"Laumes ir Kudikis/The Fairies and the Babe"

The Laumes are very industrious fairies, and reward those who do work, while punishing those who try to find an easy alternative.

One time a woman was harvesting a bed and had taken her child with her. She was so busy with her work that the child slept the day through. The woman went home at the end of the day, completely forgetting her baby. She milked the cows, made dinner and served her husband. At the table the husband asked, "Where’s my son?" With terror she whispered, "Oi, I forgot." And ran as fast as she could to the child, hearing "Ciucia liulia, forgotten child." The mother, from the distance, asked the Laume for her child back. The fairie said, "Come, come, dear woman, take your child, we have done nothing to him. We know that you work very hard, at many jobs, and that you didn’t want to leave your child behind." The fairies then went on to shower the babe with so much treasure, diapers, everything, and so much so that there was enough to raise several children. The mother went home with her precious load/baby and was greeted with joy and happiness. Another woman, hearing of her good fortune, was taken over by jealousy. She took to thinking, "Wait, I shall do the same as her." Tomorrow evening, when the sun was beginning her rest, she took her child, left him in the fields and went home. She ate dinner, but still would not go to fetch her child. Then she paused, thinking that I was time to get her treasure. When she approached the field, she heard the fairies, "Ciucia liula, purposely left child." And the child screamed with such great pain, for he was pinched and pinched again. They kept up their torture until the mother came. The fairies the child at her. The child was dead.

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