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s with the changeling they have raised, John Bauer , 1913 .]] In Europe an Folklore and Folk Belief , a changeling is the offspring of a Fairy , Troll , Elf or other Legendary Creature that has been secretly left in the place of a human child. The apparent changeling could also be a '''stock''', a glamorized piece of wood that would soon appear to grow sick and die. The motivation for this conduct stems from the desire to have a Human Servant , the love of a human child, or from Malice .Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'' "Changelings" (Pantheon Books, 1976) p. 71. ISBN 0-394-73467-X Most often it was thought that faeries exchanged the children, and simple charms, such as an inverted coat, were thought to ward them off. IDENTIFYING A CHANGELING Changelings would be identified by their wizened appearance, voracious appetite, malicious temper, inability to move, and other unpleasant traits.Carole B. Silver, ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness'', p 47 ISBN 0-19-512100-6 Medieval chronicles record instances of this, which is one of the oldest known pieces of folklore about fairies.Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'' "Changelings" (Pantheon Books, 1976) p. 69. ISBN 0-394-73467-X According to some legends, it is possible to detect changelings, as they are much wiser than human children. When changelings are detected in time, their parents have to take them back. In one tale of the in the woods but I have never seen beer being brewed in an acorn"'', then disappeared.Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'' "Changelings" (Pantheon Books, 1976) p. 71. ISBN 0-394-73467-X PURPOSE OF A CHANGELING Some people believed that trolls would take unbaptized children. Beauty in human children and young women, particularly blond hair, attracted the fairies.Katharine Briggs, ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'', "Golden Hair", p194. ISBN 0-394-73467-X In Scottish folklore, the children might be replacements for fairy children in the ''. Francis James Child , ballad 39a "Tam Lin" , ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'' Some folklorists believe that fairies were memories of inhabitants of various regions in Europe who had been driven into hiding by invaders. They held that changelings had actually occurred; the hiding people would exchange their own sickly children for the healthy children of the invaders.Carole B. Silver, ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness'', p 73 ISBN 0-19-512100-6 CHANGELINGS IN MEDIEVAL FOLKLORE Scandinavia Since most beings from Scandinavian Folklore are said to be afraid of Steel , Scandinavia n parents often placed a steel item such as a pair of Scissors or a Knife on top of an unbaptized infant's cradle. It was believed that if a human child was taken in spite of such measures, the parents could force the return of the child by treating the changeling cruelly, using methods such as Whip ping or even inserting it in a Heat ed Oven . In at least one case, a woman was taken to court for having Killed Her Child in an oven.Klintberg, Bengt af; ''Svenska Folksägner'' (1939) ISBN 91-7297-581-4 of two trolls with a human child they have raised]] In one Swedish changeling taleThe tale is notably retold by Selma Lagerlöf as '' Bortbytingen '' in her 1915 book '' Troll och människor ''., the troll child grows up at a farm while the human child grows up among the trolls. Everyone advises the human mother to brutalize the changeling so that the trolls would change children once more. However, the woman refuses to treat the innocent but maladapted troll child cruelly and persists in treating it as if it were her own. Eventually, the husband decides to leave his wife, as he can no longer support living with the troll child. His distraught wife allows him to leave her, because she can not abandon an innocent child, although it is a troll. When the husband has walked a distance into the forest, he meets his own son who tells his him that he is free from the trolls. Every time someone tried to be cruel to the troll, his troll mother was about to treat the human child in the same manner, but when his mother sacrificed what was dearest to her, her husband, the trolls realized that they had no power over her and had to release the human child. In another Swedish fairy taleThe tale is notably retold by is kidnapped by trolls and replaced with their own offspring against the wishes of the troll mother. The changelings grow up with their new parents and both become beautiful young females, but they find it hard to adapt. The human girl is disgusted by her future Bridegroom , a troll Prince , whereas the troll girl is bored by her life and by her dull human future groom. By coincidence, they both go astray in the forest, upset with the conditions of their lives, and happen to pass each other without noticing it. The princess comes to the Castle whereupon the Queen immediately recognizes her, and the troll girl finds a troll woman who is Cursing loudly as she works. The troll girl bursts out that the troll woman is much more fun than any other person she has ever seen, and her mother happily sees that her true daughter has returned. Both the human girl and the troll girl Marry happily the very same day. Wales In Wales the changeling child (''plentyn newid'') initially Resembles the human it substitutes, but gradually grows uglier in appearance and behaviour: ill-featured, malformed, ill-tempered, given to screaming and biting. It may be of less than usual intelligence, but again is identified by its more than childlike wisdom and cunning. The common