The Mélusine fairy has become a cult character in French mythology. Do you know the story of the woman with the serpent’s tail ?
Her mother cast a spell on her
The fairy Pressine, mother of Mélusine cast a spell on her three daughters for having offended their father, Elinas, King of Albania.
She attributed to Mélusine the following curse: every Saturday, her long legs will take on scales and take on the appearance of a serpent’s tail.
If caught in this state, she would never return to human form.
One fine day, Raimondin sets out with his uncle, the Count of Poitiers, to hunt wild boar. The pursuit of the animal ends badly: the nephew accidentally kills his uncle during the killing of the beast. Overwhelmed by deep grief, he wanders on an adventure through the forest of Coulombiers.
At a bend in the path, he sees three young girls in a clearing. Mélusine smiles at him and comes to talk to him. She promises him happiness and prosperity if he agrees to marry her. However, he must in return never try to find out where she is going and what she is doing on Saturdays. Raimondin, dazzled by the beauty of the young girl, accepts and the wedding is celebrated.
A Poitou legend
By marrying the fairy, Raimondin becomes the most powerful lord of Poitou. Mélusine, the builder, built the Château de Lusignan on her husband’s land. She also likes to dot the surrounding hills with majestic cities and fortresses.
But the mystery surrounding Mélusine begins to make people talk. Of the ten boys born of their union, each of them has a disability. One has only one eye in the middle of his forehead, the other a lion’s claw on his cheek… And why the hell does Mélusine lock herself up every Saturday?
Melusine’s graceful body ends in an enormous serpent’s tail
Convinced by his jealous brother, Raimondin tries to unlock his wife’s secret. He joins her at the bottom of the tower where she has isolated herself. Armed with his sword, he cracks the lock of the door and surprises her in her bath combing her long blond hair.
The moment he notices that Melusine’s graceful body ends in an enormous serpent’s tail, the fairy begins to scream and flies out the window. She utters horrible threats against the fortresses she built for Raimondin “ Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Mervent, Châteaumur and Vouvant will die each year, I swear, one stone perishing”.
Some say that she still returns on certain evenings to haunt the ruins of her castles.
