Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales, Part B
Bibliography
"Brewery of Eggshells" from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, Read it here
This story was short and sweet, but a little confusing the first time through. I think it definitely took a second read to really understand what was happening.
The story opens with a cottage called "The Place of Strife" because of some strange and fearsome happenings that took place in the cottage. In the cottage lived a husband and wife and their two twin babies.
One day the wife had to visit her neighbors quickly, so she left the twin babies alone in their crib even though it made her uneasy. The wife hurried, took care of business with the neighbor, and then hurried back, but as she walked back she passed two blue elves. The wife was frightened, and ran the rest of the way home, but found the two babies were undisturbed in their crib so she thought everything was alright.
However, as time passed the husband and wife became suspicious, because the twin babies hadn't grown at all. Troubled by this, the wife visited a wise man in the village, explained her situation, and asked what she should do.
The wise man told the wife that she should test whether the babies were her own, and explained how to perform the test. If the babies failed the test, they were changelings and the wife should throw them in the like. But if the babies passed the test, they were the couple's own and they would have no more reason to worry. The wife agreed that this was reasonable, so she went home to perform the test.
The men were harvesting the crops planted outside, and the women meant to take them dinner. So, with the babies watching, the women took an egg, dumped out the yolk and the white, and boiled a thick soup in the shell. Then she left with the egg shell soup to take it to the harvesters, but when she close the door she paused to listen.
While she stood outside the door, she heard the babies talking to each other, saying how strange it was that she boiled the soup inside an egg shell. Because the babies shouldn't have known this was strange, let alone be able to talk, the woman knew they were not her own and her changelings the elves had placed in her home.
So the woman went back inside the cottage, grabbed the changelings, and threw them in the lake. The elves rescued the changelings from the lake, and returned the couple's own babies to them, so it was a happy ending.
"Brewery of Eggshells" from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, Read it here
This story was short and sweet, but a little confusing the first time through. I think it definitely took a second read to really understand what was happening.
The story opens with a cottage called "The Place of Strife" because of some strange and fearsome happenings that took place in the cottage. In the cottage lived a husband and wife and their two twin babies.
One day the wife had to visit her neighbors quickly, so she left the twin babies alone in their crib even though it made her uneasy. The wife hurried, took care of business with the neighbor, and then hurried back, but as she walked back she passed two blue elves. The wife was frightened, and ran the rest of the way home, but found the two babies were undisturbed in their crib so she thought everything was alright.
However, as time passed the husband and wife became suspicious, because the twin babies hadn't grown at all. Troubled by this, the wife visited a wise man in the village, explained her situation, and asked what she should do.
The wise man told the wife that she should test whether the babies were her own, and explained how to perform the test. If the babies failed the test, they were changelings and the wife should throw them in the like. But if the babies passed the test, they were the couple's own and they would have no more reason to worry. The wife agreed that this was reasonable, so she went home to perform the test.
The men were harvesting the crops planted outside, and the women meant to take them dinner. So, with the babies watching, the women took an egg, dumped out the yolk and the white, and boiled a thick soup in the shell. Then she left with the egg shell soup to take it to the harvesters, but when she close the door she paused to listen.
While she stood outside the door, she heard the babies talking to each other, saying how strange it was that she boiled the soup inside an egg shell. Because the babies shouldn't have known this was strange, let alone be able to talk, the woman knew they were not her own and her changelings the elves had placed in her home.
So the woman went back inside the cottage, grabbed the changelings, and threw them in the lake. The elves rescued the changelings from the lake, and returned the couple's own babies to them, so it was a happy ending.
Eggshell soup is what's for dinner.
(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
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