Tea & Fairy Tales: Nixies, Nymphs & Mermaids

Based on my popular Insight Timer Live sessions; Tea & Fairy tales! Get yourself a warm drink and get cosy! We will leave the mundane behind and journey into myth and memory with sacred stories. Allow me to share my heritage of telling stories; Take a break from your day and into the realm of fairy and folktales! Today we'll listen to two stories that are themed around Water & magical beings *Please be aware, as is often the case with fairy tales this story involves some mild peril and threat*

Transcript

Welcome.

Welcome to Tea and Fairy Tales.

The evening is rolling in now and the rain is falling and I invite you to take some time to make your favourite hot drink,

Settle into a warm place.

Take a little time to relax before we journey into a world of myth and magic.

The theme for our fairy tales will be the element of water,

A place within which you might find mermaids and merrow,

Selkies,

Nixies and beautiful creatures of the waves.

And our first story is called The Nixie.

There was,

Once upon a time,

A miller who was very well off and had as much money and as many goods as he knew what to do with.

But sorrow can come in the night and all of a sudden the miller found himself poor.

He wandered around all day full of despair and misery.

He could barely call the mill in which he sat his own.

One morning he rose up before dawn and went outside,

For he thought his heart would be lighter in the open air.

As he wandered up and down upon the banks of the mill pond he heard a rustling in the water and when he looked near he saw a beautiful woman rise from the waves.

He realised at once that this could be none other than the Nixie of the mill pond,

The water spirit.

And in his terror he didn't know if he should run away or remain where he was,

But while he hesitated the Nixie spoke.

She called him by his name and asked him why he was so sad.

When the miller heard her friendly voice he told her that he had once been rich and prosperous and then all of a sudden had lost his fortune.

The Nixie spoke comforting words to him and promised that she would make him richer and more prosperous than he had ever been before if he would give her in return the youngest thing in his house.

The miller thought she must mean one of his puppies or kittens,

So promised the Nixie at once what she asked for and he returned to his mill full of hope.

But upon the threshold he was greeted by a servant with the news that his wife had just given birth to a baby boy.

The poor miller was horrified by these tidings and went to his wife with a heavy heart to tell her of this fatal bargain he had struck with the Nixie.

I would give up all the good fortune she promised me,

He said,

If I could only save my child.

But no one could think of any advice to give him beyond taking care that the child never went near the mill pond.

But in keeping the boy away from the mill pond he did indeed grow big and healthy and all the time the miller prospered and in a few years he was richer than he had ever been before.

But all the same he could not enjoy his good fortune for he could not forget his pact with the Nixie.

He knew that sooner or later she would demand his fulfilment of the promise.

But year after year went by and the boy grew up and became a great hunter.

The lord of the land took him into his service for he was a smart and bold hunter.

In a short time our hunter married a pretty young wife and lived with her in great peace and happiness and one day our hunter was out roaming his lands.

When a hare sprung out from green grasses and he chased this hare all the way to the very edge of the mill pond from which from childhood he had always been taught to avoid.

But chasing his quarry he shot the hare and to wash off the blood from his hands he dipped his hands ever so briefly into the mill pond water.

But at the very moment he touched the water the Nixie rose up and seized him in her wet arms dragging him down under the water line.

When our hunter did not come home that evening his wife grew very anxious and when his bag was found close to the mill pond she guessed at once what had fallen him.

Beside herself with grief she roamed the mill pond and the fields surrounding their home.

Worn out with sorrow and fatigue she fell asleep underneath a tree and in a dream she found herself wandering through a flowery meadow.

She came to an old cabin where she found a witch who promised to restore her husband to her.

When she awoke she was determined to find this witch so certain was she that the dream had been a message.

So she sought out the flowery meadow and sure enough the cabin laid within the meadow.

And the poor wife told the witch what had happened and the dream that she had had.

The witch counseled her to go to the pond the next time there was a full moon and to comb her hair with a golden comb and then place the comb upon the bank.

The hunter's wife thanked the witch and returned home.

And at the time of the full moon as soon as the moon rose the young wife went to the pond combed her hair with a golden comb and when she had finished she placed the comb on the bank and she watched the water impatiently.

Soon she heard a rushing sound and a big wave rose suddenly and swept the comb off the bank and a minute after the head of her husband rose from the pond and he gazed sadly at her.

But immediately another wave came and his head sank back into the water without even saying a word.

The pond lay still and motionless once more glittering in the moonshine and the hunter's wife was not a bit better off than when she had been before.

In despair she returned to the cabin of the witch.

The woman counseled her this time to head to the mill pond and play upon a golden flute and lay the flute upon the bank.

And as soon as the next full moon rose the hunter's wife went to the mill pond.

She played on the golden flute and when she had finished she placed it upon the bank.

The rushing sound returned and a wave swept the flute off the bank and soon the head of the hunter appeared and rose up higher and higher and he was now half out of the water.

He gazed sadly at his wife once more managing to stretch his arms out towards her but another rushing wave rose and dragged him under the water line once more.

The hunter's wife who had stood on the bank full of joy and hope sank into despair.

Her husband snatched away from her once more.

But she was determined.

She returned to the old witch's cabin for the final time.

