The mountain Democrat., 1864-04-30
BRETON LEGENDS.

st. Suliac is q small village six kilome-
trees from Dinan, and is situated on the
Rance, little river, navigablc for some
miles by boats and small craft, which
empties itself into the sea below st. Ser
van. near ST. Malo.
The district is entirely maritime, very
little wooded, and partly covered with
marshes, dry in summer.
These marshes, then, produce a meager
pasturage on which ieed-we cannot say
fatteE-small hOcks Of sheep, not of the
plumpest, but producing good delicate
mutton. Here and there, scattered over
the downs, are herds of small cows, while
goats dispute with asses the rank grasses
and shrubby willows that grow beside the
paths intersecting the marshes. But not
withstanding the aridity of the soil it pro-
duces nearly all the flowers that compose
the Bretonne fora.
The coast consists chiefly of high cliffs,
covered with stunted vegetation. The
beach is muddy, and bris,ling with rocks
and rough, sharp pebbles; of sand or
shells is hardly trace. The land is chief.
y cultivated by the women the men are
nearly all sailors, and go to sea from their
carly childhood. The older ones, who
voyage no longer, fish, and instruct the
lads in the labors ef a scalariug life. At
each high tide some fifty or sixty fishing
boats sail down the Rance, and spread
their nets at its mouth when the tide
turns they enter the ports of St. Malo, st.
Servan and Dipard, and go about the
streets, basket on arm, crying "Aux
lenoons frais, aux LEMONS frais!" and
forth sally the housewives to bargain
for the dainty little silver sand eels, which
form the chief produce of the fishery
Besides these, however, the coast furnish
es variety Of shell fish, some in great re-
quest among gOurmets among other are
the Neril oyster and the Coquille de St.
Jaques, both now becoming extinct; the
lobster, crab, prawn, mussel. and several
others; and such is the abundance Of
morgates cast on the shore that the in
habitants, after having half lived on them
for weeks, rake them up with the sea-
weed and manure the fields with them
Thence the word morgatiers has be,
come a sobriquet for the inhabitants ol
St. Suliac among the neighboring villages.
Besides these, fish, soles, ray S, mullet, ,eels,
whiting, and variety Of others, are suf.
ficiently abundant. Sea- birds also abound,
ard it seems that the chasse aux petits
oiseaux has not here waited to be by law
put an end to, for larks. yellow hammers,
and variety of little birds, make the
country CHEEKY with their notes.
With this little preface commence my
series Of legends with
THE ASSES OF RIGoCRDEN.
A little way from the town, on the
summit Of Carrot, existed, until the year
1861, the ruins Of chapel, built, as We
are told by the good Able Sulianus, on
his arrival from Wales in the third cen.
tury.
st. Suliac, having thus constructed his
monastery, set to work to cultivate the
ground surrounding it and to make gar.
dens, which bis monks kept in order; and,
planting vines,+ they trained them into
arches and Enclosures, separating and
shutting in the patches of grain and veg
etables contided to their care.
The Rance, now navigable river, was
then little streamlet, so shallow that Of.
ten 1t was crossed dry shod, or, as tradi.
ton asserts, on two jawbones of an ass.
On the left bank, opposite Carrot, rather
more than kilometer from the monast-
cry, was farm called the Farm of Ri
gOurden. This homestead, now destroy.
ed By time, has given its name to the vii
lage Of Rigourden en- PiOuer. 1t posses.
sed vast number of asses, which the
farmer sent every day to feed in the
marshes which then lay all about the foot
Of the mountain. These animals, little
tempted by such coarse and scanty fare,
and instinctively led to where richer past
urage was to be found, soon learned to
quit their meager grazing, and in the
evenings stole up to the gardens of the
able feasting on the good things there
fourishing: -------- ------------
For some days this proceeding passed
undiscovered, the good monks being much
occupied with prayers and meditation ;
but, at the end Of that time, finding their
zelda PAVaOeA and kha vinaa half narsnv@nH