wife
+had passed that way, he set his dog on the track.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Triphyna felt she could proceed no farther,
+and lay down on the ground with her baby boy. As
+she clasped the child in her arms she saw over her head
+a falcon with a golden collar, which she recognized as
+her father&rsquo;s. The bird came at her call, and giving it
+the warning ring of St Gildas she told it to fly with it
+to her father. The bird obeyed, and flew like lightning
+to Vannes; but almost at the same instant Comorre
+arrived. Having parted with her warning ring, Triphyna,
+who had no notice of his approach, had only time to
+conceal her babe in the cavity of a tree when Comorre
+threw himself upon her, and with one blow from his
+sword severed her head from her body.</p>
+<p>When the falcon arrived at Vannes he found the Count
+at dinner with St Gildas. He let the ring fall into the
+silver cup of his master, who, recognizing it, exclaimed:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My daughter is in danger! Saddle the horses, and
+let Saint Gildas accompany us.&rdquo; Following the falcon,
+they soon reached the spot where Triphyna lay dead.
+After they had all knelt in prayer, St Gildas said to the
+corpse: &ldquo;Arise, take thy head and thy child, and follow
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+us.&rdquo; The dead body obeyed, the bewildered troop
+followed; but, gallop as fast as they could, the headless
+body was always in front, carrying the babe in her left
+hand, and her pale head in the right. In this manner
+they reached the castle of Comorre.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Count,&rdquo; called St Gildas before the gates, &ldquo;I bring
+back thy wife such as thy wickedness has made her, and
+thy child such as heaven has given it thee. Wilt thou
+receive them under thy roof?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Comorre was silent. The Saint three times repeated
+the question, but no voice returned an answer. Then
+St Gildas took the new-born infant from its mother and
+placed it on the ground. The child marched alone to
+the edge of the moat, picked up a handful of earth, and,
+throwing it against the castle, exclaimed: &ldquo;Let the
+Trinity execute judgment.&rdquo; At the same instant the
+towers shook and fell with a crash, the walls yawned
+open, and the castle sunk, burying Comorre and all his
+partners in crime. St Gildas then replaced Triphyna&rsquo;s
+head upon her shoulders, laid his hands upon her, and
+restored her to life, to the great joy of her father. Such
+is the history of Triphyna and Comorre.</p>
+<h3><i>The Legend of Ys</i></h3>
+<p>The legend of the submerged city of Ys, or Is, is perhaps
+the most romantic and imaginative effort of Breton
+popular legend. Who has not heard of the submerged
+bells of Ys, and who has not heard them ring in the
+echoes of his own imagination?</p>
+<p>This picturesque legend<a name='FNanchor_0042' id='FNanchor_0042'></a><a href='#Footnote_0042' class='fnanchor'>[42]</a> tells us that in the early days
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span>
+of the Christian epoch the city of Ys, or Ker-is, was
+ruled by a prince called Gradlon, surnamed Meur,
+which in Celtic means &lsquo;the Great.&rsquo; Gradlon was a
+saintly and pious man, and acted as patron to Gw�nnol�,
+founder and first abb� of the first monastery built in
+Armorica. But, besides being a religious man, Gradlon
+was a prudent prince, and defended his capital of Ys
+from the invasions of the sea by constructing an
+immense basin to receive the overflow of the water at
+high tide. This basin had a secret gate, of which the
+King alone possessed the key, and which he opened and
+closed at the necessary times.</p>
+<p>Gradlon, as is so often the case with pious men, had a
+wayward child, the princess Dahut, who on one occasion
+while her father was sleeping gave a secret banquet to
+her lover, in which the pair, excited with wine, committed
+folly after folly, until at last it occurred to the
+frivolous girl to open the sluice-gate. Stealing noiselessly
+into her sleeping father&rsquo;s chamber she detached
+from his girdle the key he guarded so jealously and
+opened the gate. The water immediately rushed in
+and submerged the entire city.</p>
+<p>But, as usual, there is more than one version of this interesting
+legend. The city of Ys, says another account,
+was a place rich in commerce and the arts, but so given
+over to luxury as to arouse the ire of St Gw�nnol�, who,
+in the manner of Jeremiah, foretold its ruin. It was
+situated where now a piece of water, the �tang de
+Laval, washes the desolate shores of the Bay of
+Tr�pass�s&mdash;though another version of the tale has it
+that it stood in the vast basin which now forms the Bay
+of Douarnenez. A strong dike protected it from the
+ocean, the sluices only admitting sufficient water for the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+needs of the town. Gradlon constantly bore round his
+neck a silver key which opened at the same time the
+vast sluices and the city gates. He lived in great state
+in a palace of marble, cedar, and gold, and his only grief
+was the conduct of his daughter Dahut, who, it is said,
+&ldquo;had made a crown of her vices and taken for her
+pages the seven capital sins.&rdquo; But retribution was at
+hand, and the wicked city met with sudden destruction,
+for one night Dahut stole the silver key for the purpose
+of opening the city gates to admit her lover, and in the
+darkness by mistake opened the sluices. King Gradlon
+was awakened by St Gw�nnol�, who commanded him
+to flee, as the torrent was reaching the palace. He
+mounted his horse, and, taking his worthless daughter
+behind him, set off at a gallop, the incoming flood
+seething and boiling at his steed&rsquo;s fetlocks. The torrent
+was about to overtake and submerge him when a voice
+from behind called out: &ldquo;Throw the demon thou carriest
+into the sea, if thou dost not desire to perish.&rdquo; Dahut
+at that moment fell from the horse&rsquo;s back into the water,
+and the torrent immediately stopped its course. Gradlon
+reached Quimper safe and sound, but nothing is said as
+to his subsequent career.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_15' id='linki_15'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs15.jpg' alt='' title='' width='404' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE ESCAPE OF KING GRADLON FROM THE FLOODED CITY OF YS<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>An ancient ballad on the subject, which, however, bears
+marks of having been tampered with, states, on the
+other hand, that Gradlon led his people into extravagances
+of every kind, and that Dahut received the
+key from him, the misuse of which precipitated the
+catastrophe. Dahut, the ballad continues, became a
+mermaid and haunted the waters which roll over the
+site of the city where she loved and feasted. &ldquo;Fisherman,&rdquo;
+ends the ballad, &ldquo;have you seen the daughter
+of the sea combing her golden hair in the midday sun
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span>
+at the fringes of the beach?&rdquo; &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replies the
+fisherman, &ldquo;I have seen the white daughter of the sea,
+and I have heard her sing, and her songs were plaintive
+as the sound of the waves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The legend of Ys, of the town swallowed up by the sea,
+is common to the several branches of the Celtic race. In
+Wales the site of the submerged city is in Cardigan Bay,
+and in Ireland it is Lough Neagh, as Tom Moore says:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>On Lough Neagh&rsquo;s bank as the fisherman strays,</p>
+<p class='indent2'>When the clear, cold eve&rsquo;s declining,</p>
+<p>He sees the round towers of other days</p>
+<p class='indent2'>In the wave beneath him shining.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>This legend had its rise in an extraordinary story which
+was given currency to by Giraldus Cambrensis in his
+<i>Topography of Ireland</i>, to the effect that a certain extremely
+wicked tribe were punished for their sins by the
+inundation of their territory.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now there was a common proverb,&rdquo; says Gerald, &ldquo;in
+the mouths of the tribe, that whenever the well-spring
+of that country was left uncovered (for out of reverence
+shown to it, from a barbarous superstition, the spring
+was kept covered and sealed), it would immediately
+overflow and inundate the whole province, drowning
+and destroying the whole population. It happened,
+however, on some occasion that a young woman, who
+had come to the spring to draw water, after filling her
+pitcher, but before she had closed the well, ran in great
+haste to her little boy, whom she had heard crying at a
+spot not far from the spring where she had left him. But
+the voice of the people is the voice of God; and on her
+way back she met such a flood of water from the spring
+that it swept off her and the boy, and the inundation
+was so violent that they both, and the whole tribe, with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span>
+their cattle, were drowned in an hour in this partial
+and local deluge. The waters, having covered the
+whole surface of that fertile district, were converted
+into a permanent lake. A not improbable confirmation
+of this occurrence is found in the fact that the fishermen
+in that lake see distinctly under the water, in calm
+weather, ecclesiastical towers, which, according to the
+custom of the country, are slender and lofty, and moreover
+round; and they frequently point them out to
+strangers travelling through these parts, who wonder
+what could have caused such a catastrophe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the Welsh version of this fascinating legend it is
+the bard Gwyddno, of the twelfth century, who tells of
+the downfall of the submerged city, and two of the
+strophes which occur in his poem are also found in
+the Breton poem. The Welsh bard may have received
+the story from Breton sources, or the converse may be
+the case.</p>
+<p>The legend that Cardigan Bay contains a submerged
+territory is widely known, and strangely enough seems
+to be corroborated by the shape of the coast-line, the
+contour of which suggests the subsidence of a large
+body of land. Like their brothers of Ireland, the
+fishermen of Wales assert that at low tide they can
+see the ruins of ancient edifices far down beneath the
+clear waters of the bay.<a name='FNanchor_0043' id='FNanchor_0043'></a><a href='#Footnote_0043' class='fnanchor'>[43]</a></p>
+<p>Before the days of the French Revolution there was
+still to be seen at Quimper, between the two towers of
+the cathedral, a figure of King Gradlon mounted on his
+faithful courser, but in the stormy year of 1793 the name
+of king was in bad odour and the ignorant populace
+deprived the statue of its head. However, in 1859 it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span>
+was restored. Legend attributes the introduction of the
+vine into Brittany to King Gradlon, and on St Cecilia&rsquo;s
+Day a regular ritual was gone through in Quimper
+in connexion with his counterfeit presentment. A company
+of singers mounted on a platform. While they
+sang a hymn in praise of King Gradlon, one of the
+choristers, provided with a flagon of wine, a napkin,
+and a golden hanap (or cup), mounted on the crupper
+of the King&rsquo;s horse, poured out a cup of wine, which
+he offered ceremoniously to the lips of the statue and
+then drank himself, carefully wiped with his napkin the
+moustache of the King, placed a branch of laurel in his
+hand, and then threw down the hanap in the midst of
+the crowd below, in honour of the first planter of the
+grape in Brittany. To whoever caught the cup before
+it fell, and presented it uninjured to the Chapter, was
+adjudged a prize of two hundred crowns.</p>
+<p>There is a distinct savour of myth about all this. Can
+it be that Gradlon was a Breton Bacchus? There are
+notices of Celtic goddesses in whose honour Bacchic
+rites were held, and the place of these was sometimes
+taken by a corn god. Later the festival in its memorial
+aspect appears to have been associated with different
+kings<a name='FNanchor_0044' id='FNanchor_0044'></a><a href='#Footnote_0044' class='fnanchor'>[44]</a> in the various parts of the Celtic world, and it
+seems likely that Gradlon was such a monarch who had
+taken the place of a vanished deity. It must be left to
+Celtic scholars to determine whether the name Gradlon
+possesses any deific significance hidden in its etymology.</p>
+<h3><i>The Clerk of Rohan</i></h3>
+<p>Jeanne de Rohan, daughter of Alain, fifth of the name,
+Viscount of Rohan, married in the year 1236 Matthew,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span>
+Seigneur of Beauvau, son of Ren�, Constable of Naples.
+Breton popular poetry has in many ballads recounted
+the adventures of Jeanne and her husband, one of which
+is as follows<a name='FNanchor_0045' id='FNanchor_0045'></a><a href='#Footnote_0045' class='fnanchor'>[45]</a>:</p>
+<p>At the age of thirteen Jeanne consented to be married,
+but she desired that she herself should be allowed to
+choose her husband. Accordingly the cavaliers and
+barons of the district were invited to pay their court to
+her, and she fixed her affections upon the Seigneur of
+Beauvau, a valiant noble with large possessions in Italy.
+He was loyal and courteous, and when the pair were
+wedded their happiness seemed perfect.</p>
+<p>At this period the war in Palestine against the infidels
+was agitating the whole of Europe. The Seigneur of
+Beauvau desired to join the Crusaders, but his wife was
+by no means anxious that he should leave his home.
+But his principle was <i>noblesse oblige</i>. &ldquo;I am of the
+most noble blood,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;therefore it behoves me
+to be the first to lead the way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He confided the care of his estates and his affairs in
+general to his wife&rsquo;s cousin, who was known as the
+Clerk of Rohan, and begged him to look well after
+Jeanne and his little son. Then, having bid farewell
+to them all, he mounted his horse and rode away to
+the wars.</p>
+<p>Jeanne was inconsolable. For days she wandered
+about the ch�teau carrying her baby boy in her arms
+and sobbing. All the domestic circle seemed disturbed
+at the Seigneur&rsquo;s departure except the Clerk of Rohan,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
+to whom Count Matthew had so trustingly confided the
+charge of his affairs.</p>
+<p>The Seigneur had declared that he would return within
+a year&rsquo;s time. A year passed, however, and no news of
+him had been received. Now the Clerk was a perfidious
+and wicked schemer, and one morning as he and
+Jeanne were in conversation he hinted that the year
+within which the Seigneur had promised to return was
+now gone by and that the war in which he had been
+engaged had come to an end. He made no secret
+of his passion for the lady, but she on her part
+turned upon him angrily, saying: &ldquo;Is it the fashion
+nowadays for women to consider themselves widows,
+knowing well that their husbands are alive? Go to,
+miserable Clerk, thy heart is full of wickedness. If
+my husband were here he would break thee in little
+pieces!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the Clerk heard this he went secretly to the
+kennels, and there he slew the Seigneur&rsquo;s favourite
+greyhound. Taking some of its blood, he wrote with
+it a letter to Count Matthew telling him that his wife
+was most unhappy because of an accident which had
+occurred; that she had been hunting the deer, and that
+in the chase his favourite greyhound had died from
+over-exertion. The Seigneur duly received the letter,
+and in his reply told the Clerk to comfort the lady, as he
+was quite able to replace the hound. At the same time
+he desired that hunting should cease for the present,
+as the huntsmen seemed unskilful in their conduct of
+the chase.</p>
+<p>The wicked Clerk once more sought the lady.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you are losing your beauty by weeping
+night and day.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I will know how to recover my beauty when my
+husband returns,&rdquo; she replied coldly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do not cheat yourself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Surely you can
+see by this time that he is either dead or has taken
+another wife. In the East there are many beautiful
+girls who are far wealthier than you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If he has taken another wife,&rdquo; said the lady, &ldquo;I shall
+die; and if he be dead I ask for naught but death.
+Leave me, miserable wretch. Thy tongue is poisoned
+with deceit.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the Clerk had sufficiently recovered from this
+second rebuff, he betook himself to the stables, where
+the Seigneur&rsquo;s horse, the most beautiful in the country,
+stood champing in its stall. The wretch, drawing his
+poignard, thrust it into the noble steed&rsquo;s entrails, and,
+as he had done in the case of the greyhound, took
+some of the blood and wrote once more to the Count.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another accident has occurred at the ch�teau,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;but, my dear Seigneur, pray do not trouble
+yourself on account of it. When your wife was returning
+from a feast in the night your favourite horse fell
+and broke two of his legs, and had to be destroyed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Seigneur replied that he was grieved to hear of
+the circumstance, and that in order to avoid further
+mischances of the sort it would be better that his wife
+should frequent no more feasts.</p>
+<p>A third time the perfidious Clerk sought the lady.
+On this occasion he threatened her with death if she
+would not be his, but she replied in the most spirited
+manner that she loved death a thousand times better
+than him. At these words he could not contain his
+rage, and, drawing his dagger, thrust fiercely at her
+head. But the lady&rsquo;s guardian angel turned the stroke
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span>
+and the weapon struck harmlessly against the wall.
+She fled from the room, closing the door behind her
+as she went; whereupon the Clerk rushed downstairs
+to the nursery where her child was quietly sleeping in
+its cradle, and, seeing no one beside it, stabbed the
+slumbering infant to the heart.</p>
+<p>Then he wrote to the Seigneur: &ldquo;Hasten your return,
+I beg of you, for it is necessary that you should be here
+to establish order. Your dog and your white courser
+have perished, but that is not the worst. Your little son,
+alas! is also dead. The great sow devoured him
+when your wife was at a ball with the miller for a
+gallant.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the Seigneur received this letter he returned at
+once from the wars, his anger rising higher and higher
+with every homeward league. When he arrived at the
+ch�teau he struck three times upon the door with his
+hand, and his summons was answered by the Clerk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How now, evil Clerk,&rdquo; shouted the infuriated Count,
+&ldquo;did I not leave my wife in your care?&rdquo; and with these
+words he thrust his lance into the Clerk&rsquo;s open mouth,
+so that the point stood out at the nape of his neck.
+Then, mounting the stairs, he entered his wife&rsquo;s
+chamber, and without speaking a word stabbed her with
+his sword.</p>
+<p>The ballad then goes on to speak of the burial of
+the victims of the wicked Clerk. The lady, dressed
+all in white, was laid in her tomb by the light of the
+moon and the stars. On her breast lay her little son,
+on her right the favourite greyhound, and on her left
+the white courser, and it is said that in her grave she
+first caresses one and then the other, and the infant, as
+if jealous, nestles closer to his mother&rsquo;s heart.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Lady of La Garaye</i></h3>
+<p>The ch�teau of La Garaye, near Dinan, is rendered
+famous by the virtues and boundless charity of its Count,
+Claude Toussaint Marot de La Garaye, and his wife.
+Their interesting story is told in the charming poem of
+Mrs Norton, <i>The Lady of La Garaye</i>:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Listen to the tale I tell,</p>
+<p>Grave the story is&mdash;not sad;</p>
+<p>And the peasant plodding by</p>
+<p>Greets the place with kindly eye,</p>
+<p>For the inmates that it had.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>Count Claude de La Garaye and his wife were young,
+beautiful, and endowed with friends, riches, and all that
+could make life bright and happy. They entertained
+generously and enjoyed the pleasures and amusements
+of the world. But one day misfortune overtook them,
+for the Countess was thrown from her horse, and she
+was left a cripple for life, while all expectations of an
+heir vanished. Both were inconsolable at their disappointment.
+One day a monk came to visit them, and
+tried to comfort them, seeking by his conversation to
+turn their thoughts from earthly afflictions to heavenly
+consolation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, my father,&rdquo; said the lady, &ldquo;how happy are you,
+to love nothing on earth!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are mistaken,&rdquo; answered the monk; &ldquo;I love all
+those who are in sorrow or suffering. But I submit
+myself to the will of the Almighty, and bend myself
+with resignation to every blow He strikes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He proceeded to show them that there was still a great
+deal of happiness in store for them in ministering to the
+needs of others. Following his counsel, they went to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span>
+Paris, where for three years the Count studied medicine
+and surgery, and his wife became a skilful oculist. On
+their return to La Garaye they gave up all the amusements
+of society and devoted themselves to relieving
+the sufferings of their fellow-creatures. Their house
+was converted into a hospital for the sick and afflicted,
+under the ministering care of the Count and his benevolent
+wife:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Her home is made their home; her wealth their dole;</p>
+<p>Her busy courtyard hears no more the roll</p>
+<p>Of gilded vehicles, or pawing steeds,</p>
+<p>But feeble steps of those whose bitter needs</p>
+<p>Are their sole passport. Through that gateway press</p>
+<p>All varying forms of sickness and distress,</p>
+<p>And many a poor, worn face that hath not smiled</p>
+<p>For years, and many a feeble crippled child,</p>
+<p>Blesses the tall white portal where they stand,</p>
+<p>And the dear Lady of the liberal hand.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>Nor was their philanthropy confined to their own
+province. In 1729 they offered themselves to M. de
+Belsunce&mdash;&ldquo;Marseilles&rsquo; good bishop&rdquo;&mdash;to assist him
+during the visitation of the plague. The fame of their
+virtues reached even the French Court, and Louis XV
+sent Count de La Garaye the Order of St Lazarus, with
+a donation of 50,000 livres and a promise of 25,000 more.
+They both died at an advanced age, within two years
+of each other, and were buried among their poor at
+Taden. Their marble mausoleum in the church was
+destroyed during the French Revolution. The Count
+left a large sum to be distributed among the prisoners,
+principally English, pent up in the crowded gaols of
+Rennes and Dinan. He had attended the English
+prisoners at Dinan during a contagious fever called the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+&lsquo;peste blanche,&rsquo; and in acknowledgment of his humanity
+Queen Caroline sent him two dogs with silver collars
+round their necks, and an English nobleman made him
+a present of six more.</p>
+<p>The ruined ch�teau is approached by an ivy-covered
+gateway, through an avenue of beeches. As Mrs
+Norton renders it:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>And like a mourner&rsquo;s mantle, with sad grace,</p>
+<p>Waves the dark ivy, hiding half the door</p>
+<p>And threshold, where the weary traveller&rsquo;s foot</p>
+<p>Shall never find a courteous welcome more.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>The ruin is fast falling to pieces. The principal part
+remaining is an octagonal turret of three stories, with
+elegant Renaissance decoration round the windows.</p>
+<h3><i>The Falcon</i></h3>
+<p>An interesting and picturesque ballad sung in the Black
+Mountains is that of <i>The Falcon</i>. Geoffrey, first Duke
+of Brittany, was departing for Rome in the year 1008,
+leaving the government of the country in the hands of
+his wife Ethwije, sister of Richard of Normandy. As
+he was about to set out on his pilgrimage the falcon
+which he carried on his wrist after the manner of the
+nobles of the period, swooped down on and killed the
+hen of a poor peasant woman. The woman in a rage
+seized a large stone and cast it at the bird with such
+violence that it slew not only the falcon but the Duke
+himself. The death of the Duke was followed by a
+most desperate insurrection among the people. History
+does not enlighten us as to the cause of this rising, but
+tradition attributes it to the invasion of Brittany by the
+Normans (whom the widow of Geoffrey at once brought
+into the country on the demise of her husband) and the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span>
+exactions which were wrung from the peasants by these
+haughty aliens.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_16' id='linki_16'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col16.jpg' alt='' title='' width='407' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+A PEASANT INSURRECTION<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>The ballad, which was used as a war-song by the
+Bretons at a later day, begins in true ballad style:
+&ldquo;The falcon has strangled the fowl, the peasant woman
+has slain the Count who oppressed the people, the poor
+people, like a brute-beast.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The hate of the stranger so characteristic of the old
+Bretons then flashes forth. &ldquo;The country has been
+polluted by the foreigner, by the men of the Gallic
+land, and because of the death of a hen and a falcon
+Brittany is on fire, blood flows, and there is great dole
+among the people.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On the summit of the Black Mountain thirty stout
+peasants had gathered to celebrate the ancient feast
+of the good St John. Among them was Kado the
+Striver, who stood there gravely leaning on his iron
+pitchfork. For a while he looked upon his comrades;
+then he opened his lips:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What say you, fellow-peasants? Do you intend to
+pay this tax? As for me, I shall certainly not pay it.
+I had much rather be hanged. Nevermore shall I pay
+this unjust tax. My sons go naked because of it, my
+flocks grow less and less. No more shall I pay. I
+swear it by the red brands of this fire, by Saint Kado
+my patron, and by Saint John.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My fortunes are broken, I am completely ruined,&rdquo;
+growled one of his companions. &ldquo;Before the year is
+out I shall be compelled to beg my bread.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Then all rose at once as if by a common impulse.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;None of us will pay this tax! We swear it by the
+Sun and by the Moon, and by the great sea which
+encircles this land of Brittany!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span></div>
+<p>Kado, stepping out from the circle, seized a firebrand,
+and holding it aloft cried: &ldquo;Let us march, comrades,
+and strike a blow for freedom!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The enthusiasm of his companions burst out afresh.
+Falling into loose ranks they followed him. His
+wife marched by his side in the first rank, carrying
+a reaping-hook on her shoulder and singing as she
+marched.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quickly, quickly, my children! We go to strike a
+blow for liberty! Have I brought thirty sons into the
+world to beg their bread, to carry firewood or to break
+stones, or bear burdens like beasts? Are they to
+till the green land and the grey land with bare feet
+while the rich feed their horses, their hunting-dogs,
+and their falcons better than they are fed? No! It
+is to slay the oppressors that I have borne so many
+sons!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Quickly they descended the mountains, gathering
+numbers as they went. Now they were three thousand
+strong, five thousand strong, and when they arrived at
+Langoad nine thousand strong. When they came to
+Gu�rande they were thirty thousand strong. The
+houses of those who had ground them down were
+wrapped in flames, fiercely ends the old ballad, &ldquo;and
+the bones of those who had oppressed them cracked,
+like those of the damned in Tartarus.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>History tells us nothing concerning Kado the Striver,
+but it is most unlikely that he is a mere figment of
+popular imagination. What history does record,
+however, is that the wicked Duchess and her host
+of mercenary Normans were forced to flee, and that
+her place was taken by a more just and righteous
+ruler.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Marquis of Gu�rande</i></h3>
+<p>Breton tradition speaks of a wild young nobleman,
+Louis-Fran�ois de Gu�rande, Seigneur of Locmaria,
+who flourished in the early part of the seventeenth
+century. He was wealthy, and lived a life of reckless
+abandon; indeed, he was the terror of the parish and
+the despair of his pious mother, who, whenever he
+sallied forth upon adventure bent, rang the bell of the
+ch�teau, to give the alarm to the surrounding peasantry.
+The ballad which tells of the infamous deeds of this titled
+ruffian, and which was composed by one Tugdual Sala�n,
+a peasant of Plouber,<a name='FNanchor_0046' id='FNanchor_0046'></a><a href='#Footnote_0046' class='fnanchor'>[46]</a> opens upon a scene of touching
+domestic happiness. The Clerk of Garlon was on a
+visit to the family of his betrothed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, good mother,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;where is Anna�k?
+I am anxious that she should come with me to dance on
+the green.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She is upstairs asleep, my son. Take care,&rdquo; added
+the old woman roguishly, &ldquo;that you do not waken
+her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Clerk of Garlon ran lightly up the staircase and
+knocked at Anna�k&rsquo;s door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come, Anna�k,&rdquo; he cried; &ldquo;why are you asleep when
+all the others go to dance upon the village green?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not wish to go to the dance, for I fear the
+Marquis of Gu�rande,&rdquo; replied the girl.</p>
+<p>The Clerk of Garlon laughed. &ldquo;The Marquis of
+Gu�rande cannot harm you so long as I am with you,&rdquo;
+he said lightly. &ldquo;Come, Anna�k; were there a hundred
+such as he I should protect you from them.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span></div>
+<p>Reassured by her lover&rsquo;s brave words, the girl rose and
+put on her dress of white delaine. They were a joyous
+and beautiful pair. The Clerk was gaily dressed, with
+a peacock&rsquo;s feather in his hat and a chain on his breast,
+while his betrothed wore a velvet corsage embroidered
+with silver.</p>
+<p>On that evening the Marquis of Gu�rande leaped on
+his great red steed and sallied forth from his ch�teau.
+Galloping along the road, he overtook the Clerk of
+Garlon and his betrothed on their way to the dance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;you go to the dance, I see. It is
+customary to wrestle there, is it not?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is, Seigneur,&rdquo; replied the Clerk, doffing his hat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then throw off your doublet and let us try a fall or
+two,&rdquo; said Gu�rande, with a wicked look at Anna�k
+which was not lost upon her lover.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Saving your grace, I may not wrestle with you,&rdquo; said
+the Clerk, &ldquo;for you are a gentleman and I am nobody.
+You are the son of a lord and I am the son of a
+peasant.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha! what! The son of a peasant, say you, and you
+take your choice of the pretty girls of the village?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Seigneur, pardon me. I did not choose this maiden;
+God gave her to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>During this parley Anna�k stood by, trembling violently.
+She had heard of the Marquis of Gu�rande, and was
+only too well aware of the evil and reckless character
+he bore. The Clerk tried to calm her fears by whispered
+words and pressures of the hand, but the wicked Marquis,
+observing the state of terror she was in, exulted in the
+alarm he was causing her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, fellow,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;since you cannot wrestle with
+me perhaps you will try a bout of sword-play.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span></div>
+<p>At these words Anna�k&rsquo;s rosy cheeks became deathly
+white; but the Clerk of Garlon spoke up like a man.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My lord,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I do not wear a sword. The
+club is my only weapon. Should you use your sword
+against me it would but stain it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The wicked Marquis uttered a fiendish laugh. &ldquo;If I
+stain my sword, by the Saints, I shall wash it in your
+blood,&rdquo; he cried, and as he spoke he passed his rapier
+through the defenceless Clerk&rsquo;s body.</p>
+<p>At the sight of her slain lover the gentle heart of Anna�k
+broke, and a great madness came upon her. Like a
+tigress she leapt upon the Marquis and tore his sword
+from his hand. Without his rapier he was as a child
+in the grasp of the powerful Breton peasant woman.
+Exerting all her strength, in a frenzy of grief she
+dragged the wretch to the green where the dance was
+in progress, haling him round and round it until
+exhausted. At last she dropped his senseless body on
+the green turf and hastened homeward.</p>
+<p>And once again we encounter the haunting refrain:
+&ldquo;My good mother, if you love me make my bed, for I
+am sick unto death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, daughter, you have danced too much; it is that
+which has made you sick.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have not danced at all, mother; but the wicked
+Marquis has slain my poor Clerk. Say to the sexton
+who buries him: &lsquo;Do not throw in much earth, for in
+a little while you will have to place my daughter beside
+him in this grave.&rsquo; Since we may not share the same
+marriage-bed we shall at least sleep in the same tomb,
+and if we have not been married in this world we shall
+at least be joined in heaven.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The reader will be relieved to learn that the hero of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span>
+this ballad, the Clerk of Garlon, was not killed after all,
+and that for once fact is enabled to step in to correct
+the sadness of fiction; for, when one comes to think of
+it, there are few sadder things in the world than the
+genuine folk-ballad, which, although at the time it may
+arouse &aelig;sthetic emotions, may yet afterward give
+rise to haunting pain. We are glad to be able to
+chronicle, then, that the worthy Clerk did not die of
+his wound as stated by Tugdual Sala�n of the parish
+of Plouber, author of the ballad, and that the wicked
+Marquis escaped the halter, which, according to Breton
+custom, he would not otherwise have done had the Clerk
+died. His good mother took upon herself the burden
+of an annual pension to the Clerk&rsquo;s aged parents, and
+adopted the second child of Anna�k, who had duly married
+her sweetheart, and this little one she educated, furthering
+its interests in every possible manner. As for the
+Marquis, he actually settled down, and one cannot help
+feeling chagrined that such a promising rogue should
+have turned talents so eminently suitable for the manufacture
+of legendary material into more humdrum courses.
+Conscious of the gravity of his early misdemeanours, he
+founded a hospital for the poor of the parish, and each
+evening in one of the windows of this place the peasants
+could see a light which burned steadily far into the
+night. If any asked the reason for this illumination he
+was told: &ldquo;It is the Marquis of Gu�rande, who lies
+awake praying God to pardon his youth.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>The Ch�teaux of Brittany</i></h3>
+<p>The ch�teaux of Brittany may truly be called the
+historical and legendary shrines of the province, for
+within their halls, keeps, and donjons Breton tradition
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span>
+and history were made. It is doubtful, indeed, if the
+castellated mansions of any other country, save, perhaps,
+those of the Rhine, harbour so many legends, arising
+either from the actual historical happenings connected
+with them or from those more picturesque yet terrible
+associations which they are popularly supposed to have
+with the powers of evil. The general appearance of
+such a building as the Breton ch�teau admirably lends
+itself to sombre tradition. The massy walls seem thick
+enough to retain all secrets, and the cry for vengeance
+for blood spilt within them cannot pass to the outer
+world through the narrow <i>meurtri�res</i> or arrow-slits of
+the <i>avant-corps</i>. The broad yet lofty towers which flank
+the front rise into a <i>toiture</i> or <i>coiffe</i> like an enchanter&rsquo;s
+conical cap. The <i>lucarnes</i>, or attic casements, are
+guarded on either side by gargoyles grim of aspect, or
+perhaps by griffins holding the shield-borne arms of dead
+and gone seigneurs. Seek where you will, among the
+wizard-houses of old Prague, the witch-dens of ancient
+Edinburgh, the bat-haunted castles of Drachenfels or
+Rheinstein, you will come at nothing built of man more
+informed with the soul of the Middle Ages, more
+drenched with their peculiar savour of mystery, than
+these stark keeps whose crests and <i>girouettes</i> rise
+above encircling woods or frown upon mirroring rivers
+over the length and breadth of the Breton land.</p>
+<h3><i>La Roche-Jagu</i></h3>
+<p>One of the most typical of the ch�teaux of Brittany is
+that of La Roche-Jagu, at one time the guardian of the
+mouth of the river Trieux. It is built on the top of a
+hill which overhangs the Trieux, and from one of its
+battlemented galleries a splendid view of the windings
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span>
+of the river can be obtained. The wall on this side of
+the fortress is so thick as to allow of a chapel being
+hewn out of its solidity. A most distinctive architectural
+note is struck by the fourteen wonderful chimney-shafts
+of cut stone ornamented with iron spikes.</p>
+<h3><i>Tonqu�dec</i></h3>
+<p>Some miles farther down the river, but on its opposite
+side, is the imposing castle of Tonqu�dec, perhaps the
+finest remnant of the medieval military architecture of
+Brittany. It has always remained in the family of the
+Viscounts of Co�tman, who ranked among the foremost
+of the Breton nobility, though one of them espoused the
+cause of the Constable Clisson against Duke John IV,
+and had the anguish of seeing his ancestral fortress
+razed to the ground. Under Henry IV, however, the
+castle was restored, only to be again demolished by
+order of Cardinal Richelieu, who strongly and forcibly
+disapproved of such powerful fortalices.</p>
+<p>It had an outer enclosure, and had to be entered by
+a drawbridge, and it was strengthened in every way
+conceivable to the military art of the times. It was
+surrounded by dwellings for the convenience of the
+seigneur&rsquo;s retainers, a fine <i>salle d&rsquo;armes</i> still remaining.
+To the keep, four stories high, a flying bridge led, in
+order to facilitate the withdrawal of the garrison in case
+of siege. Behind walls ten feet thick, so long as food
+and ammunition lasted, the inmates could hold the
+enemy in scorn.</p>
+<h3><i>Clisson</i></h3>
+<p>The ch�teau of Clisson, once the property of the great
+Constable Oliver de Clisson, whom the Viscount of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+Co�tman and the Bretons of Penthi�vre had championed,
+is now only a grand old ruin, a touching monument
+of the architectural splendours of former days. By
+moonlight it makes a scene not easily forgotten, gaunt
+and still and ruggedly imposing, the silent reminder of
+events and people tales of whom will not readily die,
+the treasurer of secrets it will probably never yield.
+Its antithesis is the castle of Nantes, with the stamp
+of the Renaissance upon its delicately sculptured
+balconies and window-frames. It is now an arsenal,
+a fact which robs it of some of the romantic interest
+of Clisson, or, indeed, of ruins in general, yet within its
+walls are the prison chambers in which Gilles de Laval,
+the ambitious Finance Minister Fouquet, the Cardinal
+de Retz, and the Duchess of Berry once languished.
+For many years it served as one of the political prisons
+of France, though it is also associated with brighter
+and happier times; for here, on pleasure bent, lingered
+many of the Kings of France from Louis XI onward,
+and here in 1675 Madame de S�vign� sojourned, a circumstance
+which casts about it a literary as well as a
+romantic glamour. The great well in the courtyard,
+with its ornamental railing of wrought iron, is quite
+equal to the famous well of Quentin Matsys at Antwerp.</p>
+<h3><i>Josselin</i></h3>
+<p>The castle of Josselin, also associated with the history
+of the great Constable Clisson and his allies, as well
+as with the notorious League whose followers wrought
+such intolerable misery in Brittany, is built on a rocky
+foundation near the river Oust. With its imposing
+front and conically roofed towers it is one of the best
+examples of a twelfth-century fortress-ch�teau. Very
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+different in tone is the architecture of the interior court,
+being that of the period when the lighter traceries and
+more imaginative lines of the Renaissance were in
+favour. The window-openings of the two first stories
+are beautiful enough to rival those of Chambord and
+equal those of Blois. Above the windows an open
+gallery runs, and in the space between each the device
+of the Rohans is carved, with their motto, <i>A Plus</i>, this
+celebrated family having built this part of the ch�teau.
+About the year 1400 Clisson added a keep, walls, and
+parapets, but in 1629, when the fortress was no longer
+a stronghold of the League, these were permitted to
+fall into ruin. Through the courtesy of the family
+now in residence this wonderfully preserved castle
+may be visited, a circumstance for which the tourist in
+Brittany should indeed be grateful. Interest within
+these massy walls clings around the well, with its
+ornamental railings, the noble and lofty hall, the library,
+with its magnificent chimney-piece, repeating again, in
+stone, the Rohan motto, <i>A Plus</i>, and the equestrian
+statue of Clisson, by Fr�miet, in the dining-room.</p>
+<h3><i>Hennebont and Largoet</i></h3>
+<p>Of the old ch�teau of Hennebont, where John of Montfort
+breathed his last after escaping from the Louvre
+of his day, only a heap of stones remains. The old
+fortress of Largoet is in much the same condition,
+nothing of the ancient structure having been conserved
+save the famous Tour d&rsquo;Elven, considered to be the most
+beautiful castle keep in all Brittany, which has also
+a literary distinction as being the scene of some of
+the most touching episodes in Octave <a name='TC_3'></a><ins title="Added apostrophe">Feuillet&rsquo;s</ins> <i>Roman
+d&rsquo;un jeune Homme pauvre</i>.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span></div>
+<h3><i>Ch�teaubriant</i></h3>
+<p>At Ch�teaubriant, which owes its name to the compounding
+of the word &lsquo;ch�teau&rsquo; with that of &lsquo;Briant,&rsquo; the
+family style of its original lord, the old feudal fortress
+is now a ruin, but the castle, built by Jean de Laval,
+Governor of Brittany under Francis I, is in good repair.
+An inscription giving the date of the completion of
+the new ch�teau as 1538 is above the portal of the
+colonnade. There is a gruesome legend associated
+with the old ch�teau, in which for some time
+dwelt the unfortunate Fran�oise de Foix, Countess of
+Ch�teaubriant and beloved of Francis I. Tiring or
+becoming suspicious of her royal lover, she decided to
+return to her husband, the old Count of Laval. The
+reunion, however, was not productive of happiness,
+owing to the fever of jealousy in which her elderly
+husband lived because of the love affair with the King.
+This jealousy eventually flared into mania when he
+heard that she had actually visited her former lover
+in prison after he had been captured at Pavia. Instantly
+he &ldquo;shut his young wife up in a darkened and
+padded cell, and finally had her cut into pieces by
+two surgeons,&rdquo; so the story goes. Terrified at what
+he had done and of the consequences which were sure
+to follow when the King heard of his savagery, the
+Count fled the country immediately afterward.</p>
+<p>The ch�teau of Brodineuf (dating from the twelfth
+century) and that of Caradeuc are in good repair,
+but the latter is ancient only in parts. It shelters two
+Murillos within its walls. The picturesque ch�teau of
+Combourg was in early times a feudal fortress, and in it
+Ren� Ch�teaubriand&rsquo;s infancy was passed. This place
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
+may be visited by interested sightseers, and there they
+may view the writing-table of the author of <i>Le G�nie
+du Christianisme</i>, and, in the bedroom he occupied at
+Combourg, the bed on which he died in Paris. The
+ch�teau of Vitr� is also in a state of preservation, and
+is considered one of the best specimens of military
+architecture in the province. Comparatively near is the
+ch�teau of Rochers, once the home of Mme de S�vign�,
+and in consequence one of the famous sights of the
+country. The many letters she dated from this castle
+paint a vivid and detailed picture of social life in the
+seventeenth century, and fortunately the atmosphere
+of the time has been happily retained in the building
+itself.</p>
+<p>Another twelfth-century structure is that of the ch�teau
+of Rustefan, near Quimperl�. It was built by Stephen,
+Count of Penthi�vre, and belonged in the next century
+to Blanche of Castile, the mother of St Louis.
+The ruins now in existence are those of the ch�teau
+built in the fifteenth century, and its cylindrical tower,
+pinnacled doorway, and the stone mullions of the
+windows still remain fairly intact. The ch�teau of
+Kerjolet, in Concarneau, is one which has been saved
+from decay, restored as it was by Countess Chaveau-Narishkine
+and presented by her to the department. It
+contains a museum in which are specimens of all the
+costumes and <i>coiffes</i> of Lower Brittany, and antiquities
+of prehistoric and medieval times, which all students of
+Breton and Celtic lore should see.</p>
+<h3><i>Palaces of the Past</i></h3>
+<p>The ch�teau of Tourlaville is situated among very
+beautiful surroundings, and is built in the classic style
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span>
+of the Renaissance, with an angular tower. On
+chimney-piece and fireplace throughout the castle there
+are numerous sentimental devices in which Cupids and
+flaming hearts and torches figure largely, with the
+occasional accompaniment of verses and mottoes of
+an equally amatory nature. These are all seventeenth-century
+examples and may be taken as expressions of the
+time. In a boudoir called the Blue Chamber, because
+of the colour of its draperies and decorations, many
+coats-of-arms are emblazoned; but all the greatness to
+which these testify has become a thing of the past, for
+the ch�teau has now been turned into a farmhouse.</p>
+<p>The ch�teau of Dinan may also be classed among the
+palaces of the past, for now, despite the fact that it
+was built by the Dukes of Brittany, it has become a
+prison. From the tourist as well as the romantic point
+of view this is somewhat of a tragedy. The Tower
+of Co�tquen, one of the ancient towers of the city
+wall, is practically part of the castle, and the keep,
+or Queen Anne&rsquo;s Tower, is the most distinctive feature
+remaining. This keep is of four stories, and is over a
+hundred feet high, the last story being reached by a
+spiral staircase. What was once the oratory of the
+Duchess Anne is now the guard-room. There are still
+several dungeons whose original gruesomeness has been
+left untouched, and whose use in bygone days can well
+be imagined.</p>
+<h3><i>Suscino</i></h3>
+<p>The ch�teau of Suscino is one of the chief sights of the
+neighbourhood of Vannes, because it is the ruin of what
+was once a marvellous structure of the thirteenth century,
+and follows the finest Gothic traditions of the time. All
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span>
+the roofing of the building has quite disappeared, but
+its battlemented towers and walls remain to give a
+good idea of the architectural perfection that must have
+belonged to it. At one time it fell into the hands of
+Charles of Blois, only to be retaken by his rival,
+Montfort, in 1364, and in 1373 it was occupied by an
+English garrison. Eventually it was bestowed upon
+John of Ch�lons, Prince of Orange, by Anne of Brittany,
+but in time Francis I relieved him of it in order to
+present it to Fran�oise de Foix, the celebrated Lady of
+Ch�teaubriant. The irregular pentagon formed by the
+ch�teau is possibly somewhat modified from the original
+plan of 1320, and of the seven towers which flanked its
+gates and walls in the beginning six have weathered the
+storms of the times through which they have passed.
+Its orchid-shaped machicolations have also survived, and
+even to-day they are noticeably beautiful. The new
+tower is a fine cylindrical keep, dating from the fourteenth
+century, and over the entrance this legend still remains:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p class='center'>Ici Est N�</p>
+<p class='center'>Le Duc Arthur III</p>
+<p class='center'>le 24 Ao�t, 1393.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>We have already dealt with many of the stories connected
+with the ancient castles of Brittany, and these will be
+found in nearly every chapter of this book, so varied are
+they. But no tale, however vivid, can hope to capture
+and retain all the wonder and mystery of these grand
+old strongholds, which must be seen in order to leave
+upon the imagination and memory the full impress of
+their weird and extraordinary fascination.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VIII_HEROTALES_OF_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_VIII_HEROTALES_OF_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII: HERO-TALES OF BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Soon</span> after the Vicomte Hersart de la Villemarqu�
+published his <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>, a collection of popular
+ballads from the Breton, critics who possessed a
+knowledge of the language and were acquainted with
+its literature exposed the true nature of the work, acting,
+indeed, as did British critics when Macpherson
+published his fragments of Ossian. Villemarqu� was,
+in fact, a Breton Macpherson. He would hear a Breton
+ballad sung or recited, and would then either enlarge
+upon it and torture it out of all resemblance to its
+original shape, or he would instigate a literary friend to
+do so. We must remember that such a proceeding was
+fashionable at the time, as no less a personage than
+Sir Walter Scott had led the way, and he had been
+preceded by Burns in the practice. But whereas Burns
+made no secret of what he did and greatly enhanced the
+poetical value of the songs and ballads he altered, Scott
+and his friends, Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Leyden, and others,
+indulged in what they described as the &ldquo;mystification&rdquo;
+of their acquaintances by these semi-forgeries. Like
+theirs, Villemarqu�&rsquo;s work had usually an historical or
+legendary basis, but it is impossible to say how much of
+it is original matter of folk-song and how much his own
+invention, unless we compare his versions with those
+furnished by M. Luzel in his <i>Guerziou Breiz-Izel</i>
+(1868), which, however, only contains a few of the
+originals of the tales given in the <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>, and
+those not the most interesting.</p>
+<p>I have cast the following tales into narrative form from
+the ballads published in the <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>, where they
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span>
+obviously appear as traditional tales in a polished,
+modern dress.<a name='FNanchor_0047' id='FNanchor_0047'></a><a href='#Footnote_0047' class='fnanchor'>[47]</a> They may be regarded, largely, as efforts
+of the modern imagination regarding the Breton past.
+In any case the author of a book on Breton romances
+would not be justified in omitting all mention of
+Villemarqu� and refraining from affording the reader a
+specimen of his work, any more than he would be in
+founding solely upon the labours of the Vicomte.</p>
+<h3><i>Lez-Breiz, the Prop of Brittany</i></h3>
+<p>Morvan, chief of L�on, so celebrated in the history of
+the ninth century as one of the upholders of Breton
+independence, and known to tradition as &lsquo;the Prop of
+Brittany,&rsquo; is the subject of a remarkable series of ballads
+or hero-tales in the <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i> which together constitute
+what is almost an epic. These tell of his life,
+death, adventures, travels, and the marvellous feats of
+derring-do he accomplished. In some measure he is
+to Breton legend what Arthur is to British or Holger
+to that of Denmark. That he is familiar to Breton
+tradition there can be no question, and whether
+Villemarqu� himself wove the following adventures
+around him or not they are certainly typical of the age
+in which the hero flourished.</p>
+<h3><i>Morvan&rsquo;s First Adventure</i></h3>
+<p>One day the child Morvan was sitting at the edge
+of the forest when a cavalier issued from its depths
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+armed at all points and riding a great charger. The
+boy, excited by his martial appearance, ran from
+him in terror, calling out that here indeed was
+St Michael; but the cavalier rode so swiftly that he
+soon came up with the lad, who devoutly threw himself
+on his knees and made the sign of the Cross, calling
+out:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Seigneur Saint Michael, in the name of God I pray
+thee do me no harm!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The knight laughed loudly. &ldquo;Why, lad,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I
+am no more Saint Michael than I am a thief, but merely
+a belted knight, such as one may meet with by the
+score in this land of chivalry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have never seen a knight,&rdquo; replied Morvan; &ldquo;and
+what may that be which you carry?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is called a lance, my boy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And what are these that you wear on your head and
+breast?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The one is a casque and the other a breast-plate.
+They are intended to protect me from the stroke of
+sword and spear. But tell me, lad, have you seen any
+one pass this way?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Seigneur, a man went by this very road not
+half an hour agone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, boy,&rdquo; replied the knight. &ldquo;If you are asked
+who spoke to you, say the Count of Quimper,&rdquo; and with
+these words he spurred his horse and set off down
+the road in the direction which the little Morvan had
+indicated.</p>
+<p>Morvan returned to his mother, who had been sitting
+some distance away, and began to tell her of his meeting.
+He was so full of the gallantry of the knight he had
+met, his grace and martial bearing, that the good dame
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+could not stem the torrent of words which flowed
+from him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, mother,&rdquo; he babbled on, &ldquo;you never saw anyone
+so splendid as him whom I have seen to-day, a man
+more beautiful than the Lord Michael the Archangel,
+whose image is in our church.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His mother smiled and patted him fondly on the cheek.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come, my son,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;there is no man so beautiful
+as the Archangel Michael.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But little Morvan shook his head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Saving your grace, there are, my mother,&rdquo; he said
+gravely. &ldquo;There are many men more splendid than
+Saint Michael, and they are called knights. How I
+wish that I might grow up and become a knight too!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At these words the poor lady, who had lost her
+husband in battle and who dreaded that her only son
+might be taken from her, was seized with such dismay
+that she sank to the ground unconscious. The little
+Morvan, without turning his head, entered the stables
+and led out a fresh horse. Jumping lightly on the
+steed&rsquo;s back, he turned its head in the direction in
+which the splendid cavalier had gone and rode hastily
+after him.</p>
+<h3><i>The Return of Morvan</i></h3>
+<p>Ten years passed&mdash;years full of martial achievement
+and adventure for young Morvan. Then a desire to
+return to the ancestral mansion seized upon the youth,
+and he made his way homeward. But great was his
+dismay when he entered the courtyard of the manor
+and looked about him, for the blackberry bushes and
+the nettles were growing round the threshold of the
+house and the walls were half ruined and covered with
+ivy. As he was about to enter he observed a poor old
+blind woman standing in the entrance.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_17' id='linki_17'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs17.jpg' alt='' title='' width='399' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+MORVAN RETURNS TO HIS RUINED HOME<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon me, dame, but perhaps you can give me
+hospitality for the night,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! sir, we have but little,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;This
+house has been allowed to go to ruin since its son and
+heir quitted it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>As she ceased speaking a young damsel descended the
+broken stone steps, and after regarding Morvan for a
+moment burst into tears.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How now, maiden,&rdquo; said Morvan, &ldquo;wherefore do
+you weep?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas, Seigneur,&rdquo; replied the maiden, &ldquo;I have a
+brother who left us ten years ago to lead the life of
+a warrior, and every time that I see a youth about his
+age I feel myself compelled to weep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, my child,&rdquo; said Morvan, &ldquo;have you no other
+brother?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;None in the world, Sir Knight.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And your mother, what of her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! sir, she too is gone. There is no one but
+myself and my old nurse in the house. My poor
+mother died of grief when my brother rode off to become
+a knight.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On hearing these words Morvan was deeply affected.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;wretch that I am, I have slain her
+who gave me birth!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When he spoke thus the damsel turned deadly pale.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In the name of heaven, sir, who are you?&rdquo; she cried.
+&ldquo;How are you named?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am Morvan, son of Conan, and Lez-Breiz is my
+surname, my sister.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The young girl stared for a moment, sighed, and then
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span>
+fell into his arms; but soon she opened her eyes and
+praised God that she had found her long-lost brother.</p>
+<h3><i>The King&rsquo;s Cavalier</i></h3>
+<p>But Lez-Breiz could not remain long at home. The
+tented field was his fireside, the battle his sport.
+Adventure followed adventure in his full and stirring
+life. One day he said to his young squire:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Arouse you, my squire, and furnish my sword, my
+casque, and my shield, that I may redden them in the
+blood of the Franks, for with the help of God and
+this right arm I shall carry slaughter into their ranks
+this day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, my lord,&rdquo; asked the squire, &ldquo;shall I not fight
+along with you to-day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Morvan smiled at the lad&rsquo;s eagerness, perhaps because
+he remembered his own on the day he met the
+Count of Quimper, then a grave shadow crossed his
+face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Think of your mother, lad,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;What if you
+never return to her? Think of her grief should you
+die this day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, Seigneur,&rdquo; entreated the stripling, &ldquo;if you love
+me, grant my prayer; let me fight along with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When Morvan rode out to battle an hour later his
+squire rode beside him, knee to knee. Passing near
+the church of St Anne of Armor they entered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O Saint Anne, most holy dame,&rdquo; prayed Morvan, &ldquo;I
+am not yet twenty years old and I have been in twenty
+battles. All those I have gained by your aid, and if I
+return again to this land I shall make you a rich gift. I
+shall give you enough candles to go three times round the
+walls of your church, and thrice round your churchyard&mdash;aye,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span>
+thrice round your lands, when I come home again;
+and further I shall give you a banner of white satin with
+an ivory staff. Also shall I give you seven silver bells
+which will ring gaily night and day above your head.
+And three times on my knees will I draw water for
+your use.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The enemy saw Morvan coming from afar. He was
+mounted on a small white ass with a halter of hemp, to
+signify his contempt for them. Lorgnez, his chief foe,
+came against him with a troop of warriors, while Morvan
+had only his little squire behind him. The foemen came
+on, ten by ten, until they reached the Wood of Chestnuts.
+For a moment the little squire was dismayed, but a word
+from his master rallied him, and, drawing his sword, he
+spurred forward. Soon they came front to front with
+Lorgnez and hailed him in knightly fashion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ho! Seigneur Lorgnez, good day to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good morrow, Seigneur Morvan. Will you engage in
+single combat?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; I despise your offer. Go back to your King and
+tell him that I mock him; and as for yourself, I laugh
+at you and those with you. Return to Paris, stay
+among your women, take off your mail and put on
+the silken armour of fops.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Lorgnez&rsquo;s face flamed with anger.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By heaven!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;the lowest varlet in my
+company shall hew your casque from your head for
+this!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At these words Morvan drew his great sword.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>The old hermit of the wood heard some one knocking
+on the door of his cell. He opened it quickly and saw
+the young squire standing before him. He started
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+back at the sight of the youth&rsquo;s blood-stained armour
+and death-pale countenance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, my son,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;you are sorely hurt. Come
+and wash your wounds at the fountain and repose for a
+little.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I may not rest here, good father,&rdquo; replied the squire,
+shaking his head. &ldquo;I have come to find water to take
+to my young master, who has fallen in the fight. Thirty
+warriors lie slain by his hand. Of these the Chevalier
+Lorgnez was the first.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Brave youth!&rdquo; said the hermit. &ldquo;Alas that he has
+fallen!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do not grieve, father. It is true that he has fallen,
+but it is only from fatigue. He is unwounded and will
+soon recover himself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When he was recovered Morvan betook him to the
+chapel of St Anne and rendered the gifts he had
+promised her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Praise be to Saint Anne,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;for she it is who
+has gained this victory.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>The King&rsquo;s Blackamoor</i></h3>
+<p>One day the King of the Franks was sitting among his
+courtiers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Would that some one would rid me of this pestilent
+Morvan, who constantly afflicts the Frankish land and
+slays my doughtiest warriors,&rdquo; he said, on hearing of a
+fresh exploit on the part of the Breton chief.</p>
+<p>Then the King&rsquo;s blackamoor, who heard these words,
+arose and stood before his master. He was tall and
+great of thew and sinew&mdash;a giant among men, towering
+head and shoulders even above the tall Frankish
+warriors.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Allow me to fulfil your wishes, sire,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sir
+Morvan has sent me his glove, and if to-morrow I do
+not bring you his head I will willingly part with
+my own.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On the next morning Morvan&rsquo;s squire came to his
+master trembling violently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Seigneur,&rdquo; he said, with ashy countenance, &ldquo;the King&rsquo;s
+Moor is here and bids you defiance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Morvan rose and took his sword.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! my dear master,&rdquo; said the squire, &ldquo;take heed
+what you do, I pray you, for I assure you that this Moor
+is nothing but a demon who practises the most horrible
+enchantments.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Morvan laughed. &ldquo;Well, we shall see whether this
+demon can withstand cold steel or not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Go
+and saddle my black horse.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Saving your grace,&rdquo; said the page, &ldquo;if you will
+hearken to my words you will not fight on the black
+charger. He has been bewitched. Moreover, you will
+notice that when you enter the lists to fight the Moor
+he will cast his mantle to the ground. But do not
+follow his example, for should your mantle fall beneath
+his the strength of the black giant will be doubled.
+When the Moor advances to the attack make the sign
+of the Cross with the shaft of your lance, and when he
+rushes upon you in his battle-fury receive him with the
+steel. If you do this you may be sure that your lance
+will not break.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The heroes met within the lists. The King of France
+and his nobles had followed the giant Moor in order
+to witness the combat, and when all had been seated
+the trumpets sounded and the two champions rushed
+together with the utmost fury. They circled round one
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+another like eagles seeking an opening to strike. Now
+one struck, then the other, and the blood flowed down
+their bright armour. The Frankish King in high
+excitement called out:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ho! black crow of the sea, pierce me now this merle.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At these words the giant assailed Morvan most furiously,
+as a great tempest assails a ship. The lances crossed,
+but that of the Moor broke like matchwood. Both
+leaped to earth, sword in hand, and rushed at each
+other like lions. Many lusty strokes were given and
+taken, and from their armour flew sparks like those
+from a smith&rsquo;s anvil. Then the Moor, grasping his
+sword with both hands, made ready to strike a mighty
+blow, when swift and trenchantly Morvan thrust
+his blade far into the arm-pit and the heart and
+the giant tumbled to the earth like a falling tree.
+Morvan placed his foot on the dead man&rsquo;s breast, withdrew
+his sword, and cut off the Moor&rsquo;s head. Then,
+attaching the bleeding trophy to the pommel of his
+saddle, he rode home with it and affixed it to the gate
+of his castle. All men praised him for his doughty deed,
+but he gave the grace of his victory entirely to St Anne,
+and declared that he would build a house of prayer in
+her honour on the heights between L�guer and the
+Guindy.</p>
+<h3><i>Morvan Fights the King</i></h3>
+<p>One day Morvan sallied forth to encounter the King of
+the Franks himself. The King brought no fewer than
+five thousand mounted men-at-arms. As this host was
+about to set out, a great clap of thunder resounded in
+the vault of heaven, and the King&rsquo;s nobles perforce
+regarded it as a bad omen.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;For heaven&rsquo;s sake, sire, go not hence,&rdquo; said one of
+them, &ldquo;since the day has begun with such an evil
+token.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Impossible,&rdquo; was the royal reply. &ldquo;I have given the
+order; we must march.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>That morning, on the other hand, the sister of Morvan
+said to her brother: &ldquo;My dear brother, if you love me
+seek not this combat, for if you do you will certainly go
+to your death, and what will become of me afterward?
+I see on the shore the white sea-horse, the symbol of
+Brittany. A monstrous serpent entwines him, seizing
+him round the hind legs and the body with his enormous
+coils. The sea-steed turns his head to seize the reptile.
+The combat is unequal. You are alone; the Franks
+are legion!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Morvan was already beyond ear-shot.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>As the hermit of the wood of Hell�an<a name='FNanchor_0048' id='FNanchor_0048'></a><a href='#Footnote_0048' class='fnanchor'>[48]</a> slept three
+knocks sounded on his door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good hermit,&rdquo; said some one, &ldquo;open the door. I seek
+an asylum and help from you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The wind blew coldly from the country of the Franks.
+It was the hour when savage beasts wander here and
+there in search of their prey. The hermit did not rise
+with alacrity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who are you who knock at my door at this hour of
+night demanding an entrance?&rdquo; he asked sulkily;
+&ldquo;and by what sign shall I know whether you are a true
+man or otherwise?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Priest, I am well known in this land. I am Morvan
+Lez-Breiz, the Hatchet of Brittany.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I will not open my door to you,&rdquo; said the hermit hastily.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+&ldquo;You are a rebel; you are the enemy of the good King
+of the Franks.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How, priest!&rdquo; cried Morvan angrily, &ldquo;I am a Breton
+and no traitor or rebel. It is the King of the Franks
+who has been a traitor to this land.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Silence, recreant!&rdquo; replied the hermit. &ldquo;Rail not
+against the King of the Franks, for he is a man of
+God.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of God, say you? Nay, rather of the devil! Has he
+not ravaged and wasted the Breton land? The gold
+that he wrings from the Breton folk is expended for the
+good of Satan. Open, hermit, open!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not so, my son, for should I do so the Franks would
+surely fix a quarrel upon me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You refuse?&rdquo; shouted Morvan in a voice of thunder.
+&ldquo;Good; then I shall burst into your cell,&rdquo; and with
+these words he threw himself against the door, which
+creaked ominously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hold, my son, hold!&rdquo; cried the old hermit in tremulous
+tones. &ldquo;Forbear and I will open to you&rdquo;; and seizing
+a torch he lit it at the remains of his fire and went to
+open the door.</p>
+<h3><i>The Severed Head</i></h3>
+<p>He unlocked it and drew it back, but as he did so he
+recoiled violently, for he saw advancing upon him a
+terrible spectre, holding its head in its two hands. Its
+eyes seemed full of blood and fire, and rolled round and
+round in a most horrible manner. The hermit was
+about to shriek in terror when the head of the apparition,
+after laughing grimly, addressed him:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come now, old Christian, do not be afraid. God
+permits this thing to be. He has allowed the Franks
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
+to decapitate me, but for a time only, and as you see
+me now I am only a phantom. But He will permit you
+yourself to replace my head on my shoulders if you
+will.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The hermit stammered and drew back. This was not
+his first encounter with the supernatural, which he had
+good reason to dread, but like all Bretons he had come
+under the magnetism of Morvan, even although he
+believed that the King of the Franks was his rightful
+overlord; so, steeling himself against his natural
+timidity, he said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If God permits this thing I shall be very willing to
+replace your head on your shoulders.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take it, then,&rdquo; said the decapitated Morvan, and with
+trembling hands the priest took the gory trophy and
+replaced it on the Breton chief&rsquo;s shoulders, saying at
+the same time: &ldquo;I replace your head, my son, in the
+name of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And by virtue of this benediction the phantom once
+more became a man.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Morvan,&rdquo; said the hermit, &ldquo;you must do penance, heavy
+penance, with me. You must carry about with you for
+seven years a robe of lead, padlocked to your neck, and
+each day at the hour of twelve you must go to fetch
+water from the well at the summit of the mountain
+yonder.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I will do as you desire,&rdquo; said Morvan; &ldquo;I will follow
+your saintly wish.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the seven years of the penance had passed the
+robe had flayed Morvan&rsquo;s skin severely, and his beard,
+which had become grey, and the hair of his head, fell
+almost to his waist. Those who saw him did not
+recognize him; but a lady dressed in white, who passed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
+through the greenwood, stopped and gazed earnestly at
+him and her eyes filled with tears.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Morvan, my dear son, it is indeed you,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;Come here, my beloved child, that I may free you of
+your burden,&rdquo; and she cut the chain which bound the
+shirt of lead to the shoulders of the penitent with a pair
+of golden scissors, saying:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am your patron, Saint Anne of Armor.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Now for seven years had the squire of Morvan sought
+his master, and one day he was riding through the
+greenwood of Hell�an.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what profits it that I have slain his
+murderer when I have lost my dear lord?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Then he heard at the other end of the wood the plaintive
+whinnying of a horse. His own steed sniffed the
+air and replied, and then he saw between the parted
+branches a great black charger, which he recognized as
+that of Lez-Breiz. Once more the beast whinnied
+mournfully. It almost seemed as if he wept. He was
+standing upon his master&rsquo;s grave!</p>
+<p>But, like Arthur and Barbarossa, Morvan Lez-Breiz
+will yet return. Yes, one day he will return to fight
+the Franks and drive them from the Breton land!</p>
+<p>We have sundry intimations here of the sources from
+which Villemarqu� drew a part at least of his matter.
+There are resemblances to Arthurian and kindred
+romances. For example, the incident which describes
+the flight of young Morvan is identical with that in the
+Arthurian saga of <i>Percival le Gallois</i>, where the child
+Percival quits his mother&rsquo;s care in precisely the same
+fashion. The Frankish monarch and his Court, too,
+are distinctly drawn in the style of the <i>chansons de
+gestes</i>, which celebrated the deeds of Charlemagne and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span>
+his peers. There are also hints that the paganism
+against which Charlemagne fought, that of the Moors
+of Spain, had attracted the attention of the author,
+and this is especially seen in his introduction of the
+Moorish giant, so common a figure in the Carlovingian
+stories.</p>
+<h3><i>The Ballad of Bran</i></h3>
+<p>A sorrowful and touching ballad, claimed by Villemarqu�
+as being sung in the Breton dialect of L�on, tells of the
+warrior Bran, who was wounded in the great fight of
+Kerlouan, a village situated on the coast of L�on, in the
+tenth century. The coast was raided by the Norsemen,
+and the Bretons, led by their chief, Even the Great,
+marched against them and succeeded in repelling them.
+The Norsemen, however, carried off several prisoners,
+among them a warrior called Bran. Indeed, a village
+called Kervran, or &lsquo;the village of Bran,&rsquo; still exists
+near the seashore, and here it was, tradition relates,
+that the warrior was wounded and taken by the
+Scandinavian pirates. In the church of Goulven is to
+be seen an ancient tablet representing the Norse vessels
+which raided the coast.</p>
+<p>The ballad recounts how Bran, on finding himself on
+the enemy&rsquo;s ship, wept bitterly. On arriving in the
+land of the Norsemen he was imprisoned in a tower,
+where he begged his gaolers to allow him to send a
+letter to his mother. Permission to do so was granted,
+and a messenger was found. The prisoner advised this
+man, for his better safety, to disguise himself in the habit
+of a beggar, and gave him his gold ring in order that
+his mother might know that the message came from her
+son in very truth. He added: &ldquo;When you arrive in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
+my country proceed at once to my mother, and if she
+is willing to ransom me show a white sail on your
+return, but if she refuses, hoist a black sail.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the messenger arrived at the warrior&rsquo;s home in the
+country of L�on the lady was at supper with her family
+and the bards were present playing on their harps.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Greeting, lady,&rdquo; said the messenger. &ldquo;Behold the
+ring of your son, Bran, and here is news from him contained
+in this letter, which I pray you read quickly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The lady took the missive, and, turning to the harpers,
+told them to cease playing. Having perused the letter
+she became extremely agitated, and, rising with tears
+in her eyes, gave orders that a vessel should be
+equipped immediately so that she might sail to seek her
+son on the morrow.</p>
+<p>One morning Bran, the prisoner, called from his tower:
+&ldquo;Sentinel, Sentinel, tell me, do you see a sail on the
+sea?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the sentinel, &ldquo;I see nothing but the sea
+and the sky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At midday Bran repeated the question, but was told
+that nothing but the birds and the billows were in sight.
+When the shadows of evening gathered he asked once
+more, and the perfidious sentinel replied with a lie:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, lord, there is a ship close at hand, beaten by
+wind and sea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And what colour of a sail does she show?&rdquo; asked Bran.
+&ldquo;Is it black or white?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is black, lord,&rdquo; replied the sentinel, in a spirit of
+petty spite.</p>
+<p>When the unhappy warrior heard these words he never
+spoke more.</p>
+<p>That night his mother arrived at the town where he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span>
+had been imprisoned. She asked of the people:
+&ldquo;Why do the bells sound?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! lady,&rdquo; said an ancient man, &ldquo;a noble prisoner
+who lay in yonder tower died this night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>With bent head the lady walked to the tower, her white
+hair falling upon her folded arms. When she arrived
+at its foot she said to the guard: &ldquo;Open the door
+quickly; I have come to see my son.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And when the great door was opened she threw herself
+upon the corpse of Bran and breathed her last.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>On the battlefield of Kerlouan there is an oak which
+overshadows the shore and which marks the place
+where the Norsemen fled before the face of Even the
+Great. On this oak, whose leaves shine in the moon,
+the birds gather each night, the birds of the sea and the
+land, both of white and black feather. Among them is an
+old grey rook and a young crow. The birds sing such a
+beautiful song that the great sea keeps silence to hear
+it. All of them sing except the rook and the crow.
+Now the crow says: &ldquo;Sing, little birds, sing; sing, little
+birds of the land, for when you die you will at least end
+your days in <a name='TC_4'></a><ins title="Added quote">Brittany.&rdquo;</ins></p>
+<p>The crow is of course Bran in disguise, for the name
+Bran means &lsquo;crow&rsquo; in the Breton tongue, and the rook
+is possibly his mother. In the most ancient Breton
+traditions the dead are represented as returning to
+earth in the form of birds. A number of the incidents
+in this piece are paralleled in the poem of <i>Sir Tristrem</i>,
+which also introduces a messenger who disguises himself
+for the purpose of travelling more safely in a
+foreign country, a ring of gold, which is used to
+show the messenger&rsquo;s <i>bona-fides</i>, a perfidious gaoler,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+and the idea of the black or white sail. The original
+poem of <i>Sir Tristrem</i> was probably composed about
+the twelfth or thirteenth century, and it would seem
+that the above incidents at least have a Breton source
+behind them. A mother, however, has been substituted
+for a lover, and the ancient Breton dame takes the
+place of Ysonde. There is, indeed, little difference
+between the passage which relates the arrival of the
+mother in the Norsemen&rsquo;s country and that of Ysonde
+in Brittany when she sails on her last voyage with
+the intention of succouring Tristrem. Ysonde also
+asks the people of the place why the bells are ringing,
+one of the ancient inhabitants tells her of the death
+of her lover, and, like the Breton mother, she casts
+herself on the body of him she has lost.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This passage,&rdquo; says Villemarqu�, with wonderful <i>sang-froid</i>,
+&ldquo;duly attests the prior claim of the Armorican
+piece!&rdquo; But even if he had been serious, he wrote
+without the possession of data for the precise fixing
+of the period in which the Breton ballad was composed;
+and in any case his contention cannot assist the Breton
+argument for Armorican priority in Arthurian literature,
+as borrowing in ballad and folk-tale is much more
+flagrant than he, writing as he did in 1867, could ever
+have guessed&mdash;more flagrant even than any adaptation
+he himself ever perpetrated!</p>
+<p>He adds, however, an antiquarian note to the poem
+which is of far greater interest and probably of more
+value than his supposition. He alludes to the passage
+contained in the ballad regarding the harpers who are
+represented as playing in the hall of Bran&rsquo;s mother
+while she sits at supper. The harp, he states, is no
+longer popular in Brittany, and he asks if this was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
+always the case. There can be very little doubt that
+in Brittany, as in other Celtic countries&mdash;for example,
+Wales, Ireland and Scotland&mdash;the harp was in ancient
+times one of the national instruments. It is strange
+that it should have been replaced in that country
+by the <i>biniou</i>, or bagpipe, just as the <i>clairschach</i>, or
+Highland harp, was replaced by the same instrument
+in the Highlands of Scotland.</p>
+<h3><i>Fontenelle</i></h3>
+<p>Guy Eder de Fontenelle, a son of the house of Beaumanoir,
+was one of the most famous partisans of the
+Catholic League, and, according to one who saw him
+in 1587, had then begun to show tendencies to the wild
+life he was afterward to lead. He was sent as a scholar
+to Paris to the College of Boncotest, but in 1589, when
+about sixteen years of age, he became impatient of
+scholastic confinement, sold his books and his robe,
+and bought a sword and poignard. Leaving the college,
+he took the road to Orl�ans, with the object of attaching
+himself to the army of the Duke of Mayenne, chief
+of the Catholic party in France, but, returning to his
+native Brittany, he placed himself at the head of the
+populace, which had risen in arms on behalf of the
+Leaguers. As he was of good family and a Breton
+and displayed an active spirit, they obeyed him very
+willingly. Soon he translated his intentions into action,
+and commenced to pillage the smaller towns and to
+make captive those who differed from him politically.
+He threatened Guingamp, which was held for the
+King, and made a sally into L�on, carrying away the
+daughter of the Lady of Coadelan, a wealthy heiress,
+who was only about eight or nine years of age. This
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span>
+occurrence Villemarqu� has related for us in Breton
+verse, assuring us that it was &lsquo;recovered&rsquo; by the Comte
+de Kergariou, a friend of his. Fontenelle is supposed
+to have encountered the little heiress plucking flowers
+in a wayside ditch.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, little one,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for whom do you pluck
+these flowers?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For my foster-brother, whom I love. But I am afraid,
+for I know that Fontenelle is near.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, then, so you know this terrible Fontenelle, my
+child?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir, I do not know him, but I have heard tell
+of him. I have heard folk say that he is a very wicked
+man and that he carries away young ladies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Fontenelle, with a laugh, &ldquo;and, above
+all, heiresses.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He took the child in his arms and swung her on to
+the crupper of his saddle. Then, dashing the spurs
+into his charger&rsquo;s flanks, he set off at a gallop for Saint-Malo,
+where he placed the little heiress in a convent,
+with the object of marrying her when she had arrived
+at the age of fourteen.</p>
+<p>Years afterward Fontenelle and the heiress, who was
+now his wife, went to live at their manor of Coadelan.
+They had a little child beautiful as the day, who greatly
+resembled his father. One day a letter arrived for
+the Seigneur, calling upon him to betake himself to
+Paris at once. His wife was inconsolable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do not set forth alone for Paris, I pray you,&rdquo; she
+said, &ldquo;for if you do I shall instantly follow you. Remain
+at home, I beg of you, and I will send a messenger
+in your stead. In the name of God, do not go, husband,
+for if you do you will never return.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span></div>
+<p>But Fontenelle disregarded his wife&rsquo;s entreaties, and,
+begging her to take good care of their son during his
+absence, set forth on his journey to the capital. In
+due time he arrived in Paris and stood before the
+King and Queen. He greeted them courteously, but
+they looked coldly on him, and the King told him
+bluntly that he should not return to Coadelan, adding:
+&ldquo;There are sufficient chains in my palace to restrain
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On hearing this Fontenelle called his little page and
+begged him to return at once to his mistress and tell
+her to discard her finery, because she would soon be
+a widow, and to bring him back a coarse shirt and a
+white sheet, and, moreover, to bring a gold plate on
+which his enemies might expose his head after his
+death.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And, little page,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;take a lock of my hair
+and place it on the door of Coadelan, so that all men as
+they go to Mass may say, &lsquo;God have mercy on the soul
+of Fontenelle.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The page did as he was bidden, but as for the plate of
+gold it was useless, for Fontenelle&rsquo;s head was thrown
+on the pavement to serve as a ball for the children of
+the gutter.</p>
+<p>All Paris was surprised when one day a lady from a
+distant country arrived and made great stir in its narrow
+streets. Every one asked his neighbour who this dame
+might be. It was the heiress of Coadelan, dressed in a
+flowing robe of green. &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said the pitiful burgesses,
+&ldquo;if she knew what we know she would be
+dressed in black.&rdquo; Shortly she stood before the King.
+&ldquo;Sire,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;give me back my husband, I beg
+of you.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! madam,&rdquo; replied the King, with feigned
+sorrow, &ldquo;what you ask is impossible, for but three
+days ago he was broken on the wheel.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Whoso goes to Coadelan to-day will turn away from it
+with grief, for the ashes are black upon the hearth and
+the nettles crowd around the doorway&mdash;and still,&rdquo; the
+ballad ends na�vely, &ldquo;still the wicked world goes round
+and the poor folk weep with anguish, and say, &lsquo;Alas
+that she is dead, the mother of the poor.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>The Return from England</i></h3>
+<p>There is a good deal of evidence to show that a considerable
+body of Bretons accompanied the invading
+army of William the Conqueror when he set forth with the
+idea of gaining the English crown. They were attached
+to his second battle corps, and many of them received
+land in England. A ballad which, says Villemarqu�,
+bears every sign of antiquity deals with the fortunes of
+a young Breton, Silvestik, who followed in the train
+of the Conqueror. The piece is put into the mouth of
+the mother of Silvestik, who mourns her son&rsquo;s absence,
+and its tone is a tender and touching one.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One night as I lay on my bed,&rdquo; says the anxious
+mother, &ldquo;I could not sleep. I heard the girls at
+Kerlaz singing the song of my son. O God, Silvestik,
+where are you now? Perhaps you are more than three
+hundred leagues from here, cast on the great sea, and
+the fishes feed upon your fair body. Perhaps you may
+be married now to some Saxon damsel. You were to
+have been wed to a lovely daughter of this land,
+Manna�k de Pouldergat, and you might have been
+among us surrounded by beautiful children, dwelling
+happily in your own home.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_18' id='linki_18'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs18.jpg' alt='' title='' width='419' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE FINDING OF SILVESTIK<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I have taken to my door a little white dove which
+sits in a small hollow of the stone. I have tied to
+his neck a letter with the ribbon of my wedding-dress
+and have sent it to my son. Arise, my little dove,
+arise on your two wings, fly far, very far across the
+great sea, and discover if my son is still alive and
+well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Silvestik rested in the shade of an English wood, and
+as he did so a familiar note fell upon his ear.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That sound resembles the voice of my mother&rsquo;s little
+white dove,&rdquo; he said. The sound grew louder; it
+seemed to say, &ldquo;Good luck to you, Silvestik, good luck
+to you. I have here a letter for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Silvestik in high happiness read the letter, and resolved
+to return home to his sorrowing parent.</p>
+<p>Two years passed, three years passed, and the dove
+did not return to delight the heart of the longing mother,
+who day by day walked the dismal seashore waiting
+for the vessel that never came. One day of storm she
+was wandering on the beach as usual when she saw
+a vessel being driven with great force upon the iron
+coast. Even as she watched it it dashed upon the rocks.
+Soon there were cast upon the shore the forms of many
+dead, and when the gale abated and the heart-sick mother
+was able to search among them she found Silvestik!</p>
+<p>Several competent judges are of opinion that this
+ballad is contemporary with the events which it relates.
+Many of the Breton lords who sailed with William the
+Conqueror did not return for several years after the
+expedition had accomplished its object, and some not
+at all. Nothing is known regarding the hero. The
+bird is frequently the messenger between lovers in
+ballad literature, but it is seldom that it is found
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
+carrying letters between a mother and her son&mdash;indeed,
+this is perhaps the only instance known.</p>
+<h3><i>The Marriage-Girdle</i></h3>
+<p>This ballad has reference to the Breton expedition
+which sailed for Wales in 1405 to assist the Welsh
+under Owen Glendower to free their principality from
+the English yoke. The Bretons rendered material
+assistance to their Welsh brothers, and had the satisfaction
+on their return of knowing that they had
+accomplished that which no French king had ever
+been able to achieve&mdash;the invasion of English territory.
+The expedition was commanded by Jean de Rieux,
+Marshal of France, and numbered ten thousand
+men.</p>
+<p>The ballad tells how a young man on the morning after
+his betrothal received orders to join the standard of
+de Rieux &ldquo;to help the Bretons oversea.&rdquo; It was with
+bitterness in his heart, says the lover, that he entered
+the house of his betrothed with the object of bidding
+her farewell. He told her that duty called him, and
+that he must go to serve in England. At this her tears
+gushed forth, and she begged him not to go, reminding
+him how changeful was the wind and how perfidious
+the sea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;if you die what shall I do? In my
+impatience to have news of you my heart will break. I
+shall wander by the seashore, from one cottage to another,
+asking the sailors if they have heard tell of you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Be comforted, Alo�da,&rdquo; said her lover, &ldquo;and do not
+weep on my account. I will send you a girdle from
+over the sea, a girdle of purple set with rubies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They parted at daybreak, he to embark on the sea, she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span>
+to weep, and as he sought his ship he could hear the
+magpies cackle: &ldquo;If the sea is changeable women are
+even more so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the autumn had arrived the young girl said: &ldquo;I
+have looked far over the sea from the heights of the
+mountains of Arez. I have seen upon the waters a
+ship in danger, and I feel that upon it was him whom I
+love. He held a sword in his hand, he was engaged in
+a terrible combat, he was wounded to death and his
+garments were covered with blood. I am certain that
+he is dead.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And before many weeks had passed she was affianced
+to another.</p>
+<p>Then good news arrived in the land. The war was
+finished and the cavalier returned to his home with a
+gay heart. No sooner had he refreshed himself than
+he went to seek his beloved. As he approached her
+dwelling he heard the sound of music, and observed
+that every window in the house was illuminated as if
+for a festival. He asked some revellers whom he met
+outside the cause of this merrymaking, and was told
+that a wedding was proceeding.</p>
+<p>It is the custom in Brittany to invite beggars to a
+wedding, and when these were now admitted one of
+them asked hospitality for the night. This was at once
+granted him, but he sat apart, sad and silent. The
+bride, observing this, approached him and asked him
+why he did not join in the feasting. He replied that
+he was weary with travel and that his heart was heavy
+with sorrow. Desirous that the marriage festivities
+should not flag, the bride asked him to join her in the
+dance, and he accepted the invitation, saying, however,
+that it was an honour he did not merit.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span></div>
+<p>Now while they danced he came close to her and
+murmured in her ear:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What have you done with the golden ring that you
+received from me at the door of this very house?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The bride stared at him in wild dismay. &ldquo;Oh, heaven,&rdquo;
+she cried, &ldquo;behold, I have now two husbands! I who
+thought I was a widow!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You think wrongly, <i>ma belle</i>,&rdquo; hissed the beggar;
+&ldquo;you will have no husband this side of the grave,&rdquo;
+and drawing a dagger from under his cloak he struck
+the lady to the heart.</p>
+<p>In the abbey of Daoulas there is a statue of the Virgin
+decorated with a splendid girdle of purple sparkling
+with rubies, which came from across the sea. If you
+desire to know who gave it to her, ask of a repentant
+monk who lies prostrate on the grass before the figure
+of the Mother of God.</p>
+<p>It is strange that the faithless damsel should have
+alleged that she saw her lover perish in a naval combat
+when in the very year to which the circumstances of
+the ballad refer (1405) a Breton fleet encountered and
+defeated an English flotilla several leagues from Brest.
+&ldquo;The combat was terrible,&rdquo; says a historian of the
+Dukes of Burgundy, &ldquo;and was animated by the ancient
+hate between the English and the Bretons.&rdquo; Perhaps
+it was in this sea-fight that the lady beheld her lover;
+and if, as she thought, he was slain, she scarcely
+deserves the odium which the balladeer has cast upon
+her memory.</p>
+<h3><i>The Combat of Saint-Cast</i></h3>
+<p>This ballad somewhat belies its name, for it has some
+relation to an extraordinary incident which was the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+means rather of preventing than precipitating a battle.
+In 1758 a British army was landed upon the shores of
+Brittany with the object of securing for British merchant
+ships safety in the navigation of the Channel and of
+creating a diversion in favour of the German forces,
+then our allies. A company of men from Lower
+Brittany, from the towns of Tr�guier and Saint-Pol-de-L�on,
+says Villemarqu�, were marching against a
+detachment of Scottish Highlanders. When at a
+distance of about a mile the Bretons could hear their
+enemies singing a national song. At once they halted
+stupefied, for the air was one well known to them,
+which they were accustomed to hear almost every
+day of their lives. Electrified by the music, which
+spoke to their hearts, they arose in their enthusiasm
+and themselves sang the patriotic refrain. It was the
+Highlanders&rsquo; turn to be silent. All this time the two
+companies were nearing one another, and when at a
+suitable distance their respective officers commanded
+them to fire; but the orders were given, says the
+tradition, &ldquo;in the same language,&rdquo; and the soldiers on
+both sides stood stock-still. Their inaction, however,
+lasted but a moment, for emotion carried away all
+discipline, the arms fell from their hands, and the
+descendants of the ancient Celts renewed on the field
+of battle those ties of brotherhood which had once united
+their fathers.</p>
+<p>However unlikely this incident may seem, it appears to
+be confirmed by tradition, if not by history. The air
+which the rival Celts sang is, says Villemarqu�,<a name='FNanchor_0049' id='FNanchor_0049'></a><a href='#Footnote_0049' class='fnanchor'>[49]</a> common
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span>
+to both Brittany and &ldquo;the Highlands of Scotland.&rdquo;
+With the music before me, it seems to bear a marked
+resemblance to The <i>Garb of Old Gaul</i>, composed by
+General Reid (1721-1807). Perhaps Reid, who was a
+Highlander, based his stirring march on an older Celtic
+theme common to both lands.</p>
+<h3><i>The Song of the Pilot</i></h3>
+<p>One of the most famous of Breton nautical traditions
+tells of the chivalry displayed by a Breton crew
+toward the men of a British warship. During the
+American War of Independence much enthusiasm
+was excited in France in connexion with the valiant
+struggle for liberty in which the American colonies were
+engaged. A number of Breton ships received letters of
+marque enabling them to fight on the American side
+against Great Britain, and these attempted to blockade
+British commerce. The <i>Surveillante</i>, a Breton vessel
+commanded by Cou�dic de Kergoaler, encountered the
+British ship <i>Quebec</i>, commanded by Captain Farmer.
+In the course of the action the <i>Surveillante</i> was nearly
+sunk by the British cannonade and the <i>Quebec</i> went
+on fire. But Breton and Briton, laying aside their
+swords, worked together with such goodwill that most
+of the British crew were rescued and the <i>Surveillante</i>
+was saved, although the <i>Quebec</i> was lost, and this
+notwithstanding that nearly every man of both crews
+had been wounded in the fighting.</p>
+<p>I have here attempted a very free translation of the
+stirring ballad which relates this noteworthy incident,
+which cannot but be of interest at such a time as the
+present.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span></div>
+<h4>THE SONG OF THE PILOT</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Yo ho, ye men of Sulniac!</p>
+<p>We ship to-day at Vannes,</p>
+<p>We sail upon a glorious track</p>
+<p>To seek an Englishman.</p>
+<p>Our saucy sloop the <i>Surveillante</i></p>
+<p>Must keep the seaways clear</p>
+<p>From Ushant in the north to Nantes:</p>
+<p>Aboard her, timoneer!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>See, yonder is the British craft</p>
+<p>That seeks to break blockade;</p>
+<p>St George&rsquo;s banner floats abaft</p>
+<p>Her lowering carronade.</p>
+<p>A flash! and lo, her thunder speaks,</p>
+<p>Her iron tempest flies</p>
+<p>Beneath her bows, and seaward breaks,</p>
+<p>And hissing sinks and dies.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Thunder replied to thunder; then</p>
+<p>The ships rasped side by side,</p>
+<p>The battle-hungry Breton men</p>
+<p>A boarding sally tried,</p>
+<p>But the stern steel of Britain flashed,</p>
+<p>And spite of Breton vaunt</p>
+<p>The lads of Morbihan were dashed</p>
+<p>Back on the <i>Surveillante</i>.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Then was a grim encounter seen</p>
+<p>Upon the seas that day.</p>
+<p>Who yields when there is strife between</p>
+<p>Britain and Brittany?</p>
+<p>Shall Lesser Britain rule the waves</p>
+<p>And check Britannia&rsquo;s pride?</p>
+<p>Not while her frigate&rsquo;s oaken staves</p>
+<p>Still cleave unto her side!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>But hold! hold! see, devouring fire</p>
+<p>Has seized the stout <i>Quebec</i>.</p>
+<p>The seething sea runs high and higher,</p>
+<p>The <i>Surveillante&rsquo;s</i> a wreck.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span></p>
+<p>Their cannon-shot has breached our side,</p>
+<p>Our bolts have fired the foe.</p>
+<p>Quick, to the pumps! No longer bide!</p>
+<p>Below, my lads! below!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The yawning leak is filled, the sea</p>
+<p>Is cheated of its prey.</p>
+<p>Now Bretons, let the Britons see</p>
+<p>The heart of Brittany!</p>
+<p>Brothers, we come to save, our swords</p>
+<p>Are sheathed, our hands are free.</p>
+<p>There is a fiercer fight toward,</p>
+<p>A fiercer foe than we!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>A long sea-day, till sank the sun,</p>
+<p>Briton and Breton wrought,</p>
+<p>And Great and Little Britain won</p>
+<p>The noblest fight ere fought.</p>
+<p>It was a sailors&rsquo; victory</p>
+<p>O&rsquo;er pride and sordid gain.</p>
+<p>God grant for ever peace at sea</p>
+<p>Between the Britains twain!</p>
+</div></div>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IX_THE_BLACK_ART_AND_ITS_MINISTERS' id='CHAPTER_IX_THE_BLACK_ART_AND_ITS_MINISTERS'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX: THE BLACK ART AND ITS MINISTERS</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Sorcery</span> is a very present power in most isolated
+communities, and in the civilized portions of
+Brittany it is but a thing of yesterday, while in
+the more secluded departments it is very much a thing
+of to-day. The old folk can recall the time when the
+farm, the dairy, and the field were ever in peril of the
+spell, the enchantment, the noxious beam of the evil
+eye, and tales of many a &ldquo;devilish cantrip sleight,&rdquo; as
+Burns happily characterized the activity of the witch
+and the wizard, were told in hushed voices at the Breton
+fireside when the winter wind blew cold from the cruel
+sea and the heaped faggots sent the red glow of fire-warmth
+athwart the thick shadows of the great farm
+kitchen, and old and young from grandsire to herd-boy
+made a great circle to hearken to the creepy tales so
+dear to the Breton heart.</p>
+<p>As in the East, where to refuse baksheesh is to lay
+oneself open to the curse of the evil eye, the beggar
+was regarded as the chief possessor of this bespelling
+member. The guild of tattered wanderers naturally
+nourished this superstition, and to permit one of its
+members to hobble off muttering threats or curses was
+looked upon as suicidal. Indeed, the mendicants were
+wont to boast of their feats of sorcery to the terrified
+peasants, who hastened to placate them by all the means
+in their power.</p>
+<p>Certain villages, too, appear to have possessed an evil
+reputation among the country-folk as the dwelling-places
+of magicians, centres of sorcery, which it was
+advisable to shun. Thus we read in Breton proverb
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span>
+of the sorcerers of Foug�res, of Tr�ves, of Concoret,
+of L�zat.</p>
+<p>The strangest circumstances were connected with the
+phenomena of sorcery by the credulous Bretons.
+Thus, did a peasant join a dance of witches, the sabots
+he had on would be worn out in the course of the
+merrymaking. A churn of turned butter, a sour pail
+of milk, were certain to be accounted for by sorcery.
+In a certain village of Moncontour the cows, the dog,
+even the harmless, necessary cat, died off, and the
+farmer hastened to consult a diviner, who advised him
+to throw milk in the fire and recite certain prayers.
+The farmer obeyed and the spell was broken!</p>
+<p>In the town of Rennes about fifty years ago dwelt a
+knowing fellow called Robert, a very &lsquo;witch-doctor,&rsquo;
+who investigated cases of sorcery and undertook the
+dissipation of enchantments. On a certain large farm
+the milk would yield no butter. An agricultural expert
+might have hinted at poor pasturage, but the farmer
+and his wife had other views as to the cause of the
+&lsquo;insufficiency of fats,&rsquo; as an analyst would say, in the
+lacteal output of the establishment. Straightway they
+betook themselves to the mysterious Robert, who
+on arriving to investigate the affair was attired in a
+skin dyed in two colours. He held in leash a large
+black dog, evidently his familiar. He exorcized the
+dairy, and went through a number of strange ceremonies.
+Then, turning to the awestruck farm hands,
+he said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You may now proceed with your work. The spell
+is raised. It has been a slow business. I must go
+now, but don&rsquo;t be afraid if you see anything odd.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>With these words he whistled, and a great black horse
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
+at once appeared as if from nowhere. Placing his hand
+on its crupper, he vaulted into the saddle, bade good-bye
+to the astonished rustics, and while they gazed at him
+open-mouthed, vanished &lsquo;like a flash.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Many kinds of amulets or talismans were used by the
+Breton peasantry to neutralize the power of sorcerers.
+Thus, if a person carried a snake with him the enchanters
+would be unable to harm his sight, and all
+objects would appear to him under their natural forms.
+Salt placed in various parts of a house guarded it
+against the entrance of wizards and rendered their
+spells void.</p>
+<p>But many consulted the witch and the sorcerer for their
+personal advantage, in affairs of the heart, to obtain a
+number in the casting of lots for conscription which would
+free them from military service, and so forth; and, as
+in other countries, there grew up a class of middlemen
+between the human and the supernatural who posed as
+fortune-tellers, astrologers, and quack mediciners.</p>
+<p>It was said that sorcerers were wont to meet at the
+many Roches aux F�es in Brittany at fixed periods in
+order to deliberate as to their actions and settle their
+affairs. If anyone, it was declared, wandered into their
+circle or was caught by them listening to their secret
+conclave he seldom lived long. Others, terrified at the
+sight presented by the gleaming eyes of the cat-sorcerers,
+blazing like live coals, fled incontinently from their
+presence, and found that in the morning the hair of
+their heads had turned white with the dread experience.
+Long afterward they would sit by the fireside trembling
+visibly at nothing, and when interrogated regarding
+their very evident fears would only groan and bury their
+faces in their hands.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span></div>
+<p>A story is told of one, Jean Foucault, who one moonlight
+night had, like Tam o&rsquo; Shanter, sat overlong</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Fast by an ingle bleezin&rsquo; finely,</p>
+<p>Wi&rsquo; reaming swats that drank divinely,</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>where the cider was as good as the company, and,
+issuing at midnight&rsquo;s weary hour from his favourite inn,
+was not in a mood to run away from anything, however
+fearsome. Walking, or rather rolling, across the moor
+singing the burden of the last catch he had trolled with
+his fellows at the ale-house, all on a sudden he stumbled
+into a circle of sorcerer-cats squatting around a cross of
+stone. They were of immense size and of all colours,
+black, grey, white, tortoise-shell, and when he beheld
+them seated round the crucifix, their eyes darting fire
+and the hair bristling on their backs, his song died
+upon his lips and all his bellicose feelings, like those
+of Bob Acres, leaked out at his finger-tips. On
+catching sight of him the animals set up a horrible
+caterwauling that made the blood freeze in his veins.
+For an awful moment the angry cats glared at him
+with death in their looks, and seemed as if about to
+spring upon him. Giving himself up for lost, he closed
+his eyes. But about his feet he could hear a strange
+purring, and, glancing downward, he beheld his own
+domestic puss fawning upon him with every sign of
+affection.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pass my master, Jean Foucault,&rdquo; said the animal.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; replied a great grey tom, whom Jean took
+to be the leader; &ldquo;pass on, Jean Foucault.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And Jean, the cider fumes in his head quite dissipated,
+staggered away, more dead than alive.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span></div>
+<h3><i>Druidic Magic</i></h3>
+<p>The more ancient sorcerers of Brittany deserve a word
+of notice. Magic among the Celtic peoples in olden
+times was so clearly identified with Druidism that its
+origin may be said to have been Druidic. Whether
+Druidism was of Celtic origin, however, is a question
+upon which much discussion has taken place, some
+authorities, among them Rhys, believing it to have been
+of non-Celtic and even non-Aryan origin, and holding
+that the earliest non-Aryan or so-called Iberian people
+of Britain introduced the Druidic religion to the immigrant
+Celts. An argument advanced in favour of
+this theory is that the Continental Celts sent their
+neophyte Druid priests to Britain to undergo a special
+training at the hands of the British Druids, and that
+this island seems to have been regarded as the headquarters
+of the cult. The people of Cisalpine Gaul, for
+instance, had no Druidic priesthood. C&aelig;sar has told
+us that in Gaul Druidic seminaries were very numerous,
+and that within their walls severe study and discipline
+were entailed upon the neophytes, whose principal business
+was to commit to memory countless verses enshrining
+Druidic knowledge and tradition. That this
+instruction was astrological and magical we have the
+fullest proof.<a name='FNanchor_0050' id='FNanchor_0050'></a><a href='#Footnote_0050' class='fnanchor'>[50]</a></p>
+<p>The Druids were magi as they were priests in the same
+sense that the American Indian shaman is both magus
+and priest. That is, they were medicine-men on a
+higher scale, and had reached a loftier stage of transcendental
+knowledge than the priest-magicians of more
+barbarous races. Thus they may be said to be a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span>
+link between the barbarian shaman and the magus of
+medieval times. Many of their practices were purely
+shamanistic, while others more closely resembled
+medieval magical rite. But they were not the only
+magicians of the Celts, for frequently among that people
+we find magic power the possession of women and of the
+poetic craft. The magic of Druidism had many points
+of comparison with most magical systems, and perhaps
+approximated more to that black magic which desires
+power for the sake of power alone than to any transcendental
+type. Thus it included the power to render
+the magician invisible, to change his bodily shape, to
+produce an enchanted sleep, to induce lunacy, and to
+inflict death from afar.</p>
+<p>The arts of rain-making, bringing down fire from
+heaven, and causing mists, snow-storms, and floods
+were also claimed for the Druids. Many of the spells
+probably in use among them survived until a comparatively
+late period, and are still employed in some remote
+Celtic localities, the names of saints being substituted
+for those of Celtic deities. Certain primitive ritual, too,
+is still carried out in the vicinity of some megalithic
+structures in Celtic areas, as at Dungiven, in Ireland,
+where pilgrims wash before a great stone in the river
+Roe and then walk round it, and in many parts of
+Brittany.<a name='FNanchor_0051' id='FNanchor_0051'></a><a href='#Footnote_0051' class='fnanchor'>[51]</a></p>
+<p>In pronouncing incantations the usual method employed
+was to stand upon one leg and to point with the
+forefinger to the person or object on which the spell
+was to be laid, at the same time closing one eye, as if
+to concentrate the force of the entire personality upon
+that which was to be placed under ban. A manuscript
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+possessed by the monastery of St Gall, and dating from
+the eighth or ninth century, includes magical formul&aelig;
+for the preservation of butter and the healing of certain
+diseases in the name of the Irish god Diancecht. These
+and others bear a close resemblance to Babylonian and
+Etruscan spells, and thus go to strengthen the hypothesis
+often put forward with more or less plausibility
+that Druidism had an Eastern origin. At all magical
+rites spells were uttered. Druids often accompanied an
+army, to assist by their magical arts in confounding the
+enemy.<a name='FNanchor_0052' id='FNanchor_0052'></a><a href='#Footnote_0052' class='fnanchor'>[52]</a></p>
+<p>There is some proof that in Celtic areas survivals of
+a Druidic priesthood have descended to our own time
+in a more or less debased condition. Thus the existence
+of guardians and keepers of wells said to possess magical
+properties, and the fact that in certain families magical
+spells and formul&aelig; are handed down from one generation
+to another, are so many proofs of the survival of Druidic
+tradition, however feeble. Females are generally the
+conservators of these mysteries, and that there were
+Druid priestesses is fairly certain.</p>
+<p>The sea-snake&rsquo;s egg, or adder&rsquo;s stone, which is so
+frequently alluded to in Druidic magical tales, otherwise
+called <i>Glain Neidr</i>, was said to have been formed, about
+midsummer, by an assemblage of snakes. A bubble
+formed on the head of one of them was blown by others
+down the whole length of its back, and then, hardening,
+became a crystal ring. It was used as one of the
+insignia of the Archdruid, and was supposed to assist
+in augury.</p>
+<p>The <i>herbe d&rsquo;or</i>, or &lsquo;golden herb,&rsquo; was a medicinal plant
+much in favour among the Breton peasantry. It is the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span>
+<i>selago</i> of Pliny, which in Druidical times was gathered
+with the utmost veneration by a hand enveloped with a
+garment once worn by a sacred person. The owner of
+the hand was arrayed in white, with bare feet, washed
+in pure water. In after times the plant was thought to
+shine from a distance like gold, and to give to those who
+trod on it the power of understanding the language of
+dogs, wolves, and birds.</p>
+<p>These, with the mistletoe, the favourite Druidical plant,
+the sorcerer is entreated, in an old balled, to lay aside,
+to seek no more for vain enchantments, but to remember
+that he is a Christian.</p>
+<h3><i>Ab�lard and H�lo�se</i></h3>
+<p>The touching story of the love of Ab�lard and H�lo�se
+has found its way into Breton legend as a tale of
+sorcery. Ab�lard was a Breton. The Duke of Brittany,
+whose subject he was born, jealous of the glory of
+France, which then engrossed all the most famous
+scholars of Europe, and being, besides, acquainted with
+the persecution Ab�lard had suffered from his enemies,
+had nominated him to the Abbey of St Gildas, and, by
+this benefaction and mark of his esteem, engaged him
+to pass the rest of his days in his dominions. Ab�lard
+received this favour with great joy, imagining that by
+leaving France he would quench his passion for H�lo�se
+and gain a new peace of mind upon entering into his
+new dignity.</p>
+<p>The Abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys was founded on the
+inaccessible coast near Vannes by St Gildas, a British
+saint, the schoolfellow and friend of St Samson of Dol
+and St Pol of L�on, and counted among its monks the
+Saxon St Dunstan, who, carried by pirates from his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span>
+native isle, settled on the desolate shores of Brittany
+and became, under the name of St Goustan, the patron
+of mariners.</p>
+<p>St Gildas built his abbey on the edge of a high, rocky
+promontory, the site of an ancient Roman encampment,
+called Grand Mont, facing the shore, where the sea has
+formed numerous caverns in the rocks. The rocks are
+composed chiefly of quartz, and are covered to a considerable
+height with small mussels. Ab�lard, on his
+appointment to the Abbey of St Gildas, made over
+to H�lo�se the celebrated abbey he had founded at
+Nogent, near Troyes, which he called the Paraclete, or
+Comforter, because he there found comfort and refreshment
+after his troubles. With Nogent he was to leave
+his peace. His gentle nature was unable to contend
+against the coarse and unruly Breton monks. As
+he writes in his well-known letter to H�lo�se, setting
+forth his griefs: &ldquo;I inhabit a barbarous country where
+the language is unknown to me. I have no dealings
+with the ferocious inhabitants. I walk the inaccessible
+borders of the stormy sea, and my monks have no other
+rule than their own. I wish that you could see my
+dwelling. You would not believe it an abbey. The
+doors are ornamented only with the feet of deer, of
+wolves and bears, boars, and the hideous skins of owls.
+I find each day new perils. I expect at every moment
+to see a sword suspended over my head.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to outline the history of Ab�lard.
+Suffice it to say that he was one of the most brilliant
+scholars and dialecticians of all time, possessing a
+European reputation in his day. Falling in love with
+H�lo�se, niece of Fulbert, a canon of Paris, he awoke in
+her a similar absorbing passion, which resulted in their
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span>
+mutual disgrace and Ab�lard&rsquo;s mutilation by the incensed
+uncle. He and his H�lo�se were buried in one tomb
+at the Paraclete. The story of their love has been
+immortalized by the world&rsquo;s great poets and painters.</p>
+<p>An ancient Breton ballad on the subject has been spoken
+of as a &ldquo;na�f and horrible&rdquo; production, in which one
+will find &ldquo;a bizarre mixture of Druidic practice and
+Christian superstition.&rdquo; It describes H�lo�se as a
+sorceress of ferocious and sanguinary temper. Thus
+can legend magnify and distort human failing! As its
+presentation is important in the study of Breton folk-lore,
+I give a very free translation of this ballad, in
+which, at the same time, I have endeavoured to preserve
+the atmosphere of the original.</p>
+<h4>THE HYMN OF H�LO�SE</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>O Ab�lard, my Ab�lard,</p>
+<p>Twelve summers have passed since first we kissed.</p>
+<p>There is no love like that of a bard:</p>
+<p>Who loves him lives in a golden mist!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Nor word of French nor Roman tongue,</p>
+<p>But only Brezonek could I speak,</p>
+<p>When round my lover&rsquo;s neck I hung</p>
+<p>And heard the harmony of the Greek,</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The march of Latin, the joy of French,</p>
+<p>The valiance of the Hebrew speech,</p>
+<p>The while its thirst my soul did quench</p>
+<p>In the love-lore that he did teach.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The bossed and bound Evangel&rsquo;s tome</p>
+<p>Is open to me as mine own soul,</p>
+<p>But all the watered wine of Rome</p>
+<p>Is weak beside the magic bowl.</p>
+</div></div>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_19' id='linki_19'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs19.jpg' alt='' title='' width='423' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+H�LO�SE AS SORCERESS<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span></div>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The Mass I chant like any priest,</p>
+<p>Can shrive the dying or bury the dead,</p>
+<p>But dearer to me to raise the Beast</p>
+<p>Or watch the gold in the furnace red.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The wolf, the serpent, the crow, the owl,</p>
+<p>The demons of sea, of field, of flood,</p>
+<p>I can run or fly in their forms so foul,</p>
+<p>They come at my call from wave or wood.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>I know a song that can raise the sea,</p>
+<p>Can rouse the winds or shudder the earth,</p>
+<p>Can darken the heavens terribly,</p>
+<p>Can wake portents at a prince&rsquo;s birth.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The first dark drug that ever we sipped</p>
+<p>Was brewed from toad and the eye of crow,</p>
+<p>Slain in a mead when the moon had slipped</p>
+<p>From heav&rsquo;n to the fetid fogs below.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>I know a well as deep as death,</p>
+<p>A gloom where I cull the frondent fern,</p>
+<p>Whose seed with that of the golden heath</p>
+<p>I mingle when mystic lore I&rsquo;d learn.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>I gathered in dusk nine measures of rye,</p>
+<p>Nine measures again, and brewed the twain</p>
+<p>In a silver pot, while fitfully</p>
+<p>The starlight struggled through the rain.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>I sought the serpent&rsquo;s egg of power</p>
+<p>In a dell hid low from the night and day:</p>
+<p>It was shown to me in an awful hour</p>
+<p>When the children of hell came out to play.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>I have three spirits&mdash;seeming snakes;</p>
+<p>The youngest is six score years young,</p>
+<p>The second rose from the nether lakes,</p>
+<p>And the third was once Duke Satan&rsquo;s tongue.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>The wild bird&rsquo;s flesh is not their food,</p>
+<p>No common umbles are their dole;</p>
+<p>I nourish them well with infants&rsquo; blood,</p>
+<p>Those precious vipers of my soul.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span></p>
+<p>O Satan! grant me three years still,</p>
+<p>But three short years, my love and I,</p>
+<p>To work thy fierce, mysterious will,</p>
+<p>Then gladly shall we yield and die.</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>H�lo�se, wicked heart, beware!</p>
+<p>Think on the dreadful day of wrath,</p>
+<p>Think on thy soul; forbear, forbear!</p>
+<p>The way thou tak&rsquo;st is that of death!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Thou craven priest, go, get thee hence!</p>
+<p>No fear have I of fate so fell.</p>
+<p>Go, suck the milk of innocence,</p>
+<p>Leave me to quaff the wine of hell!</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>It is difficult to over-estimate the folk-lore value of
+such a ballad as this. Its historical value is clearly
+<i>nil</i>. We have no proof that H�lo�se was a Breton;
+but fantastic errors of this description are so well
+known to the student of ballad literature that he is
+able to discount them easily in gauging the value of a
+piece.</p>
+<p>In this weird composition the wretched abbess is described
+as an alchemist as well as a sorceress, and she
+descends to the depths of the lowest and most revolting
+witchcraft. She practises shape-shifting and similar arts.
+She has power over natural forces, and knows the past,
+the present, and the things to be. She possesses
+sufficient Druidic knowledge to permit her to gather
+the greatly prized serpent&rsquo;s egg, to acquire which was
+the grand aim of the Celtic magician. The circumstances
+of the ballad strongly recall those of the poem
+in which the Welsh bard Taliesin recounts his magical
+experiences, his metamorphoses, his knowledge of the
+darker mysteries of nature.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span></div>
+<h3><i>Nantes of the Magicians</i></h3>
+<p>The poet is in accord with probability in making the
+magical exploits of Ab�lard and H�lo�se take place at
+Nantes&mdash;a circumstance not indicated in the translation
+owing to metrical exigencies. Nantes was, indeed, a
+classic neighbourhood of sorcery. An ancient college
+of Druidic priestesses was situated on one of the islands
+at the mouth of the Loire, and the traditions of its
+denizens had evidently been cherished by the inhabitants
+of the city even as late as the middle of the fourteenth
+century, for we find a bishop of the diocese at that period
+obtaining a bull of excommunication against the local
+sorcerers, and condemning them to the eternal fires with
+bell, book, and candle.<a name='FNanchor_0053' id='FNanchor_0053'></a><a href='#Footnote_0053' class='fnanchor'>[53]</a></p>
+<p>The poet, it is plain, has confounded poor H�lo�se with
+the dark sisterhood of the island of the Loire. The
+learning she received from her gifted lover had been
+her undoing in Breton eyes, for the simple folk of
+the duchy at the period the ballad gained currency
+could scarcely be expected to discriminate between a
+training in rhetoric and philosophy and a schooling in
+the <i>grimoires</i> and other accomplishments of the pit.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_X_ARTHURIAN_ROMANCE_IN_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_X_ARTHURIAN_ROMANCE_IN_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER X: ARTHURIAN ROMANCE IN BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Fierce</span> and prolonged has been the debate as to
+the original birthplace of Arthurian legend, authorities
+of the first rank, the &lsquo;Senior Wranglers&rsquo; of
+the study, as Nutt has called them, hotly advancing
+the several claims of Wales, England, Scotland, and
+Brittany. In this place it would be neither fitting
+nor necessary to traverse the whole ground of argument,
+and we must content ourselves with the examination
+of Brittany&rsquo;s claim to the invention of Arthurian
+story&mdash;and this we will do briefly, passing on to some
+of the tales which relate the deeds of the King or his
+knights on Breton soil.</p>
+<p>Confining ourselves, then, to the proof of the existence
+of a body of Arthurian legend in Brittany, we are,
+perhaps, a little alarmed at the outset to find that our
+manuscript sources are scanty. &ldquo;It had to be acknowledged,&rdquo;
+says Professor Saintsbury, &ldquo;that Brittany could
+supply <i>no ancient texts whatever</i>, and hardly any ancient
+traditions.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0054' id='FNanchor_0054'></a><a href='#Footnote_0054' class='fnanchor'>[54]</a> But are either of these conditions essential
+to a belief in the Breton origin of Arthurian romance?</p>
+<p>The two great hypotheses regarding Arthurian origins
+have been dubbed the &lsquo;Continental&rsquo; and the &lsquo;Insular&rsquo;
+theories. The first has as its leading protagonist Professor
+Wendelin F�rster of Bonn, who believes that the
+immigrant Britons brought the Arthur legend with them
+to Brittany and that the Normans of Normandy received
+it from their descendants and gave it wider territorial
+scope. The second school, headed by the brilliant
+M. Gaston Paris, believes that it originated in Wales.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span></div>
+<p>If we consider the first theory, then, we can readily see
+that ancient <i>texts</i> are not essential to its acceptance.
+In any case the entire body of Arthurian texts prior
+to the twelfth century is so small as to be almost
+negligible. The statement that &ldquo;hardly any ancient
+traditions&rdquo; of the Arthurian legend exist in Brittany
+is an extraordinary one. In view of the circumstances
+that in extended passages of Arthurian story the scene
+is laid in Brittany (as in the Merlin and Vivien incident
+and the episode of Yseult of the White Hand in the
+story of Tristrem), that Geoffrey of Monmouth speaks
+of &ldquo;the Breton book&rdquo; from which he took his matter,
+and that Marie de France states that her tales are drawn
+from old Breton sources, not to admit the possible existence
+of a body of Arthurian tradition in Brittany appears
+capricious. Thomas&rsquo;s <i>Sir Tristrem</i> is professedly based
+on the poem of the Breton Br�ri, and there is no reason
+why Brittany, drawing sap and fibre as it did from
+Britain, should not have produced Arthurian stories of
+its own.</p>
+<p>On the whole, however, that seems to represent the sum
+of its pretensions as a main source of Arthurian romance.
+The Arthurian story seems to be indigenous to British
+soil, and if we trace the origin of certain episodes to
+Brittany we may safely connect these with the early
+British immigrants to the peninsula. This is not to
+say, however, that Brittany did not influence Norman
+appreciation of the Arthurian saga. But that it did so
+more than did Wales is unlikely, in view of documentary
+evidence. Both Wales and Brittany, then, supplied
+matter which the Norman and French poets shaped
+into verse, and if Brittany was not the birthplace of the
+legend it was, in truth, one of its cradle-domains.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Sword of Arthur</i></h3>
+<p>Let us collect, then, Arthurian incidents which take
+place in Brittany. First, Arthur&rsquo;s finding of the marvellous
+sword Excalibur would seem to happen there,
+as Vivien, or Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, was undoubtedly
+a fairy of Breton origin who does not appear
+in British myth.</p>
+<p>For the manner in which Arthur acquired the renowned
+Excalibur, or Caliburn, the <i>Morte d&rsquo;Arthur</i> is the
+authority. The King had broken his sword in two
+pieces in a combat with Sir Pellinore of Wales, and
+had been saved by Merlin, who threw Sir Pellinore
+into an enchanted sleep.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And so Merlin and Arthur departed, and as they rode
+along King Arthur said, &lsquo;I have no sword.&rsquo; &lsquo;No
+force,&rsquo;<a name='FNanchor_0055' id='FNanchor_0055'></a><a href='#Footnote_0055' class='fnanchor'>[55]</a> said Merlin; &lsquo;here is a sword that shall be
+yours, an I may.&rsquo; So they rode till they came to a lake,
+which was a fair water and a broad; and in the midst
+of the lake King Arthur was aware of an arm clothed
+in white samite, that held a fair sword in the hand.
+&lsquo;Lo,&rsquo; said Merlin unto the King, &lsquo;yonder is the sword
+that I spoke of.&rsquo; With that they saw a damsel going
+upon the lake. &lsquo;What damsel is that?&rsquo; said the King.
+&lsquo;That is the Lady of the Lake,&rsquo; said Merlin; &lsquo;and
+within that lake is a rock, and therein is as fair a place
+as any on earth, and richly beseen; and this damsel will
+come to you anon, and then speak fair to her that she
+will give you that sword.&rsquo; Therewith came the damsel
+to King Arthur and saluted him, and he her again.
+&lsquo;Damsel,&rsquo; said the King, &lsquo;what sword is that which the
+arm holdeth yonder above the water? I would it were
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+mine, for I have no sword.&rsquo; &lsquo;Sir King,&rsquo; said the damsel
+of the lake, &lsquo;that sword is mine, and if ye will give me
+a gift when I ask it you, ye shall have it.&rsquo; &lsquo;By my faith,&rsquo;
+said King Arthur, &lsquo;I will give you any gift that you will
+ask or desire.&rsquo; &lsquo;Well,&rsquo; said the damsel, &lsquo;go into yonder
+barge, and row yourself unto the sword, and take it and
+the scabbard with you; and I will ask my gift when I
+see my time.&rsquo; So King Arthur and Merlin alighted,
+tied their horses to two trees, and so they went into the
+barge. And when they came to the sword that the hand
+held, King Arthur took it up by the handles, and took
+it with him, and the arm and the hand went under the
+water; and so came to the land and rode forth. King
+Arthur looked upon the sword, and liked it passing
+well. &lsquo;Whether liketh you better,&rsquo; said Merlin, &lsquo;the
+sword or the scabbard?&rsquo; &lsquo;Me liketh better the sword,&rsquo;
+said King Arthur. &lsquo;Ye are more unwise,&rsquo; said Merlin,
+&lsquo;for the scabbard is worth ten of the sword; for while
+ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall lose no blood,
+be ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the
+scabbard alway with you.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_20' id='linki_20'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs20.jpg' alt='' title='' width='417' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+KING ARTHUR AND MERLIN AT THE LAKE<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Sir Lancelot du Lac, son of King Ban of Benwik, was
+stolen and brought up by the Lady of the Lake, from
+whose enchanted realm he took his name. But he does
+not appear at all in true Celtic legend, and is a mere
+Norman new-comer.</p>
+<h3><i>Tristrem and Ysonde</i></h3>
+<p>Following the Arthurian &lsquo;chronology&rsquo; as set forth in
+the <i>Morte d&rsquo;Arthur</i>, we reach the great episode of Sir
+Tristrem of Lyonesse, a legendary country off the coast
+of Cornwall. This most romantic yet most human tale
+must be accounted one of the world&rsquo;s supreme love
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span>
+stories. It has inspired some of our greatest poets, and
+moved Richard Wagner to the composition of a splendid
+opera.</p>
+<p>One of the first to bring this literary treasure to public
+notice was Sir Walter Scott, who felt a strong chord
+vibrate in his romantic soul when perusing that version
+of the tale of which Thomas of Ercildoune is the
+reputed author. Taking this as the best and most
+ancient version of <i>Tristrem</i>, we may detail its circumstances
+as follows:</p>
+<p>The Duke Morgan and Roland Rise, Lord of Ermonie,
+two Cymric chieftains, had long been at feud, and at
+length the smouldering embers of enmity burst into open
+flame. In the contest that ensued the doughty Roland
+prevailed, but he was a generous foe, and granted
+a seven years&rsquo; truce to his defeated adversary. Some
+time after this event Roland journeyed into Cornwall
+to the Court of Mark, where he carried off the honours
+in a tourney. But he was to win a more precious
+prize in the love of the fair Princess Blancheflour, sister
+of King Mark, who grew to adore him passionately.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Duke Morgan took foul advantage of the
+absence of Roland, and invaded his land. Rohand, a
+trusty vassal of Roland, repaired to Cornwall, where he
+sought out his master and told him of Morgan&rsquo;s broken
+faith. Then Roland told Blancheflour of his plight,
+how that he must return to his own realm, and she,
+fearing her brother Mark, because she had given her
+love to Roland without the King&rsquo;s knowledge, resolved
+to fly with her lover. The pair left Cornwall hurriedly,
+and, reaching one of Roland&rsquo;s castles, were wed there.
+Roland, however, had soon to don his armour, for news
+was brought to him that Duke Morgan was coming
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span>
+against him with a great army. A fierce battle ensued,
+in which Roland at first had the advantage, but the
+Duke, being reinforced, pressed him hotly, and in the
+end Roland was defeated and slain. Blancheflour
+received news of her lord&rsquo;s death immediately before
+the birth of her son, and, sore stricken by the woeful
+news, she named him Tristrem, or &lsquo;Child of Sorrow.&rsquo;
+Then, recommending him to the care of Rohand, to
+whom she gave a ring which had belonged to King
+Mark, her brother, to prove Tristrem&rsquo;s relationship to
+that prince, she expired, to the intense grief of all her
+attendants. To secure the safety of his ward, Rohand
+passed him off as his own child, inverting the form of
+his name to &lsquo;Tremtris.&rsquo; Duke Morgan now ruled
+over the land of Ermonie, and Rohand had perforce to
+pay him a constrained homage.</p>
+<p>When he arrived at a fitting age Tristrem was duly
+instructed in all knightly games and exercises by his
+foster-father, and grew apace in strength and skill.
+Once a Norwegian vessel arrived upon the coast of
+Ermonie laden with a freight of hawks and treasure
+(hawks at that period were often worth their weight
+in gold). The captain challenged anyone to a game of
+chess with him for a stake of twenty shillings, and
+Rohand and his sons, with Tristrem, went on board
+to play with him. Tristrem moved so skilfully that
+he overcame the captain, and won from him, in many
+games, six hawks and the sum of a hundred pounds.
+While the games were proceeding Rohand went on
+shore, leaving Tristrem in the care of his preceptor,
+and the false captain, to avoid paying what he had lost,
+forced the preceptor to go on shore alone and put to sea
+with the young noble.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span></div>
+<p>The ship had no sooner sailed away than a furious gale
+arose, and as it continued for some days the mariners
+became convinced that the tempest was due to the
+injustice of their captain, and being in sore dread, they
+paid Tristrem his winnings and set him ashore. Dressed
+in a robe of &lsquo;blihand brown&rsquo; (blue-brown), Tristrem
+found himself alone on a rocky beach. First he knelt
+and requested Divine protection, after which he ate
+some food which had been left him by the Norwegians,
+and started to journey through a forest, in which he
+encountered two palmers, who told him that he was in
+Cornwall. He offered these men gold to guide him to
+the Court of the king of the country, which they willingly
+undertook to do. On their way the travellers fell in
+with a hunting party of nobles, and Tristrem was
+shocked to see the awkward manner in which the huntsmen
+cut up some stags they had slain. He could not
+restrain his feeling, and disputed with the nobles upon
+the laws of venerie. Then he proceeded to skin a buck
+for their instruction, like a right good forester, and ended
+by blowing the <i>mort</i> or death-token on a horn.</p>
+<h3><i>Tristrem as Forester</i></h3>
+<p>The nobles who beheld his skill were amazed, and
+speedily carried the news to King Mark, who was highly
+interested. Tristrem was brought to his presence and
+told his story, but Mark did not recognize that he was
+speaking to his own nephew. The King&rsquo;s favourable
+impression was confirmed by Tristrem&rsquo;s skill in playing
+the harp, and soon the youth had endeared himself to the
+heart of the King, and was firmly settled at the Court.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Rohand, distracted by the loss of his foster-son,
+searched for him from one land to another without
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span>
+even renewing his tattered garments. At last he encountered
+one of the palmers who had guided Tristrem
+to the Court of King Mark, and learned of the great
+honour accorded to his ward. At Rohand&rsquo;s request the
+palmer took him to Mark&rsquo;s hall; but when Rohand
+arrived thither his tattered and forlorn appearance
+aroused the contempt of the porter and usher and they
+refused him entrance. Upon bestowing liberal largess,
+however, he was at length brought to Tristrem, who
+presented him to King Mark as his father, acquainting
+him at the same time with the cause of their separation.
+When Rohand had been refreshed by a bath, and
+richly attired by order of King Mark, the whole Court
+marvelled at his majestic appearance.</p>
+<p>Rohand, seated by King Mark&rsquo;s side at the banquet,
+imparted to him the secret of Tristrem&rsquo;s birth, and in
+proof showed him the ring given him by Blancheflour,
+whereupon Mark at once joyfully recognized Tristrem
+as his nephew. Rohand further told of the tragic fate
+of Tristrem&rsquo;s parents through the treachery of Duke
+Morgan, and Tristrem, fired by the tale of wrong, vowed
+to return at once to Ermonie to avenge his father&rsquo;s
+death.</p>
+<h3><i>Tristrem Returns to Ermonie</i></h3>
+<p>Although applauding his pious intention, Mark attempted
+to dissuade his nephew from such an enterprise of peril,
+until, seeing that Tristrem would not be gainsaid, the
+King conferred upon him the honour of knighthood,
+and furnished him with a thousand men-at-arms. Thus
+equipped, Tristrem set sail for Ermonie, and, safely
+arrived in that kingdom, he garrisoned Rohand&rsquo;s castle
+with his Cornish forces.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span></div>
+<p>He had no intention of remaining inactive, however,
+and once his men were cared for, he repaired to the Court
+of the usurper, Duke Morgan, accompanied by fifteen
+knights, each bearing a boar&rsquo;s head as a gift. But
+Rohand, apprehending rashness on the part of his foster-son,
+took the precaution of following with the Cornish
+men-at-arms and his own vassals.</p>
+<p>When Tristrem arrived the Duke was at the feast-board,
+and he demanded Tristrem&rsquo;s name and business.
+Tristrem boldly declared himself, and at the end of an
+angry parley the Duke struck him a sore blow. A
+moment later swords were flashing, and it might have
+gone ill with Tristrem had not Rohand with his men
+come up in the nick of time. In the end Duke Morgan
+was slain and his followers routed. Having now
+recovered his paternal domains Sir Tristrem conferred
+them upon Rohand, to be held of himself as liege lord,
+and having done so he took leave of his foster-father and
+returned to Cornwall.</p>
+<h3><i>The Combat with Moraunt</i></h3>
+<p>On arriving at the palace of Mark, Tristrem found the
+Court in dismay, because of a demand for tribute made
+by the King of England. Moraunt, the Irish ambassador
+to England, was charged with the duty of claiming the
+tribute, which was no less than three hundred pounds
+of gold, as many of coined silver, as many of tin, and a
+levy every fourth year of three hundred Cornish children.
+Mark protested bitterly, and Tristrem urged him to bid
+defiance to the English, swearing that he would himself
+defend the freedom of Cornwall. His aid was
+reluctantly accepted by the Grand Council, and he
+delivered to Moraunt a declaration that no tribute was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span>
+due. Moraunt retorted by giving Tristrem the lie, and
+the champions exchanged defiance. They sailed in
+separate boats to a small island to decide the issue
+in single combat, and when they had landed Tristrem
+turned his boat adrift, saying sternly that one vessel
+would suffice to take back the victor. The champions
+mounted their steeds at the outset, but after the first
+encounter Tristrem, leaping lightly from the saddle,
+engaged his adversary on foot. The Knight of Ermonie
+was desperately wounded in the thigh, but, rallying all
+his strength, he cleft Moraunt to the chine, and, his
+sword splintering, a piece of the blade remained in the
+wound.</p>
+<p>Tristrem now returned to the mainland, where so great
+was the joy over his return that he was appointed
+heir to Cornwall and successor to Mark the Good.
+But his wound, having been inflicted by a poisoned
+blade, grew more grievous day by day. No leech
+might cure it, and the evil odour arising from the
+gangrene drove every one from his presence save his
+faithful servitor Gouvernayl.</p>
+<h3><i>Fytte the Second</i></h3>
+<p>Fytte (or Part) the Second commences by telling how
+Tristrem, forsaken by all, begged King Mark for a ship
+that he might leave the land of Cornwall. Mark reluctantly
+granted his request, and the luckless Tristrem
+embarked with Gouvernayl, his one attendant, and his
+harp as his only solace. He steered for Caerleon, and
+remained nine weeks at sea, but meeting contrary winds
+he was driven out of his course, and at length came to
+the Irish coast, where he sought the haven of Dublin.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span>
+On arriving there he feigned that he had been wounded
+by pirates, and learning that he was in Ireland, and
+recollecting that Moraunt, whom he had slain, was the
+brother to the Queen of that land, he thought it wise
+to assume once more the name of Tremtris.</p>
+<p>Soon his fame as a minstrel reached the ears of the
+Queen of Ireland, a lady deeply versed in the art
+of healing. She was, indeed, &ldquo;the best Couthe of
+Medicine&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0056' id='FNanchor_0056'></a><a href='#Footnote_0056' class='fnanchor'>[56]</a> Tristrem had seen, and in order to heal his
+wound she applied to it &ldquo;a plaster kene.&rdquo; Later she
+invited him to the Court, where his skill in chess and
+games astonished every one. So interested in him did
+the royal lady become at last that she undertook to cure
+him, and effected her object by means of a medicated
+bath and other medieval remedies. Then, on account
+of his fame as a minstrel, he was given the task of
+instructing the Princess Ysonde&mdash;as the name &lsquo;Yseult&rsquo;
+is written in this particular version.</p>
+<p>This princess was much attached to minstrelsy and
+poetry, and under the tuition of Tristrem she rapidly
+advanced in these arts, until at length she had no equal
+in Ireland save her preceptor. And now Tristrem, his
+health restored, and having completed Ysonde&rsquo;s instruction,
+felt a strong desire to return to the Court of King
+Mark. His request to be allowed to depart was most
+unwillingly granted by the Queen, who at the leave-taking
+loaded him with gifts. With the faithful Gouvernayl
+he arrived safely in Cornwall, where Mark received
+him joyfully. When the King inquired curiously how his
+wound had been cured, Tristrem told him of the great
+kindness of the Irish Queen, and praised Ysonde so
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
+highly that the ardour of his uncle was aroused and
+he requested Tristrem to procure him the hand of the
+damsel in marriage. He assured Tristrem that no
+marriage he, the King, might contract would annul the
+arrangement whereby Tristrem was to succeed to the
+throne of Cornwall. The nobles were opposed to
+the King&rsquo;s desires, which but strengthened Tristrem in
+his resolve to undertake the embassage, for he thought
+that otherwise it might appear that he desired the King
+to remain unmarried.</p>
+<h3><i>The Marriage Embassy</i></h3>
+<p>With a retinue of fifteen knights Tristrem sailed to
+Dublin in a ship richly laden with gifts. Arrived at
+the Irish capital, he sent magnificent presents to the
+King, Queen, and Princess, but did not announce the
+nature of his errand. Hardly had his messengers
+departed than he was informed that the people of
+Dublin were panic-stricken at the approach of a terrible
+dragon. This monster had so affrighted the neighbourhood
+that the hand of the Princess had been offered to
+anyone who would slay it. Tristrem dared his knights
+to attack the dragon, but one and all declined, so he
+himself rode out to give it battle. At the first shock
+his lance broke on the monster&rsquo;s impenetrable hide, his
+horse was slain, and he was forced to continue the fight
+on foot. At length, despite its fiery breath, he succeeded
+in slaying the dragon, and cut out its tongue
+as a trophy. But this exuded a subtle poison which
+deprived him of his senses.</p>
+<p>Thus overcome, Tristrem was discovered by the King&rsquo;s
+steward, who cut off the dragon&rsquo;s head and returned
+with it to Court to demand the hand of Ysonde. But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+the Queen and her daughter were dubious of the man&rsquo;s
+story, and upon visiting the place where the dragon
+had been slain, they came upon Tristrem himself.
+Their ministrations revived him, and he showed them
+the dragon&rsquo;s tongue as proof that he had slain the dread
+beast. He described himself as a merchant, and Ysonde,
+who did not at first recognize him, expressed her regret
+that he was not a knight. The Queen now caused him
+to be conveyed to the palace, where he was refreshed
+by a bath, and the false steward was cast into prison.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the suspicions of the Princess had been
+aroused, and the belief grew that this &lsquo;merchant&rsquo; who
+had slain the dragon was none other than Tremtris,
+her old instructor. In searching for evidence to confirm
+this conjecture she examined his sword, from
+which, she found, a piece had been broken. Now, she
+possessed a fragment of a sword-blade which had been
+taken out of the skull of Moraunt, her uncle, and she
+discovered that this fragment fitted into the broken
+place in Tristrem&rsquo;s sword, wherefore she concluded that
+the weapon must have been that which slew the Irish
+ambassador. She reproached Tristrem, and in her
+passion rushed upon him with his own sword. At
+this instant her mother returned, and upon learning the
+identity of Tristrem she was about to assist Ysonde
+to slay him in his bath when the King arrived and
+saved him from the infuriated women. Tristrem defended
+himself as having killed Moraunt in fair fight,
+and, smiling upon Ysonde, he told her that she had had
+many opportunities of slaying him while he was her
+preceptor Tremtris. He then proceeded to make
+known the object of his embassy. He engaged that
+his uncle, King Mark, should marry Ysonde, and it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+was agreed that she should be sent under his escort
+to Cornwall.</p>
+<p>It is clear that the Queen&rsquo;s knowledge of medicine was
+accompanied by an acquaintance with the black art, for
+on the eve of her daughter&rsquo;s departure she entrusted
+to Brengwain, a lady of Ysonde&rsquo;s suite, a powerful
+philtre or love potion, with directions that Mark and
+his bride should partake of it on the night of their
+marriage. While at sea the party met with contrary
+winds, and the mariners were forced to take to their
+oars. Tristrem exerted himself in rowing, and Ysonde,
+remarking that he seemed much fatigued, called for
+drink to refresh him. Brengwain, by a fateful error,
+presented the cup which held the love potion. Both
+Tristrem and Ysonde unwittingly partook of this, and
+a favourite dog, Hodain,</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>That many a forest day of fiery mirth</p>
+<p>Had plied his craft before them,<a name='FNanchor_0057' id='FNanchor_0057'></a><a href='#Footnote_0057' class='fnanchor'>[57]</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<p>licked the cup. The consequence of this mistake was,
+of course, the awakening of a consuming passion each
+for the other in Tristrem and Ysonde. A fortnight
+later the ship arrived at Cornwall. Ysonde was duly
+wed to King Mark, but her passion for Tristrem moved
+her to induce her <a name='TC_5'></a><ins title="Was 'attendent'">attendant</ins> Brengwain to take her
+place on the first night of her nuptials.</p>
+<p>Afterward, terrified lest Brengwain should disclose
+the secret in her possession, Ysonde hired two ruffians
+to dispatch her. But the damsel&rsquo;s entreaties softened
+the hearts of the assassins and they spared her life.
+Subsequently Ysonde repented of her action and Brengwain
+was reinstated in full favour.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Minstrel&rsquo;s Boon</i></h3>
+<p>An Irish earl, a former admirer of Ysonde, arrived one
+day at the Court of Cornwall disguised as a minstrel
+and bearing a harp of curious workmanship, the appearance
+of which excited the curiosity of King Mark, who
+requested him to perform upon it. The visitor demanded
+that the King should first promise to grant
+him a boon, and the King having pledged his royal
+word, the minstrel sang to the harp a lay in which he
+claimed Ysonde as the promised gift.<a name='FNanchor_0058' id='FNanchor_0058'></a><a href='#Footnote_0058' class='fnanchor'>[58]</a> Mark, having
+pledged his honour, had no alternative but to become
+forsworn or to deliver his wife to the harper, and he
+reluctantly complied with the minstrel&rsquo;s demand. Tristrem,
+who had been away hunting, returned immediately
+after the adventurous earl had departed with his fair
+prize. He upbraided the King for his extravagant
+sense of honour, and, snatching up his rote, or harp,
+hastened to the seashore, where Ysonde had already
+embarked. There he sat down and played, and the
+sound so deeply affected Ysonde that she became
+seriously ill, so that the earl was induced to return with
+her to land. Ysonde pretended that Tristrem&rsquo;s music
+was necessary to her recovery, and the earl, to whom
+Tristrem was unknown, offered to take him in his train
+to Ireland. The earl had dismounted from the horse
+he was riding and was preparing to return on board,
+when Tristrem sprang into the saddle, and, seizing
+Ysonde&rsquo;s horse by the bridle, plunged into the forest.
+Here the lovers remained for a week, after which
+Tristrem restored Ysonde to her husband.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_21' id='linki_21'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col21.jpg' alt='' title='' width='413' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+TRISTREM AND YSONDE<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span></div>
+<p>Not unnaturally suspicion was aroused regarding the
+relations between Tristrem and Ysonde. Meriadok, a
+knight of Cornwall, and an intimate friend of Tristrem,
+was perhaps the most suspicious of all, and one snowy
+evening he traced his friend to Ysonde&rsquo;s bower, to
+which Tristrem gained entrance by a sliding panel. In
+this a piece of Tristrem&rsquo;s green kirtle was left, and
+Meriadok bore the fragment to the King, to whom he
+unfolded his suspicions. To test the truth of these
+Mark pretended that he was going on a pilgrimage to
+the Holy Land, and asked his wife to whose care she
+would wish to be committed. Ysonde at first named
+Tristrem, but on the advice of Brengwain resumed the
+subject later and feigned a mortal hatred for her lover,
+which she ascribed to the scandal she had suffered on
+his account. The fears of the simple Mark were thus
+lulled to sleep; but those of Meriadok were by no
+means laid at rest. On his advice Mark definitely
+separated the lovers, confining Ysonde to a bower
+and sending Tristrem to a neighbouring city. But
+Tristrem succeeded in communicating with Ysonde
+by means of leafy twigs thrown into the river which
+ran through her garden, and they continued to meet.</p>
+<p>Their interviews were, however, discovered by the aid
+of a dwarf who concealed himself in a tree. One
+night Mark took the dwarf&rsquo;s place, but the lovers
+were made aware of his presence by his shadow and
+pretended to be quarrelling, Tristrem saying that
+Ysonde had supplanted him in the King&rsquo;s affections.
+Mark&rsquo;s suspicions were thus soothed for the time
+being. On another occasion Tristrem was not so
+fortunate, and, being discovered, was forced to flee
+the country.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span></div>
+<h3><i>The Ordeal by Fire</i></h3>
+<p>Mark now resolved to test his wife&rsquo;s innocence by the
+dread ordeal by fire, and he journeyed with his Court
+to Westminster, where the trial was to take place.
+Tristrem, disguised as a peasant, joined the retinue, and
+when the party arrived in the Thames he carried
+Ysonde from the ship to the shore. When the moment
+for the ordeal came the Queen protested her innocence,
+saying that no man had ever laid hands upon her save
+the King and the peasant who had carried her from the
+ship. Mark, satisfied by her evident sincerity, refused
+to proceed further with the trial, and Ysonde thus
+escaped the awful test.</p>
+<p>Tristrem then betook him to Wales, and the fame of
+his prowess in that land came at length to Cornwall, so
+that at last his uncle grew heavy at heart for his absence
+and desired sight of him. Once more he returned, but
+his fatal passion for Ysonde was not abated, and became
+at length so grievous to the good King that he
+banished both of the lovers from his sight. The two
+fled to a forest, and there dwelt in a cavern, subsisting
+upon venison, the spoil of Tristrem&rsquo;s bow. One day,
+weary with the chase, Tristrem lay down to rest by the
+side of the sleeping Ysonde, placing his drawn sword
+between them. Mark, passing that way, espied them, and
+from the naked sword inferring their innocence, became
+reconciled to them once more. But again suspicion
+fell upon them, and again Tristrem was forced to flee.</p>
+<h3><i>Tristrem in Brittany</i></h3>
+<p>After many adventures in Spain Tristrem arrived in
+Brittany, where he aided the Duke of that country with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
+his sword. The Duke&rsquo;s daughter, known as Ysonde
+of the White Hand, hearing him sing one night a song
+of the beauty of Ysonde, thought that Tristrem was in
+love with her. The Duke therefore offered Tristrem
+his daughter&rsquo;s hand, and, in despair of seeing Ysonde
+of Ireland again, he accepted the honour. But on the
+wedding-day the first Ysonde&rsquo;s ring dropped from his
+finger as if reproaching him with infidelity, and in deep
+remorse he vowed that Ysonde of Brittany should be
+his wife in name only.</p>
+<p>Now the Duke of Brittany bestowed on Tristrem a fair
+demesne divided by an arm of the sea from the land of
+a powerful and savage giant named Beliagog, and he
+warned his son-in-law not to incur the resentment of this
+dangerous neighbour. But one day Tristrem&rsquo;s hounds
+strayed into the forest land of Beliagog, and their
+master, following them, was confronted by the wrathful
+owner. A long and cruel combat ensued, and at last
+Tristrem lopped off one of the giant&rsquo;s feet. Thereupon
+the monster craved mercy, which was granted on
+the condition that he should build a hall in honour of
+Ysonde of Ireland and her maiden, Brengwain. This
+hall was duly raised, and upon its walls was portrayed
+to the life the whole history of Tristrem, with pictures
+of Ysonde of Ireland, Brengwain, Mark, and other
+characters in the tale. Tristrem, the Duke, Ysonde of
+Brittany, and Ganhardin, her brother, were riding to see
+this marvel when Ysonde confessed to Ganhardin that
+Tristrem did not regard her as his wife. Ganhardin,
+angered, questioned Tristrem, who concealed nothing
+from him and recounted to him the story of his love
+for the Queen of Cornwall. Ganhardin was deeply
+interested, and on beholding the picture of Brengwain
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+in the newly erected hall he fell violently in love
+with her.</p>
+<h3><i>The Forest Lovers</i></h3>
+<p>Tristrem now returned to Cornwall with Ganhardin, and
+encountered Ysonde the Queen and the fair Brengwain.
