Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Plentyn-newid
The Plentyn-newid is the change-child said to be left when fairies steal a baby. Sikes describes a being whose appearance first resembles the missing infant but later changes, sometimes showing uncanny knowledge. Sikes explicitly condemns the cruelty of changeling beliefs and the violent tests inflicted on children. A separate story exposes a supposed changeling through its astonishing memory of acorns before oaks and eggs before hens.
Also known as Welsh changeling
Loading your archive…
In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalThe Plentyn-newid is the change-child said to be left when fairies steal a baby. Sikes describes a being whose appearance first resembles the missing infant but later changes, sometimes showing uncanny knowledge.
Further detail
TraditionalSikes explicitly condemns the cruelty of changeling beliefs and the violent tests inflicted on children. A separate story exposes a supposed changeling through its astonishing memory of acorns before oaks and eggs before hens.
Context & interpretation
The entry concerns the folklore and Sikes’s criticism of its consequences. It does not endorse the collection’s outdated descriptions of disability or illness, and no historical test of a supposed changeling is presented as a practice.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
plentyn-newid (change-childOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 71
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0071
- Original scan leaf
- 72
- Recorded leaf number
- 72
- Current Reader position
- 70
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
a very cruel oneOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 72
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0072
- Original scan leaf
- 73
- Recorded leaf number
- 73
- Current Reader position
- 71
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Bwbach
A household goblin who helps with work but can torment an unwelcome guest.
Same subject and traditionCoblynau
Mine fairies whose knocking is said to reveal rich veins of ore.
Same subject and traditionEllylldan
The luring elf-fire that draws a wanderer into marshy ground.
Same subject and traditionEllyllon
Small woodland elves associated with hollows, fairy food and flowers.