Οn July l633, α strange story, almost α fairy tale, was recorded in αn officiαl document copied from very old books found in the municipal Registry. Οn May l0, l509, the Venetian Governor of Cephalonia Fantino Malipiero announced that villagers were ternfied by the presence οΕ α man and sheep eating dragon in the forest of St. Nicholas, at Anemodouri. Αn order was issued to kill the dragon. Since many trίed and failed, α reward wαs offered: Any person brave enough to kill the dragon would be compensated with α large ραrt of the forest at the foot of the mountain. Τwο brothers, Jacob and Bernard Brescani, decided to try their luck. Οn St. Nicholas Day they donned their armor and went to the church of St. Nicholas, abandoned by the fearful villagers, in search of the dragon.

Α great fight soon began. One of the brothers holding α big knife entered the dragon's mouth, while the other wαs hitting the beast repeatedly with αn axe. When the dragon wαs killed, many people gathered at the church and services were held thanking God for their deliverance. There, outside the church, a big fire was lit and the dragon was burned.

According to the document, the dragon was winged and huge, his body bigger than two oxen put together, its length longer than seven paces. The Brescani brothers were justly rewarded by the Governor with almost the whole of the western side of Ainos. However, they died soon afterwards from wounds received during their fight with the dragon.

It is evident from the document that the story refers to α real historical event which disturbed the inhabitants. It was later embellished with details from myths and ancient fairy tales. Even today, at the village of Vlachata, the older people relate the story of the dragon and the way the two heroes saved the village by killing it. There are, of course many variations of the myth.

Over the years, many interpretatίons of the dragon slaying have been given. Even the name of the dragon slayers changed from Brescani to Loukissa. One reason is the existence of documents of the l6th century showing that α large ραrt of the forest was given to Francesco Loukissa for "services rendered by the family to the Venetian Government" and it was assumed that it was the payment for the slaying of the dragon. Nikos Tzouganatos, history researcher and philologist, using varίous historical sources, has studied the story of the dragon and the Brescani or Loukissa brothers. He concluded that the Loukissa family inherited the Brescani estate and later the people associated their name with the killing of the dragonz5. Niki Efthymiatou-Katsouni, after research οn the same subject, concluded that the two brothers came from the town Brescia in Lombardy, Italy, so the name Brescani was not their family name. She also thinks it possible that they were not brothers at αll but rather members of α Brotherhood from Brescia. That would explain the absence of the Brescani family name from Cephalonia as well as the unusual behavior of the people who "forgot" the names οΕ the heroes.

Αn indication of the influence Ainos had over the people of the island is the folk song recorded by L. Salvator, Archduke of Austria, who traveled to Ithaca and collected invaluable material for his book "Wintertage auf Ithaca", Prag/Druck und Verlag νοn Heinr. Mercy Sohn l905. The song relates the story of the Byzantine hero Digenis Akritas, who, in the imagination of the people had acquired mythical dimensions and was identified with the Greek spirit.

Ιn the song, Digenis advises his l2 sons who are preparing to go hunting not to go through the forest of firs (evidently Ainos) because οΕ the terrible man-eating dragon living there. The sons do not heed their father's advice, go through the forest and are captured by the dragon. One of their wives has α bad dream and asks her father-in-lαw to explain what it means. Realizing that something bad has happened to his sons, Digenis goes to the forest, and confronts the beast. The dragon, showing respect for his bravery, does not harm him but informs him that he has captured the l2 men, 3 of whom he has already eaten.

Ιn the mind of the Cephalonian villagers the bravery οΕ the Brescani brothers or Loukissa, equaled that of Digenis in accomplishing what the l2 sons of Digenis together could not: slay the dragon.