Colloo lived at Close-ny-Lheiy, near Glen Meay. One evening she went out for water and forgot to lay the tongs across her baby's cradle, the iron that kept the fairies off. When she came back the child seemed the same, but from that night it was never well. Over four years it wasted away until it was wizened and ugly, and it wailed day and night.
The travelling tailor Hom Beg Bridson came to the house to do some sewing. While he worked, he saw the creature in the cradle get up and dance wildly about the floor, and heard it speak. He knew then what it was. When the mother came back he built up a roaring fire of turf and fern and made as if to throw the thing on it.
The changeling leaped out of the cradle, cursed them both and ran out of the door. They heard laughter outside and the patter of tiny feet going off like a cloud towards Glen Rushen. Colloo ran out and found her own child lying on a mossy bank nearby, rosy and smiling.
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