{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/celt/mab/mab08.htm","path":"neu/celt/mab/mab08.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/mab08.htm","text":"The Mabinogion, tr. by Lady Charlotte Guest, [1877]\nTHE Forest of Br\u00e9c\u00e9liande, in Brittany, the scene of the leading incident in the Chevalier au Lion, has ever been one of the most favoured haunts of Romance, and one whose marvels the Trouv\u00e8res have most delighted to celebrate. Amongst those whose names have contributed to add to the renown of this remarkable spot, is the mighty Enchanter, Merlin, whose prison it became through the artifices of his Lady love. The manner of his being incarcerated there is very circumstantially detailed in the Romance which bears his name, as quoted by Mr. Southey, in the Preface to the Morte d'Arthur.\nMerlin, having become enamoured of the fair Viviane, 1 was weak enough to impart to her various important secrets of his art, 2 being impelled by a fatal destiny, of which he was at the same time fully aware. The Lady, however, was not content with his devotion, unbounded as it seems to have been, but \"cast about,\" as the Romance tells us, how she might \"detain him for evermore,\" and with a view of learning some mode of accomplishing this object, she one day addressed him in these terms,--\"Sir,\" said she, \"I would have you teach and show me how to enclose and imprison a man\nwithout a tower, without walls, without chains, but by enchantment alone, in such manner that he may never be able to go out, except by me.\" Aware of her design, Merlin shook his head, and evinced great reluctance to comply with her request. But Viviane, \"for her great treason,\" began to fawn and to flatter him, and used many subtle arguments to prove that he ought to perform her will, whatever it might be. So at last he said to her, \"Certes, lady, yes, and I will do it; tell me what you would have.\" \"Sir,\" said she, \"I would that we should make a fair place and a suitable, so contrived by art and by cunning, that it might never be undone, and that you and I should be there in joy and in solace.\" \"My lady,\" said Merlin, \"I will perform all this.\" \" Sir,\" said she, \"I would not have you do it, but you shall teach me, and I will do it, and then it will be more to my will.\" \"I grant you this,\" said Merlin. Then he began to devise, and the damsel put it all in writing. And when he had devised the whole, then had the damsel full great joy, and showed him greater semblance of loving him than she had ever before made; and they sojourned together a long while. At length it fell out that, as they were going one day hand in hand through the forest of Broceliande, they found a bush of white thorn which was laden with flowers; and they seated themselves under the shade of this white thorn upon the green grass, and they disported together and took their solace, and Merlin laid his head upon the damsel's lap, and then she began to feel if he were asleep. Then the damsel rose and made a ring with her wimple round the bush and round Merlin, and began her enchantments such as he himself had taught her; and nine times she made the ring, and nine times she made the enchantments; and then she went and sate down by him, and placed his head again upon her lap; and when he awoke, and looked round him, it seemed to him that he was enclosed in the strongest tower in the world, and laid upon a fair bed. Then said he to the dame, \"My\nlady, you have deceived me unless you abide with me, for no one hath power to unmake this tower, save you alone.\" She then promised she would be often there, and we are told that in this she held her covenant to him. \"And Merlin never went out of that tower where his mistress Viviane had enclosed him. But she entered and went out again when she listed; and oftentime she regretted what she had done, for she had thought that the thing which he taught her could not be true, and willingly would she have let him out if she could.\"--(T. 2. f. 134.)