If like me you are able to see the Crystal Castle on the lake, you should not miss a visit to the Château de Comper.
They say in the Château de Comper, one of the most important interpretation centers of the Arthurian Imaginary in the world, that storytellers are liars who tell the truth.
Well, the time has come for you to let yourself be fooled by stories and legends from other times (and other worlds) and listen carefully to what they have to tell you in this castle in French Brittany.
You will discover that until the English reduced them in the 17th century, fairies had, since the 11th and 12th centuries, the beauty and adequate size to procreate with humans; that there was a Valley of No Return which unfaithful men could enter but never leave (careful!); that the Hobbit is but a forest goblin and that George Lucas was a student of Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces. and a mythographer who came to this Breton forest, that of Brocéliande (officially Paimpon), to seek inspiration and archetypes in Celtic oral traditions. Or did you really believe that the story of the son who kills "I am your father" is modern?
Storytellers, troubadours, entertainment activities... await you at the Castle of Comper, in French Brittany.
THE OBJECTIVE
Human beings need stories; also walk. And in the Château de Comper they have united both vital needs to invent a slow life experience in which adrenaline is replaced by curiosity and the stiffness due to the relaxed contact with Nature (in capital letters) to end up finding oneself.
Thus, while you are enraptured by a 14th century castle built with the local red stone (the color of the fairies' blood), you walk along paths in a forest with ancient trees, you surround a lake in which there is a Crystal Castle (if you don't see it, it's because you don't look with your heart, they'll tell you) and you rest on the shore next to an improvised (are you sure?) choir of invisible frogs (the smartphones weren't able to portray any of them even though it sounded like there were a trillion) , a dedicated storyteller will capture your attention with stories of Celtic origin that have reached our days by word of mouth.
It has been 30 years now that in this artistic center they have been working on three repertoires: the tales of death, those of fairies, goblins, giants and dwarfs (the traditional ones) and the Arthurian legend, to promote and recover the intangible heritage (including language) that arrived 1,500 years ago from the south-west of England, when the Celts fled to the continent before the invasion of the barbarian tribes of Angles and Saxons. The French coasts were very populated and they decided to settle in the heart of Brittany.
In the lake of the forest of Brocéliande Merlin built a Crystal Castle for Viviana.
THE PLACE
Understand the role of the 'forest' in the collective imagination Through stories (we are children) and approaching universal concepts such as love, fear, betrayal or death is much easier if we are really in a forest, specifically in Brocéliande.
In total, 12,000 hectares of land that, although they are private (starting in the autumn they are dedicated to hunting), between March and October they receive 50,000 visitors who come to learn about or learn more about the Arthurian legends _(admission €7) _.
In fact, for years, they have told me at the castle, there are many artists, painters or writers (such as Vargas Llosa or Hugo Pratt) who seek inspiration in the essence of this forest, located in Corconet, in the Morbihan department of French Brittany, to articulate new stories, contemporary stories.
Because we must not forget that this place, where exhibitions and thematic shows are organized today, was the residence of the fairy Viviana (also the name of the river that crosses the forest). Nicknamed the Lady of the Lake, it was she who trapped Merlin with a spell, she gave Arthur his sword Excalibur and was in charge of raising Lancelot before he became the knight of knights.
Remains of a 14th-century castle built with local red stone are preserved on the property.
There is also a Valley of No Return for unfaithful men (don't worry, Lanzarote broke that curse centuries ago), a fountain of youth and another that bubbles (You will be able to see this with your own eyes), the Barenton fountain, where the magician Merlin precisely met Viviana.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LOVE STORY
Daughter of King Dymas and a blonde fairy with almost transparent eyes, Viviana was trapped forever in this place when her mother died, but not abandoned, since she was left in charge of three fairy godmothers (sounds familiar to you too, right?), which gave her beauty, intelligence and love.
One day, by the Barenton spring, she met an old man who taught her magic, another day she met a boy who showed her the language of birds, and on the third day it was a handsome man who stood by the spring. It turns out that all of them were the wizard Merlin. They fell in love but he had to go to try to change the destiny of men. He would return once a year to see her and he had to bring proof of love.
In one of these fleeting encounters he magically built her a Crystal Castle on the lake, from which Viviana could see the stars and the moon, but where everyone could see her at the same time, so he ended up giving her one of hers for her use. During another of the visits she brought him a boy to be in charge of educating him, a boy who at the age of 15 would become the most famous gentleman in the world, Lancelot, the Knight of the Lake and the Round Table.
Eight years, nine magic words and nine danced circles around Merlin later, the magician would be trapped forever with Viviana due to a spell. And he listens, don't even think about judging the tricks of a woman who waits eight years for her lover, and even less so if he is a magician and can see the future. Or do you think that when he leaves Camelot he doesn't know his fate?
Many fringes are missing in my story, but it's like trying to explain Game of Thrones in a paragraph. In fact, what this story shows is that Celtic magic (and the supernatural) mixed with Courtly Love at some point in history and gave rise to modern literature.
So the next time you let yourself be amazed by a Hollywood story, stop to think and reconsider, surely in the background you will find a Celtic legend adapted to the new 2.0 world.
Merlin and Viviane in the Brocéliande forest.