Breton Legends Part 25

[32] Douez signifies in Breton the moat of a fortified town; but as these moats were formerly full of water, and served the purposes of the washerwomen, the name douez has gradually been appropriated to the was.h.i.+ng-places.

[33] Spern-gwenn ("l'epine blanche"), to this day a family name in Brittany.

[34] All the Breton shepherds make these crosses with twigs of furze, on the thorns of which they stick daisies and broom-blossoms; whole rows of these flowery crosses may often be seen along the ditches.

[35] Shend, 'subdue.'

[36] This form of exorcism is supposed to originate in a story related of St. Herve. A wolf having devoured an a.s.s belonging to his uncle, the saint compelled the savage beast to dwell peaceably thenceforward in the same shed with the sheep, and to perform all the duties of the defunct a.s.s. A similar story is told of St. Malo, another Breton saint.

[37] The legend of the gold-herb (which must be gathered, according to common credence, barefooted, en chemise, without the aid of any iron tool, and whilst one is in a state of grace) comes evidently from the Druids. It is the selage of the ancients, spoken of by Pliny (lib. xiv.), and is said by the Bretons to glitter like gold before the eyes of those who at the moment may fulfil the conditions for perceiving it, and who, by touching it with the foot, are instantly enabled to understand the language of all animals, and to converse with them.

[38] The tradition of the redbreast, who broke a thorn from the crown of our Lord, is current throughout Brittany.

[39] Mor Vyoc'h signifies Sea-cow.

[40] The Breton peasants believe that the fountain of Languengar has the property of promoting the flow of milk in those nurses who drink of it.

[41] In Brittany, as in England, it takes nine tailors to make a man.

[42] This form of taking possession is extremely ancient. In all the legislative systems of "the ancient world" transfer of landed property was effected by symbolical tradition; that is, by the handing over to the new owner of some visible and palpable portion or symbol of the land itself. At Rome, the sale of a field takes place standing on a turf cut from the field itself, which is handed over to the purchaser as a symbol of his new possession. In an old deed of 828 occurs the following: "I make over the underwritten goods and lands to the Church of St. Mary. And I make legal cession by straw and knife, glove and turf, and branch of tree; and so I put myself out, expel, and make myself absent."--D. Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, Preuves, p. 524. And as Brittany is the very chosen home of old customs, it has happened that even quite lately, at a farm near Leon, all these forms of taking possession were gone through, not as having any legal efficacy, but in compliance with ancient usage.

[43] The vervain.

[44] Marc'h-Mor, literally, Sea-horse.

[45] The Breton name for Vannes, Gwen-ed, signifies literally White Wheat.

[46] This form of declaring war, preserved by tradition, is curious, and, as far as we know, peculiar to Brittany. Amongst the ancient Romans they cast upon the enemy's territory a javelin scorched at the fire; in the middle ages the iron gauntlet was thrown, or the finger was gnawed; the savages of North America sent, like the Scythians, bundles of arrows, the number of which indicated that of the combatants; but burning straw flung upon the enemy's land is a peculiar symbol, which we have never noticed elsewhere.

[47] The Breton name of St. Gildas.

[48] This custom still exists in Brittany.

[49] The name Groac'h, or Grac'h, means literally old woman; and was given to the Druidesses, who had established themselves in an island off the south-west coast of Brittany, called thence the isle of Groac'h; by corruption Groais, or Groix. But the word gradually lost its original meaning of old woman, and came to signify a woman endowed with power over the elements, and dwelling amongst the waves, as did the island Druidesses; in fact, a sort of water-fay, but of a malevolent nature, like all the Breton fairies. Such of our readers as are not acquainted with La Motte Fouque's beautiful tale of Undine, may require to be reminded that the sprites, sylphs, gnomes, and fairies of the popular mythologies are not necessarily, perhaps not even generally, exempt from mortality.

[50] A cl.u.s.ter of islets off the southern coast of Brittany, near the headland of Penmarc'h. The name signifies literally summer-land. One of them is called the isle of Lok, or Lock, and contains a fish-pool, from which it seems to derive its name.

[51] A dwarfish sprite.

[52] Young Breton girls thus address old women from a motive of respect.

[53] Chanteuse de verite (Dion ganerez), literally qui chante droit, a name given in Brittany to fairies who foretell the future.

[54] These are different kinds of cabbages cultivated in Brittany.

[55] A name given by the Bretons to the tricksy sprite Maistr Yan.

[56] The ribbon covered with lace worn by Breton peasant-girls in their hair.

[57] Negotiators for a wedding, who improvise disputations in verse, like Virgil's shepherds.

[58] See tale at p. 31.

[59] Dibenn-eost, a name given to autumn in Brittany.

[60] This word idiot must not lead to misconception; the idiot of popular tales is the personification of cunning weakness triumphing over strength. Idiotism, in the traditions of Christian nations, plays the same part as physical ugliness in those of the ancients. The latter take the hunchback aesop to accomplish extraordinary actions; the former Peronnik, or some other lad of weak mind, in order that the contrast between the hero and the action may be more striking, and the result more unexpected.

We refer the reader to the note which follows this story for the more particular examination which it seems to deserve.

[61] On the sea-coast they sc.r.a.pe away the burnt part left in the porridge-kettles with a mussel-sh.e.l.l; in the interior they use for the same purpose a sharp stone, commonly a gun-flint.

[62] The milk of the black cow is considered in Brittany to be at once the daintiest and the most wholesome.

[63] The Bretons attribute to the b.u.t.ter of the White Week and of the Rogation weeks a special delicacy, and even medicinal properties, on account of the excellence of the pastures at this season.

[64] The Bretons believe in a special demon for sending one to sleep in church, and call him ar c'houskezik, from the verb kouska, which signifies to sleep.

[65] Koanta pabaour, a common form of mockery in Brittany.

[66] A proverbial expression, meaning that one has no time to lose.

[67] The Searcher for the Basin,--Myvyrian, t. i. p. 8. The poem of Perceval, or the Quest for the Holy Graal, is to be found in the Royal Library of Paris, Mss. No. 7523, et supp. franc. 450. We give M. de la Villemarque's a.n.a.lysis, contenting ourselves with abridging his labours.