Mom's Basement

[Montegriffo]

It's a changeling. Typical MO.

I know changelings are rooted in Scandinavian tradition, and I have an understanding of what they are, but I've never had them related by a Scandinavian. I'm curious to get your description of changelings.

Trolls want to have human children. They aren't as strong but they have certain advantages like being able to handle iron. So if they get a chance they will snatch a human baby. In order not to arise suspicion they leave one of their own brood instead to be raised as a human. That is the changeling. Unruly children used to be called changelings. Now we just say they have ADHD.

Your Scandinavian folklore on changelings is very similar to that of ours except in English or Celtic mythology it is the fay people or faeries who swap human babies with their own. Often used to explain mystery illnesses or birth defects.
Faeries were not regarded as the friendly, wish-granting characters that they are often thought of now. They ranged from fairly harmless but mischievous pranksters to outright malevolent.
Ancient hill forts and long barrows were thought to be their homes and these places were avoided and treated with suspicion.
If you were unfortunate enough to be out at night and encountered them dancing the faery music would enchant you and you would be compelled to dance. Unless the music was interrupted and the spell broken you could dance non-stop until you were dead (the same fate as the ugly sisters in the original Cinderella fairy tale). TB was blamed on faeries taking you in your sleep to dance all night leading you to fade away from exhaustion.
Flint arrowheads from the stone age were attributed to elf shot (faeries could also not touch iron).
The Irish and Scots have kept these superstitions more than us. You can find strange detours in modern roadways in Ireland where its path has been driven around a hawthorn as they were thought to be faery trees and dangerous to cut down. In Scotland, a road widening was delayed for 70 years due to a thorn tree.
Four leaf clovers were not about bringing you good luck but about protecting you from faeries. St Johns Wort and Rowen leaves will offer the same protection.

A good friend of mine wrote a fantasy thriller about faeries and I've spent a lot of time talking with her about the ancient myths.
It is actually a good read. Fast-paced and full of historical references woven into the story. Conan Doyle, for example, was tricked into publishing the famous fake Cottingley fairy photos in order to discredit him and help keep their existence secret. A particular favourite plotline concerned Churchill's ''black dog'' which was actually a faery in the form of a dog put there to maintain the temporary truce between the authorities and the faery people during the war and to keep him from doing anything which might damage their haunts.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Changelin ... B00B90EIRQ

[Speaker to Animals]

It's a changeling. Typical MO.

Actually it's the typical MO of a sasquatch. One of the common attributes of reports of these creatures, going back centuries, is creeping on children, including child abduction. Some of the famous cases of missing children in this area involved sightings of this thing.

Another common attribute of reports involves them hiding in thickets and briers.

[Hastur]

I know changelings are rooted in Scandinavian tradition, and I have an understanding of what they are, but I've never had them related by a Scandinavian. I'm curious to get your description of changelings.

Trolls want to have human children. They aren't as strong but they have certain advantages like being able to handle iron. So if they get a chance they will snatch a human baby. In order not to arise suspicion they leave one of their own brood instead to be raised as a human. That is the changeling. Unruly children used to be called changelings. Now we just say they have ADHD.

Your Scandinavian folklore on changelings is very similar to that of ours except in English or Celtic mythology it is the fay people or faeries who swap human babies with their own. Often used to explain mystery illnesses or birth defects.
Faeries were not regarded as the friendly, wish-granting characters that they are often thought of now. They ranged from fairly harmless but mischievous pranksters to outright malevolent.
Ancient hill forts and long barrows were thought to be their homes and these places were avoided and treated with suspicion.
If you were unfortunate enough to be out at night and encountered them dancing the faery music would enchant you and you would be compelled to dance. Unless the music was interrupted and the spell broken you could dance non-stop until you were dead (the same fate as the ugly sisters in the original Cinderella fairy tale). TB was blamed on faeries taking you in your sleep to dance all night leading you to fade away from exhaustion.
Flint arrowheads from the stone age were attributed to elf shot (faeries could also not touch iron).
The Irish and Scots have kept these superstitions more than us. You can find strange detours in modern roadways in Ireland where its path has been driven around a hawthorn as they were thought to be faery trees and dangerous to cut down. In Scotland, a road widening was delayed for 70 years due to a thorn tree.
Four leaf clovers were not about bringing you good luck but about protecting you from faeries. St Johns Wort and Rowen leaves will offer the same protection.

