Tales & storytelling

Passing on tall tales

The tradition was strong in Brittany of transmitting stories orally, often during veillées, evenings of fireside storytelling. Travelling craftsmen frequently passed on the tales and in the 19th century, La Villemarqué compiled Breton tales in his Barzhaz Breizh, a work complemented by further writers, that gives us written evidence of this oral tradition. Today, there’s been a revival in Breton storytelling.

Picture 1 Tales & storytelling Picture 2 Tales & storytelling Picture 3 Tales & storytelling

Big fairies 

Breton fairies go by the name of korrigans. They can be extremely mischievous and cruel, for example stealing children, or demanding a hand in marriage. Breton fairies can also show prodigious strength, even moving dolmens around. As to giants, even if you never actually see them either, you can spot evidence of their shenanigans, for example in the chaos of vast boulders they left here and there.

Love and death 

The frustrations of thwarted love featured large in Breton stories, the divisions of class playing a cruel part. As to phallic menhirs, they were said to aid fertility.

Many Breton stories tell of the sadness of those forced to leave their beloved Brittany; despite their poverty, they loved their homeland. Tales of death abounded. In the west, the souls of sailors lost at sea supposedly gathered once a year at the stunning Baie des Trépassés (the Dead) and out to sea, the tiny island of Sein was said to have been a stepping-stone to the afterlife. The soul departing for judgement was a particular obsession.

Talky walkies 

Some tourist offices, museums and sights now organise storytelling tours on which, if you master some French, you can glean more about the wilder Breton tales as you wander along, perhaps as night falls, adding to the atmosphere. Or you’ll find cafés and venues where people gather to listen to Breton stories, offering fun opportunities to learn about the tall tales the Bretons have developed and relish.

Did you know ?

Often it was itinerant Breton tailors who spread tales, going from village to village as they went about their business.