Lusignan and the Legend of Mélusine the Fay

"While walking in the forest, Elynas, King of Albany (another name for Scotland), met a beautiful stranger. Her name was Pressyne and her beauty was such that Elynas immediately fell madly in love. The woman agreed to marry the king at once, but on the condition that he never see her while she was sleeping. Elynas promised, and for some time, the young couple were happy.
     But one day the king betrayed his oath. The fay Pressyne then went back to the island of Avalon with Mélusine, Mélior and Palatyne, three new-born girls. After they grew up, the three sisters learned of their father's betrayal. To avenge their mother, they entombed Elynas in the heart of Mt. Brumborenlion. When she discovered what they had done, Pressyne punished her daughters for their disrespect to their father. Mélusine was sentenced to change into a serpent from her navel down every Saturday. Mélior kept a marvelous hawk in a castle in Armenia. Finally, Palatyne was to be enclosed in Mt. Canigou with the treasure of her father until such time as a passing knight should rescue her.
     Meanwhile, far from Avalon, a young knight was preparing to experience an extraordinary destiny. His name was Raymondin and he lived at the court of his uncle, Count Ameyri of Poitiers. However, during a boar-hunt, the young man accidentally killed his uncle. The latter, just before his death, had read in the stars that the vassal who would kill his lord that evening was destined to be the founder of the most glorious of lineages. The prophecy of Ameyri was soon realized. After the accident, Raymondin didn't know what to do. He wandered helplessly in the forest of Coulombiers. Suddenly, at the Fountain of Soif, he met a marvelously beautiful young woman. The beautiful stranger offered him her hand, riches, and magnificent prosperity as long as he respected one prohibition: he must never try to look at her on Saturday.
     Raymondin accepted the offer and became thenceforward the most powerful lord in Poitou. He reigned from the fortress of Lusignan and from other castles constructed by his fabled wife. He was also the father of ten sons. But his children, born of the union of a fay and a mortal, were afflicted with blemishes, a reminder of their kinship with the Other World. Urien, the eldest, had a short, broad face, one red eye and the other light blue, and gigantic ears. Eudes had one ear larger than the other. Guyon had one eye higher than the other. Antoine had a lion's paw on his cheek. Renaud had only one eye. Fromont had a furry little spot on his nose. Horrible had three eyes. Finally, a terrifying boar's tusk stuck out of the mouth of Geoffroy, the most illustrious of the ten brothers. Only the last two brothers, Thierry and Raymonnet, seemed completely normal. Urien and Guyon became respectively kings of Cyprus and Armenia. Antoine and Renaud became respectively Duke of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia. Eudes became Count of Marche, and Geoffroy, Lord of Lusignan after the death of his father. Thierry and Raymonnet became respectively Lord of Parthenay and Count of Forez. Fromont became a monk. Horrible was so ferocious that by the age of four he had killed two of his nurses. His mother had him executed.
     Raymondin had everything a man could want: power, riches, prosperity. Nevertheless, one day, he defied the prohibition. In fact, his brother, the Count of Forez, succeeded in persuading him that Mélusine must have been taking advantage of her Saturdays to deceive him or to indulge in some kind of satanic rite. Worried, Raymondin made a hole in the wall and was surprised to see his half-serpent wife taking a bath. In despair, he kept it to himself in order not to lose the fay. Nevertheless, a little while later, when he learned that Geoffroy had burned the abbey of Maillezais, killing his brother Fromont in the process, Raymondin cursed his wife. He publicly accused her of being a 'very false serpent.' The secret was revealed; Mélusine had to go back to the Other World.
     Transformed into a dragon, she flew away. In the world of men, there remained nothing of her except the memory of a life of brief happiness. Forever, she would fly around the towers of Lusignan. Her cry resounding throughout eternity, announces an impending death."
     
     The legend is probably Breton in origin, but subsequently spread to various places in Europe, also being confounded/combined with other local legends concerning water sprites, river deities, mermaids, sirens, etc.
     

The castle of Lusignan, traditionally said to be guarded by Mélusine.

The train station in Lusignan

High relief of Mélusine on the wall of the train station in Lusignan.

Some buildings in downtown Lusignan date back to the 15th century.