ral
beings do not like to be imposed upon. A German midwife who was summoned
by a Waterman, or Nix, to aid a woman in labour, was told by the latter:
"I am a Christian woman as well as you; and I was carried off by a
Waterman, who changed me. When my husband comes in now and offers you
money, take no more from him than you usually get, or else he will twist
your neck. Take good care!" And in another tale, told at Kemnitz of the
Nicker, as he is there called, when he asks the midwife how much he owes
her, she answers that she will take no more from him than from other
people. "That's lucky for thee," he replies; "hadst thou demanded more,
it would have gone ill with thee!" But for all that he gave her an apron
full of gold and brought her safely home.[24]

A Pomeranian story marks the transition to a type of tale wherein one
special characteristic of elfin gifts is presented. For in this case,
when the mannikin asked the midwife what her charge was, she modestly
replied: "Oh, nothing; the little trouble I have had does not call for
any payment." "Now then, lift up thy apron!" answered he; and it was
quickly filled with the rubbish that lay in the corner of the room.
Taking his lantern, the elf then politely guided her home. When she
shook out the contents of her apron, lo! it was no rubbish which fell
on the ground, but pure, shining minted gold. Hitherto she and her
father had been very poor; thenceforth they had no more want their whole
lives long. This gift of an object apparently worthless, which turns
out, on the conditions being observed, of the utmost value, is a
commonplace of fairy transactions. It is one of the most obvious
manifestations of superhuman power; and as such it has always been a
favourite incident in the stories of all nations. We have only to do
here with the gift as it appears in the group under analysis; and in
these cases it presents little variety. In a tale told on the lake of
Zug the dwarf fills the woman's apron with something at which he bids
her on no account look before she is in her own house. Her curiosity,
however, is uncontrollable; and the moment the dwarf vanishes she peeps
into her apron, to find simply black coals. She, in a rage, flings them
away, keeping only two as evidence of the shabby treatment she had met
with; but when she got home these two were nothing less than precious
stones. She at once ran back to where she had shaken out the supposed
coals; but they were all gone.