Finally the woman sought advice, and was told that the baby would improve if she would take it to Neuhausen on the Cyriak Meadow, have it weighed there, and give it water from the Cyriak Spring. At that time it was believed that in such cases a child thus would be restored to health or would die within nine days. [Note 1]
As the woman approached the millrace near Westhofen, the child, whom she was carrying on her back, became so heavy that she began to pant, and the sweat began running from her face. At that moment a traveling student approached her, saying: "Woman, what sort of wild creature are you carrying? It will be a miracle if it doesn't break your neck!"
She answered that it was her own dear child that would neither grow nor gain weight, and that she was therefore taking it to Neuhausen to have it weighed.
He replied: "That is not your child! It is the devil! [Note 2] Throw him into the brook!"
She did not want to do this, insisting that it was her child while kissing it.
He continued: "Your child is at home in a new cradle behind the chest in the side room. Throw this monster into the brook!"
Crying and sobbing she did has she had been told. Immediately there issued a great cry and commotion from beneath the bridge she was standing on, like the howling of wolves and bears. And when the mother arrived home, she found her baby, hearty and healthy, laughing in its new cradle.
Note 1: A changeling generally does not live longer that seven years; according to others, they live eighteen or nineteen years. [Footnote in the original]Note 2: For the devil removes the rightful children from their cradles, takes them away, and replaces them with his own. Hence the name "changeling."
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