Aubin-Louis Millin

“ To increase the terror that the monster at the center of this commemorative festival must inspire, a man sitting inside the body of the animal makes it vomit squibs through the eyes and the mouth.
Those who, out of curiosity, approach the monster too closely, often endure severe contusions: the Tarasconese then seem to be delighted with the prowess of their monster. Far from being moved by the screams of the unhappy bruised ones, the followers of the Tarasque make them jump. ”

“ It is on the second day of Pentecost that the Tarasque is walked around the streets: eight skilful and strong young men are in charge of that. They wear stockings and white shoes, and their head is topped with a muslin cap. They wear on their chests a patch bearing a figure of the animal. They carry the Tarasque at belt height, and steer its movements in such ways that they express rage and fury: sometimes they run quickly, sometimes they stop, then they turn abruptly shouting: La voulen may nostrou tarascou [We want it more, our Tarasque] . ”

“ She told her friends, who had difficulties to recognize her, the amazing things she had witnessed: she told them that dracs eat human flesh, and that they can change their bodies into human forms. One day, she said, the drac gave her a portion of eel pie, and she rubbed one of her eyes with that grease, and instantly her eye acquired the ability to see underwater. Three years later, this woman recognized the Drac at the market in Beaucaire and called him by his name, asking him news of his half and of his son. ”