Janedik ar Sorcerez - Jeanne la Sorcière

et rapprochement avec "Héloïse et Abélard" du "Barzhaz Breizh"

Textes recueillis par François-Marie Luzel:

English Translation

Joan the witch

VERSION 1 Come with me, Jenny, to the Yaudet Pardon Long ago I made the vow to go there. - Jenny said when they were coming near Yaudet: - In this field, so said she, is beautiful wheat! In that one, so said she, is beautiful rye! When we return, there will be nothing but rye grass in it; Eighteen bushels of grains were sown. When reaping time comes, but little will be left.! When reaping time comes, but little will be left.! After the winnowing, not even a bowlful! - - Just spoil the width of a winnowing cloth, That I may satisfy myself that you are a true witch. - - With your leave, father, I won't, Or in doing so, I would ruin the whole country. - - Let us go back home, Jenny, We must say good-bye, decidedly, to all Pardons. - II Housemaster John said to his wife when he came back: - We have raised a daughter who knows how to spoil a crop. I'm going to commend her to the Procurator fiscal. - Housemaster John said to the Procurator: - We've bred a girl who knows how to spoil a crop, Do what you can for her. We did our utmost. - - Bring me your daughter for the inquiry She will be condemned by court if she deserves it. - III - Tell me, Jenny, now that you're condemned, How did you learn to spoil the crops? - - A shepherd who served in my father's farm Took me nightly to the Sabbath Where the sorcerers and witches gathered And he taught me how to spoil the crops! When he was engaged by my father I knew nothing, but how to tell my beads. Now, I know Latin, I can read and write And I can prevent a priest from saying mass! From saying high mass on Sundays I could consecrate the host, if I were allowed!! - - Tell me, Jenny, now that you are condemned What is needed to spoil the crops?- - You need a toad's heart, a male raven's left eye And fern berries picked in the Saint John's fire night. On a silver plate I had of them a handful That I had picked between eleven o'clock and midnight You need also another herb whose name I don't tell. Without it the other things don't work.

I have a little chest in my house Whoever opens it shall regret it sourly! Whoever opens it must be courageous Since it harbours three vipers, each brooding on a serpent If my three little adders hatch out They must be bred with choicest food. They must be bred with choicest food Like partridge or snipe flesh And a treat fit for a king: innocent blood Of babies waiting under the church porch to be baptized Rather than ill-use them I'd shed my mother or my father's blood - Tell me, Jenny, now that you're condemned What are we to do to make them perish? Put them in the midst of a glade. Light a fire around them The earth will open to engulf them! But please, be not thrifty when fuelling the furnace! If one serpent escapes, he will set on fire the firmament! Could I have lived but one more year, I would have caused this world to tilt! - ************************************ VERSION 2 When I first went to Paris to learn French, I knew nothing but how to tell my beads. - But now I am a learned woman, I can write and read And I can read the mass as well as a priest can. I can sing the epistle, at high mass And could consecrate the host, if I were allowed. - - Tell me, girl, from whom did you learn The secret for calling a curse on a crop? From a young clerk who worked at my father's house. He took me to the Sabbath every night. He took me to the Sabbath every night. And I learned evil-doing instead of good-doing. When I was with them I heard nothing But gossip of sorcerers and witches, But gossip of sorcerers and witches, And I learned evil-doing instead of good-doing! - (1) Tell me, girl, who taught you The secret for spoiling the wheat? For seven leagues around, no grain shot whatsoever, And no newborn child was baptized? - ................................

- Tell me girl, what is needed What one must have to spoil the wheat? - A male raven's left eye and a toad's heart. And seed of green fern, collected in the Saint John's night. When I first made use of my witchcraft to test it It was in a rye field sown par my father. It was in a rye field sown par my father. Eighteen half-bushels of rye in all. Eighteen half-bushels were sown Not even eighteen bowlfuls were reaped. I have in my father's house a little chest. Whoever opens it will be heart-broken. There are in it three vipers brooding each on an egg That is devised to set on fire the whole world. If my dear little beasts can hatch and thrive, They must be fed on choice foodstuffs. Not on woman's milk shall they be fed, But on the innocents' regal blood. On the innocents' regal blood Who go to church to be baptized. I knew how to kill a child that will be baptized By the priest who slips on his surplice.... - Now Jenny, now that you are condemned, What shall we do to prevent all that to happen? - Put them in the midst of a field with a fire around them, The earth will break open and engulf them! But it must be a hellish fire, since if one serpent escapes, It shall consume the firmament. If I could have lived one more year, I would for sure have tilted this world! ********************************** VARIANTS: (A) - Now, Jenny, It's time we 'd go home, And say "good bye" to all Pardons. I see gale and rain and lightning and thunder coming. (B) - I raised a child that knows how to spoil wheat; Please, lawmen, come and take her away. I did my duty. Now do yours, if you choose Nor the benefit of all and sundry. (C) - Good day, young girl of eighteen years, Who taught you first the art of witchcraft? - A shepherd whom my father employed. Though a shepherd a learned man he was. He took me every night to the Sabbath. Alas, I was young and profited by it. When I first went to Paris to learn French...etc.

NOTES de LUZEL - NOTES by LUZEL

(1) Gwallañ, gâter au moyen d'un sortilège. Comme l'indique le vers suivant, plusieurs fois répété: - Arsa eta Janedig, bremañ pa 'z oc'h barnet, - Or ça, Jeannette, à présent que vous êtes condamnée.. il s'agit très probablement ici d'une condamnation au bûcher, sur soupçon de sorcellerie, cas très commun aux quinzième et seizième siècles. Cette ballade est très répandue dans le pays de Lannion, où j'en ai recueilli plusieurs versions qui toutes concordent assez pour ne pas présenter de différences importantes. Je noterai seulement les suivantes : Le chef de la famille (an ozac'h Yann), après la conversation curieuse qu'il a eue avec sa fille, en traversant le champ de seigle, dit dans une autre version: (A) Puis, devant le Procureur fiscal (les chanteurs disent iskar) il s'exprime ainsi : (B) Le Procureur fiscal fait venir la jeune fille devant lui, et lui dit : (C)

(1) "Gwallañ", to spoil by witchcraft. As stated in the several times repeated following line: "- Arsa eta Janedig, bremañ pa 'z oc'h barnet,..." "- Now, Jenny, since you have been condemned..." The song is very likely about a sentence to be burnt at the stake, passed in one of the witchcraft trials that were so frequent in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This ballad is well-known in the Lannion area and I could collect several versions that present no major differences between them, except the following ones: The house master ("an ozac'h Yann"), after the strange conversation he had with his daughter, on crossing a rye field, says in another version: (A) Then, in presence of the Procurator (the singers use the word "iskar" for "Fiscal", he says: (B) The Fiscal summons the girl and says: (C).

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