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

330 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[281]“The Cat is caught”; and at threshing, the man who gives thelast stroke is called the Cat. In the neighbourhood of Lyonsthe last sheaf and the harvest-supper are both called the Cat.About Vesoul when they cut the last corn they say, “We havethe Cat by the tail.” At Briançon, in Dauphiné, at the beginningof reaping a cat is decked out with ribbons, flowers, and earsof corn. It is called the Cat of the ball-skin (le chat de peau deballe). If a reaper is wounded at his work, they make the cat lickthe wound. At the close of the reaping the cat is again deckedout with ribbons and ears of corn; then they dance and makemerry. When the dance is over the girls solemnly strip the catof its finery. At Grüneberg, in Silesia, the reaper who cuts thelast corn goes by the name of the Tom-cat. He is enveloped inrye-stalks and green withes, and is furnished with a long plaitedtail. Sometimes as a companion he has a man similarly dressed,who is called the (female) Cat. Their duty is to run after peoplewhom they see and to beat them with a long stick. Near Amiensthe expression for finishing the harvest is, “They are going tokill the Cat”; and when the last corn is cut they kill a cat in thefarmyard. At threshing, in some parts of France, a live cat isplaced under the last bundle of corn to be threshed, and is struckdead with the flails. Then on Sunday it is roasted and eaten as aholiday dish. 889 In the Vosges Mountains the close of haymakingor harvest is called “catching the cat,” “killing the dog,” or morerarely “catching the hare.” The cat, the dog, or the hare is saidto be fat or lean according as the crop is good or bad. The manwho cuts the last handful of hay or of wheat is said to catch thecat or the hare or to kill the dog. He is congratulated by hiscomrades and has the honour of carrying the nosegay or ratherthe small fir-tree decked with ribbons which marks the end of889 W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, pp. 172-174; id., MythologischeForschungen, p. 30; P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien(Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii. 64, 65.