Did King Arthur like Porcini soup?

By Carol Froment

The characters in my story are called Elouan and Gwendal. Harvey, Jovan and Paol . Elouan is the main character of this group of friends, they smoke gypsies without filter and drink beers while playing counter belote. Elouan has a friend named Maelys, she is said to be the daughter of a king of Scotland, he reigned a long time ago, she would have known King Arthur. At least, he deduces it from a statue he discovered in the forest. A strange wind follows him everywhere, maybe it's a korrigan. But did they exist? Legends and myths await you, the Arthurian legend, if we think of King Arthur, we think of the Holy Grail, mystical object, Percival, Lancelot, Morgana, the lady of the lake and Guinevere . The Knights of the Round Table is also a song:

"Knights of the Round Table

Let's taste if the wine is good

Knights of the Round Table

Let's taste and see if the wine is good."

The fairy Viviane or the Lady of the Lake is part of Arthurian legends, she gives the Excalibur to King Arthur, and she guides him to Avalon after the defeat of Camlaan . The Korrigans and the fairies will undoubtedly accompany Elouan. The Celtic legend lives in Brittany. Did Maelys know Guinevere?

This novel is also a thriller.

It is a police investigation trying to untangle the threads of an intrigue where the marvelous disturbs Cartesian minds. A policeman of Italian origin who does not understand the world of Brittany loses his Latin. Without fantasy, this world makes no sense. At times, this fine sleuth loses his footing, his superiors become worried. The prosecutor becomes moved while reading the minutes. They mention the presence of Merlin the enchanter preparing a porcini mushroom soup, it is King Arthur's favorite. Brittany is the region where the marvelous can be encountered at any moment. In the forest of Brocéliande, you can pay your respects at the tomb of Merlin the enchanter.

Everyone assures that the Barenton fountain has water that cures all ills. The Vale of No Return is the domain of the fairy Morgana, the sister of King Arthur. In these conditions, we should not be surprised that the marvelous corrupts reason.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carol Froment
• Release date: Feb 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224757923

Book preview

Did King Arthur like Porcini soup?

Carol Froment

Published by Carol Froment, 2024.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

DID KING ARTHUR LIKE PORCINI SOUP?

First edition. February 27, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 Carol Froment.

ISBN: 979-8224757923

Written by Carol Froment.

Did King Arthur like Porcini soup?

––––––––

Carol Froment

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 1

Elouan Kervah lives in Plouescat. His house is located about a hundred meters from the ocean. In front of it, the garden stops at a cliff, about ten meters lower, we discover the large stormy meadow. A bedroom, a kitchen, a living room and an office, the owner’s tour ends.

He writes unsellable stories, so the need for food encourages him to work as a freelance writer.

For thirty-five years, he has been dragging his shoes in this small town, he was born there.

Mars has opened its doors, but no matter the month of the year, in the evening he walks through the streets of the village. Out of habit, he stops at an inn, the ‘Golden Menhir’, this name is linked to a legend of the country, such a monument would have existed centuries ago. For a long time, people have been searching for it without success.

Gwendal manages this establishment, if he is described as a tall red-haired man with an imposing appearance, he corrects this by saying that he is not fat. In summer, the clientele is larger, it is largely made up of vacationers. In winter, only the regulars wear out their sleeves on the zinc. In the evening, Elouan likes to drink Cervoises Lancelot, of which he appreciates the taste of malted barley, the flavour of honey and the scents of spices soften it, a charm of bitterness wanders through the mouth without remaining there.

At nightfall, he joins other consumers. They drink three or four beers while playing a game of 421 or counter belote. Loud laughter sprinkles every evening. The hard core of this group is made up of three people in case we don’t understand either Elouan or Gwendal. Harvey, Jovan and Paol represent three men aged around thirty. Harvey works as a metal gilder, while Jovan makes braids for fishing, while Paol earns his living as a ship consignee in Brest. He travels many kilometers every day, he could not live far from Plouescat.

While having fun at the counter belote on the harbour, they discuss the legend of the golden menhir.

—Does this tale have any reality? asks Elouan.

—We searched everywhere, no trace of this monument exists, it only lives in our imagination, maintains Paol.

‘Maybe an idea for a novel,’ Jovan points out.

—Beer helps such illusions appear, suggests Gwendal.

No one responds. When his establishment closes, Gwendal belches loudly while putting away the deck of cards; as an apology, he offers one last round.

Elouan returns home, walking on foot, he thinks about this tale. Talkers and anecdote tellers have been livening up evenings for several centuries by referring to it.

The next day, he wakes up, the myth has not left him. After his breakfast and a quick wash, he sits behind his computer. A detective story occupies his days. He stops, his mind has gone elsewhere, he has joined the fable.

