Georgic and Merlin
Georgic and Merlin is a French fairy tale from Brittany. A lord in a rich land has a mysterious bird that sings in the woods. The lord catches it and it stops singing, threatening to kill anyone who frees it. One day the bird begs the lord’s son Georgic to set it free, then it flies away and tells Georgic to call on it, Merlin, if he is ever in need.
Georgic’s mother fears her husband will harm Georgic. A salt-vendor offers to take him away, and she gives him money to do it. The vendor takes Georgic to the next castle and tries to pass him off as a shepherd, even though wolves threaten. When the vendor tries to leave, Georgic asks for the money back. The bird appears, and an invisible hand uses a club to force the money from the man. Georgic then asks the bird for a whistle to summon wolves and muzzles to keep them from biting, and with this he keeps the sheep safe.
In the same region, a dragon with seven heads demands a maiden every year. That year’s maiden is Georgic’s master’s daughter, who is terrified. Georgic asks the bird for help: a horse, a sword, and a black cloak. He rides to the dragon, calls for it, and saves the girl. The dragon says it is not hungry and sends them away. The girl later sees that he has a piece of his cloak and does not recognize him at first. For the second day, Georgic wears a gray cloak; the events repeat. On the third day, he wears a purple cloak, borrows a long iron fork, drags the dragon from its lair, and cuts off its heads with his sword. He also cuts out the tongues. The girl cuts another piece of his cloak as well. A coal miner later claims to have killed the dragon, while the girl says Georgic was the one who cut the tongues.
The lord holds a great feast, and the girl recognizes Georgic by the black cloak with the hole she made. He vanishes. At a second banquet, he appears in his gray cloak with the same hole, and the lord asks if he is the dragon-slayer. Georgic says he might be. At a third grand arrival he finally seems to be the hero, and the girl and Georgic marry.
Soon after, the father falls ill. A wizard says he can be cured with an orange from an orange tree in the Armenian Sea, water from the Fountain of Life, and some bread and wine from the Yellow Queen. Georgic’s two brothers-in-law are jealous and set out after him. A hermit on his way gives Georgic a magic wand to guide him. The wand leads him to the orange tree, where he must cut the orange into four parts and take one piece. Then he must reach the Fountain of Life, stopping first at the Yellow Queen’s castle to take wine, bread, and a lance for his journey. He finds a stag to ride to the Fountain; if the lion guarding it wakes, he must kill it with the lance. He retrieves all the items and even trades pieces of his prize for his brothers-in-law’s ears, wedding ring, and toes along the way.
The hermit warns that he must give back what he took after a month. Georgic does not warn the brothers-in-law, and when the Yellow Queen comes, he is gone. The brothers-in-law are beaten and must run to him for help, which he gives.
Many French versions use a wild man instead of a bird, but in Brittany this figure is often called Merlin. It is not clear how this Merlin relates to the Arthurian Merlin, whether as a folklore figure or a legendary source.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:35 (CET).