The Nixie as a Tomcat in the Buschmühle Mill near Lübbenau
|
| Geographic Coordinates: 51° 52' 31.01" N, 14° 7' 6.41" E |
(Büsching IV. 16, O. u N. Laus. Chron. p. 47.)
Once, a nixie haunted the Buschmühle mill near Lübbenau in the Spreewald forest. He had his own grinding wheel for his own use, and he always milled pearl barley on it. But when the old miller sold the mill, and the new one learned what kind of guest he had, he would have liked to get rid of him. But he did not know how he should do this, and furthermore was afraid of the nixie.
Once, the guests of the mill were sitting around a kettle full of fish and were talking about the nixie. Among their number was Martin Pumphut, a wandering miller’s journeyman(*). Suddenly, a large black tomcat appeared, and reached into the kettle and for the fish. But Martin Pumphut reacted quickly and hit him so hard on the paws that he vanished under loud meowing.
However, an invisible force then constantly moved the nixie’s grinding wheel, even though it was locked, and thus caused a horrible grinding noise. But otherwise, no one suffered any harm.
Then Pumphut grew brazen and promised the miller that he would get rid of the annoying guest. The next morning, he poured the pearl barley into the kettle with the fish, and he and the other guests pretended to eat them with relish. The nixie smelled the pearl barley, and indeed soon returned to the kettle on the fiery hearth in the shape of a black tomcat. The other guests did not let themselves be disturbed by this. But Martin Pumphut took a hatchet, and cut off a paw from the tomcat as he was reaching into the kettle. The paw then fell into the kettle, and the nixie vanished under horrible meowing and has not been seen since.
But the grinding wheel for the pearl barley immediately stood still, and no art of the mill master was able to get it to move again. The narrator’s grandparents had still seen the grinding wheel in the mill on which the nixie had milled. But since then the mill has burned down, and the infamous nixie’s grinding wheel with it.
Note: Here, the nix gains a few devilish traits. And it is indeed the Devil who appears in the grand mill at Budissin as Beelzebub (“Emergency God”) and grinds horse apples in a grinding wheel which had been promised to him. The cat form, too, reminds us of the Devil.
(*) More about this master of witchcraft can be found in the chapter on legends about magic.
Source: Haupt - Sagenbuch der Lausitz Erster Theil: Das Geisterreich, 51f