The korrigans, mischievous dwarfs, inhabited the forest, which covered the entire country. They would have brought the golden menhir. The Druids revered him. It represented an offering to a god from an era so remote that his name has been forgotten. With the arrival of the Christian religion, priests engraved inscriptions dedicated to their belief on dolmens and other monuments. In reaction against these desecrations, the korrigans took this menhir to the heart of the Huelgoat forest.

His head in his hands, he wonders if anyone has had the opportunity to see one of these beings.

—What would his eyes have revealed to him? He exclaims, throwing his arms in the air.

Legends describe them as kind or fierce. They may be evil spirits; otherwise they are just dwarfs, or perhaps they are fairies who disguise themselves like this. Beyond Brittany, they are called elves.

Get up and get a red beer. His watch reminds him that it’s only nine in the morning, so he lights a cigarette. The bad conscience of ingesting such a drink so early does not persist beyond the time of uncapping the bottle.

Paul Simcard, the main character of his book, after having killed around ten people, slumps down on a blank page. His ideas escaped imitating the smoke of a gypsy woman. Around fifty pages will end up in the middle of the basket, the grief of this loss will not last the week.

He is obliged to find a client, his wallet is starving like the cicada of La Fontaine.

—Finding the golden menhir would help me a lot! he sighs.

An idea appealed to him: to write a detective work where the korrigans would act as villains. A second beer in front of him, another cigarette between his fingers, his hand runs through his hair. If we have searched the forest from top to bottom for centuries in search of this treasure, its surface area of more than a thousand hectares still conceals places forgotten by walkers. That the dwarfs did not intervene during previous explorations is surprising. His butt stubs out. He takes out a new cigarette, he doesn’t light it, his fingers play nervously around it. His thoughts fly to his father, Loïc. He left to conquer the corn gypsy smokers’ paradise. At the age of 60, a simple cancer took him far from the ocean. A fisherman, he spent most of his life on the open sea.

He remembers having a drink with Ervan, one of his friends, from Brest, in Saint-Malo, inside a bar, rue de la soif. They were joking and laughing. Ervan was ingesting a Guinness, he was enjoying a Cervoise.

—I’ll go out for five minutes to smoke a cigarette! exclaimed Elouan.

—I hope it will be quicker than making you eat your stem! laughed Ervan.

Elouan remains undecided for five minutes. The meaning of this sentence escaped him. His friend laughed at his attitude. Suddenly, he grasped its meaning, bursting into laughter, he went out to fry his lungs.

This gritty episode reminds him of Maëlys’ face. They had built up a sentimental story, and then he had left it hanging. His residence a few hundred meters from the Huelgoat Forest would encourage his rebirth. He wonders if she remained single. He remained unattached. He will try to contact her using Facebook. If Maëlys answers him, everything would become possible. On the contrary, silence would amount to the end of history. By sending this innocuous message, he imitates a freshwater fisherman casting his line, he does not know if the fish wants to take the hook. The first time he saw her, her long curly blond hair and her appetising curves fascinated him.

Maëlys is fond of the virtual world, she drags her spats on social networks. Five years ago, almost by chance, a relationship was born.

One evening, he was bored, the desire to chat tickled him. The weather did not allow us to go for a beer, a storm was raging on the ocean. The waves were crashing against the cliff, a strong wind was blowing inland, it was raining. He took comfort in knowing that his house will withstand the elements. He remembered that as a child, when his father was at sea, and the waves were raging, his mother, looking at the ocean, would murmur that only God would help her, this conviction reassured her. Behind the keyboard of his computer, he connected to a site where people talked and exchanged with each other. The name chat scratched his tongue, he pronounced the word in the manner of saying cat. The loss of a letter annoyed him. Normally, the anonymity of his interlocutor paralysed him. That evening, he chatted with Maëlys as if he had always known him.

They met and set off on a journey together.

When the moon appears, Maëlys responds by asking him the reasons for this long silence. Sheepishly, his unconvincing arguments try to justify his absence. He had not realised that for a year, he had not given any sign of life. In the evening, while drinking beers, he forgot the joys of love. When he thinks about it, this sentence makes him smile, he didn’t like her. But her beauty and her shapes always drove him crazy. Today, its only attraction consists of its proximity to this forest. The latter became his obsession. He will go to her house next Saturday.

The legend about the menhir simply indicates its existence. This deficiency sharpens his curiosity.

