Changelins - The Unwanted Children
Hello hello, and welcome back my friends! I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting for me; I hope you did not wait long. For the past few months I have been (somewhat unsucessfully) trying to chase down more details of the creatures that so many like to party with with, or fae. (Although, with all due respects, time passes differently when you're that far into the forest.)
Ah, but you want to hear of the creatures! Well, while we are on the subject of Fae, there is another little group of trouble makers that have caught my eye, and quite recently too recently. However, they are not a topic that many can stomach speaking of, since many alleged "changelings" were not actually of the fairy realm. Yes, I say "changelings" I will give warning, and only once, for those who are easily sickened by the slightest of violence. I will do my best to keep my words breif and to the point, but I will not omit facts simply beacuase they are created out of human kind's uncivil nature.
A basic sumary of a changeling is a fairy that has been subsituted for a human child. But that is only a basic sumary, and barely scratches the surface of these troubleome beings. Situated in European folklore as early as the middle ages (as far as I have been able to tell), changelings have been known as replacement, or unwanted, children. It is said that fairy mothers subsitute their own sickly offsping for that of a healthy, robust human child. Sometimes they leave other objects in place of the human boy or girl, but more oft then naught they leave their own children in the human's place. And although this is the more common circumstance imagined when a person says "changeling", fairy folk will also let an elderly volunteer stay with the human family. These older counterparts would mirror the stolen child's appearance and stay far longer with their human families than the young fairy children.
I have attatched no picture of this type of creature for the sole purpose that any one may imitate many faces. And, with all due respects, would have the courage to ask a fairy to stand still long enough for them to have their picture taken? And when these creatures are so well addapted in changing their faces at will, when will you know which face to take a picture of? And how? Thankfully, there is an easier way to identify a changeling than its appearance. These particular beings are very fond of food. They may, quite literally, eat you out of house and home. No no, I do not mean that they eat humans, I mean that no matter how much the fairy eats it will always seem to be hungry. There is a story of a child who went and asked a neighbor for money to go to the market while his parents were out. When the mother of the child came home she went to ask the neighbor for money to buy food from the market. The neighbor naturally thought the woman was mad, and explained that she had already given her boy the money. The mother claimed this was not true, since the boy could hardly speak - let alone walk. Yet both she and the neighbor drew up a plan to watch the boy over the next few days. When the mother faked going out to work one morning the child stood, walked over to the table where the mother had earlier left out a large sum of food, and ate every single thing down to the very last crumb! Both the mother and neighbor (both of whom had been watching) were struck speachless. So remember, if you're younger brother eats too much, he's just a growing boy.
Ah, but on to the more serious matter of these creatures! Many were not quite so pleasantly discovered as the changeling mentioned in the story above. Fire was a very common tool in "detecting" changelings for what they truely were. Either submersing the suspected changelling in fire, or burning it with a hot mealt, were both practices that were believed to exorcised the fairy and bring back the human child. Other inhumane methods of either getting rid of, or exposing, the changelings are (but are not limited to) leaving the suspected fairy exposed on a hillside or dungheap, and pelting the suspected with iron nails. As I said, I will not leave out the facts, no matter how uncivil they are. There is, however, a method or two to "test" the suspected changeling without actually physically harming the fairy. In some instances the mothers whose children had been stolen were advised to be kind to the changelings in return for their child. And, happily, in most cases the kindness of the mother was repayed with the return of their child.
Due to the age of the children that were typically stolen, it was said that babies left unattended before they had been baptized were the more common targets of these theiving fairies. It should therefor not be so surprising when I tell you that one of the less brutal ways of discovering a changeling involves a cross. Whether made of silver or wood (although wood was far less likely), a cross was placed on a shovel, along with salt, and baked over a fire. Once again, fire was belived to have helped in the exorcism of the fairy.
The oil that fuels my lamp is quickly running low, so I shall leave you with one more fact of these fairy creatures. This, happier by far, is another test that people believed in. To make a changeling laugh was believed to be the cure and end to the false child. One clever mother took an egg, broke it in half, threw away the contents of the egg, filled the shells with water, and set them in front of the fire to boil. This made the changeling howl with laughter and cry, "In my thousand years I have never seen such madness!" Then, in the next instant, the changeling was gone. Most accounts of this event say that the human child was returned to its proper mother, hance giving the tale a happy ending.
Changelings and children; a pairing that never seems to become old. Let us hope, however, that both are treated with kindness that is due to them. I'll write again once I have refuled this dratted lamp. Until then; gooday, and goodnight.
Until the next adventure,
The Friendly Steampunk
Credits to Google Images for the picture
