A mother had her child taken from the cradle by elves. In its place they laid a changeling with a thick head and staring eyes who would do nothing but eat and drink.Sounds like infant botulism >___>;;;;;
The changeling can be easily identified by several traits due to his faerie condition :
- He always cry and complain
- He does not grow as other children
- He drinks a lot of water and is hungry all the time
- He can play the pipes with and dance with surpassing skill
- He looks like an ill-conditioned and helpless brat
- He is very precoce and makes unguarded remark as to its own age....Oh dear, sounds like any naughty or intelligent child. The second is any health/hormone problem, and the third sounds like diabetes.
And guess what happens if they think it's a changeling?
The changeling was converted into the stock of a tree by saying a powerful rhyme over him, or by sticking him with a knife. He could be driven away by running at him with a red-hot ploughshare; by getting between him and the bed and threatening him with a drawn sword; by leaving him out on the hillside, and paying no attention to his shrieking and screaming; by putting him sitting on a gridiron, or in a creel, with a fire below; by sprinkling him well out of the maistir tub; or by dropping him into the river....No wonder Kaori Yuki was so interested in this subject.
According to the popular belief of changeling, malformed and retarded children were likely not human at all, but rather the offspring of some demonic being, offspring that could be neglected, abused, and even put to death with no moral compunctions.......
Many of the deformities in children are attributed to the Fairies. When a child is incautiously left alone by its mother, for however a short time, the Fairies may come and give its little legs such a twist as will leave it hopelessly lame ever after....Sounds like
polio....
Certainly makes you glad you weren't born in Scotland 600 years ago. Or if you believe in reincarnation, at least you can't remember you were ever born and tortured to death in Scotland. Hmm.
Randomly: that enormous, menacing black cloud to the west is looking like a life-saver right now!!!! It's so hot!!!!! Argh!!!