r own fractious offspring for a mortal babe." Constant watchfulness,
and baptism as soon as the Church permits it, are therefore necessary.
In England it seems to have been held in former days that witches stole
children from their cradles before baptism to make an oil or unguent by
boiling them to a jelly. A part of this jelly they used to drink, and
with the remainder they rubbed their bodies. This was the orthodox means
of acquiring magical powers. It is a Sicilian belief that the hands of
unbaptized children are used by witches in their sorceries.[66]

As we might expect, the reason why unbaptized babes are held to be so
liable to these attacks is that until the initiatory rite has been
performed they are looked upon as heathen, and therefore peculiarly
under the dominion of evil spirits. In Sicily and in Spain an infant
until baptism is called by the opprobrious epithets of _Pagan_, _Turk_,
_Moor_, _Jew_. Even women will not kiss it, for to kiss a Moor, at all
events in Spain, is sin; though, on the other hand, to kiss an
unbaptized child, if no one else have kissed it, is sovereign against
toothache. By the Greeks these little innocents are regarded not merely
as not Christians, but as really less human than demoniac in their
nature. This is said, indeed, to be the teaching of the Church. The
lower classes, at least (and, presumably therefore, not long ago the
upper classes) believe it firmly; so that an unbaptized babe is called
_Drakos_ (feminine, _Drakoula_), that is to say, serpent or dragon. This
is the same opprobrious title that we found Gervase of Tilbury applying
to the evil spirits infesting the waters of the Rhone; and we cannot
doubt that it is intended to convey an imputation of Satanic nature.[67]
The extent of this superstition would form an interesting subject of
inquiry. If it could be established as existing now or formerly among
other Christian nations (and the superstitions of Sicily and Spain just
cited point to this) it would help to clear up much of the difficulty
surrounding the subject of changelings, especially the motives actuating
both fairies and witches in their depredations. And, as infant baptism
is by no means exclusively a Christian rite, research among heathen
nations would be equally pertinent.

Meanwhile the motive usually assigned to fairies in northern stories is
that of preserving and improving their race, on the one hand by carrying
off human children to be brought up among