+But one Canados, the King&rsquo;s Constable, discovered
+them and carried the ladies back to Court. Ganhardin
+made the best of his way home to Brittany, but Tristrem
+remained in Cornwall, disguised as a beggar.</p>
+<p>Our story now tells of a great tournament at the Cornish
+Court, and how Ganhardin hied him from Brittany and
+rejoined Tristrem. The two entered the lists and took
+up the challenge of Meriadok and Canados. Tristrem,
+tilting at his old enemy, wounded him desperately.
+The issue of the combat between Canados and Ganhardin
+hung in the balance when Tristrem, charging at the
+Constable, overthrew and slew him. Then, fired with
+the lust of conquest, Tristrem bore down upon his foes
+and exacted a heavy toll of lives. So great was the
+scathe done that day that Tristrem and Ganhardin
+were forced once more to fly to Brittany, where in
+an adventure Tristrem received an arrow in his old
+wound.</p>
+<h3><i>The French Manuscript</i></h3>
+<p>At this point the Auchinleck MS., from which this
+account is taken, breaks off, and the story is concluded,
+in language similar to that of the original, by Sir Walter
+Scott, who got his materials from an old French version
+of the tale.</p>
+<p>We read that Tristrem suffered sorely from his wound,
+in which, as before, gangrene set in. Aware that none
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span>
+but Ysonde of Ireland could cure him, the stricken
+knight called Ganhardin to his side and urged him to
+go with all speed to Cornwall and tell the Queen of his
+mortal extremity. He entrusted him with his ring, and
+finally requested the Breton knight to take with him two
+sails, one white and the other black, the first to be
+hoisted upon his return should Ysonde accompany him
+back to Brittany, the sable sail to be raised should his
+embassy fail of success. Now Ysonde of Brittany overheard
+all that was said, her jealous fears were confirmed,
+and she resolved to be revenged upon her husband.</p>
+<p>Ganhardin voyaged quickly to Cornwall, and arrived at
+the Court of King Mark disguised as a merchant. In
+order to speed his mission he presented rich gifts to the
+King, and also a cup to Ysonde, into which he dropped
+Tristrem&rsquo;s ring. This token procured him a private
+audience with the Queen, and when she learned the
+deadly peril of her lover, Ysonde hastily disguised
+herself and fled to the ship with Ganhardin. In due
+course the vessel arrived off the coast of Brittany,
+carrying the white sail which was to signify to Tristrem
+that Ysonde was hastening to his aid. But Ysonde of
+Brittany was watching, and perceiving from the signal
+that her rival was on board she hurried to her husband&rsquo;s
+couch. Tristrem begged her to tell him the colour of
+the sail, and in the madness of jealousy Ysonde said
+that it was black, upon which, believing himself forsaken
+by his old love, the knight sank back and
+expired.</p>
+<p>Tristrem had scarce breathed his last when Ysonde
+entered the castle. At the gate an old man was
+mourning Tristrem&rsquo;s death, and hearing the ominous
+words which he uttered she hastened to the chamber
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span>
+where the corpse of him she had loved so well was
+lying. With a moan she cast herself upon the body,
+covering the dead face with kisses and pleading upon
+the silent lips to speak. Realizing at last that the spirit
+had indeed quitted its mortal tenement, she raised
+herself to her feet and stood for a moment gazing wildly
+into the fixed and glassy eyes; then with a great cry
+she fell forward upon the breast of her lover and was
+united with him in death.</p>
+<p>Other versions of the story, with all the wealth of
+circumstance dear to the writer of romance, tell of the
+grievous mourning made at the death of the lovers,
+whom no fault of their own had doomed to the tyranny
+of a mutual passion, and it is recounted that even King
+Mark, wronged and shamed as he was, was unable to
+repress his grief at their pitiful end.</p>
+<p>Despite the clumsiness of much of its machinery, despite
+its tiresome repetitions and its minor blemishes, this
+tale of a grand passion must ever remain one of the
+world&rsquo;s priceless literary possessions. &ldquo;Dull must he
+be of soul&rdquo; who, even in these days when folk no longer
+expire from an excess of the tender passion, can fail to
+be moved by the sad fate of the fair Queen and of her
+gallant minstrel-knight.</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Swiche lovers als thei</p>
+<p>Never schal be moe.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>And so they take their place with Hero and Leander,
+with Ab�lard and H�lo�se, with Romeo and Juliet.</p>
+<p>It would be unfitting here to tell how mythology
+has claimed the story of Tristrem and Ysonde and has
+attempted to show in what manner the circumstances
+of their lives and adventures have been adapted to the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span>
+old world-wide myth of the progress of the sun from
+dawn to darkness.<a name='FNanchor_0059' id='FNanchor_0059'></a><a href='#Footnote_0059' class='fnanchor'>[59]</a> The evidence seems very complete,
+and the theory is probably well founded. The circumstances
+of the great epic of the sun-god fits most
+hero-tales. And it is well to recollect that even if
+romance-makers seized upon the plot of the old myth
+they did so unconscious of its mythic significance, and
+probably because it may have been employed in the
+heroic literature of &ldquo;Rome la grant.&rdquo;</p>
+<h3><i>The Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel</i></h3>
+<p>It was when he arrived in Brittany to ward off the
+projected invasion of England by the Roman Emperor
+Lucius that King Arthur encountered and slew a giant
+of &ldquo;marvellous bigness&rdquo; at St Michael&rsquo;s Mount, near
+Pontorson. This monster, who had come from Spain,
+had made his lair on the summit of the rocky island,
+whither he had carried off the Lady Helena, niece of
+Duke Hoel of Brittany. Many were the knights who
+surrounded the giant&rsquo;s fastness, but none might come
+at him, for when they attacked him he would sink their
+ships by hurling mighty boulders upon them, while
+those who succeeded in swimming to the island were
+slain by him ere they could get a proper footing. But
+Arthur, undismayed by what he had heard, waited until
+nightfall; then, when all were asleep, with Kay the
+seneschal and Bedivere the butler, he started on his
+way to the Mount.</p>
+<p>As the three approached the rugged height they beheld
+a fire blazing brightly on its summit, and saw also that
+upon a lesser eminence in the sea some distance away
+a smaller fire was burning. Bedivere was dispatched
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+in a boat to discover who had lit the fire on the smaller
+island. Having landed there, he found an old woman
+lamenting loudly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good mother,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;wherefore do you mourn?
+What has befallen you in this place that you weep so
+sorely?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, young sir,&rdquo; replied the dame, drying her tears,
+&ldquo;get thee back from this place, I beseech thee, for as
+thou livest the monster who inhabits yonder mount will
+rend thee limb from limb and sup on thy flesh. But
+yesterday I was the nurse of the fair Helena, niece to
+Duke Hoel, who lies buried here by me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! then, the lady is no more?&rdquo; cried Bedivere, in
+distress.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So it is,&rdquo; replied the old woman, weeping more bitterly
+than ever, &ldquo;for when that accursed giant did seize upon
+her terror did so overcome her that her spirit took flight.
+But tarry not on this dread spot, noble youth, for if her
+fierce slayer should encounter thee he will put thee to a
+shameful death, and afterward devour thee as is his wont
+with all those whom he kills.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Bedivere comforted the old woman as best he might,
+and, returning to Arthur, told him what he had heard.
+Now on hearing of the damsel&rsquo;s death great anger took
+hold upon the King, so that he resolved to search out
+the giant forthwith and slay or be slain by him. Desiring
+Kay and Bedivere to follow, he dismounted and commenced
+to climb St Michael&rsquo;s Mount, closely attended
+by his companions.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_22' id='linki_22'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs22.jpg' alt='' title='' width='422' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+KING ARTHUR AND THE GIANT OF MONT-SAINT-MICHEL<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>On reaching the summit a gruesome spectacle awaited
+them. The great fire that they had seen in the distance
+was blazing fiercely, and bending over it was the giant,
+his cruel and contorted features besmeared with the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+blood of swine, portions of which he was toasting on
+spits. Startled at the sight of the knights, the monster
+rushed to where his club lay. This purpose Arthur
+deemed he might prevent, and, covering himself with
+his shield, he ran at him while yet he fumbled for the
+weapon. But with all his agility he was too late, for
+the giant seized the mighty sapling and, whirling it in
+the air, brought it down on the King&rsquo;s shield with such
+force that the sound of the stroke echoed afar. Nothing
+daunted, Arthur dealt a trenchant stroke with Excalibur,
+and gave the giant a cut on the forehead which made the
+blood gush forth over his eyes so as nearly to blind him.
+But shrewd as was the blow, the giant had warded his
+forehead with his club in such wise that he had not
+received a deadly wound, and, watching his chance with
+great cunning, he rushed in within the sweep of Arthur&rsquo;s
+sword, gripped him round the middle, and forced him
+to the ground.</p>
+<p>Iron indeed would have been the grasp which could
+have held a knight so doughty as Arthur. Slipping
+from the monster&rsquo;s clutches, the King hacked at his
+adversary now in one place, now in another, till at
+length he smote the giant so mightily that Excalibur
+was buried deep in his brain-pan. The giant fell like
+an oak torn up by the roots in the fury of the winds.
+Rushing up as he crashed to the earth, Sir Bedivere
+struck off the hideous head, grinning in death, to be
+a show to those in the tents below.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But let them behold it in silence and without laughter,&rdquo;
+the King charged Sir Bedivere, &ldquo;for never since I slew
+the giant Ritho upon Mount Eryri have I encountered
+so mighty an adversary.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And so they returned to their tents with daybreak.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span></div>
+<h3><i>A Doubting Thomas</i></h3>
+<p>It is strange to think that Brittany, one of the cradles
+of Arthurian legend, could have produced a disbeliever
+in that legend so early as the year of grace 1113.
+It is on record that some monks from Brittany
+journeyed to England in that year, and were shown
+by the men of Devon &ldquo;the chair and the oven of that
+King Arthur renowned in the stories of the Britons.&rdquo;
+They passed on to Cornwall, and when, in the church
+at Bodmin, one of their servants dared to question
+the statement of a certain Cornishman that Arthur
+still lived, he received such a buffet for his temerity
+that a small riot ensued.<a name='FNanchor_0060' id='FNanchor_0060'></a><a href='#Footnote_0060' class='fnanchor'>[60]</a> Does not this seem to be
+evidence that the legend was more whole-heartedly
+believed in in the Celtic parts of England, and was
+therefore more exclusively native to those parts than
+to Continental Brittany? The Cornish allegiance to
+the memory of Arthur seems to have left little to be
+desired.</p>
+<h3><i>Arthur and the Dragon</i></h3>
+<p>The manner in which Arthur slew a dragon at the Lieue
+de Gr�ve, and at the same time made the acquaintance
+of St Efflam of Ireland, is told by Albert le Grand,
+monk of Morlaix. Arthur had been sojourning at the
+Court of Hoel, Duke of Armorica, and, having freed
+his own land of dragons and other monsters, was engaged
+in hunting down the great beasts with which
+Armorica abounded. But the monster which infested
+the Lieue de Gr�ve was no ordinary dragon. Indeed,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span>
+he was the most cunning saurian in Europe, and was
+wont to retire backward into the great cavern in which
+he lived so that when traced to it those who tracked
+him would believe that he had just quitted it.</p>
+<p>In this manner he succeeded in deceiving Arthur and
+his knights, who for days lingered in the vicinity of
+his cave in the hope of encountering him. One day
+as they stood on the seashore waiting for the dragon
+a sail hove in sight, and soon a large coracle made of
+wicker-work covered with skins appeared. The vessel
+grounded and its occupants leapt ashore, headed by
+a young man of princely mien, who advanced toward
+Arthur and saluted him courteously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Fair sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to what shore have I come? I
+am Efflam, the King&rsquo;s son, of Ireland. The winds
+have driven us out of our course, and full long have
+we laboured in the sea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Now when Arthur heard the young man&rsquo;s name he
+embraced him heartily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Welcome, cousin,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You are in the land
+of Brittany. I am Arthur of Britain, and I rejoice at
+this meeting, since it may chance from it that I can
+serve you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Then Efflam told Arthur the reason of his voyaging.
+He had been wed to the Princess Enora, daughter of
+a petty king of Britain, but on his wedding night a
+strong impulse had come upon him to leave all and
+make his penitence within some lonely wood, where he
+could be at peace from the world. Rising from beside
+his sleeping wife, he stole away, and rousing several
+trusty servitors he set sail from his native shores.
+Soon his frail craft was caught in a tempest, and after
+many days driven ashore as had been seen.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span></div>
+<p>Arthur marvelled at the impulse which had prompted
+Efflam to seek retirement, and was about to express his
+surprise when the youth startled him by telling him
+that as his vessel had approached the shore he and his
+men had caught sight of the dragon entering his cave.</p>
+<p>At these words Arthur armed himself without delay
+with his sword Excalibur and his lance Ron, and,
+followed by his knights and by Efflam, drew near the
+cavern. As he came before the entrance the dragon
+issued forth, roaring in so terrible a manner that all but
+the King were daunted and drew back. The creature&rsquo;s
+appearance was fearsome in the extreme. He had one
+red eye in the centre of his forehead, his shoulders
+were covered with green scales like plates of mail, his
+long, powerful tail was black and twisted, and his vast
+mouth was furnished with tusks like those of a wild
+boar.</p>
+<p>Grim and great was the combat. For three days did
+it rage, man and beast struggling through the long
+hours for the mastery which neither seemed able to
+obtain. At the end of that time the dragon retired for
+a space into his lair, and Arthur, worn out and well-nigh
+broken by the long-drawn strife, threw himself
+down beside Efflam in a state of exhaustion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A draught of water, fair cousin,&rdquo; he cried in a choking
+voice. &ldquo;I perish with thirst.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But no water was to be found in that place save that of
+the salt sea which lapped the sands of Gr�ve. Efflam,
+however, was possessed of a faith that could overcome
+all difficulties. Kneeling, he engaged in earnest prayer,
+and, arising, struck the hard rock three times with his
+rod. &ldquo;Our blessed Lord will send us water,&rdquo; he exclaimed,
+and no sooner had he spoken than from the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span>
+stone a fountain of pure crystal water gushed and
+bubbled.</p>
+<p>With a cry of ecstasy Arthur placed his lips to the
+stream and quaffed the much-needed refreshment. His
+vigour restored, he was about to return to the dragon&rsquo;s
+cavern to renew the combat when he was restrained
+by Efflam.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Cousin,&rdquo; said he of Ireland, &ldquo;you have tried what can
+be done by force; now let us see what can be achieved
+by prayer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Arthur, marvelling and humbled, sat near the young
+man as he prayed. All night he was busied in devotions,
+and at sunrise he arose and walked boldly to the
+mouth of the cavern.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thou spawn of Satan,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;in the name of God
+I charge thee to come forth!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A noise as of a thousand serpents hissing in unison
+followed this challenge, and from out his lair trailed the
+great length of the dragon, howling and vomiting fire
+and blood. Mounting to the summit of a neighbouring
+rock, he vented a final bellow and then cast himself into
+the sea. The blue water was disturbed as by a maelstrom;
+then all was peace again.</p>
+<p>So perished the dragon of the Lieue de Gr�ve, and
+so was proved the superiority of prayer over human
+strength and valour. St Efflam and his men settled on
+the spot as hermits, and were miraculously fed by angels.
+Efflam&rsquo;s wife, Enora, was borne to him by angels in
+that place, only to die when she had joined him. And
+when they came to tell Efflam that his new-found lady
+was no more and was lying cold in the cell he had
+provided for her, their news fell on deaf ears, for he too
+had passed away. He is buried in Plestin Church, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span>
+his effigy, standing triumphant above an open-mouthed
+dragon, graces one of its many niches.</p>
+<h3><i>The Isle of Avalon</i></h3>
+<p>The Bretons believe that an island off Tr�gastel, on
+the coast of the department of C�tes-du-Nord, is the
+fabled Isle of Avalon to which King Arthur, sore
+wounded after his last battle, was borne to be healed of
+his hurts. With straining eyes the fisherman watches
+the mist-wrapped islet, and, peering through the
+evening haze, cheats himself into the belief that giant
+forms are moving upon its shores and that spectral
+shapes flit across its sands&mdash;that the dark hours bring
+back the activities of the attendant knights and enchantresses
+of the mighty hero of Celtdom, who, refreshed by
+his long repose, will one day return to the world of
+men and right the great wrongs which afflict humanity.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XI_THE_BRETON_LAYS_OF_MARIE_DE_FRANCE' id='CHAPTER_XI_THE_BRETON_LAYS_OF_MARIE_DE_FRANCE'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI: THE BRETON LAYS OF MARIE DE FRANCE</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> wonderful <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France must
+ever hold a deep interest for all students of
+Breton lore, for though cast in the literary
+mould of Norman-French and breathing the spirit of
+Norman chivalry those of them which deal with Brittany
+(as do most of them) exhibit such evident marks of
+having been drawn from native Breton sources that we
+may regard them as among the most valuable documents
+extant for the study and consideration of Armorican
+story.</p>
+<p>Of the personal history of Marie de France very little
+is known. The date and place of her birth are still
+matters for conjecture, and until comparatively recent
+times literary antiquaries were doubtful even as to
+which century she flourished in. In the epilogue to
+her <i>Fables</i> she states that she is a native of the Ile-de-France,
+but despite this she is believed to have been of
+Norman origin, and also to have lived the greater part
+of her life in England. Her work, which holds few
+suggestions of Anglo-Norman forms of thought or
+expression, was written in a literary dialect that in all
+likelihood was widely estranged from the common
+Norman tongue, and from this (though the manuscripts
+in which they are preserved are dated later) we may
+judge her poems to have been composed in the second
+half of the twelfth century. The prologue of her <i>Lais</i>
+contains a dedication to some unnamed king, and her
+<i>Fables</i> are inscribed to a certain Count William, circumstances
+which are held by some to prove that she was
+of noble origin and not merely a <i>trouv�re</i> from necessity.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span></div>
+<p>Until M. Gaston Paris decided that this mysterious
+king was Henry II of England, and that the &lsquo;Count
+William&rsquo; was Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, Henry&rsquo;s
+natural son by the &lsquo;Fair Rosamond,&rsquo; the mysterious
+monarch was believed to be Henry III. It is highly
+probable that the <i>Lais</i> were actually written at the
+Court of Henry II, though the &lsquo;King&rsquo; of the flowery
+prologue is hardly reconcilable with the stern ruler and
+law-maker of history. Be that as it may, Marie&rsquo;s poems
+achieved instant success. &ldquo;Her rhyme is loved everywhere,&rdquo;
+says Denis Pyramus, the author of a life of
+St Edmund the King; &ldquo;for counts, barons, and knights
+greatly admire it and hold it dear. And they love her
+writing so much, and take such pleasure in it, that they
+have it read, and often copied. These Lays are wont
+to please ladies, who listen to them with delight, for
+they are after their own hearts.&rdquo; This fame and its
+attendant adulation were very sweet to Marie, and she
+was justly proud of her work, which, inspired, as she herself
+distinctly states, by the lays she had heard Breton
+minstrels sing, has, because of its vivid colouring and
+human appeal, survived the passing of seven hundred
+years. The scenes of the tales are laid in Brittany, and
+we are probably correct in regarding them as culled from
+original traditional material. As we proceed with the
+telling of these ancient stories we shall endeavour to point
+out the essentially Breton elements they have retained.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lay of the Were-Wolf</i></h3>
+<p>In the long ago there dwelt in Brittany a worshipful
+baron, for whom the king of that land had a warm
+affection, and who was happy in the esteem of his peers
+and the love of his beautiful wife.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span></div>
+<p>One only grief had his wife in her married life, and that
+was the mysterious absence of her husband for three
+days in every week. Where he disappeared to neither
+she nor any member of her household knew. These
+excursions preyed upon her mind, so that at last she
+resolved to challenge him regarding them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Husband,&rdquo; she said to him pleadingly one day after
+he had just returned from one of these absences, &ldquo;I
+have something to ask of you, but I fear that my request
+may vex you, and for this reason I hesitate to make it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The baron took her in his arms and, kissing her tenderly,
+bade her state her request, which he assured her would
+by no means vex him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is this,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that you will trust me sufficiently
+to tell me where you spend those days when you are
+absent from me. So fearful have I become regarding
+these withdrawals and all the mystery that enshrouds
+them that I know neither rest nor comfort; indeed, so
+distraught am I at times that I feel I shall die for very
+anxiety. Oh, husband, tell me where you go and why
+you tarry so long!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In great agitation the husband put his wife away from
+him, not daring to meet the glance of her imploring,
+anxious eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For the mercy of God, do not ask this of me,&rdquo; he
+besought her. &ldquo;No good could come of your knowing,
+only great and terrible evil. Knowledge would mean
+the death of your love for me, and my everlasting
+desolation.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are jesting with me, husband,&rdquo; she replied; &ldquo;but
+it is a cruel jest. I am all seriousness, I do assure you.
+Peace of mind can never be mine until my question is
+fully answered.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span></div>
+<p>But the baron, still greatly perturbed, remained firm.
+He could not tell her, and she must rest content with
+that. The lady, however, continued to plead, sometimes
+with tenderness, more often with tears and heart-piercing
+reproaches, until at length the baron, trusting
+to her love, decided to tell her his secret.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have to leave you because periodically I become a
+bisclaveret,&rdquo; he said. (&lsquo;Bisclaveret&rsquo; is the Breton name
+for were-wolf.) &ldquo;I hide myself in the depths of the
+forest, live on wild animals and roots, and go unclad as
+any beast of the field.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the lady had recovered from the horror of this
+disclosure and had rallied her senses to her aid, she
+turned to him again, determined at any cost to learn
+all the circumstances connected with this terrible
+transformation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know that I love you better than all the world,
+my husband,&rdquo; she began; &ldquo;that never in our life together
+have I done aught to forfeit your love or your
+trust. So do, I beseech you, tell me all&mdash;tell me where
+you hide your clothing before you become a were-wolf?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That I dare not do, dear wife,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;for if I
+should lose my raiment or even be seen quitting it I
+must remain a were-wolf so long as I live. Never again
+could I become a man unless my garments were restored
+to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then you no longer trust me, no longer love me?&rdquo;
+she cried. &ldquo;Alas, alas that I have forfeited your
+confidence! Oh that I should live to see such a
+day!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her weeping broke out afresh, this time more piteously
+than before. The baron, deeply touched, and willing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span>
+by any means to alleviate her distress, at last divulged
+the vital secret which he had held from her so long.</p>
+<p>But from that hour his wife cast about for ways and
+means to rid herself of her strange husband, of whom
+she now went in exceeding fear. In course of time she
+remembered a knight of that country who had long
+sought her love, but whom she had repulsed. To him
+she appealed, and right gladly and willingly he pledged
+himself to aid her. She showed him where her lord
+concealed his clothing, and begged him to spoil the
+were-wolf of his vesture on the next occasion on which
+he set out to assume his transformation. The fatal
+period soon returned. The baron disappeared as usual,
+but this time he did not return to his home. For days
+friends, neighbours, and menials sought him diligently,
+but no trace of him was to be found, and when a year
+had elapsed the search was at length abandoned, and
+the lady was wedded to her knight.</p>
+<p>Some months later the King was hunting in the great
+forest near the missing baron&rsquo;s castle. The hounds,
+unleashed, came upon the scent of a wolf, and pressed
+the animal hard. For many hours they pursued him,
+and when about to seize him, Bisclaveret&mdash;for it was
+he&mdash;turned with such a human gesture of despair to the
+King, who had ridden hard upon his track, that the
+royal huntsman was moved to pity. To the King&rsquo;s
+surprise the were-wolf placed its paws together as if
+in supplication, and its great jaws moved as if in
+speech.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Call off the hounds,&rdquo; cried the monarch to his attendants.
+&ldquo;This quarry we will take alive to our palace.
+It is too marvellous a thing to be killed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Accordingly they returned to the Court, where the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span>
+were-wolf became an object of the greatest curiosity to
+all. So frolicsome yet so gentle was he that he became
+a universal favourite. At night he slept in the King&rsquo;s
+room, and by day he followed him with all the dumb
+faithfulness of a dog. The King was extremely attached
+to him, and never permitted his shaggy favourite
+to be absent from his side for a moment.</p>
+<p>One day the monarch held a high Court, to which his
+great vassals and barons and all the lords of his broad
+demesnes were bidden. Among them came the knight
+who had wed the wife of Bisclaveret. Immediately
+upon sight of him the were-wolf flew at him with a
+savage joy that astonished those accustomed to his
+usual gentleness and docility. So fierce was the attack
+that the knight would have been killed had not the
+King intervened to save him. Later, in the royal
+hunting-lodge she who had been the wife of Bisclaveret
+came to offer the King a rich present. When he saw
+her the animal&rsquo;s rage knew no bounds, and despite
+all restraint he succeeded in mutilating her fair face
+in the most frightful manner. But for a certain wise
+counsellor this act would have cost Bisclaveret his life.
+This sagacious person, who knew of the animal&rsquo;s
+customary docility, insisted that some evil must have
+been done him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There must be some reason why this beast holds
+these twain in such mortal hate,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Let this
+woman and her husband be brought hither so that they
+may be straitly questioned. She was once the wife of
+one who was near to your heart, and many marvellous
+happenings have ere this come out of Brittany.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_23' id='linki_23'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs23.jpg' alt='' title='' width='420' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE WERE-WOLF<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>The King hearkened to this sage counsel, for he loved
+the were-wolf, and was loath to have him slain. Under
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span>
+pressure of examination Bisclaveret&rsquo;s treacherous wife
+confessed all that she had done, adding that in her
+heart she believed the King&rsquo;s favourite animal to be
+no other than her former husband.</p>
+<p>Instantly on learning this the King demanded the
+were-wolf&rsquo;s vesture from the treacherous knight her
+lover, and when this was brought to him he caused
+it to be spread before the wolf. But the animal behaved
+as though he did not see the garments.</p>
+<p>Then the wise counsellor again came to his aid.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must take the beast to your own secret chamber,
+sire,&rdquo; he told the King; &ldquo;for not without great shame
+and tribulation can he become a man once more, and
+this he dare not suffer in the sight of all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>This advice the King promptly followed, and when
+after some little time he, with two lords of his fellowship
+in attendance, re-entered the secret chamber, he
+found the wolf gone, and the baron so well beloved
+asleep in his bed.</p>
+<p>With great joy and affection the King aroused his
+friend, and when the baron&rsquo;s feelings permitted him
+he related his adventures. As soon as his master had
+heard him out he not only restored to him all that had
+been taken from him, but added gifts the number and
+richness of which rendered him more wealthy and
+important than ever, while in just anger he banished
+from his realm the wife who had betrayed her lord,
+together with her lover.</p>
+<h3><i>The Were-Wolf Superstition</i></h3>
+<p>The were-wolf superstition is, or was, as prevalent in
+Brittany as in other parts of France and Europe. The
+term &lsquo;were-wolf&rsquo; literally means &lsquo;man-wolf,&rsquo; and was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
+applied to a man supposed to be temporarily or permanently
+transformed into a wolf. In its origins the
+belief may have been a phase of lycanthropy, a disease
+in which the sufferer imagines himself to have been
+transformed into an animal, and in ancient and medieval
+times of very frequent occurrence. It may, on the
+other hand, be a relic of early cannibalism. Communities
+of semi-civilized people would begin to shun those who
+devoured human flesh, and they would in time be
+ostracized and classed with wild beasts, the idea that they
+had something in common with these would grow, and
+the belief that they were able to transform themselves
+into veritable animals would be likely to arise therefrom.</p>
+<p>There were two kinds of were-wolf, voluntary and
+involuntary. The voluntary included those persons
+who because of their taste for human flesh had withdrawn
+from intercourse with their fellows, and who
+appeared to possess a certain amount of magical power,
+or at least sufficient to permit them to transform themselves
+into animal shape at will. This they effected
+by merely disrobing, by taking off a girdle made of
+human skin, or putting on a similar belt of wolf-skin
+(obviously a later substitute for an entire wolf-skin; in
+some cases we hear of their donning the skin entire).
+In other instances the body was rubbed with magic
+ointment, or rain-water was drunk out of a wolf&rsquo;s
+footprint. The brains of the animal were also eaten.
+Olaus Magnus says that the were-wolves of Livonia
+drained a cup of beer on initiation, and repeated certain
+magical words. In order to throw off the wolf-shape
+the animal girdle was removed, or else the magician
+merely muttered certain formul&aelig;. In some instances the
+transformation was supposed to be the work of Satan.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span></div>
+<p>The superstition regarding were-wolves seems to
+have been exceedingly prevalent in France during the
+sixteenth century, and there is evidence of numerous
+trials of persons accused of were-wolfism, in some of
+which it was clearly shown that murder and cannibalism
+had taken place. Self-hallucination was accountable
+for many of the cases, the supposed were-wolves declaring
+that they had transformed themselves and had slain
+many people. But about the beginning of the seventeenth
+century native common sense came to the rescue,
+and such confessions were not credited. In Teutonic
+and Slavonic countries it was complained by men of
+learning that the were-wolves did more damage than
+real wild animals, and the existence of a regular &lsquo;college&rsquo;
+or institution for the practice of the art of animal transformation
+among were-wolves was affirmed.</p>
+<p>Involuntary were-wolves, of which class Bisclaveret was
+evidently a member, were often persons transformed
+into animal shape because of the commission of sin,
+and condemned to pass a certain number of years in
+that form. Thus certain saints metamorphosed sinners
+into wolves. In Armenia it was thought that a sinful
+woman was condemned to pass seven years in the form
+of a wolf. To such a woman a demon appeared, bringing
+a wolf-skin. He commanded her to don it, and from
+that moment she became a wolf, with all the nature of
+the wild beast, devouring her own children and those
+of strangers, and wandering forth at night, undeterred
+by locks, bolts, or bars, returning only with the morning
+to resume her human form.</p>
+<p>In was, of course, in Europe, where the wolf was
+one of the largest carnivorous animals, that the were-wolf
+superstition chiefly gained currency. In Eastern
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span>
+countries, where similar beliefs prevailed, bears, tigers,
+and other beasts of prey were substituted for the lupine
+form of colder climes.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lay of Gugemar</i></h3>
+<p>Oridial was one of the chief barons of King Arthur, and
+dwelt in Brittany, where he held lands in fief of that
+monarch. So deeply was he attached to his liege lord
+that when his son Gugemar was yet a child he sent him
+to Arthur&rsquo;s Court to be trained as a page. In due time
+Arthur dubbed Gugemar knight and armed him in rich
+harness, and the youth, hearing of war in Flanders, set
+out for that realm in the hope of gaining distinction and
+knightly honour.</p>
+<p>After achieving many valorous deeds in Flanders
+Gugemar felt a strong desire to behold his parents
+once more, so, setting his face homeward, he journeyed
+back to Brittany and dwelt with them for some time,
+resting after his battles and telling his father, mother,
+and sister Nogent of the many enterprises in which he
+had been engaged. But he shortly grew weary of this
+inactive existence, and in order to break the monotony
+of it he planned a great hunt in the neighbouring
+forest.</p>
+<p>Early one morning he set out, and soon a tall stag was
+roused from its bed among the ferns by the noise of the
+hunters&rsquo; horns. The hounds were unleashed and the
+entire hunt followed in pursuit, Gugemar the foremost
+of all. But, closely as he pursued, the quarry eluded
+the knight, and to his chagrin he was left alone in the
+forest spaces with nothing to show for his long chase.
+He was about to ride back in search of his companions
+when on a sudden he noticed a doe hiding in a thicket
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span>
+with her fawn. She was white from ear to hoof,
+without a spot. Gugemar&rsquo;s hounds, rushing at her,
+held her at bay, and their master, fitting an arrow to
+his bow, loosed the shaft at her so that she was
+wounded above the hoof and brought to earth. But
+the treacherous arrow, glancing, returned to Gugemar
+and wounded him grievously in the thigh.</p>
+<p>As he lay on the earth faint and with his senses almost
+deserting him, Gugemar heard the doe speak to him in
+human accents:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wretch who hast slain me,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;think not to
+escape my vengeance. Never shall leech nor herb nor
+balm cure the wound which fate hath so justly inflicted
+upon thee. Only canst thou be healed by a woman
+who loves thee, and who for that love shall have to
+suffer such woe and sorrow as never woman had to
+endure before. Thou too shalt suffer equally with her,
+and the sorrows of ye twain shall be the wonder of
+lovers for all time. Leave me now to die in peace.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Gugemar was in sore dismay at hearing these words,
+for never had he sought lady&rsquo;s love nor had he cared
+for the converse of women. Winding his horn, he
+succeeded in attracting one of his followers to the spot,
+and sent him in search of his companions. When he
+had gone Gugemar tore his linen shirt in pieces and
+bound up his wound as well as he might. Then, dragging
+himself most painfully into the saddle, he rode
+from the scene of his misadventure at as great a pace
+as his injury would permit of, for he had conceived
+a plan which he did not desire should be interfered
+with.</p>
+<p>Riding at a hand-gallop, he soon came in sight of tall
+cliffs which overlooked the sea, and which formed a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span>
+natural harbour, wherein lay a vessel richly beseen.
+Its sails were of spun silk, and each plank and mast was
+fashioned of ebony. Dismounting, Gugemar made his
+way to the shore, and with much labour climbed upon
+the ship. Neither mariner nor merchant was therein.
+A large pavilion of silk covered part of the deck, and
+within this was a rich bed, the work of the cunning
+artificers of the days of King Solomon. It was
+fashioned of cypress wood and ivory, and much gold
+and many gems went to the making of it. The clothes
+with which it was provided were fair and white as snow,
+and so soft the pillow that he who laid his head upon
+it, sad as he might be, could not resist sleep. The
+pavilion was lit by two large waxen candles, set in
+candlesticks of gold.</p>
+<p>As the knight sat gazing at this splendid couch fit for a
+king he suddenly became aware that the ship was moving
+seaward. Already, indeed, he was far from land,
+and at the sight he grew more sorrowful than before,
+for his hurt made him helpless and he could not hope
+either to guide the vessel or manage her so that he
+might return to shore. Resigning himself to circumstances,
+he lay down upon the ornate bed and sank into
+a deep and dreamless slumber.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_24' id='linki_24'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs24.jpg' alt='' title='' width='420' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+GUGEMAR COMES UPON THE MAGIC SHIP<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>When he awoke he found to his intense surprise that
+the ship had come to the port of an ancient city. Now
+the king of this realm was an aged man who was
+wedded to a young, fair lady, of whom he was, after the
+manner of old men, intensely jealous. The castle of
+this monarch frowned upon a fair garden enclosed from
+the sea by a high wall of green marble, so that if one
+desired to come to the castle he must do so from the
+water. The place was straitly watched by vigilant
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span>
+warders, and within the wall so carefully defended lay
+the Queen&rsquo;s bower, a fairer chamber than any beneath
+the sun, and decorated with the most marvellous paintings.
+Here dwelt the young Queen with one of her
+ladies, her own sister&rsquo;s child, who was devoted to her
+service and who never quitted her side. The key of
+this bower was in the hands of an aged priest, who was
+also the Queen&rsquo;s servitor.</p>
+<p>One day on awaking from sleep the Queen walked in
+the garden and espied a ship drawing near the land.
+Suddenly, she knew not why, she grew very fearful,
+and would have fled at the sight, but her maiden encouraged
+her to remain. The vessel came to shore,
+and the Queen&rsquo;s maiden entered it. No one could she
+see on board except a knight sleeping soundly within
+the pavilion, and he was so pale that she thought he
+was dead. Returning to her mistress, she told her what
+she had seen, and together they entered the vessel.</p>
+<p>No sooner did the Queen behold Gugemar than she was
+deeply smitten with love for him. In a transport of fear
+lest he were dead she placed her hand upon his bosom,
+and was overjoyed to feel the warmth of life within
+him and that his heart beat strongly. At her touch
+he awoke and courteously saluted her. She asked
+him whence he came and to what nation he belonged.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I am a knight of Brittany. But
+yesterday, or so it seems to me, for I may have
+slumbered more than a day, I wounded a deer in the
+forest, but the arrow with which I slew her rebounded
+and struck me sorely. Then the beast, being, I trow,
+a fairy deer, spake, saying that never would this wound
+be healed save by one damsel in the whole world, and
+her I know not where to find. Riding seaward, I came
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span>
+to where this ship lay moored, and, entering it, the
+vessel drifted oceanward. I know not to what land I
+have come, nor what name this city bears. I pray you,
+fair lady, give me your best counsel.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Queen listened to his tale with the deepest interest,
+and when Gugemar made his appeal for aid and counsel
+she replied: &ldquo;Truly, fair sir, I shall counsel you as best
+I may. This city to which you have come belongs to
+my husband, who is its King. Of much worship is he,
+but stricken in years, and because of the jealousy he
+bears me he has shut me up between these high walls.
+If it please you you may tarry here awhile and we will
+tend your wound until it be healed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Gugemar, wearied and bewildered at the strange things
+which had happened to him in the space of a day,
+thanked the Queen, and accepted her kind offer of
+entertainment with alacrity. Between them the Queen
+and her lady assisted him to leave the ship and bore
+him to a chamber, where he was laid in a fair bed
+and had his wound carefully dressed. When the ladies
+had withdrawn and the knight was left to himself he
+knew that he loved the Queen. All memory of his
+home and even of his tormenting wound disappeared,
+and he could brood only upon the fair face of the royal
+lady who had so charmingly ministered to him.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the Queen was in little better case. All
+night she could not sleep for pondering upon the handsome
+youth who had come so mysteriously into her life,
+and her maiden, seeing this, and marking how she
+suffered, went to Gugemar&rsquo;s chamber and told him in
+a frank and almost childlike manner how deeply her
+mistress had been smitten with love for him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are young,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;so is my lady. Her lord
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span>
+is old and their union is unseemly. Heaven intended
+you for one another and has brought you together in
+its own good time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Shortly, after she had heard Mass, the Queen summoned
+Gugemar into her presence. At first both were dumb
+with confusion. At last his passion urged Gugemar to
+speak, and his love-words came thick and fast. The
+Queen hearkened to them, and, feeling that they rang
+true, admitted that she loved him in return.</p>
+<p>For a year and a half Gugemar dwelt in the Queen&rsquo;s
+bower. Then the lovers met with misfortune.</p>
+<p>For some days before the blow fell the Queen had
+experienced a feeling of coming evil. So powerfully
+did this affect her that she begged Gugemar for a
+garment of his. The knight marvelled at the request,
+and asked her playfully for what reason she desired such
+a keepsake as a linen shift.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Friend,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;if it chance that you leave me
+or that we are separated I shall fear that some other
+damsel may win your love. In this shift which you
+give me I shall make a knot, and shall ask you to vow
+that never will you give your love to dame or damsel
+who cannot untie this knot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The knight complied with her request, and she made
+such a cunning knot in the garment as only she could
+unravel. For his part Gugemar gave the Queen a
+wonderfully fashioned girdle which only he could unclasp,
+and he begged her that she would never grant her love
+to any man who could not free her from it. Each
+promised the other solemnly to respect the vows they
+had made.</p>
+<p>That same day their hidden love was discovered. A
+chamberlain of the King&rsquo;s observed them through a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
+window of the Queen&rsquo;s bower, and, hastening to his
+master, told him what he had seen. In terrible wrath the
+King called for his guards, and, coming upon the lovers
+unaware, commanded them to slay Gugemar at once.
+But the knight seized upon a stout rod of fir-wood on
+which linen was wont to be dried, and faced those who
+would slay him so boldly that they fell back in dismay.</p>
+<p>The King questioned him as to his name and lineage,
+and Gugemar fearlessly related his story. The King
+was incredulous at first, but said that could the ship
+be found in which Gugemar had arrived he would
+place him upon it and send him once more out to sea.
+After search had been made the vessel was found,
+and Gugemar was placed on it, the ship began to move,
+and soon the knight was well at sea.</p>
+<p>Ere long the ship came to that harbour whence she
+had first sailed, and as Gugemar landed he saw to his
+surprise one of his own vassals holding a charger and
+accompanied by a knight. Mounting the steed, Gugemar
+swiftly rode home, where he was received with
+every demonstration of joy. But though his parents
+and friends did everything possible to make him happy,
+the memory of the fair Queen who had loved him
+was ever with him night and day, so that he might
+not be solaced by game or tilting, the chase or the
+dance. In vain those who wished him well urged him
+to take a wife. At first he roundly refused to consider
+such a step, but when eagerly pressed by his friends
+he announced that no wife should he wed who could
+not first unloose the knot within his shift. So sought
+after was Gugemar that all the damsels in Brittany
+essayed the feat, but none of them succeeded and each
+retired sorrowfully from the ordeal.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span></div>
+<p>Meanwhile the aged King had set his wife in a tower
+of grey marble, where she suffered agonies because of
+the absence of her lover. Ever she wondered what
+had happened to him, if he had regained his native
+shore or whether he had been swallowed up by the
+angry sea. Frequently she made loud moan, but there
+were none to hear her cries save stony-hearted gaolers,
+who were as dumb as the grey walls that enclosed her.</p>
+<p>One day she chanced in her dolour to lean heavily
+upon the door of her prison. To her amazement it
+opened, and she found herself in the corridor without.
+Hastening on impulse, and as if by instinct, to the
+harbour, she found there her lover&rsquo;s ship. Quickly she
+climbed upon its deck, and scarcely had she done so
+than the vessel began to move seaward. In great fear
+she sat still, and in time was wafted to a part of Brittany
+governed by one named Meriadus, who was on the
+point of going to war with a neighbouring chieftain.</p>
+<p>From his window Meriadus had seen the approach of
+the strange vessel, and, making his way to the seashore,
+entered the ship. Struck with the beauty of the
+Queen, he brought her to his castle, where he placed her
+in his sister&rsquo;s chamber. He strove in every way to
+dispel the sadness which seemed to envelop her like
+a mantle, but despite his efforts to please her she
+remained in sorrowful and doleful mood and would not
+be comforted. Sorely did Meriadus press her to wed
+him, but she would have none of him, and for answer
+showed him the girdle round her waist, saying that
+never would she give her love to any man who could
+not unloose its buckle. As she said this Meriadus
+seemed struck by her words.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Strange,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;a right worthy knight dwells in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span>
+this land who will take no woman to his wife save she
+who can first untie a certain crafty knot in his shift.
+Well would I wager that it was you who tied this knot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the Queen heard these words she well-nigh
+fainted. Meriadus rushed to succour her, and gradually
+she revived. Some days later Meriadus held a high
+tournament, at which all the knights who were to aid
+him in the war were to be present, among them Gugemar.
+A festival was held on the night preceding the
+tournament, at which Meriadus requested his sister
+and the stranger dame to be present. As the Queen
+entered the hall Gugemar rose from his place and
+stared at her as at a vision of the dead. In great doubt
+was he whether this lady was in truth his beloved.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come, Gugemar,&rdquo; rallied Meriadus, &ldquo;let this damsel
+try to unravel the knot in your shift which has puzzled
+so many fair dames.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Gugemar called to his squire and bade him fetch the
+shift, and when it was brought the lady, without seeming
+effort, unravelled the knot. But even yet Gugemar
+remained uncertain.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;tell me, I pray you, whether or
+not you wear a girdle with which I girt you in a realm
+across the sea,&rdquo; and placing his hands around her
+slender waist, he found there the secret belt.</p>
+<p>All his doubts dispelled, Gugemar asked his loved one
+how she had come to the tower of Meriadus. When he
+had heard, he then and there requested his ally to yield
+him the lady, but the chieftain roundly refused. Then
+the knight in great anger cast down his glove and took
+his departure, and, to the discomfiture of Meriadus, all
+those knights who had gathered for the tournament and
+had offered to assist Meriadus accompanied Gugemar.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_25' id='linki_25'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs25.jpg' alt='' title='' width='415' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+GUGEMAR&rsquo;S ASSAULT ON THE CASTLE OF MERIADUS<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span></div>
+<p>In a body they rode to the castle of the prince who was
+at war with Meriadus, and next day they marched
+against the discourteous chieftain. Long did they
+besiege his castle, but at last when the defenders were
+weak with hunger Gugemar and his men assailed the
+place and took it, slaying Meriadus within the ruins of
+his own hall. Gugemar, rushing to that place where
+he knew his lady to be, called her forth, and in peace
+brought her back with him to his own demesne, where
+they were wed and dwelt long and happily.</p>
+<p>There are several circumstances connected with this
+beautiful old tale which deeply impress us with a belief
+in its antiquity. The incident of the killing of the deer
+and the incurable nature of Gugemar&rsquo;s wound are
+undoubtedly legacies from very ancient times, when it
+was believed to be unlucky under certain circumstances
+to kill a beast of the chase. Some savage races, such as
+the North American Indians, consider it to be most
+unlucky to slay a deer without first propitiating the
+great Deer God, the chief of the Deer Folk, and in fact
+they attribute most of the ills to which flesh is heir to
+the likelihood that they have omitted some of the very
+involved ritual of the chase. It will be remembered that
+Tristrem of Lyonesse also had an incurable wound, and
+there are other like instances in romance and myth.</p>
+<p>The vessel which carries Gugemar over the sea is
+undoubtedly of the same class as those magic self-propelled
+craft which we meet with very frequently in
+Celtic lore, and the introduction of this feature in itself
+is sufficient to convince us of the Celtic or Breton origin
+of Marie&rsquo;s tale. We have such a craft in the Grail
+legend in the <i>Morte d&rsquo;Arthur</i>, in which Galahad finds
+precisely such a bed. The vessel in the Grail legend
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span>
+is described as &ldquo;King Solomon&rsquo;s Ship,&rdquo; and it is
+obvious that Marie or her Breton original must have
+borrowed the idea from a Grail source.</p>
+<p>Lastly, the means adopted by the lovers to ensure one
+another&rsquo;s constancy seem very like the methods of
+taboo. The knot that may not or cannot be untied
+has many counterparts in ancient lore, and the girdle
+that no man but the accepted lover may loose is
+reminiscent of the days when a man placed such a
+girdle around his wife or sweetheart to signify his sole
+possession of her. If a man could succeed in purloining
+a mermaid&rsquo;s girdle she was completely in his power. So
+is it with fairies in an Algonquin Indian tale. Even so
+late as Crusading times many knights departing to fight
+in the Holy Land bound a girdle round their ladies&rsquo;
+waists in the hope that the gift would ensure their faithfulness.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lay of Laustic</i></h3>
+<p>The Lay of Laustic, or the Nightingale, is purely of
+Breton origin, and indeed is proved to be so by its title.
+&ldquo;Laustic, I deem, men name it in that country&rdquo; (Brittany),
+says Marie in her preface to the lay, &ldquo;which being interpreted
+means <i>rossignol</i> in French and &lsquo;nightingale&rsquo; in
+good plain English.&rdquo; She adds that the Breton harper
+has already made a lay concerning it&mdash;added evidence
+that the tale is of Celtic and not of French origin.</p>
+<p>In the ancient town of Saint-Malo, in Brittany, dwelt
+two knights whose valour and prowess brought much
+fame to the community. Their houses were close to
+one another, and one of them was married to a lady of
+surpassing loveliness, while the other was a bachelor.
+By insensible degrees the bachelor knight came to love
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span>
+his neighbour&rsquo;s wife, and so handsome and gallant was
+he that in time she returned his passion. He made
+every possible excuse for seeking her society, and on
+one pretext or another was constantly by her side. But
+he was exceedingly careful of her fair fame, and acted
+in such a way that not the slightest breath of scandal
+could touch her.</p>
+<p>Their houses were separated by an ancient stone wall
+of considerable height, but the lovers could speak
+together by leaning from their casements, and if this
+was impossible they could communicate by sending
+written messages. When the lady&rsquo;s husband was at
+home she was guarded carefully, as was the custom
+of the time, but nevertheless she contrived to greet her
+lover from the window as frequently as she desired.</p>
+<p>In due course the wondrous time of spring came round,
+with white drift of blossom and stir of life newly
+awakened. The short night hours grew warm, and
+often did the lady arise from bed to have speech with
+her lover at the casement. Her husband grew displeased
+by her frequent absences, which disturbed his
+rest, and wrathfully inquired the reason why she quitted
+his side so often.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, husband,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;I cannot rest because of
+the sweet song of the nightingale, whose music has cast
+a spell upon my heart. No tune of harp or viol can
+compare with it, and I may not close my eyes so long as
+his song continues in the night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Now the lady&rsquo;s husband, although a bold and hardy
+knight, was malicious and ungenerous, and, disliking to
+have his rest disturbed, resolved to deal summarily
+with the nightingale. So he gave orders to his servants
+to set traps in the garden and to smear every bough
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span>
+and branch with birdlime in order that the bird might
+speedily be taken. His orders were at once carried
+out, and the garden was filled with nets, while the cruel
+lime glittered upon every tree. So complete were the
+preparations of the serving-men that an unfortunate
+nightingale which had made the garden its haunt and
+had filled it with music for many a night while the lovers
+talked was taken and brought to the knight.</p>
+<p>Swiftly he bore the hapless bird to his wife&rsquo;s chamber,
+his eyes sparkling with malicious glee.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here is your precious songster,&rdquo; he said, with bitter
+irony. &ldquo;You will be happy to learn that you and I
+may now spend our sleeping hours in peace since he is
+taken.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, slay him not, my lord!&rdquo; she cried in anguish, for
+she had grown to associate the bird&rsquo;s sweet song with
+the sweeter converse of her lover&mdash;to regard it as in
+a measure an accompaniment to his love-words. For
+answer her husband seized the unhappy bird by the
+neck and wrung its head off. Then he cast the little
+body into the lap of the dame, soiling her with its
+blood, and departed in high anger.</p>
+<p>The lady pitifully raised what was left of the dead songster
+and bitterly lamented over it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Woe is me!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;Never again can I meet
+with my lover at the casement, and he will believe that
+I am faithless to him. But I shall devise some means
+to let him know that this is not so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Having considered as to what she should do, the lady
+took a fine piece of white samite, broidered with gold,
+and worked upon it as on a tapestry the whole story of
+the nightingale, so that her knight might not be ignorant
+of the nature of the barrier that had arisen between them.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span></div>
+<p>In this silken shroud she wrapped the small, sad body
+of the slain bird and gave it in charge of a trusty
+servant to bear to her lover. The messenger told the
+knight what had occurred. The news was heavy to
+him, but now, having insight to the vengeful nature of
+her husband, he feared to jeopardize the lady&rsquo;s safety,
+so he remained silent. But he caused a rich coffer to
+be made in fine gold, set with precious stones, in which
+he laid the body of the nightingale, and this small
+funeral urn he carried about with him on all occasions,
+nor could any circumstance hinder him from keeping it
+constantly beside him.</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Wrap me love&rsquo;s ashes in a golden cloth</p>
+<p>To carry next my heart. Love&rsquo;s fire is out,</p>
+<p>And these poor embers grey, but I am loath</p>
+<p>To quench remembrance also: I shall put</p>
+<p>His relics over that they did consume.</p>
+<p>Ah, &rsquo;tis too bitter cold these cinders to relume!</p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Place me love&rsquo;s ashes in a golden cup,</p>
+<p>To mingle with my wine. Ah, do not fear</p>
+<p>The old flame in my soul shall flicker up</p>
+<p>At the harsh taste of what was once so dear.</p>
+<p>I quaff no fire: there is no fire to meet</p>
+<p>This bitterness of death and turn it into sweet.</p>
+</div></div>
+<h3><i>The Lay of Eliduc</i></h3>
+<p>In the tale of Eliduc we have in all probability a
+genuine product of native Breton romance. So at
+least avers Marie, who assures us that it is &ldquo;a very
+ancient Breton lay,&rdquo; and we have no reason to doubt
+her word, seeing that, had she been prone to literary
+dishonesty, it would have been much easier for her to
+have passed off the tale as her own original conception.
+There is, of course, the probability that it was so widely
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span>
+known in its Breton version that to have done so
+would have been to have openly courted the charge
+of plagiarism&mdash;an impeachment which it is not possible
+to bring against this most charming and delightful
+poetess.</p>
+<p>Eliduc, a knight of Brittany, was happy in the confidence
+of his King, who, when affairs of State caused
+his absence from the realm, left his trusted adherent
+behind him as viceroy and regent. Such a man,
+staunch and loyal, could scarcely be without enemies,
+and the harmless pleasure he took in the chase during
+the King&rsquo;s absence was construed by evil counsellors
+on the monarch&rsquo;s return as an unwarranted licence with
+the royal rights of venery. The enemies of Eliduc so
+harped upon the knight&rsquo;s supposed lack of reverence
+for the royal authority that at length the King&rsquo;s patience
+gave way and in an outburst of wrath he gave orders
+for Eliduc&rsquo;s banishment, without vouchsafing his former
+friend and confidant the least explanation of this petulant
+action.</p>
+<p>Dismayed by the sudden change in his fortunes, Eliduc
+returned to his house, and there acquainted his friends
+and vassals with the King&rsquo;s unjust decree. He told
+them that it was his intention to cross the sea to the
+kingdom of Logres, to sojourn there for a space. He
+placed his estates in the hands of his wife and begged
+of his vassals that they would serve her loyally. Then,
+having settled his affairs, he took ten knights of his
+household and started upon his journey. His wife,
+Guildeluec, accompanied him for several miles, and on
+parting they pledged good faith to one another.</p>
+<p>In due time the cavalcade came to the seashore and
+took ship for the realm of Logres. Near Exeter, in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span>
+this land, dwelt an aged king who had for his heir a
+daughter called Guillardun. This damsel had been
+asked in marriage by a neighbouring prince, and as
+her father had refused to listen to his proposals the
+disappointed suitor made war upon him, spoiling and
+wasting his land. The old King, fearful for his child&rsquo;s
+safety, had shut her up in a strong castle for her
+better security and his own peace of mind.</p>
+<p>Now Eliduc, coming to that land, heard the tale of
+the quarrel between the King and his neighbour, and
+considered as to which side he should take. After
+due deliberation he arranged to fight on the side of the
+King, with whom he offered to take service. His offer
+was gratefully accepted, and he had not been long in
+the royal host when he had an opportunity of distinguishing
+himself. The town wherein he was lodged
+with his knights was attacked by the enemy. He set
+his men in ambush in a forest track by which it was
+known the enemy would approach the town, and succeeded
+in routing them and in taking large numbers
+of prisoners and much booty. This feat of arms raised
+him high in the estimation of the King, who showed
+him much favour, and the Princess, hearing of his
+fame, became very desirous of beholding him. She
+sent her chamberlain to Eliduc saying that she wished
+to hear the story of his deeds, and he, quite as anxious
+to see the imprisoned Princess of whom he had heard
+so much, set out at once. On beholding each other
+they experienced deep agitation. Eliduc thought that
+never had he seen so beautiful and graceful a maiden,
+and Guillardun that this was the most handsome and
+comely knight she had ever met.</p>
+<p>For a long time they spoke together, and then Eliduc
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span>
+took his leave and departed. He counted all the time
+lost that he had remained in the kingdom without
+knowing this lady, but he promised himself that now
+he would frequently seek her society. Then, with a
+pang of remorse, he thought of his good and faithful
+wife and the sacred promise he had made her.</p>
+<p>Guillardun, on her part, was none the less ill at ease.
+She passed a restless night, and in the morning confided
+her case to her aged chamberlain, who was almost
+a second father to her, and he, all unwitting that Eliduc
+was already bound in wedlock to another, suggested
+that the Princess should send the knight a love-token
+to discover by the manner in which he received it
+whether or not her love was returned. Guillardun took
+this advice, and sent her lover a girdle and a ring by
+the hands of the chamberlain. On receiving the token
+Eliduc showed the greatest joy, girded the belt about
+his middle, and placed the ring on his finger. The
+chamberlain returned to the Princess and told her with
+what evident satisfaction Eliduc had received the gifts.
+But the Princess in her eagerness showered questions
+upon him, until at last the old man grew impatient.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said, somewhat testily, &ldquo;I have told you the
+knight&rsquo;s words; I cannot tell you his thoughts, for he is
+a prudent gentleman who knows well what to hide in
+his heart.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Although he rejoiced at the gifts Eliduc had but little
+peace of mind. He could think of nothing save the
+vow he had made to his wife before he left her. But
+thoughts of the Princess would intrude themselves upon
+him. Often he saw Guillardun, and although he saluted
+her with a kiss, as was the custom of the time, he never
+spoke a single word of love to her, being fearful on the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_309' name='page_309'></a>309</span>
+one hand of breaking his conjugal vow and on the other
+of offending the King.</p>
+<p>One evening when Eliduc was announced the King was
+in his daughter&rsquo;s chamber, playing at chess with a
+stranger lord. He welcomed the knight heartily, and
+much to the embarrassment of the lovers begged his
+daughter to cherish a closer friendship for Eliduc, whom
+he brought to her notice as a right worthy knight. The
+pair withdrew somewhat from the others, as if for the
+purpose of furthering the friendship which the old King
+so ardently seemed to desire, and Eliduc thanked the
+Princess for the gifts she had sent him by the chamberlain.
+Then the Princess, taking advantage of her rank,
+told Eliduc that she desired him for her husband, and
+that, did he refuse her, she would die unwed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; replied the knight, &ldquo;I have great joy in your
+love, but have you thought that I may not always tarry
+in this land? I am your father&rsquo;s man until this war
+hath an end. Then shall I return unto mine own
+country.&rdquo; But Guillardun, in a transport of love, told
+him she would trust him entirely with her heart, and
+passing great was the affection that grew between them.</p>
+<p>Eliduc, in spite of his love for the Princess, had by no
+means permitted his conduct of the war to flag. Indeed,
+if anything, he redoubled his efforts, and pressed the
+foe so fiercely that at length he was forced to submit.
+And now news came to him that his old master, the
+King who had banished him from Brittany, was sore
+bestead by an enemy and was searching for his former
+vice-regent on every hand, who was so mighty a knight
+in the field and so sage at the council-board. Turning
+upon the false lords who had spoken evil of his favourite,
+he outlawed them from the land for ever. He sent
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_310' name='page_310'></a>310</span>
+messengers east and west and across the seas in search
+of Eliduc, who when he heard the news was much dismayed,
+so greatly did he love Guillardun. These twain
+had loved with a pure and tender passion, and never by
+word or deed had they sullied the affection they bore
+one another. Dearly did the Princess hope that Eliduc
+might remain in her land and become her lord, and little
+did she dream that he was wedded to a wife across the
+seas. For his part Eliduc took close counsel with
+himself. He knew by reason of the fealty he owed to
+his King that he must return to Brittany, but he was
+equally aware that if he parted from Guillardun one or
+other of them must die.</p>
+<p>Deep was the chagrin of the King of Logres when he
+learned that Eliduc must depart from his realm, but
+deeper far was his daughter&rsquo;s grief when the knight
+came to bid her farewell. In moving words she urged
+him to remain, and when she found that his loyalty was
+proof even against his love, she begged of him to take
+her with him to Brittany. But this request he turned
+aside, on the plea that as he had served her father he
+could not so offend him as by the theft of his daughter.
+He promised, however, by all he held most dear that he
+would return one day, and with much sorrow the two
+parted, exchanging rings for remembrance.</p>
+<p>Eliduc took ship and swiftly crossed the sea. He met
+with a joyous reception from his King, and none was
+so glad at his return as his wife. But gradually his
+lady began to see that he had turned cold to her. She
+charged him with it, and he replied that he had pledged
+his faith to the foreign lord whom he had served
+abroad.</p>
+<p>Very soon through his conduct the war was brought
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_311' name='page_311'></a>311</span>
+to a victorious close, and almost immediately thereafter
+Eliduc repaired across the sea to Logres, taking with
+him two of his nephews as his squires. On reaching
+Logres he at once went to visit Guillardun, who
+received him with great gladness. She returned with
+him to his ship, which commenced the return voyage
+at once, but when they neared the dangerous coast
+of Brittany a sudden tempest arose, and waxed so
+fierce that the mariners lost all hope of safety. One
+of them cried out that the presence of Guillardun on
+board the ship endangered all their lives and that the
+conduct of Eliduc, who had already a faithful wife, in
+seeking to wed this foreign woman had brought about
+their present dangerous position. Eliduc grew very
+wroth, and when Guillardun heard that her knight was
+already wedded she swooned and all regarded her as
+dead. In despair Eliduc fell upon his betrayer, slew
+him, and cast his body into the sea. Then, guiding
+the ship with a seaman&rsquo;s skill, he brought her into
+harbour.</p>
+<p>When they were safely anchored, Eliduc conceived the
+idea of taking Guillardun, whom he regarded as dead,
+to a certain chapel in a great forest quite near his own
+home. Setting her body before him on his palfrey,
+he soon came to the little shrine, and making a bier
+of the altar laid Guillardun upon it. He then betook
+him to his own house, but the next morning returned
+to the chapel in the forest. Mourning over the body
+of his lady-love, he was surprised to observe that the
+colour still remained in her cheeks and lips. Again
+and again he visited the chapel, and his wife, marvelling
+whither he went, bribed a varlet to discover the object
+of his repeated absences. The man watched Eliduc
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_312' name='page_312'></a>312</span>
+and saw him enter the chapel and mourn over the body
+of Guillardun, and, returning, acquainted his lady with
+what he had seen.</p>
+<p>Guildeluec&mdash;for such, we will remember, was the name
+of Eliduc&rsquo;s wife&mdash;set out for the shrine, and with
+astonishment beheld the lifelike form of Guillardun laid
+on the altar. So pitiful was the sight that she herself
+could not refrain from the deepest sorrow. As she sat
+weeping a weasel came from under the altar and ran
+across Guillardun&rsquo;s body, and the varlet who attended
+Guildeluec struck at it with his staff and killed it.
+Another weasel issued, and, beholding its dead comrade,
+went forth from the chapel and hastened to the wood,
+whence it returned, bearing in its mouth a red flower,
+which it placed on the mouth of its dead companion.
+The weasel which Guildeluec had believed to be dead
+at once stood up. Beholding this, the varlet cast his
+staff at the animals and they sped away, leaving the
+red flower behind them.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_26' id='linki_26'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs26.jpg' alt='' title='' width='406' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+ELIDUC CARRIES GUILLARDUN TO THE FOREST CHAPEL<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Guildeluec immediately picked the flower up, and returning
+with it to the altar where Guillardun lay, placed
+it on the maiden&rsquo;s mouth. In a few moments she heard
+a sigh, and Guillardun sat up, and inquired if she had
+slept long. Guildeluec asked her name and degree,
+and Guillardun in reply acquainted her with her history
+and lineage, speaking very bitterly of Eliduc, who, she
+said, had betrayed her in a strange land. Guildeluec
+declared herself the wife of Eliduc, told Guillardun
+how deeply the knight had grieved for her, and declared
+her intention of taking the veil and releasing Eliduc
+from his marriage vow. She conducted Guillardun to
+her home, where they met Eliduc, who rejoiced greatly
+at the restoration of his lady-love. His wife founded
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_313' name='page_313'></a>313</span>
+a convent with the rich portion he bestowed upon her,
+and Eliduc, in thankfulness for Guillardun&rsquo;s recovery,
+built a fair church close by his castle and endowed
+it bountifully, and close beside it erected a great
+monastery. Later Guillardun entered the convent of
+which Guildeluec was the abbess, and Eliduc, himself
+feeling the call of the holy life, devoted himself to the
+service of God in the monastery. Messages passed
+between convent and monastery in which Eliduc and
+the holy women encouraged each other in the pious
+life which they had chosen, and by degrees the three
+who had suffered so greatly came to regard their
+seclusion as far preferable to the world and all its
+vanities.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lay of Equitan</i></h3>
+<p>The Lay of Equitan is one of Marie&rsquo;s most famous tales.
+Equitan was King of Nantes, in Brittany, and led the
+life of a pleasure-seeker. To win approval from the
+eyes of fair ladies was more to him than knightly fame
+or honour.</p>
+<p>Equitan had as seneschal a trusty and faithful knight,
+who was to the pleasure-loving seigneur as his right
+hand. This faithful servant was also captain of
+Equitan&rsquo;s army, and sat as a judge in his courts. To
+his undoing he had a wife, as fair a dame as any in
+the duchy of Brittany. &ldquo;Her eyes,&rdquo; says the old lay,
+&ldquo;were blue, her face was warm in colour, her mouth
+fragrant and her nose dainty.&rdquo; She was ever tastefully
+dressed and courtly in demeanour, and soon attracted
+the attention of such an admirer of the fair sex as
+Equitan, who desired to speak with her more intimately.
+He therefore, as a subterfuge, announced
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_314' name='page_314'></a>314</span>
+that a great hunt would take place in that part of his
+domains in which his seneschal&rsquo;s castle was situated,
+and this gave him the opportunity of sojourning at the
+castle and holding converse with the lady, with whom
+he became so charmed that in a few days he fell deeply
+in love with her. On the night of the day when he first
+became aware that he loved her Equitan lay tossing on
+his bed, in a torment of fiery emotion. He debated
+with himself in what manner he should convey to his
+seneschal&rsquo;s wife the fact that he loved her, and at length
+prepared a plot which he thought would be likely to
+succeed.</p>
+<p>Next day he rose as usual and made all arrangements
+to proceed with the chase. But shortly after setting
+out he returned, pleading that he had fallen sick, and
+took to his bed. The faithful seneschal could not divine
+what had occurred to render his lord so seriously indisposed
+as he appeared to be, and requested his wife to
+go to him to see if she could minister to him and cheer
+his drooping spirits.</p>
+<p>The lady went to Equitan, who received her dolefully
+enough. He told her without reserve that the malady
+from which he suffered was none other than love for
+herself, and that did she not consent to love him in
+return he would surely die. The dame at first dissented,
+but, carried away by the fiery eloquence of his words,
+she at last assured him of her love, and they exchanged
+rings as a token of troth and trust.</p>
+<p>The love of Equitan and the seneschal&rsquo;s wife was
+discovered by none, and when they desired to meet
+he arranged to go hunting in the neighbourhood of
+the seneschal&rsquo;s castle. Shortly after they had plighted
+their troth the great barons of the realm approached
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_315' name='page_315'></a>315</span>
+the King with a proposal that he should marry, but
+Equitan would have none of this, nor would he listen
+to even his most trusted advisers with regard to such
+a subject. The nobles were angered at his curt and
+even savage refusal to hearken to them, and the
+commons were also greatly disturbed because of the
+lack of a successor. The echoes of the disagreement
+reached the ears of the seneschal&rsquo;s wife, who was much
+perturbed thereby, being aware that the King had come
+to this decision for love of her.</p>
+<p>At their next meeting she broached the subject to her
+royal lover, lamenting that they had ever met.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now are my good days gone,&rdquo; she said, weeping, &ldquo;for
+you will wed some king&rsquo;s daughter as all men say, and
+I shall certainly die if I lose you thus.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, that will not be,&rdquo; replied Equitan. &ldquo;Never
+shall I wed except your husband die.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The lady felt that he spoke truly, but in an evil moment
+she came to attach a sinister meaning to the words
+Equitan had employed regarding her husband. Day
+and night she brooded on them, for well she knew that
+did her husband die Equitan would surely wed her. By
+insensible degrees she came to regard her husband&rsquo;s
+death as a good rather than an evil thing, and little by
+little Equitan, who at first looked upon the idea with
+horror, became converted to her opinion. Between
+them they hatched a plot for the undoing of the
+seneschal. It was arranged that the King should go
+hunting as usual in the neighbourhood of his faithful
+servant&rsquo;s castle. While lodging in the castle, the King
+and the seneschal would be bled in the old surgical
+manner for their health&rsquo;s sake, and three days after
+would bathe before leaving the chamber they occupied,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_316' name='page_316'></a>316</span>
+and the heartless wife suggested that she should make
+her husband&rsquo;s bath so fiercely hot that he would not
+survive after entering it. One would think that the
+seneschal would easily have been able to escape such a
+simple trap, but we must remember that the baths of
+Norman times were not shaped like our own, but were
+exceedingly deep, and indeed some of them were in
+form almost like those immense upright jars such as the
+forty thieves were concealed in in the story of Ali Baba,
+so that in many cases it was not easy for the bather to
+tell whether the water into which he was stepping was
+hot or otherwise.</p>
+<p>The plot was carried out as the lady had directed, but
+not without much misgiving on the part of Equitan.
+The King duly arrived at the castle, and announced his
+intention to be bled, requesting that the seneschal should
+undergo the same operation at the same time, and occupy
+the same chamber by way of companionship. Then
+after the leech had bled them the King asked that he
+might have a bath before leaving his apartment, and
+the seneschal requested that his too should be made
+ready. Accordingly on the third day the baths were
+brought to the chamber, and the lady occupied herself
+with filling them. While she was doing so her lord left
+the chamber for a space, and during his absence the King
+and the lady were clasped in each other&rsquo;s arms. So
+rapt were the pair in their amorous dalliance that they
+failed to notice the return of the seneschal, who, when
+he saw them thus engaged, uttered an exclamation of
+surprise and wrath. Equitan, turning quickly, saw him,
+and with a cry of despair leapt into the bath that the
+lady had prepared for the seneschal, and there perished
+miserably, while the enraged husband, seizing his faithless
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_317' name='page_317'></a>317</span>
+wife, thrust her headlong into the boiling water
+beside her lover, where she too was scalded to death.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lay of the Ash-Tree</i></h3>
+<p>In olden times there dwelt in Brittany two knights who
+were neighbours and close friends. Both were married,
+and one was the father of twin sons, one of whom he
+christened by the name of his friend. Now this friend
+had a wife who was envious of heart and rancorous of
+tongue, and on hearing that two sons had been born to
+her neighbour she spoke slightingly and cruelly about
+her, saying that to bear twins was ever a disgrace. Her
+evil words were spread abroad, and at last as a result of
+her malicious speech the good lady&rsquo;s husband himself
+began to doubt and suspect the wife who had never for
+a moment given him the least occasion to do so.</p>
+<p>Strangely enough, within the year two daughters were
+born to the lady of the slanderous tongue, who now
+deeply lamented the wrong she had done, but all to no
+purpose. Fearful of the gossip which she thought the
+event would occasion, she gave one of the children to
+a faithful handmaiden, with directions that it should be
+laid on the steps of a church, where it might be picked
+up as a foundling and nourished by some stranger. The
+babe was wrapped in a linen cloth, which again was
+covered with a beautiful piece of red silk that the lady&rsquo;s
+husband had purchased in the East, and a handsome
+ring engraved with the family insignia and set with
+garnets was bound to the infant&rsquo;s arm with silken lace.
+When the child had thus been attired the damsel took
+it and carried it for many miles into the country, until
+at last she came to a city where there was a large and
+fair abbey. Breathing a prayer that the child might
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_318' name='page_318'></a>318</span>
+have proper guardianship, the girl placed it on the abbey
+steps as her mistress had ordered her to do, but, afraid
+that it might catch cold on such a chilly bed, she looked
+around and saw an ash-tree, thick and leafy, with four
+strong branches, among the foliage of which she deposited
+the little one, commending it to the care of God, after
+which she returned to her mistress and acquainted her
+with what had passed.</p>
+<p>In the morning the abbey porter opened the great doors
+of the house of God so that the people might enter for
+early Mass. As he was thus engaged his eye caught
+the gleam of red silk among the leaves of the ash-tree,
+and going to it he discovered the deserted infant.
+Taking the babe from its resting-place, he returned
+with it to his house, and, awaking his daughter, who
+was a widow with a baby yet in the cradle, he asked
+her to cherish it and care for it. Both father and
+daughter could see from the crimson silk and the great
+signet ring that the child was of noble birth. The
+porter told the abbess of his discovery, and she requested
+him to bring the child to her, dressed precisely as it had
+been found. On beholding the infant a great compassion
+was aroused in the breast of the holy woman, who
+resolved to bring up the child herself, calling her her
+niece, and since she was taken from the ash giving her
+the name of Fr�ne.</p>
+<p>Fr�ne grew up one of the fairest damsels in Brittany.
+She was frank in manner, yet modest and discreet in
+bearing and speech. At Dol, where, as we have read,
+there is a great menhir and other prehistoric monuments,
+there lived a lord called Buron, who, hearing reports of
+Fr�ne&rsquo;s beauty and sweetness, greatly desired to behold
+her. Riding home from a tournament, he passed near
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_319' name='page_319'></a>319</span>
+the convent, and, alighting there, paid his respects to
+the abbess, and begged that he might see her niece.
+Buron at once fell in love with the maiden, and in order
+to gain favour with the abbess bestowed great riches
+upon the establishment over which she presided, requesting
+in return that he might be permitted to occupy
+a small apartment in the abbey should he chance to be
+in the neighbourhood.</p>
+<p>In this way he frequently saw and spoke with Fr�ne,
+who in turn fell in love with him. He persuaded her
+to fly with him to his castle, taking with her the silken
+cloth and ring with which she had been found.</p>
+<p>But the lord&rsquo;s tenants were desirous that he should
+marry, and had set their hearts upon his union with a
+rich lady named Coudre, daughter of a neighbouring
+baron. The marriage was arranged, greatly to the grief
+of Fr�ne, and duly took place. Going to Buron&rsquo;s bridal
+chamber, she considered it too mean, blinded with love
+as she was, for such as he, and placed the wondrous
+piece of crimson silk in which she had been wrapped
+as an infant over the coverlet. Presently the bride&rsquo;s
+mother entered the bridal chamber in order to see that
+all was fitting for her daughter&rsquo;s reception there. Gazing
+at the crimson coverlet, she recognized it as that in
+which she had wrapped her infant daughter. She
+anxiously inquired to whom it belonged, and was told
+that it was Fr�ne&rsquo;s. Going to the damsel, she questioned
+her as to where she had obtained the silk, and was told
+by Fr�ne that the abbess had given it to her along with
+a ring which had been found upon her when, as an
+infant, she had been discovered within the branches of
+the ash-tree.</p>
+<p>The mother asked anxiously to see the ring, and on
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_320' name='page_320'></a>320</span>
+beholding it told Fr�ne of their relationship, which at
+the same time she confessed to her husband, the baron.
+The father was overjoyed to meet with a daughter he
+had never known, and hastened to the bridegroom to
+acquaint him with Fr�ne&rsquo;s story. Great joy had Buron,
+and the archbishop who had joined him to Coudre gave
+counsel that they should be parted according to the
+rites of the Church and that Buron should marry Fr�ne.
+This was accordingly done, and when Fr�ne&rsquo;s parents
+returned to their own domain they found another
+husband for Coudre.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lay of Graelent</i></h3>
+<p>Graelent was a Breton knight dwelling at the Court
+of the King of Brittany, a very pillar to him in war,
+bearing himself valiantly in tourney and joust. So
+handsome and brave was he that the Queen fell madly
+in love with him, and asked her chamberlain to bring
+the knight into her presence. When he came she
+praised him greatly to his face, not only for his gallantry
+in battle, but also for his comeliness; but at her honeyed
+words the youth, quite abashed, sat silent, saying
+nothing. The Queen at last questioned him if his
+heart was set on any maid or dame, to which he replied
+that it was not, that love was a serious business
+and not to be taken in jest.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Many speak glibly of love,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;of whom not
+one can spell the first letter of its name. Love should
+be quiet and discreet or it is nothing worth, and without
+accord between the lovers love is but a bond and
+a constraint. Love is too high a matter for me to
+meddle with.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Queen listened greedily to Graelent&rsquo;s words, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_321' name='page_321'></a>321</span>
+when he had finished speaking she discovered her love
+for him; but he turned from her courteously but firmly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I beg your forgiveness, but this
+may not be. I am the King&rsquo;s man, and to him I have
+pledged my faith and loyalty. Never shall he know
+shame through any conduct of mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>With these words he took his leave of the Queen. But
+his protestations had altered her mind not at all. She
+sent him messages daily, and costly gifts, but these he
+refused and returned, till at last the royal dame, stung
+to anger by his repulses, conceived a violent hatred
+for him, and resolved to be revenged upon him for the
+manner in which he had scorned her love.</p>
+<p>The King of Brittany went to war with a neighbouring
+monarch, and Graelent bore himself manfully in the
+conflict, leading his troops again and again to victory.
+Hearing of his repeated successes, the Queen was exceedingly
+mortified, and made up her mind to destroy
+his popularity with the troops. With this end in view
+she prevailed upon the King to withhold the soldiers&rsquo;
+pay, which Graelent had to advance them out of his
+own means. In the end the unfortunate knight was
+reduced almost to beggary by this mean stratagem.</p>
+<p>One morning he was riding through the town where
+he was lodged, clad in garments so shabby that the
+wealthy burgesses in their fur-lined cloaks and rich
+apparel gibed and jeered at him, but Graelent, sure of
+his own worth, deigned not to take notice of such ill-breeding,
+and for his solace quitted the crowded streets
+of the place and took his way toward the great forest
+which skirted it. He rode into its gloom deep in
+thought, listening to the murmur of the river which
+flowed through the leafy ways.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_322' name='page_322'></a>322</span></div>
+<p>He had not gone far when he espied a white hart within
+a thicket. She fled before him into the thickest part of
+the forest, but the silvern glimmer of her body showed
+the track she had taken. On a sudden deer and horseman
+dashed into a clearing among the trees where there
+was a grassy lawn, in the midst of which sprang a fountain
+of clear water. In this fountain a lady was bathing, and
+two attendant maidens stood near. Now Graelent believed
+that the lady must be a fairy, and knowing well
+that the only way to capture such a being was to seize
+her garments, he looked around for these, and seeing
+them lying upon a bush he laid hands upon them.</p>
+<p>The attendant women at this set up a loud outcry, and
+the lady herself turned to where he sat his horse and
+called him by name.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Graelent, what do you hope to gain by the theft of my
+raiment?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Have you, a knight, sunk so
+low as to behave like a common pilferer? Take my
+mantle if you must, but pray spare me my gown.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Graelent laughed at the lady&rsquo;s angry words, and told
+her that he was no huckster. He then begged her to
+don her garments, as he desired to have speech with
+her. After her women had attired her, Graelent took
+her by the hand and, leading her a little space away
+from her attendants, told her that he had fallen deeply
+in love with her. But the lady frowned and seemed at
+first offended.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You do not know to whom you proffer your love,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;Are you aware that my birth and lineage render
+it an impertinence for a mere knight to seek to ally
+himself with me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Graelent had a most persuasive tongue, and the
+deep love he had conceived for the lady rendered him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_323' name='page_323'></a>323</span>
+doubly eloquent on this occasion. At last the fairy-woman,
+for such she was, was quite carried away by his
+words, and granted him the boon he craved.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is, however, one promise I must exact from
+you,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and that is that never shall you mention
+me to mortal man. I on my part shall assist you in
+every possible manner. You shall never be without
+gold in your purse nor costly apparel to wear. Day
+and night shall I remain with you, and in war and in
+the chase will ride by your side, visible to you alone,
+unseen by your companions. For a year must you
+remain in this country. Now noon has passed and you
+must go. A messenger shall shortly come to you to
+tell you of my wishes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Graelent took leave of the lady and kissed her farewell.
+Returning to his lodgings in the town, he was leaning
+from the casement considering his strange adventure
+when he saw a varlet issuing from the forest riding
+upon a palfrey. The man rode up the cobbled street
+straight to Graelent&rsquo;s lodgings, where he dismounted
+and, entering, told the knight that his lady had sent
+him with the palfrey as a present, and begged that he
+would accept the services of her messenger to take charge
+of his lodgings and manage his affairs.</p>
+<p>The serving-man quickly altered the rather poor appearance
+of Graelent&rsquo;s apartment. He spread a rich coverlet
+upon his couch and produced a well-filled purse and rich
+apparel. Graelent at once sought out all the poor
+knights of the town and feasted them to their hearts&rsquo;
+content. From this moment he fared sumptuously
+every day. His lady appeared whenever he desired
+her to, and great was the love between them. Nothing
+more had he to wish for in this life.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_324' name='page_324'></a>324</span></div>
+<p>A year passed in perfect happiness for the knight, and
+at its termination the King held a great feast on the
+occasion of Pentecost. To this feast Sir Graelent was
+bidden. All day the knights and barons and their ladies
+feasted, and the King, having drunk much wine, grew
+boastful. Requesting the Queen to stand forth on the
+da�s, he asked the assembled nobles if they had ever
+beheld so fair a dame as she. The lords were loud in
+their praise of the Queen, save Graelent only. He sat
+with bent head, smiling strangely, for he knew of a lady
+fairer by far than any lady in that Court. The Queen
+was quick to notice this seeming discourtesy, and pointed
+it out to the King, who summoned Graelent to the steps
+of the throne.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How now, Sir Knight,&rdquo; said the King; &ldquo;wherefore
+did you sneer when all other men praised the Queen&rsquo;s
+beauty?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sire,&rdquo; replied Graelent, &ldquo;you do yourself much dishonour
+by such a deed. You make your wife a show
+upon a stage and force your nobles to praise her with
+lies when in truth a fairer dame than she could very
+easily be found.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Now when she heard this the Queen was greatly
+angered and prayed her husband to compel Graelent to
+bring to the Court her of whom he boasted so proudly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Set us side by side,&rdquo; cried the infuriated Queen, &ldquo;and
+if she be fairer than I before men&rsquo;s eyes, Graelent may
+go in peace, but if not let justice be done upon him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The King, stirred to anger at these words, ordered his
+guards to seize Graelent, swearing that he should never
+issue from prison till the lady of whom he had boasted
+should come to Court and pit herself against the Queen.
+Graelent was then cast into a dungeon, but he thought
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_325' name='page_325'></a>325</span>
+little of this indignity, fearing much more that his rashness
+had broken the bond betwixt him and his fairy
+bride. After a while he was set at liberty, on pledging
+his word that he would return bringing with him the
+lady whom he claimed as fairer than the Queen.</p>
+<p>Leaving the Court, he betook himself to his lodging,
+and called upon his lady, but received no answer.
+Again he called, but without result, and believing that
+his fairy bride had utterly abandoned him he gave way
+to despair. In a year&rsquo;s time Graelent returned to the
+Court and admitted his failure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sir Graelent,&rdquo; said the King, &ldquo;wherefore should you
+not be punished? You have slandered the Queen in
+the most unknightly manner, and given the lie to those
+nobles who must now give judgment against you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The nobles retired to consider their judgment upon
+Graelent. For a long time they debated, for most of
+them were friendly to him and he had been extremely
+popular at Court. In the midst of their deliberations
+a page entered and prayed them to postpone judgment,
+as two damsels had arrived at the palace and were
+having speech with the King concerning Graelent.
+The damsels told the King that their mistress was at
+hand, and begged him to wait for her arrival, as she had
+come to uphold Graelent&rsquo;s challenge. Hearing this, the
+Queen quitted the hall, and shortly after she had gone
+a second pair of damsels appeared bearing a similar
+message for the King. Lastly Graelent&rsquo;s young bride
+herself entered the hall.</p>
+<p>At sight of her a cry of admiration arose from the
+assembled nobles, and all admitted that their eyes had
+never beheld a fairer lady. When she reached the
+King&rsquo;s side she dismounted from her palfrey.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_326' name='page_326'></a>326</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Sire,&rdquo; she said, addressing the King, &ldquo;hasty and foolish
+was Graelent&rsquo;s tongue when he spoke as he did, but at
+least he told the truth when he said that there is no
+lady so fair but a fairer may be found. Look upon me
+and judge in this quarrel between the Queen and me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When she had spoken every lord and noble with one
+voice agreed that she was fairer than her royal rival.
+Even the King himself admitted that it was so, and
+Sir Graelent was declared a free man.</p>
+<p>Turning round to seek his lady, the knight observed
+that she was already some distance away, so, mounting
+upon his white steed, he followed hotly after her. All
+day he followed, and all night, calling after her and
+pleading for pity and pardon, but neither she nor her
+attendant damsels paid the slightest attention to his
+cries. Day after day he followed her, but to no purpose.</p>
+<p>At last the lady and her maidens entered the forest and
+rode to the bank of a broad stream. They set their
+horses to the river, but when the lady saw that Graelent
+was about to follow them she turned and begged him to
+desist, telling him that it was death for him to cross that
+stream. Graelent did not heed her, but plunged into
+the torrent. The stream was deep and rapid, and
+presently he was torn from his saddle. Seeing this, the
+lady&rsquo;s attendants begged her to save him. Turning
+back, the lady clutched her lover by the belt and dragged
+him to the shore. He was well-nigh drowned, but under
+her care he speedily recovered, and, say the Breton folk,
+entered with her that realm of Fairyland into which
+penetrated Thomas the Rhymer, Ogier the Dane, and
+other heroes. His white steed when it escaped from
+the river grieved greatly for its master, rushing up and
+down the bank, neighing loudly, and pawing with its
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_327' name='page_327'></a>327</span>
+hoofs upon the ground. Many men coveted so noble a
+charger, and tried to capture him, but all in vain, so
+each year, &ldquo;in its season,&rdquo; as the old romance says, the
+forest is filled with the sorrowful neighing of the good
+steed which may not find its master.</p>
+<p>The story of Graelent is one of those which deal with
+what is known to folk-lorists as the &lsquo;fairy-wife&rsquo; subject.
+A taboo is always placed upon the mortal bridegroom.
+Sometimes he must not utter the name of his wife; in
+other tales, as in that of Melusine, he must not seek
+her on a certain day of the week. The essence of the
+story is, of course, that the taboo is broken, and in most
+cases the mortal husband loses his supernatural mate.</p>
+<p>Another incident in the general <i>motif</i> is the stealing
+of the fairy-woman&rsquo;s clothes. The idea is the same as
+that found in stories where the fisherman steals the
+sea-woman&rsquo;s skin canoe as a prelude to making her
+his wife, or the feather cloak of the swan-maiden is
+seized by the hunter when he finds her asleep, thus
+placing the supernatural maiden in his power. Among
+savages it is quite a common and usual circumstance
+for the spouses not to mention each other&rsquo;s names for
+months after marriage, nor even to see one another&rsquo;s
+faces. In the story under consideration the taboo consists
+in the mortal bridegroom being forbidden to allude
+in any circumstances to his supernatural wife, who is
+undoubtedly the same type of being encountered by
+Thomas the Rhymer and Bonny Kilmeny in the ballads
+related of them. They are denizens of a country, a
+fairy realm, which figures partly as an abode of the
+dead, and which we are certainly justified in identifying
+with the Celtic Otherworld. The river which the fairy-woman
+crosses bears a certain resemblance to the Styx,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_328' name='page_328'></a>328</span>
+or she tells Graelent plainly that should he reach its
+opposite bank he is as good as dead. Fairyland in
+early Celtic lore may be a place of delight, but it is
+none the less one of death and remoteness.</p>
+<h3><i>The Lay of the Dolorous Knight</i></h3>
+<p>Once more the scene is laid in Nantes, and &ldquo;some
+harpers,&rdquo; says Marie, &ldquo;call it the Lay of the Four
+Sorrows.&rdquo; In this city of Brittany dwelt a lady on
+whom four barons of great worship had set their love.
+They were not singular in this respect, as the damsel&rsquo;s
+bright eyes had set fire to the hearts of all the youths
+of the ancient town. She smiled upon them all, but
+favoured no one more than another. Out of this great
+company, however, the four noblemen in question had
+constituted themselves her particular squires. They
+vied with one another in the most earnest manner to
+gain her esteem; but she was equally gracious to all
+and it was impossible to say that she favoured any.</p>
+<p>It was not surprising, then, that each one of the four
+nobles believed that the lady preferred him to the
+others. Each of them had received gifts from her,
+and each cried her name at tournaments. On the
+occasion of a great jousting, held without the walls
+of Nantes, the four lovers held the lists, and from all
+the surrounding realms and duchies came hardy knights
+to break a spear for the sake of chivalry.</p>
+<p>From matins to vespers the friendly strife raged fiercely,
+and against the four champions of Nantes four foreign
+knights especially pitted themselves. Two of these
+were of Hainault, and the other two were Flemings.
+The two companies charged each other so desperately
+that the horses of all eight men were overthrown. The
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_329' name='page_329'></a>329</span>
+four knights of Nantes rose lightly from the ground,
+but the four stranger knights lay still. Their friends,
+however, rushed to their rescue, and soon the challengers
+were lost in a sea of steel.</p>
+<p>Now the lady in whose honour the lists were defended
+by these four brave brethren in arms sat beholding their
+prowess in the keenest anxiety. Soon the knights of
+Nantes were reinforced by their friends, and the strife
+waxed furiously, sword to sword and lance to lance.
+First one company and then the other gained the
+advantage, but, urged on by rashness, the four challenging
+champions charged boldly in front of their
+comrades and became separated from them, with the
+dire result that three of them were killed and the fourth
+was so grievously wounded that he was borne from the
+press in a condition hovering between life and death.
+So furious were the stranger knights because of the
+resistance that had been made by the four champions
+that they cast their opponents&rsquo; shields outside the lists.
+But the knights of Nantes won the day, and, raising
+their three slain comrades and him who was wounded,
+carried all four to the house of their lady-love.</p>
+<p>When the sad procession reached her doors the lady
+was greatly grieved and cast down. To her three dead
+lovers she gave sumptuous burial in a fair abbey. As
+for the fourth, she tended him with such skill that ere
+long his wounds were healed and he was quite recovered.
+One summer day the knight and the lady sat together
+after meat, and a great sadness fell upon her because of
+the knights who had been slain in her cause. Her head
+sank upon her breast and she seemed lost in a reverie
+of sorrow. The knight, perceiving her distress, could
+not well understand what had wounded her so deeply.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_330' name='page_330'></a>330</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;a great sorrow seems to be yours.
+Reveal your grief to me, and perchance I can find you
+comfort.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Friend,&rdquo; replied the lady, &ldquo;I grieve for your companions
+who are gone. Never was lady or damsel
+served by four such valiant knights, three of whom were
+slain in one single day. Pardon me if I call them to
+mind at this time, but it is my intention to make a
+lay in order that these champions and yourself may
+not be forgotten, and I will call it &lsquo;The Lay of the
+Four Sorrows.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, lady,&rdquo; said the knight, &ldquo;call it not &lsquo;The Lay of
+the Four Sorrows,&rsquo; but rather &lsquo;The Lay of the Dolorous
+Knight.&rsquo; My three comrades are dead. They have
+gone to their place; no more hope have they of life; all
+their sorrows are ended and their love for you is as dead
+as they. I alone am here in life, but what have I to
+hope for? I find my life more bitter than they could
+find the grave. I see you in your comings and goings,
+I may speak with you, but I may not have your love.
+For this reason I am full of sorrow and cast down, and
+thus I beg that you give your lay my name and call it
+&lsquo;The Lay of the Dolorous Knight.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The lady looked earnestly upon him. &ldquo;By my faith,&rdquo;
+she said, &ldquo;you speak truly. The lay shall be known by
+the title you wish it to be.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So the lay was written and entitled as the knight desired
+it should be. &ldquo;I heard no more,&rdquo; says Marie, &ldquo;and
+nothing more I know. Perforce I must bring my story
+to a close.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The end of this lay is quite in the medieval manner,
+and fitly concludes this chapter. We are left absolutely
+in the dark as to whether the knight and the lady came
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_331' name='page_331'></a>331</span>
+together at last. I for one do not blame Marie for this,
+as with the subtle sense of the fitness of things that
+belongs to all great artists she saw how much more
+effective it would be to leave matters as they were
+between the lovers. There are those who will blame
+her for her inconclusiveness; but let them bear in mind
+that just because of what they consider her failing in
+this respect they will not be likely to forget her tale,
+whereas had it ended with wedding-bells they would
+probably have stored it away in some mental attic with
+a thousand other dusty memories.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_332' name='page_332'></a>332</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XII_THE_SAINTS_OF_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_XII_THE_SAINTS_OF_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII: THE SAINTS OF BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">An</span> important department in Breton folk-lore is
+the hagiology of the province&mdash;the legendary
+lore of its saints. This, indeed, holds almost
+as much of the marvellous as its folk-tales, ballads, and
+historical legends, and in perusing the tales of Brittany&rsquo;s
+saintly heroes we have an opportunity of observing how
+the <i>motifs</i> of popular fiction and even of pagan belief
+reflect upon religious romance.</p>
+<p>Just as some mythology is not in itself religious, but
+very often mere fiction fortuitously connected with the
+names of the gods, so hagiology is not of sacerdotal but
+popular origin. For the most part it describes the
+origin of its heroes and accounts for their miracles and
+marvellous deeds by various means, just as mythology
+does. It must be remembered that the primitive saint
+was in close touch with paganism, that, indeed, he had
+frequently to fight the Druid and the magician with his
+own weapons, and therefore we must not be surprised
+if in some of these tales we find him somewhat of a
+magician himself. But he is invariably on the side of
+light, and the things of darkness and evil shrink from
+contact with him.</p>
+<h3><i>St Barbe</i></h3>
+<p>Overlooking the valley of the Ell�, near the beautiful
+and historic village of Le Faouet, is a ledge of rock,
+approached by an almost inaccessible pathway. On
+this ledge stands the chapel of St Barbe, one of the
+strangest and most &lsquo;pagan&rsquo; of the Breton saints. She
+protects those who seek her aid from sudden death,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_333' name='page_333'></a>333</span>
+especially death by lightning. Of recent years popular
+belief has extended her sphere of influence to cover those
+who travel by automobile! She is also regarded as the
+patroness of firemen, at whose annual dinner her statue,
+surrounded by flowers, presides. She is extremely
+popular in Brittany, and once a year, on the last
+Sunday of June, pilgrims arrive at Le Faouet to celebrate
+her festival. Each, as he passes the belfry which
+stands beside the path, pulls the bell-rope, and the
+young men make the tour of a small neighbouring
+chapel, dedicated to St Michel, Lord of Heights. Then
+they drink of a little fountain near at hand and purchase
+amulets, which are supposed to be a preservative against
+sudden death and which are known as &lsquo;Couronnes de
+Ste Barbe.&rsquo; St Barbe is said to have been the daughter
+of a pagan father, and to have been so beautiful that he
+shut her up in a tower and permitted no one to go near
+her. She succeeded, however, in communicating with
+the outer world, and sent a letter to Origen of Alexandria,
+entreating him to instruct her in the Christian
+faith, as she had ceased to believe in the gods of her
+fathers. Origen dispatched one of his monks to her,
+and under his guidance she became a Christian. She
+was called upon to suffer for her faith, for she was
+brought before the Gallo-Roman proconsul, and, since
+she refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, was savagely
+maltreated, and sentenced to be beaten as she walked
+naked through the streets; but she raised her eyes to
+heaven and a cloud descended and hid her from the
+gaze of the impious mortals who would otherwise
+have witnessed her martyrdom. Subsequently she was
+spirited away to the top of a mountain, where, however,
+her presence was betrayed by a shepherd. Her pagan
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_334' name='page_334'></a>334</span>
+father, learning of her hiding-place, quickly ascended
+the height and beheaded her with his own hand.
+The legends of St Barbe abound in strange details,
+which are more intelligible if we regard the Saint as
+being the survival of some elemental goddess connected
+with fire. The vengeance of heaven descended upon
+her enemies, for both her father and the shepherd who
+betrayed her were destroyed, the former being struck
+by lightning on his descent from the mountain, and the
+latter being turned into marble.</p>
+<p>The legend of the foundation of the chapel at Le
+Faouet is illustrative of the strange powers of this
+saint. A Lord of Toulboudou, near Gu�men�, was
+overtaken by a severe thunderstorm while hunting.
+No shelter was available, and as the storm increased in
+fury the huntsmen trembled for their lives, and doubtless
+repeated with much fervour the old Breton charm:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Sainte Barbe et sainte Claire,</p>
+<p>Preservez-moi du tonnerre,</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Si le tonnerre tombe</p>
+<p>Qu&rsquo;il ne tombe pas sur moi!</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>which may be roughly translated:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Saint Barbe the great and sainted Clair,</p>
+<p>Preserve me from the lightning&rsquo;s glare.</p>
+<p>When thunderbolts are flashing red</p>
+<p>Let them not burst upon my head.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>The Lord of Toulboudou, however, was not content
+with praying to the Saint. He vowed that if by her
+intercession he was preserved from death he would
+raise a chapel to her honour on the narrow ledge of
+rock above. No sooner had he made this vow than the
+storm subsided, and safety was once more assured. In
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_335' name='page_335'></a>335</span>
+the ancient archives of Le Faouet we read that on the
+6th of July, 1489, John of Toulboudou bought of John
+of Bouteville, Lord of Faouet, a piece of ground on the
+flank of the Roche-Marche-Bran, twenty-five feet by
+sixteen feet, on which to build a chapel to the honour of
+St Barbe, and there the chapel stands to this day.</p>
+<h3><i>How St Convoyon Stole the Relics</i></h3>
+<p>St Convoyon, first Abbot of Redon (or Rodon) and
+Bishop of Quimper, was of noble birth. He was born
+near Saint-Malo and educated at Vannes under Bishop
+Reginald, who ordained him as deacon and afterward
+as priest. Five clerks attached themselves to him, and
+the company went to dwell together in a forest near the
+river Vilaine, finally establishing themselves at Redon.
+The lord of that district was very favourably inclined
+toward the monastery and sent his son to be educated
+there, and when he himself fell sick and believed his
+last hours to be nigh he caused himself to be carried
+to this religious house, where his hair was shaven to
+the monastic pattern. Contrary to expectation, he recovered,
+and after settling his affairs at his castle he
+returned to Redon, where he died at a later date. St
+Convoyon had some difficulty in obtaining confirmation
+of the grants given to him by this seigneur. He set
+out with a disciple named Gwindeluc to seek the consent
+of Louis the Pious, taking with him a quantity of wax
+from his bees at Redon, intending to present it to
+the King, but he was refused admission to the royal
+presence. But Nomeno�, Governor of Brittany, visited
+Redon, and encouraged the Saint to endeavour once
+more to obtain the King&rsquo;s sanction, and this time Louis
+confirmed the grants.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_336' name='page_336'></a>336</span></div>
+<p>So the monastery of Redon was built and its church
+erected, but, as the chroniclers tell us, &ldquo;there was no
+saintly corpse under its altar to act as palladium to the
+monastery and work miracles to attract pilgrims.&rdquo;
+Convoyon therefore set out for Angers, accompanied
+by two of his monks, and found lodging there with a
+pious man named Hildwall. The latter inquired as to
+the object of their visit to Angers, and with considerable
+hesitation, and only after extracting a promise of secrecy,
+Convoyon confessed that they had come on a body-snatching
+expedition. He asked his friend&rsquo;s advice as
+to what relics they should endeavour to secure. Hildwall
+told him that interred in the cathedral were the
+bones of St Apothemius, a bishop, of whom nothing
+was known save that he was a saint. His bones lay in
+a stone coffin which had a heavy lid. Hildwall added
+that several monks had attempted to steal the relics,
+but in vain. Convoyon and his monks bided their time
+for three days, and then on a dark night, armed with
+crowbars, they set out on their gruesome mission.</p>
+<p>They reached the cathedral, entered, and, after singing
+praises and hymns, raised the coffin lid. Securing the
+bones, they made off with them as quickly as possible,
+and in due course reached Redon with them in safety.
+The reception of the relics was celebrated by the monks
+with great pomp and ceremony. Miracles were at once
+performed, and the popularity of St Apothemius was
+firmly established.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_27' id='linki_27'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs27.jpg' alt='' title='' width='414' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+CONVOYON AND HIS MONKS CARRY OFF THE RELICS OF ST APOTHEMIUS<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>When the Bishop of Vannes died, in 837, the see was
+filled by Susannus, who obtained it by bribery. Convoyon,
+grieved and indignant at the prevalence of
+corruption in the Church, urged Nomeno� to summon
+a council of bishops and abbots and endeavour to put
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_337' name='page_337'></a>337</span>
+a stop to these deplorable practices. At this council
+the canons against simony were read; but the bishops
+retorted that they did not sell Holy Orders, and expected
+no fees&mdash;though they took presents! Susannus
+was, naturally enough, most emphatic about this. At
+length it was decided that a deputation should be sent
+to Rome to obtain an authoritative statement on the
+point, and that it should consist of Susannus of Vannes,
+F�lix of Quimper, and Convoyon, who was to carry
+&ldquo;gold crowns inlaid with jewels&rdquo; as a gift from
+Nomeno� to the Pope. The decision given by Pope
+Leo on the matter is far from clear. The Nantes
+chronicle asserts that Leo made Convoyon a duke, and
+gave him permission to wear a gold coronet. He also
+presented him with a valuable gift&mdash;the bones of
+St Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome and martyr, which
+Convoyon took back with him to Redon and deposited
+in his church there.</p>
+<p>On a later day Nomeno� raised the standard of revolt
+against Charles the Bald of France&mdash;a circumstance
+alluded to in our historical sketch. He ravaged Poitou
+with sword and flame, but respected the abbey of Saint-Florent,
+though, to insult Charles, he forced the monks
+to place a statue of himself on their tower, with the face
+turned defiantly toward France. During Nomeno�&rsquo;s
+absence the monks sent news of his action to the
+hairless monarch, who tore down the statue and erected
+a white stone figure &ldquo;of ludicrous appearance,&rdquo; its
+mocking face turned toward Brittany. In revenge
+Nomeno� burned Saint-Florent to the ground and carried
+off the spoils to enrich the abbey of Redon. The
+success of the Breton chief forced Charles to come to
+terms. Nomeno� and his son, it was agreed, should
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_338' name='page_338'></a>338</span>
+assume the insignia of royalty and hold Rennes, Nantes,
+and all Brittany.</p>
+<p>Convoyon, as we have seen, benefited by the spoils won
+by the Breton champion. Later, as his abbey at
+Redon was situated by a tidal river, and was thus
+exposed to the ravages of the Normans, he and his
+monks moved farther inland to Pl�lan. There he died
+and was buried, about <span class='smcaplc'>A.D.</span> 868, but his body was afterward
+removed to Redon, where he had lived and
+laboured so long. His relics were dispersed during the
+troublous times of the Revolution.</p>
+<h3><i>Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint</i></h3>
+<p>St Tivisiau, or, more correctly, Turiau, has a large
+parish, as, although he was Bishop of Dol, we find him
+venerated as patron saint as far west as Landivisiau.
+He belongs to the earlier half of the seventh century,
+and, unlike most other Armorican ascetics, was of Breton
+origin, his father, Lelian, and his mother, Mageen, being
+graziers on the borders of the romantic and beautiful
+forest of Broceliande. The young Tivisiau was set to
+watch the sheep, and as he did so he steeped his soul in
+the beauty of the wonderful forest land about him, and
+his thoughts formed themselves into lays, which he
+sang as he tended his flock, for, like that other shepherd
+of old, King David, his exquisite voice could clothe his
+beautiful thoughts. The monastery of Balon stood
+near the lad&rsquo;s home, and often he would leave his sheep
+in the wilderness and steal away to listen to the monks
+chanting. Sometimes he joined in the service, and one
+day the Bishop of Dol, paying a visit to this outlying
+portion of his diocese, heard the sweet, clear notes of
+the boy&rsquo;s voice soaring above the lower tones of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_339' name='page_339'></a>339</span>
+monks. Enthralled by its beauty, the Bishop made
+inquiries as to who the singer was, and Tivisiau being
+brought forward, the prelate asked him to sing to him.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_28' id='linki_28'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs28.jpg' alt='' title='' width='420' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+ST TIVISIAU, THE SHEPHERD SAINT<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Again and again did he sing, till at last the Bishop,
+who had lingered as long as he might in the little out-of-the-world
+monastery to listen to the young songster,
+was obliged to take his departure. The boy&rsquo;s personality
+had, however, so won his affection that he arranged
+with the monks of Balon that he should take him to
+Dol, and so it came about that Tivisiau was educated
+at that ancient religious centre, where his voice was
+carefully trained. The Bishop made him his suffragan,
+and, later Abbot of Dol, and when at length he came to
+relinquish the burden of his office he named Tivisiau as
+his successor.</p>
+<p>The story provides a noteworthy example of the power
+exercised in early times by a beautiful voice. But this
+love of music and the susceptibility to the emotion it
+calls forth are not peculiar to any century of Celtdom.
+Love of music, and the temperament that can hear the
+voice of the world&rsquo;s beauty, in music, in poetry, in the
+wild sea that breaks on desolate shores, or in the hushed
+wonder of hills and valleys, is as much a part of the
+Celt as are the thews and the sinews that have helped
+to carry him through the hard days of toil and poverty
+that have been the lot of so many of his race in their
+struggle for existence&mdash;whether in the far-off Outer
+Isles of the mist-wreathed and mystic west coast of
+Scotland, or among the Welsh mountains, or in picturesque
+Brittany, or in the distressful, beautiful, sorrow-haunted
+Green Isle.</p>
+<p>At Landivisiau one finds much exquisite carving in
+the south porch, which is all that remains of the early
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_340' name='page_340'></a>340</span>
+building to show how beautiful must have been the
+church to which it belonged. There is also a very
+ancient and picturesque fountain, known to tradition as
+that of St Tivisiau.</p>
+<h3><i>St Nennocha</i></h3>
+<p>The legend of Nennocha is held to be pure fable, but
+is interesting nevertheless. It tells how a king in Wales,
+called Breochan, had fourteen sons, who all deserted
+him to preach the Gospel. Breochan then made a vow
+that if God would grant him another child he would
+give to the Church a tithe of all his gold and his lands,
+and later on his wife, Moneduc, bore him a daughter,
+whom they baptized Nennocha. Nennocha was sent
+away to a foster father and mother, returning home at
+the age of fourteen. A prince of Ireland sought her
+hand in marriage, but St Germain, who was then at her
+father&rsquo;s palace, persuaded her to embrace the religious
+life, and the disappointed King sadly gave his consent.
+A great multitude assembled to accompany the maiden
+in her renunciation of the world, &ldquo;numbering in its
+midst four bishops and many priests and virgins.&rdquo; We
+are told how they all took ship together and sailed to
+Brittany. The Breton king gave the princess land at
+Ploermel, and there she founded a great monastery,
+where she lived till death claimed her.</p>
+<h3><i>St Enora</i></h3>
+<p>Several old Breton songs tell us the story of St Enora
+(or Honora), the wife of Efflam (already alluded to in
+the chapter on Arthurian legend), but these accounts
+vary very considerably in their details. One account
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_341' name='page_341'></a>341</span>
+giving us &ldquo;stern facts&rdquo; relates how St Efflam was
+betrothed for political reasons to Enora, a Saxon princess,
+and speaks of how impossible it was to expect
+that such a union could prove anything but disastrous
+when it was not a love match. So, whether partly to
+escape from a married life which jarred his susceptibilities,
+or entirely on account of his religious asceticism,
+Efflam left his wife and crossed to Brittany to lead the
+life of a religious hermit. One of the Breton songs gives
+the beginning of the story in a much more picturesque
+way. It relates how Enora, &ldquo;beautiful as an angel,&rdquo;
+had many suitors, but would give her hand to none save
+the Prince Efflam, &ldquo;son of a stranger King.&rdquo; But
+Efflam, torn by the desire to lead the religious life, far
+away from the world, rose &ldquo;in the midst of the night,
+his wedding night,&rdquo; and crept softly away, no one seeing
+him save his faithful dog, which he loved. So he came
+to the seashore and crossed to Brittany. The story of
+his landing and his meeting with Arthur has already
+been told, and we have seen how his fate was once more,
+by divine agency, linked with that of Enora. The song
+tells us how the angels carried the princess over the sea
+and set her on the door-sill of her husband&rsquo;s cell. Presently
+she awoke, and, finding herself there, she knocked
+three times and cried out to her husband that she was
+&ldquo;his sweetheart, his wife,&rdquo; whom God had sent. St
+Efflam, knowing her voice, came out, and &ldquo;with many
+godly words he took her hand in his.&rdquo; One account
+says that he sent her to the south of Brittany to found a
+convent for nuns, as he wished to devote his life entirely
+to the service of God and the contemplation of nature.
+All versions agree on the point that he built a hut for
+her beside his own, and one story relates how he made
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_342' name='page_342'></a>342</span>
+her wear a veil over her face and only spoke to her
+through the door! But one Breton song with more
+of the matter of poetry in it than the rest tells how
+the little hut he built for her was shaded by green bushes
+and sheltered by a rock, and that there they lived, side
+by side, for a long and happy time, while the fame of
+the miracles they wrought spread through the land.
+Then one night some sailors on the sea &ldquo;saw the sky
+open and heard a burst of heavenly music,&rdquo; and next
+day when a poor woman took her sick child to Enora
+to beg for her aid she could get no response, and looking
+in she beheld the royal lady lying dead. The humble
+place was alight with her radiance, and near her a little
+boy in white was kneeling. The woman then ran to
+tell St Efflam of her discovery, only to find that he too
+was lying dead in his cell.</p>
+<h3><i>Corseul the Accursed</i></h3>
+<p>The town of Corseul has sunk into insignificance, and
+its failure to achieve prosperity is said to be due to its
+covert hostility to St Malo&mdash;or, as he is more correctly
+called, Machutes. Coming to Brittany on missionary
+enterprise, the Saint found that Christianity had not
+penetrated to the district of Corseul, where the old
+pagan worship still obtained. He therefore decided
+that his work must lie chiefly among the Curiosolites
+of that land, and determined that his first celebration
+of Easter Mass there should take place in the very
+centre of the pagan worship, the temple of Haute-B�cherel.
+The people of the district received him
+coldly, but without open hostility, and he and his monks
+prepared for the Christian festival in the pagan shrine,
+to find to their dismay that they had omitted to bring
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_343' name='page_343'></a>343</span>
+either chalice or wine for the Eucharist. Several of
+the monks were sent into the town to buy these, but in
+all Corseul they could find no one willing to sell either
+cup or wine, because of the hostility of the idolatrous
+folk of the place. At last the Saint performed a miracle
+to provide these necessaries, but he never forgave the
+insult to his religion, and while he founded monasteries
+broadcast over his diocese he avoided Corseul, and as
+Christianity became more and more universal the pagan
+town gradually paid the penalty of its enmity to the
+cause of Christ.</p>
+<h3><i>St Keenan</i></h3>
+<p>St Keenan (sixth century) was surnamed Colodoc, or
+&ldquo;He who loves to lose himself,&rdquo; a beautiful epitome of
+his character. As in so many instances in the chronicles
+of Breton hagiology, confusion regarding St Keenan
+has arisen among a multiplicity of chronicles. He
+seems to have been a native of Connaught, whence he
+crossed into Wales and became a disciple of Gildas.</p>
+<p>He was told to &ldquo;go forward&rdquo; carrying a little bell, until
+he reached a place called Ros-ynys, where the bell
+would ring of itself, and there he would find rest. He
+asked Gildas to provide him with a bell, but the abbot
+could only supply him with a small piece of metal.
+Keenan, however, blessed this, and it grew until it
+was large enough for a good bell to be cast from it.
+Thus equipped, the Saint set out, and journeyed until
+he reached an arm of the sea, where he sat down on
+the grass to rest. While lying at his ease he heard
+a herdsman call to his fellow: &ldquo;Brother, have you seen
+my cows anywhere?&rdquo; &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied the other, &ldquo;I
+saw them at Ros-ynys.&rdquo; Rejoicing greatly at finding
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_344' name='page_344'></a>344</span>
+himself in the vicinity of the place he sought, Keenan
+descended to the shore, which has since been called
+by his name. Greatly athirst, he struck a rock with
+his staff, and water gushed forth in answer to the stroke.
+Taking ship, he crossed the firth and entered a little
+wood. All at once, to his extreme joy, the bell he
+carried commenced to tinkle, and he knew he had
+reached the end of his journey&mdash;the valley of Ros-ynys,
+afterward St David&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>Later, deciding to cross to Brittany with his disciples,
+Keenan dispatched some of his company to beg for
+corn for their journey from a merchant at Landegu.
+They met with a gruff refusal, but the merchant
+mockingly informed them they could have the corn
+if they carried off the whole of his barge-load. When
+the Saint embarked the barge broke its moorings and
+floated after him all the way! He landed at Cl�der,
+where he built a monastery, which he enriched with
+a copy of the Gospels transcribed by his own hand.</p>
+<p>The fatal contest between King Arthur and Modred,
+his nephew, caused Keenan to return to Britain, and
+he is said to have been present at the battle of Camelot
+and to have comforted Guinevere after the death of
+her royal husband, exhorting her to enter a convent.
+He afterward returned to Cl�der, where he died. The
+monastery fell into ruin, and the place of his burial
+was forgotten, till one night an angel appeared in a
+vision to one of the inhabitants of Cl�der and bade
+him exhume the bones of the Saint, which he would
+find at a certain spot. This the man did, and the relics
+were recovered. A fragment of them is preserved in
+the cathedral of Saint-Brieuc. St Keenan is popularly
+known in Brittany as St K�, or St Quay.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_345' name='page_345'></a>345</span></div>
+<h3><i>St Nicholas</i></h3>
+<p>One very interesting and curious saint is St Nicholas,
+whose cult cannot be traced to any Christian source,
+and who is most probably the survival of some pagan
+divinity. He is specially the saint of seafaring men,
+and is believed to bring them good luck, asking nothing
+in return save that they shall visit his shrine whenever
+they happen to pass. This is a somewhat dilapidated
+chapel at Land�vennec, of which the seamen seem to
+show their appreciation, if one may judge from the
+fact that the little path leading up to it is exceedingly
+well worn.</p>
+<h3><i>St Bieuzy</i></h3>
+<p>St Bieuzy was a friend and disciple of St Gildas. Flying
+from England at the coming of the Saxons, they
+crossed to Brittany and settled there, one of their
+favourite retreats being the exquisite La Roche-sur-Blavet,
+where they took up their abode in the shadow
+of the great rock and built a rough wooden shelter.
+The chapel there shows the &lsquo;bell&rsquo; of St Gildas, and
+by the river is a great boulder hollowed like a chair,
+where Bieuzy was wont to sit and fish. St Bieuzy, however,
+possessed thaumaturgical resources of his own,
+having the gift of curing hydrophobia, and the hermitage
+of La Roche-sur-Blavet became so thronged by
+those seeking his aid that only by making a private
+way to the top of the great rock could he obtain respite
+to say his prayers. This gift of his was the cause of
+his tragic death. One day as he was celebrating Mass
+the servant of a pagan chief ran into the chapel, crying
+out that his master&rsquo;s dogs had gone mad, and demanding
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_346' name='page_346'></a>346</span>
+that Bieuzy should come immediately and cure them.
+Bieuzy was unwilling to interrupt the sacred service
+and displeased at the irreverence of the demand, and
+the servant returned to his master, who rushed into
+the chapel and in his savage frenzy struck the Saint
+such a blow with his sword that he cleft his head in
+twain. The heroic Saint completed the celebration of
+Mass&mdash;the sword still in the wound&mdash;and then, followed
+by the whole congregation, he walked to the monastery
+of Rhuys, where he received the blessing of his beloved
+St Gildas, and fell dead at his feet. He was buried
+in the church, and a fountain at Rhuys was dedicated
+to him. It is satisfactory to note that the entire establishment
+of the murderer of the Saint is said to have
+perished of hydrophobia!</p>
+<h3><i>St Leonorius</i></h3>
+<p>St Leonorius, or L�onore (sixth century), was a disciple
+of St Iltud, of Wales, and was ordained by St Dubricus;
+he crossed to Brittany in early life. The legend that
+most closely attaches to his name is one of the most
+beautiful of all the Breton beliefs, and is full of the
+poetry and romance that exist for the Celt in all the
+living things around him. The Saint and his monks
+had worked hard to till their ground&mdash;for the labours
+of holy men included many duties in addition to religious
+ministrations&mdash;but when they came to sow the seed they
+found that they had omitted to provide themselves with
+wheat! All their labour seemed in vain, and they were
+greatly distressed as to what they would do for food if
+they had no harvest to look forward to, when suddenly
+they saw, perched on a little wayside cross, a tiny robin
+redbreast holding in its beak an ear of wheat! The
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_347' name='page_347'></a>347</span>
+monks joyfully took the grain, and, sowing it, reaped
+an abundant harvest! Accounts vary somewhat in the
+details of this story. Some say that the bird led the
+monks to a store of grain, and others question the fact
+that the bird was a robin, but the popular idea is that
+the robin proffered the grain, and so universal and so
+strong is this belief that &ldquo;Robin Redbreast&rsquo;s corn&rdquo;
+is a byword in Brittany for &ldquo;small beginnings that
+prosper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Saint is said to have possessed the most marvellous
+attainments. We are told that he learnt the alphabet
+in one day, the &ldquo;art of spelling&rdquo; the following day, and
+calligraphy the next! He is also said to have been a
+bishop at the age of fifteen. Tradition avers that he
+ploughed the land with stags, and that an altar was
+brought to him from the depth of the sea by two wild
+pigeons to serve for his ministrations. The circumstance
+that animals or birds were employed&mdash;predominantly
+the latter&mdash;as the divine means of rendering aid to the
+Saint is common to many of these legends. We thus
+have saintly romance linked with the &lsquo;friendly animals&rsquo;
+formula of folk-lore.</p>
+<h3><i>St Patern</i></h3>
+<p>Many quaint and pretty stories are told of the childhood
+and youth of St Patern, the patron saint of Vannes.
+His intense religious fervour was probably inherited
+from his father, Petranus, who, we are told, left his wife
+and infant son and crossed to Ireland to embrace the
+life religious. One day as his mother sat by the open
+window making a dress for her baby she was called
+away, and left the little garment lying on the sill. A
+bird flew past, and, attracted by the soft woollen stuff,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_348' name='page_348'></a>348</span>
+carried it off to line its nest. A year later when the
+nest was destroyed the dress was discovered as fresh
+and clean as when it was stolen&mdash;a piece of symbolism
+foretelling the purity and holiness of the future
+saint.</p>
+<p>As soon as the child could speak his mother sent him to
+school. She hoped great things from the quiet, earnest
+boy, in whom she had observed signs of fervent piety.
+One day he came home and asked his mother where his
+father was. &ldquo;All the other boys have fathers,&rdquo; he said;
+&ldquo;where is mine?&rdquo; His mother sadly told him that his
+father, wishing to serve God more perfectly than it was
+possible for him to do at home, had gone to Ireland to
+become a monk. &ldquo;Thither shall I go too, when I&rsquo;m a
+man,&rdquo; said Patern, and he made a resolve that when he
+grew up he would also enter a monastery. Accordingly,
+having finished his studies in the monastery of Rhuys,
+he set out for Britain, where he founded two religious
+houses, and then crossed to Ireland, where he met his
+father. Eventually he returned to Vannes, as one of
+the nine bishops of Brittany, but he did not agree with
+his brethren regarding certain ecclesiastical laws, and
+at last, not wishing to &ldquo;lose his patience,&rdquo; he abandoned
+his diocese and went to France, where he ended his days
+as a simple monk.</p>
+<p>There is an interesting legend to account for the foundation
+of the church of St Patern at Vannes. We are
+told how for three years after Patern left Vannes the
+people were afflicted by a dreadful famine. No rain
+fell, and the distress was great. At length it was
+remembered that Patern had departed without giving
+the people his blessing, and at once &ldquo;a pilgrimage set
+forth to bring back his sacred body, that it might rest
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_349' name='page_349'></a>349</span>
+in his own episcopal town.&rdquo; But the body of the blessed
+Patern &ldquo;refused to be removed,&rdquo; until one of the
+pilgrims, who had before denied the bishop a certain
+piece of ground, promised to gift it to his memory and
+to build a church on it to the Saint&rsquo;s honour, whereupon
+the body became light enough to be lifted from the
+grave and conveyed to Vannes. No sooner had the
+sacred corpse entered Vannes than rain fell in torrents.
+Hagiology abounds in instances of this description, which
+in many respects bring it into line with mythology.</p>
+<h3><i>St Samson</i></h3>
+<p>We have already related the story of Samson&rsquo;s birth.
+Another legend regarding him tells how one day when
+the youths attached to the monastery where he dwelt
+were out winnowing corn one of the monks was bitten
+by an adder and fainted with fright. Samson ran to
+St Iltud to tell the news, with tears in his eyes, and
+begged to be allowed to attempt the cure of the monk.
+Iltud gave him permission, and Samson, full of faith and
+enthusiasm, rubbed the bite with oil, and by degrees
+the monk recovered. After this Samson&rsquo;s fame grew
+apace. Indeed, we are told that the monks grew jealous
+of him and attempted to poison him. He was ordained
+a bishop at York, and lived a most austere life, though
+his humanity was very apparent in his love for animals.</p>
+<p>He was made abbot of a monastery, and endeavoured
+to instil temperance into the monks, but at length gave
+up the attempt in despair and settled in a cave at the
+mouth of the Severn. Then one night &ldquo;a tall man&rdquo;
+appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to
+Armorica, saying to him&mdash;so the legend goes: &ldquo;Thou
+goest by the sea, and where thou wilt disembark thou
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_350' name='page_350'></a>350</span>
+shalt find a well. Over this thou wilt build a church,
+and around it will group the houses forming the city of
+which thou wilt be a bishop.&rdquo; All of which came to
+pass, and for ages the town has been known as the
+episcopal city of Dol. Accompanied by forty monks,
+Samson crossed the Channel and landed in the Bay of
+Saint-Brieuc. One version of the story tells us that the
+Saint and numerous other monks fled from Britain to
+escape the Saxon tyranny, and that Samson and six
+of his suffragans who crossed the sea with him were
+known as the &lsquo;Seven Saints of Brittany.&rsquo;</p>
+<h3><i>Brittany&rsquo;s Lawyer Saint</i></h3>
+<p>Few prosperous and wealthy countries produce saints
+in any great number, and in proof of the converse of
+this we find much hagiology in Brittany and Ireland.
+Let lawyers take note that while many saints spring
+from among the <i>bourgeoisie</i> they include few legal men.
+An outstanding exception to this rule is St Yves (or
+Yvo), probably the best known, and almost certainly
+the most beloved, saint in Brittany. St Yves is the only
+regularly canonized Breton saint. He was born at
+Kermartin, near Tr�guier, in 1253, his father being lord
+of that place. The house where he first saw the light
+was pulled down in 1834, but the bed in which he
+was born is still preserved and shown. His name is
+borne by the majority of the inhabitants of the districts
+of Tr�guier and Saint-Brieuc, and one authority tells us
+how &ldquo;in the Breton tongue his praises are sung as
+follows:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>N&rsquo;hen eus ket en Breiz, n&rsquo;hen eus ket unan,</p>
+<p>N&rsquo;hen eus ket uer Zant evel Sant Erwan.</p>
+</div></div>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_351' name='page_351'></a>351</span></div>
+<p>This, in French, runs:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Il n&rsquo;y a pas en Bretagne, il n&rsquo;y en a pas un,</p>
+<p>Il n&rsquo;y a pas un saint comme saint Yves.&rdquo;</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>He began his legal education when he was fourteen,
+and studied law in the schools of Paris, becoming an
+ecclesiastical judge, and later (1285) an ordained priest
+and incumbent of Tredrig. Subsequently he was made
+incumbent of Lohanec, which post he held till his death.
+As a judge he possessed a quality rare in those days&mdash;he
+was inaccessible to bribery! That this was
+appreciated we find in the following <i>bon mot</i>:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>Saint Yves �tait Breton,</p>
+<p>Avocat et pas larron:</p>
+<p>Chose rare, se dit-on.</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>He invariably endeavoured to induce disputants to settle
+their quarrels &lsquo;out of court&rsquo; if possible, and applied his
+talents to defending the cause of the poor and oppressed,
+without fee. He was known as &lsquo;the poor man&rsquo;s
+advocate,&rsquo; and to-day in the department of the C�tes-du-Nord,
+when a debtor repudiates his debt, the creditor
+will pay for a Mass to St Yves, in the hope that he will
+cause the defaulter to die within the year! St Yves de
+V�rit� is the special patron of lawyers, and is represented
+in the <i>mortier</i>, or lawyer&rsquo;s cap, and robe.</p>
+<p>St Yves spent most of his income in charity, turning his
+house into an orphanage, and many are the stories told
+of his humanity and generosity. The depth of his
+sympathy, and its practical result, are shown in an
+incident told us of how one morning he found a poor,
+half-naked man lying on his doorstep shivering with
+cold, having spent the night there. Yves gave up his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_352' name='page_352'></a>352</span>
+bed to the beggar the next night, and himself slept on
+the doorstep, desiring to learn by personal experience
+the sufferings of the poor. On another occasion, while
+being fitted with a new coat, he caught sight of a
+miserable man on the pavement outside who was clad
+in rags and tatters that showed his skin through many
+rents. Yves tore off the new coat and, rushing out,
+gave it to the beggar, saying to the astonished and
+horrified tailor: &ldquo;There is plenty of wear still in my
+old coats. I will content myself with them.&rdquo; His pity
+and generosity led him to still further kindness when he
+was visiting a hospital and saw how ill-clad some of the
+patients were, for he actually gave them the clothes he
+was wearing at the time, wrapping himself in a coverlet
+till he had other garments sent to him from home. He
+was wont to walk beside the ploughmen in the fields and
+teach them prayers. He would sit on the moors beside
+the shepherd-boys and instruct them in the use of the
+rosary; and often he would stop little children in the street,
+and gain their interest and affection by his gentleness.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_29' id='linki_29'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs29.jpg' alt='' title='' width='411' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+ST YVES INSTRUCTING SHEPHERD-BOYS IN THE USE OF THE ROSARY<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>His shrewd legal mind was of service to the poor in
+other ways than in the giving of advice. A story is
+told of how two rogues brought a heavy chest to a
+widow, declaring it to contain twelve hundred pieces
+of gold and asking her to take charge of it. Some
+weeks later one of them returned, claimed the box, and
+removed it. A few days later the second of the men
+arrived and asked for the box, and when the poor
+woman could not produce it he took her to court and
+sued her for the gold it had contained. Yves, on
+hearing that the case was going against the woman,
+offered to defend her, and pleaded that his client was
+ready to restore the gold, but only to both the men who
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_353' name='page_353'></a>353</span>
+had committed it to her charge, and that therefore both
+must appear to claim it. This was a blow to the rogues,
+who attempted to escape, and, failing to do so, at length
+confessed that they had plotted to extort money from
+the widow, the chest containing nothing but pieces of
+old iron.</p>
+<p>Yves was so eloquent and earnest a preacher that
+he was continually receiving requests to attend other
+churches, which he never refused. On the Good Friday
+before his death he preached in seven different parishes.
+He died at the age of fifty, and was buried at Tr�guier.
+Duke John V, who founded the Chapelle du Duc, had a
+special regard for Yves, and erected a magnificent tomb
+to his memory, which was for three centuries the object
+of veneration in Brittany.</p>
+<p>During the French Revolution the reliquary of St Yves
+was destroyed, but his bones were preserved and have
+been re-enshrined at Tr�guier. His last will and testament&mdash;leaving
+all his goods to the poor&mdash;is preserved,
+together with his breviary, in the sacristy of the church
+at Minihy.</p>
+<p>The Saint is generally represented with a cat as his
+symbol&mdash;typifying the lawyer&rsquo;s watchful character&mdash;but
+this hardly seems a fitting emblem for such a beautiful
+character as St Yves.</p>
+<h3><i>St Budoc of Dol</i></h3>
+<p>The legend of St Budoc of Dol presents several peculiar
+features. It was first recited by professional minstrels,
+then &ldquo;passed into the sanctuary, and was read in prose
+in cathedral and church choirs as a narrative of facts,&rdquo;
+although it seems curious that it could have been held
+to be other than fiction.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_354' name='page_354'></a>354</span></div>
+<p>A Count of Goelc, in Brittany, sought in marriage
+Az�nor, &ldquo;tall as a palm, bright as a star,&rdquo; but they had
+not been wedded a year when Az�nor&rsquo;s father married
+again, and his new wife, jealous of her stepdaughter,
+hated her and determined to ruin her. Accordingly she
+set to work to implant suspicion as to Az�nor&rsquo;s purity
+in the minds of her father and husband, and the Count
+shut his wife up in a tower and forbade her to speak to
+anyone. Here all the poor Countess could do was to
+pray to her patron saint, the Holy Bridget of Ireland.</p>
+<p>Her stepmother, however, was not content with the
+evil she had already wrought, and would not rest until
+she had brought about Az�nor&rsquo;s death. She continued
+her calumnies, and at length the Count assembled all his
+barons and his court to judge his wife. The unfortunate
+and innocent Countess was brought into the hall for
+trial, and, seated on a little stool in the midst of the
+floor, the charges were read to her and she was called
+upon to give her reply. With tears she protested her
+innocence, but in spite of the fact that no proof could
+be brought against her she was sent in disgrace to her
+father in Brest. He in turn sat in judgment upon her,
+and condemned her to death, the sentence being that
+she should be placed in a barrel and cast into the sea,
+&ldquo;to be carried where the winds and tides listed.&rdquo; We
+are told that the barrel floated five months, &ldquo;tossing up
+and down&rdquo;&mdash;during which time Az�nor was supplied
+with food by an angel, who passed it to her through the
+bung-hole.</p>
+<p>During these five months, the legend continues, the
+poor Countess became a mother, the angel and St
+Bridget watching over her. As soon as the child was
+born his mother made the sign of the Cross upon him,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_355' name='page_355'></a>355</span>
+made him kiss a crucifix, and patiently waited the
+coming of an opportunity to have him baptized. The
+child began to speak while in the cask. At last the
+barrel rolled ashore at Youghal Harbour, in the county
+of Cork. An Irish peasant, thinking he had found a
+barrel of wine, was proceeding to tap it with a gimlet
+when he heard a voice from within say: &ldquo;Do not
+injure the cask.&rdquo; Greatly astonished, the man demanded
+who was inside, and the voice replied: &ldquo;I am a child
+desiring baptism. Go at once to the abbot of the
+monastery to which this land belongs, and bid him come
+and baptize me.&rdquo; The Irishman ran to the abbot with
+the message, but he not unnaturally declined to believe
+the story, till, with a true Hibernian touch, the peasant
+asked him if it were likely that he would have told &lsquo;his
+reverence&rsquo; anything about his find had there been
+&ldquo;anything better than a baby&rdquo; in the barrel! Accordingly
+the abbot hastened to the shore, opened the cask,
+and freed the long-suffering Countess of Goelc and her
+son, the latter of whom he christened by the name of
+Budoc, and took under his care.</p>
+<p>Meantime, the &ldquo;wicked stepmother,&rdquo; falling ill and
+being at the point of death, became frightened when she
+thought of her sin against Az�nor, and confessed the
+lies by which she had wrought the ruin of the Countess.
+The Count, overcome by remorse and grief, set out in
+quest of his wife. Good luck led him to Ireland,
+where he disembarked at Youghal and found his lost
+ones. With great rejoicing he had a stately ship
+made ready, and prepared to set out for Brittany with
+Az�nor and Budoc, but died before he could embark.
+Az�nor remained in Ireland and devoted herself to good
+works and to the training of her son, who from an early
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_356' name='page_356'></a>356</span>
+age resolved to embrace the religious life, and was in
+due course made a monk by the Abbot of Youghal.
+His mother died, and on the death of the Abbot of
+Youghal he was elected to rule the monastery. Later,
+upon the death of the King of Ireland, the natives
+raised Budoc to the temporal and spiritual thrones,
+making him King of Ireland and Bishop of Armagh.</p>
+<p>After two years he wished to retire from these honours,
+but the people were &ldquo;wild with despair&rdquo; at the tidings,
+and surrounded the palace lest he should escape. One
+night, while praying in his metropolitan church, an angel
+appeared to him, bidding him betake himself to Brittany.
+Going down to the seashore, it was indicated to him
+that he must make the voyage in a stone trough. On
+entering this it began to move, and he was borne across
+to Brittany, landing at Porspoder, in the diocese of
+L�on. The people of that district drew the stone coffer
+out of the water, and built a hermitage and a chapel for
+the Saint&rsquo;s convenience. Budoc dwelt for one year at
+Porspoder, but, &ldquo;disliking the roar of the waves,&rdquo; he
+had his stone trough mounted on a cart, and yoking two
+oxen to it he set forth, resolved to follow them wherever
+they might go and establish himself at whatever place
+they might halt. The cart broke down at Plourin, and
+there Budoc settled for a short time; but trouble with
+disorderly nobles forced him to depart, and this time
+he went to Dol, where he was well received by St
+Malglorious, then its bishop, who soon after resigned his
+see to Budoc. The Saint ruled at Dol for twenty years,
+and died early in the seventh century.</p>
+<p>Another Celtic myth of the same type is to be found on
+the shores of the Firth of Forth. The story in question
+deals with the birth of St Mungo, or St Kentigern, the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_357' name='page_357'></a>357</span>
+patron saint of Glasgow. His mother was Thenaw,
+the Christian daughter of the pagan King Lot of
+Lothian, brother-in-law of King Arthur, from his
+marriage with Arthur&rsquo;s sister Margawse. Thus the
+famous Gawaine would be Thenaw&rsquo;s brother. Thenaw
+met Ewen, the son of <a name='TC_6'></a><ins title="Was 'Eufeurien'">Eufuerien</ins>, King of Cumbria, and
+fell deeply in love with him, but her father discovered
+her disgrace and ordered her to be cast headlong from
+the summit of Traprain Law, once known as Dunpender,
+a mountain in East Lothian. A kindly fate watched
+over the princess, however, and she fell so softly from
+the eminence that she was uninjured. Such Christian
+subjects as Lot possessed begged her life. But if her
+father might have relented his Druids were inexorable.
+They branded her as a sorceress, and she was doomed
+to death by drowning. She was accordingly rowed out
+from Aberlady Bay to the vicinity of the Isle of May,
+where, seated in a skin boat, she was left to the mercy
+of the waves. In this terrible situation she cast herself
+upon the grace of Heaven, and her frail craft was wafted
+up the Forth, where it drifted ashore near Culross. At
+this spot Kentigern was born, and the mother and child
+were shortly afterward discovered by some shepherds,
+who placed them under the care of St Serf, Abbot
+of Culross. To these events the date <span class='smcaplc'>A.D.</span> 516 is
+assigned.</p>
+<h3><i>&lsquo;Fatal Children&rsquo; Legends</i></h3>
+<p>This legend is, of course, closely allied with those which
+recount the fate and adventures of the &lsquo;fatal children.&rsquo;
+Like &OElig;dipus, Romulus, Perseus, and others, Budoc
+and Kentigern are obviously &lsquo;fatal children,&rsquo; as is
+evidenced by the circumstances of their birth. We
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_358' name='page_358'></a>358</span>
+are not told that King Lot or Az�nor&rsquo;s father had
+been warned that if their daughters had a son they
+would be slain by that child, but it is probably only
+the saintly nature of the subject of the stories which
+caused this circumstance to be omitted. Dana�, the
+mother of Perseus, we remember, was, when disgraced,
+shut up in a chest with her child, and committed to the
+waves, which carried her to the island of Seriphos,
+where she was duly rescued. Romulus and his brother
+Remus were thrown into the Tiber, and escaped a
+similar fate. The Princess Desonelle and her twin
+sons, in the old English metrical romance of <i>Sir
+Torrent of Portugal</i>, are also cast into the sea, but
+succeed in making the shore of a far country. All
+these children grow up endowed with marvellous beauty
+and strength, but their doom is upon them, and after
+numerous adventures they slay their fathers or some
+other unfortunate relative. But the most characteristic
+part of what seems an almost universal legend
+is that these children are born in the most obscure
+circumstances, afterward rising to a height of splendour
+which makes up for all they previously suffered. It is
+not necessary to explain nowadays that this is characteristic
+of nearly all sun-myths. The sun is born in
+obscurity, and rises to a height of splendour at midday.</p>
+<p>Thus in the majority of these legends we find the sun
+personified. It is not sufficient to object that such an
+elucidation smacks too much of the tactics of Max
+M�ller to be accepted by modern students of folk-lore.
+The student of comparative myth who does not make
+use of the best in all systems of mythological elucidation
+is undone, for no one system will serve for all examples.</p>
+<p>To those who may object, &ldquo;Oh, but Kentigern was a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_359' name='page_359'></a>359</span>
+<i>real</i> person,&rdquo; I reply that I know many myths concerning
+&lsquo;real&rsquo; people. For the matter of that, we assist in the
+manufacture of these every day of our lives, and it is
+quite a fallacy that legends cannot spring up concerning
+veritable historical personages, and even around living,
+breathing folk. And for the rest of it mythology and
+hagiology are hopelessly intermingled in their <i>motifs</i>.</p>
+<h3><i>Miraculous Crossings</i></h3>
+<p>Another Celtic saint besides Budoc possessed a stone
+boat. He is St Baldred, who, like Kentigern, hails
+from the Firth of Forth, and dwelt on the Bass Rock.
