Changeling

The process by which the children who have encounters with Mother Horse Eyes are taken from their parents shares some features with the legends of changelings in folklore, though there are some differences.

In the folkloric tradition, changelings are replacements for children that have been taken by fairies or other supernatural beings, usually soon after birth (the Author posted lyrics to a song entitled "Fairy Queen", though this may be coincidental). The replacement is sometimes an enchanted object, such as a piece of wood, intended to maintain the illusion of the original child, but the deception is typically revealed when the replacement "dies" and reverts to its original form.

In contrast to the changeling tales of folklore, the narratives featuring Mother Horse Eyes are written not from the perspective of the parents or families of the changeling, but from the viewpoint of the abducted children themselves. The "changeling" in these cases is not the child but rather the parent or parents, whose role is subsumed by their replacement, Mother Horse Eyes.

The ability to transform objects or non-human creatures into substitutes for real missing people is a feature of The Son's Narrative. As in changeling tales however, the substitution does not genuinely recreate a real person and the illusion is soon shattered.