page_title: Neck (water spirit)
section_title: Näck, Nøkk
hierarchical_section_title: Neck (water spirit) / Scandinavia / Näck, Nøkk
context_page_description: The neck, nicor, nokk, nix, nixie, nixy, or nokken are shapeshifting water spirits in Germanic mythology and folklore who usually appeared in the form of other creatures.
  Under a variety of names, they were common to the stories of all Germanic peoples, although they are perhaps best known from Scandinavian folklore. The related English knucker was generally depicted as a wyrm or dragon, although more recent versions depict the spirits in other forms. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically. The German Nix and his Scandinavian counterparts were male. The German Nixe was a female river mermaid.
context_section_description: The Scandinavian näcken, näkki, nøkk were male water spirits who played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to drown in lakes or streams. However, not all of these spirits were necessarily malevolent; many stories indicate at the very least that nøkker were entirely harmless to their audience and attracted not only women and children, but men as well with their sweet songs. Stories also exist wherein the Fossegrim agreed to live with a human who had fallen in love with him, but many of these stories ended with the nøkk returning to his home, usually a nearby waterfall or brook. (Compare the legend of Llyn y Fan Fach in Wales.) The nøkker were said to grow despondent unless they had free, regular contact with a water source.
  The Norwegian Fossegrim or Grim, Swedish strömkarl, is a related figure who, if properly approached, will teach a musician to play so adeptly "that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music".
  It is difficult to describe the appearance of the nix, as one of his central attributes was thought to be shapeshifting. Perhaps he did not have any true shape. He could show himself as a man playing the violin in brooks and waterfalls (though often imagined as fair and naked today, in folklore he was more frequently described as wearing more or less elegant clothing) but also could appear to be treasure or various floating objects, or as an animal—most commonly in the form of a "brook horse" (see below). The modern Scandinavian names are derived from Old Norse nykr, meaning "river horse". Thus, it is likely that the figure of the brook horse preceded the personification of the nix as the "man in the rapids". Fossegrim and derivatives were almost always portrayed as especially beautiful young men, whose clothing (or lack thereof) varied widely from story to story.
  The enthralling music of the nøkk was most dangerous to women and children, especially pregnant women and unbaptised children. He was thought to be most active during Midsummer's Night, on Christmas Eve, and on Thursdays. However, these superstitions do not necessarily relate to all the versions listed here. Many, if not all of them, developed after the Christianizing of the northern countries, as was the case of similar stories of faeries and other entities in other areas.
  When malicious nøkker attempted to carry off people, they could be defeated by calling their name; this was believed to cause their death.
  Another belief was that if a person bought the nøkk a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, some brännvin (Scandinavian vodka) or snus (wet snuff) dropped into the water, he would teach his enchanting form of music.
  The nøkk was also an omen for drowning accidents. He would scream at a particular spot in a lake or river, in a way reminiscent of the loon, and on that spot, a fatality would later take place. He was also said to cause drownings, but swimmers could protect themselves against such a fate by throwing a bit of steel into the water.
  In the later Romantic folklore and folklore-inspired stories of the 19th century, the nøkk sings about his loneliness and his longing for salvation, which he purportedly never shall receive, as he is not "a child of God". In a poem by Swedish poet E. J. Stagnelius, a little boy pities the fate of the nøkk, and so saves his own life. In the poem, arguably Stagnelius' most famous, the boy says that the Näck (nøkk) will never be a "child of God" which brings "tears to his face" as he "never plays again in the silvery brook".
  On a similar theme, a 19th-century text called "Brother Fabian's Manuscript" by Sebastian Evans has this verse:
  Where by the marishes boometh the bittern,
  
  Neckar the soulless one sits with his ghittern.
  
  Sits inconsolable, friendless and foeless.
  
  Waiting his destiny, – Neckar the soulless.
  (The source has "bloometh" for "boometh", but this is clearly an error; a bittern is not a plant, but a bird, and it is known for its booming call. A "ghittern" is a guitar. The spelling "Nickar" vice "Neckar" is sometimes used.)
  In Scandinavia, water lilies are called
caption: Näcken ("The Water Sprite") by Ernst Josephson, 1884
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