+He is said to have chosen this drear abode as a refuge
+from the eternal wars between the Picts and the Scots
+toward the close of the seventh century. From this
+point of vantage, and probably during seasons of truce,
+he rowed to the mainland to minister to the spiritual
+wants of the rude natives of Lothian. Inveresk seems
+to have been the eastern border of his &lsquo;parish.&rsquo; Tradition
+says that he was the second Bishop of Glasgow,
+and thus the successor of Kentigern, but the lack of
+all reliable data concerning the western see subsequent
+to the death of Glasgow&rsquo;s patron saint makes it impossible
+to say whether this statement is authentic or
+otherwise. Many miracles are attributed to Baldred,
+not the least striking of which is that concerning a rock
+to the east of Tantallon Castle, known as &lsquo;St Baldred&rsquo;s
+Boat.&rsquo; At one time this rock was situated between the
+Bass and the adjacent mainland, and was a fruitful
+source of shipwreck. Baldred, pitying the mariners
+who had to navigate the Firth, and risk this danger,
+rowed out to the rock and mounted upon it; whereupon,
+at his simple nod, it was lifted up, and, like a ship
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_360' name='page_360'></a>360</span>
+driven by the wind, was wafted to the nearest shore,
+where it thenceforth remained. This rock is sometimes
+called &lsquo;St Baldred&rsquo;s Coble,&rsquo; or &lsquo;Cock-boat.&rsquo; This species
+of miracle is more commonly discovered in the annals of
+hagiology than in those of pure myth, although in legend
+we occasionally find the landscape altered by order of
+supernatural or semi-supernatural beings.</p>
+<p>One rather striking instance of miraculous crossing is
+that of St Noyala, who is said to have crossed to
+Brittany on the leaf of a tree, accompanied by her
+nurse. She was beheaded at Beignon, but walked to
+Pontivy carrying her head in her hands. A chapel
+at Pontivy is dedicated to her, and was remarkable in
+the eighteenth century for several interesting paintings
+on a gold ground depicting this legend.</p>
+<p>We find this incident of miraculous crossing occurring
+in the stories of many of the Breton saints. A noteworthy
+instance is that of St Tugdual, who, with his
+followers, crossed in a ship which vanished when they
+disembarked. Still another example is found in the
+case of St Vougas, or Vie, who is specially venerated
+in Tr�guennec. He is thought to have been an Irish
+bishop, and is believed to have mounted a stone and
+sailed across to Brittany upon it. This particular
+version of the popular belief may have sprung from the
+fact that there is a rock off the coast of Brittany called
+&lsquo;the Ship,&rsquo; from a fancied resemblance to one. In
+course of time this rock was affirmed to have been the
+ship of St Vougas.</p>
+<h3><i>Az�nor the Pale</i></h3>
+<p>There is a story of another Az�nor, who, according to
+local history, married Yves, heritor of Kermorvan, in the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_361' name='page_361'></a>361</span>
+year 1400. A popular ballad of Cornouaille tells how
+this Az�nor, who was surnamed &lsquo;the Pale,&rsquo; did not love
+her lord, but gave her heart to another, the Clerk of
+Mezl�an.</p>
+<p>One day she sat musing by a forest fountain, dressed in
+a robe of yellow silk, wantonly plucking the flowers
+which grew on the mossy parapet of the spring and
+binding them into a bouquet for the Clerk of Mezl�an.</p>
+<p>The Seigneur Yves, passing by on his white steed at
+a hand-gallop, observed her &ldquo;with the corner of his
+eye,&rdquo; and conceived a violent love for her.</p>
+<p>The Clerk of Mezl�an had been true to Az�nor for many
+a day, but he was poor and her parents would have none
+of him.</p>
+<p>One morning as Az�nor descended to the courtyard she
+observed great preparations on foot as if for a festival.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For what reason,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;has this great fire been
+kindled, and why have they placed two spits in front of
+it? What is happening in this house, and why have
+these fiddlers come?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Those whom she asked smiled meaningly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To-morrow is your wedding-day,&rdquo; said they.</p>
+<p>At this Az�nor the Pale grew still paler, and was long
+silent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If that be so,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;it will be well that I seek my
+marriage chamber early, for from my bed I shall not be
+raised except for burial.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>That night her little page stole through the window.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;a great and brilliant company come
+hither. The Seigneur Yves is at their head, and behind
+him ride cavaliers and a long train of gentlemen. He
+is mounted on a white horse, with trappings of gold.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Az�nor wept sorely.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_362' name='page_362'></a>362</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Unhappy the hour that he comes!&rdquo; she cried, wringing
+her hands. &ldquo;Unhappy be my father and mother who
+have done this thing!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Sorely wept Az�nor when going to the church that day.
+She set forth with her intended husband, riding on the
+crupper of his horse. Passing by Mezl�an she said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I pray you let me enter this house, Seigneur, for I am
+fatigued with the journey, and would rest for a space.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That may not be to-day,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;to-morrow, if
+you wish it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At this Az�nor wept afresh, but was comforted by her
+little page. At the church door one could see that her
+heart was breaking.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Approach, my daughter,&rdquo; said the aged priest. &ldquo;Draw
+near, that I may place the ring upon your finger.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Father,&rdquo; replied Az�nor, &ldquo;I beg of you not to force
+me to wed him whom I do not love.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;These are wicked words, my child. The Seigneur
+Yves is wealthy, he has gold and silver, ch�teaux and
+broad lands, but the Clerk of Mezl�an is poor.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor he may be, Father,&rdquo; murmured Az�nor, &ldquo;yet had
+I rather beg my bread with him than dwell softly with
+this other.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But her relentless parents would not hearken to her
+protestations, and she was wed to the Lord Yves. On
+arriving at her husband&rsquo;s house she was met by the
+Seigneur&rsquo;s mother, who received her graciously, but
+only one word did Az�nor speak, that old refrain that
+runs through all ballad poetry.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me, O my mother,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;is my bed made?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is, my child,&rdquo; replied the ch�telaine. &ldquo;It is next
+the Chamber of the Black Cavalier. Follow me and I
+will take you thither.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_363' name='page_363'></a>363</span></div>
+<p>Once within the chamber, Az�nor, wounded to the soul,
+fell upon her knees, her fair hair falling about her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My God,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;have pity upon me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Seigneur Yves sought out his mother.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mother of mine,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;where is my wife?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She sleeps in her high chamber,&rdquo; replied his mother.
+&ldquo;Go to her and console her, for she is sadly in need of
+comfort.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Seigneur entered. &ldquo;Do you sleep?&rdquo; he asked
+Az�nor.</p>
+<p>She turned in her bed and looked fixedly at him.
+&ldquo;Good morrow to you, widower,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By the saints,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;what mean you? Why do
+you call me widower?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Seigneur,&rdquo; she said meaningly, &ldquo;it is true that you are
+not a widower yet, but soon you will be.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Then, her mind wandering, she continued: &ldquo;Here is my
+wedding gown; give it, I pray you, to my little servant,
+who has been so good to me and who carried my letters
+to the Clerk of Mezl�an. Here is a new cloak which
+my mother broidered; give it to the priests who will
+sing Masses for my soul. For yourself you may take
+my crown and chaplet. Keep them well, I pray, as a
+souvenir of our wedding.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Who is that who arrives at the hamlet as the clocks are
+striking the hour? Is it the Clerk of Mezl�an? Too
+late! Az�nor is dead.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have seen the fountain beside which Az�nor plucked
+flowers to make a bouquet for her &lsquo;sweet Clerk of
+Mezl�an,&rsquo;&rdquo; says the Vicomte Hersart de la Villemarqu�,
+&ldquo;when the Seigneur of Kermorvan passed and withered
+with his glance her happiness and these flowers of
+love. Mezl�an is in ruins, no one remains within its
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_364' name='page_364'></a>364</span>
+gates, surmounted by a crenellated and machicolated
+gallery.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There is a subscription at the end of the ballad to the
+effect that it was written on a round table in the Manor
+of H�nan, near Pont-Aven, by the &ldquo;bard of the old
+Seigneur,&rdquo; who dictated it to a damsel. &ldquo;How comes
+it,&rdquo; asks Villemarqu�, &ldquo;that in the Middle Ages we
+still find a seigneur of Brittany maintaining a domestic
+bard?&rdquo; There is no good reason why a domestic bard
+should not have been found in the Brittany of medieval
+times, since such singers of the household were maintained
+in Ireland and Scotland until a relatively late
+date&mdash;up to the period of the &rsquo;45 in the case of the
+latter country.</p>
+<h3><i>St Pol of L�on</i></h3>
+<p>St Pol (or Paul) of L�on (sixth century) was the son
+of a Welsh prince, and, like so many of the Breton
+saints, he was a disciple of St Iltud, being also a fellow-student
+of St Samson and St Gildas. At the age of
+sixteen he left his home and crossed the sea to Brittany.
+In the course of time other young men congregated
+round him, and he became their superior, receiving holy
+orders along with twelve companions. Near these
+young monks dwelt Mark, the King of Vannes, who
+invited Pol to visit his territory and instruct his people.
+The Saint went to Vannes and was well received, but
+after dwelling for some time in that part of the country
+he felt the need of solitude once more, and entreated
+the King that he might have permission to depart and
+that he might be given a bell; &ldquo;for,&rdquo; as the chronicler
+tells us, &ldquo;at that time it was customary for kings to
+have seven bells rung before they sat down to meat.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_365' name='page_365'></a>365</span></div>
+<p>The King, however, vexed that Pol should wish to
+leave him, refused to give him the bell, so the Saint
+went without it. Before leaving Vannes Pol visited
+his sister, who lived in solitude with other holy women
+on a little island, but when the time came for him to
+depart she wept and entreated him to stay, and the
+Saint remained with her for another three days. When
+he was finally taking leave of her, she begged him
+that as he was &ldquo;powerful with God&rdquo; he would grant
+her a request, and when Pol asked what it was she
+desired him to do, she explained that the island on
+which she dwelt was small &ldquo;and incommodious for
+landing&rdquo; and requested him to pray to God that it
+might be extended a little into the sea, with a &ldquo;gentle
+shore.&rdquo; Pol said she had asked what was beyond his
+power, but suggested that they should pray that her
+desire might be granted. So they prayed, and the
+sea began to retreat, &ldquo;leaving smooth, golden sand
+where before there had been only stormy waves.&rdquo; All
+the nuns came to see the miracle which had been
+wrought, and the sister of St Pol gathered pebbles and
+laid them round the land newly laid bare, and strewed
+them down the road that she and her brother had
+taken. These pebbles grew into tall pillars of rock,
+and the avenue thus formed is to this day called &lsquo;the
+Road of St Pol.&rsquo; Thus do the peasants explain the
+Druidical circles and avenue on the islet.</p>
+<p>After this miracle Pol departed, and rowed to the island
+of Ouessant, and later he travelled through Brittany,
+finally settling in the island of Batz, near the small
+town encompassed by mud walls which has since borne
+his name. There he founded a monastery. The island
+was at that time infested by a dreadful monster, sixty
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_366' name='page_366'></a>366</span>
+feet long, and we are told how the Saint subdued this
+dragon. Accompanied by a warrior, he entered its
+den, tied his stole round its neck, and, giving it to his
+companion to lead, he followed them, beating the animal
+with his stick, until they came to the extremity of the
+island. There he took off the stole and commanded
+the dragon to fling itself into the sea&mdash;an order which
+the monster immediately obeyed. In the church on
+the island a stole is preserved which is said to be
+that of St Pol. Another story tells us how St Jaoua,
+nephew of St Pol, had to call in his uncle&rsquo;s aid in taming
+a wild bull which was devastating his cell. These
+incidents remind us of St Efflam&rsquo;s taming of the dragon.
+St Pol is one of the saints famous for his miraculous
+power over wild beasts.</p>
+<p>The Saint&rsquo;s renown became such that the Breton king
+made him Archbishop of L�on, giving him special care
+and control of the city bearing his name. We are told
+how the Saint found wild bees swarming in a hollow
+tree, and, gathering the swarm, set them in a hive and
+taught the people how to get honey. He also found
+a wild sow with her litter and tamed them. The
+descendants of this progeny remained at L�on for many
+generations, and were regarded as royal beasts. Both
+of these stories are, of course, a picturesque way of
+saying that St Pol taught the people to cultivate bees
+and to keep pigs.</p>
+<p>St Pol&rsquo;s early desire to possess a bell was curiously
+granted later, as one day when he was in the company
+of a Count who ruled the land under King Childebat
+a fisherman brought the Count a bell which he had
+picked up on the seashore. The Count gave it to
+St Pol, who smiled and told him how he had longed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_367' name='page_367'></a>367</span>
+and waited for years for such a bell. In the cathedral
+at Saint-Pol-de-L�on is a tiny bell which is said to have
+belonged to St Pol, and on the days of pardon &ldquo;its notes
+still ring out over the heads of the faithful,&rdquo; and are supposed
+to be efficacious in curing headache or earache.</p>
+<p>In the cathedral choir is the tomb of St Pol, where
+&ldquo;his skull, an arm-bone, and a finger are encased in
+a little coffer, for the veneration of the devout.&rdquo; St Pol
+built the cathedral at L�on, and was its first bishop.
+Strategy had to be resorted to to secure the see for
+him. The Count gave Pol a letter to take in person
+to King Childebat, which stated that he had sent Pol
+to be ordained bishop and invested with the see of
+L�on. When the Saint discovered what the letter
+contained he wept, and implored the King to respect
+his great disinclination to become a bishop; but
+Childebat would not listen, and, calling for three bishops,
+he had him consecrated. The Saint was received
+with great joy by the people of L�on, and lived among
+them to a green old age.</p>
+<p>In art St Pol is most generally represented with a
+dragon, and sometimes with a bell, or a cruse of water
+and a loaf of bread, symbolical of his frugal habits.</p>
+<h3><i>St Ronan</i></h3>
+<p>Of St Ronan there is told a tale of solemn warning to
+wives addicted to neglecting their children and &ldquo;seeking
+their pleasure elsewhere,&rdquo; as it is succinctly expressed.
+St Ronan was an Irish bishop who came to L�on, where
+he retired into a hermitage in the forest of N�vet.
+Grallo, the King of Brittany, was in the habit of visiting
+him in his cell, listening to his discourses, and putting
+theological questions to him. The domestic question
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_368' name='page_368'></a>368</span>
+must have been a problem even in those days, since we
+find Grallo&rsquo;s Queen, Queban, in charge of her five-year-old
+daughter. Family cares proving rather irksome,
+Queban solved the difficulty of her daughter by putting
+the child into a box, with bread and milk to keep her
+quiet, while she amused herself with frivolous matters.
+Unfortunately, this ingeniously improvized <i>cr�che</i> proved
+singularly unsuccessful, for the poor little girl choked
+on a piece of crust, and when the Queen next visited
+the child she found to her horror that she was dead.
+Terrified at the fatal result of her neglect, and not daring
+to confess what had happened, the Queen, being a
+woman of resource, closed the box and raised a hue and
+cry to find the girl, who she declared must have strayed.</p>
+<p>She rushed in search of her husband to St Ronan&rsquo;s cell,
+and upbraided the hermit for being the cause of the
+King&rsquo;s absence. &ldquo;But for you,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;my
+daughter would not have been lost!&rdquo; But it was a
+fatal mistake to accuse the Saint, or to imagine that he
+could be deceived. Sternly rebuking her, he challenged
+her with the fact that the child lay dead in a box, with
+milk and bread beside her! Rising, he left his cell,
+and, followed by the agitated royal couple, he led the
+way to where the proof of the Queen&rsquo;s neglect and deceit
+was found. Small mercy was shown in those days to
+erring womanhood, and the guilty Queen was instantly
+&ldquo;stoned with stones till she died.&rdquo; The Saint completed
+his share in the matter by casting himself on his knees
+beside the child, whereupon she was restored to life.</p>
+<h3><i>St Goezenou</i></h3>
+<p>St Goezenou (<i>circ.</i> <span class='smcaplc'>A.D.</span> 675) was a native of Britain whose
+parents crossed to Brittany and settled near Brest, where
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_369' name='page_369'></a>369</span>
+the Saint built an oratory and cabin for himself. The
+legend runs that the prince of the neighbourhood having
+offered to give him as much land as he could surround
+with a ditch in one day, the Saint took a fork and
+dragged it along the ground after him as he walked, in
+this way enclosing a league and a half of land, the
+fork as it trailed behind him making a furrow and
+throwing up an embankment, on a small scale. This
+story is quite probably a popular tradition, which grew
+up to explain the origin of old military earthworks in
+that part of the country, which were afterward utilized
+by the monks of St Goezenou.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_30' id='linki_30'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs30.jpg' alt='' title='' width='411' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+QUEEN QUEBAN STONED TO DEATH<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>It is also related of this worthy Saint that he had such
+a horror of women that he set up a huge menhir to
+mark the boundary beyond which no female was to pass
+under penalty of death. On one occasion a woman,
+either to test the extent of the Saint&rsquo;s power or from
+motives of enmity, pushed another woman who was with
+her past this landmark; but the innocent trespasser was
+unhurt and her assailant fell dead.</p>
+<p>On one occasion, we are told, Goezenou asked a farmer&rsquo;s
+wife for some cream cheeses, but the woman, not wishing
+to part with them, declared that she had none. &ldquo;You
+speak the truth,&rdquo; said the Saint. &ldquo;You had some, but if
+you will now look in your cupboard you will find they
+have been turned into stone,&rdquo; and when the ungenerous
+housewife ran to her cupboard she found that this
+was so! The petrified cheeses were long preserved in
+the church of Goezenou&mdash;being removed during the
+Revolution, and afterward preserved in the manor of
+Kergivas.</p>
+<p>Goezenou governed his church for twenty-four years,
+till he met with a violent death. Accompanied by his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_370' name='page_370'></a>370</span>
+brother St Magan, he went to Quimperl� to see the
+monastery which St Corbasius was building there, but
+he began to praise the architecture of his own church,
+and this so enraged the master builder that he dropped
+his hammer on the critic&rsquo;s head. To add to the grief
+of St Magan, St Corbasius endeavoured to appropriate
+the body of the murdered Saint. He consented, however,
+to allow St Magan to have such bones as he was
+able to identify as belonging to his brother, whereupon
+St Magan prayed all night, and next morning spread a
+sheet for the bones, which miraculously arranged themselves
+into an entire skeleton, which the sorrowing Magan
+was thus enabled to remove.</p>
+<h3><i>St Winwaloe, or Gwenaloe</i></h3>
+<p>St Winwaloe, born about 455, was the son of Fragan,
+Governor of L�on, who had married a wealthy lady
+named Gwen. Their son was so beautiful that they
+named him Gwenaloe, or &lsquo;He that is white.&rsquo; When
+the lad was about fifteen years old he was given to
+the care of a holy man, with whom he lived on the islet
+called Ile-Verte. One day a pirate fleet was sighted off
+the coast, near the harbour of Guic-sezne, and Winwaloe,
+who was with his father at the time, is said to have
+exclaimed, &ldquo;I see a thousand sails,&rdquo; and to this day
+a cross which marks the spot is called &lsquo;the Cross of
+the Thousand Sails,&rsquo; to commemorate the victory which
+Fragan and his son won over the pirates, who landed
+but were utterly defeated by the Governor and his
+retainers. During the fight Winwaloe, &ldquo;like a second
+Moses,&rdquo; prayed for victory, and when the victory had
+been won he entreated his father to put the booty
+gained to a holy use and to build a monastery on the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_371' name='page_371'></a>371</span>
+site of the battle. This was done, and the monastery
+was called Loc-Christ.</p>
+<p>Leaving his master after some years, Winwaloe settled
+on the island of Sein, but finding that it was exposed
+to the fury of every gale that blew from the Atlantic
+he left it and went to Land�vennec, on the opposite side
+of the harbour at Brest. There he established a monastery,
+gathered round him many disciples, and dwelt
+there until his death, many years later. He died during
+the first week of Lent, &ldquo;after bestowing a kiss of peace
+on his brethren,&rdquo; and his body is preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer,
+his chasuble, alb, and bell being laid in the
+Jesuit church of St Charles at Antwerp.</p>
+<p>In art St Winwaloe is represented vested as an abbot,
+with staff in one hand and a bell in the other, standing
+beside the sea, from which fishes arise as if in answer
+to the sound of his bell.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_372' name='page_372'></a>372</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIII_COSTUMES_AND_CUSTOMS_OF_BRITTANY' id='CHAPTER_XIII_COSTUMES_AND_CUSTOMS_OF_BRITTANY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII: COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS OF BRITTANY</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Distinctive</span> national costume has to a great
+extent become a thing of the past in Europe,
+and for this relinquishment of the picturesque
+we have doubtless in a measure to thank the exploitation
+of remote districts as tourist and sporting centres.
+Brittany, however, has been remarkably faithful to her
+sartorial traditions, and even to-day in the remoter parts
+of the west and in distant sea-coast places her men and
+women have not ceased to express outwardly the strong
+national and personal individuality of their race. In
+these districts it is still possible for the traveller to take
+a sudden, bewildering, and wholly entrancing step back
+into the past.</p>
+<p>In Cornouaille the national costume is more jealously
+cherished than in any other part of the country, even to
+the smallest details, for here the men carry a <i>pen-bas</i>, or
+cudgel, which is as much a supplement to their attire
+and as characteristic of it as the Irish shillelagh is of
+the traditional Irish dress. Quimper is perhaps second
+to Cornouaille in fidelity to the old costume, for all the
+men wear the national habit. On gala days this consists
+of gaily embroidered and coloured waistcoats, which
+often bear the travelling tailor&rsquo;s name, and voluminous
+<i>bragou-bras</i>, or breeches of blue or brown, held at
+the waist with a broad leather belt with a metal buckle
+and caught in at the knee with ribbons of various hues,
+the whole set off with black leather leggings and shoes
+ornamented with silver buckles. A broad-brimmed
+hat, beneath which the hair falls down sometimes to
+below the shoulders, finishes a toilet which on weekdays
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_373' name='page_373'></a>373</span>
+or work-days has to give place to white <i>bragou-bras</i> of
+tough material, something more sombre in waistcoats,
+and the ever serviceable sabot.</p>
+<h3><i>Hats and Hymen</i></h3>
+<p>In the vast stretch of the salt-pans of Escoublac, between
+Batz and Le Croisic, where the entire population of the
+district is employed, the workers, or <i>paludiers</i>, affect a
+smock-frock with pockets, linen breeches, gaiters, and
+shoes all of white, and with this dazzling costume they
+wear a huge, flapping black hat turned up on one side to
+form a horn-shaped peak. This peak is very important,
+as it indicates the state of the wearer, the young bachelor
+adjusting it with great nicety over the ear, the widower
+above his forehead, and the married man at the back of
+his head. On Sundays or gala-days, however, this
+uniform is discarded in favour of a multicoloured and
+more distinctive attire, the breeches being of fine cloth,
+exceedingly full and pleated and finished with ribbons
+at the knees, the gaiters and white shoes of everyday
+giving place to white woollen stockings with clocks
+embroidered on them and shoes of light yellow, while
+the smock is supplanted by several waistcoats of varying
+lengths and shades, which are worn one above the other
+in different coloured tiers, finished at the neck with a
+turnover muslin collar. The holiday hat is the same,
+save for a roll of brightly and many tinted chenille.</p>
+<p>Several petticoats of pleated cloth, big bibs or plastrons
+called <i>pi�ces</i>, of the same shade as their dresses, and
+a shawl with a fringed border, compose the costume of
+the women. The aprons of the girls are very plain and
+devoid of pockets, but the older women&rsquo;s are rich in
+texture and design, some of them being of silk and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_374' name='page_374'></a>374</span>
+others even of costly brocade. The women&rsquo;s head-dress
+is almost grotesque in its originality, the hair being woven
+into two rolls, swathed round with tape, and wound into
+a coronet across the head. Over this is drawn tightly
+a kind of cap, which forms a peak behind and is crossed
+in front like a handkerchief. Should widowhood overtake
+a woman she relinquishes this <i>coiffe</i> and shrouds
+her head and shoulders in a rough black triangular-shaped
+sheepskin mantle.</p>
+<p>The toilette of a bride is as magnificent as the widow&rsquo;s
+is depressing and dowdy. It consists of three different
+dresses, the first of white velvet with apron of moire-antique,
+the second of purple velvet, and the third of
+cloth of gold with embroidered sleeves, with a <i>pi�ce</i> of
+the same material. A wide sash, embroidered with
+gold, is used for looping up all these resplendent skirts
+in order to reveal the gold clocks which adorn the
+stockings. These, and all gala costumes, are carefully
+stored away at the village inn, and may be seen by
+the traveller sufficiently interested to pay a small fee
+for the privilege.</p>
+<h3><i>Quaint Head-dresses</i></h3>
+<p>Though the dress of the Granville women does not
+attempt to equal or rival the magnificence just described,
+nevertheless it is as quaint and characteristic. They
+favour a long black or very dark coat, with bordering
+frills of the same material and shade, and their cap is
+a sort of <i>bandeau</i>, turning up sharply at the ears, and
+crested by a white handkerchief folded square and laid
+flat on top.</p>
+<p>In Ouessant the peasant women adopt an Italian style
+of costume, their head-dress, from under which their
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_375' name='page_375'></a>375</span>
+hair falls loosely, being exactly in almost every detail
+like that which one associates with the women of Italy.
+The costume of the man from St Pol is, like that of
+the Granville women, soberer than most others of
+Brittany. Save for his buttons, the buckle on his hat,
+and the clasps of white metal fastening his leather shoes,
+his dress, including spencer, waistcoat, trousers, and
+stockings, is of black, and his hair is worn falling on
+his shoulders, while he rarely carries the <i>pen-bas</i>&mdash;an
+indication, perhaps, of his rather meditative, pious
+temperament.</p>
+<p>At Villecheret the cap of the women is bewilderingly
+varied and very peculiar. At first sight it appears to
+consist of several large sheets of stiff white paper, in
+some cases a sheet of the apparent paper spreading out
+at either side of the head and having another roll placed
+across it; in other cases a ridged roof seems to rest
+upon the hair, a roof with the sides rolling upward and
+fastened at the top with a frail thread; while a third
+type of head-dress is of the skull-cap order, from which
+is suspended two ties quite twenty inches long and eight
+inches wide, which are doubled back midway and
+fastened again to the top of the skull-cap. The unmarried
+woman who adopts this <i>coiffe</i> must wear the
+ties hanging over the shoulders.</p>
+<p>Originality in head-dress the male peasant leaves almost
+entirely to the woman, for nearly everywhere in Brittany
+one meets with the long, wide-brimmed, black hat, with
+a black band, the dullness of which is relieved by a
+white or blue metal buckle, as large as those usually
+found on belts. To this rule the Plougastel man is one
+of the exceptions, wearing a red cap with his trousers
+and coat of white flannel.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_376' name='page_376'></a>376</span></div>
+<p>At Muzillac, some miles distant from La Roche-Bernard,
+the women supplant the white <i>coiffe</i> with a huge black
+cap resembling the cowl of a friar, while at Pont l&rsquo;Abb�
+and along the Bay of Audierne the cap or <i>bigouden</i> is
+formed of two pieces, the first a species of skull-cap
+fitting closely over the head and ears, the second a
+small circular piece of starched linen, shaped into a
+three-cornered peak, the centre point being embroidered
+and kept in position by a white tape tie which fastens
+under the chin. Over the skull-cap the hair is dressed
+<i>en chignon</i>. The dress accompanying this singular
+<i>coiffe</i> and <i>coiffure</i> has a large yellow <i>pi�ce</i>, with sleeves
+to match. The men wear a number of short coats, one
+above the other, the shortest and last being trimmed
+with a fringe, and occasionally ornamented with sentences
+embroidered in coloured wools round the border, describing
+the patriotic or personal sentiments of the wearer.</p>
+<p>The women of Morlaix are also partial to the tight-fitting
+<i>coiffe</i>. This consists of five broad folds, forming
+a base from which a fan-like fall of stiffened calico
+spreads out from ear to ear, completely shading the
+nape of the neck and reaching down the back below
+the shoulders. Many of the women wear calico tippets,
+while the more elderly affect a sort of mob-cap with
+turned-up edges, from which to the middle of the head
+are stretched two wide straps of calico, joined together
+at the ends with a pin. Most of the youths of Morlaix
+wear the big, flapping hat, but very often a black
+cloth cap is also seen. This is ridiculous rather than
+picturesque, for so long is it that with almost every
+movement it tips over the wearer&rsquo;s nose. The tunic
+accompanying either hat or cap is of blue flannel, and
+over it is worn a black waistcoat. The porters of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_377' name='page_377'></a>377</span>
+market-places wear a sort of smock. The young boys
+of Morlaix dress very like their elders, and nearly all
+of them wear the long loose cap, with the difference
+that a tasselled end dangles down the back.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_31' id='linki_31'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/col31.jpg' alt='' title='' width='405' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+MODERN BRITTANY<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>On religious festivals the gala dress is always donned
+in all vicinities of Brittany, and the costume informs
+the initiated at once in what capacity the Breton is
+present. For instance, the <i>porteuses</i>, or banner-bearers,
+of certain saints are dressed in white; others may be
+more gorgeously or vividly attired in gowns of bright-coloured
+silk trimmed with gold lace, scarves of silver
+thread, aprons of gold tissue or brocade, and lace <i>coiffes</i>
+over caps of gold or silver tissue; while some, though
+in national gala dress, will have flags or crosses to distinguish
+them from the more commonplace worshipper.</p>
+<h3><i>Religious Festivals</i></h3>
+<p>This dressing for the part and the occasion is interwoven
+with the Breton&rsquo;s existence as unalterably as
+sacred and profane elements are into the occasions of
+his religious festivals. A feast day well and piously
+begun is interspersed and concluded with a gaiety and
+abandon which by contrast strikes a note of profanity.
+Yet Brittany is quite the most devotedly religious of
+all the French provinces, and one may see the great
+cathedrals filled to their uttermost with congregations
+including as many men as women. Nowhere else,
+perhaps, will one find such great masses of people so
+completely lost in religious fervour during the usual
+Church services and the grander and more impressive
+festivals so solemnly observed. This reverence is attributed
+by some to the power of superstition, by others
+to the Celtic temperament of the worshippers; but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_378' name='page_378'></a>378</span>
+from whatever cause it arises no one who has lived
+among the Bretons can doubt the sincerity and childlike
+faith which lies at the base of it all, a faith of which
+a medieval simplicity and credence are the keynotes.</p>
+<h3><i>The Pardons</i></h3>
+<p>This pious punctiliousness is not confined to Church
+services and ceremonies alone, for rarely are wayside
+crosses or shrines unattended by some simple peasant
+or peasants telling beads or unfolding griefs to a God
+Who, they have been taught, takes the deepest interest in
+and compassionates all the troubles and trials which may
+befall them. Between May and October the religious
+ardour of the Breton may be witnessed at its strongest,
+for during these months the five great &lsquo;Pardons&rsquo; or religious
+pilgrimage festivals are solemnized in the following
+sequence: the Pardon of the Poor, at Saint-Yves;
+the Pardon of the Singers, at Rumengol; the Pardon of
+the Fire, at Saint-Jean-du-Doigt; the Pardon of the
+Mountain, at Trom�nie-de-Saint-Renan; the Pardon of
+the Sea, at Sainte-Anne-la-Palud.</p>
+<p>The Pardon of the Poor, the Pardon of the Singers, and
+the Pardon of the Sea are especially rigorous and
+exacting, but the less celebrated Pardon of Notre Dame
+de la Clart�, in Morbihan, has an earthly as much as a
+celestial object, for while the pilgrimage does homage
+to the Virgin it is at the same time believed to facilitate
+marriage. Here, once the sacred side of the festival
+has been duly observed, the young man in search of a
+wife circles about the church, closely scrutinizing all
+the eligible demoiselles who come within range of his
+vision. As soon as he decides which maiden most
+appeals to him, he asks her politely if she will accept a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_379' name='page_379'></a>379</span>
+gift from him, and at the same time presents a large
+round cake, with which he has armed himself for that
+occasion. &ldquo;Will mademoiselle break the cake with
+me?&rdquo; is the customary form of address, and in the
+adoption or rejection of this suggestion lies the young
+peasant&rsquo;s yea or nay.</p>
+<p>The Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt takes place on the
+22nd of June, and is, perhaps, the most solemn of these
+festivals. During its celebration the relic of the Saint,
+the little finger of his right hand, is held before the high
+altar of the church by an <i>abb�</i> clad in his surplice. The
+finger is wrapped in the finest of linen, and one by one
+the congregation files past the <i>abb�</i> for the purpose of
+touching for one brief moment the relic he holds. At
+the same time another cleric stands near the choir,
+holding the skull of St M�riadec, and before this the
+pilgrims also promenade, reverently bowing their heads
+as they go. The devotees then repair to a side wall
+near which there is a fountain, the waters of which have
+been previously sanctified by bathing in them the finger
+of St Jean suspended from a gold chain, and into this
+the pilgrims plunge their palms and vigorously rub their
+eyes with them, as a protection against blindness.
+This concludes the religious side of the Pardon, and
+immediately after its less edifying ceremonies begin.</p>
+<p>The Pardon of the Mountain is held on Trinity Sunday
+at Trom�nie. Every sixth year there is the &lsquo;Grand
+Trom�nie,&rsquo; an event which draws an immense concourse
+of people from all parts. The principal feature of this
+great day from the spectator&rsquo;s point of view is the
+afternoon procession. It is of the most imposing
+description, and all who have come to take part in the
+Pardon join it, as with banners flying and much hymn-singing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_380' name='page_380'></a>380</span>
+it takes its way out of the town to wind round
+a mountain in the vicinity.</p>
+<h3><i>Barking Women</i></h3>
+<p>In the old days of religious enthusiasm a remarkable
+phenomenon often attended these festivals, when excitement
+began to run high, as it was certain to do
+among a Celtic people. This was the barking of
+certain highly strung hysterical women. In time it
+became quite a usual feature, but now, happily, it is a
+part of the ceremony which has almost entirely disappeared.
+There is a legend in connexion with this
+custom that the Virgin appeared before some women
+disguised as a beggar, and asked for a draught of water,
+and, when they refused it, caused them and their posterity
+to be afflicted with the mania.</p>
+<h3><i>The Sacring Bell</i></h3>
+<p>Another custom of earlier times was that of ringing
+the sacring bell. These bells are very tiny, and are
+attached at regular intervals to the outer rim of a
+wooden wheel, wrongly styled by some &lsquo;the Wheel of
+Fortune,&rsquo; from which dangles a long string. In most
+places the sacring bell is kept as a curiosity, though in
+the church of St Bridget at Berhet the <i>Sant-e-roa</i>, or
+Holy Wheel, is still rung by pilgrims during Mass.
+The bells are set pealing through the medium of a long
+string by the impatient suppliant, to remind the saint to
+whom the <i>Sant-e-roa</i> may be dedicated of the prayerful
+requests with which he or she has been assailed.</p>
+<p>There are in many of the churches of Brittany wide,
+old-fashioned fireplaces, a fact which testifies to a very
+sensible practice which prevailed in the latter half of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_381' name='page_381'></a>381</span>
+the sixteenth century&mdash;that of warming the baptismal
+water before applying it to the defenceless head of the
+lately born. The most famous of these old fireplaces
+belong to the churches of St Bridget in Perguet, Le
+Moustoir-le-Juch, St Non at Penmarch, and Br�v�lenz.
+In the church at the latter place one of the pinnacles of
+the porch forms the chimney to its historic hearth.</p>
+<h3><i>The Venus of Quinipily</i></h3>
+<p>Childless people often pay a visit to some standing
+stone in their neighbourhood in the hope that they
+may thereby be blessed with offspring. Famous in this
+respect is the &lsquo;Venus,&rsquo; or <i>Groabgoard</i>, of Quinipily, a
+rough-hewn stone in the likeness of a goddess. The
+letters <span class='smcaplc'>...LIT...</span> still remain on it&mdash;part of a Latin
+inscription which has been thought to have originally
+read <span class='smcaplc'>ILITHVIA</span>, &ldquo;a name in keeping with the rites still
+in use before the image,&rdquo; says MacCulloch.<a name='FNanchor_0061' id='FNanchor_0061'></a><a href='#Footnote_0061' class='fnanchor'>[61]</a></p>
+<h3><i>Holy Wells</i></h3>
+<p>The holy well is another institution dating from early
+days, and there is hardly a church in Brittany which
+does not boast one or more of these shrines, which are
+in most cases dedicated to the saint in whose honour the
+church has been raised. So numerous are these wells
+that to name them and dwell at any length on the
+curative powers claimed for their waters would fill a
+large volume. Worthy of mention, however, is the
+Holy Well of St Bieuzy, as typical of most of such
+sacred springs. It is close to the church of the same
+name in Bieuzy, and flows from a granite wall. Its
+waters are said to relieve and cure the mentally
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_382' name='page_382'></a>382</span>
+deranged. Some of the wells are large enough to permit
+the afflicted to bathe in their waters, and of these the
+well near the church of Goezenou is a good example.
+It is situated in an enclosure surrounded by stone seats
+for the convenience of the devotees who may desire to
+immerse themselves bodily in it. Several of these
+shrines bear dates, but whether they are genuine is a
+matter for conjecture.</p>
+<h3><i>Reliquaries</i></h3>
+<p>Every Breton churchyard worthy of the name has its
+reliquary or bone-house. There may be seen rows of
+small boxes like dog-kennels with heart-shaped openings.
+Round these openings, names, dates, and pious ejaculations
+are written. Looking through the aperture, a
+glimpse of a skull may startle one, for it is a gruesome
+custom of the country to dig up the bones of the dead
+and preserve the skulls in this way. The name upon
+the box is that once borne by the deceased, the date
+that of his death, and the charitable prayer is for the
+repose of his soul. Occasionally these boxes are set in
+conspicuous places in the church, but generally they
+remain in the reliquary. In the porch of the church of
+St Tr�meur, the son of the notorious Breton Bluebeard,
+Comorre, there is one of the largest collections of these
+receptacles in Brittany. Rich people who may have
+endowed or founded sacred edifices are buried in an
+arched recess of the abbey or church they have benefited.</p>
+<h3><i>Feeding the Dead</i></h3>
+<p>In some parts of Brittany hollows are found in tombstones
+above graves, and these are annually filled with
+holy water or libations of milk. It would seem as if
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_383' name='page_383'></a>383</span>
+this custom linked prehistoric with modern practice and
+that the cup-hollows frequently met with on the top of
+dolmens may have been intended as receptacles for the
+food of the dead. The basins scooped in the soil of a
+barrow may have served the same purpose. On the
+night of All Souls&rsquo; Day, when this libation is made, the
+supper is left spread on the table of each cottage and
+the fire burns brightly, so that the dead may return to
+refresh and warm themselves after the dolours of the
+grave.</p>
+<h3><i>The Passage de l&rsquo;Enfer</i></h3>
+<p>How hard custom dies in Brittany is illustrated by the
+fact that it is still usual at Tr�guier to convey the
+dead to the churchyard in a boat over a part of
+the river called the &lsquo;Passage de l&rsquo;Enfer,&rsquo; instead of
+taking the shorter way by land. This custom is
+reminiscent of what Procopius, a historian of the sixth
+century, says regarding Breton Celtic custom in his
+<i>De Bello Gothico</i>. Speaking of the island of Brittia,
+by which he means Britain, he states that it is
+divided by a wall. Thither fishermen from the Breton
+coast are compelled to ferry over at darkest night the
+shades of the dead, unseen by them, but marshalled by
+a mysterious leader. The fishermen who are to row
+the dead across to the British coast must go to bed early,
+for at midnight they are aroused by a tapping at the door,
+and they are called in a low voice. They rise and go
+down to the shore, attracted by some force which they
+cannot explain. Here they find their boats, apparently
+empty, yet the water rises to the bulwarks, as if they
+were crowded. Once they commence the voyage their
+vessels cleave the water speedily, making the passage,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_384' name='page_384'></a>384</span>
+usually a day and a half&rsquo;s sailing, in an hour. When
+the British shore is reached the souls of the dead leave
+the boats, which at once rise in the sea as if unloaded.
+Then a loud voice on shore is heard calling out the
+name and style of those who have disembarked.</p>
+<p>Procopius had, of course, heard the old Celtic myth of
+an oversea Elysium, and had added to it some distorted
+reminiscence of the old Roman wall which divided
+Britain. The &lsquo;ship of souls&rsquo; is evidently a feature of
+Celtic as well as of Latin and Greek belief.</p>
+<h3><i>Calvaries</i></h3>
+<p>Calvaries, or representations of the passion on the
+Cross, are most frequently encountered in Brittany,
+so much so, indeed, that it has been called &lsquo;the Land
+of the Calvaries.&rsquo; Over the length and breadth of the
+country they are to be met at almost every turn, some
+of them no more than rude, simple crosses originating
+in local workshops, and others truly magnificent in
+carving and detail. Some of the most famous are those
+situated at Plougastel, Saint-Th�gonnec, and Guimiliau.</p>
+<p>The Calvary of Plougastel dates from the early
+sixteenth century, and consists of an arcade beneath
+a platform filled with statues. The surrounding frieze
+has carvings in bas-relief representing incidents in the
+life of Christ. The Calvary of Saint-Th�gonnec represents
+vividly the phases of the passion, being really a
+&lsquo;way of the Cross&rsquo; in sculpture. It bears the unmistakable
+stamp of the sixteenth century. The Calvary of
+Guimiliau is dated 1580 and 1588. A platform supported
+by arches bears the three crosses, the four evangelists,
+and other figures connected with the principal incidents
+in the life and passion of our Lord. The principal
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_385' name='page_385'></a>385</span>
+figures, that of Christ and those of the attending
+Blessed Virgin and St John, are most beautifully and
+sympathetically portrayed. The figures in the representations
+from the life of Christ, which are from necessity
+much smaller than those of the Crucifixion, are dressed
+in the costume of the sixteenth century. The entire
+Calvary is sculptured in Kersanton stone.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_32' id='linki_32'></a>
+</div>
+<img src='images/gs32.jpg' alt='' title='' width='400' height='600' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+THE SOULS OF THE DEAD<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Whether these and other similar groups are really
+works of art is perhaps a matter for discussion, but
+regarding their impressiveness there cannot be two
+opinions. By the bulk of the people they are held
+in great reverence, and rarely are they unattended by
+tiny congregations of two or three, while on the occasion
+of important religious festivals people flock to them in
+hundreds.</p>
+<h3><i>Weddings</i></h3>
+<p>In many of their religious observances the Bretons are
+prone to confuse the sacred with the profane, and chief
+among these is the wedding ceremony&mdash;the customs
+attendant on which in some ostensibly Christian countries
+are yet a disgrace to the intellect as well as the good
+feeling of man. In rural Brittany, however, the revelry
+which ensues as soon as the church door closes on the
+newly wedded pair is more like that associated with
+a children&rsquo;s party than the recreation of older people.
+Should the marriage be celebrated in the morning,
+tables laid out with cakes are ranged outside the church
+door, and when the bridal procession files out of the
+church the bride and bridegroom each take a cake from
+the table and leave a coin in its stead for the poor.
+The guests follow suit, and then the whole party repairs
+to the nearest meadow, where endless <i>ronds</i> are begun.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_386' name='page_386'></a>386</span></div>
+<p>The <i>rond</i> is a sort of dance in which the whole assembly
+joins hands and revolves slowly with a hop-skip-and-a-jump
+step to the accompaniment of a most wearisome
+and unvarying chant, the music for which is provided
+by the <i>biniou</i>, or bagpipe, and the flageolet or hautboy,
+both being occasionally augmented by the drum. Before
+the ceremony begins the musicians who are responsible
+for this primitive harmony are dispatched to summon
+the guests, who, of course, arrive in the full splendour
+of the national gala costume. As soon as the <i>ronds</i> are
+completed to the satisfaction of everybody the custom
+common to so many countries of stealing the bride away
+is celebrated. At a given signal she speeds away from
+the party, hotly pursued by the young gallants present,
+and when she is overtaken she presents the successful
+swain with a cup of coffee at a public <i>caf�</i>. This interlude
+is followed by dinner, and after that the <i>ronds</i> are
+resumed. These festivities, in the case of prosperous
+people, sometimes last three days, during which time
+the guests are entertained at their host&rsquo;s expense. If
+the wedding happens to be held in the evening, dancing
+is about the only amusement indulged in, and this
+follows an elaborate wedding supper. The <i>biniou</i> and
+its companions are decidedly <i>en �vidence</i>, while sometimes
+the monotony of the <i>ronds</i> is varied by the <i>grand
+rond</i>, a much more graceful and intricate affair, containing
+many elaborate and difficult steps; but the more
+ordinary dance is the favourite, probably because of the
+difficulties attending the other.</p>
+<h3><i>Breton Burials</i></h3>
+<p>An ancient Breton funeral ceremony was replete with
+symbolic meaning and ritual, which have been carried
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_387' name='page_387'></a>387</span>
+down through the Middle Ages to the present time.
+As soon as the head of the family had ceased to breathe,
+a great fire was lit in the courtyard, and the mattress
+upon which he had expired was burned. Pitchers of
+water and milk were emptied, for fear, perhaps, that
+the soul of the defunct might be athirst. The dead
+man was then enveloped from head to foot in a great
+white sheet and placed in a description of funeral
+pavilion, the hands joined on the breast, the body
+turned toward the east. At his feet a little stool was
+placed, and two yellow candles were lit on each side
+of him. Then the beadle or gravedigger, who was
+usually a poor man, went round the country-side to carry
+the news of death, which he usually called out in a high,
+piping voice, ringing his little bell the while. At the
+hour of sunset people arrived from all parts for the
+purpose of viewing the body. Each one carried a
+branch, which he placed on the feet of the defunct.</p>
+<p>The evening prayer was recited by all, then the
+women sang the canticles. From time to time the
+widow and children of the deceased raised the corner
+of the shroud and kissed it solemnly. A repast was
+served in an adjoining room, where the beggar sat
+side by side with the wealthy, on the principle that
+all were equal before death. It is strange that the
+poor are always associated with the griefs as with
+the pleasures of Breton people; we find them at the
+feast of death and at the baptism as at the wedding
+rejoicing.</p>
+<p>In the morning the rector of the parish arrived and all
+retired, with the exception of the parents, if these
+chanced to be alive, in whose presence the beadle
+closed the coffin. No other member of the family
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_388' name='page_388'></a>388</span>
+was permitted to take part in this solemn farewell,
+which was regarded as a sacred duty. The coffin
+was then placed on a car drawn by oxen, and the
+funeral procession set out, preceded by the clergy
+and followed by the female relations of the deceased,
+wearing yellow head-dresses and black mantles. The
+men followed with bared heads. On arriving at the
+church the coffin was disposed on trestles, and the widow
+sat close by it throughout the ceremony. As it was
+lowered into the tomb the last words of the prayer for
+the dead were repeated by all, and as it touched the
+soil beneath a loud cry arose from the bereaved.</p>
+<p>The Breton funeral ceremony, like those prevalent
+among other Celtic peoples, is indeed a lugubrious
+affair, and somewhat recalls the Irish wake in its
+strange mixture of mourning and feasting; but curiously
+enough brightness reigns afterward, for the peasant is
+absolutely assured that at the moment his friend is
+placed in the tomb he commences a life of joy without
+end.</p>
+<h3><i>Tartarus and Paradise</i></h3>
+<p>Two very striking old Breton ballads give us very vivid
+pictures of the Breton idea of Heaven and its opposite.
+That dealing with the infernal regions hails from the
+district of L�on. It is attributed to a priest named
+Morin, who flourished in the fifteenth century, but
+others have claimed it for a Jesuit father called Maunoir,
+who lived and preached some two hundred years later.
+In any case it bears the ecclesiastical stamp. &ldquo;Descend,
+Christians,&rdquo; it begins, &ldquo;to see what unspeakable tortures
+the souls of the condemned suffer through the justice of
+God, Who has chained them in the midst of flames for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_389' name='page_389'></a>389</span>
+having abused their gifts in this world. Hell is a profound
+abyss, full of shadow, where not the least gleam
+of light ever comes. The gates have been closed and
+bolted by God, and He will never open them more.
+The key is lost!</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An oven heated to whiteness is this place, a fire
+which constantly devours the lost souls. There they
+will eternally burn, tormented by the intolerable heat.
+They gnash their teeth like mad dogs; they cannot
+escape the flames, which are over their heads, under
+their feet, and on all sides. The son rushes at his
+father, and the daughter at her mother. They drag
+them by the hair through the midst of flames, with a
+thousand maledictions, crying, &lsquo;Cursed be ye, lost
+woman, who brought us into the world! Cursed be ye,
+heedless man, who wert the cause of our damnation!&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For drink they have only their tears. Their skins are
+scorched, and bitten by the teeth of serpents and
+demons, and their flesh and their bones are nothing but
+fuel to the great fire of Hell!</p>
+<p>&ldquo;After they have been for some time in this furnace,
+they are plunged by Satan into a lake of ice, and from
+this they are thrown once more into the flames, and
+from the flames into the water, like a bar of iron in a
+smithy. &lsquo;Have pity, my God, have pity on us!&rsquo; they
+call; but they weep in vain, for God has closed His
+ears to their plaints.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The heat is so intense that their marrow burns within
+their bones. The more they crave for pity, the more
+they are tormented.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This fire is the anger of God which they have aroused;
+verily it may never be put out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>One turns with loathing, with anger, and with contempt
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_390' name='page_390'></a>390</span>
+from this production of medieval ecclesiasticism. When
+one thinks of the thousands of simple and innocent
+people who must have been tortured and driven half
+wild with terror by such infamous utterances as this, one
+feels inclined to challenge the oft-repeated statement
+concerning the many virtues of the medieval Church.
+But Brittany is not the only place where this species of
+terrorism was in vogue, and that until comparatively
+recent times. The writer can recall such descriptions
+as this emanating from the pulpits of churches in
+Scottish villages only some thirty years ago, and the
+strange thing is that people of that generation were
+wont to look back with longing and admiration upon
+the old style of condemnatory sermon, and to criticize
+the efforts of the younger school of ministers as being
+wanting in force and lacking the spirit of menace so
+characteristic of their forerunners. There are no such
+sermons nowadays, they say. Let us thank God that
+to the credit of human intelligence and human pity
+there are not!</p>
+<p>The opposite to this picture is provided by the ballad
+on Heaven. It is generally attributed to Michel de
+Kerodern, a Breton missionary of the seventeenth
+century, but others claim its authorship for St Herv�,
+to whom we have already alluded. In any case it is as
+replete with superstitions as its darker fellow. The
+soul, it says, passes the moon, sun, and stars on its
+Heavenward way, and from that height turns its eyes
+on its native land of Brittany. &ldquo;Adieu to thee, my
+country! Adieu to thee, world of suffering and dolorous
+burdens! Farewell, poverty, affliction, trouble, and sin!
+Like a lost vessel the body lies below, but wherever I
+turn my eyes my heart is filled with a thousand felicities.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_391' name='page_391'></a>391</span>
+I behold the gates of Paradise open at my approach
+and the saints coming out to receive me. I am received
+in the Palace of the Trinity, in the midst of honours and
+heavenly harmonies. The Lord places on my head a
+beautiful crown and bids me enter into the treasures
+of Heaven. Legions of archangels chant the praise of
+God, each with a harp in his hand. I meet my father,
+my mother, my brothers, the men of my country.
+Choirs of little angels fly hither and thither over our
+heads like flocks of birds. Oh, happiness without equal!
+When I think of such bliss to be, it consoles my heart
+for the pains of this life.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<a name='FOOTNOTES' id='FOOTNOTES'></a>
+<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0001' id='Footnote_0001'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0001'><span class='label'>[1]</span></a>
+<p>Consult E. Ernault, <i>Petite Grammaire bretonne</i> (Saint-Brieuc, 1897);
+L. Le Clerc, <i>Grammaire bretonne</i> (Saint-Brieuc, 1908); J. P. Treasure,
+<i>An Introduction to Breton Grammar</i> (Carmarthen, 1903). For the
+dialect of Vannes see A. Guillevic and P. Le Goff, <i>Grammaire bretonne
+du Dialect de Vannes</i> (Vannes, 1902).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0002' id='Footnote_0002'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0002'><span class='label'>[2]</span></a>
+<p>Lit. &lsquo;long stone,&rsquo; a megalithic monument. See <a href='#CHAPTER_II_MENHIRS_AND_DOLMENS'>Chapter II,
+&ldquo;Menhirs and Dolmens.&rdquo;</a> Students of folk-lore will recognize the
+symbolic significance of the offering. We seem to have here some
+connexion with pillar-worship, as found in ancient Crete, and the
+adoration of the Irminsul among the ancient Saxons.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0003' id='Footnote_0003'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0003'><span class='label'>[3]</span></a>
+<p>Charles the Bald.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0004' id='Footnote_0004'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0004'><span class='label'>[4]</span></a>
+<p>For the Breton original and the French translation from which the
+above is adapted see Villemarqu�, <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>, p. 112.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0005' id='Footnote_0005'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0005'><span class='label'>[5]</span></a>
+<p>&lsquo;Sons of the Chief.&rsquo; MacTier is a fairly common name in Scotland
+to-day.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0006' id='Footnote_0006'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0006'><span class='label'>[6]</span></a>
+<p>That it was Neolithic seems undoubted, and in all probability
+Alpine&mdash;<i>i.e.</i> the same race as presently inhabits Brittany. See Dottin,
+<i>Anciens Peuples de l&rsquo;Europe</i> (Paris, 1916).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0007' id='Footnote_0007'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0007'><span class='label'>[7]</span></a>
+<p>But <i>tolmen</i> in Cornish meant &lsquo;pole of stone.&rsquo;</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0008' id='Footnote_0008'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0008'><span class='label'>[8]</span></a>
+<p>Ostensibly, at least; but see the remarks upon modern pagan
+survivals in Chapter IX, p. <a href='#page_246'>246</a>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0009' id='Footnote_0009'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0009'><span class='label'>[9]</span></a>
+<p>Which might be rendered:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>All here is symbol; these grey stones translate</p>
+<p>A thought ineffable, but where the key?</p>
+<p>Say, shall it be recovered soon or late,</p>
+<p>To ope the temple of this mystery?</p>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0010' id='Footnote_0010'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0010'><span class='label'>[10]</span></a>
+<p>Not to be confused, of course, with the well-known island mount of
+the same name.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0011' id='Footnote_0011'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0011'><span class='label'>[11]</span></a>
+<p>A Scottish sixteenth-century magical verse was chanted over such
+a stone:</p>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p>&ldquo;I knock this rag wpone this stone,</p>
+<p>And ask the divell for rain thereon.&rdquo;</p>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0012' id='Footnote_0012'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0012'><span class='label'>[12]</span></a>
+<p>The writer&rsquo;s experience is that unlettered British folk often possess
+much better information concerning the antiquities of a district than
+its &lsquo;educated&rsquo; inhabitants. If this information is not scientific it is
+full and displays deep personal interest.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0013' id='Footnote_0013'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0013'><span class='label'>[13]</span></a>
+<p><i>Collectionneur breton</i>, t. iii, p.55.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0014' id='Footnote_0014'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0014'><span class='label'>[14]</span></a>
+<p>See <i>Comptes rendus de la Soci�t� des Antiquaries de France</i>, pp. 95 ff.
+(1836).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0015' id='Footnote_0015'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0015'><span class='label'>[15]</span></a>
+<p>J. G. Campbell, <i>Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands</i>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0016' id='Footnote_0016'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0016'><span class='label'>[16]</span></a>
+<p>Small, <i>Antiquities of Fife</i>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0017' id='Footnote_0017'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0017'><span class='label'>[17]</span></a>
+<p><i>Traditions de la Haute-Bretagne</i>, t. i, p. 26.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0018' id='Footnote_0018'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0018'><span class='label'>[18]</span></a>
+<p>Henderson, <i>Survivals in Belief among the Celts</i> (1911).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0019' id='Footnote_0019'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0019'><span class='label'>[19]</span></a>
+<p><i>Cultes, Mythes, et Religiones</i>, t. iii, pp. 365-433.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0020' id='Footnote_0020'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0020'><span class='label'>[20]</span></a>
+<p><i>Roman de Rou</i>, v. 6415 ff.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0021' id='Footnote_0021'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0021'><span class='label'>[21]</span></a>
+<p>Consult original ballad in Vicomte de la Villemarqu�&rsquo;s <i>Chants
+populaires de la Bretagne</i>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0022' id='Footnote_0022'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0022'><span class='label'>[22]</span></a>
+<p>MacCulloch, <i>The Religion of the Ancient Celts</i>, p. 116 (Edinburgh,
+1911).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0023' id='Footnote_0023'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0023'><span class='label'>[23]</span></a>
+<p>See <i>Ballads and Metrical Tales, illustrating the Fairy Mythology of
+Europe</i> (anonymous, London, 1857) for a metrical version of this tale.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0024' id='Footnote_0024'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0024'><span class='label'>[24]</span></a>
+<p>Lib. III, cap. vi.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0025' id='Footnote_0025'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0025'><span class='label'>[25]</span></a>
+<p>Paris, 1670. Strange that this book should have been seized upon
+by students of the occult as a &lsquo;text-book&rsquo; furnishing longed-for details
+of the &lsquo;lost knowledge&rsquo; concerning elementary spirits, when it is, in
+effect, a very whole-hearted satire upon belief in such beings!</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0026' id='Footnote_0026'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0026'><span class='label'>[26]</span></a>
+<p>Villemarqu�, <i>Myrdhinn, ou l&rsquo;Enchanteur Merlin</i> (1861).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0027' id='Footnote_0027'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0027'><span class='label'>[27]</span></a>
+<p>MacCulloch, <i>The Religion of the Ancient Celts</i>, p. 122.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0028' id='Footnote_0028'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0028'><span class='label'>[28]</span></a>
+<p>Or subterranean dwellers. See D. MacRitchie&rsquo;s <i>Fians, Fairies, and
+Picts</i> (1893).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0029' id='Footnote_0029'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0029'><span class='label'>[29]</span></a>
+<p>See the chapter on <a href='#CHAPTER_II_MENHIRS_AND_DOLMENS'>&ldquo;Menhirs and Dolmens.&rdquo;</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0030' id='Footnote_0030'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0030'><span class='label'>[30]</span></a>
+<p>Vol. i, p. 231.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0031' id='Footnote_0031'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0031'><span class='label'>[31]</span></a>
+<p><i>Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne</i> (Paris, 1880).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0032' id='Footnote_0032'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0032'><span class='label'>[32]</span></a>
+<p><i>Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie.</i></p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0033' id='Footnote_0033'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0033'><span class='label'>[33]</span></a>
+<p>Saddle.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0034' id='Footnote_0034'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0034'><span class='label'>[34]</span></a>
+<p>See the author&rsquo;s <i>Le Roi d&rsquo;Ys and other Poems</i> (London, 1910).</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0035' id='Footnote_0035'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0035'><span class='label'>[35]</span></a>
+<p>Kipling, &ldquo;Primum Tempus.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0036' id='Footnote_0036'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0036'><span class='label'>[36]</span></a>
+<p>In folk-tales of this nature a ladder is usually made of the bones,
+but this circumstance seems to have been omitted in the present
+instance.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0037' id='Footnote_0037'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0037'><span class='label'>[37]</span></a>
+<p>See Nutt, <i>Celtic and Medi&aelig;val Romance</i>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0038' id='Footnote_0038'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0038'><span class='label'>[38]</span></a>
+<p><i>La <ins title="Was 'Legende'">L�gende</ins> de la Mort.</i></p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0039' id='Footnote_0039'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0039'><span class='label'>[39]</span></a>
+<p><i>Religion of the Ancient Celts</i>, p. 345</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0040' id='Footnote_0040'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0040'><span class='label'>[40]</span></a>
+<p><i>Folk-lore as an Historical Science</i>, p. 129.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0041' id='Footnote_0041'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0041'><span class='label'>[41]</span></a>
+<p><i>Western France</i>, vol. ii.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0042' id='Footnote_0042'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0042'><span class='label'>[42]</span></a>
+<p>See Le Braz, <i>La L�gende de la Mort</i>, t. i, p. 39, t. ii, pp. 37 ff.; Albert
+Le Grand, <i>Vies des Saints de la Bretagne</i>, p. 63; Villemarqu�, <i>Chants
+populaires</i>, pp. 38 ff.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0043' id='Footnote_0043'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0043'><span class='label'>[43]</span></a>
+<p>See MacCulloch, <i>Religion of the Ancient Celts</i>, p. 372 and notes.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0044' id='Footnote_0044'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0044'><span class='label'>[44]</span></a>
+<p>MacCulloch, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 274.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0045' id='Footnote_0045'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0045'><span class='label'>[45]</span></a>
+<p>Villemarqu� avouches that this version was taken down by his
+mother from the lips of an old peasant woman of the parish of N�vez.
+It bears the stamp of ballad poetry, and as it has parallels in the folk-verse
+of other countries I see no reason to question its genuineness.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0046' id='Footnote_0046'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0046'><span class='label'>[46]</span></a>
+<p>See &ldquo;Maro Markiz Gwerrand,&rdquo; in the <i>Bulletin de la Soci�t� Acad�mique
+de Brest</i>, 1865.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0047' id='Footnote_0047'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0047'><span class='label'>[47]</span></a>
+<p>For the criticism on Villemarqu�&rsquo;s work see H. Gaidoz and P.
+S�billot, &ldquo;Bibliographie des Traditions et de la Litt�rature populaire
+de la Bretagne&rdquo; (in the <i>Revue Celtique</i>, t. v, pp. 277 ff.). The title
+<i>Barzaz-Breiz</i> means &ldquo;The Breton Bards,&rdquo; the author being under the
+delusion that the early forms of the ballads he collected and altered
+had been composed by the ancient bards of Brittany.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0048' id='Footnote_0048'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0048'><span class='label'>[48]</span></a>
+<p>Once a part of the forest of Broceliande. It has now disappeared.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0049' id='Footnote_0049'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0049'><span class='label'>[49]</span></a>
+<p><i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>, p. 335. S�billot (<i>Traditions de la Haute-Bretagne</i>, t. i,
+p. 346) says that he could gain nothing regarding this incident at the
+village of Saint-Cast but &ldquo;vague details.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0050' id='Footnote_0050'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0050'><span class='label'>[50]</span></a>
+<p>Rice Holmes, <i>C&aelig;sar&rsquo;s Conquest</i>, pp. 532-536.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0051' id='Footnote_0051'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0051'><span class='label'>[51]</span></a>
+<p>See Rolleston, <i>Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race</i>, p. 66.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0052' id='Footnote_0052'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0052'><span class='label'>[52]</span></a>
+<p>See Gomme, <i>Ethnology in Folk-lore</i>, p. 94.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0053' id='Footnote_0053'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0053'><span class='label'>[53]</span></a>
+<p>It is of interest to recall the fact that Ab�lard was born near Nantes,
+in 1079.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0054' id='Footnote_0054'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0054'><span class='label'>[54]</span></a>
+<p><i>The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory</i>, p. 135.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0055' id='Footnote_0055'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0055'><span class='label'>[55]</span></a>
+<p>No matter.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0056' id='Footnote_0056'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0056'><span class='label'>[56]</span></a>
+<p><i>I.e.</i> had the best knowledge of medicine. <i>Couthe</i>, from A.S. <i>cunnan</i>
+to know.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0057' id='Footnote_0057'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0057'><span class='label'>[57]</span></a>
+<p>Swinburne, <i>Tristram of Lyonesse</i>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0058' id='Footnote_0058'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0058'><span class='label'>[58]</span></a>
+<p>This incident is common in Celtic romance, and seems to have
+been widely used in nearly all medieval literatures.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0059' id='Footnote_0059'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0059'><span class='label'>[59]</span></a>
+<p>See Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, <i>Introduction to Mythology</i>, p. 326 ff.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0060' id='Footnote_0060'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0060'><span class='label'>[60]</span></a>
+<p>See Zimmer, <i>Zeitschrift f�r Franz�sische Sprache und Literatur</i>, xii,
+pp. 106 ff.</p>
+</div>
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0061' id='Footnote_0061'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0061'><span class='label'>[61]</span></a>
+<p><i>Religion of the Ancient Celts</i>, p. 289.</p>
+</div>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_392' name='page_392'></a>392</span>
+<a name='GLOSSARY__INDEX' id='GLOSSARY__INDEX'></a>
+<h2>GLOSSARY &amp; INDEX</h2>
+</div>
+<table style="width:75%;" border="0" summary="index jump table">
+  <tr>
+    <td><a href="#IX_A">A</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_B">B</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_C">C</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_D">D</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_E">E</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_F">F</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_G">G</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_H">H</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_I">I</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_J">J</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_K">K</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_L">L</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_M">M</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><a href="#IX_N">N</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_O">O</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_P">P</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_Q">Q</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_R">R</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_S">S</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_T">T</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_U">U</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_V">V</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_W">W</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_Y">X</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_Y">Y</a></td>
+    <td><a href="#IX_Z">Z</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_A'></a>A</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ab�lard.</span> A Breton monk;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of H�lo�se and, <a href='#page_248'>248-253</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Aberlady Bay.</span> A bay in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Abernethy.</span> A town in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Round Tower at, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Aberystwyth.</span> A town in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Taliesin buried at, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ADDER_STONE'></a><span class='smcap'>Adder&rsquo;s Stone.</span> A substance supposed to have magical properties, employed in Druidic rites, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>H�lo�se, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed, <a href='#page_252'>252</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ALAIN'></a><span class='smcap'>Alain III.</span> Count of Brittany (Count of Vannes);</p>
+<p class='indent2'>drives back the Northmen, <a href='#page_25'>25</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Alain IV (Barbe-torte).</span> Arch-chief of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>defeats the Northmen, <a href='#page_25'>25-26</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Alain V.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#page_28'>28</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Alain Fergant.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Alain.</span> Son of Eudo of Brittany, <a href='#page_29'>29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Albert le Grand.</span> Monk of Morlaix, <a href='#page_278'>278</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Alchemy.</span> The art of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the position of, in the fifteenth century, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Gilles de Retz experiments in, <a href='#page_175'>175-179</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Algonquins.</span> A race of North American Indians;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_302'>302</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ali Baba.</span> The story of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_316'>316</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>All Souls&rsquo; Day.</span> The custom of leaving food for the dead on, <a href='#page_383'>383</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Alo�da.</span> A maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the ballad of the Marriage-girdle, <a href='#page_234'>234-236</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>&lsquo;Alpine&rsquo; Race.</span> A European ethnological division;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Bretons probably belong to, <a href='#page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#page_37'>37</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Amenophis III.</span> An Egyptian king;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_43'>43</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>America.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#UNITED_STATES'>United States</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Angers.</span> A town in France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon goes to, to obtain holy relics from the cathedral, <a href='#page_336'>336</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Animals.</span> Frequently the bearers of divine aid, in legends of the saints, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Pol noted for his miraculous power over wild beasts, <a href='#page_366'>366</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Animism</span>, <a href='#page_86'>86-87</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ankou, The.</span> The death-spirit of Brittany, <a href='#page_101'>101-102</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Anna�k.</span> A maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a story of the Marquis of Gu�rande, <a href='#page_199'>199-202</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Anne.</span> Duchess of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>married to Charles VIII of France, and then to Louis XII, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the oratory of, in the ch�teau of Dinan, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>gives the ch�teau of Suscino to John of Ch�lons, <a href='#page_210'>210</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Antwerp.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>relics of St Winwaloe preserved in the Jesuit church of St Charles at, <a href='#page_371'>371</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Apple, The.</span> Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Telio, <a href='#page_18'>18</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ardmore.</span> A town in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Round Tower at, <a href='#page_51'>51-52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Arez, Mountains of.</span> Same as <a href='#MONTAGNES_DARREE'>Montagnes d&rsquo;Arr�e</a>, <i>which see</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Argoed.</span> A place in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>battle of, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Armagh.</span> A city in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Budoc made Bishop of, <a href='#page_356'>356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Armenia.</span> The country;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>were-wolf superstition in, <a href='#page_291'>291</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Armor</span> (&lsquo;On the Sea&rsquo;). The ancient Celtic name for Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Armorica.</span> The Latin name for the country of Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#page_15'>15</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Julius C&aelig;sar in, <a href='#page_16'>16</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>two British kingdoms in, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the first monastery in, founded by Gw�nnol�, <a href='#page_185'>185</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>King Arthur hunts wild beasts in, <a href='#page_278'>278</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Samson bidden to go to, <a href='#page_349'>349</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ARTHUR'></a><span class='smcap'>Arthur, King.</span> British chieftain, of legendary fame;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his finding of Excalibur, <a href='#page_256'>256-257</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his encounter with the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, <a href='#page_275'>275-277</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his existence doubted by Bretons in the twelfth century, <a href='#page_278'>278</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his fight with the dragon at the Lieue de Gr�ve, <a href='#page_278'>278-281</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>carried to the Isle of Avalon after his last battle, <a href='#page_282'>282</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Gugemar at the Court of, <a href='#page_292'>292</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his contest with Modred, <a href='#page_344'>344</a>;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_393' name='page_393'></a>393</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>his sister Margawse the wife of King Lot of Lothian, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_224'>224</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Arthur.</span> Duke of Brittany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>murdered by King John of England, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Arthurian Romance.</span> Resemblances in Villemarqu�&rsquo;s <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i> to, <a href='#page_224'>224</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the controversy as to the original birthplace of, <a href='#page_228'>228</a>, <a href='#page_254'>254-255</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>indigenous to British soil, <a href='#page_255'>255</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Arz.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ILE_DARZ'>Ile d&rsquo;Arz</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ash-tree, The Lay of the.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_317'>317-320</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Auchentorlie.</span> An estate in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>inscribed stones at, <a href='#page_46'>46</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Auchinleck MS.</span> A manuscript containing a version of the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_272'>272</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Audierne, Bay of.</span> A bay on the Breton coast;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>national costume in the district of, <a href='#page_376'>376</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Aulnoy, Comtesse d&rsquo;.</span> Noted seventeenth-century French authoress;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_144'>144</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Auray.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>battle at, <a href='#page_35'>35</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>centre from which to visit the megaliths of Carnac, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Avalon, Isle of.</span> A fabled island to which King Arthur was carried after his last battle, <a href='#page_282'>282</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Avenue of Sphinxes.</span> At Karnak, Egypt, <a href='#page_43'>43</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Az�nor.</span> Mother of St Budoc of Dol, <a href='#page_354'>354-356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Az�nor the Pale.</span> A maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of, <a href='#page_360'>360-364</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_B'></a>B</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bacchus.</span> The Greek god of wine;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_189'>189</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Balon.</span> Monastery of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Tivisiau and, <a href='#page_338'>338-339</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ban.</span> King of Benwik;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>father of Sir Lancelot, <a href='#page_257'>257</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bangor Teivi.</span> A village in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Taliesin said to have died at, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Baranton, The Fountain of.</span> A magical fountain in Broceliande, <a href='#page_70'>70-71</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bard.</span> Singer or poet attached to noble households;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>late survival of the custom of maintaining, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Barking Women.</span> A phenomenon connected with religious festivals, <a href='#page_380'>380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Baron of Jauioz, The.</span> A ballad, <a href='#page_145'>145-147</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Barron.</span> A fictitious youth;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a story of Gilles de Retz, <a href='#page_178'>178</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='BARZAZ_BREIZ'></a><span class='smcap'>Barzaz-Breiz</span> (&ldquo;The Breton Bards&rdquo;). A collection of Breton ballads made by Villemarqu�;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>cited (under sub-title, <i>Chants populaires de la Bretagne</i>), <a href='#page_57'>57</a> <i>n.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>criticism of, <a href='#page_211'>211-212</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bass Rock.</span> An islet in the Firth of Forth, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Batz.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. An island off the coast of Brittany; St Pol settles on, <a href='#page_365'>365-366</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_373'>373</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bayard, The Chevalier de.</span> A famous French knight;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bean Nighe</span> (&lsquo;The Washing Woman&rsquo;). An evil spirit of the Scottish Highlands, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Beaumanoir.</span> A Breton noble house, <a href='#page_229'>229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Beauty and the Beast.</span> The story of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_137'>137</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Beauvau.</span> Matthew, Seigneur of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, <a href='#page_190'>190-193</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bedivere, Sir.</span> One of King Arthur&rsquo;s knights;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>accompanies Arthur on his expedition against the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, <a href='#page_275'>275-277</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bees.</span> Cultivated by the monks of Dol, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Pol taught the people to cultivate, <a href='#page_366'>366</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Beignon.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_360'>360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Belgium.</span> Mentioned, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Beliagog.</span> A giant;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_271'>271</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Belsunce de Castelmoron, Henri-Fran�ois-Xavier de.</span> Bishop of Marseilles;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_195'>195</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Benediction of the Beasts.</span> A festival held at Carnac, <a href='#page_45'>45</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Berhet.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the custom of ringing the sacring bell still observed in the church of St Bridget at, <a href='#page_380'>380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_394' name='page_394'></a>394</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Berry.</span> John, Duke of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_145'>145</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Berry.</span> Caroline, Duchess of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bertrand de Dinan.</span> A Breton knight, <a href='#page_29'>29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bieuzy.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Holy Well of St Bieuzy at, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bigouden.</span> A cap worn by the women in some parts of Brittany, <a href='#page_376'>376</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Biniou.</span> A musical instrument resembling the bagpipe;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>one of the national instruments of Brittany, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>played at weddings, <a href='#page_386'>386</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Birds.</span> In Breton tradition, the dead supposed to return to earth in the form of, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>frequently messengers in ballad literature, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legends of the saints, commonly the bearers of divine aid, <a href='#page_347'>347</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bisclaveret.</span> The Breton name for a were-wolf;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the Lay of the Were-wolf, <a href='#page_287'>287-289</a>, <a href='#page_291'>291</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Black Mountain.</span> The name of one of the peaks of the Black Mountains, <a href='#page_197'>197</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Black Mountains.</span> A mountain chain in Brittany, <a href='#page_196'>196</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Blanche of Castile.</span> Mother of Louis IX, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Blancheflour.</span> Princess, sister of King Mark, mother of Tristrem;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_258'>258-259</a>, <a href='#page_261'>261</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Blois.</span> A famous French ch�teau;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='BLOIS'></a><span class='smcap'>Blois, Charles of.</span> Duke of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>contests the succession to the duchy, <a href='#page_30'>30-32</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>taken prisoner by Joan of Flanders, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the marriage of, with Joan of Penthi�vre, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>defeated at Auray, <a href='#page_35'>35</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ch�teau of Suscino taken by, <a href='#page_210'>210</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bluebeard.</span> The villain in the nursery-tale;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Gilles de Retz identified with, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of, identified with the story of Comorre and Triphyna, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Blue Chamber.</span> A boudoir in the ch�teau of Tourlaville, <a href='#page_209'>209</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bodmin.</span> A town in Cornwall;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_278'>278</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Boiteux.</span> A fiend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Princess Starbright, <a href='#page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#page_125'>125</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Boncotest, College of.</span> One of the colleges of the old University of Paris;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Fontenelle at, <a href='#page_229'>229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bonny Kilmeny.</span> A ballad by James Hogg;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_327'>327</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bourdais, Marc.</span> A peasant, nicknamed Maraud;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Lost Daughter, <a href='#page_75'>75-77</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bouteville.</span> John of, Seigneur of Faouet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_335'>335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Boy who Served the Fairies, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_88'>88-95</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bran</span> (&lsquo;Crow&rsquo;). A Breton warrior;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of, <a href='#page_225'>225-227</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>analogies between the story of, and the poem of <i>Sir Tristrem</i>, <a href='#page_227'>227-228</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brengwain.</span> A lady of Ysonde&rsquo;s suite;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brenha, Father Jos�.</span> A Portuguese antiquary;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_47'>47</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Breochan.</span> A legendary Welsh king, father of St Nennocha, <a href='#page_340'>340</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Br�ri.</span> A Breton poet, <a href='#page_255'>255</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brest.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#page_371'>371</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Breton.</span> The language, <a href='#page_15'>15-16</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bretons.</span> The race;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>their origin and affinities, <a href='#page_13'>13-15</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_37'>37</a> <i>n.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Bretons join William of Normandy in his expedition against England, <a href='#page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>send an expedition to help Owen Glendower, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>defeat the English in a naval battle, <a href='#page_236'>236</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brevelenz.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a fireplace in the church of, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brezonek.</span> The language spoken by the Bretons, <a href='#page_15'>15-16</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brian.</span> Son of Eudo of Brittany, <a href='#page_29'>29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bride of Satan, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_143'>143-144</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_147'>147</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Britain.</span> Celts flee from, to Brittany, before the Saxon invaders, <a href='#page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>subject kingdoms of, in Brittany, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>immigrants from, in Brittany, form a confederacy and fight against the Franks, <a href='#page_22'>22-23</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the headquarters of the Druidic cult, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Arthurian romance indigenous to, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Patern founds religious houses in, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Samson fled from, to Brittany, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_395' name='page_395'></a>395</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>Procopius&rsquo; story of the ferrying of the Breton dead over to, <a href='#page_383'>383-384</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Britons.</span> The race;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>members of, emigrate to Brittany, <a href='#page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22-23</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>carried Arthurian romance to Brittany, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brittany.</span> Divisions and character of the country, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Julius C&aelig;sar in, <a href='#page_16'>16</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Latin tongue did not spread over, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the origin of the name, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Nomeno� wins the independence of, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>invaded by Northmen, <a href='#page_25'>25</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Northmen expelled from, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>division of, into counties and seigneuries, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>relations with Normandy, <a href='#page_27'>27-30</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>French influences in, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the War of the Two Joans, <a href='#page_30'>30-31</a>, <a href='#page_35'>35-36</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>annexed to France by Francis I, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the prehistoric stone monuments of, <a href='#page_37'>37-53</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fairies of, <a href='#page_54'>54-95</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the sprites and demons of, <a href='#page_96'>96-105</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>&lsquo;world-tales&rsquo; in, <a href='#page_106'>106-155</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>folk-tales of, <a href='#page_156'>156-172</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>popular legends of, <a href='#page_173'>173-202</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ch�teaux of, <a href='#page_202'>202-210</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>hero-tales of, <a href='#page_211'>211-240</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>sends help to Owen Glendower in his conflict with the English, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a British army in, <a href='#page_237'>237</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the black art in, <a href='#page_241'>241-253</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Arthurian romance in, <a href='#page_254'>254-282</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Arthur found Excalibur in, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem in, <a href='#page_270'>270-271</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the scene of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_284'>284</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the saints of, <a href='#page_332'>332-371</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>many saints in, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>costumes of, <a href='#page_372'>372-377</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>customs of, <a href='#page_378'>378-388</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>religious observance in, <a href='#page_377'>377-378</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>holy wells in, <a href='#page_381'>381-382</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>observances relating to the dead and interments, <a href='#page_382'>382-384</a>, <a href='#page_386'>386-388</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Calvaries in, <a href='#page_384'>384-385</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>wedding ceremonies in, <a href='#page_385'>385-386</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brittany, Counts and Dukes of.</span> <i>See under</i> <a href='#ALAIN'>Alain</a>; <a href='#ARTHUR'>Arthur</a>; <a href='#BLOIS'>Blois, Charles of</a>; <a href='#CONAN'>Conan</a>; <a href='#DREUX'>Dreux</a>; <a href='#EUDO'>Eudo</a>; <a href='#FRANCIS'>Francis</a>; <a href='#GEOFFREY'>Geoffrey</a>; <a href='#HOEL'>Hoel</a>; <a href='#JOHN'>John</a>; <i>and</i> <a href='#SALOMON'>Salomon</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brittia.</span> Procopius&rsquo; name for Britain, <a href='#page_383'>383</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Broceliande.</span> A forest in Brittany, <a href='#page_54'>54-73</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the shrine of Arthurian story, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Korrigan a denizen of, <a href='#page_56'>56</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the scene of the adventures of Merlin and Vivien, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fountain of Baranton in, <a href='#page_70'>70-71</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>lines on, <a href='#page_71'>71</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, <a href='#page_72'>72-73</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the wood of Hell�an a part of, <a href='#page_221'>221</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_338'>338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brodineuf.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_207'>207</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brownies.</span> Elfish beings of small size;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>distinct from fairies, <a href='#page_87'>87</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Brunhilda.</span> Queen of Austrasia;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bruno of La Montagne.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_72'>72-73</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bruyant.</span> A friend of Butor of La Montagne;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, <a href='#page_72'>72-73</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Bugelnoz</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Teus.</span> A beneficent spirit of the Vannes district, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Burial Customs.</span> In Brittany, <a href='#page_382'>382-384</a>, <a href='#page_386'>386-388</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Burns, Robert.</span> The poet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his use of old songs and ballads, <a href='#page_211'>211</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_241'>241</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Buron.</span> A knight;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the Lay of the Ash-tree, <a href='#page_318'>318-320</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Butor.</span> Baron of La Montagne;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, <a href='#page_72'>72</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_C'></a>C</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cadoudal, Georges.</span> A Chouan leader;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_25'>25</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Caerleon-upon-Usk.</span> A town in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem sails for, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_21'>21</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>C&aelig;sar.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#JULIUS'>Julius</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Calendar, The.</span> Supernatural beings often associated with, <a href='#page_97'>97</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Caliburn.</span> A name for Excalibur. <i>See</i> <a href='#EXCALIBUR'>Excalibur</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Callernish.</span> A district in the island of Lewis, Outer Hebrides;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_53'>53</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Calvaries.</span> Representations of the passion on the Cross;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>common in Brittany, <a href='#page_384'>384-385</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Camaret.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_41'>41</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Camelot.</span> A legendary town in England, the scene of King Arthur&rsquo;s Court;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the battle at, in which King Arthur was killed, <a href='#page_344'>344</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent1'>mentioned, <a href='#page_64'>64</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_396' name='page_396'></a>396</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Canados.</span> King Mark&rsquo;s Constable, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_272'>272</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cancoet.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Maison des Follets at, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Caradeuc.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_207'>207</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cardigan Bay.</span> A bay in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the site of a submerged city, according to Welsh legend, <a href='#page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cardiganshire.</span> Welsh county;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Carhaix.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Comorre the ruler of, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Carnac.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42-45</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of, <a href='#page_44'>44-45</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the &lsquo;Benediction of the Beasts&rsquo; at, <a href='#page_45'>45</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>sometimes called &lsquo;Ty C&rsquo;harriquet,&rsquo; <a href='#page_98'>98</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>its megaliths supposed to have been built by the gorics, <a href='#page_98'>98</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the gorics&rsquo; revels around the megaliths of, <a href='#page_99'>99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Caroline.</span> Queen of England, wife of George II;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_196'>196</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Castle of the Sun, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_131'>131-137</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cattwg.</span> A town in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Taliesin and Gildas said to have been educated at the school of, <a href='#page_21'>21</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='CAYOT'></a><span class='smcap'>Cayot D�landre, F. M.</span> A Breton poet, <a href='#page_43'>43</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>&lsquo;Celtic.&rsquo;</span> The term;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>its disputed connotation, <a href='#page_37'>37</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Celts.</span> The race;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Bretons a division of, <a href='#page_14'>14-15</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Druidism may not have originated with, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>musical and poetic elements in the temperament of, <a href='#page_339'>339</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chamber of the Black Cavalier.</span> In the ballad of Az�nor the Pale, <a href='#page_362'>362</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chambord.</span> A famous French ch�teau;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Champ Dolent</span> (&lsquo;Field of Woe&rsquo;). The field in which the menhir of Dol stands, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the battle in, <a href='#page_40'>40</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Champtoc�.</span> A Breton ch�teau;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the home of Gilles de Retz, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_179'>179-180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Changelings.</span> The Breton fairies and, <a href='#page_83'>83</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chansons de Gestes.</span> Medieval French poems with an heroic theme;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Villemarqu�&rsquo;s work marked by the style of, <a href='#page_224'>224-225</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chants populaires de la Bretagne.</span> The sub-title of Villemarqu�&rsquo;s <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>. <i>See</i> <i><a href='#BARZAZ_BREIZ'>Barzaz-Breiz</a></i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chapelle du Duc.</span> A chapel at Tr�guier, built by Duke John V, <a href='#page_353'>353</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Charlemagne.</span> The Emperor;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_225'>225</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Charles I (the Bald).</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Nomeno� rises against, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337-338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Charles V.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_32'>32</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Charles VI.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Charles VIII.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Anne of Brittany married to, <a href='#page_36'>36</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Charles.</span> A youth;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, <a href='#page_115'>115-121</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chase, The.</span> Superstitions of, <a href='#page_301'>301</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ch�teau des Paulpiquets.</span> A name given to a megalithic structure in Questembert, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ch�teaux.</span> Of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>their rich legendary and historical associations, <a href='#page_202'>202-203</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stories of, <a href='#page_203'>203-210</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ch�teaubriand.</span> Fran�ois-Ren�-Auguste, Viscount of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>famous French writer and statesman;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>associated with the ch�teau of Comburg, <a href='#page_207'>207</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ch�teaubriant.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_207'>207</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ch�teaubriant.</span> Fran�oise de Foix, Countess of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of her relations with King Francis I and her fate, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ch�teau of Suscino given to, by Francis I, <a href='#page_210'>210</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chaveau-Narishkine, Countess.</span> Restored the ch�teau of Kerjolet, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Childebat.</span> A Breton king, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and St Pol, <a href='#page_367'>367</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Chramne.</span> Son of Clotaire I, King of the Franks, <a href='#page_40'>40</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Christianity.</span> St Samson teaches, in Brittany, <a href='#page_17'>17-19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Curiosolites refuse to receive the teachings of St Malo, <a href='#page_342'>342</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Church.</span> The early;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>hostility of, to the fairies, <a href='#page_56'>56</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cinderella.</span> The story of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_144'>144</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_397' name='page_397'></a>397</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cisalpine Gaul.</span> Roman province;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>had no Druidic priesthood, <a href='#page_245'>245</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Clairschach.</span> The Highland harp;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>replaced as the national instrument by the bagpipe, <a href='#page_229'>229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Claude.</span> Queen of Francis I of France, <a href='#page_36'>36</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cl�der.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Keenan built a monastery at, <a href='#page_344'>344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Clerk of Rohan, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_189'>189-193</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Clisson.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_204'>204-205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Clisson, Oliver de.</span> A celebrated Breton soldier, Constable of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>fought in the War of the Two Joans, <a href='#page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the ch�teau of Clisson, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the ch�teau of Josselin, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Clotaire I.</span> King of the Franks, <a href='#page_40'>40</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Coadelan.</span> The manor of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>occupied by Fontenelle, <a href='#page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#page_231'>231</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>has gone to decay, <a href='#page_232'>232</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Coadelan, The Lady of.</span> Her daughter carried off by Fontenelle, <a href='#page_229'>229-230</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Coat-Squiriou, Marquis of.</span> In the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_106'>106-109</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cockno.</span> A place in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>inscribed stones at, <a href='#page_47'>47</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Coesoron.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Co�tman.</span> The house of, <a href='#page_204'>204</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Co�tman, Viscount of.</span> A Breton nobleman;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_204'>204-205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Co�tquen, Tower of.</span> One of the towers in the city wall of Dinan, <a href='#page_209'>209</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='COIFFES'></a><span class='smcap'>Coiffes.</span> Of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See</i> <a href='#HEADDRESS'>Head-dress</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cole, King.</span> A half-legendary British king;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_173'>173</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Colodoc.</span> A name given to St Keenan. <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_KEENAN'>St Keenan</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Combat of Saint-Cast, The.</span> The ballad of, <a href='#page_236'>236-238</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Combourg.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_207'>207-208</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Ch�teaubriand associated with, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Comorre the Cursed.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_180'>180-184</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_382'>382</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Comte de Gabalis, Le.</span> The Abb� de Villars&rsquo; work;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_64'>64</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='CONAN'></a><span class='smcap'>Conan I.</span> Count of Brittany (Count of Rennes), <a href='#page_27'>27</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Conan II.</span> Duke of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and Duke William of Normandy, <a href='#page_27'>27-29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Conan III.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>patron of Ab�lard, <a href='#page_248'>248</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Conan IV.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Conan.</span> Father of Morvan, <a href='#page_215'>215</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Concarneau.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ch�teau of Kerjolet in, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Concoret.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, <a href='#page_242'>242</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Concurrus.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Connaught.</span> An Irish province;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Keenan a native of, <a href='#page_343'>343</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Constance.</span> Daughter of Conan IV of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne.</span> P. S�billot&rsquo;s work;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>cited, <a href='#page_83'>83</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cork.</span> A county of Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_355'>355</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cornouaille.</span> A district in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ancient Cornubia, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>formed by immigrants from Britain, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Az�nor the Pale, a ballad of, <a href='#page_360'>360-364</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>distinctive national costume in, <a href='#page_372'>372</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_108'>108</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cornubia.</span> A British kingdom in Armorica, the modern Cornouaille, <a href='#page_19'>19</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cornwall.</span> An English county, anciently a kingdom;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_257'>257-262</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_278'>278</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Corseul.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the people of, refuse the teachings of St Malo, <a href='#page_342'>342-343</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Corstorphine.</span> A village near Edinburgh;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of the building of the church at, <a href='#page_51'>51</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='COSTUME'></a><span class='smcap'>Costume.</span> Breton;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the faithfulness of the Bretons to their national costume, <a href='#page_372'>372</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the varieties of, <a href='#page_372'>372-377</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the costume of Cornouaille, <a href='#page_372'>372</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of Quimper, <a href='#page_372'>372-373</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the workers of the Escoublac district, <a href='#page_373'>373-374</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the women of Granville, <a href='#page_374'>374</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the women of Ouessant, <a href='#page_374'>374</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the men of St Pol, <a href='#page_375'>375</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of Pont l&rsquo;Abb� and the Bay of Audierne, <a href='#page_376'>376</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of Morlaix, <a href='#page_376'>376-377</a>;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_398' name='page_398'></a>398</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>gala dress in Brittany, <a href='#page_377'>377</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>C�tes-du-Nord.</span> One of the departments of Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_282'>282</a>, <a href='#page_351'>351</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Coudre.</span> A maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the Lay of the Ash-tree, <a href='#page_319'>319-320</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Courils.</span> A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#page_98'>98-99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Couronnes de Ste Barbe.</span> Amulets sold at the festival of St Barbe at Le Faouet, <a href='#page_333'>333</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cox, Rev. Sir G. W.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_275'>275</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Craon.</span> The house of, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Crions.</span> A race of gnomes peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen, <a href='#page_99'>99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cromlech.</span> The term;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>its derivation and significance, <a href='#page_38'>38</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cross of the Thousand Sails.</span> A monument at Guic-sezne, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Crusades.</span> Mentioned, <a href='#page_190'>190</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Culross.</span> A town in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Kentigern born at, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cup-and-ring Altar.</span> A monument discovered in the Milton of Colquhoun district, Scotland, <a href='#page_47'>47</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cup-and-ring Markings.</span> Symbols inscribed on megaliths;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>their meaning and purpose, <a href='#page_46'>46-48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cupid and Psyche.</span> The story of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_137'>137</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Curiosolit&aelig;.</span> A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, <a href='#page_16'>16</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent1'>the Curiosolites refuse to receive Christian teaching from St Malo, <a href='#page_342'>342-343</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Cymbeline.</span> A half-legendary British king;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_173'>173</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_D'></a>D</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dagworth, Sir Thomas.</span> An English knight;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>at the battle of La Roche-Derrien, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dahut.</span> Princess, daughter of Gradlon;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legend of Ys, <a href='#page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#page_186'>186</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dana�.</span> A maiden, in Greek mythology, mother of Perseus;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Daoine Sidhe.</span> Irish deities, <a href='#page_87'>87</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Daoulas.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the statue of the Virgin in the abbey of, adorned with a girdle of rubies, <a href='#page_236'>236</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dead, The.</span> In Breton tradition, supposed to return to earth in the form of birds, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>food left for, <a href='#page_382'>382-383</a>, <a href='#page_387'>387</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>burial customs, <a href='#page_382'>382-384</a>, <a href='#page_386'>386-388</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Breton dead ferried over to Britain, <a href='#page_383'>383-384</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Death-bird.</span> A bird whose note is supposed to portend misfortune to the maiden who hears it, <a href='#page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#page_147'>147</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Death-spirit.</span> The Ankou, <a href='#page_101'>101-102</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Deer God.</span> A deity of the North American Indians, <a href='#page_301'>301</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>D�landre, Cayot.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#CAYOT'>Cayot</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Demeter.</span> Greek corn goddess;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_59'>59</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Demon Lover, The.</span> A Scottish ballad;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_144'>144</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Demons.</span> Of Brittany, <a href='#page_96'>96-105</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the invariable accompaniment of an illiterate peasantry, <a href='#page_96'>96</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Denis Pyramus.</span> An Anglo-Norman chronicler;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>on the poems of Marie de France, <a href='#page_284'>284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Desonelle, Princess.</span> Heroine of <i>Sir Torrent of Portugal</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DEVIL'></a><span class='smcap'>Devil, The.</span> The erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Teus and, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#SATAN'>Satan</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Diana.</span> Roman moon-goddess;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_74'>74</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Diancecht.</span> An Irish god;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_247'>247</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dinan.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_209'>209</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. The ch�teau of, <a href='#page_209'>209</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dol.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the menhir near, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#page_39'>39-40</a>, <a href='#page_318'>318</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Samson settled near, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Northmen defeated by Alain Barbe-torte near, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of the menhir of, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Buron lived at, <a href='#page_318'>318</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Turiau, or Tivisiau, associated with, <a href='#page_338'>338-339</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of the founding of, by St Samson, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of St Budoc of, <a href='#page_353'>353-358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dol, Bishop of.</span> And St Tivisiau, <a href='#page_338'>338-339</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dol des Marchands.</span> The name given to a dolmen near Dol, <a href='#page_48'>48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DOLMENS'></a><span class='smcap'>Dolmens.</span> Derivation and meaning of the term, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>purpose of the monuments, <a href='#page_38'>38-39</a>;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_399' name='page_399'></a>399</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen at Tr�gunc, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen at Rocenaud, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>cup-and-ring markings upon, <a href='#page_46'>46-48</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen at Penhapp, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, <a href='#page_50'>50</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen at La Lande-Marie, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen of Ess�, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>haunted by nains, <a href='#page_96'>96</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>cup-hollows on, may have been intended as receptacles for food for the dead, <a href='#page_383'>383</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dolorous Knight, The Lay of the</span>, or <span class='smcap'>The Lay of the Four Sorrows.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_328'>328-331</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DOMNONEE'></a><span class='smcap'>Domnon�e.</span> A county of Brittany, <a href='#page_23'>23</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#DOMNONIA'>Domnonia</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DOMNONIA'></a><span class='smcap'>Domnonia.</span> A British kingdom in Armorica, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#page_27'>27</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#DOMNONEE'>Domnon�e</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dottin, Georges.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_37'>37</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Douarnenez, Bay of.</span> A bay on the Breton coast;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the city of Ys said to have been situated there, <a href='#page_185'>185</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Drachenfels.</span> A famous castle on the Rhine;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_203'>203</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DREUX'></a><span class='smcap'>Dreux, Pierre de.</span> Duke of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>defeats John of England at Nantes, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Drez, Job Ann.</span> A sexton;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a story of the Yeun, <a href='#page_103'>103-105</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DRUIDISM'></a><span class='smcap'>Druidism.</span> In early times, sorcery identified with, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the question whether Druidism was of Celtic or non-Celtic origin, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the nature of the practices of, <a href='#page_245'>245-248</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>survival of Druidic spells and ritual, <a href='#page_246'>246</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>an Eastern origin claimed for, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>survivals of the Druidic priesthood, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a college of Druidic priestesses situated near Nantes, <a href='#page_253'>253</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_53'>53</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#DRUIDS'>Druids</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DRUIDS'></a><span class='smcap'>Druids.</span> Origin of the cult, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the nature of their practices, <a href='#page_245'>245-246</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legend of Kentigern&rsquo;s birth, condemn Thenaw, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#DRUIDISM'>Druidism</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dublin.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem comes to, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem&rsquo;s second visit to, <a href='#page_265'>265</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dubric.</span> Archbishop who officiated at the marriage of King Arthur and Guinevere, <a href='#page_67'>67</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='DU_GUESCLIN'></a><span class='smcap'>Du Guesclin, Bertrand.</span> A famous knight, Constable of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>helps Charles of Blois in the War of the Two Joans, <a href='#page_31'>31-32</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a notable figure in Breton legend, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>buried at Saint-Denis, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of the Ward of, <a href='#page_33'>33-35</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>taken prisoner at the battle of Auray, <a href='#page_35'>35</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dungiven.</span> A town in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Druidic ritual still observed at, <a href='#page_246'>246</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dunpender.</span> A mountain in East Lothian, now called Traprain Law;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Thenaw cast from, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dusii.</span> Spirits inhabiting Gaul, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dylan.</span> A British sea-god;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_69'>69</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dyonas.</span> A god of the Britons;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Vivien sometimes represented as the daughter of, <a href='#page_69'>69</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_E'></a>E</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Edinburgh.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#page_203'>203</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Edmund.</span> King of East Anglia;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_284'>284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Eliduc, The Lay of.</span> One of the <span class='smcap'>Lais</span> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_305'>305-313</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ell�.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#page_332'>332</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>�lorn.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_19'>19</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Elphin.</span> Son of the Welsh chieftain Urien;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>taught by Taliesin, <a href='#page_21'>21</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Elves.</span> In Teutonic mythology, diminutive spirits;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fairy race of Celtic countries may have been confused with, <a href='#page_87'>87</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Emerald Coast, The.</span> A district in the southern portion of Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>England.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. The country;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>loses its ancient British name, which becomes that of Brittany, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>Bretons who accompanied William the Conqueror receive land in, <a href='#page_232'>232</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>Bretons invade, from Wales, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>King Arthur moves against the Emperor Lucius&rsquo; threatened invasion of, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the existence of King Arthur credited in, in the twelfth century, <a href='#page_278'>278</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>Marie de France lived in, <a href='#page_283'>283</a></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_400' name='page_400'></a>400</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. The State;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>supports John of Montfort&rsquo;s claim to Brittany, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Enora.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_ENORA'>St Enora</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Equitan, The Lay of.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_313'>313-317</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Erdeven.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ermonie.</span> A mythical kingdom, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Roland Rise, Lord of, <a href='#page_258'>258</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Duke Morgan becomes Lord of, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem returns to, <a href='#page_261'>261</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ernault, E.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_16'>16</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Eryri, Mount.</span> King Arthur slew the giant Ritho upon, <a href='#page_277'>277</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Escoublac.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_373'>373</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ess�.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen of, <a href='#page_53'>53</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Estaing, Pierre d&rsquo;.</span> A French alchemist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_175'>175</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>�tang de Laval.</span> A lake, supposed to cover the site of the submerged city of Ys, <a href='#page_185'>185</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ethwije.</span> Wife of Geoffrey I of Brittany, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='EUDO'></a><span class='smcap'>Eudo.</span> Count of Brittany, son of Geoffrey I, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#page_29'>29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Eufuerien.</span> King of Cumbria, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Even the Great.</span> Breton leader;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>defeats the Norsemen at the battle of Kerlouan, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ewen.</span> Son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='EXCALIBUR'></a><span class='smcap'>Excalibur.</span> King Arthur&rsquo;s miraculous sword;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>given to Arthur in Brittany, <a href='#page_256'>256-257</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Arthur kills the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel with, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_280'>280</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Exeter.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_307'>307</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_F'></a>F</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fables.</span> Of Marie de France, <a href='#page_283'>283</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='FAIRIES'></a><span class='smcap'>Fairies.</span> Credited with the erection of the megalithic monuments, <a href='#page_49'>49-52</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>magically imprisoned in dolmens, trees, and pillars, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fairy lore of Brittany bears evidence of Celtic influence, <a href='#page_54'>54</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fairies of Brittany hostile to man, <a href='#page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#page_55'>55-56</a>, <a href='#page_85'>85</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Church the enemy of, <a href='#page_56'>56</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>what derived from, in folk-lore, <a href='#page_73'>73-74</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the varying conceptions of, <a href='#page_73'>73</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Bretons&rsquo; ideas of, <a href='#page_74'>74-75</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fairies of the <i>houles</i>, <a href='#page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#page_88'>88</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fairies&rsquo; distaste for being recognized, and stories illustrating this, <a href='#page_82'>82</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>bestow magical sight, <a href='#page_82'>82-83</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and changelings, <a href='#page_83'>83</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>prone to take animal, bird, and fish shapes, <a href='#page_83'>83-84</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>probable reasons for the fairies&rsquo; malevolence, <a href='#page_85'>85-86</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>origin of the fairy idea, <a href='#page_85'>85-87</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>may have originally been deities, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in Brittany, conceived as of average mortal height, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the <i>Margots la f�e</i>, a variety of, <a href='#page_88'>88</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story illustrating fairy malevolence, <a href='#page_88'>88</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fairy-woman in the Lay of Graelent, <a href='#page_322'>322-328</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fairyland.</span> Graelent enters, <a href='#page_326'>326</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>identified with the Celtic Otherworld, <a href='#page_327'>327</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a place of death and remoteness, <a href='#page_328'>328</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fairy-wife.</span> A folk-lore <i>motif</i>, <a href='#page_327'>327</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Falcon, The.</span> A ballad, <a href='#page_196'>196-198</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Farmer, Captain George.</span> Commander of the <i>Quebec</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a Breton ballad, <a href='#page_238'>238</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fays.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#FAIRIES'>Fairies</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>February.</span> The month;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>personified in the story of Princess Starbright, <a href='#page_128'>128-129</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>F�lix.</span> Bishop of Quimper, <a href='#page_337'>337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Feuillet, Octave.</span> A French novelist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Finette Cendron</span> (&lsquo;Cinderella&rsquo;). Mme d&rsquo;Aulnoy&rsquo;s story of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_144'>144</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Finist�re.</span> One of the departments of Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fions.</span> A name sometimes given to the fairies in Brittany, occurring also in Scottish and Irish folk-lore, <a href='#page_74'>74</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fire-goddess.</span> St Barbe probably represents the survival of a, <a href='#page_334'>334</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fireplaces</span> in Breton churches, <a href='#page_380'>380-381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fisherman and the Fairies, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_80'>80-83</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Flamel, Nicolas.</span> A French alchemist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_175'>175</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Flanders.</span> The country;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Gugemar in, <a href='#page_292'>292</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_145'>145</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_401' name='page_401'></a>401</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Folk-tales.</span> Of Brittany, <a href='#page_156'>156-172</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fontenelle, Guy Eder De.</span> A Breton leader, associated with the Catholic League, <a href='#page_229'>229-232</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>F�rster, Professor Wendelin.</span> And the origin of Arthurian romance, <a href='#page_254'>254</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Forth.</span> A river in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Forth, Firth of.</span> Mentioned, <a href='#page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Foster-brother, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_167'>167-172</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Foucault, Jean.</span> A Breton peasant;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of, <a href='#page_244'>244</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Foug�res.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>had a reputation as the dwelling-place of sorcerers, <a href='#page_242'>242</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fouquet, Nicolas.</span> A French statesman;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Four Sorrows, The Lay of the</span>, or <span class='smcap'>The Lay of the Dolorous Knight.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_328'>328-331</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fragan.</span> Governor of L�on, father of St Winwaloe, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>France.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. The country;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>manners and fashions of, spread in Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the were-wolf superstition prevalent in, <a href='#page_291'>291</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. The State;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>intervenes in the conflict between Brittany and Normandy, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>Brittany annexed by, under Francis I, <a href='#page_36'>36</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Francis I.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>annexes Brittany to France, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and Fran�oise de Foix, the Countess of Ch�teaubriant, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>gives the ch�teau of Suscino to Fran�oise de Foix, <a href='#page_210'>210</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='FRANCIS'></a><span class='smcap'>Francis I.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_36'>36</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Franks.</span> The people;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>exercised a nominal suzerainty over Brittany, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan fights with, <a href='#page_216'>216-221</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>&ldquo;Morvan will return to drive the Franks from the Breton land,&rdquo; <a href='#page_224'>224</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Franks, King of The.</span> In Villemarqu�&rsquo;s <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and Morvan&rsquo;s fight with the Moor, <a href='#page_218'>218-220</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan fights with, <a href='#page_220'>220-221</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the character drawn in the style of the <i>chansons de gestes</i>, <a href='#page_224'>224</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fredegonda.</span> Queen of Neustria;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fr�miet, Emmanuel.</span> A French sculptor;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fr�ne.</span> A maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the Lay of the Ash-tree, <a href='#page_318'>318-320</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Fulbert.</span> A canon of Notre-Dame, Paris, uncle of H�lo�se, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mutilated Ab�lard, <a href='#page_250'>250</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Funeral Customs and Ceremonies.</span> In Brittany, <a href='#page_382'>382-384</a>, <a href='#page_386'>386-388</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_G'></a>G</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gaidoz, H.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_212'>212</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ganhardin.</span> Brother of Ysonde of the White Hand;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_271'>271-272</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Garb of Old Gaul, The.</span> A song;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_237'>237</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gargantua.</span> A mythical giant;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Garlon, The Clerk of.</span> In a legend of the Marquis of Gu�rande, <a href='#page_199'>199-202</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gavr&rsquo;inis</span> (&lsquo;Goat Island&rsquo;). An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the tumulus at, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>nains&rsquo; inscriptions on the megaliths of, <a href='#page_98'>98</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gawaine, Sir.</span> One of King Arthur&rsquo;s knights;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Geber.</span> An Arabian alchemist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_175'>175</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='GEOFFREY'></a><span class='smcap'>Geoffrey I.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legend of the Falcon, <a href='#page_196'>196</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Geoffrey II (Plantagenet).</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Geoffrey of Monmouth.</span> An English chronicler;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the presentation of Vivien in his work, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the presentation of Merlin, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>acknowledged a Breton source for his work, <a href='#page_255'>255</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gildas.</span> A British chronicler;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>fellow-pupil with Taliesin at the school of Cattwg, <a href='#page_21'>21</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Keenan associated with, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Bieuzy a friend and disciple of, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the bell of, in the chapel at La Roche-sur-Blavet, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Bieuzy dies in the presence of, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Pol of L�on a fellow-student of, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_402' name='page_402'></a>402</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Giraldus Cambrensis.</span> A Welsh chronicler;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the legend of the submerged city, <a href='#page_187'>187</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Girdle.</span> Superstition of the, <a href='#page_302'>302</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Glain Neidr.</span> The sea-snake&rsquo;s egg or adder&rsquo;s stone, used in Druidic rites, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>H�lo�se, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed, <a href='#page_252'>252</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Glasgow.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Goelc.</span> A seigneury of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a Count of, the father of St Budoc of Dol, <a href='#page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#page_355'>355</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Goezenou.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the church of, <a href='#page_369'>369</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>holy well at, <a href='#page_382'>382</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Goidelic Dialect.</span> A Celtic tongue, <a href='#page_15'>15</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Golden Bell, Ch�teau of the.</span> In the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_111'>111-114</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Golden Bell, Princess.</span> In the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_110'>110-115</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Golden Herb.</span> A plant supposed in Druidical times to possess magical properties, <a href='#page_247'>247-248</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gomme, Sir G. L.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gorics.</span> A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#page_98'>98-99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Goulven.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>historical tablet in the church of, <a href='#page_225'>225</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gouvernayl.</span> Servitor to Tristrem;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#page_264'>264</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gradlon Meur.</span> A ruler of Ys;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legend of the city, <a href='#page_185'>185-186</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the statue of, at Quimper, <a href='#page_188'>188-189</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>supposed to have introduced the vine into Brittany, <a href='#page_189'>189</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Graelent, The Lay of.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_320'>320-328</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Grail.</span> Legend of the;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a parallel incident in the Lay of Gugemar and, <a href='#page_301'>301-302</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Grallo.</span> King of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and St Ronan, <a href='#page_367'>367</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Grand Mont.</span> An eminence upon which St Gildas built his abbey, <a href='#page_249'>249</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Grand Trom�nie.</span> The special celebration of the Pardon of the Mountain held every sixth year, <a href='#page_379'>379-380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Granville.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>women&rsquo;s costume in, <a href='#page_374'>374</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Grifescorne.</span> King of the Demons;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#page_114'>114</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Groabgoard.</span> An image at Quinipily, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Grottes aux F�es.</span> Name given to the megalithic monuments by the Bretons, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gu�men�.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_334'>334</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gu�rande.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_198'>198</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gu�rande.</span> Louis-Fran�ois, Marquis of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of, <a href='#page_199'>199-202</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guerech.</span> Count of Vannes;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Comorre the Cursed, <a href='#page_180'>180-181</a>, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_184'>184</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gugemar, The Lay of.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_292'>292-302</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guic-sezne.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guildeluec.</span> Wife of Eliduc, <a href='#page_306'>306-313</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guillardun.</span> A princess;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the Lay of Eliduc, <a href='#page_307'>307-313</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guillevic, A.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_16'>16</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guimiliau.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Calvary at, <a href='#page_384'>384-385</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guindy.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guinevere.</span> King Arthur&rsquo;s Queen;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_67'>67</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>comforted by St Keenan after Arthur&rsquo;s death, <a href='#page_344'>344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Guingamp.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_229'>229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gwen.</span> Mother of St Winwaloe, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gwenaloe</span> (&lsquo;He that is white&rsquo;). The Breton name for St Winwaloe, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gwenn-Estrad.</span> A place in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>battle of, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gwennola�k.</span> A maiden of Tr�guier;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Foster-brother, <a href='#page_167'>167-172</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gw�nnol�.</span> A holy man;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legend of the city of Ys, <a href='#page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#page_186'>186</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gwezklen.</span> The Breton name for Du Guesclin, <a href='#page_32'>32</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See</i> <a href='#DU_GUESCLIN'>Du Guesclin</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gwindeluc.</span> A monk, a disciple of St Convoyon, <a href='#page_335'>335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_403' name='page_403'></a>403</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Gwyddno.</span> Twelfth-century Welsh bard;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>relates the story of the submerged city, <a href='#page_188'>188</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_H'></a>H</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hainault.</span> A Belgian province;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_328'>328</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Harp, The.</span> Not now popular in Brittany, but in ancient times one of the national instruments, <a href='#page_228'>228-229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hatchet of Brittany, The.</span> An appellation of Morvan, <a href='#page_221'>221</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Haute-B�cherel.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>pagan temple at, <a href='#page_342'>342</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='HEADDRESS'></a><span class='smcap'>Head-dress.</span> Of the women of the Escoublac district, <a href='#page_374'>374</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the women of Ouessant, <a href='#page_374'>374</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the women of Villecheret, <a href='#page_375'>375</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the men of Brittany, does not vary much, <a href='#page_375'>375</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>headgear of the men of Plougastel, <a href='#page_375'>375</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the women of Muzillac, <a href='#page_376'>376</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the women of Pont l&rsquo;Abb� and the Bay of Audierne, <a href='#page_376'>376</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of the women of Morlaix, <a href='#page_376'>376</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#COIFFES'>COIFFES</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Heaven.</span> An old Breton conception of, <a href='#page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#page_390'>390-391</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Helena, Lady.</span> Niece of Duke Hoel I of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>carried off by the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#page_276'>276</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hell.</span> In the story of the Bride of Satan, <a href='#page_144'>144</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>an old Breton conception of, <a href='#page_388'>388-389</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hell�an, Wood of.</span> A former part of the forest of Broceliande, <a href='#page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#page_224'>224</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Helo�se.</span> An abbess, beloved of Ab�lard;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of Ab�lard and, <a href='#page_248'>248-253</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a Breton ballad represented as a sorceress, <a href='#page_250'>250-253</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>H�nan.</span> Manor of, in Brittany, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Henderson, George.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hennebont.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Henry II.</span> King of England, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>identified as the king to whom Marie of France dedicated her <i>Lais</i>, <a href='#page_284'>284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Henry III.</span> King of England;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_284'>284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Henry IV.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and Fontenelle, <a href='#page_231'>231-232</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_204'>204</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='HENWG'></a><span class='smcap'>Henwg.</span> A Welsh bard;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>said to be the father of Taliesin, <a href='#page_21'>21</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='HERSART_VILLEMARQUE'></a><span class='smcap'>Hersart de la Villemarqu�, Vicomte.</span> Writer on Breton legendary lore;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his poem on Nomeno�, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his ballad of Alain Barbe-torte, <a href='#page_25'>25-27</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and a story of the Clerk of Rohan, <a href='#page_190'>190</a> <i>n.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>, <a href='#page_211'>211-212</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stories from his <i>Barzaz-Breiz</i>, <a href='#page_212'>212-237</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>indications of the source of his matter, <a href='#page_224'>224-225</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the story of Fontenelle, <a href='#page_230'>230</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, <a href='#page_237'>237</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>on the story of Az�nor the Pale, <a href='#page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>cited, <a href='#page_57'>57</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href='#page_65'>65</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href='#page_184'>184</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Herv�.</span> Son of Kyvarnion;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of the wolf and, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_390'>390</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Highlanders.</span> Scottish;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, <a href='#page_237'>237</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Highlands.</span> Scottish;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>beliefs in, respecting stones, <a href='#page_52'>52-53</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the &lsquo;Washing Woman&rsquo; of, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hildwall.</span> A pious man of Angers;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon lodges with, <a href='#page_336'>336</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hodain.</span> A dog;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_267'>267</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='HOEL'></a><span class='smcap'>Hoel I.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#page_278'>278</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hoel V.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Holger.</span> A half-mythical Danish hero;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_212'>212</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Holmes, T. Rice.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_245'>245</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Holy Land.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#PALESTINE'>Palestine</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Houles.</span> Caverns;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Bretons suppose fairies to inhabit, <a href='#page_75'>75</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Huon de M�ry.</span> A thirteenth-century writer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>on the fountain of Baranton, <a href='#page_71'>71</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Hurlers, The.</span> A Cornish legend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_44'>44</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_I'></a>I</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Iberians.</span> A non-Aryan race, supposed to have inhabited Britain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>held by Rhys to be the originators of Druidism, <a href='#page_245'>245</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ida.</span> King of Bernicia;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ILE_DARZ'></a><span class='smcap'>Ile d&rsquo;Arz.</span> An island off the coast of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths in, <a href='#page_48'>48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_404' name='page_404'></a>404</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ile-de-France.</span> A French province;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Marie of France said to have been a native of, <a href='#page_283'>283</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ile aux Moines.</span> An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megalithic monuments in, <a href='#page_48'>48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ILE_DE_SEIN'></a><span class='smcap'>Ile de Sein.</span> An island off the Breton coast, <a href='#page_63'>63</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Winwaloe settled on, <a href='#page_371'>371</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ile-Verte.</span> An island off the Breton coast;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Winwaloe lived on, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ille-et-Vilaine.</span> One of the departments of Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#page_50'>50</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Inveresk.</span> A village in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Iouenn.</span> A young man;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Man of Honour, <a href='#page_147'>147-155</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ireland.</span> Markings on the megalithic monuments in, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of the submerged city in, <a href='#page_187'>187</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the harp anciently the national instrument of, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem in, <a href='#page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#page_265'>265-267</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Petranus, father of St Patern, goes to, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Patern meets his father in, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>many saints in, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Az�nor and Budoc in, <a href='#page_355'>355-356</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Budoc made King of, <a href='#page_356'>356</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ireland, King of.</span> In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#page_266'>266</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ireland, Queen of.</span> In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_264'>264-267</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Irminsul.</span> A Saxon idol;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>probable connexion between the menhir and the worship of, <a href='#page_18'>18</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Isidore of Seville.</span> A Spanish ecclesiastic and writer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_J'></a>J</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>January.</span> The month;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>personified, in the story of the Princess Starbright, <a href='#page_128'>128-129</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Jargeau.</span> A town in France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the battle of, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Jaudy.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#page_167'>167</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Jauioz.</span> A seigneury in Languedoc;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of Louis, Baron of, <a href='#page_145'>145-146</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Jeanne Darc.</span> The French heroine;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the play or mystery of, <a href='#page_175'>175</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Joan of Flanders.</span> Wife of John of Montfort;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the War of the Two Joans, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Joan of Penthi�vre.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#PENTHIEVRE'>Penthi�vre</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Job the Witless.</span> In the story of the Foster-brother, <a href='#page_169'>169</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>John (Lackland).</span> King of England;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='JOHN'></a><span class='smcap'>John III.</span> Duke of Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>John IV.</span> Duke of Brittany</p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See</i> <a href='#MONTFORT'>Montfort, John of</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>John V.</span> Duke of Brittany, son of the famous John of Montfort, <a href='#page_35'>35-36</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and Gilles de Retz, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>built a magnificent tomb for St Yves, <a href='#page_353'>353</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>John.</span> Duke of Ch�lons;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ch�teau of Suscino given to, <a href='#page_210'>210</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Josselin.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_205'>205-206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Joyous Garden.</span> A garden raised by enchantment by Merlin to please Vivien, <a href='#page_66'>66</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#page_69'>69</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Jud-Hael.</span> A Breton chieftain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the vision of, <a href='#page_20'>20-21</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Judik-Hael.</span> A Breton chieftain, son of Jud-Hael, <a href='#page_21'>21</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='JULIUS'></a><span class='smcap'>Julius C&aelig;sar.</span> On the Druids of Gaul, <a href='#page_245'>245</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_K'></a>K</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kado the Striver.</span> A Breton peasant, leader of a revolt, <a href='#page_197'>197-198</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Karnak.</span> A village in Egypt;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_43'>43</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Karo.</span> Son of a Breton chieftain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a story of Nomeno�, <a href='#page_23'>23-25</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kay, Sir.</span> King Arthur&rsquo;s seneschal, <a href='#page_275'>275</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kennedy.</span> A character in a Highland tale, <a href='#page_51'>51</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kergariou, Comte de.</span> And the story of Fontenelle, <a href='#page_230'>230</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kergivas.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the manor of, <a href='#page_369'>369</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kergoaler, Cou�dic de.</span> Captain of the <i>Surveillante</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a Breton ballad, <a href='#page_238'>238</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kergonan.</span> A village in the Ile aux Moines;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_48'>48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_405' name='page_405'></a>405</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Keridwen.</span> A fertility goddess who dwelt in Lake Tegid, Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_59'>59</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ker-is.</span> A name of the city of Ys, <a href='#page_185'>185</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See</i> <a href='#YS'>Ys</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kerjolet.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kerlaz.</span> A village in Brittany, <a href='#page_232'>232</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kerlescant.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kerlouan.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>battle at, between Norsemen and Bretons, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the oak on the battlefield at, <a href='#page_227'>227</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kermario.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kermartin.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Yves born at, <a href='#page_350'>350</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kermorvan.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Yves the Seigneur of, in the ballad of Az�nor the Pale, <a href='#page_360'>360-363</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kerodern, Michel de.</span> A Breton missionary, <a href='#page_390'>390</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kerouez.</span> An old ch�teau;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Seigneur with the Horse&rsquo;s Head, <a href='#page_137'>137</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kersanton.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stone from, forms the Calvary of Guimiliau, <a href='#page_385'>385</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kervran.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the warrior Bran taken prisoner at, <a href='#page_225'>225</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>King of the Ants.</span> In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>King of the Birds.</span> In the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>King of the Fishes.</span> In a tale from Saint-Cast, <a href='#page_84'>84-85</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#page_114'>114</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>King of the Lions.</span> In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>King of the Sparrow-hawks.</span> In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#page_119'>119</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kipling, Rudyard.</span> Quoted, <a href='#page_86'>86</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Korrigan, The.</span> A forest fairy;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a denizen of Broceliande, <a href='#page_56'>56</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Seigneur of Nann, <a href='#page_57'>57-58</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>associated with water, an element of fertility, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>an enchantress, <a href='#page_60'>60</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Unbroken Vow, <a href='#page_62'>62-63</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>desired union with humanity, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#page_98'>98</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Kyvarnion.</span> A British bard, father of Herv�, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_L'></a>L</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lady of La Garaye, The.</span> Poem by Mrs Norton;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>quoted, <a href='#page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lady of the Lake.</span> In Arthurian legend, Vivien;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>foster-mother of Lancelot, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#page_257'>257</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of Breton origin, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, <a href='#page_256'>256-257</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#VIVIEN'>Vivien</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>La Garaye.</span> A Breton ch�teau, near Dinan;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of the Lady of, <a href='#page_195'>195</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lailoken.</span> A character in early British legend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_70'>70</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lais.</span> Of Marie de France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>their value in the study of Breton lore, <a href='#page_283'>283</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>date and other circumstances of their composition, <a href='#page_283'>283-284</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stories from, <a href='#page_284'>284-289</a>, <a href='#page_292'>292-331</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lake of Anguish, The.</span> A lake in Hell;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Bride of Satan, <a href='#page_144'>144</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, <a href='#page_146'>146</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>La Lande Marie.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen at, <a href='#page_51'>51</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lancelot, Sir.</span> One of the Knights of the Round Table, son of King Ban of Benwik;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stolen and brought up by Vivien, <a href='#page_257'>257</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>does not appear in Celtic legend, <a href='#page_257'>257</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_69'>69</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Land�vennec.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a chapel of St Nicholas at, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a monastery built at, by St Winwaloe, <a href='#page_371'>371</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Landivisiau.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_338'>338</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>fine carvings in the church of, <a href='#page_339'>339-340</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Landegu.</span> A village in Cornwall;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Keenan at, <a href='#page_344'>344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Langoad.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_198'>198</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Language.</span> Brezonek, the tongue of the Bretons, <a href='#page_15'>15</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the old Breton tongue closely similar to Welsh, <a href='#page_15'>15</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Latin tongue did not spread over Brittany, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Largoet.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_406' name='page_406'></a>406</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>La Roche-Bernard.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_376'>376</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>La Roche-sur-Blavet.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a retreat of Gildas and St Bieuzy, <a href='#page_345'>345</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>La Roche-Derrien.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>battle at, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>La Roche-Jagu.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_203'>203-204</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>La Rose.</span> A young man;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Magic Rose, <a href='#page_156'>156-162</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Latin.</span> The language;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>did not spread over Brittany, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Laustic, The Lay of.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_302'>302-305</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Laval, Gilles de.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#RETZ'>Retz</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Laval, Jean de.</span> Governor of Brittany, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>married to Fran�oise de Foix, Countess of Ch�teaubriant, <a href='#page_207'>207</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lay of the Were-Wolf, The.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_284'>284-289</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>League, The.</span> A Catholic organization formed against the Huguenots, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_206'>206</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Fontenelle associated with, <a href='#page_229'>229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Braz, Anatole.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#page_184'>184</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Clerc, L.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_16'>16</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Croisic.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_373'>373</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Faouet.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the chapel of St Barbe near, <a href='#page_332'>332-333</a>, <a href='#page_334'>334-335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Legend.</span> The meaning of the term, <a href='#page_173'>173</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Goff, P.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_16'>16</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Grand, A.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_184'>184</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>L�guer.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_220'>220</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>L�guer, Lake of.</span> In the story of the Princess Starbright, <a href='#page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#page_131'>131</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lelian.</span> Father of St Tivisiau, <a href='#page_338'>338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Moustoir-le-Juch.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>fireplace in the church of, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Leo IV.</span> Pope;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Nomeno� sends gifts to, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and St Convoyon, <a href='#page_337'>337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>L�on.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. A county of Brittany, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>, <a href='#page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#page_388'>388</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. The see of;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>given to St Pol, <a href='#page_367'>367</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Le Rouzic, Zacharie.</span> A Breton arch&aelig;ologist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_45'>45</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lewis.</span> An island in the Outer Hebrides;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_53'>53</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Leyden, John.</span> A Scottish poet and Orientalist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his treatment of legendary material, <a href='#page_211'>211</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>L�zat.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, <a href='#page_242'>242</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lez-Breiz, Morvan.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#MORVAN'>Morvan</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lieue de Gr�ve.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Arthur&rsquo;s fight with the dragon of, <a href='#page_278'>278-281</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Livonia.</span> The country;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>were-wolf superstition in, <a href='#page_290'>290</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Llanvithin.</span> A village in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_21'>21</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Loc-Christ.</span> Monastery of, built under the persuasion of St Winwaloe, <a href='#page_370'>370-371</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Locmaria.</span> A place in Brittany, <a href='#page_199'>199</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Locmariaquer.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Logres.</span> An ancient British kingdom;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the Lay of Eliduc, <a href='#page_306'>306-311</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Loguivy-Plougras.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_137'>137</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lohanec.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Yves incumbent of, <a href='#page_351'>351</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lohengrin.</span> A knight, in German legend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_137'>137</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Loire.</span> The river;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_253'>253</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Loire-Inf�rieure.</span> One of the departments of Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>London.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#page_99'>99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Long Meg.</span> A Cumberland legend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_44'>44</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Longsword, William.</span> Earl of Salisbury;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>identified as the nobleman to whom Marie of France dedicated her <i>Fables</i>, <a href='#page_284'>284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lorelei.</span> A water-spirit of the Rhine;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_64'>64</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lorgnez.</span> A Frankish chieftain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan fights with, and slays, <a href='#page_217'>217-218</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lost Daughter, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_75'>75-80</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lot.</span> King of Lothian, grandfather of St Kentigern, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lothian.</span> A district in Scotland, formerly a kingdom;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_407' name='page_407'></a>407</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lothian, East.</span> A county of Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Loud�ac.</span> An <i>arrondissement</i> of Brittany, <a href='#page_88'>88</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lough Neagh.</span> A lake in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>according to Irish legend, the site of submerged city, <a href='#page_187'>187</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Louis I (the Pious).</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>places the native chieftain Nomeno� over Brittany, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon visits, to obtain confirmation of grants, <a href='#page_335'>335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='LOUIS_IX'></a><span class='smcap'>Louis IX.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Louis XI.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Louis XII.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Anne of Brittany married to, <a href='#page_36'>36</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Louis XV.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>honours the Count of La Garaye, <a href='#page_195'>195</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Louis.</span> Baron of Jauioz;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of, <a href='#page_145'>145-147</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Louvre, The.</span> A palace in Paris;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lucius.</span> Roman consul, sometimes referred to as Emperor;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>King Arthur moves against, <a href='#page_275'>275</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Luzel, F. M.</span> His <i>Guerziou Breiz-Izel</i>, mentioned, <a href='#page_211'>211</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Lyonesse.</span> A legendary kingdom near Cornwall, <a href='#page_257'>257</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_M'></a>M</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>MacCulloch, J. R.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_59'>59</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href='#page_189'>189</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>MacCunn, Hamish.</span> Composer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_145'>145</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Machutes.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_MALO'>St Malo</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Macpherson, James.</span> A Scottish poet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_211'>211</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>MacRitchie, D.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_74'>74</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mac-tierns</span> (&lsquo;Sons of the Chief&rsquo;). A name given to Brian and Alain, sons of Count Eudo, <a href='#page_29'>29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mageen.</span> Mother of St Tivisiau, <a href='#page_338'>338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Magic.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#SORCERY'>Sorcery</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Magic Rose, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_156'>156-162</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mah&#257;bh&#257;rata</span>. A Hindu epic;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Maison des Follets.</span> A name given to a megalithic structure at Cancoet, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mamau, Y.</span> Welsh deities, <a href='#page_87'>87</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Man of Honour, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_147'>147-155</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Maraud.</span> A peasant;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Lost Daughter, <a href='#page_75'>75-77</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>March.</span> The month;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>personified in the story of Princess Starbright, <a href='#page_128'>128-129</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Margawse.</span> Sister of King Arthur, wife of King Lot of Lothian, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Margots la F�e, Les.</span> Fairies which inhabit large rocks and the moorlands, <a href='#page_88'>88</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Marguerite.</span> A maiden, avenged by Du Guesclin, <a href='#page_33'>33-35</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Marie de France.</span> A twelfth-century French poetess;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>acknowledged Breton sources for her work, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#page_283'>283</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the <i>Lais</i> and <i>Fables</i> of, <a href='#page_283'>283-284</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>personal history, <a href='#page_283'>283</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stories from the <i>Lais</i>, <a href='#page_284'>284-331</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the Lay of Laustic, <a href='#page_302'>302</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the Lay of Eliduc, <a href='#page_305'>305-306</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, <a href='#page_328'>328</a>, <a href='#page_330'>330-331</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mark.</span> King of Cornwall;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_258'>258-274</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mark.</span> King of Vannes;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and St Pol of L�on, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Marot, Claude Toussaint.</span> Count of La Garaye;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of, <a href='#page_194'>194-196</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='MARRIAGE'></a><span class='smcap'>Marriage.</span> Costume of the bride in the Escoublac district, <a href='#page_374'>374</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clart� made the occasion of betrothals, <a href='#page_378'>378</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>wedding customs, <a href='#page_385'>385-386</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Marriage-Girdle, The.</span> The ballad of, <a href='#page_234'>234-236</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Marseilles.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_195'>195</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Matsys, Quentin.</span> A Flemish painter;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the well of, at Antwerp, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Matthew.</span> Seigneur of Beauvau;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, <a href='#page_189'>189-193</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Maunoir.</span> A Jesuit Father, <a href='#page_388'>388</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mauron.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>battle at, <a href='#page_31'>31</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>May, Isle of.</span> An island in the Firth of Forth, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mayenne.</span> Charles de Lorraine, Duke of;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_408' name='page_408'></a>408</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>one of the leaders of the Catholic League, <a href='#page_229'>229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Megaliths.</span> The derivation and meaning of the terms &lsquo;menhir&rsquo; and &lsquo;dolmen,&rsquo; <a href='#page_37'>37-38</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>nature and purpose of the monuments, <a href='#page_38'>38-39</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the menhir of Dol, and its legend, <a href='#page_39'>39-41</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the chapel-dolmen at Plouaret, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the megaliths at Camaret, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>at Penmarch, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>at Carnac, <a href='#page_42'>42-45</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the tumulus at Mont-Saint-Michel, <a href='#page_45'>45</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen at Rocenaud, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>&lsquo;cup-and-ring&rsquo; markings, <a href='#page_46'>46-48</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the gallery of Gavr&rsquo;inis, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the megaliths of the Ile aux Moines and the Ile d&rsquo;Arz, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>folk-beliefs associated with the monuments, <a href='#page_48'>48-53</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>tales connected with them, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the question of the date of their erection, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the nains&rsquo; inscriptions upon, <a href='#page_97'>97-98</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the megaliths of Carnac supposed to have been built by the gorics, <a href='#page_98'>98</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#MENHIR'>Menhir</a> <i>and</i> <a href='#DOLMENS'>Dolmens</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Melusine.</span> A fairy, in French folk-lore;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_327'>327</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Menao.</span> A place in Wales;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>battle of, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>M�n�ac.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='MENHIR'></a><span class='smcap'>Menhir.</span> A megalithic monument, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the menhir of Dol, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#page_39'>39-40</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>probably connected with pillar-worship and Irminsul-worship, <a href='#page_18'>18</a> <i>n.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>derivation and meaning of the term, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>purpose of the monuments, <a href='#page_38'>38-39</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Meriadok.</span> A Cornish knight;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Meriadus.</span> A Breton chieftain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the Lay of Gugemar, <a href='#page_299'>299-301</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Merlin.</span> An enchanter, in Arthurian legend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>meets Vivien in Broceliande, and is afterward enchanted by her there, <a href='#page_65'>65-69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his relationship with Vivien as presented in Arthurian legend, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the varying conceptions of, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the typical Druid or wise man of Celtic tradition, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>protects Arthur in his combat with Sir Pellinore, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and Arthur&rsquo;s finding of Excalibur, <a href='#page_256'>256-257</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mezl�an.</span> A place in Brittany, <a href='#page_362'>362</a>, <a href='#page_363'>363</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Clerk of, in the ballad of Az�nor the Pale, <a href='#page_361'>361-363</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Milton of Colquhoun.</span> A district in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>inscribed stones found in, <a href='#page_47'>47</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Minihy.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Yves&rsquo; will and breviary preserved in the church of, <a href='#page_353'>353</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Modred, Sir.</span> Nephew of King Arthur;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his contest with the King, <a href='#page_344'>344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Moncontour.</span> A village in Brittany, <a href='#page_242'>242</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Moneduc.</span> Mother of St Nennocha, <a href='#page_340'>340</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='MONTAGNES_DARREE'></a><span class='smcap'>Montagnes d&rsquo;Arr�e</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Arez.</span> A mountain chain in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Yeun in, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_235'>235</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Montalembert, Comte de.</span> His <i>Moines d&rsquo;Occident</i>, cited, <a href='#page_19'>19</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='MONTFORT'></a><span class='smcap'>Montfort, John of.</span> Duke of Brittany (John IV);</p>
+<p class='indent2'>disputes the succession to the Dukedom, <a href='#page_30'>30-32</a>, <a href='#page_35'>35-36</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>captures the ch�teau of Suscino, <a href='#page_210'>210</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_204'>204</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Montmorency.</span> The house of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Montreuil-sur-Mer.</span> A town in the Pas-de-Calais, France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Winwaloe&rsquo;s body preserved at, <a href='#page_371'>371</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mont-Saint-Michel.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. A tumulus, <a href='#page_45'>45-46</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. An island off the coast of Brittany, <a href='#page_45'>45</a> <i>n.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>King Arthur&rsquo;s fight with the giant of, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>mentioned, <a href='#page_103'>103</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Moor, The.</span> In a story of Morvan;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan&rsquo;s fight with, <a href='#page_218'>218-220</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the character of, probably drawn from Carlovingian legend, <a href='#page_225'>225</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Moors, The.</span> Mentioned, <a href='#page_225'>225</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Moore, Thomas.</span> The poet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>quoted, <a href='#page_187'>187</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Moraunt.</span> An Irish ambassador at the English Court;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_262'>262-263</a>, <a href='#page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#page_266'>266</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Morbihan.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. One of the departments of Brittany, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the nains&rsquo; inscriptions on the megaliths of, <a href='#page_98'>98</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clart� held in, <a href='#page_378'>378</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. An inland sea or gulf in the south of Brittany, (Gulf of Morbihan);</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_409' name='page_409'></a>409</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>naval battle between the Romans and Veneti probably took place in, <a href='#page_16'>16</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_48'>48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Morgan, Duke.</span> A Cymric chieftain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_258'>258-259</a>, <a href='#page_261'>261-262</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Morin.</span> A priest, <a href='#page_388'>388</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Morlaix.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the castle of, haunted by gorics, <a href='#page_99'>99</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the teursts of the district of, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#page_109'>109</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>national costume in, <a href='#page_376'>376-377</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Morte d&rsquo;Arthur.</span> Malory&rsquo;s romance;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the presentation of Vivien in, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Arthur&rsquo;s finding of Excalibur related in, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>incident in, paralleled in the Lay of Gugemar, <a href='#page_301'>301-302</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_257'>257</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='MORVAN'></a><span class='smcap'>Morvan Lez-Breiz.</span> A famous Breton hero of the ninth century, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stories of, <a href='#page_212'>212-224</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>tradition that he will return to &ldquo;drive the Franks from the Breton land,&rdquo; <a href='#page_224'>224</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mourioche, The.</span> A malicious demon, <a href='#page_101'>101</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>M�ller, W. Max.</span> Mentioned, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Murillo.</span> A celebrated Spanish painter;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>paintings by, in the ch�teau of Caradeuc, <a href='#page_207'>207</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Mut.</span> An Egyptian goddess;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_43'>43</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Muzillac.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>head-dress of the women of, <a href='#page_376'>376</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_N'></a>N</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nains.</span> A race of demons;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>their character, <a href='#page_96'>96-98</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>guardians of hidden treasure, <a href='#page_99'>99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Namnetes.</span> A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, <a href='#page_16'>16</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nann, The Seigneur of.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_57'>57-59</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nantes.</span> A city in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a ballad, represented as the scene of magical exploits of Ab�lard and H�lo�se, <a href='#page_253'>253</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>traditionally associated with sorcery, <a href='#page_253'>253</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Equitan the King of, <a href='#page_313'>313</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the scene of the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, <a href='#page_328'>328</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Nomeno� obtains possession of, <a href='#page_338'>338</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nantes.</span> The castle of, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Neolithic Age.</span> The race which built the stone monuments of Brittany probably belonged to, <a href='#page_37'>37</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>N�vet.</span> Forest of, in L�on, <a href='#page_367'>367</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>N�vez.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_190'>190</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>New Caledonia.</span> An island in the Pacific;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>markings on the megalithic monuments in, <a href='#page_46'>46-47</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nicole, The.</span> A mischievous spirit, <a href='#page_100'>100-101</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nightingale, The Lay of the.</span> One of the <i>Lais</i> of Marie de France, <a href='#page_302'>302</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Night-washers.</span> A race of supernatural beings, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nimue.</span> A name under which Vivien, the Lady of the Lake, appears in some romances, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_256'>256</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See</i> <a href='#VIVIEN'>Vivien</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nogent.</span> Sister of Gugemar, <a href='#page_292'>292</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nogent-sur-Seine.</span> A town in France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the abbey at, founded by Ab�lard, and made over by him to H�lo�se, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Ab�lard and H�lo�se buried at, <a href='#page_250'>250</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nola.</span> A youth;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Foster-brother, <a href='#page_170'>170-171</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nomeno�.</span> A Breton chieftain, afterward King of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>rises against Charles the Bald and defeats him, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337-338</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of, <a href='#page_23'>23-25</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and St Convoyon, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#page_336'>336</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>sends gifts to Pope Leo IV, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>burns the abbey of Saint-Florent, <a href='#page_337'>337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Normandy.</span> The duchy;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>early relations of Brittany with, <a href='#page_27'>27-30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Normans.</span> The Bretons rise against, <a href='#page_196'>196-198</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>spread the Arthur legend, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_338'>338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Norouas.</span> Personification of the north-west wind;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of, <a href='#page_163'>163-167</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Northmen, Norsemen.</span> Invade Brittany, <a href='#page_25'>25</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>defeated by Alain Barbe-torte and expelled from Brittany, <a href='#page_25'>25-27</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the battle of Kerlouan between the Bretons and, <a href='#page_225'>225</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>North-west Wind, The.</span> Personification of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of, <a href='#page_163'>163-167</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_410' name='page_410'></a>410</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Norton, Mrs.</span> An English poetess;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>her <i>Lady of La Garaye</i>, quoted, <a href='#page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>N&rsquo;Oun Doare.</span> A youth;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Youth who did not Know, <a href='#page_106'>106-115</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Nutt, A.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_99'>99</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href='#page_254'>254</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_O'></a>O</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Oberon.</span> King of the fairies;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_74'>74</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>&OElig;dipus.</span> King of Thebes;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ogier the Dane.</span> One of the paladins of Charlemagne;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>entered Fairyland, <a href='#page_326'>326</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Olaus Magnus.</span> A sixteenth-century Swedish ecclesiastic and writer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_290'>290</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Oridial.</span> Father of Gugemar, <a href='#page_292'>292</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Origen.</span> One of the Fathers of the early Church;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and St Barbe, <a href='#page_333'>333</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Orl�ans.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the siege of (1428-29), <a href='#page_174'>174</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the play or mystery of, on Jeanne Darc, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_229'>229</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Osismii.</span> A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, <a href='#page_16'>16</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ossian.</span> A semi-legendary Celtic bard and warrior;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_211'>211</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ossory.</span> A district in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>emigration from, to Brittany, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Otherworld.</span> The Celtic, <a href='#page_171'>171-172</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Fairyland identified with, <a href='#page_327'>327</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ouessant.</span> An island off the coast of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Pol in, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the costume of the women of, <a href='#page_374'>374-375</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Oust.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Owain.</span> A Welsh chieftain, son of Urien;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Taliesin the bard of, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Owen Glendower.</span> A Welsh chieftain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Bretons send an expedition to help, in his conflict with the English, <a href='#page_234'>234</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_P'></a>P</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='PALESTINE'></a><span class='smcap'>Palestine.</span> Mentioned, <a href='#page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#page_302'>302</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Paraclete</span> (&lsquo;Comforter&rsquo;). Name given by Ab�lard to his abbey at Nogent, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Ab�lard and H�lo�se buried at, <a href='#page_250'>250</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pardons.</span> Religious pilgrimage festivals of the Bretons, <a href='#page_378'>378-380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Paris.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120-121</a>, <a href='#page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#page_158'>158</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>, <a href='#page_230'>230-231</a>, <a href='#page_351'>351</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Paris, Gaston.</span> A noted French philologist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>claims that Arthurian romance originated in Wales, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>identifies the persons to whom Marie de France dedicated her <i>Lais</i> and <i>Fables</i>, <a href='#page_284'>284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Passage de l&rsquo;Enfer.</span> An arm of the sea over which the Breton dead were supposed to be ferried, <a href='#page_383'>383</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Patay.</span> A village in Loiret, France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the battle of, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pavia.</span> A city in Italy;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Francis I of France taken prisoner at, <a href='#page_207'>207</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pellinore, Sir.</span> One of the Knights of the Round Table;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Arthur broke his sword in combat with, <a href='#page_256'>256</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pembrokeshire.</span> Welsh county;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Samson a native of, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Penates.</span> Household gods of the Romans;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_53'>53</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pen-bas.</span> A cudgel carried by the men of Cornouaille, <a href='#page_372'>372</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>rarely carried by the men of St Pol, <a href='#page_375'>375</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Penhapp.</span> A village in the Ile aux Moines;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>dolmen at, <a href='#page_48'>48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Penmarch.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Ty C&rsquo;harriquet near, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a fireplace in the church of St Non at, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Penraz.</span> A village in the Isle of Arz;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_48'>48</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pentecost.</span> A Jewish festival;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_324'>324</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Penthi�vre.</span> A former county of Brittany, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='PENTHIEVRE'></a><span class='smcap'>Penthi�vre.</span> Joan of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>wife of Charles of Blois, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the War of the Two Joans, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>her marriage to Charles, <a href='#page_32'>32</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Penthi�vre.</span> Stephen, Count of, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Percival.</span> Hero of <i>Percival le Gallois</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>analogy between his flight and that of Morvan, <a href='#page_224'>224</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_411' name='page_411'></a>411</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Percival le Gallois.</span> Arthurian saga;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_224'>224</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>P�re La Chique.</span> An old man;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Magic Rose, <a href='#page_159'>159-160</a>, <a href='#page_162'>162</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Perguet.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fireplace in the church of St Bridget at, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Perseus.</span> A mythical Greek hero;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Perthshire.</span> Scottish county;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the &lsquo;Washing Woman&rsquo; in, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Petranus.</span> Father of St Patern, <a href='#page_347'>347</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Philip VI.</span> King of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Picts.</span> The race;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Celts flee from Britain to Brittany, to escape, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend that they built the original church of Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>&ldquo;wee fouk but unco&rsquo; strang,&rdquo; <a href='#page_99'>99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pigs.</span> St Pol taught the people to keep, <a href='#page_366'>366</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pillar-worship.</span> Probable connexion of the menhir with, <a href='#page_18'>18</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pillars.</span> Tales of spirits enclosed in, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Place of Skulls, The.</span> In the story of the Bride of Satan, <a href='#page_144'>144</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pl�lan.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon removes to, from Redon, <a href='#page_338'>338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Plestin-les-Gr�ves.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Efflam buried in the church of, <a href='#page_281'>281</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ploermel.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Nennocha founded her monastery at, <a href='#page_340'>340</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Plouaret.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dolmen-chapel at, <a href='#page_41'>41</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ploubalay.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, <a href='#page_81'>81</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Plouber.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#page_202'>202</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Plougastel.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the costume of the men of, <a href='#page_375'>375</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Calvary of, <a href='#page_384'>384</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Plouharnel.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Plourin.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Budoc lived at, <a href='#page_356'>356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Poitou.</span> A former county of France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>ravaged by Nomeno�, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_176'>176</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pomponius Mela.</span> A Roman geographer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>quoted, <a href='#page_63'>63</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pont l&rsquo;Abb�.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>national costume in, <a href='#page_376'>376</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pont-Aven.</span> A village in Brittany, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pontivy.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>chapel to St Noyola at, <a href='#page_360'>360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pontorson.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_275'>275</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Poor, The.</span> Regard paid to, at Breton festivals and ceremonies, <a href='#page_387'>387</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Porspoder.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Budoc lands at, and dwells in, <a href='#page_356'>356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Pouldergat, Manna�k de.</span> The bride-to-be of Silvestik, <a href='#page_232'>232</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Prague.</span> Capital of Bohemia;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_203'>203</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Prelati.</span> An alchemist of Padua, employed by Gilles de Retz, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178-179</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Princess Starbright, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_121'>121-131</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_153'>153</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Princess of Tronkolaine, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_115'>115-121</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Procopius.</span> A Byzantine historian;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>on a Breton burial custom, <a href='#page_383'>383-384</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Prop of Brittany, The.</span> Name given to Morvan, chieftain of L�on, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stories of, <a href='#page_212'>212-224</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_Q'></a>Q</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Queban.</span> Wife of King Grallo;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Ronan discovers her fault, <a href='#page_368'>368</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Quebec, The.</span> A British vessel;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>her fight with the <i>Surveillante</i>, <a href='#page_238'>238-240</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Queen Anne&rsquo;s Tower.</span> Name of the keep of the ch�teau of Dinan, <a href='#page_209'>209</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Questembert.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Ch�teau des Paulpiquets at, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Quiberon.</span> A town in Brittany, <a href='#page_46'>46</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Quimper.</span> A city in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon Bishop of, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>national costume in, <a href='#page_372'>372-373</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Quimper, Count of.</span> In a story of Morvan, <a href='#page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#page_216'>216</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_412' name='page_412'></a>412</span></p>
+<p>Quimperl�. A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ch�teau of Rustefan near, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Goezenou killed at the building of the monastery at, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_R'></a>R</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rama.</span> A hero in Hindu mythology;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>R&#257;m&#257;yana.</span> A Hindu epic;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Raoul le Gael.</span> A Breton knight, <a href='#page_29'>29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ravelston Quarry.</span> A quarry near Edinburgh;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_51'>51</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Redon</span> or <span class='smcap'>Rodon.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the abbey of: founded by St Convoyon, <a href='#page_335'>335-336</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the bones of St Apothemius carried to, <a href='#page_336'>336</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the bones of St Marcellinus carried to, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Nomeno� takes spoil from the Abbey of Saint-Florent to, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon removes from, <a href='#page_338'>338</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon buried at, <a href='#page_338'>338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Redones.</span> A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, <a href='#page_16'>16</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Reginald.</span> Bishop of Vannes, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#page_336'>336</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Reid, General John.</span> The composer of <i>The Garb of Old Gaul</i>, <a href='#page_238'>238</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Reinach, Salomon.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_53'>53</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Religion.</span> Brittany the most religious of the French provinces, <a href='#page_377'>377</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the religious element in the Breton character, <a href='#page_377'>377-378</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Reliquaries.</span> In Brittany, <a href='#page_382'>382</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Remus.</span> In Roman legend, brother of Romulus;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Renaissance Architecture.</span> References to, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#page_209'>209</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ren�.</span> Constable of Naples, <a href='#page_190'>190</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rennes.</span> A city in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the scene of Nomeno�&rsquo;s vengeance, <a href='#page_23'>23-25</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Counts of, gain ascendancy in Brittany, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the marriage of Charles of Blois and Joan of Penthi�vre at, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Robert the sorcerer dwelt in, <a href='#page_242'>242</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Nomeno� obtains possession of, <a href='#page_338'>338</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Restalrig.</span> A village near Edinburgh;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the well of St Triduana at, <a href='#page_59'>59-60</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Retiers.</span> A town in Brittany the Roches aux F�es at, <a href='#page_51'>51</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Retz</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Rais.</span> A district in Brittany, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Retz, Cardinal de.</span> A French politician and writer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, <a href='#page_205'>205</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='RETZ'></a><span class='smcap'>Retz, Gilles de.</span> A Breton nobleman;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of, <a href='#page_173'>173-180</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the identification of, with Bluebeard, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Revolution, French.</span> Of 1789;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_338'>338</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#page_369'>369</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Revue Celtique.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_212'>212</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rheinstein.</span> A famous castle on the Rhine;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_203'>203</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rhine.</span> The river;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_203'>203</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rhuys.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_GILDAS_DE_RHUYS'>St Gildas de Rhuys</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rhys, Sir John.</span> And the origin of Druidism, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_70'>70</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Richard II.</span> Duke of Normandy;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_196'>196</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Richelieu, Cardinal.</span> A famous French statesman;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the ch�teau of Tonqu�dec demolished by order of, <a href='#page_204'>204</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rieux, Jean de.</span> Marshal of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>leader of the expedition to help Owen Glendower, <a href='#page_234'>234</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ritho.</span> A giant whom King Arthur slew, <a href='#page_277'>277</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Road of St Pol, The.</span> Name given by Breton peasants to a megalithic avenue, <a href='#page_365'>365</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Robert I.</span> Duke of Normandy, <a href='#page_28'>28</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Robert.</span> A sorcerer who dwelt in Rennes, <a href='#page_242'>242-243</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Robert de Vitry.</span> A Breton knight, <a href='#page_29'>29</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rocenaud.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>dolmen at, <a href='#page_46'>46</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rocey.</span> The house of, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Roche-Marche-Bran.</span> A rocky hill;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the chapel of St Barbe <a name='TC_8'></a><ins title="Was 'bulit'">built</ins> on, <a href='#page_335'>335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rocher, The Wood of.</span> The dolmen near, <a href='#page_50'>50</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rochers.</span> A Breton ch�teau;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Mme S�vign� associated with, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Roches aux F�es.</span> Name given to the megalithic monuments by the Bretons, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_413' name='page_413'></a>413</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>near Saint-Didier-et-Marpire, <a href='#page_50'>50</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in Rhetiers, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>supposed to be the meeting-place of sorcerers, <a href='#page_243'>243</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rockflower.</span> A fairy maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a tale from Saint-Cast, <a href='#page_83'>83</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rodriguez, Father.</span> Mentioned, <a href='#page_47'>47</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Roe.</span> A river in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Druidic ritual associated with, <a href='#page_246'>246</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Roger.</span> An English knight;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, <a href='#page_33'>33-35</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rohan.</span> The house of, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rohan.</span> Alain, Viscount of, <a href='#page_189'>189</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rohan.</span> Jeanne de, daughter of Alain de Rohan;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, <a href='#page_189'>189-193</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rohand.</span> A vassal of Roland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_258'>258-259</a>, <a href='#page_260'>260-261</a>, <a href='#page_262'>262</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Roland, Sir.</span> A knight;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Unbroken Vow, <a href='#page_60'>60-63</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Roland Rise.</span> A Cymric chieftain, Lord of Ermonie;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_258'>258-259</a>, <a href='#page_261'>261</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rolleston, T. W.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_246'>246</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rollo.</span> A famous Norse leader, first Duke of Normandy;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_28'>28</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Romans, The.</span> In Brittany, <a href='#page_16'>16</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rome.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Romulus.</span> In Roman legend, the founder of Rome;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ron.</span> The name of King Arthur&rsquo;s lance, <a href='#page_280'>280</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rond.</span> A dance performed at weddings, <a href='#page_385'>385-386</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rosamond.</span> Mistress of Henry II of England (Rosamond Clifford, &lsquo;the Fair Rosamond&rsquo;);</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_284'>284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ros-ynys.</span> A place in Wales, afterward St David&rsquo;s;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of St Keenan and, <a href='#page_343'>343-344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Round Tower.</span> At Ardmore, Ireland, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>at Abernethy, Perthshire, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Rumengol.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Pardon of the Singers held at, <a href='#page_378'>378</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_S'></a>S</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sacring Bells.</span> The use of, an old Breton custom, <a href='#page_380'>380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Anne.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan prays to, <a href='#page_216'>216-217</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan rewards with gifts, <a href='#page_218'>218</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan gives praise to, for his victory over the Moor, <a href='#page_220'>220</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>frees Morvan from his burden, <a href='#page_224'>224</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_146'>146</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sainte-Anne-la-Palud.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Pardon of the Sea held at, <a href='#page_378'>378</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Apothemius.</span> St Convoyon steals the bones of, from Angers Cathedral, and takes them to Redon, <a href='#page_336'>336</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Augustine.</span> Archbishop of Canterbury;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Baldred.</span> A Celtic saint, <a href='#page_359'>359-360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Baldred&rsquo;s Boat.</span> A rock in the Firth of Forth;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Barbe.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_332'>332-335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sainte-Barbe.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>megaliths at, <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Bieuzy.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_345'>345-346</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Holy Well of, at Bieuzy, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Bridget.</span> An Irish saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Az�nor prays to, and is helped by, <a href='#page_354'>354</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>church of, at Berhet, the custom of ringing the sacring bell survives in, <a href='#page_380'>380</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>church of, at Perguet, the fireplace in, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Brieuc.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. An <i>arrondissement</i> of Brittany, <a href='#page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>a relic of St Keenan preserved in the cathedral of, <a href='#page_344'>344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Brieuc, Bay of.</span> A bay on the Breton coast;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Nicole of, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Budoc.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of, <a href='#page_353'>353-356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Cast.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Lost Daughter, <a href='#page_75'>75</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story from, <a href='#page_84'>84</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of the Combat of, <a href='#page_236'>236-237</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_83'>83</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Cecilia&rsquo;s Day.</span> Ceremonies in honour of King Gradlon on, <a href='#page_189'>189</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Charles.</span> Jesuit church of, at Antwerp;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>relics of St Winwaloe preserved at, <a href='#page_371'>371</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_414' name='page_414'></a>414</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Convoyon.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_335'>335-338</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Corbasius.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>kills St Goezenou, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Cornely.</span> A Breton saint, the patron of cattle;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a legend of Carnac, <a href='#page_44'>44-45</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St David&rsquo;s.</span> A city in Wales, originally called Ros-ynys;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a story of St Keenan, <a href='#page_344'>344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Denis.</span> A famous abbey, in the city of Saint-Denis, in France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Du Guesclin buried in, <a href='#page_32'>32</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Didier.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Roches aux F�es near, <a href='#page_50'>50</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Dubricus.</span> A British saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_346'>346</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Dunstan.</span> A British saint, called St Goustan in Brittany, <a href='#page_248'>248-249</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Efflam.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and King Arthur&rsquo;s encounter with the dragon of the Lieue de Gr�ve, <a href='#page_278'>278-281</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of St Enora and, <a href='#page_340'>340-342</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_366'>366</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_ENORA'></a><span class='smcap'>St Enora</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Honora.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of Efflam and, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#page_340'>340-342</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Florent.</span> A town in France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Nomeno� and the abbey of, <a href='#page_337'>337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Gall.</span> A famous monastery in Switzerland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_247'>247</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Germain.</span> A French saint, Bishop of Paris;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the exchange of wax for wine between St Samson and, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>persuades Nennocha to embrace the religious life, <a href='#page_340'>340</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Gildas.</span> A British saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Comorre the Cursed, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#page_183'>183-184</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>founded the abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys, near Vannes, <a href='#page_248'>248-249</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_GILDAS_DE_RHUYS'></a><span class='smcap'>St Gildas de Rhuys.</span> An abbey near Vannes;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>founded by St Gildas, <a href='#page_248'>248-249</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Ab�lard appointed abbot of, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Bieuzy died and was buried at, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Patern educated at, <a href='#page_348'>348</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Goezenou.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_368'>368-370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Goustan.</span> The Breton name of St Dunstan, <a href='#page_249'>249</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Henwg.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#HENWG'>Henwg</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Honora</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Enora.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_ENORA'>St Enora</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Iltud.</span> A Welsh saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a legend of St Samson, <a href='#page_349'>349</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Pol a disciple of, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_346'>346</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Ives.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_YVES'>St Yves</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, <a href='#page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#page_84'>84</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Jaoua.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_366'>366</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Jean-du-Doigt.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Pardon of the Fire held at, <a href='#page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#page_379'>379</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St John.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_197'>197</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Kado.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_197'>197</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St K�</span>, or <span class='smcap'>St Quay.</span> Popular name in Brittany for St Keenan, <a href='#page_344'>344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_KEENAN'></a><span class='smcap'>St Keenan.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_343'>343-344</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_KENTIGERN'></a><span class='smcap'>St Kentigern</span>, or <span class='smcap'>St Mungo.</span> Patron saint of Glasgow;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of, <a href='#page_356'>356-357</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Lazarus.</span> The Order of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Louis XV sends to the Count of La Garaye, <a href='#page_195'>195</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Leonorius</span>, or <span class='smcap'>L�onore.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_346'>346-347</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Louis.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#LOUIS_IX'>Louis IX</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Magan.</span> A Breton saint, brother of St Goezenou, <a href='#page_370'>370</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Malglorious.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_356'>356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_MALO'></a><span class='smcap'>St Malo</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Machutes.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the people of Corseul hostile to the teachings of, <a href='#page_343'>343</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Malo.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the scene of the Lay of Laustic, <a href='#page_302'>302</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Convoyon born near, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_230'>230</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Malo, Bay of.</span> The Nicole of, <a href='#page_100'>100-101</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Marcellinus.</span> Bishop of Rome;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the bones of, given to St Convoyon by Pope Leo IV, and taken by him to Redon, <a href='#page_337'>337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St M�riadec.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his skull used in the ritual of the Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt, <a href='#page_379'>379</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Michael.</span> The archangel;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>chapel of, on the tumulus of Mont-Saint-Michel, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the child Morvan thinks he has seen, <a href='#page_213'>213</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Morvan thinks a knight more splendid than, <a href='#page_214'>214</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_415' name='page_415'></a>415</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Michel.</span> A Breton saint, &lsquo;Lord of Heights&rsquo;;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a chapel of, near Le Faouet, <a href='#page_333'>333</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Mungo.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_KENTIGERN'>St Kentigern</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Nennocha.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_340'>340</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Nicholas.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>probably the survival of a pagan divinity, <a href='#page_345'>345</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Nicolas de Bieuzy.</span> Church of, in Bieuzy, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Non.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a fireplace in the church of, at Penmarch, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Noyala.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_360'>360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Patern.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_347'>347-349</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Pol</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Paul.</span> Of L�on;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a Breton saint, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364-367</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Pol-de-L�on.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the bell of St Pol in the cathedral of, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Pol buried in the cathedral of, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the cathedral of, built by St Pol, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>costume of the men of, <a href='#page_375'>375</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>, <a href='#page_366'>366</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Roch.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>shrine of, at Auray, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the markings on the dolmen at Rocenaud, <a href='#page_46'>46</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Ronan.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_367'>367</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Samson.</span> A British saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>settles in Brittany, <a href='#page_17'>17-19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Gildas the friend of, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>stories of, <a href='#page_349'>349-350</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Pol of L�on a fellow-student of, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Serf.</span> A Scottish saint, abbot of Culross, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Th�gonnec.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Calvary at, <a href='#page_384'>384</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_TIVISIAU'></a><span class='smcap'>St Tivisiau</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Turiau.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_338'>338-339</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the fountain of, at Landivisiau, <a href='#page_340'>340</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Tremeur.</span> A Breton saint, son of Comorre;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the reliquary in the church of, <a href='#page_382'>382</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_TRIDUANA'></a><span class='smcap'>St Triduana.</span> Guardian of a well at Restalrig, near Edinburgh, <a href='#page_59'>59-60</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Triphyne.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>wife of Comorre, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See</i> <a href='#TRIPHYNA'>Triphyna</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Tugdual.</span> A Breton saint;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>founded the church of Tr�guier, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>made a miraculous crossing to Brittany, <a href='#page_360'>360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Turiau.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_TIVISIAU'>St Tivisiau</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Vougas</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Vie.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_360'>360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>St Winwaloe.</span> A Breton saint, <a href='#page_370'>370-371</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='ST_YVES'></a><span class='smcap'>St Yves</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Yvo.</span> Brittany&rsquo;s favourite saint, <a href='#page_350'>350-353</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saint-Yves.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Pardon of the Poor held at, <a href='#page_378'>378</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saints.</span> Stories of, an important element in Breton folk-lore, <a href='#page_332'>332</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the primitive saint driven to use methods similar to those of the pagan priests around him, <a href='#page_332'>332</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>tales of the Breton saints, <a href='#page_332'>332-371</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the product of poor countries rather than of prosperous ones, <a href='#page_350'>350</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saintsbury, G. E. B.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_254'>254</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='SALOMON'></a><span class='smcap'>Salomon III.</span> Count of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>drives back the Northmen, <a href='#page_25'>25</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sant-e-roa</span> (&lsquo;Holy Wheel&rsquo;). Apparatus of the sacring bell;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>at the church of St Bridget, Berhet, <a href='#page_380'>380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='SATAN'></a><span class='smcap'>Satan.</span> A story of, <a href='#page_143'>143-144</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Gilles de Retz seeks association with, <a href='#page_177'>177-179</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in an old Breton conception of Hell, <a href='#page_389'>389</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#DEVIL'>Devil</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Saxons.</span> The race;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, <a href='#page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Scotland.</span> Markings on the megalithic monuments in, <a href='#page_46'>46-47</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the harp formerly the national instrument of, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Scots.</span> The race;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Scott, Sir Walter.</span> The novelist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his treatment of legendary matter, <a href='#page_211'>211</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>one of the first to bring the story of Tristrem to public notice, <a href='#page_258'>258</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>continued the story of Tristrem beyond the point at which the Auchinleck MS. breaks off, <a href='#page_272'>272</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sea of Darkness, The.</span> In the story of the Castle of the Sun, <a href='#page_132'>132</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sea-snake&rsquo;s Egg.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ADDER_STONE'>Adder&rsquo;s Stone</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>S�billot, Paul.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a> <i>n.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_74'>74</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, <a href='#page_237'>237</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Seigneur with the Horse&rsquo;s Head, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_137'>137-143</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_416' name='page_416'></a>416</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Seigneur of Nann, The.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_57'>57-59</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sein.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ILE_DE_SEIN'>Ile de Sein</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Seriphos.</span> An island in the &AElig;gean Sea to which Dana� was carried;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Seven Saints of Brittany.</span> St Samson and six others who fled with him from Britain, <a href='#page_350'>350</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Seven Sleepers, The.</span> Seven Christian youths of Ephesus who hid to escape persecution and slept for several hundreds of years;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>an altar to, in the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, <a href='#page_41'>41</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Severn.</span> The river;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_349'>349</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>S�vign�, Mme de.</span> A famous French epistolary writer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>sojourned in the castle of Nantes, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>wrote many of her letters from the ch�teau of Rochers, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick.</span> An antiquary and writer, friend of Sir Walter Scott;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his treatment of legendary material, <a href='#page_211'>211</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Shewalton Sands.</span> A place in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>inscribed stones found at, <a href='#page_47'>47</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ship, The.</span> A rock off the coast of Brittany, said to have been the vessel of St Vougas, <a href='#page_360'>360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ship o&rsquo; the Fiend, The.</span> Orchestral work by Hamish MacCunn;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_145'>145</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ship of Souls.</span> A feature in Breton folk-belief, <a href='#page_384'>384</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sight, Magical.</span> Bestowed by fairies, <a href='#page_82'>82-83</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Silvestik.</span> A young Breton who followed in the train of William the Conqueror to England;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of, <a href='#page_232'>232-233</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Simrock, C. J.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_83'>83</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Skye.</span> An island off the west coast of Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the &lsquo;Washing Woman&rsquo; in, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Slieve Grian.</span> A mountain in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Small, A.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Soci�t� Acad�mique de Brest, Bulletin de.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_199'>199</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Song of the Pilot, The.</span> A Breton ballad, <a href='#page_238'>238-240</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='SORCERY'></a><span class='smcap'>Sorcery.</span> Belief in, prevalent in Brittany, <a href='#page_241'>241-243</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in ancient times, identified with Druidism, <a href='#page_245'>245</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>South-west Wind, The.</span> Personification of, in a wind-tale, <a href='#page_163'>163</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Souvestre, �mile.</span> A French novelist and dramatist;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Spain.</span> Tristrem in, <a href='#page_270'>270</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel came from, <a href='#page_275'>275</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Spenser, Edmund.</span> The poet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_56'>56</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Stones.</span> Folk-tales and beliefs connected with, <a href='#page_52'>52-53</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Styx.</span> In Greek mythology, a river of the underworld;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_327'>327</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sun, The.</span> Personified in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, <a href='#page_117'>117-118</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent1'>the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, <a href='#page_274'>274-275</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent1'>personified in the &lsquo;fatal children&rsquo; stories, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Sun-Princess.</span> A story of the search for, <a href='#page_121'>121-131</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Surouas.</span> Name of the south-west wind;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in a wind-tale, <a href='#page_163'>163</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Surveillante, Le.</span> A Breton vessel;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>her fight with the British ship <i>Quebec</i>, <a href='#page_238'>238-240</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Susannus.</span> Bishop of Vannes, <a href='#page_336'>336-337</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Suscino.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_209'>209-210</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Swinburne</span>, Algernon. The poet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>quoted, <a href='#page_267'>267</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_T'></a>T</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Taden.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Count and Countess of La Garaye buried at, <a href='#page_195'>195</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Taliesin</span> (&lsquo;Shining Forehead&rsquo;). A British bard;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the vision of Jud-Hael, <a href='#page_20'>20-21</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>early years, <a href='#page_21'>21</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the bard of Urien and Owain-ap-Urien, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>death of, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>probably sojourned in Brittany, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>acquainted with black art, <a href='#page_252'>252</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tam o&rsquo; Shanter.</span> The character in Burns&rsquo;s poem;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_244'>244</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_417' name='page_417'></a>417</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tantallon Castle.</span> A famous ruin in Scotland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_359'>359</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tartary.</span> The country;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_115'>115</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tegid, Llyn.</span> A lake in Wales (Lake Bala);</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the dwelling-place of Keridwen, a fertility goddess, <a href='#page_59'>59</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Telio.</span> A British monk, associated with St Samson;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>said to have introduced the apple into Brittany, <a href='#page_18'>18</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Teursta Poulict.</span> A variety of the teursts taking animal shape, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Teursts.</span> A race of evil spirits, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Teus</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Bugelnoz.</span> A beneficent spirit of the district of Vannes, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Thenaw.</span> Mother of St Kentigern, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Thierry, J. N. A.</span> A French historian;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>quoted, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Thomas the Rhymer</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Thomas of Ercildoune.</span> Thirteenth-century Scottish poet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>his version of the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_258'>258</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>visited Fairyland, <a href='#page_326'>326</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#page_327'>327</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Thouars, Catherine de.</span> Wife of Gilles de Retz, <a href='#page_174'>174</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Thouars, Guy de.</span> A French knight;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>married to Constance of Brittany, <a href='#page_30'>30</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tiber.</span> The river;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tina.</span> A maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, <a href='#page_145'>145-147</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Titania.</span> Queen of the fairies;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_74'>74</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tonqu�dec.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_204'>204</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Topography of Ireland.</span> A work by Giraldus Cambrensis;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>cited, <a href='#page_187'>187</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Torrent of Portugal, Sir.</span> A fifteenth-century English metrical romance;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_358'>358</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Toulboudou.</span> A seigneury near Gu�men�, <a href='#page_334'>334</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Toulboudou</span>, John, Lord of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>builds the chapel of St Barbe at Le Faouet, <a href='#page_334'>334-335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tour d&rsquo;Elven.</span> A keep of the ch�teau of Largoet, <a href='#page_206'>206</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tourlaville.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_208'>208-209</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tower of London, The.</span> Charles of Blois confined in, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the name of, occurs frequently in Celtic and Breton romance, <a href='#page_99'>99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Traprain Law.</span> A mountain in East Lothian, formerly called Dunpender;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Thenaw cast from, <a href='#page_357'>357</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Treasure, J. P.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_16'>16</a> <i>n.</i></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tredrig.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Yves the incumbent of, <a href='#page_351'>351</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Trees.</span> Tales of spirits enclosed in, <a href='#page_52'>52</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tr�gastel.</span> A town on the Breton coast;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>an island near believed by the Bretons to be the fabled Isle of Avalon, <a href='#page_282'>282</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tr�guennec.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Vougas associated with, <a href='#page_360'>360</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tr�guier.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. A former county of Brittany, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>St Yves buried at, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>a burial custom of, <a href='#page_383'>383</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>mentioned, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tr�gunc.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>dolmen at <a href='#page_42'>42</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tremalouen.</span> A hamlet in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>ruins at, haunted by courils, <a href='#page_99'>99</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tremtris.</span> Inverted form of Tristrem&rsquo;s name given him by Rohand to secure his safety, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem assumes the name in Ireland, <a href='#page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#page_266'>266</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tr�pass�s, Bay of.</span> A bay on the Breton coast, <a href='#page_185'>185</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tr�ves.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, <a href='#page_242'>242</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tridwan.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#ST_TRIDUANA'>St Triduana</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Trieux.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='TRIPHYNA'></a><span class='smcap'>Triphyna (St Triphyne).</span> A maiden, married to Comorre, <a href='#page_180'>180-184</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tristrem, Sir</span> (&lsquo;Child of Sorrow&rsquo;). One of the Knights of the Round Table, son of Blancheflour;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of, and Ysonde, <a href='#page_257'>257-275</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_301'>301</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_418' name='page_418'></a>418</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tristrem, Sir.</span> An ancient metrical romance;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>incidents in, paralleled in the story of Bran, <a href='#page_227'>227-228</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>date of composition of, <a href='#page_228'>228</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>had a Breton source, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Sir Walter Scott one of the first to bring Thomas the Rhymer&rsquo;s version of, to public notice, <a href='#page_258'>258</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Thomas the Rhymer&rsquo;s version of, recounted, <a href='#page_258'>258-272</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Scott&rsquo;s continuation of the Auchinleck MS., <a href='#page_272'>272-274</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, <a href='#page_274'>274-275</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Trogoff.</span> The ch�teau of;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, <a href='#page_33'>33-35</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Trollope, T. Adolphus.</span> Quoted, <a href='#page_179'>179-180</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Trom�nie-de-Saint-Renan.</span> A town in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Pardon of the Mountain held at, <a href='#page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#page_379'>379</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Troyes.</span> A city in France;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Ab�lard&rsquo;s abbey of Nogent near, <a href='#page_249'>249</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Tugdual Sala�n.</span> A peasant of Plouber, composer of a ballad on the Marquis of Gu�rande, <a href='#page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#page_202'>202</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ty C&rsquo;harriquet</span> (&lsquo;The House of the Gorics&rsquo;)</p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. A name given to a megalithic structure near Penmarch, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. A name applied to Carnac, <a href='#page_98'>98</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ty en Corygannt.</span> A name given to a megalithic structure in Morbihan, <a href='#page_49'>49</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_U'></a>U</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Unbroken Vow, The.</span> A story of Broceliande, <a href='#page_60'>60-63</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='UNITED_STATES'></a><span class='smcap'>United States, The.</span> The Bretons aid, in the War of Independence, <a href='#page_238'>238</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Urien.</span> A Welsh chieftain;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Taliesin the bard of, <a href='#page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_V'></a>V</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Val-�s-Dunes.</span> A place in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Alain, Count of Brittany, defeated in battle at, <a href='#page_28'>28</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Valley of Blood.</span> A place in hell;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, <a href='#page_146'>146</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Vannes.</span></p>
+<p class='indent2'>I. A former county of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>mentioned, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'>II. The city;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the dialect of, <a href='#page_16'>16</a> <i>and n.</i>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the ancient city of the Veneti, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the Teus or Bugelnoz of, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>in the story of Comorre the Cursed, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the ch�teau of Suscino near, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the abbey of St Gildas near, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>St Convoyon educated at, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>St Patern the patron saint of, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>St Patern Bishop of, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>the legend of the founding of the church of St Patern at, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent4'>St Pol of L�on in, <a href='#page_364'>364</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Veneti.</span> A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, <a href='#page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>&lsquo;Venus, The.&rsquo;</span> An image at Quinipily, <a href='#page_381'>381</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Vilaine.</span> A river in Brittany, <a href='#page_335'>335</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Villars, Abb� de.</span> A French priest and writer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>cited, <a href='#page_64'>64</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Villecheret.</span> A village in Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the head-dress of the women of, <a href='#page_375'>375</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Villemarqu�.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#HERSART_VILLEMARQUE'>Hersart de la Villemarqu�</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Vine, The.</span> Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Gradlon, <a href='#page_189'>189</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Virgin Mary, The.</span> In a Breton legend, <a href='#page_380'>380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Vitr�.</span> A Breton ch�teau, <a href='#page_208'>208</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='VIVIEN'></a><span class='smcap'>Vivien.</span> An enchantress, in Arthurian legend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>meets Merlin in Broceliande, and afterward enchants him there, <a href='#page_65'>65-69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>as presented in Arthurian legend and in other romances, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>may be classed as a water-spirit, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the probable purpose of the story of Merlin and, in Arthurian legend, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>of Breton origin, and does not appear in British myth, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, <a href='#page_256'>256-257</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Sir Lancelot stolen and brought up by, <a href='#page_257'>257</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_W'></a>W</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wace.</span> A twelfth-century Anglo-Norman poet;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>quoted, <a href='#page_54'>54</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>and the fountain of Baranton, <a href='#page_71'>71</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_419' name='page_419'></a>419</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wagner, Richard.</span> The composer;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_258'>258</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wales.</span> Legend of the submerged city in, <a href='#page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the harp anciently the national instrument of, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Bretons send an expedition to, to help Glendower, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>helped the development of Arthurian romance, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Tristrem sojourns in, and wins fame there, <a href='#page_270'>270</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>mentioned, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>War of Independence, American.</span> Bretons take part in, against England, <a href='#page_238'>238</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>War of the Two Joans, The.</span> A war waged for the succession to the Dukedom of Brittany, <a href='#page_31'>31-32</a>, <a href='#page_35'>35-36</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ward of Du Guesclin, The.</span> A Du Guesclin legend, <a href='#page_33'>33-35</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Washing Woman, The.</span> An evil spirit of the Scottish Highlands, <a href='#page_100'>100</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wedding Customs.</span> In Brittany, <a href='#page_385'>385-386</a></p>
+<p class='indent2'><i>See also</i> <a href='#MARRIAGE'>Marriage</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wells, Holy.</span> In Brittany, <a href='#page_381'>381-382</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Welsh.</span> The language;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the Breton tongue akin to, <a href='#page_15'>15</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Were-wolf.</span> A man transformed into a wolf;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the prevalence, origin, and forms of the superstition, <a href='#page_289'>289-292</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a were-wolf story, <a href='#page_284'>284-289</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Westminster.</span> The city;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, Ysonde carried to, for trial, <a href='#page_270'>270</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wexford.</span> A county of Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>emigration from, to Brittany, <a href='#page_22'>22</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wheel of Fortune, The.</span> A name wrongly given to part of the apparatus of the sacring bell, <a href='#page_380'>380</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>White Church.</span> A church in Tr�guier;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Foster-brother, <a href='#page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#page_171'>171</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>William II.</span> Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror);</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Conan II of Brittany and, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#page_28'>28-29</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Bretons accompany, on his expedition against England, <a href='#page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#page_233'>233</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>William, Count.</span> The name of the nobleman to whom Marie of France dedicated her Fables, identified with Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, <a href='#page_283'>283-284</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Winds, The.</span> Play a large part in Breton folk-lore, <a href='#page_162'>162</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a wind-tale, <a href='#page_163'>163-167</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wine.</span> St Germain exchanges for wax from the monks of Dol, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a wine festival in honour of King Gradlon, <a href='#page_189'>189</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Women.</span> In early communities, magical power often the possession of, <a href='#page_246'>246</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>generally the conservators of surviving Druidic tradition, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Goezenou&rsquo;s antipathy to, <a href='#page_369'>369</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>costume of the women of Brittany&mdash;<i>see</i> <a href='#COSTUME'>Costume</a> <i>and</i> <a href='#HEADDRESS'>Head-dress</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Wood of Chestnuts.</span> Mentioned in a story of Morvan, <a href='#page_217'>217</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_Y'></a>Y</h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Yeun, The.</span> A morass of evil repute, <a href='#page_102'>102-103</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of, <a href='#page_103'>103-105</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>York.</span> The city, in England;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>St Samson ordained at, <a href='#page_349'>349</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Youdic, The.</span> A part of the Yeun peat-bog, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>a story of, <a href='#page_103'>103-105</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Youghal.</span> A town in Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Az�nor and the infant Budoc washed ashore at, <a href='#page_355'>355</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Budoc becomes abbot of the monastery at, <a href='#page_356'>356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Youghal, Abbot of.</span> In the legend of St Budoc, <a href='#page_355'>355</a>, <a href='#page_356'>356</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Youth who did not Know.</span> The story of, <a href='#page_106'>106-115</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='YS'></a><span class='smcap'>Ys</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Is.</span> A submerged city of legend;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the legend of, <a href='#page_184'>184-188</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>such a legend common to several Celtic races, <a href='#page_187'>187</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>Giraldus Cambrensis and the legend of, <a href='#page_187'>187-188</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Yseult.</span> <i>See</i> <a href='#YSONDE'>Ysonde</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><a name='YSONDE'></a><span class='smcap'>Ysonde</span>, or <span class='smcap'>Yseult.</span> Daughter of the King of Ireland;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>some incidents in her story paralleled in the ballad of Bran, <a href='#page_228'>228</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of Tristrem and, <a href='#page_257'>257-274</a>;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>the story of Tristrem and, claimed as a sun-myth, <a href='#page_274'>274-275</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_420' name='page_420'></a>420</span></p>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Ysonde of the White Hand</span>. Daughter of Hoel I, Duke of Brittany;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Yves.</span> Husband of Az�nor the Pale, <a href='#page_361'>361-363</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Yvon.</span> A youth;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Castle of the Sun, <a href='#page_131'>131-137</a></p>
+</div><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Yvonne.</span> A maiden;</p>
+<p class='indent2'>in the story of the Castle of the Sun, <a href='#page_131'>131-137</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<h4>  <a id='IX_Z'></a></h4>
+<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Zimmer, H.</span> Cited, <a href='#page_278'>278</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<div class="trnote">
+<p><b>Transcriber Notes</b></p>
+<p>Typographical inconsistencies have been changed and are
+<a name='TC_9'></a><ins title="Was 'hgihligthed'">highlighted</ins>.</p>
+<p>Hyphenation has been standardized.</p>
+<p>Otherwise, archaic spelling and the author&rsquo;s punctuation style have been preserved.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- generated by ppg.rb version: 3.14k -->
+<!-- timestamp: Tue Jan 05 20:39:26 -0500 2010 -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Legends & Romances of Brittany
+
+Author: Lewis Spence
+
+Illustrator: W. Otway Cannell
+
+Release Date: January 6, 2010 [EBook #30871]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS & ROMANCES OF BRITTANY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Katherine Ward, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+LEGENDS & ROMANCES OF BRITTANY
+
+[Illustration: GRAELENT AND THE FAIRY-WOMAN _Fr._]
+
+
+  LEGENDS & ROMANCES
+  OF BRITTANY
+
+
+  _BY_
+  LEWIS SPENCE F.R.A.I.
