"Yonec" is one of the Lais of Marie de France , written in the twelfth century by the French poet known only as Marie de France. Yonec is a Breton lai, a type of narrative poem. The poem is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French in rhyming couplets of eight syllables each. This lai tells the story of a woman who seeks to escape a loveless marriage, and of the child born from the love that she found elsewhere.
The lord of Caerwent, a rich old man, marries a beautiful young woman. He fears that she will be unfaithful to him, so he imprisons her in a tower and assigns his aged sister to watch over her. As the years go by, she laments her situation and stops taking care of herself, making her beauty fade away. One day, she cries out to God, wishing that she could experience a romantic adventure as she has heard in fairy tales. Suddenly, a dark bird resembling a goshawk appears at her window. The bird transforms into a handsome knight named Muldumarec. Muldumarec declares his love for her and reveals that, while he has loved her from afar, he could only approach her once she had called for him. The woman refuses his advances unless he can prove that he was not sent by the devil to lead her astray. Muldumarec says that he is a Christian, and as proof of such, he assumes the woman's shape and receives the Eucharist.
When the rich lord is away, the knight arrives by the window, in the same way he first appeared. The woman glows with her newfound love. The other people of the household become suspicious of her renewed beauty and put her under discreet surveillance. When the jealous husband learns of the shapechanging knight, he surrounds the window with iron spikes. The next time the knight arrives, he is mortally wounded. He tells the woman that their unborn child, whom she is to name "Yonec", will grow up to avenge their deaths. The knight flies away, and the woman hurls herself from the window and follows a trail of blood to a city made of silver. After passing through a succession of rooms, she eventually finds the knight on his deathbed. He gives her a magic ring that will make her husband forget about her infidelity. He also gives her his sword. As the woman flees the city, she hears the bells tolling for her lover's death.
As prophesied, the lady gives birth to a child, and names him "Yonec". When the child is grown, the husband, the lady, and Yonec travel to an abbey, where they see a beautiful tomb. They ask the abbot about the tomb, who explains that this is the tomb of Muldumarec. At this time, Yonec's mother tells him of his true parentage, and gives him his father's sword. She collapses and dies. Yonec kills his stepfather with the sword, thus avenging his real parents. He buries his mother alongside his father, and Yonec becomes the new lord of Caerwent.
The motif of a lover visiting in the form of a bird draws upon a common folklore motif, as in Child ballad 270, The Earl of Mar's Daughter . [1] It also features in the Italian fairy tale The Canary Prince . [2]
The folklorist Alexander Haggerty Krappe (1894-1947) [3] discusses the Yonec lai in his book Balor With the Evil Eye: Studies in Celtic and French Literature (1927). Krappe believes it comes from a very ancient myth, perhaps, he suggests, going back to fertility rites at the time of the introduction of agriculture, of a woman (the earth) shut away by an old man (the old year), impregnated by another man, whose child (the new year), then kills the old man. Other versions of this myth: Gilgamesh, Osiris, Balder, Danaë, Balor in Ireland, the "May Count" in Sweden, and "it has even penetrated to Uganda, where it is told of a local chief." [4]
Krappe concludes, "The lay of Yonec is but a Christian and courtly version of the Irish myth of Balor in the form in which it was still current in Ireland at the time of the Norman conquest. But it was adapted to the civilisation of Mediaeval France and England and at the same time contaminated with the Märchen of the Jealous Stepmother."
Yonec has been compared to the lai of Tydorel because both include noblewoman who is visited and impregnated by a supernatural fairy-knight who then names the child.
Marie de France was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court of King Henry II of England. Virtually nothing is known of her life; both her given name and its geographical specification come from her manuscripts. However, one written description of her work and popularity from her own era still exists. She is considered by scholars to be the first woman known to write francophone verse.
In Irish mythology, Balor or Balar was a leader of the Fomorians, a group of malevolent supernatural beings. He is often described as a giant with a large eye that wreaks destruction when opened. Balor takes part in the Battle of Mag Tuired, and is primarily known from the tale in which he is killed by his grandson Lugh of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He has been interpreted as a personification of the scorching sun, and has also been likened to figures from other mythologies, such as the Welsh Ysbaddaden and the Greek Cyclops.
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ability. The idea of shape-shifting is in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existent literature and epic poems such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Iliad. The concept remains a common literary device in modern fantasy, children's literature and popular culture.
Sir Orfeo is an anonymous Middle English Breton lai dating from the late 13th or early 14th century. It retells the story of Orpheus as a king who rescues his wife from the fairy king. The folk song Orfeo is based on this poem.
Morgan le Fay, alternatively known as Morgan[n]a, Morgain[a/e], Morg[a]ne, Morgant[e], Morge[i]n, and Morgue[in] among other names and spellings, is a powerful and ambiguous enchantress from the legend of King Arthur, in which most often she and he are siblings. Early appearances of Morgan in Arthurian literature do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a goddess, a fay, a witch, or a sorceress, generally benevolent and connected to Arthur as his magical saviour and protector. Her prominence increased as legends developed over time, as did her moral ambivalence, and in some texts there is an evolutionary transformation of her to an antagonist, particularly as portrayed in cyclical prose such as the Lancelot-Grail and the Post-Vulgate Cycle. A significant aspect in many of Morgan's medieval and later iterations is the unpredictable duality of her nature, with potential for both good and evil.
