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Human Child

Published:
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Description

" Human Child "

40 x 30 cm

Oil on Canvas

"Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we’ve hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he’s going,
The solemn-eyed:
He’ll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than he can understand. "

The Stolen Child
W. B. Yeats, 1865 - 1939

...And then, there are those who willingly leave with them, and they never return...

The Sidhe or Tuatha De Danann of the olden times were known to take chosen mortals (often peculiar children, fine-looking young men and maidens.) They would take human beings whom they loved, and were able to confer upon them fairy immortality. Mortals, did they will it, could live in the world of the Sidhe for ever, and would often pine away if they were forcingly taken back to the human world.

"Otherworld" or "Fae" children, known as "changelings" are often mentioned in Celtic folklore and legends.

Fae children often represent young aspect of Celtic gods, such as Tuatha De Danann, looking like beautiful enchanting children, while they are actually as old as time, immortal and ever- beautiful. They are sometimes mentioned as visual manifestation of spirit of the forest,
acting as guardians of forest groves, sacred wells and secret portals to otherworld, but also as guides who would lead ancient heroes -sometimes to their wished goals and sometimes to their deaths.
In these legends, they can be find in sacred sites, forests (or guarding just one ancient sacred tree),
living in forests for hundreds of years and being able to shapeshift in spiritual animals, like wolf, salmon or a deer.
In some old Celtic descriptions " Otherworld children " are described as luring and melancholic with beautiful eyes and mystical nature.
Through their eyes we can see a glimpse of many great tragedies, but also beauty which thrives in the most fragile of places.

There are different versions of many stories telling mysterious tales about nature spirits, Sidhe and fae creatures stealing human children and leaving fae babies in their place : A changeling child was believed to be a fae child that had been left in place of a human child stolen by the fae or spirits of nature.
It is typically described as being the offspring of Sidhe, that has been secretly left in the place of a human child. Sometimes the term is also used to refer to the child who was taken. The apparent changeling could also be a stock or a fetch, an enchanted piece of wood that would soon appear to grow sick and die.
A human child might be taken due to many factors: to act as a servant, the love of a human child, or malice.
Simple charms, such as an inverted coat or open iron scissors left where the child sleeps, were thought to ward them off; other measures included a constant watch over the child.
There are also stories telling about Fae creatures who would spirit away children, and even adults, and take them back to their own world where they would be well treated and grow up to be one of them. Many herbs, salves and seeds could be used for discovering the fae-folk and ward off their designs.

In Ireland, looking at a baby with envy – "over looking the baby" – was dangerous, as it endangered the baby, who was then in the fairies' power.
So too was admiring or envying a woman or man dangerous, unless the person added a blessing; the able-bodied and beautiful were in particular danger. Women were especially in danger in liminalstates: being a new bride, or a new mother.
Putting a changeling in a fire would cause it to jump up the chimney and return the human child, but at least one tale recounts a mother with a changeling finding that a fairy woman came to her home with the human child, saying the other fairies had done the exchange, and she wanted her own baby.The tale of surprising a changeling into speech – by brewing eggshells – is also told in Ireland, as in Wales.Belief in changelings endured in parts of Ireland until as late as 1895, when Bridget Cleary was killed by her husband who believed her to be a changeling. Changelings, in some instances, were regarded not as substituted fairy children but instead old fairies brought to the human world to die.
The modern Irish girl's name, Siofra means an elvish or changeling child.

In some stories we can find children of humans and people of the Sidhe. These children have mixed blood and are described as powerful and mystical having dangerous natures.They are often mystics, possessing second sight and enchantning talent in music and song, some known to be passionate and vengeful, having bold reckless temperament which betrays their fae blood.


Bibliography : S.Blamires, W.Y.Evans Wentz, R.Kirk, W.B.Yeats, M.Green,
Lady A. Gregory, C. Squire, A. & B. Rees, Cross & Slover, T.C.Crocker, Sacred texts library

Image size
3245x4319px 981.51 KB
Make
Canon
Model
Canon EOS 6D
Shutter Speed
1/128 second
Aperture
F/3.5
Focal Length
50 mm
ISO Speed
1250
Date Taken
Oct 7, 2018, 3:41:26 PM
Comments5
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ArlenFram's avatar
Really beautiful! I love the lighting especially, makes the figures pop.