Ankou

Ankou is a personification of death in Breton mythology.

Silent walkers of the night, whose appearance on the roads of Brittany in France presages death for those who see them pass by and they are similar to the British Banshee. An Ankou is sometimes called the King of the Dead and this fairy is mainly seen on November Eve.

They manifest themselves as a tall gaunt man, driving a cart drawn by a pale boney horse, accompanied by two silent figures who walk beside or behind the cart. All have bowed heads so that one may not see their features.

They appear at dusk, at the time when it is just possible to distinguish black from white, and pass silently by. The unfortunate observer does not realise that the horse's hooves, the cartwheels, and the feet of the walkers make no sound upon the rough road until they have passed him. When he turns to look after them he knows that he, or one whom he loves, must soon follow the same road.

There are many tales involving Ankou. According to some he was the first child of Adam and Eve. Other versions have it that the Ankou is the first dead person of the year (though he is always depicted as adult, and male), charged with collecting the others before he can go to the afterlife. One says that there were three drunk friends walking home one night, when they came across an old man on a rickety cart. Two of the men started shouting at Ankou, and then throwing stones, when they broke the axle on his cart they ran off.

The third friend felt bad, and so wanting to help Ankou, first found a branch to replace the broken axle, and then gave Ankou his shoe-laces to tie it to the cart with. The next morning, the two friends who were throwing stones at Ankou were dead, while the one who stayed to help only had his hair turned white. He would never speak in detail about how it happened.