STRANGE LEGENDS OF BRITTANY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21086, 12 July 1938, Page 7

STRANGE LEGENDS OF BRITTANY

STORIES FROM THE PAST FAIRIES WHO BUILT A GIGANTIC WALL PARIS, May 27. Wherever you will find a Celt there you will find a legend, and Brittany is no exception to the rule. On the contrary, here every village, every cross-roads seems to have its own particular legend or stock of strange stories of the supernatural. In the environs of Josselln, where there is one of the most magnificent castles of Brltanny, the land is left untouched during Holy Week, for during that time it is believed that the earth bleeds and suffers if iron is thrust into it.

The inhabitants of Regulny, on All Souls’ Day, make the evening meal of chestnuts. They believe that as many chestnuts as they eat so many souls escape from purgatory. Brittany, like Ireland, has its “little people," and there is often rivalry between them.

Where the railway crosses a stream at Villebouquais a line of huge boulders stretches over the countryside like cyclopean foundations of a gigantic wall. The peasants have an explanation for this strange line of stones. They tell you that the elves of Bezon taunted the fairies for their weak bodies. The fairies determiined to give them a lesson, and one day the scoffing elves were astounded to see the faries in a long line, each staggering beneath the load of an enormous stone. They set the stones one upon the other in a line, and there they lie to-day to confound all those who doe not believe that fairies can be as strong as elves.