The Fire Child

A fairy tale about a mother’s love and a changeling child.

Once it happened in the Land of Celestial Snow, where the giants known as the Annunakai dwelled, a child was born. The woman’s name was Seviwyn and her husband was called Judius. Seviwyn and Judius had longed for a child for many decades, yet none had been forthcoming. As their custom bade, they kept a dwarf Ninoveh tree in their heated garden, a small square of earth.

The garden was warmed by dragons breath emitted from holes bore through ice and rock to the caves of the ancient ones below. Every day they had nurtured the tree praying that one day it would be their child they would nurture.

But in all the years they served the tree, not once had it bore fruit. For the Annukai, children came only after the couple ate from the tree. It was believed that when fruit blossomed forth it was a testament to the couple’s suitability as parents. Couples whose tree bore no fruit birthed no children, though this was rare among the Annukai.

After so many years Judius had given up hope. While Seviwyn also seemed resigned, secretly she never ceased to search for a miracle. Then one day Seviwyn shouted at her befuddled husband to bring the midwife. He ran from her frightful shouts to do as she bade wondering if her childlessness had rendered her witless.

The snow fell in a curtain and soon he was lost. Seeing something sparkle in the distance he headed in that direction. Suddenly lights seemed to surround him and blinded by their icy reflection he turned round and round until so dizzy he fell into the soft snow.

Judius awoke back in their cottage surrounded by warmth and the soft whispers of two women. On the bed lay Seviwyn talking with a stranger. She was not the midwife. As he crept closer he noticed several things; Seviwyn seemed to have tears drying on her pale cheeks, the stranger had bright red hair of a shade not seen among the Annukai and the two women were speaking heatedly over a bundle wrapped in burlap that Seviwyn held awkwardly.

The women stopped speaking as he drew near. The stranger said something about debts paid and walked from the cottage with a nod in his direction. When he looked down he was surprised to see a child with amber rimmed green eyes looking up at him from an unattractive face.

They sat in silence until the child began to cry. This was the beginning of days of almost constant squalling and wailing broken only by short fits of sleep. The child refused to nurse from Seviwyn taking only honey water, her little fists constantly clutched in seeming anger.

Finally, three days after the birth, Seviwyn confessed to what she had done. One day when she had been walking, grieving her lack of a child, she came upon a lake its water miraculously unfrozen. A swan appeared and slowly glided towards her.

As the swan touched the shore, it turned into a beautiful woman. She told Seviwyn that she should sorrow no more for she would soon give birth to a beautiful daughter. The woman made Seviwyn swear that she would eat of the first fruit of their Ninoway tree no matter how it appeared. Then Fionna, for that was the woman’s name, turned back into a swan and swam away.

When the first fruit appeared it was half rotten, its skin covered in wart like protrusions. The smell of decay nearly gagged Seviwyn but she ate the sour flesh from within, swallowing repeatedly to keep it down.

“Seviwyn! Surely you must know she was of the Fey,” Judius exclaimed. “You never swear an oath to the Fey and following their counsel leads only to heart break. . .” They both looked at the child who lay squalling in the corner.

“A changling,” Judius whispered. Seviwyn’s silence was answer enough. He snatched up the child and stormed from the cottage. Sevywyn followed slowly arriving at the village forge to find Judius placing the child into the bowl of a red hot iron shovel the Blacksmith held steady. The babe howled and thrashed. Seviwyn’s scream was met with another’s.

She rushed towards the child but was blocked by something shimmering in the heat. As the glare brightened Judius thrust his hands forward drawing the child to him then submerging her in a nearby tub. Dried and swaddled the child lay quietly in his arms as he murmured softly to her.

When he turned, Seviwyn saw that it was their real child he held. In response to her questioning look he said, “Not even a fey will let her child suffer.” Seviwyn took the child, Judius put his arm around both of them and together the family walked back home.

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