CHAPTER IV.

"He turned him round and fled amain,
With hurry and dash to the beach again.
He twisted over from side to side,
And laid his cheek to the cleaving tide.
The strokes of his plunging arms are fleet,
And with all his might he flings his feet:
But the water sprites are round him still,
To cross his path and to work him ill."

THE CULPRIT FAY.

ON NIXIES OR WATER KELPIES.

In treating of this branch of his subject, our author prefaces his chapter with informing us, that in his time, there were many stories and

fables current amongst the common people, which, for the most part, were fabulous and unworthy of credit. Yet, upon the whole, it was not to be denied, that wicked spirits do occasionally manifest themselves in, upon, and below, the surface of the water, commonly termed mermen and mermaids, which are the same as those called more properly nixies, or, in Latin, nixo. These, however, were to be looked upon as being damned spirits; since, from the beginning of creation, they did not belong to the human race; and, as good spirits never inflict injury on mankind, it was equally clear that they were not angels. Being, therefore, neither men nor angels, it followed, as a matter of course, that they were devils, especially as they could not be classed amongst sea monsters, which have neither knowledge nor understanding. "Now, we know," says Dr. Bräuner, "that wicked spirits have their restless abode, sometimes in the air, sometimes in the water, sometimes in the fire, and sometimes on the earth and below the earth, continually pursuing mankind, to injure either their souls or bodies. However, we are not to conclude therefrom that there are particular spirits appropriated to any one element, as they enter into any one of them at the behest of Lucifer, putting people into

great bodily fear, and occasionally bringing them into jeopardy of their lives. A good number of occurrences of this kind can be accounted for on natural causes; others are clearly the agency of spirits."

An instance of the former is as follows:-In Leipsic there is, opposite the Ranstadter's house, a river called the Elster, and which there falls into the Pleissy. In this a great number of young people are wont to bathe during the summer's heats. This river has, however, a treacherous current, and at some periods, is uncommonly deep. There are a variety of sandbanks in it, and one especially, called by way of distinction, the scholar's bath, from a current tradition, that every year it must have a man for a victim. The fact was, that hardly a year passed without a man being drowned at the spot, and hence arose the popular superstition that a water nixy pulled him under the water; whereas, as our author, for once at least, sensibly observes, the casualty was occasioned by quite a different circumstance, viz., that the young people, when in a violent perspiration, rapidly undressed themselves, and, without allowing themselves time to cool, plunged into the cold water, and were seized with the cramp and sank. This he says had been established by the testi

mony of several young men, who had been rescued by their companions after having been seized with the cramp.

"But," our author continues, "it is, notwithstanding, not to be doubted, that Satan often allures men to destruction, by his cunning craftiness," an instance of which he remarks had just occurred to him, viz., the common deception of causing an appearance of beautiful articles to overhang the water's edge, which children being anxious to obtain, they overreach themselves, and fall in. This happened to a cutler's daughter, who, perceiving these lures hanging over the bank of a stream, attempted to draw them to her with a stick, but, missing her footing, fell in, being drowned in the presence of six other children, who could render her no assistance. Now, as the surviving children declared that they had seen these evanescent lures, as well as the deceased, and the body could not be recovered, the author has no doubt that the Devil was at the bottom of it.

The next story, although current at the time amongst the lower people, is to be ranked, he informs us, amongst the superstitious class. "There was a water nixy, who was often seen about the streets of Leipsic, who used to go along with the countrywomen to the weekly

market, with a market basket on her arm, and effected her purchases just the same as the other women, except that she appears to have been rather churlish in her manner, as she never saluted nor thanked any one, and was possibly rather vain of a well-turned leg and ancle, as she wore her petticoats two hands breadths shorter than the other women, and they dont, nor did, wear them quite down to the heels. Two women, either angered by her moroseness or vexed by the pretty leg, followed her one day from the market at a distance, with the charitable hope, doubtless, of fixing her for a water witch, and affirmed that they saw her, on approaching a brook, set her basket down upon the brink, and presto, she and her basket vanished from sight." We are happy to state that, notwithstanding this conclusive testimony against her, she does not appear to have been brought to the stake, the wellturned ancle, probably, covering a multitude of sins in the eyes of the priesthood.

With regard to the next story, the author is in a ludicrous state of uncertainty, as to whether it is fabulous or worthy of all credit.

"Near the Elbe, where a small stream falls into it, but which formerly ran from Kote to Barby, and mingled with the Saale, a man, having the appearance of a countryman, came