In the evening at Gwendal’s, the team of regular belote players gathered around pints of beer. They evoke this monument made with gold. They would like to find it, but this task seems impossible. Paol notes that sometimes a myth is built from almost nothing. While Jovan speculates that perhaps it’s just a gold coin, no one disputes his suggestion. Silence falls. Then the discussion resumes, they realise that hiding it must have raised difficulties. The korrigans have had several alternatives to this end. They probably made him invisible. They could also have submerged it at the bottom of a pond, the number of ponds multiplies the possibilities. Even without hiding it, if the moss covers it, it offers almost perfect camouflage. However, they could not bury it deep in the forest, since the roots of the trees would have created an obstacle to digging a pit. Elouan and the others do not forget that a river crosses the leafy mass, its bed could have accommodated it. Gwendal notices that the lake on the edge of the town of Huelgoat could offer him a haven of peace.

Elouan reveals to them that he is going to join Maëlys, he will try to obtain information or clues about the scene. Dazed eyes stare at him. He attributes them to the fact that they all went for a walk there one day without seeing the slightest trace of the presence of such a treasure. Harvey, without taking his eyes off Elouan, reminds us that these places have an enchanting side like the fairy pond. Korrigans have the ability to intervene at any time. Furthermore, the rocky chaos demonstrates the interference of a person with magical powers. Gwendal reports that if we observe the location where the menhirs are nestled when the dwarfs quench their thirst, we discover a treasure, but when they return, we return to the kingdom of the dead.

They go back to a game of counter belote, with the winner going to the one who loses. Elouan drinks his beer in silence, he thinks about the world of Brittany before.

On Saturday, he goes to Maëlys’ home. The moments of reunion spent in a few acrobatics on the bed made up for the lost moments. Then he asks her about the forest and the legend that is close to her heart. She tells him her knowledge about the rocky chaos. A large number of huge blocks on the ground give the impression that they have been thrown like a person would throw dice on a green carpet during a game of 421. However, most surprisingly, they follow the course of a river.

From the barbarian coalition which fell on Brittany in 368, a thousand men sowed terror in order to acquire this golden monument. After they found it, the furious korrigans surrounded them, frightened, they fled. Then with a magic formula, the dwarfs transformed them into gigantic stones. Frozen in place with their weapons, their horses, and all their equipment, contemplating them, they bear witness to their defeat before eternity. The mischievous beings put the treasure in safety inside the forest. They charged the fairies and divinities to watch over him.

Elouan, at the end of his story, tells him that he knew a similar version instead of the barbarians, we discover Gargantua. The latter transformed the inhabitants into stone, because they had received him badly. Maëlys replies that the Germanic tribes existed, but this giant only saw the light of day from the pen of Rabelais, and that, furthermore, there is no mention of the presence of this precious metal regarding him.

Chapter 2

On Sunday, Elouan and Maëlys decide to go for a walk at sunrise. Elouan takes his car, a Fiat 500, taking with him something to eat at lunchtime. This research has rekindled the links between them. If he does not complain about it, he does not doubt its ephemeral nature due to the absence of feeling. However, he wonders if she loves him.

Their first steps lead them to cross rough terrain. The noise of the fauna, the different cries or songs of birds demonstrate the diversity of the animal world present. The magical appearance of this place results from the rocks scattered here and there, they take the form of familiar things. He wonders if he is not outside of time. Convinced that King Arthur and his knights will emerge around the next bend, he remains on alert.

After deciding to no longer take the main paths, they walk through barely paved paths. Ferns fill every space, moss climbs over stones, deciduous trees and conifers. The bumpy ground offers them climbs and descents, they follow one another without tiring. The presence of caves dug into hillsides astonishes them. Suddenly, towards a tree which gives the impression of having known the builders of dolmens, stands a man dressed in black clothes from another time. His long hair and beard took on the colour of snow. He stirs a large spoon inside a cauldron with a circumference that measures at least two meters and a height of one meter. This pot rests on a wood fire. They exchange a hello. This cook tells them that he is preparing a porcini soup intended for King Arthur and his companions. This late sovereign adored him. He informs them that for generations, a member of his family has ensured that this soup is made every day, since only they know this recipe. Elouan smells the aroma. After judging him excellent, they move away from him and continue on their way.

At the moment when they looked away from the old man, a strange being came out of the cauldron. Seventy centimeters high, his imposing head takes the shape of an olive, he has worn a black body suit and a green tunic. Her eyes stole the hue of ruby. Standing, he observes Elouan and Maëlys, after five minutes he follows them. They do not realise its presence.

Arriving near a stream, upon seeing a bridge made of pink granite, Elouan believes that everything here arises from an irrational universe. Legends take shape and life, nature did not have the capacity to arrange everything like this. Fairies and gods probably built this place.

