The legend
Robert Hunt in the 19th century says:
In the parish of Burian are the Dawns Myin or Men – the dancing stones, commonly called the Merry Maidens; and near them are two granite pillars named the Pipers. One sabbath evening some of the thoughtless maidens of the neighbouring village instead of attending vespers, strayed into the fields and two evil spirits assuming the guise of pipers, began to play some dance tunes. The young people yielded to the temptation, forgetting the day, commenced dancing. The excitement increased and soon the music and dancuing became extremely wild; when lo! a flash of lightening from the clear sky transfixed them all, the tempters and the tempted and there in stone they stand.
No clubbing on a Sunday, then, Pop-pickers.
From Ian Cooke’s ‘Antiquities of West Cornwall’, 1990