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

§ 7. The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox. 341the last day of reaping, a calf adorned with flowers and ears ofcorn is led thrice round the farmyard, being allured by a bait ordriven by men with sticks, or conducted by the farmer's wifewith a rope. The calf chosen for this ceremony is the calf whichwas born first on the farm in the spring of the year. It is followedby all the reapers with their tools. Then it is allowed to run free;the reapers chase it, and whoever catches it is called King of theCalf. Lastly, it is solemnly killed; at Lunéville the man who actsas butcher is the Jewish merchant of the village. 938Sometimes again the corn-spirit hides himself amongst the cutcorn in the barn to reappear in bull or cow form at threshing.Thus at Wurmlingen, in Thüringen, the man who gives the laststroke at threshing is called the Cow, or rather the Barley-cow,Oats-cow, Peas-cow, or the like, according to the crop. He isentirely enveloped in straw; his head is surmounted by sticks inimitation of horns, and two lads lead him by ropes to the wellto drink. On the way thither he must low like a cow, and fora long time afterwards he goes by the name of the Cow. 939 AtObermedlingen, in Swabia, when the threshing draws near anend, each man is careful to avoid giving the last stroke. He whodoes give it “gets the Cow,” which is a straw figure dressed in anold ragged petticoat, hood, and stockings. It is tied on his back [291]with a straw-rope; his face is blackened, and being bound withstraw-ropes to a wheelbarrow he is wheeled round the village. 940Here, again, we meet with that confusion between the humanand animal shape of the corn-spirit which we have noted inother customs. In Canton Schaffhausen the man who threshesthe last corn is called the Cow; in Canton Thurgau, the Cornbull;in Canton Zurich, the Thresher-cow. In the last-mentioneddistrict he is wrapt in straw and bound to one of the trees in the938 Ibid. p. 60.939 E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben, pp. 444sq., § 162; W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 61.940 F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, ii. p. 233, § 427.The corn-spirit asa bull or cow atthreshing.