The Cheval Mallet (or Malet, meaning Mallet Horse) describes a fabulous and evil horse mentioned in folklore around the French Vendée,[1][2] Poitou,[3] and more frequently in the Pays de Retz, near Lac de Grand Lieu. 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, 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.

  • (in French) Cheval Mallet
  • Gilles Perrodeau. "" Le mystère du cheval Merlette " - Un charivari institutionalisé" (in French). p. 1. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2009.

References

  1. ↑ (in French) Légendes locales d'Angles sur Le site officiel de la ville d'Angles
  2. ↑ (in French) Édouard Brasey, La petite encyclopédie du merveilleux, Le pré aux clercs, Paris, 2008, p.254-255 ISBN 978-2-84228-321-6
  3. ↑ (in French) Claude Seignolle, Contes, récits et légendes des pays de France : Bretagne, Normandie, Poitou, Charentes, Guyenne, Gascogne, Pays basque, Omnibus, 1998 ISBN 978-2-258-04583-5
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