In Brand’s Antiquities, Vol. III., p. 330, he identifies the English “Barguest,” or “Great Dog Fiend,” with the Norman “Rongeur d’Os,” and the “Boggart” of Lancashire, great dog-spirits, which prowl about in the night-time, dragging heavy chains behind them.
“Le Chien Bôdu.”
This black dog was said to infest the Clos du Valle, and was probably a resident of the Ville Bôdu, which was at one time the slaughter-house of the Benedictine monks of St. Michel du Valle. To see him was taken as a sure sign of approaching death. According to Mr. Métivier, he derived his name from “the German Bohdu, and Gaulish Bodu, which mean the Abyss, and the mythological dog of Hades is our ‘Chien Bôdu.’”
Editor’s Note.—In Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France Laisnel de la Salle has a chapter (Tome I. pp. 168-175), on “La Chasse a Bôdet,” which he describes as “une chasse nocturne qui traverse les airs avec des hurlements, des mieulements et des abois epouvantables, auxquels se mêlent des cris de menace et des accents d’angoisse,” and he identifies (p. 172), “Bôdet” with the German Woden, who is the same as the Scandinavian Odin, Gwyon of the Gauls, the Egyptian Thot, Hermes of the Greeks, and Mercury of the Latins, who filled, in the Teutonic Mythology, the rôle of “Conductor of Souls.”
Legend of the Ville au Roi.
Although this story is known to everyone, and is to be found in all the local histories and guide books, no collection of Guernsey folk-lore can be considered perfect without it. It is just one of those stories that are calculated to make a profound impression on the popular mind, as showing the special interposition of Providence in preserving a poor and innocent man from the effects of a false accusation, and in causing the nefarious designs of a rich and unprincipled oppressor to fall back with just retribution on his own head.
“Old Manor, Ville au Roi.”