\nFrom the same authority, it appears that after this event Merlin was never more known to hold converse with any mortal but Viviane, except on one occasion. Arthur having for some time missed him from his Court, sent several of his Knights in search of him, and among the number Sir Gawain, who met with a very unpleasant adventure while engaged in this quest. Happening to pass a damsel on his road, as he journeyed along, and neglecting to salute her, she revenged herself for his incivility, by transforming him into a hideous dwarf. He was bewailing aloud his evil fortune as he went through the Forest of Br\u00e9c\u00e9liande, when \"suddenly he heard the voice of one groaning on his right hand;\" and \"looking that way he could see nothing save a kind of smoke which seemed like air, and through which be could not pass.\" Merlin then addressed him from out the smoke, and told him by what misadventure be was imprisoned there. \"Ah, Sir,\" he added, \"you will never see me more, and that grieves me, but I cannot remedy it; and when you shall have departed from this place, I shall never more speak to you, nor to any other person, save only my mistress.\" And after this he comforted Gawain under his transformation, assuring him that he should speedily be disenchanted, and he predicted to him that he should find the King at Carduel, in Wales, on his return, and that all the other Knights who had been on the like quest, would arrive there the same day as himself. And all this came to pass as Merlin had said.--(T. 2. f, 146.) 1\nIt is evident that the wonders ascribed by Chrestien de Troyes to\nthe Fountain of Baranton, in this famous Forest, were not the creation of his own fancy, but were in his time already in no small repute; for we find his precursor Wace so much impressed with the desire to be an eye-witness of them, that he actually made a journey to the spot for that purpose. In his Roman de Rou be relates the whole affair with admirable na\u00efvet\u00e9. After adverting to the marvels of the slab, he tells us, that if what the Bretons say is true, Fairies are often to be seen sporting on the Fountain's bank; but he very frankly owns that he met with nothing but disappointment to repay the trouble of his expedition, and he reproaches himself for his folly in having ever undertaken it.\nThe passage is brought in by the mention of the Barons who accompanied William of Normandy to the conquest of England, some of whom he says were\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"de verz Brecheliant,\n Dune Bretunz vont sovent fablant,\n Une forest mult lunge \u00e8 l\u00e9e,\n Ki en Bretaigne est mult lo\u00e9e;\n La Fontaine de Berenton\n Sort d'une part lez le perron;\n Aler i solent ven\u00e9or\n A Berenton par grant chalor,\n Et o lor cors l'ewe puisier\n Et li perron de suz moillier,\n Por \u00e7o soleient plu\u00e9e aveir;\n Issi soleit jadis pluveir\n En la forest tut envirun,\n Maiz jo ne sai par kel raisun.\n L\u00e0 solt l'en li f\u00e9es v\u00e9ir,\n Se li Bretunz disent veir,\n Et altres merveilles plusors;\n Aigres solt av\u00e9ir destors\n E de granz cers mult grant plent\u00e9,\n Maiz li vilain ont desert\u00e9.\n L\u00e0 alai jo merveilles querre,\n Vis la forest \u00e8 vis la terre; p. 71\n Merveilles quis, maiz nes' trovai;\n Fol m'en revins, fol i alai,\n Fol i alai, fol m'en revins,\n Folie quis, per fol me tins.\"--v. 11514-11539.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Roman de Rou, publi\u00e9 par F. Pluquet.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rouen, 1827--ii. 143, 4.\nHuon de M\u00e9ry, a subsequent trouv\u00e8re, set out on a similar errand, and was either more fortunate, or less ingenuous than Wace. One cannot help suspecting him of reckoning rather largely upon the credulity of his readers, in the narrative he gives of his journey however, he shall tell his story in his own words.\nBeing one of those who accompanied an expedition made by the \"Rois Loeys en Bretaingne,\" he considered the opportunity thus afforded him of visiting its Forest of wonders too tempting to be overlooked.