Die Wichtelmanner told by Dortchen Wild in 1812.
Translated by Jack Zipes.

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he elves had stolen a mother's child from the cradle and had replaced the baby with a changeling who had a fat head and glaring eyes and would do nothing but eat and drink. In her distress the mother went to her neighbor and asked for advice. The neighbor told her to carry the changeling into the kitchen, put him down on the hearth, start a fire, and boil water in two eggshells. That would make the changeling laugh, and when he laughed, he would lose his power.

The woman did everything the neighbor said, and when she put the eggshells filled with water on the fire, the blockhead said:

"Now I'm as old
as the Westerwald,
and in all my life I've never seen
eggshells cooked as these have been."

And the changeling began to laugh. As soon as he laughed, a bunch of elves appeared. They had brought the right child with them and put him down on the hearth and took the changeling away.

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MOTIF: f321.1.2.2 f321.1.1.1