+
+  AUTHOR OF "HERO TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE RHINE"
+  "A DICTIONARY OF MEDIEVAL ROMANCE AND ROMANCE WRITERS"
+  "THE MYTHS OF MEXICO AND PERU"
+  ETC. ETC.
+
+
+  _WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS BY_
+  W. OTWAY CANNELL A.R.C.A.(Lond.)
+
+  NEW YORK
+  FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+  THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH
+  GREAT BRITAIN
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Although the folk-tales and legends of Brittany have received
+ample attention from native scholars and collectors, they have not as
+yet been presented in a popular manner to English-speaking readers.
+The probable reasons for what would appear to be an otherwise
+incomprehensible omission on the part of those British writers who
+make a popular use of legendary material are that many Breton
+folk-tales strikingly resemble those of other countries, that from
+a variety of considerations some of them are unsuitable for
+presentation in an English dress, and that most of the folk-tales
+proper certainly possess a strong family likeness to one another.
+
+But it is not the folk-tale alone which goes to make up the
+romantic literary output of a people; their ballads, the heroic
+tales which they have woven around passages in their national
+history, their legends (employing the term in its proper sense),
+along with the more literary attempts of their romance-weavers,
+their beliefs regarding the supernatural, the tales which cluster
+around their ancient homes and castles--all of these, although
+capable of separate classification, are akin to folk-lore, and I
+have not, therefore, hesitated to use what in my discretion I
+consider the best out of immense stores of material as being much
+more suited to supply British readers with a comprehensive view of
+Breton story. Thus, I have included chapters on the lore which
+cleaves to the ancient stone monuments of the country, along with
+some account of the monuments themselves. The Arthurian matter
+especially connected with Brittany I have relegated to a separate
+chapter, and I have considered it only fitting to include such of
+the _lais_ of that rare and human songstress Marie de France as deal
+with the Breton land. The legends of those sainted men to whom
+Brittany owes so much will be found in a separate chapter, in
+collecting the matter for which I have obtained the kindest
+assistance from Miss Helen Macleod Scott, who has the preservation of
+the Celtic spirit so much at heart. I have also included chapters on
+the interesting theme of the black art in Brittany, as well as on
+the several species of fays and demons which haunt its moors and
+forests; nor will the heroic tales of its great warriors and
+champions be found wanting. To assist the reader to obtain the
+atmosphere of Brittany and in order that he may read these tales
+without feeling that he is perusing matter relating to a race of
+which he is otherwise ignorant, I have afforded him a slight
+sketch of the Breton environment and historical development, and in
+an attempt to lighten his passage through the volume I have here and
+there told a tale in verse, sometimes translated, sometimes original.
+
+As regards the folk-tales proper, by which I mean stories collected
+from the peasantry, I have made a selection from the works of Gaidoz,
+Sebillot, and Luzel. In no sense are these translations; they are
+rather adaptations. The profound inequality between Breton folk-tales
+is, of course, very marked in a collection of any magnitude, but as
+this volume is not intended to be exhaustive I have had no difficulty
+in selecting material of real interest. Most of these tales were
+collected by Breton folk-lorists in the eighties of the last century,
+and the native shrewdness and common sense which characterize much of
+the editors' comments upon the stories so carefully gathered from
+peasants and fishermen make them deeply interesting.
+
+It is with a sense of shortcoming that I offer the reader this volume
+on a great subject, but should it succeed in stimulating interest in
+Breton story, and in directing students to a field in which their
+research is certain to be richly rewarded, I shall not regret the
+labour and time which I have devoted to my task.
+
+  L. S.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+        I The Land, the People and their Story                      13
+       II Menhirs And Dolmens                                       37
+      III The Fairies of Brittany                                   54
+       IV Sprites And Demons of Brittany                            96
+        V World-Tales in Brittany                                  106
+       VI Breton Folk-Tales                                        156
+      VII Popular Legends of Brittany                              173
+     VIII Hero-Tales of Brittany                                   211
+       IX The Black Art and Its Ministers                          241
+        X Arthurian Romance in Brittany                            254
+       XI The Breton Lays of Marie De France                       283
+      XII The Saints of Brittany                                   332
+     XIII Costumes and Customs of Brittany                         372
+          Glossary and Index                                       392
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  Graelent and the Fairy-Woman                          _Frontispiece_
+  Nomenoe                                                           23
+  The Death of Marguerite in the Castle of Trogoff                  34
+  Raising a Menhir                                                  44
+  The Seigneur of Nann And the Korrigan                             58
+  Merlin And Vivien                                                 66
+  The Fairies of Broceliande Find the Little Bruno                  72
+  Fairies in a Breton 'Houle'                                       81
+  The Poor Boy And the Three Fairy Damsels                          88
+  The Demon-Dog                                                    102
+  N'Oun Doare And the Princess Golden Bell                         112
+  The Bride of Satan                                               144
+  Gwennolaik and Nola                                              170
+  The Devil in the Form of a Leopard appears before
+      the Alchemist                                                179
+  The Escape of King Gradlon from the Flooded City of
+      Ys                                                           186
+  A Peasant Insurrection                                           197
+  Morvan returns to his Ruined Home                                214
+  The Finding of Silvestik                                         232
+  Heloise as Sorceress                                             250
+  King Arthur and Merlin at the Lake                               257
+  Tristrem and Ysonde                                              268
+  King Arthur and the Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel                   276
+  The Were-Wolf                                                    288
+  Gugemar comes upon the Magic Ship                                294
+  Gugemar's Assault on the Castle of Meriadus                      300
+  Eliduc carries Guillardun to the Forest Chapel                   312
+  Convoyon and his Monks carry off the Relics of St
+      Apothemius                                                   336
+  St Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint                                  339
+  St Yves instructing Shepherd-boys in the Use of the
+      Rosary                                                       352
+  Queen Queban stoned to Death                                     369
+  Modern Brittany                                                  377
+  The Souls of the Dead                                            385
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THEIR STORY
+
+
+The romantic region which we are about to traverse in search of the
+treasures of legend was in ancient times known as Armorica, a
+Latinized form of the Celtic name, Armor ('On the Sea'). The Brittany
+of to-day corresponds to the departments of Finistere, Cotes-du-Nord,
+Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Inferieure. A popular division of
+the country is that which partitions it into Upper, or Eastern, and
+Lower, or Western, Brittany, and these tracts together have an area of
+some 13,130 square miles.
+
+Such parts of Brittany as are near to the sea-coast present marked
+differences to the inland regions, where raised plateaux are covered
+with dreary and unproductive moorland. These plateaux, again, rise
+into small ranges of hills, not of any great height, but, from their
+wild and rugged appearance, giving the impression of an altitude much
+loftier than they possess. The coast-line is ragged, indented, and
+inhospitable, lined with deep reefs and broken by the estuaries of
+brawling rivers. In the southern portion the district known as 'the
+Emerald Coast' presents an almost subtropical appearance; the air is
+mild and the whole region pleasant and fruitful. But with this
+exception Brittany is a country of bleak shores and grey seas, barren
+moorland and dreary horizons, such a land as legend loves, such a
+region, cut off and isolated from the highways of humanity, as the
+discarded genii of ancient faiths might seek as a last stronghold.
+
+Regarding the origin of the race which peoples this secluded
+peninsula there are no wide differences of opinion. If we take the
+word 'Celt' as describing any branch of the many divergent races which
+came under the influence of one particular type of culture, the true
+originators of which were absorbed among the folk they governed and
+instructed before the historic era, then the Bretons are 'Celts'
+indeed, speaking the tongue known as 'Celtic' for want of a more
+specific name, exhibiting marked signs of the possession of 'Celtic'
+customs, and having those racial characteristics which the science of
+anthropology until recently laid down as certain indications of
+'Celtic' relationship--the short, round skull, swarthy complexion, and
+blue or grey eyes.
+
+It is to be borne in mind, however, that the title 'Celtic' is shared
+by the Bretons with the fair or rufous Highlander of Scotland, the
+dark Welshman, and the long-headed Irishman. But the Bretons exhibit
+such special characteristics as would warrant the new anthropology in
+labelling them the descendants of that 'Alpine' race which existed in
+Central Europe in Neolithic times, and which, perhaps, possessed
+distant Mongoloid affinities. This people spread into nearly all parts
+of Europe, and later in some regions acquired Celtic speech and custom
+from a Celtic aristocracy.
+
+It is remarkable how completely this Celtic leaven--the true history
+of which is lost in the depths of prehistoric darkness--succeeded in
+impressing not only its language but its culture and spirit upon the
+various peoples with whom it came into contact. To impose a special
+type of civilization upon another race must always prove a task of
+almost superhuman proportions. To compel the use of an alien tongue by
+a conquered folk necessitates racial tact as well as strength of
+purpose. But to secure the adoption of the racial _spirit_ by the
+conquered, and adherence to it for centuries, so that men of widely
+divergent origins shall all have the same point of view, the same mode
+of thought, manner of address, aye, even the same _facies_ or general
+racial appearance, as have Bretons, some Frenchmen, Cornishmen,
+Welshmen, and Highlanders--that surely would argue an indwelling
+racial strength such as not even the Roman or any other world-empire
+might pretend to.
+
+But this Celtic civilization was not one and undivided. In late
+prehistoric times it evolved from one mother tongue two dialects which
+afterward displayed all the differences of separate languages
+springing from a common stock. These are the Goidelic, the tongue
+spoken by the Celts of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, and the
+Brythonic, the language of the Welsh, the Cornish, and the people of
+Brittany.
+
+
+_The Breton Tongue_
+
+The Brezonek, the Brythonic tongue of Brittany, is undoubtedly the
+language of those Celtic immigrants who fled from Britain the Greater
+to Britain the Less to escape the rule of the Saxon invaders, and who
+gave the name of the country which they had left to that Armorica in
+which they settled. In the earliest stages of development it is
+difficult to distinguish Breton from Welsh. From the ninth to the
+eleventh centuries the Breton language is described as 'Old Breton.'
+'Middle Breton' flourished from the eleventh to the seventeenth
+centuries, since when 'Modern Breton' has been in use. These stages
+indicate changes in the language more or less profound, due chiefly to
+admixture with French. Various distinct dialects are indicated by
+writers on the subject, but the most marked difference in Breton
+speech seems to be that between the dialect of Vannes and that of the
+rest of Brittany. Such differences do not appear to be older than the
+sixteenth century.[1]
+
+
+_The Ancient Armoricans_
+
+The written history of Brittany opens with the account of Julius
+Caesar. At that period (57 B.C.) Armorica was inhabited by five
+principal tribes: the Namnetes, the Veneti, the Osismii, the
+Curiosolitae, and the Redones. These offered a desperate resistance to
+Roman encroachment, but were subdued, and in some cases their people
+were sold wholesale into slavery. In 56 B.C. the Veneti threw off the
+yoke and retained two of Caesar's officers as hostages. Caesar advanced
+upon Brittany in person, but found that he could make no headway while
+he was opposed by the powerful fleet of flat-bottomed boats, like
+floating castles, which the Veneti were so skilful in manoeuvring.
+Ships were hastily constructed upon the waters of the Loire, and a
+desperate naval engagement ensued, probably in the Gulf of Morbihan,
+which resulted in the decisive defeat of the Veneti, the Romans
+resorting to the stratagem of cutting down the enemy's rigging with
+sickles bound upon long poles. The members of the Senate of the
+conquered people were put to death as a punishment for their
+defection, and thousands of the tribesmen went to swell the
+slave-markets of Europe.
+
+Between A.D. 450 and 500, when the Roman power and population were
+dwindling, many vessels brought fugitives from Britain to Armorica.
+These people, fleeing from the conquering barbarians, Saxons, Picts,
+and Scots, sought as asylum a land where a kindred race had not yet
+been disturbed by invasion. Says Thierry, in his _Norman Conquest_:
+"With the consent of the ancient inhabitants, who acknowledged them as
+brethren of the same origin, the new settlers distributed themselves
+over the whole northern coast, as far as the little river Coesoron,
+and southward as far as the territory of the city of the Veneti, now
+called Vannes. In this extent of country they founded a sort of
+separate state, comprising all the small places near the coast, but
+not including within its limits the great towns of Vannes, Nantes, and
+Rennes. The increase of the population of this western corner of the
+country, and the great number of people of the Celtic race and
+language thus assembled within a narrow space, preserved it from the
+irruption of the Roman tongue, which, under forms more or less
+corrupted, was gradually becoming prevalent in every other part of
+Gaul. The name of _Brittany_ was attached to these coasts, and the
+names of the various indigenous tribes disappeared; while the island
+which had borne this name for so many ages now lost it, and, taking
+the name of its conquerors, began to be called the land of the Saxons
+and Angles, or, in one word, _England_."
+
+
+_Samson_
+
+One of these British immigrants was the holy Samson, who laboured to
+convert pagan Brittany to Christianity. He hailed from Pembrokeshire,
+and the legend relates that his parents, being childless, constructed
+a menhir[2] of pure silver and gave it to the poor in the hope that a
+son might be born to them. Their desire was fulfilled, and Samson, the
+son in question, became a great missionary of the Church. Accompanied
+by forty monks, he crossed the Channel and landed on the shores of the
+Bay of Saint-Brieuc, a savage and deserted district.
+
+As the keel of his galley grated on the beach the Saint beheld a man
+on the shore seated at the door of a miserable hut, who endeavoured to
+attract his attention by signs. Samson approached the shore-dweller,
+who took him by the hand and, leading him into the wretched dwelling,
+showed him his wife and daughter, stricken with sickness. Samson
+relieved their pain, and the husband and father, who, despite his
+humble appearance, was chief of the neighbouring territory, gave him a
+grant of land hard by. Here, close to the celebrated menhir of Dol, he
+and his monks built their cells. Soon a chapel rose near the ancient
+seat of pagan worship--in later days the site of a great cathedral.
+
+Telio, a British monk, with the assistance of St Samson, planted near
+Dol an orchard three miles in length, and to him is attributed the
+introduction of the apple-tree into Brittany. Wherever the monks went
+they cultivated the soil; all had in their mouths the words of the
+Apostle: "If any would not work, neither should he eat." The people
+admired the industry of the new-comers, and from admiration they
+passed to imitation. The peasants joined the monks in tilling the
+ground, and even the brigands from the hills and forests became
+agriculturists. "The Cross and the plough, labour and prayer," was the
+motto of these early missionaries.
+
+
+_Wax for Wine_
+
+The monks of Dol were renowned bee-farmers, as we learn from an
+anecdote told by Count Montalembert in his _Moines d'Occident_. One
+day when St Samson of Dol, and St Germain, Bishop of Paris, were
+conversing on the respective merits of their monasteries, St Samson
+said that his monks were such good and careful preservers of their
+bees that, besides the honey which the bees yielded in abundance, they
+furnished more wax than was used in the churches for candles during
+the year, but that the climate not being suitable for the growth of
+vines, there was great scarcity of wine. Upon hearing this St Germain
+replied: "We, on the contrary, produce more wine than we can consume,
+but we have to buy wax; so, if you will furnish us with wax, we will
+give you a tenth of our wine." Samson accepted this offer, and the
+mutual arrangement was continued during the lives of the two saints.
+
+Two British kingdoms were formed in Armorica--Domnonia and Cornubia.
+The first embraced the Cotes-du-Nord and Finistere north of the river
+Elorn, Cornubia, or Cornouaille, as it is now known, being situated
+below that river, as far south as the river Elle. At first these
+states paid a nominal homage to their native kings in Britain, but on
+the final fall of the British power they proclaimed a complete
+independence.
+
+
+_The Vision of Jud-Hael_
+
+A striking story relating to the migration period is told concerning a
+Cambrian chieftain of Brittany, one Jud-Hael, and the famous British
+bard Taliesin. Shortly after the arrival of Taliesin in Brittany
+Jud-Hael had a remarkable vision. He dreamt that he saw a high
+mountain, on the summit of which was placed a lofty column fixed
+deeply in the earth, with a base of ivory, and branches which reached
+to the heavens. The lower part was iron, brilliantly polished, and to
+it were attached rings of the same metal, from which were suspended
+cuirasses, casques, lances, javelins, bucklers, trumpets, and many
+other warlike trophies. The upper portion was of gold, and upon it
+hung candelabra, censers, stoles, chalices, and ecclesiastical symbols
+of every description. As the Prince stood admiring the spectacle the
+heavens opened and a maiden of marvellous beauty descended and
+approached him.
+
+"I salute you, O Jud-Hael," she said, "and I confide to your keeping
+for a season this column and all that it supports"; and with these
+words she vanished.
+
+On the following day Jud-Hael made public his dream, but, like
+Nebuchadnezzar of old, he could find no one to interpret it, so he
+turned to the bard Taliesin as to another Daniel. Taliesin, says the
+legend, then an exile from his native land of Britain, dwelt on the
+seashore. To him came the messenger of Jud-Hael and said: "O thou who
+so truly dost interpret all things ambiguous, hear and make clear the
+strange vision which my lord hath seen." He then recounted Jud-Hael's
+dream to the venerable bard.
+
+For a time the sage sat pondering deeply, and then replied: "Thy
+master reigneth well and wisely, O messenger, but he has a son who
+will reign still more happily even than himself, and who will become
+one of the greatest men in the Breton land. The sons of his loins will
+be the fathers of powerful counts and pious Churchmen, but he himself,
+the greatest man of that race, shall be first a valiant warrior and
+later a mighty champion of heaven. The earlier part of his life shall
+be given to the world; the latter portion shall be devoted to God."
+
+The prophecy of Taliesin was duly fulfilled. For Judik-Hael, the son
+of Jud-Hael, realized the bard's prediction, and entered the cloister
+after a glorious reign.
+
+
+_Taliesin_
+
+Taliesin ('Shining Forehead') was in the highest repute in the middle
+of the twelfth century, and he was then and afterward, unless we
+except Merlin, the bardic hero of the greatest number of romantic
+legends. He is said to have been the son of Henwg the bard, or St
+Henwg, of Caerleon-upon-Usk, and to have been educated in the school
+of Cattwg, at Llanvithin, in Glamorgan, where the historian Gildas was
+his fellow-pupil. Seized when a youth by Irish pirates, he is said,
+probably by rational interpretation of a later fable of his history,
+to have escaped by using a wooden buckler for a boat. Thus he came
+into the fishing weir of Elphin, one of the sons of Urien. Urien made
+him Elphin's instructor, and gave him an estate of land. But, once
+introduced into the Court of that great warrior-chief, Taliesin became
+his foremost bard, followed him in his wars, and sang his victories.
+He celebrates triumphs over Ida, the Anglian King of Bernicia (_d._
+559) at Argoed about the year 547, at Gwenn-Estrad between that year
+and 559, at Menao about the year 559. After the death of Urien,
+Taliesin was the bard of his son Owain, by whose hand Ida fell. After
+the death of all Urien's sons Taliesin retired to mourn the downfall
+of his race in Wales, dying, it is said, at Bangor Teivi, in
+Cardiganshire. He was buried under a cairn near Aberystwyth.
+
+
+_Herve the Blind_
+
+There is nothing improbable in the statement that Taliesin dwelt in
+Brittany in the sixth century. Many other British bards found a refuge
+on the shores of Britain the Less. Among these was Kyvarnion, a
+Christian, who married a Breton Druidess and who had a son, Herve.
+Herve was blind from birth, and was led from place to place by a wolf
+which he had converted (!) and pressed into the service of Mother
+Church.
+
+One day, when a lad, Herve had been left in charge of his uncle's
+farm, when a ploughman passed him in full flight, crying out that a
+savage wolf had appeared and had killed the ass with which he had been
+ploughing. The man entreated Herve to fly, as the wolf was hard upon
+his heels; but the blind youth, undaunted, ordered the terrified
+labourer to seize the animal and harness it to the plough with the
+harness of the dead ass. From that time the wolf dwelt among the sheep
+and goats on the farm, and subsisted upon hay and grass.
+
+
+_Nomenoe_
+
+Swarms of Irish from Ossory and Wexford began to arrive about the
+close of the fifth century, settling along the west and north coasts.
+The immigrants from Britain the Greater formed by degrees the
+counties of Vannes, Cornouaille, Leon, and Domnonee, constituted a
+powerful aristocracy, and initiated a long and arduous struggle
+against the Frankish monarchs, who exercised a nominal suzerainty over
+Brittany. Louis the Pious placed a native chief, Nomenoe, at the head
+of the province, and a long period of peace ensued. But in A.D. 845
+Nomenoe revolted against Charles the Bald, defeated him, and forced
+him to recognize the independence of Brittany, and to forgo the annual
+tribute which he had exacted. A ballad by Villemarque describes the
+incident. Like Macpherson, who in his enthusiasm for the fragments of
+Ossianic lore 'reconstructed' them only too well, Villemarque
+unfortunately tampered very freely with such matter as he collected,
+and it may even be that the poem on Nomenoe, for which he claims
+authority, is altogether spurious, as some critics consider. But as it
+affords a spirited picture of the old Breton chief the story is at
+least worth relating.
+
+The poem describes how an aged chieftain waits on the hills of Retz
+for his son, who has gone over to Rennes to pay the Breton tribute to
+the Franks. Many chariots drawn by horses has he taken with him, but
+although a considerable time has elapsed there is no indication of his
+return. The chieftain climbs to an eminence in the hope of discerning
+his son in the far distance, but no sign of his appearance is to be
+seen on the long white road or on the bleak moors which fringe it.
+
+The anxious father espies a merchant wending slowly along the highway
+and hails him.
+
+"Ha, good merchant, you who travel the land from end to end, have you
+seen aught of my son Karo, who has gone to conduct the tribute
+chariots to Rennes?"
+
+[Illustration: NOMENOE]
+
+"Alas! chieftain, if your son has gone with the tribute it is in vain
+you wait for him, for the Franks found it not enough, and have weighed
+his head against it in the balance."
+
+The father gazes wildly at the speaker, sways, and falls heavily with
+a doleful cry.
+
+"Karo, my son! My lost Karo!"
+
+The scene changes to the fortress of Nomenoe, and we see its master
+returning from the chase, accompanied by his great hounds and laden
+with trophies. His bow is in his hand, and he carries the carcass of a
+boar upon his shoulder. The red blood drops from the dead beast's
+mouth and stains his hand. The aged chief, well-nigh demented, awaits
+his coming, and Nomenoe greets him courteously.
+
+"Hail, honest mountaineer!" he cries. "What is your news? What would
+you with Nomenoe?"
+
+"I come for justice, Lord Nomenoe," replies the aged man. "Is there a
+God in heaven and a chief in Brittany? There is a God above us, I
+know, and I believe there is a just Duke in the Breton land. Mighty
+ruler, make war upon the Frank, defend our country, and give us
+vengeance--vengeance for Karo my son, Karo, slain, decapitated by the
+Frankish barbarians, his beauteous head made into a balance-weight for
+their brutal sport."
+
+The old man weeps, and the tears flow down his grizzled beard.
+
+Then Nomenoe rises in anger and swears a great oath. "By the head of
+this boar, and by the arrow which slew him," cries he, "I will not
+wash this blood from off my hand until I free the country from mine
+enemies."
+
+Nomenoe has gone to the seashore and gathered pebbles, for these are
+the tribute he intends to offer the bald King.[3] Arrived at the gates
+of Rennes, he asks that they shall be opened to him so that he may pay
+the tribute of silver. He is asked to descend, to enter the castle,
+and to leave his chariot in the courtyard. He is requested to wash his
+hands to the sound of a horn before eating (an ancient custom), but he
+replies that he prefers to deliver the tribute-money there and then.
+The sacks are weighed, and the third is found light by several
+pounds.
+
+"Ha, what is this?" cries the Frankish castellan. "This sack is under
+weight, Sir Nomenoe."
+
+Out leaps Nomenoe's sword from the scabbard, and the Frank's head is
+smitten from his shoulders. Then, seizing it by its gory locks, the
+Breton chief with a laugh of triumph casts it into the balance. His
+warriors throng the courtyard, the town is taken; young Karo is
+avenged!
+
+
+_Alain Barbe-torte_
+
+The end of the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth were
+remarkable for the invasions of the Northmen. On several occasions
+they were driven back--by Salomon (_d._ 874), by Alain, Count of
+Vannes (_d._ 907)--but it was Alain Barbe-torte, 'Alain of the Twisted
+Beard,' or 'Alain the Fox' (_d._ 952), who gained the decisive victory
+over them, and concerning him an ancient ballad has much to say. It
+was taken down by Villemarque from the lips of a peasant, an old
+soldier of the Chouan leader Georges Cadoudal.
+
+In his youth Alain was a mighty hunter of the bear and the boar in the
+forests of his native Brittany, and the courage gained in this manly
+sport stood him in good stead when he came to employ it against the
+enemies of his country, the hated Northmen. Rallying the Bretons who
+lurked in the forests or hid in the mountain fastnesses, he led them
+against the enemy, whom he surprised near Dol in the middle of the
+night, making a great carnage among them. After this battle the
+Scandinavian invaders were finally expelled from the Breton land and
+Alain was crowned King or Arch-chief in 937.
+
+A free translation of this ballad might run as follows:
+
+  Lurks the Fox within the wood,
+  His teeth and claws are red with blood.
+
+  Within his leafy, dark retreat
+  He chews the cud of vengeance sweet.
+
+  Oh, trenchant his avenging sword!
+  It falls not on the rock or sward,
+
+  But on the mail of Saxon foe:
+  Swift as the lightning falls the blow.
+
+  I've seen the Bretons wield the flail,
+  Scattering the bearded chaff like hail:
+
+  But iron is the flail they wield
+  Against the churlish Saxon's shield.
+
+  I heard the call of victory
+  From Michael's Mount to Elorn fly,
+
+  And Alain's glory flies as fast
+  From Gildas' church to every coast.
+
+  Ah, may his splendour never die,
+  May it live on eternally!
+
+  But woe that I may nevermore
+  Declaim this lay on Armor's shore,
+
+  For the base Saxon hand has torn
+  My tongue from out my mouth forlorn.
+
+  But if my lips no longer frame
+  The glories of our Alain's name,
+
+  My heart shall ever sing his praise,
+  Who won the fight and wears the bays![4]
+
+The Saxons of this lay are, of course, the Norsemen, who, speaking a
+Teutonic tongue, would seem to the Celtic-speaking Bretons to be
+allied to the Teuton Franks.
+
+
+_Bretons and Normans_
+
+During the latter half of the tenth and most of the eleventh century
+the Counts of Rennes gained an almost complete ascendancy in Brittany,
+which began to be broken up into counties and seigneuries in the
+French manner. In 992 Geoffrey, son of Conan, Count of Rennes, adopted
+the title of Duke of Brittany. He married a Norman lady of noble
+family, by whom he had two sons, Alain and Eudo, the younger of whom
+demanded a share of the duchy as his inheritance. His brother made
+over to him the counties of Penthievre and Treguier, part of the old
+kingdom of Domnonia in the north. It was a fatal transference, for he
+and his line became remorseless enemies of the ducal house, with whom
+they carried on a series of disastrous conflicts for centuries. Conan
+II, son of Alain, came under the regency of Eudo, his uncle, in
+infancy, but later turned his sword against him and his abettor,
+William of Normandy, the Conqueror.
+
+Notwithstanding the national enmity of the Normans and Bretons, there
+existed between the Dukes of Normandy and the Dukes of Brittany ties
+of affinity that rendered the relations between the two states
+somewhat complicated. At the time when Duke Robert, the father of
+William of Normandy, set out upon his pilgrimage, he had no nearer
+relative than Alain, Duke of Brittany, the father of Conan II,
+descended in the female line from Rollo, the great Norse leader, and
+to him he committed on his departure the care of his duchy and the
+guardianship of his son.
+
+Duke Alain declared the paternity of his ward doubtful, and favoured
+that party which desired to set him aside from the succession; but
+after the defeat of his faction at Val-es-Dunes he died, apparently of
+poison, doubtless administered by the contrivance of the friends of
+William. His son, Conan II, succeeded, and reigned at the period when
+William was making his preparations for the conquest of England. He
+was a prince of ability, dreaded by his neighbours, and animated by a
+fierce desire to injure the Duke of Normandy, whom he regarded as a
+usurper and the murderer of his father Alain. Seeing William engaged
+in a hazardous enterprise, Conan thought it a favourable moment to
+declare war against him, and dispatched one of his chamberlains to him
+with the following message: "I hear that you are ready to pass the sea
+to make conquest of the kingdom of England. Now, Duke Robert, whose
+son you feign to consider yourself, on his departure for Jerusalem
+left all his inheritance to Duke Alain, my father, who was his cousin;
+but you and your abettors have poisoned my father, you have
+appropriated to yourself the domain of Normandy, and have kept
+possession of it until this day, contrary to all right, since you are
+not the legitimate heir. Restore to me, therefore, the duchy of
+Normandy, which belongs to me, or I shall levy war upon you, and shall
+wage it to extremity with all my forces."
+
+
+_The Poisoned Hunting-Horn_
+
+The Norman historians state that William was much startled by so
+hostile a message; for even a feeble diversion might render futile his
+ambitious hopes of conquest. But without hesitation he resolved to
+remove the Breton Duke. Immediately upon his return to Conan, the
+envoy, gained over, doubtless, by a bribe of gold, rubbed poison into
+the inside of the horn which his master sounded when hunting, and, to
+make his evil measures doubly sure, he poisoned in like manner the
+Duke's gloves and his horse's bridle. Conan died a few days after his
+envoy's return, and his successor, Eudo, took especial care not to
+imitate his relative in giving offence to William with regard to the
+validity of his right; on the contrary, he formed an alliance with
+him, a thing unheard of betwixt Breton and Norman, and sent his two
+sons to William's camp to serve against the English.
+
+These two youths, Brian and Alain, repaired to the rendezvous of the
+Norman forces, accompanied by a body of Breton knights, who styled
+them Mac-tierns.[5] Certain other wealthy Bretons, who were not of the
+pure Celtic race, and who bore French names, as Robert de Vitry,
+Bertrand de Dinan, and Raoul de Gael, resorted likewise to the Court
+of the Duke of Normandy with offers of service.
+
+Later Brittany became a bone of contention between France and
+Normandy. Hoel, the native Duke, claimed the protection of France
+against the Norman duchy. A long period of peace followed under Alain
+Fergant and Conan III, but on the death of the latter a fierce war of
+succession was waged (1148-56). Conan IV secured the ducal crown by
+Norman-English aid, and gave his daughter Constance in marriage to
+Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Henry II of England. Geoffrey was crowned
+Duke of Brittany in 1171, but after his death his son Arthur met with
+a dreadful fate at the hands of his uncle, John of England. Constance,
+his mother, the real heiress to the duchy, married again, her choice
+falling upon Guy de Thouars, and their daughter was wed to Pierre de
+Dreux, who became Duke, and who defeated John Lackland, the slayer of
+his wife's half-brother, under the walls of Nantes in 1214.
+
+
+_French Influence_
+
+The country now began to flourish apace because of the many
+innovations introduced into it by the wisdom of its French rulers. A
+new way of life was adopted by the governing classes, among whom
+French manners and fashions became the rule. But the people at large
+retained their ancient customs, language, and dress; nor have they
+ever abandoned them, at least in Lower Brittany. On the death of John
+III (1341) the peace of the duchy was once more broken by a war of
+succession. John had no love for his half-brother, John of Montfort,
+and bequeathed the ducal coronet to his niece, Joan of Penthievre,
+wife of Charles of Blois, nephew of Philip VI of France. This
+precipitated a conflict between the rival parties which led to years
+of bitter strife.
+
+
+_The War of the Two Joans_
+
+Just as two women, Fredegonda and Brunhilda, swayed the fortunes of
+Neustria and Austrasia in Merovingian times, and Mary and Elizabeth
+those of England and Scotland at a later day, so did two heroines
+arise to uphold the banners of either party in the civil strife which
+now convulsed the Breton land. England took the side of Montfort and
+the French that of Charles. Almost at the outset (1342) John of
+Montfort was taken prisoner, but his heroic wife, Joan of Flanders,
+grasped the leadership of affairs, and carried on a relentless war
+against her husband's enemies. After five years of fighting, in 1347,
+and two years subsequent to the death of her lord, whose health had
+given way after his imprisonment, she captured her arch-foe, Charles
+of Blois himself, at the battle of La Roche-Derrien, on the Jaudy. In
+this encounter she had the assistance of a certain Sir Thomas Dagworth
+and an English force. Three times was Charles rescued, and thrice was
+he retaken, until, bleeding from eighteen wounds, he was compelled to
+surrender. He was sent to London, where he was confined in the Tower
+for nine years. Meanwhile his wife, Joan, imitating her rival and
+namesake, in turn threw her energies into the strife. But another
+victory for the Montfort party was gained at Mauron in 1352. On the
+release of Charles of Blois in 1356 he renewed hostilities with the
+help of the famous Bertrand Du Guesclin.
+
+
+_Bertrand Du Guesclin_
+
+Bertrand Du Guesclin (_c._ 1320-80), Constable of France, divides with
+Bayard the Fearless the crown of medieval French chivalry as a mighty
+leader of men, a great soldier, and a blameless knight. He was born of
+an ancient family who were in somewhat straitened circumstances, and
+in childhood was an object of aversion to his parents because of his
+ugliness.
+
+One night his mother dreamt that she was in possession of a casket
+containing portraits of herself and her lord, on one side of which
+were set nine precious stones of great beauty encircling a rough,
+unpolished pebble. In her dream she carried the casket to a lapidary,
+and asked him to take out the rough stone as unworthy of such goodly
+company; but he advised her to allow it to remain, and afterward it
+shone forth more brilliantly than the lustrous gems. The later
+superiority of Bertrand over her nine other children fulfilled the
+mother's dream.
+
+At the tournament which was held at Rennes in 1338 to celebrate the
+marriage of Charles of Blois with Joan of Penthievre, young Bertrand,
+at that time only some eighteen years old, unhorsed the most famous
+competitors. During the war between Blois and Montfort he gathered
+round him a band of adventurers and fought on the side of Charles V,
+doing much despite to the forces of Montfort and his ally of England.
+
+Du Guesclin's name lives in Breton legend as Gwezklen, perhaps the
+original form, and approximating to that on his tomb at Saint-Denis,
+where he lies at the feet of Charles V of France. In this inscription
+it is spelt "Missire Bertram du Gueaquien," perhaps a French rendering
+of the Breton pronunciation. Not a few legendary ballads which recount
+the exploits of this manly and romantic figure remain in the Breton
+language, and I have made a free translation of the following, as it
+is perhaps the most interesting of the number:
+
+
+THE WARD OF DU GUESCLIN
+
+  Trogoff's strong tower in English hands
+  Has been this many a year,
+  Rising above its subject-lands
+  And held in hate and fear.
+  That rosy gleam upon the sward
+  Is not the sun's last kiss;
+  It is the blood of an English lord
+  Who ruled the land amiss.
+
+  "O sweetest daughter of my heart,
+  My little Marguerite,
+  Come, carry me the midday milk
+  To those who bind the wheat."
+  "O gentle mother, spare me this!
+  The castle I must pass
+  Where wicked Roger takes a kiss
+  From every country lass."
+
+  "Oh! fie, my daughter, fie on thee!
+  The Seigneur would not glance
+  On such a chit of low degree
+  When all the dames in France
+  Are for his choosing." "Mother mine,
+  I bow unto your word.
+  Mine eyes will ne'er behold you more.
+  God keep you in His guard."
+
+  Young Roger stood upon the tower
+  Of Trogoff's grey chateau;
+  Beneath his bent brows did he lower
+  Upon the scene below.
+  "Come hither quickly, little page,
+  Come hither to my knee.
+  Canst spy a maid of tender age?
+  Ha! she must pay my fee."
+
+  Fair Marguerite trips swiftly by
+  Beneath the castle shade,
+  When villain Roger, drawing nigh,
+  Steals softly on the maid.
+  He seizes on the milking-pail
+  She bears upon her head;
+  The snow-white flood she must bewail,
+  For all the milk is shed.
+
+  "Ah, cry not, pretty sister mine,
+  There's plenty and to spare
+  Of milk and eke of good red wine
+  Within my castle fair.
+  Ah, feast with me, or pluck a rose
+  Within my pleasant garth,
+  Or stroll beside yon brook which flows
+  In brawling, sylvan mirth."
+
+  "Nor feast nor flowers nor evening air
+  I wish; I do entreat,
+  Fair Seigneur, let me now repair
+  To those who bind the wheat."
+  "Nay, damsel, fill thy milking-pail:
+  The dairy stands but here.
+  Ah, foolish sweeting, wherefore quail,
+  For thou hast naught to fear?"
+
+  The castle gates behind her close,
+  And all is fair within;
+  Above her head the apple glows,
+  The symbol of our sin.
+  "O Seigneur, lend thy dagger keen,
+  That I may cut this fruit."
+  He smiles and with a courteous mien
+  He draws the bright blade out.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEATH OF MARGUERITE IN THE CASTLE OF TROGOFF]
+
+  She takes it, and in earnest prayer
+  Her childish accents rise:
+  "O mother, Virgin, ever fair,
+  Pray, pray, for her who dies
+  For honour!" Then the blade is drenched
+  With blood most innocent.
+  Vile Roger, now, thine ardour quenched,
+  Say, art thou then content?
+
+  "Ha, I will wash my dagger keen
+  In the clear-running brook.
+  No human eye hath ever seen,
+  No human eye shall look
+  Upon this gore." He takes the blade
+  From out that gentle heart,
+  And hurries to the river's shade.
+  False Roger, why dost start?
+
+  Beside the bank Du Guesclin stands,
+  Clad in his sombre mail.
+  "Ha, Roger, why so red thy hands,
+  And why art thou so pale?"
+  "A beast I've slain." "Thou liest, hound!
+  But I a beast will slay."
+  The woodland's leafy ways resound
+  To echoings of fray.
+
+  Roger is slain. Trogoff's chateau
+  Is level with the rock.
+  Who can withstand Du Guesclin's blow,
+  What towers can brave his shock?
+  The combat is his only joy,
+  The tournament his play.
+  Woe unto those who would destroy
+  The peace of Brittany!
+
+In the decisive battle of Auray (1364) Charles was killed and Du
+Guesclin taken prisoner. John of Montfort, son of the John who had
+died, became Duke of Brittany. But he had to face Oliver de Clisson,
+round whom the adherents of Blois rallied. From a war the strife
+degenerated into a vendetta. Oliver de Clisson seized the person of
+John V and imprisoned him. But in the end John was liberated and the
+line of Blois was finally crushed.
+
+
+_Anne of Brittany_
+
+The next event of importance in Breton history is the enforced
+marriage of Anne of Brittany, Duchess of that country in her own
+right, to Charles VIII of France, son of Louis XI, which event took
+place in 1491. Anne, whose father, Duke Francis II, had but recently
+died, had no option but to espouse Charles, and on his death she
+married Louis XII, his successor. Francis I, who succeeded Louis XII
+on the throne of France, and who married Claude, daughter of Louis XII
+and Anne, annexed the duchy in 1532, providing for its privileges. But
+beneath the cramping hand of French power the privileges of the
+province were greatly reduced. From this time the history of Brittany
+is merged in that of France, of which country it becomes one of the
+component parts in a political if not a racial sense.
+
+We shall not in this place deal with the people of modern Brittany,
+their manners and customs, reserving the subject for a later chapter,
+but shall ask the reader to accompany us while we traverse the
+enchanted ground of Breton story.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+   [1] Consult E. Ernault, _Petite Grammaire bretonne_ (Saint-Brieuc,
+       1897); L. Le Clerc, _Grammaire bretonne_ (Saint-Brieuc,
+       1908); J. P. Treasure, _An Introduction to Breton Grammar_
+       (Carmarthen, 1903). For the dialect of Vannes see A.
+       Guillevic and P. Le Goff, _Grammaire bretonne du Dialect de
+       Vannes_ (Vannes, 1902).
+
+   [2] Lit. 'long stone,' a megalithic monument. See Chapter II,
+       "Menhirs and Dolmens." Students of folk-lore will recognize the
+       symbolic significance of the offering. We seem to have here
+       some connexion with pillar-worship, as found in ancient Crete,
+       and the adoration of the Irminsul among the ancient Saxons.
+
+   [3] Charles the Bald.
+
+   [4] For the Breton original and the French translation from which the
+       above is adapted see Villemarque, _Barzaz-Breiz_, p. 112.
+
+   [5] 'Sons of the Chief.' MacTier is a fairly common name in Scotland
+       to-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II: MENHIRS AND DOLMENS
+
+
+In the mind of the general reader Brittany is unalterably associated
+with the prehistoric stone monuments which are so closely identified
+with its folk-lore and national life. In other parts of the world
+similar monuments are encountered, in Great Britain and Ireland,
+Scandinavia, the Crimea, Algeria, and India, but nowhere are they
+found in such abundance as in Brittany, nor are these rivalled in
+other lands, either as regards their character or the space they
+occupy.
+
+To speculate as to the race which built the primitive stone monuments
+of Brittany is almost as futile as it would be to theorize upon the
+date of their erection.[6] A generation ago it was usual to refer all
+European megalithic monuments to a 'Celtic' origin, but European
+ethnological problems have become too complicated of late years to
+permit such a theory to pass unchallenged, especially now that the
+term 'Celt' is itself matter for fierce controversy. In the immediate
+neighbourhood of certain of these monuments objects of the Iron Age
+are recovered from the soil, while near others the finds are of Bronze
+Age character, so that it is probably correct to surmise that their
+construction continued throughout a prolonged period.
+
+
+_What Menhirs and Dolmens are_
+
+Regarding the nomenclature of the several species of megalithic
+monuments met with in Brittany some definitions are necessary. A
+menhir is a rude monolith set up on end, a great single stone, the
+base of which is buried deep in the soil. A dolmen is a large,
+table-shaped stone, supported by three, four, or even five other
+stones, the bases of which are sunk in the earth. In Britain the term
+'cromlech' is synonymous with that of 'dolmen,' but in France and on
+the Continent generally it is exclusively applied to that class of
+monument for which British scientists have no other name than 'stone
+circles.' The derivation of the words from Celtic and their precise
+meaning in that tongue may assist the reader to arrive at their exact
+significance. Thus 'menhir' seems to be derived from the Welsh or
+Brythonic _maen_, 'a stone,' and _hir_, 'long,' and 'dolmen' from
+Breton _taol_, 'table,' and _men_, 'a stone.'[7] 'Cromlech' is also of
+Welsh or Brythonic origin, and is derived from _crom_, 'bending' or
+'bowed' (hence 'laid across'), and _llech_, 'a flat stone.' The _allee
+couverte_ is a dolmen on a large scale.
+
+
+_The Nature of the Monuments_
+
+The nature of these monuments and the purpose for which they were
+erected were questions which powerfully exercised the minds of the
+antiquaries of a century ago, who fiercely contended for their use as
+altars, open-air temples, and places of rendezvous for the discussion
+of tribal affairs. The cooler archaeologists of a later day have
+discarded the majority of such theories as untenable in the light of
+hard facts. The dolmens, they say, are highly unsuitable for the
+purpose of altars, and as it has been proved that this class of
+monument was invariably covered in prehistoric times by an earthen
+tumulus its ritualistic use is thereby rendered improbable. Moreover,
+if we chance upon any rude carving or incised work on dolmens we
+observe that it is invariably executed on the _lower_ surface of the
+table stone, the upper surface being nearly always rough, unhewn,
+often naturally rounded, and as unlike the surface of an altar as
+possible.
+
+Recent research has established the much more reasonable theory that
+these monuments are sepulchral in character, and that they mark the
+last resting-places of persons of tribal importance, chiefs, priests,
+or celebrated warriors. Occasionally legend assists us to prove the
+mortuary character of menhir and dolmen. But, without insisting any
+further for the present upon the purpose of these monuments, let us
+glance at the more widely known of Brittany's prehistoric structures,
+not so much in the manner of the archaeologist as in that of the
+observant traveller who is satisfied to view them as interesting
+relics of human handiwork bequeathed from a darker age, rather than as
+objects to satisfy the archaeological taste for discussion.
+
+For this purpose we shall select the best known groups of Breton
+prehistoric structures, and shall begin our excursion at the
+north-eastern extremity of Brittany, following the coast-line, on
+which most of the principal prehistoric centres are situated, and, as
+occasion offers, journeying into the interior in search of famous or
+interesting examples.
+
+
+_Dol_
+
+Dol is situated in the north of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine,
+not far from the sea-coast. Near it, in a field called the Champ
+Dolent ('Field of Woe'), stands a gigantic menhir, about thirty feet
+high and said to measure fifteen more underground. It is composed of
+grey granite, and is surmounted by a cross. The early Christian
+missionaries, finding it impossible to wean the people from
+frequenting pagan neighbourhoods, surmounted the standing stones
+with the symbol of their faith, and this in time brought about the
+result desired.[8]
+
+
+_The Legend of Dol_
+
+A strange legend is connected with this rude menhir. On a day in the
+dark, uncharted past of Brittany a fierce battle was fought in the
+Champ Dolent. Blood ran in streams, sufficient, says the tale, to turn
+a mill-wheel in the neighbourhood of the battlefield. When the combat
+was at its height two brothers met and grappled in fratricidal strife.
+But ere they could harm one another the great granite shaft which now
+looms above the field rose up between them and separated them.
+
+There appears to be some historical basis for the tale. Here, or in
+the neighbourhood, A.D. 560, met Clotaire, King of the Franks, and his
+son, the rebel Chramne. The rebellious son was signally defeated. He
+had placed his wife and two little daughters in a dwelling hard by,
+and as he made his way thence to convey them from the field he was
+captured. He was instantly strangled, by order of his brutal father,
+in the sight of his wife and little ones, who were then burned alive
+in the house where they had taken refuge. The Champ Dolent does not
+belie its name, and even thirteen centuries and a half have failed to
+obliterate the memory of a savage and unnatural crime, which, its
+remoteness notwithstanding, fills the soul with loathing against its
+perpetrators and with deep pity for the hapless and innocent victims.
+
+
+_A Subterranean Dolmen Chapel_
+
+At Plouaret, in the department of Cotes-du-Nord, is a curious
+subterranean chapel incorporating a dolmen. The dolmen was formerly
+partially embedded in a tumulus, and the chapel, erected in 1702, was
+so constructed that the great table-stone of the dolmen has become the
+chapel roof, and the supporting stones form two of its sides. The
+crypt is reached by a flight of steps, and here may be seen an altar
+to the Seven Sleepers, represented by seven dolls of varying size. The
+Bretons have a legend that this structure dates from the creation of
+the world, and they have embodied this belief in a ballad, in which it
+is piously affirmed that the shrine was built by the hand of the
+Almighty at the time when the world was in process of formation.
+
+
+_Camaret_
+
+Camaret, on the coast of Finistere, is the site of no less than
+forty-one standing stones of quartz, which outline a rectangular space
+600 yards in length at its base. Many stones have been removed, so
+that the remaining sides are incomplete. None of these monoliths is of
+any considerable size, however, and the site is not considered to be
+of much importance, save as regards its isolated character. At
+Penmarch, in the southern extremity of Finistere, there is an
+'alignment' of some two hundred small stones, and a dolmen of some
+importance is situated at Tregunc, but it is at Carnac, on the coast
+of Morbihan, that we arrive at the most important archaeological
+district in Brittany.
+
+
+_Carnac_
+
+The Carnac district teems with prehistoric monuments, the most
+celebrated of which are those of Plouharnel, Concarneau, Concurrus,
+Locmariaquer, Kermario, Kerlescant, Erdeven, and Sainte-Barbe. All
+these places are situated within a few miles of one another, and a
+good centre from which excursions can be made to each is the little
+town of Auray, with its quaint medieval market-house and shrine of St
+Roch. Archaeologists, both Breton and foreign, appear to be agreed that
+the groups of stones at Meneac, Kermario, and Kerlescant are portions
+of one original and continuous series of alignments which extended for
+nearly two miles in one direction from south-west to north-east. The
+monolithic avenue commences quite near the village of Meneac,
+stretching away in eleven rows, and here the large stones are
+situated, these at first rising to a height of from 10 to 13 feet, and
+becoming gradually smaller, until they attain only 3 or 4 feet. In all
+there are 116 menhirs at Meneac. For more than three hundred yards
+there is a gap in the series, which passed, we come to the Kermario
+avenue, which consists of ten rows of monoliths of much the same size
+as those of Meneac, and 1120 in number.
+
+Passing on to Kerlescant, with its thirteen rows of menhirs made up of
+570 individual stones, we come to the end of the avenue and gaze
+backward upon the plain covered with these indestructible symbols of a
+forgotten past.
+
+Carnac! There is something vast, Egyptian, in the name! There is,
+indeed, a Karnak in Egypt, celebrated for its Avenue of Sphinxes and
+its pillared temple raised to the goddess Mut by King Amenophis III.
+Here, in the Breton Carnac, are no evidences of architectural skill.
+These sombre stones, unworked, rude as they came from cliff or
+seashore, are not embellished by man's handiwork like the rich temples
+of the Nile. But there is about this stone-littered moor a mystery, an
+atmosphere no less intense than that surrounding the most solemn ruins
+of antiquity. Deeper even than the depths of Egypt must we sound if we
+are to discover the secret of Carnac. What mean these stones? What
+means faith? What signifies belief? What is the answer to the Riddle
+of Man? In the words of Cayot Delandre, a Breton poet:
+
+  Tout cela eut un sens, et traduisit
+  Une pensee; mais cle de ce mystere,
+  Ou est elle? et qui pourrait dire aujourd'hui
+  Si jamais elle se retrouvera?[9]
+
+
+_A Vision_
+
+Over this wild, heathy track, covered with the blue flowers of the
+dwarf gentian, steals a subtle change. Nor air nor heath has altered.
+The lichen-covered grey stones are the same. Suddenly there arises the
+burden of a low, fierce chant. A swarm of skin-clad figures appears,
+clustering around a gigantic object which they are painfully dragging
+toward a deep pit situated at the end of one of the enormous alleys of
+monoliths. On rudely shaped rollers rests a huge stone some twenty
+feet in length, and this they drag across the rough moor by ropes of
+hide, lightening their labours by the chant, which relates the
+exploits of the warrior-chief who has lately been entombed in this
+vast pantheon of Carnac. The menhir shall serve for his headstone. It
+has been vowed to him by the warriors of his tribe, his henchmen, who
+have fought and hunted beside him, and who revere his memory. This
+stone shall render his fame immortal.
+
+And now the task of placing the huge monolith in position begins.
+Ropes are attached to one extremity, and while a line of brawny
+savages strains to raise this, others guide that end of the monolith
+destined for enclosure in the earth toward the pit which has been dug
+for its reception. Higher and higher rises the stone, until at last it
+sinks slowly into its earthy bed. It is held in an upright position
+while the soil is packed around it and it is made secure. Then the
+barbarians stand back a space and gaze at it from beneath their low
+brows, well pleased with their handiwork. He whom they honoured in
+life rests not unrecognized in death.
+
+[Illustration: RAISING A MENHIR]
+
+
+_The Legend of Carnac_
+
+The legend of Carnac which explains these avenues of monoliths bears a
+resemblance to the Cornish story of 'the Hurlers,' who were turned
+into stone for playing at hurling on the Lord's Day, or to that other
+English example from Cumberland of 'Long Meg' and her daughters. St
+Cornely, we are told, pursued by an army of pagans, fled toward the
+sea. Finding no boat at hand, and on the point of being taken, he
+transformed his pursuers into stones, the present monoliths.
+
+The Saint had made his flight to the coast in a bullock-cart, and
+perhaps for this reason he is now regarded as the patron of cattle.
+Should a bullock fall sick, his owner purchases an image of St Cornely
+and hangs it up in the stable until the animal recovers. The church at
+Carnac contains a series of fresco paintings which outline events in
+the life of the Saint, and in the churchyard there is a representation
+of the holy man between two bullocks. The head of St Cornely is said
+to be preserved within the edifice as a relic. On the 13th of
+September is held at Carnac the festival of the 'Benediction of the
+Beasts,' which is celebrated in honour of St Cornely. The cattle of
+the district are brought to the vicinity of the church and blessed by
+the priests--should sufficient monetary encouragement be forthcoming.
+
+
+_Mont-Saint-Michel_
+
+In the neighbourhood is Mont-Saint-Michel,[10] a great tumulus with a
+sepulchral dolmen, first excavated in 1862, when late Stone Age
+implements, jade celts, and burnt bones were unearthed. Later M.
+Zacharie Le Rouzic, the well-known Breton archaeologist, tunnelled into
+the tumulus, and discovered a mortuary chamber, in which were the
+incinerated remains of two oxen. To this tumulus each pilgrim added a
+stone or small quantity of earth, as has been the custom in Celtic
+countries from time immemorial, and so the funerary mound in the
+course of countless generations grew into quite a respectable hill,
+on which a chapel was built, dedicated to St Michael, from the doorway
+of which a splendid prospect of the great stone alignments can be had,
+with, for background, the Morbihan and the long, dreary peninsula of
+Quiberon, bleak, treeless, and deserted.
+
+
+_Rocenaud_
+
+Near Carnac is the great dolmen of Rocenaud, the 'cup-and-ring'
+markings on which are thought by the surrounding peasantry to have
+been made by the knees and elbows of St Roch, who fell upon this stone
+when he landed from Ireland. When the natives desire a wind they knock
+upon the depressions with their knuckles, murmuring spells the while,
+just as in Scotland in the seventeenth century a tempest was raised by
+dipping a rag in water and beating it on a stone thrice in the name of
+Satan.
+
+
+_Cup-and-Ring Markings_
+
+What do these cup-and-ring markings so commonly discovered upon the
+monuments of Brittany portend? The question is one well worth
+examining at some length, as it appears to be almost at the
+foundations of Neolithic religion. Recent discoveries in New Caledonia
+have proved the existence in these far-off islands, as in Brittany,
+Scotland, and Ireland, of these strange symbols, coupled with the
+concentric and spiral designs which are usually associated with the
+genius of Celtic art. In the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and in the
+south-west of Scotland generally, stones inscribed with designs
+closely resembling those on the New Caledonian rocks have been found
+in abundance, as at Auchentorlie and Cockno, Shewalton Sands, and in
+the Milton of Colquhoun district, where the famous 'cup-and-ring
+altar' was discovered. At Shewalton Sands in particular, in 1904, a
+number of stones were found bearing crosses like those discovered in
+Portugal by Father Jose Brenha and Father Rodriguez. These symbols
+have a strong resemblance to certain markings on the Breton rocks, and
+are thought to possess an alphabetic or magical significance. In
+Scotland spirals are commonly found on stones marked with ogham
+inscriptions, and it is remarkable that they should occur in New
+Caledonia in connexion with a dot 'alphabet.' The New Caledonian
+crosses, however, approximate more to the later crosses of Celtic art,
+while the spirals resemble those met with in the earlier examples of
+Celtic work. But the closest parallel to the New Caledonian
+stone-markings to be found in Scotland is supplied by the examples at
+Cockno, in Dumbartonshire, where the wheel symbol is associated with
+the cup-and-ring markings.
+
+The cup-and-ring stones used to be considered the peculiar product of
+a race of 'Brythonic' or British origin, and it is likely that the
+stones so carved were utilized in the ritual of rain-worship or
+rain-making by sympathetic magic. The grooves in the stone were
+probably filled with water to typify a country partially covered with
+rain-water.[11]
+
+From these analogies, then, we can glean the purpose of the
+cup-and-ring markings upon the dolmens of Brittany, and may conclude,
+if our considerations are well founded, that they were magical in
+purpose and origin. Do the cup-shaped depressions represent water, or
+are they receptacles for rain, and do the spiral symbols typify the
+whirling winds?
+
+
+_The Gallery of Gavr'inis_
+
+Nowhere are these mysterious markings so well exemplified as in the
+wonderful tumulus of Gavr'inis. This ancient place of sepulture, the
+name of which means 'Goat Island,' lies in the Morbihan, or 'Little
+Sea,' an inland sea which gives its name to a department in the south
+of Brittany. The tumulus is 25 feet high, and covers a fine gallery 40
+feet long, the stones of which bear the markings alluded to. Whorls
+and circles abound in the ornamentation, serpent-like figures, and the
+representation of an axe, similar to those to be seen in some of the
+Grottes aux Fees, or on the Dol des Marchands. The sculptures appear
+to have been executed with metal tools. The passage ends in a square
+sepulchral chamber, the supports of which are eight menhirs of grained
+granite, a stone not found on the island. Such of the menhirs as are
+carved were obviously so treated before they were placed _in situ_, as
+the design passes round the edges.
+
+
+_The Ile aux Moines_
+
+The Ile aux Moines ('Monks' Island') is also situated in the Morbihan,
+and has many prehistoric monuments, the most extensive of which are
+the circle of stones at Kergonan and the dolmen of Penhapp. On the Ile
+d'Arz, too, are megalithic monuments, perhaps the best example of
+which is the cromlech or circle at Penraz.
+
+The folk-beliefs attached to the megalithic monuments of Brittany are
+numerous, but nearly all of them bear a strong resemblance to each
+other. Many of the monuments are called Grottes aux Fees or Roches aux
+Fees, in the belief that the fairies either built them or used them as
+dwelling-places, and variants of these names are to be found in the
+Maison des Follets ('House of the Goblins') at Cancoet, in Morbihan,
+and the Chateau des Paulpiquets, in Questembert, in the same district.
+Ty en Corygannt ('The House of the Korrigans') is situated in the same
+department, while near Penmarch, in Finistere, at the other end of the
+province, we find Ty C'harriquet ('The House of the Gorics' or
+'Nains'). Other mythical personages are also credited with their
+erection, most frequently either the devil or Gargantua being held
+responsible for their miraculous creation. The phenomenon, well known
+to students of folk-lore, that an unlettered people speedily forgets
+the origin of monuments that its predecessors may have raised in times
+past is well exemplified in Brittany, whose peasant-folk are usually
+surprised, if not amused, at the question "Who built the dolmens?"
+Close familiarity with and contiguity to uncommon objects not
+infrequently dulls the sense of wonder they should otherwise naturally
+excite. But lest we feel tempted to sneer at these poor folk for their
+incurious attitude toward the visible antiquities of their land, let
+us ask ourselves how many of us take that interest in the antiquities
+of our own country or our own especial locality that they demand.[12]
+
+
+_Fairy Builders_
+
+For the most part, then, the megaliths, in the opinion of the Breton
+peasant, are not the handiwork of man. He would rather refer their
+origin to spirits, giants, or fiends. If he makes any exception to
+this supernatural attribution, it is in favour of the saints he
+reverences so profoundly. The fairies, he says, harnessed their oxen
+to the mighty stones, selected a site, and dragged them thither to
+form a dwelling, or perhaps a cradle for the infant fays they were so
+fond of exchanging for human children. Thus the Roches aux Fees near
+Saint-Didier, in Ille-et-Vilaine, were raised by fairy hands, the
+elves collecting "all the big stones in the country" and carrying them
+thither in their aprons. These architectural sprites then mounted on
+each other's shoulders in order that they might reach high enough to
+place the mighty monoliths securely in position. This practice they
+also followed in building the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, on the
+road from Dinan to Dol, say the people of that country-side.
+
+But the actual purpose of the megaliths has not been neglected by
+tradition, for a venerable farmer at Rouvray stated that the fairies
+were wont to honour after their death those who had made good use of
+their lives and built the dolmens to contain their ashes. The presence
+of such a shrine in a country-side was a guarantee of abundance and
+prosperity therein, as a subtle and indefinable charm spread from the
+saintly remnants and communicated itself to everything in the
+neighbourhood.[13] The fairy builders, says tradition, went about
+their work in no haphazard manner. Those among them who possessed a
+talent for design drew the plans of the proposed structure, the less
+gifted acting as carriers, labourers, and masons. Apron-carrying was
+not their only method of porterage, for some bore the stones on their
+heads, or one under each arm, as when they raised the Roche aux Fees
+in Retiers, or the dolmen in La Lande Marie.[14] The space of a night
+was usually sufficient in which to raise a dolmen. But though 'run up'
+with more than Transatlantic dispatch, in view of the time these
+structures have endured for, any charge of jerry-building against
+their elfin architects must fall to the ground. Daylight, too,
+frequently surprised the fairy builders, so that they could not finish
+their task, as many a 'roofless' dolmen shows.
+
+There are many Celtic parallels to this belief. For example, it is
+said that the Picts, or perhaps the fairies, built the original church
+of Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, and stood in a row handing the stones
+on, one to another, from Ravelston Quarry, on the adjacent hill of
+Corstorphine. Such is the local folk-tale; and it has its congeners in
+Celtic and even in Hindu myth. Thus in the Highland tale of Kennedy
+and the _claistig_, or fairy, whom he captured, and whom he compelled
+to build him a house in one night, we read that she set her people to
+work speedily:
+
+  And they brought flags and stones
+  From the shores of Cliamig waterfall,
+  Reaching them from hand to hand.[15]
+
+Again, the Round Tower of Ardmore, in Ireland, was built with stones
+brought from Slieve Grian, a mountain some four or five miles distant,
+"without horse or wheel," the blocks being passed from hand to hand
+from the quarry to the site of the building. The same tradition
+applied to the Round Tower of Abernethy, in Perthshire, only it is in
+this case demonstrated that the stone of which the tower is composed
+was actually taken from the traditional quarry, even the very spot
+being geologically identified.[16] In like manner, too, was Rama's
+bridge built by the monkey host in Hindu myth, as recounted in the
+_Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata_ and the _R[=a]m[=a]yana_.
+
+Tales, as apart from beliefs, are not often encountered in connexion
+with the monuments. Indeed, Sebillot, in the course of his researches,
+found only some dozen of these all told.[17] They are very brief,
+and appear for the most part to deal with fairies who have been shut
+up by the power of magic in a dolmen. Tales of spirits enclosed in
+trees, and even in pillars, are not uncommon, and lately I have
+heard a peculiarly fearsome ghost story which comes from Belgium, in
+which it is related how certain spirits had become enclosed in a
+pillar in an ancient abbey, for the saintly occupants of which they
+made it particularly uncomfortable. Mr George Henderson, in one of
+the most masterly and suggestive studies of Celtic survivals ever
+published, states that stones in the Highlands of Scotland were
+formerly believed to have souls, and that those too large to be moved
+"were held to be in intimate connexion with spirits." Pillared
+stones are not employed in building dwellings in the Highlands,
+ill luck, it is believed, being sure to follow their use in this
+manner, while to 'meddle' with stones which tradition connects with
+Druidism is to court fatality.[18]
+
+
+_Stones that Travel_
+
+M. Salomon Reinach tells us of the Breton belief that certain sacred
+stones go once a year or once a century to 'wash' themselves in the
+sea or in a river, returning to their ancient seats after their
+ablutions.[19] The stones in the dolmen of Esse are thought to change
+their places continually, like those of Callernish and Lewis, and,
+like the Roman Penates, to have the gift of coming and going if
+removed from their habitual site.
+
+The megalithic monuments of Brittany are undoubtedly the most
+remarkable relics of that epoch of prehistoric activity which is now
+regarded as the immediate forerunner of civilization. Can it be that
+they were miraculously preserved by isolation from the remote
+beginnings of that epoch, or is it more probable that they were
+constructed at a relatively late period? These are questions of
+profound difficulty, and it is likely that both theories contain a
+certain amount of truth. Whatever may have been the origin of her
+megaliths, Brittany must ever be regarded as a great prehistoric
+museum, a unique link with a past of hoary antiquity.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+   [6] That it was Neolithic seems undoubted, and in all probability
+       Alpine--_i.e._ the same race as presently inhabits Brittany.
+       See Dottin, _Anciens Peuples de l'Europe_ (Paris, 1916).
+
+   [7] But _tolmen_ in Cornish meant 'pole of stone.'
+
+   [8] Ostensibly, at least; but see the remarks upon modern pagan
+       survivals in Chapter IX, p. 246.
+
+   [9] Which might be rendered:
+
+         All here is symbol; these grey stones translate
+         A thought ineffable, but where the key?
+         Say, shall it be recovered soon or late,
+         To ope the temple of this mystery?
+
+  [10] Not to be confused, of course, with the well-known island mount
+       of the same name.
+
+  [11] A Scottish sixteenth-century magical verse was chanted over such
+       a stone:
+
+         "I knock this rag wpone this stone,
+         And ask the divell for rain thereon."
+
+  [12] The writer's experience is that unlettered British folk often
+       possess much better information concerning the antiquities of a
+       district than its 'educated' inhabitants. If this information
+       is not scientific it is full and displays deep personal
+       interest.
+
+  [13] _Collectionneur breton_, t. iii, p.55.
+
+  [14] See _Comptes rendus de la Societe des Antiquaries de France_, pp.
+       95 ff. (1836).
+
+  [15] J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_.
+
+  [16] Small, _Antiquities of Fife_.
+
+  [17] _Traditions de la Haute-Bretagne_, t. i, p. 26.
+
+  [18] Henderson, _Survivals in Belief among the Celts_ (1911).
+
+  [19] _Cultes, Mythes, et Religiones_, t. iii, pp. 365-433.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III: THE FAIRIES OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Whatever the origin of the race which conceived the demonology
+of Brittany--and there are indications that it was not wholly
+Celtic--that weird province of Faery bears unmistakable evidence
+of having been deeply impressed by the Celtic imagination, if it
+was not totally peopled by it, for its various inhabitants act in
+the Celtic spirit, are moved by Celtic springs of thought and
+fancy, and possess not a little of that irritability which has
+forced anthropologists to include the Celtic race among those
+peoples described as 'sanguine-bilious.' As a rule they are by
+no means friendly or even humane, these fays of Brittany, and if
+we find beneficent elves within the green forests of the duchy we
+may feel certain that they are French immigrants, and therefore
+more polished than the choleric native sprites.
+
+
+_Broceliande_
+
+Of all the many localities celebrated in the fairy lore of Brittany
+none is so famous as Broceliande. Broceliande! "The sound is like a
+bell," a far, faery chime in a twilit forest. In the name Broceliande
+there seems to be gathered all the tender charm, the rich and haunting
+mystery, the remote magic of Brittany and Breton lore. It is, indeed,
+the title to the rarest book in the library of poetic and traditional
+romance.
+
+"I went to seek out marvels," said old Wace. "The forest I saw, the
+land I saw. I sought marvels, but I found none. A fool I came back, a
+fool I went; a fool I went, a fool I came back; foolishness I sought;
+a fool I hold myself."[20]
+
+Our age, even less sceptical than his, sees no folly in questing for
+the beautiful, and if we expect no marvels, nor any sleight of faery,
+however desirous we are, we do not hold it time lost to plunge into
+the enchanted forest and in its magic half-gloom grope for, and
+perchance grasp, dryad draperies, or be trapped in the filmy webs of
+fancy which are spun in these shadows for unwary mortals.
+
+Standing in dream-girt Broceliande of a hundred legends, its shadows
+mirrored by dim meres that may never reflect the stars, one feels the
+lure of Brittany more keenly even than when walking by its fierce and
+jagged coasts menaced by savage grey seas, or when wandering on its
+vast moors where the monuments of its pagan past stand in gigantic
+disarray. For in the forest is the heart of Arthurian story, the
+shrine of that wonder which has drawn thousands to this land of
+legend, who, like old Wace, trusted to have found, if not elfin
+marvels, at least matter of phantasy conjured up by the legendary
+associations of Broceliande.
+
+But we must beware of each step in these twilit recesses, for the fays
+of Brittany are not as those of other lands. Harsh things are spoken
+of them. They are malignant, say the forest folk. The note of Brittany
+is scarce a joyous one. It is bitter-sweet as a sad chord struck on an
+ancient harp.
+
+The fays of Brittany are not the friends of man. They are not 'the
+good people,' 'the wee folk'; they have no endearing names, the gift
+of a grateful peasantry. Cold and hostile, they hold aloof from human
+converse, and, should they encounter man, vent their displeasure at
+the interruption in the most vindictive manner.
+
+Whether the fairies of Brittany be the late representatives of the
+gods of an elder day or merely animistic spirits who have haunted
+these glades since man first sheltered in them, certain it is that in
+no other region in Europe has Mother Church laid such a heavy ban upon
+all the things of faery as in this strange and isolated peninsula. A
+more tolerant ecclesiastical rule might have weaned them to a timid
+friendship, but all overtures have been discouraged, and to-day they
+are enemies, active, malignant, swift to inflict evil upon the pious
+peasant because he is pious and on the energetic because of his
+industry.
+
+
+_The Korrigan_
+
+Among those forest-beings of whom legend speaks such malice none is
+more relentless than the Korrigan, who has power to enmesh the heart
+of the most constant swain and doom him to perish miserably for love
+of her. Beware of the fountains and of the wells of this forest of
+Broceliande, for there she is most commonly to be encountered, and you
+may know her by her bright hair--"like golden wire," as Spenser says
+of his lady's--her red, flashing eyes, and her laughing lips. But if
+you would dare her wiles you must come alone to her fountain by night,
+for she shuns even the half-gloom that is day in shadowy Broceliande.
+The peasants when they speak of her will assure you that she and her
+kind are pagan princesses of Brittany who would have none of
+Christianity when the holy Apostles brought it to Armorica, and who
+must dwell here under a ban, outcast and abhorred.
+
+
+_The Seigneur of Nann_[21]
+
+The Seigneur of Nann was high of heart, for that day his bride of a
+year had presented him with two beautiful children, a boy and a girl,
+both white as May-blossom. In his joy the happy father asked his wife
+her heart's desire, and she, pining for that which idle fancy urged
+upon her, begged him to bring her a dish of woodcock from the lake in
+the dale, or of venison from the greenwood. The Seigneur of Nann
+seized his lance and, vaulting on his jet-black steed, sought the
+borders of the forest, where he halted to survey the ground for track
+of roe or slot of the red deer. Of a sudden a white doe rose in front
+of him, and was lost in the forest like a silver shadow.
+
+At sight of this fair quarry the Seigneur followed into the greenwood.
+Ever his prey rustled among the leaves ahead, and in the hot chase he
+recked not of the forest depths into which he had plunged. But coming
+upon a narrow glade where the interlacing leaves above let in the sun
+to dapple the moss-ways below, he saw a strange lady sitting by the
+broken border of a well, braiding her fair hair and binding it with
+golden pins.
+
+The Seigneur louted low, begged that he might drink, and bending down
+set his lips to the water; but she, turning strange eyes upon
+him--eyes not blue like those of his bride, nor grey, nor brown, nor
+black, like those of other women, but red in their depths as the
+heart's blood of a dove--spoke to him discourteously.
+
+"Who are you who dare to trouble the waters of my fountain?" she
+asked. "Do you not know that your conduct merits death? This well is
+enchanted, and by drinking of it you are fated to die, unless you
+fulfil a certain condition."
+
+"And what is that?" asked the Seigneur.
+
+"You must marry me within the hour," replied the lady.
+
+"Demoiselle," replied the Seigneur, "it may not be as you desire, for
+I am already espoused to a fair bride who has borne me this very day a
+son and a daughter. Nor shall I die until it pleases the good God.
+Nevertheless, I wot well who you are. Rather would I die on the
+instant than wed with a Korrigan."
+
+Leaping upon his horse, he turned and rode from the woodland as a man
+possessed. As he drew homeward he was overshadowed by a sense of
+coming ill. At the gate of his chateau stood his mother, anxious to
+greet him with good news of his bride. But with averted eyes he
+addresses her in the refrain so familiar to the folk-poetry of all
+lands:
+
+  "My good mother, if you love me, make my bed. I am sick unto
+  death. Say not a word to my bride. For within three days I shall
+  be laid in the grave. A Korrigan has done me evil."
+
+Three days later the young spouse asks of her mother-in-law:
+
+"Tell me, mother, why do the bells sound? Wherefore do the priests
+chant so low?"
+
+"'Tis nothing, daughter," replies the elder woman. "A poor stranger
+who lodged here died this night."
+
+"Ah, where is gone the Seigneur of Nann? Mother, oh, where is he?"
+
+[Illustration: THE SEIGNEUR OF NANN AND THE KORRIGAN]
+
+"He has gone to the town, my child. In a little he will come to see
+you."
+
+"Ah, mother, let us speak of happy things. Must I wear my red or my
+blue robe at my churching?"
+
+"Neither, daughter. The mode is changed. You must wear black."
+
+Unconscious in its art, the stream of verse carries us to the church,
+whence the young wife has gone to offer up thanks for the gift of
+children. She sees that the ancestral tomb has been opened, and a
+great dread is at her heart. She asks her mother-in-law who has died,
+and the old woman at last confesses that the Seigneur of Nann has just
+been buried.
+
+That same night the young mother was interred beside her husband-lover.
+And the peasant folk say that from that tomb arose two saplings, the
+branches of which intertwined more closely as they grew.
+
+
+_A Goddess of Eld_
+
+In the depths of Lake Tegid in our own Wales dwelt Keridwen, a
+fertility goddess who possessed a magic cauldron--the sure symbol of a
+deity of abundance.[22] Like Demeter, she was strangely associated
+with the harmless necessary sow, badge of many earth-mothers, and
+itself typical of fertility. Like Keridwen, the Korrigan is associated
+with water, with the element which makes for vegetable growth.
+Christian belief would, of course, transform this discredited goddess
+into an evil being whose one function was the destruction of souls.
+May we see a relation of the Korrigan and Keridwen in Tridwan, or St
+Triduana, of Restalrig, near Edinburgh, who presided over a certain
+well there, and at whose well-shrine offerings were made by sightless
+pilgrims for many centuries?
+
+Many are the traditions which tell of human infants abducted by the
+Korrigan, who at times left an ugly changeling in place of the babe
+she had stolen. But it was more as an enchantress that she was
+dreaded. By a stroke of her magic wand she could transform the leafy
+fastnesses in which she dwelt into the semblance of a lordly hall,
+which the luckless traveller whom she lured thither would regard as a
+paradise after the dark thickets in which he had been wandering. This
+seeming castle or palace she furnished with everything that could
+delight the eye, and as the doomed wretch sat ravished by her beauty
+and that of her nine attendant maidens a fatal passion for her entered
+his heart, so that whatever he cherished most on earth--honour, wife,
+demoiselle, or affianced bride--became as naught to him, and he cast
+himself at the feet of this forest Circe in a frenzy of ardour. But
+with the first ray of daylight the charm was dissolved and the
+Korrigan became a hideous hag, as repulsive as before she had been
+lovely; the walls of her palace and the magnificence which had
+furnished it became once more tree and thicket, its carpets moss, its
+tapestries leaves, its silver cups wild roses, and its dazzling
+mirrors pools of stagnant water.
+
+
+_The Unbroken Vow_[23]
+
+Sir Roland of Brittany rides through gloomy Broceliande a league ahead
+of his troop, unattended by squire or by page. The red cross upon his
+shoulder is witness that he is vowed to service in Palestine, and as
+he passes through the leafy avenues on his way to the rendezvous he
+fears that he will be late, most tardy of all the knights of Brittany
+who have sworn to drive the paynim from the Holy Land. Fearful of such
+disgrace, he spurs his jaded charger on through the haunted forest,
+and with anxious eye watches the sun sink and the gay white moon sail
+high above the tree-tops, pouring light through their branches upon
+the mossy ways below.
+
+A high vow has Roland taken ere setting out upon the crusade--a vow
+that he will eschew the company of fair ladies, in which none had
+delighted more than he. No more must he mingle in the dance, no more
+must he press a maiden's lips with his. He has become a soldier of the
+Cross. He may not touch a lady's hand save with his mailed glove, he
+must not sit by her side. Also must he fast from dusk till dawn upon
+that night of his setting forth. "Small risk," he laughs a little
+sadly, as he spurs his charger onward, "small risk that I be mansworn
+ere morning light."
+
+But the setting of the moon tells him that he must rest in the forest
+until dawn, as without her beams he can no longer pursue his way. So
+he dismounts from his steed, tethers it to a tree, and looks about for
+a bed of moss on which to repose. As he does so his wandering gaze
+fixes upon a beam of light piercing the gloom of the forest. Well
+aware of the traditions of his country, he thinks at first that it is
+only the glimmer of a will-o'-the-wisp or a light carried by a
+wandering elf. But no, on moving nearer the gleam he is surprised to
+behold a row of windows brilliantly lit as if for a festival.
+
+"Now, by my vow," says Roland, "methought I knew well every chateau in
+this land of Brittany, nor wist I that seigneur or count held court
+in this forest of Broceliande."
+
+Resolved to view the chateau at still closer quarters, he draws near
+it. A great court fronts him where neither groom nor porter keeps
+guard, and within he can see a fair hall. This he enters, and
+immediately his ears are ravished by music which wanders through the
+chamber like a sighing zephyr. The murmur of rich viols and the call
+of flutes soft as distant bird-song speak to his very soul. Yet
+through the ecstasy comes, like a serpent gliding among flowers, the
+discord of evil thoughts. Grasping his rosary, he is about to retire
+when the doors at the end of the hall fly open, and he beholds a
+rapturous vision. Upon a couch of velvet sits a lady of such dazzling
+beauty that all other women compared with her would seem as
+kitchen-wenches. A mantle of rich golden hair falls about her, her
+eyes shine with the brightness of stars, her smile seems heavenly.
+Round her are grouped nine maidens only less beautiful than herself.
+
+As the moon moving among attendant stars, so the lady comes toward
+Roland, accompanied by her maidens. She welcomes him, and would
+remove his gauntlet, but he tells her of the vow he has made to wear
+it in lady's bower, and she is silent. Next she asks him to seat
+himself beside her on the couch, but he will not. In some confusion
+she orders a repast to be brought. A table is spread with fragrant
+viands, but as the knight will partake of none of them, in chagrin the
+lady takes a lute, which she touches with exquisite skill. He listens
+unmoved, till, casting away her instrument, she dances to him,
+circling round and round about him, flitting about his chair like a
+butterfly, until at length she sinks down near him and lays her head
+upon his mailed bosom. Upward she turns her face to him, all
+passion-flushed, her eyes brimming with love. Sir Roland falters.
+Fascinated by her unearthly beauty, he is about to stoop down to
+press his lips to hers. But as he bends his head she shrinks from
+him, for she sees the tender flush of morning above the eastern
+tree-tops. The living stars faint and fail, and the music of awakening
+life which accompanies the rising of the young sun falls upon the
+ear. Slowly the chateau undergoes transformation. The glittering roof
+merges into the blue vault of heaven, the tapestried walls become
+the ivied screens of great forest trees, the princely furnishings
+are transformed into mossy banks and mounds, and the rugs and carpets
+beneath Roland's mailed feet are now merged in the forest ways.
+
+But the lady? Sir Roland, glancing down, beholds a hag hideous as sin,
+whose malicious and distorted countenance betrays baffled hate and
+rage. At the sound of a bugle she hurries away with a discordant
+shriek. Into the glade ride Roland's men, to see their lord clasping
+his rosary and kneeling in thanksgiving for his deliverance from the
+evils which beset him. He had been saved from breaking his vow!
+
+The nine attendant maidens of the Korrigan bring to mind a passage in
+Pomponius Mela[24]: "Sena [the Ile de Sein, not far from Brest], in
+the British Sea, opposite the Ofismician coast, is remarkable for an
+oracle of the Gallic god. Its priestesses, holy in perpetual
+virginity, are said to be nine in number. They are called Gallicenae,
+and are thought to be endowed with singular powers. By their charms
+they are able to raise the winds and seas, to turn themselves into
+what animals they will, to cure wounds and diseases incurable by
+others, to know and predict the future. But this they do only for
+navigators, who go thither purposely to consult them."
+
+Like the sylphs and salamanders so humorously described by the Abbe de
+Villars in _Le Comte de Gabalis_,[25] the Korrigans desired union with
+humanity in order that they might thus gain immortality. Such, at
+least, is the current peasant belief in Brittany. "For this end they
+violate all the laws of modesty." This belief is common to all lands,
+and is typical of the fay, the Lorelei, countless well and water
+sprites, and that enchantress who rode off with Thomas the Rhymer:
+
+  For if you dare to kiss my lips
+  Sure of your bodie I shall be.
+
+Unlike the colder Sir Roland, 'True Thomas' dared, and was wafted to a
+realm wondrously described by the old balladeer in the vivid phrase
+that marks the poetry of vision.
+
+
+_Merlin and Vivien_
+
+It was in this same verdant Broceliande that Vivien, another fairy,
+that crafty dame of the enchanted lake, the instructress of Lancelot,
+bound wise Merlin so that he might no more go to Camelot with oracular
+lips to counsel British Arthur.
+
+But what say the folk of Broceliande themselves of this? Let us hear
+their version of a tale which has been so battered by modern
+criticism, and which has been related in at least half a score of
+versions, prose and poetic. Let us have the Broceliande account of
+what happened in Broceliande.[26] Surely its folk, in the very forest
+in which he wandered with Vivien, must know more of Merlin's
+enchantment than we of that greater Britain which he left to find a
+paradise in Britain the Less, for, according to Breton story, Merlin
+was not imprisoned by magic art, but achieved bliss through his love
+for the fairy forest nymph.
+
+Disguised as a young student, Merlin was wandering one bright May
+morning through the leafy glades of Broceliande, when, like the
+Seigneur of Nann, he came to a beautiful fountain in the heart of the
+forest which tempted him to rest. As he sat there in reverie, Vivien,
+daughter of the lord of the manor of Broceliande, came to the water's
+edge. Her father had gained the affection of a fay of the valley, who
+had promised on behalf of their daughter that she should be loved by
+the wisest man in the world, who should grant all her wishes, but
+would never be able to compel her to consent to his.
+
+Vivien reclined upon the other side of the fountain, and the eyes of
+the sage and maiden met. At length Merlin rose to depart, and gave the
+damsel courteous good-day. But she, curious and not content with a
+mere salutation, wished him all happiness and honour. Her voice was
+beautiful, her eyes expressive, and Merlin, moved beyond anything in
+his experience, asked her name. She told him she was a daughter of a
+gentleman of that country, and in turn asked him who he might be.
+
+"A scholar returning to his master," was the reply.
+
+"Your master? And what may he teach you, young sir?"
+
+"He instructs me in the magic art, fair dame," replied Merlin, amused.
+"By aid of his teaching I can raise a castle ere a man could count a
+score, and garrison it with warriors of might. I can make a river flow
+past the spot on which you recline, I can raise spirits from the great
+deeps of ether in which this world rolls, and can peer far into the
+future--aye, to the extreme of human days."
+
+"Would that I shared your wisdom!" cried Vivien, her voice thrilling
+with the desire of hidden things which she had inherited from her
+fairy mother. "Teach me these secrets, I entreat of you, noble
+scholar, and accept in return for your instruction my most tender
+friendship."
+
+Merlin, willing to please her, arose, and traced certain mystical
+characters upon the greensward. Straightway the glade in which they
+sat was filled with knights, ladies, maidens, and esquires, who danced
+and disported themselves right joyously. A stately castle rose on the
+verge of the forest, and in the garden the spirits whom Merlin the
+enchanter had raised up in the semblance of knights and ladies held
+carnival. Vivien, delighted, asked of Merlin in what manner he had
+achieved this feat of faery, and he told her that he would in time
+instruct her as to the manner of accomplishing it. He then dismissed
+the spirit attendants and dissipated the castle into thin air, but
+retained the garden at the request of Vivien, naming it 'Joyous
+Garden.'
+
+Then he made a tryst with Vivien to meet her in a year on the Vigil of
+St John.
+
+[Illustration: MERLIN AND VIVIEN]
+
+Now Merlin had to be present at the espousal of Arthur, his King,
+with Guinevere, at which he was to assist the archbishop, Dubric, as
+priest. The festivities over, he recalled his promise to Vivien, and
+on the appointed day he once more assumed the guise of a travelling
+scholar and set out to meet the maiden in the forest of Broceliande.
+She awaited him patiently in Joyous Garden, where they partook of a
+dainty repast. But the viands and the wines were wasted upon Merlin,
+for Vivien was beside him and she alone filled his thoughts. She was
+fair of colour, and fresh with the freshness of all in the forest, and
+her hazel eyes made such fire within his soul that he conceived a
+madness of love for her that all his wisdom, deep as it was, could not
+control.
+
+But Vivien was calm as a lake circled by trees, where no breath of the
+passion of tempest can come. Again and again she urged him to impart
+to her the secrets she so greatly longed to be acquainted with. And
+chiefly did she desire to know three things; these at all hazards must
+she have power over. How, she asked, could water be made to flow in a
+dry place? In what manner could any form be assumed at will? And,
+lastly, how could one be made to fall asleep at the pleasure of
+another?
+
+"Wherefore ask you this last question, demoiselle?" said Merlin,
+suspicious even in his great passion for her.
+
+"So that I may cast the spell of sleep over my father and my mother
+when I come to you, Merlin," she replied, with a beguiling glance,
+"for did they know that I loved you they would slay me."
+
+Merlin hesitated, and so was lost. He imparted to her that hidden
+knowledge which she desired. Then they dwelt together for eight days
+in the Joyous Garden, during which time the sage, to Vivien's delight
+and amaze, related to her the marvellous circumstances of his birth.
+
+Next day Merlin departed, but came again to Broceliande when the
+eglantine was flowering at the edge of the forest. Again he wore the
+scholar's garments. His aspect was youthful, his fair hair hung in
+ringlets on his shoulders, and he appeared so handsome that a tender
+flower of love sprang up in Vivien's heart, and she felt that she must
+keep him ever near her. But she knew full well that he whom she loved
+was in reality well stricken in years, and she was sorrowful. But she
+did not despair.
+
+"Beloved," she whispered, "will you grant me but one other boon? There
+is one secret more that I desire to learn."
+
+Now Merlin knew well ere she spoke what was in her mind, and he sighed
+and shook his head.
+
+"Wherefore do you sigh?" she asked innocently.
+
+"I sigh because my fate is strong upon me," replied the sage. "For it
+was foreseen in the long ago that a lady should lead me captive and
+that I should become her prisoner for all time. Neither have I the
+power to deny you what you ask of me."
+
+Vivien embraced him rapturously.
+
+"Ah, Merlin, beloved, is it not that you should always be with me?"
+she asked passionately. "For your sake have I not given up father and
+mother, and are not all my thoughts and desires toward you?"
+
+Merlin, carried away by her amorous eloquence, could only answer: "It
+is yours to ask what you will."
+
+Vivien then revealed to him her wish. She longed to learn from his
+lips an enchantment which would keep him ever near her, which would so
+bind him to her in the chains of love that nothing in the world could
+part him from her. Hearkening to her plea, he taught her such
+enchantment as would render him love's prisoner for ever.
+
+Evening was shrouding the forest in soft shadows when Merlin sank to
+rest. Vivien, waiting until his deep and regular breathing told her
+that he was asleep, walked nine times around him, waving her cloak
+over his head, and muttering the mysterious words he had taught her.
+When the sage awoke he found himself in the Joyous Garden with Vivien
+by his side.
+
+"You are mine for ever," she murmured. "You can never leave me now."
+
+"My delight will be ever to stay with you," he replied, enraptured.
+"And oh, beloved, never leave me, I pray you, for I am bespelled so as
+to love you throughout eternity!"
+
+"Never shall I leave you," she replied; and in such manner the wise
+Merlin withdrew from the world of men to remain ever in the Joyous
+Garden with Vivien. Love had triumphed over wisdom.
+
+The Arthurian version of the story does not, of course, represent
+Vivien as does the old Breton legend. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's book
+and in the _Morte d'Arthur_ she is drawn as the scheming enchantress
+who wishes to lure Merlin to his ruin for the joy of being able to
+boast of her conquest. In some romances she is alluded to as Nimue,
+and in others is described as the daughter of Dyonas, who perhaps is
+the same as Dylan, a Brythonic (British) sea-god. As the Lady of the
+Lake she is the foster-mother of Lancelot, and we should have no
+difficulty in classing her as a water deity or spirit very much like
+the Korrigan.
+
+
+_Merlin_
+
+But Merlin is a very different character, and it is probable that the
+story of his love for Vivien was composed at a comparatively late date
+for the purpose of rounding off his fate in Arthurian legend. A recent
+hypothesis concerning him is to the effect that "if he belongs to the
+pagan period [of Celtic lore] at all, he was probably an ideal
+magician or god of magicians."[27] Canon MacCulloch smiles at the late
+Sir John Rhys's belief that Merlin was "a Celtic Zeus," but his later
+suggestion seems equally debatable. We must remember that we draw our
+conception of Merlin as Arthurian archimagus chiefly from late
+Norman-French sources and Celtic tradition. Ancient Brythonic
+traditions concerning beings of much the same type as Merlin appear to
+have existed, however, and the character of Lailoken in the life of St
+Kentigern recalls his life-story. So far research on the subject seems
+to show that the legend of Merlin is a thing of complex growth,
+composed of traditions of independent and widely differing origin,
+most of which were told about Celtic bards and soothsayers. Merlin is,
+in fact, the typical Druid or wise man of Celtic tradition, and there
+is not the slightest reason for believing that he was ever paid divine
+honours. As a soothsayer of legend, he would assuredly belong to the
+pagan period, however much he is indebted to Geoffrey of Monmouth for
+his late popularity in pure romance.
+
+
+_The Fountain of Baranton_
+
+In the country of Broceliande lies the magic fountain of Baranton,
+sequestered among hills and surrounded by deep woods. Says a
+thirteenth-century writer of this fountain:
+
+"Oh, amazing wonder of the Fountain of Brecelien! If a drop be taken
+and poured on a certain rock beside the spring, immediately the water
+changes into vapour, forms itself into great clouds filled with hail;
+the air becomes thick with shadows, and resonant with the muttering of
+thunder. Those who have come through curiosity to behold the prodigy
+wish that they had never done so, so filled are their hearts with
+terror, and so does fear paralyse their limbs. Incredible as the
+marvel may seem, yet the proofs of its reality are too abundant to be
+doubted."
+
+Huon de Mery was more fortunate than Wace. He sprinkled the magic
+stone which lay behind the fountain with water from the golden basin
+that hung from the oak that shaded it, and beheld many marvels. And so
+may he who has the seeing eye to-day.
+
+
+BROCELIANDE
+
+  Ah, how remote, forlorn
+  Sounded the sad, sweet horn
+  In forest gloom enchanted!
+  I saw the shadows of kings go riding by,
+  But cerements mingled and paled with their panoply,
+  And the moss-ways deadened the steps of steeds that never panted.
+
+  Ah, what had phantasy
+  In that sad sound to say,
+  Sad as a spirit's wailing?
+  A call from over the seas of shadowland,
+  A call the soul of the soul might understand,
+  But never, ah, never the mind, the steeps of soul assailing.
+
+
+_Bruno of La Montagne_
+
+The old fragmentary romance of Bruno of La Montagne is eloquent of the
+faery spirit which informs all Breton lore. Butor, Baron of La
+Montagne, had married a young lady when he was himself of mature
+years, and had a son, whom he resolved to take to a fountain where the
+fairies came to repose themselves. The Baron, describing this magic
+well to the child's mother, says (we roughly translate):
+
+  "Some believe 'tis in Champagne,
+  And others by the Rock Grifaigne;
+  Perchance it is in Alemaigne,
+  Or Bersillant de la Montagne;
+  Some even think that 'tis in Spain,
+  Or where sleeps Artus of Bretaigne."
+
+The Seigneur gave his infant son into the keeping of Bruyant, a trusty
+friend of his, and they set out for the fairy fountain with a troop of
+vassals. They left the infant in the forest of Broceliande. Here the
+fairies soon found him.
+
+"Ha, sisters," said one whose skin was as white as the robe of
+gossamer she wore, and whose golden crown betokened her the queen of
+the others, "come hither and see a new-born infant. How, I wonder,
+does he come to be here? I am sure I did not behold him in this spot
+yesterday. Well, at all events, he must be baptized and suitably
+endowed, as is our custom when we discover a mortal child. Now what
+will you give him?"
+
+"I will give him," said one, "beauty and grace."
+
+"I endow him," said a second, "with generosity."
+
+[Illustration: THE FAIRIES OF BROCELIANDE FIND THE LITTLE BRUNO]
+
+"And I," said a third, "with such valour that he will overthrow all
+his enemies at tourney and on the battlefield."
+
+The Queen listened to these promises. "Surely you have little sense,"
+she said. "For my part, I wish that in his youth he may love one who
+will be utterly insensible to him, and although he will be as you
+desire, noble, generous, beautiful, and valorous, he will yet, for his
+good, suffer keenly from the anguish of love."
+
+"O Queen," said one of the fairies, "what a cruel fate you have
+ordained for this unfortunate child! But I myself shall watch over him
+and nurse him until he comes to such an age as he may love, when I
+myself will try to engage his affections."
+
+"For all that," said the Queen, "I will not alter my design. You shall
+not nurse this infant."
+
+The fairies then disappeared. Shortly afterward Bruyant returned, and
+carried the child back to the castle of La Montagne, where presently a
+fairy presented herself as nurse.
+
+Unfortunately the manuscript from which this tale is taken breaks off
+at this point, and we do not know how the Fairy Queen succeeded with
+her plans for the amorous education of the little Bruno. But the
+fragment, although tantalizing in the extreme, gives us some insight
+into the nature of the fairies who inhabit the green fastnesses of
+Broceliande.
+
+
+_Fairies in Folk-lore_
+
+Nearly all fairy-folk have in time grown to mortal height. Whether
+fairies be the decayed poor relations of more successful deities, gods
+whose cult has been forgotten and neglected (as the Irish _Sidhe_, or
+fairy-folk), or diminutive animistic spirits, originating in the
+belief that every object, small or great, possessed a personality, it
+is noticeable that Celtic fairies are of human height, while those of
+the Teutonic peoples are usually dwarfish. Titania may come originally
+from the loins of Titans or she may be Diana come down in the world,
+and Oberon may hail from a very different and more dwarfish source,
+but in Shakespeare's England they have grown sufficiently to permit
+them to tread the boards of the Globe Theatre with normal humans.
+Scores of fairies mate with mortal men, and men, as a rule, do not
+care for dwarf-wives. Among Celts, at least, the fay, whatever her
+original stature, in later times had certainly achieved the height of
+mortal womanhood.
+
+In Upper Brittany, where French is the language in general use, the
+usual French ideas concerning fairies prevail. They are called _fees_
+or _fetes_ (Latin _fata_), and sometimes _fions_, which reminds us of
+the _fions_ of Scottish and Irish folk-lore.[28] There are old people
+still alive who claim to have seen the fairies, and who describe them
+variously, but the general belief seems to be that they disappeared
+from the land several generations ago. One old man described them as
+having teeth as long as one's hand, and as wearing garments of
+sea-weed or leaves. They were human in aspect, said another ancient
+whom Sebillot questioned; their clothes were seamless, and it was
+impossible to say by merely looking at them whether they were male or
+female. Their garments were of the most brilliant colours imaginable,
+but if one approached them too closely these gaudy hues disappeared.
+They wore a kind of bonnet shaped like a crown, which appeared to be
+part of their person.
+
+The people of the coast say that the fairies are an accursed race who
+are condemned to walk the earth for a certain space. Some even think
+them rebellious angels who have been sent to earth for a time to
+expiate their offences against heaven. For the most part they inhabit
+the dolmens and the grottos and caverns on the coast.[29]
+
+On the shores of the Channel are numerous grottos or caverns which the
+Bretons call _houles_, and these are supposed to harbour a distinct
+class of fairy. Some of these caverns are from twenty to thirty feet
+high, and so extensive that it is unwise to explore them too far.
+Others seem only large enough to hold a single person, but if one
+enters he will find himself in a spacious natural chamber. The
+inhabitants of these depths, like all their kind, prefer to sally
+forth by night rather than by day. In the day-time they are not seen
+because they smear themselves with a magic ointment which renders them
+invisible; but at night they are visible to everybody.
+
+
+_The Lost Daughter_
+
+There was once upon a time a labourer of Saint-Cast named Marc
+Bourdais, but, according to the usage of the country, he had a
+nickname and was called Maraud. One day he was returning home when he
+heard the sound of a horn beneath his feet, and asked a companion who
+chanced to be with him if he had heard it also.
+
+"Of course I did," replied the fellow; "it is a fairy horn."
+
+"Umph," said Maraud. "Ask the fairies, then, to bring us a slice of
+bread."
+
+His companion knelt down and shouted out the request, but nothing
+happened and they resumed their way.
+
+They had not gone far, however, when they beheld a slice of beautiful
+white bread lying on a snowy napkin by the roadside. Maraud picked it
+up and found that it was well buttered and as toothsome as a cake, and
+when they had divided and eaten it they felt their hunger completely
+satisfied. But he who has fed well is often thirsty, so Maraud,
+lowering his head, and speaking to the little folk beneath, cried:
+"Hullo, there! Bring us something to drink, if you please."
+
+He had hardly spoken when they beheld a pot of cider and a glass
+reposing on the ground in front of them. Maraud filled the glass, and,
+raising it to his lips, quaffed of the fairy cider. It was clear and
+of a rich colour, and he declared that it was by far the best that he
+had ever tasted. His friend drank likewise, and when they returned to
+the village that night they had a good story to tell of how they had
+eaten and drunk at the expense of the fairies. But their friends and
+neighbours shook their heads and regarded them sadly.
+
+"Alas! poor fellows," they said, "if you have eaten fairy food and
+drunk fairy liquor you are as good as dead men."
+
+Nothing happened to them within the next few days, however, and it was
+with light hearts that one morning they returned to work in the
+neighbourhood of the spot where they had met with such a strange
+adventure. When they arrived at the place they smelt the odour of
+cakes which had been baked with black corn, and a fierce hunger at
+once took possession of them.
+
+"Ha!" said Maraud, "the fairies are baking to-day. Suppose we ask them
+for a cake or two." "No, no!" replied his friend. "Ask them if you
+wish, but I will have none of them."
+
+"Pah!" cried Maraud, "what are you afraid of?" And he cried: "Below
+there! Bring me a cake, will you?"
+
+Two fine cakes at once appeared. Maraud seized upon one, but when he
+had cut it he perceived that it was made of hairs, and he threw it
+down in disgust.
+
+"You wicked old sorcerer!" he cried. "Do you mean to mock me?"
+
+But as he spoke the cakes disappeared.
