The fairy grotto of Panex

One has to descend a very steep prairie on the Levant side to reach the spot under an immense arch formed by black marble rock. It is a fairy grotto that can be entered through a large opening.

From there the daughters of the air spread out into the surrounding fields to protect the crops and tell the peasants which were the best days to do various tasks in their fields. They could be heard calling in echoes from the tops of the mountains and in the woods, from Panex, to Les Ecovets to Bretaye. It has been said that the farmers who listened to their advice always had their loft full of grain.

One day, it happened that not far from the Creux d'Enfer and the fairy grotto, a woman from Panex was working her land. Beside her, she had her baby lying in a cradle, whose good looks were known to everyone. One can only imagine her surprise, when evening fell, to discover that he had disappeared and that in his place was another baby, all black, who looked nothing like her child. In a complete panic, she went to the village with this new arrival to see the oldest woman in area and ask her advice.

The old woman told her that it was certainly one of the fairies from the grotto, who had exchanged this baby for hers. The old woman told her to go back the following day to the same spot with the child to whom she should give nothing to eat. That is what she did and very quickly the child began to cry. The guilty fairy, full of remorse when she heard the hungry baby, came back and got him and put in his place the other baby.

They also say that the fairies gave out from time to time, for no particular reason, branches and leaves with mysterious powers. A woman from the village received some one day. Encumbered with her baggage on her return and supposing that the branches and leaves were useless, she threw them far into the forest. What a shame for her! The following day, one of the leaves that had remained in her apron turned into a gold coin. The poor woman was full of remorse and bitterly regretted not having been polite to those charming fairies.