The Groac'h of the Isle of Lok

Synopsis

Two cousins, Houarn Pogamm and Bellah Postik, grew up together and their mothers expected them to marry, but both mothers died when the cousins came of age. Penniless, Houarn and Bellah became servants. They dreamed of a small farm, and Houarn decided to seek his fortune elsewhere. Bellah gave him a bell that rang only to warn of danger and could be heard at any distance, and a knife that broke spells with its touch. She kept a stick that could carry a person anywhere, so it could bring her to him if needed.

Houarn walked until he heard of the Groac'h of the island of Lok, a rich fairy whose treasure no one had ever retrieved. He hired a boatman to take him to the lake. There he found a boat shaped like a swan, with its head tucked under its wing. When he stepped onto it, the boat swam off with him. He tried to jump and swim, but the boat dived, carrying him to the lake bottom where the Groac'h had her palace. She welcomed him and said her wealth came from shipwrecks. She offered to share it if he married her, and he agreed, forgetting Bellah.

After the marriage, the Groac'h summoned fish into a net and put them in a pot. Houarn heard cries from the pot, and when she served him the fish, he remembered Bellah and pulled out the knife. The knife turned the fish into men, who said they too had sought their fortune there. Houarn tried to flee, but the Groac'h caught him in her net and turned him into a frog.

Bellah heard the warning bell. She took her stick, which turned into a horse and then into a bird that carried her to a nest where a little black man sat. He said he was the Groac'h's husband and that Bellah could free him by freeing Houarn. To do so, she must dress as a man, go to the Groac'h, and get her net. He turned four of his own hairs into tailors who made her a suit from a cabbage. She went to the Groac'h, who soon asked Bellah to marry her. Bellah agreed, on condition that the Groac'h let her use the net to catch a fish in the fishpond. Once she had the net, she turned the Groac'h into a toad with it. Using the knife, she freed Houarn and all the others. The little man arrived and gave Bellah and Houarn as much treasure as they could carry. They married, and instead of a little farm, they bought many acres of land and gave each of the freed men enough money to buy small farms of their own.