means employed to identify a changeling is to cook a family meal in an Eggshell . The child will exclaim, "I have seen the acorn before the oak, but I never saw the likes of this," and vanish, only to be replaced by the original human child. Alternatively, or following this identification, it is supposedly necessary to mistreat the child by placing it in a hot oven, by holding it in a shovel over a hot fire, or by bathing it in a solution of Foxglove . Wirt Sikes. ''British Goblins: The Realm of Faerie''. Felinfach: Llanerch, 1991. Ireland In Ireland, looking at a baby with envy -- "over looking the baby" -- was dangerous, as it endangered the baby, who was then in the fairies' power.W. B. Yeats, ''Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry'', in ''A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore'', p 47, ISBN 0-517-489904-X So too was admiring or envying a woman or man dangerous, unless the person added a blessing; the able-bodied and beautiful were in particular danger. Women were in especially danger in Liminal states: being a new bride, or a new mother.Carole B. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness, p 167 ISBN 0-19-512100-6 Putting a changeling in a fire would cause it to jump up the chimney and return the human child, but at least one tale recounts a mother with a changeling finding that a fairy woman came to her home with the human child, saying the other fairies had done the exchange, and she wanted her own baby.W. B. Yeats, ''Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry'', in ''A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore'', p 47, ISBN 0-517-489904-X The tale of surprising a changeling into speech -- by brewing eggshells -- is also told in Ireland, as in Wales.W. B. Yeats, ''Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry'', in ''A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore'', p 48-50, ISBN 0-517-489904-X In parts of Ireland , Left Handed people are sometimes thought to be changeling Fae . Scottish Child Ballad 40, '' The Queen Of Elfan's Nourice '', depicts the abduction of a new mother, drawing on the folklore of the changelings. Although it is fragmentary, it contains the mother's grief and the Queen of Elfland's promise to return her to her own child if she will nurse the queen's child until it can walk.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 358-9, Dover Publications, New York 1965 "CHANGELINGS" IN THE HISTORICAL RECORD Real children were sometimes taken to be changelings by the superstitious, and therefore abused or murdered. Martin Luther asserted that he himself had seen a changeling, twelve-year-old, that did nothing but eat, and recommended that it be drowned. When the local prince rejected this, he recommended repeating the Lord's Prayer, and reported that the changeling died within a year.Terri Windling, " Changelings " Two Victorian cases also reflected the belief in changelings. In 1826, Anne Roche bathed Michael Leahy, a four-year-old boy unable to speak or stand, three times in the was killed by several people, including her husband and cousins; after a short bout of illness (probably pneumonia), local storyteller Jack Dunne accused Bridget of being a fairy changeling. It is debatable whether her husband, Michael, actually believed her to be a fairy, many believe he concocted 'fairy defence' after he murdered his wife in a fit of rage. The killers were convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, as even after the death they claimed that they were convinced that they had killed a changeling, not Bridget Cleary.Carole B. Silver, ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness'', p 64-5 ISBN 0-19-512100-6. CHANGELINGS IN THE MODERN WORLD Neurological differences The reality behind many changeling legends was often the birth of Deformed or Retard ed children. Among the diseases with symptoms that match the description of changelings in various legends are Spina Bifida , Cystic Fibrosis , PKU , Progeria , Homocystinuria , Williams Syndrome , Hurler Syndrome , Hunter Syndrome , and Cerebral Palsy . The greater proneness of boys to birth defect correlates to the belief that boy babies were more likely to be taken.Carole B. Silver, ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness'', p 75 ISBN 0-19-512100-6 As noted, it has been hypothesized that the changeling legend may have developed, or at least been used, to explain the peculiarities of children who did not develop normally, probably including all sorts of developmental delays and abnormalities. In particular, it has been suggested that children with , Keith Donohue talks about the life of a changeling from the point of view of two boys. Failure to thrive Infants diagnosed with Failure To Thrive that have no history of neglect also fit the description of changelings. This can be a devastating diagnosis, and it is easy to see how people would have taken comfort in placing the cause outside their influence. The stories of kindness and care being rewarded with the return of the child also fit the nursing needed to restore an infant's health. Literary uses The changeling theme has frequently appeared in literature, especially in the genres of fairy tale and fantasy. Notable 20th and 21st century appearances of changelings in literature include the following:
NOTES In William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream." Titania and Oberon are fighting over the possession of a changeling boy, and because of their argument, nature is in upheaval, and all the subsequent action of the plot ensues. REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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