As you may know, behind Aeternum is a small business based in Brittany (specifically in the south of Finistère). It is well known that this region lives to the rhythm of legends, myths, and magical practices, some more or less known (Brocéliande, Merlin, the Fairy Viviane, the Alignments, and many others). Thus, to highlight our beautiful region, we will regularly publish little-known legends from Breton history. This week, we head to the beautiful city of Vannes.
In the waters of the Étang au Duc, in Vannes, a Marie-Morgane, a water fairy from Breton mythology, has lived for centuries. When the summer sun caresses the surface of the lake, she sometimes emerges from the waves to braid her long seaweed-green hair, sitting on a rock. Her beauty draws gazes, but beware those who get too close.
One day, a soldier, dazzled by this vision, tried to approach her. Enchanted by her delicate features and captivating gaze, he did not see the trap closing around him. The water fairy embraced him with her diaphanous arms and dragged him into the depths of the lake, where he was never seen again.
If you ask the elders what this creature is, they will tell you her story. Once, the Étang au Duc belonged to a princess of great beauty. A powerful lord, master of the Étang de Plaisance nearby, constantly asked for her hand in marriage, but she rejected his advances, preferring another love. Tired of his pleas, she challenged him with what she believed was an impossible task:
— I will be yours when the Étang de Plaisance merges with the waters of the Étang au Duc.
But the man, driven by desire, had a canal dug connecting the two bodies of water. One day, he invited the princess to a feast at his castle and had her board a boat. Sailing along the canal he had dug, he took her to the Étang au Duc and, triumphant, declared to her:
— I have fulfilled your condition. Now it is your turn to keep your promise and become mine.
Faced with the irreversible, the young woman's heart broke. Rather than unite with a man she did not love, she chose to give herself to the waters that had seen her grow. Without a cry, she leaned over the side and let herself fall into the lake.
Since that day, it is said, a Marie-Morgane of enchanting beauty appears at the first light of day. On her rock, she untangles her hair braided with water pearls and weaves crowns of gladiolus. Those who meet her gaze remain forever disturbed, for beneath her immortal splendor still echoes the sorrow of a sacrificed love.
