Legend of the Seine

The beautiful legend of the Seine is told by Bernardine de St. Pierre, in his celebrated work "Etudes de la Nature" (Studies of Nature). He was an ardent lover of Nature, and to such, and to such alone, does Nature reveal her wonderful mysteries. To St. Pierre she told the Origin of the Seine. Abridged, he says: Seine, a daughter of Bacchus and Ceres, accompanied her mother in her journeys through all countries in quest of her lost daughter Proserpine. When she came to this fair land, Seine begged her mother to bestow it upon her. Ceres, the goddess of grain and fertility, granted the request, and at the same time bestowed upon this daughter of Bacchus the power to make corn and fruit grow wherever she trod. When she left her daughter Seine in this country she left also, for companions and playmates, several nymphs; but to Heve she left Seine in special charge, lest the god of the sea should carry her off, as the god of the nether world had carried off the beloved Proserpine. One day, as Seine was playing on the sandy beach, Heve saw in the distant waters the white hair and the azure mantle of Neptune. The god of the sea had come from the Arcades, after an earthquake, to examine with his trident whether, in these waters, any injury had been done to their foundations. Heve immediately warned Seine of her danger and she fled into the meadows. But Neptune had espied the daughter of Bacchus and he pursued her with his sea horses, up and down, through meadow and vale, until, when almost within his grasp, Seine called upon Bacchus, who transformed her into a river, over which the god of the sea has no control, and the river has ever since followed the perigrinations of Seine in her attempt to flee from Neptune. Her attendants were likewise metamorphosed into the rivers which are the affluents of the river Seine. But this myth of the ages has not ended, for Neptune is still in love with Seine and Seine still shows her aversion to Neptune. Twice a day he pursues her, snorting and roaring; and each time she seeks refuge in her dominions, hastening back, contrary to the direction of rivers, towards her source; then eluding his embrace she glides underneath the azure waters, ever keeping her own green waters separate. This beautiful idyl of St. Pierre furnishes the key to the wonderful phenomenon of the Seine, which the people of the country call La Barre.