  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). 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. For the Breton original and the French translation from which the above is adapted see VillemarquÉ, Barzaz-Breiz, p. 112. 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). 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? 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.” 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. See Ballads and Metrical Tales, illustrating the Fairy Mythology of Europe (anonymous, London, 1857) for a metrical version of this tale. 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! 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.” This incident is common in Celtic romance, and seems to have been widely used in nearly all medieval literatures. |
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