Who can resist a
medieval legend that incorporates witches, sirens, dryads and
fairies, that is both angelic and demonic. Saurimonde was known as a
prophetess, who roamed the fertile lands of Mazamet as naked as the
sun, and as a sorceress who inhabited the trou, or cave under the
castle of Quertinheux, part of Lastours, dressed in goat or sheep
skins, with her hair touching the ground, who only came out at
Candlemas to predict the future. If the weather was going to be foul
and winter was to continue, she would cry and scream, but if she
played her flute than spring was just around the corner. She was also
known to be a beautiful faery who haunted the edges of the river and
this is where our first legend begins...
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* * *
Saurimonde - She of
the Golden Hair and the Golden Comb.
One evening the head
archer of the house of Hautpoul on the Black Mountain, came upon the
wild shores of the Arnette River. A vague uneasiness overtook him and
he could not shake the feeling. His favorite past time was hunting
and he possessed numerous of heads of wolves, boar and deer that he
had slain. As the last rays of the sun began to fade a marvellous sight
appears before him. A few feet away is a woman of stunning beauty.
Her shoulders are covered by her golden hair as she joyfully plays in
the currents with a child, her daughter, who is her picture image. In
her hand is a golden comb, studded with jewels and diamonds so
intricate that it could not have been made by mortals. .
The archer recognizes
her as the faery Saurimonde. Few have ever seen her, but her beauty
is legendary as is the golden comb, which is said to have been
crafted by the devil and is the key to untold riches. The archer
remembers the songs of the troubadours and how her name has been
celebrated from the courts of the Count of Toulouse to Montpellier
where the King of Aragon called his poets to praise her
golden curls and golden comb.
While he watches, she
leaves the cool, refreshing river, climbing up on a nearby rock with
her child and she starts brushing her daughter's hair with the
bejewelled comb. The archer makes a sudden move and Saurimonde and
her child disappear into a garlanded honeysuckle which serves as
their palace right before his eyes.
Later that night, the
head archer paces the floor of the castle Hautpoul. He cannot shake
the image of the beautiful faery woman and the overwhelming desire to
possess the golden comb.
Time passes and the
head archer becomes more and more obsessed by this vision. Hunting no
longer holds any attraction for him, and his friends all flee,
fearing that he is mad. But he never tells anyone his secret.
One anxious night, he
takes down the cross bow that has been long since forgotten. Like a
madman he runs down the steep slopes that slide away from the black
walls of the city. He careens among the rocks and the bushes to the same
place at the river that he stumbled upon years ago. To his ultimate
surprise, she is there! He, the head archer, who has never missed his
target, the cunning hunter who never returns empty-handed, raises his
bow and the arrow goes sailing past her. She mocks his
clumsy efforts to her daughter and they both laugh.
He returns again and
again to attempt to steal the golden comb and always it is the same
outcome. Finally, after being defeated at every turn, the head archer
climbs up the steep path carved by large stone slabs to the church of
St. Saveur. Meeting with the abbot, he confesses his story and asks
just how he might attain the precious implement. The abbot tells him that
indeed, she must be the daughter of the devil and that to obtain the
golden comb he must take his bow to the cross of their good Count of
Toulouse, which adorns the center of the city, and have it blessed.
After having made the
journey, the head archers sets out for the river the next evening.
Saurimonde is there, more beautiful than ever, her delightful body
covered only with the lightest of veils and her golden hair flowing
loose about her. She has no fear now and her clear, smiling eyes seek
out her clumsy enemy.
A coldness descends
and Saurimonde with comb in hand calls to her daughter to come out of
the water. This is the chance that the head archer has been waiting
for. With a fierce and greedy gleam in his eye, he sures his shot and
then unleashes the strand. It flies through the air straight and
true. Heavens! A cry is heard. Saurimonde wails as she throws the
golden comb into the river's depths. She picks up the body of her
child whose blood is spilling onto her pearly skin. Amidst her sobs
she starts to curse the miserable head archer.
“Woe to you!
Murderer of my child, you were once a great river and now you will
become a trickle of a stream!”
No one ever saw her
again...
The head archer tried
in vain for the rest of his days to find the golden comb, but because
of his crime he never did. Instead, he lost everything he had and
descended into darkness and misery. The once bountiful river dried up
to a small stream and then faded away into legend.
(Henri
Tournier, Castle Aiguefonde by Mazamet-1899 - published
in the Revue du Tarn, vol XVII, 1900).
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* * *
The heroine of the
story that we are writing now is a lot more earthy, erotic and human
(well, human in the the beginning), although she retains a love for
the river and the ethereal seductiveness of the faery woman from whom
her name comes. Next time we will tell the tale of Saurimonde the
sorceress, a fascinating and terrifying legend that has interesting
parallels with the Basque witch goddess Mari, queen of thunderstorms.
picture by Rayvn Navarro
