King Marc'h with the Horse's Ears

Like all the best stories, this one has a moral.

More than that: it is a tale with ears!

King Marc'h was head of a tribe of horsemen (Marc'h is Breton for 'horse'). The King had a huge palace on the edges of Douarnenez, in Plomarc'h, and he loved to hunt in the lands overlooking Douarnenez.   

One day, while hunting, he spotted a white deer in Nevet Forest. He chased after it to the very edges of a cliff where the deer pleaded with him to be spared.

But the King shot his arrow anyway... and the deer caught it, turning it back on the King's own horse, who was fatally injured.

The deer was in fact Dahut, once the princess of the Lost City of Ys who transformed into a mermaid when her city was submerged, and whose spirit haunted the coast ever since in various forms. 

Dahut then put a curse on King Marc'h, saying,

"You would not take pity on me and spare my life, so now you shall have the mane and ears of a horse."

King Marc'h returned to his palace, so ashamed that he hid himself away.

Day after day, the mane grew and one by one he called upon the hairdressers of the kingdom. However, to ensure that his shameful secret would never be known, he would kill every poor hairdresser that came as soon as the job was finished.

Finally, there was but one hairdresser left in the whole kingdom: Yeunig, the king's own hairdresser from years before. Yeunig had magic scissors and once they had cut the king's mane, it never grew back.

King Marc'h and decided to spare Yeunig's life.

As time went by, poor Yeunig found it harder and harder to keep this secret. Finally, he went to the Plage du Ris where he dug down and shouted his terrible secret into the hole:

"King Marc'h has the ears and mane of a horse!"

From this very spot, three great reeds began to grow.

Eventually, the King's sister decided to marry and it was a time for celebrations at the Palace. The musicians came to rehearse the night before and, living up to their reputation, ate and drank all that they could find. The elves were so annoyed at having not a morsel left that they took all the instruments and hid them. The King was frightened at the goings-on and affected an earache, staying indoors.

The big day dawned, and the King decided to wrap a scarf around his head to cover his horse's ears so that he could join in the celebrations.  All the guests were gathering but of course, the musicians couldn't find their instruments.

A fisherman suggested they should fetch the three great reed plants that grew on the Plage du Ris so that the musicians might improvise some sort of instruments.

When the reeds were ready and the celebrations began - horror of horrors! No music came from these makeshift instruments but instead, a great echo of words long past:

"King Marc'h has the ears and mane of a horse!"

The King froze in embarrassment, so humilated and ashamed by this revelation that it is said he finally fled to Great Britain to hide away.