The renown of the Lusignans was such that, two centuries later, it inspired Jean d'Arras.
He took Eustache Chabot, the mother of Geoffrey the Big Tooth, as the oracle for his
Melusine who, with three apronfuls of Stone and a draught of water covered Poitou with
towers and stout walls.
One evening in the forest of Coulombiers, at the end of a long day's hunting,
Aimeri, the Count of Poitiers and his nephew Raimondin set off in pursuit of a wild boar.
They far out-distanced their attendants and arrived at the outskirts of the Forest de Cé,
near Lusignan. There, during the excitement of the kill, Raimondin accidentally dealt his
uncle a fatal blow. Overcome by deep sorrow, aghast and contrite at this action the
young man was on his way back to confess what he had done when, at a bend in the road
he caught sight of three maidens dancing in a glade by the light of the moon.
One of them smiled and spoke to him. Her name was Mélusine. She was a fairy, daughter
of Elinas, King of Albania and the fairy Pressine. A terrible curse lay on her. Pressine
had punished her for her bad behaviour towards her father by condemning her to a sad
immortality unless she married a loving knight who was not inquisitive and who agreed
never to see her on Saturdays because on that day she had to bathe and watch her beautiful
long legs turn into a horrid scaly tail, and if her husband saw her like this, she would
never again take on human form.
Raimondin was attracted by the young girl's intelligence and beauty and asked her to
marry him. He swore he would never try to see her on a Saturday. Mélusine was delighted
to find a husband and accepted. She suggested that he should provide the lands and the
castle. But Raimondin, who was not wealthy, wondered what lands and what castle?
Once back at court, Raimondin who was very happy, but very sad also, tried to solve his
problem by blaming the boar for the death of the Count. Then, during the ceremony of
homage to the new Count of Poitou, on Melisine's advice he asked for as much land as
would fit into a deerskin.
'How stupid' said the assembled lords. However, to everybody's consternation, the deerskin
was cut into narrow strips and laid end to end and marked out an enormous area.
'Never mind' said the lords, 'he still hasn't got a castle'. Their complacency was
short-lived for in one night, right in the middle of the territory with three apron-fuls
of stones and a mouthful of water Mélusine build the splendid castle of Luisignan.
Moreover, so that her husband might be the most powerful lord in the region, she amused
herself on certain nights by studding the surrounding hills with mighty fortresses.
However, so much good fortune gave rise to unkind comments and covetousness. Where did
Mélusine's fairly-like beauty come from? Why was it that each of the ten children of
Raimondin and Mélusine, all boys had some strange physical characteristics? One had only
one eye and that was in the middle of his forehead. another had a lion's claw on his
cheek; another one enormous ear; and yet another Geoffroy, Mélusine's favourite and
it was said the most wicked had a huge tooth protruding from his mouth.
And why did Mélusine shut herself away every Saturday?
Raimondin followed the advice of a jealous brother, to try to solve this secret of
his wife's. He surprised Mélusine in her bath, combing her long fair hair and swishing
her horrible fish tail. Hardly had he taken this fatal step than the fairy screamed
and with a great noise like the flapping of wings she flew out of the window voicing a
terrible curse on the castles she had built. 'I swear that Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Mervent,
Chateaumur and Vouvant shall perish by losing one stone a year.'
But she came back to suckle her last child, and some say that on certain nights
she still comes to haunt the ruins of her castles.
|
 "Vouvant, painting by John Palmer")
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