+
+Now there lived in the village a widow with seven children, and a hard
+task she had to find bread for them all. She heard tell of Maraud's
+adventure with the fairies, and pondered on the chance of receiving a
+like hospitality from them, that the seven little mouths she had to
+provide for might be filled. So she made up her mind to go to a fairy
+grotto she knew of and ask for bread. "Surely," she thought, "what the
+good people give to others who do not require it they will give to me,
+whose need is so great." When she had come to the entrance of the
+grotto she knocked on the side of it as one knocks on a door, and
+there at once appeared a little old dame with a great bunch of keys
+hanging at her side. She appeared to be covered with limpets, and
+mould and moss clung to her as to a rock. To the widow she seemed at
+least a thousand years old.
+
+"What do you desire, my good woman?" she asked.
+
+"Alas! madame," said the widow, "might I have a little bread for my
+seven children? Give me some, I beseech you, and I will remember you
+in my prayers."
+
+"I am not the mistress here," replied the old woman. "I am only the
+porteress, and it is at least a hundred years since I have been out.
+But return to-morrow and I will promise to speak for you."
+
+Next day at the same time the widow returned to the cave, and found
+the old porteress waiting for her.
+
+"I have spoken for you," said she, "and here is a loaf of bread for
+you, and those who send it wish to speak to you."
+
+"Bring me to them," said the widow, "that I may thank them."
+
+"Not to-day," replied the porteress. "Return to-morrow at the same
+hour and I will do so."
+
+The widow returned to the village and told her neighbours of her
+success. Every one came to see the fairy loaf, and many begged a
+piece.
+
+Next day the poor woman returned to the grotto in the hope that she
+would once more benefit from the little folks' bounty. The porteress
+was there as usual.
+
+"Well, my good woman," said she, "did you find my bread to your taste?
+Here is the lady who has befriended you," and she indicated a
+beautiful lady, who came smilingly from the darkness of the cavern.
+
+"Ah, madame," said the widow, "I thank you with all my heart for your
+charity."
+
+"The loaf will last a long time," said the fairy, "and you will find
+that you and your family will not readily finish it."
+
+"Alas!" said the widow, "last night all my neighbours insisted on
+having a piece, so that it is now entirely eaten."
+
+"Well," replied the fay, "I will give you another loaf. So long as you
+or your children partake of it it will not grow smaller and will
+always remain fresh, but if you should give the least morsel to a
+stranger the loaf will disappear. But as I have helped you, so must
+you help me. I have four cows, and I wish to send them out to
+pasture. Promise me that one of your daughters will guard them for
+me."
+
+The widow promised, and next morning sent one of her daughters out to
+look for the cows, which were to be pastured in a field where there
+was but little herbage. A neighbour saw her there, and asked what she
+was doing in that deserted place.
+
+"Oh, I am watching the fairy cows," replied she. The woman looked at
+her and smiled, for there were no cows there and she thought the girl
+had become half-witted.
+
+With the evening the fairy of the grotto came herself to fetch the
+cows, and she said to the little cowherd:
+
+"How would you like to be godmother to my child?"
+
+"It would be a pleasure, madame," replied the girl.
+
+"Well, say nothing to any one, not even to your mother," replied the
+fairy, "for if you do I shall never bring you anything more to eat."
+
+A few days afterward a fairy came to tell the girl to prepare to come
+to the cavern on the morrow, as on that day the infant was to be
+named. Next day, according to the fairy's instructions, she presented
+herself at the mouth of the grotto, and in due course was made
+godmother to the little fairy. For two days she remained there, and
+when she left her godchild was already grown up. She had, as a matter
+of fact, unconsciously remained with the 'good people' for ten years,
+and her mother had long mourned her as dead. Meanwhile the fairies had
+requested the poor widow to send another of her daughters to watch
+their cows.
+
+When at last the absent one returned to the village she went straight
+home, and her mother on beholding her gave a great cry. The girl could
+not understand her agitation, believing as she did that she had been
+absent for two days only.
+
+"Two days!" echoed the mother. "You have been away ten years! Look how
+you have grown!"
+
+After she had overcome her surprise the girl resumed her household
+duties as if nothing particular had happened, and knitted a pair of
+stockings for her godchild. When they were finished she carried them
+to the fairy grotto, where, as she thought, she spent the afternoon.
+But in reality she had been away from home this time for five years.
+As she was leaving, her godchild gave her a purse, saying: "This purse
+is full of gold. Whenever you take a piece out another one will come
+in its place, but if any one else uses it it will lose all its
+virtue."
+
+When the girl returned to the village at last it was to find her
+mother dead, her brothers gone abroad, and her sisters married, so
+that she was the only one left at home. As she was pretty and a good
+housewife she did not want for lovers, and in due time she chose one
+for a husband. She did not tell her spouse about the purse she had had
+from the fairies, and if she wanted to give him a piece of gold she
+withdrew it from the magic purse in secret. She never went back to the
+fairy cavern, as she had no mind to return from it and find her
+husband an old man.
+
+
+_The Fisherman and the Fairies_
+
+A fisherman of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer, walking home to his cottage from
+his boat one evening along the wet sands, came, unawares, upon a
+number of fairies in a _houle_. They were talking and laughing gaily,
+and the fisherman observed that while they made merry they rubbed
+their bodies with a kind of ointment or pomade. All at once, to the
+old salt's surprise, they turned into ordinary women. Concealing
+himself behind a rock, the fisherman watched them until the now
+completely transformed immortals quitted their haunt and waddled away
+in the guise of old market-women.
+
+[Illustration: FAIRIES IN A BRETON 'HOULE']
+
+The fisherman waited until they were well out of sight, and then
+entered the cavern, where the first object that met his gaze was the
+pot of ointment which had effected the marvellous change he had
+witnessed. Taking some of the pomade on his forefinger, he smeared it
+around his left eye. He afterward found that he could penetrate the
+various disguises assumed by the fairies wherever he met them, and
+that these were for the most part adopted for the purposes of
+trickery. Thus he was able to see a fairy in the assumed shape of a
+beggar-woman going from door to door demanding alms, seeking an
+opportunity to steal or work mischief, and all the while casting
+spells upon those who were charitable enough to assist her. Again, he
+could distinguish real fish caught in his net at sea from merwomen
+disguised as fish, who were desirous of entangling the nets or
+otherwise distressing and annoying the fishermen.
+
+But nowhere was the disguised fairy race so much in evidence as at the
+fair of Ploubalay, where he recognized several of the elusive folk in
+the semblance of raree-showmen, fortune-tellers, and the like, who had
+taken these shapes in order to deceive. He was quietly smiling at
+their pranks, when some of the fairies who composed a troupe of
+performers in front of one of the booths regarded him very earnestly.
+He felt certain that they had penetrated his secret, but ere he could
+make off one of them threw a stick at him with such violence that it
+struck and burst the offending left eye.
+
+Fairies in all lands have a constitutional distaste for being
+recognized, but those of Brittany appear to visit their vengeance upon
+the members with which they are actually beheld. "See what thieves the
+fairies are!" cried a woman, on beholding one abstract apples from a
+countrywoman's pocket. The predatory elf at once turned round and tore
+out the eye that had marked his act.
+
+A Cornish woman who chanced to find herself the guardian of an
+elf-child was given certain water with which to wash its face. The
+liquid had the property of illuminating the infant's face with a
+supernatural brightness, and the woman ventured to try it upon
+herself, and in doing so splashed a little into one eye. This gave her
+the fairy sight. One day in the market-place she saw a fairy man
+stealing, and gave the alarm, when the enraged sprite cried:
+
+  "Water for elf, not water for self.
+  You've lost your eye, your child, and yourself."
+
+She was immediately stricken blind in the right eye, her fairy
+foster-child vanished, and she and her husband sank into poverty and
+want.
+
+Another Breton tale recounts how a mortal woman was given a polished
+stone in the form of an egg wherewith to rub a fairy child's eyes. She
+applied it to her own right eye, and became possessed of magic sight
+so far as elves were concerned. Still another case, alluded to in the
+_Revue Celtique_,[30] arose through 'the sacred bond' formed between a
+fairy man and a mortal woman where both stood as godparents to a
+child. The association enabled the woman to see magically. The fairy
+maiden Rockflower bestows a similar gift on her lover in a Breton tale
+from Saint-Cast, and speaks of "clearing his eyes like her own."[31]
+
+
+_Changelings_
+
+The Breton fairies, like others of their race, are fond of kidnapping
+mortal children and leaving in their places wizened elves who cause
+the greatest trouble to the distressed parents. The usual method of
+ridding a family of such a changeling is to surprise it in some
+manner so that it will betray its true character. Thus, on suspicion
+resting upon a certain Breton infant who showed every sign of
+changeling nature, milk was boiled on the fire in egg-shells,
+whereupon the impish youngster cried: "I shall soon be a hundred
+years old, but I never saw so many shells boiling! I was born in
+Pif and Paf, in the country where cats are made, but I never saw
+anything like it!" Thus self-revealed, the elf was expelled from
+the house. In most Northern tales where the changeling betrays itself
+it at once takes flight and a train of elves appears, bringing back
+the true infant. Again, if the wizened occupant of the cradle can be
+made to laugh that is accepted as proof of its fairy nature.
+"Something ridiculous," says Simrock, "must be done to cause him to
+laugh, for laughter brings deliverance."[32] The same stratagem
+appears to be used as the cure in English and Scots changeling tales.
+
+
+_The King of the Fishes_
+
+The Breton fays were prone, too, to take the shape of animals,
+birds, and even of fish. As we have seen, the sea-fairies of
+Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer were in the habit of taking the shape of fish
+for the purpose of annoying fishermen and damaging their gear.
+Another Breton tale from Saint-Cast illustrates their penchant for
+the fish shape. A fisherman of that town one day was lucky enough to
+catch the King of the Fishes disguised as a small golden fish. The
+fish begged hard to be released, and promised, if he were set free, to
+sacrifice as many of his subjects as would daily fill the fisherman's
+nets. On this understanding the finny monarch was given his liberty,
+and fulfilled his promise to the letter. Moreover, when the
+fisherman's boat was capsized in a gale the Fish King appeared, and,
+holding a flask to the drowning man's lips, made him drink a magic
+fluid which ensured his ability to exist under water. He conveyed the
+fisherman to his capital, a place of dazzling splendour, paved
+with gold and gems. The rude caster of nets instantly filled his
+pockets with the spoil of this marvellous causeway. Though probably
+rather disturbed by the incident, the Fish King, with true royal
+politeness, informed him that whenever he desired to return the way
+was open to him. The fisherman expressed his sorrow at having to
+leave such a delightful environment, but added that unless he
+returned to earth his wife and family would regard him as lost. The
+Fish King called a large tunny-fish, and as Arion mounted the dolphin
+in the old Argolian tale, so the fisherman approached the tunny,
+which
+
+  Hollowed his back and shaped it as a selle.[33]
+
+The fisherman at once
+
+  Seized the strange sea-steed by his bristling fin
+  And vaulted on his shoulders; the fleet fish
+  Swift sought the shallows and the friendly shore.[34]
+
+Before dismissing the fisherman, however, the Fish King presented him
+with an inexhaustible purse--probably as a hint that it would be
+unnecessary for him on a future visit to disturb his paving
+arrangements.
+
+
+_Fairy Origins_
+
+Two questions which early obtrude themselves in the consideration of
+Breton fairy-lore are: Are all the fays of Brittany malevolent? And,
+if so, whence proceeds this belief that fairy-folk are necessarily
+malign? Example treads upon example to prove that the Breton fairy is
+seldom beneficent, that he or she is prone to ill-nature and
+spitefulness, not to say fiendish malice on occasion. There appears to
+be a deep-rooted conviction that the elfish race devotes itself to the
+annoyance of mankind, practising a species of peculiarly irritating
+trickery, wanton and destructive. Only very rarely is a spirit of
+friendliness evinced, and then a motive is usually obvious. The
+'friendly' fairy invariably has an axe to grind.
+
+Two reasons may be advanced to account for this condition of things.
+First, the fairy-folk--in which are included house and field
+spirits--may be the traditional remnant of a race of real people,
+perhaps a prehistoric race, driven into the remote parts of the
+country by strange immigrant conquerors. Perhaps these primitive folk
+were elfish, dwarfish, or otherwise peculiar in appearance to the
+superior new-comers, who would in pride of race scorn the small,
+swarthy aborigines, and refuse all communion with them. We may be sure
+that the aborigines, on their part, would feel for their tall,
+handsome conquerors all the hatred of which a subject race is capable,
+never approaching them unless under compulsion or necessity, and
+revenging themselves upon them by every means of annoyance in their
+power. We may feel certain, too, that the magic of these conquered and
+discredited folk would be made full use of to plague the usurpers of
+the soil, and trickery, as irritating as any elf-pranks, would be
+brought to increase the discomfort of the new-comers.
+
+There are, however, several good objections to this view of the origin
+of the fairy idea. First and foremost, the smaller prehistoric
+aboriginal peoples of Europe themselves possessed tales of little
+people, of spirits of field and forest, flood and fell. It is unlikely
+that man was ever without these.
+
+  Yea, I sang, as now I sing, when the Prehistoric Spring
+  Made the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and shove,
+  And the troll, and gnome, and dwerg, and the gods of cliff and berg
+  Were about me and beneath me and above.[35]
+
+The idea of animism, the belief that everything had a personality of
+its own, certainly belonged to the later prehistoric period, for among
+the articles which fill the graves of aboriginal peoples, for use on
+the last journey, we find weapons to enable the deceased to drive off
+the evil spirits which would surround his own after death. Spirits, to
+early man, are always relatively smaller than himself. He beholds the
+"picture of a little man" in his comrade's eyes, and concludes it to
+be his 'soul.' Some primitive peoples, indeed, believe that several
+parts of the body have each their own resident soul. Again, the spirit
+of the corn or the spirit of the flower, the savage would argue, must
+in the nature of things be small. We can thus see how the belief in
+'the little folk' may have arisen, and how they remained little until
+a later day.
+
+A much more scientific theory of the origin of the belief in fairies
+is that which sees in them the deities of a discredited religion, the
+gods of an aboriginal people, rather than the people themselves. Such
+were the Irish _Daoine Sidhe_, and the Welsh _y Mamau_ ('the
+Mothers')--undoubtedly gods of the Celts. Again, although in many
+countries, especially in England, the fairies are regarded as small of
+stature, in Celtic countries the fay proper, as distinct from the
+brownie and such goblins, is of average mortal height, and this would
+seem to be the case in Brittany. Whether the gorics and courils of
+Brittany, who seem sufficiently small, are fairies or otherwise is a
+moot point. They seem to be more of the field spirit type, and are
+perhaps classed more correctly with the gnome race; we thus deal with
+them in our chapter on sprites and demons. It would seem, too, as if
+there might be ground for the belief that the normal-sized fairy race
+of Celtic countries had become confounded with the Teutonic idea of
+elves (Teut. _Elfen_) in Germany and England, from which, perhaps,
+they borrowed their diminutive size.
+
+But these are only considerations, not conclusions. Strange as it may
+seem, folk-lore has by no means solved the fairy problem, and much
+remains to be accomplished ere we can write 'Finis' to the study of
+fairy origins.
+
+
+_The Margots_
+
+Another Breton name for the fairies is _les Margots la fee_, a title
+which is chiefly employed in several districts of the Cotes-du-Nord,
+principally in the _arrondissements_ of Saint-Brieuc and Loudeac, to
+describe those fairies who have their abode in large rocks and on the
+wild and extensive moorlands which are so typical of the country.
+These, unlike the _fees houles_, are able to render themselves
+invisible at pleasure. Like human beings, they are subject to
+maladies, and are occasionally glad to accept mortal succour. They
+return kindness for kindness, but are vindictive enemies to those who
+attempt to harm them.
+
+But fairy vindictiveness is not lavished upon those unwitting mortals
+who do them harm alone. If one chances to succeed in a task set by the
+immortals of the forest, one is in danger of death, as the following
+story shows.
+
+
+_The Boy who Served the Fairies_
+
+A poor little fellow was one day gathering faggots in the forest when
+a gay, handsomely dressed gentleman passed him, and, noticing the
+lad's ragged and forlorn condition, said to him: "What are you doing
+there, my boy?"
+
+"I am looking for wood, sir," replied the boy. "If I did not do so we
+should have no fire at home."
+
+"You are very poor at home, then?" asked the gentleman.
+
+"So poor," said the lad, "that sometimes we only eat once a day, and
+often go supperless to bed."
+
+[Illustration: THE POOR BOY AND THE THREE FAIRY DAMSELS]
+
+"That is a sad tale," said the gentleman. "If you will promise to
+meet me here within a month I will give you some money, which will
+help your parents and feed and clothe your small brothers and
+sisters."
+
+Prompt to the day and the hour, the boy kept the tryst in the forest
+glade, at the very spot where he had met the gentleman. But though he
+looked anxiously on every side he could see no signs of his friend. In
+his anxiety he pushed farther into the forest, and came to the borders
+of a pond, where three damsels were preparing to bathe. One was
+dressed in white, another in grey, and the third in blue. The boy
+pulled off his cap, gave them good-day, and asked politely if they had
+not seen a gentleman in the neighbourhood. The maiden who was dressed
+in white told him where the gentleman was to be found, and pointed out
+a road by which he might arrive at his castle.
+
+"He will ask you," said she, "to become his servant, and if you accept
+he will wish you to eat. The first time that he presents the food to
+you, say: 'It is I who should serve you.' If he asks you a second time
+make the same reply; but if he should press you a third time refuse
+brusquely and thrust away the plate which he offers you."
+
+The boy was not long in finding the castle, and was at once shown into
+the gentleman's presence. As the maiden dressed in white had foretold,
+he requested the youth to enter his service, and when his offer was
+accepted placed before him a plate of viands. The lad bowed politely,
+but refused the food. A second time it was offered, but he persisted
+in his refusal, and when it was proffered to him a third time he
+thrust it away from him so roughly that it fell to the ground and the
+plate was broken.
+
+"Ah," said the gentleman, "you are just the kind of servant I require.
+You are now my lackey, and if you are able to do three things that I
+command you I will give you one of my daughters for your wife and you
+shall be my son-in-law."
+
+The next day he gave the boy a hatchet of lead, a saw of paper, and a
+wheelbarrow made of oak-leaves, bidding him fell, bind up, and measure
+all the wood in the forest within a radius of seven leagues. The new
+servant at once commenced his task, but the hatchet of lead broke at
+the first blow, the saw of paper buckled at the first stroke, and the
+wheelbarrow of oak-leaves was broken by the weight of the first little
+branch he placed on it. The lad in despair sat down, and could do
+nothing but gaze at the useless implements. At midday the damsel
+dressed in white whom he had seen at the pond came to bring him
+something to eat.
+
+"Alas!" she cried, "why do you sit thus idle? If my father should come
+and find that you have done nothing he would kill you."
+
+"I can do nothing with such wretched tools," grumbled the lad.
+
+"Do you see this wand?" said the damsel, producing a little rod. "Take
+it in your hand and walk round the forest, and the work will take care
+of itself. At the same time say these words: 'Let the wood fall, tie
+itself into bundles, and be measured.'"
+
+The boy did as the damsel advised him, and matters proceeded so
+satisfactorily that by a little after midday the work was completed.
+In the evening the gentleman said to him:
+
+"Have you accomplished your task?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Do you wish to see it? The wood is cut and tied into
+bundles of the proper weight and measurement."
+
+"It is well," said the gentleman. "To-morrow I will set you the second
+task."
+
+On the following morning he took the lad to a knoll some distance from
+the castle, and said to him:
+
+"You see this rising ground? By this evening you must have made it a
+garden well planted with fruit-trees and having a fish-pond in the
+middle, where ducks and other water-fowl may swim. Here are your
+tools."
+
+The tools were a pick of glass and a spade of earthenware. The boy
+commenced the work, but at the first stroke his fragile pick and spade
+broke into a thousand fragments. For the second time he sat down
+helplessly. Time passed slowly, and as before at midday the damsel in
+white brought him his dinner.
+
+"So I find you once more with your arms folded," she said.
+
+"I cannot work with a pick of glass and an earthenware spade,"
+complained the youth.
+
+"Here is another wand," said the damsel. "Take it and walk round this
+knoll, saying: 'Let the place be planted and become a beautiful garden
+with fruit-trees, in the middle of which is a fish-pond with ducks
+swimming upon it.'"
+
+The boy took the wand, did as he was bid, and the work was speedily
+accomplished. A beautiful garden arose as if by enchantment, well
+furnished with fruit-trees of all descriptions and ornamented with a
+small sheet of water.
+
+Once more his master was quite satisfied with the result, and on the
+third morning set him his third task. He took him beneath one of the
+towers of the castle.
+
+"Behold this tower," he said. "It is of polished marble. You must
+climb it, and at the top you will find a turtle-dove, which you must
+bring to me."
+
+The gentleman, who was of opinion that the damsel in white had helped
+his servant in the first two tasks, sent her to the town to buy
+provisions. When she received this order the maiden retired to her
+chamber and burst into tears. Her sisters asked her what was the
+matter, and she told them that she wished to remain at the castle, so
+they promised to go to the town in her stead. At midday she found the
+lad sitting at the foot of the tower bewailing the fact that he could
+not climb its smooth and glassy sides.
+
+"I have come to help you once more," said the damsel. "You must get a
+cauldron, then cut me into morsels and throw in all my bones, without
+missing a single one. It is the only way to succeed."
+
+"Never!" exclaimed the youth. "I would sooner die than harm such a
+beautiful lady as you."
+
+"Yet you must do as I say," she replied.
+
+For a long time the youth refused, but at last he gave way to the
+maiden's entreaties, cut her into little pieces, and placed the bones
+in a large cauldron, forgetting, however, the little toe of her left
+foot. Then he rose as if by magic to the top of the tower, found the
+turtle-dove, and came down again.[36] Having completed his task, he
+took a wand which lay beside the cauldron, and when he touched the
+bones they came together again and the damsel stepped out of the
+great pot none the worse for her experience.
+
+When the young fellow carried the dove to his master the gentleman
+said:
+
+"It is well. I shall carry out my promise and give you one of my
+daughters for your wife, but all three shall be veiled and you must
+pick the one you desire without seeing her face."
+
+The three damsels were then brought into his presence, but the lad
+easily recognized the one who had assisted him, because she lacked the
+small toe of the left foot. So he chose her without hesitation, and
+they were married.
+
+But the gentleman was not content with the marriage. On the day of the
+bridal he placed the bed of the young folks over a vault, and hung it
+from the roof by four cords. When they had gone to bed he came to the
+door of the chamber and said:
+
+"Son-in-law, are you asleep?"
+
+"No, not yet," replied the youth.
+
+Some time afterward he repeated his question, and met with a similar
+answer.
+
+"The next time he comes," said the bride, "pretend that you are
+sleeping."
+
+Shortly after that his father-in-law asked once more if he were
+asleep, and receiving no answer retired, evidently well satisfied.
+
+When he had gone the bride made her husband rise at once. "Go
+instantly to the stables," said she, "and take there the horse which
+is called Little Wind, mount him, and fly."
+
+The young fellow hastened to comply with her request, and he had
+scarcely left the chamber when the master of the castle returned and
+asked if his daughter were asleep. She answered "No," and, bidding her
+arise and come with him, he cut the cords, so that the bed fell into
+the vault beneath. The bride now heard the trampling of hoofs in the
+garden outside, and rushed out to find her husband in the act of
+mounting.
+
+"Stay!" she cried. "You have taken Great Wind instead of Little Wind,
+as I advised you, but there is no help for it," and she mounted behind
+him. Great Wind did not belie his name, and dashed into the night like
+a tempest.
+
+"Do you see anything?" asked the girl.
+
+"No, nothing," said her husband.
+
+"Look again," she said. "Do you see anything now?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I see a great flame of fire."
+
+The bride took her wand, struck it three times, and said: "I change
+thee, Great Wind, into a garden, myself into a pear-tree, and my
+husband into a gardener."
+
+The transformation had hardly been effected when the master of the
+castle and his wife came up with them.
+
+"Ha, my good man," cried he to the seeming gardener, "has any one on
+horseback passed this way?"
+
+"Three pears for a sou," said the gardener.
+
+"That is not an answer to my question," fumed the old wizard, for such
+he was. "I asked if you had seen any one on horseback in this
+direction."
+
+"Four for a sou, then, if you will," said the gardener.
+
+"Idiot!" foamed the enchanter, and dashed on in pursuit. The young
+wife then changed herself, her horse, and her husband into their
+natural forms, and, mounting once more, they rode onward.
+
+"Do you see anything now?" asked she.
+
+"Yes, I see a great flame of fire," he replied.
+
+Once more she took her wand. "I change this steed into a church," she
+said, "myself into an altar, and my husband into a priest."
+
+Very soon the wizard and his wife came to the doors of the church and
+asked the priest if a youth and a lady had passed that way on
+horseback.
+
+"Dominus vobiscum," said the priest, and nothing more could the wizard
+get from him.
+
+Pursued once more, the young wife changed the horse into a river,
+herself into a boat, and her husband into a boatman. When the wizard
+came up with them he asked to be ferried across the river. The boatman
+at once made room for them, but in the middle of the stream the boat
+capsized and the enchanter and his wife were drowned.
+
+The young lady and her husband returned to the castle, seized the
+treasure of its fairy lord, and, says tradition, lived happily ever
+afterward, as all young spouses do in fairy-tale.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [20] _Roman de Rou_, v. 6415 ff.
+
+  [21] Consult original ballad in Vicomte de la Villemarque's _Chants
+       populaires de la Bretagne_.
+
+  [22] MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 116
+       (Edinburgh, 1911).
+
+  [23] See _Ballads and Metrical Tales, illustrating the Fairy Mythology
+       of Europe_ (anonymous, London, 1857) for a metrical version of
+       this tale.
+
+  [24] Lib. III, cap. vi.
+
+  [25] Paris, 1670. Strange that this book should have been seized upon
+       by students of the occult as a 'text-book' furnishing
+       longed-for details of the 'lost knowledge' concerning
+       elementary spirits, when it is, in effect, a very whole-hearted
+       satire upon belief in such beings!
+
+  [26] Villemarque, _Myrdhinn, ou l'Enchanteur Merlin_ (1861).
+
+  [27] MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 122.
+
+  [28] Or subterranean dwellers. See D. MacRitchie's _Fians, Fairies,
+       and Picts_ (1893).
+
+  [29] See the chapter on "Menhirs and Dolmens."
+
+  [30] Vol. i, p. 231.
+
+  [31] _Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris, 1880).
+
+  [32] _Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie._
+
+  [33] Saddle.
+
+  [34] See the author's _Le Roi d'Ys and other Poems_ (London, 1910).
+
+  [35] Kipling, "Primum Tempus."
+
+  [36] In folk-tales of this nature a ladder is usually made of the
+       bones, but this circumstance seems to have been omitted in the
+       present instance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV: SPRITES AND DEMONS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+The idea of the evil spirit, malicious and revengeful, is common to
+all primitive peoples, and Brittany has its full share of demonology.
+Wherever, in fact, a primitive and illiterate peasantry is found the
+demon is its inevitable accompaniment. But we shall not find these
+Breton devils so very different from the fiends of other lands.
+
+
+_The Nain_
+
+The nain is a figure fearsomely Celtic in its hideousness, resembling
+the gargoyles which peer down upon the traveller from the carven
+'top-hamper' of so many Breton churches. Black and menacing of
+countenance, these demon-folk are armed with feline claws, and their
+feet end in hoofs like those of a satyr. Their dark elf-locks, small,
+gleaming eyes, red as carbuncles, and harsh, cracked voices are all
+dilated upon with fear by those who have met them upon lonely heaths
+or unfrequented roads. They haunt the ancient dolmens built by a
+vanished race, and at night, by the pale starlight, they dance around
+these ruined tombs to the music of a primitive refrain:
+
+  "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
+  Thursday and Friday."
+
+Saturday and Sunday they dare not mention as being days sacred from
+fairy influence. We all remember that in the old tale of Tom Thumb the
+elves among whom the hero fell sang such a refrain. But wherefore? It
+would indeed be difficult to say. Deities, credited and discredited,
+have often a connexion with the calendar, and we may have here some
+calendric reference, or again the chant may be merely a nonsense
+rhyme. Bad luck attached itself to the human who chanced to behold the
+midnight revels of the nains, and if he entered the charmed circle and
+danced along with them his death was certain to ensue before the year
+was out. Wednesday was the nains' high-day, or rather night, and their
+great _nuit festale_ was the first Wednesday in May. That they should
+have possessed a fixed festival at such a period, full of religious
+significance for most primitive peoples, would seem to show that they
+must at one time have been held in considerable esteem.
+
+But although the nains while away their time in such simple fashion as
+dancing to the repetition of the names of the days of the week, they
+have a less innocent side to their characters, for they are forgers of
+false money, which they fabricate in the recesses of caverns. We all
+recall stories of fairy gold and its perishable nature. A simple youth
+sells something on market day to a fairy, and later on turning over in
+his pocket the money he has received he finds that it has been
+transformed into beans. The housewife receives gold from a fairy for
+services rendered, and carefully places it in a drawer. A day when she
+requires it arrives, but, alas! when she opens the cabinet to take it
+out she finds nothing but a small heap of withered leaves. It is such
+money that the nains manufacture in their subterranean mints--coin
+which bears the fairy impress of glamourie for a space, but on later
+examination proves to be merely dross.
+
+The nains are also regarded as the originators of a cabalistic
+alphabet, the letters of which are engraved on several of the
+megalithic monuments of Morbihan, and especially those of Gavr'inis.
+He who is able to decipher this magic script, says tradition, will be
+able to tell where hidden treasure is to be found in any part of the
+country. Lest any needy folk be of a mind to fare to Brittany to try
+their luck in this respect it is only right to warn them that in all
+probability they will find the treasure formula in ogham characters or
+serpentine markings, and that as the first has long ago been
+deciphered and the second is pure symbolism they will waste their time
+and money in any event.
+
+Sorcery hangs about the nain like a garment. Here he is a prophet and
+a diviner as well as an enchanter, and as much of his magic power is
+employed for ill, small wonder that the Breton peasant shudders and
+frowns when the name of the fearsome tribe is spoken and gives the
+dolmens they are supposed to haunt the widest of wide berths _au clair
+de la lune_.
+
+
+_Crions, Courils, and Gorics_
+
+Brittany has a species of dwarfs or gnomes peculiar to itself which in
+various parts of the country are known as crions, courils, or
+gorics. It will at once be seen how greatly the last word resembles
+Korrigan, and as all of them perhaps proceed from a root meaning
+'spirit' the nominal resemblance is not surprising. Like the nains,
+these smaller beings inhabit abandoned Druidical monuments or dwell
+beneath the foundations of ancient castles. Carnac is sometimes
+alluded to in Breton as 'Ty C'harriquet,' 'the House of the Gorics,'
+the country-folk in this district holding the belief that its
+megalithic monuments were reared by these manikins, whom they
+describe as between two and three feet high, but exceedingly
+strong, just as the Scottish peasantry speak of the Picts of
+folk-lore--'wee fouk but unco' strang.' Every night the gorics
+dance in circles round the stones of Carnac, and should a mortal
+interrupt their frolic he is forced to join in the dance, until,
+breathless and exhausted, he falls prone to the earth amid peals of
+mocking laughter. Like the nains, the gorics are the guardians of
+hidden treasure, for the tale goes that beneath one of the menhirs of
+Carnac lies a golden hoard, and that all the other stones have been
+set up the better to conceal it, and so mystify those who would
+discover its resting-place. A calculation, the key to which is to
+be found in the Tower of London, will alone indicate the spot where
+the treasure lies. And here it may be of interest to state that
+the ancient national fortalice of England occurs frequently in Breton
+and in Celtic romance.[37] Some of the immigrant Britons into
+Armorica probably came from the settlement which was later to grow
+into London, and may have carried tales of its ancient British
+fortress into their new home.
+
+The courils are peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen. Like the gorics,
+they are fond of dancing, and they are quite as malignantly inclined
+toward the unhappy stranger who may stumble into their ring. The
+castle of Morlaix, too, is haunted by gorics not more than a foot
+high, who dwell beneath it in holes in the ground. They possess
+treasures as great as those of the gnomes of Norway or Germany, and
+these they will sometimes bestow on lucky mortals, who are permitted,
+however, to take but one handful. If a person should attempt to seize
+more the whole of the money vanishes, and the offender's ears are
+soundly boxed by invisible hands.
+
+The night-washers (_eur tunnerez noz_) are evil spirits who appear at
+night on the banks of streams and call on the passers-by to assist
+them to wash the linen of the dead. If they are refused, they seize
+upon the person who denies them, drag him into the water, and break
+his arms. These beings are obviously the same as the Bean Nighe, 'the
+Washing Woman' of the Scottish Highlands, who is seen in lonely places
+beside a pool or stream, washing the linen of those who will shortly
+die. In Skye she is said to be short of stature. If any one catches
+her she tells all that will befall him in after life. In Perthshire
+she is represented as "small and round and dressed in pretty green."
+
+
+_The Teurst_
+
+In the district of Morlaix the peasants are terribly afraid of beings
+they call teursts. These are large, black, and fearsome, like the
+Highland ourisk, who haunted desert moors and glens. The _teursta
+poulict_ appears in the likeness of some domestic animal. In the
+district of Vannes is encountered a colossal spirit called Teus or
+Bugelnoz, who appears clothed in white between midnight and two in the
+morning. His office is to rescue victims from the devil, and should he
+spread his mouth over them they are secure from the Father of Evil.
+The Dusii of Gaul are mentioned by St Augustine, who regarded them as
+_incubi_, and by Isidore of Seville, and in the name we may perhaps
+discover the origin of our expression 'the deuce!'
+
+
+_The Nicole_
+
+The Nicole is a spirit of modern creation who torments the honest
+fishermen of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Malo. Just as they are
+about to draw in their nets this mischievous spirit leaps around them,
+freeing the fish, or he will loosen a boat's anchor so that it will
+drift on to a sand-bank. He may divide the cable which holds the
+anchor to the vessel and cause endless trouble. This spirit received
+its name from an officer who commanded a battalion of fishermen
+conscripts, and who from his intense severity and general reputation
+as a martinet obtained a bad reputation among the seafaring
+population.
+
+
+_The Mourioche_
+
+The Mourioche is a malicious demon of bestial nature, able, it would
+seem, to transform himself into any animal shape he chooses. In
+general appearance he is like a year-old foal. He is especially
+dangerous to children, and Breton babies are often chided when noisy
+or mischievous with the words: "Be good, now, the Mourioche is
+coming!" Of one who appears to have received a shock, also, it is
+said: "He has seen the Mourioche." Unlucky is the person who gets in
+his way; but doubly so the unfortunate who attempts to mount him in
+the belief that he is an ordinary steed, for after a fiery gallop he
+will be precipitated into an abyss and break his neck.
+
+
+_The Ankou_
+
+Perhaps there is no spirit of evil which is so much dreaded by the
+Breton peasantry as the Ankou, who travels the duchy in a cart,
+picking up souls. In the dead of night a creaking axle-tree can be
+heard passing down the silent lanes. It halts at a door; the summons
+has been given, a soul quits the doomed house, and the wagon of the
+Ankou passes on. The Ankou herself--for the dread death-spirit of
+Brittany is probably female--is usually represented as a skeleton. M.
+Anatole le Braz has elaborated a study of the whole question in his
+book on the legend of death in Brittany,[38] and it is probable that
+the Ankou is a survival of the death-goddess of the prehistoric
+dolmen-builders of Brittany. MacCulloch[39] considers the Ankou to be
+a reminiscence of the Celtic god of death, who watches over all things
+beyond the grave and carries off the dead to his kingdom, but greatly
+influenced by medieval ideas of 'Death the skeleton.' In some Breton
+churches a little model or statuette of the Ankou is to be seen, and
+this is nothing more nor less than a cleverly fashioned skeleton. The
+peasant origin of the belief can be found in the substitution of a
+cart or wagon for the more ambitious coach and four of other lands.
+
+
+_The Youdic_
+
+Dark and gloomy are many of the Breton legends, of evil things, gloomy
+as the depths of the forests in which doubtless many of them were
+conceived. Most folk-tales are tinged with melancholy, and it is
+rarely in Breton story that we discover a vein of the joyous.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEMON-DOG]
+
+Among the peaks of the Montagnes d'Arree lies a vast and dismal peat
+bog known as the Yeun, which has long been regarded by the Breton folk
+as the portal to the infernal regions. This Stygian locality has
+brought forth many legends. It is, indeed, a remarkable territory. In
+summer it seems a vast moor carpeted by glowing purple heather, which
+one can traverse up to a certain point, but woe betide him who would
+advance farther, for, surrounded by what seems solid ground, lies a
+treacherous quagmire declared by the people of the neighbourhood to be
+unfathomable. This part of the bog, whose victims have been many, is
+known as the Youdic. As one leans over it its waters may sometimes be
+seen to simmer and boil, and the peasants of the country-side devoutly
+believe that when this occurs infernal forces are working beneath,
+madly revelling, and that it is only the near presence of St Michael,
+whose mount is hard by, which restrains them from doing active harm to
+those who may have to cross the Yeun.
+
+Countless stories are afloat concerning this weird maelstrom of mud
+and bubbling water. At one time it was the custom to hurl animals
+suspected of being evil spirits into its black depths. Malevolent
+fiends, it was thought, were wont to materialize in the form of great
+black dogs, and unfortunate animals of this type, if they evinced such
+peculiarities as were likely to place them under suspicion, were taken
+forthwith to the Youdic by a member of the enlightened priesthood of
+the district, and were cast into its seething depths with all the
+ceremonies suitable to such an occasion.
+
+A story typical of those told about the place is that of one Job Ann
+Drez, who seems to have acted as sexton and assisted the parish priest
+in his dealings with the supernatural. Along with the priest, Job
+repaired one evening after sunset to the gloomy waters of the Youdic,
+dragging behind him a large black dog of the species most likely to
+excite distrust in the priestly mind. The priest showed considerable
+anxiety lest the animal should break loose.
+
+"If he should get away," he said nervously, "both of us are lost."
+
+"I will wager he does not," replied Job, tying the cord by which the
+brute was led securely to his wrist.
+
+"Forward, then," said the priest, and he walked boldly in front, until
+they came to the foot of the mountain on the summit of which lies the
+Youdic.
+
+The priest turned warningly to Job. "You must be circumspect in this
+place," he said very gravely. "Whatever you may hear, be sure not to
+turn your head. Your life in this world and your salvation in the next
+depend absolutely on this. You understand me?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I understand."
+
+A vast desolation surrounded them. So dark was the night that it
+seemed to envelop them like a velvet curtain. Beneath their feet they
+heard the hissing and moaning of the bog, awaiting its prey like a
+restless and voracious wild beast. Through the dense blackness they
+could see the iridescent waters writhing and gleaming below.
+
+"Surely," said Job half to himself, "this must be the gateway to
+hell!"
+
+At that word the dog uttered a frightful howl--such a howl as froze
+Job's blood in his veins. It tugged and strained at the cord which
+held it with the strength of a demon, striving to turn on Job and rend
+him.
+
+"Hold on!" cried the priest in mortal terror, keeping at a safe
+distance, however. "Hold on, I entreat you, or else we are undone!"
+
+Job held on to the demon-dog with all his strength. Indeed, it was
+necessary to exert every thew and sinew if the animal were to be
+prevented from tearing him to pieces. Its howls were sufficient to
+strike terror to the stoutest heart. "Iou! Iou!" it yelled again and
+again.
+
+But Job held on desperately, although the cord cut his hands and blood
+ran from the scarified palms. Inch by inch he dragged the brute toward
+the Youdic. The creature in a last desperate effort turned and was
+about to spring on him open-mouthed, when all at once the priest,
+darting forward, threw his cloak over its head. It uttered a shriek
+which sounded through the night like the cry of a lost soul.
+
+"Quick!" cried the priest. "Lie flat on the earth and put your face on
+the ground!"
+
+Scarcely had the two men done so than a frightful tumult ensued. First
+there was the sound of a body leaping into the morass, then such an
+uproar as could only proceed from the mouth of the infernal regions.
+Shrieks, cries, hissings, explosions followed in quick succession for
+upward of half an hour; then gradually they died away and a horrible
+stillness took their place. The two men rose trembling and unnerved,
+and slowly took their way through the darkness, groping and stumbling
+until they had left the awful vicinity of the Yeun behind them.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [37] See Nutt, _Celtic and Mediaeval Romance_.
+
+  [38] _La Legende de la Mort._
+
+  [39] _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 345
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V: WORLD-TALES IN BRITTANY
+
+
+I have entitled this chapter 'World-Tales' to indicate that the
+stories it contains are in plot or _motif_ if not in substance common
+to the whole world--that, in short, although they are found in
+Brittany, they are no more Breton than Italian, Russian, American, or
+Australian. But although the story which tells of the search for the
+golden-haired princess on the magic horse is the possession of no one
+particular race, the tales recounted here have the Breton colouring
+and the Breton spirit, and in perusing them we encounter numerous
+little allusions to Breton customs or manners and obtain not a few
+sidelights upon the Breton character, its shrewdness and its goodwill,
+while we may note as well the narrowness of view and meanness so
+characteristic of peoples who have been isolated for a long period
+from contact with other races.
+
+The first two of these tales are striking ones built upon two
+world-_motifs_--those of the magic horse and the search for the
+golden-haired princess, who is, of course, the sun, two themes which
+have been amalgamated in not a few deathless stories.
+
+
+_The Youth who did not Know_
+
+One day the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou was returning from Morlaix, when
+he beheld lying on the road a little fellow of four or five years of
+age. He leapt from his horse, picked the child up, and asked him what
+he did there.
+
+"I do not know," replied the little boy.
+
+"Who is your father?" asked the Marquis.
+
+"I do not know," said the child for the second time.
+
+"And your mother?" asked the kindly nobleman.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Where are you now, my child?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Then what is your name?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+The Marquis told his serving-man to place the child on the crupper of
+his horse, as he had taken a fancy to him and would adopt him. He
+called him N'Oun Doare, which signifies in Breton, 'I do not know.' He
+educated him, and when his schooling was finished took him to Morlaix,
+where they put up at the best inn in the town. The Marquis could not
+help admiring his adopted son, who had now grown into a tall, handsome
+youth, and so pleased was he with him that he desired to signify his
+approval by making him a little present, which he resolved should take
+the form of a sword. So they went out into the town and visited the
+armourers' shops in search of a suitable weapon. They saw swords of
+all kinds, but N'Oun Doare would have none of them, until at last they
+passed the booth of a seller of scrap-metal, where hung a rusty old
+rapier which seemed fit for nothing.
+
+"Ha!" cried N'Oun Doare, "that is the sword for me. Please buy it, I
+beg of you."
+
+"Why, don't you see what a condition it is in?" said the Marquis. "It
+is not a fit weapon for a gentleman."
+
+"Nevertheless it is the only sword I wish for," said N'Oun Doare.
+
+"Well, well, you are a strange fellow," said the Marquis, but he
+bought the sword nevertheless, and they returned to Coat-Squiriou. The
+next day N'Oun Doare examined his sword and discovered that the blade
+had the words "I am invincible" engraved upon it.
+
+Some time afterward the Marquis said to him: "It is time that you had
+a horse. Come with me to Morlaix and we will purchase one." They
+accordingly set out for Morlaix. In the market-place they saw many
+fine animals, but with none of them was N'Oun Doare content. On
+returning to the inn, however, he espied what looked like a
+broken-down mare standing by the roadside, and to this sorry beast he
+immediately drew the attention of the Marquis.
+
+"That is the horse for me!" he cried. "I beg of you, purchase it for
+me."
+
+"What!" cried the Marquis, "that broken-down beast? Why, only look at
+it, my son." But N'Oun Doare persisted, and at last, despite his own
+better judgment, the Marquis bought the animal. The man who sold it
+was a cunning-looking fellow from Cornouaille, who, as he put the
+bridle into N'Oun Doare's hand, whispered:
+
+"You see the knots on the halter of this animal?"
+
+"Yes," replied N'Oun Doare; "what of them?"
+
+"Only this, that each time you loosen one the mare will immediately
+carry you five hundred leagues from where you are."
+
+The Marquis and his ward returned once more to the chateau, N'Oun
+Doare riding his new purchase, when it entered into his head to untie
+one of the knots on the halter. He did so, and immediately descended
+in the middle of Paris--which we must take the story-teller's word for
+it is five hundred leagues from Brittany!
+
+Several months afterward the Marquis had occasion to go to Paris, and
+one of the first people he met there was N'Oun Doare, who told him of
+his adventure. The Marquis was going to visit the King, and took his
+_protege_ along with him to the palace, where he was well received.
+
+Some nights afterward the youth was walking with his old mare outside
+the walls of Paris, and noticed something which glittered very
+brightly at the foot of an ancient stone cross which stood where four
+roads met. He approached it and beheld a crown of gold, set with the
+most brilliant precious stones. He at once picked it up, when the old
+mare, turning its head, said to him: "Take care; you will repent
+this."
+
+Greatly surprised, N'Oun Doare thought that he had better replace the
+crown, but a longing to possess it overcame him, and although the mare
+warned him once more he finally resolved to take it, and, putting it
+under his mantle, rode away.
+
+Now the King had confided to his care part of the royal stables, and
+when N'Oun Doare entered them their darkness was immediately lit up by
+the radiance of the crown which he carried. So well had the Breton lad
+attended to the horses under his charge that the other squires had
+become jealous, and, observing the strange light in N'Oun Doare's part
+of the stable, they mentioned it to the King, who in turn spoke of it
+to the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou. The Marquis asked N'Oun Doare the
+meaning of the light, and the youth replied that it came from the
+ancient sword they had bought at Morlaix, which was an enchanted
+weapon and shone at intervals with strange brilliance. But one night
+his enemies resolved to examine into the matter more closely, and,
+looking through the keyhole of the stable, they saw that the wondrous
+light which had so puzzled them shone from a magnificent crown of
+gold. They ran at once to tell the King, and next night N'Oun Doare's
+stable was opened with a master-key and the crown removed to the
+King's quarters. It was then seen that an inscription was engraved
+upon the diadem, but in such strange characters that no one could read
+it. The magicians of the capital were called into consultation, but
+none of them could decipher the writing. At last a little boy of seven
+years of age was found who said that it was the crown of the Princess
+Golden Bell. The King then called upon N'Oun Doare to approach, and
+said to him:
+
+"You should not have hidden this thing from me, but as you are guilty
+of having done so I doom you to find the Princess Golden Bell, whom I
+desire shall become my wife. If you fail I shall put you to death."
+
+N'Oun Doare left the royal presence in a very perturbed state of mind.
+He went to seek his old mare with tears in his eyes.
+
+"I know," said the mare, "the cause of your sorrow. You should have
+left the golden crown alone, as I told you. But do not repine; go to
+the King and ask him for money for your journey."
+
+The lad received the money from the King, and set out on his journey.
+Arriving at the seashore, one of the first objects he beheld was a
+little fish cast up by the waves on the beach and almost at its last
+gasp.
+
+"Throw that fish back into the water," said the mare. N'Oun Doare did
+so, and the fish, lifting its head from the water, said:
+
+"You have saved my life, N'Oun Doare. I am the King of the Fishes, and
+if ever you require my help call my name by the seashore and I will
+come." With these words the Fish-King vanished beneath the water.
+
+A little later they came upon a bird struggling vainly to escape from
+a net in which it was caught.
+
+"Cut the net and set that poor bird free," said the wise mare.
+
+Upon N'Oun Doare doing so the bird paused before it flew away and
+said:
+
+"I am the King of the Birds, N'Oun Doare. I will never forget the
+service you have rendered me, and if ever you are in trouble and need
+my aid you have only to call me and I shall fly swiftly to help you."
+
+As they went on their way N'Oun Doare's wonderful mare crossed
+mountains, forests, vast seas, and streams with a swiftness and ease
+that was amazing. Soon they beheld the walls of the Chateau of the
+Golden Bell rising before them, and as they drew near they could hear
+a most confused and terrible noise coming from it, which shook N'Oun
+Doare's courage and made him rather fearful of entering it. Near the
+door a being of the most curious aspect was hung to a tree by a chain,
+and this peculiar individual had as many horns on his body as there
+are days in the year.
+
+"Cut that unfortunate man down," said the mare. "Will you not give him
+his freedom?"
+
+"I am too much afraid to approach him," said N'Oun Doare, alarmed at
+the man's appearance.
+
+"Do not fear," said the sagacious animal; "he will not harm you in any
+manner."
+
+N'Oun Doare did so, and the stranger thanked him most gratefully,
+bidding him, as the others whom he had rescued had done, if he ever
+required help to call upon Grifescorne, King of the Demons, for that
+was his name, and he would be with him immediately.
+
+"Enter the chateau boldly and without fear," said the mare, "and I
+will await you in the wood yonder. After the Princess Golden Bell has
+welcomed you she will show you all the curiosities and marvels of her
+dwelling. Tell her you have a horse without an equal, which can dance
+most beautifully the dances of every land. Say that your steed will
+perform them for her diversion if she will come and behold it in the
+forest."
+
+Everything fell out as the mare had said, and the Princess was
+delighted and amused by the mare's dancing.
+
+"If you were to mount her," said N'Oun Doare, "I vow she would dance
+even more wonderfully than before!"
+
+The Princess after a moment's hesitation did so. In an instant the
+adventurous youth was by her side, and the horse sped through the air,
+so that in a short space they found themselves flying over the sea.
+
+"You have tricked me!" cried the infuriated damsel. "But do not
+imagine that you are at the end of your troubles; and," she added
+viciously, "you will have cause to lament more than once ere I wed the
+old King of France."
+
+They arrived promptly at Paris, where N'Oun Doare presented the lovely
+Princess to the monarch, saying:
+
+"Sire, I have brought to you the Princess Golden Bell, whom you desire
+to make your wife."
+
+[Illustration: N'OUN DOARE AND THE PRINCESS GOLDEN BELL]
+
+The King was dazed by the wondrous beauty of the Princess, and was
+eager for the marriage to take place immediately, but this the royal
+maiden would not hear of, and declared petulantly that she would not
+be wed until she had a ring which she had left behind her at her
+chateau, in a cabinet of which she had lost the key.
+
+Summoning N'Oun Doare, the King charged him with the task of finding
+the ring. The unfortunate youth returned to his wise mare, feeling
+much cast down.
+
+"Why," said the mare, "foolish one! do you not remember the King of
+the Birds whom you rescued? Call upon him, and mayhap he will aid you
+as he promised to do."
+
+With a return of hope N'Oun Doare did as he was bid, and immediately
+the royal bird was with him, and asked him in what way he could help
+him. Upon N'Oun Doare explaining his difficulty, the Bird-King
+summoned all his subjects, calling each one by name. They came, but
+none of them appeared to be small enough to enter the cabinet by way
+of the keyhole, which was the only means of entrance. The wren was
+decided to be the only bird with any chance of success, and he set out
+for the chateau.
+
+Eventually, with much difficulty and the loss of the greater part of
+his feathers, the bird procured the ring, and flew back with it to
+Paris. N'Oun Doare hastened to present the ring to the Princess.
+
+"Now, fair one," said the impatient King, "why delay our wedding
+longer?"
+
+"Nay," said she, pouting discontentedly, "there is one thing that I
+wish, and without it I will do nothing."
+
+"What do you desire? You have only to speak and it shall be brought."
+
+"Well, transport my chateau with all it contains opposite to yours."
+
+"What!" cried the King, aghast. "Impossible!"
+
+"Well, then, it is just as impossible that I should marry you, for
+without my chateau I shall not consent."
+
+For a second time the King gave N'Oun Doare what seemed an insurmountable
+task.
+
+"Now indeed I am as good as lost!" lamented the youth as they came to
+the chateau and he saw its massive walls towering above him.
+
+"Call Grifescorne, King of the Demons, to your assistance," suggested
+the wise mare.
+
+With the aid of the Demon-King and his subjects N'Oun Doare's task was
+again accomplished, and he and his mare followed the demon army to
+Paris, where they arrived as soon as it did.
+
+In the morning the people of Paris were struck dumb to see a wonderful
+palace, its golden towers flashing in the sun, rising opposite to the
+royal residence.
+
+"We shall be married at last, shall we not?" asked the King.
+
+"Yes," replied the Princess, "but how shall I enter my chateau and
+show you its wonders without a key, for I dropped it in the sea when
+N'Oun Doare and his horse carried me over it."
+
+Once more was the youth charged with the task, and through the aid of
+the Fish-King was able to procure the key, which was cut from a single
+diamond. None of the fishes had seen it, but at last the oldest fish,
+who had not appeared when his name was pronounced, came forward and
+produced it from his mouth.
+
+With a glad heart the successful N'Oun Doare returned to Paris, and as
+the Princess had now no more excuses to make the day of the wedding
+was fixed and the ceremony was celebrated with much splendour. To the
+astonishment of all, when the King and his betrothed entered the
+church N'Oun Doare followed behind with his mare. At the conclusion of
+the ceremony the mare's skin suddenly fell to the ground, disclosing a
+maiden of the most wonderful beauty.
+
+Smiling upon the bewildered N'Oun Doare, the damsel gave him her hand
+and said: "Come with me to Tartary, for the king of that land is my
+father, and there we shall be wed amid great rejoicing."
+
+Leaving the amazed King and wedding guests, the pair quitted the
+church together. More might have been told of them, but Tartary is a
+far land and no news of them has of late years reached Brittany.
+
+
+_The Princess of Tronkolaine_
+
+There was once an old charcoal-burner who had twenty-six grandchildren.
+For twenty-five of them he had no great difficulty in procuring
+godparents, but for the twenty-sixth--that, alas! was a different
+story. Godmothers, indeed, were to be found in plenty, but he could
+not find anyone to act as godfather.
+
+As he wandered disconsolately along the high road, dwelling on his bad
+luck, he saw a fine carriage coming toward him, its occupant no less a
+personage than the King himself. The old man made an obeisance so low
+that the King was amused, and threw him a handful of silver.
+
+"My good man," he said, "here are alms for you."
+
+"Your Majesty," replied the charcoal-burner, "I do not desire alms. I
+am unhappy because I cannot find a godfather for my twenty-sixth
+grandchild."
+
+The King considered the matter.
+
+"I myself will be godfather to the child," he said at length. "Tell me
+when it is to be baptized and I will meet you at the church."
+
+The old man was delighted beyond measure, and in due time he and his
+relatives brought the child to be baptized. When they reached the
+church, sure enough, there was the King waiting to take part in the
+ceremony, and in his honour the child was named Charles. Before taking
+leave the King gave to the charcoal-burner the half of a coin which he
+had broken in two. This Charles on reaching his eighteenth birthday
+was to convey to the Court at Paris, as a token whereby his godfather
+should know him. His Majesty also left a thousand crowns, which were
+to be utilized in the education and general upbringing of the child.
+
+Time passed and Charles attained his eighteenth birthday. Taking the
+King's token, he set out for the royal abode. As he went he
+encountered an old man, who warned him on no account to drink from a
+certain well which he would pass on his way. The lad promised to
+regard the warning, but ere he reached the well he had forgotten it.
+
+A man sat by the side of the well.
+
+"You are hot and tired," he said, feigning courtesy, "will you not
+stop to drink?"
+
+The water was cool and inviting. Charles bent his head and drank
+thirstily. And while he drank the stranger robbed him of his token;
+but this he did not know till afterward.
+
+Gaily Charles resumed his way, while the thief went to Paris by a
+quicker route and got there before him.
+
+Boldly the thief demanded audience of the King, and produced the token
+so wickedly come by. The sovereign ordered the other half of the coin
+to be brought out, and lo! they fitted exactly. And because the thief
+had a plausible face the good King did not doubt that he was indeed
+his godson. He therefore had him treated with all honour and respect,
+and bestowed gifts upon him lavishly.
+
+Meanwhile Charles had arrived in Paris, and, finding that he had been
+deprived of his only means of proving his identity to the King, he
+accepted the situation philosophically and set about earning his
+living. He succeeded in obtaining a post as herdsman on the royal
+estates.
+
+One day the robber was greatly disconcerted to find the real Charles
+at the very gates of the palace. He determined to be rid of him once
+for all, so he straightway approached the King.
+
+"Your Majesty, there is a man among your retainers who has said that
+he will demand of the sun why it is so red at sunrise."
+
+"He is indeed a foolish fellow," said the King. "Our decree is that he
+shall carry out his rash boast to-morrow ere sunset, or, if it be but
+idle folly, lose his head on the following morning."
+
+The thief was delighted with the success of his plot. Poor Charles was
+summoned before the King and bidden to ask the sun why he was so red
+at sunrise. In vain he denied having uttered the speech. Had not the
+King the word of his godson?
+
+Next morning Charles set out on his journey. Ere he had gone very far
+he met an old man who asked him his errand, and afterward gave him a
+wooden horse on which to ride to the sun. Charles thought this but a
+sorry joke. However, no sooner had he mounted his wooden steed than it
+rose into the air and flew with him to where the sun's castle towered
+on the peak of a lofty mountain.
+
+To the sun, a resplendent warrior, Charles addressed his query.
+
+"In the morning," said the sun, "I pass the castle of the Princess of
+Tronkolaine, and she is so lovely that I must needs look my best."
+
+Charles, mounted on his wooden horse, flew with this answer to Paris.
+The King was satisfied, but the thief gnashed his teeth in secret
+rage, and plotted yet further against the youth.
+
+"Your Majesty," he said, "this herdsman who tends your herds has said
+that he will lead hither the Princess of Tronkolaine to be your
+bride."
+
+"If he has said so," replied the King, "he shall lead her hither or
+forfeit his life."
+
+"Alas!" thought Charles, when he learned of the plot, "I must bid
+farewell to my life--there is no hope for me!"
+
+All the same he set out boldly enough, and by and by encountered the
+old man who had helped him on his previous mission. To him Charles
+confided his troubles, begging for advice and assistance.
+
+The old man pondered.
+
+"Return to the Court," he said, "and ask the King to give you three
+ships, one laden with oatmeal, another with bacon, and the third with
+salt meat. Then sail on till you come to an island covered with ants.
+To their monarch, the Ant-King, make a present of the cargo of
+oatmeal. He will direct you to a second island, whereon dwell fierce
+lions. Fear them not. Present your cargo of bacon to their King and he
+will become your friend. Yet a third island you will touch, inhabited
+only by sparrow-hawks. Give to their King your cargo of salt meat and
+he will show you the abode of the Princess."
+
+Charles thanked the sage for his advice, which he promptly proceeded
+to follow. The King granted him the three ships, and he sailed away
+in search of the Princess.
+
+When he came to the first island, which was swarming with ants, he
+gave up his cargo of grain, and so won the friendship of the little
+creatures. At the second island he unloaded the bacon, which he
+presented to the King of the Lions; while at the third he gave up the
+salt beef to the King of the Sparrow-hawks, who directed him how to
+come at the object of his quest. Each monarch bade Charles summon him
+instantly if he had need of assistance.
+
+Setting sail from the island of the sparrow-hawks, the youth arrived
+at length at the abode of the Princess.
+
+She was seated under an orange-tree, and as Charles gazed upon her he
+thought her the most beautiful woman in the world, as indeed she was.
+
+The Princess, looking up, beheld a comely youth, beneath whose ardent
+gaze her eyes fell. Smiling graciously, she invited him into her
+castle, and he, nothing loath, followed her into the great hall, where
+tempting viands were spread before him.
+
+When he had supped he made known his errand to the Princess, and
+begged her to accompany him to Paris. She agreed only on condition
+that he would perform three tasks set him, and when Charles was
+curious to know what was required of him she led him into another room
+where was a large heap of every kind of seed--corn, barley, clover,
+flax--all mixed up anyhow.
+
+"This is the first task," said the Princess: "you must put each kind
+of seed into a different heap, so that no single seed shall be out of
+its place. This you must accomplish ere to-morrow at sunrise." With
+that she left the room.
+
+Charles was in despair, until he bethought him of his friend the King
+of the Ants, whom he begged to help him. Scarcely had he uttered the
+words when ants began to fill the room, coming from he knew not where.
+In less time than it takes to tell they had arranged the seeds into
+separate heaps, so that no single seed was out of its place.
+
+When the Princess arrived in the morning she was astonished to find
+the hero fast asleep and the work accomplished. All day she
+entertained him hospitably in her castle, and at nightfall she showed
+him the second task. An avenue of great oaks led down from the castle.
+Giving him a wooden axe and a wooden saw, the Princess bade him cut
+down all the trees ere morning.
+
+When she had left him Charles called upon the King of the Lions.
+Instantly a number of lions bounded upon the scene, and with teeth and
+claws soon performed the task.
+
+In the morning the Princess, finding Charles asleep and all the trees
+cut down, was more astonished than ever.
+
+The third task was the most difficult of all. A high mountain had to
+be levelled to the plain in a single night. Without the help of the
+sparrow-hawks, Charles would certainly have failed, but these faithful
+creatures worked with a will, and soon had the great mountain carried
+away piece by piece and dropped into the sea.
+
+When the Princess came for the third time and found the hero asleep by
+the finished task she fell in love with him straightway, and kissed
+him softly on the brow.
+
+There was now nothing further to hinder his return, and he begged the
+Princess to accompany him to Paris. In due time they arrived in that
+city, to be welcomed with great warmth by the people. The beauty of
+the lady won all hearts. But great was the general astonishment when
+she declared that she would marry, not the King, but the youth who had
+brought her to Paris! Charles thereupon declared himself the true
+godson of the King, and the monarch, far from being angry, gave the
+couple his blessing and great estates; and when in course of time he
+died they reigned in his stead.
+
+As for the thief, he was ordered to execution forthwith, and was
+roasted to death in a large oven.
+
+
+_The Princess Starbright_
+
+This is another tale which introduces the search for the sun-princess
+in a peculiar setting.
+
+In the long ago there lived near the Lake of Leguer a jolly miller who
+found recreation after his work in shooting the wild swans and ducks
+which frequented that stretch of water. One December day, when it was
+freezing hard and the earth was covered with snow, he observed a
+solitary duck near the edge of the lake. He shot at it, and went
+forward to pick it up, when he saw to his amazement that it had
+changed into a beautiful princess. He was ready to drop into the snow
+with fright, but the lady came graciously forward to him, saying:
+
+"Fear not, my brave fellow, for know that I have been enchanted these
+many years under the form of a wild duck, because of the enmity of
+three malicious demons. You can restore me permanently to my human
+shape if you choose to show only a little perseverance and courage."
+
+"Why, what do you desire me to do, madam?" stammered the miller,
+abashed by the lady's beauty and condescension.
+
+"What only a brave man could accomplish, my friend," she replied; "all
+that you have to do is to pass three consecutive nights in the old
+manor which you can see over there."
+
+The miller shuddered, for he had heard the most terrible stories in
+connexion with the ruined manor, which had an evil name in the
+district.
+
+"Alas! madam," he said, "whom might I not encounter there! Even the
+devil himself----"
+
+"My good friend," said the Princess, sadly, "if you do as I ask you
+will have to encounter not one but a dozen devils, who will torment
+you in every possible way. But fear nothing, for I can provide you
+with a magic ointment which will preserve you entirely from all the
+injuries they would attempt to inflict upon you. Even if you were dead
+I could resuscitate you. I assure you that if you will do as I ask you
+will never regret it. Beneath the hearthstone in the hall of the manor
+are three casks of gold and three of silver, and all these will belong
+to you and to me if you assist me; so put your courage to the proof, I
+pray you."
+
+The miller squared his shoulders. "Lady," he said, "I will obey you,
+even if I have to face a hundred devils instead of twelve."
+
+The Princess smiled encouragingly and disappeared. On the following
+night the miller set out for the old manor, carrying a bundle of
+faggots to make a fire, and some cider and tobacco to refresh him
+during his vigil. When he arrived in the dismal old place he sat
+himself down by the hearth, where he had built a good fire, and lit
+his pipe. But he had scarcely done so when he heard a most tremendous
+commotion in the chimney. Somewhat scared, he hid himself under an old
+bed which stood opposite the hearth, and, gazing anxiously from his
+place of concealment, beheld eleven grisly fiends descend from the
+flue. They seemed astonished to find a fire on the hearth, and did not
+appear to be in the best of tempers.
+
+"Where is Boiteux?" cried one. "Oh," growled another, who appeared to
+be the chief of the band, "he is always late."
+
+"Ah, behold him," said a third, as Boiteux arrived by the same road as
+his companions.
+
+"Well, comrades," cried Boiteux, "have you heard the news?" The others
+shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads sulkily.
+
+"Well," said Boiteux, "I am convinced that the miller of Leguer is
+here, and that he is trying to free the Princess from the enchantment
+which we have placed upon her."
+
+A hurried search at once took place, the demons scrambling from one
+part of the room to the other, tearing down the curtains and making
+every effort to discover the hiding-place of the intruder. At last
+Boiteux, peering under the bed, saw the miller crouching there, and
+cried out: "Here is the rogue beneath the bed."
+
+The unlucky miller was then seized by the foot and dragged into the
+shrieking and leaping circle. With a gesture of command the chief
+demon subdued the antics of his followers.
+
+"So, my jolly miller," said he, "our friend the Princess has found a
+champion in you, has she? Well, we are going to have some sport with
+you, which I fear will not be quite to your taste, but I can assure
+you that you will not again have the opportunity of assisting a
+princess in distress."
+
+With this he seized the miller and thrust him from him with great
+force. As he flew like a stone from a sling, another of the fiends
+seized him, and the unhappy man was thrown violently about from one to
+the other. At last they threw him out of the window into the
+courtyard, and as he did not move they thought that he was dead. But
+in the midst of their laughter and rejoicing at the easy manner in
+which they had got rid of him, cockcrow sounded, and the diabolic
+company swiftly disappeared. They had scarcely taken their departure
+when the Princess arrived. She tenderly anointed the miller's hurts
+from the little pot of magic ointment she had brought with her, and,
+nothing daunted, now that he was thoroughly revived, the bold fellow
+announced his intention of seeing the matter through and remaining in
+the manor for the two following nights.
+
+He had scarcely ensconced himself in his seat by the chimney-side on
+the second night when the twelve fiends came tumbling down the chimney
+as before. At one end of the room was a large heap of wood, behind
+which the miller quickly took refuge.
+
+"I smell the smell of a Christian!" cried Boiteux. A search followed,
+and once more the adventurous miller was dragged forth.
+
+"Oho!" cried the leader, "so you are not dead after all! Well, I can
+assure you that we shall not botch our work on this occasion."
+
+One of the grisly company placed a large cauldron of oil upon the
+fire, and when this was boiling they seized their victim and thrust
+him into it. The most dreadful agony seized the miller as the liquid
+seethed around his body, and he was just about to faint under the
+intensity of the torture when once again the cock crew and the
+fiendish band took themselves off. The Princess quickly appeared, and,
+drawing the miller from the cauldron, smeared him from head to foot
+with the ointment.
+
+On the third night the devils once more found the miller in the
+apartment. In dismay Boiteux suggested that he should be roasted on a
+spit and eaten, but unluckily for them they took a long time to come
+to this conclusion, and when they were about to impale their victim on
+the spit, the cock crew and they were forced to withdraw, howling in
+baffled rage. The Princess arrived as before, and was delighted to see
+that this time her champion did not require any assistance.
+
+"All is well now," she said. "You have freed me from my enchantment
+and the treasure is ours."
+
+They raised the hearthstone from its place, and, as she had said, the
+three casks of gold and the three casks of silver were found resting
+beneath it.
+
+"Take what you wish for yourself," said the Princess. "As for me, I
+cannot stay here; I must at once make a journey which will last a year
+and a day, after which we shall never part again."
+
+With these words she disappeared. The miller was grieved at her
+departure, but, consoling himself with the treasure, made over his
+mill to his apprentice and, apprising one of his companions of his
+good luck, resolved to go upon a journey with him, until such time as
+the Princess should return. He visited the neighbouring countries,
+and, with plenty of money at his disposal, found existence very
+pleasant indeed. After some eight months of this kind of life, he and
+his friend resolved to return to Brittany, and set out on their
+journey. One day they encountered on the road an old woman selling
+apples. She asked them to buy, but the miller was advised by his
+friend not to pay any heed to her. Ignoring the well-meant advice, the
+miller laughed and bought three apples. He had scarcely eaten one when
+he became unwell. Recalling how the fruit had disagreed with him, he
+did not touch the other apples until the day on which the Princess had
+declared she would return. When on the way to the manor to meet her,
+he ate the second apple. He began to feel sleepy, and, lying down at
+the foot of a tree, fell into a deep slumber.
+
+Soon after the Princess arrived in a beautiful star-coloured chariot
+drawn by ten horses. When she saw the miller lying sleeping she
+inquired of his friend what had chanced to him. The man acquainted her
+with the adventure of the apples, and the Princess told him that the
+old woman from whom he had purchased them was a sorceress.
+
+"Alas!" she said, "I am unable to take him with me in this condition,
+but I will come to this place to-morrow and again on the following
+day, and if he be awake I will transport him hence in my chariot. Here
+are a golden pear and a handkerchief; give him these and tell him that
+I will come again."
+
+She disappeared in her star-coloured equipage. Shortly afterward the
+miller wakened, and his friend told him what had occurred and gave him
+the pear and the kerchief. The next day the friends once more repaired
+to the spot where the Princess had vanished, but in thoughtlessness
+the miller had eaten of the third apple, and once more the Princess
+found him asleep. In sorrow she promised to return next day for the
+last time, once more leaving a golden pear and a handkerchief with his
+friend, to whom she said:
+
+"If he is not awake when I come to-morrow he will have to cross three
+powers and three seas in order to find me."
+
+Unluckily, however, the miller was still asleep when the Princess
+appeared on the following day. She repeated what she had said to his
+friend concerning the ordeal that the unfortunate miller would have to
+face before he might see her again, and ere she took her departure
+left a third pear and a third handkerchief behind her. When the miller
+awoke and found that she had gone he went nearly crazy with grief, but
+nevertheless he declared his unalterable intention of regaining the
+Princess, even if he should have to travel to the ends of the earth in
+search of her. Accordingly he set out to find her abode. He walked and
+walked innumerable miles, until at last he came to a great forest. As
+he arrived at its gloomy borders night fell, and he considered it
+safest to climb a tree, from which, to his great satisfaction, he
+beheld a light shining in the distance. Descending, he walked in the
+direction of the light, and found a tiny hut made of the branches of
+trees, in which sat a little old man with a long white beard.
+
+"Good evening, grandfather," said the miller.
+
+"Good evening, my child," replied the old man. "I behold you with
+pleasure, for it is eighty years since I have seen any human being."
+
+The miller entered the hut and sat down beside the old man, and after
+some conversation told him the object of his journey.
+
+"I will help you, my son," said the ancient. "Do you see these
+enchanted gaiters? Well, I wore them at your age. When you buckle them
+over your legs you will be able to travel seven leagues at a single
+step, and you will arrive without any difficulty at the castle of the
+Princess you desire so much to see again."
+
+The miller passed the night in the hut with the old hermit, and on the
+following morning, with the rising of the sun, buckled on the magic
+gaiters and stepped out briskly. All went well to begin with, nothing
+arrested his progress, and he sped over rivers, forests, and
+mountains. As the sun was setting he came to the borders of a second
+forest, where he observed a second hut, precisely similar to that in
+which he had passed the previous night. Going toward it, he found it
+occupied by an aged woman, of whom he demanded supper and lodging.
+
+"Alas! my son," said the old woman, "you do ill to come here, for I
+have three sons, terrible fellows, who will be here presently, and I
+am certain that if you remain they will devour you."
+
+The miller asked the names of the sons, and was informed by the old
+woman that they were January, February, and March. From this he
+concluded that the crone he was addressing was none other than the
+mother of the winds, and on asking her if this was so she admitted
+that he had judged correctly. While they were talking there was a
+terrible commotion in the chimney, from which descended an enormous
+giant with white hair and beard, breathing out clouds of frost.
+
+"Aha!" he cried, "I see, mother, that you have not neglected to
+provide for my supper!"
+
+"Softly, softly, good son," said the old dame; "this is little Yves,
+my nephew and your cousin; you must not eat him." The giant, who
+seemed greatly annoyed, retired into a corner, growling. Shortly
+afterward his brothers, February and March, arrived, and were told the
+same tale regarding the miller's relationship to them.
+
+Our hero, resolved to profit by the acquaintanceship, asked the
+gigantic February if he would carry him to the palace of the Princess,
+whom he described.
+
+"Ah," said February, "without doubt you speak of the Princess
+Starbright. If you wish I will give you a lift on my back part of the
+way."
+
+The miller gratefully accepted the offer, and in the morning mounted
+on the back of the mighty wind-giant, who carried him over a great
+sea. Then, after traversing much land and a second ocean, and while
+crossing a third spacious water, February expressed himself as quite
+fatigued and said that he could not carry his new cousin any farther.
+The miller glanced beneath him at the great waste of waters and begged
+him to make an effort to reach the land on the other side. Giving vent
+to a deep-throated grumble, February obeyed, and at last set him down
+outside the walls of the town where the castle of the Princess
+Starbright was situated. The miller entered the town and came to an
+inn, and, having dined, entered into conversation with the hostess,
+asking her the news of the place.
+
+"Why," said the woman, amazed, "where do you come from that you don't
+know that the Princess Starbright is to be married to-day, and to a
+husband that she does not love? The wedding procession will pass the
+door in a few moments on its way to the church."
+
+The miller was greatly downcast at these words, but plucking up
+courage he placed on a little table before the inn the first of the
+pears and handkerchiefs that the Princess had left with his friend.
+Shortly afterward the wedding procession passed, and the Princess
+immediately remarked the pear and the kerchief, and also recognized
+the miller standing close by. She halted, and, feigning illness,
+begged that the ceremony might be postponed until the morrow. Having
+returned to the palace, she sent one of her women to purchase the
+fruit and the handkerchief, and these the miller gave the maiden
+without question. On the following day the same thing happened, and on
+the third occasion of the Princess's passing the same series of events
+occurred. This time the Princess sent for the miller, and the pair
+embraced tenderly and wept with joy at having recovered each other.
+
+Now the Princess was as clever as she was beautiful, and she had a
+stratagem by which she hoped to marry the miller without undue
+opposition on the part of her friends. So she procured the marriage
+garments of the prince, her _fiance_, and attiring the miller in them,
+took him to the marriage feast, which had been prepared for the fourth
+time at a late hour; but she hid her lover in a secluded corner from
+the public gaze. After a while she pretended to be looking for
+something, and upon being asked what she had lost, replied:
+
+"I have a beautiful coffer, but, alas! I have lost the key of it. I
+have found a new key, but it does not fit the casket; should I not
+search until I have recovered the old one?"
+
+"Without doubt!" cried every one. Then the Princess, going to the
+place where the miller was concealed, led him forth by the hand.
+
+"My lords and gentles," she said, "the coffer I spoke of is my heart;
+here is the one key that can fit it, the key that I had lost and have
+found again."
+
+The Princess and the miller were married amid universal rejoicings;
+and some time after the ceremony they did not fail to revisit the Lake
+of Leguer, the scene of their first meeting, the legend of which still
+clings like the mists of evening to its shores.
+
+This quaint and curious tale, in which the native folk-lore and French
+elements are so strangely mingled, deals, like its predecessor, with
+the theme of the search for the fairy princess. We turn now to another
+tale of quest with somewhat similar incidents, where the solar nature
+of one of the characters is perhaps more obvious--the quest for the
+mortal maiden who has been carried off by the sun-hero. We refrain in
+this place from indicating the mythological basis which underlies such
+a tale as this, as such a phenomenon is already amply illustrated in
+other works in this series.
+
+
+_The Castle of the Sun_
+
+There once lived a peasant who had seven children, six of them boys
+and the seventh a girl. They were very poor and all had to work hard
+for a living, but the drudges of the family were the youngest son,
+Yvon, and his sister, Yvonne. Because they were gentler and more
+delicate than the others, they were looked upon as poor, witless
+creatures, and all the hardest work was given them to do. But the
+children comforted each other, and became but the better favoured as
+they grew up.
+
+One day when Yvonne was taking the cattle to pasture she encountered a
+handsome youth, so splendidly garbed that her simple heart was filled
+with awe and admiration. To her astonishment he addressed her and
+courteously begged her hand in marriage. "To-morrow," he said, "I
+shall meet you here at this hour, and you shall give me an answer."
+
+Troubled, yet secretly happy, Yvonne made her way home, and told her
+parents all that had chanced. At first they laughed her to scorn, and
+refused to believe her story of the handsome prince, but when at
+length they were convinced they told her she was free to marry whom
+she would.
+
+On the following day Yvonne betook herself to the trysting-place,
+where her lover awaited her, even more gloriously resplendent than on
+the occasion of his first coming. The very trappings of his horse were
+of gleaming gold. At Yvonne's request he accompanied her to her home,
+and made arrangements with her kindred for the marriage. To all
+inquiries regarding his name and place of abode he returned that these
+should be made known on the wedding morning.
+
+Time passed, and on the day appointed the glittering stranger came to
+claim his wife. The ceremony over, he swept her into a carriage and
+was about to drive away, when her brothers reminded him of his promise
+to reveal his identity.
+
+"Where must we go to visit our sister?" they asked.
+
+"Eastward," he replied, "to a palace built of crystal, beyond the Sea
+of Darkness."
+
+And with that the pair were gone.
+
+A year elapsed, and the brothers neither saw nor heard anything of
+their sister, so that at length they decided to go in search of her.
+Yvon would have accompanied them, but they bade him stay at home.
+
+"You are so stupid," they said, "you would be of no use to us."
+
+Eastward they rode, and ever eastward, till at length they found
+themselves in the heart of a great forest. Then night came on and they
+lost the path. Twice a great noise, like the riot of a tempest, swept
+over their heads, leaving them trembling and stricken with panic.
+
+By and by they came upon an old woman tending a great fire, and of her
+they inquired how they might reach the abode of their brother-in-law.
+
+"I cannot tell," said the old woman, "but my son may be able to direct
+you."
+
+For the third time they heard the noise as of a great wind racing over
+the tree-tops.
+
+"Hush!" said the old woman, "it is my son approaching."
+
+He was a huge giant, this son of hers, and when he drew near the fire
+he said loudly:
+
+"Oh ho! I smell the blood of a Christian!"
+
+"What!" cried his mother sharply. "Would you eat your pretty cousins,
+who have come so far to visit us?"
+
+At that the giant became quite friendly toward his 'cousins,' and when
+he learned of their mission even offered to conduct them part of the
+way.
+
+Notwithstanding his amiability, however, the brothers spent an anxious
+night, and were up betimes on the following morning.
+
+The giant made ready for departure. First of all he bade the old woman
+pile fresh fuel on the fire. Then he spread a great black cloth, on
+which he made the brothers stand. Finally he strode into the fire, and
+when his clothes were consumed the black cloth rose into the air,
+bearing the brothers with it. Its going was marked by the sound of
+rushing wind which had terrified them on the preceding day. At length
+they alighted on a vast plain, half of which was rich and fertile,
+while the other half was bleak and arid as a desert. The plain was
+dotted with horses, and, curiously enough, those on the arid side were
+in splendid condition, whereas those on the fertile part were thin and
+miserable.
+
+The brothers had not the faintest idea of which direction they ought
+to take, and after a vain attempt to mount the horses on the plain
+they decided to return home. After many wanderings they arrived at
+their native place once more.
+
+When Yvon learned of the ill-success which had attended their mission
+he decided to go himself in search of his sister, and though his
+brothers laughed at him they gave him an old horse and bade him go.
+
+Eastward and eastward he rode, till at length he reached the forest
+where the old woman still tended the fire. Seeing that he was strong
+and fearless, she directed him by a difficult and dangerous road,
+which, however, he must pursue if he wished to see his sister.
+
+It was indeed a place of terrors. Poisonous serpents lay across his
+track; ugly thorns and briers sprang underfoot; at one point a lake
+barred his way.
+
+Finally a subterranean passage led him into his sister's country,
+where everything was of crystal, shining with the splendour of the sun
+itself. At the end of a gleaming pathway rose a castle built entirely
+of crystal, its innumerable domes and turrets reflecting the light in
+a thousand prismatic hues.
+
+Having gained access to the castle through a cave, Yvon wandered
+through its many beautiful chambers, till in one of these he came
+upon his sister asleep on a silken couch.
+
+Entranced with her beauty, and not daring to wake her, he slipped
+behind a curtain and watched her in silence; but as time went on he
+marvelled that she did not wake.
+
+At eventide a handsome youth--Yvon's brother-in-law--entered the
+chamber, struck Yvonne sharply three times, then flung himself down by
+her side and went to sleep. All night Yvon waited in his place of
+concealment. In the morning the young man rose from his couch, gave
+his wife three resounding blows, and went away. Only then did Yvon
+emerge and wake his sister.
+
+Brother and sister exchanged a tender greeting, and found much to talk
+of after their long separation. Yvon learned that the country to which
+he had come was a peculiar place, where meat and drink could be
+entirely dispensed with, while even sleep was not a necessity.
+
+"Tell me, Yvonne," he said, remembering what he had seen of his
+brother-in-law, "does your husband treat you well?"
+
+Yvonne assured him that her husband was all she could wish--that she
+was perfectly happy.
+
+"Is he always absent during the day?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Always."
+
+"Do you know where he goes?"
+
+"I do not, my brother."
+
+"I have a mind," said Yvon, "to ask him to let me accompany him on his
+journey. What say you, sister?"
+
+"It is a very good plan," said Yvonne.
+
+At sundown her husband returned home. He and Yvon became very good
+friends, and the latter begged to be allowed to accompany him on his
+journey the following day.
+
+"You may do so," was the response, "but only on one condition: if you
+touch or address anyone save me you must return home."
+
+Yvon readily agreed to accept the condition, and early next morning
+the two set off. Ere long they came to a wide plain, one half of which
+was green and fruitful, while the other half was barren and dry. On
+this plain cattle were feeding, and those on the arid part were fat
+and well-conditioned, while the others were mean and shrivelled to a
+degree. Yvon learned from his companion that the fat cattle
+represented those who were contented with their meagre lot, while the
+lean animals were those who, with a plentiful supply of worldly goods,
+were yet miserable and discontented.
+
+Many other strange things they saw as they went, but that which seemed
+strangest of all to Yvon was the sight of two trees lashing each other
+angrily with their branches, as though each would beat the other to
+the ground.
+
+Laying his hands on them, he forbade them to fight, and lo! in a
+moment they became two human beings, a man and wife, who thanked Yvon
+for releasing them from an enchantment under which they had been laid
+as a punishment for their perpetual bickering.
+
+Anon they reached a great cavern from which weird noises proceeded,
+and Yvon would fain have advanced farther; but his companion forbade
+him, reminding him that in disenchanting the trees he had failed to
+observe the one essential condition, and must return to the palace
+where his sister dwelt.
+
+There Yvon remained for a few days longer, after which his
+brother-in-law directed him by a speedy route to his home.
+
+"Go," said the prince, "but ere long you will return, and then it will
+be to remain with us for ever."
+
+On reaching his native village Yvon found all trace of his dwelling
+gone. Greatly bewildered, he inquired for his father by name. An old
+greybeard replied.
+
+"I have heard of him," he said. "He lived in the days when my
+grandfather's grandfather was but a boy, and now he sleeps in the
+churchyard yonder."
+
+Only then did Yvon realize that his visit to his sister had been one,
+not of days, but of generations!
+
+
+_The Seigneur with the Horse's Head_
+
+Famous among all peoples is the tale of the husband surrounded by
+mystery--bespelled in animal form, like the Prince in the story of
+Beauty and the Beast, nameless, as in that of Lohengrin, or unbeheld
+of his spouse, as in the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Among uncivilized
+peoples it is frequently forbidden to the wife to see her husband's
+face until some time after marriage, and the belief that ill-luck will
+befall one or both should this law be disregarded runs through
+primitive story, being perhaps reminiscent of a time when the man of
+an alien or unfriendly tribe crept to his wife's lodge or hut under
+cover of darkness and returned ere yet the first glimmer of dawn might
+betray him to the men of her people. The story which follows, however,
+deals with the theme of the enchanted husband whose wife must not
+speak to anyone until her first child receives the sacrament of
+baptism, and is, perhaps, unique of its kind.
+
+There lived at one time in the old chateau of Kerouez, in the commune
+of Loguivy-Plougras, a rich and powerful seigneur, whose only sorrow
+was the dreadful deformity of his son, who had come into the world
+with a horse's head. He was naturally kept out of sight as much as
+possible, but when he had attained the age of eighteen years he told
+his mother one day that he desired to marry, and requested her to
+interview a farmer in the vicinity who had three pretty young
+daughters, in order that she might arrange a match with one of them.
+
+The good lady did as she was requested, not without much embarrassment
+and many qualms of conscience, and after conversing upon every
+imaginable subject, at length gently broke the object of her visit to
+the astonished farmer. The poor man was at first horrified, but little
+by little the lady worked him into a good humour, so that at last he
+consented to ask his daughters if any one of them would agree to marry
+the afflicted young lord. The two elder girls indignantly refused the
+offer, but when it was made plain to them that she who espoused the
+seigneur would one day be chatelaine of the castle and become a fine
+lady, the eldest daughter somewhat reluctantly consented and the match
+was agreed upon.
+
+Some days afterward the bride-to-be happened to pass the castle and
+saw the servants washing the linen, when one cried to her:
+
+"How in the world can a fine girl like you be such a fool as to throw
+herself away on a man with a horse's head?"
+
+"Bah!" she replied, "he is rich, and, let me tell you, we won't be
+married for long, for on the bridal night I shall cut his throat."
+
+Just at that moment a gay cavalier passed and smiled at the farmer's
+daughter.
+
+"You are having a strange conversation, mademoiselle," he said. She
+coloured and looked somewhat confused.
+
+"Well, sir," she replied, "it is hateful to be mocked by these wenches
+because I have the bad luck to be espoused to a seigneur with a
+horse's head, and I assure you I feel so angry that I shall certainly
+carry out my threat."
+
+The unknown laughed shortly and went his way. In time the night of the
+nuptials arrived. A grand _fete_ was held at the chateau, and, the
+ceremony over, the bridesmaids conducted the young wife to her
+chamber. The bridegroom shortly followed, and to the surprise of his
+wife, no sooner had the hour of sunset come than his horse's head
+disappeared and he became exactly as other men. Approaching the bed
+where his bride lay, he suddenly seized her, and before she could cry
+out or make the least clamour he killed her in the manner in which she
+had threatened to kill him.
+
+In the morning his mother came to the chamber, and was horrified at
+the spectacle she saw.
+
+"Gracious heavens! my son, what have you done?" she cried.
+
+"I have done that, my mother," replied her son, "which was about to be
+done to me."
+
+Three months afterward the young seigneur asked his mother to repair
+once more to the farmer with the request that another of his daughters
+might be given him in marriage. The second daughter, ignorant of the
+manner of her sister's death, and mindful of the splendid wedding
+festivities, embraced the proposal with alacrity. Like her sister, she
+chanced to be passing the washing-green of the castle one day, and the
+laundresses, knowing of her espousal, taunted her upon it, so that at
+last she grew very angry and cried:
+
+"I won't be troubled long with the animal, I can assure you, for on
+the very night that I wed him I shall kill him like a pig!"
+
+At that very moment the same unknown gentleman who had overheard the
+fatal words of her sister passed, and said:
+
+"How now, young women, that's very strange talk of yours!"
+
+"Well, monseigneur," stammered the betrothed girl, "they are twitting
+me upon marrying a man with a horse's head; but I will cut his throat
+on the night of our wedding with as little conscience as I would cut
+the throat of a pig." The unknown gentleman laughed as he had done
+before and passed upon his way.
+
+As on the previous occasion, the wedding was celebrated with all the
+pomp and circumstance which usually attends a Breton ceremony of the
+kind, and in due time the bride was conducted to her chamber, only to
+be found in the morning weltering in her blood.
+
+At the end of another three months the seigneur dispatched his mother
+for the third time to the farmer, with the request that his younger
+daughter might be given him in marriage, but on this occasion her
+parents were by no means enraptured with the proposal. When the great
+lady, however, promised them that if they consented to the match they
+would be given the farm to have and to hold as their own property,
+they found the argument irresistible and reluctantly agreed. Strange
+to say, the girl herself was perfectly composed about the matter, and
+gave it as her opinion that if her sisters had met with a violent
+death they were entirely to blame themselves, for some reason which
+she could not explain, and she added that she thought that their loose
+and undisciplined way of talking had had much to do with their
+untimely fate. Just as her sisters had been, she too was taunted by
+the laundresses regarding her choice of a husband, but her answer to
+them was very different.
+
+"If they met with their deaths," she said, "it was because of their
+wicked utterances. I do not in the least fear that I shall have the
+same fate."
+
+As before the unknown seigneur passed, but this time, without saying
+anything, he hurried on his way and was soon lost to view.
+
+The wedding of the youngest sister was even more splendid than that of
+the two previous brides. On the following morning the young seigneur's
+mother hastened with fear and trembling to the marriage chamber, and
+to her intense relief found that her daughter-in-law was alive. For
+some months the bride lived happily with her husband, who every night
+at set of sun regained his natural appearance as a young and handsome
+man. In due time a son was born to them, who had not the least sign of
+his semi-equine parentage, and when they were about to have the infant
+baptized the father said to the young mother:
+
+"Hearken to what I have to say. I was condemned to suffer the horrible
+enchantment you know of until such time as a child should be born to
+me, and I shall be immediately delivered from the curse whenever this
+infant is baptized. But take care that you do not speak a word until
+the baptismal bells cease to sound, for if you utter a syllable, even
+to your mother, I shall disappear on the instant and you will never
+see me more."
+
+Full of the resolve not to utter a single sound, the young mother, who
+lay in bed, kept silent, until at last she heard the sound of bells,
+when, in her joy, forgetting the warning, she turned to her mother,
+who sat near, with words of congratulation on her lips. A few moments
+afterward her husband rushed into the room, the horse's head still
+upon his shoulders. He was covered with sweat, and panted fiercely.
+
+"Ah, miserable woman," he cried, "what have you done? I must leave
+you, and you shall never see me more!" and he made as if to quit the
+room. His wife rose from her bed, and strove to detain him, but he
+struck at her with his fist. The blood trickled out and made three
+spots on his shirt.
+
+"Behold these spots," cried the young wife; "they shall never
+disappear until I find you."
+
+"And I swear to you," cried her husband, "that you will never find me
+until you have worn out three pairs of iron shoes in doing so."
+
+With these words he ran off at such speed that the poor wife could not
+follow him, and, fainting, she sank to the ground.
+
+Some time after her husband had left her the young wife had three
+pairs of iron shoes made and went in search of him. After she had
+travelled about the world for nearly ten years the last pair of shoes
+began to show signs of wear, when she found herself one day at a
+castle where the servants were hanging out the clothes to dry, and she
+heard one of the laundresses say:
+
+"Do you see this shirt? I declare it is enchanted, for although I have
+washed it again and again I cannot rub out these three spots of blood
+which you see upon it."
+
+When the wanderer heard this she approached the laundress and said to
+her: "Let me try, I pray you. I think I can wash the shirt clean."
+
+They gave her the shirt, she washed it, and the spots disappeared. So
+grateful was the laundress that she bade the stranger go to the castle
+and ask for a meal and a bed. These were willingly granted her, and at
+night she was placed in a small apartment next to that occupied by the
+lord of the castle. From what she had seen she was sure that her
+husband was the lord himself, so when she heard the master of the
+house enter the room next door she knocked upon the boards which
+separated it from her own. Her husband, for he it was, replied from
+the other side; then, entering her room, he recognized his wife, and
+they were happily united after the years of painful separation. To the
+wife's great joy her husband was now completely restored to his proper
+form, and nothing occurred to mar their happiness for the rest of
+their lives.
+
+
+_The Bride of Satan_
+
+Weird and terrible as are many of the darksome legends of Brittany, it
+may be doubted if any are more awe-inspiring than that which we are
+now about to relate. "Those who are affianced three times without
+marrying shall burn in hell," says an old Breton proverb, and it is
+probably this aphorism which has given the Bretons such a strong
+belief in the sacred nature of a betrothal. The fantastic ballad from
+which this story is taken is written in the dialect of Leon, and the
+words are put into the mouth of a maiden of that country. Twice had
+she been betrothed. On the last occasion she had worn a robe of the
+finest stuff, embroidered with twelve brilliant stars and having the
+figures of the sun and moon painted upon it, like the lady in Madame
+d'Aulnoy's story of _Finette Cendron_ (_Cinderella_). On the occasion
+when she went to meet her third _fiance_ in church she almost fainted
+as she turned with her maidens into the little road leading up to the
+building, for there before her was a great lord clad in steel
+_cap-a-pie_, wearing on his head a casque of gold, his shoulders
+covered by a blood-coloured mantle. Strange lights flashed from his
+eyes, which glittered under his casque like meteors. By his side stood
+a huge black steed, which ever and again struck the ground impatiently
+with his hoofs, throwing up sparks of fire.
+
+The priest was waiting in the church, the bridegroom arrived, but the
+bride did not come. Where had she gone? She had stepped on board a
+barque with the dark steel-clad lord, and the ship passed silently
+over the waters until it vanished among the shadows of night. Then the
+lady turned to her husband.
+
+"What gloomy waters are these through which we sail, my lord?" she
+asked.
+
+"This is the Lake of Anguish," he replied in hollow tones. "We sail to
+the Place of Skulls, at the mouth of Hell."
+
+At this the wretched bride wept bitterly. "Take back your wedding-ring!"
+she cried. "Take back your dowry and your bridal gifts!"
+
+But he answered not. Down they descended into horrid darkness, and as
+the unhappy maiden fell there rang in her ears the cries of the
+damned.
+
+[Illustration: THE BRIDE OF SATAN]
+
+This tale is common to many countries. The fickle maiden is everywhere
+regarded among primitive peoples with dislike and distrust. But
+perhaps the folk-ballad which most nearly resembles that just related
+is the Scottish ballad of _The Demon Lover_, which inspired the late
+Hamish MacCunn, the gifted Scottish composer, in the composition of
+his weird and striking orchestral piece, _The Ship o' the Fiend_.
+
+
+_The Baron of Jauioz_
+
+Another tradition which tells of the fate of an unhappy maiden is
+enshrined in the ballad of _The Baron of Jauioz_. Louis, Baron of
+Jauioz, in Languedoc, was a French warrior of considerable renown who
+flourished in the fourteenth century, and who took part in many of the
+principal events of that stirring epoch, fighting against the English
+in France and Flanders under the Duke of Berry, his overlord. Some
+years later he embarked for the Holy Land, but, if we may believe
+Breton tradition, he returned, and while passing through the duchy
+fell in love with and actually bought for a sum of money a young
+Breton girl, whom he carried away with him to France. The unfortunate
+maiden, so far from being attracted by the more splendid environment
+of his castle, languished and died.
+
+"I hear the note of the death-bird," the ballad begins sadly; "is it
+true, my mother, that I am sold to the Baron of Jauioz?"
+
+"Ask your father, little Tina, ask your father," is the callous reply,
+and the question is then put to her father, who requests the
+unfortunate damsel to ask her brother, a harsh rustic who does not
+scruple to tell her the brutal truth, and adds that she must depart
+immediately. The girl asks what dress she must wear, her red gown, or
+her gown of white delaine.
+
+"It matters little, my daughter," says the heartless mother. "Your
+lover waits at the door mounted on a great black horse. Go to him on
+the instant."
+
+As she leaves her native village the clocks are striking, and she
+weeps bitterly.
+
+"Adieu, Saint Anne!" she says. "Adieu, bells of my native land!"
+
+Passing the Lake of Anguish she sees a band of the dead, white and
+shadowy, crossing the watery expanse in their little boats. As she
+passes them she can hear their teeth chatter. At the Valley of Blood
+she espies other unfortunates. Their hearts are sunken in them and all
+memory has left them.
+
+After this terrible ride the Baron and Tina reach the castle of
+Jauioz. The old man seats himself near the fire. He is black and
+ill-favoured as a carrion crow. His beard and his hair are white, and
+his eyes are like firebrands.
+
+"Come hither to me, my child," says he, "come with me from chamber to
+chamber that I may show you my treasures."
+
+"Ah, seigneur," she replies, the tears falling fast, "I had rather be
+at home with my mother counting the chips which fall from the fire."
+
+"Let us descend, then, to the cellar, where I will show you the rich
+wines in the great bins."
+
+"Ah, sir, I would rather quaff the water of the fields that my
+father's horses drink."
+
+"Come with me, then, to the shops, and I will buy you a sumptuous
+gown."
+
+"Better that I were wearing the working dress that my mother made
+me."
+
+The seigneur turns from her in anger. She lingers at the window and
+watches the birds, begging them to take a message from her to her
+friends.
+
+At night a gentle voice whispers: "My father, my mother, for the love
+of God, pray for me!" Then all is silence.
+
+In this striking ballad we find strong traces of the Breton love of
+country and other national traits. The death-bird alluded to is a grey
+bird which sings during the winter in the Landes country in a voice
+soft and sad. It is probably a bird of the osprey species. It is
+thought that the girl who hears it sing is doomed to misfortune. The
+strange and ghostly journey of the unhappy Tina recalls the _mise en
+scene_ of such ballads as _The Bride of Satan_, and it would seem that
+she passes through the Celtic Tartarus. It is plain that the Seigneur
+of Jauioz by his purchase of their countrywoman became so unpopular
+among the freedom-loving Bretons that at length they magnified him
+into a species of demon--a traditionary fate which he thoroughly
+deserved, if the heartrending tale concerning his victim has any
+foundation in fact.
+
+
+_The Man of Honour_
+
+The tale of the man who is helped by the grateful dead is by no means
+confined to Brittany. Indeed, in folk-tale the dead are often jealous
+of the living and act toward them with fiendish malice. But in the
+following we have a story in which a dead man shows his gratitude to
+the living for receiving the boon of Christian burial at his hands.
+
+There was once a merchant-prince who had gained a great fortune by
+trading on land and sea. Many ships were his, and with these he traded
+to far countries, reaping a rich harvest. He had a son named Iouenn,
+and he was desirous that he too should embrace the career of a
+merchant and become rich. When, therefore, Iouenn declared his
+willingness to trade in distant lands his father was delighted and
+gave him a ship full of Breton merchandise, with instructions to sell
+it to the best advantage in a foreign country and return home with the
+gold thus gained.
+
+After a successful voyage the vessel arrived at a foreign port, and
+Iouenn presented his father's letters to the merchants there, and
+disposed of his cargo so well that he found himself in possession of a
+large sum of money. One day as he was walking on the outskirts of the
+city he saw a large number of dogs gathered round some object, barking
+at it and worrying it. Approaching them, he discovered that that which
+they were worrying was nothing less than the corpse of a man. Making
+inquiries, he found that the unfortunate wretch had died deeply in
+debt, and that his body had been thrown into the roadway to be eaten
+by the dogs. Iouenn was shocked to see such an indignity offered to
+the dead, and out of the kindness of his heart chased the dogs away,
+paid the debts of the deceased, and granted his body the last rites of
+sepulture.
+
+A few days afterward he left the port where these things had happened
+and set out on his homeward voyage. He had not sailed far when one of
+the mariners drew his attention to a strange ship a little distance
+away, which appeared to be draped entirely in black.
+
+"That is indeed a curious vessel," said Iouenn. "Wherefore is it
+draped in black? and for what reason do those on board bewail so
+loudly?"
+
+While he spoke the ship drew nearer, and Iouenn called to the people
+who thronged its decks, asking why they made such loud laments.
+
+"Alas! good sir," replied the captain of the strange ship, "not far
+from here is an island inhabited by an enormous serpent, which for
+seven years has demanded an annual tribute of a royal princess, and we
+are now bearing another victim to her doom."
+
+Iouenn laughed. "Where is the Princess?" he asked. At that moment the
+Princess came on deck, weeping and wringing her hands. Iouenn was so
+struck by her beauty that he there and then declared in the most
+emphatic manner that she should never become the prey of the serpent.
+On learning from the captain that he would hand over the maiden if a
+sufficient bribe were forthcoming, he paid over to him the last of the
+money he had gained from his trading, and taking the Princess on his
+own vessel sailed homeward.
+
+In due time Iouenn arrived home and was welcomed with delight by his
+father; but when the old man learned the story of what had been done
+with his money he was furious; nor would he believe for a moment that
+the lady his son had rescued was a veritable princess, but chased
+Iouenn from his presence with hard and bitter words. Nevertheless
+Iouenn married the royal lady he had rescued, and they started
+housekeeping in a tiny dwelling. Time went on, and the Princess
+presented her husband with a little son, but by this time fortune had
+smiled upon Iouenn, for an uncle of his, who was also a merchant, had
+entrusted him with a fine vessel to trade in Eastern lands; so, taking
+with him the portraits of his wife and child, he set out on his
+voyage. With a fresh wind and favourable conditions generally he was
+not long in coming to the city where his wife's father reigned. Now,
+some mariners of the port, having entered the ship out of curiosity,
+observed the portrait of the Princess, and informed the King of the
+circumstance. The King himself came to the ship and demanded to know
+what had become of his daughter. Iouenn did not, of course, realize
+that the monarch was his father-in-law, and assured him that he knew
+nothing of his daughter, whereupon the King, growing very angry, had
+him cast into prison and ordered his ship to be broken to pieces and
+burned. In prison Iouenn made friends with his gaoler, to whom he
+related his history, which the gaoler in turn told the King, with the
+result that the prisoner was brought before the monarch, who desired
+him to set out at once to bring his daughter back, and for this
+purpose fitted him out with a new vessel. But the old monarch took the
+precaution of sending two of his ministers along with the Breton
+sailor in case he should not return. The party soon came to Brittany,
+and found the Princess and her infant safe.
+
+Now one of the King's ministers had loved the Princess for a long
+time, and consequently did not regard her husband with any great
+degree of favour; so when they re-embarked on the return journey to
+her father's kingdom her suspicions were aroused, and, fully aware of
+the minister's crafty nature, she begged her husband to remain with
+her as much as possible. But Iouenn liked to be on the bridge, whence
+he could direct the operations of his mariners, and laughed at his
+wife's fears. One night as he leaned over the side of the vessel,
+gazing upon the calm of the star-strewn sea, his enemy approached very
+stealthily and, seizing him by the legs, cast him headlong into the
+waters. After this he waited for a few moments, and, hearing no
+sound, cried out that the captain had fallen overboard. A search was
+made, but with no avail. The Princess was distraught, and in the
+belief that her husband had perished remained in her cabin lamenting.
+But Iouenn was a capital swimmer and struck out lustily. He swam
+around for a long time, without, however, encountering any object upon
+which he could lay hold to support himself. Meanwhile the ship sailed
+on her course, and in due time arrived at the kingdom of the
+Princess's father, by whom she was received with every demonstration
+of joy. Great festivities were announced, and so pleased was the old
+King at his daughter's return that he willingly consented to her
+marriage with the treacherous minister, whom he regarded as the
+instrument of her deliverance. But the Princess put off the
+wedding-day by every possible artifice, for she felt in her heart that
+her husband was not really lost to her.
+
+Let us return now to Iouenn. After swimming for some time he came upon
+a barren rock in the middle of the ocean, and here, though beaten upon
+by tempests and without any manner of shelter save that afforded by a
+cleft in the rock, he succeeded in living for three years upon the
+shell-fish which he gathered on the shores of his little domain. In
+that time he had grown almost like a savage. His clothes had fallen
+off him and he was thickly covered with matted hair. The only mark of
+civilization he bore was a chain of gold encircling his neck, the gift
+of his wife. One night he was sitting in his small dwelling munching
+his wretched supper of shell-fish when an eerie sound broke the
+stillness. He started violently. Surely these were human accents that
+he heard--yet not altogether human, for their weird cadence held
+something of the supernatural, and cold as he was he felt himself
+grow still more chilly.
+
+"Cold, cold," cried the voice, and a dreadful chattering of teeth
+ended in a long-drawn wail of "Hou, hou, hou!"
+
+The sound died away and once more he was left amid the great silence
+of the sea.
+
+The next evening brought the same experience, but although Iouenn was
+brave he dared not question his midnight visitor. On the third
+occasion, however, he demanded: "Who is there?"
+
+Out of the darkness there crawled a man completely naked, his body
+covered with blood and horrible wounds, the eyes fixed and glassy.
+
+Iouenn trembled with horror. "In the name of God, who are you?" he
+cried.
+
+"Ha, so you do not remember me, Iouenn?" asked the phantom. "I am that
+unfortunate man whose body you gave decent burial, and now I have come
+to help you in turn. Without doubt you wish to leave this desert rock
+on which you have suffered so long."
+
+"I do, most devoutly," replied Iouenn.
+
+"Well, you will have to make haste," said the dead man, "for
+to-morrow your wife is going to be married to the minister of your
+father-in-law, the wretch who cast you into the sea. Now if you will
+promise to give me a share of all that belongs to yourself and your
+wife within a year and a day, I will carry you at once to the palace
+of your father-in-law."
+
+Iouenn promised to do as the phantom requested, and the dread being
+then asked him to mount upon his back. Iouenn did so, and the corpse
+then plunged into the sea, and, swimming swiftly, soon brought him to
+the port where his father-in-law reigned. When it had set him safely
+on shore it turned and with a wave of its gaunt white arm cried, "In a
+year and a day," then plunged back into the sea.
+
+When the door-keeper of the palace opened the gate in the morning he
+was astounded to see what appeared to be an animal crouching on the
+ground outside and crying for help. It was Iouenn. The palace lackeys
+crowded round him and threw him morsels of bread, which he devoured
+with avidity. One of the waiting-women told the Princess of the
+strange being who crouched outside. She descended in order to view
+him, and at once observed the golden chain she had given to her
+husband round his neck. Iouenn immediately rushed to embrace her. She
+took him to her chamber and clothed him suitably. By this time the
+bridal preparations had been completed, and, like the Princess in the
+story of the Miller of Leguer, the bride asked the advice of the
+company as to whether it were better to search for an old key that
+fitted a coffer in her possession or make use of a new key which did
+not fit; the coffer, of course, being her heart and the respective
+keys her husband and the minister. All the company advised searching
+for the old key, when she produced Iouenn and explained what she had
+meant. The crafty minister grew pale as death at sight of Iouenn, and
+the King stormed furiously.
+
+"Ho, there!" he cried, "build a great fire, varlets, and cast this
+slave into it." All the company thought at first that his words were
+intended to apply to Iouenn, but when they saw him point at the
+minister whose guilt the Princess had made plain, they applauded and
+the wretch was hurried away to his doom.
+
+Iouenn and the Princess lived happily at the Court, and in time a
+second little son was born to them. Their first child had died, and
+they were much rejoiced at its place being filled. Iouenn had entirely
+forgotten his indebtedness to the dead man, but one day in the month
+of November, when his wife was sitting quietly by the fire nursing her
+infant, with her husband opposite her, three loud knocks resounded
+upon the door, which flew open and revealed the horrible form of the
+corpse to which Iouenn owed his freedom. The Princess shrieked at
+sight of the phantom, which said in deep tones: "Iouenn, remember thy
+bargain."
+
+Trembling, Iouenn turned to his wife and asked her for the keys of
+their treasure-house, that he might give their terrible visitor a
+portion of their wealth, but with a disdainful wave of its arm the
+apparition bade him cease. "It is not your wealth I require, Iouenn,"
+it said in hollow tones. "Behold that which I desire," and it pointed
+to the infant slumbering in its mother's arms.
+
+Once more the Princess cried aloud, and clasped her little one to her
+bosom.
+
+"My infant!" cried Iouenn in despair. "Never!"
+
+"If you are a man of honour," said the corpse, "think of your promise
+made on the barren rock."
+
+"It is true," said Iouenn, wringing his hands, "but oh, remember how I
+saved your body from the dogs."
+
+"I only ask what is my due," said the ghost. "Besides, I do not desire
+all your infant, but a share of it only."
+
+"Wretch!" cried Iouenn, "are you without a heart? Have then your wish,
+for honour with me is above all." The infant was then undressed and
+laid between the two upon a table.
+
+"Take your sword," said the phantom, "and cut off a portion for me."
+
+"Ah, I would that I were on that desert rock in the middle of the
+ocean!" cried the unhappy father. He raised his weapon and was about
+to strike, when the phantom called upon him to hold.
+
+"Harm not your infant, Iouenn," it cried. "I see clearly that you are
+a man of honour and that you have not forgotten the service I rendered
+you; nor do I fail to remember what you did for me, and how it is
+through you that I am able to dwell in Paradise, which I would not
+have been permitted to enter had my debts not been paid and my body
+given burial. Farewell, until we meet above." And with these words the
+apparition vanished.
+
+Iouenn and the Princess lived long, respected by all, and when the old
+King died Iouenn, the man of his word, was made King in his place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI: BRETON FOLK-TALES
+
+
+The stories told here under the title of 'folk-tales' are such as do
+not partake so much of the universal element which enters so largely
+into Breton romance, but those which have a more national or even
+local tinge and are yet not legendary. The homely flavour attached to
+many stories of this kind is very apparent, and it is evident that
+they have been put together in oral form by unknown 'makers,' some of
+whom had either a natural or artistic aptitude for story-telling. In
+the first of the following tales it is curious to note how the ancient
+Breton theme has been put by its peasant narrator into almost a modern
+dress.
+
+
+_The Magic Rose_
+
+An aged Breton couple had two sons, the elder of whom went to Paris to
+seek his fortune, while the younger one was timid by nature and would
+not leave the paternal roof. His mother, who felt the burden of her
+age, wished the stay-at-home to marry. At first he would not hear of
+the idea, but at last, persuaded by her, he took a wife. He had only
+been married a few weeks, however, when his young bride sickened and
+died. La Rose, for such was his name, was inconsolable. Every evening
+he went to the cemetery where his wife was buried, and wept over her
+tomb.
+
+One night he was about to enter the graveyard on his sad errand when
+he beheld a terrible phantom standing before him, which asked him in
+awful tones what he did there.
+
+"I am going to pray at the tomb of my wife," replied the terrified La
+Rose.
+
+"Do you wish that she were alive again?" asked the spirit.
+
+"Ah, yes!" cried the sorrowing husband. "There is nothing that I would
+not do in order that she might be restored to me."
+
+"Hearken, then," said the phantom. "Return to this place to-morrow
+night at the same hour. Provide yourself with a pick and you will see
+what comes to pass."
+
+On the following night the young widower was punctually at the
+rendezvous. The phantom presented itself before him and said:
+
+"Go to the tomb of your wife and strike it with your pick; the earth
+will turn aside and you will behold her lying in her shroud. Take this
+little silver box, which contains a rose; open it and pass it before
+her nostrils three times, when she will awake as if from a deep
+sleep."
+
+La Rose hastened to the tomb of his wife, and everything happened as
+the phantom had predicted. He placed the box containing the rose to
+his wife's nostrils and she awoke with a sigh, saying: "Ah, I have
+been asleep for a long time." Her husband provided her with clothes
+which he had brought with him, and they returned to their house, much
+to the joy of his parents.
+
+Some time afterward La Rose's father died at a great age, and the
+grief-stricken mother was not long in following him to the grave. La
+Rose wrote to his brother in Paris to return to Brittany in order to
+receive his portion of the paternal inheritance, but he was unable to
+leave the capital, so La Rose had perforce to journey to Paris. He
+promised his wife before leaving that he would write to her every
+day, but on his arrival in the city he found his brother very ill, and
+in the anxiety of nursing him back to health he quite forgot to send
+his wife news of how he fared.
+
+The weeks passed and La Rose's wife, without word of her husband,
+began to dread that something untoward had happened to him. Day by day
+she sat at her window weeping and watching for the courier who brought
+letters from Paris. A regiment of dragoons chanced to be billeted in
+the town, and the captain, who lodged at the inn directly opposite La
+Rose's house, was greatly attracted by the young wife. He inquired of
+the landlady who was the beautiful dame who sat constantly weeping at
+her window, and learned the details of her history. He wrote a letter
+to her purporting to come from La Rose's brother in Paris, telling her
+that her husband had died in the capital, and some time after paid his
+addresses to the supposed widow, who accepted him. They were married,
+and when the regiment left the town the newly wedded pair accompanied
+it.
+
+Meanwhile La Rose's brother recovered from his illness, and the eager
+husband hastened back to Brittany. But when he arrived at his home he
+was surprised to find the doors closed, and was speedily informed of
+what had occurred during his absence. For a while he was too
+grief-stricken to act, but, recovering himself somewhat, he resolved
+to enlist in the regiment of dragoons in which the false captain held
+his commission. The beauty of his handwriting procured him the post of
+secretary to one of the lieutenants, but although he frequently
+attempted to gain sight of his wife he never succeeded in doing so.
+One day the captain entered the lieutenant's office, observed the
+writing of La Rose, and asked his brother officer if he would kindly
+lend him his secretary for a few days to assist him with some
+correspondence. While helping the captain La Rose beheld his wife, who
+did not, however, recognize him. Greatly pleased with his work, the
+captain invited him to dinner. During the repast a servant, who had
+stolen a silver dish, fearing that it was about to be missed, slid it
+into La Rose's pocket, and when it could not be found, accused the
+secretary of the theft. La Rose was brought before a court-martial,
+which condemned him to be shot.
+
+While in prison awaiting his execution La Rose struck up an
+acquaintance with an old veteran named Pere La Chique, who brought him
+his meals and seemed kindly disposed to him.
+
+"Pere La Chique," said La Rose one day, "I have two thousand francs;
+if you will do as I ask you they shall be yours."
+
+The veteran promised instantly, and La Rose requested that after he
+was shot La Chique should go to the cemetery where he was buried and
+resuscitate him with the magic rose, which he had carefully preserved.
+On the appointed day La Rose was duly executed, but Pere La Chique,
+with his pockets full of money, went from inn to inn, drinking and
+making merry. Whenever the thought of La Rose crossed his mind, he
+muttered to himself in bibulous accents: "Poor fellow, poor fellow, he
+is better dead. This is a weary world; why should I bring him back to
+it?"
+
+When Pere La Chique had caroused with his comrades for some days the
+two thousand francs had almost disappeared. Then remorse assailed him
+and he made up his mind to do as La Rose had wished. Taking a pick
+and an axe he went to the graveyard, but when he struck the grave with
+his tools and the earth rolled back, disclosing the body of La Rose,
+the old fellow was so terrified that he ran helter-skelter from the
+spot. A draught of good wine brought back his failing courage,
+however, and he returned and passed the rose three times under the
+nostrils of his late acquaintance. Instantly La Rose sat up.
+
+"By my faith, I've had a good sleep!" he said, rubbing his eyes.
+"Where are my clothes?"
+
+Pere La Chique handed him his garments, and after he had donned them
+they quitted the graveyard with all haste.
+
+La Rose now found it necessary to cast about for a living. One day he
+heard the sound of a drum in the street, and, following it, found that
+it was beaten by a crier who promised in the King's name a large
+reward to those who would enlist as sentinels to guard a chapel where
+the King's daughter, who had been changed into a monster, was
+imprisoned. La Rose accepted the offer, and then learned to his dismay
+that the sentinel who guarded the place between the hours of eleven
+and midnight was never seen again. On the very first night that he
+took up his duties this perilous watch fell to his lot. He felt his
+courage deserting him, and he was about to fly when he heard a voice
+say: "La Rose, where are you?"
+
+La Rose trembled. "What do you wish with me?" he asked.
+
+"Hearken to me, and no evil will befall you," replied the voice. "Soon
+a great and grisly beast will appear. Leave your musket by the side of
+the sentry-box, climb on the top, and the beast will not touch you."
+
+As eleven o'clock struck La Rose heard a noise and hastened to climb
+on the top of the sentry-box. Soon a hideous monster came out of the
+chapel, breathing flames and crying: "Sentinel of my father, where art
+thou, that I may devour thee?" As it uttered these words, it fell
+against the musket, which it seized between its teeth. Then the
+creature disappeared into the chapel and La Rose descended from his
+perch. He found the musket broken into a thousand pieces.
+
+The old King was delighted to learn that his sentinel had not been
+devoured, for in order that his daughter should be delivered from her
+enchantment as a beast it was necessary that the same sentinel should
+mount guard for three consecutive nights between the hours of eleven
+and midnight.
+
+On the following night La Rose was pacing up and down on guard, when
+the same voice addressed him, telling him on this occasion to place
+his musket before the door of the chapel. The beast issued as before,
+seized the musket, broke it into small pieces, and returned to the
+chapel. On the third night the voice advised him to throw open the
+door of the chapel, and when the beast came out to run into the
+building himself, where he would see a leaden shrine, behind which he
+could take refuge, and where he would find a small bottle, with the
+contents of which he was to sprinkle the beast's head. With its usual
+dreadful roar the monster issued from the chapel. La Rose leapt past
+it and ran for the leaden shrine. It followed him with hideous howls,
+and he only reached the protective sanctuary in time. Seizing the
+little bottle which lay there, he fearlessly fronted the beast and
+sprinkled its contents over its head. Instantly it changed into a
+beautiful princess, whom La Rose escorted to her delighted parents. La
+Rose and the princess were betrothed and duly married, and shortly
+afterward the King gave up his throne to his son-in-law.
+
+One day the new King was inspecting the regiment of dragoons to which
+he had once belonged.
+
+"Colonel," he said, "I miss a man from your regiment."
+
+"It is true, sire," replied the Colonel. "It is an old fellow called
+Pere La Chique, whom we have left at the barracks playing his violin,
+the old good-for-nothing!"
+
+"I wish to see him," said the King.
+
+Pere La Chique was brought forward trembling, and the King, tearing
+the epaulettes from the shoulders of the captain who had stolen his
+wife, placed them on those of Pere La Chique. He then gave orders for
+a great fire to be lit, in which were burned the wicked captain and
+the wife who had so soon forgotten her husband.
+
+La Rose and his Queen lived happily ever afterward--which is rather
+odd, is it not, when one thinks of the treatment meted out to his
+resuscitated spouse? But if the lights in folk-tale are bright, the
+shadows are correspondingly heavy, and rarely does justice go hand in
+hand with mercy in legend!
+
+
+_Norouas, the North-west Wind_
+
+Brittany has an entire cycle of folk-tales dealing with the subject of
+the winds--which, indeed, play an extraordinary part in Breton
+folk-lore. The fishermen of the north coast frequently address the
+winds as if they were living beings, hurling opprobrious epithets at
+them if the direction in which they blow does not suit their purpose,
+shaking their fists at them in a most menacing manner the while. The
+following story, the only wind-tale it is possible to give here, well
+illustrates this personalization of the winds by the Breton folk.
+
+There was once a goodman and his wife who had a little field on which
+they grew flax. One season their patch yielded a particularly fine
+crop, and after it had been cut they laid it out to dry. But Norouas,
+the North-west Wind, came along and with one sweep of his mighty wings
+tossed it as high as the tree-tops, so that it fell into the sea and
+was lost.
+
+When the goodman saw what had happened he began to swear at the Wind,
+and, taking his stick, he set out to follow and slay Norouas, who had
+spoiled his flax. So hasty had he been in setting forth that he had
+taken no food or money with him, and when evening came he arrived at
+an inn hungry and penniless. He explained his plight to the hostess,
+who gave him a morsel of bread and permitted him to sleep in a corner
+of the stable. In the morning he asked the dame the way to the abode
+of Norouas, and she conducted him to the foot of a mountain, where she
+said the Winds dwelt.
+
+The goodman climbed the mountain, and at the top met with Surouas, the
+South-west Wind.
+
+"Are you he whom they call Norouas?" he asked.
+
+"No, I am Surouas," said the South-west Wind.
+
+"Where then is that villain Norouas?" cried the goodman.
+
+"Hush!" said Surouas, "do not speak so loud, goodman, for if he hears
+you he will toss you into the air like a straw."
+
+At that moment Norouas arrived, whistling wildly and vigorously.
+
+"Ah, thief of a Norouas," cried the goodman, "it was you who stole my
+beautiful crop of flax!" But the Wind took no notice of him.
+Nevertheless he did not cease to cry: "Norouas, Norouas, give me back
+my flax!"
+
+"Hush, hush!" cried Norouas. "Here is a napkin that will perhaps make
+you keep quiet."
+
+"With my crop of flax," howled the goodman, "I could have made a
+hundred napkins such as this. Norouas, give me back my flax!"
+
+"Be silent, fellow," said Norouas. "This is no common napkin which I
+give you. You have only to say, 'Napkin, unfold thyself,' to have the
+best spread table in the world standing before you."
+
+The goodman took the napkin with a grumble, descended the mountain,
+and there, only half believing what Norouas had said, placed the
+napkin before him, saying, "Napkin, unfold thyself." Immediately a
+table appeared spread with a princely repast. The odour of cunningly
+cooked dishes arose, and rare wines sparkled in glittering vessels.
+After he had feasted the table vanished, and the goodman folded up his
+napkin and went back to the inn where he had slept the night before.
+
+"Well, did you get any satisfaction out of Norouas?" asked the
+hostess.
+
+"Indeed I did," replied the goodman, producing the napkin. "Behold
+this: Napkin, unfold thyself!" and as he spoke the magic table appeared
+before their eyes. The hostess, struck dumb with astonishment, at
+once became covetous and resolved to have the napkin for herself. So
+that night she placed the goodman in a handsome apartment where
+there was a beautiful bed with a soft feather mattress, on which he
+slept more soundly than ever he had done in his life. When he was fast
+asleep the cunning hostess entered the room and stole the napkin,
+leaving one of similar appearance in its place.
+
+In the morning the goodman set his face homeward, and duly arrived
+at his little farm. His wife eagerly asked him if Norouas had made
+good the damage done to the flax, to which her husband replied
+affirmatively and drew the substituted napkin from his pocket.
+
+"Why," quoth the dame, "we could have made two hundred napkins like
+this out of the flax that was destroyed."
+
+"Ah, but," said the goodman, "this napkin is not the same as others. I
+have only to say, 'Napkin, unfold thyself,' and a table covered with a
+most splendid feast appears. Napkin, unfold thyself--unfold thyself,
+dost thou hear?"
+
+"You are an old fool, goodman," said his wife when nothing happened.
+Her husband's jaw dropped and he seized his stick.
+
+"I have been sold by that rascal Norouas," he cried. "Well, I shall
+not spare him this time," and without more ado he rushed out of the
+house and took the road to the home of the Winds.
+
+He slept as before at the inn, and next morning climbed the mountain.
+He began at once to call loudly upon Norouas, who was whistling up
+aloft, demanding that he should return him his crop of flax.
+
+"Be quiet, down there!" cried Norouas.
+
+"I shall not be quiet!" screamed the goodman, brandishing his
+bludgeon. "You have made matters worse by cheating me with that napkin
+of yours!"
+
+"Well, well, then," replied Norouas, "here is an ass; you have only to
+say 'Ass, make me some gold,' and it will fall from his tail."
+
+The goodman, eager to test the value of the new gift, at once led the
+ass to the foot of the mountain and said: "Ass, make me some gold."
+The ass shook his tail, and a _rouleau_ of gold pieces fell to the
+ground. The goodman hastened to the inn, where, as before, he
+displayed the phenomenon to the hostess, who that night went into the
+stable and exchanged for the magical animal another similar in
+appearance to it. On the evening of the following day the goodman
+returned home and acquainted his wife with his good luck, but when he
+charged the ass to make gold and nothing happened, she railed at him
+once more for a fool, and in a towering passion he again set out to
+slay Norouas. Arrived at the mountain for the third time, he called
+loudly on the North-west Wind, and when he came heaped insults and
+reproaches upon him.
+
+"Softly," replied Norouas; "I am not to blame for your misfortune. You
+must know that it is the hostess at the inn where you slept who is the
+guilty party, for she stole your napkin and your ass. Take this
+cudgel. When you say to it, 'Strike, cudgel,' it will at once attack
+your enemies, and when you want it to stop you have only to cry, '_Ora
+pro nobis_.'"
+
+The goodman, eager to test the efficacy of the cudgel, at once said to
+it, "Strike, cudgel," whereupon it commenced to belabour him so
+soundly that he yelled, "_Ora pro nobis!_" when it ceased.
+
+Returning to the inn in a very stormy mood, he loudly demanded the
+return of his napkin and his ass, whereupon the hostess threatened to
+fetch the gendarmes.
+
+"Strike, cudgel!" cried the goodman, and the stick immediately set
+about the hostess in such vigorous style that she cried to the goodman
+to call it off and she would at once return his ass and his napkin.
+
+When his property had been returned to him the goodman lost no time in
+making his way homeward, where he rejoiced his wife by the sight of
+the treasures he brought with him. He rapidly grew rich, and his
+neighbours, becoming suspicious at the sight of so much wealth, had
+him arrested and brought before a magistrate on a charge of wholesale
+murder and robbery. He was sentenced to death, and on the day of his
+execution he was about to mount the scaffold, when he begged as a last
+request that his old cudgel might be brought him. The boon was
+granted, and no sooner had the stick been given into his hands than he
+cried, "Strike, cudgel!"
+
+And the cudgel _did_ strike. It belaboured judge, gendarmes, and
+spectators in such a manner that they fled howling from the scene. It
+demolished the scaffold and cracked the hangman's crown. A great cry
+for mercy arose. The goodman was instantly pardoned, and was never
+further molested in the enjoyment of the treasures the North-west Wind
+had given him as compensation for his crop of flax.
+
+
+_The Foster-Brother_
+
+The weird tale which follows has many parallels in world folk-lore, but
+is localized at Treguier, an old cathedral town in the Cotes-du-Nord at
+the junction of the Jaudy and the Guindy, famous for the beautiful
+windows of its celebrated church, founded by St Tugdual.
+
+Gwennolaik was the most noble and beautiful maiden in Treguier, but,
+alas! she was almost friendless, for at an early age she had lost her
+father, her mother, and her two sisters, and her sole remaining
+relative was her stepmother. Pitiful it was to see her standing at the
+door of her manor, weeping as if her heart would break. But although
+she had none of her own blood to cherish she still nursed the hope
+that her foster-brother, who had journeyed abroad for some years,
+might one day return, and often would she stand gazing fixedly over
+the sea as if in search of the vessel that would bring him home. They
+had been playmates, and although six years had passed since he had
+left the country, the time had gone quickly, and when Gwennolaik
+thought of the young man it was as the boy who had shared the games
+and little amusements of her childhood. From these day-dreams she
+would be rudely awakened by the harsh voice of her stepmother calling
+to her: "Come here, my girl, and attend to the animals. I don't feed
+you for loafing and doing nothing."
+
+Poor Gwennolaik had a sad life with her stepmother. Noble as she was
+she was yet forced by the vindictive old woman to rise in the early
+hours of the morning, even two or three hours before daylight in
+winter, to light the fire and sweep the house and perform other menial
+work. One evening as she was breaking the ice in the well in order to
+draw water for the household she was interrupted by a cavalier
+returning to Nantes.
+
+"Good e'en to you, maiden. Are you affianced to anyone?"
+
+The girl did not reply, but hung her head.
+
+"Come, don't be afraid," said the handsome horseman, "but answer my
+question."
+
+She looked at him almost fearfully. "Saving your grace, I have never
+been affianced to anyone."
+
+"Good," replied the cavalier. "Take this gold ring and say to your
+stepmother that you are now affianced to a cavalier of Nantes who
+has been in a great battle and who has lost his squire in the
+combat; and you may also add that he has been wounded in the side
+by a sword-stroke. In three weeks and three days, when my wound is
+healed, I will return and will take you to my manor with joy and
+festival."
+
+The maiden returned to the house and looked at the ring. It was the
+same as her foster-brother used to wear on his left hand!
+
+Three weeks ran by, but the cavalier did not return. Then the
+stepmother said one morning: "It is time, daughter, that you should
+marry, and I may tell you that I have found you a husband after my own
+heart."
+
+"Saving your grace, good stepmother, I do not wish to marry anyone
+except my foster-brother, who has returned. He has given me a golden
+wedding-ring, and has promised to come for me within a few days."
+
+"A fig for your gold ring," cried the malignant hag. "_Bon gre, mal
+gre_, you shall marry Job the Witless, the stable boy."
+
+"Marry Job! Oh, horror! I should die of grief! Alas, my mother, were
+you but here now to protect me!"
+
+"If you must howl, pray do so in the courtyard. You may make as many
+grimaces as you please, but in three days you shall be married for all
+that."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The old gravedigger slowly patrolled the road, his bell in his hand,
+carrying the news of those who had died from village to village. In
+his doleful whine he cried: "Pray for the soul of a noble cavalier, a
+worthy gentleman of a good heart, who was mortally wounded in the side
+by the stroke of a sword in the battle near Nantes. He is to be buried
+to-day in the White Church."
+
+At the marriage feast the bride was all in tears. All the guests,
+young and old, wept with her, all except her stepmother. She was
+conducted to the place of honour at supper-time, but she only drank a
+sip of water and ate a morsel of bread. By and by the dancing
+commenced, but when it was proposed that the bride should join in the
+revels she was not to be found; she had, indeed, escaped from the
+house, her hair flying in disorder, and where she had gone no one
+knew.
+
+All the lights were out at the manor, every one slept profoundly. The
+poor young woman alone lay concealed in the garden in the throes of a
+fever. She heard a footstep close by. "Who is there?" she asked
+fearfully.
+
+"It is I, Nola, your foster-brother."
+
+"Ah, is it you? You are truly welcome, my dear brother," cried
+Gwennolaik, rising in rapture.
+
+"Come with me," he whispered, and swinging her on to the crupper of
+his white horse he plunged madly into the night.
+
+"We fly fast," she cried. "We must have ridden a hundred leagues, I
+think. Ah, but I am happy with thee! I will never leave thee more."
+
+The owl hooted and night noises came to her ears.
+
+"Ah, but thy horse is swift," said she, "and thine armour, how
+brilliant it is! How happy I am to have found thee, my foster-brother!
+But are we near thy manor?"
+
+[Illustration: GWENNOLAIK AND NOLA]
+
+"We shall arrive there in good time, my sister," he replied.
+
+"Thy heart is cold, thy hair is wet! Ah, how chill are thy hands!"
+
+"Listen, my sister; do you not hear the noise of the gay musicians who
+shall play at our wedding?" He had not finished speaking when his
+horse threw itself back on its haunches all at once, trembling and
+whinnying loudly.
+
+Gwennolaik looked around, and found herself on an island where a crowd
+of people were dancing. Lads and lasses, they danced most bravely
+beneath the green trees heavy with apples, and the music to which they
+tripped was as that of heaven.
+
+Suddenly the sun rose above the eastern mountains and flooded this
+strange new world with rich light, and there Gwennolaik found her
+mother and her two sisters, and there was nothing in her heart but
+beauty and joy.
+
+On the following morning, as the sun rose, the young women carried the
+body of Gwennolaik and laid it in the tomb of her foster-brother in
+the White Church.
+
+In this ballad--for the original from which we take the tale is cast
+in ballad form--we are once more in touch with the Celtic Otherworld.
+It is a thousand pities that this interesting piece breaks off where
+it does, thus failing to provide us with a fuller account of that most
+elusive realm. The short glimpse we do get of it, however, reminds us
+very much of the descriptions of it we possess in Irish lore. We have
+also once more the phenomenon of the dead lover who comes to claim the
+living bride, the midnight gallop, and other circumstances
+characteristic of ballad literature. There was a tradition in Lower
+Brittany, however, that no soul might be admitted to the other world
+which had not first received burial, but here, of course, we must look
+for Christian influence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII: POPULAR LEGENDS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+"The legend," says Gomme, in a passage most memorable for students of
+folk-lore as containing his acute and precise definition of the
+several classes of tradition, "belongs to an historical personage,
+locality, or event,"[40] and it is in this general sense that the term
+is employed in regard to the contents of this chapter, unless where
+mythic or folk-lore matter is introduced for the sake of analogy or
+illustration. There is, however, a broad, popular reading of the term
+as indicating the fanciful-historical. When we read of the King of Ys,
+or Arthur, for example, we are not aware whether they ever existed or
+not, but they are alluded to by tradition as ancient rulers of
+Brittany and Britain, just as Cymbeline and Cole are spoken of as
+British monarchs of the distant past. They linger as personal figures
+in the folk-memory, but they scarcely seem as the personages of
+folk-tale. Let us say, then, for the purposes of our classification of
+Breton tradition, that we include in the term 'legend' all tales of
+great personal figures who are historical or over whom folk-tale has
+cast an historical _vraisemblance_, remembering at the same time that
+in the case of personages whose existence is doubtful we may be
+dealing with a folk-tale disguised or even a distorted myth.
+
+
+_The Dark Story of Gilles de Retz_
+
+Of the dark and terrible legends to which Brittany has given birth,
+one of the most gloomy and romantic is the story of Gilles de Retz,
+alchemist, magician, and arch-criminal. But the story is not
+altogether legendary, although it has undoubtedly been added to from
+the great stores of tradition. Gilles is none other than the Bluebeard
+of the nursery tale, for he appears to have actually worn a beard
+bluish-black in hue, and it is probable that his personality became
+mingled with that of the hero of the old Oriental story.
+
+Gilles de Laval, Lord of Retz and Marshal of France, was connected
+with some of the noblest families in Brittany, those of Montmorency,
+Rocey, and Craon, and at his father's death, about 1424, he found
+himself lord of many princely domains, and what, for those times, was
+almost unlimited power and wealth. He was a handsome youth, lithe and
+of fascinating address, courageous, and learned as any clerk. A
+splendid career lay before him, but from the first that distorted idea
+of the romantic which is typical of certain minds had seized upon him,
+and despite his rank and position he much preferred the dark courses
+which finally ended in his disgrace and ruin to the dignities of his
+seigneury.
+
+Gilles took his principal title from the barony of Retz or Rais, south
+of the Loire, on the marches of Brittany. As a youth he did nothing to
+justify an evil augury of his future, for he served with zeal and
+gallantry in the wars of Charles VI against the English and fought
+under Jeanne Darc at the siege of Orleans. In virtue of these
+services, and because of his shrewdness and skill in affairs, the King
+created him Marshal of France. But from that time onward the man who
+had been the able lieutenant of Jeanne Darc and had fought by her side
+at Jargeau and Patay began to deteriorate. Some years before he had
+married Catherine de Thouars, and with her had received a large dowry;
+but he had expended immense sums in the national cause, and his
+private life was as extravagant as that of a prince in a fairy tale.
+At his castle of Champtoce he dwelt in almost royal state; indeed, his
+train when he went hawking or hunting exceeded in magnificence that of
+the King himself. His retainers were tricked out in the most gorgeous
+liveries, and his table was spread with ruinous abundance. Oxen,
+sheep, and pigs were roasted whole, and viands were provided daily for
+five hundred persons. He had an insane love of pomp and display, and
+his private devotions were ministered to by a large body of
+ecclesiastics. His chapel was a marvel of splendour, and was furnished
+with gold and silver plate in the most lavish manner. His love of
+colour and movement made him fond of theatrical displays, and it is
+even said that the play or mystery of Orleans, dealing with the story
+of Jeanne Darc, was written with his own hand. He was munificent in
+his patronage of the arts, and was himself a skilled illuminator and
+bookbinder. In short, he was obviously one of those persons of
+abnormal character in whom genius is allied to madness and who can
+attempt and execute nothing except in a spirit of the wildest excess.
+
+The reduction of his fortune merely served his peculiar and abnormal
+personality with a new excuse for extravagance. At this time the art
+of alchemy flourished exceedingly and the works of Nicolas Flamel, the
+Arabian Geber, and Pierre d'Estaing enjoyed a great vogue. On an evil
+day it occurred to Gilles to turn alchemist, and thus repair his
+broken fortunes. In the first quarter of the fifteenth century alchemy
+stood for scientific achievement, and many persons in our own
+enlightened age still study its maxims. A society exists to-day the
+object of which is to further the knowledge of alchemical science. A
+common misapprehension is current to the effect that the object of the
+alchemists was the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, but in
+reality they were divided into two groups, those who sought eagerly
+the secret of manufacturing the precious metals, and those who dreamed
+of a higher aim, the transmutation of the gross, terrestrial nature of
+man into the pure gold of the spirit.
+
+The latter of these aims was beyond the fevered imagination of such a
+wild and disorderly mind as that of Gilles de Retz. He sent emissaries
+into Italy, Spain, and Germany to invite adepts in the science to his
+castle at Champtoce. From among these he selected two men to assist
+him in his plan--Prelati, an alchemist of Padua, and a certain
+physician of Poitou, whose name is not recorded. At their instigation
+he built a magnificent laboratory, and when it was completed commenced
+to experiment. A year passed, during which the necessities of the
+'science' gradually emptied many bags of gold, but none returned to
+the Marshal's coffers. The alchemists slept soft and fed sumptuously,
+and were quite content to pursue their labours so long as the Seigneur
+of Retz had occasion for their services. But as the time passed that
+august person became greatly impatient, and so irritable did he grow
+because of the lack of results that at length his assistants, in
+imminent fear of dismissal, communicated to him a dark and dreadful
+secret of their art, which, they assured him, would assist them at
+arriving speedily at the desired end.
+
+The nature of the experiment they proposed was so grotesque that its
+acceptance by Gilles proves that he was either insane or a victim of
+the superstition of his time. His wretched accomplices told him that
+the Evil One alone was capable of revealing the secret of the
+transmutation of the baser metals into gold, and they offered to
+summon him to their master's aid. They assured Gilles that Satan would
+require a recompense for his services, and the Marshal retorted that
+so long as he saved his soul intact he was quite willing to conclude
+any bargain that the Father of Evil might propose.
+
+It was arranged that the ceremony should take place within a gloomy
+wood in the neighbourhood. The nameless physician conducted the Lord
+of Retz to a small clearing in this plantation, where the magic circle
+was drawn and the usual conjurations made. For half an hour they
+waited in silence, and then a great trembling fell upon the physician.
+A deadly pallor overspread his countenance. His knees shook, he
+muttered wildly, and at last he sank to the ground. Gilles stood by
+unmoved. The insanity of egotism is of course productive of great if
+not lofty courage, and he feared neither man nor fiend. Suddenly the
+alchemist regained consciousness and told his master that the Devil
+had appeared to him in the shape of a leopard and had growled at him
+horribly. He ascribed Gilles' lack of supernatural vision to want of
+faith. He then declared that the Evil One had told him where certain
+herbs grew in Spain and Africa, the juices of which possessed the
+power to effect the transmutation, and these he obligingly offered to
+search for, provided the Lord of Retz furnished the means for his
+travels. This Gilles gladly did, and of course never beheld the
+Poitevin knave again.