The woman's last words of advice were to take the gold spinning wheel and to leave the spinning wheel upon the bank.

So the hunter's wife did as she was advised.

The first full moon she carried a golden spinning wheel and left the wheel upon the bank.

Within a moment the rushing sound appeared and a great wave swept the spinning wheel from the bank.

Immediately the head of the hunter rose up from the pond higher and higher.

He rose from the water and stepped onto the bank and fell upon his wife's neck hugging her in warm embrace.

But the waters of the pond rose up again suddenly overflowing the bank where the couple stood and grabbed them sweeping them into the water.

In her despair the young wife called upon the old witch to help them and in a moment to protect them the witch turned them both into frogs so that the water would not drown them.

But so small were they now that the waves carried them,

Each deposited in a different corner of the country and neither knew what had become of the other.

When the magic wore off the two frogs returned to their human form but now the hunter and his wife were in separate places with no memory of what had happened before.

So the hunter became a shepherd in his new land and his wife in her corner of the country became a shepherdess.

And they herded their sheep for many years in solitude but with a sense of sadness that hung about them.

Now it happened that the shepherd had to come to a big city to sell his wares.

In fact all shepherds and shepherdesses came for this big event and he found in this big city that the neighbourhood pleased him.

And the outskirts were pastures rich and suitable for his flocks so he bought his sheep and herded them in this new place and the shepherdess just so happened to do the same.

The shepherd and the shepherdess became great friends but they did not recognise each other in the least.

But one evening a great full moon rose in the sky as they were watching their flocks and the shepherd began to play a tune on his flute.

The shepherdess was struck with a memory of her being sat beside a mill point under a full moon playing a golden flute and all at once the recollection reminded her and as if by magic two watery scales fell from her eyes and she burst into tears.

The shepherd asked her why she was crying and she told him the story.

In telling the story she brought the recollection to his mind too and the scales fell from his eyes and suddenly they recognised each other,

Memories flooding back.

And so they returned joyfully to their own home,

Their own life once lived and they lived in peace and happiness ever after.

Our second story is a short but beautiful one and it is called The Mermaid on the Lorelei.

Upon the river Rhine at the foot of a towering rock called the Lorelei the water nymphs and olden times held their court,

Their kingdom grand and beautiful,

The rushing waters and glittering palaces surrounded by green meadows and stately forests.

But as more and more humans and people came to live on the riverbank the river became full of barges and ships and the water nymphs and mermaids withdrew from their home.

Only one mermaid stayed behind for she could not bear to part from her beloved river.

She often used to sit atop the rock they call the Lorelei,

Combing her golden hair in the moonlight and in her enchanting voice she sang wonderful melodies which bewitched everyone who heard them.

Many a boatman who listened to her sweet song could not resist looking upon the maiden and they were so enthralled by her beauty that they did not notice the dangers threatening their boats.

Thus it often happened that boat and boatman were seized by the treacherous whirlpools and swallowed up into the watery depths.

Now during the Middle Ages those proud castles along the river Rhine echoed with the clashes of arms and battles and singing and happy laughter.

Even after one such battle a young knight,

Proud and strong,

Decided to climb upon that steep rock to see the beautiful mermaid at close quarters.

So he went down to the river Rhine in a small boat and as he came to the foot of the rock they called the Lorelei he saw the mermaid sitting on top of it in the last rays of the evening sun.

The sound of her voice bewitched him so completely that he forgot everything and the mighty river dashed his light craft against the sharp rocks where it sank taking the knight down with it.

His friends who watched from ashore brought the sad news back to the castle court.

Full of sorrow and anger the king orders his servants to seize the mermaid and cast her from this high rock into the river.

As the men approached her she loosed a necklace of pearls from her throat and threw them into the Rhine with a song.

Father in your watery glen save me from the powers of men.

Send the white horses from their cave that I may ride on wind and wave.

And at once two great waves rose up out of the river like great shining horses.

They rose to the very point of the rock and carried the mermaid down into the waters where she vanished forever to sing on new tides.

Thank you for joining me today with our warm cups of tea and our tales from the fairies.

May you go forth and have a beautiful evening.

I look forward to joining you again soon for more stories and more tea.

Reviews

Thank you for your storytelling 🌹💖🙏

Lovely, as always 💙💜💙💜

Lovely story thank you

Two delightful Tales. Thank you. Hope to hear many more like these. 🐨 💖

Beautifully crafted tales. Thank you so much. Enjoyed them.

Beautiful voice ….I will come back to the story as I fell deep into slumber. 💫💫💫💫💫

I feel like a child again! Beautiful, thank you for sharing! 😊🙏🏻

I love these stories, magical and wonderous. Thank you for sharing them. Love and blessings 💜x

So cozy and splendid listening to these tales. Thank you for bringing them to life 🫖💞🧜🏼‍♂️💞

Tea and tales – what a lovely way to spend time! Thank you, Sarah! This was wonderful. It feels like a storytelling circle around the fire, even though we’re apart in space and time. Beautifully woven magic.

Love this!.
Pleae do more 💖

Deliciously delightful! I look forward to more!
💕💫🧜🏻‍♀️🧚‍♀️🙏

Loved it! Hoping you’ll do more of these in the future🌀