Drak

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The Drak (also known as Fürdrak , Drakel , Alf , Stöpke and Gluswanz ) is a flying house spirit . Although it looks like a dragon , it probably has nothing in common with it. The name is probably not derived from Drakon , but from the English mandrake or mandragora .

It is at home in northern and central Germany, as well as in neighboring Slavic areas, and brings grain, grain, butter, bacon, ham and gold to the farmer through the chimney. Therefore, many wealthy farmers were said to have a Drak in their service. Most of these spirits have proper names, such as Steppchen, Alf, Langschwanz, Kortwämsken, Glüstert (glowing tail), Tragerl, Federhennschen and the like. The names are mostly similar to those that goblins also have, but the Drak is not a goblin, even if it shares many characteristics with it. The appearance of a Drak is that of a small dragon with a glowing tail, with which it moves through the air. In eastern Pomerania he is known as Alf and in some places as a fiery snake with a duck's head or as a glowing cauldron with a tail. But it can also change its shape and then appear as a fiery meadow tree with a broad head, a fiery sack of grain or other things of this kind, but it can also transform into animals, for example into a gray goose or a wet chicken. With the help of certain formulas, you can force him to discard some of his treasures. Examples of such formulas are half part or lat fall, what does not hear you (drop what does not belong to you). The latter formula also explains where the Drak gets its treasures from by simply stealing them elsewhere. He always demands good food from his "owner". It is likely that the belief in the Drak arose through observations of meteorites , falling stars, northern lights, or the glow of a fireplace.

Ehm Welk describes in his novel Die Heiden von Kummerow the nature of a Drak, which is supposed to be housed in the evil Müller culvert.

See also

literature