+
+Days and months passed and the physician did not return. Gilles grew
+uneasy. It was imperative that gold should be forthcoming immediately,
+for not only was he being pressed on every side, but he was unable to
+support his usual magnificence. In this dilemma he turned to Prelati,
+his remaining alchemical assistant. This man appears to have believed
+in his art or he would not have made the terrible suggestion he did,
+which was that the Lord of Retz should sign with his own blood a
+compact with the Devil, and should offer up a young child in sacrifice
+to him. To this proposal the unhappy Gilles consented. On the
+following night Prelati quitted the castle, and returned shortly
+afterward with the story that the fiend had appeared to him in the
+likeness of a young man who desired to be called Barron, and had
+pointed out to him the resting-place of a hoard of ingots of pure
+gold, buried under an oak in the neighbouring wood. Certain
+conditions, however, must be observed before the treasure was dug up,
+the chief of which was that it must not be searched for until a period
+of seven times seven weeks had elapsed, or it would turn into slates.
+With these conditions de Retz would not comply, and, alarmed at his
+annoyance, the obliging Prelati curtailed the time of waiting to seven
+times seven days. At the end of that period the alchemist and his dupe
+repaired to the wood to dig up the treasure. They worked hard for some
+time, and at length came upon a load of slates, inscribed with magical
+characters. Prelati pretended great wrath, and upbraided the Evil One
+for his deceit, in which denunciation he was heartily joined by de
+Retz. But so credulous was the Seigneur that he allowed himself to be
+persuaded to afford Satan another trial, which meant, of course, that
+Prelati led him on from day to day with specious promises and
+ambiguous hints, until he had drained him of nearly all his remaining
+substance. He was then preparing to decamp with his plunder when a
+dramatic incident detained him.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEVIL IN THE FORM OF A LEOPARD APPEARS BEFORE THE
+ALCHEMIST]
+
+For some time a rumour had been circulating in the country-side that
+numerous children were missing and that they had been spirited away.
+Popular clamour ran high, and suspicion was directed toward the castle
+of Champtoce. So circumstantial was the evidence against de Retz that
+at length the Duke of Brittany ordered both the Seigneur and his
+accomplice to be arrested. Their trial took place before a commission
+which de Retz denounced, declaring that he would rather be hanged like
+a dog, without trial, than plead before its members. But the evidence
+against him was overwhelming. It was told how the wretched madman, in
+his insane quest for gold, had sacrificed his innocent victims on the
+altar of Satan, and how he had gloated over their sufferings. Finally
+he confessed his enormities and told how nearly a hundred children had
+been cruelly murdered by him and his relentless accomplice. Both he
+and Prelati were doomed to be burned alive, but in consideration of
+his rank he was strangled before being cast into the flames. Before
+the execution he expressed to Prelati a hope that they would meet in
+Paradise, and, it is said, met his end very devoutly.
+
+The castle of Champtoce still stands in its beautiful valley, and
+many romantic legends cluster about its grey old walls. "The
+hideous, half-burnt body of the monster himself," says Trollope,
+"circled with flames--pale, indeed, and faint in colour, but more
+lasting than those the hangman kindled around his mortal form in
+the meadow under the walls of Nantes--is seen, on bright moonlight
+nights, standing now on one topmost point of craggy wall, and now
+on another, and is heard mingling his moan with the sough of the
+night-wind. Pale, bloodless forms, too, of youthful growth and
+mien, the restless, unsepulchred ghosts of the unfortunates who
+perished in these dungeons unassoiled ... may at similar times be
+seen flitting backward and forward, in numerous groups, across the
+space enclosed by the ruined wall, with more than mortal speed, or
+glancing hurriedly from window to window of the fabric, as still
+seeking to escape from its hateful confinement."[41]
+
+
+_Comorre the Cursed_
+
+As has been said, the story of Gilles de Retz is connected by
+tradition with that of Bluebeard, but it is probable that this
+traditional connexion arises simply from the association of two famous
+tales. The other legend in question is that of Comorre the Cursed,
+whose story is told in the frescoes which cover the wall of the church
+of St Nicolas de Bieuzy, dedicated to St Triphyne, in which the tale
+of Bluebeard is depicted as the story of the saint, who in history was
+the wife of Comorre. Comorre was a chief who ruled at Carhaix, in
+Finistere, and his tale, which owes its modern dress to Emile
+Souvestre, himself a Breton, and author of _Derniers Bretons_ and the
+brilliant sketch _Un Philosophe sous les Toits_. The tale, translated,
+runs as follows:
+
+Guerech, Count of Vannes, 'the Country of White Corn,' had a daughter,
+Triphyna, whom he tenderly loved. One day ambassadors arrived from
+Comorre, a prince of Cornouaille, 'the Country of Black Corn,'
+demanding her in marriage. Now this caused great distress, for
+Comorre was a giant, and one of the wickedest of men, held in awe by
+every one for his cruelty. As a boy, when he went out, his mother used
+to ring a bell to warn people of his approach; and when unsuccessful
+in the chase he would set his dogs on the peasants to tear them to
+pieces. But most horrible of all, he had had four wives, who had all
+died one after the other, it was suspected either by the knife, fire,
+water, or poison. The Count of Vannes, therefore, dismissed the
+ambassadors, and advanced to meet Comorre, who was approaching with a
+powerful army; but St Gildas went into Triphyna's oratory and begged
+her to save bloodshed and consent to the marriage. He gave her a
+silver ring, which would warn her of any intended evil by turning as
+black as a crow's wing at the approach of danger.
+
+The marriage took place with great rejoicings. The first day six
+thousand guests were invited; on the next day as many poor were fed,
+the bride and the bridegroom themselves serving at the tables. For
+some time all went well. Comorre's nature seemed altered; his prisons
+were empty, his gibbets untenanted. But Triphyna felt no confidence,
+and every day went to pray at the tombs of his four wives. At this
+time there was an assembly of the Breton princes at Rennes, which
+Comorre was obliged to attend. Before his departure he gave Triphyna
+his keys, desiring her to amuse herself in his absence. After five
+months he unexpectedly returned, and found her occupied trimming an
+infant's cap with gold lace. On seeing the cap Comorre turned pale;
+and when Triphyna joyfully announced to him that soon he would be a
+father he drew back in a rage and rushed out of the apartment.
+Triphyna saw that her ring had turned black, which betokened danger,
+she knew not why. She descended into the chapel to pray. When she rose
+to depart the hour of midnight struck, and suddenly a sound of
+movement in the silent chapel chilled her at the heart; shrinking into
+a recess, she saw the four tombs of Comorre's wives open slowly, and
+the women all issued forth in their winding-sheets.
+
+Faint with terror, Triphyna tried to escape; but the spectres cried:
+"Take care, poor lost one! Comorre seeks to kill you."
+
+"Me," said the Countess. "What evil have I done?"
+
+"You have told him that you will soon become a mother; and, through
+the Spirit of Evil, he knows that his child will slay him. He murdered
+us when we told him what he has just learned from you."
+
+"What hope, then, of refuge remains for me?" cried Triphyna.
+
+"Go back to your father," answered the phantoms.
+
+"But how escape when Comorre's dog guards the court?"
+
+"Give him this poison which killed me," said the first wife.
+
+"But how can I descend yon high wall?"
+
+"By means of this cord which strangled me," answered the second wife.
+
+"But who will guide me through the dark?"
+
+"The fire that burnt me," replied the third wife.
+
+"And how can I make so long a journey?" returned Triphyna.
+
+"Take this stick which broke my skull," rejoined the fourth spectre.
+
+Armed with the poison, the rope, and the stick, Triphyna set out,
+silenced the dog, scaled the wall, and, miraculously guided on her
+way through the darkness by a glowing light, proceeded on her road to
+Vannes. On awaking next morning Comorre found that his wife had fled,
+and pursued her on horseback. The poor fugitive, seeing her ring turn
+black, turned off the road and hid herself till night in the cabin of
+a shepherd, where there was only an old magpie in a cage at the door,
+and here her baby was born. Comorre, who had given up the pursuit, was
+returning home by that road, when he heard the magpie trying to
+imitate her complaints and calling out "Poor Triphyna!" Guessing that
+his wife had passed that way, he set his dog on the track.
+
+Meanwhile Triphyna felt she could proceed no farther, and lay down on
+the ground with her baby boy. As she clasped the child in her arms she
+saw over her head a falcon with a golden collar, which she recognized
+as her father's. The bird came at her call, and giving it the warning
+ring of St Gildas she told it to fly with it to her father. The bird
+obeyed, and flew like lightning to Vannes; but almost at the same
+instant Comorre arrived. Having parted with her warning ring,
+Triphyna, who had no notice of his approach, had only time to conceal
+her babe in the cavity of a tree when Comorre threw himself upon her,
+and with one blow from his sword severed her head from her body.
+
+When the falcon arrived at Vannes he found the Count at dinner with St
+Gildas. He let the ring fall into the silver cup of his master, who,
+recognizing it, exclaimed:
+
+"My daughter is in danger! Saddle the horses, and let Saint Gildas
+accompany us." Following the falcon, they soon reached the spot where
+Triphyna lay dead. After they had all knelt in prayer, St Gildas said
+to the corpse: "Arise, take thy head and thy child, and follow us."
+The dead body obeyed, the bewildered troop followed; but, gallop as
+fast as they could, the headless body was always in front, carrying
+the babe in her left hand, and her pale head in the right. In this
+manner they reached the castle of Comorre.
+
+"Count," called St Gildas before the gates, "I bring back thy wife
+such as thy wickedness has made her, and thy child such as heaven has
+given it thee. Wilt thou receive them under thy roof?"
+
+Comorre was silent. The Saint three times repeated the question, but
+no voice returned an answer. Then St Gildas took the new-born infant
+from its mother and placed it on the ground. The child marched alone
+to the edge of the moat, picked up a handful of earth, and, throwing
+it against the castle, exclaimed: "Let the Trinity execute judgment."
+At the same instant the towers shook and fell with a crash, the walls
+yawned open, and the castle sunk, burying Comorre and all his partners
+in crime. St Gildas then replaced Triphyna's head upon her shoulders,
+laid his hands upon her, and restored her to life, to the great joy of
+her father. Such is the history of Triphyna and Comorre.
+
+
+_The Legend of Ys_
+
+The legend of the submerged city of Ys, or Is, is perhaps the most
+romantic and imaginative effort of Breton popular legend. Who has not
+heard of the submerged bells of Ys, and who has not heard them ring in
+the echoes of his own imagination?
+
+This picturesque legend[42] tells us that in the early days of the
+Christian epoch the city of Ys, or Ker-is, was ruled by a prince
+called Gradlon, surnamed Meur, which in Celtic means 'the Great.'
+Gradlon was a saintly and pious man, and acted as patron to Gwennole,
+founder and first abbe of the first monastery built in Armorica. But,
+besides being a religious man, Gradlon was a prudent prince, and
+defended his capital of Ys from the invasions of the sea by
+constructing an immense basin to receive the overflow of the water at
+high tide. This basin had a secret gate, of which the King alone
+possessed the key, and which he opened and closed at the necessary
+times.
+
+Gradlon, as is so often the case with pious men, had a wayward child,
+the princess Dahut, who on one occasion while her father was sleeping
+gave a secret banquet to her lover, in which the pair, excited with
+wine, committed folly after folly, until at last it occurred to the
+frivolous girl to open the sluice-gate. Stealing noiselessly into her
+sleeping father's chamber she detached from his girdle the key he
+guarded so jealously and opened the gate. The water immediately rushed
+in and submerged the entire city.
+
+But, as usual, there is more than one version of this interesting
+legend. The city of Ys, says another account, was a place rich in
+commerce and the arts, but so given over to luxury as to arouse the
+ire of St Gwennole, who, in the manner of Jeremiah, foretold its ruin.
+It was situated where now a piece of water, the Etang de Laval, washes
+the desolate shores of the Bay of Trepasses--though another version of
+the tale has it that it stood in the vast basin which now forms the
+Bay of Douarnenez. A strong dike protected it from the ocean, the
+sluices only admitting sufficient water for the needs of the town.
+Gradlon constantly bore round his neck a silver key which opened at
+the same time the vast sluices and the city gates. He lived in great
+state in a palace of marble, cedar, and gold, and his only grief was
+the conduct of his daughter Dahut, who, it is said, "had made a crown
+of her vices and taken for her pages the seven capital sins." But
+retribution was at hand, and the wicked city met with sudden
+destruction, for one night Dahut stole the silver key for the purpose
+of opening the city gates to admit her lover, and in the darkness by
+mistake opened the sluices. King Gradlon was awakened by St Gwennole,
+who commanded him to flee, as the torrent was reaching the palace. He
+mounted his horse, and, taking his worthless daughter behind him, set
+off at a gallop, the incoming flood seething and boiling at his
+steed's fetlocks. The torrent was about to overtake and submerge him
+when a voice from behind called out: "Throw the demon thou carriest
+into the sea, if thou dost not desire to perish." Dahut at that moment
+fell from the horse's back into the water, and the torrent immediately
+stopped its course. Gradlon reached Quimper safe and sound, but
+nothing is said as to his subsequent career.
+
+[Illustration: THE ESCAPE OF KING GRADLON FROM THE FLOODED CITY OF YS]
+
+An ancient ballad on the subject, which, however, bears marks of
+having been tampered with, states, on the other hand, that Gradlon led
+his people into extravagances of every kind, and that Dahut received
+the key from him, the misuse of which precipitated the catastrophe.
+Dahut, the ballad continues, became a mermaid and haunted the waters
+which roll over the site of the city where she loved and feasted.
+"Fisherman," ends the ballad, "have you seen the daughter of the sea
+combing her golden hair in the midday sun at the fringes of the
+beach?" "Yes," replies the fisherman, "I have seen the white daughter
+of the sea, and I have heard her sing, and her songs were plaintive as
+the sound of the waves."
+
+The legend of Ys, of the town swallowed up by the sea, is common to
+the several branches of the Celtic race. In Wales the site of the
+submerged city is in Cardigan Bay, and in Ireland it is Lough Neagh,
+as Tom Moore says:
+
+  On Lough Neagh's bank as the fisherman strays,
+    When the clear, cold eve's declining,
+  He sees the round towers of other days
+    In the wave beneath him shining.
+
+This legend had its rise in an extraordinary story which was given
+currency to by Giraldus Cambrensis in his _Topography of Ireland_, to
+the effect that a certain extremely wicked tribe were punished for
+their sins by the inundation of their territory.
+
+"Now there was a common proverb," says Gerald, "in the mouths of the
+tribe, that whenever the well-spring of that country was left
+uncovered (for out of reverence shown to it, from a barbarous
+superstition, the spring was kept covered and sealed), it would
+immediately overflow and inundate the whole province, drowning and
+destroying the whole population. It happened, however, on some
+occasion that a young woman, who had come to the spring to draw water,
+after filling her pitcher, but before she had closed the well, ran in
+great haste to her little boy, whom she had heard crying at a spot not
+far from the spring where she had left him. But the voice of the
+people is the voice of God; and on her way back she met such a flood
+of water from the spring that it swept off her and the boy, and the
+inundation was so violent that they both, and the whole tribe, with
+their cattle, were drowned in an hour in this partial and local
+deluge. The waters, having covered the whole surface of that fertile
+district, were converted into a permanent lake. A not improbable
+confirmation of this occurrence is found in the fact that the
+fishermen in that lake see distinctly under the water, in calm
+weather, ecclesiastical towers, which, according to the custom of the
+country, are slender and lofty, and moreover round; and they
+frequently point them out to strangers travelling through these parts,
+who wonder what could have caused such a catastrophe."
+
+In the Welsh version of this fascinating legend it is the bard
+Gwyddno, of the twelfth century, who tells of the downfall of the
+submerged city, and two of the strophes which occur in his poem are
+also found in the Breton poem. The Welsh bard may have received the
+story from Breton sources, or the converse may be the case.
+
+The legend that Cardigan Bay contains a submerged territory is widely
+known, and strangely enough seems to be corroborated by the shape of
+the coast-line, the contour of which suggests the subsidence of a
+large body of land. Like their brothers of Ireland, the fishermen of
+Wales assert that at low tide they can see the ruins of ancient
+edifices far down beneath the clear waters of the bay.[43]
+
+Before the days of the French Revolution there was still to be seen at
+Quimper, between the two towers of the cathedral, a figure of King
+Gradlon mounted on his faithful courser, but in the stormy year of
+1793 the name of king was in bad odour and the ignorant populace
+deprived the statue of its head. However, in 1859 it was restored.
+Legend attributes the introduction of the vine into Brittany to King
+Gradlon, and on St Cecilia's Day a regular ritual was gone through in
+Quimper in connexion with his counterfeit presentment. A company of
+singers mounted on a platform. While they sang a hymn in praise of
+King Gradlon, one of the choristers, provided with a flagon of wine, a
+napkin, and a golden hanap (or cup), mounted on the crupper of the
+King's horse, poured out a cup of wine, which he offered ceremoniously
+to the lips of the statue and then drank himself, carefully wiped with
+his napkin the moustache of the King, placed a branch of laurel in his
+hand, and then threw down the hanap in the midst of the crowd below,
+in honour of the first planter of the grape in Brittany. To whoever
+caught the cup before it fell, and presented it uninjured to the
+Chapter, was adjudged a prize of two hundred crowns.
+
+There is a distinct savour of myth about all this. Can it be that
+Gradlon was a Breton Bacchus? There are notices of Celtic goddesses in
+whose honour Bacchic rites were held, and the place of these was
+sometimes taken by a corn god. Later the festival in its memorial
+aspect appears to have been associated with different kings[44] in the
+various parts of the Celtic world, and it seems likely that Gradlon
+was such a monarch who had taken the place of a vanished deity. It
+must be left to Celtic scholars to determine whether the name Gradlon
+possesses any deific significance hidden in its etymology.
+
+
+_The Clerk of Rohan_
+
+Jeanne de Rohan, daughter of Alain, fifth of the name, Viscount of
+Rohan, married in the year 1236 Matthew, Seigneur of Beauvau, son of
+Rene, Constable of Naples. Breton popular poetry has in many ballads
+recounted the adventures of Jeanne and her husband, one of which is as
+follows[45]:
+
+At the age of thirteen Jeanne consented to be married, but she desired
+that she herself should be allowed to choose her husband. Accordingly
+the cavaliers and barons of the district were invited to pay their
+court to her, and she fixed her affections upon the Seigneur of
+Beauvau, a valiant noble with large possessions in Italy. He was loyal
+and courteous, and when the pair were wedded their happiness seemed
+perfect.
+
+At this period the war in Palestine against the infidels was agitating
+the whole of Europe. The Seigneur of Beauvau desired to join the
+Crusaders, but his wife was by no means anxious that he should leave
+his home. But his principle was _noblesse oblige_. "I am of the most
+noble blood," he said; "therefore it behoves me to be the first to
+lead the way."
+
+He confided the care of his estates and his affairs in general to his
+wife's cousin, who was known as the Clerk of Rohan, and begged him to
+look well after Jeanne and his little son. Then, having bid farewell
+to them all, he mounted his horse and rode away to the wars.
+
+Jeanne was inconsolable. For days she wandered about the chateau
+carrying her baby boy in her arms and sobbing. All the domestic circle
+seemed disturbed at the Seigneur's departure except the Clerk of
+Rohan, to whom Count Matthew had so trustingly confided the charge of
+his affairs.
+
+The Seigneur had declared that he would return within a year's time. A
+year passed, however, and no news of him had been received. Now the
+Clerk was a perfidious and wicked schemer, and one morning as he and
+Jeanne were in conversation he hinted that the year within which the
+Seigneur had promised to return was now gone by and that the war in
+which he had been engaged had come to an end. He made no secret of his
+passion for the lady, but she on her part turned upon him angrily,
+saying: "Is it the fashion nowadays for women to consider themselves
+widows, knowing well that their husbands are alive? Go to, miserable
+Clerk, thy heart is full of wickedness. If my husband were here he
+would break thee in little pieces!"
+
+When the Clerk heard this he went secretly to the kennels, and there
+he slew the Seigneur's favourite greyhound. Taking some of its blood,
+he wrote with it a letter to Count Matthew telling him that his wife
+was most unhappy because of an accident which had occurred; that she
+had been hunting the deer, and that in the chase his favourite
+greyhound had died from over-exertion. The Seigneur duly received the
+letter, and in his reply told the Clerk to comfort the lady, as he was
+quite able to replace the hound. At the same time he desired that
+hunting should cease for the present, as the huntsmen seemed unskilful
+in their conduct of the chase.
+
+The wicked Clerk once more sought the lady.
+
+"Alas!" said he, "you are losing your beauty by weeping night and
+day."
+
+"I will know how to recover my beauty when my husband returns," she
+replied coldly.
+
+"Do not cheat yourself," he said. "Surely you can see by this time
+that he is either dead or has taken another wife. In the East there
+are many beautiful girls who are far wealthier than you."
+
+"If he has taken another wife," said the lady, "I shall die; and if he
+be dead I ask for naught but death. Leave me, miserable wretch. Thy
+tongue is poisoned with deceit."
+
+When the Clerk had sufficiently recovered from this second rebuff, he
+betook himself to the stables, where the Seigneur's horse, the most
+beautiful in the country, stood champing in its stall. The wretch,
+drawing his poignard, thrust it into the noble steed's entrails, and,
+as he had done in the case of the greyhound, took some of the blood
+and wrote once more to the Count.
+
+"Another accident has occurred at the chateau," he said, "but, my dear
+Seigneur, pray do not trouble yourself on account of it. When your
+wife was returning from a feast in the night your favourite horse fell
+and broke two of his legs, and had to be destroyed."
+
+The Seigneur replied that he was grieved to hear of the circumstance,
+and that in order to avoid further mischances of the sort it would be
+better that his wife should frequent no more feasts.
+
+A third time the perfidious Clerk sought the lady. On this occasion he
+threatened her with death if she would not be his, but she replied in
+the most spirited manner that she loved death a thousand times better
+than him. At these words he could not contain his rage, and, drawing
+his dagger, thrust fiercely at her head. But the lady's guardian angel
+turned the stroke and the weapon struck harmlessly against the wall.
+She fled from the room, closing the door behind her as she went;
+whereupon the Clerk rushed downstairs to the nursery where her child
+was quietly sleeping in its cradle, and, seeing no one beside it,
+stabbed the slumbering infant to the heart.
+
+Then he wrote to the Seigneur: "Hasten your return, I beg of you, for
+it is necessary that you should be here to establish order. Your dog
+and your white courser have perished, but that is not the worst. Your
+little son, alas! is also dead. The great sow devoured him when your
+wife was at a ball with the miller for a gallant."
+
+When the Seigneur received this letter he returned at once from the
+wars, his anger rising higher and higher with every homeward league.
+When he arrived at the chateau he struck three times upon the door
+with his hand, and his summons was answered by the Clerk.
+
+"How now, evil Clerk," shouted the infuriated Count, "did I not leave
+my wife in your care?" and with these words he thrust his lance into
+the Clerk's open mouth, so that the point stood out at the nape of his
+neck. Then, mounting the stairs, he entered his wife's chamber, and
+without speaking a word stabbed her with his sword.
+
+The ballad then goes on to speak of the burial of the victims of the
+wicked Clerk. The lady, dressed all in white, was laid in her tomb by
+the light of the moon and the stars. On her breast lay her little son,
+on her right the favourite greyhound, and on her left the white
+courser, and it is said that in her grave she first caresses one and
+then the other, and the infant, as if jealous, nestles closer to his
+mother's heart.
+
+
+_The Lady of La Garaye_
+
+The chateau of La Garaye, near Dinan, is rendered famous by the
+virtues and boundless charity of its Count, Claude Toussaint Marot de
+La Garaye, and his wife. Their interesting story is told in the
+charming poem of Mrs Norton, _The Lady of La Garaye_:
+
+  Listen to the tale I tell,
+  Grave the story is--not sad;
+  And the peasant plodding by
+  Greets the place with kindly eye,
+  For the inmates that it had.
+
+Count Claude de La Garaye and his wife were young, beautiful, and
+endowed with friends, riches, and all that could make life bright and
+happy. They entertained generously and enjoyed the pleasures and
+amusements of the world. But one day misfortune overtook them, for the
+Countess was thrown from her horse, and she was left a cripple for
+life, while all expectations of an heir vanished. Both were
+inconsolable at their disappointment. One day a monk came to visit
+them, and tried to comfort them, seeking by his conversation to turn
+their thoughts from earthly afflictions to heavenly consolation.
+
+"Ah, my father," said the lady, "how happy are you, to love nothing on
+earth!"
+
+"You are mistaken," answered the monk; "I love all those who are in
+sorrow or suffering. But I submit myself to the will of the Almighty,
+and bend myself with resignation to every blow He strikes."
+
+He proceeded to show them that there was still a great deal of
+happiness in store for them in ministering to the needs of others.
+Following his counsel, they went to Paris, where for three years the
+Count studied medicine and surgery, and his wife became a skilful
+oculist. On their return to La Garaye they gave up all the amusements
+of society and devoted themselves to relieving the sufferings of their
+fellow-creatures. Their house was converted into a hospital for the
+sick and afflicted, under the ministering care of the Count and his
+benevolent wife:
+
+  Her home is made their home; her wealth their dole;
+  Her busy courtyard hears no more the roll
+  Of gilded vehicles, or pawing steeds,
+  But feeble steps of those whose bitter needs
+  Are their sole passport. Through that gateway press
+  All varying forms of sickness and distress,
+  And many a poor, worn face that hath not smiled
+  For years, and many a feeble crippled child,
+  Blesses the tall white portal where they stand,
+  And the dear Lady of the liberal hand.
+
+Nor was their philanthropy confined to their own province. In 1729
+they offered themselves to M. de Belsunce--"Marseilles' good
+bishop"--to assist him during the visitation of the plague. The fame
+of their virtues reached even the French Court, and Louis XV sent
+Count de La Garaye the Order of St Lazarus, with a donation of 50,000
+livres and a promise of 25,000 more. They both died at an advanced
+age, within two years of each other, and were buried among their poor
+at Taden. Their marble mausoleum in the church was destroyed during
+the French Revolution. The Count left a large sum to be distributed
+among the prisoners, principally English, pent up in the crowded gaols
+of Rennes and Dinan. He had attended the English prisoners at Dinan
+during a contagious fever called the 'peste blanche,' and in
+acknowledgment of his humanity Queen Caroline sent him two dogs with
+silver collars round their necks, and an English nobleman made him a
+present of six more.
+
+The ruined chateau is approached by an ivy-covered gateway, through an
+avenue of beeches. As Mrs Norton renders it:
+
+  And like a mourner's mantle, with sad grace,
+  Waves the dark ivy, hiding half the door
+  And threshold, where the weary traveller's foot
+  Shall never find a courteous welcome more.
+
+The ruin is fast falling to pieces. The principal part remaining is an
+octagonal turret of three stories, with elegant Renaissance decoration
+round the windows.
+
+
+_The Falcon_
+
+An interesting and picturesque ballad sung in the Black Mountains is
+that of _The Falcon_. Geoffrey, first Duke of Brittany, was departing
+for Rome in the year 1008, leaving the government of the country in
+the hands of his wife Ethwije, sister of Richard of Normandy. As he
+was about to set out on his pilgrimage the falcon which he carried on
+his wrist after the manner of the nobles of the period, swooped down
+on and killed the hen of a poor peasant woman. The woman in a rage
+seized a large stone and cast it at the bird with such violence that
+it slew not only the falcon but the Duke himself. The death of the
+Duke was followed by a most desperate insurrection among the people.
+History does not enlighten us as to the cause of this rising, but
+tradition attributes it to the invasion of Brittany by the Normans
+(whom the widow of Geoffrey at once brought into the country on the
+demise of her husband) and the exactions which were wrung from the
+peasants by these haughty aliens.
+
+[Illustration: A PEASANT INSURRECTION]
+
+The ballad, which was used as a war-song by the Bretons at a later
+day, begins in true ballad style: "The falcon has strangled the fowl,
+the peasant woman has slain the Count who oppressed the people, the
+poor people, like a brute-beast."
+
+The hate of the stranger so characteristic of the old Bretons then
+flashes forth. "The country has been polluted by the foreigner, by the
+men of the Gallic land, and because of the death of a hen and a falcon
+Brittany is on fire, blood flows, and there is great dole among the
+people."
+
+On the summit of the Black Mountain thirty stout peasants had gathered
+to celebrate the ancient feast of the good St John. Among them was
+Kado the Striver, who stood there gravely leaning on his iron
+pitchfork. For a while he looked upon his comrades; then he opened his
+lips:
+
+"What say you, fellow-peasants? Do you intend to pay this tax? As for
+me, I shall certainly not pay it. I had much rather be hanged.
+Nevermore shall I pay this unjust tax. My sons go naked because of it,
+my flocks grow less and less. No more shall I pay. I swear it by the
+red brands of this fire, by Saint Kado my patron, and by Saint John."
+
+"My fortunes are broken, I am completely ruined," growled one of his
+companions. "Before the year is out I shall be compelled to beg my
+bread."
+
+Then all rose at once as if by a common impulse.
+
+"None of us will pay this tax! We swear it by the Sun and by the Moon,
+and by the great sea which encircles this land of Brittany!"
+
+Kado, stepping out from the circle, seized a firebrand, and holding it
+aloft cried: "Let us march, comrades, and strike a blow for freedom!"
+
+The enthusiasm of his companions burst out afresh. Falling into loose
+ranks they followed him. His wife marched by his side in the first
+rank, carrying a reaping-hook on her shoulder and singing as she
+marched.
+
+"Quickly, quickly, my children! We go to strike a blow for liberty!
+Have I brought thirty sons into the world to beg their bread, to carry
+firewood or to break stones, or bear burdens like beasts? Are they to
+till the green land and the grey land with bare feet while the rich
+feed their horses, their hunting-dogs, and their falcons better than
+they are fed? No! It is to slay the oppressors that I have borne so
+many sons!"
+
+Quickly they descended the mountains, gathering numbers as they went.
+Now they were three thousand strong, five thousand strong, and when
+they arrived at Langoad nine thousand strong. When they came to
+Guerande they were thirty thousand strong. The houses of those who had
+ground them down were wrapped in flames, fiercely ends the old ballad,
+"and the bones of those who had oppressed them cracked, like those of
+the damned in Tartarus."
+
+History tells us nothing concerning Kado the Striver, but it is most
+unlikely that he is a mere figment of popular imagination. What
+history does record, however, is that the wicked Duchess and her host
+of mercenary Normans were forced to flee, and that her place was taken
+by a more just and righteous ruler.
+
+
+_The Marquis of Guerande_
+
+Breton tradition speaks of a wild young nobleman, Louis-Francois de
+Guerande, Seigneur of Locmaria, who flourished in the early part of
+the seventeenth century. He was wealthy, and lived a life of reckless
+abandon; indeed, he was the terror of the parish and the despair of
+his pious mother, who, whenever he sallied forth upon adventure bent,
+rang the bell of the chateau, to give the alarm to the surrounding
+peasantry. The ballad which tells of the infamous deeds of this titled
+ruffian, and which was composed by one Tugdual Salauen, a peasant of
+Plouber,[46] opens upon a scene of touching domestic happiness. The
+Clerk of Garlon was on a visit to the family of his betrothed.
+
+"Tell me, good mother," he asked, "where is Annaik? I am anxious that
+she should come with me to dance on the green."
+
+"She is upstairs asleep, my son. Take care," added the old woman
+roguishly, "that you do not waken her."
+
+The Clerk of Garlon ran lightly up the staircase and knocked at
+Annaik's door.
+
+"Come, Annaik," he cried; "why are you asleep when all the others go
+to dance upon the village green?"
+
+"I do not wish to go to the dance, for I fear the Marquis of
+Guerande," replied the girl.
+
+The Clerk of Garlon laughed. "The Marquis of Guerande cannot harm you
+so long as I am with you," he said lightly. "Come, Annaik; were there
+a hundred such as he I should protect you from them."
+
+Reassured by her lover's brave words, the girl rose and put on her
+dress of white delaine. They were a joyous and beautiful pair. The
+Clerk was gaily dressed, with a peacock's feather in his hat and a
+chain on his breast, while his betrothed wore a velvet corsage
+embroidered with silver.
+
+On that evening the Marquis of Guerande leaped on his great red steed
+and sallied forth from his chateau. Galloping along the road, he
+overtook the Clerk of Garlon and his betrothed on their way to the
+dance.
+
+"Ha!" he cried, "you go to the dance, I see. It is customary to
+wrestle there, is it not?"
+
+"It is, Seigneur," replied the Clerk, doffing his hat.
+
+"Then throw off your doublet and let us try a fall or two," said
+Guerande, with a wicked look at Annaik which was not lost upon her
+lover.
+
+"Saving your grace, I may not wrestle with you," said the Clerk, "for
+you are a gentleman and I am nobody. You are the son of a lord and I
+am the son of a peasant."
+
+"Ha! what! The son of a peasant, say you, and you take your choice of
+the pretty girls of the village?"
+
+"Seigneur, pardon me. I did not choose this maiden; God gave her to
+me."
+
+During this parley Annaik stood by, trembling violently. She had heard
+of the Marquis of Guerande, and was only too well aware of the evil
+and reckless character he bore. The Clerk tried to calm her fears by
+whispered words and pressures of the hand, but the wicked Marquis,
+observing the state of terror she was in, exulted in the alarm he was
+causing her.
+
+"Well, fellow," said he, "since you cannot wrestle with me perhaps you
+will try a bout of sword-play."
+
+At these words Annaik's rosy cheeks became deathly white; but the
+Clerk of Garlon spoke up like a man.
+
+"My lord," he said, "I do not wear a sword. The club is my only
+weapon. Should you use your sword against me it would but stain it."
+
+The wicked Marquis uttered a fiendish laugh. "If I stain my sword, by
+the Saints, I shall wash it in your blood," he cried, and as he spoke
+he passed his rapier through the defenceless Clerk's body.
+
+At the sight of her slain lover the gentle heart of Annaik broke, and
+a great madness came upon her. Like a tigress she leapt upon the
+Marquis and tore his sword from his hand. Without his rapier he was as
+a child in the grasp of the powerful Breton peasant woman. Exerting
+all her strength, in a frenzy of grief she dragged the wretch to the
+green where the dance was in progress, haling him round and round it
+until exhausted. At last she dropped his senseless body on the green
+turf and hastened homeward.
+
+And once again we encounter the haunting refrain: "My good mother, if
+you love me make my bed, for I am sick unto death."
+
+"Why, daughter, you have danced too much; it is that which has made
+you sick."
+
+"I have not danced at all, mother; but the wicked Marquis has slain my
+poor Clerk. Say to the sexton who buries him: 'Do not throw in much
+earth, for in a little while you will have to place my daughter beside
+him in this grave.' Since we may not share the same marriage-bed we
+shall at least sleep in the same tomb, and if we have not been married
+in this world we shall at least be joined in heaven."
+
+The reader will be relieved to learn that the hero of this ballad,
+the Clerk of Garlon, was not killed after all, and that for once fact
+is enabled to step in to correct the sadness of fiction; for, when one
+comes to think of it, there are few sadder things in the world than
+the genuine folk-ballad, which, although at the time it may arouse
+aesthetic emotions, may yet afterward give rise to haunting pain. We
+are glad to be able to chronicle, then, that the worthy Clerk did not
+die of his wound as stated by Tugdual Salauen of the parish of Plouber,
+author of the ballad, and that the wicked Marquis escaped the halter,
+which, according to Breton custom, he would not otherwise have done
+had the Clerk died. His good mother took upon herself the burden of an
+annual pension to the Clerk's aged parents, and adopted the second
+child of Annaik, who had duly married her sweetheart, and this little
+one she educated, furthering its interests in every possible manner.
+As for the Marquis, he actually settled down, and one cannot help
+feeling chagrined that such a promising rogue should have turned
+talents so eminently suitable for the manufacture of legendary
+material into more humdrum courses. Conscious of the gravity of his
+early misdemeanours, he founded a hospital for the poor of the parish,
+and each evening in one of the windows of this place the peasants
+could see a light which burned steadily far into the night. If any
+asked the reason for this illumination he was told: "It is the Marquis
+of Guerande, who lies awake praying God to pardon his youth."
+
+
+_The Chateaux of Brittany_
+
+The chateaux of Brittany may truly be called the historical and
+legendary shrines of the province, for within their halls, keeps, and
+donjons Breton tradition and history were made. It is doubtful,
+indeed, if the castellated mansions of any other country, save,
+perhaps, those of the Rhine, harbour so many legends, arising either
+from the actual historical happenings connected with them or from
+those more picturesque yet terrible associations which they are
+popularly supposed to have with the powers of evil. The general
+appearance of such a building as the Breton chateau admirably lends
+itself to sombre tradition. The massy walls seem thick enough to
+retain all secrets, and the cry for vengeance for blood spilt within
+them cannot pass to the outer world through the narrow _meurtrieres_
+or arrow-slits of the _avant-corps_. The broad yet lofty towers which
+flank the front rise into a _toiture_ or _coiffe_ like an enchanter's
+conical cap. The _lucarnes_, or attic casements, are guarded on either
+side by gargoyles grim of aspect, or perhaps by griffins holding the
+shield-borne arms of dead and gone seigneurs. Seek where you will,
+among the wizard-houses of old Prague, the witch-dens of ancient
+Edinburgh, the bat-haunted castles of Drachenfels or Rheinstein, you
+will come at nothing built of man more informed with the soul of the
+Middle Ages, more drenched with their peculiar savour of mystery, than
+these stark keeps whose crests and _girouettes_ rise above encircling
+woods or frown upon mirroring rivers over the length and breadth of
+the Breton land.
+
+
+_La Roche-Jagu_
+
+One of the most typical of the chateaux of Brittany is that of La
+Roche-Jagu, at one time the guardian of the mouth of the river Trieux.
+It is built on the top of a hill which overhangs the Trieux, and from
+one of its battlemented galleries a splendid view of the windings of
+the river can be obtained. The wall on this side of the fortress is so
+thick as to allow of a chapel being hewn out of its solidity. A most
+distinctive architectural note is struck by the fourteen wonderful
+chimney-shafts of cut stone ornamented with iron spikes.
+
+
+_Tonquedec_
+
+Some miles farther down the river, but on its opposite side, is the
+imposing castle of Tonquedec, perhaps the finest remnant of the
+medieval military architecture of Brittany. It has always remained in
+the family of the Viscounts of Coetman, who ranked among the foremost
+of the Breton nobility, though one of them espoused the cause of the
+Constable Clisson against Duke John IV, and had the anguish of seeing
+his ancestral fortress razed to the ground. Under Henry IV, however,
+the castle was restored, only to be again demolished by order of
+Cardinal Richelieu, who strongly and forcibly disapproved of such
+powerful fortalices.
+
+It had an outer enclosure, and had to be entered by a drawbridge, and
+it was strengthened in every way conceivable to the military art of
+the times. It was surrounded by dwellings for the convenience of the
+seigneur's retainers, a fine _salle d'armes_ still remaining. To the
+keep, four stories high, a flying bridge led, in order to facilitate
+the withdrawal of the garrison in case of siege. Behind walls ten feet
+thick, so long as food and ammunition lasted, the inmates could hold
+the enemy in scorn.
+
+
+_Clisson_
+
+The chateau of Clisson, once the property of the great Constable
+Oliver de Clisson, whom the Viscount of Coetman and the Bretons of
+Penthievre had championed, is now only a grand old ruin, a touching
+monument of the architectural splendours of former days. By
+moonlight it makes a scene not easily forgotten, gaunt and still
+and ruggedly imposing, the silent reminder of events and people
+tales of whom will not readily die, the treasurer of secrets it
+will probably never yield. Its antithesis is the castle of Nantes,
+with the stamp of the Renaissance upon its delicately sculptured
+balconies and window-frames. It is now an arsenal, a fact which
+robs it of some of the romantic interest of Clisson, or, indeed, of
+ruins in general, yet within its walls are the prison chambers in
+which Gilles de Laval, the ambitious Finance Minister Fouquet, the
+Cardinal de Retz, and the Duchess of Berry once languished. For many
+years it served as one of the political prisons of France, though
+it is also associated with brighter and happier times; for here, on
+pleasure bent, lingered many of the Kings of France from Louis XI
+onward, and here in 1675 Madame de Sevigne sojourned, a circumstance
+which casts about it a literary as well as a romantic glamour. The
+great well in the courtyard, with its ornamental railing of wrought
+iron, is quite equal to the famous well of Quentin Matsys at Antwerp.
+
+
+_Josselin_
+
+The castle of Josselin, also associated with the history of the great
+Constable Clisson and his allies, as well as with the notorious League
+whose followers wrought such intolerable misery in Brittany, is built
+on a rocky foundation near the river Oust. With its imposing front and
+conically roofed towers it is one of the best examples of a
+twelfth-century fortress-chateau. Very different in tone is the
+architecture of the interior court, being that of the period when the
+lighter traceries and more imaginative lines of the Renaissance were
+in favour. The window-openings of the two first stories are beautiful
+enough to rival those of Chambord and equal those of Blois. Above the
+windows an open gallery runs, and in the space between each the device
+of the Rohans is carved, with their motto, _A Plus_, this celebrated
+family having built this part of the chateau. About the year 1400
+Clisson added a keep, walls, and parapets, but in 1629, when the
+fortress was no longer a stronghold of the League, these were
+permitted to fall into ruin. Through the courtesy of the family now in
+residence this wonderfully preserved castle may be visited, a
+circumstance for which the tourist in Brittany should indeed be
+grateful. Interest within these massy walls clings around the well,
+with its ornamental railings, the noble and lofty hall, the library,
+with its magnificent chimney-piece, repeating again, in stone, the
+Rohan motto, _A Plus_, and the equestrian statue of Clisson, by
+Fremiet, in the dining-room.
+
+
+_Hennebont and Largoet_
+
+Of the old chateau of Hennebont, where John of Montfort breathed his
+last after escaping from the Louvre of his day, only a heap of stones
+remains. The old fortress of Largoet is in much the same condition,
+nothing of the ancient structure having been conserved save the famous
+Tour d'Elven, considered to be the most beautiful castle keep in all
+Brittany, which has also a literary distinction as being the scene of
+some of the most touching episodes in Octave Feuillet's _Roman d'un
+jeune Homme pauvre_.
+
+
+_Chateaubriant_
+
+At Chateaubriant, which owes its name to the compounding of the
+word 'chateau' with that of 'Briant,' the family style of its
+original lord, the old feudal fortress is now a ruin, but the
+castle, built by Jean de Laval, Governor of Brittany under Francis
+I, is in good repair. An inscription giving the date of the completion
+of the new chateau as 1538 is above the portal of the colonnade.
+There is a gruesome legend associated with the old chateau, in which
+for some time dwelt the unfortunate Francoise de Foix, Countess of
+Chateaubriant and beloved of Francis I. Tiring or becoming suspicious
+of her royal lover, she decided to return to her husband, the old
+Count of Laval. The reunion, however, was not productive of
+happiness, owing to the fever of jealousy in which her elderly
+husband lived because of the love affair with the King. This
+jealousy eventually flared into mania when he heard that she had
+actually visited her former lover in prison after he had been
+captured at Pavia. Instantly he "shut his young wife up in a
+darkened and padded cell, and finally had her cut into pieces by two
+surgeons," so the story goes. Terrified at what he had done and of
+the consequences which were sure to follow when the King heard of
+his savagery, the Count fled the country immediately afterward.
+
+The chateau of Brodineuf (dating from the twelfth century) and that of
+Caradeuc are in good repair, but the latter is ancient only in parts.
+It shelters two Murillos within its walls. The picturesque chateau of
+Combourg was in early times a feudal fortress, and in it Rene
+Chateaubriand's infancy was passed. This place may be visited by
+interested sightseers, and there they may view the writing-table of
+the author of _Le Genie du Christianisme_, and, in the bedroom he
+occupied at Combourg, the bed on which he died in Paris. The chateau
+of Vitre is also in a state of preservation, and is considered one of
+the best specimens of military architecture in the province.
+Comparatively near is the chateau of Rochers, once the home of Mme de
+Sevigne, and in consequence one of the famous sights of the country.
+The many letters she dated from this castle paint a vivid and detailed
+picture of social life in the seventeenth century, and fortunately the
+atmosphere of the time has been happily retained in the building
+itself.
+
+Another twelfth-century structure is that of the chateau of Rustefan,
+near Quimperle. It was built by Stephen, Count of Penthievre, and
+belonged in the next century to Blanche of Castile, the mother of St
+Louis. The ruins now in existence are those of the chateau built in
+the fifteenth century, and its cylindrical tower, pinnacled doorway,
+and the stone mullions of the windows still remain fairly intact. The
+chateau of Kerjolet, in Concarneau, is one which has been saved from
+decay, restored as it was by Countess Chaveau-Narishkine and presented
+by her to the department. It contains a museum in which are specimens
+of all the costumes and _coiffes_ of Lower Brittany, and antiquities
+of prehistoric and medieval times, which all students of Breton and
+Celtic lore should see.
+
+
+_Palaces of the Past_
+
+The chateau of Tourlaville is situated among very beautiful
+surroundings, and is built in the classic style of the Renaissance,
+with an angular tower. On chimney-piece and fireplace throughout the
+castle there are numerous sentimental devices in which Cupids and
+flaming hearts and torches figure largely, with the occasional
+accompaniment of verses and mottoes of an equally amatory nature.
+These are all seventeenth-century examples and may be taken as
+expressions of the time. In a boudoir called the Blue Chamber, because
+of the colour of its draperies and decorations, many coats-of-arms are
+emblazoned; but all the greatness to which these testify has become a
+thing of the past, for the chateau has now been turned into a
+farmhouse.
+
+The chateau of Dinan may also be classed among the palaces of the
+past, for now, despite the fact that it was built by the Dukes of
+Brittany, it has become a prison. From the tourist as well as the
+romantic point of view this is somewhat of a tragedy. The Tower of
+Coetquen, one of the ancient towers of the city wall, is practically
+part of the castle, and the keep, or Queen Anne's Tower, is the most
+distinctive feature remaining. This keep is of four stories, and is
+over a hundred feet high, the last story being reached by a spiral
+staircase. What was once the oratory of the Duchess Anne is now the
+guard-room. There are still several dungeons whose original
+gruesomeness has been left untouched, and whose use in bygone days can
+well be imagined.
+
+
+_Suscino_
+
+The chateau of Suscino is one of the chief sights of the neighbourhood
+of Vannes, because it is the ruin of what was once a marvellous
+structure of the thirteenth century, and follows the finest Gothic
+traditions of the time. All the roofing of the building has quite
+disappeared, but its battlemented towers and walls remain to give a
+good idea of the architectural perfection that must have belonged to
+it. At one time it fell into the hands of Charles of Blois, only to be
+retaken by his rival, Montfort, in 1364, and in 1373 it was occupied
+by an English garrison. Eventually it was bestowed upon John of
+Chalons, Prince of Orange, by Anne of Brittany, but in time Francis I
+relieved him of it in order to present it to Francoise de Foix, the
+celebrated Lady of Chateaubriant. The irregular pentagon formed by the
+chateau is possibly somewhat modified from the original plan of 1320,
+and of the seven towers which flanked its gates and walls in the
+beginning six have weathered the storms of the times through which
+they have passed. Its orchid-shaped machicolations have also survived,
+and even to-day they are noticeably beautiful. The new tower is a fine
+cylindrical keep, dating from the fourteenth century, and over the
+entrance this legend still remains:
+
+       Ici Est Ne
+    Le Duc Arthur III
+    le 24 Aout, 1393.
+
+We have already dealt with many of the stories connected with the
+ancient castles of Brittany, and these will be found in nearly
+every chapter of this book, so varied are they. But no tale, however
+vivid, can hope to capture and retain all the wonder and mystery of
+these grand old strongholds, which must be seen in order to leave
+upon the imagination and memory the full impress of their weird and
+extraordinary fascination.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [40] _Folk-lore as an Historical Science_, p. 129.
+
+  [41] _Western France_, vol. ii.
+
+  [42] See Le Braz, _La Legende de la Mort_, t. i, p. 39, t. ii, pp. 37
+       ff.; Albert Le Grand, _Vies des Saints de la Bretagne_, p. 63;
+       Villemarque, _Chants populaires_, pp. 38 ff.
+
+  [43] See MacCulloch, _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 372 and
+       notes.
+
+  [44] MacCulloch, _op. cit._, p. 274.
+
+  [45] Villemarque avouches that this version was taken down by his
+       mother from the lips of an old peasant woman of the parish of
+       Nevez. It bears the stamp of ballad poetry, and as it has
+       parallels in the folk-verse of other countries I see no reason
+       to question its genuineness.
+
+  [46] See "Maro Markiz Gwerrand," in the _Bulletin de la Societe
+       Academique de Brest_, 1865.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII: HERO-TALES OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Soon after the Vicomte Hersart de la Villemarque published his
+_Barzaz-Breiz_, a collection of popular ballads from the Breton,
+critics who possessed a knowledge of the language and were acquainted
+with its literature exposed the true nature of the work, acting,
+indeed, as did British critics when Macpherson published his
+fragments of Ossian. Villemarque was, in fact, a Breton Macpherson. He
+would hear a Breton ballad sung or recited, and would then either
+enlarge upon it and torture it out of all resemblance to its original
+shape, or he would instigate a literary friend to do so. We must
+remember that such a proceeding was fashionable at the time, as no
+less a personage than Sir Walter Scott had led the way, and he had
+been preceded by Burns in the practice. But whereas Burns made no
+secret of what he did and greatly enhanced the poetical value of the
+songs and ballads he altered, Scott and his friends, Kirkpatrick
+Sharpe, Leyden, and others, indulged in what they described as the
+"mystification" of their acquaintances by these semi-forgeries.
+Like theirs, Villemarque's work had usually an historical or
+legendary basis, but it is impossible to say how much of it is
+original matter of folk-song and how much his own invention,
+unless we compare his versions with those furnished by M. Luzel in
+his _Guerziou Breiz-Izel_ (1868), which, however, only contains a few
+of the originals of the tales given in the _Barzaz-Breiz_, and those
+not the most interesting.
+
+I have cast the following tales into narrative form from the ballads
+published in the _Barzaz-Breiz_, where they obviously appear as
+traditional tales in a polished, modern dress.[47] They may be
+regarded, largely, as efforts of the modern imagination regarding the
+Breton past. In any case the author of a book on Breton romances would
+not be justified in omitting all mention of Villemarque and refraining
+from affording the reader a specimen of his work, any more than he
+would be in founding solely upon the labours of the Vicomte.
+
+
+_Lez-Breiz, the Prop of Brittany_
+
+Morvan, chief of Leon, so celebrated in the history of the ninth
+century as one of the upholders of Breton independence, and known to
+tradition as 'the Prop of Brittany,' is the subject of a remarkable
+series of ballads or hero-tales in the _Barzaz-Breiz_ which together
+constitute what is almost an epic. These tell of his life, death,
+adventures, travels, and the marvellous feats of derring-do he
+accomplished. In some measure he is to Breton legend what Arthur is to
+British or Holger to that of Denmark. That he is familiar to Breton
+tradition there can be no question, and whether Villemarque himself
+wove the following adventures around him or not they are certainly
+typical of the age in which the hero flourished.
+
+
+_Morvan's First Adventure_
+
+One day the child Morvan was sitting at the edge of the forest when a
+cavalier issued from its depths armed at all points and riding a
+great charger. The boy, excited by his martial appearance, ran from
+him in terror, calling out that here indeed was St Michael; but the
+cavalier rode so swiftly that he soon came up with the lad, who
+devoutly threw himself on his knees and made the sign of the Cross,
+calling out:
+
+"Seigneur Saint Michael, in the name of God I pray thee do me no
+harm!"
+
+The knight laughed loudly. "Why, lad," he said, "I am no more Saint
+Michael than I am a thief, but merely a belted knight, such as one may
+meet with by the score in this land of chivalry."
+
+"I have never seen a knight," replied Morvan; "and what may that be
+which you carry?"
+
+"That is called a lance, my boy."
+
+"And what are these that you wear on your head and breast?"
+
+"The one is a casque and the other a breast-plate. They are intended
+to protect me from the stroke of sword and spear. But tell me, lad,
+have you seen any one pass this way?"
+
+"Yes, Seigneur, a man went by this very road not half an hour agone."
+
+"Thank you, boy," replied the knight. "If you are asked who spoke to
+you, say the Count of Quimper," and with these words he spurred his
+horse and set off down the road in the direction which the little
+Morvan had indicated.
+
+Morvan returned to his mother, who had been sitting some distance
+away, and began to tell her of his meeting. He was so full of the
+gallantry of the knight he had met, his grace and martial bearing,
+that the good dame could not stem the torrent of words which flowed
+from him.
+
+"Oh, mother," he babbled on, "you never saw anyone so splendid as him
+whom I have seen to-day, a man more beautiful than the Lord Michael
+the Archangel, whose image is in our church."
+
+His mother smiled and patted him fondly on the cheek.
+
+"Come, my son," she said, "there is no man so beautiful as the
+Archangel Michael."
+
+But little Morvan shook his head.
+
+"Saving your grace, there are, my mother," he said gravely. "There are
+many men more splendid than Saint Michael, and they are called
+knights. How I wish that I might grow up and become a knight too!"
+
+At these words the poor lady, who had lost her husband in battle and
+who dreaded that her only son might be taken from her, was seized with
+such dismay that she sank to the ground unconscious. The little
+Morvan, without turning his head, entered the stables and led out a
+fresh horse. Jumping lightly on the steed's back, he turned its head
+in the direction in which the splendid cavalier had gone and rode
+hastily after him.
+
+
+_The Return of Morvan_
+
+Ten years passed--years full of martial achievement and adventure for
+young Morvan. Then a desire to return to the ancestral mansion seized
+upon the youth, and he made his way homeward. But great was his dismay
+when he entered the courtyard of the manor and looked about him, for
+the blackberry bushes and the nettles were growing round the threshold
+of the house and the walls were half ruined and covered with ivy. As
+he was about to enter he observed a poor old blind woman standing in
+the entrance.
+
+[Illustration: MORVAN RETURNS TO HIS RUINED HOME]
+
+"Pardon me, dame, but perhaps you can give me hospitality for the
+night," he said.
+
+"Alas! sir, we have but little," she replied. "This house has been
+allowed to go to ruin since its son and heir quitted it."
+
+As she ceased speaking a young damsel descended the broken stone
+steps, and after regarding Morvan for a moment burst into tears.
+
+"How now, maiden," said Morvan, "wherefore do you weep?"
+
+"Alas, Seigneur," replied the maiden, "I have a brother who left us
+ten years ago to lead the life of a warrior, and every time that I see
+a youth about his age I feel myself compelled to weep."
+
+"Tell me, my child," said Morvan, "have you no other brother?"
+
+"None in the world, Sir Knight."
+
+"And your mother, what of her?"
+
+"Alas! sir, she too is gone. There is no one but myself and my old
+nurse in the house. My poor mother died of grief when my brother rode
+off to become a knight."
+
+On hearing these words Morvan was deeply affected.
+
+"Alas!" he cried, "wretch that I am, I have slain her who gave me
+birth!"
+
+When he spoke thus the damsel turned deadly pale.
+
+"In the name of heaven, sir, who are you?" she cried. "How are you
+named?"
+
+"I am Morvan, son of Conan, and Lez-Breiz is my surname, my sister."
+
+The young girl stared for a moment, sighed, and then fell into his
+arms; but soon she opened her eyes and praised God that she had found
+her long-lost brother.
+
+
+_The King's Cavalier_
+
+But Lez-Breiz could not remain long at home. The tented field was his
+fireside, the battle his sport. Adventure followed adventure in his
+full and stirring life. One day he said to his young squire:
+
+"Arouse you, my squire, and furnish my sword, my casque, and my
+shield, that I may redden them in the blood of the Franks, for with
+the help of God and this right arm I shall carry slaughter into their
+ranks this day."
+
+"Tell me, my lord," asked the squire, "shall I not fight along with
+you to-day?"
+
+Morvan smiled at the lad's eagerness, perhaps because he remembered
+his own on the day he met the Count of Quimper, then a grave shadow
+crossed his face.
+
+"Think of your mother, lad," said he. "What if you never return to
+her? Think of her grief should you die this day."
+
+"Ah, Seigneur," entreated the stripling, "if you love me, grant my
+prayer; let me fight along with you."
+
+When Morvan rode out to battle an hour later his squire rode beside
+him, knee to knee. Passing near the church of St Anne of Armor they
+entered.
+
+"O Saint Anne, most holy dame," prayed Morvan, "I am not yet twenty
+years old and I have been in twenty battles. All those I have gained
+by your aid, and if I return again to this land I shall make you a
+rich gift. I shall give you enough candles to go three times round the
+walls of your church, and thrice round your churchyard--aye, thrice
+round your lands, when I come home again; and further I shall give you
+a banner of white satin with an ivory staff. Also shall I give you
+seven silver bells which will ring gaily night and day above your
+head. And three times on my knees will I draw water for your use."
+
+The enemy saw Morvan coming from afar. He was mounted on a small white
+ass with a halter of hemp, to signify his contempt for them. Lorgnez,
+his chief foe, came against him with a troop of warriors, while Morvan
+had only his little squire behind him. The foemen came on, ten by ten,
+until they reached the Wood of Chestnuts. For a moment the little
+squire was dismayed, but a word from his master rallied him, and,
+drawing his sword, he spurred forward. Soon they came front to front
+with Lorgnez and hailed him in knightly fashion.
+
+"Ho! Seigneur Lorgnez, good day to you."
+
+"Good morrow, Seigneur Morvan. Will you engage in single combat?"
+
+"No; I despise your offer. Go back to your King and tell him that I
+mock him; and as for yourself, I laugh at you and those with you.
+Return to Paris, stay among your women, take off your mail and put on
+the silken armour of fops."
+
+Lorgnez's face flamed with anger.
+
+"By heaven!" he cried, "the lowest varlet in my company shall hew your
+casque from your head for this!"
+
+At these words Morvan drew his great sword.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The old hermit of the wood heard some one knocking on the door of his
+cell. He opened it quickly and saw the young squire standing before
+him. He started back at the sight of the youth's blood-stained armour
+and death-pale countenance.
+
+"Ha, my son," he cried, "you are sorely hurt. Come and wash your
+wounds at the fountain and repose for a little."
+
+"I may not rest here, good father," replied the squire, shaking his
+head. "I have come to find water to take to my young master, who has
+fallen in the fight. Thirty warriors lie slain by his hand. Of these
+the Chevalier Lorgnez was the first."
+
+"Brave youth!" said the hermit. "Alas that he has fallen!"
+
+"Do not grieve, father. It is true that he has fallen, but it is only
+from fatigue. He is unwounded and will soon recover himself."
+
+When he was recovered Morvan betook him to the chapel of St Anne and
+rendered the gifts he had promised her.
+
+"Praise be to Saint Anne," cried he, "for she it is who has gained
+this victory."
+
+
+_The King's Blackamoor_
+
+One day the King of the Franks was sitting among his courtiers.
+
+"Would that some one would rid me of this pestilent Morvan, who
+constantly afflicts the Frankish land and slays my doughtiest
+warriors," he said, on hearing of a fresh exploit on the part of the
+Breton chief.
+
+Then the King's blackamoor, who heard these words, arose and stood
+before his master. He was tall and great of thew and sinew--a giant
+among men, towering head and shoulders even above the tall Frankish
+warriors.
+
+"Allow me to fulfil your wishes, sire," he said. "Sir Morvan has sent
+me his glove, and if to-morrow I do not bring you his head I will
+willingly part with my own."
+
+On the next morning Morvan's squire came to his master trembling
+violently.
+
+"Seigneur," he said, with ashy countenance, "the King's Moor is here
+and bids you defiance."
+
+Morvan rose and took his sword.
+
+"Alas! my dear master," said the squire, "take heed what you do, I
+pray you, for I assure you that this Moor is nothing but a demon who
+practises the most horrible enchantments."
+
+Morvan laughed. "Well, we shall see whether this demon can withstand
+cold steel or not," he said. "Go and saddle my black horse."
+
+"Saving your grace," said the page, "if you will hearken to my words
+you will not fight on the black charger. He has been bewitched.
+Moreover, you will notice that when you enter the lists to fight the
+Moor he will cast his mantle to the ground. But do not follow his
+example, for should your mantle fall beneath his the strength of the
+black giant will be doubled. When the Moor advances to the attack make
+the sign of the Cross with the shaft of your lance, and when he rushes
+upon you in his battle-fury receive him with the steel. If you do this
+you may be sure that your lance will not break."
+
+The heroes met within the lists. The King of France and his nobles had
+followed the giant Moor in order to witness the combat, and when all
+had been seated the trumpets sounded and the two champions rushed
+together with the utmost fury. They circled round one another like
+eagles seeking an opening to strike. Now one struck, then the other,
+and the blood flowed down their bright armour. The Frankish King in
+high excitement called out:
+
+"Ho! black crow of the sea, pierce me now this merle."
+
+At these words the giant assailed Morvan most furiously, as a great
+tempest assails a ship. The lances crossed, but that of the Moor broke
+like matchwood. Both leaped to earth, sword in hand, and rushed at
+each other like lions. Many lusty strokes were given and taken, and
+from their armour flew sparks like those from a smith's anvil. Then
+the Moor, grasping his sword with both hands, made ready to strike a
+mighty blow, when swift and trenchantly Morvan thrust his blade far
+into the arm-pit and the heart and the giant tumbled to the earth like
+a falling tree. Morvan placed his foot on the dead man's breast,
+withdrew his sword, and cut off the Moor's head. Then, attaching the
+bleeding trophy to the pommel of his saddle, he rode home with it and
+affixed it to the gate of his castle. All men praised him for his
+doughty deed, but he gave the grace of his victory entirely to St
+Anne, and declared that he would build a house of prayer in her honour
+on the heights between Leguer and the Guindy.
+
+
+_Morvan Fights the King_
+
+One day Morvan sallied forth to encounter the King of the Franks
+himself. The King brought no fewer than five thousand mounted
+men-at-arms. As this host was about to set out, a great clap of
+thunder resounded in the vault of heaven, and the King's nobles
+perforce regarded it as a bad omen.
+
+"For heaven's sake, sire, go not hence," said one of them, "since the
+day has begun with such an evil token."
+
+"Impossible," was the royal reply. "I have given the order; we must
+march."
+
+That morning, on the other hand, the sister of Morvan said to her
+brother: "My dear brother, if you love me seek not this combat, for if
+you do you will certainly go to your death, and what will become of me
+afterward? I see on the shore the white sea-horse, the symbol of
+Brittany. A monstrous serpent entwines him, seizing him round the hind
+legs and the body with his enormous coils. The sea-steed turns his
+head to seize the reptile. The combat is unequal. You are alone; the
+Franks are legion!"
+
+But Morvan was already beyond ear-shot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the hermit of the wood of Hellean[48] slept three knocks sounded on
+his door.
+
+"Good hermit," said some one, "open the door. I seek an asylum and
+help from you."
+
+The wind blew coldly from the country of the Franks. It was the hour
+when savage beasts wander here and there in search of their prey. The
+hermit did not rise with alacrity.
+
+"Who are you who knock at my door at this hour of night demanding an
+entrance?" he asked sulkily; "and by what sign shall I know whether
+you are a true man or otherwise?"
+
+"Priest, I am well known in this land. I am Morvan Lez-Breiz, the
+Hatchet of Brittany."
+
+"I will not open my door to you," said the hermit hastily. "You are a
+rebel; you are the enemy of the good King of the Franks."
+
+"How, priest!" cried Morvan angrily, "I am a Breton and no traitor or
+rebel. It is the King of the Franks who has been a traitor to this
+land."
+
+"Silence, recreant!" replied the hermit. "Rail not against the King of
+the Franks, for he is a man of God."
+
+"Of God, say you? Nay, rather of the devil! Has he not ravaged and
+wasted the Breton land? The gold that he wrings from the Breton folk
+is expended for the good of Satan. Open, hermit, open!"
+
+"Not so, my son, for should I do so the Franks would surely fix a
+quarrel upon me."
+
+"You refuse?" shouted Morvan in a voice of thunder. "Good; then I
+shall burst into your cell," and with these words he threw himself
+against the door, which creaked ominously.
+
+"Hold, my son, hold!" cried the old hermit in tremulous tones.
+"Forbear and I will open to you"; and seizing a torch he lit it at the
+remains of his fire and went to open the door.
+
+
+_The Severed Head_
+
+He unlocked it and drew it back, but as he did so he recoiled
+violently, for he saw advancing upon him a terrible spectre, holding
+its head in its two hands. Its eyes seemed full of blood and fire, and
+rolled round and round in a most horrible manner. The hermit was about
+to shriek in terror when the head of the apparition, after laughing
+grimly, addressed him:
+
+"Come now, old Christian, do not be afraid. God permits this thing to
+be. He has allowed the Franks to decapitate me, but for a time only,
+and as you see me now I am only a phantom. But He will permit you
+yourself to replace my head on my shoulders if you will."
+
+The hermit stammered and drew back. This was not his first encounter
+with the supernatural, which he had good reason to dread, but like all
+Bretons he had come under the magnetism of Morvan, even although he
+believed that the King of the Franks was his rightful overlord; so,
+steeling himself against his natural timidity, he said:
+
+"If God permits this thing I shall be very willing to replace your
+head on your shoulders."
+
+"Take it, then," said the decapitated Morvan, and with trembling hands
+the priest took the gory trophy and replaced it on the Breton chief's
+shoulders, saying at the same time: "I replace your head, my son, in
+the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit."
+
+And by virtue of this benediction the phantom once more became a man.
+
+"Morvan," said the hermit, "you must do penance, heavy penance, with
+me. You must carry about with you for seven years a robe of lead,
+padlocked to your neck, and each day at the hour of twelve you must go
+to fetch water from the well at the summit of the mountain yonder."
+
+"I will do as you desire," said Morvan; "I will follow your saintly
+wish."
+
+When the seven years of the penance had passed the robe had flayed
+Morvan's skin severely, and his beard, which had become grey, and the
+hair of his head, fell almost to his waist. Those who saw him did not
+recognize him; but a lady dressed in white, who passed through the
+greenwood, stopped and gazed earnestly at him and her eyes filled with
+tears.
+
+"Morvan, my dear son, it is indeed you," she said. "Come here, my
+beloved child, that I may free you of your burden," and she cut the
+chain which bound the shirt of lead to the shoulders of the penitent
+with a pair of golden scissors, saying:
+
+"I am your patron, Saint Anne of Armor."
+
+Now for seven years had the squire of Morvan sought his master, and
+one day he was riding through the greenwood of Hellean.
+
+"Alas!" he said, "what profits it that I have slain his murderer when
+I have lost my dear lord?"
+
+Then he heard at the other end of the wood the plaintive whinnying of
+a horse. His own steed sniffed the air and replied, and then he saw
+between the parted branches a great black charger, which he recognized
+as that of Lez-Breiz. Once more the beast whinnied mournfully. It
+almost seemed as if he wept. He was standing upon his master's grave!
+
+But, like Arthur and Barbarossa, Morvan Lez-Breiz will yet return.
+Yes, one day he will return to fight the Franks and drive them from
+the Breton land!
+
+We have sundry intimations here of the sources from which Villemarque
+drew a part at least of his matter. There are resemblances to
+Arthurian and kindred romances. For example, the incident which
+describes the flight of young Morvan is identical with that in the
+Arthurian saga of _Percival le Gallois_, where the child Percival
+quits his mother's care in precisely the same fashion. The Frankish
+monarch and his Court, too, are distinctly drawn in the style of the
+_chansons de gestes_, which celebrated the deeds of Charlemagne and
+his peers. There are also hints that the paganism against which
+Charlemagne fought, that of the Moors of Spain, had attracted the
+attention of the author, and this is especially seen in his
+introduction of the Moorish giant, so common a figure in the
+Carlovingian stories.
+
+
+_The Ballad of Bran_
+
+A sorrowful and touching ballad, claimed by Villemarque as being sung
+in the Breton dialect of Leon, tells of the warrior Bran, who was
+wounded in the great fight of Kerlouan, a village situated on the
+coast of Leon, in the tenth century. The coast was raided by the
+Norsemen, and the Bretons, led by their chief, Even the Great, marched
+against them and succeeded in repelling them. The Norsemen, however,
+carried off several prisoners, among them a warrior called Bran.
+Indeed, a village called Kervran, or 'the village of Bran,' still
+exists near the seashore, and here it was, tradition relates, that the
+warrior was wounded and taken by the Scandinavian pirates. In the
+church of Goulven is to be seen an ancient tablet representing the
+Norse vessels which raided the coast.
+
+The ballad recounts how Bran, on finding himself on the enemy's ship,
+wept bitterly. On arriving in the land of the Norsemen he was
+imprisoned in a tower, where he begged his gaolers to allow him to
+send a letter to his mother. Permission to do so was granted, and a
+messenger was found. The prisoner advised this man, for his better
+safety, to disguise himself in the habit of a beggar, and gave him his
+gold ring in order that his mother might know that the message came
+from her son in very truth. He added: "When you arrive in my country
+proceed at once to my mother, and if she is willing to ransom me show
+a white sail on your return, but if she refuses, hoist a black sail."
+
+When the messenger arrived at the warrior's home in the country of
+Leon the lady was at supper with her family and the bards were present
+playing on their harps.
+
+"Greeting, lady," said the messenger. "Behold the ring of your son,
+Bran, and here is news from him contained in this letter, which I pray
+you read quickly."
+
+The lady took the missive, and, turning to the harpers, told them to
+cease playing. Having perused the letter she became extremely
+agitated, and, rising with tears in her eyes, gave orders that a
+vessel should be equipped immediately so that she might sail to seek
+her son on the morrow.
+
+One morning Bran, the prisoner, called from his tower: "Sentinel,
+Sentinel, tell me, do you see a sail on the sea?"
+
+"No," replied the sentinel, "I see nothing but the sea and the sky."
+
+At midday Bran repeated the question, but was told that nothing but
+the birds and the billows were in sight. When the shadows of evening
+gathered he asked once more, and the perfidious sentinel replied with
+a lie:
+
+"Yes, lord, there is a ship close at hand, beaten by wind and sea."
+
+"And what colour of a sail does she show?" asked Bran. "Is it black or
+white?"
+
+"It is black, lord," replied the sentinel, in a spirit of petty
+spite.
+
+When the unhappy warrior heard these words he never spoke more.
+
+That night his mother arrived at the town where he had been
+imprisoned. She asked of the people: "Why do the bells sound?"
+
+"Alas! lady," said an ancient man, "a noble prisoner who lay in yonder
+tower died this night."
+
+With bent head the lady walked to the tower, her white hair falling
+upon her folded arms. When she arrived at its foot she said to the
+guard: "Open the door quickly; I have come to see my son."
+
+And when the great door was opened she threw herself upon the corpse
+of Bran and breathed her last.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the battlefield of Kerlouan there is an oak which overshadows the
+shore and which marks the place where the Norsemen fled before the
+face of Even the Great. On this oak, whose leaves shine in the moon,
+the birds gather each night, the birds of the sea and the land, both
+of white and black feather. Among them is an old grey rook and a young
+crow. The birds sing such a beautiful song that the great sea keeps
+silence to hear it. All of them sing except the rook and the crow. Now
+the crow says: "Sing, little birds, sing; sing, little birds of the
+land, for when you die you will at least end your days in Brittany."
+
+The crow is of course Bran in disguise, for the name Bran means 'crow'
+in the Breton tongue, and the rook is possibly his mother. In the most
+ancient Breton traditions the dead are represented as returning to
+earth in the form of birds. A number of the incidents in this piece
+are paralleled in the poem of _Sir Tristrem_, which also introduces a
+messenger who disguises himself for the purpose of travelling more
+safely in a foreign country, a ring of gold, which is used to show the
+messenger's _bona-fides_, a perfidious gaoler, and the idea of the
+black or white sail. The original poem of _Sir Tristrem_ was probably
+composed about the twelfth or thirteenth century, and it would seem
+that the above incidents at least have a Breton source behind them. A
+mother, however, has been substituted for a lover, and the ancient
+Breton dame takes the place of Ysonde. There is, indeed, little
+difference between the passage which relates the arrival of the mother
+in the Norsemen's country and that of Ysonde in Brittany when she
+sails on her last voyage with the intention of succouring Tristrem.
+Ysonde also asks the people of the place why the bells are ringing,
+one of the ancient inhabitants tells her of the death of her lover,
+and, like the Breton mother, she casts herself on the body of him she
+has lost.
+
+"This passage," says Villemarque, with wonderful _sang-froid_, "duly
+attests the prior claim of the Armorican piece!" But even if he had
+been serious, he wrote without the possession of data for the precise
+fixing of the period in which the Breton ballad was composed; and in
+any case his contention cannot assist the Breton argument for
+Armorican priority in Arthurian literature, as borrowing in ballad and
+folk-tale is much more flagrant than he, writing as he did in 1867,
+could ever have guessed--more flagrant even than any adaptation he
+himself ever perpetrated!
+
+He adds, however, an antiquarian note to the poem which is of far
+greater interest and probably of more value than his supposition. He
+alludes to the passage contained in the ballad regarding the harpers
+who are represented as playing in the hall of Bran's mother while
+she sits at supper. The harp, he states, is no longer popular in
+Brittany, and he asks if this was always the case. There can be very
+little doubt that in Brittany, as in other Celtic countries--for
+example, Wales, Ireland and Scotland--the harp was in ancient times
+one of the national instruments. It is strange that it should have
+been replaced in that country by the _biniou_, or bagpipe, just as
+the _clairschach_, or Highland harp, was replaced by the same
+instrument in the Highlands of Scotland.
+
+
+_Fontenelle_
+
+Guy Eder de Fontenelle, a son of the house of Beaumanoir, was one of
+the most famous partisans of the Catholic League, and, according to
+one who saw him in 1587, had then begun to show tendencies to the wild
+life he was afterward to lead. He was sent as a scholar to Paris to
+the College of Boncotest, but in 1589, when about sixteen years of
+age, he became impatient of scholastic confinement, sold his books and
+his robe, and bought a sword and poignard. Leaving the college, he
+took the road to Orleans, with the object of attaching himself to the
+army of the Duke of Mayenne, chief of the Catholic party in France,
+but, returning to his native Brittany, he placed himself at the head
+of the populace, which had risen in arms on behalf of the Leaguers. As
+he was of good family and a Breton and displayed an active spirit,
+they obeyed him very willingly. Soon he translated his intentions into
+action, and commenced to pillage the smaller towns and to make captive
+those who differed from him politically. He threatened Guingamp, which
+was held for the King, and made a sally into Leon, carrying away the
+daughter of the Lady of Coadelan, a wealthy heiress, who was only
+about eight or nine years of age. This occurrence Villemarque has
+related for us in Breton verse, assuring us that it was 'recovered' by
+the Comte de Kergariou, a friend of his. Fontenelle is supposed to
+have encountered the little heiress plucking flowers in a wayside
+ditch.
+
+"Tell me, little one," said he, "for whom do you pluck these
+flowers?"
+
+"For my foster-brother, whom I love. But I am afraid, for I know that
+Fontenelle is near."
+
+"Ha, then, so you know this terrible Fontenelle, my child?"
+
+"No, sir, I do not know him, but I have heard tell of him. I have
+heard folk say that he is a very wicked man and that he carries away
+young ladies."
+
+"Yes," replied Fontenelle, with a laugh, "and, above all, heiresses."
+
+He took the child in his arms and swung her on to the crupper of his
+saddle. Then, dashing the spurs into his charger's flanks, he set off
+at a gallop for Saint-Malo, where he placed the little heiress in a
+convent, with the object of marrying her when she had arrived at the
+age of fourteen.
+
+Years afterward Fontenelle and the heiress, who was now his wife, went
+to live at their manor of Coadelan. They had a little child beautiful
+as the day, who greatly resembled his father. One day a letter arrived
+for the Seigneur, calling upon him to betake himself to Paris at once.
+His wife was inconsolable.
+
+"Do not set forth alone for Paris, I pray you," she said, "for if you
+do I shall instantly follow you. Remain at home, I beg of you, and I
+will send a messenger in your stead. In the name of God, do not go,
+husband, for if you do you will never return."
+
+But Fontenelle disregarded his wife's entreaties, and, begging her to
+take good care of their son during his absence, set forth on his
+journey to the capital. In due time he arrived in Paris and stood
+before the King and Queen. He greeted them courteously, but they
+looked coldly on him, and the King told him bluntly that he should not
+return to Coadelan, adding: "There are sufficient chains in my palace
+to restrain you."
+
+On hearing this Fontenelle called his little page and begged him to
+return at once to his mistress and tell her to discard her finery,
+because she would soon be a widow, and to bring him back a coarse
+shirt and a white sheet, and, moreover, to bring a gold plate on which
+his enemies might expose his head after his death.
+
+"And, little page," he added, "take a lock of my hair and place it on
+the door of Coadelan, so that all men as they go to Mass may say, 'God
+have mercy on the soul of Fontenelle.'"
+
+The page did as he was bidden, but as for the plate of gold it was
+useless, for Fontenelle's head was thrown on the pavement to serve as
+a ball for the children of the gutter.
+
+All Paris was surprised when one day a lady from a distant country
+arrived and made great stir in its narrow streets. Every one asked his
+neighbour who this dame might be. It was the heiress of Coadelan,
+dressed in a flowing robe of green. "Alas!" said the pitiful
+burgesses, "if she knew what we know she would be dressed in black."
+Shortly she stood before the King. "Sire," said she, "give me back my
+husband, I beg of you."
+
+"Alas! madam," replied the King, with feigned sorrow, "what you ask is
+impossible, for but three days ago he was broken on the wheel."
+
+"Whoso goes to Coadelan to-day will turn away from it with grief, for
+the ashes are black upon the hearth and the nettles crowd around the
+doorway--and still," the ballad ends naively, "still the wicked world
+goes round and the poor folk weep with anguish, and say, 'Alas that
+she is dead, the mother of the poor.'"
+
+
+_The Return from England_
+
+There is a good deal of evidence to show that a considerable body of
+Bretons accompanied the invading army of William the Conqueror when he
+set forth with the idea of gaining the English crown. They were
+attached to his second battle corps, and many of them received land in
+England. A ballad which, says Villemarque, bears every sign of
+antiquity deals with the fortunes of a young Breton, Silvestik, who
+followed in the train of the Conqueror. The piece is put into the
+mouth of the mother of Silvestik, who mourns her son's absence, and
+its tone is a tender and touching one.
+
+"One night as I lay on my bed," says the anxious mother, "I could not
+sleep. I heard the girls at Kerlaz singing the song of my son. O God,
+Silvestik, where are you now? Perhaps you are more than three hundred
+leagues from here, cast on the great sea, and the fishes feed upon
+your fair body. Perhaps you may be married now to some Saxon damsel.
+You were to have been wed to a lovely daughter of this land, Mannaik
+de Pouldergat, and you might have been among us surrounded by
+beautiful children, dwelling happily in your own home.
+
+[Illustration: THE FINDING OF SILVESTIK]
+
+"I have taken to my door a little white dove which sits in a small
+hollow of the stone. I have tied to his neck a letter with the ribbon
+of my wedding-dress and have sent it to my son. Arise, my little dove,
+arise on your two wings, fly far, very far across the great sea, and
+discover if my son is still alive and well."
+
+Silvestik rested in the shade of an English wood, and as he did so a
+familiar note fell upon his ear.
+
+"That sound resembles the voice of my mother's little white dove," he
+said. The sound grew louder; it seemed to say, "Good luck to you,
+Silvestik, good luck to you. I have here a letter for you."
+
+Silvestik in high happiness read the letter, and resolved to return
+home to his sorrowing parent.
+
+Two years passed, three years passed, and the dove did not return to
+delight the heart of the longing mother, who day by day walked the
+dismal seashore waiting for the vessel that never came. One day of
+storm she was wandering on the beach as usual when she saw a vessel
+being driven with great force upon the iron coast. Even as she watched
+it it dashed upon the rocks. Soon there were cast upon the shore the
+forms of many dead, and when the gale abated and the heart-sick mother
+was able to search among them she found Silvestik!
+
+Several competent judges are of opinion that this ballad is
+contemporary with the events which it relates. Many of the Breton
+lords who sailed with William the Conqueror did not return for several
+years after the expedition had accomplished its object, and some not
+at all. Nothing is known regarding the hero. The bird is frequently
+the messenger between lovers in ballad literature, but it is seldom
+that it is found carrying letters between a mother and her
+son--indeed, this is perhaps the only instance known.
+
+
+_The Marriage-Girdle_
+
+This ballad has reference to the Breton expedition which sailed for
+Wales in 1405 to assist the Welsh under Owen Glendower to free their
+principality from the English yoke. The Bretons rendered material
+assistance to their Welsh brothers, and had the satisfaction on their
+return of knowing that they had accomplished that which no French king
+had ever been able to achieve--the invasion of English territory. The
+expedition was commanded by Jean de Rieux, Marshal of France, and
+numbered ten thousand men.
+
+The ballad tells how a young man on the morning after his betrothal
+received orders to join the standard of de Rieux "to help the Bretons
+oversea." It was with bitterness in his heart, says the lover, that he
+entered the house of his betrothed with the object of bidding her
+farewell. He told her that duty called him, and that he must go to
+serve in England. At this her tears gushed forth, and she begged him
+not to go, reminding him how changeful was the wind and how perfidious
+the sea.
+
+"Alas!" said she, "if you die what shall I do? In my impatience to
+have news of you my heart will break. I shall wander by the seashore,
+from one cottage to another, asking the sailors if they have heard
+tell of you."
+
+"Be comforted, Aloida," said her lover, "and do not weep on my
+account. I will send you a girdle from over the sea, a girdle of
+purple set with rubies."
+
+They parted at daybreak, he to embark on the sea, she to weep, and as
+he sought his ship he could hear the magpies cackle: "If the sea is
+changeable women are even more so."
+
+When the autumn had arrived the young girl said: "I have looked far
+over the sea from the heights of the mountains of Arez. I have seen
+upon the waters a ship in danger, and I feel that upon it was him whom
+I love. He held a sword in his hand, he was engaged in a terrible
+combat, he was wounded to death and his garments were covered with
+blood. I am certain that he is dead."
+
+And before many weeks had passed she was affianced to another.
+
+Then good news arrived in the land. The war was finished and the
+cavalier returned to his home with a gay heart. No sooner had he
+refreshed himself than he went to seek his beloved. As he approached
+her dwelling he heard the sound of music, and observed that every
+window in the house was illuminated as if for a festival. He asked
+some revellers whom he met outside the cause of this merrymaking, and
+was told that a wedding was proceeding.
+
+It is the custom in Brittany to invite beggars to a wedding, and when
+these were now admitted one of them asked hospitality for the night.
+This was at once granted him, but he sat apart, sad and silent. The
+bride, observing this, approached him and asked him why he did not
+join in the feasting. He replied that he was weary with travel and
+that his heart was heavy with sorrow. Desirous that the marriage
+festivities should not flag, the bride asked him to join her in the
+dance, and he accepted the invitation, saying, however, that it was an
+honour he did not merit.
+
+Now while they danced he came close to her and murmured in her ear:
+
+"What have you done with the golden ring that you received from me at
+the door of this very house?"
+
+The bride stared at him in wild dismay. "Oh, heaven," she cried,
+"behold, I have now two husbands! I who thought I was a widow!"
+
+"You think wrongly, _ma belle_," hissed the beggar; "you will have no
+husband this side of the grave," and drawing a dagger from under his
+cloak he struck the lady to the heart.
+
+In the abbey of Daoulas there is a statue of the Virgin decorated with
+a splendid girdle of purple sparkling with rubies, which came from
+across the sea. If you desire to know who gave it to her, ask of a
+repentant monk who lies prostrate on the grass before the figure of
+the Mother of God.
+
+It is strange that the faithless damsel should have alleged that she
+saw her lover perish in a naval combat when in the very year to which
+the circumstances of the ballad refer (1405) a Breton fleet
+encountered and defeated an English flotilla several leagues from
+Brest. "The combat was terrible," says a historian of the Dukes of
+Burgundy, "and was animated by the ancient hate between the English
+and the Bretons." Perhaps it was in this sea-fight that the lady
+beheld her lover; and if, as she thought, he was slain, she scarcely
+deserves the odium which the balladeer has cast upon her memory.
+
+
+_The Combat of Saint-Cast_
+
+This ballad somewhat belies its name, for it has some relation to an
+extraordinary incident which was the means rather of preventing
+than precipitating a battle. In 1758 a British army was landed upon
+the shores of Brittany with the object of securing for British
+merchant ships safety in the navigation of the Channel and of creating
+a diversion in favour of the German forces, then our allies. A
+company of men from Lower Brittany, from the towns of Treguier and
+Saint-Pol-de-Leon, says Villemarque, were marching against a
+detachment of Scottish Highlanders. When at a distance of about a
+mile the Bretons could hear their enemies singing a national song. At
+once they halted stupefied, for the air was one well known to them,
+which they were accustomed to hear almost every day of their lives.
+Electrified by the music, which spoke to their hearts, they arose
+in their enthusiasm and themselves sang the patriotic refrain. It
+was the Highlanders' turn to be silent. All this time the two
+companies were nearing one another, and when at a suitable distance
+their respective officers commanded them to fire; but the orders
+were given, says the tradition, "in the same language," and the
+soldiers on both sides stood stock-still. Their inaction, however,
+lasted but a moment, for emotion carried away all discipline, the
+arms fell from their hands, and the descendants of the ancient Celts
+renewed on the field of battle those ties of brotherhood which had
+once united their fathers.
+
+However unlikely this incident may seem, it appears to be confirmed by
+tradition, if not by history. The air which the rival Celts sang is,
+says Villemarque,[49] common to both Brittany and "the Highlands of
+Scotland." With the music before me, it seems to bear a marked
+resemblance to The _Garb of Old Gaul_, composed by General Reid
+(1721-1807). Perhaps Reid, who was a Highlander, based his stirring
+march on an older Celtic theme common to both lands.
+
+
+_The Song of the Pilot_
+
+One of the most famous of Breton nautical traditions tells of the
+chivalry displayed by a Breton crew toward the men of a British
+warship. During the American War of Independence much enthusiasm was
+excited in France in connexion with the valiant struggle for liberty
+in which the American colonies were engaged. A number of Breton ships
+received letters of marque enabling them to fight on the American side
+against Great Britain, and these attempted to blockade British
+commerce. The _Surveillante_, a Breton vessel commanded by Couedic de
+Kergoaler, encountered the British ship _Quebec_, commanded by Captain
+Farmer. In the course of the action the _Surveillante_ was nearly sunk
+by the British cannonade and the _Quebec_ went on fire. But Breton and
+Briton, laying aside their swords, worked together with such goodwill
+that most of the British crew were rescued and the _Surveillante_ was
+saved, although the _Quebec_ was lost, and this notwithstanding that
+nearly every man of both crews had been wounded in the fighting.
+
+I have here attempted a very free translation of the stirring ballad
+which relates this noteworthy incident, which cannot but be of
+interest at such a time as the present.
+
+
+THE SONG OF THE PILOT
+
+  Yo ho, ye men of Sulniac!
+  We ship to-day at Vannes,
+  We sail upon a glorious track
+  To seek an Englishman.
+  Our saucy sloop the _Surveillante_
+  Must keep the seaways clear
+  From Ushant in the north to Nantes:
+  Aboard her, timoneer!
+
+  See, yonder is the British craft
+  That seeks to break blockade;
+  St George's banner floats abaft
+  Her lowering carronade.
+  A flash! and lo, her thunder speaks,
+  Her iron tempest flies
+  Beneath her bows, and seaward breaks,
+  And hissing sinks and dies.
+
+  Thunder replied to thunder; then
+  The ships rasped side by side,
+  The battle-hungry Breton men
+  A boarding sally tried,
+  But the stern steel of Britain flashed,
+  And spite of Breton vaunt
+  The lads of Morbihan were dashed
+  Back on the _Surveillante_.
+
+  Then was a grim encounter seen
+  Upon the seas that day.
+  Who yields when there is strife between
+  Britain and Brittany?
+  Shall Lesser Britain rule the waves
+  And check Britannia's pride?
+  Not while her frigate's oaken staves
+  Still cleave unto her side!
+
+  But hold! hold! see, devouring fire
+  Has seized the stout _Quebec_.
+  The seething sea runs high and higher,
+  The _Surveillante's_ a wreck.
+  Their cannon-shot has breached our side,
+  Our bolts have fired the foe.
+  Quick, to the pumps! No longer bide!
+  Below, my lads! below!
+
+  The yawning leak is filled, the sea
+  Is cheated of its prey.
+  Now Bretons, let the Britons see
+  The heart of Brittany!
+  Brothers, we come to save, our swords
+  Are sheathed, our hands are free.
+  There is a fiercer fight toward,
+  A fiercer foe than we!
+
+  A long sea-day, till sank the sun,
+  Briton and Breton wrought,
+  And Great and Little Britain won
+  The noblest fight ere fought.
+  It was a sailors' victory
+  O'er pride and sordid gain.
+  God grant for ever peace at sea
+  Between the Britains twain!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [47] For the criticism on Villemarque's work see H. Gaidoz and P.
+       Sebillot, "Bibliographie des Traditions et de la Litterature
+       populaire de la Bretagne" (in the _Revue Celtique_, t. v, pp.
+       277 ff.). The title _Barzaz-Breiz_ means "The Breton Bards,"
+       the author being under the delusion that the early forms of the
+       ballads he collected and altered had been composed by the
+       ancient bards of Brittany.
+
+  [48] Once a part of the forest of Broceliande. It has now
+       disappeared.
+
+  [49] _Barzaz-Breiz_, p. 335. Sebillot (_Traditions de la
+       Haute-Bretagne_, t. i, p. 346) says that he could gain nothing
+       regarding this incident at the village of Saint-Cast but "vague
+       details."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX: THE BLACK ART AND ITS MINISTERS
+
+
+Sorcery is a very present power in most isolated communities, and in
+the civilized portions of Brittany it is but a thing of yesterday,
+while in the more secluded departments it is very much a thing of
+to-day. The old folk can recall the time when the farm, the dairy, and
+the field were ever in peril of the spell, the enchantment, the
+noxious beam of the evil eye, and tales of many a "devilish cantrip
+sleight," as Burns happily characterized the activity of the witch and
+the wizard, were told in hushed voices at the Breton fireside when the
+winter wind blew cold from the cruel sea and the heaped faggots sent
+the red glow of fire-warmth athwart the thick shadows of the great
+farm kitchen, and old and young from grandsire to herd-boy made a
+great circle to hearken to the creepy tales so dear to the Breton
+heart.
+
+As in the East, where to refuse baksheesh is to lay oneself open to
+the curse of the evil eye, the beggar was regarded as the chief
+possessor of this bespelling member. The guild of tattered wanderers
+naturally nourished this superstition, and to permit one of its
+members to hobble off muttering threats or curses was looked upon as
+suicidal. Indeed, the mendicants were wont to boast of their feats of
+sorcery to the terrified peasants, who hastened to placate them by all
+the means in their power.
+
+Certain villages, too, appear to have possessed an evil reputation
+among the country-folk as the dwelling-places of magicians, centres of
+sorcery, which it was advisable to shun. Thus we read in Breton
+proverb of the sorcerers of Fougeres, of Treves, of Concoret, of
+Lezat.
+
+The strangest circumstances were connected with the phenomena of
+sorcery by the credulous Bretons. Thus, did a peasant join a dance of
+witches, the sabots he had on would be worn out in the course of the
+merrymaking. A churn of turned butter, a sour pail of milk, were
+certain to be accounted for by sorcery. In a certain village of
+Moncontour the cows, the dog, even the harmless, necessary cat, died
+off, and the farmer hastened to consult a diviner, who advised him to
+throw milk in the fire and recite certain prayers. The farmer obeyed
+and the spell was broken!
+
+In the town of Rennes about fifty years ago dwelt a knowing fellow
+called Robert, a very 'witch-doctor,' who investigated cases of
+sorcery and undertook the dissipation of enchantments. On a certain
+large farm the milk would yield no butter. An agricultural expert
+might have hinted at poor pasturage, but the farmer and his wife had
+other views as to the cause of the 'insufficiency of fats,' as an
+analyst would say, in the lacteal output of the establishment.
+Straightway they betook themselves to the mysterious Robert, who on
+arriving to investigate the affair was attired in a skin dyed in two
+colours. He held in leash a large black dog, evidently his familiar.
+He exorcized the dairy, and went through a number of strange
+ceremonies. Then, turning to the awestruck farm hands, he said:
+
+"You may now proceed with your work. The spell is raised. It has been
+a slow business. I must go now, but don't be afraid if you see
+anything odd."
+
+With these words he whistled, and a great black horse at once
+appeared as if from nowhere. Placing his hand on its crupper, he
+vaulted into the saddle, bade good-bye to the astonished rustics, and
+while they gazed at him open-mouthed, vanished 'like a flash.'
+
+Many kinds of amulets or talismans were used by the Breton peasantry
+to neutralize the power of sorcerers. Thus, if a person carried a
+snake with him the enchanters would be unable to harm his sight, and
+all objects would appear to him under their natural forms. Salt placed
+in various parts of a house guarded it against the entrance of wizards
+and rendered their spells void.
+
+But many consulted the witch and the sorcerer for their personal
+advantage, in affairs of the heart, to obtain a number in the casting
+of lots for conscription which would free them from military service,
+and so forth; and, as in other countries, there grew up a class of
+middlemen between the human and the supernatural who posed as
+fortune-tellers, astrologers, and quack mediciners.
+
+It was said that sorcerers were wont to meet at the many Roches aux
+Fees in Brittany at fixed periods in order to deliberate as to their
+actions and settle their affairs. If anyone, it was declared, wandered
+into their circle or was caught by them listening to their secret
+conclave he seldom lived long. Others, terrified at the sight
+presented by the gleaming eyes of the cat-sorcerers, blazing like live
+coals, fled incontinently from their presence, and found that in the
+morning the hair of their heads had turned white with the dread
+experience. Long afterward they would sit by the fireside trembling
+visibly at nothing, and when interrogated regarding their very evident
+fears would only groan and bury their faces in their hands.
+
+A story is told of one, Jean Foucault, who one moonlight night had,
+like Tam o' Shanter, sat overlong
+
+  Fast by an ingle bleezin' finely,
+  Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely,
+
+where the cider was as good as the company, and, issuing at midnight's
+weary hour from his favourite inn, was not in a mood to run away from
+anything, however fearsome. Walking, or rather rolling, across the
+moor singing the burden of the last catch he had trolled with his
+fellows at the ale-house, all on a sudden he stumbled into a circle of
+sorcerer-cats squatting around a cross of stone. They were of immense
+size and of all colours, black, grey, white, tortoise-shell, and when
+he beheld them seated round the crucifix, their eyes darting fire and
+the hair bristling on their backs, his song died upon his lips and all
+his bellicose feelings, like those of Bob Acres, leaked out at his
+finger-tips. On catching sight of him the animals set up a horrible
+caterwauling that made the blood freeze in his veins. For an awful
+moment the angry cats glared at him with death in their looks, and
+seemed as if about to spring upon him. Giving himself up for lost, he
+closed his eyes. But about his feet he could hear a strange purring,
+and, glancing downward, he beheld his own domestic puss fawning upon
+him with every sign of affection.
+
+"Pass my master, Jean Foucault," said the animal.
+
+"It is well," replied a great grey tom, whom Jean took to be the
+leader; "pass on, Jean Foucault."
+
+And Jean, the cider fumes in his head quite dissipated, staggered
+away, more dead than alive.
+
+
+_Druidic Magic_
+
+The more ancient sorcerers of Brittany deserve a word of notice. Magic
+among the Celtic peoples in olden times was so clearly identified with
+Druidism that its origin may be said to have been Druidic. Whether
+Druidism was of Celtic origin, however, is a question upon which much
+discussion has taken place, some authorities, among them Rhys,
+believing it to have been of non-Celtic and even non-Aryan origin, and
+holding that the earliest non-Aryan or so-called Iberian people of
+Britain introduced the Druidic religion to the immigrant Celts. An
+argument advanced in favour of this theory is that the Continental
+Celts sent their neophyte Druid priests to Britain to undergo a
+special training at the hands of the British Druids, and that this
+island seems to have been regarded as the headquarters of the cult.
+The people of Cisalpine Gaul, for instance, had no Druidic priesthood.
+Caesar has told us that in Gaul Druidic seminaries were very numerous,
+and that within their walls severe study and discipline were entailed
+upon the neophytes, whose principal business was to commit to memory
+countless verses enshrining Druidic knowledge and tradition. That this
+instruction was astrological and magical we have the fullest
+proof.[50]
+
+The Druids were magi as they were priests in the same sense that the
+American Indian shaman is both magus and priest. That is, they were
+medicine-men on a higher scale, and had reached a loftier stage of
+transcendental knowledge than the priest-magicians of more barbarous
+races. Thus they may be said to be a link between the barbarian
+shaman and the magus of medieval times. Many of their practices were
+purely shamanistic, while others more closely resembled medieval
+magical rite. But they were not the only magicians of the Celts, for
+frequently among that people we find magic power the possession of
+women and of the poetic craft. The magic of Druidism had many points
+of comparison with most magical systems, and perhaps approximated more
+to that black magic which desires power for the sake of power alone
+than to any transcendental type. Thus it included the power to render
+the magician invisible, to change his bodily shape, to produce an
+enchanted sleep, to induce lunacy, and to inflict death from afar.
+
+The arts of rain-making, bringing down fire from heaven, and causing
+mists, snow-storms, and floods were also claimed for the Druids.
+Many of the spells probably in use among them survived until a
+comparatively late period, and are still employed in some remote
+Celtic localities, the names of saints being substituted for those
+of Celtic deities. Certain primitive ritual, too, is still carried
+out in the vicinity of some megalithic structures in Celtic areas,
+as at Dungiven, in Ireland, where pilgrims wash before a great stone
+in the river Roe and then walk round it, and in many parts of
+Brittany.[51]
+
+In pronouncing incantations the usual method employed was to stand
+upon one leg and to point with the forefinger to the person or object
+on which the spell was to be laid, at the same time closing one eye,
+as if to concentrate the force of the entire personality upon that
+which was to be placed under ban. A manuscript possessed by the
+monastery of St Gall, and dating from the eighth or ninth century,
+includes magical formulae for the preservation of butter and the
+healing of certain diseases in the name of the Irish god Diancecht.
+These and others bear a close resemblance to Babylonian and Etruscan
+spells, and thus go to strengthen the hypothesis often put forward
+with more or less plausibility that Druidism had an Eastern origin. At
+all magical rites spells were uttered. Druids often accompanied an
+army, to assist by their magical arts in confounding the enemy.[52]
+
+There is some proof that in Celtic areas survivals of a Druidic
+priesthood have descended to our own time in a more or less debased
+condition. Thus the existence of guardians and keepers of wells said
+to possess magical properties, and the fact that in certain families
+magical spells and formulae are handed down from one generation to
+another, are so many proofs of the survival of Druidic tradition,
+however feeble. Females are generally the conservators of these
+mysteries, and that there were Druid priestesses is fairly certain.
+
+The sea-snake's egg, or adder's stone, which is so frequently alluded
+to in Druidic magical tales, otherwise called _Glain Neidr_, was said
+to have been formed, about midsummer, by an assemblage of snakes. A
+bubble formed on the head of one of them was blown by others down the
+whole length of its back, and then, hardening, became a crystal ring.
+It was used as one of the insignia of the Archdruid, and was supposed
+to assist in augury.
+
+The _herbe d'or_, or 'golden herb,' was a medicinal plant much in
+favour among the Breton peasantry. It is the _selago_ of Pliny, which
+in Druidical times was gathered with the utmost veneration by a hand
+enveloped with a garment once worn by a sacred person. The owner of
+the hand was arrayed in white, with bare feet, washed in pure water.
+In after times the plant was thought to shine from a distance like
+gold, and to give to those who trod on it the power of understanding
+the language of dogs, wolves, and birds.
+
+These, with the mistletoe, the favourite Druidical plant, the sorcerer
+is entreated, in an old balled, to lay aside, to seek no more for vain
+enchantments, but to remember that he is a Christian.
+
+
+_Abelard and Heloise_
+
+The touching story of the love of Abelard and Heloise has found its
+way into Breton legend as a tale of sorcery. Abelard was a Breton. The
+Duke of Brittany, whose subject he was born, jealous of the glory of
+France, which then engrossed all the most famous scholars of Europe,
+and being, besides, acquainted with the persecution Abelard had
+suffered from his enemies, had nominated him to the Abbey of St
+Gildas, and, by this benefaction and mark of his esteem, engaged him
+to pass the rest of his days in his dominions. Abelard received this
+favour with great joy, imagining that by leaving France he would
+quench his passion for Heloise and gain a new peace of mind upon
+entering into his new dignity.
+
+The Abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys was founded on the inaccessible coast
+near Vannes by St Gildas, a British saint, the schoolfellow and friend
+of St Samson of Dol and St Pol of Leon, and counted among its monks
+the Saxon St Dunstan, who, carried by pirates from his native isle,
+settled on the desolate shores of Brittany and became, under the name
+of St Goustan, the patron of mariners.
+
+St Gildas built his abbey on the edge of a high, rocky promontory,
+the site of an ancient Roman encampment, called Grand Mont, facing
+the shore, where the sea has formed numerous caverns in the rocks.
+The rocks are composed chiefly of quartz, and are covered to a
+considerable height with small mussels. Abelard, on his appointment
+to the Abbey of St Gildas, made over to Heloise the celebrated
+abbey he had founded at Nogent, near Troyes, which he called the
+Paraclete, or Comforter, because he there found comfort and
+refreshment after his troubles. With Nogent he was to leave his
+peace. His gentle nature was unable to contend against the coarse
+and unruly Breton monks. As he writes in his well-known letter to
+Heloise, setting forth his griefs: "I inhabit a barbarous country
+where the language is unknown to me. I have no dealings with the
+ferocious inhabitants. I walk the inaccessible borders of the
+stormy sea, and my monks have no other rule than their own. I wish
+that you could see my dwelling. You would not believe it an abbey. The
+doors are ornamented only with the feet of deer, of wolves and bears,
+boars, and the hideous skins of owls. I find each day new perils.
+I expect at every moment to see a sword suspended over my head."
+
+It is scarcely necessary to outline the history of Abelard. Suffice
+it to say that he was one of the most brilliant scholars and
+dialecticians of all time, possessing a European reputation in his
+day. Falling in love with Heloise, niece of Fulbert, a canon of
+Paris, he awoke in her a similar absorbing passion, which resulted in
+their mutual disgrace and Abelard's mutilation by the incensed
+uncle. He and his Heloise were buried in one tomb at the Paraclete.
+The story of their love has been immortalized by the world's great
+poets and painters.
+
+An ancient Breton ballad on the subject has been spoken of as a "naif
+and horrible" production, in which one will find "a bizarre mixture of
+Druidic practice and Christian superstition." It describes Heloise as
+a sorceress of ferocious and sanguinary temper. Thus can legend
+magnify and distort human failing! As its presentation is important in
+the study of Breton folk-lore, I give a very free translation of this
+ballad, in which, at the same time, I have endeavoured to preserve the
+atmosphere of the original.
+
+
+THE HYMN OF HELOISE
+
+  O Abelard, my Abelard,
+  Twelve summers have passed since first we kissed.
+  There is no love like that of a bard:
+  Who loves him lives in a golden mist!
+
+  Nor word of French nor Roman tongue,
+  But only Brezonek could I speak,
+  When round my lover's neck I hung
+  And heard the harmony of the Greek,
+
+  The march of Latin, the joy of French,
+  The valiance of the Hebrew speech,
+  The while its thirst my soul did quench
+  In the love-lore that he did teach.
+
+  The bossed and bound Evangel's tome
+  Is open to me as mine own soul,
+  But all the watered wine of Rome
+  Is weak beside the magic bowl.
+
+[Illustration: HELOISE AS SORCERESS]
+
+  The Mass I chant like any priest,
+  Can shrive the dying or bury the dead,
+  But dearer to me to raise the Beast
+  Or watch the gold in the furnace red.
+
+  The wolf, the serpent, the crow, the owl,
+  The demons of sea, of field, of flood,
+  I can run or fly in their forms so foul,
+  They come at my call from wave or wood.
+
+  I know a song that can raise the sea,
+  Can rouse the winds or shudder the earth,
+  Can darken the heavens terribly,
+  Can wake portents at a prince's birth.
+
+  The first dark drug that ever we sipped
+  Was brewed from toad and the eye of crow,
+  Slain in a mead when the moon had slipped
+  From heav'n to the fetid fogs below.
+
+  I know a well as deep as death,
+  A gloom where I cull the frondent fern,
+  Whose seed with that of the golden heath
+  I mingle when mystic lore I'd learn.
+
+  I gathered in dusk nine measures of rye,
+  Nine measures again, and brewed the twain
+  In a silver pot, while fitfully
+  The starlight struggled through the rain.
+
+  I sought the serpent's egg of power
+  In a dell hid low from the night and day:
+  It was shown to me in an awful hour
+  When the children of hell came out to play.
+
+  I have three spirits--seeming snakes;
+  The youngest is six score years young,
+  The second rose from the nether lakes,
+  And the third was once Duke Satan's tongue.
+
+  The wild bird's flesh is not their food,
+  No common umbles are their dole;
+  I nourish them well with infants' blood,
+  Those precious vipers of my soul.
+
+
+  O Satan! grant me three years still,
+  But three short years, my love and I,
+  To work thy fierce, mysterious will,
+  Then gladly shall we yield and die.
+
+  Heloise, wicked heart, beware!
+  Think on the dreadful day of wrath,
+  Think on thy soul; forbear, forbear!
+  The way thou tak'st is that of death!
+
+  Thou craven priest, go, get thee hence!
+  No fear have I of fate so fell.
+  Go, suck the milk of innocence,
+  Leave me to quaff the wine of hell!
+
+It is difficult to over-estimate the folk-lore value of such a ballad
+as this. Its historical value is clearly _nil_. We have no proof that
+Heloise was a Breton; but fantastic errors of this description are so
+well known to the student of ballad literature that he is able to
+discount them easily in gauging the value of a piece.
+
+In this weird composition the wretched abbess is described as an
+alchemist as well as a sorceress, and she descends to the depths of
+the lowest and most revolting witchcraft. She practises shape-shifting
+and similar arts. She has power over natural forces, and knows the
+past, the present, and the things to be. She possesses sufficient
+Druidic knowledge to permit her to gather the greatly prized serpent's
+egg, to acquire which was the grand aim of the Celtic magician. The
+circumstances of the ballad strongly recall those of the poem in which
+the Welsh bard Taliesin recounts his magical experiences, his
+metamorphoses, his knowledge of the darker mysteries of nature.
+
+
+_Nantes of the Magicians_
+
+The poet is in accord with probability in making the magical exploits
+of Abelard and Heloise take place at Nantes--a circumstance not
+indicated in the translation owing to metrical exigencies. Nantes was,
+indeed, a classic neighbourhood of sorcery. An ancient college of
+Druidic priestesses was situated on one of the islands at the mouth of
+the Loire, and the traditions of its denizens had evidently been
+cherished by the inhabitants of the city even as late as the middle of
+the fourteenth century, for we find a bishop of the diocese at that
+period obtaining a bull of excommunication against the local
+sorcerers, and condemning them to the eternal fires with bell, book,
+and candle.[53]
+
+The poet, it is plain, has confounded poor Heloise with the dark
+sisterhood of the island of the Loire. The learning she received from
+her gifted lover had been her undoing in Breton eyes, for the simple
+folk of the duchy at the period the ballad gained currency could
+scarcely be expected to discriminate between a training in rhetoric
+and philosophy and a schooling in the _grimoires_ and other
+accomplishments of the pit.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [50] Rice Holmes, _Caesar's Conquest_, pp. 532-536.
+
+  [51] See Rolleston, _Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race_, p. 66.
+
+  [52] See Gomme, _Ethnology in Folk-lore_, p. 94.
+
+  [53] It is of interest to recall the fact that Abelard was born near
+       Nantes, in 1079.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X: ARTHURIAN ROMANCE IN BRITTANY
+
+
+Fierce and prolonged has been the debate as to the original birthplace
+of Arthurian legend, authorities of the first rank, the 'Senior
+Wranglers' of the study, as Nutt has called them, hotly advancing the
+several claims of Wales, England, Scotland, and Brittany. In this
+place it would be neither fitting nor necessary to traverse the whole
+ground of argument, and we must content ourselves with the examination
+of Brittany's claim to the invention of Arthurian story--and this we
+will do briefly, passing on to some of the tales which relate the
+deeds of the King or his knights on Breton soil.
+
+Confining ourselves, then, to the proof of the existence of a body of
+Arthurian legend in Brittany, we are, perhaps, a little alarmed at the
+outset to find that our manuscript sources are scanty. "It had to be
+acknowledged," says Professor Saintsbury, "that Brittany could supply
+_no ancient texts whatever_, and hardly any ancient traditions."[54]
+But are either of these conditions essential to a belief in the Breton
+origin of Arthurian romance?
+
+The two great hypotheses regarding Arthurian origins have been dubbed
+the 'Continental' and the 'Insular' theories. The first has as its
+leading protagonist Professor Wendelin Foerster of Bonn, who believes
+that the immigrant Britons brought the Arthur legend with them to
+Brittany and that the Normans of Normandy received it from their
+descendants and gave it wider territorial scope. The second school,
+headed by the brilliant M. Gaston Paris, believes that it originated
+in Wales.
+
+If we consider the first theory, then, we can readily see that ancient
+_texts_ are not essential to its acceptance. In any case the entire
+body of Arthurian texts prior to the twelfth century is so small as to
+be almost negligible. The statement that "hardly any ancient
+traditions" of the Arthurian legend exist in Brittany is an
+extraordinary one. In view of the circumstances that in extended
+passages of Arthurian story the scene is laid in Brittany (as in the
+Merlin and Vivien incident and the episode of Yseult of the White Hand
+in the story of Tristrem), that Geoffrey of Monmouth speaks of "the
+Breton book" from which he took his matter, and that Marie de France
+states that her tales are drawn from old Breton sources, not to admit
+the possible existence of a body of Arthurian tradition in Brittany
+appears capricious. Thomas's _Sir Tristrem_ is professedly based on
+the poem of the Breton Breri, and there is no reason why Brittany,
+drawing sap and fibre as it did from Britain, should not have produced
+Arthurian stories of its own.
+
+On the whole, however, that seems to represent the sum of its
+pretensions as a main source of Arthurian romance. The Arthurian story
+seems to be indigenous to British soil, and if we trace the origin of
+certain episodes to Brittany we may safely connect these with the
+early British immigrants to the peninsula. This is not to say,
+however, that Brittany did not influence Norman appreciation of the
+Arthurian saga. But that it did so more than did Wales is unlikely, in
+view of documentary evidence. Both Wales and Brittany, then, supplied
+matter which the Norman and French poets shaped into verse, and if
+Brittany was not the birthplace of the legend it was, in truth, one of
+its cradle-domains.
+
+
+_The Sword of Arthur_
+
+Let us collect, then, Arthurian incidents which take place in
+Brittany. First, Arthur's finding of the marvellous sword Excalibur
+would seem to happen there, as Vivien, or Nimue, the Lady of the Lake,
+was undoubtedly a fairy of Breton origin who does not appear in
+British myth.
+
+For the manner in which Arthur acquired the renowned Excalibur, or
+Caliburn, the _Morte d'Arthur_ is the authority. The King had broken
+his sword in two pieces in a combat with Sir Pellinore of Wales, and
+had been saved by Merlin, who threw Sir Pellinore into an enchanted
+sleep.
+
+"And so Merlin and Arthur departed, and as they rode along King Arthur
+said, 'I have no sword.' 'No force,'[55] said Merlin; 'here is a sword
+that shall be yours, an I may.' So they rode till they came to a lake,
+which was a fair water and a broad; and in the midst of the lake King
+Arthur was aware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair
+sword in the hand. 'Lo,' said Merlin unto the King, 'yonder is the
+sword that I spoke of.' With that they saw a damsel going upon the
+lake. 'What damsel is that?' said the King. 'That is the Lady of the
+Lake,' said Merlin; 'and within that lake is a rock, and therein is as
+fair a place as any on earth, and richly beseen; and this damsel will
+come to you anon, and then speak fair to her that she will give you
+that sword.' Therewith came the damsel to King Arthur and saluted him,
+and he her again. 'Damsel,' said the King, 'what sword is that which
+the arm holdeth yonder above the water? I would it were mine, for I
+have no sword.' 'Sir King,' said the damsel of the lake, 'that sword
+is mine, and if ye will give me a gift when I ask it you, ye shall
+have it.' 'By my faith,' said King Arthur, 'I will give you any gift
+that you will ask or desire.' 'Well,' said the damsel, 'go into yonder
+barge, and row yourself unto the sword, and take it and the scabbard
+with you; and I will ask my gift when I see my time.' So King Arthur
+and Merlin alighted, tied their horses to two trees, and so they went
+into the barge. And when they came to the sword that the hand held,
+King Arthur took it up by the handles, and took it with him, and the
+arm and the hand went under the water; and so came to the land and
+rode forth. King Arthur looked upon the sword, and liked it passing
+well. 'Whether liketh you better,' said Merlin, 'the sword or the
+scabbard?' 'Me liketh better the sword,' said King Arthur. 'Ye are
+more unwise,' said Merlin, 'for the scabbard is worth ten of the
+sword; for while ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall lose no
+blood, be ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the scabbard
+alway with you.'"
+
+[Illustration: KING ARTHUR AND MERLIN AT THE LAKE]
+
+Sir Lancelot du Lac, son of King Ban of Benwik, was stolen and brought
+up by the Lady of the Lake, from whose enchanted realm he took his
+name. But he does not appear at all in true Celtic legend, and is a
+mere Norman new-comer.
+
+
+_Tristrem and Ysonde_
+
+Following the Arthurian 'chronology' as set forth in the _Morte
+d'Arthur_, we reach the great episode of Sir Tristrem of Lyonesse, a
+legendary country off the coast of Cornwall. This most romantic yet
+most human tale must be accounted one of the world's supreme love
+stories. It has inspired some of our greatest poets, and moved Richard
+Wagner to the composition of a splendid opera.
+
+One of the first to bring this literary treasure to public notice was
+Sir Walter Scott, who felt a strong chord vibrate in his romantic soul
+when perusing that version of the tale of which Thomas of Ercildoune
+is the reputed author. Taking this as the best and most ancient
+version of _Tristrem_, we may detail its circumstances as follows:
+
+The Duke Morgan and Roland Rise, Lord of Ermonie, two Cymric
+chieftains, had long been at feud, and at length the smouldering
+embers of enmity burst into open flame. In the contest that ensued the
+doughty Roland prevailed, but he was a generous foe, and granted a
+seven years' truce to his defeated adversary. Some time after this
+event Roland journeyed into Cornwall to the Court of Mark, where he
+carried off the honours in a tourney. But he was to win a more
+precious prize in the love of the fair Princess Blancheflour, sister
+of King Mark, who grew to adore him passionately.
+
+Meanwhile Duke Morgan took foul advantage of the absence of Roland,
+and invaded his land. Rohand, a trusty vassal of Roland, repaired to
+Cornwall, where he sought out his master and told him of Morgan's
+broken faith. Then Roland told Blancheflour of his plight, how that he
+must return to his own realm, and she, fearing her brother Mark,
+because she had given her love to Roland without the King's knowledge,
+resolved to fly with her lover. The pair left Cornwall hurriedly, and,
+reaching one of Roland's castles, were wed there. Roland, however, had
+soon to don his armour, for news was brought to him that Duke Morgan
+was coming against him with a great army. A fierce battle ensued, in
+which Roland at first had the advantage, but the Duke, being
+reinforced, pressed him hotly, and in the end Roland was defeated and
+slain. Blancheflour received news of her lord's death immediately
+before the birth of her son, and, sore stricken by the woeful news,
+she named him Tristrem, or 'Child of Sorrow.' Then, recommending him
+to the care of Rohand, to whom she gave a ring which had belonged to
+King Mark, her brother, to prove Tristrem's relationship to that
+prince, she expired, to the intense grief of all her attendants. To
+secure the safety of his ward, Rohand passed him off as his own child,
+inverting the form of his name to 'Tremtris.' Duke Morgan now ruled
+over the land of Ermonie, and Rohand had perforce to pay him a
+constrained homage.
+
+When he arrived at a fitting age Tristrem was duly instructed in all
+knightly games and exercises by his foster-father, and grew apace in
+strength and skill. Once a Norwegian vessel arrived upon the coast of
+Ermonie laden with a freight of hawks and treasure (hawks at that
+period were often worth their weight in gold). The captain challenged
+anyone to a game of chess with him for a stake of twenty shillings,
+and Rohand and his sons, with Tristrem, went on board to play with
+him. Tristrem moved so skilfully that he overcame the captain, and won
+from him, in many games, six hawks and the sum of a hundred pounds.
+While the games were proceeding Rohand went on shore, leaving Tristrem
+in the care of his preceptor, and the false captain, to avoid paying
+what he had lost, forced the preceptor to go on shore alone and put to
+sea with the young noble.
+
+The ship had no sooner sailed away than a furious gale arose, and as
+it continued for some days the mariners became convinced that the
+tempest was due to the injustice of their captain, and being in sore
+dread, they paid Tristrem his winnings and set him ashore. Dressed in
+a robe of 'blihand brown' (blue-brown), Tristrem found himself alone
+on a rocky beach. First he knelt and requested Divine protection,
+after which he ate some food which had been left him by the
+Norwegians, and started to journey through a forest, in which he
+encountered two palmers, who told him that he was in Cornwall. He
+offered these men gold to guide him to the Court of the king of the
+country, which they willingly undertook to do. On their way the
+travellers fell in with a hunting party of nobles, and Tristrem was
+shocked to see the awkward manner in which the huntsmen cut up some
+stags they had slain. He could not restrain his feeling, and disputed
+with the nobles upon the laws of venerie. Then he proceeded to skin a
+buck for their instruction, like a right good forester, and ended by
+blowing the _mort_ or death-token on a horn.
+
+
+_Tristrem as Forester_
+
+The nobles who beheld his skill were amazed, and speedily carried the
+news to King Mark, who was highly interested. Tristrem was brought to
+his presence and told his story, but Mark did not recognize that he
+was speaking to his own nephew. The King's favourable impression was
+confirmed by Tristrem's skill in playing the harp, and soon the youth
+had endeared himself to the heart of the King, and was firmly settled
+at the Court.
+
+Meanwhile Rohand, distracted by the loss of his foster-son, searched
+for him from one land to another without even renewing his tattered
+garments. At last he encountered one of the palmers who had guided
+Tristrem to the Court of King Mark, and learned of the great honour
+accorded to his ward. At Rohand's request the palmer took him to
+Mark's hall; but when Rohand arrived thither his tattered and forlorn
+appearance aroused the contempt of the porter and usher and they
+refused him entrance. Upon bestowing liberal largess, however, he was
+at length brought to Tristrem, who presented him to King Mark as his
+father, acquainting him at the same time with the cause of their
+separation. When Rohand had been refreshed by a bath, and richly
+attired by order of King Mark, the whole Court marvelled at his
+majestic appearance.
+
+Rohand, seated by King Mark's side at the banquet, imparted to him the
+secret of Tristrem's birth, and in proof showed him the ring given him
+by Blancheflour, whereupon Mark at once joyfully recognized Tristrem
+as his nephew. Rohand further told of the tragic fate of Tristrem's
+parents through the treachery of Duke Morgan, and Tristrem, fired by
+the tale of wrong, vowed to return at once to Ermonie to avenge his
+father's death.
+
+
+_Tristrem Returns to Ermonie_
+
+Although applauding his pious intention, Mark attempted to dissuade
+his nephew from such an enterprise of peril, until, seeing that
+Tristrem would not be gainsaid, the King conferred upon him the honour
+of knighthood, and furnished him with a thousand men-at-arms. Thus
+equipped, Tristrem set sail for Ermonie, and, safely arrived in that
+kingdom, he garrisoned Rohand's castle with his Cornish forces.
+
+He had no intention of remaining inactive, however, and once his men
+were cared for, he repaired to the Court of the usurper, Duke Morgan,
+accompanied by fifteen knights, each bearing a boar's head as a gift.
+But Rohand, apprehending rashness on the part of his foster-son, took
+the precaution of following with the Cornish men-at-arms and his own
+vassals.
+
+When Tristrem arrived the Duke was at the feast-board, and he demanded
+Tristrem's name and business. Tristrem boldly declared himself, and at
+the end of an angry parley the Duke struck him a sore blow. A moment
+later swords were flashing, and it might have gone ill with Tristrem
+had not Rohand with his men come up in the nick of time. In the end
+Duke Morgan was slain and his followers routed. Having now recovered
+his paternal domains Sir Tristrem conferred them upon Rohand, to be
+held of himself as liege lord, and having done so he took leave of his
+foster-father and returned to Cornwall.
+
+
+_The Combat with Moraunt_
+
+On arriving at the palace of Mark, Tristrem found the Court in dismay,
+because of a demand for tribute made by the King of England. Moraunt,
+the Irish ambassador to England, was charged with the duty of claiming
+the tribute, which was no less than three hundred pounds of gold, as
+many of coined silver, as many of tin, and a levy every fourth year of
+three hundred Cornish children. Mark protested bitterly, and Tristrem
+urged him to bid defiance to the English, swearing that he would
+himself defend the freedom of Cornwall. His aid was reluctantly
+accepted by the Grand Council, and he delivered to Moraunt a
+declaration that no tribute was due. Moraunt retorted by giving
+Tristrem the lie, and the champions exchanged defiance. They sailed in
+separate boats to a small island to decide the issue in single combat,
+and when they had landed Tristrem turned his boat adrift, saying
+sternly that one vessel would suffice to take back the victor. The
+champions mounted their steeds at the outset, but after the first
+encounter Tristrem, leaping lightly from the saddle, engaged his
+adversary on foot. The Knight of Ermonie was desperately wounded in
+the thigh, but, rallying all his strength, he cleft Moraunt to the
+chine, and, his sword splintering, a piece of the blade remained in
+the wound.
+
+Tristrem now returned to the mainland, where so great was the joy over
+his return that he was appointed heir to Cornwall and successor to
+Mark the Good. But his wound, having been inflicted by a poisoned
+blade, grew more grievous day by day. No leech might cure it, and the
+evil odour arising from the gangrene drove every one from his presence
+save his faithful servitor Gouvernayl.
+
+
+_Fytte the Second_
+
+Fytte (or Part) the Second commences by telling how Tristrem, forsaken
+by all, begged King Mark for a ship that he might leave the land of
+Cornwall. Mark reluctantly granted his request, and the luckless
+Tristrem embarked with Gouvernayl, his one attendant, and his harp as
+his only solace. He steered for Caerleon, and remained nine weeks at
+sea, but meeting contrary winds he was driven out of his course, and
+at length came to the Irish coast, where he sought the haven of
+Dublin. On arriving there he feigned that he had been wounded by
+pirates, and learning that he was in Ireland, and recollecting that
+Moraunt, whom he had slain, was the brother to the Queen of that land,
+he thought it wise to assume once more the name of Tremtris.
+
+Soon his fame as a minstrel reached the ears of the Queen of Ireland,
+a lady deeply versed in the art of healing. She was, indeed, "the best
+Couthe of Medicine"[56] Tristrem had seen, and in order to heal his
+wound she applied to it "a plaster kene." Later she invited him to the
+Court, where his skill in chess and games astonished every one. So
+interested in him did the royal lady become at last that she undertook
+to cure him, and effected her object by means of a medicated bath and
+other medieval remedies. Then, on account of his fame as a minstrel,
+he was given the task of instructing the Princess Ysonde--as the name
+'Yseult' is written in this particular version.
+
+This princess was much attached to minstrelsy and poetry, and under
+the tuition of Tristrem she rapidly advanced in these arts, until at
+length she had no equal in Ireland save her preceptor. And now
+Tristrem, his health restored, and having completed Ysonde's
+instruction, felt a strong desire to return to the Court of King Mark.
+His request to be allowed to depart was most unwillingly granted by
+the Queen, who at the leave-taking loaded him with gifts. With the
+faithful Gouvernayl he arrived safely in Cornwall, where Mark received
+him joyfully. When the King inquired curiously how his wound had been
+cured, Tristrem told him of the great kindness of the Irish Queen, and
+praised Ysonde so highly that the ardour of his uncle was aroused and
+he requested Tristrem to procure him the hand of the damsel in
+marriage. He assured Tristrem that no marriage he, the King, might
+contract would annul the arrangement whereby Tristrem was to succeed
+to the throne of Cornwall. The nobles were opposed to the King's
+desires, which but strengthened Tristrem in his resolve to undertake
+the embassage, for he thought that otherwise it might appear that he
+desired the King to remain unmarried.
+
+
+_The Marriage Embassy_
+
+With a retinue of fifteen knights Tristrem sailed to Dublin in a ship
+richly laden with gifts. Arrived at the Irish capital, he sent
+magnificent presents to the King, Queen, and Princess, but did not
+announce the nature of his errand. Hardly had his messengers departed
+than he was informed that the people of Dublin were panic-stricken at
+the approach of a terrible dragon. This monster had so affrighted the
+neighbourhood that the hand of the Princess had been offered to anyone
+who would slay it. Tristrem dared his knights to attack the dragon,
+but one and all declined, so he himself rode out to give it battle. At
+the first shock his lance broke on the monster's impenetrable hide,
+his horse was slain, and he was forced to continue the fight on foot.
+At length, despite its fiery breath, he succeeded in slaying the
+dragon, and cut out its tongue as a trophy. But this exuded a subtle
+poison which deprived him of his senses.
+
+Thus overcome, Tristrem was discovered by the King's steward, who cut
+off the dragon's head and returned with it to Court to demand the hand
+of Ysonde. But the Queen and her daughter were dubious of the man's
+story, and upon visiting the place where the dragon had been slain,
+they came upon Tristrem himself. Their ministrations revived him, and
+he showed them the dragon's tongue as proof that he had slain the
+dread beast. He described himself as a merchant, and Ysonde, who did
+not at first recognize him, expressed her regret that he was not a
+knight. The Queen now caused him to be conveyed to the palace, where
+he was refreshed by a bath, and the false steward was cast into
+prison.
+
+Meanwhile the suspicions of the Princess had been aroused, and the
+belief grew that this 'merchant' who had slain the dragon was none
+other than Tremtris, her old instructor. In searching for evidence to
+confirm this conjecture she examined his sword, from which, she found,
+a piece had been broken. Now, she possessed a fragment of a
+sword-blade which had been taken out of the skull of Moraunt, her
+uncle, and she discovered that this fragment fitted into the broken
+place in Tristrem's sword, wherefore she concluded that the weapon
+must have been that which slew the Irish ambassador. She reproached
+Tristrem, and in her passion rushed upon him with his own sword. At
+this instant her mother returned, and upon learning the identity of
+Tristrem she was about to assist Ysonde to slay him in his bath when
+the King arrived and saved him from the infuriated women. Tristrem
+defended himself as having killed Moraunt in fair fight, and, smiling
+upon Ysonde, he told her that she had had many opportunities of
+slaying him while he was her preceptor Tremtris. He then proceeded to
+make known the object of his embassy. He engaged that his uncle, King
+Mark, should marry Ysonde, and it was agreed that she should be sent
+under his escort to Cornwall.
+
+It is clear that the Queen's knowledge of medicine was accompanied by
+an acquaintance with the black art, for on the eve of her daughter's
+departure she entrusted to Brengwain, a lady of Ysonde's suite, a
+powerful philtre or love potion, with directions that Mark and his
+bride should partake of it on the night of their marriage. While at
+sea the party met with contrary winds, and the mariners were forced to
+take to their oars. Tristrem exerted himself in rowing, and Ysonde,
+remarking that he seemed much fatigued, called for drink to refresh
+him. Brengwain, by a fateful error, presented the cup which held the
+love potion. Both Tristrem and Ysonde unwittingly partook of this, and
+a favourite dog, Hodain,
+
+  That many a forest day of fiery mirth
+  Had plied his craft before them,[57]
+
+licked the cup. The consequence of this mistake was, of course, the
+awakening of a consuming passion each for the other in Tristrem and
+Ysonde. A fortnight later the ship arrived at Cornwall. Ysonde was
+duly wed to King Mark, but her passion for Tristrem moved her to
+induce her attendant Brengwain to take her place on the first night of
+her nuptials.
+
+Afterward, terrified lest Brengwain should disclose the secret in her
+possession, Ysonde hired two ruffians to dispatch her. But the
+damsel's entreaties softened the hearts of the assassins and they
+spared her life. Subsequently Ysonde repented of her action and
+Brengwain was reinstated in full favour.
+
+
+_The Minstrel's Boon_
+
+An Irish earl, a former admirer of Ysonde, arrived one day at the
+Court of Cornwall disguised as a minstrel and bearing a harp of
+curious workmanship, the appearance of which excited the curiosity of
+King Mark, who requested him to perform upon it. The visitor demanded
+that the King should first promise to grant him a boon, and the King
+having pledged his royal word, the minstrel sang to the harp a lay in
+which he claimed Ysonde as the promised gift.[58] Mark, having pledged
+his honour, had no alternative but to become forsworn or to deliver
+his wife to the harper, and he reluctantly complied with the
+minstrel's demand. Tristrem, who had been away hunting, returned
+immediately after the adventurous earl had departed with his fair
+prize. He upbraided the King for his extravagant sense of honour, and,
+snatching up his rote, or harp, hastened to the seashore, where Ysonde
+had already embarked. There he sat down and played, and the sound so
+deeply affected Ysonde that she became seriously ill, so that the earl
+was induced to return with her to land. Ysonde pretended that
+Tristrem's music was necessary to her recovery, and the earl, to whom
+Tristrem was unknown, offered to take him in his train to Ireland. The
+earl had dismounted from the horse he was riding and was preparing to
+return on board, when Tristrem sprang into the saddle, and, seizing
+Ysonde's horse by the bridle, plunged into the forest. Here the lovers
+remained for a week, after which Tristrem restored Ysonde to her
+husband.
+
+[Illustration: TRISTREM AND YSONDE]
+
+Not unnaturally suspicion was aroused regarding the relations between
+Tristrem and Ysonde. Meriadok, a knight of Cornwall, and an intimate
+friend of Tristrem, was perhaps the most suspicious of all, and one
+snowy evening he traced his friend to Ysonde's bower, to which
+Tristrem gained entrance by a sliding panel. In this a piece of
+Tristrem's green kirtle was left, and Meriadok bore the fragment to
+the King, to whom he unfolded his suspicions. To test the truth of
+these Mark pretended that he was going on a pilgrimage to the Holy
+Land, and asked his wife to whose care she would wish to be committed.
+Ysonde at first named Tristrem, but on the advice of Brengwain resumed
+the subject later and feigned a mortal hatred for her lover, which she
+ascribed to the scandal she had suffered on his account. The fears of
+the simple Mark were thus lulled to sleep; but those of Meriadok were
+by no means laid at rest. On his advice Mark definitely separated the
+lovers, confining Ysonde to a bower and sending Tristrem to a
+neighbouring city. But Tristrem succeeded in communicating with Ysonde
+by means of leafy twigs thrown into the river which ran through her
+garden, and they continued to meet.
+
+Their interviews were, however, discovered by the aid of a dwarf who
+concealed himself in a tree. One night Mark took the dwarf's place,
+but the lovers were made aware of his presence by his shadow and
+pretended to be quarrelling, Tristrem saying that Ysonde had
+supplanted him in the King's affections. Mark's suspicions were thus
+soothed for the time being. On another occasion Tristrem was not so
+fortunate, and, being discovered, was forced to flee the country.
+
+
+_The Ordeal by Fire_
+
+Mark now resolved to test his wife's innocence by the dread ordeal by
+fire, and he journeyed with his Court to Westminster, where the trial
+was to take place. Tristrem, disguised as a peasant, joined the
+retinue, and when the party arrived in the Thames he carried Ysonde
+from the ship to the shore. When the moment for the ordeal came the
+Queen protested her innocence, saying that no man had ever laid hands
+upon her save the King and the peasant who had carried her from the
+ship. Mark, satisfied by her evident sincerity, refused to proceed
+further with the trial, and Ysonde thus escaped the awful test.
+
+Tristrem then betook him to Wales, and the fame of his prowess in that
+land came at length to Cornwall, so that at last his uncle grew heavy
+at heart for his absence and desired sight of him. Once more he
+returned, but his fatal passion for Ysonde was not abated, and became
+at length so grievous to the good King that he banished both of the
+lovers from his sight. The two fled to a forest, and there dwelt in a
+cavern, subsisting upon venison, the spoil of Tristrem's bow. One day,
+weary with the chase, Tristrem lay down to rest by the side of the
+sleeping Ysonde, placing his drawn sword between them. Mark, passing
+that way, espied them, and from the naked sword inferring their
+innocence, became reconciled to them once more. But again suspicion
+fell upon them, and again Tristrem was forced to flee.
+
+
+_Tristrem in Brittany_
+
+After many adventures in Spain Tristrem arrived in Brittany, where he
+aided the Duke of that country with his sword. The Duke's daughter,
+known as Ysonde of the White Hand, hearing him sing one night a song
+of the beauty of Ysonde, thought that Tristrem was in love with her.
+The Duke therefore offered Tristrem his daughter's hand, and, in
+despair of seeing Ysonde of Ireland again, he accepted the honour. But
+on the wedding-day the first Ysonde's ring dropped from his finger as
+if reproaching him with infidelity, and in deep remorse he vowed that
+Ysonde of Brittany should be his wife in name only.
+
+Now the Duke of Brittany bestowed on Tristrem a fair demesne divided
+by an arm of the sea from the land of a powerful and savage giant
+named Beliagog, and he warned his son-in-law not to incur the
+resentment of this dangerous neighbour. But one day Tristrem's hounds
+strayed into the forest land of Beliagog, and their master, following
+them, was confronted by the wrathful owner. A long and cruel combat
+ensued, and at last Tristrem lopped off one of the giant's feet.
+Thereupon the monster craved mercy, which was granted on the condition
+that he should build a hall in honour of Ysonde of Ireland and her
+maiden, Brengwain. This hall was duly raised, and upon its walls was
+portrayed to the life the whole history of Tristrem, with pictures of
+Ysonde of Ireland, Brengwain, Mark, and other characters in the tale.
+Tristrem, the Duke, Ysonde of Brittany, and Ganhardin, her brother,
+were riding to see this marvel when Ysonde confessed to Ganhardin that
+Tristrem did not regard her as his wife. Ganhardin, angered,
+questioned Tristrem, who concealed nothing from him and recounted to
+him the story of his love for the Queen of Cornwall. Ganhardin was
+deeply interested, and on beholding the picture of Brengwain in the
+newly erected hall he fell violently in love with her.
+
+
+_The Forest Lovers_
+
+Tristrem now returned to Cornwall with Ganhardin, and encountered
+Ysonde the Queen and the fair Brengwain. But one Canados, the King's
+Constable, discovered them and carried the ladies back to Court.
+Ganhardin made the best of his way home to Brittany, but Tristrem
+remained in Cornwall, disguised as a beggar.
+
+Our story now tells of a great tournament at the Cornish Court, and
+how Ganhardin hied him from Brittany and rejoined Tristrem. The two
+entered the lists and took up the challenge of Meriadok and Canados.
+Tristrem, tilting at his old enemy, wounded him desperately. The issue
+of the combat between Canados and Ganhardin hung in the balance when
+Tristrem, charging at the Constable, overthrew and slew him. Then,
+fired with the lust of conquest, Tristrem bore down upon his foes and
+exacted a heavy toll of lives. So great was the scathe done that day
+that Tristrem and Ganhardin were forced once more to fly to Brittany,
+where in an adventure Tristrem received an arrow in his old wound.
+
+
+_The French Manuscript_
+
+At this point the Auchinleck MS., from which this account is taken,
+breaks off, and the story is concluded, in language similar to that of
+the original, by Sir Walter Scott, who got his materials from an old
+French version of the tale.
+
+We read that Tristrem suffered sorely from his wound, in which, as
+before, gangrene set in. Aware that none but Ysonde of Ireland could
+cure him, the stricken knight called Ganhardin to his side and urged
+him to go with all speed to Cornwall and tell the Queen of his mortal
+extremity. He entrusted him with his ring, and finally requested the
+Breton knight to take with him two sails, one white and the other
+black, the first to be hoisted upon his return should Ysonde accompany
+him back to Brittany, the sable sail to be raised should his embassy
+fail of success. Now Ysonde of Brittany overheard all that was said,
+her jealous fears were confirmed, and she resolved to be revenged upon
+her husband.
+
+Ganhardin voyaged quickly to Cornwall, and arrived at the Court of
+King Mark disguised as a merchant. In order to speed his mission he
+presented rich gifts to the King, and also a cup to Ysonde, into which
+he dropped Tristrem's ring. This token procured him a private audience
+with the Queen, and when she learned the deadly peril of her lover,
+Ysonde hastily disguised herself and fled to the ship with Ganhardin.
+In due course the vessel arrived off the coast of Brittany, carrying
+the white sail which was to signify to Tristrem that Ysonde was
+hastening to his aid. But Ysonde of Brittany was watching, and
+perceiving from the signal that her rival was on board she hurried to
+her husband's couch. Tristrem begged her to tell him the colour of the
+sail, and in the madness of jealousy Ysonde said that it was black,
+upon which, believing himself forsaken by his old love, the knight
+sank back and expired.