\n\"Por \u00e7ou que n'iert pas mult lontaingne\n La for\u00e8s de Brec\u00e9liande,\n Mes cuers ki souvent me commande\n Faire autre cose ke mon preu,\n Me fist faire, aussi comme veu,\n Ke ge en Brec\u00e9liande iroie,\n Ge m'en tornai et pris ma voie\n Vers la forest, sans plus atendre,\n Kar la Vret\u00e9 voloie aprendre\n De la p\u00e9rilleuse fontaine,\n Une esp\u00e9e ou ot fer d'Andainne\n Dont lameure n'estoit pas double\n Et un hauberc \u00e0 maille double\n Portai qui puis m'orent mestier,\n Sans tenir voie ne sentier\n Chevauchai iiij. jours entiers.\n Adonc m'aparut uns sentiers\n Qui par une gaste lande,\n Me mena en Brec\u00e9liande,\n Mult est espesse et oscure,\n En la forest par aventure\n Perdi le sens de mon sentier,\n Car li solaus s'aloit couchier,\n Qui avoit faite sa journ\u00e9e.\n Mais la clart\u00e9s est ajorn\u00e9e\n De la lune qui lors leva.\" p. 72\n \u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\n \"Cele nuis resambla le jour.\n Sans faire alonge ne s\u00e9jour,\n Ce fu la quinte nuis de mai;\n La fontainne mult esgardai\n Ke la trouvai par aventure.\n La fontaine n'iert pas oscure\n Ains ert clere com fins argens,\n Mult estoit li praales gens.\n Qui sombroioit de desous l'arbre\n Le bachin, le perron de marbre,\n Et le vert pin et la cai\u00e8re\n Trouvai en icele mani\u00e8re,\n Comme l'a descrit Crestiens\n En plus cl\u00e8re eve crestiens . . . .\n Ne sambla pas que ce fust cresme.\n Quant le bachin ting en ma main,\n Car tout aussi le puisai plain\n Com se la vousisse espuisier.\n Quand ge mis la main au puisier,\n Lors vi le firmament doubler.\n Quant oi puisi\u00e9, lors vi doubler\n Le torment, quant l'eve versai,\n Je qui, tous seus le sai,\n Ne talent n'en ai du mentir,\n Mais le chiel o\u00ef desmentir\n Et eselarcir de toutes pars.\n De plus de .vc. mile pars\n Ert la for\u00e8s enlumin\u00e9e;\n Se tous li chiex ert quemin\u00e9e\n Et tous li mons ardoit ensamble,\n Ne fesist-il pas, ce me samble,\n Tel clart\u00e9, ne si grant orage.\n .C. fois maudis en mon corage\n Par cui conseill ting l\u00e0 mon oirre,\n Car \u00e0 cascun cop de tonnoirre\n La foudre du ciel descendoit\n Qui tron\u00e7ounoit et porfendoit\n Parmi le bois, caines et fals.\n Or escout\u00e9s com ge fui fals\n Et tresperdus et entrepris,\n K'encor plain bachin d'iaue pris p. 73\n Et seur le perron le flasti\n Mais se le ciel ot bien glati\n Et envoi\u00e9s foudres en terre.\n Lors double la noise et la guerre\n Ke j'o\u00ef men\u00e9 \u00e0 tout le monde,\n Can del' tounoire \u00e0 la r\u00e9onde\n Toute la terre vi tranbler\n Ge cuidai bien que assambler\n Fesist del' chiel et terre ensamble.\n Ce fu folie, ce me samble,\n De .ij. fois le bachin widier,\n Mais ce fu pair mon fol cuidier,\n Car le tans apaisier cuidai\n Quant le secont bachin widai;\n Mais lors perchui que cil qui cuide\n Qu'il a de seus la teste wide.\n \u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*\n Lours commencha \u00e0 aprochier\n Li jours dont l'aube ert ja' venue;\n Joie firent de sa venue\n Trestout li oiseillon menu\n Ke \u00e0 voleter ai v\u00e9u\n De par tout Berch\u00e9liande.\n En broche, n'en forest, n'en lande\n N'en vit mais nus tant amass\u00e9s\n Sus le pin en ot plus amass\u00e9s.\n Ke n'en vit Kalogrinans.\n Et faisoient de divers cans\n Une si douce m\u00e9lodie\n Ke \u00e0 ma mort, ni \u00e0 ma vie,\n Ne k\u00e9isse avoir autre gloire.\n Encore, quant me vient en m\u00e9moire,\n En mon cuer en ai si grant joie\n Qn'encore me sanlle qu'eus ge oie;\n M'est-il tous vraiement avis\n Que c'est terrestre paradis.