Abductions by Fairies (2024)

FAQs

Why do fairies leave changelings? ›

Sometimes changelings are old, nasty fairies who revel in the sorrow they cause; or fairies with prodigious appetites for human food or mortal breast milk. Sometimes the changelings are fairies so old and worn out that their kinfolk have left them behind, happy to be rid of them in exchange for a plump human child.

If the father is human and the mother is fairy, it's called a hury. If the father is fairy and the mother is human , it's called a faiman. The latest scientific surveys estimate the human/fairy hybrid population is about 7% faiman, 90% hury, and 3% fhauimrayn (you don't want to know how those are conceived).

changeling, in European folklore, a deformed or imbecilic offspring of fairies or elves substituted by them surreptitiously for a human infant. According to legend, the abducted human children are given to the devil or used to strengthen fairy stock.

The Changeling

Variations of this baby-snatching myth exist in many cultures, but in Scotland it was once truly believed that hill elves or fairies would come and steal a human child, only to replace it with an identical-looking creature of their own.

Tradition says that abductions took place to increase the strength of fairy stock, and because they needed red blood in order to secure their place in Heaven.

A common way that a changeling could identify itself is through displaying unusual behaviour when it thinks it is alone, such as jumping about, dancing or playing an instrument – though this last example is found only within Irish and Scottish legend.

Writing in 1887, Lady Jane Wilde popularised the Irish belief that: fairies are the fallen angels who were cast down by the Lord God out of heaven for their sinful pride…and the devil gives to these knowledge and power and sends them on earth where they work much evil.

Fairies love shiny things, particularly things no one else seems to want, like old buttons, charms and paperclips. They don't however like human money. That is why they like to give it away when they collect your teeth.

Surprisingly, a fairy with a condition causing them to be born without wings is known as an elf. So that's where the term “elf” comes from!

They can be whimsical, mischievous, sinister, or malicious. Although the term fairy is of European origin, fairy-like analogues can be found in most cultures throughout the world. Most importantly, in all of these narrations, fairies can be of any gender and are not portrayed through effeminate language.

How long are fairies pregnant? ›

Fairy pregnancy is much like seahorse pregnancy since the male fairies are the ones that give birth. It only lasts for 3 months, which may have to do with the fact that Fairies heal fast.

As fairies enter their equivalent of puberty, which typically lasts for only a few months when they reach the age of eighteen, they undergo a dramatic transformation. During this period, they lose their antennae, tails and the all-black color of their eyes, they develop wings and acquire hollow bones.

It is immediately clear when a changeling becomes pregnant, as they temporarily lose sex hormone control while pregnant and are unable to assume male anatomy or profiles until the pregnancy is complete.

There are several possible answers to this question as there are many different interpretations of what a fairy is. Some people believe that only girls can be fairies, while others believe that there is a male equivalent called a "faun" or "satyr".

Appearance. In their true form, changelings are generally extremely pale, showing features devoid of distinctive details, with colorless eyes and silver-white hair. Within this description there are variants of changelings that show subtle differences.

A changeling that suffers either form of death in the Dreaming dies, their soul passing on to a new incarnation (or, in the case of Arcadian sidhe, disappearing for parts unknown). For someone with an anchor in the Autumn world, death means that the physical body falls into a coma and wastes away.

Belief in changelings endured in parts of Ireland until as late as 1895, when Bridget Cleary was killed by her husband who believed her to be a changeling. Some believe that the origin of the changeling myth stems from a very dark corner of the mind.

It is unknown why the fairies call humans "Mud Men"; this may result from the fairies' conception that uncivilized, low-tech people are nothing more than cave-men, thus mud men, and that they are filthy in comparison to fairies.