The Rev. W. Gregor has told us that the Scottish river Spey “is spoken of as ‘she,’ and bears the character of being ‘bloodthirsty.’ The common belief is that ‘she’ must have at least one victim yearly. “The rhyme about the [Scottish] rivers Dee and Don and their victims is:— “‘Bloodthirsty Dee, Each year needs three; But bonny Don, She needs none.’”[109] [109] _Folk-lore_, iii., 72. There were German rivers which required their victim on Midsummer Day,[110] and this, as we have seen, is the very day mentioned in one of the versions of our ballad. In nine of the versions given by Prof. Child, the body of the little victim is thrown into a draw-well, after having been rolled, as some of the versions say, in a “case,” or “cake,” of lead. The throwing of the body into a well was doubtless intended as a further rain-charm, just as, to give a single example, the man who gave the last stroke at threshing in the Tyrol was flung into the river.[111] It appears from the _Annals of Waverley_,[112] that the body of Hugh of Lincoln was first thrown into a running stream, and ejected by the stream. It was afterwards thrown into a drinking well. [110] Frazer’s _Golden Bough_, 2nd edit., i., pp. 86, 88. [111] Frazer’s _Golden Bough_, iii., 318. See also Hartland, _Legend of Perseus_, iii., 73 _seq._ Mr. Hartland shows how widely spread was the custom of offering sacrifice to water. As late as the beginning of the nineteenth century firstborn children, according to Mr. Crooke, were offered to the Ganges. [112] Child, _ut supra_, citing _Annales Monastici_, ed. Luard, ii., 346 _seq._