Aurélie Aymon

Sculpture path

The bear of Planchouet

The legend of The bear of Planchouet

Once upon a time, there was a strong and handsome man called Nicolas who lived at Verrey. The locals referred to him as 'Coa' in their dialect. One day, he was working in the field with his father when he broke one of the notches on his pickaxe. Being the hot-headed type, his father slapped him - and that undeserved slap felt like a deep wound to the proud Coa. He put the bit of broken metal into his pocket and walked away there and then from his father, and from his work. He then ran home, grabbed a rifle and strode off, furious.

He followed the path of the mountain irrigation channel, the 'bisse', and made his way to Planchouet. After walking for an hour, he heard a raging roar that stopped him in his tracks - and then the unlucky young man spied a bear just a few metres away that was crazed with fury at having been disturbed while gathering blueberries. The bear rose up, his claws tearing through the air like blades. The beast lumbered heavily towards the petrified Nicolas. The young man raised his rifle to his shoulder and pulled the trigger. But the huge plantigrade animal was only wounded - and the pain enraged it even further. Coa turned round and ran, the beast hot on his heels.

Coa leapt onto the roof of a large chalet, hoping to escape the monster - but had not accounted for the bear's determination, as all of a sudden the huge beast rose up onto the roof. Coa - desperate by now - remembered the bit of the pickaxe in his pocket. It was to be his final bullet. He loaded the rifle, squared up to the bear, and fired. There was a massive noise - and then peace returned to Planchouet.
Badly shaken, Coa ran back to his parents, arriving in the middle of the night. He woke his father and told him
- "I killed the bear of Planchouet!".

That earned him a fresh slap - this time for boasting. The poor young man went back to Planchouet and cut off one of the bear's paws and returned at dawn with his bloodied trophy, thereby earning the admiration of the entire village!

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