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Brothers Grimm's story developed from the French literary fairy tale of Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698).
Sir Launfal is a 1045-line Middle English romance or Breton lay written by Thomas Chestre dating from the late 14th century. It is based primarily on the 538-line Middle English poem Sir Landevale, which in turn was based on Marie de France's lai Lanval, written in a form of French understood in the courts of both England and France in the 12th century. Sir Launfal retains the basic story told by Marie and retold in Sir Landevale, augmented with material from an Old French lai Graelent and a lost romance that possibly featured a giant named Sir Valentyne. This is in line with Thomas Chestre's eclectic way of creating his poetry.
Latvian Lauma or Lithuanian Laumė is a fairy-like woodland spirit, and guardian spirit of orphans in Eastern Baltic mythology. Originally a sky spirit, her compassion for human suffering brought her to earth to share our fate.
Lanval is one of the Lais of Marie de France. Written in Anglo-Norman, it tells the story of Lanval, a knight at King Arthur's court, who is overlooked by the king, wooed by a fairy lady, given all manner of gifts by her, and subsequently refuses the advances of Queen Guinevere. The plot is complicated by Lanval's promise not to reveal the identity of his mistress, which he breaks when Guinevere accuses him of having "no desire for women". Before Arthur, Guinevere accuses Lanval of shaming her, and Arthur, in an extended judicial scene, demands that he reveal his mistress. Despite the broken promise, the fairy lover eventually appears to justify Lanval, and to take him with her to Avalon. The tale was popular, and was adapted into English as Sir Landevale, Sir Launfal, and Sir Lambewell.
"The Blue Bird" is a French literary fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy, published in 1697. An English translation was included in The Green Fairy Book, 1892, collected by Andrew Lang.
"Guigemar" is a Breton lai, a type of narrative poem, written by Marie de France during the 12th century. The poem belongs to the collection known as The Lais of Marie de France. Like the other lais in the collection, Guigemar is written in the Anglo-Norman language, a dialect of Old French, in rhyming octosyllabic couplets.
"Laüstic", also known as "Le Rossignol", "Le Laustic", "Laostic", and "Aüstic", is a Breton lai by the medieval poet Marie de France. The title comes from the Breton word for "nightingale" (eostig), a symbolic figure in the poem. It is the eighth poem in the collection known as the Lais of Marie de France, and the poem is only found in the manuscript known as Harley 978. Like the other poems in the collection, Laüstic is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French, in couplets eight syllables long.
"Milun" is a Breton lai by the medieval poet Marie de France,. Milun is the ninth lai in the collection known as the Lais of Marie de France. Like the other lais (lays) in this collection, Milun is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French, in couplets of eight syllables in length.
"Chaitivel", also known as "Les Quatre Deuils" or "Le Malheureux" in modern French or "The Four Sorrows" in English, is a Breton lai by the medieval poet Marie de France. Chaitivel is the tenth poem in the collection known as the Lais of Marie de France and is one of very few lais to contain alternate titles. Like the other poems in this collection, Chaitivel is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French, in couplets of eight syllables in length.
"Eliduc" is a Breton lai by the medieval poet Marie de France. The twelfth and last poem in the collection known as The Lais of Marie de France, it appears in the manuscript Harley 978 at the British Library. Like the other poems in this collection, "Eliduc" is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French, in couplets of eight syllables in length. At 1184 lines, it is the longest of the lais attributed to Marie de France. The text of the lai notes that its correct title should be Guildeluec and Guilliadon, but the name Eliduc has stuck.
"Doon" is an anonymous Breton lai that tells the story of a knight, Doon, who must pass certain tests to win the hand of a maiden. They marry; but he returns to France alone. He is later reunited with the lady thanks to their grown son, whom he recognizes after dueling him at a tournament. This lai is very similar to "Milun" by Marie de France.
Tyolet is an anonymous Breton lai that takes place in the realm of King Arthur. It tells the tale of a naïve young knight who wins the hand of a maiden after a magical adventure.
Melion is an anonymous Breton lai that tells the story of a knight who transforms into a werewolf for the love of his wife who betrays him.
The Bird Lover, also known as The Prince as Bird, is a type of narrative structure in folklore, no. 432 in the Aarne–Thompson classification system. In the typical version of story, a woman acquires a bird lover—a nobleman in the shape of a bird—who is wounded by means of a trap set by the woman's husband, such as a set of sharp points set up outside the woman's window. She follows the wounded bird's trail, cures him, and then marries him.
Tydorel is a medieval lai which tells the story of a fairy-knight who visits the childless queen of Brittany. He tells her that if she refuses his sexual advances, she will never again know happiness. Then he proves his supernatural origins by riding his horse across the bottom of an enchanted lake and emerging on the other side. He impregnates the queen and commands that she name their child Tydorel. This child is cursed with chronic insomnia, but he is raised by the king and treated as his heir. The queen arranges nightly entertainment for Tydorel since he cannot sleep.