As you may know, behind Aeternum is a small business based in Brittany (in the south of Finistère to be precise). And it is well known that this region lives to the rhythm of legends, myths, and magical practices 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 explore one of the most beautiful spots in Brittany: the Gulf of Morbihan.
Once, in the Gulf of Morbihan, Île-aux-Moines and Île d’Arz were one and the same territory, connected by a strip of land. Île-aux-Moines was then called Izenah. At that time, the inhabitants of Arz lived by fishing, simple people close to the sea, while those of Izenah called themselves lords of the water, proud and dominant.
One day, a young man from Izenah met the gaze of a girl from Arz. Love sprang up immediately, deep and sincere. But that love was not pleasing to the young lord’s families, who refused that he unite with a simple fisherman's daughter. To break this union, they entrusted their son to the monks, locking him behind the walls of the island’s monastery.
The young girl, heartbroken, refused to give up hope. Every day, she crossed the sandy isthmus that connected the two islands. Arriving at the foot of the monastery, she sang for the one she loved, her voice carried by the salty winds to the stone cells.
But the monks, disturbed by these daily complaints, called the Korrigans, those mischievous beings of the Breton land. In one night, they raised the waters of the gulf. The isthmus disappeared beneath the waves, and the two islands were swallowed by separation.
The next day, the young girl still wanted to reach her love. She stepped onto the causeway, not seeing that the sea had engulfed it. The current carried her away. Her song faded in the waves, and she never returned.
Since that day, Île-aux-Moines and Île d’Arz have never touched again. The elders say that at the first light of dawn, when the sea is calm, you can hear a light song floating between the two shores… the last echo of a love sacrificed to the waters of Morbihan.
Additional source: Gulf of Morbihan