After crossing it and walking through a meadow, they meet an old hunchbacked woman with wrinkled skin. She dressed in a black dress so big that it swept the floor. A dark felt hat gives her a peasant look. A hand-held wicker basket contains beautiful red apples, their size seems incredible.

—I bring a Braeburn to the princess of the pretty woods, she lives as a recluse, seven dwarfs protect her, the queen, her mother-in-law, does not like her, because she is more beautiful than her. She will choose one that contains a deadly poison, she exclaims.

Elouan and Maëlys wonder if this woman belongs to the real world, because she seems to come from a children’s story. The most surprising thing is that it has no connection with this forest or Brittany. She gives a red apple to Maëlys, assuring her that the queen did not poison her. Their eyes fixed on its impossible brilliance, he forgets the outside world. They raise their heads, the lady has evaporated in a cloud of dust. The fruit withers in the middle of his hand, it spoils, so that dozens of maggots emerge from all sides. She lets go. She wipes her fingers with a fern leaf. Nature’s gift decomposes on the ground.

Magic has been transformed into witchcraft. They pick up their pace. Fear followed wonder. They run. Escaping from this place becomes obsessive. Arriving at a clearing, they stop and rest. The dwarf always spies on them. At the end of the day, they return. The fruit of the mushroom broth turns into a light wind.

Aboard the mini Italian car, Maëlys asks Elouan to close the windows, since she felt a draft of cold air. He nods. But this icy breath under the pleasant spring sun does not disturb him.

Elouan accompanies Maëlys home. The restless night allows you to forget the troubles of the day. Transformed into acrobats without a net, they became the stars of a circus, with no protection saving them from a slip. Offended, the little wind camouflaged itself inside the bathroom.

The next day, in the middle of the forest, they discover that the conifers fight against the deciduous trees in such a way as to impose their presence that the ferns and moss remain ubiquitous no matter what tree surrounds them. At times, a rock appears with an abnormal shape. The strange become the norm, it no longer disconcerts them. There in front of them, a huge stone imitating a ball with a circumference of at least five meters, nature has dug it inside to provide them with a habitat. A puppeteer from another world must have guided the hands that searched it. They go in and sit down. They enjoy a coffee from a thermostat, because Maëlys has brought a wicker bag with a convenient shoulder strap, allowing them to bring a sandwich and a drink. Elouan takes the opportunity to grill a Gypsy woman. This shelter suggests naughty ideas to them, but at the time of mating, the rock vibrates, a whirlwind carries away leaves and twigs, so much so that they run away into the forest, coughing like tuberculosis patients.

On the way, their steps follow the little-used paths, a child of around twelve years old hails them. They turn. They see her, dressed in a red cape and a cap of the same colour. She asks them if they are able to help her, because a wolf is chasing her. She shows them a wicker basket, telling them that she is bringing a pot of honey and a pancake to her grandmother. Maëlys asks him where his grandmother lives. She explains to him that her home is located in the middle of the dark forest inside a cottage. Screams freeze them in place. The teenager informs them that it is a wolf certainly wanting to steal the sweets planned for her grandmother. They accompany him, a slight apprehension arises, visibility decreases due to the opacity of the trees and foliage, suddenly without warning a house appears in the middle of a clearing, the child runs to meet it shouting granny. Everything disappears within a smoke screen. In front of them, a gigantic pond emerges, where red granite stones undoubtedly placed on the water imitate water lilies. They look at each other, and read the other’s incomprehension deep in their eyes. They overcome this obstacle by hopping on each of them. When sinking slightly into the water, these emit a noise similar to the croaking of frogs. The splashes cause ricochets that silver-coloured fish swallow.

Elouan convinces himself that they are not close to finding the treasure if mirages constantly appear. He forcefully rejects the idea of involving a world outside of normality.

They sink into the heart of the forest. Sharp, prolonged cries similar to wolves’ howls encourage them to accelerate their pace without worrying about their destination. Without warning, an old dilapidated house which takes on the appearance of a forgotten cabin springs up, copying a mushroom. They approach it, they perceive a sweet smell, it becomes more and more powerful as the distance which separates them is reduced. An emanation of gingerbread permeates everywhere. If we made the walls and the roof of this ingredient, using sugar, we shaped the windows, the shutters and the door. Elouan is surprised by their immersion into a tale. Maëlys is surprised that the Brothers Grimm is visiting Brittany; she notes that this iconoclastic presence has no reason to exist.

Suddenly, a loud noise forces them to cover their ears, they turn around, nothing seems to be responsible, except that the house has disappeared. A thunderous laughter frightens them. Someone or something is walking amidst a terrible noise. The earth trembles. They start running as much as