Passadoc Gazette – No. 180

Ass... humble companion of the peasants of Dantan... It is said stupid, it is said stubborn, it is not given the elegance of the destriers of the gunmen or that of the royal mounts... Yet donkey has transformed the history of humanity, by providing its strength for agricultural work, only for transport in sometimes difficult areas*.

It is part of our childhood readings: To make you better known what donkeys are, I write and offer you these Memoirs, announcement Cadichon ; it also belongs to the legends* :

One day in the year 1645, while preparations for the procession were in full swing, a Gonfaronian refused to clean in front of his door and replied to the villagers as if to justify himself:
– If Saint Quinis finds the passage too dirty, he will only have to fly over it!
[…]
Some time later, returning from the countryside on the back of his donkey, he undertook to descend the Carnaute mountain (north of Gonfaron) towards the village. Great evil took him! The donkey, perhaps annoyed by the taons or simply unbalanced by a false step, suddenly speeded up his quiet course and exited the path. The animal would then have « stolen » above the ravine below, throwing on the ground his horseman who would have fallen into the ravine.

This misadventure was very quickly known to all in the village and the mocking inhabitants did not hesitate to say in the passage of the unfortunate villagers, finally out of his ravine,
– Well done, St. Quinis punished you, your donkey stole!

Here's the story as it came to us most often. In any case, it is the source of the legend that the donkeys of Gonfaron fly over the chapel of Saint Quinis in the first days of spring. A tip, look in the air if you go through it, you might be surprised!**

Jeanne Monin