Cheval Gauvin

The Cheval Gauvin (French: Gauvin horse) is a legendary evil horse of Franche-Comté, France and the Jura Mountains in Switzerland. It is said to wander along watercourses, through forests and graveyards, and to attempt to kill those who ride it, either by drowning them or throwing them into an abyss.

Cheval Gauvin

The Gauvin horse has two legs in the Joux and Bernese Jura legends.
Creature information
Other name(s)	Cheval Gauvain, chevau Gauvin, tchevâ Gâvïn
Grouping	Evil spirit
Similar entities	Cheval Mallet
Folklore	Legend
Origin
Region	Franche-Comté, Jura, Bernese Jura

A legend relating to this horse was first collected in Chamblay by Désiré Monnier, who published it in 1854. Identical stories are also told in Montbarrey, Joux, Dole, in France as well as in the Swiss canton of Jura and in the Bernese Jura. In Switzerland, the horse gallops through villages and abducts young girls. Several legends are attached to it, one of which makes it the mount of the medieval lord Amauri III de Joux. A woman's account of meeting him in the Chamblay cemetery has been commented on and told since the 19th century. A harbinger of death, the Gauvin horse seems to have acted as a bogeyman for children. Perhaps the result of a goblin's transformation (a hobgoblin), he joins a large number of legendary Jura horses.

Etymology and terminology

The Gauvin horse bears the same name as a famous knight of the Round Table, nephew of King Arthur.^[1] Two forms exist: "Gauvin" is the most common, "Gauvain", which may also the animal's actual name, may also appear occasionally. In Franche-Comté, it is mentioned as tchevâ Gâvïn in the archives of popular traditions.^[2] The form chevau Gauvin exists in Jura patois.^[3] The origin of this name remains unknown.

See also

• List of legendary horses
• Kelpie
• Cheval Mallet
• Legendary horses of Pas-de-Calais