For example, in the Mittelmark district of Prussia, when
the rye has been reaped, and the last sheaves are about to be tied
up, the binders stand in two rows facing each other, every woman
with her sheaf and her straw rope before her. At a given signal they
all tie up their sheaves, and the one who is the last to finish is
ridiculed by the rest. Not only so, but her sheaf is made up into
human shape and called the Old Man, and she must carry it home to
the farmyard, where the harvesters dance in a circle round her and
it. Then they take the Old Man to the farmer and deliver it to him
with the words, "We bring the Old Man to the Master. He may keep him
till he gets a new one." After that the Old Man is set up against a
tree, where he remains for a long time, the butt of many jests. At
Aschbach in Bavaria, when the reaping is nearly finished, the
reapers say, "Now, we will drive out the Old Man." Each of them sets
himself to reap a patch of corn as fast as he can; he who cuts the
last handful or the last stalk is greeted by the rest with an
exulting cry, "You have the Old Man.
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