There is also the Drakos, a cousin-german to the Black Giant. Like the Black Giant he also haunts the wells and works mischief on the people by withholding the water. This trick of the monster is alluded to in the following lines, which form the beginning of a song heard at Nigrita:— Yonder at St. Theodore’s, yonder at St. George’s, A fair was held, a great fair. The space was narrow and the crowd was large. The Drakos held back the water and the people were athirst, Athirst was also a lady who was heavy with child. In Greek legends the Drakos figures as a large uncouth monster akin to the Troll of Norse and the Ogre and Giant of British and Continental fairy tales. His simplicity of mind is only equalled by his might and he is easily bamboozled. He is also regarded as a performer of superhuman feats. As in Ireland there is a Giant’s Causeway, so in Macedonia we find a “Drakos’s Weight” (a big stone to the south of Nigrita), a “Drakos’s Shovelful,” (a mound of earth), a “Drakos’s Tomb,” a rock in the same neighbourhood, resembling a high-capped _Dervish_, resting against the slope of the hill, and a “Drakos’s Quoits,” two solitary rocks standing in the plain of Serres. Various superstitions concerning drowning can be easily traced to this belief in mischievous water-spirits. These spirits demand human sacrifices and those who get drowned are supposed to be their victims. Thus, when in Germany a person comes by his death from drowning, the Germans say: “The river-spirit claims his annual sacrifice,” or that “the nix has taken the drowned man.” In India _pujas_ are invariably offered to propitiate these spirits before any member of a family starts on a journey involving the crossing of the deep or of the rivers. While passing over creeks and streams, travellers on the Indian Railways will notice even to-day many a traveller, Hindu and Parsi, male and female, throwing from the train cocoanuts, sugar and flowers in the water in the devout hope of averting accidents. The followers of Islam, however, believe that God Almighty would, by reason of the benign influence of His name, preserve them from drowning. Therefore, whilst starting on a voyage they chant the following couplet from Surah Nooh of the _Koran_, as a protective from drowning:— _Bismillaheh Majriha O Mursaha inna Rabi-ul-ghafur ul-Rahim_, meaning, “The moving and stopping (of this boat, Noah’s Ark) depends upon the influence of the Name of God, for, in truth, our Lord is pre-eminently a Pardoner of sins and merciful.” In the same way Bengal boatmen cry “Badar,” “Badar,” when a boat is in danger of capsizing, in the hope that the saint Khwaja Khizr would protect them.