We find this incident of miraculous crossing occurring in the stories of many of the Breton saints. A noteworthy instance is that of St Tugdual, who, with his followers, crossed in a ship which vanished when they disembarked. Still another example is found in the case of St Vougas, or Vie, who is specially venerated in Tréguennec. He is thought to have been an Irish bishop, and is believed to have mounted a stone and sailed across to Brittany upon it. This particular version of the popular belief may have sprung from the fact that there is a rock off the coast of Brittany called ‘the Ship,’ from a fancied resemblance to one. In course of time this rock was affirmed to have been the ship of St Vougas.
Azénor the Pale
There is a story of another Azénor, who, according to local history, married Yves, heritor of Kermorvan, in the 361 year 1400. A popular ballad of Cornouaille tells how this Azénor, who was surnamed ‘the Pale,’ did not love her lord, but gave her heart to another, the Clerk of Mezléan.
One day she sat musing by a forest fountain, dressed in a robe of yellow silk, wantonly plucking the flowers which grew on the mossy parapet of the spring and binding them into a bouquet for the Clerk of Mezléan.
The Seigneur Yves, passing by on his white steed at a hand-gallop, observed her “with the corner of his eye,” and conceived a violent love for her.
The Clerk of Mezléan had been true to Azénor for many a day, but he was poor and her parents would have none of him.
One morning as Azénor descended to the courtyard she observed great preparations on foot as if for a festival.
“For what reason,” she said, “has this great fire been kindled, and why have they placed two spits in front of it? What is happening in this house, and why have these fiddlers come?”
Those whom she asked smiled meaningly.
“To-morrow is your wedding-day,” said they.