The myth of the changeling exists in almost every medieval European culture. Folklore says fairies would steal away babies and replace them with an identical creature, and parents would be tricked into raising something that wasn’t their own until they slowly realized something was amiss. It’s a classic fairy tale. It’s dark, fantastical, and rooted in truth: many folklorists believe the changeling myth exists to explain child mortality and birth defects as the work of fairies.
