Fairy Tales

  Tales of the supernatural are common in all parts of Britain. In particular, there was a belief in fairies. Not all of these fairies are the friendly, people-loving sprites that appear in Disney films, and in some folktales they are cruel and cause much human suffering. This is true in the tales about the Changeling. These tell the story of a mother whose baby grows sick and pale and has changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable to the parents. It was then feared that the fairies had come and stolen the baby away and replaced the human baby with a fairy Changeling. In those cases there was often a way to get the real baby back. You could place the Changeling on the fire--then it would rise up the chimney, and you would hear the sound of fairies’ laughter and soon after you would find your own child safe and sound nearby.