Changeling

A common way that a changeling could identify itself is through displaying unusual behaviour when it thinks it is alone, such as jumping about, dancing or playing an instrument – though this last example is found only within Irish and Scottish legend.

"[4] Folklorist D. L. Ashliman proposes in his essay 'Changelings' that changeling tales illustrate an aspect of family survival in pre-industrial Europe.

"The fact that the changelings' ravenous appetite is so frequently mentioned indicates that the parents of these unfortunate children saw in their continuing existence a threat to the sustenance of the entire family.

Often when an adult was taken instead of a child, an object such as a log was left in place of the stolen human, enchanted to look like the person.

Bridget Cleary is one of the most well-known cases of an adult thought to be a changeling by her family; her husband killed her, attempting to force the fairies to return his 'real' wife.

[10] According to common Scottish myths, a child born with a caul (part of the amniotic membrane) across their face is a changeling and will soon die (is "of fey birth").

[22][23] However, the Ulster folk song 'The Gartan Mother's Lullaby' also uses "sheevra" simply to mean "spirit" or "fairy".

The English poet and topographer George Waldron, who lived in the Isle of Man during the early 18th century, cites a tale of a reputed changeling that was shown to him, possibly a child with an inherited genetic disorder: "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 an infant's of six months; his complexion was perfectly delicate, and he had the finest hair in the world; he never spoke, nor cried, ate scarcely anything, and was very seldom seen to smile, but if any one 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.

This view was proven to be correct one day when a neighbour ran into the house shouting, "Come here and ye'll se a sight!

[25] At Byerholm near Newcastleton in Liddesdale sometime during the early 19th century, a dwarf called Robert Elliot or Little Hobbie o' The Castleton as he was known, was reputed to be a changeling.

When taunted by other boys, he would not hesitate to draw his gully (a large knife) and dispatch them; however, being woefully short in the legs, they usually out-ran him and escaped.

However, he was courageous, and when he heard that his neighbour, the six-foot three-inch (191 cm) William Scott of Kirndean, a sturdy and strong borderer, had slandered his name, he invited the man to his house, took him up the stairs and challenged him to a duel.

[26] Child ballad 40, The Queen of Elfland's Nourice, depicts the abduction of a new mother, drawing on the folklore of the changelings.

The mother would take the changeling child to a midden, whip it with a birch stick, and pour water from an eggshell over it, all while shouting, "Take yours; give mine back."

When her husband demands she abandon the changeling, she refuses, and he leaves her – whereupon he meets their son in the forest, wandering free.

[33][34] The tale is notably retold by Swedish children's story author Helena Nyblom as Bortbytingarna[35] in the 1913 book Bland tomtar och troll.

In Asturias (Northern Spain), there is a legend about the Xana, a sort of nymph who used to live near rivers, fountains, and lakes, sometimes helping travellers on their journeys.

initially resembles the human child for which it has been substituted, but gradually grows uglier in appearance and behaviour: ill-featured, malformed, ill-tempered, given to screaming and biting.

[39] King Charles I of England (1600–1649) was reportedly rumored to have been a changeling due to his "peevish nature" as a child and a nursemaid's claim that a figure appeared mysteriously at his bedside and cast a cloak over the sleeping baby's cradle.

[43] In 1895, Bridget Cleary was killed by several people, including her husband and cousins, after a short bout of illness (probably pneumonia).

The killers were convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, as even after the death, they claimed to be convinced they had killed a changeling, not Bridget Cleary herself.

[44] The Igbo people of eastern Nigeria traditionally believed that a woman who lost numerous children, whether stillborn or early in infancy, was being tormented by an ogbanje, a malicious spirit that reincarnated itself over and over again.

One of the most commonly prescribed methods for ridding oneself of an ogbanje was to find and destroy its iyi-uwa, a buried object tying it to the mortal world.

[46][47] Even today, infant death is common among children born with severe sickle-cell anemia, especially in areas of Africa lacking adequate medical resources.

This, in turn, is believed to have originated from the Middle English alven and elven, and ultimately from the Old Norse word for an elf, alfr.

[48][49] Modern scholars hypothesize some changeling tales developed in an attempt to explain deformed,[50] developmentally disabled,[51] or neurodivergent children.

The greater incidence of congenital disabilities in boys correlates to the belief that male infants were more likely to be taken by fairies.

[53] Some autistic adults have come to identify with changelings (or other replacements, such as aliens) due to their experiences of feeling out of place in the world.

[58] Several species of birds, fish, and arthropods regularly practice brood parasitism, or non-reciprocal offspring-swapping.