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The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany
Francois-Marie Luzel, Michael Wilson
- 264 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany
Francois-Marie Luzel, Michael Wilson
About This Book
Twenty-nine Breton tales, as told over a series of long winter nights, featuring an ingenious miller, a Jerusalem-bound ant, a mad dash at midnight, and more In the late nineteenth century, the folklorist François-Marie Luzel spent countless winter evenings listening to stories told by his neighbors, local Breton farmers and villagers. At these social gatherings, known as veillĂ©es, Luzel recorded the tales in unusual detail, capturing a storytelling tradition that is now almost forgotten. The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany collects twenty-nine stories gathered by Luzel, many translated into English for the first time. The tales are presented in a series of five imaginary veillĂ©es, giving readers a unique opportunity to listen in on a long-ago winter's night of storytelling.Some of the stories mix the apparently supernatural with the everydayâas in the title tale, when a mysteriously nocturnal washerwoman causes three handsome lads to flee so quickly they lose their clogs in the process. Others invite listeners to root for the underdog, as when a simple miller outwits a powerful seigneur. Another tale must have been greeted with raucous laughter as it recounts an ascending ladder of obstaclesâfrom a mouse to a cat to a man to God (or the Devil) himselfâconfronted by a traveling ant. Michael Wilson, the volume's editor and translator, provides a substantive introduction that discusses Luzel's work and the significance of Breton storytelling.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Introduction: François-Marie Luzel, Folklorist of Lower Brittany
- The Tales
- First Veillée
- Second Veillée
- Third Veillée
- Fourth Veillée
- Fifth Veillée
- About the Tales
- Notes
- Bibliography