A good friend of mine wrote a fantasy thriller about faeries and I've spent a lot of time talking with her about the ancient myths.
It is actually a good read. Fast-paced and full of historical references woven into the story. Conan Doyle, for example, was tricked into publishing the famous fake Cottingley fairy photos in order to discredit him and help keep their existence secret. A particular favourite plotline concerned Churchill's ''black dog'' which was actually a faery in the form of a dog put there to maintain the temporary truce between the authorities and the faery people during the war and to keep him from doing anything which might damage their haunts.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Changelin ... B00B90EIRQ

The best novel about a changeling:

Anthony Boucher praised the original edition as "a magnificent saga of the interplay of gods, demigods, faerie, heroes and men." Groff Conklin described the novel as "a rip-snorting, bloody, imitation-Norse epic containing all the elements of faerie". Michael Moorcock declared The Broken Sword superior to Tolkien, calling it "a fast-paced doom-drenched tragedy in which human heroism, love and ambition, manipulated by amoral gods, elves and trolls, led inevitably to tragic consequences." E. F. Bleiler, commenting on the revised edition, declared that "The first portion of this novel is perhaps the finest American heroic fantasy, with good characterizations, excellent surface detail, good plotting, and an admirable recreation of the mood of the Old Norse literature. But the story ends in a mad scramble and unconvincing slaughter".

It was published in 1954 so it's written pre Tolkien. Anybody with the least interest in fantasy should read it.

[Speaker to Animals]

[C-Mag]

[quote=Hastur post_id=241393 time=1550482038 user_id=7026

Trolls want to have human children...……. if they get a chance they will snatch a human baby. In order not to arise suspicion they leave one of their own brood instead to be raised as a human.

Faeries were not regarded as the friendly, wish-granting characters that they are often thought of now. They ranged from fairly harmless but mischievous pranksters to outright malevolent. [/quote]


Yeah, here in America we have very similar problems, but instead of being worried about Trolls and Faeries stealing our children, we have to worry about the scariest monster of all Educators. If you allow your children near government schools or colleges you could lose them forever, they will be replaced by Marxists.

[Montegriffo]

[quote=Hastur post_id=241393 time=1550482038 user_id=7026

Trolls want to have human children...……. if they get a chance they will snatch a human baby. In order not to arise suspicion they leave one of their own brood instead to be raised as a human.

Faeries were not regarded as the friendly, wish-granting characters that they are often thought of now. They ranged from fairly harmless but mischievous pranksters to outright malevolent.

Yeah, here in America we have very similar problems, but instead of being worried about Trolls and Faeries stealing our children, we have to worry about the scariest monster of all Educators. If you allow your children near government schools or colleges you could lose them forever, they will be replaced by Marxists.




[/quote]

Also, you have magical red caps which turn some people into rabid immigrant hating trolls.

[C-Mag]

Yeah, here in America we have very similar problems, but instead of being worried about Trolls and Faeries stealing our children, we have to worry about the scariest monster of all Educators. If you allow your children near government schools or colleges you could lose them forever, they will be replaced by Marxists.

Also, you have magical red caps which turn some people into rabid immigrant hating trolls.

Well Played Sir !

You guys keep the Folklore coming. I'm enjoying it, and channeling my inner malevolent creature.

[Montegriffo]

One piece of folklore I like is the story that Druid priests had the power to ride on the back of huge stones much like the tales of flying carpets from Arab tales.
This could have originated as an explanation for how primitive neolithic and early bronze age people were able to move the huge rocks which make up the 1300 known stone circles from sources many miles away.
The oldest stones at Stonehenge (the volcanic bluestones of 3-5 tons) which make up the inner circle came from an outcrop in Wales 160 miles away and the huge Sarsen stones (20 - 30 tons in weight) were likely quarried some 20 to 30 miles away.
One of the theories is that the blue stones could have been moved part of the way by glaciers.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/new ... t-science/

[SuburbanFarmer]

[C-Mag]

Oxford Prof pushing mother of all conspiracy theories.
Aliens are abducting humans and interbreeding with us because of …………….. wait for it...………………….
Climate Change