Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: Changeling
Category: Dwarf
The Myth
The changeling was a hideous creature placed in the cradle of a human child after a dwarf woman secretly stole the mother’s beautiful baby. Its head was unnaturally large, its eyes were like those of a frog, and a great goiter hung from its body. It also possessed an enormous appetite, eating so much that the mother could scarcely provide enough food for it.
When the mother discovered that the child in her cradle was not her own, she was overcome with grief. She begged and pleaded with the dwarf woman to return her beloved child, but the dwarf refused. The ugly creature remained in the cradle, crying out maliciously while the mother desperately tried to get her real child back.
Eventually, the mother prepared a strange drink and poured beer into an empty hen’s egg. She brought this to the screaming changeling. The bizarre sight caused the creature to suddenly stop crying. Then, to the mother’s astonishment, it spoke.
It declared that it was as old as the Bohemian Forest and had never witnessed such a strange custom in all its long life. By speaking like this, the creature revealed that it was no human child at all. The changeling immediately disappeared, and the dwarf woman was forced to return the stolen child to its mother.
Sources
Hans Watzlik. “Wechselbalg.” In Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/wechselbalg.html