The Cheval Mallet (or Malet, meaning Mallet Horse) describes a fabulous and evil horse mentioned in
folklore around the French
Vendée,
[Légendes locales d'Angles]
su
Le site officiel de la ville d'Angles
/ref>[ Édouard Brasey, ''La petite encyclopédie du merveilleux'', Le pré aux clercs, Paris, 2008, p.254-255 ] Poitou,[ Claude Seignolle, Contes, récits et légendes des pays de France : Bretagne, Normandie, Poitou, Charentes, Guyenne, Gascogne, Pays basque, Omnibus, 1998 ] and more frequently in the Pays de Retz, near Lac de Grand Lieu
Lac de Grand-Lieu () is a lake located to the southwest of Nantes, in the Loire-Atlantique, France, and almost entirely in Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu. At an elevation of , its surface area is , making it the largest lake in France in winter, bu ...
. It was supposed to appear at night or in the middle of the night as a beautiful white or black horse, saddled and bridled, and tempt travelers exhausted by a long journey. Several legends about the unwary who rode this horse, and never returned unless you have them on the price of travel or protection spell as a medal of St. Benedict.
A feast was also known as horse Merlette, Merlet or Mallet in the town of Saint-Lumine-de-Coutais
Saint-Lumine-de-Coutais (; br, Sant-Leven-ar-C'hoad) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.
See also
*Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department
The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire-Atlantique d ...
, it had a military function, cathartic celebration of renewal or carnival, and featured several actors around one oak, one disguised as a horse. It was opposed by the ecclesiastical authorities and banned in 1791.
External links
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Cheval Mallet
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References
* {{in lang, fr Paul Guérin
Paul Guérin (8 March 1830 – 23 June 1908) was a French priest, professor of philosophy, writer and encyclopedist.
He was gifted as a compiler, and is best known for being the author of the series '' Les Petits Bollandistes: vie des saints'', w ...
, Archives historiques du Poitou, Impr. de H. Oudin, 1893, vol. 2
online text
French legendary creatures
Horses in mythology
French folklore