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

338 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[288]Old Prussiancustom of killing agoat at sowing.threshed grain. Thus, when a stranger passes a harvest-field, allthe labourers stop and shout as with one voice, “He-goat! Hegoat!”At rape-seed threshing in Schleswig, which is generallydone on the field, the same cry is raised if the stranger does nottake off his hat. 924At sowing their winter corn the old Prussians used to kill agoat, consume its flesh with many superstitious ceremonies, andhang the skin on a high pole near an oak and a large stone. Thereit remained till harvest, when a great bunch of corn and herbswas fastened to the pole above the goat-skin. Then, after a prayerhad been offered by a peasant who acted as priest (Weidulut),the young folks joined hands and danced round the oak and thepole. Afterwards they scrambled for the bunch of corn, and thepriest distributed the herbs with a sparing hand. Then he placedthe goat-skin on the large stone, sat down on it, and preachedto the people about the history of their forefathers and their oldheathen customs and beliefs. 925 The goat-skin thus suspendedon the field from sowing time to harvest perhaps represents thecorn-spirit superintending the growth of the corn. The Tomori ofCentral Celebes imagine that the spirits which cause rice to growhave the form of great goats with long hair and long lips. 926§ 7. The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox.The corn-spirit inthe form of a bullrunning through thecorn or lying in it.The corn-spirit as abull, ox, or cow atharvest.924 Ibid. p. 170. As to the custom of leaving a little corn on the field for thesubsistence of the corn-spirit, see above, pp. 231 sqq.925 M. Praetorius, Deliciae Prussicae (Berlin, 1871), pp. 23 sq.; W. Mannhardt,Baumkultus, pp. 394 sq.926 A. C. Kruijt, “Eenige ethnografische aanteekeningen omtrent deToboengkoe en de Tomori,” Mededeelingen van wege het NederlandscheZendelinggenootschap, xliv. (1900) p. 241.