Théodore De La Villemarqué

Merlin the Bard (The Bards' Book of Brittany): a Ballad from Brittany in Four Languages Théodore De La Villemarqué

In the folklore of Brittany in northwestern France, Merlin was not only a great magician, but also a consummate bard, celebrated in many traditional songs and ballads. Merlin the Bard is part of a volume of fifty songs known collectively as Le Barzaz-Breiz (The Bards' Book of Brittany), which the Vicomte Théodore de La Villemarqué translated into French in 1841. Christian Souchon has rendered La Villemarqué's prose into a marvelous series of poems, presented in their Breton originals, along with evocative English-language, German-language, and French-language translations. He carries us away to an enchanted realm where poetry and art enthrallingly mingle. Illustrated throughout with medieval images.