Also called Näcken, Nokk, Nix, Nixie, Bäckahästen (as a horse).
The tale
The nøkk lives in lakes, rivers and millponds. In Sweden Näcken appears as a handsome naked youth playing the fiddle so sweetly that listeners dance themselves into the water; he could also teach music to anyone who brought him the right gift. As the Bäckahäst he is a white horse that lures children onto its back and gallops into the water, its back growing longer to hold more riders. Steel protected people, and naming him drove him away.
When they are met
- summer evenings by lakes and streams
- Midsummer Eve
- when learning an instrument
Staying on their good side
- folk tradition: a drop of blood, a black cat or brandy for music lessons; today, three steel pins or a nail dropped in the water
- a song sung respectfully at the water's edge
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Tradition says to throw steel into the water before swimming; the practical lesson is to never swim alone.
- Say his name, "Nøkk, nøkk, nål i vatn", as the Norwegian charm does, to break his power.
- Never climb on a strange white horse by the water.
What their tales teach
- water safety
- the power of music
- resisting beautiful traps
Symbols
- a fiddle
- a white horse at the water's edge
- water lilies
- glowing eyes above the surface
Sources
- John Lindow, Swedish Legends and Folk Beliefs
- Kvideland and Sehmsdorf, Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend
More Norse folklore
- Huldra The hidden woman of the forest
- Nisse The little old man of the farm
- Draugr The restless dead of the sagas
- Trolls The old dwellers in mountain and stone
- Valkyries The choosers of the slain
- Fossegrim The fiddler beneath the waterfall
- Mara The spirit who rides sleepers
- Myling The spirit of the unburied child