changelings....

ok, i was never a D&D guy, nor a fantasy guy, nor a neo-druid guy, and I suppose it goes without saying I wasn't a Tolkien buff or anything quite along those lines. However, being of mainly celtic genetics, I have been doing a little research intoall things celtic/gaelic/irish. Lately I've been reading up on Celtic mythology, ( pre-christian, pre-roman),. One of the many interesting items I've stumbled upon is that of "changelings". They were thought to be creatures created by trolls to look like human children. Secretly trolls left changlings in a manner in which they'd be discovered by humans, of course all the while, the humans were ignorant to the fact that the creature was indeed, a changeling. So far in my readings it is hard to pin down exactly why "trolls" would do this. Also, the notion of Changlings is not exclusivly a Celtic one, it was merely their mythology that led me to be aware of the myth.  

Either way, here are some early 20th century paintings by John Bauer of some changelings and trolls and lions and tigers and bears oh my!