The Water-Nix (Grimm)
Division into sections is editorial.
Capture and servitude
A brother and sister were playing by a well when both children accidentally fell into the water. Deep below the surface lived a supernatural creature who immediately seized this opportunity to capture them.
A water-nix lived down below, who said, "Now I have got you, now you shall work hard for me!" and carried them off with her.
The water-nix forced the children into harsh labor with impossible conditions. The girl received dirty, tangled flax to spin into thread, while also being required to fetch water using a bucket that had a hole in it, making the task futile.
Meanwhile, the boy faced his own impossible task - he had to chop down a tree using only a blunt axe that could never cut through wood effectively.
Escape and pursuit
The children endured this cruel treatment, receiving nothing but stone-hard dumplings for food. Their suffering continued until they could bear it no longer and devised a plan for freedom. They waited patiently for the right moment to make their escape.
Then at last the children became so impatient, that they waited until one Sunday, when the nix was at church, and ran away.
The children seized their opportunity when the water-nix left to attend church services, demonstrating that even supernatural creatures observed religious customs. They fled as quickly as they could, hoping to gain enough distance before their captor returned. However, their freedom was short-lived, as the water-nix soon discovered their absence.
But when church was over, the nix saw that the birds were flown, and followed them with great strides.
The water-nix immediately began pursuing the escaped children with supernatural speed, taking enormous strides that covered great distances. The children could see their pursuer approaching from far away, realizing they needed more than just running to escape. They would have to use cunning and magic to survive.
Magical obstacles and victory
Seeing the water-nix gaining on them, the girl quickly threw a brush behind her. The brush immediately transformed into a massive supernatural barrier.
The girl threw a brush behind her which formed an immense hill of bristles, with thousands and thousands of spikes, over which the nix was forced to scramble
Despite the difficulty of climbing over the treacherous hill of bristles, the determined water-nix managed to overcome this first obstacle. When the children saw their pursuer had crossed the bristle hill, the boy took his turn to create a magical barrier.
The boy threw behind him a comb which made a great hill of combs with a thousand times a thousand teeth, but the nix managed to keep herself steady on them
Once again, the water-nix's supernatural abilities allowed her to navigate the dangerous hill of comb teeth and continue the pursuit. With two obstacles overcome, the children faced their final chance for escape. The girl threw her last magical object - a looking-glass.
Then the girl threw behind her a looking-glass which formed a hill of mirrors, and was so slippery that it was impossible for the nix to cross it.
The hill of mirrors proved to be the most effective barrier, as its slippery surface prevented even the supernatural water-nix from crossing. Frustrated but not defeated, she decided to return home to fetch her axe, planning to cut through the glass hill. However, this decision proved to be her downfall.
Long before she returned, however, and had hewn through the glass, the children had escaped to a great distance, and the water-nix was obliged to betake herself to her well again.
By the time the water-nix completed her laborious task of cutting through the mirror hill, the children had gained such a significant head start that they were far beyond her reach. Defeated and exhausted, the water-nix had no choice but to abandon her pursuit and return to her underwater dwelling, while the clever children achieved their freedom through courage, teamwork, and magical resourcefulness.