Fairies are said to have had a strong predilection for babes. In the island of Lewis the utmost watchfulness was observed not many years since in guarding the babe till after baptism. In the event of the person watching having occasion to leave the room in which the child was, it was the custom to lay the tongs in the doorway, or, more generally, across the cradle. The tongs, placed in either of those places, was considered a sufficient guard until the individual’s return. The consequences of neglect in observing these customs are exemplified in the following stories. The Fairies never abducted a child without leaving one in its stead-so much to their credit. But the substitute thus left was extremely meagre and emaciated, having a cadaverous appearance, and the tone of its voice more like that of an old person than that of a child. The belief regarding the substitute was that it was a worn-out, decrepit fairy, whom age or disease had rendered an unfit member of the Fairy community, metamorphosed into a baby. Anon ‘Fairy Tales’, The Celtic Review 5 (1908), 155-171 at 159