ld man, and he says: "Pat,"
says he, "bring me a pipe, till I have a bit of a smoke. It's tired of
life I am, lying here without it."'

"'"Ah," says I, "wait till my mother gets home and I'll tell her of
this."'

"'"Tell her," says he, "and she'll not believe a word from you."'

"'And no more do I believe a word from you,' says the woman.

"Well, soon after that there came a letter from the father, saying
that he'ld be at home now in a few days. With that the woman set off
to town to buy things to eat and drink to welcome her husband home,
and she said: 'Now we'll have the christening, as soon as ever he
comes.'

"Then as soon as she was off, the neighbors said: 'Now is the time
that we'll be done with that imp. We'll take him and have him
christened while she's away, and we'll not give her the chance to put
it off again because he cries.'

"So they went to the house and one of the women came up to the bed and
clapped a quilt over him and had him wrapped up in it before he knew
what was happening to him, and away they all went down toward the
brook, on the way to the priest. Well, he kicked and he struggled to
get free, but the woman held him so tight it was no use. But when they
came to the running water, it was then he began bellowing like a herd
of bulls, and kicking and pulling so that it was all she could do to
hold him.

"She got her foot on the first of the stepping-stones, and it was then
he began to get heavy, as if it was a stone that she was carrying. But
she held hard and reached the second stone, and it seemed to her that
he was nothing but a lump of lead, only still roaring and struggling;
and, what with that and the rushing of the water below her, she began
to get dizzy, but still she held on, and she had her foot on the stone
in the middle of the stream when plump down he fell through the quilt
that he was wrapped in, as if it had been nothing but a muslin
handkerchief.

[Illustration: "PLUMP DOWN HE FELL THROUGH THE QUILT."]

"And there he went floating down the stream, and shouting and laughing
at them. For, you know, it's not being in running water that can
hurt one of the Good People, but only crossing it, and if they tried
to cross it they'ld be in awful pain till they got to the middle, and
then nothing could keep them from falling in.

"So they were rid of him, and you know when you're rid of a changeling
the Good People must send your own child back. And so the neighbors
had not got