Ys

Ys ( Breton, Ker - Ys) is a myth about a lost city in the Bay of Douarnenez in Brittany. In different narratives is described as the city of Ys came to their wealth. However, the highlight of any presentation is the stormy night, in the city of Ys sinks into the water, and the king his daughter must Dahut passed the floods and thus the death for the salvation of the city.

Today is the legend, the princess, her long blonde hair combing seem fishermen on moonlit nights as siren. Often also told that the city turns up at sunrise as a stark reminder of the sea. On a clear and calm day, the fishermen should hear the bells of the sunken city in the sea.

Effect story

The legend was often artistically processed. So the French composer Claude Debussy for his Prélude La Cathédrale engloutie has found inspiration in the legend. In his work can be heard, like the bells of a cathedral, which is also a component of some versions of the story, slowly penetrates out from the sea until they musically emblematic visible on the horizon. Towards the end of the play Ys sinks beneath the waves. The composer Édouard Lalo writes in the period 1875 to 1887 the opera Le Roi d' Ys, which also as the watery fate of this lost city 's action film. A symphonic sealing opera to the ocean destruction of the city wrote the French composer Paul le Flem: La Magicienne de la mer.

The science fiction author Poul Anderson wrote with his wife Karen the novel - cycle The King of Ys. The singer and harpist Joanna Newsom in 2006 published the album Ys, in which it refers to the legend of the city. The Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski worked the legend in one of his short stories about the Witcher (Polish: Wiedźmin ) Geralt with a. Appears it is in the short story collection Miecz przeznaczenia (1993 ), in German: " The Sword of Destiny ", entitled " A small sacrifice ." He has skilfully therein also equal to the history of the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen with woven, but appears there as quite stubborn siren and first partout not want to get legs to let conjugal only from a fell in love with it " biped ".

Poul Anderson's tetralogy " The King of Ys " (Roma Mater, Gallicenae, Dahut and The Dog and the Wolf ) is based on the legend of Ys and on Frazer's " Golden Branch ". The Roman legionary Gratillonius is King of Ys after defeating his predecessor in single combat. The novels are set in the time of Bagaudenaufstandes.

In published in 2007 computer game " The Witcher ", the Polish publisher CD Projekt, the theme to the city of Ys has also been taken up again and so it appears to the player in a chapter of the game as a mirage above the sea. There is also in the game a aufzufindende ingredient for potions which is called " stone of Ys ".

In the fifth volume of the French comic book series Le chant d' Excalibur the city of Ys plays a central role. Also, the graphic novel " Bran Ruz " Auclair and Alain Deschamps plays part in Ys.

In " The Curse of the water fairy " by Sharon Morgan, the legend has been woven into a historical love story with fantastic elements. Dahut is in addition to her father, the king Gradlon, one of the main characters.