Changeling

Today we’re going to be looking at a creature that’s always given me a mad case of the heebie jeebies— The Changeling. Picture this: your young child, who has always been happy and healthy, all of the sudden one day seems… different. Once content and carefree, the little one is now irritable and grouchy. As time passes, the poor youngster doesn’t seem to be growing at all, and instead looks weak and sickly. Could it be a disease? An undiagnosed disorder? Maybe. Or perhaps the fairies have swapped your healthy, vibrant child for one of their own, a changeling. Today’s episode features a story from J. F. Campbell’s 1901 collection Popular Tales of the West Highlands, “The Smith and the Fairies.”  Find a transcript of this episode here.