The farfadet or sometimes the fadet or feu follet (or esprit follet) is a small legendary creature of French folklore, often mischievous. The farfadet is present in the folklore of the Vendée and Poitou where it is locally called fradet. It is also present in Occitan mythology and especially in Provence in the form of small elves called fadets.
Etymology of farfadet
Farfadet is a word borrowed from the Provençal farfadet (“leprechaun”) of the sixteenth century, probably a reinforced form of fadet, itself derived from fada, fado meaning “fairy”.
In the figurative sense, the farfadet designates a light and frivolous person.
“Follets shine in the shadows,
And the voice I heard
Mingle with the cries of many
Goblins, leprechauns.
At the sound of a sharp trumpet
The Sabbath has begun”
Pierre-Jean de Béranger, Chansons (1829)
Description of the farfadet
“The valley of the Égray, near Germond, in the Deux-Sèvres, was at the end of the nineteenth century, considered as the exclusive domain of the farfadets, who did not like to be disturbed by the women who gathered to spin in the caves or quarries.
One evening when they were returning to the village, they saw scoundrels who were driving up the slope of the road, at an astonishing speed, at a huge cart with creaky wheels. One of the spinners had the idea of making the sign of the cross, which had the effect of making both farfadets and cart disappear.
Like the goblins, with whom they are sometimes confused, the farfadets willingly take care of horses, whose manes they curl and tangle, and are generally helpful. It is difficult to describe them because they remain mostly invisible, unless they take on animal appearances.
Brian Froud and Alan Lee have observed them: “The farfadet is a little wrinkled man, wrinkled, with brownish complexion, half a meter tall, who walks naked or dressed in brown rags. Mountain scoundrels have no fingers or toes and lowland ones lack noses. “If in the wild, the farfadet takes up residence in some molehill in the forest, he sometimes plays the role of a servant spirit when he attaches himself to a house or a farm. He then watched over the herds and the housekeeping, harvested, threshed and mowed the wheat, and completed the tasks that the servants had not had time to finish—not without punishing them for their laziness or negligence by hitting them with a volley of sticks. For all these services, the farfadet only asks for an insignificant salary: “In exchange for his trouble, the farfadet wants nothing more than a bowl of cream or good milk with a honey cake. Whether we want to give him more, he crumples and leaves, which often happens when the clumsy generosity of the master of the house makes him leave the farfadet new clothes.
He then exclaims:
“What have we got there, Chanvri, Chanvrai!
No more jumping here, no more walking. “
Édouard Brasey, Encyclopédie du Merveilleux, Des peuples de la lumière
The Farfadet of Provence, Poitou and Vendée (it was then called fradet) has an Auvergne equivalence called the Fol. It is then very close to the Auvergne elf par excellence, the Drac. But it has the particularity of living on the banks of the river Allier. As he watched the passages over the river, it was traditional to offer him nuts or apples to ensure his protection, at the foot of a small stone. This is the case near the ferries and bridges crossing this river, especially in Nonette, Brassaget or Albine (63-43).
It is also said that only the man who sells his soul to the devil will be able to seize the fabulous treasure of the Fols in Allier. The latter would be under a slab in a cave that once housed the tribe of Fols. But this stone can only be lifted at midnight mass at Christmas, or on Palm Day when the priest knocks three times at the door of the church.
Homonyms
Fadet is also the diminutive of detailed invoice.
In the books Artemis Fowl, there are also the FARfadets (armed forces of regulation and air fairies of DETection): the police of the underworld.
A warning about Farfadets
Despite this reputation, the 18th-century French writer AVC Berbiguer believed he was afflicted by them and wrote extensively about them and their predation. In 1821 he was forced to publish an autobiography, Les Farfadets ou Tous les démons n’est pas de l’autre monde (“The devil or all demons are not from another world”), which was meant to sound a warning to all the kings, princes and rulers of the world.
References (sources)
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