The Young Piper

An Irish tale, in honor of St. Patrick's Day-


A good, honest couple named Mick and Judy lived with their four boys. The younger three were boys to make their parents proud, but the oldest was miserable and ugly, with dirty matted hair and a greenish yellow face, a mouth full of sharp teeth ever since he was a year old, and who was always screaming or yelping.


The neighbors all suspected that he was a changeling, for every time they would gather around the fire and talk about religion and good things, the child would holler "as if the divil was in him in right airnest." The neighbors advised her to burn him with hot tongs, or throw him out on the dunghill, but Judy was too loving to do any of those things to her child. They advised she get a priest to see him, but she never got around to having the priest come. The child continued to play pranks, until one day Tim Carrol, the blind piper, came.

During Tim's visit, he brought out his pipes and began to play, and the child leapt out of his bed and began to dance with glee. The boy wanted to play the pipes himself, and Tim consented to let him play-and the child who had never played pipes before in his life played a tune as well as anyone.
The family was shocked. Tim claimed that the boy was a leprechaun, and offered to teach him, which thrilled the boy's parents. His father Mick went out and bought him a set of pipes, which delighted the boy. He immediately started playing, and soon news of his talent spread, and people came from all around to hear him play. Everyone who heard him felt the urge to dance, some said the furniture was inclined to move when the boy played his pipes.

Besides the Irish tunes the boy played, he also had his own tune he made up, and when he played it, people felt compelled to dance, yet they weren't in control. The child played many pranks on people, causing his brothers to burn themselves or break themselves on furniture, making the animals wild, upsetting milk jugs and even killing neighbors' animals or causing barn roofs to fall in.

Since the boys' parents wouldn't hear of anyone hurting their child, their neighbors asked them to leave on account of their child. As the cart was moving their family over a bridge, the piper sat up and began to wail. His mother tried to comfort him, saying their was nothing to be afraid of, and eventually the frustrated father got out his whip and cracked it at the boy. The boy jumped, took his pipes, "an' lept clane ovir the battlemints o' the bridge down into the wather."

His family was horrified and went to look for him, and saw him sitting on a wave, playing the pipes as if nothing had happened. They ran after the boy but he disappeared.
"No one ivir led eyes an him sence; but the gineral belief is, that he wint home wid the pipes to his own relations-the good people-to make music fur thim."


-From Thomas Keightley's "Fairy Mythology"
Top Image from here

Robin McKinley's The Door in the Hedge

In my opinion, Robin McKinley's earliest works are her best, and The Door in the Hedge, from 1981 (shortly after her first published work and my absolute favorite, Beauty,) is no exception. This book is a collection of short stories, including:

The Stolen Princess-An original story (as far as I know) that sort of has a changeling element to it (although the narration distinctly claims it is NOT to be confused with changelings, those who are interested in changeling stories would probably also be interested in this).

The Princess and the Frog-A retelling of "The Frog Prince." After rereading it I realized how much my short story was influenced by this version...

The Hunting of the Hind-another original story, but it fits in well with traditional princess fairy tales and is very enjoyable.

The Twelve Dancing Princess-As can be guessed, a retelling of the fairy tale by the same name. One of the most natural questions that arises when reading the Grimm version (at least for me) is, why did the underground kindgom need to be destroyed? Was it actually evil, other than the fact that replacing twelve pairs of shoes daily can get very costly? McKinley adds her own touch to the tale by explaining why the underground kingdom is evil, and the toll that the curse takes on the princesses, which I find very satisfying.

This book was intended for a young adult audience and the stories are appropriate for children. While reading I was mindful of things such as-the fairies portrayed in the first story are essentially good and unlike historical fairies at all; and the stereotype of the innate goodness of royalty is definitely enforced. But considering the audience I don't think anything is inappropriate. Yes, real life is not like these stories, but there's nothing wrong with a little escapism now and then. McKinley's writing is truly enjoyable and this is perfect for a bit of light reading.

Changelings

Modern people may be surprised to find how fervently fairy lore was believed up until relatively recently. Even this year, supposedly a builder lost 15,000 pounds because locals wouldn't let him disturb a rock under which fairies lived (read here).

Lindsey Davies

But the most awful, heartbreaking results of fairy beliefs are those having to do with changelings. A changeling is a fairy or stock (wooden figure) made to exactly resemble a human and left in their place, while the real human is abducted and taken to the land of fairies. Fairies most often take children, either to raise or to make work as slaves, or young women to be servants, midwives, or wives. Many people never return to the land of humans, although some stories relate successful rescues of the fairy captives.

Some remedies for changelings are harmless and humorous, such as cooking food in an eggshell. This will cause the changeling to burst out laughing, and (if the changeling was in the form of a baby), betray what he/she really is because it takes intelligence to find it humorous. Other remedies include leaving the changeling out, or holding them on a shovel over a fire. Ostensibly, the fairies will not want one of their kind to suffer, and will replace the changeling with the original.

Arthur Rackham

In Carole G. Silver's Strange and Secret Peoples, she has a whole chapter devoted to changelings. She cites a sickeningly long list of crimes related to claims that the victim was believed to be a changeling.

1826- Anne Rocke killed four-year-old Michael Leahy, who could not walk, stand, or speak, by bathing him three times in icy waters. The boy drowned.

1843-John Trevelyan of Penzance placed son on tree for several hours at Christmastime. Later ordered servants to beat, kick, and starve him.

1845-Female placed in basket with wood shavings and suspended over kitchen hearth until shavings ignited

"Bland Tomtar och Troll", John Bauer


1857-Three Welsh children died by bathing in/being fed foxglove


1869-Changeling exorcised by being dipped three times in an Irish tarn


May 19, 1884-Ellen Cushion and Anastasia Rourke arrested for placing three year old Philip Dillon on a hot shovel. He had no limbs, was suspected to be a changeling, and severely burned.


1895-Bridget Cleary tortured and killed by her husband, neighbors, and six family members


Not only is this shocking to anyone, but as a special educator this strikes a special chord with me. Those who were suspected of being changelings had some kind of physical deformity or mental disability that would lead people to suspect that they must be of another species. Scientists speculate the types of disabilities we now know of that coincided to "signs" of changelings, including spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, William's syndrome, Hurler's syndrome, and Hunter's syndrome. Some of my students have the above disabilities. One wonders if the criminals listed above were really glad of an excuse to get rid of their charges, or if they truly believed they were doing what was best for their loved one. It's frightening to think that these cases are only the recorded ones-how many more people were tortured or killed, unbeknownst to us?