Sacred Texts  Sagas and Legends  Celtic  Index  Previous  Next 

The Fairy Changeling

"I have left the dead child, in the cradle as you bid me," said one woman, "and behold here is the other child, take it and let me go;" and she laid down an infant on a sheet by the window, who seemed in a secret sleep, and it was draped all in white.
"Wait," said the other, "till you have had some food, and then take it to the fairy queen, as I promised, in place of the dead child that we have laid in the cradle by the nurse. 'Wait also till the moon rises, and then you shall have the payment which I promised."
They then both turned from the window. Now the man saw that there was some devil's magic in it all. And when the women turned away he crept up close to the open window and put his hand in and seized the sleeping child and drew it out quietly without ever a sound. Then he made off as fast as he could to his own home, before the women could know anything about it, and handed the child to his mother's care. Now the mother was angry at first, but when he told her the story, she believed him, and put the baby to sleep--a lovely, beautiful boy with a face like an angel.
But he said, "Wait put down a good fire," and they did so.
"If you don't rise up this minute and leave the place, I will burn you on the fire; for I know might well who you are, and where you came from."

Next: Fairy Wiles