Oberon, also Auberon, King of Shadows and Fairies, is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, written in the mid-1590s. He is Consort to Titania, Queen of the Fairies. The medieval concept of the character Oberon arose from a multitude of earlier sources. Merovingian legend Oberon's status as king of the elves comes from the character of Alberich (from Old High German alb- "elf", "goblin" and -rîh-, "ruler", "king"), a sorcerer in the legendary history of the Merovingian dynasty. In the legend, he is the otherworldly "brother" of Merowech, whose name is the eponym of the Merovingians. Alberich wins for his eldest son Walbert the hand of a princess of Constantinople. In the Nibelungenlied, a Burgundian poem written around the turn of the 13th century, Alberich guards the treasure of the Nibelungen, but is overco

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