Of all the benevolent giants who lumbered through the mountains during the legendary "golden age", Gargantua was, apparently, undoubtedly the most gigantic. He was massive.
His head was like a huge hairy block where his nostrils and ear-holes were entrances to deep, uncharted caverns. As to his enormous feet, each one could, reputedly, flatten a forest, and if, perchance, he lay down for a nap on a warm summer day, the land remained indelibly marked with the imprint of his massive body.
As one may well imagine, on a body of this size, cleanliness is a little hard to maintain but one fine day, Gargantua decided to wash his feet in the lake of Omène, at the foot of the Kaiseregg. Ever since then, the lake has been known as the Black Lake...
Another time, Gargantua was thirsty. Astride the Sarine river valley with one great foot on the Berra and the other on the Gibloux, he bent over to drink and promptly emptied the river which remained dry for three days. As he drank, he clumsily overset the heavy basket he carried on his back. Enormous boulders, rocks and stones tumbled into the river.
Later, very much later, the boulders became the basic supports on which Satan himself is said to have built the bridge of Thusy.
Source
Thematic route :
A Country of Legends
Text :
Clément Fontaine, from "L'Age d'Or Au Pays de Gruyère", Editions Fribourgeoises 1933