The city of Detroit has its own legendary demon known as Nain Rouge, or the red dwarf. He’s the star of an annual parade in the spring, because he’s not always to be feared. The Nain Rouge is a michievous sprite who can confer status and riches if he pleases, or bring disaster if you cross him. He shows up just before Detroit suffers a calamity, and while some welcome his appearance as a warning, others think he might be the one causing the suffering. The legend goes back 300 years, to the founding of Detroit by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.
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To hear Hamlin tell it, the trouble began at a party in Québec one March evening in 1701. At the castle of St. Louis, she writes, the French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac—who would soon depart to claim Detroit for the French and their fur traders—and other officials gathered around a table, “resplendent with costly silver and sparkling glass,” their heads swimming with wine from the building’s “noted cellars.”
Into that shimmering scene burst a “swarthy,” fortune-telling crone with a scrawny black cat on her shoulder. She called herself Mère Minique, La Sorcière, and she came bearing a warning. Things would work out well for Cadillac, she promised, but if—and only if—he appeased the Nain Rouge, or “Red Dwarf.”
It was a while before Cadillac encountered Nain Rouge, but when he did, his fortunes turned rapidly. Read that story and learn how Detroit embraces Nain Rouge today at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Flickr user Jeannette)
Source: neatorama