" Sometimes a black mask is
fastened on the reaper's face and he is dressed in woman's clothes;
or if the reaper is a woman, she is dressed in man's clothes. A
dance follows. At the supper the Old Man gets twice as large a
portion of the food as the others. The proceedings are similar at
threshing; the person who gives the last stroke is said to have the
Old Man. At the supper given to the threshers he has to eat out of
the cream-ladle and to drink a great deal. Moreover, he is quizzed
and teased in all sorts of ways till he frees himself from further
annoyance by treating the others to brandy or beer.
These examples illustrate the contests in reaping, threshing, and
binding which take place amongst the harvesters, from their
unwillingness to suffer the ridicule and discomfort incurred by the
one who happens to finish his work last. It will be remembered that
the person who is last at reaping, binding, or threshing, is
regarded as the representative of the corn-spirit, and this idea is
more fully expressed by binding him or her in corn-stalks.
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