The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

186 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)The last corn cutcalled the Maidenin the Highlands ofScotland.[156]The cutting of theMaiden at harvestin Argyleshire.In some parts of the Highlands of Scotland the last handful ofcorn that is cut by the reapers on any particular farm is calledthe Maiden, or in Gaelic Maidhdeanbuain, literally “the shornMaiden.” Superstitions attach to the winning of the Maiden. If itis got by a young person, they think it an omen that he or she willbe married before another harvest. For that or other reasons thereis a strife between the reapers as to who shall get the Maiden,and they resort to various stratagems for the purpose of securingit. One of them, for example, will often leave a handful of cornuncut and cover it up with earth to hide it from the other reapers,till all the rest of the corn on the field is cut down. Several maytry to play the same trick, and the one who is coolest and holdsout longest obtains the coveted distinction. When it has been cut,the Maiden is dressed with ribbons into a sort of doll and affixedto a wall of the farmhouse. In the north of Scotland the Maiden iscarefully preserved till Yule morning, when it is divided amongthe cattle "to make them thrive all the year round." 521 In the islandof Mull and some parts of the mainland of Argyleshire the lasthandful of corn cut is called the Maiden (Maighdean-Bhuana).Near Ardrishaig, in Argyleshire, the Maiden is made up in afanciful three-cornered shape, decorated with ribbons, and hungfrom a nail on the wall. 522The following account of the Maiden was obtained in thesummer of 1897 from the manager of a farm near Kilmartinin Argyleshire: “The Mhaighdean-Bhuana, or Reaping Maiden,was the last sheaf of oats to be cut on a croft or farm. Before thereaping-machine and binder took the place of the sickle and thescythe, the young reapers of both sexes, when they neared theend of the last rig or field, used to manœuvre to gain possession521 J. Jamieson, Dictionary of the Scottish Language, New Edition (Paisley,1879-1882), iii. 206, s.v. “Maiden.” An old Scottish name for the Maiden(autumnalis nymphula) was Rapegyrne. See Fordun, Scotichren. ii. 418,quoted by J. Jamieson, op. cit. iii. 624, s.v. “Rapegyrne.”522 R. C. Maclagan, in Folk-lore, vi. (1895) pp. 149, 151.