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

274 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)must carry it home, limping on one foot. 703 Sometimes a little ofthe crop is left on the field for the spirit, under other names than“the Poor Old Woman.” Thus at Szagmanten, a village of theTilsit district, the last sheaf was left standing on the field “for theOld Rye-woman.” 704 In Neftenbach (Canton of Zurich) the firstthree ears of corn reaped are thrown away on the field “to satisfythe Corn-mother and to make the next year's crop abundant.” 705At Kupferberg, in Bavaria, some corn is left standing on the fieldwhen the rest has been cut. Of this corn left standing they saythat “it belongs to the Old Woman,” to whom it is dedicated inthe following words:—“We give it to the Old Woman;She shall keep it.Next year may she be to usAs kind as this time she has been.” 706These words clearly shew that the Old Woman for whom thecorn is left on the field is not a real personage, poor and hungry,but the mythical Old Woman who makes the corn to grow. AtSchüttarschen, in West Bohemia, after the crop has been reaped,a few stalks are left standing and a garland is attached to them.“That belongs to the Wood-woman,” they say, and offer a prayer.In this way the Wood-woman, we are told, has enough to live onthrough the winter and the corn will thrive the better next year.The same thing is done for all the different kinds of corn-crop. 707So in Thüringen, when the after-grass (Grummet) is being gotin, a little heap is left lying on the field; it belongs to “the Little703 W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 49.704 Ibid. p. 337.705 Ibid.706 W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 337 sq.707 A. John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague,1905), p. 189.