The Changeling

A child’s laughter broke on the air and rose like a million brilliant butterflies. A toddler, no more than two years of age, sat in the grass at the far end of the garden, delighting in the company of many nodding daisies. The laughter was the only bright patch in an otherwise dour and overcast day. It had been such since her mother died bringing her into the world. A fog of sadness had settled over Selcouth which had been nearly impossible to lift. She was a fetching child, with a felicitous nature, and her unkempt appearance only added to her infantile charm. She was precocious and curious, and rather quick on her pudgy little legs. This last was much to her older sister’s exasperation. The daisies had stopped the child, mid escape, where she toddled from the kitchen on her way to the garden wall, a favorite place for her.

It was not long before she was discovered. Responsibility for the child had fallen to her sister, 4 years her senior, as the pall of mourning fell upon the estate, and remained hers, when life began to take on its normal course... no one had the time to look after a baby. Krsna looked at the child and felt a familiar pang of guilt over the death of Velveeta’s mother. Upon her arrival at Selcouth, the lady of the manor had met the small, bedraggled child widow with aversion. Lady Selcouth gave her husband a look of reproach, exclaiming that the orphan was a heathen and would bring a curse upon her childbed. He had been absent these many months, leaving all to her, only to return with one more mouth to feed... and the child was not even a Christian! Not even English! She could not even speak in a Christian tongue!
Having spoken, she then removed herself to her confinement and died giving birth to her second daughter.

The household whispered, and the strange, serious girl was subject to many stares and warding signs. Rumors of milk turned sour, and sick children began to spread. The girl was dark, which brought about speculation that she was one of the Bendith y Mamau, and so the village women would not let their children near her, for fear she would leave a changeling in their place. Only Bethan, the chatelaine of the great manor, allowed her daughter Emilia to play with Krsna., and the two had become fast friends at once.

Krsna doted on Velveeta who seemed to delight in her sister’s strange, singsong accent. Krsna had still not quite grasped the intricacies of English and many of her sentences were peppered with words in her native Bhasha. At the sound of Krsna’s footsteps the child turned and let out a squeal of joy, jumping up she ran as fast as her little legs would allow, straight towards the low garden wall, and began trying to climb the mossy structure.

“No Velveeta! You will to be coming down from it, that wall, at once! You will be falling and breaking all of your bodies!” Krsna ran after her, grabbing the toddler and wrestling her down from the wall. They fell back, rolling in the grass. Velveeta laughed with glee, but Krsna looked at her with great seriousness. “For what are you making this mischievous business? Turn your eyes upon yourself! You have made tearings in your shirts!”

It was true, the linen longshirt that the child wore had a small tear at the hem. “I will have to be sewing it in the afternoons when no one is watching!” Krsna went on, lifting Velveeta to her feet with much effort, and dusting away the grass and mud fragments. Suddenly Vel let out a shrill squeal of excitement followed by a peal of laughter, she stomped her plump little feet on the ground and pointed at something beyond Krsna’s shoulder.

Krsna scowled at the child for a second then turned to look at in the direction the she was reaching. A gasp escaped her lips and the hair stood up along her arms and at the back of her neck. She pushed Vel behind her and looked at the vision, wide eyed.

There before her was a woman of strange and luminous beauty. Her hair was long and black as midnight, and seemed to float around her as if in a dream. She wore a strange garment, a long sheath of fabric that Krsna could not identify from her limited experience. The garment left her arms bare, and they were raised, beckoning to the baby girl, like long willow boughs. Her almond eyes glimmered and seemed to shift between blue, violet, and green. Her lips parted and she laughed in response to the child, a haunting sound, like the pealing of a distant bell.

“Wh..wha...what is it you are wanting, strangeness lady?” Krsna said in a voice that held a slight quaver. Her expression was very serious as she struggled to keep the wriggling Vel behind her.

“What a deligthful child, let her come to me girl.” The woman beckoned, gracing Krsna with a sweet and pursuasive smile. Krsna was unmoved however, she had heard the kitchen stories of the Bendith y Mamau, the “Mother’s Blessing.” Fairies given to mischief... It was thought that calling them by such a benign name would appease them. Krsna was sure she looked at one now, and that the woman wanted to take Velveeta for a changeling. Krsna’s jaw set in resolve, even though her insides quaked with terror. How could she possibly protect her young sister? “Let her come to me...” the fairy said again, this time with bit more command in her voice.

