. The Waldorf family ; or, Grandfather's lagends . inences, that they seemlike the spires of churches in some populous city;—such are the varied objects which meet thetravellers eye, in wandering through that strangeland. But they who confine their travels merelyto the few high roads which cross the country, seefew of these peculiarities. It is in the more remotedistricts, the cantons of Leon, Cornouaille, Tre-guir, and Vannes, where one is obliged to crossmountain torrents on stepping-stones for want ofbridges, and to traverse causeways made overbroad morasses ; where the by-roads are little
. The Waldorf family ; or, Grandfather's lagends . inences, that they seemlike the spires of churches in some populous city;—such are the varied objects which meet thetravellers eye, in wandering through that strangeland. But they who confine their travels merelyto the few high roads which cross the country, seefew of these peculiarities. It is in the more remotedistricts, the cantons of Leon, Cornouaille, Tre-guir, and Vannes, where one is obliged to crossmountain torrents on stepping-stones for want ofbridges, and to traverse causeways made overbroad morasses ; where the by-roads are little morethan the dry channels of exhausted rivulets, thatBrittany exhibits its wildest and noblest features. Are the people as peculiar as their country ?asked Mrs. Waldorf. Quite as much so ; their manners are exceed-ingly simple and primitive. They are a grave,earnest, religious people, who wear the woodenshoes, the loose doublet, and enormous trunk-hosethat were worn by their great-grandfathers, andremind one constantly of the Dutch boors in Te-. niers pictures. Of course their legends and tradi-tions partake of the character of the country andthe people. In a land of perpetual sunshine, diver-sified only by smiling plains and luxuriant vine-yards, the traditional tales will probably assumea joyous character; but in a country which iswashed by the tossing waves of ocean, overhungby sea-fogs or mountain mists, and bordered bydreary stretches of sand, the imagination of thepeople will take a darker coloring. The fairylegends of the Bretons are fantastic, grotesque,and often gloomy, but they are very striking. Ispent a year in Brittany, and one of my mostintimate friends was a native of Leon; I wastherefore enabled to gratify my taste for fairy lorein an entirely new field; and I found, that whilethere were many points of resemblance betweentheir traditions and those of other European coun-tries, yet there were also curious points of dif-ference. Oh, tell us a Breton fairy tale,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookidwaldorffamil, bookyear1848
