IF: LEGENDAIREIF: LEGENDARY

La chasse-galerie. Ma légende préférée. En voici un bref résumé...

Il s'agit de l'histoire de bûcherons de la Gatineau qui font un pacte avec le diable afin de faire voler un canot pour qu'ils puissent rendre visite à leurs femmes. Il devront cependant éviter de blasphémer durant la traversée, ne point heurter le canot aux clochers d'une église et être de retour avant six heures le lendemain matin. Dans le cas contraire ceux-ci perdraient leurs âmes. (Wiki) Évidemment, j'ai un peu écourté la légende en français, puisque tout le monde ici la connaît... :)

The "Chasse-Galerie" is one of my fave legend. Here is what it tells...

After a night of heavy drinking on New Year's Eve, a group of "voyageurs" (pioneers) working at a remote timber camp want to visit their sweethearts some 100 leagues away (300 miles). The only way to make such a long journey and be back in time for work the next morning is to run the "chasse-galerie". Running the "chasse-galerie" means making a pact with the Devil so that their canoe can fly through the air to their destination with great speed. However, the travelers must not mention God's name or touch the cross of any church steeple as they whisk by in the flying canoe. If either of these rules are broken during the voyage, then the Devil will have their souls. To be safe, the men promise not to touch another drop of rum to keep their heads clear. The crew take their places in the canoe which then rises off the ground, and they start to paddle. Far below they see the frozen Gatineau River, many villages, shiny church steeples and then the lights of Montreal. The bewitched canoe eventually touches down near a house where New Year's Eve festivities are in full swing. No one wonders at the trappers'/loggers' sudden arrival. They are embraced with open arms and soon are dancing and celebrating as merrily as everyone else. Soon it is late and the men must leave if they are to get back to camp in time for work. As they fly through the moonless night, it becomes apparent that their navigator had been drinking as he steers the canoe on a dangerously unsteady course. While passing over Montreal they just miss running into a church steeple, and soon after the canoe end up stuck in a deep snowdrift. At this point the drunken navigator begins swearing and taking the Lord's name in vain. Terrified the Devil will take their souls, the men bind and gag their friend and elect another to steer. The navigator soon breaks his bonds and begins swearing again. The crew become more and more shaken at the possibility of losing their souls, and they eventually steer the bewitched canoe right into a tall pine. The men spill out and are knocked unconscious (or pass out). Notably the ending of the story changes from version to version. Sometimes the men are condemned to fly the canoe through hell and appear in the sky every New Year's Eve, but in other versions all, or all but one, escape the terms the Devil made. (Wiki)