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

276 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[234]benefit of “the aul' man.” 713 Here “the aul' man” is probably theequivalent of the harvest Old Man of Germany. 714 Among theMohammedans of Zanzibar it is customary at sowing a field toreserve a certain portion of it for the guardian spirits, who atharvest are invited, to the tuck of drum, to come and take theirshare; tiny huts are also built in which food is deposited fortheir use. 715 In the island of Nias, to prevent the depredations ofwandering spirits among the rice at harvest, a miniature field isdedicated to them and in it are sown all the plants that grow inthe real fields. 716 The Hos, a Ewe tribe of negroes in Togoland,observe a similar custom for a similar reason. At the entrance totheir yam-fields the traveller may see on both sides of the pathsmall mounds on which yams, stock-yams, beans, and maize areplanted and appear to flourish with more than usual luxuriance.These little gardens, tended with peculiar care, are dedicated tothe “guardian gods” of the owner of the land; there he cultivatesfor their benefit the same plants which he cultivates for his ownuse in the fields; and the notion is that the “guardian gods” willcontent themselves with eating the fruits which grow in theirlittle private preserves and will not poach on the crops which aredestined for human use. 717713 Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland(London, 1881), p. 182.714 See above, pp. 136 sqq.715 A. Germain, “Note zur Zanzibar et la Côte Orientale d'Afrique,” Bulletinde la Société de Géographie (Paris), Vème Série, xvi. (1868) p. 555.716 E. Modigliani, Un Viaggio a Nías (Milan, 1890), p. 593.717 J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme (Berlin, 1906), p. 303. In the Central Provincesof India “sometimes the oldest man in the house cuts the first five bundles ofthe crop and they are afterwards left in the fields for the birds to eat. And at theend of harvest the last one or two sheaves are left standing in the field and anyone who likes can cut and carry them away. In some localities the last sheavesare left standing in the field and are known as barhona, or the giver of increase.Then all the labourers rush together at this last patch of corn and tear it up bythe roots; everybody seizes as much as he can [and] keeps it, the master havingno share in this patch. After the barhona has been torn up all the labourers