The Devil of the Pont Valentré
Building the Pont Valentré at Cahors took nearly seventy years. According to legend the despairing master builder called on the devil for help and promised him his soul. When the bridge was almost finished, he ordered the devil to fetch water with a sieve. On the middle tower a small stone devil has sat ever since, tugging at the last stone.
1 A bridge that would not progress
Cahors lies in a loop of the Lot, almost entirely enclosed by the river. That was good for defence and bad for traffic, and so in 1308 the town began a fortified bridge with three towers: the Pont Valentré.
The work would not advance. There were wars, there was no money, in high water the river carried off the scaffolding, and what was built in a summer was sometimes gone again by spring. The master builder watched his life pass at a bridge that would not be finished.
One evening, the story says, he spoke aloud the wish that whoever would help him might help him. Someone turned up. The contract was the usual one: the devil would do whatever the builder ordered, and on the completion of the bridge he would have the man’s soul.
2 The sieve
From then on it went quickly. The devil hauled the blocks, he carried beams ten men could not lift, he mastered the water. Tower rose after tower. And with every stone the builder came nearer the day he would have to pay.
When the last stone of the middle tower still had to be set, he gave his final order. He handed the devil a sieve and told him to fetch water for the mortar with it.
The devil ran to the Lot, scooped, and came back with an empty sieve. He tried again, faster, he tried running, he held his hands beneath it. The water ran through every time. The order could not be carried out, and with that the contract was broken: the bridge was not completed by his doing, so the soul stayed where it was.
The devil did not take his defeat gracefully. He climbed to the top of the middle tower and pulled out the last stone. It was put back, and next morning it lay out again. So it went year after year, and that is why the middle tower is called the devil’s tower.
In 1879 the bridge was thoroughly restored under the architect Paul Gout. With a feeling for the region he had a small stone imp set on top of that tower, tugging at the stone with both claws. Since then the stone has stayed put. The devil has been given his place, after all, and as long as he sits there he need not come back.
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