The Water Nixie

　　Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

　　A little brother and little sister were playing by a well, and while they were playing there they both fell in. A water nixie was down there. She said, "Now I have you. Now you will have to work diligently1 for me," and she led them away with her.

　　She gave the girl tangled2 dirty flax to spin, and she had to fill a bottomless barrel with water. The boy had to chop down a tree with a dull ax, and all they got to eat were dumplings as hard as rocks.

　　Finally the children became so impatient, that they waited until one Sunday when the nixie was at church, and then ran away. When church was over, the nixie saw that the birds had flown away, and she followed them with long strides.

　　The children saw her from afar, and the girl threw a brush behind her, which turned into a large brush-mountain with thousands and thousands of spikes3, which the nixie had to climb over with great difficulty, but she finally got to the other side.

　　When the children saw this the boy threw a comb behind him, which turned into a large comb-mountain with a thousand times a thousand teeth, but the nixie was able to keep hold of them, and finally got to the other side.

　　Then the girl threw a mirror behind her, which turned into a glass mountain, which was so slippery, so slippery that it was impossible for the nixie to climb over it.

　　Then she thought, "I will quickly go home and get my ax and chop the glass mountain in two."

　　However, by the time she returned and had chopped up the glass mountain, the children were far away and had escaped, so the water nixie had to trudge4 back to her well.

　　　從前有兄妹兩人在井邊玩耍，不小心掉進(jìn)了井里。下面住著一個女水妖，把他們抓了去，說：「現(xiàn)在你們可是在我的手里了，替我好好干活吧！」她給小姑娘一把亂糟糟的髒亞麻要她紡，給她一個漏了的水桶要她打水；男孩子則被迫去砍伐木頭，可斧子是鈍的，根本砍不動樹。至於吃的，除了像石頭一般硬的面疙瘩就再也沒有別的了。孩子們?nèi)虩o可忍，在一個星期天，趁水妖上教堂的工夫，兄妹倆悄悄地溜走了。水妖從教堂回來，發(fā)現(xiàn)小鳥們飛走了，撒腿就追。

　　遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)看到水妖追來，姑娘便朝身后扔了一把刷子，刷子頓時變成了一座長滿荊棘的大山，水妖只好艱難地往上爬，終於爬過來了。孩子們一看不好，男孩又扔出一把梳子，那梳子頓時變成成千上萬顆牙齒，可是水妖還是穩(wěn)穩(wěn)當(dāng)當(dāng)?shù)乜邕^來了。小姑娘又扔了一塊鏡子，鏡子變成一座光滑的山峰，任水妖怎么爬也難以爬上來。水妖想：「還是快些回家象把斧子來把這玻璃山砍成兩半吧?！箍墒堑人砀影巡Ａ娇抽_時，小兄妹早已逃得遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)的了。女水妖只好又回到井里去了。