Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/298

 of Deianira by the river-god Achelous; "for he," says she, "in treble shapes kept seeking me from my sire, coming now in true bull-form, now as a coiling serpent of gleaming hues, anon with human trunk and head of ox ." The genii of rivers have not, it would seem, changed their forms and attributes, save for the admission of Arabs to their number, from the age of Sophocles to this day.

The third class of genius which we have to notice is terrestrial, inhabiting mountains, rocks, caves, and any other grim and desolate places. These genii are the most frequent of all, and are known as dragons. Not of course that all dragons are terrestrial; the dragon-form has already been mentioned among the forms proper to the genii of springs and wells, and also as a shape assumed at will by the Arabs who more frequently occupy those haunts. But terrestrial genii, in whatever place they make their lair—and no limit can be set to such places—are far most commonly pictured as dragons; and I have therefore preferred to speak of the dragons in general here, rather than among the genii of either buildings or water.

The term [Greek: drakos] or [Greek: drakontas] indicates to the Greek peasant a monster of no more determinate shape than does the word 'dragon' to ourselves. The Greek word however differs, and has always differed, from the English form of it in one respect, namely that it is often employed in a strict and narrow sense to denote a 'serpent' as distinguished from a small snake (in modern Greek [Greek: phidi], i.e. [Greek: ophidion], the diminutive of the ancient [Greek: ophis]). On the other hand, a Greek 'dragon,' in the widest sense of the term, is sometimes distinctly anthropomorphic in popular stories, and is made to boil kettles and drink coffee without any sense of impropriety. It is in fact only from the context of a story that it is possible to determine in what shape the dragon is imagined; in general it is neither flesh nor fowl nor good red devil; heads and tails, wings and legs, teeth and talons, are assigned to it in any number and variety; it breathes air and fire indifferently; it sleeps with its eyes open and sees with them shut; it makesas [Greek: Charos] and [Greek: Charontas] from [Greek: Charôn]. Cf. above, p. 98. There is a feminine [Greek: drakontissa] or [Greek: drakissa].]