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

§ 5. The Corn-spirit as a Cat. 329be chased out by the last reaper. The reapers hurry with theirwork, each being anxious not to have “to chase out the Hare”;for the man who does so, that is, who cuts the last corn, is muchlaughed at. 883 At Birk, in Transylvania, when the reapers cometo the last patch, they cry out, “We have the Hare.” 884 At Aurich,as we have seen, 885 an expression for cutting the last corn is “tocut off the Hare's tail.” “He is killing the Hare” is commonly saidof the man who cuts the last corn in Germany, Sweden, Holland,France, and Italy. 886 In Norway the man who is thus said to “killthe Hare” must give “hare's blood” in the form of brandy, to hisfellows to drink. 887 In Lesbos, when the reapers are at work intwo neighbouring fields, each party tries to finish first in orderto drive the Hare into their neighbour's field; the reapers whosucceed in doing so believe that next year the crop will be better.A small sheaf of corn is made up and kept beside the holy picturetill next harvest. 888§ 5. The Corn-spirit as a Cat.Again, the corn-spirit sometimes takes the form of a cat. NearKiel children are warned not to go into the corn-fields because“the Cat sits there.” In the Eisenach Oberland they are told “theCorn-cat will come and fetch you,” “the Corn-cat goes in thecorn.” In some parts of Silesia at mowing the last corn they say,The corn-spirit asa cat sitting inthe corn. Thecorn-spirit as a catkilled at reapingand threshing.883 C. Lemke, Volksthümliches in Ostpreussen (Mohrungen, 1884-1887), i. 24.884 G. A. Heinrich, Agrarische Sitten und Gebräuche unter den SachsenSiebenbürgens (Hermannstadt, 1880), p. 21.885 Above, p. 268.886 W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 29.887 W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 29 sq.; id., DieKorndämonen, p. 5.888 Georgeakis et Pineau, Folk-lore de Lesbos (Paris, 1894), p. 310.