Myths
Known in France as "Tobie", Tobit appears on the coat of arms along with the Archangel Rafael. He was a young Israelite prisoner in Babylon who remained loyal to his god in defiance of the common practice of worshipping of what he regarded as idols.
Tobit’s history
He comforts his fellow countrymen and despite the orders against it, he continues to provide proper funerals for their dead. He accidentally is blinded, which puts a great strain on his family.
Tobit then decides to reclaim a previous debt. However, it involves travelling to the far away city of Media. Tobit hesitates to send his son, but finally decides to do so when Azarias offers to aid his son Tobias during his journey. Their journey is successful: Azarias saves Tobias’s life, and marries Sarah, his cousin.
Along the way, while washing his feet in the river Tigris, he is attacked by a fish which tries to swallow his foot. He captures it, and the heart, liver and gall bladder are removed to make medicines by order of Raphael.
Tobias and Sarah return to Nineveh. There, Raphael tells the youth to use the fish's gall to cure his father's blindness. Raphael then reveals his true identity and returns to heaven, and Tobit sings a hymn of praise.
The Lion of the Sea and the Lion of the Earth.
Once upon a time a princess was put to sleep against her wish by her step-mother who was jealous of her beauty. She put the sleepy princess on a drifting boat. The wind pushed the boat all the way to the shores of Saint-Raphaël where a young handsome prince spotted the boat.
As he was curious, he looked through his field-glass and immediately fell in love with the sleepy princess. He embarked on a small boat to meet her. However, Amphitrite, Poseidon’s wife, who was in love with the handsome prince, sent two sea monsters to destroy the princess’s boat. Both monsters had a crocodile’s body and a lion’s head.
Fortunately, Poseidon, God of the Sea, woke up at the same time and had pity on the two human beings. He decided to turn the two monsters into stones: The Lion of the Sea and the Lion of the Earth. Swimmers, be careful not to make Poseidon angry, it might wake up both monsters…
