Cheval Mallet
The Cheval Mallet (or Malet, meaning Mallet Horse) describes a fabulous and evil horse mentioned in folklore around the French Vendée,[1][2] Poitou,[3] and more frequently in the Pays de Retz, near Lac de Grand Lieu. It was supposed to appear at night (sometimes specifically in the middle of the night) as a beautiful white or black horse, saddled and bridled, and tempt travelers who were exhausted from a long journey. Unwary travelers who accepted a ride would never be seen again, unless they had the price of travel or a protection spell, such as a medal of St. Benedict.
There was also a feast known as Horse Merlette, Merlet or Mallet in the town of Saint-Lumine-de-Coutais. It was a celebration of renewal and featured several actors around one oak, one disguised as a horse. It was opposed by the ecclesiastical authorities and banned in 1791.
External links
[edit]- (in French) Cheval Mallet
- Gilles Perrodeau. "" Le mystère du cheval Merlette " - Un charivari institutionalisé" (in French). p. 1. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2009.
References
[edit]- ↑ (in French) Légendes locales d'Angles sur Le site officiel de la ville d'Angles
- ↑ (in French) Édouard Brasey, La petite encyclopédie du merveilleux, Le pré aux clercs, Paris, 2008, p.254-255 ISBN 978-2-84228-321-6
- ↑ (in French) Claude Seignolle, Contes, récits et légendes des pays de France : Bretagne, Normandie, Poitou, Charentes, Guyenne, Gascogne, Pays basque, Omnibus, 1998 ISBN 978-2-258-04583-5
- (in French) Paul Guérin, Archives historiques du Poitou, Impr. de H. Oudin, 1893, vol. 24 online text