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

328 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[280]of the corn has been reaped, a handful is left standing to formthe Hare. It is divided into three parts and plaited, and the earsare tied in a knot. The reapers then retire a few yards and eachthrows his or her sickle in turn at the Hare to cut it down. It mustbe cut below the knot, and the reapers continue to throw theirsickles at it, one after the other, until one of them succeeds insevering the stalks below the knot. The Hare is then carried homeand given to a maidservant in the kitchen, who places it over thekitchen-door on the inside. Sometimes the Hare used to be thuskept till the next harvest. In the parish of Minnigaff, when theHare was cut, the unmarried reapers ran home with all speed,and the one who arrived first was the first to be married. 878 InSouthern Ayrshire the last corn cut is also called the Hare, andthe mode of cutting it seems to be the same as in Galloway;at least in the neighbourhood of Kilmarnock the last corn leftstanding in the middle of the field is plaited, and the reapersused to try to cut it by throwing their sickles at it. When cut, itwas carried home and hung up over the door. 879 In the VosgesMountains the person who cuts the last handful of hay or wheatis sometimes said to have caught the Hare; he is congratulated byhis comrades and has the honour of carrying the nosegay or thesmall fir-tree decorated with ribbons which marks the conclusionof the harvest. 880 In Germany also one of the names for the lastsheaf is the Hare. 881 Thus in some parts of Anhalt, when thecorn has been reaped and only a few stalks are left standing, theysay, “The Hare will soon come,” or the reapers cry to each other,“Look how the Hare comes jumping out.” 882 In East Prussia theysay that the Hare sits in the last patch of standing corn, and must878 W. Gregor, “Preliminary Report on Folklore in Galloway, Scotland,” Reportof the British Association for 1896, p. 623.879 Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) pp. 47 sq.880 L. F. Sauvé, Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges (Paris, 1889), p. 191.881 W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen, p. 3.882 O. Hartung, “Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt,” Zeitschrift des Vereins fürVolkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 154.