{"id":23240,"date":"2016-04-25T15:48:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T13:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=23240"},"modified":"2017-10-25T11:37:28","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T09:37:28","slug":"ancient-france-la-foret-de-broceliande","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/ancient-france-la-foret-de-broceliande\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient France: La For\u00eat de Broc\u00e9liande"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broc\u00e9liande is a mythical forest that first appeared in chivalric tales in the twelfth century, most notably legends featuring King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. (King Arthur is a mythic early sixth century king and scholars still debate over whether or not he actually existed, although it is likely he was based on a historical figure.)<\/p>\n

But La For\u00e9t de Broc\u00e9liande also exists in real life, just eighteen miles west of the French city of Rennes. According to Brittany Tourism, the Paimport forest is all that remains of the vast forest of Broc\u00e9liande that spread out across ancient Brittany, which was also known as Argoat. While only a small portion of the original forest remains, there are many sites to explore for those interested in Arthurian legend, including the supposed location of Merlin’s tomb.<\/p>\n

According to one legend, the fairy Morgane, the sister of King Arthur was deceived by her lover and wanted to take revenge on all disloyal\u00a0men. Thus, she cast a spell on the forest so that all unfaithful men who entered into the Broc\u00e9liande forest would be imprisoned and never allowed to escape. This area is called “Le Val sans retour,” or “the valley of not return.” At the top of the valley is the “Rocher des Faux Amants,” (the rock of false lovers) in which Morgane imprisoned these youths.<\/p>\n

One of the most famous sites in the forest is “La Fontaine de Barenton,” a legendary fountain connected with Merlin where supposedly all of your wishes will be granted.\u00a0According to the Broc\u00e9liande tourism office:<\/a><\/p>\n

“La Fontaine de Barenton est l\u2019un des sites l\u00e9gendaires les plus r\u00e9put\u00e9s de la for\u00eat de Broc\u00e9liande<\/strong>. A l\u2019heure actuelle, cette fontaine tire son charme de sa simplicit\u00e9. Il s\u2019agit d\u2019une fontaine tr\u00e8s ancienne entour\u00e9e de pierres. A ses c\u00f4t\u00e9s se trouve une pierre plate, ancien couvercle de celle-ci. Cette pierre plate est surnomm\u00e9e \u00ab\u00a0le Perron de Merlin\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong> ou \u00ab\u00a0la Margelle de Barenton\u00a0\u00bb. L\u2019eau de cette fontaine est toujours \u00e0 une temp\u00e9rature de 10\u00b0C\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0aussi froide que le marbre\u00a0\u00bb. Pourtant, des bulles<\/strong> se forment par intermittence \u00e0 la surface de l\u2019eau (il s\u2019agit d\u2019un gaz\u00a0: le m\u00e9thane). On raconte que l\u2019on peut y faire un voeu et si instantan\u00e9ment, la fontaine fait des bulles, notre voeu sera exauc\u00e9<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“The Barenton Fountain is one of the most famous legendary sites of the forest of Broceliande. Currently, this fountain’s charm is shown in its simplicity. The fountain is very ancient and surrounded by stones. Next to the fountain is a flat stone, the ancient covering for it. This flat stone is named “Merlin’s Stoop” or “The Curbston of Barenton.” The water from this fountain is always at a temperature of\u00a010\u00b0C: “as cold as marble.” However, bubbles periodically form on the surface of the water (because of a gas present in the water: methane). We say that we can make a wish on the fountain and if, instantly, bubbles appear in the water, our wish will be granted.”<\/p>\n

Supposedly, the eternal fountain of youth is hidden near the Barenton Fountain. Although it can only be found by those who are pure of heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Broc\u00e9liande is a mythical forest that first appeared in chivalric tales in the twelfth century, most notably legends featuring King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. (King Arthur is a mythic early sixth century king and scholars still debate over whether or not he actually existed, although it is likely he was based…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":23244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23240","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28953,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23240\/revisions\/28953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}