More About These Creepy Creatures
Changelings typically take infants-- however, there have been a few cases where people have claimed adults to have been taken as well. It is also known that fairies fear fire and iron, which often play into the ways people got rid of them-- or even prevented them. Many people would hang iron tools above or around their infants cribs to ward off fairies. But, how do people determine when their loved ones have been replaced? And what do you do about them?
Characteristics
How do you know someone has been replaced with a changeling? According to the legends, one of the most obvious characteristics of changelings is their appetite; they either eat too much or too little. Parents will often notice that their children will stop eating, or become ravenous. Their appetites will often become strange as well, like only wanting to eat certain foods (such as only wanting potatoes, or a refusal of bread). Another way to determine if someone is a changeling is by examining their appearance. People claimed that there would be subtle differences to their loved ones, like a leg being longer than another or suddenly they had elongated teeth. However, the most common way that people were determined to be changelings was in their behavior. Children who were especially gifted and fast learners, or slow and quiet, were often under suspicion.
What do you do if you Suspect Someone to be a Changeling?
Once someone is determined to be a changeling, there are several methods on how to deal with them depending on the region of folklore. In Scottish tradition, the most common method was abandonment. The child would be left on a beach as the shore rose in the hopes that the fairies would become concerned and come back for it (then return the real child). In Ireland, methods were much more drastic. Since fairies feared fire, they would place the baby in a fireplace thinking that it would jump from the hot coals and run up the chimney (and soon after return the child once the fire was put out). Each region (or even town) had its own ways of fighting these fairies-- many of which revolved around the torture of the child so their true parents would come back to rescue it. However, there was one particularly popular method that made it's way into The Brother's Grimm collection.
The Story Goes...
A mother once had her child stolen from her by the elves. They took it out of the cradle and placed in its stead a changeling with a large head and staring eyes, that would do nothing but eat and drink. In her distress, she went to one of her neighbours and asked her advice. The neighbour told her to carry the changeling into the kitchen and seat it on the hearth, then to light a fire and boil some water in two egg-shells. That, she said, would make the changeling laugh, and if he once laughed, it would be all over with him. The mother went back and followed out all these directions. As she put the egg-shells with water in them on the fire, the little gnome-child said -Â
"I am old as the woods,
But from ages of yore,
I never saw shells
Used for boiling before."
and with that he began to laugh. While he was laughing a company of elves came crowding into the kitchen, bringing with them the woman′s own child, which they laid down on the hearth. Then they took up the changeling and disappeared with him.