In Breton legend, the city of Ys (or Is) is a mythical city beneath the sea inhabited
by transparent floating women, who are the spirit of the
beautiful, wicked Princess Dahut and her handmaidens, drowned
when the city sank below the waves in a storm sent to punish them.
The legend says that the city of Ys was in the Bay of Douarnenez, in north-west France.
Pouldavid, a few kilometres east of the town of Douarnenez, is a
corruption of the Breton 'Poul Dahut' (the 'hole of Dahut') , and
traditionally indicates the place where the princess was drowned.
The bells of Ys are supposedly heard in times of danger, ringing from under the sea.
Paris was supposedly named after Ys (from 'par Ys', Breton 'like
Ys') and their fates are also entwined in Breton legend:
- Pa vo beuzet Paris
- Ec'h adsavo Ker Is
- When Paris is drowned by the waves
- The City of Ys will arise, and be saved.
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