The Nixie and Endymion
Näcken / The Nixie
Kvällens gullmoln fästet kransa.
Älvorna på ängen dansa,
och den bladbekrönta näcken
gigan rör i silverbäcken.
The evening's gold clouds ring the sky.
The elves dance on the meadow,
and the leaf-crowned nixie
plays the fiddle in the silver beck.
Liten pilt bland strandens pilar
i violens ånga vilar,
klangen hör från källans vatten,
ropar i den stilla natten.
A little lad in the bank willows
rests in the violet's fragrance,
hears the sound from the spring water,
calls out in the still night.
"Arma gubbe! Varför spelar?
Kan det smärtorna fördela?
Fritt du skog och mark må liva,
skall Guds barn dock aldrig bliva!
"Poor old fellow! Why play?
Can it share out your pain?
Free the wood, bring life to the land,
yet God's child you shall never be!
Paradisets månskensnätter,
Edens blomsterkrönta slätter,
ljusets änglar i det höga --
aldrig skådar dem ditt öga."
Paradise's moonshine nights,
Eden's flower-crowned fields,
the angels of light up above --
never shall your eye behold them."
Tårar gubbens anlet skölja,
ned han dyker i sin bölja.
Gigan tystnar. Aldrig näcken
spelar mer i silverbäcken.
Tears wash the old fellow's face,
down he dives into his wave.
The fiddle is silent. The nixie plays
no more in the silver beck.
*
Found in an anthology of best-loved Swedish poems: this is the poem by Erik Johan Stagnelius (1793-1823) that everyone knows (the opening lines, anyway); written c. 1815. I didn't try to reproduce the rhyme or rhythm.
As befits such a popular poem I've quoted it in the familiar Swedish spelling that was introduced a century after Stagnelius. The poem in its original form ("Necken") is given below.
näcken :
The näcke is a shape-shifting water-sprite. In Scandinavian folklore he is generally envisaged as male. I've used "nixie", the most familiar equivalent in English; though this familiarity (such as it is) comes via Andrew Lang from a couple of German fairy-tales in which the water-sprite happens to be female.
fästet : means the firmament (SAOB fäste 2), with the same implication of solidity.
gigan: A giga is literally a medieval stringed instrument; I read about it in Eugene O'Curry's epic lectures on the manners and customs of ancient Ireland. For a more up to date account, see Christian Rault:
It was usually bowed da gamba, but seemingly could also be plucked, and perhaps the term described different instruments over time. The dance names "jig" and its courtly eqivalent "gigue" may be derived from it.
Anyway, in the Germanic world "geige" became a collective term for all fiddles and similar instruments. Stagnelius is using it poetically to mean a fiddle, though a magical one of course.
pilar:
SAOB pil sbst2, 1. Willow scrub.
violens:
It means "violet's" which makes sense in the context of "ånga" (fragrant mist, steam), but it can also mean "violin's" and Stagnelius perhaps meant to suggest both ideas.
*
The poem in old spelling, taken from E. J. Stagnelii. Samlade Skrifter, Utgifne af L. Hammarsköld (1826), p. 341.
.
N E C K E N.
Quällens guldmoln fästet kransa,
Elfvorna på ängen dansa,
Och den bladbekrönte Necken
Gigan rör i silfverbäcken.
Liten pilt, bland strandens pilar
I violens ånga hvilar,
Klangen hör från källans vatten,
Ropar i den stilla natten :
"Arma Gubbe ! hvarför spela ?
Kan det smärtorna fördela ?
Fritt du skog och mark må lifva,
Skall Guds barn dock aldrig blifva !"
"Paradisets månskensnätter,
Edens blomsterkrönta slätter,
Ljusets änglar i det höga –--
Aldrig skådar dem ditt öga."
Tårar Gubbens anlet skölja,
Ned han dykar i sin bölja.
Gigan tystnar. Aldrig Necken
Spelar mer i silfverbäcken.
*
The earliest musical setting, I think, is by Eduard Brendler (1800 - 1831), the composer of Ryno. It's been recorded, but I couldn't find it online.
"Näcken", a setting for mixed choir by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, performed by Erik Westbergs vokalensemble and Musikhögskolans kammarkör in Piteå:
"Näckens Besvärjelse" (The Nixie's Incantation), by the Tampere black metal band Uhrilahja (Offering), from the 2018 album En Fördärvad Värld (A Corrupted World).
Equally baffling (and funnier) are Ragnar Larsson's transformations of the Swedish poets into wallpaper music. I wonder if he's the same Ragnar Larsson who was previously the lead guitarist of Xorsist. Anyway here he's using the Suno AI Music Creator to make four variations of "Näcken" (jazz, choral, folk, and a bossa nova duet):
*
Piotr Klafkowski's splendid introduction for Polish readers to Bellman, Tégner and Stagnelius [PDF, in English].
*
I can't resist quoting another Stagnelius poem that appears in Älskad Svensk Poesi. (I preferred a plain translation to the over-ripe version by Edward Shepherd Creasy.)
Endymion
Skön, med lågande hy och slutna ögon,
slumrar herden så ljuvt i Månans strålar.
Nattens ångande vindar
fläkta hans lockiga hår.
Beautiful, with glowing hue and closed eyes,
softly slumbers the shepherd in the moonbeams.
The fragrant winds of the night
fan his curly hair.
Stum, med smäktande blick och våta kinder
honom Delia ser från eterns höjder:
Nu ur strålande charen
svävar hon darrande ned.
Silent, with languid glance and wet cheeks,
Delia sees him from the ethereal heights:
now from her radiant chariot
she glides trembling down.
Och av klarare ljus, vid hennes ankomst,
stråla dalar och berg och myrtenskogar.
Utan förerska spannet
travar i silvrade moln.
And, with the clearer light of her arrival,
shine dales, mountains and myrtle woods.
Driverless her team
pass through the silvered clouds.
Herden sover i ro: elysiskt glimma
i hans krusiga hår gudinnans tårar.
På hans blomstrande läppar
brinner dess himmelska kyss.
The shepherd sleeps in peace: Elysian gleams
in his curly hair are the tears of the goddess.
On his blooming lips
her heavenly kiss burns.
Tystna, suckande vind i trädens kronor!
Rosenkransade Brud på saffransbädden
unna herden att ostörd
drömma sin himmelska dröm.
Be still, sighing wind in the tree-crowns!
Rose-wreathed bride, on his saffron bed
let the shepherd undisturbed
dream his heavenly dream.
När han vaknar en gång, vad ryslig tomhet
skall hans lågande själ ej kring sig finna!
Blott i drömmar Olympen
stiger till dödliga ned.
For once he wakes what a terrible emptiness
his burning soul will find around him!
Only in dreams do Olympians
descend to mortals.
Thought to have been written in 1820 or later. I suppose it's unlikely Stagnelius would ever have heard of John Keats or his Endymion (published in April 1818).
Delia: meaning Diana or Artemis as moon-goddess (Artemis and her brother Apollo were born on the island of Delos).
On John Keats' Endymion:
Labels: Erik Johan Stagnelius, Specimens of the literature of Sweden
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