LEGEND OF PETIT JEAN
N 35° 07.627 W 092° 50.336
15S E 514675 N 3887152
THE LEGEND OF PETIT JEAN (ADRIENNE DUMONT)
Waymark Code: WM1039
Location: Arkansas, United States
Date Posted: 11/28/2006
Views: 108
In the early days of the French revolution, Jean Chavet, a young nobleman, fled France to the New World. He promised his lover, a commoner named Adrienne Dumont, that he would send for her as soon as he found a place to settle. She pleaded to be taken along, but he would not agree. The dangers were too great.
Adrienne followed Jean to the docks, where she noticed that the cabin boy was just about her size. She purchased his identity on the spot, dressed in his clothes and took his place as cabin boy on the ship. She also took his name Petit Jean.
She fooled everybody, her lover included, for 3 years, while they crossed the Atlantic and then sailed up the Mississippi, the Arkansas, and then the Petit Jean rivers. Then she became sick and was given over to one of the local Indian tribes for treatment. It was the Indians who discovered she was a woman. What must they have thought about the Europeans?
So she died, and was buried here, and now the place is named after her and on still, calm nights people can see two lights, the souls of the two lovers, floating along the ridge.
There are other stories involving privateers, ghosts, Indian princesses, lovelorn suicides and all the familiar elements of romantic stories. And there are a couple of credible stories about the origin of the name "Petit Jean." One involves a group of French traders moving up and down river, trading with the Indians. As they went, they named landmarks and one little guy named Petit Jean after himself. Or maybe he wasn't so little. Maybe he was like one of those giant bikers who is called "Tiny" by his friends.
Type: Local Legend or Lore
Referenced in (list books, websites and other media):
Petit Jean State Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
PETIT JEAN
Local Legend Stories.
Additional Coordinates: N 35° 07.647 W 092° 50.353
Website Reference: [Web Link]
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