Household Tales · Chapter
The Water-Nix explained
A little brother and sister fall into a well and are captured by a water-nix, who forces them to perform impossible tasks.
What happens
A little brother and sister fall into a well and are captured by a water-nix, who forces them to perform impossible tasks. They escape on a Sunday while the nix is at church, using a brush, a comb, and a looking-glass to create obstacles that delay their pursuer, ultimately fleeing to safety.
Themes in this chapter
Magic and the Supernatural
The water-nix is a supernatural being who uses magic to imprison the children, and the children use enchanted objects (brush, comb, looking-glass) to create magical barriers during their escape.
Family Dynamics and Betrayal
The sibling bond is central as the brother and sister cooperate to escape their captor, contrasting with the nix's betrayal of trust by imprisoning them.
Characters to notice
- the boy
The little brother who falls into the well and is forced to hew a tree with a blunt axe; he throws a comb to create an obstacle during the escape.
- the girl
The little sister who falls into the well and is forced to spin dirty flax and fetch water in a leaky bucket; she throws a brush and a looking-glass to hinder the nix.
- Unknown
The water-nix who captures the children and forces them to work, but is ultimately outwitted.
Key passages
“A little brother and sister were once playing by a well, and while they were thus playing, they both fell in.”
A young brother and sister fell into a well while playing nearby.
Sets up the inciting incident of the story.
“She gave the girl dirty tangled flax to spin, and she had to fetch water in a bucket with a hole in it, and the boy had to hew down a tree with a blunt axe, and they got nothing to eat but dumplings as hard as stones.”
The nix assigned the girl to spin filthy flax and carry water in a leaky bucket, while the boy had to chop a tree with a dull axe; their only food was rock-hard dumplings.
Describes the impossible tasks and harsh conditions imposed on the children.
“Then the girl threw a brush behind her which formed an immense hill of bristles, with thousands and thousands of spikes, over which the nix was forced to scramble with great difficulty; at last, however, she got over.”
The girl tossed a brush behind them, which turned into a huge hill covered in countless spikes, but the nix managed to cross it after a hard climb.
First magical obstacle used in the escape.
“When the children saw this, the boy threw behind him a comb which made a great hill of combs with a thousand times a thousand teeth, but the nix managed to keep herself steady on them, and at last crossed over that.”
The boy then threw a comb, which became a hill of countless comb teeth, yet the nix still crossed it by balancing carefully.
Second magical obstacle fails to stop the nix.
“Then the girl threw behind her a looking-glass which formed a hill of mirrors, and was so slippery that it was impossible for the nix to cross it.”
The girl threw a mirror, creating a slippery hill of glass that the nix could not cross.
Final obstacle successfully halts the nix's pursuit.