Bran and the Grail Legends
	There seems little doubt that Bran is connected with the origins of the legends of the Holy Grail. Scholars believe that Bran is the prototype of the Fisher King, the guardian of the grail, and that Bran’s cauldron of re-birth and his horn of plenty were originals of the grail. One of the main themes of the Grail is the guardianship of fertility, the failure of which leads to the wasteland. In the first Grail Romance, by Chretién de Troyes, Perceval, a rather naive knight, is returning to his mother’s house in Snowdonia when he comes across a king fishing in a stream. The fisher king invites Perceval to stay overnight at his castle, and that evening Perceval witnesses a mysterious procession, in which a lance which bleeds and then the holy grail is carried into the feasting hall. Although he wonders at the mystery of the procession, he thinks it impolite to ask his host any questions about it. In the morning the palace is deserted, and it is only later that Perceval learns what an opportunity was missed. A young woman berates him for not having asked any questions. She tells Perceval that the fisher king was suffering from a terrible wound in the thigh. If only Perceval had asked questions about the lance and the grail, then the maimed fisher king would have been cured, and all his kingdom set to rights. If only Perceval had asked why the lance bled, or whom one serves with the grail - but he did not, and the fisher king’s wound remained unhealed, and his kingdom was become a wasteland. Perceval then goes to King Arthur's court, and embarks on a long and arduous quest in order to find out the answers to the grail questions.		Bran’s Cauldron
	In later grail romances, the quest for the grail, now transformed into a symbol of holy grace, is sought by the knights of King Arthur. In the end, only Galahad, the pure knight, attains the presence of the grail.
	The grail and the underworld One of the reasons that the grail legend retains such power is that it reflects an ever-present reality: the wasteland can be understood on many levels, not just a wasting of the land, but a wasting of the psyche. If we lose touch with the instinctual, unconscious side of ourselves, then life can seem to be a wasteland, devoid of richness and meaning. If we become 'wounded in the thigh', we lose our fertility. We need to maintain a connection with the more primitive parts of ourselves, with the underworld - not the place of the dead, but the place within us which connects to all that is living. In later grail romances, the grail is portrayed as a miraculous provider of food and drink, giving a natural connection to Bran as the guardian of our source of underworld sustenance: "[The Parzival grail legend states that] in the presence of the Grail each man obtains whatever he held his hand out for, hot dishes or cold, flesh of wild or tame, and his cup was filled with whatever beverage he might name. "…it is natural that a similar vessel should be the prized possession of Bran ... a lavish host whose followers feasted without stint for eighty years on the Isle of Grassholm; and it is natural that Bran’s vessel should be found in the possession of Bron, the Fisher King. "[The Welsh list of the Royal Treasures of Britain contains] a drinking vessel, the Horn of Bran: ‘the drink and the food that one asked for one received in it when one desired.’" R S Loomis, The Grail, p.58-60
	In the Romance of Branwen, Bran is always generous and hospitable, and like the grail, Bran’s horn of plenty symbolises the richness which can flow from a proper relationship with the underworld. On the psychological level, life becomes rich with meaning and significance. But as in the grail legend, we have to ask questions in order for this richness to flow - it won’t come automatically.		The Romance of Branwen
	Bran the fisher king "The immediate prototype of Chretién’s Fisher King has been recognized by a long line of scholars as Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr. According to the mabinogi, Bran was wounded in the foot with a lance in battle. In an old poem in the Book of Taliesin there is a passage referring to the same battle which Dr Proinsias Mac Cana in his study of Branwen translates: ‘I was with Bran in Ireland; I saw when the "Pierced (Thick) Thigh" was slain (wounded)’. The words in parentheses are alternative translations, and the words in double quotation marks are taken to be a descriptive title of Bran. The older tradition, therefore, seems emphatic on the point that Bran was smitten in the thigh, just like the Fisher King.” R S Loomis, The Grail, p.55-56
	One way of seeing the significance of Bran as the fisher king is as a symbol of the type of effort required to open up to the underworld. Imagine fishing by a stream. To catch a fish, you have to put a line into the water. Then you have to wait and watch patiently until the fish bites. Finally, you hook the fish and haul it in. These three stages of fishing are symbols of how we can begin to remember our deeper levels. We don’t have immediate access to these levels, so it takes an effort to reach them. Then we have to be patient and watchful. Finally, when something rises, we have to haul it in, and either make something of it, or throw it back!	Bran and the Alder