Psychosocial Significance

"Luther and the Spawn of Satan: Changelings and Infanticide." http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com. April 8, 2013. Web. November 9, 2014

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"Luther and the Spawn of Satan: Changelings and Infanticide"

Martin Luther was a leader in Christian history in the 16th century. The Lutheran denomination was named after him. Martin Luther was very much a product of his own times with respect to superstitious beliefs and practices. He believed Satan was responsible for the malformed children known as changelings, and that such exchanges took place frequently. In Luther's theological view, a changeling had no soul and as such it was alright to kill this child. He actually encouraged infanticide of such children, whether they be frail physically or mentally challenged and saw nothing morally wrong with doing so. 

On another psychosocial front, my own theory pertains to women who had recently given birth being swapped with a changeling. I believe it wasn't a changeling at all but was the result of a woman experiencing postpartum depression. Any sort of mental illness or mental incapacitation was not understood as it is today. While today mental illness still holds a stigma it is much better today than it was in previous centuries.

Novel

Donohue, Keith. The Stolen Child. New York: Nan A. Talese. 2006. 

This novel is filled with literary fantasy as well as realism. It is more than merely a story of a child who is a changeling; there are two intertwined stories--one adult trying to remember his "stolen" childhood and one child trapped in time at age seven. It features the story of a grown-up Henry Day and the child Aniday. Donohue writes in such a way that he makes both characters alive, have parallel and mirroring lives, joys and challenges, and allows them to confront one another. This novel was inspired by Yeats' poem. I can hear "come away with me, oh human child" being chanted in the background as the pages turn. 

Work of Art

http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2014/06/21/midsummer/

Noel, Joseph. Painting. 1867. Oil on canvas. Glasgow Museums. JPEG file.

The Fairy Raid by Sir Joseph Noel Paton
Joseph Paton painted this work of art in 1867. It is one of his many paintings based on the 19th century's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is set at twilight in a dark wooded area. It realistically depicts the fairies of fairytales and well as a smaller, more sinister version from the legends. There is meticulous attention to detail. In the distance are standing stones on a hill which make the link to ancient Celtic beliefs in which the artist was very much interested. There is also a human child depicted looking back towards the world it is leaving.

Episode of a Television Series

"Small Worlds" Torchwood. Dir. Alice Troughton. British Broadcast Channel. 12 November 2006. Television.

Credit: TVids.net

This episode of Torchwood portrays a young girl who is a changeling. She is the only child of a single mom who has been dating a man for 5 years. This man is a jerk and is abusive towards the girl but only while the two are in private. The child is very reclusive and does not have any friends nor does she interact with the family much. Most of her time is spent in the forest behind her house. The fairies protect the child from a potential abduction as well as from bullies at school. At the end of the show the fairies come and kill the potential step-father in front of everyone at the engagement party. The fairies have come to take the girl back with them and the mother becomes hysterical. This show was very interesting to me as it is the first thing I have seen to actually depict the fairies as sinister and quite frightening.

Here is the link for watching this particular episode.

http://www.tvids.net/watch451/Torchwood/season-01-episode-05-Small-Worlds

Original Myth- Changelings

Craigie, William Alexander. Scandinavian Folk-lore. London: Alexander Gardner, 1896.

The Line, the Lash and the Curl. "Changelings and Fairy Babies." Myndandmist.wordpress.com. June 24, 2012. Web.

 November 9, 2014

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Many cultures have believed in the long-standing legend of changelings.  It was believed that fairies swapped their children in the place of human children. Human children were believed to be stronger and healthier than fairy children as well as more beautiful. The life span of a fairy child is much shorter than that of a human. Changelings were always hungry and had horrible dispositions and were quite sickly according to the legend. When a family suspected its child had been stolen by fairies it was supposed to either trick the changeling into revealing itself or beat the "child" until the fairy came to retrieve it. Midwives and women who had recently given birth were also targeted by the fairies as childbirth was not easy for fairies. This was believed to be why fairy children were thought to be frail as they were injured during childbirth. They also had voracious appetites which is why lactating women were of particular interest to the fairies. Handsome men were also sought after as they were needed to mate with to produce additional children. 

Fairies were believed by many to be real. Fairytales portrayed them as beautiful and helpful while myths and legends leaned more towards ugly and sinister.

Frances Griffiths and the Dancing Fairies, one of the photographs she and her cousin, Elsie Wright, took of "real" fairies. Many people, including author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, believed the photos were genuine.
Credit: Cottingley.net

Poem

Yeats, W B. The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. New York: Macmillan, 1956. Print.

Video credit: youtube
"The Stolen Child" by W.B. Yeats

W. B. Yeats is one of the leading poets of all time. This particular poem, written in 1886, is what lead me to choose the topic of Changelings for my Research Blog. The poem talks about the luring of a child to water by fairies. What small boy, or girl for that matter, would not be tempted by water and adventure? Yeats wrote "The Stolen Child" early in his career and it was said by some to be reminiscent of losing his brother. Others believe it connects with the loss of innocence of a boy moving into manhood. I tend to believe it is more literal as Yeats had a love of Irish folklore and actually published two books on the subject. "Come away with me o human child" is a small part of the poem that has been used in movies and television shows. It depicts the legend of fairies luring human children into a far away land and sending changelings to take their place.

Steven Spielberg used this stanza in the film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence in 2001. The film is a mix of a modern day fairy tale and fantasy. In a tale much like Pinocchio, this robot want to be a human boy. I think it was brilliant to pull in a poem from teh1800's to illustrate the timeless longing of becoming human.