If the child became cross
and began to dwine [waste away], fears immediately arose that it might be
a "fairy changeling," and the trial by fire was put into operation. The hearth
was piled with peat, and when the fire was at its strength the suspected changeling
was placed in front of it and as near as possible not to be scorched, or it
was suspended in a basket over the fire. If it was a "changeling child" it
made its escape by the lum [chimney] throwing back word of scorn as it disappeared.
One mode of bringing
back the true child was the following. A new skull [an oblong basket] was
taken and hung over the fire from a piece of a branch of a hazel tree, and
into this basket the suspected changeling was laid. Careful watch was kept
till it screamed. If it screamed it was a changeling, and it was held fast
to prevent its escape. When an opportunity occurred, it was carried to a place
where four roads met, and a dead body was carried over it. The true child
was restored.
Source: Walter Gregor,
"Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland" (London: Folk-Lore
Society, 1881), p. 8-9.