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tournoiement Ante-Crist,\u00a01 MS. du Roi,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No. 541. S. F. (fol. 72. col. 2. v. 5)\nThe Fairies, who are reported to haunt the Forest of Br\u00e9c\u00e9liande, appear to have patronized children in an especial manner, and to have delighted in showering down gifts upon such as were brought there soon after their birth to receive their benediction. There is extant in the Biblioth\u00e8que du Roi (MS. du Roi, n. 7989--4 Bal.) a fragment of a curious Romance, named Brun de la Montague, which is founded entirely upon this circumstance. It is printed in Le Roux de Lincy's Livre des L\u00e9gendes. The outline of the story, is as follows:--\nButor de la Montague, on the birth of his infant son, is desirous that he should receive a Fairy's blessing; and after revolving in his mind the names of all the \"lieux f\u00e4es\" 1 with which he is acquainted, he determines on sending him to the haunt of the Fairies in the \"bois Bersillant.\" The little Brun is accordingly conveyed thither by a trusty Knight, and placed on the margin of the enchanted fountain. It is not long before the Fairies 2 appear, and the child is endowed with the choicest gifts which they have in their power to bestow. One of them, however, envious of the extreme brightness of his prospects, dooms him to misfortune and disappointment in love.\nOn his return to his parents, one of the benevolent Fairies, who had taken a particular liking to him, disguises herself, and becomes his nurse. The MS. breaks off abruptly, just as the story of his disastrous love-adventure is about to commence. 3\nI shall conclude this Note with a description of the state of the\nfamous Forest of Br\u00e9c\u00e9liande, in our own times, from an account of a visit made to it by the Vicomte de la Villemarqu\u00e9, and published by him in the Revue de Paris for May, 1837.\n\"J'avais tant de fois, dans mon enfance, entendu parler de Merlin, et lu, dans nos romans de chevalerie bretonne, de si merveilleuses choses sur son tombeau, la for\u00eat de Br\u00e9cilien, la fontaine de Baranton, et la vall\u00e9e de Concoret, que je fus pris d'un vif d\u00e9sir de visiter ces lieux, et qu'un beau matin je partis.\n\"Plo\u00ebrmel est la ville la plus voisine de Concoret; de l\u00e0 an bourg la route est longue et difficile; toujours des chemins creux, des montagnes, des bois, on des landes sans fin.\"\n* * * * * * *\n\"La plaine qu'on appelle en breton Concoret, 1 et dans les romans da moyen-\u00e2ge le Val-des-F\u00e9es, est un immense amphith\u00e9\u00e2tre couronn\u00e9 de bois sombres, jadis nomm\u00e9s Broc'hallean, 2 aujourd'hui par corruption Br\u00e9cilien. A l'une de ses extr\u00e9mit\u00e9s, coule une fontaine pr\u00e8s de laquelle on voit deux pierres couvertes de mousse que domine une vieille croix de bois vermoulue; c'est la fontaine de Barandon et le tombeau de Merlin; l\u00e0 dort, dit-on, le vieux druide, au murmure des eaux et du vent qui g\u00e9mit dans les bruy\u00e8res d'alentour.\n\"De cette hauteur, l'\u0153il embrasse toute la vall\u00e9e, et un horizon sans bornes de bois, de champs remplis de bl\u00e9s on de genets aux fleurs jaunes, de paroisses et de lointains clochers.\n\"Br\u00e9cilien \u00e9tait une de ces f\u00f4rets sacr\u00e9es qu'habitaient les pr\u00eatresses du druidisme dans les Gaules; son nom et celui de sa vall\u00e9e l'attesteraient \u00e0 d\u00e9faut d'autre t\u00e9moignage; les noms de lieux sont les plus s\u00fbrs garans des \u00e9v\u00e9nemens pass\u00e9s.\"\nAll the old traditions which give an interest to the Forest continue to be current there. The Fairies, who are kind to children, are still reported to be seen in their white apparel upon the banks of the Fountain; and the Fountain itself (whose waters are now considered salubrious) is still said to be possessed of its marvellous rain-producing properties. In seasons of drought, the inhabitants of the surrounding parishes go to it in procession, headed by their five great banners, and their priests, ringing bells and chanting Psalms. On arriving at the Fountain, the Rector of the Canton dips the foot of the Cross into its waters, and it is sure to rain before a week elapses.\nThe Fountain of Baranton is supplied by a mineral spring, and it bubbles up on a piece of iron or copper being thrown into it.