Guernsey Folk Lore: a collection of popular superstitions, legendary tales, peculiar customs, proverbs, weather sayings, etc., of the people of that islandMacCulloch, Edgar, Sir
History
Guernsey Folk Lore: a collection of popular superstitions, legendary tales, peculiar customs, proverbs, weather sayings, etc., of the people of that island
MacCulloch, Edgar, Sir
Folklore -- Guernsey
The other fountain was called “La Fontaine de la Beilleuse,” and was
situated just east of the church, below the farmhouse, belonging to Mr.
Tardif. That again, was a double fountain, of which the southern was
the wishing well, but it has now unfortunately been done away with,
while the upper one has been converted into a drinking trough for
cattle. Both these fountains cured the red swellings known as “Mal de
la Fontaine.” When I asked why these should be efficacious, and not any
other, I was told that it was because they looked east, and were fed by
springs running towards the east.--_From Mrs. Le Patourel, Mrs. Mauger,
etc._
See M. Sebillot’s _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne_,
T. I., p. 45:--“Au moment où le Christianisme s’introduisit en Gaul,
le culte des pierres, des arbres et des fontaines y était florissant.
De l’an 452, date du deuxième concile d’Arles, à l’an 658, concile
de Nantes, nombre d’assemblées ecclesiastiques s’occupèrent de la
question.”
See also _Notions Historiques sur les Côtes-du-Nord_, par Havasque,
T. I., p. 17:--“De l’usage que les druides faisaient de l’eau des
différentes sources est venue le culte que les Bretons ont si longtemps
rendu aux fontaines.… Lors de l’établissement du Christianisme, les
prêtres les consacrèrent à Dieu, sous l’invocation de la Vierge ou de
quelque Saint, afin que les hommes grossiers, frappés par ces effigies,
s’acoutumassent insensiblement à rendre à Dieu et à ses Saints
l’hommage qu’ils adressaient auparavant aux fontaines elles-mêmes.
Telle est l’origine des niches pratiquées dans la maçonnerie de presque
toutes les fontaines, niches dans lesquelles on a placé la statue du
saint qui donne son nom à la source. C’est pour parvenir au même but
que le clergé fit ériger à la mème époque des chapelles dans les lieux
consacrés à la religion ou au culte.”
LE POULAIN DE SAINT GEORGE.
We have already mentioned the well of St. George as being supreme in
its sanctity; indeed we may almost say that its reputation is such that
it throws all others into the shade. It stands near the ruined chapel
of the same name.
A place of such antiquity and reputed sanctity might naturally be
expected to have its legends, though many doubtless have disappeared,
but a firm faith still exists in the miraculous properties of the water
of the well, and the old people still say that on tempestuous nights,
especially during thunder and lightning, the form of a horse, darting
flames of fire from its eyes and nostrils, may be seen galloping
thrice, and thrice only, round the ruined precincts of the chapel.
Some accounts of the spectral appearance speak only of a horse’s head
enveloped in flames, without the accompaniment of a body.[93]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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