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The Sunday in Lent called Lætare was styled "the day of Fountains," and then boys and girls used to dance at the Fairies' tree, and picnic there, having little cakes made for them, and would drink the water and sing at the Fontaine des Groseillers. The tree, according to Jeanne Thesselin, was said, in a romance which she had heard read aloud, to have been the trysting-place where Pierre, Lord of Bourlemont, met his fairy love.
During her long trial at Rouen in 1431, Jeanne was asked about the Fairies' Tree and the nearby Fontaine des Fievreux. Before the trial had begun, the Rouen clergy had dispatched agents to Domremy to search for information that would show Jeanne to have been involved in witchcraft. They found so little, indeed, that many years later one of these agents, Nicolas Bailly, claimed that they had been accused of being "false Armagnacs," and had not been paid for their efforts. In any case, they had been told about the Fairies' Tree and the nearby spring, and the charming folklore associated with them. It was known amongst the folk of Domremy that Jeanne liked to withdraw from the others at times, preferring to be alone (to "talk with God", remembered one of her countrymen many years later). The Fairies' Tree and nearby spring was probably one of the places she liked to go at such times.
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