The road is blocked
Legend of Brittany (France)
Three young men, the three Guissouarn brothers from the village of L’Enès in Callac, were returning from a winter wake in a farm quite far from home. To get back, they had to follow the old royal road from Guingamp to Carhaix for a while. The weather was dry and the moon was bright, but the east wind was blowing fiercely.
The men, whose spirits had been lifted by the cider, were singing at the top of their lungs, competing to see whose voices could carry louder than the wind. Suddenly, they spotted something black at the edge of the moat. It was an old oak stump that the storm had uprooted from the bank.
Yvon Guissouarn, the youngest of the three brothers, who had a mischievous streak, came up with a good prank.
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"Do you know?" he said, "we are going to drag this tree across the road, and, by Jove, if some coachman comes after us, he will have to get out of his carriage to move the tree if he wants to get through."
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Yes, it will make him swear beautifully, the other two agreed.
And there they were, dragging the oak log across the road. Then, all gleeful at having come up with this prank, they made their way to the house. They did not sleep in the house.
The Ankou
To be closer to tending the animals, all three had their beds in the horse stable. Since they had stayed up quite late and were also tired from a day’s work, they fell asleep quickly. But in the deepest part of their first sleep, they were jolted awake. Someone was banging loudly on the stable door.
- What's going on? they asked, jumping out of their bunks.
The one who had been knocking merely knocked again, without answering.
So the eldest of the Guissouarn ran to the door and flung it wide open: he saw only the clear night and heard only the heavy breath of the wind. He tried to close the door, but could not. The combined strength of his brothers and his own was not enough. Then, seized by the trembling of fear, they said in a pleading tone:
- In the name of God, speak! Who are you and what do you want?
Nothing appeared, but a muffled voice was heard, saying:
- Who I am, you will learn to your cost if, in a moment, the tree you have placed across the road is not moved to the embankment. That is what I want. Come.
They went as they were, that is to say half-naked, and later confessed that they had not even felt the cold, so completely did terror possess them. When they reached the tree trunk, they saw that a strange cart, low on its wheels, harnessed to horses without harness, was waiting to pass. Believe that they quickly replaced the oak log where they had found it lying. And the Ankou—for it was he—touched his beasts, saying:
- Because you blocked the road, you made me lose an hour: that is an hour each of you will owe me. And if you had not obeyed my command immediately, you would have owed as many years of your life as the tree remained in minutes across my path.
Excerpt from The Legend of Death by Anatole Le Braz
Have a good day
Marylena