Folklore & legend

La Roque où le Coq Chante and Le Petit Colin

Also known as: La Roche au Coq; Le Grand Colin est mort

Road from the King's Mills to Le Mont Saint, Castel

Recorded 19th century

Nobody knew where P'tit Colin had come from or who his people were. He was quick, willing and very small. One morning, as Dumaresq rode home from St Saviour's past the haunted rock, he heard his own name called. He looked round and saw no one. He rode on and was called again, and a third time. Then, gathering his courage, he asked who was calling and what was wanted. The voice said: "Go home directly and tell P'tit Colin that Grand Colin is dead."

At home he told the boy. "What! Is Le Grand Colin dead? Then I must leave you," said Colin, and turned to go. Dumaresq said he must at least be paid his wages. "Wages!" said the boy, laughing. "I am far richer now than you. Goodbye." He walked out and was never seen again. MacCulloch said the story was "still related by Dumaresq's descendants".

Métivier linked the tale to a Scandinavian one in which a farmer is told on the road to tell his cat that an old troll is dead, and the cat leaps up saying it must leave at once. Carey added a Cornish parallel. In Guernsey the two Colins turn up across the west of the island, playing ball at Les Paysans and baking in a cottage oven at St Brioc. The rock's exact position on the hill road is not known today, so the map point is approximate.

The hill road from the King's Mills to Le Mont Saint is public.
Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open ground
Location
49.459, -2.608 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)

Sources: Edgar MacCulloch, ed. Edith F. Carey, "Guernsey Folk Lore" (1903), Project Gutenberg [public-domain]

View on the map →

Comments

Loading…