Nixe and Nøkk Water Sprites

Nixe: In Teutonic folklore are Female water spirits. They live in highly developed communities similar to humans on Earth.

Nixe or Nixie are femme fatales that seduce men down into the depth and darkness of Davy Jones locker. Nixe are gorgeous and usually morph into mermaids or a grey horse. Nixe may transform into a land woman if they so choose. They never had the leg issues that Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale, Little Mermaid (Ariel) experienced. Nixe are avid sunbathers, that enjoy singing and cavorting. They are very proud and one must always politely engage them.

Nøkken, näcken, or strömkarlen, is a fresh water dweller, related to the Fossegrimen, but unlike his kinsman, the nøkk is very dangerous and clever. The nøkk fiddle a violin to entice his victims out onto thin ice or in leaky boats and then drags them down to the bottom of the water where he bamboozles them. The nøkk is also a shapeshifter, that transforms into a horse or a man in order to lure his victims to him. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically.

The German Nix and his Scandinavian counterparts were males, unlike the Nixe or Nixie.

~ Nifty Buckles Copyright 2017-2019 All Rights Reserved.

Art: “The Rhine Maidens Warn Siegfried” (1912) by Arthur Rackham.

Sources:

Grimm, Jacob (1835). Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology); From English released version Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology (1888); Available online. Hellström, AnneMarie (1985). Jag vill så gärna berätta…. ISBN 91-7908-002-2.