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In many countries it was believed in olden times, and it is occasionally believed to this day, that specially weak and deformed infants were fairy-children which had been substituted for the real mortals; especially unchristened children were much in danger of being carried off by the fairies, who sometimes left “little changelings,” as they were called, of their own blood. We find numerous allusions to this belief in the poets. Ben Jonson, for instance, in his “Sad Shepherd,” makes the attending and nurture of human changelings one of the favorite elfin employments:
“There, in the stock of trees, white fay
do dwell,
And spar-long elves, that dance about
a pool
With each a little changeling in their arms.”
One of the most efficacious of the many charms which were in use in Scotland for the restoration of stolen children, was believed to be the roasting of the supposititious child upon live embers. This would cause the false infant to disappear and the true one to be left in its place.
“Ye fairies, who,
Into their beds did foist your babes,
And theirs exchanged to be.”
(Albion's England, 1612.)
The story of infants being exchanged in their cradles is, in the Isle of Man, in such credit that mothers are in continual terror at the thought of it. I was prevailed upon to go and see a child, who, they told me, was of these changelings, and indeed must own I was not a little surprised, as well as shocked, at the sight; nothing under heaven could have a more beautiful face; but, though between five and six years old, and seemingly healthy, he was so far from being able to walk or stand, that he could not so much as move any one joint —his limbs were vastly long for his age, but smaller than infants’ of six months; his complexion was perfectly delicate, and he had the finest hair in the world; he never spoke, or cried, ate scarce anything, and was very seldom seen to smile, but if anyone called him a Fairy Elf he would frown, and fix his eyes so earnestly on those who said it, as if he would look them through. His mother, at least his supposed mother, being very poor, frequently went out a-charing, and left him a whole day together; the neighbors, out of curiosity, have often looked down at the window to see how he behaved when alone, which, whenever they did, they were sure to find him laughing, and in the utmost delight. This made them judge that he was not without company more pleasing to him than any mortals could be, and what made this conjecture seem the more reasonable was that if he were left ever so dirty, the woman, at her return, saw him with a clean face, his hair combed with the utmost exactness and nicety. (Waldron, “Description of the Isle of Man.”)
Among the various stories of children-kidnapping by the fairies, to be found in Waldron’s account of the Isle of Man, is the following: “A woman had given birth to a child, when her attendants were enticed from the house by the cry of ‘fire.” While they were out, the child was taken from the helpless mother by the invisible hand; but the sudden re-entry of some of the gossips compelled the fairies to drop the child, and it was found sprawling on the threshold. The fairies, who seemed to have especial dislike for this woman, tried to carry off her second child in the same way, but failed again. At the third trial they succeeded, and left behind them a changeling, a withered and deformed creature, which neither spoke or walked for the first nine years, and ate nothing but a few herbs."
This changeling superstition has been the cause of much deplorable cruelty, as that very member of the family who should require the kindest attention was but too often neglected and wretchedly abused, on the plea of its being an alien.
"Wild maidens" are seen in the mountains of Germany and in the fastnesses of the forests. They are believed to place changelings in cradles in place of unbaptized children.
In Ireland, fire, iron, and dung are the great safeguards against the influence of fairies and infernal spirits, and if a baby was suspected of being a changeling, it was put on a hot shovel and thrust out on a dung heap. If it did not die, it was human and was allowed to live.
Do not speak of a changeling or an elf-child in the presence of a baby less than seven months old. If you do so inadvertently, cross yourself and the baby at once or it may be changed.
Idiots are believed to be fairy-changelings. To get back the lost child, place the changeling upon the beach below high water mark when the tide is out, and pay no heed to its screams. for rather than have it drowned the fairies will replace the lost child. When the child no longer screams, this is supposed to have been done. (Western Isles of Scotland.)
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