Vouvant et Mélusine

Vouvant, a village in the Vendée just 7 or 8 miles north of the big town of Fontenay-le-Comte, is the only fortified village in the département. In the 1200s, a huge fortress was built at Vouvant, but it fell into ruin over the centuries and most vestiges of it were obliterated in the mid-1800s.

It's all gone except one element, called La Tour Mélusine, built in 1242. This was the donjon of the demolished château-fort. According to legend, the 36-meter-tall  (120-ft.) tower was built by a mythical figure — a fairy — named Mélusine. The story says she built it overnight out of a few rocks and a mouthful of water.

The mythical Mélusine ended up married to Raimondin, the count of the Poitou province, who had accidentally stabbed his uncle as the two men were trying to kill a wild boar. The uncle died, and Raimondin, grief-stricken, was wandering aimlessly in a nearby forest when suddenly water bubbled up from the ground. Over the gushing new spring appeared the frail white silhouettes of three damsels, one of them Mélusine. Raimondin took her as his wife.

Mélusine had magical powers, and she kept them even after marrying a human.  She could just wave her wand and a new château would appear on the landscape.  She waved her legendary wand in many places — Lusignan, Pouzargues, Parthenay, Mervant, and Vouvant among them — creating  a collection of local fortresses and castles.

Alas, Mélusine had a secret. Having long ago murdered her father, she was condemned forever to be transformed into a femme-serpent — a snake woman — every Saturday of her life. No one was supposed to see her in this form, but one Saturday, Raimondin, in a fit of jealousy, broke down Mélusine's bedroom door and was horrified to find that his wife had been transformed into a mermaid and was washing her long golden tresses. 

Mélusine suddenly flew out the window, turned into a fearsome serpent, and circled the town and the castle three times before crashing into a tower and disappearing into thin air. In the photo above, you can see her above flying over the donjon she built in Vouvant. Anyway, all this is what I read in the French-language Michelin Guide this morning. Believe it or not.