+
+Tristrem had scarce breathed his last when Ysonde entered the castle.
+At the gate an old man was mourning Tristrem's death, and hearing the
+ominous words which he uttered she hastened to the chamber where the
+corpse of him she had loved so well was lying. With a moan she cast
+herself upon the body, covering the dead face with kisses and pleading
+upon the silent lips to speak. Realizing at last that the spirit had
+indeed quitted its mortal tenement, she raised herself to her feet and
+stood for a moment gazing wildly into the fixed and glassy eyes; then
+with a great cry she fell forward upon the breast of her lover and was
+united with him in death.
+
+Other versions of the story, with all the wealth of circumstance dear
+to the writer of romance, tell of the grievous mourning made at the
+death of the lovers, whom no fault of their own had doomed to the
+tyranny of a mutual passion, and it is recounted that even King Mark,
+wronged and shamed as he was, was unable to repress his grief at their
+pitiful end.
+
+Despite the clumsiness of much of its machinery, despite its tiresome
+repetitions and its minor blemishes, this tale of a grand passion must
+ever remain one of the world's priceless literary possessions. "Dull
+must he be of soul" who, even in these days when folk no longer expire
+from an excess of the tender passion, can fail to be moved by the sad
+fate of the fair Queen and of her gallant minstrel-knight.
+
+  Swiche lovers als thei
+  Never schal be moe.
+
+And so they take their place with Hero and Leander, with Abelard and
+Heloise, with Romeo and Juliet.
+
+It would be unfitting here to tell how mythology has claimed the story
+of Tristrem and Ysonde and has attempted to show in what manner the
+circumstances of their lives and adventures have been adapted to the
+old world-wide myth of the progress of the sun from dawn to
+darkness.[59] The evidence seems very complete, and the theory is
+probably well founded. The circumstances of the great epic of the
+sun-god fits most hero-tales. And it is well to recollect that even if
+romance-makers seized upon the plot of the old myth they did so
+unconscious of its mythic significance, and probably because it may
+have been employed in the heroic literature of "Rome la grant."
+
+
+_The Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel_
+
+It was when he arrived in Brittany to ward off the projected invasion
+of England by the Roman Emperor Lucius that King Arthur encountered
+and slew a giant of "marvellous bigness" at St Michael's Mount, near
+Pontorson. This monster, who had come from Spain, had made his lair on
+the summit of the rocky island, whither he had carried off the Lady
+Helena, niece of Duke Hoel of Brittany. Many were the knights who
+surrounded the giant's fastness, but none might come at him, for when
+they attacked him he would sink their ships by hurling mighty boulders
+upon them, while those who succeeded in swimming to the island were
+slain by him ere they could get a proper footing. But Arthur,
+undismayed by what he had heard, waited until nightfall; then, when
+all were asleep, with Kay the seneschal and Bedivere the butler, he
+started on his way to the Mount.
+
+As the three approached the rugged height they beheld a fire blazing
+brightly on its summit, and saw also that upon a lesser eminence in
+the sea some distance away a smaller fire was burning. Bedivere was
+dispatched in a boat to discover who had lit the fire on the smaller
+island. Having landed there, he found an old woman lamenting loudly.
+
+"Good mother," said he, "wherefore do you mourn? What has befallen you
+in this place that you weep so sorely?"
+
+"Ah, young sir," replied the dame, drying her tears, "get thee back
+from this place, I beseech thee, for as thou livest the monster who
+inhabits yonder mount will rend thee limb from limb and sup on thy
+flesh. But yesterday I was the nurse of the fair Helena, niece to Duke
+Hoel, who lies buried here by me."
+
+"Alas! then, the lady is no more?" cried Bedivere, in distress.
+
+"So it is," replied the old woman, weeping more bitterly than ever,
+"for when that accursed giant did seize upon her terror did so
+overcome her that her spirit took flight. But tarry not on this dread
+spot, noble youth, for if her fierce slayer should encounter thee he
+will put thee to a shameful death, and afterward devour thee as is his
+wont with all those whom he kills."
+
+Bedivere comforted the old woman as best he might, and, returning to
+Arthur, told him what he had heard. Now on hearing of the damsel's
+death great anger took hold upon the King, so that he resolved to
+search out the giant forthwith and slay or be slain by him. Desiring
+Kay and Bedivere to follow, he dismounted and commenced to climb St
+Michael's Mount, closely attended by his companions.
+
+[Illustration: KING ARTHUR AND THE GIANT OF MONT-SAINT-MICHEL]
+
+On reaching the summit a gruesome spectacle awaited them. The great
+fire that they had seen in the distance was blazing fiercely, and
+bending over it was the giant, his cruel and contorted features
+besmeared with the blood of swine, portions of which he was toasting
+on spits. Startled at the sight of the knights, the monster rushed to
+where his club lay. This purpose Arthur deemed he might prevent, and,
+covering himself with his shield, he ran at him while yet he fumbled
+for the weapon. But with all his agility he was too late, for the
+giant seized the mighty sapling and, whirling it in the air, brought
+it down on the King's shield with such force that the sound of the
+stroke echoed afar. Nothing daunted, Arthur dealt a trenchant stroke
+with Excalibur, and gave the giant a cut on the forehead which made
+the blood gush forth over his eyes so as nearly to blind him. But
+shrewd as was the blow, the giant had warded his forehead with his
+club in such wise that he had not received a deadly wound, and,
+watching his chance with great cunning, he rushed in within the sweep
+of Arthur's sword, gripped him round the middle, and forced him to the
+ground.
+
+Iron indeed would have been the grasp which could have held a knight
+so doughty as Arthur. Slipping from the monster's clutches, the King
+hacked at his adversary now in one place, now in another, till at
+length he smote the giant so mightily that Excalibur was buried deep
+in his brain-pan. The giant fell like an oak torn up by the roots in
+the fury of the winds. Rushing up as he crashed to the earth, Sir
+Bedivere struck off the hideous head, grinning in death, to be a show
+to those in the tents below.
+
+"But let them behold it in silence and without laughter," the King
+charged Sir Bedivere, "for never since I slew the giant Ritho upon
+Mount Eryri have I encountered so mighty an adversary."
+
+And so they returned to their tents with daybreak.
+
+
+_A Doubting Thomas_
+
+It is strange to think that Brittany, one of the cradles of Arthurian
+legend, could have produced a disbeliever in that legend so early as
+the year of grace 1113. It is on record that some monks from Brittany
+journeyed to England in that year, and were shown by the men of Devon
+"the chair and the oven of that King Arthur renowned in the stories of
+the Britons." They passed on to Cornwall, and when, in the church at
+Bodmin, one of their servants dared to question the statement of a
+certain Cornishman that Arthur still lived, he received such a buffet
+for his temerity that a small riot ensued.[60] Does not this seem to
+be evidence that the legend was more whole-heartedly believed in in
+the Celtic parts of England, and was therefore more exclusively native
+to those parts than to Continental Brittany? The Cornish allegiance to
+the memory of Arthur seems to have left little to be desired.
+
+
+_Arthur and the Dragon_
+
+The manner in which Arthur slew a dragon at the Lieue de Greve, and at
+the same time made the acquaintance of St Efflam of Ireland, is told
+by Albert le Grand, monk of Morlaix. Arthur had been sojourning at the
+Court of Hoel, Duke of Armorica, and, having freed his own land of
+dragons and other monsters, was engaged in hunting down the great
+beasts with which Armorica abounded. But the monster which infested
+the Lieue de Greve was no ordinary dragon. Indeed, he was the most
+cunning saurian in Europe, and was wont to retire backward into the
+great cavern in which he lived so that when traced to it those who
+tracked him would believe that he had just quitted it.
+
+In this manner he succeeded in deceiving Arthur and his knights, who
+for days lingered in the vicinity of his cave in the hope of
+encountering him. One day as they stood on the seashore waiting for
+the dragon a sail hove in sight, and soon a large coracle made of
+wicker-work covered with skins appeared. The vessel grounded and its
+occupants leapt ashore, headed by a young man of princely mien, who
+advanced toward Arthur and saluted him courteously.
+
+"Fair sir," he said, "to what shore have I come? I am Efflam, the
+King's son, of Ireland. The winds have driven us out of our course,
+and full long have we laboured in the sea."
+
+Now when Arthur heard the young man's name he embraced him heartily.
+
+"Welcome, cousin," he said. "You are in the land of Brittany. I am
+Arthur of Britain, and I rejoice at this meeting, since it may chance
+from it that I can serve you."
+
+Then Efflam told Arthur the reason of his voyaging. He had been wed to
+the Princess Enora, daughter of a petty king of Britain, but on his
+wedding night a strong impulse had come upon him to leave all and make
+his penitence within some lonely wood, where he could be at peace from
+the world. Rising from beside his sleeping wife, he stole away, and
+rousing several trusty servitors he set sail from his native shores.
+Soon his frail craft was caught in a tempest, and after many days
+driven ashore as had been seen.
+
+Arthur marvelled at the impulse which had prompted Efflam to seek
+retirement, and was about to express his surprise when the youth
+startled him by telling him that as his vessel had approached the
+shore he and his men had caught sight of the dragon entering his
+cave.
+
+At these words Arthur armed himself without delay with his sword
+Excalibur and his lance Ron, and, followed by his knights and by
+Efflam, drew near the cavern. As he came before the entrance the
+dragon issued forth, roaring in so terrible a manner that all but the
+King were daunted and drew back. The creature's appearance was
+fearsome in the extreme. He had one red eye in the centre of his
+forehead, his shoulders were covered with green scales like plates of
+mail, his long, powerful tail was black and twisted, and his vast
+mouth was furnished with tusks like those of a wild boar.
+
+Grim and great was the combat. For three days did it rage, man and
+beast struggling through the long hours for the mastery which neither
+seemed able to obtain. At the end of that time the dragon retired for
+a space into his lair, and Arthur, worn out and well-nigh broken by
+the long-drawn strife, threw himself down beside Efflam in a state of
+exhaustion.
+
+"A draught of water, fair cousin," he cried in a choking voice. "I
+perish with thirst."
+
+But no water was to be found in that place save that of the salt sea
+which lapped the sands of Greve. Efflam, however, was possessed of a
+faith that could overcome all difficulties. Kneeling, he engaged in
+earnest prayer, and, arising, struck the hard rock three times with
+his rod. "Our blessed Lord will send us water," he exclaimed, and no
+sooner had he spoken than from the stone a fountain of pure crystal
+water gushed and bubbled.
+
+With a cry of ecstasy Arthur placed his lips to the stream and quaffed
+the much-needed refreshment. His vigour restored, he was about to
+return to the dragon's cavern to renew the combat when he was
+restrained by Efflam.
+
+"Cousin," said he of Ireland, "you have tried what can be done by
+force; now let us see what can be achieved by prayer."
+
+Arthur, marvelling and humbled, sat near the young man as he prayed.
+All night he was busied in devotions, and at sunrise he arose and
+walked boldly to the mouth of the cavern.
+
+"Thou spawn of Satan," he cried, "in the name of God I charge thee to
+come forth!"
+
+A noise as of a thousand serpents hissing in unison followed this
+challenge, and from out his lair trailed the great length of the
+dragon, howling and vomiting fire and blood. Mounting to the summit of
+a neighbouring rock, he vented a final bellow and then cast himself
+into the sea. The blue water was disturbed as by a maelstrom; then all
+was peace again.
+
+So perished the dragon of the Lieue de Greve, and so was proved the
+superiority of prayer over human strength and valour. St Efflam and
+his men settled on the spot as hermits, and were miraculously fed by
+angels. Efflam's wife, Enora, was borne to him by angels in that
+place, only to die when she had joined him. And when they came to tell
+Efflam that his new-found lady was no more and was lying cold in the
+cell he had provided for her, their news fell on deaf ears, for he too
+had passed away. He is buried in Plestin Church, and his effigy,
+standing triumphant above an open-mouthed dragon, graces one of its
+many niches.
+
+
+_The Isle of Avalon_
+
+The Bretons believe that an island off Tregastel, on the coast of the
+department of Cotes-du-Nord, is the fabled Isle of Avalon to which
+King Arthur, sore wounded after his last battle, was borne to be
+healed of his hurts. With straining eyes the fisherman watches the
+mist-wrapped islet, and, peering through the evening haze, cheats
+himself into the belief that giant forms are moving upon its shores
+and that spectral shapes flit across its sands--that the dark hours
+bring back the activities of the attendant knights and enchantresses
+of the mighty hero of Celtdom, who, refreshed by his long repose, will
+one day return to the world of men and right the great wrongs which
+afflict humanity.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [54] _The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory_, p. 135.
+
+  [55] No matter.
+
+  [56] _I.e._ had the best knowledge of medicine. _Couthe_, from A.S.
+       _cunnan_ to know.
+
+  [57] Swinburne, _Tristram of Lyonesse_.
+
+  [58] This incident is common in Celtic romance, and seems to have been
+       widely used in nearly all medieval literatures.
+
+  [59] See Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, _Introduction to Mythology_, p. 326 ff.
+
+  [60] See Zimmer, _Zeitschrift fuer Franzoesische Sprache und Literatur_,
+       xii, pp. 106 ff.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI: THE BRETON LAYS OF MARIE DE FRANCE
+
+
+The wonderful _Lais_ of Marie de France must ever hold a deep interest
+for all students of Breton lore, for though cast in the literary mould
+of Norman-French and breathing the spirit of Norman chivalry those of
+them which deal with Brittany (as do most of them) exhibit such
+evident marks of having been drawn from native Breton sources that we
+may regard them as among the most valuable documents extant for the
+study and consideration of Armorican story.
+
+Of the personal history of Marie de France very little is known. The
+date and place of her birth are still matters for conjecture, and
+until comparatively recent times literary antiquaries were doubtful
+even as to which century she flourished in. In the epilogue to her
+_Fables_ she states that she is a native of the Ile-de-France, but
+despite this she is believed to have been of Norman origin, and also
+to have lived the greater part of her life in England. Her work, which
+holds few suggestions of Anglo-Norman forms of thought or expression,
+was written in a literary dialect that in all likelihood was widely
+estranged from the common Norman tongue, and from this (though the
+manuscripts in which they are preserved are dated later) we may judge
+her poems to have been composed in the second half of the twelfth
+century. The prologue of her _Lais_ contains a dedication to some
+unnamed king, and her _Fables_ are inscribed to a certain Count
+William, circumstances which are held by some to prove that she was of
+noble origin and not merely a _trouvere_ from necessity.
+
+Until M. Gaston Paris decided that this mysterious king was Henry II
+of England, and that the 'Count William' was Longsword, Earl of
+Salisbury, Henry's natural son by the 'Fair Rosamond,' the mysterious
+monarch was believed to be Henry III. It is highly probable that the
+_Lais_ were actually written at the Court of Henry II, though the
+'King' of the flowery prologue is hardly reconcilable with the stern
+ruler and law-maker of history. Be that as it may, Marie's poems
+achieved instant success. "Her rhyme is loved everywhere," says Denis
+Pyramus, the author of a life of St Edmund the King; "for counts,
+barons, and knights greatly admire it and hold it dear. And they love
+her writing so much, and take such pleasure in it, that they have it
+read, and often copied. These Lays are wont to please ladies, who
+listen to them with delight, for they are after their own hearts."
+This fame and its attendant adulation were very sweet to Marie, and
+she was justly proud of her work, which, inspired, as she herself
+distinctly states, by the lays she had heard Breton minstrels sing,
+has, because of its vivid colouring and human appeal, survived the
+passing of seven hundred years. The scenes of the tales are laid in
+Brittany, and we are probably correct in regarding them as culled from
+original traditional material. As we proceed with the telling of these
+ancient stories we shall endeavour to point out the essentially Breton
+elements they have retained.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Were-Wolf_
+
+In the long ago there dwelt in Brittany a worshipful baron, for whom
+the king of that land had a warm affection, and who was happy in the
+esteem of his peers and the love of his beautiful wife.
+
+One only grief had his wife in her married life, and that was the
+mysterious absence of her husband for three days in every week. Where
+he disappeared to neither she nor any member of her household knew.
+These excursions preyed upon her mind, so that at last she resolved to
+challenge him regarding them.
+
+"Husband," she said to him pleadingly one day after he had just
+returned from one of these absences, "I have something to ask of you,
+but I fear that my request may vex you, and for this reason I hesitate
+to make it."
+
+The baron took her in his arms and, kissing her tenderly, bade her
+state her request, which he assured her would by no means vex him.
+
+"It is this," she said, "that you will trust me sufficiently to tell
+me where you spend those days when you are absent from me. So fearful
+have I become regarding these withdrawals and all the mystery that
+enshrouds them that I know neither rest nor comfort; indeed, so
+distraught am I at times that I feel I shall die for very anxiety. Oh,
+husband, tell me where you go and why you tarry so long!"
+
+In great agitation the husband put his wife away from him, not daring
+to meet the glance of her imploring, anxious eyes.
+
+"For the mercy of God, do not ask this of me," he besought her. "No
+good could come of your knowing, only great and terrible evil.
+Knowledge would mean the death of your love for me, and my everlasting
+desolation."
+
+"You are jesting with me, husband," she replied; "but it is a cruel
+jest. I am all seriousness, I do assure you. Peace of mind can never
+be mine until my question is fully answered."
+
+But the baron, still greatly perturbed, remained firm. He could not
+tell her, and she must rest content with that. The lady, however,
+continued to plead, sometimes with tenderness, more often with tears
+and heart-piercing reproaches, until at length the baron, trusting to
+her love, decided to tell her his secret.
+
+"I have to leave you because periodically I become a bisclaveret," he
+said. ('Bisclaveret' is the Breton name for were-wolf.) "I hide myself
+in the depths of the forest, live on wild animals and roots, and go
+unclad as any beast of the field."
+
+When the lady had recovered from the horror of this disclosure and had
+rallied her senses to her aid, she turned to him again, determined at
+any cost to learn all the circumstances connected with this terrible
+transformation.
+
+"You know that I love you better than all the world, my husband," she
+began; "that never in our life together have I done aught to forfeit
+your love or your trust. So do, I beseech you, tell me all--tell me
+where you hide your clothing before you become a were-wolf?"
+
+"That I dare not do, dear wife," he replied, "for if I should lose my
+raiment or even be seen quitting it I must remain a were-wolf so long
+as I live. Never again could I become a man unless my garments were
+restored to me."
+
+"Then you no longer trust me, no longer love me?" she cried. "Alas,
+alas that I have forfeited your confidence! Oh that I should live to
+see such a day!"
+
+Her weeping broke out afresh, this time more piteously than before.
+The baron, deeply touched, and willing by any means to alleviate her
+distress, at last divulged the vital secret which he had held from her
+so long.
+
+But from that hour his wife cast about for ways and means to rid
+herself of her strange husband, of whom she now went in exceeding
+fear. In course of time she remembered a knight of that country who
+had long sought her love, but whom she had repulsed. To him she
+appealed, and right gladly and willingly he pledged himself to aid
+her. She showed him where her lord concealed his clothing, and begged
+him to spoil the were-wolf of his vesture on the next occasion on
+which he set out to assume his transformation. The fatal period soon
+returned. The baron disappeared as usual, but this time he did not
+return to his home. For days friends, neighbours, and menials sought
+him diligently, but no trace of him was to be found, and when a year
+had elapsed the search was at length abandoned, and the lady was
+wedded to her knight.
+
+Some months later the King was hunting in the great forest near the
+missing baron's castle. The hounds, unleashed, came upon the scent of
+a wolf, and pressed the animal hard. For many hours they pursued him,
+and when about to seize him, Bisclaveret--for it was he--turned with
+such a human gesture of despair to the King, who had ridden hard upon
+his track, that the royal huntsman was moved to pity. To the King's
+surprise the were-wolf placed its paws together as if in supplication,
+and its great jaws moved as if in speech.
+
+"Call off the hounds," cried the monarch to his attendants. "This
+quarry we will take alive to our palace. It is too marvellous a thing
+to be killed."
+
+Accordingly they returned to the Court, where the were-wolf became an
+object of the greatest curiosity to all. So frolicsome yet so gentle
+was he that he became a universal favourite. At night he slept in the
+King's room, and by day he followed him with all the dumb faithfulness
+of a dog. The King was extremely attached to him, and never permitted
+his shaggy favourite to be absent from his side for a moment.
+
+One day the monarch held a high Court, to which his great vassals and
+barons and all the lords of his broad demesnes were bidden. Among them
+came the knight who had wed the wife of Bisclaveret. Immediately upon
+sight of him the were-wolf flew at him with a savage joy that
+astonished those accustomed to his usual gentleness and docility. So
+fierce was the attack that the knight would have been killed had not
+the King intervened to save him. Later, in the royal hunting-lodge she
+who had been the wife of Bisclaveret came to offer the King a rich
+present. When he saw her the animal's rage knew no bounds, and despite
+all restraint he succeeded in mutilating her fair face in the most
+frightful manner. But for a certain wise counsellor this act would
+have cost Bisclaveret his life. This sagacious person, who knew of the
+animal's customary docility, insisted that some evil must have been
+done him.
+
+"There must be some reason why this beast holds these twain in such
+mortal hate," he said. "Let this woman and her husband be brought
+hither so that they may be straitly questioned. She was once the wife
+of one who was near to your heart, and many marvellous happenings have
+ere this come out of Brittany."
+
+[Illustration: THE WERE-WOLF]
+
+The King hearkened to this sage counsel, for he loved the were-wolf,
+and was loath to have him slain. Under pressure of examination
+Bisclaveret's treacherous wife confessed all that she had done, adding
+that in her heart she believed the King's favourite animal to be no
+other than her former husband.
+
+Instantly on learning this the King demanded the were-wolf's vesture
+from the treacherous knight her lover, and when this was brought to
+him he caused it to be spread before the wolf. But the animal behaved
+as though he did not see the garments.
+
+Then the wise counsellor again came to his aid.
+
+"You must take the beast to your own secret chamber, sire," he told
+the King; "for not without great shame and tribulation can he become a
+man once more, and this he dare not suffer in the sight of all."
+
+This advice the King promptly followed, and when after some little
+time he, with two lords of his fellowship in attendance, re-entered
+the secret chamber, he found the wolf gone, and the baron so well
+beloved asleep in his bed.
+
+With great joy and affection the King aroused his friend, and when the
+baron's feelings permitted him he related his adventures. As soon as
+his master had heard him out he not only restored to him all that had
+been taken from him, but added gifts the number and richness of which
+rendered him more wealthy and important than ever, while in just anger
+he banished from his realm the wife who had betrayed her lord,
+together with her lover.
+
+
+_The Were-Wolf Superstition_
+
+The were-wolf superstition is, or was, as prevalent in Brittany as in
+other parts of France and Europe. The term 'were-wolf' literally means
+'man-wolf,' and was applied to a man supposed to be temporarily or
+permanently transformed into a wolf. In its origins the belief may
+have been a phase of lycanthropy, a disease in which the sufferer
+imagines himself to have been transformed into an animal, and in
+ancient and medieval times of very frequent occurrence. It may, on the
+other hand, be a relic of early cannibalism. Communities of
+semi-civilized people would begin to shun those who devoured human
+flesh, and they would in time be ostracized and classed with wild
+beasts, the idea that they had something in common with these would
+grow, and the belief that they were able to transform themselves into
+veritable animals would be likely to arise therefrom.
+
+There were two kinds of were-wolf, voluntary and involuntary. The
+voluntary included those persons who because of their taste for human
+flesh had withdrawn from intercourse with their fellows, and who
+appeared to possess a certain amount of magical power, or at least
+sufficient to permit them to transform themselves into animal shape at
+will. This they effected by merely disrobing, by taking off a girdle
+made of human skin, or putting on a similar belt of wolf-skin
+(obviously a later substitute for an entire wolf-skin; in some cases
+we hear of their donning the skin entire). In other instances the body
+was rubbed with magic ointment, or rain-water was drunk out of a
+wolf's footprint. The brains of the animal were also eaten. Olaus
+Magnus says that the were-wolves of Livonia drained a cup of beer on
+initiation, and repeated certain magical words. In order to throw off
+the wolf-shape the animal girdle was removed, or else the magician
+merely muttered certain formulae. In some instances the transformation
+was supposed to be the work of Satan.
+
+The superstition regarding were-wolves seems to have been exceedingly
+prevalent in France during the sixteenth century, and there is
+evidence of numerous trials of persons accused of were-wolfism, in
+some of which it was clearly shown that murder and cannibalism had
+taken place. Self-hallucination was accountable for many of the cases,
+the supposed were-wolves declaring that they had transformed
+themselves and had slain many people. But about the beginning of the
+seventeenth century native common sense came to the rescue, and such
+confessions were not credited. In Teutonic and Slavonic countries it
+was complained by men of learning that the were-wolves did more damage
+than real wild animals, and the existence of a regular 'college' or
+institution for the practice of the art of animal transformation among
+were-wolves was affirmed.
+
+Involuntary were-wolves, of which class Bisclaveret was evidently a
+member, were often persons transformed into animal shape because of
+the commission of sin, and condemned to pass a certain number of years
+in that form. Thus certain saints metamorphosed sinners into wolves.
+In Armenia it was thought that a sinful woman was condemned to pass
+seven years in the form of a wolf. To such a woman a demon appeared,
+bringing a wolf-skin. He commanded her to don it, and from that moment
+she became a wolf, with all the nature of the wild beast, devouring
+her own children and those of strangers, and wandering forth at night,
+undeterred by locks, bolts, or bars, returning only with the morning
+to resume her human form.
+
+In was, of course, in Europe, where the wolf was one of the largest
+carnivorous animals, that the were-wolf superstition chiefly gained
+currency. In Eastern countries, where similar beliefs prevailed,
+bears, tigers, and other beasts of prey were substituted for the
+lupine form of colder climes.
+
+
+_The Lay of Gugemar_
+
+Oridial was one of the chief barons of King Arthur, and dwelt in
+Brittany, where he held lands in fief of that monarch. So deeply was
+he attached to his liege lord that when his son Gugemar was yet a
+child he sent him to Arthur's Court to be trained as a page. In due
+time Arthur dubbed Gugemar knight and armed him in rich harness, and
+the youth, hearing of war in Flanders, set out for that realm in the
+hope of gaining distinction and knightly honour.
+
+After achieving many valorous deeds in Flanders Gugemar felt a strong
+desire to behold his parents once more, so, setting his face homeward,
+he journeyed back to Brittany and dwelt with them for some time,
+resting after his battles and telling his father, mother, and sister
+Nogent of the many enterprises in which he had been engaged. But he
+shortly grew weary of this inactive existence, and in order to break
+the monotony of it he planned a great hunt in the neighbouring
+forest.
+
+Early one morning he set out, and soon a tall stag was roused from its
+bed among the ferns by the noise of the hunters' horns. The hounds
+were unleashed and the entire hunt followed in pursuit, Gugemar the
+foremost of all. But, closely as he pursued, the quarry eluded the
+knight, and to his chagrin he was left alone in the forest spaces with
+nothing to show for his long chase. He was about to ride back in
+search of his companions when on a sudden he noticed a doe hiding in a
+thicket with her fawn. She was white from ear to hoof, without a
+spot. Gugemar's hounds, rushing at her, held her at bay, and their
+master, fitting an arrow to his bow, loosed the shaft at her so that
+she was wounded above the hoof and brought to earth. But the
+treacherous arrow, glancing, returned to Gugemar and wounded him
+grievously in the thigh.
+
+As he lay on the earth faint and with his senses almost deserting him,
+Gugemar heard the doe speak to him in human accents:
+
+"Wretch who hast slain me," said she, "think not to escape my
+vengeance. Never shall leech nor herb nor balm cure the wound which
+fate hath so justly inflicted upon thee. Only canst thou be healed by
+a woman who loves thee, and who for that love shall have to suffer
+such woe and sorrow as never woman had to endure before. Thou too
+shalt suffer equally with her, and the sorrows of ye twain shall be
+the wonder of lovers for all time. Leave me now to die in peace."
+
+Gugemar was in sore dismay at hearing these words, for never had he
+sought lady's love nor had he cared for the converse of women. Winding
+his horn, he succeeded in attracting one of his followers to the spot,
+and sent him in search of his companions. When he had gone Gugemar
+tore his linen shirt in pieces and bound up his wound as well as he
+might. Then, dragging himself most painfully into the saddle, he rode
+from the scene of his misadventure at as great a pace as his injury
+would permit of, for he had conceived a plan which he did not desire
+should be interfered with.
+
+Riding at a hand-gallop, he soon came in sight of tall cliffs which
+overlooked the sea, and which formed a natural harbour, wherein lay a
+vessel richly beseen. Its sails were of spun silk, and each plank and
+mast was fashioned of ebony. Dismounting, Gugemar made his way to the
+shore, and with much labour climbed upon the ship. Neither mariner nor
+merchant was therein. A large pavilion of silk covered part of the
+deck, and within this was a rich bed, the work of the cunning
+artificers of the days of King Solomon. It was fashioned of cypress
+wood and ivory, and much gold and many gems went to the making of it.
+The clothes with which it was provided were fair and white as snow,
+and so soft the pillow that he who laid his head upon it, sad as he
+might be, could not resist sleep. The pavilion was lit by two large
+waxen candles, set in candlesticks of gold.
+
+As the knight sat gazing at this splendid couch fit for a king he
+suddenly became aware that the ship was moving seaward. Already,
+indeed, he was far from land, and at the sight he grew more sorrowful
+than before, for his hurt made him helpless and he could not hope
+either to guide the vessel or manage her so that he might return to
+shore. Resigning himself to circumstances, he lay down upon the ornate
+bed and sank into a deep and dreamless slumber.
+
+[Illustration: GUGEMAR COMES UPON THE MAGIC SHIP]
+
+When he awoke he found to his intense surprise that the ship had come
+to the port of an ancient city. Now the king of this realm was an aged
+man who was wedded to a young, fair lady, of whom he was, after the
+manner of old men, intensely jealous. The castle of this monarch
+frowned upon a fair garden enclosed from the sea by a high wall of
+green marble, so that if one desired to come to the castle he must do
+so from the water. The place was straitly watched by vigilant
+warders, and within the wall so carefully defended lay the Queen's
+bower, a fairer chamber than any beneath the sun, and decorated with
+the most marvellous paintings. Here dwelt the young Queen with one of
+her ladies, her own sister's child, who was devoted to her service and
+who never quitted her side. The key of this bower was in the hands of
+an aged priest, who was also the Queen's servitor.
+
+One day on awaking from sleep the Queen walked in the garden and
+espied a ship drawing near the land. Suddenly, she knew not why, she
+grew very fearful, and would have fled at the sight, but her maiden
+encouraged her to remain. The vessel came to shore, and the Queen's
+maiden entered it. No one could she see on board except a knight
+sleeping soundly within the pavilion, and he was so pale that she
+thought he was dead. Returning to her mistress, she told her what she
+had seen, and together they entered the vessel.
+
+No sooner did the Queen behold Gugemar than she was deeply smitten
+with love for him. In a transport of fear lest he were dead she placed
+her hand upon his bosom, and was overjoyed to feel the warmth of life
+within him and that his heart beat strongly. At her touch he awoke and
+courteously saluted her. She asked him whence he came and to what
+nation he belonged.
+
+"Lady," he replied, "I am a knight of Brittany. But yesterday, or so
+it seems to me, for I may have slumbered more than a day, I wounded a
+deer in the forest, but the arrow with which I slew her rebounded and
+struck me sorely. Then the beast, being, I trow, a fairy deer, spake,
+saying that never would this wound be healed save by one damsel in the
+whole world, and her I know not where to find. Riding seaward, I came
+to where this ship lay moored, and, entering it, the vessel drifted
+oceanward. I know not to what land I have come, nor what name this
+city bears. I pray you, fair lady, give me your best counsel."
+
+The Queen listened to his tale with the deepest interest, and when
+Gugemar made his appeal for aid and counsel she replied: "Truly, fair
+sir, I shall counsel you as best I may. This city to which you have
+come belongs to my husband, who is its King. Of much worship is he,
+but stricken in years, and because of the jealousy he bears me he has
+shut me up between these high walls. If it please you you may tarry
+here awhile and we will tend your wound until it be healed."
+
+Gugemar, wearied and bewildered at the strange things which had
+happened to him in the space of a day, thanked the Queen, and accepted
+her kind offer of entertainment with alacrity. Between them the Queen
+and her lady assisted him to leave the ship and bore him to a chamber,
+where he was laid in a fair bed and had his wound carefully dressed.
+When the ladies had withdrawn and the knight was left to himself he
+knew that he loved the Queen. All memory of his home and even of his
+tormenting wound disappeared, and he could brood only upon the fair
+face of the royal lady who had so charmingly ministered to him.
+
+Meanwhile the Queen was in little better case. All night she could not
+sleep for pondering upon the handsome youth who had come so
+mysteriously into her life, and her maiden, seeing this, and marking
+how she suffered, went to Gugemar's chamber and told him in a frank
+and almost childlike manner how deeply her mistress had been smitten
+with love for him.
+
+"You are young," she said, "so is my lady. Her lord is old and their
+union is unseemly. Heaven intended you for one another and has brought
+you together in its own good time."
+
+Shortly, after she had heard Mass, the Queen summoned Gugemar into her
+presence. At first both were dumb with confusion. At last his passion
+urged Gugemar to speak, and his love-words came thick and fast. The
+Queen hearkened to them, and, feeling that they rang true, admitted
+that she loved him in return.
+
+For a year and a half Gugemar dwelt in the Queen's bower. Then the
+lovers met with misfortune.
+
+For some days before the blow fell the Queen had experienced a feeling
+of coming evil. So powerfully did this affect her that she begged
+Gugemar for a garment of his. The knight marvelled at the request, and
+asked her playfully for what reason she desired such a keepsake as a
+linen shift.
+
+"Friend," she replied, "if it chance that you leave me or that we are
+separated I shall fear that some other damsel may win your love. In
+this shift which you give me I shall make a knot, and shall ask you to
+vow that never will you give your love to dame or damsel who cannot
+untie this knot."
+
+The knight complied with her request, and she made such a cunning knot
+in the garment as only she could unravel. For his part Gugemar gave
+the Queen a wonderfully fashioned girdle which only he could unclasp,
+and he begged her that she would never grant her love to any man who
+could not free her from it. Each promised the other solemnly to
+respect the vows they had made.
+
+That same day their hidden love was discovered. A chamberlain of the
+King's observed them through a window of the Queen's bower, and,
+hastening to his master, told him what he had seen. In terrible wrath
+the King called for his guards, and, coming upon the lovers unaware,
+commanded them to slay Gugemar at once. But the knight seized upon a
+stout rod of fir-wood on which linen was wont to be dried, and faced
+those who would slay him so boldly that they fell back in dismay.
+
+The King questioned him as to his name and lineage, and Gugemar
+fearlessly related his story. The King was incredulous at first, but
+said that could the ship be found in which Gugemar had arrived he
+would place him upon it and send him once more out to sea. After
+search had been made the vessel was found, and Gugemar was placed on
+it, the ship began to move, and soon the knight was well at sea.
+
+Ere long the ship came to that harbour whence she had first sailed,
+and as Gugemar landed he saw to his surprise one of his own vassals
+holding a charger and accompanied by a knight. Mounting the steed,
+Gugemar swiftly rode home, where he was received with every
+demonstration of joy. But though his parents and friends did
+everything possible to make him happy, the memory of the fair Queen
+who had loved him was ever with him night and day, so that he might
+not be solaced by game or tilting, the chase or the dance. In vain
+those who wished him well urged him to take a wife. At first he
+roundly refused to consider such a step, but when eagerly pressed by
+his friends he announced that no wife should he wed who could not
+first unloose the knot within his shift. So sought after was Gugemar
+that all the damsels in Brittany essayed the feat, but none of them
+succeeded and each retired sorrowfully from the ordeal.
+
+Meanwhile the aged King had set his wife in a tower of grey marble,
+where she suffered agonies because of the absence of her lover. Ever
+she wondered what had happened to him, if he had regained his native
+shore or whether he had been swallowed up by the angry sea. Frequently
+she made loud moan, but there were none to hear her cries save
+stony-hearted gaolers, who were as dumb as the grey walls that
+enclosed her.
+
+One day she chanced in her dolour to lean heavily upon the door of her
+prison. To her amazement it opened, and she found herself in the
+corridor without. Hastening on impulse, and as if by instinct, to the
+harbour, she found there her lover's ship. Quickly she climbed upon
+its deck, and scarcely had she done so than the vessel began to move
+seaward. In great fear she sat still, and in time was wafted to a part
+of Brittany governed by one named Meriadus, who was on the point of
+going to war with a neighbouring chieftain.
+
+From his window Meriadus had seen the approach of the strange vessel,
+and, making his way to the seashore, entered the ship. Struck with the
+beauty of the Queen, he brought her to his castle, where he placed her
+in his sister's chamber. He strove in every way to dispel the sadness
+which seemed to envelop her like a mantle, but despite his efforts to
+please her she remained in sorrowful and doleful mood and would not be
+comforted. Sorely did Meriadus press her to wed him, but she would
+have none of him, and for answer showed him the girdle round her
+waist, saying that never would she give her love to any man who could
+not unloose its buckle. As she said this Meriadus seemed struck by her
+words.
+
+"Strange," he said, "a right worthy knight dwells in this land who
+will take no woman to his wife save she who can first untie a certain
+crafty knot in his shift. Well would I wager that it was you who tied
+this knot."
+
+When the Queen heard these words she well-nigh fainted. Meriadus
+rushed to succour her, and gradually she revived. Some days later
+Meriadus held a high tournament, at which all the knights who were to
+aid him in the war were to be present, among them Gugemar. A festival
+was held on the night preceding the tournament, at which Meriadus
+requested his sister and the stranger dame to be present. As the Queen
+entered the hall Gugemar rose from his place and stared at her as at a
+vision of the dead. In great doubt was he whether this lady was in
+truth his beloved.
+
+"Come, Gugemar," rallied Meriadus, "let this damsel try to unravel the
+knot in your shift which has puzzled so many fair dames."
+
+Gugemar called to his squire and bade him fetch the shift, and when it
+was brought the lady, without seeming effort, unravelled the knot. But
+even yet Gugemar remained uncertain.
+
+"Lady," he said, "tell me, I pray you, whether or not you wear a
+girdle with which I girt you in a realm across the sea," and placing
+his hands around her slender waist, he found there the secret belt.
+
+All his doubts dispelled, Gugemar asked his loved one how she had come
+to the tower of Meriadus. When he had heard, he then and there
+requested his ally to yield him the lady, but the chieftain roundly
+refused. Then the knight in great anger cast down his glove and took
+his departure, and, to the discomfiture of Meriadus, all those knights
+who had gathered for the tournament and had offered to assist Meriadus
+accompanied Gugemar.
+
+[Illustration: GUGEMAR'S ASSAULT ON THE CASTLE OF MERIADUS]
+
+In a body they rode to the castle of the prince who was at war with
+Meriadus, and next day they marched against the discourteous
+chieftain. Long did they besiege his castle, but at last when the
+defenders were weak with hunger Gugemar and his men assailed the place
+and took it, slaying Meriadus within the ruins of his own hall.
+Gugemar, rushing to that place where he knew his lady to be, called
+her forth, and in peace brought her back with him to his own demesne,
+where they were wed and dwelt long and happily.
+
+There are several circumstances connected with this beautiful old tale
+which deeply impress us with a belief in its antiquity. The incident
+of the killing of the deer and the incurable nature of Gugemar's wound
+are undoubtedly legacies from very ancient times, when it was believed
+to be unlucky under certain circumstances to kill a beast of the
+chase. Some savage races, such as the North American Indians, consider
+it to be most unlucky to slay a deer without first propitiating the
+great Deer God, the chief of the Deer Folk, and in fact they attribute
+most of the ills to which flesh is heir to the likelihood that they
+have omitted some of the very involved ritual of the chase. It will be
+remembered that Tristrem of Lyonesse also had an incurable wound, and
+there are other like instances in romance and myth.
+
+The vessel which carries Gugemar over the sea is undoubtedly of the
+same class as those magic self-propelled craft which we meet with very
+frequently in Celtic lore, and the introduction of this feature in
+itself is sufficient to convince us of the Celtic or Breton origin of
+Marie's tale. We have such a craft in the Grail legend in the _Morte
+d'Arthur_, in which Galahad finds precisely such a bed. The vessel in
+the Grail legend is described as "King Solomon's Ship," and it is
+obvious that Marie or her Breton original must have borrowed the idea
+from a Grail source.
+
+Lastly, the means adopted by the lovers to ensure one another's
+constancy seem very like the methods of taboo. The knot that may not
+or cannot be untied has many counterparts in ancient lore, and the
+girdle that no man but the accepted lover may loose is reminiscent of
+the days when a man placed such a girdle around his wife or sweetheart
+to signify his sole possession of her. If a man could succeed in
+purloining a mermaid's girdle she was completely in his power. So is
+it with fairies in an Algonquin Indian tale. Even so late as Crusading
+times many knights departing to fight in the Holy Land bound a girdle
+round their ladies' waists in the hope that the gift would ensure
+their faithfulness.
+
+
+_The Lay of Laustic_
+
+The Lay of Laustic, or the Nightingale, is purely of Breton origin,
+and indeed is proved to be so by its title. "Laustic, I deem, men name
+it in that country" (Brittany), says Marie in her preface to the lay,
+"which being interpreted means _rossignol_ in French and 'nightingale'
+in good plain English." She adds that the Breton harper has already
+made a lay concerning it--added evidence that the tale is of Celtic
+and not of French origin.
+
+In the ancient town of Saint-Malo, in Brittany, dwelt two knights
+whose valour and prowess brought much fame to the community. Their
+houses were close to one another, and one of them was married to a
+lady of surpassing loveliness, while the other was a bachelor. By
+insensible degrees the bachelor knight came to love his neighbour's
+wife, and so handsome and gallant was he that in time she returned his
+passion. He made every possible excuse for seeking her society, and on
+one pretext or another was constantly by her side. But he was
+exceedingly careful of her fair fame, and acted in such a way that not
+the slightest breath of scandal could touch her.
+
+Their houses were separated by an ancient stone wall of considerable
+height, but the lovers could speak together by leaning from their
+casements, and if this was impossible they could communicate by
+sending written messages. When the lady's husband was at home she was
+guarded carefully, as was the custom of the time, but nevertheless she
+contrived to greet her lover from the window as frequently as she
+desired.
+
+In due course the wondrous time of spring came round, with white drift
+of blossom and stir of life newly awakened. The short night hours grew
+warm, and often did the lady arise from bed to have speech with her
+lover at the casement. Her husband grew displeased by her frequent
+absences, which disturbed his rest, and wrathfully inquired the reason
+why she quitted his side so often.
+
+"Oh, husband," she replied, "I cannot rest because of the sweet song
+of the nightingale, whose music has cast a spell upon my heart. No
+tune of harp or viol can compare with it, and I may not close my eyes
+so long as his song continues in the night."
+
+Now the lady's husband, although a bold and hardy knight, was
+malicious and ungenerous, and, disliking to have his rest disturbed,
+resolved to deal summarily with the nightingale. So he gave orders to
+his servants to set traps in the garden and to smear every bough and
+branch with birdlime in order that the bird might speedily be taken.
+His orders were at once carried out, and the garden was filled with
+nets, while the cruel lime glittered upon every tree. So complete were
+the preparations of the serving-men that an unfortunate nightingale
+which had made the garden its haunt and had filled it with music for
+many a night while the lovers talked was taken and brought to the
+knight.
+
+Swiftly he bore the hapless bird to his wife's chamber, his eyes
+sparkling with malicious glee.
+
+"Here is your precious songster," he said, with bitter irony. "You
+will be happy to learn that you and I may now spend our sleeping hours
+in peace since he is taken."
+
+"Ah, slay him not, my lord!" she cried in anguish, for she had grown
+to associate the bird's sweet song with the sweeter converse of her
+lover--to regard it as in a measure an accompaniment to his
+love-words. For answer her husband seized the unhappy bird by the neck
+and wrung its head off. Then he cast the little body into the lap of
+the dame, soiling her with its blood, and departed in high anger.
+
+The lady pitifully raised what was left of the dead songster and
+bitterly lamented over it.
+
+"Woe is me!" she cried. "Never again can I meet with my lover at the
+casement, and he will believe that I am faithless to him. But I shall
+devise some means to let him know that this is not so."
+
+Having considered as to what she should do, the lady took a fine piece
+of white samite, broidered with gold, and worked upon it as on a
+tapestry the whole story of the nightingale, so that her knight might
+not be ignorant of the nature of the barrier that had arisen between
+them.
+
+In this silken shroud she wrapped the small, sad body of the slain
+bird and gave it in charge of a trusty servant to bear to her lover.
+The messenger told the knight what had occurred. The news was heavy to
+him, but now, having insight to the vengeful nature of her husband, he
+feared to jeopardize the lady's safety, so he remained silent. But he
+caused a rich coffer to be made in fine gold, set with precious
+stones, in which he laid the body of the nightingale, and this small
+funeral urn he carried about with him on all occasions, nor could any
+circumstance hinder him from keeping it constantly beside him.
+
+  Wrap me love's ashes in a golden cloth
+  To carry next my heart. Love's fire is out,
+  And these poor embers grey, but I am loath
+  To quench remembrance also: I shall put
+  His relics over that they did consume.
+  Ah, 'tis too bitter cold these cinders to relume!
+
+  Place me love's ashes in a golden cup,
+  To mingle with my wine. Ah, do not fear
+  The old flame in my soul shall flicker up
+  At the harsh taste of what was once so dear.
+  I quaff no fire: there is no fire to meet
+  This bitterness of death and turn it into sweet.
+
+
+_The Lay of Eliduc_
+
+In the tale of Eliduc we have in all probability a genuine product of
+native Breton romance. So at least avers Marie, who assures us that it
+is "a very ancient Breton lay," and we have no reason to doubt her
+word, seeing that, had she been prone to literary dishonesty, it would
+have been much easier for her to have passed off the tale as her own
+original conception. There is, of course, the probability that it was
+so widely known in its Breton version that to have done so would have
+been to have openly courted the charge of plagiarism--an impeachment
+which it is not possible to bring against this most charming and
+delightful poetess.
+
+Eliduc, a knight of Brittany, was happy in the confidence of his King,
+who, when affairs of State caused his absence from the realm, left his
+trusted adherent behind him as viceroy and regent. Such a man, staunch
+and loyal, could scarcely be without enemies, and the harmless
+pleasure he took in the chase during the King's absence was construed
+by evil counsellors on the monarch's return as an unwarranted licence
+with the royal rights of venery. The enemies of Eliduc so harped upon
+the knight's supposed lack of reverence for the royal authority that
+at length the King's patience gave way and in an outburst of wrath he
+gave orders for Eliduc's banishment, without vouchsafing his former
+friend and confidant the least explanation of this petulant action.
+
+Dismayed by the sudden change in his fortunes, Eliduc returned to his
+house, and there acquainted his friends and vassals with the King's
+unjust decree. He told them that it was his intention to cross the sea
+to the kingdom of Logres, to sojourn there for a space. He placed his
+estates in the hands of his wife and begged of his vassals that they
+would serve her loyally. Then, having settled his affairs, he took ten
+knights of his household and started upon his journey. His wife,
+Guildeluec, accompanied him for several miles, and on parting they
+pledged good faith to one another.
+
+In due time the cavalcade came to the seashore and took ship for the
+realm of Logres. Near Exeter, in this land, dwelt an aged king who
+had for his heir a daughter called Guillardun. This damsel had been
+asked in marriage by a neighbouring prince, and as her father had
+refused to listen to his proposals the disappointed suitor made war
+upon him, spoiling and wasting his land. The old King, fearful for his
+child's safety, had shut her up in a strong castle for her better
+security and his own peace of mind.
+
+Now Eliduc, coming to that land, heard the tale of the quarrel between
+the King and his neighbour, and considered as to which side he should
+take. After due deliberation he arranged to fight on the side of the
+King, with whom he offered to take service. His offer was gratefully
+accepted, and he had not been long in the royal host when he had an
+opportunity of distinguishing himself. The town wherein he was lodged
+with his knights was attacked by the enemy. He set his men in ambush
+in a forest track by which it was known the enemy would approach the
+town, and succeeded in routing them and in taking large numbers of
+prisoners and much booty. This feat of arms raised him high in the
+estimation of the King, who showed him much favour, and the Princess,
+hearing of his fame, became very desirous of beholding him. She sent
+her chamberlain to Eliduc saying that she wished to hear the story of
+his deeds, and he, quite as anxious to see the imprisoned Princess of
+whom he had heard so much, set out at once. On beholding each other
+they experienced deep agitation. Eliduc thought that never had he seen
+so beautiful and graceful a maiden, and Guillardun that this was the
+most handsome and comely knight she had ever met.
+
+For a long time they spoke together, and then Eliduc took his leave
+and departed. He counted all the time lost that he had remained in the
+kingdom without knowing this lady, but he promised himself that now he
+would frequently seek her society. Then, with a pang of remorse, he
+thought of his good and faithful wife and the sacred promise he had
+made her.
+
+Guillardun, on her part, was none the less ill at ease. She passed a
+restless night, and in the morning confided her case to her aged
+chamberlain, who was almost a second father to her, and he, all
+unwitting that Eliduc was already bound in wedlock to another,
+suggested that the Princess should send the knight a love-token to
+discover by the manner in which he received it whether or not her love
+was returned. Guillardun took this advice, and sent her lover a girdle
+and a ring by the hands of the chamberlain. On receiving the token
+Eliduc showed the greatest joy, girded the belt about his middle, and
+placed the ring on his finger. The chamberlain returned to the
+Princess and told her with what evident satisfaction Eliduc had
+received the gifts. But the Princess in her eagerness showered
+questions upon him, until at last the old man grew impatient.
+
+"Lady," he said, somewhat testily, "I have told you the knight's
+words; I cannot tell you his thoughts, for he is a prudent gentleman
+who knows well what to hide in his heart."
+
+Although he rejoiced at the gifts Eliduc had but little peace of mind.
+He could think of nothing save the vow he had made to his wife before
+he left her. But thoughts of the Princess would intrude themselves
+upon him. Often he saw Guillardun, and although he saluted her with a
+kiss, as was the custom of the time, he never spoke a single word of
+love to her, being fearful on the one hand of breaking his conjugal
+vow and on the other of offending the King.
+
+One evening when Eliduc was announced the King was in his daughter's
+chamber, playing at chess with a stranger lord. He welcomed the knight
+heartily, and much to the embarrassment of the lovers begged his
+daughter to cherish a closer friendship for Eliduc, whom he brought to
+her notice as a right worthy knight. The pair withdrew somewhat from
+the others, as if for the purpose of furthering the friendship which
+the old King so ardently seemed to desire, and Eliduc thanked the
+Princess for the gifts she had sent him by the chamberlain. Then the
+Princess, taking advantage of her rank, told Eliduc that she desired
+him for her husband, and that, did he refuse her, she would die
+unwed.
+
+"Lady," replied the knight, "I have great joy in your love, but have
+you thought that I may not always tarry in this land? I am your
+father's man until this war hath an end. Then shall I return unto mine
+own country." But Guillardun, in a transport of love, told him she
+would trust him entirely with her heart, and passing great was the
+affection that grew between them.
+
+Eliduc, in spite of his love for the Princess, had by no means
+permitted his conduct of the war to flag. Indeed, if anything, he
+redoubled his efforts, and pressed the foe so fiercely that at length
+he was forced to submit. And now news came to him that his old master,
+the King who had banished him from Brittany, was sore bestead by an
+enemy and was searching for his former vice-regent on every hand, who
+was so mighty a knight in the field and so sage at the council-board.
+Turning upon the false lords who had spoken evil of his favourite, he
+outlawed them from the land for ever. He sent messengers east and
+west and across the seas in search of Eliduc, who when he heard the
+news was much dismayed, so greatly did he love Guillardun. These twain
+had loved with a pure and tender passion, and never by word or deed
+had they sullied the affection they bore one another. Dearly did the
+Princess hope that Eliduc might remain in her land and become her
+lord, and little did she dream that he was wedded to a wife across the
+seas. For his part Eliduc took close counsel with himself. He knew by
+reason of the fealty he owed to his King that he must return to
+Brittany, but he was equally aware that if he parted from Guillardun
+one or other of them must die.
+
+Deep was the chagrin of the King of Logres when he learned that Eliduc
+must depart from his realm, but deeper far was his daughter's grief
+when the knight came to bid her farewell. In moving words she urged
+him to remain, and when she found that his loyalty was proof even
+against his love, she begged of him to take her with him to Brittany.
+But this request he turned aside, on the plea that as he had served
+her father he could not so offend him as by the theft of his daughter.
+He promised, however, by all he held most dear that he would return
+one day, and with much sorrow the two parted, exchanging rings for
+remembrance.
+
+Eliduc took ship and swiftly crossed the sea. He met with a joyous
+reception from his King, and none was so glad at his return as his
+wife. But gradually his lady began to see that he had turned cold to
+her. She charged him with it, and he replied that he had pledged his
+faith to the foreign lord whom he had served abroad.
+
+Very soon through his conduct the war was brought to a victorious
+close, and almost immediately thereafter Eliduc repaired across the
+sea to Logres, taking with him two of his nephews as his squires. On
+reaching Logres he at once went to visit Guillardun, who received him
+with great gladness. She returned with him to his ship, which
+commenced the return voyage at once, but when they neared the
+dangerous coast of Brittany a sudden tempest arose, and waxed so
+fierce that the mariners lost all hope of safety. One of them cried
+out that the presence of Guillardun on board the ship endangered all
+their lives and that the conduct of Eliduc, who had already a faithful
+wife, in seeking to wed this foreign woman had brought about their
+present dangerous position. Eliduc grew very wroth, and when
+Guillardun heard that her knight was already wedded she swooned and
+all regarded her as dead. In despair Eliduc fell upon his betrayer,
+slew him, and cast his body into the sea. Then, guiding the ship with
+a seaman's skill, he brought her into harbour.
+
+When they were safely anchored, Eliduc conceived the idea of taking
+Guillardun, whom he regarded as dead, to a certain chapel in a great
+forest quite near his own home. Setting her body before him on his
+palfrey, he soon came to the little shrine, and making a bier of the
+altar laid Guillardun upon it. He then betook him to his own house,
+but the next morning returned to the chapel in the forest. Mourning
+over the body of his lady-love, he was surprised to observe that the
+colour still remained in her cheeks and lips. Again and again he
+visited the chapel, and his wife, marvelling whither he went, bribed a
+varlet to discover the object of his repeated absences. The man
+watched Eliduc and saw him enter the chapel and mourn over the body
+of Guillardun, and, returning, acquainted his lady with what he had
+seen.
+
+Guildeluec--for such, we will remember, was the name of Eliduc's
+wife--set out for the shrine, and with astonishment beheld the
+lifelike form of Guillardun laid on the altar. So pitiful was the
+sight that she herself could not refrain from the deepest sorrow. As
+she sat weeping a weasel came from under the altar and ran across
+Guillardun's body, and the varlet who attended Guildeluec struck at it
+with his staff and killed it. Another weasel issued, and, beholding
+its dead comrade, went forth from the chapel and hastened to the wood,
+whence it returned, bearing in its mouth a red flower, which it placed
+on the mouth of its dead companion. The weasel which Guildeluec had
+believed to be dead at once stood up. Beholding this, the varlet cast
+his staff at the animals and they sped away, leaving the red flower
+behind them.
+
+[Illustration: ELIDUC CARRIES GUILLARDUN TO THE FOREST CHAPEL]
+
+Guildeluec immediately picked the flower up, and returning with it to
+the altar where Guillardun lay, placed it on the maiden's mouth. In a
+few moments she heard a sigh, and Guillardun sat up, and inquired if
+she had slept long. Guildeluec asked her name and degree, and
+Guillardun in reply acquainted her with her history and lineage,
+speaking very bitterly of Eliduc, who, she said, had betrayed her in a
+strange land. Guildeluec declared herself the wife of Eliduc, told
+Guillardun how deeply the knight had grieved for her, and declared her
+intention of taking the veil and releasing Eliduc from his marriage
+vow. She conducted Guillardun to her home, where they met Eliduc, who
+rejoiced greatly at the restoration of his lady-love. His wife
+founded a convent with the rich portion he bestowed upon her, and
+Eliduc, in thankfulness for Guillardun's recovery, built a fair church
+close by his castle and endowed it bountifully, and close beside it
+erected a great monastery. Later Guillardun entered the convent of
+which Guildeluec was the abbess, and Eliduc, himself feeling the call
+of the holy life, devoted himself to the service of God in the
+monastery. Messages passed between convent and monastery in which
+Eliduc and the holy women encouraged each other in the pious life
+which they had chosen, and by degrees the three who had suffered so
+greatly came to regard their seclusion as far preferable to the world
+and all its vanities.
+
+
+_The Lay of Equitan_
+
+The Lay of Equitan is one of Marie's most famous tales. Equitan was
+King of Nantes, in Brittany, and led the life of a pleasure-seeker. To
+win approval from the eyes of fair ladies was more to him than
+knightly fame or honour.
+
+Equitan had as seneschal a trusty and faithful knight, who was to the
+pleasure-loving seigneur as his right hand. This faithful servant was
+also captain of Equitan's army, and sat as a judge in his courts. To
+his undoing he had a wife, as fair a dame as any in the duchy of
+Brittany. "Her eyes," says the old lay, "were blue, her face was warm
+in colour, her mouth fragrant and her nose dainty." She was ever
+tastefully dressed and courtly in demeanour, and soon attracted the
+attention of such an admirer of the fair sex as Equitan, who desired
+to speak with her more intimately. He therefore, as a subterfuge,
+announced that a great hunt would take place in that part of his
+domains in which his seneschal's castle was situated, and this gave
+him the opportunity of sojourning at the castle and holding converse
+with the lady, with whom he became so charmed that in a few days he
+fell deeply in love with her. On the night of the day when he first
+became aware that he loved her Equitan lay tossing on his bed, in a
+torment of fiery emotion. He debated with himself in what manner he
+should convey to his seneschal's wife the fact that he loved her, and
+at length prepared a plot which he thought would be likely to
+succeed.
+
+Next day he rose as usual and made all arrangements to proceed with
+the chase. But shortly after setting out he returned, pleading that he
+had fallen sick, and took to his bed. The faithful seneschal could not
+divine what had occurred to render his lord so seriously indisposed as
+he appeared to be, and requested his wife to go to him to see if she
+could minister to him and cheer his drooping spirits.
+
+The lady went to Equitan, who received her dolefully enough. He told
+her without reserve that the malady from which he suffered was none
+other than love for herself, and that did she not consent to love him
+in return he would surely die. The dame at first dissented, but,
+carried away by the fiery eloquence of his words, she at last assured
+him of her love, and they exchanged rings as a token of troth and
+trust.
+
+The love of Equitan and the seneschal's wife was discovered by none,
+and when they desired to meet he arranged to go hunting in the
+neighbourhood of the seneschal's castle. Shortly after they had
+plighted their troth the great barons of the realm approached the
+King with a proposal that he should marry, but Equitan would have none
+of this, nor would he listen to even his most trusted advisers with
+regard to such a subject. The nobles were angered at his curt and even
+savage refusal to hearken to them, and the commons were also greatly
+disturbed because of the lack of a successor. The echoes of the
+disagreement reached the ears of the seneschal's wife, who was much
+perturbed thereby, being aware that the King had come to this decision
+for love of her.
+
+At their next meeting she broached the subject to her royal lover,
+lamenting that they had ever met.
+
+"Now are my good days gone," she said, weeping, "for you will wed some
+king's daughter as all men say, and I shall certainly die if I lose
+you thus."
+
+"Nay, that will not be," replied Equitan. "Never shall I wed except
+your husband die."
+
+The lady felt that he spoke truly, but in an evil moment she came to
+attach a sinister meaning to the words Equitan had employed regarding
+her husband. Day and night she brooded on them, for well she knew that
+did her husband die Equitan would surely wed her. By insensible
+degrees she came to regard her husband's death as a good rather than
+an evil thing, and little by little Equitan, who at first looked upon
+the idea with horror, became converted to her opinion. Between them
+they hatched a plot for the undoing of the seneschal. It was arranged
+that the King should go hunting as usual in the neighbourhood of his
+faithful servant's castle. While lodging in the castle, the King and
+the seneschal would be bled in the old surgical manner for their
+health's sake, and three days after would bathe before leaving the
+chamber they occupied, and the heartless wife suggested that she
+should make her husband's bath so fiercely hot that he would not
+survive after entering it. One would think that the seneschal would
+easily have been able to escape such a simple trap, but we must
+remember that the baths of Norman times were not shaped like our own,
+but were exceedingly deep, and indeed some of them were in form almost
+like those immense upright jars such as the forty thieves were
+concealed in in the story of Ali Baba, so that in many cases it was
+not easy for the bather to tell whether the water into which he was
+stepping was hot or otherwise.
+
+The plot was carried out as the lady had directed, but not without
+much misgiving on the part of Equitan. The King duly arrived at the
+castle, and announced his intention to be bled, requesting that the
+seneschal should undergo the same operation at the same time, and
+occupy the same chamber by way of companionship. Then after the leech
+had bled them the King asked that he might have a bath before leaving
+his apartment, and the seneschal requested that his too should be made
+ready. Accordingly on the third day the baths were brought to the
+chamber, and the lady occupied herself with filling them. While she
+was doing so her lord left the chamber for a space, and during his
+absence the King and the lady were clasped in each other's arms. So
+rapt were the pair in their amorous dalliance that they failed to
+notice the return of the seneschal, who, when he saw them thus
+engaged, uttered an exclamation of surprise and wrath. Equitan,
+turning quickly, saw him, and with a cry of despair leapt into the
+bath that the lady had prepared for the seneschal, and there perished
+miserably, while the enraged husband, seizing his faithless wife,
+thrust her headlong into the boiling water beside her lover, where she
+too was scalded to death.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Ash-Tree_
+
+In olden times there dwelt in Brittany two knights who were neighbours
+and close friends. Both were married, and one was the father of twin
+sons, one of whom he christened by the name of his friend. Now this
+friend had a wife who was envious of heart and rancorous of tongue,
+and on hearing that two sons had been born to her neighbour she spoke
+slightingly and cruelly about her, saying that to bear twins was ever
+a disgrace. Her evil words were spread abroad, and at last as a result
+of her malicious speech the good lady's husband himself began to doubt
+and suspect the wife who had never for a moment given him the least
+occasion to do so.
+
+Strangely enough, within the year two daughters were born to the lady
+of the slanderous tongue, who now deeply lamented the wrong she had
+done, but all to no purpose. Fearful of the gossip which she thought
+the event would occasion, she gave one of the children to a faithful
+handmaiden, with directions that it should be laid on the steps of a
+church, where it might be picked up as a foundling and nourished by
+some stranger. The babe was wrapped in a linen cloth, which again was
+covered with a beautiful piece of red silk that the lady's husband had
+purchased in the East, and a handsome ring engraved with the family
+insignia and set with garnets was bound to the infant's arm with
+silken lace. When the child had thus been attired the damsel took it
+and carried it for many miles into the country, until at last she came
+to a city where there was a large and fair abbey. Breathing a prayer
+that the child might have proper guardianship, the girl placed it on
+the abbey steps as her mistress had ordered her to do, but, afraid
+that it might catch cold on such a chilly bed, she looked around and
+saw an ash-tree, thick and leafy, with four strong branches, among the
+foliage of which she deposited the little one, commending it to the
+care of God, after which she returned to her mistress and acquainted
+her with what had passed.
+
+In the morning the abbey porter opened the great doors of the house of
+God so that the people might enter for early Mass. As he was thus
+engaged his eye caught the gleam of red silk among the leaves of the
+ash-tree, and going to it he discovered the deserted infant. Taking
+the babe from its resting-place, he returned with it to his house,
+and, awaking his daughter, who was a widow with a baby yet in the
+cradle, he asked her to cherish it and care for it. Both father and
+daughter could see from the crimson silk and the great signet ring
+that the child was of noble birth. The porter told the abbess of his
+discovery, and she requested him to bring the child to her, dressed
+precisely as it had been found. On beholding the infant a great
+compassion was aroused in the breast of the holy woman, who resolved
+to bring up the child herself, calling her her niece, and since she
+was taken from the ash giving her the name of Frene.
+
+Frene grew up one of the fairest damsels in Brittany. She was frank in
+manner, yet modest and discreet in bearing and speech. At Dol,
+where, as we have read, there is a great menhir and other prehistoric
+monuments, there lived a lord called Buron, who, hearing reports of
+Frene's beauty and sweetness, greatly desired to behold her.
+Riding home from a tournament, he passed near the convent, and,
+alighting there, paid his respects to the abbess, and begged that he
+might see her niece. Buron at once fell in love with the maiden, and
+in order to gain favour with the abbess bestowed great riches upon the
+establishment over which she presided, requesting in return that he
+might be permitted to occupy a small apartment in the abbey should he
+chance to be in the neighbourhood.
+
+In this way he frequently saw and spoke with Frene, who in turn fell
+in love with him. He persuaded her to fly with him to his castle,
+taking with her the silken cloth and ring with which she had been
+found.
+
+But the lord's tenants were desirous that he should marry, and had set
+their hearts upon his union with a rich lady named Coudre, daughter of
+a neighbouring baron. The marriage was arranged, greatly to the grief
+of Frene, and duly took place. Going to Buron's bridal chamber, she
+considered it too mean, blinded with love as she was, for such as he,
+and placed the wondrous piece of crimson silk in which she had been
+wrapped as an infant over the coverlet. Presently the bride's mother
+entered the bridal chamber in order to see that all was fitting for
+her daughter's reception there. Gazing at the crimson coverlet, she
+recognized it as that in which she had wrapped her infant daughter.
+She anxiously inquired to whom it belonged, and was told that it was
+Frene's. Going to the damsel, she questioned her as to where she had
+obtained the silk, and was told by Frene that the abbess had given it
+to her along with a ring which had been found upon her when, as an
+infant, she had been discovered within the branches of the ash-tree.
+
+The mother asked anxiously to see the ring, and on beholding it told
+Frene of their relationship, which at the same time she confessed to
+her husband, the baron. The father was overjoyed to meet with a
+daughter he had never known, and hastened to the bridegroom to
+acquaint him with Frene's story. Great joy had Buron, and the
+archbishop who had joined him to Coudre gave counsel that they should
+be parted according to the rites of the Church and that Buron should
+marry Frene. This was accordingly done, and when Frene's parents
+returned to their own domain they found another husband for Coudre.
+
+
+_The Lay of Graelent_
+
+Graelent was a Breton knight dwelling at the Court of the King of
+Brittany, a very pillar to him in war, bearing himself valiantly in
+tourney and joust. So handsome and brave was he that the Queen fell
+madly in love with him, and asked her chamberlain to bring the knight
+into her presence. When he came she praised him greatly to his face,
+not only for his gallantry in battle, but also for his comeliness; but
+at her honeyed words the youth, quite abashed, sat silent, saying
+nothing. The Queen at last questioned him if his heart was set on any
+maid or dame, to which he replied that it was not, that love was a
+serious business and not to be taken in jest.
+
+"Many speak glibly of love," he said, "of whom not one can spell the
+first letter of its name. Love should be quiet and discreet or it is
+nothing worth, and without accord between the lovers love is but a
+bond and a constraint. Love is too high a matter for me to meddle
+with."
+
+The Queen listened greedily to Graelent's words, and when he had
+finished speaking she discovered her love for him; but he turned from
+her courteously but firmly.
+
+"Lady," he said, "I beg your forgiveness, but this may not be. I am
+the King's man, and to him I have pledged my faith and loyalty. Never
+shall he know shame through any conduct of mine."
+
+With these words he took his leave of the Queen. But his protestations
+had altered her mind not at all. She sent him messages daily, and
+costly gifts, but these he refused and returned, till at last the
+royal dame, stung to anger by his repulses, conceived a violent hatred
+for him, and resolved to be revenged upon him for the manner in which
+he had scorned her love.
+
+The King of Brittany went to war with a neighbouring monarch, and
+Graelent bore himself manfully in the conflict, leading his troops
+again and again to victory. Hearing of his repeated successes, the
+Queen was exceedingly mortified, and made up her mind to destroy his
+popularity with the troops. With this end in view she prevailed upon
+the King to withhold the soldiers' pay, which Graelent had to advance
+them out of his own means. In the end the unfortunate knight was
+reduced almost to beggary by this mean stratagem.
+
+One morning he was riding through the town where he was lodged, clad
+in garments so shabby that the wealthy burgesses in their fur-lined
+cloaks and rich apparel gibed and jeered at him, but Graelent, sure of
+his own worth, deigned not to take notice of such ill-breeding, and
+for his solace quitted the crowded streets of the place and took his
+way toward the great forest which skirted it. He rode into its gloom
+deep in thought, listening to the murmur of the river which flowed
+through the leafy ways.
+
+He had not gone far when he espied a white hart within a thicket. She
+fled before him into the thickest part of the forest, but the silvern
+glimmer of her body showed the track she had taken. On a sudden deer
+and horseman dashed into a clearing among the trees where there was a
+grassy lawn, in the midst of which sprang a fountain of clear water.
+In this fountain a lady was bathing, and two attendant maidens stood
+near. Now Graelent believed that the lady must be a fairy, and knowing
+well that the only way to capture such a being was to seize her
+garments, he looked around for these, and seeing them lying upon a
+bush he laid hands upon them.
+
+The attendant women at this set up a loud outcry, and the lady herself
+turned to where he sat his horse and called him by name.
+
+"Graelent, what do you hope to gain by the theft of my raiment?" she
+asked. "Have you, a knight, sunk so low as to behave like a common
+pilferer? Take my mantle if you must, but pray spare me my gown."
+
+Graelent laughed at the lady's angry words, and told her that he was
+no huckster. He then begged her to don her garments, as he desired to
+have speech with her. After her women had attired her, Graelent took
+her by the hand and, leading her a little space away from her
+attendants, told her that he had fallen deeply in love with her. But
+the lady frowned and seemed at first offended.
+
+"You do not know to whom you proffer your love," she said. "Are you
+aware that my birth and lineage render it an impertinence for a mere
+knight to seek to ally himself with me?"
+
+But Graelent had a most persuasive tongue, and the deep love he had
+conceived for the lady rendered him doubly eloquent on this occasion.
+At last the fairy-woman, for such she was, was quite carried away by
+his words, and granted him the boon he craved.
+
+"There is, however, one promise I must exact from you," she said, "and
+that is that never shall you mention me to mortal man. I on my part
+shall assist you in every possible manner. You shall never be without
+gold in your purse nor costly apparel to wear. Day and night shall I
+remain with you, and in war and in the chase will ride by your side,
+visible to you alone, unseen by your companions. For a year must you
+remain in this country. Now noon has passed and you must go. A
+messenger shall shortly come to you to tell you of my wishes."
+
+Graelent took leave of the lady and kissed her farewell. Returning to
+his lodgings in the town, he was leaning from the casement considering
+his strange adventure when he saw a varlet issuing from the forest
+riding upon a palfrey. The man rode up the cobbled street straight to
+Graelent's lodgings, where he dismounted and, entering, told the
+knight that his lady had sent him with the palfrey as a present, and
+begged that he would accept the services of her messenger to take
+charge of his lodgings and manage his affairs.
+
+The serving-man quickly altered the rather poor appearance of
+Graelent's apartment. He spread a rich coverlet upon his couch and
+produced a well-filled purse and rich apparel. Graelent at once sought
+out all the poor knights of the town and feasted them to their hearts'
+content. From this moment he fared sumptuously every day. His lady
+appeared whenever he desired her to, and great was the love between
+them. Nothing more had he to wish for in this life.
+
+A year passed in perfect happiness for the knight, and at its
+termination the King held a great feast on the occasion of Pentecost.
+To this feast Sir Graelent was bidden. All day the knights and barons
+and their ladies feasted, and the King, having drunk much wine, grew
+boastful. Requesting the Queen to stand forth on the dais, he asked
+the assembled nobles if they had ever beheld so fair a dame as she.
+The lords were loud in their praise of the Queen, save Graelent only.
+He sat with bent head, smiling strangely, for he knew of a lady fairer
+by far than any lady in that Court. The Queen was quick to notice this
+seeming discourtesy, and pointed it out to the King, who summoned
+Graelent to the steps of the throne.
+
+"How now, Sir Knight," said the King; "wherefore did you sneer when
+all other men praised the Queen's beauty?"
+
+"Sire," replied Graelent, "you do yourself much dishonour by such a
+deed. You make your wife a show upon a stage and force your nobles to
+praise her with lies when in truth a fairer dame than she could very
+easily be found."
+
+Now when she heard this the Queen was greatly angered and prayed her
+husband to compel Graelent to bring to the Court her of whom he
+boasted so proudly.
+
+"Set us side by side," cried the infuriated Queen, "and if she be
+fairer than I before men's eyes, Graelent may go in peace, but if not
+let justice be done upon him."
+
+The King, stirred to anger at these words, ordered his guards to seize
+Graelent, swearing that he should never issue from prison till the
+lady of whom he had boasted should come to Court and pit herself
+against the Queen. Graelent was then cast into a dungeon, but he
+thought little of this indignity, fearing much more that his rashness
+had broken the bond betwixt him and his fairy bride. After a while he
+was set at liberty, on pledging his word that he would return bringing
+with him the lady whom he claimed as fairer than the Queen.
+
+Leaving the Court, he betook himself to his lodging, and called upon
+his lady, but received no answer. Again he called, but without result,
+and believing that his fairy bride had utterly abandoned him he gave
+way to despair. In a year's time Graelent returned to the Court and
+admitted his failure.
+
+"Sir Graelent," said the King, "wherefore should you not be punished?
+You have slandered the Queen in the most unknightly manner, and given
+the lie to those nobles who must now give judgment against you."
+
+The nobles retired to consider their judgment upon Graelent. For a
+long time they debated, for most of them were friendly to him and
+he had been extremely popular at Court. In the midst of their
+deliberations a page entered and prayed them to postpone judgment,
+as two damsels had arrived at the palace and were having speech with
+the King concerning Graelent. The damsels told the King that their
+mistress was at hand, and begged him to wait for her arrival, as she
+had come to uphold Graelent's challenge. Hearing this, the Queen
+quitted the hall, and shortly after she had gone a second pair of
+damsels appeared bearing a similar message for the King. Lastly
+Graelent's young bride herself entered the hall.
+
+At sight of her a cry of admiration arose from the assembled nobles,
+and all admitted that their eyes had never beheld a fairer lady. When
+she reached the King's side she dismounted from her palfrey.
+
+"Sire," she said, addressing the King, "hasty and foolish was
+Graelent's tongue when he spoke as he did, but at least he told the
+truth when he said that there is no lady so fair but a fairer may be
+found. Look upon me and judge in this quarrel between the Queen and
+me."
+
+When she had spoken every lord and noble with one voice agreed that
+she was fairer than her royal rival. Even the King himself admitted
+that it was so, and Sir Graelent was declared a free man.
+
+Turning round to seek his lady, the knight observed that she was
+already some distance away, so, mounting upon his white steed, he
+followed hotly after her. All day he followed, and all night, calling
+after her and pleading for pity and pardon, but neither she nor her
+attendant damsels paid the slightest attention to his cries. Day after
+day he followed her, but to no purpose.
+
+At last the lady and her maidens entered the forest and rode to the
+bank of a broad stream. They set their horses to the river, but when
+the lady saw that Graelent was about to follow them she turned and
+begged him to desist, telling him that it was death for him to cross
+that stream. Graelent did not heed her, but plunged into the torrent.
+The stream was deep and rapid, and presently he was torn from his
+saddle. Seeing this, the lady's attendants begged her to save him.
+Turning back, the lady clutched her lover by the belt and dragged him
+to the shore. He was well-nigh drowned, but under her care he speedily
+recovered, and, say the Breton folk, entered with her that realm of
+Fairyland into which penetrated Thomas the Rhymer, Ogier the Dane, and
+other heroes. His white steed when it escaped from the river grieved
+greatly for its master, rushing up and down the bank, neighing loudly,
+and pawing with its hoofs upon the ground. Many men coveted so noble
+a charger, and tried to capture him, but all in vain, so each year,
+"in its season," as the old romance says, the forest is filled with
+the sorrowful neighing of the good steed which may not find its
+master.
+
+The story of Graelent is one of those which deal with what is known to
+folk-lorists as the 'fairy-wife' subject. A taboo is always placed
+upon the mortal bridegroom. Sometimes he must not utter the name of
+his wife; in other tales, as in that of Melusine, he must not seek her
+on a certain day of the week. The essence of the story is, of course,
+that the taboo is broken, and in most cases the mortal husband loses
+his supernatural mate.
+
+Another incident in the general _motif_ is the stealing of the
+fairy-woman's clothes. The idea is the same as that found in stories
+where the fisherman steals the sea-woman's skin canoe as a prelude to
+making her his wife, or the feather cloak of the swan-maiden is seized
+by the hunter when he finds her asleep, thus placing the supernatural
+maiden in his power. Among savages it is quite a common and usual
+circumstance for the spouses not to mention each other's names for
+months after marriage, nor even to see one another's faces. In the
+story under consideration the taboo consists in the mortal bridegroom
+being forbidden to allude in any circumstances to his supernatural
+wife, who is undoubtedly the same type of being encountered by Thomas
+the Rhymer and Bonny Kilmeny in the ballads related of them. They are
+denizens of a country, a fairy realm, which figures partly as an abode
+of the dead, and which we are certainly justified in identifying with
+the Celtic Otherworld. The river which the fairy-woman crosses bears a
+certain resemblance to the Styx, or she tells Graelent plainly that
+should he reach its opposite bank he is as good as dead. Fairyland in
+early Celtic lore may be a place of delight, but it is none the less
+one of death and remoteness.
+
+
+_The Lay of the Dolorous Knight_
+
+Once more the scene is laid in Nantes, and "some harpers," says Marie,
+"call it the Lay of the Four Sorrows." In this city of Brittany dwelt
+a lady on whom four barons of great worship had set their love. They
+were not singular in this respect, as the damsel's bright eyes had set
+fire to the hearts of all the youths of the ancient town. She smiled
+upon them all, but favoured no one more than another. Out of this
+great company, however, the four noblemen in question had constituted
+themselves her particular squires. They vied with one another in the
+most earnest manner to gain her esteem; but she was equally gracious
+to all and it was impossible to say that she favoured any.
+
+It was not surprising, then, that each one of the four nobles believed
+that the lady preferred him to the others. Each of them had received
+gifts from her, and each cried her name at tournaments. On the
+occasion of a great jousting, held without the walls of Nantes, the
+four lovers held the lists, and from all the surrounding realms and
+duchies came hardy knights to break a spear for the sake of chivalry.
+
+From matins to vespers the friendly strife raged fiercely, and against
+the four champions of Nantes four foreign knights especially pitted
+themselves. Two of these were of Hainault, and the other two were
+Flemings. The two companies charged each other so desperately that the
+horses of all eight men were overthrown. The four knights of Nantes
+rose lightly from the ground, but the four stranger knights lay still.
+Their friends, however, rushed to their rescue, and soon the
+challengers were lost in a sea of steel.
+
+Now the lady in whose honour the lists were defended by these four
+brave brethren in arms sat beholding their prowess in the keenest
+anxiety. Soon the knights of Nantes were reinforced by their friends,
+and the strife waxed furiously, sword to sword and lance to lance.
+First one company and then the other gained the advantage, but, urged
+on by rashness, the four challenging champions charged boldly in front
+of their comrades and became separated from them, with the dire result
+that three of them were killed and the fourth was so grievously
+wounded that he was borne from the press in a condition hovering
+between life and death. So furious were the stranger knights because
+of the resistance that had been made by the four champions that they
+cast their opponents' shields outside the lists. But the knights of
+Nantes won the day, and, raising their three slain comrades and him
+who was wounded, carried all four to the house of their lady-love.
+
+When the sad procession reached her doors the lady was greatly grieved
+and cast down. To her three dead lovers she gave sumptuous burial in a
+fair abbey. As for the fourth, she tended him with such skill that ere
+long his wounds were healed and he was quite recovered. One summer day
+the knight and the lady sat together after meat, and a great sadness
+fell upon her because of the knights who had been slain in her cause.
+Her head sank upon her breast and she seemed lost in a reverie of
+sorrow. The knight, perceiving her distress, could not well understand
+what had wounded her so deeply.
+
+"Lady," said he, "a great sorrow seems to be yours. Reveal your grief
+to me, and perchance I can find you comfort."
+
+"Friend," replied the lady, "I grieve for your companions who are
+gone. Never was lady or damsel served by four such valiant knights,
+three of whom were slain in one single day. Pardon me if I call them
+to mind at this time, but it is my intention to make a lay in order
+that these champions and yourself may not be forgotten, and I will
+call it 'The Lay of the Four Sorrows.'"
+
+"Nay, lady," said the knight, "call it not 'The Lay of the Four
+Sorrows,' but rather 'The Lay of the Dolorous Knight.' My three
+comrades are dead. They have gone to their place; no more hope have
+they of life; all their sorrows are ended and their love for you is as
+dead as they. I alone am here in life, but what have I to hope for? I
+find my life more bitter than they could find the grave. I see you in
+your comings and goings, I may speak with you, but I may not have your
+love. For this reason I am full of sorrow and cast down, and thus I
+beg that you give your lay my name and call it 'The Lay of the
+Dolorous Knight.'"
+
+The lady looked earnestly upon him. "By my faith," she said, "you
+speak truly. The lay shall be known by the title you wish it to be."
+
+So the lay was written and entitled as the knight desired it should
+be. "I heard no more," says Marie, "and nothing more I know. Perforce
+I must bring my story to a close."
+
+The end of this lay is quite in the medieval manner, and fitly
+concludes this chapter. We are left absolutely in the dark as to
+whether the knight and the lady came together at last. I for one do
+not blame Marie for this, as with the subtle sense of the fitness of
+things that belongs to all great artists she saw how much more
+effective it would be to leave matters as they were between the
+lovers. There are those who will blame her for her inconclusiveness;
+but let them bear in mind that just because of what they consider her
+failing in this respect they will not be likely to forget her tale,
+whereas had it ended with wedding-bells they would probably have
+stored it away in some mental attic with a thousand other dusty
+memories.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII: THE SAINTS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+An important department in Breton folk-lore is the hagiology of the
+province--the legendary lore of its saints. This, indeed, holds almost
+as much of the marvellous as its folk-tales, ballads, and historical
+legends, and in perusing the tales of Brittany's saintly heroes we
+have an opportunity of observing how the _motifs_ of popular fiction
+and even of pagan belief reflect upon religious romance.
+
+Just as some mythology is not in itself religious, but very often mere
+fiction fortuitously connected with the names of the gods, so
+hagiology is not of sacerdotal but popular origin. For the most part
+it describes the origin of its heroes and accounts for their miracles
+and marvellous deeds by various means, just as mythology does. It must
+be remembered that the primitive saint was in close touch with
+paganism, that, indeed, he had frequently to fight the Druid and the
+magician with his own weapons, and therefore we must not be surprised
+if in some of these tales we find him somewhat of a magician himself.
+But he is invariably on the side of light, and the things of darkness
+and evil shrink from contact with him.
+
+
+_St Barbe_
+
+Overlooking the valley of the Elle, near the beautiful and historic
+village of Le Faouet, is a ledge of rock, approached by an almost
+inaccessible pathway. On this ledge stands the chapel of St Barbe,
+one of the strangest and most 'pagan' of the Breton saints. She
+protects those who seek her aid from sudden death, especially death
+by lightning. Of recent years popular belief has extended her sphere
+of influence to cover those who travel by automobile! She is also
+regarded as the patroness of firemen, at whose annual dinner her
+statue, surrounded by flowers, presides. She is extremely popular in
+Brittany, and once a year, on the last Sunday of June, pilgrims arrive
+at Le Faouet to celebrate her festival. Each, as he passes the
+belfry which stands beside the path, pulls the bell-rope, and the
+young men make the tour of a small neighbouring chapel, dedicated to
+St Michel, Lord of Heights. Then they drink of a little fountain
+near at hand and purchase amulets, which are supposed to be a
+preservative against sudden death and which are known as 'Couronnes
+de Ste Barbe.' St Barbe is said to have been the daughter of a pagan
+father, and to have been so beautiful that he shut her up in a tower
+and permitted no one to go near her. She succeeded, however, in
+communicating with the outer world, and sent a letter to Origen of
+Alexandria, entreating him to instruct her in the Christian faith, as
+she had ceased to believe in the gods of her fathers. Origen
+dispatched one of his monks to her, and under his guidance she
+became a Christian. She was called upon to suffer for her faith, for
+she was brought before the Gallo-Roman proconsul, and, since she
+refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, was savagely maltreated, and
+sentenced to be beaten as she walked naked through the streets;
+but she raised her eyes to heaven and a cloud descended and hid her
+from the gaze of the impious mortals who would otherwise have
+witnessed her martyrdom. Subsequently she was spirited away to the
+top of a mountain, where, however, her presence was betrayed by a
+shepherd. Her pagan father, learning of her hiding-place, quickly
+ascended the height and beheaded her with his own hand. The legends
+of St Barbe abound in strange details, which are more intelligible
+if we regard the Saint as being the survival of some elemental
+goddess connected with fire. The vengeance of heaven descended upon
+her enemies, for both her father and the shepherd who betrayed her
+were destroyed, the former being struck by lightning on his
+descent from the mountain, and the latter being turned into marble.
+
+The legend of the foundation of the chapel at Le Faouet is illustrative
+of the strange powers of this saint. A Lord of Toulboudou, near
+Guemene, was overtaken by a severe thunderstorm while hunting. No
+shelter was available, and as the storm increased in fury the huntsmen
+trembled for their lives, and doubtless repeated with much fervour
+the old Breton charm:
+
+  Sainte Barbe et sainte Claire,
+  Preservez-moi du tonnerre,
+    Si le tonnerre tombe
+  Qu'il ne tombe pas sur moi!
+
+which may be roughly translated:
+
+  Saint Barbe the great and sainted Clair,
+  Preserve me from the lightning's glare.
+  When thunderbolts are flashing red
+  Let them not burst upon my head.
+
+The Lord of Toulboudou, however, was not content with praying to the
+Saint. He vowed that if by her intercession he was preserved from
+death he would raise a chapel to her honour on the narrow ledge of
+rock above. No sooner had he made this vow than the storm subsided,
+and safety was once more assured. In the ancient archives of Le
+Faouet we read that on the 6th of July, 1489, John of Toulboudou
+bought of John of Bouteville, Lord of Faouet, a piece of ground on the
+flank of the Roche-Marche-Bran, twenty-five feet by sixteen feet, on
+which to build a chapel to the honour of St Barbe, and there the
+chapel stands to this day.
+
+
+_How St Convoyon Stole the Relics_
+
+St Convoyon, first Abbot of Redon (or Rodon) and Bishop of Quimper,
+was of noble birth. He was born near Saint-Malo and educated at Vannes
+under Bishop Reginald, who ordained him as deacon and afterward as
+priest. Five clerks attached themselves to him, and the company went
+to dwell together in a forest near the river Vilaine, finally
+establishing themselves at Redon. The lord of that district was very
+favourably inclined toward the monastery and sent his son to be
+educated there, and when he himself fell sick and believed his last
+hours to be nigh he caused himself to be carried to this religious
+house, where his hair was shaven to the monastic pattern. Contrary to
+expectation, he recovered, and after settling his affairs at his
+castle he returned to Redon, where he died at a later date. St
+Convoyon had some difficulty in obtaining confirmation of the grants
+given to him by this seigneur. He set out with a disciple named
+Gwindeluc to seek the consent of Louis the Pious, taking with him a
+quantity of wax from his bees at Redon, intending to present it to the
+King, but he was refused admission to the royal presence. But Nomenoe,
+Governor of Brittany, visited Redon, and encouraged the Saint to
+endeavour once more to obtain the King's sanction, and this time Louis
+confirmed the grants.
+
+So the monastery of Redon was built and its church erected, but, as
+the chroniclers tell us, "there was no saintly corpse under its altar
+to act as palladium to the monastery and work miracles to attract
+pilgrims." Convoyon therefore set out for Angers, accompanied by two
+of his monks, and found lodging there with a pious man named Hildwall.
+The latter inquired as to the object of their visit to Angers, and
+with considerable hesitation, and only after extracting a promise of
+secrecy, Convoyon confessed that they had come on a body-snatching
+expedition. He asked his friend's advice as to what relics they should
+endeavour to secure. Hildwall told him that interred in the cathedral
+were the bones of St Apothemius, a bishop, of whom nothing was known
+save that he was a saint. His bones lay in a stone coffin which had a
+heavy lid. Hildwall added that several monks had attempted to steal
+the relics, but in vain. Convoyon and his monks bided their time for
+three days, and then on a dark night, armed with crowbars, they set
+out on their gruesome mission.
+
+They reached the cathedral, entered, and, after singing praises and
+hymns, raised the coffin lid. Securing the bones, they made off with
+them as quickly as possible, and in due course reached Redon with them
+in safety. The reception of the relics was celebrated by the monks
+with great pomp and ceremony. Miracles were at once performed, and the
+popularity of St Apothemius was firmly established.
+
+[Illustration: CONVOYON AND HIS MONKS CARRY OFF THE RELICS OF ST
+APOTHEMIUS]
+
+When the Bishop of Vannes died, in 837, the see was filled by
+Susannus, who obtained it by bribery. Convoyon, grieved and indignant
+at the prevalence of corruption in the Church, urged Nomenoe to summon
+a council of bishops and abbots and endeavour to put a stop to these
+deplorable practices. At this council the canons against simony were
+read; but the bishops retorted that they did not sell Holy Orders, and
+expected no fees--though they took presents! Susannus was, naturally
+enough, most emphatic about this. At length it was decided that a
+deputation should be sent to Rome to obtain an authoritative statement
+on the point, and that it should consist of Susannus of Vannes, Felix
+of Quimper, and Convoyon, who was to carry "gold crowns inlaid with
+jewels" as a gift from Nomenoe to the Pope. The decision given by Pope
+Leo on the matter is far from clear. The Nantes chronicle asserts that
+Leo made Convoyon a duke, and gave him permission to wear a gold
+coronet. He also presented him with a valuable gift--the bones of St
+Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome and martyr, which Convoyon took back with
+him to Redon and deposited in his church there.
+
+On a later day Nomenoe raised the standard of revolt against Charles
+the Bald of France--a circumstance alluded to in our historical
+sketch. He ravaged Poitou with sword and flame, but respected the
+abbey of Saint-Florent, though, to insult Charles, he forced the monks
+to place a statue of himself on their tower, with the face turned
+defiantly toward France. During Nomenoe's absence the monks sent news
+of his action to the hairless monarch, who tore down the statue and
+erected a white stone figure "of ludicrous appearance," its mocking
+face turned toward Brittany. In revenge Nomenoe burned Saint-Florent
+to the ground and carried off the spoils to enrich the abbey of Redon.
+The success of the Breton chief forced Charles to come to terms.
+Nomenoe and his son, it was agreed, should assume the insignia of
+royalty and hold Rennes, Nantes, and all Brittany.
+
+Convoyon, as we have seen, benefited by the spoils won by the Breton
+champion. Later, as his abbey at Redon was situated by a tidal river,
+and was thus exposed to the ravages of the Normans, he and his monks
+moved farther inland to Plelan. There he died and was buried, about
+A.D. 868, but his body was afterward removed to Redon, where he had
+lived and laboured so long. His relics were dispersed during the
+troublous times of the Revolution.
+
+
+_Tivisiau, the Shepherd Saint_
+
+St Tivisiau, or, more correctly, Turiau, has a large parish, as,
+although he was Bishop of Dol, we find him venerated as patron saint
+as far west as Landivisiau. He belongs to the earlier half of the
+seventh century, and, unlike most other Armorican ascetics, was of
+Breton origin, his father, Lelian, and his mother, Mageen, being
+graziers on the borders of the romantic and beautiful forest of
+Broceliande. The young Tivisiau was set to watch the sheep, and as he
+did so he steeped his soul in the beauty of the wonderful forest land
+about him, and his thoughts formed themselves into lays, which he sang
+as he tended his flock, for, like that other shepherd of old, King
+David, his exquisite voice could clothe his beautiful thoughts. The
+monastery of Balon stood near the lad's home, and often he would leave
+his sheep in the wilderness and steal away to listen to the monks
+chanting. Sometimes he joined in the service, and one day the Bishop
+of Dol, paying a visit to this outlying portion of his diocese, heard
+the sweet, clear notes of the boy's voice soaring above the lower
+tones of the monks. Enthralled by its beauty, the Bishop made
+inquiries as to who the singer was, and Tivisiau being brought
+forward, the prelate asked him to sing to him.
+
+[Illustration: ST TIVISIAU, THE SHEPHERD SAINT]
+
+Again and again did he sing, till at last the Bishop, who had lingered
+as long as he might in the little out-of-the-world monastery to listen
+to the young songster, was obliged to take his departure. The boy's
+personality had, however, so won his affection that he arranged with
+the monks of Balon that he should take him to Dol, and so it came
+about that Tivisiau was educated at that ancient religious centre,
+where his voice was carefully trained. The Bishop made him his
+suffragan, and, later Abbot of Dol, and when at length he came to
+relinquish the burden of his office he named Tivisiau as his
+successor.
+
+The story provides a noteworthy example of the power exercised in
+early times by a beautiful voice. But this love of music and the
+susceptibility to the emotion it calls forth are not peculiar to any
+century of Celtdom. Love of music, and the temperament that can hear
+the voice of the world's beauty, in music, in poetry, in the wild sea
+that breaks on desolate shores, or in the hushed wonder of hills and
+valleys, is as much a part of the Celt as are the thews and the sinews
+that have helped to carry him through the hard days of toil and
+poverty that have been the lot of so many of his race in their
+struggle for existence--whether in the far-off Outer Isles of the
+mist-wreathed and mystic west coast of Scotland, or among the Welsh
+mountains, or in picturesque Brittany, or in the distressful,
+beautiful, sorrow-haunted Green Isle.
+
+At Landivisiau one finds much exquisite carving in the south porch,
+which is all that remains of the early building to show how beautiful
+must have been the church to which it belonged. There is also a very
+ancient and picturesque fountain, known to tradition as that of St
+Tivisiau.
+
+
+_St Nennocha_
+
+The legend of Nennocha is held to be pure fable, but is interesting
+nevertheless. It tells how a king in Wales, called Breochan, had
+fourteen sons, who all deserted him to preach the Gospel. Breochan
+then made a vow that if God would grant him another child he would
+give to the Church a tithe of all his gold and his lands, and later on
+his wife, Moneduc, bore him a daughter, whom they baptized Nennocha.
+Nennocha was sent away to a foster father and mother, returning home
+at the age of fourteen. A prince of Ireland sought her hand in
+marriage, but St Germain, who was then at her father's palace,
+persuaded her to embrace the religious life, and the disappointed King
+sadly gave his consent. A great multitude assembled to accompany the
+maiden in her renunciation of the world, "numbering in its midst four
+bishops and many priests and virgins." We are told how they all took
+ship together and sailed to Brittany. The Breton king gave the
+princess land at Ploermel, and there she founded a great monastery,
+where she lived till death claimed her.
+
+
+_St Enora_
+
+Several old Breton songs tell us the story of St Enora (or Honora),
+the wife of Efflam (already alluded to in the chapter on Arthurian
+legend), but these accounts vary very considerably in their
+details. One account giving us "stern facts" relates how St Efflam
+was betrothed for political reasons to Enora, a Saxon princess, and
+speaks of how impossible it was to expect that such a union could
+prove anything but disastrous when it was not a love match. So,
+whether partly to escape from a married life which jarred his
+susceptibilities, or entirely on account of his religious asceticism,
+Efflam left his wife and crossed to Brittany to lead the life of a
+religious hermit. One of the Breton songs gives the beginning of
+the story in a much more picturesque way. It relates how Enora,
+"beautiful as an angel," had many suitors, but would give her hand to
+none save the Prince Efflam, "son of a stranger King." But Efflam,
+torn by the desire to lead the religious life, far away from the
+world, rose "in the midst of the night, his wedding night," and
+crept softly away, no one seeing him save his faithful dog, which
+he loved. So he came to the seashore and crossed to Brittany. The
+story of his landing and his meeting with Arthur has already been
+told, and we have seen how his fate was once more, by divine
+agency, linked with that of Enora. The song tells us how the angels
+carried the princess over the sea and set her on the door-sill of
+her husband's cell. Presently she awoke, and, finding herself there,
+she knocked three times and cried out to her husband that she was
+"his sweetheart, his wife," whom God had sent. St Efflam, knowing her
+voice, came out, and "with many godly words he took her hand in
+his." One account says that he sent her to the south of Brittany to
+found a convent for nuns, as he wished to devote his life entirely to
+the service of God and the contemplation of nature. All versions
+agree on the point that he built a hut for her beside his own, and
+one story relates how he made her wear a veil over her face and
+only spoke to her through the door! But one Breton song with more of
+the matter of poetry in it than the rest tells how the little hut
+he built for her was shaded by green bushes and sheltered by a
+rock, and that there they lived, side by side, for a long and happy
+time, while the fame of the miracles they wrought spread through
+the land. Then one night some sailors on the sea "saw the sky open
+and heard a burst of heavenly music," and next day when a poor woman
+took her sick child to Enora to beg for her aid she could get no
+response, and looking in she beheld the royal lady lying dead. The
+humble place was alight with her radiance, and near her a little boy
+in white was kneeling. The woman then ran to tell St Efflam of her
+discovery, only to find that he too was lying dead in his cell.
+
+
+_Corseul the Accursed_
+
+The town of Corseul has sunk into insignificance, and its failure to
+achieve prosperity is said to be due to its covert hostility to St
+Malo--or, as he is more correctly called, Machutes. Coming to Brittany
+on missionary enterprise, the Saint found that Christianity had not
+penetrated to the district of Corseul, where the old pagan worship
+still obtained. He therefore decided that his work must lie chiefly
+among the Curiosolites of that land, and determined that his first
+celebration of Easter Mass there should take place in the very centre
+of the pagan worship, the temple of Haute-Becherel. The people of the
+district received him coldly, but without open hostility, and he and
+his monks prepared for the Christian festival in the pagan shrine, to
+find to their dismay that they had omitted to bring either chalice or
+wine for the Eucharist. Several of the monks were sent into the town
+to buy these, but in all Corseul they could find no one willing to
+sell either cup or wine, because of the hostility of the idolatrous
+folk of the place. At last the Saint performed a miracle to provide
+these necessaries, but he never forgave the insult to his religion,
+and while he founded monasteries broadcast over his diocese he avoided
+Corseul, and as Christianity became more and more universal the pagan
+town gradually paid the penalty of its enmity to the cause of Christ.
+
+
+_St Keenan_
+
+St Keenan (sixth century) was surnamed Colodoc, or "He who loves to
+lose himself," a beautiful epitome of his character. As in so many
+instances in the chronicles of Breton hagiology, confusion regarding
+St Keenan has arisen among a multiplicity of chronicles. He seems to
+have been a native of Connaught, whence he crossed into Wales and
+became a disciple of Gildas.
+
+He was told to "go forward" carrying a little bell, until he reached a
+place called Ros-ynys, where the bell would ring of itself, and there
+he would find rest. He asked Gildas to provide him with a bell, but
+the abbot could only supply him with a small piece of metal. Keenan,
+however, blessed this, and it grew until it was large enough for a
+good bell to be cast from it. Thus equipped, the Saint set out, and
+journeyed until he reached an arm of the sea, where he sat down on the
+grass to rest. While lying at his ease he heard a herdsman call to his
+fellow: "Brother, have you seen my cows anywhere?" "Yes," replied the
+other, "I saw them at Ros-ynys." Rejoicing greatly at finding himself
+in the vicinity of the place he sought, Keenan descended to the shore,
+which has since been called by his name. Greatly athirst, he struck a
+rock with his staff, and water gushed forth in answer to the stroke.
+Taking ship, he crossed the firth and entered a little wood. All at
+once, to his extreme joy, the bell he carried commenced to tinkle, and
+he knew he had reached the end of his journey--the valley of Ros-ynys,
+afterward St David's.
+
+Later, deciding to cross to Brittany with his disciples, Keenan
+dispatched some of his company to beg for corn for their journey from
+a merchant at Landegu. They met with a gruff refusal, but the merchant
+mockingly informed them they could have the corn if they carried off
+the whole of his barge-load. When the Saint embarked the barge broke
+its moorings and floated after him all the way! He landed at Cleder,
+where he built a monastery, which he enriched with a copy of the
+Gospels transcribed by his own hand.
+
+The fatal contest between King Arthur and Modred, his nephew, caused
+Keenan to return to Britain, and he is said to have been present at
+the battle of Camelot and to have comforted Guinevere after the death
+of her royal husband, exhorting her to enter a convent. He afterward
+returned to Cleder, where he died. The monastery fell into ruin, and
+the place of his burial was forgotten, till one night an angel
+appeared in a vision to one of the inhabitants of Cleder and bade him
+exhume the bones of the Saint, which he would find at a certain spot.
+This the man did, and the relics were recovered. A fragment of them is
+preserved in the cathedral of Saint-Brieuc. St Keenan is popularly
+known in Brittany as St Ke, or St Quay.
+
+
+_St Nicholas_
+
+One very interesting and curious saint is St Nicholas, whose cult
+cannot be traced to any Christian source, and who is most probably the
+survival of some pagan divinity. He is specially the saint of
+seafaring men, and is believed to bring them good luck, asking nothing
+in return save that they shall visit his shrine whenever they happen
+to pass. This is a somewhat dilapidated chapel at Landevennec, of
+which the seamen seem to show their appreciation, if one may judge
+from the fact that the little path leading up to it is exceedingly
+well worn.
+
+
+_St Bieuzy_
+
+St Bieuzy was a friend and disciple of St Gildas. Flying from England
+at the coming of the Saxons, they crossed to Brittany and settled
+there, one of their favourite retreats being the exquisite La
+Roche-sur-Blavet, where they took up their abode in the shadow of the
+great rock and built a rough wooden shelter. The chapel there shows
+the 'bell' of St Gildas, and by the river is a great boulder hollowed
+like a chair, where Bieuzy was wont to sit and fish. St Bieuzy,
+however, possessed thaumaturgical resources of his own, having the
+gift of curing hydrophobia, and the hermitage of La Roche-sur-Blavet
+became so thronged by those seeking his aid that only by making a
+private way to the top of the great rock could he obtain respite to
+say his prayers. This gift of his was the cause of his tragic death.
+One day as he was celebrating Mass the servant of a pagan chief ran
+into the chapel, crying out that his master's dogs had gone mad, and
+demanding that Bieuzy should come immediately and cure them. Bieuzy
+was unwilling to interrupt the sacred service and displeased at the
+irreverence of the demand, and the servant returned to his master, who
+rushed into the chapel and in his savage frenzy struck the Saint such
+a blow with his sword that he cleft his head in twain. The heroic
+Saint completed the celebration of Mass--the sword still in the
+wound--and then, followed by the whole congregation, he walked to the
+monastery of Rhuys, where he received the blessing of his beloved St
+Gildas, and fell dead at his feet. He was buried in the church, and a
+fountain at Rhuys was dedicated to him. It is satisfactory to note
+that the entire establishment of the murderer of the Saint is said to
+have perished of hydrophobia!
+
+
+_St Leonorius_
+
+St Leonorius, or Leonore (sixth century), was a disciple of St Iltud,
+of Wales, and was ordained by St Dubricus; he crossed to Brittany in
+early life. The legend that most closely attaches to his name is one
+of the most beautiful of all the Breton beliefs, and is full of the
+poetry and romance that exist for the Celt in all the living things
+around him. The Saint and his monks had worked hard to till their
+ground--for the labours of holy men included many duties in addition
+to religious ministrations--but when they came to sow the seed they
+found that they had omitted to provide themselves with wheat! All
+their labour seemed in vain, and they were greatly distressed as to
+what they would do for food if they had no harvest to look forward to,
+when suddenly they saw, perched on a little wayside cross, a tiny
+robin redbreast holding in its beak an ear of wheat! The monks
+joyfully took the grain, and, sowing it, reaped an abundant harvest!
+Accounts vary somewhat in the details of this story. Some say that the
+bird led the monks to a store of grain, and others question the fact
+that the bird was a robin, but the popular idea is that the robin
+proffered the grain, and so universal and so strong is this belief
+that "Robin Redbreast's corn" is a byword in Brittany for "small
+beginnings that prosper."
+
+The Saint is said to have possessed the most marvellous attainments.
+We are told that he learnt the alphabet in one day, the "art of
+spelling" the following day, and calligraphy the next! He is also
+said to have been a bishop at the age of fifteen. Tradition avers
+that he ploughed the land with stags, and that an altar was
+brought to him from the depth of the sea by two wild pigeons to serve
+for his ministrations. The circumstance that animals or birds were
+employed--predominantly the latter--as the divine means of rendering
+aid to the Saint is common to many of these legends. We thus have
+saintly romance linked with the 'friendly animals' formula of
+folk-lore.
+
+
+_St Patern_
+
+Many quaint and pretty stories are told of the childhood and youth of
+St Patern, the patron saint of Vannes. His intense religious fervour
+was probably inherited from his father, Petranus, who, we are told,
+left his wife and infant son and crossed to Ireland to embrace the
+life religious. One day as his mother sat by the open window making a
+dress for her baby she was called away, and left the little garment
+lying on the sill. A bird flew past, and, attracted by the soft
+woollen stuff, carried it off to line its nest. A year later when the
+nest was destroyed the dress was discovered as fresh and clean as when
+it was stolen--a piece of symbolism foretelling the purity and
+holiness of the future saint.
+
+As soon as the child could speak his mother sent him to school. She
+hoped great things from the quiet, earnest boy, in whom she had
+observed signs of fervent piety. One day he came home and asked his
+mother where his father was. "All the other boys have fathers," he
+said; "where is mine?" His mother sadly told him that his father,
+wishing to serve God more perfectly than it was possible for him to do
+at home, had gone to Ireland to become a monk. "Thither shall I go
+too, when I'm a man," said Patern, and he made a resolve that when he
+grew up he would also enter a monastery. Accordingly, having finished
+his studies in the monastery of Rhuys, he set out for Britain, where
+he founded two religious houses, and then crossed to Ireland, where he
+met his father. Eventually he returned to Vannes, as one of the nine
+bishops of Brittany, but he did not agree with his brethren regarding
+certain ecclesiastical laws, and at last, not wishing to "lose his
+patience," he abandoned his diocese and went to France, where he ended
+his days as a simple monk.
+
+There is an interesting legend to account for the foundation of the
+church of St Patern at Vannes. We are told how for three years after
+Patern left Vannes the people were afflicted by a dreadful famine. No
+rain fell, and the distress was great. At length it was remembered
+that Patern had departed without giving the people his blessing, and
+at once "a pilgrimage set forth to bring back his sacred body, that it
+might rest in his own episcopal town." But the body of the blessed
+Patern "refused to be removed," until one of the pilgrims, who had
+before denied the bishop a certain piece of ground, promised to gift
+it to his memory and to build a church on it to the Saint's honour,
+whereupon the body became light enough to be lifted from the grave and
+conveyed to Vannes. No sooner had the sacred corpse entered Vannes
+than rain fell in torrents. Hagiology abounds in instances of this
+description, which in many respects bring it into line with
+mythology.
+
+
+_St Samson_
+
+We have already related the story of Samson's birth. Another legend
+regarding him tells how one day when the youths attached to the
+monastery where he dwelt were out winnowing corn one of the monks was
+bitten by an adder and fainted with fright. Samson ran to St Iltud to
+tell the news, with tears in his eyes, and begged to be allowed to
+attempt the cure of the monk. Iltud gave him permission, and Samson,
+full of faith and enthusiasm, rubbed the bite with oil, and by degrees
+the monk recovered. After this Samson's fame grew apace. Indeed, we
+are told that the monks grew jealous of him and attempted to poison
+him. He was ordained a bishop at York, and lived a most austere life,
+though his humanity was very apparent in his love for animals.
+
+He was made abbot of a monastery, and endeavoured to instil
+temperance into the monks, but at length gave up the attempt in
+despair and settled in a cave at the mouth of the Severn. Then one
+night "a tall man" appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to
+Armorica, saying to him--so the legend goes: "Thou goest by the sea,
+and where thou wilt disembark thou shalt find a well. Over this
+thou wilt build a church, and around it will group the houses forming
+the city of which thou wilt be a bishop." All of which came to
+pass, and for ages the town has been known as the episcopal city
+of Dol. Accompanied by forty monks, Samson crossed the Channel and
+landed in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc. One version of the story tells
+us that the Saint and numerous other monks fled from Britain to
+escape the Saxon tyranny, and that Samson and six of his suffragans
+who crossed the sea with him were known as the 'Seven Saints of
+Brittany.'
+
+
+_Brittany's Lawyer Saint_
+
+Few prosperous and wealthy countries produce saints in any great
+number, and in proof of the converse of this we find much hagiology in
+Brittany and Ireland. Let lawyers take note that while many saints
+spring from among the _bourgeoisie_ they include few legal men. An
+outstanding exception to this rule is St Yves (or Yvo), probably the
+best known, and almost certainly the most beloved, saint in Brittany.
+St Yves is the only regularly canonized Breton saint. He was born at
+Kermartin, near Treguier, in 1253, his father being lord of that
+place. The house where he first saw the light was pulled down in 1834,
+but the bed in which he was born is still preserved and shown. His
+name is borne by the majority of the inhabitants of the districts of
+Treguier and Saint-Brieuc, and one authority tells us how "in the
+Breton tongue his praises are sung as follows:
+
+  N'hen eus ket en Breiz, n'hen eus ket unan,
+  N'hen eus ket uer Zant evel Sant Erwan.
+
+This, in French, runs:
+
+  Il n'y a pas en Bretagne, il n'y en a pas un,
+  Il n'y a pas un saint comme saint Yves."
+
+He began his legal education when he was fourteen, and studied law in
+the schools of Paris, becoming an ecclesiastical judge, and later
+(1285) an ordained priest and incumbent of Tredrig. Subsequently he
+was made incumbent of Lohanec, which post he held till his death. As a
+judge he possessed a quality rare in those days--he was inaccessible
+to bribery! That this was appreciated we find in the following _bon
+mot_:
+
+  Saint Yves etait Breton,
+  Avocat et pas larron:
+  Chose rare, se dit-on.
+
+He invariably endeavoured to induce disputants to settle their
+quarrels 'out of court' if possible, and applied his talents to
+defending the cause of the poor and oppressed, without fee. He was
+known as 'the poor man's advocate,' and to-day in the department of
+the Cotes-du-Nord, when a debtor repudiates his debt, the creditor
+will pay for a Mass to St Yves, in the hope that he will cause the
+defaulter to die within the year! St Yves de Verite is the special
+patron of lawyers, and is represented in the _mortier_, or lawyer's
+cap, and robe.
+
+St Yves spent most of his income in charity, turning his house into an
+orphanage, and many are the stories told of his humanity and
+generosity. The depth of his sympathy, and its practical result, are
+shown in an incident told us of how one morning he found a poor,
+half-naked man lying on his doorstep shivering with cold, having spent
+the night there. Yves gave up his bed to the beggar the next night,
+and himself slept on the doorstep, desiring to learn by personal
+experience the sufferings of the poor. On another occasion, while
+being fitted with a new coat, he caught sight of a miserable man on
+the pavement outside who was clad in rags and tatters that showed his
+skin through many rents. Yves tore off the new coat and, rushing out,
+gave it to the beggar, saying to the astonished and horrified tailor:
+"There is plenty of wear still in my old coats. I will content myself
+with them." His pity and generosity led him to still further kindness
+when he was visiting a hospital and saw how ill-clad some of the
+patients were, for he actually gave them the clothes he was wearing at
+the time, wrapping himself in a coverlet till he had other garments
+sent to him from home. He was wont to walk beside the ploughmen in the
+fields and teach them prayers. He would sit on the moors beside the
+shepherd-boys and instruct them in the use of the rosary; and often he
+would stop little children in the street, and gain their interest and
+affection by his gentleness.
+
+[Illustration: ST YVES INSTRUCTING SHEPHERD-BOYS IN THE USE OF THE ROSARY]
+
+His shrewd legal mind was of service to the poor in other ways than in
+the giving of advice. A story is told of how two rogues brought a
+heavy chest to a widow, declaring it to contain twelve hundred pieces
+of gold and asking her to take charge of it. Some weeks later one of
+them returned, claimed the box, and removed it. A few days later the
+second of the men arrived and asked for the box, and when the poor
+woman could not produce it he took her to court and sued her for the
+gold it had contained. Yves, on hearing that the case was going
+against the woman, offered to defend her, and pleaded that his client
+was ready to restore the gold, but only to both the men who had
+committed it to her charge, and that therefore both must appear to
+claim it. This was a blow to the rogues, who attempted to escape, and,
+failing to do so, at length confessed that they had plotted to extort
+money from the widow, the chest containing nothing but pieces of old
+iron.
+
+Yves was so eloquent and earnest a preacher that he was continually
+receiving requests to attend other churches, which he never refused.
+On the Good Friday before his death he preached in seven different
+parishes. He died at the age of fifty, and was buried at Treguier.
+Duke John V, who founded the Chapelle du Duc, had a special regard for
+Yves, and erected a magnificent tomb to his memory, which was for
+three centuries the object of veneration in Brittany.
+
+During the French Revolution the reliquary of St Yves was destroyed,
+but his bones were preserved and have been re-enshrined at Treguier.
+His last will and testament--leaving all his goods to the poor--is
+preserved, together with his breviary, in the sacristy of the church
+at Minihy.
+
+The Saint is generally represented with a cat as his symbol--typifying
+the lawyer's watchful character--but this hardly seems a fitting
+emblem for such a beautiful character as St Yves.
+
+
+_St Budoc of Dol_
+
+The legend of St Budoc of Dol presents several peculiar features. It
+was first recited by professional minstrels, then "passed into the
+sanctuary, and was read in prose in cathedral and church choirs as a
+narrative of facts," although it seems curious that it could have been
+held to be other than fiction.
+
+A Count of Goelc, in Brittany, sought in marriage Azenor, "tall as a
+palm, bright as a star," but they had not been wedded a year when
+Azenor's father married again, and his new wife, jealous of her
+stepdaughter, hated her and determined to ruin her. Accordingly she
+set to work to implant suspicion as to Azenor's purity in the minds of
+her father and husband, and the Count shut his wife up in a tower and
+forbade her to speak to anyone. Here all the poor Countess could do
+was to pray to her patron saint, the Holy Bridget of Ireland.
+
+Her stepmother, however, was not content with the evil she had already
+wrought, and would not rest until she had brought about Azenor's
+death. She continued her calumnies, and at length the Count assembled
+all his barons and his court to judge his wife. The unfortunate and
+innocent Countess was brought into the hall for trial, and, seated on
+a little stool in the midst of the floor, the charges were read to her
+and she was called upon to give her reply. With tears she protested
+her innocence, but in spite of the fact that no proof could be brought
+against her she was sent in disgrace to her father in Brest. He in
+turn sat in judgment upon her, and condemned her to death, the
+sentence being that she should be placed in a barrel and cast into the
+sea, "to be carried where the winds and tides listed." We are told
+that the barrel floated five months, "tossing up and down"--during
+which time Azenor was supplied with food by an angel, who passed it to
+her through the bung-hole.
+
+During these five months, the legend continues, the poor Countess
+became a mother, the angel and St Bridget watching over her. As soon
+as the child was born his mother made the sign of the Cross upon him,
+made him kiss a crucifix, and patiently waited the coming of an
+opportunity to have him baptized. The child began to speak while in
+the cask. At last the barrel rolled ashore at Youghal Harbour, in the
+county of Cork. An Irish peasant, thinking he had found a barrel of
+wine, was proceeding to tap it with a gimlet when he heard a voice
+from within say: "Do not injure the cask." Greatly astonished, the man
+demanded who was inside, and the voice replied: "I am a child desiring
+baptism. Go at once to the abbot of the monastery to which this land
+belongs, and bid him come and baptize me." The Irishman ran to the
+abbot with the message, but he not unnaturally declined to believe the
+story, till, with a true Hibernian touch, the peasant asked him if it
+were likely that he would have told 'his reverence' anything about his
+find had there been "anything better than a baby" in the barrel!
+Accordingly the abbot hastened to the shore, opened the cask, and
+freed the long-suffering Countess of Goelc and her son, the latter of
+whom he christened by the name of Budoc, and took under his care.
+
+Meantime, the "wicked stepmother," falling ill and being at the point
+of death, became frightened when she thought of her sin against
+Azenor, and confessed the lies by which she had wrought the ruin of
+the Countess. The Count, overcome by remorse and grief, set out in
+quest of his wife. Good luck led him to Ireland, where he disembarked
+at Youghal and found his lost ones. With great rejoicing he had a
+stately ship made ready, and prepared to set out for Brittany with
+Azenor and Budoc, but died before he could embark. Azenor remained in
+Ireland and devoted herself to good works and to the training of her
+son, who from an early age resolved to embrace the religious life,
+and was in due course made a monk by the Abbot of Youghal. His mother
+died, and on the death of the Abbot of Youghal he was elected to rule
+the monastery. Later, upon the death of the King of Ireland, the
+natives raised Budoc to the temporal and spiritual thrones, making him
+King of Ireland and Bishop of Armagh.
+
+After two years he wished to retire from these honours, but the
+people were "wild with despair" at the tidings, and surrounded the
+palace lest he should escape. One night, while praying in his
+metropolitan church, an angel appeared to him, bidding him betake
+himself to Brittany. Going down to the seashore, it was indicated to
+him that he must make the voyage in a stone trough. On entering this
+it began to move, and he was borne across to Brittany, landing at
+Porspoder, in the diocese of Leon. The people of that district drew
+the stone coffer out of the water, and built a hermitage and a
+chapel for the Saint's convenience. Budoc dwelt for one year at
+Porspoder, but, "disliking the roar of the waves," he had his stone
+trough mounted on a cart, and yoking two oxen to it he set forth,
+resolved to follow them wherever they might go and establish
+himself at whatever place they might halt. The cart broke down at
+Plourin, and there Budoc settled for a short time; but trouble with
+disorderly nobles forced him to depart, and this time he went to
+Dol, where he was well received by St Malglorious, then its bishop,
+who soon after resigned his see to Budoc. The Saint ruled at Dol
+for twenty years, and died early in the seventh century.
+
+Another Celtic myth of the same type is to be found on the shores of
+the Firth of Forth. The story in question deals with the birth of St
+Mungo, or St Kentigern, the patron saint of Glasgow. His mother was
+Thenaw, the Christian daughter of the pagan King Lot of Lothian,
+brother-in-law of King Arthur, from his marriage with Arthur's sister
+Margawse. Thus the famous Gawaine would be Thenaw's brother. Thenaw
+met Ewen, the son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, and fell deeply in
+love with him, but her father discovered her disgrace and ordered her
+to be cast headlong from the summit of Traprain Law, once known as
+Dunpender, a mountain in East Lothian. A kindly fate watched over the
+princess, however, and she fell so softly from the eminence that she
+was uninjured. Such Christian subjects as Lot possessed begged her
+life. But if her father might have relented his Druids were
+inexorable. They branded her as a sorceress, and she was doomed to
+death by drowning. She was accordingly rowed out from Aberlady Bay to
+the vicinity of the Isle of May, where, seated in a skin boat, she was
+left to the mercy of the waves. In this terrible situation she cast
+herself upon the grace of Heaven, and her frail craft was wafted up
+the Forth, where it drifted ashore near Culross. At this spot
+Kentigern was born, and the mother and child were shortly afterward
+discovered by some shepherds, who placed them under the care of St
+Serf, Abbot of Culross. To these events the date A.D. 516 is
+assigned.
+
+
+_'Fatal Children' Legends_
+
+This legend is, of course, closely allied with those which recount the
+fate and adventures of the 'fatal children.' Like OEdipus, Romulus,
+Perseus, and others, Budoc and Kentigern are obviously 'fatal
+children,' as is evidenced by the circumstances of their birth. We
+are not told that King Lot or Azenor's father had been warned that if
+their daughters had a son they would be slain by that child, but it is
+probably only the saintly nature of the subject of the stories which
+caused this circumstance to be omitted. Danae, the mother of Perseus,
+we remember, was, when disgraced, shut up in a chest with her child,
+and committed to the waves, which carried her to the island of
+Seriphos, where she was duly rescued. Romulus and his brother Remus
+were thrown into the Tiber, and escaped a similar fate. The Princess
+Desonelle and her twin sons, in the old English metrical romance of
+_Sir Torrent of Portugal_, are also cast into the sea, but succeed in
+making the shore of a far country. All these children grow up endowed
+with marvellous beauty and strength, but their doom is upon them, and
+after numerous adventures they slay their fathers or some other
+unfortunate relative. But the most characteristic part of what seems
+an almost universal legend is that these children are born in the most
+obscure circumstances, afterward rising to a height of splendour which
+makes up for all they previously suffered. It is not necessary to
+explain nowadays that this is characteristic of nearly all sun-myths.
+The sun is born in obscurity, and rises to a height of splendour at
+midday.
+
+Thus in the majority of these legends we find the sun personified. It
+is not sufficient to object that such an elucidation smacks too much
+of the tactics of Max Mueller to be accepted by modern students of
+folk-lore. The student of comparative myth who does not make use of
+the best in all systems of mythological elucidation is undone, for no
+one system will serve for all examples.
+
+To those who may object, "Oh, but Kentigern was a _real_ person," I
+reply that I know many myths concerning 'real' people. For the matter
+of that, we assist in the manufacture of these every day of our lives,
+and it is quite a fallacy that legends cannot spring up concerning
+veritable historical personages, and even around living, breathing
+folk. And for the rest of it mythology and hagiology are hopelessly
+intermingled in their _motifs_.
+
+
+_Miraculous Crossings_
+
+Another Celtic saint besides Budoc possessed a stone boat. He is St
+Baldred, who, like Kentigern, hails from the Firth of Forth, and dwelt
+on the Bass Rock. He is said to have chosen this drear abode as a
+refuge from the eternal wars between the Picts and the Scots toward
+the close of the seventh century. From this point of vantage, and
+probably during seasons of truce, he rowed to the mainland to minister
+to the spiritual wants of the rude natives of Lothian. Inveresk seems
+to have been the eastern border of his 'parish.' Tradition says that
+he was the second Bishop of Glasgow, and thus the successor of
+Kentigern, but the lack of all reliable data concerning the western
+see subsequent to the death of Glasgow's patron saint makes it
+impossible to say whether this statement is authentic or otherwise.
+Many miracles are attributed to Baldred, not the least striking of
+which is that concerning a rock to the east of Tantallon Castle, known
+as 'St Baldred's Boat.' At one time this rock was situated between the
+Bass and the adjacent mainland, and was a fruitful source of
+shipwreck. Baldred, pitying the mariners who had to navigate the
+Firth, and risk this danger, rowed out to the rock and mounted upon
+it; whereupon, at his simple nod, it was lifted up, and, like a ship
+driven by the wind, was wafted to the nearest shore, where it
+thenceforth remained. This rock is sometimes called 'St Baldred's
+Coble,' or 'Cock-boat.' This species of miracle is more commonly
+discovered in the annals of hagiology than in those of pure myth,
+although in legend we occasionally find the landscape altered by order
+of supernatural or semi-supernatural beings.
+
+One rather striking instance of miraculous crossing is that of St
+Noyala, who is said to have crossed to Brittany on the leaf of a tree,
+accompanied by her nurse. She was beheaded at Beignon, but walked to
+Pontivy carrying her head in her hands. A chapel at Pontivy is
+dedicated to her, and was remarkable in the eighteenth century for
+several interesting paintings on a gold ground depicting this legend.
+
+We find this incident of miraculous crossing occurring in the stories
+of many of the Breton saints. A noteworthy instance is that of St
+Tugdual, who, with his followers, crossed in a ship which vanished
+when they disembarked. Still another example is found in the case of
+St Vougas, or Vie, who is specially venerated in Treguennec. He is
+thought to have been an Irish bishop, and is believed to have mounted
+a stone and sailed across to Brittany upon it. This particular version
+of the popular belief may have sprung from the fact that there is a
+rock off the coast of Brittany called 'the Ship,' from a fancied
+resemblance to one. In course of time this rock was affirmed to have
+been the ship of St Vougas.
+
+
+_Azenor the Pale_
+
+There is a story of another Azenor, who, according to local history,
+married Yves, heritor of Kermorvan, in the year 1400. A popular
+ballad of Cornouaille tells how this Azenor, who was surnamed 'the
+Pale,' did not love her lord, but gave her heart to another, the Clerk
+of Mezlean.
+
+One day she sat musing by a forest fountain, dressed in a robe of
+yellow silk, wantonly plucking the flowers which grew on the mossy
+parapet of the spring and binding them into a bouquet for the Clerk of
+Mezlean.
+
+The Seigneur Yves, passing by on his white steed at a hand-gallop,
+observed her "with the corner of his eye," and conceived a violent
+love for her.
+
+The Clerk of Mezlean had been true to Azenor for many a day, but he
+was poor and her parents would have none of him.
+
+One morning as Azenor descended to the courtyard she observed great
+preparations on foot as if for a festival.
+
+"For what reason," she said, "has this great fire been kindled, and
+why have they placed two spits in front of it? What is happening in
+this house, and why have these fiddlers come?"
+
+Those whom she asked smiled meaningly.
+
+"To-morrow is your wedding-day," said they.
+
+At this Azenor the Pale grew still paler, and was long silent.
+
+"If that be so," she said, "it will be well that I seek my marriage
+chamber early, for from my bed I shall not be raised except for
+burial."
+
+That night her little page stole through the window.
+
+"Lady," he said, "a great and brilliant company come hither. The
+Seigneur Yves is at their head, and behind him ride cavaliers and a
+long train of gentlemen. He is mounted on a white horse, with
+trappings of gold."
+
+Azenor wept sorely.
+
+"Unhappy the hour that he comes!" she cried, wringing her hands.
+"Unhappy be my father and mother who have done this thing!"
+
+Sorely wept Azenor when going to the church that day. She set forth
+with her intended husband, riding on the crupper of his horse. Passing
+by Mezlean she said:
+
+"I pray you let me enter this house, Seigneur, for I am fatigued with
+the journey, and would rest for a space."
+
+"That may not be to-day," he replied; "to-morrow, if you wish it."
+
+At this Azenor wept afresh, but was comforted by her little page. At
+the church door one could see that her heart was breaking.
+
+"Approach, my daughter," said the aged priest. "Draw near, that I may
+place the ring upon your finger."
+
+"Father," replied Azenor, "I beg of you not to force me to wed him
+whom I do not love."
+
+"These are wicked words, my child. The Seigneur Yves is wealthy, he
+has gold and silver, chateaux and broad lands, but the Clerk of
+Mezlean is poor."
+
+"Poor he may be, Father," murmured Azenor, "yet had I rather beg my
+bread with him than dwell softly with this other."
+
+But her relentless parents would not hearken to her protestations, and
+she was wed to the Lord Yves. On arriving at her husband's house she
+was met by the Seigneur's mother, who received her graciously, but
+only one word did Azenor speak, that old refrain that runs through all
+ballad poetry.
+
+"Tell me, O my mother," she said, "is my bed made?"
+
+"It is, my child," replied the chatelaine. "It is next the Chamber of
+the Black Cavalier. Follow me and I will take you thither."
+
+Once within the chamber, Azenor, wounded to the soul, fell upon her
+knees, her fair hair falling about her.
+
+"My God," she cried, "have pity upon me!"
+
+The Seigneur Yves sought out his mother.
+
+"Mother of mine," said he, "where is my wife?"
+
+"She sleeps in her high chamber," replied his mother. "Go to her and
+console her, for she is sadly in need of comfort."
+
+The Seigneur entered. "Do you sleep?" he asked Azenor.
+
+She turned in her bed and looked fixedly at him. "Good morrow to you,
+widower," she said.
+
+"By the saints," cried he, "what mean you? Why do you call me
+widower?"
+
+"Seigneur," she said meaningly, "it is true that you are not a widower
+yet, but soon you will be."
+
+Then, her mind wandering, she continued: "Here is my wedding gown;
+give it, I pray you, to my little servant, who has been so good to me
+and who carried my letters to the Clerk of Mezlean. Here is a new
+cloak which my mother broidered; give it to the priests who will sing
+Masses for my soul. For yourself you may take my crown and chaplet.
+Keep them well, I pray, as a souvenir of our wedding."
+
+Who is that who arrives at the hamlet as the clocks are striking the
+hour? Is it the Clerk of Mezlean? Too late! Azenor is dead.
+
+"I have seen the fountain beside which Azenor plucked flowers to make
+a bouquet for her 'sweet Clerk of Mezlean,'" says the Vicomte Hersart
+de la Villemarque, "when the Seigneur of Kermorvan passed and withered
+with his glance her happiness and these flowers of love. Mezlean is in
+ruins, no one remains within its gates, surmounted by a crenellated
+and machicolated gallery."
+
+There is a subscription at the end of the ballad to the effect that it
+was written on a round table in the Manor of Henan, near Pont-Aven, by
+the "bard of the old Seigneur," who dictated it to a damsel. "How
+comes it," asks Villemarque, "that in the Middle Ages we still find a
+seigneur of Brittany maintaining a domestic bard?" There is no good
+reason why a domestic bard should not have been found in the Brittany
+of medieval times, since such singers of the household were maintained
+in Ireland and Scotland until a relatively late date--up to the period
+of the '45 in the case of the latter country.
+
+
+_St Pol of Leon_
+
+St Pol (or Paul) of Leon (sixth century) was the son of a Welsh
+prince, and, like so many of the Breton saints, he was a disciple of
+St Iltud, being also a fellow-student of St Samson and St Gildas. At
+the age of sixteen he left his home and crossed the sea to Brittany.
+In the course of time other young men congregated round him, and he
+became their superior, receiving holy orders along with twelve
+companions. Near these young monks dwelt Mark, the King of Vannes, who
+invited Pol to visit his territory and instruct his people. The Saint
+went to Vannes and was well received, but after dwelling for some time
+in that part of the country he felt the need of solitude once more,
+and entreated the King that he might have permission to depart and
+that he might be given a bell; "for," as the chronicler tells us, "at
+that time it was customary for kings to have seven bells rung before
+they sat down to meat."
+
+The King, however, vexed that Pol should wish to leave him, refused to
+give him the bell, so the Saint went without it. Before leaving Vannes
+Pol visited his sister, who lived in solitude with other holy women on
+a little island, but when the time came for him to depart she wept and
+entreated him to stay, and the Saint remained with her for another
+three days. When he was finally taking leave of her, she begged him
+that as he was "powerful with God" he would grant her a request, and
+when Pol asked what it was she desired him to do, she explained that
+the island on which she dwelt was small "and incommodious for landing"
+and requested him to pray to God that it might be extended a little
+into the sea, with a "gentle shore." Pol said she had asked what was
+beyond his power, but suggested that they should pray that her desire
+might be granted. So they prayed, and the sea began to retreat,
+"leaving smooth, golden sand where before there had been only stormy
+waves." All the nuns came to see the miracle which had been wrought,
+and the sister of St Pol gathered pebbles and laid them round the land
+newly laid bare, and strewed them down the road that she and her
+brother had taken. These pebbles grew into tall pillars of rock, and
+the avenue thus formed is to this day called 'the Road of St Pol.'
+Thus do the peasants explain the Druidical circles and avenue on the
+islet.
+
+After this miracle Pol departed, and rowed to the island of Ouessant,
+and later he travelled through Brittany, finally settling in the
+island of Batz, near the small town encompassed by mud walls which has
+since borne his name. There he founded a monastery. The island was at
+that time infested by a dreadful monster, sixty feet long, and we are
+told how the Saint subdued this dragon. Accompanied by a warrior, he
+entered its den, tied his stole round its neck, and, giving it to his
+companion to lead, he followed them, beating the animal with his
+stick, until they came to the extremity of the island. There he took
+off the stole and commanded the dragon to fling itself into the
+sea--an order which the monster immediately obeyed. In the church on
+the island a stole is preserved which is said to be that of St Pol.
+Another story tells us how St Jaoua, nephew of St Pol, had to call in
+his uncle's aid in taming a wild bull which was devastating his cell.
+These incidents remind us of St Efflam's taming of the dragon. St Pol
+is one of the saints famous for his miraculous power over wild
+beasts.
+
+The Saint's renown became such that the Breton king made him
+Archbishop of Leon, giving him special care and control of the city
+bearing his name. We are told how the Saint found wild bees swarming
+in a hollow tree, and, gathering the swarm, set them in a hive and
+taught the people how to get honey. He also found a wild sow with her
+litter and tamed them. The descendants of this progeny remained at
+Leon for many generations, and were regarded as royal beasts. Both of
+these stories are, of course, a picturesque way of saying that St Pol
+taught the people to cultivate bees and to keep pigs.
+
+St Pol's early desire to possess a bell was curiously granted later,
+as one day when he was in the company of a Count who ruled the land
+under King Childebat a fisherman brought the Count a bell which he had
+picked up on the seashore. The Count gave it to St Pol, who smiled and
+told him how he had longed and waited for years for such a bell. In
+the cathedral at Saint-Pol-de-Leon is a tiny bell which is said to
+have belonged to St Pol, and on the days of pardon "its notes still
+ring out over the heads of the faithful," and are supposed to be
+efficacious in curing headache or earache.
+
+In the cathedral choir is the tomb of St Pol, where "his skull, an
+arm-bone, and a finger are encased in a little coffer, for the
+veneration of the devout." St Pol built the cathedral at Leon, and was
+its first bishop. Strategy had to be resorted to to secure the see for
+him. The Count gave Pol a letter to take in person to King Childebat,
+which stated that he had sent Pol to be ordained bishop and invested
+with the see of Leon. When the Saint discovered what the letter
+contained he wept, and implored the King to respect his great
+disinclination to become a bishop; but Childebat would not listen,
+and, calling for three bishops, he had him consecrated. The Saint was
+received with great joy by the people of Leon, and lived among them to
+a green old age.
+
+In art St Pol is most generally represented with a dragon, and
+sometimes with a bell, or a cruse of water and a loaf of bread,
+symbolical of his frugal habits.
+
+
+_St Ronan_
+
+Of St Ronan there is told a tale of solemn warning to wives addicted
+to neglecting their children and "seeking their pleasure elsewhere,"
+as it is succinctly expressed. St Ronan was an Irish bishop who came
+to Leon, where he retired into a hermitage in the forest of Nevet.
+Grallo, the King of Brittany, was in the habit of visiting him in his
+cell, listening to his discourses, and putting theological questions
+to him. The domestic question must have been a problem even in those
+days, since we find Grallo's Queen, Queban, in charge of her
+five-year-old daughter. Family cares proving rather irksome, Queban
+solved the difficulty of her daughter by putting the child into a box,
+with bread and milk to keep her quiet, while she amused herself with
+frivolous matters. Unfortunately, this ingeniously improvized _creche_
+proved singularly unsuccessful, for the poor little girl choked on a
+piece of crust, and when the Queen next visited the child she found to
+her horror that she was dead. Terrified at the fatal result of her
+neglect, and not daring to confess what had happened, the Queen, being
+a woman of resource, closed the box and raised a hue and cry to find
+the girl, who she declared must have strayed.
+
+She rushed in search of her husband to St Ronan's cell, and upbraided
+the hermit for being the cause of the King's absence. "But for you,"
+she declared, "my daughter would not have been lost!" But it was a
+fatal mistake to accuse the Saint, or to imagine that he could be
+deceived. Sternly rebuking her, he challenged her with the fact that
+the child lay dead in a box, with milk and bread beside her! Rising,
+he left his cell, and, followed by the agitated royal couple, he led
+the way to where the proof of the Queen's neglect and deceit was
+found. Small mercy was shown in those days to erring womanhood, and
+the guilty Queen was instantly "stoned with stones till she died." The
+Saint completed his share in the matter by casting himself on his
+knees beside the child, whereupon she was restored to life.
+
+
+_St Goezenou_
+
+St Goezenou (_circ._ A.D. 675) was a native of Britain whose parents
+crossed to Brittany and settled near Brest, where the Saint built an
+oratory and cabin for himself. The legend runs that the prince of the
+neighbourhood having offered to give him as much land as he could
+surround with a ditch in one day, the Saint took a fork and dragged it
+along the ground after him as he walked, in this way enclosing a
+league and a half of land, the fork as it trailed behind him making a
+furrow and throwing up an embankment, on a small scale. This story is
+quite probably a popular tradition, which grew up to explain the
+origin of old military earthworks in that part of the country, which
+were afterward utilized by the monks of St Goezenou.
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN QUEBAN STONED TO DEATH]
+
+It is also related of this worthy Saint that he had such a horror of
+women that he set up a huge menhir to mark the boundary beyond which
+no female was to pass under penalty of death. On one occasion a woman,
+either to test the extent of the Saint's power or from motives of
+enmity, pushed another woman who was with her past this landmark; but
+the innocent trespasser was unhurt and her assailant fell dead.
+
+On one occasion, we are told, Goezenou asked a farmer's wife for some
+cream cheeses, but the woman, not wishing to part with them, declared
+that she had none. "You speak the truth," said the Saint. "You had
+some, but if you will now look in your cupboard you will find they
+have been turned into stone," and when the ungenerous housewife ran to
+her cupboard she found that this was so! The petrified cheeses were
+long preserved in the church of Goezenou--being removed during the
+Revolution, and afterward preserved in the manor of Kergivas.
+
+Goezenou governed his church for twenty-four years, till he met with a
+violent death. Accompanied by his brother St Magan, he went to
+Quimperle to see the monastery which St Corbasius was building there,
+but he began to praise the architecture of his own church, and this so
+enraged the master builder that he dropped his hammer on the critic's
+head. To add to the grief of St Magan, St Corbasius endeavoured to
+appropriate the body of the murdered Saint. He consented, however, to
+allow St Magan to have such bones as he was able to identify as
+belonging to his brother, whereupon St Magan prayed all night, and
+next morning spread a sheet for the bones, which miraculously arranged
+themselves into an entire skeleton, which the sorrowing Magan was thus
+enabled to remove.
