I help mortal men. I save them from misfortune. I come to them when they’re desperate.

I only ask to have something for myself. It’s not enough to have a woman’s comb, or her flute, or even her golden spinning wheel.

I want her man.

I had him for a little while. And he had me.

Then I lost him. Why? Why can I not keep a mortal man?

Nixy in the Mill Pond in The Nixy, Yellow Fairy Book. Illustration by H.J. Ford.