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In various European folklore and folk belief, a changeling is the
offspring of a fairy, troll, elf or other legendary creature, left secretly in
exchange for a human child. The alleged motivation for this conduct range from
the
desire to have a human servant, love of a human child, or malice.
The reality behind many of the legends is the birth of deformed or retarded
children. In the old days, people believed that a troll had changed children
before the parents had had time to baptize it. Even in Ireland, the
explanation for left handed people is changeling fae.
In Scandinavia, parents often placed e.g. a pair of scissors or a knife on top
of an unbaptized infant's cradle, since most beings from Scandinavian folklore
are said to be afraid of steel. Should the woe take place even so, folk belief
advocated far more drastic measurements. One tradition, which today is quite
horrific, is that the human mother could make the troll mother return the
human child if the troll child was treated in a cruel manner.
Thus, there were methods such as whipping the presumed changeling, putting it
on the trash heap, or even inserting it in a heated oven. In at least one case
a woman has been taken to court for having killed her child in
an oven.
Source and read more:
Wikipedia.org
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