The Original Old Nick

I was born in a place surrounded by thousands of small, not too deep yet dark lakes. Water was always near; usually it was beautiful and fun, but sometimes I felt there was something mysterious and dangerous lurking under the surface. As a child I was quite the sissy, and hearing a story about an evil water spirit I became so scared I was afraid of swimming for many years. That notwithstanding, the story kept fascinating me over and over again. Was it only a fine example of a fable enlisted by concerned parents to guide children away from the dangerous element of water?

And the story? There exist a shapeshifting, singing and playing creature in many European lakes and rivers, demanding human flesh. He is the nix or the neck. His demonization in medieval Christian times mixed him with the devil, and that is why the devil is called the Old Nick, actually meaning the old nix. Thus both of these creatures are characterized by the ability of shapeshifting and musical wizardry.

Ernst Josephson (1851-1906): Näcken, Nationalmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden

In Scandinavia he is called nøkken or näcken, or with other names meaning ‘the river mand’. In Icelandish he is nykr, in Finnish näkki or vetehinen, and in German Nix or Nickelmann. All these and many other European names derive from the Indo-European neig* relating to Sanskrit nenekti, meaning ‘he washes’.

Olaus Magnus: The nix of the river playing violin in a Finnish town Nyslott or Savonlinna, 1555

It is usually believed if the nix appears and screams "the time has come", it is a sign he needs to eat a human again. That means somebody is going to drown in the near future. In many tales it is described how the nix had the 'right' of getting one person every year. If he could not get his victim one year, he would surely kill two the year after.

Sometimes he is just waiting for somebody to fall in the water and drown, and at other times he lures young children and women by his enchanted songs on violin or harp, pulling them into the depths. That is why it was advised one should stick a knife in the ground on the beach before swimming to protect oneself, or if already in the water, one could speak the nix's name aloud. That would kill him.

Because the nix is a shapeshifter, there are many kinds of depictions of him. Some say he is an ugly old man, some others think he appears in the form of an attractive, elegantly dressed or naked young man. The third possibility is that the nix is very beautiful from the front, while his backside is hairy and extremely hideous. In every case the nix could be recognized by the wet hem of his clothes.

Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914): Nøkken, 1904

If not having a human form, the nix may show up as any kind of animal, usually a horse-like kelpie being called åhesten (in Danish) or bäckahästen (in Swedish), meaning the brook horse. This horse is white and very beautiful, appearing near rivers during foggy weather. If somebody would climb onto its back, he would never be able to get off again. The brook horse would take him to the water and drown him.

Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914): Boy on a White Horse

There are many stories where the nix falls in love with a human girl or vice versa. Some time they would live together, but sooner or later some of them would return to his or her home. These love stories never have a happy ending. For example, once a girl refused to be together with the nix, killing herself with a knife. Then, her blood coloured the water-lilies red, and from that day the water-lilies have been reddish, known as nix roses in Scandinavia.

There are other stories where a human wants to learn the nix's magical form of music, which mesmerizes people to dance so violently that they throw themselves into the water. Before teaching, the nix always wants total control over the disciple along with a proper sacrifice, which could be for example meat or a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, some vodka, or wet snuff. Then the nix usually tries to pull the disciple into the water, but if the disciple survives, he will become the best musician in the world. There are many folk melodies believed to originate from the nix in Scandinavia.

The nix is far from being dead. In 2006, a manga-cartoon about the nix based on the poem (Under strandernas granar) of the Finland-Swede J.L. Runeberg (1804-1877) was published. Here the nix is potrayed as evil and attractive as in folklore:

Nina von Rüdiger, Karim Muammar. Otava (2006). Original published as Across the Water