“No!” Krsna shouted, her little fists balling into the fabric of the oversized shirt her sister wore.
Suddenly the dreamlike quality around the woman vanished, and she seemed to take on a slightly darker aspect, she turned away slightly, sneering back over her shoulder at Krsna. “Well, you aren’t any fun, are you..” She turned back again, her voice taking on a strange tone that seemed at once playful and malevolent. “Just give her to me, come now.. You know you want to. If you give her to me, you’ll be free to play and do whatever you want. No more trouble.”

“Do not be thinking my sister is trouble, you lady who is a fairy. She’s no trouble, is it? She is a good baby.” Krsna’s eyes, the color of the horizon, were steady as she looked back at the fey woman, though a slight tremor had started in her bottom lip.

“I see... “ Again the lady laughed, the sound of distant bells. “Well then, mayhaps we can trade? I will give you a new sister, one that is more fun. She can do tricks...” A strange creature peeked out from the skirt of the woman’s garment. It had oddly slanted eyes, an upturned nose, and a mouth full of sharp, wicked little teeth... though it was the same size and coloring as Velveeta, with the same silky amber ringlets. Krsna recoiled, looking appalled. “No? Okay, she is a little weird looking, I will give you that...” Krsna thought the fey seemed to ramble on, speaking unfamiliar words, and talking as though she spoke to someone else, or perhaps to herself. “Alright then... How about sweeties? Do you want some sweeties? I will give you as many as you want. As many as you can stuff in your little face.”

Krsna took a step back, the woman said strange words in the same tone that Ana used to entice her little white spaniel. The creature was wretched and made a rude sound and noisome stink whenever it jumped up or down from your lap. The woman leaned down toward her and waved her hand, and all around them there appeared the finest pastries and sweetmeats Krsna had ever seen. The smell was delicious, and she felt a grumbling in her stomach... but even as her mouth watered, Krsna remembered a story the cook had told one dark Solstice night, about Carys Lugh, a shepherd’s lad from Ceredigion, who found the fogbound gate to the fairy’s land in Frenni-Fawr. He was taken in by the fair folk, and offered bread and wine. He sat at their table and ate, and they brought him all manner of fine food. After a time, he thought it must be nearing midnight, the fire was burning low, he remembered his master’s sheep, and rose from the table with a start. The fairies led him back to the gate and set him wandering on the mountainside. As soon as he stepped past the fog he crumbled to dust, for he had been in Frenni-Fawr for over 500 years. His dust blew out over Ceredigion, and the fairy folk laughed and made a song of his plight.

Krsna backed away from the lovely treats, which vanished into mist immediately upon her refusal. The fairy did not look amused, her visage darkened even more and the air felt chill in her presence. Krsna gasped again as she saw two lithe black hounds creep silently from the bushes and twine sinuously around her legs. Cwn Annwn... the black hounds. Krsna felt her heart begin to pound with fear. One only saw the Cwn Annwn if death was near. “I’ll tell you what, little miss. You hand over the baby, and I won’t let my dogs eat you. Do we have a deal?”

Krsna was not sure of the words the woman spoke, but she knew full well the meaning. Still, even though she was terrified, she clung tighter to the child, who was now getting somewhat annoyed at being held so. Krsna was so frightened that she could not speak... she simply shook her head. The fairy looked at her, and let a long, low hissing sound escape between her lips... “You have spoiled my fun. I will not forget it.” And as quickly as she had appeared there, she was gone.

Krsna sat down hard on the grass, her legs giving way. She felt tears spring to her eyes, and she pulled Velveeta close in a tight, fearful embrace. The child had become fussy having been denied going over the wall, treats, the pretty lady, and petting the dogs, all in a short manner of time. Now she was being uncomfortably squeezed. She let out an angry wail.

“Velveeta, you should not be so ungrateful to your sister.” A deep voice stilled the child’s cry. Krsna turned, eyes wide, to see the Lord of Selcouth standing nearby and looking at her with an expression of wonder. “How could I have known, that day on the road in Vrindivan, what a gift you would have given me?” He came forward and helped her to her feet.

Krsna looked up at him, her adopted father, still speechless with risidual fear. He reached down, cupping her chin with gentle fingers. “There is more here than I first thought.” He paused, regarding her thoughtfully. “Indeed you have given me a gift today,” He said, lifting Velveeta effortlessly in a strong arm, and taking Krsna’s hand in his. “Now I have a gift to bestow upon you as well.”
They walked hand in hand back to the manor, Krsna having no idea how much that small act of bravery was about to change her life forever.