Fig. 169—From Symbolism of the East and West. (Aynsley, Mrs. Murray.)
As history knows nothing of any “Rialobran, son of Cunoval,” one may suggest that Rialobran was the Ryall or Royal Obran, Obreon or Oberon, the bren or Prince of Phairyland who figures so largely in the Romance of mediæval Europe. The Rialobran stone of Cornwall may be connoted with the ceremonial perron du roy still standing in the Channel Islands, and with the numerous Browny stones of Scotland. In Cornwall the phairy brownies seem to have been as familiar as in Scotland[330]: in the Hebrides—and as the Saint of this neighbourhood is St. Bride, the word Hebrides may perhaps be rendered eu Bride—every family of any importance once possessed a most obliging household Browny. Martin, writing in the eighteenth century, says: “A spirit by the country people called Browny was frequently seen in all the most considerable families in these Isles and North of Scotland in the shape of a tall man, but within these twenty or thirty years past he is seen but rarely.” As the cromlechs of Brittany are termed poukelays or “puck stones,” it is possible that the dolmens or tolmens of there and elsewhere were associated with the fairy tall man. Still speaking of the Hebrides Martin goes on to say: “Below the chapels there is a flat thin stone called Brownie’s stone, upon which the ancient inhabitants offered a cow’s milk every Sunday, but this custom is now quite abolished”. The official interpretation of dolmen is daul or table stone, but it is quite likely that the word tolmen is capable of more than one correct explanation.
The Cornish Rialobran was in all probability originally the same as the local St. Perran or St. Piran, whose sanctuary was marked by the parish of Lanbron or Lamborne. There is a Cornish circle known as Perran Round and the celebrated Saint who figures as, Perran, Piran, Bron, and Borne,[331] is probably the same as Perun the Slav Jupiter. From a stone held in the hand of Perun’s image the sacred fire used annually to be struck and endeavours have been made to equate this Western Jupiter with the Indian Varuna. That there was a large Perran family is obvious from the statement that “till within the last fifty years the registers of the parish from the earliest period bear the Christian name of ‘Perran,’ which was transmitted from father to son; but now the custom has ceased”.[332] Thus possibly St. Perran was not only the original of the modern Perrin family, but also of the far larger Byrons and Brownes. Further inquiry will probably permit the equation of Rialobran or St. Bron or Borne with St. Bruno, and as Oberon figures in the traditions of Kensington it is possible that the Bryanstone Square in that district, into which leads Brawn Street, marks the site of another Brownie or Rialobran stone. This Bryanstone district was the home of the Byron family, and the surname Brinsmead implies the existence here or elsewhere a Brin’s mead or meadow.
The Brownies are occasionally known as “knockers,” whence the “knocking stone” which still stands in Brahan Wood, Dingwall, might no doubt be rightly entitled a Brahan, Bryan, or Brownie Stone.[333]
Legend at Kensington—in which neighbourhood is not only Bryanstone Square but also on the summit of Campden Hill an Aubrey Walk—relates that Kenna, the fairy princess of Kensington Gardens, was beloved by Albion the Son of Oberon; hence we may probably relate young Kenna with Morgana the Fay, or big Gana, the alleged Mother of Oberon.[334] Mediæval tales represent the radiant Oberon not only as splendid, as a meteor, and as a raiser of storms, but likewise as the childlike God of Love and beauteous as an angel newly born.
At once the storm is fled; serenely mild
Heav’n smiles around, bright rays the sky adorn
While beauteous as an angel newly born
Beams in the roseate day spring, glow’d the child