\n\"Les enfans s'amusent a y jeter des \u00e9pingles, et disent par commun proverbe: 'Ris donc, fontaine de Berendon, et je te donnerai une \u00e9pingle.'\" 1\n67:1 This Viviane is said to be the daughter of a Vavasour of high lineage, called Dyonas, from Dyane, a goddess of the sea. He married a niece of the Duchess of Burgundy, with whom he received as a dowry half the Forest of Briogne; the other half was granted him soon after in reward for his good services. Under the title of the \"Lady of the Lake\" Viviane is well known.\n67:2 Of the nature and extent of the powers with which Merlin was endowed, Spenser has left us a most marvellous account.\n\"For he by wordes could call out of the sky\n Both sunne and moone, and make them him obey;\n The land to sea, and sea to maineland dry,\n And darksom night he eke could turne to day; p. 68\nHuge hostes of men he could alone dismay,\n And hostes of men of meanest thinges could frame,\n Whenso him list his enimies to fray:\n That to this day, for terror of his fame,\n The feendes do quake when any him to them does name.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Faerie Queens, b. iii. c. 3. st. xii.\nWhat wonder is it then that he should elsewhere characterize him as the being\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Which whylome did excell\n All living wightes in might of magicke spell.\"\n Ibid. b. i. c. 7. at. xxxvi.\n69:1 Preface--Morte d'Arthur, xliii--xlviii.\nIn the \"Prophecies of Merlin,\" though the result is the same, the circumstances attending his disappearance are differently related. There the scene is laid, not in Br\u00e9c\u00e9liande, but in the Forest of Arvantes, and Merlin's living sepulchre is not a white-thorn bush, but a tomb which he had constructed for himself, and which Viviane persuaded him to lie down in, under pretence of trying whether it would be large enough for her to be buried in it with him. As soon as he had entered it, Viviane put down the lid, and closed it so effectually, p. 69 by arts which he himself had taught her, that it never after could be opened.--See Morte d'Arthur, ii. 463-8.\nIt is this version that Ariosto appears to have followed; but he places in the South of France, somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Garonne, the tomb in which\n\"Col corpo morto il vivo spirto alberga.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Orlando Furioso, C. iii.\n73:1 Livre des Legendes. Par le Roux de Lincy. Intro. 230, 4. Paris, 1836.\nHuon de Mery was a Monk of St. Germain des Pr\u00e9s, near Paris. He wrote the Poem above quoted about A.D. 1228. See Warton's History of English Poetry, ii. 121.\n\"a des lieux fa\u00ebs \u00e8s marches de Champaigne,\n Et ausi en a il en la roche grifaigne,\n Et si croy qu'il en a aussi en Alemaigne,\n Et on bois Bersillant, par desous la montaigne;\n Et non por quant ausi en a il en Espaigne,\n Et tout cil lieu fa\u00eb sont Artu de Bretaigne.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Livre des L\u00e9gendes, 264.\n74:2 The following is the description given of these Ladies in the Romance;--\nLes dames dont je di si estoient fa\u00e9es\n Qui si tr\u00e8s noblement estoient asesm\u00e9es.\n Leur cors furent plus blanc que n'est noif sor gel\u00e9e,\n Et si tr\u00e8s chierement estoient atourn\u00e9es.\n Car de couronnes d'or furent tontes dor\u00e9es\n Et de blaus dras de soie estoient aourn\u00e9es;\n En mi de la portrine estoient escoll\u00e9es.\n Se uns hom en eust err\u00e9 .ij. c. mile journ\u00e9es\n Ne fussent point par li trois plus belles trouv\u00e9es\n Et s'eust convers\u00e9 en cent mile contr\u00e9es.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Liv. des L\u00e9g. 267-8.\n74:3 Ibid. 260, 284.\n75:1 \"Kun-kored, vall\u00e9e des druidesses.\"\n75:2 \"Le bois de la Nonne, de l'Hermite, de la Solitaire.\"\n76:1 Revue de Paris. Tome 41. 7 Mai, 1837, pp. 47-58, article \"Visite ou Tombeau de Merlin,\" par Th\u00e9odore de la Villemarqu\u00e9.","title":"The Mabinogion: The Lady of the Fountain: Note on the For...","type":"page"}