s Lenormant to explain an allusion
in one of the most ancient Accadian manuscripts in the British Museum to
'the serpent of seven heads, that beats the sea.' This Hydra was the
type of the destructive water-demon who figures in the legends of all
countries.

In the same way, to the Syrian fish deities, Dagon and Artergatis, must
we look for the origin of our Undines and fish-maidens, and mermaidens.

The 'Nixy' of Germany has by some been supposed traceable to 'Old Nick';
but this is not probable, since St. Nicholas has been the patron-saint
of sailors for many centuries. It was during the time of the Crusades
that a vessel on the way to the Holy Land was in great peril, and St.
Nicholas assuaged a tempest by his prayers. Since then he has been
supposed to be the protector of mariners, even as Neptune was in ancient
times; and in most Roman Catholic countries you will find in seaport
towns churches dedicated to St. Nicholas, to which sailors resort to
return thanks for preservation at sea, and to make votive offerings.

The German Nixy was, no doubt, a later form of the old Norse water-god
Nikke. You meet with him again, in another form, in Neckan, the
soulless, of whom Matthew Arnold sings:

'In summer on the headlands
The Baltic sea along
Sits Neckan with his harp of gold,
And sings his plaintive song.'

The 'Nixa' along the Baltic coast was once, however, much feared by the
fishermen. It was the same spirit which appears as the Kelpie in
Scotland--a water-demon which caused sudden floods to carry away the
unwary, and then devoured them.

There was a river-goddess in Germany, whose temple stood at Magdeburg,
of whom a legend exists that she also once visited earth and went to
market in a Christian costume, where she was detected by a continual
dripping of water from the corner of her apron. Generally speaking,
however, the Nixies may be described as the descendants of the Naiads of
ancient times, and as somewhat resembling the Russian Rusalkas, of which
the peasantry live in much dread.

A Russian peasant, it is said, is so afraid of the water-spirits that he
will not bathe without a cross round his neck, nor ford a stream on
horseback without signing a cross on the water with a scythe or knife.
In some parts these water-spirits are supposed to be the transformed
souls of Pharaoh and his host, when they were drowned, and the number is
always being increased by the souls of those who drown themse