+
+
+_St Winwaloe, or Gwenaloe_
+
+St Winwaloe, born about 455, was the son of Fragan, Governor of Leon,
+who had married a wealthy lady named Gwen. Their son was so beautiful
+that they named him Gwenaloe, or 'He that is white.' When the lad was
+about fifteen years old he was given to the care of a holy man, with
+whom he lived on the islet called Ile-Verte. One day a pirate fleet
+was sighted off the coast, near the harbour of Guic-sezne, and
+Winwaloe, who was with his father at the time, is said to have
+exclaimed, "I see a thousand sails," and to this day a cross which
+marks the spot is called 'the Cross of the Thousand Sails,' to
+commemorate the victory which Fragan and his son won over the pirates,
+who landed but were utterly defeated by the Governor and his
+retainers. During the fight Winwaloe, "like a second Moses," prayed
+for victory, and when the victory had been won he entreated his father
+to put the booty gained to a holy use and to build a monastery on the
+site of the battle. This was done, and the monastery was called
+Loc-Christ.
+
+Leaving his master after some years, Winwaloe settled on the island of
+Sein, but finding that it was exposed to the fury of every gale that
+blew from the Atlantic he left it and went to Landevennec, on the
+opposite side of the harbour at Brest. There he established a
+monastery, gathered round him many disciples, and dwelt there until
+his death, many years later. He died during the first week of Lent,
+"after bestowing a kiss of peace on his brethren," and his body is
+preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, his chasuble, alb, and bell being laid
+in the Jesuit church of St Charles at Antwerp.
+
+In art St Winwaloe is represented vested as an abbot, with staff in
+one hand and a bell in the other, standing beside the sea, from which
+fishes arise as if in answer to the sound of his bell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII: COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS OF BRITTANY
+
+
+Distinctive national costume has to a great extent become a thing of
+the past in Europe, and for this relinquishment of the picturesque we
+have doubtless in a measure to thank the exploitation of remote
+districts as tourist and sporting centres. Brittany, however, has been
+remarkably faithful to her sartorial traditions, and even to-day in
+the remoter parts of the west and in distant sea-coast places her men
+and women have not ceased to express outwardly the strong national and
+personal individuality of their race. In these districts it is still
+possible for the traveller to take a sudden, bewildering, and wholly
+entrancing step back into the past.
+
+In Cornouaille the national costume is more jealously cherished than
+in any other part of the country, even to the smallest details, for
+here the men carry a _pen-bas_, or cudgel, which is as much a
+supplement to their attire and as characteristic of it as the Irish
+shillelagh is of the traditional Irish dress. Quimper is perhaps
+second to Cornouaille in fidelity to the old costume, for all the men
+wear the national habit. On gala days this consists of gaily
+embroidered and coloured waistcoats, which often bear the travelling
+tailor's name, and voluminous _bragou-bras_, or breeches of blue or
+brown, held at the waist with a broad leather belt with a metal buckle
+and caught in at the knee with ribbons of various hues, the whole set
+off with black leather leggings and shoes ornamented with silver
+buckles. A broad-brimmed hat, beneath which the hair falls down
+sometimes to below the shoulders, finishes a toilet which on weekdays
+or work-days has to give place to white _bragou-bras_ of tough
+material, something more sombre in waistcoats, and the ever
+serviceable sabot.
+
+
+_Hats and Hymen_
+
+In the vast stretch of the salt-pans of Escoublac, between Batz and Le
+Croisic, where the entire population of the district is employed, the
+workers, or _paludiers_, affect a smock-frock with pockets, linen
+breeches, gaiters, and shoes all of white, and with this dazzling
+costume they wear a huge, flapping black hat turned up on one side to
+form a horn-shaped peak. This peak is very important, as it indicates
+the state of the wearer, the young bachelor adjusting it with great
+nicety over the ear, the widower above his forehead, and the married
+man at the back of his head. On Sundays or gala-days, however, this
+uniform is discarded in favour of a multicoloured and more distinctive
+attire, the breeches being of fine cloth, exceedingly full and pleated
+and finished with ribbons at the knees, the gaiters and white shoes of
+everyday giving place to white woollen stockings with clocks
+embroidered on them and shoes of light yellow, while the smock is
+supplanted by several waistcoats of varying lengths and shades, which
+are worn one above the other in different coloured tiers, finished at
+the neck with a turnover muslin collar. The holiday hat is the same,
+save for a roll of brightly and many tinted chenille.
+
+Several petticoats of pleated cloth, big bibs or plastrons called
+_pieces_, of the same shade as their dresses, and a shawl with a
+fringed border, compose the costume of the women. The aprons of the
+girls are very plain and devoid of pockets, but the older women's are
+rich in texture and design, some of them being of silk and others
+even of costly brocade. The women's head-dress is almost grotesque in
+its originality, the hair being woven into two rolls, swathed round
+with tape, and wound into a coronet across the head. Over this is
+drawn tightly a kind of cap, which forms a peak behind and is crossed
+in front like a handkerchief. Should widowhood overtake a woman she
+relinquishes this _coiffe_ and shrouds her head and shoulders in a
+rough black triangular-shaped sheepskin mantle.
+
+The toilette of a bride is as magnificent as the widow's is depressing
+and dowdy. It consists of three different dresses, the first of white
+velvet with apron of moire-antique, the second of purple velvet, and
+the third of cloth of gold with embroidered sleeves, with a _piece_ of
+the same material. A wide sash, embroidered with gold, is used for
+looping up all these resplendent skirts in order to reveal the gold
+clocks which adorn the stockings. These, and all gala costumes, are
+carefully stored away at the village inn, and may be seen by the
+traveller sufficiently interested to pay a small fee for the
+privilege.
+
+
+_Quaint Head-dresses_
+
+Though the dress of the Granville women does not attempt to equal or
+rival the magnificence just described, nevertheless it is as quaint
+and characteristic. They favour a long black or very dark coat, with
+bordering frills of the same material and shade, and their cap is a
+sort of _bandeau_, turning up sharply at the ears, and crested by a
+white handkerchief folded square and laid flat on top.
+
+In Ouessant the peasant women adopt an Italian style of costume, their
+head-dress, from under which their hair falls loosely, being exactly
+in almost every detail like that which one associates with the women
+of Italy. The costume of the man from St Pol is, like that of the
+Granville women, soberer than most others of Brittany. Save for his
+buttons, the buckle on his hat, and the clasps of white metal
+fastening his leather shoes, his dress, including spencer, waistcoat,
+trousers, and stockings, is of black, and his hair is worn falling on
+his shoulders, while he rarely carries the _pen-bas_--an indication,
+perhaps, of his rather meditative, pious temperament.
+
+At Villecheret the cap of the women is bewilderingly varied and very
+peculiar. At first sight it appears to consist of several large sheets
+of stiff white paper, in some cases a sheet of the apparent paper
+spreading out at either side of the head and having another roll
+placed across it; in other cases a ridged roof seems to rest upon the
+hair, a roof with the sides rolling upward and fastened at the top
+with a frail thread; while a third type of head-dress is of the
+skull-cap order, from which is suspended two ties quite twenty inches
+long and eight inches wide, which are doubled back midway and fastened
+again to the top of the skull-cap. The unmarried woman who adopts this
+_coiffe_ must wear the ties hanging over the shoulders.
+
+Originality in head-dress the male peasant leaves almost entirely to
+the woman, for nearly everywhere in Brittany one meets with the long,
+wide-brimmed, black hat, with a black band, the dullness of which is
+relieved by a white or blue metal buckle, as large as those usually
+found on belts. To this rule the Plougastel man is one of the
+exceptions, wearing a red cap with his trousers and coat of white
+flannel.
+
+At Muzillac, some miles distant from La Roche-Bernard, the women
+supplant the white _coiffe_ with a huge black cap resembling the cowl
+of a friar, while at Pont l'Abbe and along the Bay of Audierne the cap
+or _bigouden_ is formed of two pieces, the first a species of
+skull-cap fitting closely over the head and ears, the second a small
+circular piece of starched linen, shaped into a three-cornered peak,
+the centre point being embroidered and kept in position by a white
+tape tie which fastens under the chin. Over the skull-cap the hair is
+dressed _en chignon_. The dress accompanying this singular _coiffe_
+and _coiffure_ has a large yellow _piece_, with sleeves to match. The
+men wear a number of short coats, one above the other, the shortest
+and last being trimmed with a fringe, and occasionally ornamented with
+sentences embroidered in coloured wools round the border, describing
+the patriotic or personal sentiments of the wearer.
+
+The women of Morlaix are also partial to the tight-fitting _coiffe_.
+This consists of five broad folds, forming a base from which a
+fan-like fall of stiffened calico spreads out from ear to ear,
+completely shading the nape of the neck and reaching down the back
+below the shoulders. Many of the women wear calico tippets, while the
+more elderly affect a sort of mob-cap with turned-up edges, from which
+to the middle of the head are stretched two wide straps of calico,
+joined together at the ends with a pin. Most of the youths of Morlaix
+wear the big, flapping hat, but very often a black cloth cap is also
+seen. This is ridiculous rather than picturesque, for so long is it
+that with almost every movement it tips over the wearer's nose. The
+tunic accompanying either hat or cap is of blue flannel, and over it
+is worn a black waistcoat. The porters of the market-places wear a
+sort of smock. The young boys of Morlaix dress very like their elders,
+and nearly all of them wear the long loose cap, with the difference
+that a tasselled end dangles down the back.
+
+[Illustration: MODERN BRITTANY]
+
+On religious festivals the gala dress is always donned in all
+vicinities of Brittany, and the costume informs the initiated at once
+in what capacity the Breton is present. For instance, the _porteuses_,
+or banner-bearers, of certain saints are dressed in white; others may
+be more gorgeously or vividly attired in gowns of bright-coloured silk
+trimmed with gold lace, scarves of silver thread, aprons of gold
+tissue or brocade, and lace _coiffes_ over caps of gold or silver
+tissue; while some, though in national gala dress, will have flags or
+crosses to distinguish them from the more commonplace worshipper.
+
+
+_Religious Festivals_
+
+This dressing for the part and the occasion is interwoven with the
+Breton's existence as unalterably as sacred and profane elements are
+into the occasions of his religious festivals. A feast day well and
+piously begun is interspersed and concluded with a gaiety and abandon
+which by contrast strikes a note of profanity. Yet Brittany is quite
+the most devotedly religious of all the French provinces, and one may
+see the great cathedrals filled to their uttermost with congregations
+including as many men as women. Nowhere else, perhaps, will one find
+such great masses of people so completely lost in religious fervour
+during the usual Church services and the grander and more impressive
+festivals so solemnly observed. This reverence is attributed by some
+to the power of superstition, by others to the Celtic temperament of
+the worshippers; but from whatever cause it arises no one who has
+lived among the Bretons can doubt the sincerity and childlike faith
+which lies at the base of it all, a faith of which a medieval
+simplicity and credence are the keynotes.
+
+
+_The Pardons_
+
+This pious punctiliousness is not confined to Church services and
+ceremonies alone, for rarely are wayside crosses or shrines
+unattended by some simple peasant or peasants telling beads or
+unfolding griefs to a God Who, they have been taught, takes the
+deepest interest in and compassionates all the troubles and trials
+which may befall them. Between May and October the religious
+ardour of the Breton may be witnessed at its strongest, for during
+these months the five great 'Pardons' or religious pilgrimage
+festivals are solemnized in the following sequence: the Pardon of the
+Poor, at Saint-Yves; the Pardon of the Singers, at Rumengol; the
+Pardon of the Fire, at Saint-Jean-du-Doigt; the Pardon of the
+Mountain, at Tromenie-de-Saint-Renan; the Pardon of the Sea, at
+Sainte-Anne-la-Palud.
+
+The Pardon of the Poor, the Pardon of the Singers, and the Pardon of
+the Sea are especially rigorous and exacting, but the less celebrated
+Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clarte, in Morbihan, has an earthly as much
+as a celestial object, for while the pilgrimage does homage to the
+Virgin it is at the same time believed to facilitate marriage. Here,
+once the sacred side of the festival has been duly observed, the young
+man in search of a wife circles about the church, closely scrutinizing
+all the eligible demoiselles who come within range of his vision. As
+soon as he decides which maiden most appeals to him, he asks her
+politely if she will accept a gift from him, and at the same time
+presents a large round cake, with which he has armed himself for that
+occasion. "Will mademoiselle break the cake with me?" is the customary
+form of address, and in the adoption or rejection of this suggestion
+lies the young peasant's yea or nay.
+
+The Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt takes place on the 22nd of June, and
+is, perhaps, the most solemn of these festivals. During its
+celebration the relic of the Saint, the little finger of his right
+hand, is held before the high altar of the church by an _abbe_ clad in
+his surplice. The finger is wrapped in the finest of linen, and one by
+one the congregation files past the _abbe_ for the purpose of touching
+for one brief moment the relic he holds. At the same time another
+cleric stands near the choir, holding the skull of St Meriadec, and
+before this the pilgrims also promenade, reverently bowing their heads
+as they go. The devotees then repair to a side wall near which there
+is a fountain, the waters of which have been previously sanctified by
+bathing in them the finger of St Jean suspended from a gold chain, and
+into this the pilgrims plunge their palms and vigorously rub their
+eyes with them, as a protection against blindness. This concludes the
+religious side of the Pardon, and immediately after its less edifying
+ceremonies begin.
+
+The Pardon of the Mountain is held on Trinity Sunday at Tromenie.
+Every sixth year there is the 'Grand Tromenie,' an event which draws
+an immense concourse of people from all parts. The principal feature
+of this great day from the spectator's point of view is the afternoon
+procession. It is of the most imposing description, and all who have
+come to take part in the Pardon join it, as with banners flying and
+much hymn-singing it takes its way out of the town to wind round a
+mountain in the vicinity.
+
+
+_Barking Women_
+
+In the old days of religious enthusiasm a remarkable phenomenon often
+attended these festivals, when excitement began to run high, as it was
+certain to do among a Celtic people. This was the barking of certain
+highly strung hysterical women. In time it became quite a usual
+feature, but now, happily, it is a part of the ceremony which has
+almost entirely disappeared. There is a legend in connexion with this
+custom that the Virgin appeared before some women disguised as a
+beggar, and asked for a draught of water, and, when they refused it,
+caused them and their posterity to be afflicted with the mania.
+
+
+_The Sacring Bell_
+
+Another custom of earlier times was that of ringing the sacring bell.
+These bells are very tiny, and are attached at regular intervals to
+the outer rim of a wooden wheel, wrongly styled by some 'the Wheel of
+Fortune,' from which dangles a long string. In most places the sacring
+bell is kept as a curiosity, though in the church of St Bridget at
+Berhet the _Sant-e-roa_, or Holy Wheel, is still rung by pilgrims
+during Mass. The bells are set pealing through the medium of a long
+string by the impatient suppliant, to remind the saint to whom the
+_Sant-e-roa_ may be dedicated of the prayerful requests with which he
+or she has been assailed.
+
+There are in many of the churches of Brittany wide, old-fashioned
+fireplaces, a fact which testifies to a very sensible practice which
+prevailed in the latter half of the sixteenth century--that of
+warming the baptismal water before applying it to the defenceless head
+of the lately born. The most famous of these old fireplaces belong to
+the churches of St Bridget in Perguet, Le Moustoir-le-Juch, St Non at
+Penmarch, and Brevelenz. In the church at the latter place one of the
+pinnacles of the porch forms the chimney to its historic hearth.
+
+
+_The Venus of Quinipily_
+
+Childless people often pay a visit to some standing stone in their
+neighbourhood in the hope that they may thereby be blessed with
+offspring. Famous in this respect is the 'Venus,' or _Groabgoard_, of
+Quinipily, a rough-hewn stone in the likeness of a goddess. The
+letters ...LIT... still remain on it--part of a Latin inscription
+which has been thought to have originally read ILITHVIA, "a name in
+keeping with the rites still in use before the image," says
+MacCulloch.[61]
+
+
+_Holy Wells_
+
+The holy well is another institution dating from early days, and there
+is hardly a church in Brittany which does not boast one or more of
+these shrines, which are in most cases dedicated to the saint in whose
+honour the church has been raised. So numerous are these wells that to
+name them and dwell at any length on the curative powers claimed for
+their waters would fill a large volume. Worthy of mention, however, is
+the Holy Well of St Bieuzy, as typical of most of such sacred springs.
+It is close to the church of the same name in Bieuzy, and flows from a
+granite wall. Its waters are said to relieve and cure the mentally
+deranged. Some of the wells are large enough to permit the afflicted
+to bathe in their waters, and of these the well near the church of
+Goezenou is a good example. It is situated in an enclosure surrounded
+by stone seats for the convenience of the devotees who may desire to
+immerse themselves bodily in it. Several of these shrines bear dates,
+but whether they are genuine is a matter for conjecture.
+
+
+_Reliquaries_
+
+Every Breton churchyard worthy of the name has its reliquary or
+bone-house. There may be seen rows of small boxes like dog-kennels
+with heart-shaped openings. Round these openings, names, dates, and
+pious ejaculations are written. Looking through the aperture, a
+glimpse of a skull may startle one, for it is a gruesome custom of the
+country to dig up the bones of the dead and preserve the skulls in
+this way. The name upon the box is that once borne by the deceased,
+the date that of his death, and the charitable prayer is for the
+repose of his soul. Occasionally these boxes are set in conspicuous
+places in the church, but generally they remain in the reliquary. In
+the porch of the church of St Tremeur, the son of the notorious Breton
+Bluebeard, Comorre, there is one of the largest collections of these
+receptacles in Brittany. Rich people who may have endowed or founded
+sacred edifices are buried in an arched recess of the abbey or church
+they have benefited.
+
+
+_Feeding the Dead_
+
+In some parts of Brittany hollows are found in tombstones above
+graves, and these are annually filled with holy water or libations of
+milk. It would seem as if this custom linked prehistoric with modern
+practice and that the cup-hollows frequently met with on the top of
+dolmens may have been intended as receptacles for the food of the
+dead. The basins scooped in the soil of a barrow may have served the
+same purpose. On the night of All Souls' Day, when this libation is
+made, the supper is left spread on the table of each cottage and the
+fire burns brightly, so that the dead may return to refresh and warm
+themselves after the dolours of the grave.
+
+
+_The Passage de l'Enfer_
+
+How hard custom dies in Brittany is illustrated by the fact that it is
+still usual at Treguier to convey the dead to the churchyard in a boat
+over a part of the river called the 'Passage de l'Enfer,' instead of
+taking the shorter way by land. This custom is reminiscent of what
+Procopius, a historian of the sixth century, says regarding Breton
+Celtic custom in his _De Bello Gothico_. Speaking of the island of
+Brittia, by which he means Britain, he states that it is divided by a
+wall. Thither fishermen from the Breton coast are compelled to ferry
+over at darkest night the shades of the dead, unseen by them, but
+marshalled by a mysterious leader. The fishermen who are to row the
+dead across to the British coast must go to bed early, for at midnight
+they are aroused by a tapping at the door, and they are called in a
+low voice. They rise and go down to the shore, attracted by some force
+which they cannot explain. Here they find their boats, apparently
+empty, yet the water rises to the bulwarks, as if they were crowded.
+Once they commence the voyage their vessels cleave the water speedily,
+making the passage, usually a day and a half's sailing, in an hour.
+When the British shore is reached the souls of the dead leave the
+boats, which at once rise in the sea as if unloaded. Then a loud voice
+on shore is heard calling out the name and style of those who have
+disembarked.
+
+Procopius had, of course, heard the old Celtic myth of an oversea
+Elysium, and had added to it some distorted reminiscence of the old
+Roman wall which divided Britain. The 'ship of souls' is evidently a
+feature of Celtic as well as of Latin and Greek belief.
+
+
+_Calvaries_
+
+Calvaries, or representations of the passion on the Cross, are most
+frequently encountered in Brittany, so much so, indeed, that it has
+been called 'the Land of the Calvaries.' Over the length and breadth
+of the country they are to be met at almost every turn, some of them
+no more than rude, simple crosses originating in local workshops, and
+others truly magnificent in carving and detail. Some of the most
+famous are those situated at Plougastel, Saint-Thegonnec, and
+Guimiliau.
+
+The Calvary of Plougastel dates from the early sixteenth century, and
+consists of an arcade beneath a platform filled with statues. The
+surrounding frieze has carvings in bas-relief representing incidents
+in the life of Christ. The Calvary of Saint-Thegonnec represents
+vividly the phases of the passion, being really a 'way of the Cross'
+in sculpture. It bears the unmistakable stamp of the sixteenth
+century. The Calvary of Guimiliau is dated 1580 and 1588. A platform
+supported by arches bears the three crosses, the four evangelists, and
+other figures connected with the principal incidents in the life and
+passion of our Lord. The principal figures, that of Christ and those
+of the attending Blessed Virgin and St John, are most beautifully and
+sympathetically portrayed. The figures in the representations from the
+life of Christ, which are from necessity much smaller than those of
+the Crucifixion, are dressed in the costume of the sixteenth century.
+The entire Calvary is sculptured in Kersanton stone.
+
+[Illustration: THE SOULS OF THE DEAD]
+
+Whether these and other similar groups are really works of art is
+perhaps a matter for discussion, but regarding their impressiveness
+there cannot be two opinions. By the bulk of the people they are
+held in great reverence, and rarely are they unattended by tiny
+congregations of two or three, while on the occasion of important
+religious festivals people flock to them in hundreds.
+
+
+_Weddings_
+
+In many of their religious observances the Bretons are prone to
+confuse the sacred with the profane, and chief among these is the
+wedding ceremony--the customs attendant on which in some ostensibly
+Christian countries are yet a disgrace to the intellect as well as the
+good feeling of man. In rural Brittany, however, the revelry which
+ensues as soon as the church door closes on the newly wedded pair is
+more like that associated with a children's party than the recreation
+of older people. Should the marriage be celebrated in the morning,
+tables laid out with cakes are ranged outside the church door, and
+when the bridal procession files out of the church the bride and
+bridegroom each take a cake from the table and leave a coin in its
+stead for the poor. The guests follow suit, and then the whole party
+repairs to the nearest meadow, where endless _ronds_ are begun.
+
+The _rond_ is a sort of dance in which the whole assembly joins
+hands and revolves slowly with a hop-skip-and-a-jump step to the
+accompaniment of a most wearisome and unvarying chant, the music for
+which is provided by the _biniou_, or bagpipe, and the flageolet
+or hautboy, both being occasionally augmented by the drum. Before
+the ceremony begins the musicians who are responsible for this
+primitive harmony are dispatched to summon the guests, who, of
+course, arrive in the full splendour of the national gala costume. As
+soon as the _ronds_ are completed to the satisfaction of everybody
+the custom common to so many countries of stealing the bride away
+is celebrated. At a given signal she speeds away from the party,
+hotly pursued by the young gallants present, and when she is
+overtaken she presents the successful swain with a cup of coffee at a
+public _cafe_. This interlude is followed by dinner, and after that
+the _ronds_ are resumed. These festivities, in the case of prosperous
+people, sometimes last three days, during which time the guests are
+entertained at their host's expense. If the wedding happens to be held
+in the evening, dancing is about the only amusement indulged in, and
+this follows an elaborate wedding supper. The _biniou_ and its
+companions are decidedly _en evidence_, while sometimes the monotony
+of the _ronds_ is varied by the _grand rond_, a much more graceful
+and intricate affair, containing many elaborate and difficult steps;
+but the more ordinary dance is the favourite, probably because of the
+difficulties attending the other.
+
+
+_Breton Burials_
+
+An ancient Breton funeral ceremony was replete with symbolic meaning
+and ritual, which have been carried down through the Middle Ages to
+the present time. As soon as the head of the family had ceased to
+breathe, a great fire was lit in the courtyard, and the mattress upon
+which he had expired was burned. Pitchers of water and milk were
+emptied, for fear, perhaps, that the soul of the defunct might be
+athirst. The dead man was then enveloped from head to foot in a great
+white sheet and placed in a description of funeral pavilion, the hands
+joined on the breast, the body turned toward the east. At his feet a
+little stool was placed, and two yellow candles were lit on each side
+of him. Then the beadle or gravedigger, who was usually a poor man,
+went round the country-side to carry the news of death, which he
+usually called out in a high, piping voice, ringing his little bell
+the while. At the hour of sunset people arrived from all parts for the
+purpose of viewing the body. Each one carried a branch, which he
+placed on the feet of the defunct.
+
+The evening prayer was recited by all, then the women sang the
+canticles. From time to time the widow and children of the deceased
+raised the corner of the shroud and kissed it solemnly. A repast was
+served in an adjoining room, where the beggar sat side by side with
+the wealthy, on the principle that all were equal before death. It is
+strange that the poor are always associated with the griefs as with
+the pleasures of Breton people; we find them at the feast of death and
+at the baptism as at the wedding rejoicing.
+
+In the morning the rector of the parish arrived and all retired, with
+the exception of the parents, if these chanced to be alive, in whose
+presence the beadle closed the coffin. No other member of the family
+was permitted to take part in this solemn farewell, which was regarded
+as a sacred duty. The coffin was then placed on a car drawn by oxen,
+and the funeral procession set out, preceded by the clergy and
+followed by the female relations of the deceased, wearing yellow
+head-dresses and black mantles. The men followed with bared heads. On
+arriving at the church the coffin was disposed on trestles, and the
+widow sat close by it throughout the ceremony. As it was lowered into
+the tomb the last words of the prayer for the dead were repeated by
+all, and as it touched the soil beneath a loud cry arose from the
+bereaved.
+
+The Breton funeral ceremony, like those prevalent among other Celtic
+peoples, is indeed a lugubrious affair, and somewhat recalls the Irish
+wake in its strange mixture of mourning and feasting; but curiously
+enough brightness reigns afterward, for the peasant is absolutely
+assured that at the moment his friend is placed in the tomb he
+commences a life of joy without end.
+
+
+_Tartarus and Paradise_
+
+Two very striking old Breton ballads give us very vivid pictures of
+the Breton idea of Heaven and its opposite. That dealing with the
+infernal regions hails from the district of Leon. It is attributed to
+a priest named Morin, who flourished in the fifteenth century, but
+others have claimed it for a Jesuit father called Maunoir, who lived
+and preached some two hundred years later. In any case it bears the
+ecclesiastical stamp. "Descend, Christians," it begins, "to see what
+unspeakable tortures the souls of the condemned suffer through the
+justice of God, Who has chained them in the midst of flames for
+having abused their gifts in this world. Hell is a profound abyss,
+full of shadow, where not the least gleam of light ever comes. The
+gates have been closed and bolted by God, and He will never open them
+more. The key is lost!
+
+"An oven heated to whiteness is this place, a fire which constantly
+devours the lost souls. There they will eternally burn, tormented by
+the intolerable heat. They gnash their teeth like mad dogs; they
+cannot escape the flames, which are over their heads, under their
+feet, and on all sides. The son rushes at his father, and the daughter
+at her mother. They drag them by the hair through the midst of flames,
+with a thousand maledictions, crying, 'Cursed be ye, lost woman, who
+brought us into the world! Cursed be ye, heedless man, who wert the
+cause of our damnation!'
+
+"For drink they have only their tears. Their skins are scorched, and
+bitten by the teeth of serpents and demons, and their flesh and their
+bones are nothing but fuel to the great fire of Hell!
+
+"After they have been for some time in this furnace, they are plunged
+by Satan into a lake of ice, and from this they are thrown once more
+into the flames, and from the flames into the water, like a bar of
+iron in a smithy. 'Have pity, my God, have pity on us!' they call; but
+they weep in vain, for God has closed His ears to their plaints.
+
+"The heat is so intense that their marrow burns within their bones.
+The more they crave for pity, the more they are tormented.
+
+"This fire is the anger of God which they have aroused; verily it may
+never be put out."
+
+One turns with loathing, with anger, and with contempt from this
+production of medieval ecclesiasticism. When one thinks of the
+thousands of simple and innocent people who must have been tortured
+and driven half wild with terror by such infamous utterances as this,
+one feels inclined to challenge the oft-repeated statement concerning
+the many virtues of the medieval Church. But Brittany is not the only
+place where this species of terrorism was in vogue, and that until
+comparatively recent times. The writer can recall such descriptions as
+this emanating from the pulpits of churches in Scottish villages only
+some thirty years ago, and the strange thing is that people of that
+generation were wont to look back with longing and admiration upon the
+old style of condemnatory sermon, and to criticize the efforts of the
+younger school of ministers as being wanting in force and lacking the
+spirit of menace so characteristic of their forerunners. There are no
+such sermons nowadays, they say. Let us thank God that to the credit
+of human intelligence and human pity there are not!
+
+The opposite to this picture is provided by the ballad on Heaven. It
+is generally attributed to Michel de Kerodern, a Breton missionary of
+the seventeenth century, but others claim its authorship for St Herve,
+to whom we have already alluded. In any case it is as replete with
+superstitions as its darker fellow. The soul, it says, passes the
+moon, sun, and stars on its Heavenward way, and from that height turns
+its eyes on its native land of Brittany. "Adieu to thee, my country!
+Adieu to thee, world of suffering and dolorous burdens! Farewell,
+poverty, affliction, trouble, and sin! Like a lost vessel the body
+lies below, but wherever I turn my eyes my heart is filled with a
+thousand felicities. I behold the gates of Paradise open at my
+approach and the saints coming out to receive me. I am received in the
+Palace of the Trinity, in the midst of honours and heavenly harmonies.
+The Lord places on my head a beautiful crown and bids me enter into
+the treasures of Heaven. Legions of archangels chant the praise of
+God, each with a harp in his hand. I meet my father, my mother, my
+brothers, the men of my country. Choirs of little angels fly hither
+and thither over our heads like flocks of birds. Oh, happiness without
+equal! When I think of such bliss to be, it consoles my heart for the
+pains of this life."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [61] _Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 289.
+
+
+
+
+GLOSSARY & INDEX
+
+  A
+
+  ABELARD. A Breton monk;
+    the story of Heloise and, 248-253
+
+  ABERLADY BAY. A bay in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, 357
+
+  ABERNETHY. A town in Scotland;
+    the Round Tower at, 52
+
+  ABERYSTWYTH. A town in Wales;
+    Taliesin buried at, 22
+
+  ADDER'S STONE. A substance supposed to have magical properties,
+        employed in Druidic rites, 247;
+    Heloise, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed,
+        252
+
+  ALAIN III. Count of Brittany (Count of Vannes);
+    drives back the Northmen, 25
+
+  ALAIN IV (BARBE-TORTE). Arch-chief of Brittany;
+    defeats the Northmen, 25-26
+
+  ALAIN V. Duke of Brittany, 27, 28
+
+  ALAIN FERGANT. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  ALAIN. Son of Eudo of Brittany, 29
+
+  ALBERT LE GRAND. Monk of Morlaix, 278
+
+  ALCHEMY. The art of;
+    the position of, in the fifteenth century, 175;
+    Gilles de Retz experiments in, 175-179
+
+  ALGONQUINS. A race of North American Indians;
+    mentioned, 302
+
+  ALI BABA. The story of;
+    mentioned, 316
+
+  ALL SOULS' DAY. The custom of leaving food for the dead on, 383
+
+  ALOIDA. A maiden;
+    in the ballad of the Marriage-girdle, 234-236
+
+  'ALPINE' RACE. A European ethnological division;
+    the Bretons probably belong to, 14, 37 _n._
+
+  AMENOPHIS III. An Egyptian king;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  AMERICA. _See_ United States
+
+  ANGERS. A town in France;
+    St Convoyon goes to, to obtain holy relics from the cathedral,
+        336
+
+  ANIMALS. Frequently the bearers of divine aid, in legends of the
+        saints, 347;
+    St Pol noted for his miraculous power over wild beasts, 366
+
+  ANIMISM, 86-87
+
+  ANKOU, THE. The death-spirit of Brittany, 101-102
+
+  ANNAIK. A maiden;
+    in a story of the Marquis of Guerande, 199-202
+
+  ANNE. Duchess of Brittany;
+    married to Charles VIII of France, and then to Louis XII, 36;
+    the oratory of, in the chateau of Dinan, 209;
+    gives the chateau of Suscino to John of Chalons, 210
+
+  ANTWERP. The city;
+    relics of St Winwaloe preserved in the Jesuit church of St Charles
+        at, 371;
+    mentioned, 205
+
+  APPLE, THE. Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Telio,
+        18
+
+  ARDMORE. A town in Ireland;
+    the Round Tower at, 51-52
+
+  AREZ, MOUNTAINS OF. Same as Montagnes d'Arree, _which see_
+
+  ARGOED. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  ARMAGH. A city in Ireland;
+    Budoc made Bishop of, 356
+
+  ARMENIA. The country;
+    were-wolf superstition in, 291
+
+  ARMOR ('On the Sea'). The ancient Celtic name for Brittany, 13
+
+  ARMORICA. The Latin name for the country of Brittany, 13, 15;
+    Julius Caesar in, 16;
+    two British kingdoms in, 19;
+    the first monastery in, founded by Gwennole, 185;
+    King Arthur hunts wild beasts in, 278;
+    St Samson bidden to go to, 349
+
+  ARTHUR, KING. British chieftain, of legendary fame;
+    his finding of Excalibur, 256-257;
+    his encounter with the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, 275-277;
+    his existence doubted by Bretons in the twelfth century, 278;
+    his fight with the dragon at the Lieue de Greve, 278-281;
+    carried to the Isle of Avalon after his last battle, 282;
+    Gugemar at the Court of, 292;
+    his contest with Modred, 344;
+    his sister Margawse the wife of King Lot of Lothian, 357;
+    mentioned, 64, 66, 173, 212, 224
+
+  ARTHUR. Duke of Brittany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet;
+    murdered by King John of England, 30
+
+  ARTHURIAN ROMANCE. Resemblances in Villemarque's _Barzaz-Breiz_ to,
+        224;
+    the controversy as to the original birthplace of, 228,
+        254-255;
+    indigenous to British soil, 255
+
+  ARZ. _See_ Ile d'Arz
+
+  ASH-TREE, THE LAY OF THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        317-320
+
+  AUCHENTORLIE. An estate in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones at, 46
+
+  AUCHINLECK MS. A manuscript containing a version of the story of
+        Tristrem and Ysonde, 272
+
+  AUDIERNE, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    national costume in the district of, 376
+
+  AULNOY, COMTESSE D'. Noted seventeenth-century French authoress;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  AURAY. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, 35;
+    centre from which to visit the megaliths of Carnac, 42
+
+  AVALON, ISLE OF. A fabled island to which King Arthur was carried
+        after his last battle, 282
+
+  AVENUE OF SPHINXES. At Karnak, Egypt, 43
+
+  AZENOR. Mother of St Budoc of Dol, 354-356
+
+  AZENOR THE PALE. A maiden;
+    the legend of, 360-364
+
+  B
+
+  BACCHUS. The Greek god of wine;
+    mentioned, 189
+
+  BALON. Monastery of;
+    St Tivisiau and, 338-339
+
+  BAN. King of Benwik;
+    father of Sir Lancelot, 257
+
+  BANGOR TEIVI. A village in Wales;
+    Taliesin said to have died at, 22
+
+  BARANTON, THE FOUNTAIN OF. A magical fountain in Broceliande,
+        70-71
+
+  BARD. Singer or poet attached to noble households;
+    late survival of the custom of maintaining, 364
+
+  BARKING WOMEN. A phenomenon connected with religious festivals,
+        380
+
+  BARON OF JAUIOZ, THE. A ballad, 145-147
+
+  BARRON. A fictitious youth;
+    in a story of Gilles de Retz, 178
+
+  BARZAZ-BREIZ ("The Breton Bards"). A collection of Breton ballads
+        made by Villemarque;
+    cited (under sub-title, _Chants populaires de la Bretagne_), 57
+        _n._;
+    criticism of, 211-212
+
+  BASS ROCK. An islet in the Firth of Forth, 359
+
+  BATZ.
+    I. An island off the coast of Brittany; St Pol settles on,
+        365-366
+    II. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  BAYARD, THE CHEVALIER DE. A famous French knight;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  BEAN NIGHE ('The Washing Woman'). An evil spirit of the Scottish
+        Highlands, 100
+
+  BEAUMANOIR. A Breton noble house, 229
+
+  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The story of;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  BEAUVAU. Matthew, Seigneur of;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 190-193
+
+  BEDIVERE, SIR. One of King Arthur's knights;
+    accompanies Arthur on his expedition against the giant of
+        Mont-Saint-Michel, 275-277
+
+  BEES. Cultivated by the monks of Dol, 19;
+    St Pol taught the people to cultivate, 366
+
+  BEIGNON. A town in Brittany, 360
+
+  BELGIUM. Mentioned, 52
+
+  BELIAGOG. A giant;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271
+
+  BELSUNCE DE CASTELMORON, HENRI-FRANCOIS-XAVIER DE. Bishop of
+        Marseilles;
+    mentioned, 195
+
+  BENEDICTION OF THE BEASTS. A festival held at Carnac, 45
+
+  BERHET. A village in Brittany;
+    the custom of ringing the sacring bell still observed in the
+        church of St Bridget at, 380
+
+  BERRY. John, Duke of;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  BERRY. Caroline, Duchess of;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  BERTRAND DE DINAN. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  BIEUZY. A town in Brittany;
+    the Holy Well of St Bieuzy at, 381
+
+  BIGOUDEN. A cap worn by the women in some parts of Brittany, 376
+
+  BINIOU. A musical instrument resembling the bagpipe;
+    one of the national instruments of Brittany, 229;
+    played at weddings, 386
+
+  BIRDS. In Breton tradition, the dead supposed to return to earth in
+        the form of, 227;
+    frequently messengers in ballad literature, 233;
+    in the legends of the saints, commonly the bearers of divine aid,
+        347
+
+  BISCLAVERET. The Breton name for a were-wolf;
+    in the Lay of the Were-wolf, 287-289, 291
+
+  BLACK MOUNTAIN. The name of one of the peaks of the Black Mountains,
+        197
+
+  BLACK MOUNTAINS. A mountain chain in Brittany, 196
+
+  BLANCHE OF CASTILE. Mother of Louis IX, 208
+
+  BLANCHEFLOUR. Princess, sister of King Mark, mother of Tristrem;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261
+
+  BLOIS. A famous French chateau;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  BLOIS, CHARLES OF. Duke of Brittany;
+    contests the succession to the duchy, 30-32;
+    taken prisoner by Joan of Flanders, 31;
+    the marriage of, with Joan of Penthievre, 32;
+    defeated at Auray, 35;
+    the chateau of Suscino taken by, 210
+
+  BLUEBEARD. The villain in the nursery-tale;
+    Gilles de Retz identified with, 174, 180;
+    the story of, identified with the story of Comorre and Triphyna,
+        180
+
+  BLUE CHAMBER. A boudoir in the chateau of Tourlaville, 209
+
+  BODMIN. A town in Cornwall;
+    mentioned, 278
+
+  BOITEUX. A fiend;
+    in the story of the Princess Starbright, 123, 124, 125
+
+  BONCOTEST, COLLEGE OF. One of the colleges of the old University of
+        Paris;
+    Fontenelle at, 229
+
+  BONNY KILMENY. A ballad by James Hogg;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  BOURDAIS, MARC. A peasant, nicknamed Maraud;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75-77
+
+  BOUTEVILLE. John of, Seigneur of Faouet;
+    mentioned, 335
+
+  BOY WHO SERVED THE FAIRIES, THE. The story of, 88-95
+
+  BRAN ('Crow'). A Breton warrior;
+    the story of, 225-227;
+    analogies between the story of, and the poem of _Sir Tristrem_,
+        227-228
+
+  BRENGWAIN. A lady of Ysonde's suite;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 267, 269, 271, 272
+
+  BRENHA, FATHER JOSE. A Portuguese antiquary;
+    mentioned, 47
+
+  BREOCHAN. A legendary Welsh king, father of St Nennocha, 340
+
+  BRERI. A Breton poet, 255
+
+  BREST. A town in Brittany, 354, 368, 371
+
+  BRETON. The language, 15-16
+
+  BRETONS. The race;
+    their origin and affinities, 13-15, 17, 37 _n._;
+    Bretons join William of Normandy in his expedition against
+        England, 29, 232, 233;
+    send an expedition to help Owen Glendower, 234;
+    defeat the English in a naval battle, 236
+
+  BREVELENZ. A village in Brittany;
+    a fireplace in the church of, 381
+
+  BREZONEK. The language spoken by the Bretons, 15-16
+
+  BRIAN. Son of Eudo of Brittany, 29
+
+  BRIDE OF SATAN, THE. The story of, 143-144;
+    mentioned, 147
+
+  BRITAIN. Celts flee from, to Brittany, before the Saxon invaders,
+        15, 17;
+    subject kingdoms of, in Brittany, 19;
+    immigrants from, in Brittany, form a confederacy and fight against
+        the Franks, 22-23;
+    the headquarters of the Druidic cult, 245;
+    Arthurian romance indigenous to, 255;
+    St Patern founds religious houses in, 348;
+    St Samson fled from, to Brittany, 350;
+    Procopius' story of the ferrying of the Breton dead over to,
+        383-384
+
+  BRITONS. The race;
+    members of, emigrate to Brittany, 15, 17, 22-23;
+    carried Arthurian romance to Brittany, 254, 255
+
+  BRITTANY. Divisions and character of the country, 13;
+    Julius Caesar in, 16;
+    the Latin tongue did not spread over, 17;
+    the origin of the name, 17;
+    Nomenoe wins the independence of, 23;
+    invaded by Northmen, 25;
+    the Northmen expelled from, 26;
+    division of, into counties and seigneuries, 27;
+    relations with Normandy, 27-30;
+    French influences in, 30;
+    the War of the Two Joans, 30-31, 35-36;
+    annexed to France by Francis I, 36;
+    the prehistoric stone monuments of, 37-53;
+    the fairies of, 54-95;
+    the sprites and demons of, 96-105;
+    'world-tales' in, 106-155;
+    folk-tales of, 156-172;
+    popular legends of, 173-202;
+    the chateaux of, 202-210;
+    hero-tales of, 211-240;
+    sends help to Owen Glendower in his conflict with the English,
+        234;
+    a British army in, 237;
+    the black art in, 241-253;
+    Arthurian romance in, 254-282;
+    Arthur found Excalibur in, 256;
+    Tristrem in, 270-271, 272;
+    the scene of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 284;
+    the saints of, 332-371;
+    many saints in, 350;
+    costumes of, 372-377;
+    customs of, 378-388;
+    religious observance in, 377-378;
+    holy wells in, 381-382;
+    observances relating to the dead and interments, 382-384,
+        386-388;
+    Calvaries in, 384-385;
+    wedding ceremonies in, 385-386
+
+  BRITTANY, COUNTS AND DUKES OF. _See under_ Alain; Arthur; Blois,
+        Charles of; Conan; Dreux; Eudo; Francis; Geoffrey; Hoel; John;
+        _and_ Salomon
+
+  BRITTIA. Procopius' name for Britain, 383
+
+  BROCELIANDE. A forest in Brittany, 54-73;
+    the shrine of Arthurian story, 55;
+    the Korrigan a denizen of, 56;
+    the scene of the adventures of Merlin and Vivien, 64;
+    the fountain of Baranton in, 70-71;
+    lines on, 71;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72-73;
+    the wood of Hellean a part of, 221;
+    mentioned, 338
+
+  BRODINEUF. A Breton chateau, 207
+
+  BROWNIES. Elfish beings of small size;
+    distinct from fairies, 87
+
+  BRUNHILDA. Queen of Austrasia;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  BRUNO OF LA MONTAGNE. The story of, 72-73
+
+  BRUYANT. A friend of Butor of La Montagne;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72-73
+
+  BUGELNOZ, or TEUS. A beneficent spirit of the Vannes district,
+        100
+
+  BURIAL CUSTOMS. In Brittany, 382-384, 386-388
+
+  BURNS, ROBERT. The poet;
+    his use of old songs and ballads, 211;
+    mentioned, 241
+
+  BURON. A knight;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 318-320
+
+  BUTOR. Baron of La Montagne;
+    in the story of Bruno of La Montagne, 72
+
+  C
+
+  CADOUDAL, GEORGES. A Chouan leader;
+    mentioned, 25
+
+  CAERLEON-UPON-USK. A town in Wales;
+    Tristrem sails for, 263;
+    mentioned, 21
+
+  CAESAR. _See_ Julius
+
+  CALENDAR, THE. Supernatural beings often associated with, 97
+
+  CALIBURN. A name for Excalibur. _See_ Excalibur
+
+  CALLERNISH. A district in the island of Lewis, Outer Hebrides;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  CALVARIES. Representations of the passion on the Cross;
+    common in Brittany, 384-385
+
+  CAMARET. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 41
+
+  CAMELOT. A legendary town in England, the scene of King Arthur's
+        Court;
+    the battle at, in which King Arthur was killed, 344;
+   mentioned, 64
+
+  CANADOS. King Mark's Constable, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde,
+        272
+
+  CANCOET. A village in Brittany;
+    the Maison des Follets at, 49
+
+  CARADEUC. A Breton chateau, 207
+
+  CARDIGAN BAY. A bay in Wales;
+    the site of a submerged city, according to Welsh legend, 187,
+        188
+
+  CARDIGANSHIRE. Welsh county;
+    mentioned, 22
+
+  CARHAIX. A town in Brittany;
+    Comorre the ruler of, 180
+
+  CARNAC. A town in Brittany;
+    the megaliths at, 42-45;
+    the legend of, 44-45;
+    the 'Benediction of the Beasts' at, 45;
+    sometimes called 'Ty C'harriquet,' 98;
+    its megaliths supposed to have been built by the gorics, 98;
+    the gorics' revels around the megaliths of, 99
+
+  CAROLINE. Queen of England, wife of George II;
+    mentioned, 196
+
+  CASTLE OF THE SUN, THE. The story of, 131-137
+
+  CATTWG. A town in Wales;
+    Taliesin and Gildas said to have been educated at the school of,
+        21
+
+  CAYOT DELANDRE, F. M. A Breton poet, 43
+
+  'CELTIC.' The term;
+    its disputed connotation, 37
+
+  CELTS. The race;
+    the Bretons a division of, 14-15;
+    Druidism may not have originated with, 245;
+    musical and poetic elements in the temperament of, 339
+
+  CHAMBER OF THE BLACK CAVALIER. In the ballad of Azenor the Pale,
+        362
+
+  CHAMBORD. A famous French chateau;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  CHAMP DOLENT ('Field of Woe'). The field in which the menhir of Dol
+        stands, 40;
+    the battle in, 40
+
+  CHAMPTOCE. A Breton chateau;
+    the home of Gilles de Retz, 175, 176, 179-180
+
+  CHANGELINGS. The Breton fairies and, 83
+
+  CHANSONS DE GESTES. Medieval French poems with an heroic theme;
+    Villemarque's work marked by the style of, 224-225
+
+  CHANTS POPULAIRES DE LA BRETAGNE. The sub-title of Villemarque's
+        _Barzaz-Breiz_. _See_ _Barzaz-Breiz_
+
+  CHAPELLE DU DUC. A chapel at Treguier, built by Duke John V, 353
+
+  CHARLEMAGNE. The Emperor;
+    mentioned, 225
+
+  CHARLES I (THE BALD). King of France;
+    Nomenoe rises against, 23, 337-338
+
+  CHARLES V. King of France;
+    mentioned, 32
+
+  CHARLES VI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 174
+
+  CHARLES VIII. King of France;
+    Anne of Brittany married to, 36
+
+  CHARLES. A youth;
+    in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine, 115-121
+
+  CHASE, THE. Superstitions of, 301
+
+  CHATEAU DES PAULPIQUETS. A name given to a megalithic structure in
+        Questembert, 49
+
+  CHATEAUX. Of Brittany;
+    their rich legendary and historical associations, 202-203;
+    stories of, 203-210
+
+  CHATEAUBRIAND. Francois-Rene-Auguste, Viscount of;
+    famous French writer and statesman;
+    associated with the chateau of Comburg, 207
+
+  CHATEAUBRIANT. A Breton chateau, 207
+
+  CHATEAUBRIANT. Francoise de Foix, Countess of;
+    a story of her relations with King Francis I and her fate, 207;
+    the chateau of Suscino given to, by Francis I, 210
+
+  CHAVEAU-NARISHKINE, COUNTESS. Restored the chateau of Kerjolet,
+        208
+
+  CHILDEBAT. A Breton king, 366;
+    and St Pol, 367
+
+  CHRAMNE. Son of Clotaire I, King of the Franks, 40
+
+  CHRISTIANITY. St Samson teaches, in Brittany, 17-19;
+    the Curiosolites refuse to receive the teachings of St Malo,
+        342
+
+  CHURCH. The early;
+    hostility of, to the fairies, 56
+
+  CINDERELLA. The story of;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  CISALPINE GAUL. Roman province;
+    had no Druidic priesthood, 245
+
+  CLAIRSCHACH. The Highland harp;
+    replaced as the national instrument by the bagpipe, 229
+
+  CLAUDE. Queen of Francis I of France, 36
+
+  CLEDER. A town in Brittany;
+    St Keenan built a monastery at, 344
+
+  CLERK OF ROHAN, THE. The story of, 189-193
+
+  CLISSON. A Breton chateau, 204-205
+
+  CLISSON, OLIVER DE. A celebrated Breton soldier, Constable of
+        France;
+    fought in the War of the Two Joans, 35, 204;
+    and the chateau of Clisson, 204;
+    and the chateau of Josselin, 205, 206
+
+  CLOTAIRE I. King of the Franks, 40
+
+  COADELAN. The manor of;
+    occupied by Fontenelle, 230, 231;
+    has gone to decay, 232
+
+  COADELAN, THE LADY OF. Her daughter carried off by Fontenelle,
+        229-230
+
+  COAT-SQUIRIOU, MARQUIS OF. In the story of the Youth who did not
+        Know, 106-109
+
+  COCKNO. A place in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones at, 47
+
+  COESORON. A river in Brittany, 17
+
+  COETMAN. The house of, 204
+
+  COETMAN, VISCOUNT OF. A Breton nobleman;
+    mentioned, 204-205
+
+  COETQUEN, TOWER OF. One of the towers in the city wall of Dinan,
+        209
+
+  COIFFES. Of Brittany;
+    specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, 208
+    _See_ Head-dress
+
+  COLE, KING. A half-legendary British king;
+    mentioned, 173
+
+  COLODOC. A name given to St Keenan. _See_ St Keenan
+
+  COMBAT OF SAINT-CAST, THE. The ballad of, 236-238
+
+  COMBOURG. A Breton chateau, 207-208;
+    Chateaubriand associated with, 208
+
+  COMORRE THE CURSED. The story of, 180-184;
+    mentioned, 382
+
+  COMTE DE GABALIS, LE. The Abbe de Villars' work;
+    mentioned, 64
+
+  CONAN I. Count of Brittany (Count of Rennes), 27
+
+  CONAN II. Duke of Brittany;
+    and Duke William of Normandy, 27-29
+
+  CONAN III. Duke of Brittany, 30;
+    patron of Abelard, 248
+
+  CONAN IV. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  CONAN. Father of Morvan, 215
+
+  CONCARNEAU. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42;
+    the chateau of Kerjolet in, 208
+
+  CONCORET. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  CONCURRUS. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  CONNAUGHT. An Irish province;
+    St Keenan a native of, 343
+
+  CONSTANCE. Daughter of Conan IV of Brittany;
+    married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, 30
+
+  CONTES POPULAIRES DE LA HAUTE-BRETAGNE. P. Sebillot's work;
+    cited, 83 _n._
+
+  CORK. A county of Ireland;
+    mentioned, 355
+
+  CORNOUAILLE. A district in Brittany;
+    the ancient Cornubia, 19;
+    formed by immigrants from Britain, 23;
+    Azenor the Pale, a ballad of, 360-364;
+    distinctive national costume in, 372;
+    mentioned, 108
+
+  CORNUBIA. A British kingdom in Armorica, the modern Cornouaille,
+        19
+
+  CORNWALL. An English county, anciently a kingdom;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 257-262;
+    mentioned, 278
+
+  CORSEUL. A town in Brittany;
+    the people of, refuse the teachings of St Malo, 342-343
+
+  CORSTORPHINE. A village near Edinburgh;
+    the legend of the building of the church at, 51
+
+  COSTUME. Breton;
+    specimens of, in the museum at Kerjolet, 208;
+    the faithfulness of the Bretons to their national costume, 372;
+    the varieties of, 372-377;
+    the costume of Cornouaille, 372;
+    of Quimper, 372-373;
+    of the workers of the Escoublac district, 373-374;
+    of the women of Granville, 374;
+    of the women of Ouessant, 374;
+    of the men of St Pol, 375;
+    of Pont l'Abbe and the Bay of Audierne, 376;
+    of Morlaix, 376-377;
+    gala dress in Brittany, 377
+
+  COTES-DU-NORD. One of the departments of Brittany, 13;
+    part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, 19;
+    mentioned, 41, 88, 167, 282, 351
+
+  COUDRE. A maiden;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 319-320
+
+  COURILS. A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, 87, 98-99
+
+  COURONNES DE STE BARBE. Amulets sold at the festival of St Barbe at
+        Le Faouet, 333
+
+  COX, REV. SIR G. W. Cited, 275 _n._
+
+  CRAON. The house of, 174
+
+  CRIONS. A race of gnomes peculiar to the ruins of Tresmalouen, 99
+
+  CROMLECH. The term;
+    its derivation and significance, 38
+
+  CROSS OF THE THOUSAND SAILS. A monument at Guic-sezne, 370
+
+  CRUSADES. Mentioned, 190
+
+  CULROSS. A town in Scotland;
+    St Kentigern born at, 357
+
+  CUP-AND-RING ALTAR. A monument discovered in the Milton of Colquhoun
+        district, Scotland, 47
+
+  CUP-AND-RING MARKINGS. Symbols inscribed on megaliths;
+    their meaning and purpose, 46-48
+
+  CUPID AND PSYCHE. The story of;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  CURIOSOLITAE. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16;
+   the Curiosolites refuse to receive Christian teaching from St Malo,
+        342-343
+
+  CYMBELINE. A half-legendary British king;
+    mentioned, 173
+
+  D
+
+  DAGWORTH, SIR THOMAS. An English knight;
+    at the battle of La Roche-Derrien, 31
+
+  DAHUT. Princess, daughter of Gradlon;
+    in the legend of Ys, 185, 186
+
+  DANAE. A maiden, in Greek mythology, mother of Perseus;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  DAOINE SIDHE. Irish deities, 87
+
+  DAOULAS. A village in Brittany;
+    the statue of the Virgin in the abbey of, adorned with a girdle of
+        rubies, 236
+
+  DEAD, THE. In Breton tradition, supposed to return to earth in the
+        form of birds, 227;
+    food left for, 382-383, 387;
+    burial customs, 382-384, 386-388;
+    the Breton dead ferried over to Britain, 383-384
+
+  DEATH-BIRD. A bird whose note is supposed to portend misfortune to
+        the maiden who hears it, 145, 147
+
+  DEATH-SPIRIT. The Ankou, 101-102
+
+  DEER GOD. A deity of the North American Indians, 301
+
+  DELANDRE, CAYOT. _See_ Cayot
+
+  DEMETER. Greek corn goddess;
+    mentioned, 59
+
+  DEMON LOVER, THE. A Scottish ballad;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  DEMONS. Of Brittany, 96-105;
+    the invariable accompaniment of an illiterate peasantry, 96
+
+  DENIS PYRAMUS. An Anglo-Norman chronicler;
+    on the poems of Marie de France, 284
+
+  DESONELLE, PRINCESS. Heroine of _Sir Torrent of Portugal_;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  DEVIL, THE. The erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to,
+        49;
+    the Teus and, 100
+    _See also_ Satan
+
+  DIANA. Roman moon-goddess;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  DIANCECHT. An Irish god;
+    mentioned, 247
+
+  DINAN.
+    I. A town in Brittany, 194, 195, 209
+    II. The chateau of, 209
+
+  DOL. A town in Brittany;
+    the menhir near, 18, 39-40, 318;
+    St Samson settled near, 18;
+    the Northmen defeated by Alain Barbe-torte near, 26;
+    the legend of the menhir of, 40;
+    Buron lived at, 318;
+    St Turiau, or Tivisiau, associated with, 338-339;
+    the legend of the founding of, by St Samson, 350;
+    the legend of St Budoc of, 353-358
+
+  DOL, BISHOP OF. And St Tivisiau, 338-339
+
+  DOL DES MARCHANDS. The name given to a dolmen near Dol, 48
+
+  DOLMENS. Derivation and meaning of the term, 38;
+    purpose of the monuments, 38-39;
+    the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, 41;
+    the dolmen at Tregunc, 42;
+    the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46;
+    cup-and-ring markings upon, 46-48;
+    the dolmen at Penhapp, 48;
+    the dolmen near the wood of Rocher, 50;
+    the dolmen at La Lande-Marie, 51;
+    the dolmen of Esse, 53;
+    haunted by nains, 96;
+    cup-hollows on, may have been intended as receptacles for food for
+        the dead, 383
+
+  DOLOROUS KNIGHT, THE LAY OF THE, or THE LAY OF THE FOUR SORROWS. One
+        of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 328-331
+
+  DOMNONEE. A county of Brittany, 23
+    _See also_ Domnonia
+
+  DOMNONIA. A British kingdom in Armorica, 19, 27
+    _See also_ Domnonee
+
+  DOTTIN, GEORGES. Cited, 37 _n._
+
+  DOUARNENEZ, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    the city of Ys said to have been situated there, 185
+
+  DRACHENFELS. A famous castle on the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  DREUX, PIERRE DE. Duke of Brittany;
+    defeats John of England at Nantes, 30
+
+  DREZ, JOB ANN. A sexton;
+    in a story of the Yeun, 103-105
+
+  DRUIDISM. In early times, sorcery identified with, 245;
+    the question whether Druidism was of Celtic or non-Celtic origin,
+        245;
+    the nature of the practices of, 245-248;
+    survival of Druidic spells and ritual, 246;
+    an Eastern origin claimed for, 247;
+    survivals of the Druidic priesthood, 247;
+    a college of Druidic priestesses situated near Nantes, 253;
+    mentioned, 53
+    _See also_ Druids
+
+  DRUIDS. Origin of the cult, 245;
+    the nature of their practices, 245-246;
+    in the legend of Kentigern's birth, condemn Thenaw, 357
+    _See also_ Druidism
+
+  DUBLIN. The city;
+    Tristrem comes to, 263;
+    Tristrem's second visit to, 265
+
+  DUBRIC. Archbishop who officiated at the marriage of King Arthur and
+        Guinevere, 67
+
+  DU GUESCLIN, BERTRAND. A famous knight, Constable of France;
+    helps Charles of Blois in the War of the Two Joans, 31-32;
+    a notable figure in Breton legend, 32;
+    buried at Saint-Denis, 32;
+    the legend of the Ward of, 33-35;
+    taken prisoner at the battle of Auray, 35
+
+  DUNGIVEN. A town in Ireland;
+    Druidic ritual still observed at, 246
+
+  DUNPENDER. A mountain in East Lothian, now called Traprain Law;
+    Thenaw cast from, 357
+
+  DUSII. Spirits inhabiting Gaul, 100
+
+  DYLAN. A British sea-god;
+    mentioned, 69
+
+  DYONAS. A god of the Britons;
+    Vivien sometimes represented as the daughter of, 69
+
+  E
+
+  EDINBURGH. The city;
+    mentioned, 51, 60, 203
+
+  EDMUND. King of East Anglia;
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  ELIDUC, THE LAY OF. One of the LAIS of Marie de France, 305-313
+
+  ELLE. A river in Brittany, 19, 332
+
+  ELORN. A river in Brittany, 19
+
+  ELPHIN. Son of the Welsh chieftain Urien;
+    taught by Taliesin, 21
+
+  ELVES. In Teutonic mythology, diminutive spirits;
+    the fairy race of Celtic countries may have been confused with,
+        87
+
+  EMERALD COAST, THE. A district in the southern portion of Brittany,
+        13
+
+  ENGLAND.
+    I. The country;
+      loses its ancient British name, which becomes that of Brittany,
+        17;
+      Bretons who accompanied William the Conqueror receive land in,
+        232;
+      Bretons invade, from Wales, 234;
+      claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+      King Arthur moves against the Emperor Lucius' threatened
+        invasion of, 275;
+      the existence of King Arthur credited in, in the twelfth
+        century, 278;
+      Marie de France lived in, 283
+    II. The State;
+      supports John of Montfort's claim to Brittany, 31
+
+  ENORA. _See_ St Enora
+
+  EQUITAN, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        313-317
+
+  ERDEVEN. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  ERMONIE. A mythical kingdom, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde;
+    Roland Rise, Lord of, 258;
+    Duke Morgan becomes Lord of, 259;
+    Tristrem returns to, 261
+
+  ERNAULT, E. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  ERYRI, MOUNT. King Arthur slew the giant Ritho upon, 277
+
+  ESCOUBLAC. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  ESSE. A village in Brittany;
+    the dolmen of, 53
+
+  ESTAING, PIERRE D'. A French alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  ETANG DE LAVAL. A lake, supposed to cover the site of the submerged
+        city of Ys, 185
+
+  ETHWIJE. Wife of Geoffrey I of Brittany, 196, 198
+
+  EUDO. Count of Brittany, son of Geoffrey I, 27, 29
+
+  EUFUERIEN. King of Cumbria, 357
+
+  EVEN THE GREAT. Breton leader;
+    defeats the Norsemen at the battle of Kerlouan, 225, 227
+
+  EWEN. Son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, 357
+
+  EXCALIBUR. King Arthur's miraculous sword;
+    given to Arthur in Brittany, 256-257;
+    Arthur kills the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel with, 277;
+    mentioned, 280
+
+  EXETER. The city;
+    mentioned, 307
+
+  F
+
+  FABLES. Of Marie de France, 283
+
+  FAIRIES. Credited with the erection of the megalithic monuments,
+        49-52;
+    magically imprisoned in dolmens, trees, and pillars, 52;
+    the fairy lore of Brittany bears evidence of Celtic influence,
+        54;
+    the fairies of Brittany hostile to man, 54, 55-56, 85;
+    the Church the enemy of, 56;
+    what derived from, in folk-lore, 73-74;
+    the varying conceptions of, 73;
+    the Bretons' ideas of, 74-75;
+    the fairies of the _houles_, 75, 88;
+    the fairies' distaste for being recognized, and stories
+        illustrating this, 82;
+    bestow magical sight, 82-83;
+    and changelings, 83;
+    prone to take animal, bird, and fish shapes, 83-84;
+    probable reasons for the fairies' malevolence, 85-86;
+    origin of the fairy idea, 85-87;
+    may have originally been deities, 87;
+    in Brittany, conceived as of average mortal height, 87;
+    the _Margots la fee_, a variety of, 88;
+    a story illustrating fairy malevolence, 88;
+    the fairy-woman in the Lay of Graelent, 322-328
+
+  FAIRYLAND. Graelent enters, 326;
+    identified with the Celtic Otherworld, 327;
+    a place of death and remoteness, 328
+
+  FAIRY-WIFE. A folk-lore _motif_, 327
+
+  FALCON, THE. A ballad, 196-198
+
+  FARMER, CAPTAIN GEORGE. Commander of the _Quebec_;
+    in a Breton ballad, 238
+
+  FAYS. _See_ Fairies
+
+  FEBRUARY. The month;
+    personified in the story of Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  FELIX. Bishop of Quimper, 337
+
+  FEUILLET, OCTAVE. A French novelist;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  FINETTE CENDRON ('Cinderella'). Mme d'Aulnoy's story of;
+    mentioned, 144
+
+  FINISTERE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13;
+    part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, 19;
+    mentioned, 41, 49, 180
+
+  FIONS. A name sometimes given to the fairies in Brittany, occurring
+        also in Scottish and Irish folk-lore, 74
+
+  FIRE-GODDESS. St Barbe probably represents the survival of a, 334
+
+  FIREPLACES in Breton churches, 380-381
+
+  FISHERMAN AND THE FAIRIES, THE. The story of, 80-83
+
+  FLAMEL, NICOLAS. A French alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  FLANDERS. The country;
+    Gugemar in, 292;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  FOLK-TALES. Of Brittany, 156-172
+
+  FONTENELLE, GUY EDER DE. A Breton leader, associated with the
+        Catholic League, 229-232
+
+  FOeRSTER, PROFESSOR WENDELIN. And the origin of Arthurian romance,
+        254
+
+  FORTH. A river in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  FORTH, FIRTH OF. Mentioned, 356, 359
+
+  FOSTER-BROTHER, THE. The story of, 167-172
+
+  FOUCAULT, JEAN. A Breton peasant;
+    a story of, 244
+
+  FOUGERES. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the dwelling-place of sorcerers, 242
+
+  FOUQUET, NICOLAS. A French statesman;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  FOUR SORROWS, THE LAY OF THE, or THE LAY OF THE DOLOROUS KNIGHT. One
+        of the _Lais_ of Marie de France, 328-331
+
+  FRAGAN. Governor of Leon, father of St Winwaloe, 370
+
+  FRANCE.
+    I. The country;
+      manners and fashions of, spread in Brittany, 30;
+      the were-wolf superstition prevalent in, 291
+    II. The State;
+      intervenes in the conflict between Brittany and Normandy, 30;
+      Brittany annexed by, under Francis I, 36
+
+  FRANCIS I. King of France;
+    annexes Brittany to France, 36;
+    and Francoise de Foix, the Countess of Chateaubriant, 207;
+    gives the chateau of Suscino to Francoise de Foix, 210
+
+  FRANCIS I. Duke of Brittany, 36
+
+  FRANKS. The people;
+    exercised a nominal suzerainty over Brittany, 23;
+    Morvan fights with, 216-221;
+    "Morvan will return to drive the Franks from the Breton land,"
+        224
+
+  FRANKS, KING OF THE. In Villemarque's _Barzaz-Breiz_;
+    and Morvan's fight with the Moor, 218-220;
+    Morvan fights with, 220-221;
+    the character drawn in the style of the _chansons de gestes_,
+        224
+
+  FREDEGONDA. Queen of Neustria;
+    mentioned, 31
+
+  FREMIET, EMMANUEL. A French sculptor;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  FRENE. A maiden;
+    in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 318-320
+
+  FULBERT. A canon of Notre-Dame, Paris, uncle of Heloise, 249;
+    mutilated Abelard, 250
+
+  FUNERAL CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. In Brittany, 382-384, 386-388
+
+  G
+
+  GAIDOZ, H. Cited, 212 _n._
+
+  GANHARDIN. Brother of Ysonde of the White Hand;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271-272, 273
+
+  GARB OF OLD GAUL, THE. A song;
+    mentioned, 237
+
+  GARGANTUA. A mythical giant;
+    the erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to, 49
+
+  GARLON, THE CLERK OF. In a legend of the Marquis of Guerande,
+        199-202
+
+  GAVR'INIS ('Goat Island'). An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;
+    the tumulus at, 48;
+    nains' inscriptions on the megaliths of, 98
+
+  GAWAINE, SIR. One of King Arthur's knights;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  GEBER. An Arabian alchemist;
+    mentioned, 175
+
+  GEOFFREY I. Duke of Brittany, 27;
+    in the legend of the Falcon, 196
+
+  GEOFFREY II (PLANTAGENET). Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. An English chronicler;
+    the presentation of Vivien in his work, 69;
+    and the presentation of Merlin, 70;
+    acknowledged a Breton source for his work, 255
+
+  GILDAS. A British chronicler;
+    fellow-pupil with Taliesin at the school of Cattwg, 21;
+    St Keenan associated with, 343;
+    St Bieuzy a friend and disciple of, 345;
+    the bell of, in the chapel at La Roche-sur-Blavet, 345;
+    St Bieuzy dies in the presence of, 346;
+    St Pol of Leon a fellow-student of, 364
+
+  GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. A Welsh chronicler;
+    and the legend of the submerged city, 187
+
+  GIRDLE. Superstition of the, 302
+
+  GLAIN NEIDR. The sea-snake's egg or adder's stone, used in Druidic
+        rites, 247;
+    Heloise, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed,
+        252
+
+  GLASGOW. The city;
+    mentioned, 357, 359
+
+  GOELC. A seigneury of Brittany;
+    a Count of, the father of St Budoc of Dol, 354, 355
+
+  GOEZENOU. A village in Brittany;
+    the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the church of,
+        369;
+    holy well at, 382
+
+  GOIDELIC DIALECT. A Celtic tongue, 15
+
+  GOLDEN BELL, CHATEAU OF THE. In the story of the Youth who did not
+        Know, 111-114
+
+  GOLDEN BELL, PRINCESS. In the story of the Youth who did not Know,
+        110-115
+
+  GOLDEN HERB. A plant supposed in Druidical times to possess magical
+        properties, 247-248
+
+  GOMME, SIR G. L. Cited, 173, 247 _n._
+
+  GORICS. A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, 87, 98-99
+
+  GOULVEN. A village in Brittany;
+    historical tablet in the church of, 225
+
+  GOUVERNAYL. Servitor to Tristrem;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 263, 264
+
+  GRADLON MEUR. A ruler of Ys;
+    in the legend of the city, 185-186;
+    the statue of, at Quimper, 188-189;
+    supposed to have introduced the vine into Brittany, 189
+
+  GRAELENT, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        320-328
+
+  GRAIL. Legend of the;
+    a parallel incident in the Lay of Gugemar and, 301-302
+
+  GRALLO. King of Brittany;
+    and St Ronan, 367
+
+  GRAND MONT. An eminence upon which St Gildas built his abbey, 249
+
+  GRAND TROMENIE. The special celebration of the Pardon of the
+        Mountain held every sixth year, 379-380
+
+  GRANVILLE. A town in Brittany;
+    women's costume in, 374
+
+  GRIFESCORNE. King of the Demons;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 111, 114
+
+  GROABGOARD. An image at Quinipily, 381
+
+  GROTTES AUX FEES. Name given to the megalithic monuments by the
+        Bretons, 48, 49
+
+  GUEMENE. A town in Brittany, 334
+
+  GUERANDE. A town in Brittany, 198
+
+  GUERANDE. Louis-Francois, Marquis of;
+    the story of, 199-202
+
+  GUERECH. Count of Vannes;
+    in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 180-181, 183, 184
+
+  GUGEMAR, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        292-302
+
+  GUIC-SEZNE. A town in Brittany, 370
+
+  GUILDELUEC. Wife of Eliduc, 306-313
+
+  GUILLARDUN. A princess;
+    in the Lay of Eliduc, 307-313
+
+  GUILLEVIC, A. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  GUIMILIAU. A town in Brittany;
+    the Calvary at, 384-385
+
+  GUINDY. A river in Brittany, 167, 220
+
+  GUINEVERE. King Arthur's Queen;
+    mentioned, 67;
+    comforted by St Keenan after Arthur's death, 344
+
+  GUINGAMP. A town in Brittany, 229
+
+  GWEN. Mother of St Winwaloe, 370
+
+  GWENALOE ('He that is white'). The Breton name for St Winwaloe,
+        370
+
+  GWENN-ESTRAD. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  GWENNOLAIK. A maiden of Treguier;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 167-172
+
+  GWENNOLE. A holy man;
+    in the legend of the city of Ys, 185, 186
+
+  GWEZKLEN. The Breton name for Du Guesclin, 32
+    _See_ Du Guesclin
+
+  GWINDELUC. A monk, a disciple of St Convoyon, 335
+
+  GWYDDNO. Twelfth-century Welsh bard;
+    relates the story of the submerged city, 188
+
+  H
+
+  HAINAULT. A Belgian province;
+    mentioned, 328
+
+  HARP, THE. Not now popular in Brittany, but in ancient times one of
+        the national instruments, 228-229
+
+  HATCHET OF BRITTANY, THE. An appellation of Morvan, 221
+
+  HAUTE-BECHEREL. A town in Brittany;
+    pagan temple at, 342
+
+  HEAD-DRESS. Of the women of the Escoublac district, 374;
+    of the women of Ouessant, 374;
+    of the women of Villecheret, 375;
+    of the men of Brittany, does not vary much, 375;
+    headgear of the men of Plougastel, 375;
+    of the women of Muzillac, 376;
+    of the women of Pont l'Abbe and the Bay of Audierne, 376;
+    of the women of Morlaix, 376
+    _See also_ COIFFES
+
+  HEAVEN. An old Breton conception of, 388, 390-391
+
+  HELENA, LADY. Niece of Duke Hoel I of Brittany;
+    carried off by the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, 275, 276
+
+  HELL. In the story of the Bride of Satan, 144;
+    an old Breton conception of, 388-389
+
+  HELLEAN, WOOD OF. A former part of the forest of Broceliande, 221,
+        224
+
+  HELOISE. An abbess, beloved of Abelard;
+    the story of Abelard and, 248-253;
+    in a Breton ballad represented as a sorceress, 250-253
+
+  HENAN. Manor of, in Brittany, 364
+
+  HENDERSON, GEORGE. Cited, 52
+
+  HENNEBONT. A Breton chateau, 206
+
+  HENRY II. King of England, 30;
+    identified as the king to whom Marie of France dedicated her
+        _Lais_, 284
+
+  HENRY III. King of England;
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  HENRY IV. King of France;
+    and Fontenelle, 231-232;
+    mentioned, 204
+
+  HENWG. A Welsh bard;
+    said to be the father of Taliesin, 21
+
+  HERSART DE LA VILLEMARQUE, VICOMTE. Writer on Breton legendary
+        lore;
+    his poem on Nomenoe, 23;
+    his ballad of Alain Barbe-torte, 25-27;
+    and a story of the Clerk of Rohan, 190 _n._;
+    his _Barzaz-Breiz_, 211-212;
+    stories from his _Barzaz-Breiz_, 212-237;
+    indications of the source of his matter, 224-225;
+    and the story of Fontenelle, 230;
+    and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237;
+    on the story of Azenor the Pale, 363, 364;
+    cited, 57 _n._, 65 _n._, 184 _n._, 247
+
+  HERVE. Son of Kyvarnion;
+    the story of the wolf and, 22;
+    mentioned, 390
+
+  HIGHLANDERS. Scottish;
+    in the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237
+
+  HIGHLANDS. Scottish;
+    beliefs in, respecting stones, 52-53;
+    the 'Washing Woman' of, 100
+
+  HILDWALL. A pious man of Angers;
+    St Convoyon lodges with, 336
+
+  HODAIN. A dog;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 267
+
+  HOEL I. Duke of Brittany, 275, 276, 278
+
+  HOEL V. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  HOLGER. A half-mythical Danish hero;
+    mentioned, 212
+
+  HOLMES, T. RICE. Cited, 245 _n._
+
+  HOLY LAND. _See_ Palestine
+
+  HOULES. Caverns;
+    the Bretons suppose fairies to inhabit, 75
+
+  HUON DE MERY. A thirteenth-century writer;
+    on the fountain of Baranton, 71
+
+  HURLERS, THE. A Cornish legend;
+    mentioned, 44
+
+  I
+
+  IBERIANS. A non-Aryan race, supposed to have inhabited Britain;
+    held by Rhys to be the originators of Druidism, 245
+
+  IDA. King of Bernicia;
+    mentioned, 21, 22
+
+  ILE D'ARZ. An island off the coast of Brittany;
+    megaliths in, 48
+
+  ILE-DE-FRANCE. A French province;
+    Marie of France said to have been a native of, 283
+
+  ILE AUX MOINES. An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;
+    megalithic monuments in, 48
+
+  ILE DE SEIN. An island off the Breton coast, 63;
+    St Winwaloe settled on, 371
+
+  ILE-VERTE. An island off the Breton coast;
+    St Winwaloe lived on, 370
+
+  ILLE-ET-VILAINE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13, 39,
+        50
+
+  INVERESK. A village in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 359
+
+  IOUENN. A young man;
+    in the story of the Man of Honour, 147-155
+
+  IRELAND. Markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46;
+    the legend of the submerged city in, 187;
+    the harp anciently the national instrument of, 229;
+    Tristrem in, 264, 265-267;
+    Petranus, father of St Patern, goes to, 347;
+    St Patern meets his father in, 348;
+    many saints in, 350;
+    Azenor and Budoc in, 355-356;
+    Budoc made King of, 356;
+    late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, 364
+
+  IRELAND, KING OF. In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 265, 266
+
+  IRELAND, QUEEN OF. In the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 264-267
+
+  IRMINSUL. A Saxon idol;
+    probable connexion between the menhir and the worship of, 18
+        _n._
+
+  ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. A Spanish ecclesiastic and writer;
+    mentioned, 100
+
+  J
+
+  JANUARY. The month;
+    personified, in the story of the Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  JARGEAU. A town in France;
+    the battle of, 174
+
+  JAUDY. A river in Brittany, 31, 167
+
+  JAUIOZ. A seigneury in Languedoc;
+    the story of Louis, Baron of, 145-146
+
+  JEANNE DARC. The French heroine;
+    mentioned, 174;
+    the play or mystery of, 175
+
+  JOAN OF FLANDERS. Wife of John of Montfort;
+    in the War of the Two Joans, 31
+
+  JOAN OF PENTHIEVRE. _See_ Penthievre
+
+  JOB THE WITLESS. In the story of the Foster-brother, 169
+
+  JOHN (LACKLAND). King of England;
+    mentioned, 30
+
+  JOHN III. Duke of Brittany, 30
+
+  JOHN IV. Duke of Brittany
+    _See_ Montfort, John of
+
+  JOHN V. Duke of Brittany, son of the famous John of Montfort,
+        35-36;
+    and Gilles de Retz, 179;
+    built a magnificent tomb for St Yves, 353
+
+  JOHN. Duke of Chalons;
+    the chateau of Suscino given to, 210
+
+  JOSSELIN. A Breton chateau, 205-206
+
+  JOYOUS GARDEN. A garden raised by enchantment by Merlin to please
+        Vivien, 66;
+    mentioned, 67, 69
+
+  JUD-HAEL. A Breton chieftain;
+    the vision of, 20-21
+
+  JUDIK-HAEL. A Breton chieftain, son of Jud-Hael, 21
+
+  JULIUS CAESAR. On the Druids of Gaul, 245
+
+  K
+
+  KADO THE STRIVER. A Breton peasant, leader of a revolt, 197-198
+
+  KARNAK. A village in Egypt;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  KARO. Son of a Breton chieftain;
+    in a story of Nomenoe, 23-25
+
+  KAY, SIR. King Arthur's seneschal, 275
+
+  KENNEDY. A character in a Highland tale, 51
+
+  KERGARIOU, COMTE DE. And the story of Fontenelle, 230
+
+  KERGIVAS. A place in Brittany;
+    the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the manor of,
+        369
+
+  KERGOALER, COUEDIC DE. Captain of the _Surveillante_;
+    in a Breton ballad, 238
+
+  KERGONAN. A village in the Ile aux Moines;
+    megaliths at, 48
+
+  KERIDWEN. A fertility goddess who dwelt in Lake Tegid, Wales;
+    mentioned, 59
+
+  KER-IS. A name of the city of Ys, 185
+    _See_ Ys
+
+  KERJOLET. A Breton chateau, 208
+
+  KERLAZ. A village in Brittany, 232
+
+  KERLESCANT. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  KERLOUAN. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, between Norsemen and Bretons, 225;
+    the oak on the battlefield at, 227
+
+  KERMARIO. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  KERMARTIN. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves born at, 350
+
+  KERMORVAN. A place in Brittany;
+    Yves the Seigneur of, in the ballad of Azenor the Pale, 360-363
+
+  KERODERN, MICHEL DE. A Breton missionary, 390
+
+  KEROUEZ. An old chateau;
+    in the story of the Seigneur with the Horse's Head, 137
+
+  KERSANTON. A place in Brittany;
+    stone from, forms the Calvary of Guimiliau, 385
+
+  KERVRAN. A village in Brittany;
+    the warrior Bran taken prisoner at, 225
+
+  KING OF THE ANTS. In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        118, 119, 120
+
+  KING OF THE BIRDS. In the story of the Youth who did not Know,
+        111, 113
+
+  KING OF THE FISHES. In a tale from Saint-Cast, 84-85;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 110, 114
+
+  KING OF THE LIONS. In the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        118, 119, 120
+
+  KING OF THE SPARROW-HAWKS. In the story of the Princess of
+        Tronkolaine, 118, 119
+
+  KIPLING, RUDYARD. Quoted, 86
+
+  KORRIGAN, THE. A forest fairy;
+    a denizen of Broceliande, 56;
+    in the story of the Seigneur of Nann, 57-58;
+    associated with water, an element of fertility, 59;
+    an enchantress, 60;
+    in the story of the Unbroken Vow, 62-63;
+    desired union with humanity, 64;
+    mentioned, 69, 98
+
+  KYVARNION. A British bard, father of Herve, 22
+
+  L
+
+  LADY OF LA GARAYE, THE. Poem by Mrs Norton;
+    quoted, 194, 195, 196
+
+  LADY OF THE LAKE. In Arthurian legend, Vivien;
+    foster-mother of Lancelot, 69, 257;
+    of Breton origin, 256;
+    gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, 256-257
+    _See also_ Vivien
+
+  LA GARAYE. A Breton chateau, near Dinan;
+    the story of the Lady of, 195
+
+  LAILOKEN. A character in early British legend;
+    mentioned, 70
+
+  LAIS. Of Marie de France;
+    their value in the study of Breton lore, 283;
+    date and other circumstances of their composition, 283-284;
+    stories from, 284-289, 292-331
+
+  LAKE OF ANGUISH, THE. A lake in Hell;
+    in the story of the Bride of Satan, 144;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 146
+
+  LA LANDE MARIE. A place in Brittany;
+    the dolmen at, 51
+
+  LANCELOT, SIR. One of the Knights of the Round Table, son of King
+        Ban of Benwik;
+    stolen and brought up by Vivien, 257;
+    does not appear in Celtic legend, 257;
+    mentioned, 64, 69
+
+  LANDEVENNEC. A town in Brittany;
+    a chapel of St Nicholas at, 345;
+    a monastery built at, by St Winwaloe, 371
+
+  LANDIVISIAU. A town in Brittany, 338;
+    fine carvings in the church of, 339-340
+
+  LANDEGU. A village in Cornwall;
+    St Keenan at, 344
+
+  LANGOAD. A town in Brittany, 198
+
+  LANGUAGE. Brezonek, the tongue of the Bretons, 15;
+    the old Breton tongue closely similar to Welsh, 15;
+    the Latin tongue did not spread over Brittany, 17
+
+  LARGOET. A Breton chateau, 206
+
+  LA ROCHE-BERNARD. A town in Brittany, 376
+
+  LA ROCHE-SUR-BLAVET. A place in Brittany;
+    a retreat of Gildas and St Bieuzy, 345
+
+  LA ROCHE-DERRIEN. A place in Brittany;
+    battle at, 31
+
+  LA ROCHE-JAGU. A Breton chateau, 203-204
+
+  LA ROSE. A young man;
+    in the story of the Magic Rose, 156-162
+
+  LATIN. The language;
+    did not spread over Brittany, 17
+
+  LAUSTIC, THE LAY OF. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        302-305
+
+  LAVAL, GILLES DE. _See_ Retz
+
+  LAVAL, JEAN DE. Governor of Brittany, 207;
+    married to Francoise de Foix, Countess of Chateaubriant, 207
+
+  LAY OF THE WERE-WOLF, THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        284-289
+
+  LEAGUE, THE. A Catholic organization formed against the Huguenots,
+        205, 206;
+    Fontenelle associated with, 229
+
+  LE BRAZ, ANATOLE. Cited, 102, 184 _n._
+
+  LE CLERC, L. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  LE CROISIC. A town in Brittany, 373
+
+  LE FAOUET. A village in Brittany;
+    the chapel of St Barbe near, 332-333, 334-335
+
+  LEGEND. The meaning of the term, 173
+
+  LE GOFF, P. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  LE GRAND, A. Cited, 184 _n._
+
+  LEGUER. A town in Brittany, 220
+
+  LEGUER, LAKE OF. In the story of the Princess Starbright, 121,
+        131
+
+  LELIAN. Father of St Tivisiau, 338
+
+  LE MOUSTOIR-LE-JUCH. A village in Brittany;
+    fireplace in the church of, 381
+
+  LEO IV. Pope;
+    Nomenoe sends gifts to, 337;
+    and St Convoyon, 337
+
+  LEON.
+    I. A county of Brittany, 23, 143, 212, 225, 226, 229,
+        356, 367, 388
+    II. The see of;
+      given to St Pol, 367
+
+  LE ROUZIC, ZACHARIE. A Breton archaeologist;
+    mentioned, 45
+
+  LEWIS. An island in the Outer Hebrides;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  LEYDEN, JOHN. A Scottish poet and Orientalist;
+    his treatment of legendary material, 211
+
+  LEZAT. A town in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  LEZ-BREIZ, MORVAN. _See_ Morvan
+
+  LIEUE DE GREVE. A place in Brittany;
+    Arthur's fight with the dragon of, 278-281
+
+  LIVONIA. The country;
+    were-wolf superstition in, 290
+
+  LLANVITHIN. A village in Wales;
+    mentioned, 21
+
+  LOC-CHRIST. Monastery of, built under the persuasion of St Winwaloe,
+        370-371
+
+  LOCMARIA. A place in Brittany, 199
+
+  LOCMARIAQUER. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  LOGRES. An ancient British kingdom;
+    in the Lay of Eliduc, 306-311
+
+  LOGUIVY-PLOUGRAS. A town in Brittany, 137
+
+  LOHANEC. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves incumbent of, 351
+
+  LOHENGRIN. A knight, in German legend;
+    mentioned, 137
+
+  LOIRE. The river;
+    mentioned, 16, 174, 253
+
+  LOIRE-INFERIEURE. One of the departments of Brittany, 13
+
+  LONDON. The city;
+    mentioned, 31, 99
+
+  LONG MEG. A Cumberland legend;
+    mentioned, 44
+
+  LONGSWORD, WILLIAM. Earl of Salisbury;
+    identified as the nobleman to whom Marie of France dedicated her
+        _Fables_, 284
+
+  LORELEI. A water-spirit of the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 64
+
+  LORGNEZ. A Frankish chieftain;
+    Morvan fights with, and slays, 217-218
+
+  LOST DAUGHTER, THE. The story of, 75-80
+
+  LOT. King of Lothian, grandfather of St Kentigern, 357
+
+  LOTHIAN. A district in Scotland, formerly a kingdom;
+    mentioned, 357, 359
+
+  LOTHIAN, EAST. A county of Scotland;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  LOUDEAC. An _arrondissement_ of Brittany, 88
+
+  LOUGH NEAGH. A lake in Ireland;
+    according to Irish legend, the site of submerged city, 187
+
+  LOUIS I (THE PIOUS). King of France;
+    places the native chieftain Nomenoe over Brittany, 23;
+    St Convoyon visits, to obtain confirmation of grants, 335
+
+  LOUIS IX. King of France;
+    mentioned, 208
+
+  LOUIS XI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 36, 205
+
+  LOUIS XII. King of France;
+    Anne of Brittany married to, 36
+
+  LOUIS XV. King of France;
+    honours the Count of La Garaye, 195
+
+  LOUIS. Baron of Jauioz;
+    the story of, 145-147
+
+  LOUVRE, THE. A palace in Paris;
+    mentioned, 206
+
+  LUCIUS. Roman consul, sometimes referred to as Emperor;
+    King Arthur moves against, 275
+
+  LUZEL, F. M. His _Guerziou Breiz-Izel_, mentioned, 211
+
+  LYONESSE. A legendary kingdom near Cornwall, 257
+
+  M
+
+  MACCULLOCH, J. R. Cited, 59 _n._, 70, 102, 188 _n._, 189
+        _n._, 381
+
+  MACCUNN, HAMISH. Composer;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  MACHUTES. _See_ St Malo
+
+  MACPHERSON, JAMES. A Scottish poet;
+    mentioned, 23, 211
+
+  MACRITCHIE, D. Cited, 74
+
+  MAC-TIERNS ('Sons of the Chief'). A name given to Brian and Alain,
+        sons of Count Eudo, 29
+
+  MAGEEN. Mother of St Tivisiau, 338
+
+  MAGIC. _See_ Sorcery
+
+  MAGIC ROSE, THE. The story of, 156-162
+
+  MAH[=A]BH[=A]RATA. A Hindu epic;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  MAISON DES FOLLETS. A name given to a megalithic structure at
+        Cancoet, 49
+
+  MAMAU, Y. Welsh deities, 87
+
+  MAN OF HONOUR, THE. The story of, 147-155
+
+  MARAUD. A peasant;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75-77
+
+  MARCH. The month;
+    personified in the story of Princess Starbright, 128-129
+
+  MARGAWSE. Sister of King Arthur, wife of King Lot of Lothian, 357
+
+  MARGOTS LA FEE, LES. Fairies which inhabit large rocks and the
+        moorlands, 88
+
+  MARGUERITE. A maiden, avenged by Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  MARIE DE FRANCE. A twelfth-century French poetess;
+    acknowledged Breton sources for her work, 255, 283;
+    the _Lais_ and _Fables_ of, 283-284;
+    personal history, 283;
+    stories from the _Lais_, 284-331;
+    and the Lay of Laustic, 302;
+    and the Lay of Eliduc, 305-306;
+    and the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, 328, 330-331
+
+  MARK. King of Cornwall;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-274
+
+  MARK. King of Vannes;
+    and St Pol of Leon, 364
+
+  MAROT, CLAUDE TOUSSAINT. Count of La Garaye;
+    the story of, 194-196
+
+  MARRIAGE. Costume of the bride in the Escoublac district, 374;
+    the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clarte made the occasion of
+        betrothals, 378;
+    wedding customs, 385-386
+
+  MARRIAGE-GIRDLE, THE. The ballad of, 234-236
+
+  MARSEILLES. The city;
+    mentioned, 195
+
+  MATSYS, QUENTIN. A Flemish painter;
+    the well of, at Antwerp, 205
+
+  MATTHEW. Seigneur of Beauvau;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 189-193
+
+  MAUNOIR. A Jesuit Father, 388
+
+  MAURON. A town in Brittany;
+    battle at, 31
+
+  MAY, ISLE OF. An island in the Firth of Forth, 357
+
+  MAYENNE. Charles de Lorraine, Duke of;
+    one of the leaders of the Catholic League, 229
+
+  MEGALITHS. The derivation and meaning of the terms 'menhir' and
+        'dolmen,' 37-38;
+    nature and purpose of the monuments, 38-39;
+    the menhir of Dol, and its legend, 39-41;
+    the chapel-dolmen at Plouaret, 41;
+    the megaliths at Camaret, 41;
+    at Penmarch, 41;
+    at Carnac, 42-45;
+    the tumulus at Mont-Saint-Michel, 45;
+    the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46;
+    'cup-and-ring' markings, 46-48;
+    the gallery of Gavr'inis, 48;
+    the megaliths of the Ile aux Moines and the Ile d'Arz, 48;
+    folk-beliefs associated with the monuments, 48-53;
+    tales connected with them, 52;
+    the question of the date of their erection, 53;
+    the nains' inscriptions upon, 97-98;
+    the megaliths of Carnac supposed to have been built by the gorics,
+        98
+    _See also_ Menhir _and_ Dolmens
+
+  MELUSINE. A fairy, in French folk-lore;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  MENAO. A place in Wales;
+    battle of, 22
+
+  MENEAC. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  MENHIR. A megalithic monument, 18;
+    the menhir of Dol, 18, 39-40;
+    probably connected with pillar-worship and Irminsul-worship, 18
+        _n._;
+    derivation and meaning of the term, 38;
+    purpose of the monuments, 38-39
+
+  MERIADOK. A Cornish knight;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 269, 272
+
+  MERIADUS. A Breton chieftain;
+    in the Lay of Gugemar, 299-301
+
+  MERLIN. An enchanter, in Arthurian legend;
+    meets Vivien in Broceliande, and is afterward enchanted by her
+        there, 65-69;
+    his relationship with Vivien as presented in Arthurian legend,
+        69;
+    the varying conceptions of, 70;
+    the typical Druid or wise man of Celtic tradition, 70;
+    protects Arthur in his combat with Sir Pellinore, 256;
+    and Arthur's finding of Excalibur, 256-257
+
+  MEZLEAN. A place in Brittany, 362, 363;
+    the Clerk of, in the ballad of Azenor the Pale, 361-363
+
+  MILTON OF COLQUHOUN. A district in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones found in, 47
+
+  MINIHY. A town in Brittany;
+    St Yves' will and breviary preserved in the church of, 353
+
+  MODRED, SIR. Nephew of King Arthur;
+    his contest with the King, 344
+
+  MONCONTOUR. A village in Brittany, 242
+
+  MONEDUC. Mother of St Nennocha, 340
+
+  MONTAGNES D'ARREE, or AREZ. A mountain chain in Brittany;
+    the Yeun in, 102;
+    mentioned, 235
+
+  MONTALEMBERT, COMTE DE. His _Moines d'Occident_, cited, 19
+
+  MONTFORT, JOHN OF. Duke of Brittany (John IV);
+    disputes the succession to the Dukedom, 30-32, 35-36;
+    captures the chateau of Suscino, 210;
+    mentioned, 204
+
+  MONTMORENCY. The house of;
+    mentioned, 174
+
+  MONTREUIL-SUR-MER. A town in the Pas-de-Calais, France;
+    St Winwaloe's body preserved at, 371
+
+  MONT-SAINT-MICHEL.
+    I. A tumulus, 45-46
+    II. An island off the coast of Brittany, 45 _n._;
+      King Arthur's fight with the giant of, 275;
+      mentioned, 103
+
+  MOOR, THE. In a story of Morvan;
+    Morvan's fight with, 218-220;
+    the character of, probably drawn from Carlovingian legend, 225
+
+  MOORS, THE. Mentioned, 225
+
+  MOORE, THOMAS. The poet;
+    quoted, 187
+
+  MORAUNT. An Irish ambassador at the English Court;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 262-263, 264, 266
+
+  MORBIHAN.
+    I. One of the departments of Brittany, 13, 48, 49;
+      the nains' inscriptions on the megaliths of, 98;
+      the Pardon of Notre Dame de la Clarte held in, 378
+    II. An inland sea or gulf in the south of Brittany, (Gulf of
+        Morbihan);
+    naval battle between the Romans and Veneti probably took place in,
+        16;
+    mentioned, 48
+
+  MORGAN, DUKE. A Cymric chieftain;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261-262
+
+  MORIN. A priest, 388
+
+  MORLAIX. A town in Brittany;
+    the castle of, haunted by gorics, 99;
+    the teursts of the district of, 100;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 106, 107, 108,
+        109;
+    national costume in, 376-377
+
+  MORTE D'ARTHUR. Malory's romance;
+    the presentation of Vivien in, 69;
+    Arthur's finding of Excalibur related in, 256;
+    incident in, paralleled in the Lay of Gugemar, 301-302;
+    mentioned, 257
+
+  MORVAN LEZ-BREIZ. A famous Breton hero of the ninth century, 212;
+    stories of, 212-224;
+    tradition that he will return to "drive the Franks from the Breton
+        land," 224
+
+  MOURIOCHE, THE. A malicious demon, 101
+
+  MUeLLER, W. MAX. Mentioned, 358
+
+  MURILLO. A celebrated Spanish painter;
+    paintings by, in the chateau of Caradeuc, 207
+
+  MUT. An Egyptian goddess;
+    mentioned, 43
+
+  MUZILLAC. A town in Brittany;
+    head-dress of the women of, 376
+
+  N
+
+  NAINS. A race of demons;
+    their character, 96-98;
+    guardians of hidden treasure, 99
+
+  NAMNETES. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  NANN, THE SEIGNEUR OF. The story of, 57-59
+
+  NANTES. A city in Brittany;
+    in a ballad, represented as the scene of magical exploits of
+        Abelard and Heloise, 253;
+    traditionally associated with sorcery, 253;
+    Equitan the King of, 313;
+    the scene of the Lay of the Dolorous Knight, 328;
+    Nomenoe obtains possession of, 338;
+    mentioned, 17, 30, 168, 169, 170, 180, 337
+
+  NANTES. The castle of, 205
+
+  NEOLITHIC AGE. The race which built the stone monuments of Brittany
+        probably belonged to, 37 _n._
+
+  NEVET. Forest of, in Leon, 367
+
+  NEVEZ. A town in Brittany, 190
+
+  NEW CALEDONIA. An island in the Pacific;
+    markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46-47
+
+  NICOLE, THE. A mischievous spirit, 100-101
+
+  NIGHTINGALE, THE LAY OF THE. One of the _Lais_ of Marie de France,
+        302
+
+  NIGHT-WASHERS. A race of supernatural beings, 100
+
+  NIMUE. A name under which Vivien, the Lady of the Lake, appears in
+        some romances, 69;
+    mentioned, 256
+    _See_ Vivien
+
+  NOGENT. Sister of Gugemar, 292
+
+  NOGENT-SUR-SEINE. A town in France;
+    the abbey at, founded by Abelard, and made over by him to Heloise,
+        249;
+    Abelard and Heloise buried at, 250
+
+  NOLA. A youth;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 170-171
+
+  NOMENOE. A Breton chieftain, afterward King of Brittany;
+    rises against Charles the Bald and defeats him, 23, 337-338;
+    a story of, 23-25;
+    and St Convoyon, 335, 336, 337;
+    sends gifts to Pope Leo IV, 337;
+    burns the abbey of Saint-Florent, 337
+
+  NORMANDY. The duchy;
+    early relations of Brittany with, 27-30
+
+  NORMANS. The Bretons rise against, 196-198;
+    spread the Arthur legend, 254, 255;
+    mentioned, 338
+
+  NOROUAS. Personification of the north-west wind;
+    a story of, 163-167
+
+  NORTHMEN, NORSEMEN. Invade Brittany, 25;
+    defeated by Alain Barbe-torte and expelled from Brittany,
+        25-27;
+    the battle of Kerlouan between the Bretons and, 225
+
+  NORTH-WEST WIND, THE. Personification of;
+    a story of, 163-167
+
+  NORTON, MRS. An English poetess;
+    her _Lady of La Garaye_, quoted, 194, 195, 196
+
+  N'OUN DOARE. A youth;
+    in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 106-115
+
+  NUTT, A. Cited, 99 _n._, 254
+
+  O
+
+  OBERON. King of the fairies;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  OEDIPUS. King of Thebes;
+    mentioned, 357
+
+  OGIER THE DANE. One of the paladins of Charlemagne;
+    entered Fairyland, 326
+
+  OLAUS MAGNUS. A sixteenth-century Swedish ecclesiastic and writer;
+    mentioned, 290
+
+  ORIDIAL. Father of Gugemar, 292
+
+  ORIGEN. One of the Fathers of the early Church;
+    and St Barbe, 333
+
+  ORLEANS. The city;
+    the siege of (1428-29), 174;
+    the play or mystery of, on Jeanne Darc, 175;
+    mentioned, 229
+
+  OSISMII. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  OSSIAN. A semi-legendary Celtic bard and warrior;
+    mentioned, 211
+
+  OSSORY. A district in Ireland;
+    emigration from, to Brittany, 22
+
+  OTHERWORLD. The Celtic, 171-172;
+    Fairyland identified with, 327
+
+  OUESSANT. An island off the coast of Brittany;
+    St Pol in, 365;
+    the costume of the women of, 374-375
+
+  OUST. A river in Brittany, 205
+
+  OWAIN. A Welsh chieftain, son of Urien;
+    Taliesin the bard of, 22
+
+  OWEN GLENDOWER. A Welsh chieftain;
+    the Bretons send an expedition to help, in his conflict with the
+        English, 234
+
+  P
+
+  PALESTINE. Mentioned, 145, 190, 269, 302
+
+  PARACLETE ('Comforter'). Name given by Abelard to his abbey at
+        Nogent, 249;
+    Abelard and Heloise buried at, 250
+
+  PARDONS. Religious pilgrimage festivals of the Bretons, 378-380
+
+  PARIS. The city;
+    mentioned, 108, 109, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118,
+        119, 120-121, 156, 157, 158, 195, 208, 229,
+        230-231, 351
+
+  PARIS, GASTON. A noted French philologist;
+    claims that Arthurian romance originated in Wales, 254;
+    identifies the persons to whom Marie de France dedicated her
+        _Lais_ and _Fables_, 284
+
+  PASSAGE DE L'ENFER. An arm of the sea over which the Breton dead
+        were supposed to be ferried, 383
+
+  PATAY. A village in Loiret, France;
+    the battle of, 174
+
+  PAVIA. A city in Italy;
+    Francis I of France taken prisoner at, 207
+
+  PELLINORE, SIR. One of the Knights of the Round Table;
+    Arthur broke his sword in combat with, 256
+
+  PEMBROKESHIRE. Welsh county;
+    St Samson a native of, 17
+
+  PENATES. Household gods of the Romans;
+    mentioned, 53
+
+  PEN-BAS. A cudgel carried by the men of Cornouaille, 372;
+    rarely carried by the men of St Pol, 375
+
+  PENHAPP. A village in the Ile aux Moines;
+    dolmen at, 48
+
+  PENMARCH. A town in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 41;
+    Ty C'harriquet near, 49;
+    a fireplace in the church of St Non at, 381
+
+  PENRAZ. A village in the Isle of Arz;
+    megaliths at, 48
+
+  PENTECOST. A Jewish festival;
+    mentioned, 324
+
+  PENTHIEVRE. A former county of Brittany, 27, 205
+
+  PENTHIEVRE. Joan of;
+    wife of Charles of Blois, 30;
+    in the War of the Two Joans, 31;
+    her marriage to Charles, 32
+
+  PENTHIEVRE. Stephen, Count of, 208
+
+  PERCIVAL. Hero of _Percival le Gallois_;
+    analogy between his flight and that of Morvan, 224
+
+  PERCIVAL LE GALLOIS. Arthurian saga;
+    mentioned, 224
+
+  PERE LA CHIQUE. An old man;
+    in the story of the Magic Rose, 159-160, 162
+
+  PERGUET. A village in Brittany;
+    the fireplace in the church of St Bridget at, 381
+
+  PERSEUS. A mythical Greek hero;
+    mentioned, 357, 358
+
+  PERTHSHIRE. Scottish county;
+    the 'Washing Woman' in, 100
+
+  PETRANUS. Father of St Patern, 347
+
+  PHILIP VI. King of France;
+    mentioned, 30
+
+  PICTS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany, to escape, 17;
+    the legend that they built the original church of Corstorphine,
+        near Edinburgh, 51;
+    "wee fouk but unco' strang," 99
+
+  PIGS. St Pol taught the people to keep, 366
+
+  PILLAR-WORSHIP. Probable connexion of the menhir with, 18 _n._
+
+  PILLARS. Tales of spirits enclosed in, 52
+
+  PLACE OF SKULLS, THE. In the story of the Bride of Satan, 144
+
+  PLELAN. A town in Brittany;
+    St Convoyon removes to, from Redon, 338
+
+  PLESTIN-LES-GREVES. A town in Brittany;
+    St Efflam buried in the church of, 281
+
+  PLOERMEL. A town in Brittany;
+    St Nennocha founded her monastery at, 340
+
+  PLOUARET. A town in Brittany;
+    the dolmen-chapel at, 41
+
+  PLOUBALAY. A town in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, 81
+
+  PLOUBER. A town in Brittany, 199, 202
+
+  PLOUGASTEL. A town in Brittany;
+    the costume of the men of, 375;
+    the Calvary of, 384
+
+  PLOUHARNEL. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  PLOURIN. A village in Brittany;
+    St Budoc lived at, 356
+
+  POITOU. A former county of France;
+    ravaged by Nomenoe, 337;
+    mentioned, 176
+
+  POMPONIUS MELA. A Roman geographer;
+    quoted, 63
+
+  PONT L'ABBE. A town in Brittany;
+    national costume in, 376
+
+  PONT-AVEN. A village in Brittany, 364
+
+  PONTIVY. A town in Brittany;
+    chapel to St Noyola at, 360
+
+  PONTORSON. A town in Brittany, 275
+
+  POOR, THE. Regard paid to, at Breton festivals and ceremonies,
+        387
+
+  PORSPODER. A town in Brittany;
+    St Budoc lands at, and dwells in, 356
+
+  POULDERGAT, MANNAIK DE. The bride-to-be of Silvestik, 232
+
+  PRAGUE. Capital of Bohemia;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  PRELATI. An alchemist of Padua, employed by Gilles de Retz, 176,
+        178-179
+
+  PRINCESS STARBRIGHT, THE. The story of, 121-131;
+    mentioned, 153
+
+  PRINCESS OF TRONKOLAINE, THE. The story of, 115-121
+
+  PROCOPIUS. A Byzantine historian;
+    on a Breton burial custom, 383-384
+
+  PROP OF BRITTANY, THE. Name given to Morvan, chieftain of Leon,
+        212;
+    stories of, 212-224
+
+  Q
+
+  QUEBAN. Wife of King Grallo;
+    St Ronan discovers her fault, 368
+
+  QUEBEC, THE. A British vessel;
+    her fight with the _Surveillante_, 238-240
+
+  QUEEN ANNE'S TOWER. Name of the keep of the chateau of Dinan, 209
+
+  QUESTEMBERT. A town in Brittany;
+    the Chateau des Paulpiquets at, 49
+
+  QUIBERON. A town in Brittany, 46
+
+  QUIMPER. A city in Brittany;
+    St Convoyon Bishop of, 335;
+    national costume in, 372-373;
+    mentioned, 186, 188
+
+  QUIMPER, COUNT OF. In a story of Morvan, 213, 216
+
+  Quimperle. A town in Brittany;
+    the chateau of Rustefan near, 208;
+    St Goezenou killed at the building of the monastery at, 370
+
+  R
+
+  RAMA. A hero in Hindu mythology;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  R[=A]M[=A]YANA. A Hindu epic;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  RAOUL LE GAEL. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  RAVELSTON QUARRY. A quarry near Edinburgh;
+    mentioned, 51
+
+  REDON or RODON. A town in Brittany;
+    the abbey of: founded by St Convoyon, 335-336;
+    the bones of St Apothemius carried to, 336;
+    the bones of St Marcellinus carried to, 337;
+    Nomenoe takes spoil from the Abbey of Saint-Florent to, 337;
+    St Convoyon removes from, 338;
+    St Convoyon buried at, 338
+
+  REDONES. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16
+
+  REGINALD. Bishop of Vannes, 335, 336
+
+  REID, GENERAL JOHN. The composer of _The Garb of Old Gaul_, 238
+
+  REINACH, SALOMON. Cited, 53
+
+  RELIGION. Brittany the most religious of the French provinces,
+        377;
+    the religious element in the Breton character, 377-378
+
+  RELIQUARIES. In Brittany, 382
+
+  REMUS. In Roman legend, brother of Romulus;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE. References to, 205, 206, 209
+
+  RENE. Constable of Naples, 190
+
+  RENNES. A city in Brittany;
+    the scene of Nomenoe's vengeance, 23-25;
+    the Counts of, gain ascendancy in Brittany, 27;
+    the marriage of Charles of Blois and Joan of Penthievre at, 32;
+    Robert the sorcerer dwelt in, 242;
+    Nomenoe obtains possession of, 338;
+    mentioned, 17, 181, 195
+
+  RESTALRIG. A village near Edinburgh;
+    the well of St Triduana at, 59-60
+
+  RETIERS. A town in Brittany the Roches aux Fees at, 51
+
+  RETZ, or RAIS. A district in Brittany, 23, 174
+
+  RETZ, CARDINAL DE. A French politician and writer;
+    imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205
+
+  RETZ, GILLES DE. A Breton nobleman;
+    a story of, 173-180;
+    the identification of, with Bluebeard, 174, 180
+
+  REVOLUTION, FRENCH. Of 1789;
+    mentioned, 188, 195, 338, 353, 369
+
+  REVUE CELTIQUE. Cited, 212 _n._
+
+  RHEINSTEIN. A famous castle on the Rhine;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  RHINE. The river;
+    mentioned, 203
+
+  RHUYS. _See_ St Gildas de Rhuys
+
+  RHYS, SIR JOHN. And the origin of Druidism, 245;
+    mentioned, 70
+
+  RICHARD II. Duke of Normandy;
+    mentioned, 196
+
+  RICHELIEU, CARDINAL. A famous French statesman;
+    the chateau of Tonquedec demolished by order of, 204
+
+  RIEUX, JEAN DE. Marshal of Brittany;
+    leader of the expedition to help Owen Glendower, 234
+
+  RITHO. A giant whom King Arthur slew, 277
+
+  ROAD OF ST POL, THE. Name given by Breton peasants to a megalithic
+        avenue, 365
+
+  ROBERT I. Duke of Normandy, 28
+
+  ROBERT. A sorcerer who dwelt in Rennes, 242-243
+
+  ROBERT DE VITRY. A Breton knight, 29
+
+  ROCENAUD. A village in Brittany;
+    dolmen at, 46
+
+  ROCEY. The house of, 174
+
+  ROCHE-MARCHE-BRAN. A rocky hill;
+    the chapel of St Barbe built on, 335
+
+  ROCHER, THE WOOD OF. The dolmen near, 50
+
+  ROCHERS. A Breton chateau;
+    Mme Sevigne associated with, 208
+
+  ROCHES AUX FEES. Name given to the megalithic monuments by the
+        Bretons, 49;
+    near Saint-Didier-et-Marpire, 50;
+    in Rhetiers, 51;
+    supposed to be the meeting-place of sorcerers, 243
+
+  ROCKFLOWER. A fairy maiden;
+    in a tale from Saint-Cast, 83
+
+  RODRIGUEZ, FATHER. Mentioned, 47
+
+  ROE. A river in Ireland;
+    Druidic ritual associated with, 246
+
+  ROGER. An English knight;
+    in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  ROHAN. The house of, 206
+
+  ROHAN. Alain, Viscount of, 189
+
+  ROHAN. Jeanne de, daughter of Alain de Rohan;
+    in the story of the Clerk of Rohan, 189-193
+
+  ROHAND. A vassal of Roland;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 260-261, 262
+
+  ROLAND, SIR. A knight;
+    in the story of the Unbroken Vow, 60-63
+
+  ROLAND RISE. A Cymric chieftain, Lord of Ermonie;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258-259, 261
+
+  ROLLESTON, T. W. Cited, 246
+
+  ROLLO. A famous Norse leader, first Duke of Normandy;
+    mentioned, 28
+
+  ROMANS, THE. In Brittany, 16
+
+  ROME. The city;
+    mentioned, 196, 337
+
+  ROMULUS. In Roman legend, the founder of Rome;
+    mentioned, 357, 358
+
+  RON. The name of King Arthur's lance, 280
+
+  ROND. A dance performed at weddings, 385-386
+
+  ROSAMOND. Mistress of Henry II of England (Rosamond Clifford, 'the
+        Fair Rosamond');
+    mentioned, 284
+
+  ROS-YNYS. A place in Wales, afterward St David's;
+    a story of St Keenan and, 343-344
+
+  ROUND TOWER. At Ardmore, Ireland, 51;
+    at Abernethy, Perthshire, 52
+
+  RUMENGOL. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Singers held at, 378
+
+  S
+
+  SACRING BELLS. The use of, an old Breton custom, 380
+
+  ST ANNE. A Breton saint;
+    Morvan prays to, 216-217;
+    Morvan rewards with gifts, 218;
+    Morvan gives praise to, for his victory over the Moor, 220;
+    frees Morvan from his burden, 224;
+    mentioned, 146
+
+  SAINTE-ANNE-LA-PALUD. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Sea held at, 378
+
+  ST APOTHEMIUS. St Convoyon steals the bones of, from Angers
+        Cathedral, and takes them to Redon, 336
+
+  ST AUGUSTINE. Archbishop of Canterbury;
+    mentioned, 100
+
+  ST BALDRED. A Celtic saint, 359-360
+
+  ST BALDRED'S BOAT. A rock in the Firth of Forth;
+    the legend of, 359
+
+  ST BARBE. A Breton saint, 332-335
+
+  SAINTE-BARBE. A village in Brittany;
+    megaliths at, 42
+
+  ST BIEUZY. A Breton saint, 345-346;
+    the Holy Well of, at Bieuzy, 381
+
+  ST BRIDGET. An Irish saint;
+    Azenor prays to, and is helped by, 354;
+    church of, at Berhet, the custom of ringing the sacring bell
+        survives in, 380;
+    church of, at Perguet, the fireplace in, 381
+
+  SAINT-BRIEUC.
+    I. An _arrondissement_ of Brittany, 88, 350
+    II. A town in Brittany;
+      a relic of St Keenan preserved in the cathedral of, 344
+
+  SAINT-BRIEUC, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast;
+    the Nicole of, 100;
+    mentioned, 18, 350
+
+  ST BUDOC. A Breton saint;
+    the legend of, 353-356
+
+  SAINT-CAST. A village in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Lost Daughter, 75;
+    a story from, 84;
+    the story of the Combat of, 236-237;
+    mentioned, 83
+
+  ST CECILIA'S DAY. Ceremonies in honour of King Gradlon on, 189
+
+  ST CHARLES. Jesuit church of, at Antwerp;
+    relics of St Winwaloe preserved at, 371
+
+  ST CONVOYON. A Breton saint, 335-338
+
+  ST CORBASIUS. A Breton saint;
+    kills St Goezenou, 370
+
+  ST CORNELY. A Breton saint, the patron of cattle;
+    in a legend of Carnac, 44-45
+
+  ST DAVID'S. A city in Wales, originally called Ros-ynys;
+    in a story of St Keenan, 344
+
+  SAINT-DENIS. A famous abbey, in the city of Saint-Denis, in France;
+    Du Guesclin buried in, 32
+
+  SAINT-DIDIER. A village in Brittany;
+    the Roches aux Fees near, 50
+
+  ST DUBRICUS. A British saint;
+    mentioned, 346
+
+  ST DUNSTAN. A British saint, called St Goustan in Brittany,
+        248-249
+
+  ST EFFLAM. A Breton saint;
+    and King Arthur's encounter with the dragon of the Lieue de Greve,
+        278-281;
+    the story of St Enora and, 340-342;
+    mentioned, 366
+
+  ST ENORA, or HONORA. A Breton saint;
+    the story of Efflam and, 279, 281, 340-342
+
+  SAINT-FLORENT. A town in France;
+    Nomenoe and the abbey of, 337
+
+  ST GALL. A famous monastery in Switzerland;
+    mentioned, 247
+
+  ST GERMAIN. A French saint, Bishop of Paris;
+    the exchange of wax for wine between St Samson and, 19;
+    persuades Nennocha to embrace the religious life, 340
+
+  ST GILDAS. A British saint;
+    in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 181, 183-184;
+    founded the abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys, near Vannes, 248-249
+
+  ST GILDAS DE RHUYS. An abbey near Vannes;
+    founded by St Gildas, 248-249;
+    Abelard appointed abbot of, 248;
+    St Bieuzy died and was buried at, 346;
+    St Patern educated at, 348
+
+  ST GOEZENOU. A Breton saint, 368-370
+
+  ST GOUSTAN. The Breton name of St Dunstan, 249
+
+  ST HENWG. _See_ Henwg
+
+  ST HONORA, or ENORA. _See_ St Enora
+
+  ST ILTUD. A Welsh saint;
+    in a legend of St Samson, 349;
+    St Pol a disciple of, 364;
+    mentioned, 346
+
+  ST IVES. _See_ St Yves
+
+  SAINT-JACUT-DE-LA-MER. A village in Brittany;
+    in the story of the Fisherman and the Fairies, 80, 84
+
+  ST JAOUA. A Breton saint, 366
+
+  SAINT-JEAN-DU-DOIGT. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Fire held at, 378, 379
+
+  ST JOHN. A Breton saint, 197
+
+  ST KADO. A Breton saint;
+    mentioned, 197
+
+  ST KE, or ST QUAY. Popular name in Brittany for St Keenan, 344
+
+  ST KEENAN. A Breton saint, 343-344
+
+  ST KENTIGERN, or ST MUNGO. Patron saint of Glasgow;
+    the legend of, 356-357;
+    mentioned, 70, 359
+
+  ST LAZARUS. The Order of;
+    Louis XV sends to the Count of La Garaye, 195
+
+  ST LEONORIUS, or LEONORE. A Breton saint, 346-347
+
+  ST LOUIS. _See_ Louis IX
+
+  ST MAGAN. A Breton saint, brother of St Goezenou, 370
+
+  ST MALGLORIOUS. A Breton saint, 356
+
+  ST MALO, or MACHUTES. A Breton saint;
+    the people of Corseul hostile to the teachings of, 343
+
+  SAINT-MALO. A town in Brittany;
+    the scene of the Lay of Laustic, 302;
+    St Convoyon born near, 335;
+    mentioned, 230
+
+  SAINT-MALO, BAY OF. The Nicole of, 100-101
+
+  ST MARCELLINUS. Bishop of Rome;
+    the bones of, given to St Convoyon by Pope Leo IV, and taken by
+        him to Redon, 337
+
+  ST MERIADEC. A Breton saint;
+    his skull used in the ritual of the Pardon of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt,
+        379
+
+  ST MICHAEL. The archangel;
+    chapel of, on the tumulus of Mont-Saint-Michel, 46;
+    the child Morvan thinks he has seen, 213;
+    Morvan thinks a knight more splendid than, 214
+
+  ST MICHEL. A Breton saint, 'Lord of Heights';
+    a chapel of, near Le Faouet, 333
+
+  ST MUNGO. _See_ St Kentigern
+
+  ST NENNOCHA. A Breton saint, 340
+
+  ST NICHOLAS. A Breton saint;
+    probably the survival of a pagan divinity, 345
+
+  ST NICOLAS DE BIEUZY. Church of, in Bieuzy, 180
+
+  ST NON. A Breton saint;
+    a fireplace in the church of, at Penmarch, 381
+
+  ST NOYALA. A Breton saint, 360
+
+  ST PATERN. A Breton saint, 347-349
+
+  ST POL, or PAUL. Of Leon;
+    a Breton saint, 248, 364-367
+
+  SAINT-POL-DE-LEON. A town in Brittany;
+    the bell of St Pol in the cathedral of, 367;
+    St Pol buried in the cathedral of, 367;
+    the cathedral of, built by St Pol, 367;
+    costume of the men of, 375;
+    mentioned, 237, 365, 366
+
+  ST ROCH. A Breton saint;
+    shrine of, at Auray, 42;
+    and the markings on the dolmen at Rocenaud, 46
+
+  ST RONAN. A Breton saint, 367
+
+  ST SAMSON. A British saint;
+    settles in Brittany, 17-19;
+    St Gildas the friend of, 248;
+    stories of, 349-350;
+    St Pol of Leon a fellow-student of, 364
+
+  ST SERF. A Scottish saint, abbot of Culross, 357
+
+  SAINT-THEGONNEC. A town in Brittany;
+    the Calvary at, 384
+
+  ST TIVISIAU, or TURIAU. A Breton saint, 338-339;
+    the fountain of, at Landivisiau, 340
+
+  ST TREMEUR. A Breton saint, son of Comorre;
+    the reliquary in the church of, 382
+
+  ST TRIDUANA. Guardian of a well at Restalrig, near Edinburgh,
+        59-60
+
+  ST TRIPHYNE. A Breton saint;
+    wife of Comorre, 180
+    _See_ Triphyna
+
+  ST TUGDUAL. A Breton saint;
+    founded the church of Treguier, 167;
+    made a miraculous crossing to Brittany, 360
+
+  ST TURIAU. _See_ St Tivisiau
+
+  ST VOUGAS, or VIE. A Breton saint, 360
+
+  ST WINWALOE. A Breton saint, 370-371
+
+  ST YVES, or YVO. Brittany's favourite saint, 350-353
+
+  SAINT-YVES. A village in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Poor held at, 378
+
+  SAINTS. Stories of, an important element in Breton folk-lore,
+        332;
+    the primitive saint driven to use methods similar to those of the
+        pagan priests around him, 332;
+    tales of the Breton saints, 332-371;
+    the product of poor countries rather than of prosperous ones,
+        350
+
+  SAINTSBURY, G. E. B. Cited, 254
+
+  SALOMON III. Count of Brittany;
+    drives back the Northmen, 25
+
+  SANT-E-ROA ('Holy Wheel'). Apparatus of the sacring bell;
+    at the church of St Bridget, Berhet, 380
+
+  SATAN. A story of, 143-144;
+    Gilles de Retz seeks association with, 177-179;
+    in an old Breton conception of Hell, 389
+    _See also_ Devil
+
+  SAXONS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, 15, 17
+
+  SCOTLAND. Markings on the megalithic monuments in, 46-47;
+    the harp formerly the national instrument of, 229;
+    claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+    late survival of the custom of keeping domestic bards in, 364;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  SCOTS. The race;
+    Celts flee from Britain to Brittany to escape, 17
+
+  SCOTT, SIR WALTER. The novelist;
+    his treatment of legendary matter, 211;
+    one of the first to bring the story of Tristrem to public notice,
+        258;
+    continued the story of Tristrem beyond the point at which the
+        Auchinleck MS. breaks off, 272
+
+  SEA OF DARKNESS, THE. In the story of the Castle of the Sun, 132
+
+  SEA-SNAKE'S EGG. _See_ Adder's Stone
+
+  SEBILLOT, PAUL. Cited, 52, 212 _n._;
+    mentioned, 74;
+    and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237 _n._
+
+  SEIGNEUR WITH THE HORSE'S HEAD, THE. The story of, 137-143
+
+  SEIGNEUR OF NANN, THE. The story of, 57-59
+
+  SEIN. _See_ Ile de Sein
+
+  SERIPHOS. An island in the AEgean Sea to which Danae was carried;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  SEVEN SAINTS OF BRITTANY. St Samson and six others who fled with him
+        from Britain, 350
+
+  SEVEN SLEEPERS, THE. Seven Christian youths of Ephesus who hid to
+        escape persecution and slept for several hundreds of years;
+    an altar to, in the dolmen-chapel at Plouaret, 41
+
+  SEVERN. The river;
+    mentioned, 349
+
+  SEVIGNE, MME DE. A famous French epistolary writer;
+    sojourned in the castle of Nantes, 205;
+    wrote many of her letters from the chateau of Rochers, 208
+
+  SHARPE, CHARLES KIRKPATRICK. An antiquary and writer, friend of Sir
+        Walter Scott;
+    his treatment of legendary material, 211
+
+  SHEWALTON SANDS. A place in Scotland;
+    inscribed stones found at, 47
+
+  SHIP, THE. A rock off the coast of Brittany, said to have been the
+        vessel of St Vougas, 360
+
+  SHIP O' THE FIEND, THE. Orchestral work by Hamish MacCunn;
+    mentioned, 145
+
+  SHIP OF SOULS. A feature in Breton folk-belief, 384
+
+  SIGHT, MAGICAL. Bestowed by fairies, 82-83
+
+  SILVESTIK. A young Breton who followed in the train of William the
+        Conqueror to England;
+    the story of, 232-233
+
+  SIMROCK, C. J. Cited, 83
+
+  SKYE. An island off the west coast of Scotland;
+    the 'Washing Woman' in, 100
+
+  SLIEVE GRIAN. A mountain in Ireland;
+    mentioned, 52
+
+  SMALL, A. Cited, 52
+
+  SOCIETE ACADEMIQUE DE BREST, BULLETIN DE. Cited, 199 _n._
+
+  SONG OF THE PILOT, THE. A Breton ballad, 238-240
+
+  SORCERY. Belief in, prevalent in Brittany, 241-243;
+    in ancient times, identified with Druidism, 245
+
+  SOUTH-WEST WIND, THE. Personification of, in a wind-tale, 163
+
+  SOUVESTRE, EMILE. A French novelist and dramatist;
+    mentioned, 180
+
+  SPAIN. Tristrem in, 270;
+    the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel came from, 275
+
+  SPENSER, EDMUND. The poet;
+    mentioned, 56
+
+  STONES. Folk-tales and beliefs connected with, 52-53
+
+  STYX. In Greek mythology, a river of the underworld;
+    mentioned, 327
+
+  SUN, THE. Personified in the story of the Princess of Tronkolaine,
+        117-118;
+   the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275;
+   personified in the 'fatal children' stories, 358
+
+  SUN-PRINCESS. A story of the search for, 121-131
+
+  SUROUAS. Name of the south-west wind;
+    in a wind-tale, 163
+
+  SURVEILLANTE, LE. A Breton vessel;
+    her fight with the British ship _Quebec_, 238-240
+
+  SUSANNUS. Bishop of Vannes, 336-337
+
+  SUSCINO. A Breton chateau, 209-210
+
+  SWINBURNE, Algernon. The poet;
+    quoted, 267
+
+  T
+
+  TADEN. A village in Brittany;
+    the Count and Countess of La Garaye buried at, 195
+
+  TALIESIN ('Shining Forehead'). A British bard;
+    and the vision of Jud-Hael, 20-21;
+    early years, 21;
+    the bard of Urien and Owain-ap-Urien, 22;
+    death of, 22;
+    probably sojourned in Brittany, 22;
+    acquainted with black art, 252
+
+  TAM O' SHANTER. The character in Burns's poem;
+    mentioned, 244
+
+  TANTALLON CASTLE. A famous ruin in Scotland;
+    mentioned, 359
+
+  TARTARY. The country;
+    mentioned, 115
+
+  TEGID, LLYN. A lake in Wales (Lake Bala);
+    the dwelling-place of Keridwen, a fertility goddess, 59
+
+  TELIO. A British monk, associated with St Samson;
+    said to have introduced the apple into Brittany, 18
+
+  TEURSTA POULICT. A variety of the teursts taking animal shape,
+        100
+
+  TEURSTS. A race of evil spirits, 100
+
+  TEUS, or BUGELNOZ. A beneficent spirit of the district of Vannes,
+        100
+
+  THENAW. Mother of St Kentigern, 357
+
+  THIERRY, J. N. A. A French historian;
+    quoted, 17
+
+  THOMAS THE RHYMER, or THOMAS OF ERCILDOUNE. Thirteenth-century
+        Scottish poet;
+    his version of the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 258 _et seq._;
+    visited Fairyland, 326;
+    mentioned, 64, 255, 327
+
+  THOUARS, CATHERINE DE. Wife of Gilles de Retz, 174
+
+  THOUARS, GUY DE. A French knight;
+    married to Constance of Brittany, 30
+
+  TIBER. The river;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  TINA. A maiden;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 145-147
+
+  TITANIA. Queen of the fairies;
+    mentioned, 74
+
+  TONQUEDEC. A Breton chateau, 204
+
+  TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND. A work by Giraldus Cambrensis;
+    cited, 187
+
+  TORRENT OF PORTUGAL, SIR. A fifteenth-century English metrical
+        romance;
+    mentioned, 358
+
+  TOULBOUDOU. A seigneury near Guemene, 334
+
+  TOULBOUDOU, John, Lord of;
+    builds the chapel of St Barbe at Le Faouet, 334-335
+
+  TOUR D'ELVEN. A keep of the chateau of Largoet, 206
+
+  TOURLAVILLE. A Breton chateau, 208-209
+
+  TOWER OF LONDON, THE. Charles of Blois confined in, 31;
+    the name of, occurs frequently in Celtic and Breton romance, 99
+
+  TRAPRAIN LAW. A mountain in East Lothian, formerly called
+        Dunpender;
+    Thenaw cast from, 357
+
+  TREASURE, J. P. Cited, 16 _n._
+
+  TREDRIG. A village in Brittany;
+    St Yves the incumbent of, 351
+
+  TREES. Tales of spirits enclosed in, 52
+
+  TREGASTEL. A town on the Breton coast;
+    an island near believed by the Bretons to be the fabled Isle of
+        Avalon, 282
+
+  TREGUENNEC. A village in Brittany;
+    St Vougas associated with, 360
+
+  TREGUIER.
+    I. A former county of Brittany, 27, 350
+    II. A town in Brittany;
+      St Yves buried at, 353;
+      a burial custom of, 383;
+      mentioned, 167, 168, 237, 350
+
+  TREGUNC. A town in Brittany;
+    dolmen at 42
+
+  TREMALOUEN. A hamlet in Brittany;
+    ruins at, haunted by courils, 99
+
+  TREMTRIS. Inverted form of Tristrem's name given him by Rohand to
+        secure his safety, 259;
+    Tristrem assumes the name in Ireland, 264, 266
+
+  TREPASSES, BAY OF. A bay on the Breton coast, 185
+
+  TREVES. A village in Brittany;
+    had a reputation as the abode of sorcerers, 242
+
+  TRIDWAN. _See_ St Triduana
+
+  TRIEUX. A river in Brittany, 203, 204
+
+  TRIPHYNA (ST TRIPHYNE). A maiden, married to Comorre, 180-184
+
+  TRISTREM, SIR ('Child of Sorrow'). One of the Knights of the Round
+        Table, son of Blancheflour;
+    the story of, and Ysonde, 257-275;
+    mentioned, 301
+
+  TRISTREM, SIR. An ancient metrical romance;
+    incidents in, paralleled in the story of Bran, 227-228;
+    date of composition of, 228;
+    had a Breton source, 255;
+    Sir Walter Scott one of the first to bring Thomas the Rhymer's
+        version of, to public notice, 258;
+    Thomas the Rhymer's version of, recounted, 258-272;
+    Scott's continuation of the Auchinleck MS., 272-274;
+    the story of Tristrem and Ysonde claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275
+
+  TROGOFF. The chateau of;
+    in the legend of the Ward of Du Guesclin, 33-35
+
+  TROLLOPE, T. ADOLPHUS. Quoted, 179-180
+
+  TROMENIE-DE-SAINT-RENAN. A town in Brittany;
+    the Pardon of the Mountain held at, 378, 379
+
+  TROYES. A city in France;
+    Abelard's abbey of Nogent near, 249
+
+  TUGDUAL SALAUeN. A peasant of Plouber, composer of a ballad on the
+        Marquis of Guerande, 199, 202
+
+  TY C'HARRIQUET ('The House of the Gorics')
+    I. A name given to a megalithic structure near Penmarch, 49
+    II. A name applied to Carnac, 98
+
+  TY EN CORYGANNT. A name given to a megalithic structure in Morbihan,
+        49
+
+  U
+
+  UNBROKEN VOW, THE. A story of Broceliande, 60-63
+
+  UNITED STATES, THE. The Bretons aid, in the War of Independence,
+        238
+
+  URIEN. A Welsh chieftain;
+    Taliesin the bard of, 21, 22
+
+  V
+
+  VAL-ES-DUNES. A place in Brittany;
+    Alain, Count of Brittany, defeated in battle at, 28
+
+  VALLEY OF BLOOD. A place in hell;
+    in the story of the Baron of Jauioz, 146
+
+  VANNES.
+    I. A former county of Brittany;
+      mentioned, 23, 180
+    II. The city;
+      the dialect of, 16 _and n._;
+      the ancient city of the Veneti, 17;
+      the Teus or Bugelnoz of, 100;
+      in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 183;
+      the chateau of Suscino near, 209;
+      the abbey of St Gildas near, 248;
+      St Convoyon educated at, 335;
+      St Patern the patron saint of, 347;
+      St Patern Bishop of, 348;
+      the legend of the founding of the church of St Patern at,
+        348;
+      St Pol of Leon in, 364
+
+  VENETI. A Gallic tribe which inhabited Brittany, 16, 17
+
+  'VENUS, THE.' An image at Quinipily, 381
+
+  VILAINE. A river in Brittany, 335
+
+  VILLARS, ABBE DE. A French priest and writer;
+    cited, 64
+
+  VILLECHERET. A village in Brittany;
+    the head-dress of the women of, 375
+
+  VILLEMARQUE. _See_ Hersart de la Villemarque
+
+  VINE, THE. Said to have been introduced into Brittany by Gradlon,
+        189
+
+  VIRGIN MARY, THE. In a Breton legend, 380
+
+  VITRE. A Breton chateau, 208
+
+  VIVIEN. An enchantress, in Arthurian legend;
+    meets Merlin in Broceliande, and afterward enchants him there,
+        65-69;
+    as presented in Arthurian legend and in other romances, 69;
+    may be classed as a water-spirit, 69;
+    the probable purpose of the story of Merlin and, in Arthurian
+        legend, 70;
+    of Breton origin, and does not appear in British myth, 256;
+    gives Arthur the sword Excalibur, 256-257;
+    Sir Lancelot stolen and brought up by, 257
+
+  W
+
+  WACE. A twelfth-century Anglo-Norman poet;
+    quoted, 54;
+    and the fountain of Baranton, 71
+
+  WAGNER, RICHARD. The composer;
+    mentioned, 258
+
+  WALES. Legend of the submerged city in, 187, 188;
+    the harp anciently the national instrument of, 229;
+    Bretons send an expedition to, to help Glendower, 234;
+    claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;
+    helped the development of Arthurian romance, 255;
+    Tristrem sojourns in, and wins fame there, 270;
+    mentioned, 59, 343
+
+  WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, AMERICAN. Bretons take part in, against
+        England, 238
+
+  WAR OF THE TWO JOANS, THE. A war waged for the succession to the
+        Dukedom of Brittany, 31-32, 35-36
+
+  WARD OF DU GUESCLIN, THE. A Du Guesclin legend, 33-35
+
+  WASHING WOMAN, THE. An evil spirit of the Scottish Highlands, 100
+
+  WEDDING CUSTOMS. In Brittany, 385-386
+    _See also_ Marriage
+
+  WELLS, HOLY. In Brittany, 381-382
+
+  WELSH. The language;
+    the Breton tongue akin to, 15
+
+  WERE-WOLF. A man transformed into a wolf;
+    the prevalence, origin, and forms of the superstition, 289-292;
+    a were-wolf story, 284-289
+
+  WESTMINSTER. The city;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, Ysonde carried to, for trial,
+        270
+
+  WEXFORD. A county of Ireland;
+    emigration from, to Brittany, 22
+
+  WHEEL OF FORTUNE, THE. A name wrongly given to part of the apparatus
+        of the sacring bell, 380
+
+  WHITE CHURCH. A church in Treguier;
+    in the story of the Foster-brother, 170, 171
+
+  WILLIAM II. Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror);
+    Conan II of Brittany and, 27, 28-29;
+    Bretons accompany, on his expedition against England, 232,
+        233
+
+  WILLIAM, COUNT. The name of the nobleman to whom Marie of France
+        dedicated her Fables, identified with Longsword, Earl of
+        Salisbury, 283-284
+
+  WINDS, THE. Play a large part in Breton folk-lore, 162;
+    a wind-tale, 163-167
+
+  WINE. St Germain exchanges for wax from the monks of Dol, 19;
+    a wine festival in honour of King Gradlon, 189
+
+  WOMEN. In early communities, magical power often the possession of,
+        246;
+    generally the conservators of surviving Druidic tradition, 247;
+    St Goezenou's antipathy to, 369;
+    costume of the women of Brittany--_see_ Costume _and_ Head-dress
+
+  WOOD OF CHESTNUTS. Mentioned in a story of Morvan, 217
+
+  Y
+
+  YEUN, THE. A morass of evil repute, 102-103;
+    a story of, 103-105
+
+  YORK. The city, in England;
+    St Samson ordained at, 349
+
+  YOUDIC, THE. A part of the Yeun peat-bog, 103;
+    a story of, 103-105
+
+  YOUGHAL. A town in Ireland;
+    Azenor and the infant Budoc washed ashore at, 355;
+    Budoc becomes abbot of the monastery at, 356
+
+  YOUGHAL, ABBOT OF. In the legend of St Budoc, 355, 356
+
+  YOUTH WHO DID NOT KNOW. The story of, 106-115
+
+  YS, or IS. A submerged city of legend;
+    the legend of, 184-188;
+    such a legend common to several Celtic races, 187;
+    Giraldus Cambrensis and the legend of, 187-188
+
+  YSEULT. _See_ Ysonde
+
+  YSONDE, or YSEULT. Daughter of the King of Ireland;
+    some incidents in her story paralleled in the ballad of Bran,
+        228;
+    the story of Tristrem and, 257-274;
+    the story of Tristrem and, claimed as a sun-myth, 274-275
+
+  YSONDE OF THE WHITE HAND. Daughter of Hoel I, Duke of Brittany;
+    in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271, 273
+
+  YVES. Husband of Azenor the Pale, 361-363
+
+  YVON. A youth;
+    in the story of the Castle of the Sun, 131-137
+
+  YVONNE. A maiden;
+    in the story of the Castle of the Sun, 131-137
+
+
+  ZIMMER, H. Cited, 278
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber Notes
+
+Typographical inconsistencies have been changed and are listed below.
+
+Hyphenation has been standardized.
+
+Otherwise, archaic spelling and the author's punctuation style have
+been preserved.
+
+Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+The macrons over the a's in Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]yana are
+indicated by [=a].
+
+
+Transcriber Changes
+
+The following changes were made to the original text:
+
+  Page 113: Added quote ("What do you desire? You have only to speak
+            and it shall be =brought."=)
+
+  Page 121: Was 'litle' (You can restore me permanently to my human
+            shape if you choose to show only a =little= perseverance
+            and courage.)
+
+  Page 206: Added apostrophe (in Octave =Feuillet's= _Roman d'un jeune
+            Homme pauvre_)
+
+  Page 227: Added quote (for when you die you will at least end your
+            days in =Brittany."=)
+
+  Page 267: Was 'attendent' (her passion for Tristrem moved her to
+            induce her =attendant= Brengwain to take her place)
+
+  Page 357: Was 'Eufeurien' (Thenaw met Ewen, the son of =Eufuerien=,
+            King of Cumbria, and fell deeply in love with him)
+
+  Footnote 38: Was 'Legende' (_La =Legende= de la Mort_)
+
+  Index: Was 'bulit' (the chapel of St Barbe =built= on, 335)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Legends & Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence
+
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