According to ancient legends and traditions, the first inhabitants of the island were giants. One of them, named Albion, was the son of Poseidon (or in Celtic - Llyra). He died in a battle with the Greek strongman Hercules who had come here.
The British Isles are still called "Foggy Albion". In Celtic languages, the word Albion goes back to the Indo-European roots albho- ("white", possibly related to the Cretaceous White Cliffs of Dover), or alb- ("hill").
However, there is a version that this word is associated with the word "alves", from which the word "elves" later came. The Alves in early Germanic-Scandinavian mythology are an ageless, magical, beautiful race that lives like humans on Earth, namely on its Northern continent.
The descendants of Albion - the giants - continued to live in Britain when Brutus, the grandson of the Trojan prince Aeneas, sailed here.
The medieval historian Geoffrey of Monmouth writes about this:
“On the island, which was then called Albion, no one lived, except for a few giants. Nevertheless, his enchanting human eyes, wondrous lands, the abundance of rivers rich in fish, his untouched forests inspired both Brutus himself and his companions with a passionate desire to settle on it.
In short, Brutus and his companions in Albion found a new homeland. The leader built the city and named it Troyanova (New Troy). Over time, the name was changed to Trinovantum, then to Londinium, and finally to London. On the island, the name of Brutus also underwent a transformation: from now on he became Brit, his people - Britons, and the island - Britain.
One of Brit's companions, Corinius, went west, defeated the giants who lived there and settled in the territory that he named after himself Cornwall (Cornwall or Cornwall).
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Since then, there has been an ancient legend about the giant Cormoran in the folklore of Cornwall. He lived in Mount St. Michael and was killed by Jack, the hero of Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Slayer. Apparently, Cormoran was the last British giant.
The giant Cormoran terrorizes local residents
In the legends, in addition to his large stature, his other unusual feature was often emphasized - he had six fingers and toes. And the legends may have been based on facts: folklorist Mary Williams reports that once during excavations on the mountain, a skeleton was found that belonged to a man over 7 feet (210 cm) tall. This is certainly not the most gigantic growth, but for people of that time it could seem like a giant (for example, the average height of a resident of the south of France in the XIII century did not exceed 154 cm).
After Brit's death, his sons - Lokrin, Camber and Albanact - divided the state among themselves. Locrinus, as a senior, chose the central part - the present England, which at that time was called Logre (later this place was glorified by his deeds Arthur, the king of the Logres).
The middle brother chose the western part of the island - Wales and Camberland, nicknamed Cambria or Cimria. The youngest son of Brita, Albanact, went north - to Caledonia, Scotland.
Giants and humans were not the only inhabitants of the island. In the knightly novel "Guon of Bordeaux" the genealogy of the ruler of the English elves - Oberon is given. The immortal Kefalonia, queen of the Secret Island, fell in love with the Egyptian pharaoh Neptaneb. The fruit of their union was the world famous commander Alexander the Great.
Seven hundred years later, the Roman emperor Julius Caesar met the beautiful queen. They had a son, Oberon. His mother endowed him with many magical properties, including the ability to read people's minds and instantly move through space. His father gave him power over the spirits of nature.
Oberon and Titania
And everything would be fine, but the evil Celtic fairy Morgan, who was forgotten to invite to admire the newborn, bewitched the child. Because of her curse, he only grew up until the age of three, and then stopped. So he remained - a beautiful face, but, alas, a poor body. But he married the beautiful Titania, who, judging by the name, was descended from the Greek giants.
In the retinue of Oberon, Pak, aka Robin the Good Small, stands out. Rudyard Kipling in "Pak's Tales" described in detail the appearance of this mischievous spirit:
“The bushes parted … The children saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered man with protruding ears, a snub nose, slanting blue eyes and a laughing face … The children could not take their eyes off him, looking from head to toe - from a dark blue hat, similar flower, up to bare, hairy legs."
And if the Irish fairies (a common name for a magical little people) lived peacefully in their own country, then they left England, if you believe the words of Pak, pick-up-good.
“All the Dwellers of the Hills,” he said, “are gone. I saw them come to England and I saw them leave. Giants, trolls, aquatic, brownies, goblins, devils, imps, spirits of forests, trees, earth and water, elves, fairies, mermaids, gnomes, dwarfs, sorcerers, heather dwellers, guardians of the hills and guardians of treasures - everyone, everyone is gone. If we talk about me, then I came to England with Oak, Ash and Blackthorn and will leave when they disappear."
Yes, a sad picture: if nature loses its soul, even many souls, then it retains only the appearance of life. However, despite Pak's statement, not all magical creatures left the island. They left the cities, remaining there only as a memory on the pages of books, and from villages, forests and swamps, they did not disappear at all, only moved a little further.
Some, for example, remained just on the border between the two worlds. They say that the Wandering Light (or Hobby-Flashlight or Jenny-with-a-flashlight, or Keith-with-a-candle) is not just wandering through the swamps out of nothing to do, but looking out for those who, willingly or unwittingly, are going to invade the Magic Land. They try to talk such offenders and lead them into the quagmire.
If the border runs along the water, then the valiant Lights of St. Elmo serve there. Well, in the North, wandering lights do feel at ease, arranging multi-colored lights all over the sky. For this, the Scots call them the Artful Boys or the Jolly Dancers.
Terrible boggarts still roam the wastelands near the villages. It makes no sense for them to leave this world. In Enchanted Land, the boggarts will simply have no one to scare at night. And here is such a field of activity that it takes your breath away.
So the English fairies live here and there, but behave much more cautiously than before. That world can suddenly appear as a vision, a mirage in this world. This is how he appeared before Roland, the hero of Alan Gardner's book "Elidor":
“From the top of the hill, he saw some kind of elevation far away on the plain. A pile of stones. No, Roland thought, these are towers … and walls … in ruins … He glanced to his right. And suddenly … He saw … no, nothing … and again … A light. On a hill. Weak … like a candle burning out … Towers! Golden Towers!"
Fairies may not actually appear, but only seem to manifest themselves as ghostly visions.
“He looked at the rose bush and saw two male figures. They stood motionless … He walked around them steeply, they became narrower, and when he looked at them from the side, they completely disappeared."
In a word, not all is lost: the fairies live next to the British and can return if they deem people worthy of such an honor.
