A little brother and sister were playing one day on the edge of a well
that belonged to a water-sprite. The little girl held her brother’s
hand, and leaned far over to look down into it.
“It seems to me that down below there I can see green meadows and
flocks of sheep moving over them,” she said.
“It is only the reflection of the clouds,” said the little boy. “But be
careful. I fear you will fall in.”
Even as he spoke the little girl slipped and fell into the well, and as
she had hold of her brother’s hand she pulled him in after her.
The two children went down—down—down—through the waters, and when they
came to the bottom they found themselves in a country of green meadows
and trees and streams, and before them stood a shining castle with
domes and towers.
This castle belonged to the water-sprite who owned the well.
[Illustration]
The little brother and sister went up to the castle and knocked at the
door, and at once the water-sprite opened it to them.
“Come in, come in,” said she. “I saw you playing on the edge of the
well, and it was I who caused you to fall in. I am lonely here, so you
shall stay with me and be my servants, and whatever I bid you do that
you must do.”
The water-sprite would have been beautiful if only she had not been so
green. Her face was green and her hair was green, and her eyes were
green. Only her teeth were white.
The sprite led the children into the kitchen and there she gave the
little girl a bucket that had no bottom. “Go,” said she, “and fetch me
some water to boil the dumplings for supper. And you,” said she to the
boy, “must cut me some wood,” and she gave him an ax that had no edge.
It was as blunt as a hammer.
The little sister went out to the spring that the water-sprite showed
her, and tried to dip up water, but as fast as she dipped it up it ran
out again, for the bucket had no bottom.
The brother began to chop at a tree near by. He chopped and he chopped
and he chopped, but he could scarcely make a dent, the ax was so blunt.
When the children came back to the castle without either wood or water,
the sprite was very cross with them. “I can easily see that you are
both very stupid,” said she. “But sit down; sit down at the table. Even
if you are stupid I suppose you must eat.”
The children sat down at the table, and the water-sprite set before
them a dish of dumplings, but as the dumplings had not been cooked and
were only dough the children could not eat them. They slipped them into
their pockets, and then, when the sprite was not looking they gave the
dumplings to the water-cat that rubbed about their chairs.
After that the children went to bed and slept.
The next day it was the same thing over again. The water-sprite set
them tasks that they could not possibly do, and gave them only dough
to eat, so the children made up their minds to run away. They waited,
however, until afternoon, when the water-sprite went up to the top of
the well to look about her.
When they were about to set out, the water-cat said to them, “You do
well to run away. You would not be happy here. But do not think my
mistress will allow you to escape if she can help it. When she comes
home and finds you gone, she will at once set out in pursuit of you.
She can go very much faster than you, and she will certainly catch you
unless you take with you her comb, her brush, and her mirror. These are
magic things. Each time you find she is about to catch you, throw one
or other of these things over your shoulder. By this means, and by this
means only, can you hope to escape.”
The children thanked the little cat, and did as it advised them. They
took the water-sprite’s brush and comb and mirror, and carried them off
with them, and ran as fast as they could along the road that led to the
upper world.
Soon after they had left, the water-sprite came home. When she found
them gone she only stopped long enough to scold the cat, and then she
put on her shoes of swiftness and started after them.
Presently the children looked behind them and saw her coming. She came
so fast on her shoes of swiftness, that it seemed as though they could
not possibly escape her.
However, the children remembered what the water-cat had told them. They
threw the comb behind them, and at once it spread and grew into a wall
of spikes, tremendously stiff and high. It took the water-sprite a long
time to climb over this wall, and the children were well on their way
before they heard her behind them again.
Then the little girl threw the brush over her shoulder. At once the
brush became a great thick forest, through which the water-sprite could
hardly find her way.
But she got through it at last, and then it did not take her long to be
at their heels again.
“And now we have only one more thing left,” said the brother, and he
threw the mirror behind him.
At once the mirror became a hill of glass so steep and smooth that no
one could possibly climb it. The sprite tried to run up it, but no
sooner had she gone a step or so than she slipped back again. At last,
with a shriek of rage, she turned and fled back to her castle, and
that was the last of her.
But the children went on their way, and the road led them straight to
the upper world and the door of their home. After that they were always
careful to keep away from the edge of the water-sprite’s well.
[Illustration: Star Jewels]