Sometimes, again,
the corn-spirit is represented by a man, who lies down under the
last corn; it is threshed upon his body, and the people say that
"the Old Man is being beaten to death." We saw that sometimes the
farmer's wife is thrust, together with the last sheaf, under the
threshing-machine, as if to thresh her, and that afterwards a
pretence is made of winnowing her. At Volders, in the Tyrol, husks
of corn are stuck behind the neck of the man who gives the last
stroke at threshing, and he is throttled with a straw garland. If he
is tall, it is believed that the corn will be tall next year. Then
he is tied on a bundle and flung into the river. In Carinthia, the
thresher who gave the last stroke, and the person who untied the
last sheaf on the threshing-floor, are bound hand and foot with
straw bands, and crowns of straw are placed on their heads. Then
they are tied, face to face, on a sledge, dragged through the
village, and flung into a brook. The custom of throwing the
representative of the corn-spirit into a stream, like that of
drenching him with water, is, as usual, a rain-charm.
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